Lost and Found (14 page)

Richard smiled at his boy and then faced the house as if he knew
she
watched. And his smile
disappeared
as he stared at her with a look that
had
her taking a step back. Richard yelled something at Ryley before heading straight for
her.
He
leaped up the stairs and yanked open the screen door.

“No more lies
,
Richard, no changing the subject. No blowing me off. I want to know the truth.” She shoved papers in the air. “What’s this?

“Dan’s registration. He signed it over to me.”

“Why?”

He let out a sharp breath and
she
knew his patience was thin.

“Maggie
,
leave it alone.”

“No. Not this time. By God
,
you’ll tell the truth. Is he dragging you back into business with him?”

“No.
There are
some things you don’t understand. And I’m asking you to trust me and leave it alone.”

“Richard, that’s a lot for you to ask of me after what he did.”

“No I don’t think it is. I’ll tell you this though. There’s stuff going on I don’t want you involved in. And sometimes
there are
things you don’t need to know. It’ll be all right. I promise you.”

Sometimes when Richard decided on something
,
it was as if he erected a steel wall. One she couldn’t budge. Why was he shutting her out? Was he protecting her? She didn’t know
,
and
it
didn’t calm her by any means. In fact
,
her unease increased.

Richard brushed past her and hung his light brown coat on a hook by the door. “Ryley wants pizza for dinner. Can you order one
,
and I’ll
go
pick it up
?
” He changed the subject so neatly
,
walking away with the registration.
She
was about to follow and demand answers, but when she glanced out the screen door, Ryley looked up and smiled at her.
She
stepped closer
,
pressing her hands against the screen
,
and what he did next nearly brought her to her knees. He stood up and waved.

“We’re investigating a stolen truck reported by a Dan McKenzie seven days ago in Seattle. A search and rescue team discovered the truck
at
the bottom of Buckhorn Lake when flying overhead
during training
. And this morning
,
a team of divers went down and discovered the truck fits the description of the stolen truck…the serial number matches.”

Maggie stood in the open doorway facing two Sequim deputies. “Come in please.” Her heart raced
,
and her hand trembled as she held
the screen door
open.
Richard what are you doing
! She wished he was here, because right now she was fighting the panicked urge to ramble.
But he wasn’t
because
he’d driven Ryley to school while she was getting dressed this morning.

“Richard’s not home right now. I’m not sure how I can help.”
Call Diane.

“What can you tell us about this stolen truck?” Maggie felt her face heat, and she knew her eyes widened. Both officers glanced at each other.
Why don’t you just tattoo the word
s
“she knows something
”
on the middle of your forehead and be done with it
.
She
closed her eyes to shut out that voice.

“
Ma’am
,
if you know something and withhold evidence
,
you can be charged as an accessory.”

“I don’t know anything.” She cringed and wondered how pink her face was.

“Where did you say your husband is?”

“He’s not my husband
,
we
’
re divorced.” This was not their business
.
She
wanted to take a step back
. She
wanted to pinch herself
,
anything to stop her mouth. Both officers glanced at each other again. One opened his notebook and scribbled something down. The sound of Richard
’
s truck pulling in should have
made her
breath
e
easier, and she was calmer, sort of, if she could
just
get her damn hands to stop trembling. So she jammed them in her back pockets.

Richard hurried up the steps
,
and both officers turned in the doorway. Richard glanced once at
her,
his hard eyes giving nothing away as he walked around the officers and slid his arm around Maggie’s shoulder
s
. “Why are you talking to my wife?”

The
cute
young deputy with the million dollar smile and sun streaked blond hair crossed his arms. “Well
,
she said you’re divorced.”

Maggie wanted to kick the arrogant deputy who grinned again.

“She’s confused. We
’
re back together
,
and we’re not divorced.” Richard spoke to the
deputy
, but glanced down at Maggie with a look that said he was done with this subject. This
was the second time he said they weren’t divorced. She wanted to clarify and find out everything. Because she couldn’t believe he’d told the lawyers they were back together
,
and they’d believe him.

“Mr. McCafferty, that’s obviously a bone of contention between the two of you
and
does not concern us. We’re here about a truck reported stolen by Dan McKenzie, yet the registration appears in your name.”

Richard dropped his arm from Maggie’s shoulder
s
and somehow moved her away from the deputies. “Maggie
,
can you please excuse us.” He didn’t ask, he dictated again.

She wanted to refuse outright. She even crossed her arms and opened her mouth to say so
,
but instead she beamed up at him and batted her eyelashes, “Why absolutely darling. I’ll just go powder my nose like a good little girl.”

Richard stiffened and glared at her
.
She
knew she’d be hearing about it later.

One of the deputies smirked. The
way the
other watched her
let her
know
he’d do anything to talk to her alone.
She
hurried up the stairs and leaned against the wall outside her room where she knew she could hear everything. But Richard
,
that sly bugger
,
must have known because the next thing she heard was the screen door slap close
d
as they went outside. Maggie raced to Ryley’s room at the end of the hall and stepped over his pile of clothes scattered on the floor,
glanced
at his unmade bed
,
and leaned over the cluttered desk against the window. Richard stood with the deputies beside their cruiser. He was talking
,
motioning a couple times with his hands as if to emphasize something. He shrugged and shook his head a couple of times.
She
would give anything to listen in.

What was Richard up to? What was he hiding?

She
darted out of Ryley’s room and grabbed the portable phone from
the
narrow hall table. She dialed as she raced back to the window and peaked out from the side. It went right to voicemail. “You’ve reached Diane
.
I’m not here so leave your name and number
,
and I’ll get back to you.”

“Diane, it’s Maggie. I really need to talk to you
.
Can
you call me back
?
I’m at Richard
’
s.” Why did she keep saying that? This was home wasn’t it?
She hung up the
phone
.
She
knew with her head clear
,
she really needed to address several things, her house in town
,
and her and Richard, but first things first. What Richard was up to with Dan
?

The car doors slammed shut
. The
deputies were leaving. Maggie blinked and looked down as they pulled away. Richard was watching her. Maggie hurried down the steps determined to get some answers. He was good at avoiding, why even last night
,
he managed to evade her questions about Dan. Ryley
remained glued to his side, and she fell
asleep before he came to bed.

Maggie raced into the kitchen just as Richard grabbed the phone. “Richard
,
what’s going on? First Dan calls. Now the cops show up here about that truck. What are you doing?”

He reached out to cup her cheek, but she smacked his hand away and stepped back. “No way are you going to distract me or change the subject. And just so you know. My head
’
s clear. So start talking.”

He breathed deeply and gazed briefly out the window as if deciding something before meeting her gaze. “You’ve been through a lot
,
babe. I don’t want to put this on you. I’ll handle it.”

“No Richard
,
you need to talk to me and tell me what’s going on.”

He firmed his lips and shook his head. “I need to go out. I’ll pick up Ryley from school
on the way home
.”

She
felt her jaw slacken and held up both her hands in disbelief. “Richard
,
I’m not some mindless ditz. You don’t trust me. That’s it
,
isn’t it? After everything we’ve been through
,
how could you not trust me?”
She
stepped back and pressed both palms over her chest.

Richard shut his eyes and
appeared to clench his jaw
for a second before he spoke. “I trust you with my life
,
Maggie. But there are some things I don’t ever want you to know. I’m cleaning up a mess. So stop worrying.” He didn’t move. In fact
,
he didn’t try and touch her.

“No
,
Richard. I won’t let you brush me off. You need to tell me. I expect no less, or else I’m walking out that door and going home.”

The way he glared and stepped toward her
,
she
wondered what he was about to do. So she stepped back again until she bumped the fridge. “
I took care of your
house in town. You no longer have possession. I had all your things moved out.”

“What! You can’t do that. I rented that house. It’s in my name.”

He closed the distance between them. “You’re not leaving. This is your home. This is where you belong, so get it through your head.”

“Then I’ll stay in a hotel. You’ll not dictate or tell me what to do. You want to share a life with me
?
Then
you need to be honest and share everything. What you think, you feel
,
and if you’ve done something wrong.”

He tried touching her again, but she pushed him hard with both hands
flat
on his chest. “Don’t touch me. This is your last chance
, and
then I’m leaving.”

He crossed his arms in front of him. Maggie sighed and slipped past him
,
grabbing her coat off the hook and shrugged it on
,
rummaging her pocket for keys, but they were empty. She touched her forehead with her fingers. She didn’t have her car. It was the broken heap in her driveway. The driveway that wasn’t hers anymore. So where was her car? She refused to look at him as she walked around the kitchen island and pulled out the telephone book from the kitchen junk drawer and flipped through the pages.

“What are you doing
,
Maggie?”

She did her best to ignore him and punched in the phone number for the town taxi. It rang once before the telephone was ripped out of her hand. “Stop. Maggie
,
please stay.”

She wanted to cave. She loved him, she really did. But some strength p
oured
from inside
,
and she knew trust was more important. She couldn’t have it any other way. “Will you tell me the truth?”