Lost and Found (24 page)

Her mind whirled, her tongue thickened
,
and words stuck in her throat. “Richard’s not a thief, he’s a good man. I don’t know where this accusation came from, but there are no criminal charges against my husband.”
She
flushed from Jacob
’
s
scrutiny
. His face then
closed down
as he let go of her hand, slipped out
of
his chair
,
and opened the door.

“As I said earlier, I’ll not let this matter drop. I’ll be in touch. Ryley
,
here’s your
mom.
I think you two should stop at the beach on the way home. Ryley, my door’s always open. Everything’s going to be fine. Remember your
mom’s
a fine person, you guys have come a long ways together
,
and your
mom
really loves you.” This time Jacob didn’t touch her. He excused himself
,
went into his office
,
and shut the door.

Ryley trailed
her
out of the school, a step behind as if afraid he was in trouble.
She
too wanted to slink away as that old childhood rhyme chimed in her head,
Liar
,
liar
,
pants on fire
. And imagined Jacob was singing
it
now.

“How did it go with Sam?”

Richard poured himself a glass of red wine. Then leaned across the kitchen table and refilled Maggie’s glass.

“Productive, enlightening. But I don’t know what Sam thinks he can do. Dan and I have a contract, a
good lawyer could null and void its existence
,
but I don’t have that chunk of change to pay a good lawyer
’
s retainer. Sam’s tying together a few different angles that hopefully I’ll be able to use to cut ties and at least obtain enough money back to keep us afloat until I can find a way to sell that property.”

Maggie sipped her wine wondering if she should tell Richard what happened at school. He must have seen the worry etched in the tiny lines she could feel embedded her forehead because he traced his finger across her forehead and down her cheek.

“Something’s bothering you. What is it?”

She didn’t want to look at him. He read her so well.

He reached for her hand. “Maggie
,
come on, no more secrets.”

She swirled her glass of wine. “Something happened at school today. Please don’t get mad.” He pulled his hand away and leaned one arm over the back of his chair, placing his other on the table.
It was his
way of preparing himself
,
and
he
would most likely launch
himself
out of the chair and pace when she told him.

“Just tell me what’s going on.”

She stared at the red liquid in her glass wondering how to tell him a cleaner version of what Ryley heard. “Something happened at school. A kid told Ryley I’m a drug addict, you’re a thief
,
and
God
was punishing us and took Lily away.”

She was right
.
He
launched out of the chair which tilted back on the floor with a loud crash. “Where would some kid get that kind of information?”

She
shook her head and sipped her wine as her husband paced, while fisting his hands.

“Who is this kid? Who’s his parents?”

“Richard, I spoke with Jacob
.
He’s
handling this. I don’t know who the kid is, I didn’t find out.”

Richard stalked out of the kitchen. “Ryley.” He shouted.

“Yeah
,
Dad?”
She
could hear the tremble in Ryley’s voice.

“Come on down here now! Did something happen today at school you forgot to tell me about?”

She
abandoned her wine and wandered into the living room where Richard stood at the bottom of
the
stairs and motioned
for
Ryley to hurry up. Her boy appeared to wobble with each step. Even she was wary of the control
her husband
wielded. He was
the
head of this family
,
and he made that clear time and again.

Ryley appeared to shrink as he stood before his father.

Richard placed his hand on Ryley’s shoulder and looked down upon his son. “Come on
,
Ryley. If there’s one thing you and I do
,
we
tell the truth…don’t start hiding things from me now.”

Ryley peered solemnly up
at
his
dad
and said nothing.

“Let me help you out
,
son
.
Did
some kid at school verbally attack me and your mom?”

Ryley nodded. “She said some bad things Dad, about you and Mom. She knew about Mom taking pills, and said you were a thief. But you’re not, why would she say that?” Ryley’s voice trembled.

“Who is this kid
who
said these things? I want a name
,
Ryley.”

“Mr. Petersen said he was going to handle it
,
and he thought it might be better if I didn’t say.” Ryley’s voice cracked
,
and he really was shaking.

Richard took a step back and planted both his hands on his hips
.
His
mouth parted when he breathed out his rising temper. “Let me tell you something
,
Ryley
.
Jacob Petersen does not have a voice in my house or over you for that matter. I asked you to name this kid. And that’s exactly what you’re going to tell me now.”

She
covered her mouth and flattened her hand against her lips. Ryley glanced over at
her
as if pleading for help. “Your
dad’s
right. Jacob had no right telling you to keep
this
from us. You need to tell us who this child is.”

Ryley pursed his lips and stubbornly shook his head. A smaller version of his father. Richard raised his fists high in the air and roared. Ryley jumped back, and this time
she
hurried to his side and pulled him close. “Richard
,
stop this madness.
You’re
scaring us.”
She
turned her back on
him,
and with both hands on Ryley’s shoulders
,
she peered into blue eyes that appeared too old to be a child’s. “Why won’t you tell us this girl’s name?”

“Because I don’t want Dad to get in anymore trouble.”

She
was confused as she stared at Ryley and then realized why he worried. “Ryley
,
do you think your
dad
is going to go over there and confront this child’s parents or fight with them?”

He shook his head in response.

“Then what is it?”

“I’m scared Dad will get hurt once he knows. She’s the daughter of a congressman. And kids at school have said he could hurt you and Dad.”

She
locked eyes
with
Richard and frowned because they both knew then who they were dealing with.

“Fred White, our elected congressman. His family lives here. It’s his daughter
,
isn’t it Ryley?”

Ryley gazed up at his
dad
. “Yes, and her name is Rhonda.”

Richard shut his eyes as if he’d heard the worst news possible. And this time when looked at
her,
his face was filled with regret. “If the
rumors
are true about him
,
he’s
a dirty player in politics. Has a way of hacking up everybody’s skeletons. But why is he focused on us?”

The banging on the front door
, along with Daisy’s growl and bark,
shook Maggie awake. The bedside lamp clicked on and filled the dark room with a hazy orange glow. “Is someone at the door?”
She
rolled over and blinked.

Richard pulled on his pants. “Stay here
,
I’ll see who it is.”

The pounding sounded as if someone was trying to break down the front door. And Daisy was now growling and scratching at the door.
She
bolted out of bed and yanked on her thin purple housecoat, trailing after Richard. Car headlights flooded through the living room window.

“Hold on
,
I’m coming.” Richard shouted.

“Open up.” Someone shouted again. Richard yanked open the front door and bent over holding Daisy by the collar. Bright headlights blinded
her
as she darted down the stairs. What looked like three large men loomed in the doorway
,
and it wasn’t until
she
reached Richard’s side
that
she realized they were uniformed officers.

“What’s going
on,
Richard
?
” He jumped when she touched his arm
,
his whole body annoyed by her presence.

“I don’t know yet. Hey fellas
,
it’s
one
in the morning, what’s going on?” Of course coming from Richard
,
it sounded sarcastic.

“Mr. McCafferty
,
we’re going to ask you to come with us.”

“Maggie
,
take the dog.”

She
grabbed Daisy’s collar and dragged her
in
to Richard
’
s study and closed the door. Daisy barked and scratched the door.

She
raced back
,
and Richard was shaking his head. “No, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Richard McCafferty, please turn around and put your hands on your head. One of the officers roughly turned
him
around and shoved him bare-chested against the open door. The other deputy read him his rights.
She
tried to stop the officer from cuffing him
, but
the
third officer grabbed her roughly and shoved her back in the house.

“What are you doing
?
You
can’t just show up and arrest my husband. And for what? You haven’t told us why?”

“For murder
,
ma’am
. Your husband is under arrest for the murder of Dan McKenzie.”

Maggie reacted as any woman would watching her husband handcuffed and led away
,
barefoot in blue jeans
,
in the dead of night
,
and told nothing that made any sense.

Richard was stuffed into the backseat of a police cruiser and had yelled, “
Call
Sam, Diane too
.
Tell
them to get me a lawyer. Don’t talk to these guys Maggie just…”

The
deputy slammed the back door so
she
couldn’t make out what else he said.

She raced barefoot after one of the officers
,
stumbling blindly over the hard ground. “Where are you taking my husband?” She tried to reach out and touch the officer
’
s arm who hurried behind the others. “To the Sequim Detachment. Please step back
,
ma’am
.” He held out his arm to brush her back as if she was a common criminal—a woman of no importance.

She
placed her hands against the window of the cruiser where Richard stared back. The cruiser pulled away
,
forcing
her
to leap back.

Now as the sun
peeked
over the mountains,
s
he
raced out of the house with Ryley behind her
,
locking
an anxious Daisy in the house. She
leaped
in
to
Richard’s
big
diesel truck. “Ryley
,
come on.”