Head Start (Cedar Tree #7) (23 page)

“Okay, let’s work from the premise that this is the same guy who dropped off the map at Kendra’s,” Damian suggests. “If he actually has Franka Mellis, all we can hope for is that he’s keeping her restrained somewhere. Jasper is looking for any other places, aside from the old farmhouse off of County Road D, that might be in his name. We’re getting ready to hit the farmhouse as soon as my warrant gets here. If she’s there, they’ll find her.” The agent puts his hand on his neck and stretches. “The other thing is, we haven’t been able to find a regular source of income for Maryn, aside from the sale of some of his art through the Farmington gallery. Not enough to live off, so we know he must have money coming in from somewhere. We’re in the process of getting access to his bank records—only one account with Bank of America in Durango found to date—but the paperwork is taking forever on that.”

While Damian’s been talking, I’ve been able to find a profile for Franka on MatureDatingOnly. Her handle was easy to spot, Franka not being a common name and FrankaMom2 was easy enough to pick out as hers. Especially since I’d already pulled up her picture from the DMV site and it was a match with the one on her dating profile. Fuck. It’s becoming more and more frustrating to see how many people don’t properly protect themselves when surfing the net. Some of this stuff can be hacked by a high school kid with half a brain. The woman’s password is a combination of her daughter’s name and her son’s birthdate.

“What have you got?” Gus asks me.

“She has a profile on MatureDatingOnly. I just got in her account and am checking the profiles she’s been in touch with... Son of a fucking bitch!” A sick feeling settles in the pit of my stomach when I spot the tag name for one of the profiles she’s been conversing with up to last Friday.

“What?” Damian comes around the table and leans over my shoulder. “Goddamn motherfucker. Lucifer? The bastard’s named himself Lucifer this time? What the fuck does that mean?”

“The fallen one,” Gus mutters. “Also known as fallen star, or morning star. The ultimate dark angel.” Looking up at Damian, he leans back in his chair. “I’m coming with you.”

“So am I,” I add, but both older men turn their attention back on me.

“Yeah?” Gus looks at me questioningly. “And what about Kendra?”

K
endra

This is not awkward at all.

I self-consciously sit down on the kitchen stool Kara waves me to while she starts pulling mugs from a cupboard and pouring coffee.

“Sorry, I didn’t ask. I just assumed you’d want some? Coffee I mean?” she asks belatedly, wincing. Looks like I might not be the only one who is a little uncomfortable.

“Coffee is great, thanks.” I smile at her, hoping to break the obvious tension. “And I wouldn’t mind one of those scones you were talking about.”

“Of course!” She busies herself putting sugar and creamer on the counter and presents me with a pastry that is almost bigger than the plate it’s on.

“Holy shizzle—those are huge!” comes falling out of my mouth. A snort has me look up to see Kara with her hand covering her mouth, trying to hold back laughter.

“Mom tells me all the time to mind my size, but I can’t help it, bigger just seems better to me,” she says with a wink, before her eyes turn serious. “Look, I know its weird and this must be uncomfortable, but I want to tell you how happy I am about you giving Neil a chance. He’s really a fantastic guy. He’s kept me sane over the past few years.”

Okay. That’s nice I guess, but what the fudge do I say to that? “I’m glad,” I try with a little smile, feeling utterly out of my depth.

“I should’ve asked—I’m so sorry—but how are you doing?” She points at the bandage I still have covering the cut on my head. Instinctively my hand reaches up to touch it. “Neil mentioned you got hurt.”

Wait. Neil mentioned? I feel the ugly beast of jealousy taking a huge bite out of my stomach. “I’m fine,” I manage, but apparently none too convincing because Kara winces once again.

“I’m so fucking this up,” she sighs, oddly checking the hallway behind her and the door before leaning over the counter toward me. “I’d like to explain. Back when Mom came to live in Cedar Tree and I met Neil, I was really struggling. I mean, Mom is great, and I was happy that she was happy, but there was so much shit going on in her life that I didn’t want to add on to it. All these new friends she was making... It just seemed easier to leave things as they were. I didn’t want to mess anything up for her.” Kara looks down at her hands, where she’s been picking apart the scone on her plate into a pile of crumbs. “Neil seemed more of my generation, and he was certainly more in tune. I know he hasn’t told you because he always says it’s my story to tell, but sometimes I wish he’d just spill the beans for me.” Taking a deep breath, she looks me straight in the eyes, tears filling in hers. Without thinking, I reach out and squeeze her hand lightly. “Neil clued in right away that I wasn’t interested in him that way,” she continues. “He’s convinced it wouldn’t make one lick of difference to Mom or Gus if they knew. Or to anyone else for that matter. But I just don’t know. Things are good like this.” She hesitates for a moment, turning her head to look out the back window. “Or at least they were.”

She seems to have a hard time just coming out with it, but she doesn’t have to say the words for me to understand. So I say them for her. “You’re gay.”

Surprised, her head swings around. “You guessed?”

I can’t help the chuckle from slipping out. “Honey, you may not have said the words, but it’s pretty obvious.”

“It’s so silly.” Kara blushes a little. “You know how when you postpone things, they only get harder?” When I nod my encouragement, she goes on. “Well, when I met Marisa, I thought I would wait a bit until I felt more secure in our relationship and then I would tell. But life happened, and every time I would visit Cedar Tree, time was so short and I didn’t want to spoil it. So I wouldn’t say anything. Then I’d come back home and Marisa would get upset. I’ve met her family and they’re wonderful, and yet I’m keeping her from mine, and that pisses her off. I just never realized how much until she broke up with me on the phone last week.”

Now the tears are streaming and there’s nothing I can do but round the counter and pull the crying younger woman into my arms. “You know?” I begin carefully. “From what I can tell about your mom and Gus, they don’t have a judgmental bone in their bodies. I think you’re underestimating them. Sure, it may be a shock at first, but honey, that’s not judgement, that’s simply concern and a need to adjust their expectations.”

The sniffling against my shoulder slows down and then she lifts her head. “Neil says the same thing. I was a basket case last week, but he talked me through. Really, he’s such a good guy.”

Her eyes on me are willing me to hear her. Oh, I hear her, all right. Here I was, pissing away an entire weekend on anger over him being a good guy. I’m such a dumbass. “I know he’s a good guy, Kara,” I tell her with a little smile as I sit back down on my stool. “And he’s also right. You’re a grown woman and you can’t even say it out loud. I’ve heard enough about you to know that you’re smart as a whip, have a fantastic personality and are a kick-ass social worker. Come on, Kara, you’ve been living it for years. You’re a social worker for crying out loud.”

Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she finally swallows hard. “You’re right. I don’t have a problem at home in Boston, but here in small-town Colorado, I have trouble admitting I’m a lesbian.”

“Well, it’s about fucking time, girl!”

Both our heads swing to the hall where Gus is leaning casually against the doorway. Oops.

“You knew?” Kara’s voice is no more than a whisper as she watches Gus approach her.

Folding his stepdaughter in his arms, he mumbles in her hair, “What kind of investigator would I be if I hadn’t figured it out by now, sweetie?”

“What about Mom?” Kara asks him.

“What about Mom?” Emma echoes as she comes in from the front, having apparently just heard Kara’s question.

Oh boy. Seems I’m caught right in the middle of a family drama. With slightly panicked eyes, I look for an escape but instead find Neil walking in. He doesn’t stop, just walks up to Emma, divests her of the grocery bags on her walker and comes into the kitchen, quietly sorting and putting the stuff away. A quick glance my way, with a wink, makes it clear he’s fully aware of the bombshell about to drop.

“Well?” Emma prods, not having moved from her spot, but looking directly at her daughter who is facing her, with Gus’s arm now around her shoulders.

“I’m gay,” Kara blurts out.

Emma frowns, biting off between tight lips, “How long have you known?” For added emphasis, she puts her hands on her hips, swaying back and forth.

Kara rolls her eyes. “Mom, I’m a lesbian. I love girls. Well, really only one girl, but I messed that up. I—”

“I get that, but what I’d like to know is how long since you realized you were gay?” Emma cuts off Kara’s mumbling and Gus seems to find it all very amusing.

“Uhm, eighth grade?” Kara answers, her words laced with confusion.

“Right,” Emma states. “And as your mother, did you really think I was clueless? I’m pissed at you, Kara. But not for the reasons you think I am. I’m angry because it took you this damn long to tell me yourself!”

I’ve already slipped off the stool and am edging toward the door. Really, I shouldn’t be witness to this, but Neil is now leaning with his back against counter, arms crossed over his chest, watching it unfold like real life TV. Not for long, though, because Emma makes her way into the kitchen and gives him a hard shove in the shoulder.

“Hey...easy,” he says with a smile, rubbing his shoulder, but moving out of the way nonetheless as Emma takes over sorting the groceries with much noise.

“You know what? She’s been miserable here since she apparently messed up with her girl back home. You knew this. I’ve seen you over at the guesthouse, Neil. You should have told me. I’m her mother.” Emma pokes her finger at Neil.

“And I’m her friend,” he fires back. “And what kind of friend would I be if she couldn’t trust me?”

That seems to hit home.

Emma stills before swinging around to face Gus. “And you don’t seem surprised.” It sounds more as an accusation than it does a conclusion. Gus seems impervious.

“Love this girl too, Peach. Wasn’t hard to figure out.” He stalks over to Emma, bracketing her against the counter and leaning in. “Now get over your snit, because we all know you’re dying to start fixing your girl’s broken heart, and I have a killer to go catch. Kiss me.”

“Ugh,” Kara exclaims, turning her back. “Too much PDA in this house. All over the damn house!”

Neil chuckles and hooks her around the neck, giving her head a good rub, but he’s watching me the whole time. Letting Kara go, he holds his hand out to me, and with my head still spinning from the laser speed turnarounds in these last twenty minutes, I grab hold and let him pull me out the door.

“What just happened?” I ask still a bit stunned when he has me tucked in the passenger seat.

“Family, Cedar Tree style. That’s what just happened.”

N
eil

“How long will you be gone?”

I’ve got Kendra pressed up against the wall in the bathroom. Joe is outside in the living room, taking over Kendra’s security for a couple of hours. I have a few errands I have to run in Cortez. For two days, we’ve been holed up in the apartment with only the occasional trip down to the diner for a bite. I’ve been busy running some searches for Jasper, but the FBI is firmly in charge. GFI now officially has been assigned to keep Kendra safe, and even though she thinks it’s only me, there is always a second monitoring the outside of the building. Often Joe, but sometimes Caleb or Mal. It’s tedious, but necessary, because despite all the information that we are uncovering, Casal Maryn is still in the wind. No trace of him and despite the copies of his driver’s license they had on file at the bank in Cortez, there is nothing registered with the DMV. No records at all. The man is a ghost. One with a farmhouse and a bank account with apparently not much in it.

So with Maryn on the loose, there is no way in hell I’ll leave Kendra on her own, which is why Joe is here.

“Couple of hours at most. Is there anything I can bring you back?” I ask her, nibbling on her neck. God I can’t get enough of her. Two days—and nights—of being able to touch her, to love on her, hasn’t even put a dent in my craving. Fucking insatiable when it comes to Kendra.

“Mmmmm,” she hums under my ministrations. “A latte and a cinnamon bun would give me something to look forward to,” she mumbles.

I lift my head and stare in her slightly veiled eyes. “Coffee and a treat you look forward to? What about your man?” I ask her with one eyebrow lifted. Immediately, her arms tighten around me and a smile pulls at her mouth.

“My
man
? That what you are?” she teases. “I guess you give me a few things to look forward to as well.”

“Damn right I do.”

With a smile she stands on her toes and offers me her mouth. Not going to say no to an offer like that. Almost instantly, the feel of her soft lips and dainty tongue, along with the fresh minty taste of her, have me reconsider leaving. Good friend that Joe is, he loudly reminds us when he starts banging on the bathroom door.