Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 03 - Of Dark and Bright (11 page)

“Yeah, fine,” Dan said, and he was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to ask for it, but he didn’t object when Smokey broke into a lope. He edged over so he was in the middle of the trail, no room for Chris to get beside him on either side, and he headed for the barn. The primary concern was finding Tat; after that, Dan could talk to Evan about the secrecy.
E
VAN resisted the urge to slam his cell phone onto the table when he heard Tat’s cheerful voice on the other end of the line, advising him that she was unable to take his call and suggesting that he leave a message. He’d already left four messages, with increasing levels of irritation and then fear. Where the hell was she?

“She’s seventeen,” Dan said from beside him. “She’s a bit rebellious, but she’s tough and smart. She’ll be fine.” Dan’s hand was on Evan’s, trying to calm him down. It had worked when Dan had first arrived, but it wasn’t doing much anymore. It had been five hours since the security guard had lost track of Tat, almost four since Evan had gotten the call to let him know she was missing. Four hours of going crazy, and no amount of hand-holding was going to make that acceptable.

“Without a ransom demand, kidnapping seems unlikely,” Bill Albanese said. He was Evan’s head of security, and he was a man who believed in staying calm in all circumstances. Normally, Evan appreciated that about him. But not in this case.

“So maybe she just got picked up by a
regular
psychopath. Someone who hurts girls for fun instead of money.” Evan pulled his hand away from Dan’s and stood up. He needed to move. He could feel Bill looking over at Dan, looking for guidance on how to deal with this, and it made Evan crazy. He didn’t want to be
handled
, he wanted to have his sister back. He loved her, of course, but she was also his responsibility. It was his job to look after her, and he wasn’t doing it right.

He saw Dan stand as well, but was glad that he didn’t try to get any closer. Evan’s whole body was vibrating with frustration, with an urge to do something, anything. He really didn’t want Dan getting too close to that energy level. “The cops are ‘looking into it’?” he said to Bill. “What the fuck does that mean? Are they taking this seriously, Bill?”

“Not as seriously as the first time we called and reported her missing, years ago. Each time we call, their response is a little less intense.” Bill shrugged regretfully. “At this point, I think they’re thanking us for the information, and waiting for us to call back after twenty-four hours to escalate the alert. Or more likely, for us to call back and say she’s turned up safe and sound.”

“What about that girl from the debate team?” Dan asked suddenly. They’d been calling all of Tat’s friends, trying to find any trace of her, but Dan was right; they hadn’t called the debate girl.

“What the hell was her name?” Evan frowned in concentration.

“I think she was only here once. Something Spanish, right?” Dan looked up at the ceiling as if hoping it was written there. “Adele, maybe?”

Evan nodded his head toward Bill. “Call the school, find an Adele on the debate team.”

 

“Adelia, maybe,” Dan added. “Last name maybe started with an M?”

Evan felt like he should have been taking notes on Tat’s life. Sure, it was important for her to develop her independence, but not like this. Not with him hunting around desperately trying to find traces of her activities, her acquaintances. He should just
know
these things, like he had when she was younger.

“Andrew—get on that, please,” Bill said. “The school will be closed, but the headmaster’s name is listed on the client sheet.” Then Bill turned back to Evan. “I’m still optimistic that this is a noncriminal situation. But in the interest of covering all our bases…. You have a known felon living on your property. Your sister has been in almost daily contact with her. I know you called down to check whether Tat was there, whether she’d been seen, and I know you were satisfied with the answer you got.” Bill looked toward Dan apologetically, but when his eyes returned to Evan’s they were firm and resolved. Another reason Evan valued the man, but he was pretty sure he didn’t want to hear what Bill was about to say. “In the absence of any other leads, we should be questioning your guest more closely. I certainly hope that she’s innocent, but we need to be thorough.”

Evan had no idea what to do. He turned to look at Dan, who wasn’t returning his gaze. Instead, Dan was staring directly at Bill. He didn’t look defiant or angry, though. Instead, he looked almost sad. “Just like you had to be thorough with me, when I moved out here,” he said. There was a pause, then Dan shook his head as if clearing it of bad thoughts. “Let me talk to her first. Let her know what’s coming. I won’t….” He raised his hands helplessly. “I was going to say I wouldn’t give anything away, but there’s nothing
to
give away. We don’t know anything, right?”

“If she
is
involved, assuming there’s something to be involved in, even telling her we don’t know anything is telling her something.” Bill and Dan had gotten off to a rocky start back when Dan had first arrived and had been under suspicion, but in the years since they’d developed a mutually respectful relationship. Evan listened carefully to see if that relationship would stand up to this challenge. “How about if you go down and talk to her, tell her we’re coming, and that’s about it? Don’t mention the specific situation, don’t give her any facts or background. Does that work?”

Dan nodded. “Yeah. I can do that.” He patted his pocket to check that his phone was still there. “And you’ll call me when you hear from Tat, so I don’t have to worry about all this anymore.”

“Absolutely,” Evan agreed. “I’ll call as soon as I hear.” He watched Dan heading for the door, and tried to keep his optimistic smile fixed on his face. Tat would call. She’d call soon.

She had to.

J
EFF tried not to feel guilty for the sense of relief he’d gotten when he listened to Evan’s message. “Family emergency,” he’d said to the receptionist, holding up his cell phone as if it somehow provided proof. “I’ll call to reschedule.”

It was the third appointment he’d blown off, but he’d been there, this time. He’d been going to do it. It wasn’t his fault Tat had gone missing. And it wasn’t like he could just ignore the fact that she had.

He’d never ignored it before, after all. And there had been several similar situations in the past. Typical, careless kid stuff, forgetting to charge her cell, forgetting to call home to say she was going somewhere with friends… forgetting to act like a complete grown-up, really. It was nothing that families all over the country weren’t going through, but the alarm level was raised substantially by combining an overprotective older brother with a security team that believed kidnapping was a real, significant threat.

No, not something to be ignored, but not something to panic over, either. Jeff turned into the long driveway of the Kaminski estate and tried to ignore the pain in his chest. It wasn’t a constant thing, but he didn’t think it was getting any better. Maybe it was getting a little worse, he decided as he tried to draw a deep breath and almost doubled over from the shock of pain. But he could manage it. He didn’t really need to breathe all that deeply, most of the time. He’d go to the doctor; he would. But he had things to take care of first.

He had another quick stab of pain as he hit the brakes to avoid a collision with Dan’s truck. Dan wasn’t going that fast, but he was clearly lost in thought, not even looking to the side as he pulled into the road that led to the guest house. Krista’s house, Jeff realized, and he wondered just how that was going to play into the current Tat drama. Probably not going to be smooth, he decided, and he turned the wheel and aimed his car to follow Dan. Evan would have his entire entourage around him; Dan might need a little support.

And so might Krista, Jeff decided. He hadn’t met her yet, and this wasn’t the best time for it, but maybe this was just one more thing for him to take care of. He needed to make sure everybody was all sorted out before he heard what the doctor had to tell him.

Chapter 8

D
AN was gathering his courage for the upcoming conversation when he heard a noise behind him and turned to see Jeff’s car pulling in. Jeff. That was perfect. Jeff would make everything better. Dan took a few steps toward the car and tried to smile as Jeff climbed slowly out. Too slowly.

“You okay, Jeff? You’re looking a bit creaky.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jeff said. “I worked out too hard yesterday, maybe.” “Getting old, man. You need to take better care of yourself.” “Yeah, that’s on my to-do list.”

Jeff was close enough now for Dan to touch, and he reached his hand out to wrap around Jeff’s neck. It felt so good to have warm, solid skin under his fingers. “You’ve heard from Evan?”

Jeff nodded. “Heard Tat was missing again. Saw you coming over here, and I put two and two together. How crazy is he?”

“He’s tense, but he’s being pretty good. Bill Albanese is there, and he’s always calm. But he’s the one who really wants to talk to Krista. He says there’s no evidence of any crime, but if there
is
a crime, he knows where he wants to start looking.”

Jeff looked like he wasn’t surprised by any of that. “And you’re here to…?”

“Let her know what’s coming. They kind of blindsided me, back when I was public enemy number one. I just wanted to let her know… I don’t know. I guess I wanted her to know that even though it totally
feels
personal, it really isn’t.”

Jeff’s hand gently gripped the waistband of Dan’s jeans, his knuckles just brushing Dan’s belly button. It felt familiar, and comforting. It made Dan feel like he was owned by somebody. Claimed, and valued. Not adrift, not a temporary part of Jeff’s life. He was
Jeff’s
, and he was Evan’s, and whatever was happening, he just needed to remember that.

“You ready to go in, then? You want me to go with you?” Jeff smiled gently. “Or it’s fine if you want to do it alone. She doesn’t even know me.”

“And it’s time that changed,” Dan decided. He reached down and gripped Jeff’s fingers. “Come meet my sister, Jeff. She’s a mercenary pain in the ass, but, you know—she’s family.”

That was what Dan needed to remember, he decided as he nodded to the security guards and headed for the front door. Tat was family, but so was Krista. Evan’s security guys would do what needed to be done to protect one of them, but that didn’t give them the right to walk all over the other. Dan would make it clear to Krista that it wasn’t personal, but he’d also be sure to let her know that she had the right to be upset about it.

He knocked on the screen door and heard Krista bellow, “Come in,” from somewhere inside. She was probably sitting down in the living room. She’d found one chair in there that was comfortable for her while she was in it, but that she had a hell of a lot of trouble getting out of. She’d joked about getting a catheter so she wouldn’t need to stand for bathroom breaks; she definitely wasn’t going to struggle to her feet just to answer the door.

“Hi, Krista,” Dan called. “It’s me. With Jeff.”
“Living room,” she replied, and Dan grinned. He’d been right.

“She’s probably stuck in her chair,” he said softly to Jeff, then led the way in to find her. “Hey,” he said. “Krista, this is Jeff. Jeff, Krista.” He supposed he should probably do some sort of little anecdote-based introduction, but he didn’t feel up to it. They’d both heard plenty about the other, and he wasn’t going to pretend they hadn’t.

“Hi, Jeff. Good to meet you.” Krista turned to look at Dan. “You heard from Tat yet?”

“No.” He sat down on the edge of the nearby couch, and Jeff found his own seat in an armchair. “The security guys are taking it a bit more seriously, since she’s been missing for a while.”

“They started blaming me yet?” Krista’s look was level, and Dan couldn’t be sure exactly how she was feeling.

“Not exactly,” he said carefully. “But they do want to ask you some questions. And I said I’d come down and let you know that it’s just… I don’t know, exactly. I guess that it’s par for the course? They gave me a pretty hard time when I first moved out. They didn’t even want me living on the property.”

“Were you under armed guard the whole time?” Krista raised an eyebrow. “’Cause I am. What the hell do they think I could have done with a whole team of security guys watching me all the time?”

“That’s probably why they were okay with you living here,” Dan acknowledged.

Jeff finally spoke, his voice rumbling and calm. “But ‘okay’ is a relative term with these guys. My mother’s seventy-two years old, pillar of the community, and they still did a thorough background check on her when she moved down and started spending time with Tat. They’re paid to be hypervigilant. It’s their job.”

“It’s nothing personal,” Dan said.

“It feels a little personal,” Krista responded, but she didn’t really seem that upset. Dan remembered his own reaction when he’d been under suspicion, and wasn’t sure whether Krista was calmer than he was or just a better actor. She saw his look and shrugged. “Danny, I’m on my way to jail. I committed a
lot
of crimes. They’d be stupid
not
to look at me for something like this. I mean, I have no idea how they think I managed to do whatever they think I’ve done, but being treated like a criminal is kind of fair, when you’re a criminal.” She braced her hands on the side of her chair. “But I have no idea what the manners are for something like this. Am I supposed to, like, offer them refreshments? I could give them coffee, but it’s the damn decaf, so I don’t think that’d make them like me too much.”

This was a lot easier than Dan had expected. “Stay put. I can put a pot of coffee on, if you want. But, no, I don’t think you’re expected to act like a hostess. Just tell them the truth and get them out of your hair. If you want Susan here, I can give her a call, but I think Evan’s guys are pretty used to handling confidential stuff. If you tell them something, they aren’t going to go running to the cops about it, not unless it’s related to finding Tat.”

“Okay, then.” Krista leaned back in her chair and stretched like a cat. A very, very pregnant cat. “Bring them on, then, Dan-O. No worries.”