Secrets (17 page)

“All right, I better go. Send that info to the right people, will you? I put a device on the man's car so he won't be able to lose us.”

He paused. “I already told you. Cassie is fine. She's inside the diner waiting to have dinner with me. No, I don't know where Goodwin and Skylar are and I don't care. It's good to get away from them for a while. Yes, I'm having dinner alone with Cassie. Look, I have to go. I'm afraid to leave her by herself for long. Heaven only knows what she'll do.”

Jeff grimaced. “Very funny, Dad. She's not going to run off with another man. Even if she finds one who is—what did you say? ‘Honest and forthright.' Cassie is fine with the way things are and so am I.”

He paused. “Yes, I'm meeting Leo's little man again tonight. This time, it'll be in secret. Cassie will
not
meet him. When we get back, I'm going to write a report on Goodwin's stupidity for bringing her here. No, I do not sound like an overprotective father! It's just that Cassie needs to be looked after, and I'm going to do it. When Goodwin gets back I plan to tell him a few things.”

He listened. “Okay, give Elsbeth a hundred kisses from me and tell her I miss her. I'll see you both on Monday.”

Jeff shut the phone and looked at the woods across the road. Cassie was waiting for him inside. In spite of what he'd told his father, he was more worried than he'd let on about the way she'd been behaving. Protecting Althea Fairmont had been a priority in his life for years now, but it had fallen apart recently. He'd been stunned that Cassie had become involved in it, and even more shocked when she'd told him nothing about hearing gunshots and seeing the famous woman lying on the terrace.

The Cassie Jeff had known for so long would have run to him and told him everything. So what was happening to change her? Was it, as his father said, Skylar? But from the beginning, Jeff had planned that when the time came, he'd tell Cassie that it was over between him and Skylar. He hadn't planned to tell her that it had all been a made-up job, but he'd often thought that there would be a nice, sympathetic scene between him and Cassie, and she would, of course, call off this idiot scheme of hers to move out of his house. But everything had taken too long, and the time for Cassie to leave was approaching too fast.

On top of his other problems, Cassie said she was planning to move into Althea's house. He hadn't yet figured out how to forbid her to do that, all while, of course, seeming to not forbid her to do anything. But Cassie was fascinated with Althea's very interesting life—even though she knew only half of it—so any attempts Jeff made at telling her she shouldn't live in Althea's huge house were met with blank looks.

And then there was Goodwin. Jeff hadn't figured out how to tell Cassie to get away from him without sounding as though he were jealous. Which, of course, he wasn't. How could he be jealous of a kid like that? On the other hand, Jeff planned to tell him that from now on, when he mowed the lawn, he was to wear his shirt.

 

Inside the café, Cassie watched Jeff talk on his cell phone, then after he hung up, he stared at the trees as though he might get some answers from them. It made her feel good that he seemed to be upset about her. She was still smarting at all the things he'd called her. “Trustworthy.” How disgusting!

The waitress handed her a couple of menus. “You and your boyfriend know what you wanta eat?” she asked, pencil poised above the pad.

Cassie wasn't tempted to say that Jeff wasn't her boyfriend. “Iced tea for both of us,” she said. “No sugar, no lemon.” She glanced at the menu, and it struck her that she knew everything about Jeff's eating habits. “Crab cakes for him, with coleslaw, no beans. I'll have the fish of the day with the yellow squash.”

“How about a margarita?” came Skylar's voice from behind the waitress, and Cassie wanted to groan.

“We only have beer.”

“Then bring us four of them.” Skylar looked at Cassie. “Or are you too young to drink?”

The waitress didn't look up from her pad as she said, “Right, I'll have to check her ID, but not yours.” When she turned away, she smiled at Cassie, who had to suppress a giggle.

“So where have you two been all day?” Cassie asked as Skylar slid into the seat on the opposite side of the booth.

“Wouldn't you like to know?”

“Not really,” Cassie said.

“Brent and I were out,” Skylar said. “Doing things. Together. What did you do? Did you see Jeff?”

“All day,” Cassie said sweetly. “Every minute.”

“But I thought he was going to be busy.”

“He was.” Cassie tried to put as much suggestion into her tone as possible. She looked around Skylar's head out the window and saw that Jeff and Brent were outside in the parking lot and seemed to be deep in conversation. If she kept up this cattiness, she'd never find out anything from Skylar. Besides, when it came to cattiness, Skylar was sure to win. “So, have you chosen your dress yet?” she asked Skylar.

“Dress?”

“Your wedding dress.”

The waitress put four glasses and four beers on the table, then left. “Do you know something I don't?”

“I'm sure Jeff told you that I gave notice. I'm leaving.”

Skylar took a drink of her beer from the bottle. “Oh, yeah, of course he told me. We don't have secrets from each other.” She picked up the menu and looked at it. “Tell me again when you're leaving.”

“On Monday he's all yours. He'll need a babysitter right away, so maybe that'll help things move faster. I know Jeff has been…” Cassie waved her hand, as though searching for the right word. “Slow to make decisions lately.”

“Yeah. Rocks move faster than Jeff. What's good to eat in a place like this?”

“Seafood,” Cassie said, then lowered her voice. “So tell me, what kind of lover is he?”

Skylar's head came up. “Who?”

“Jeff, of course. Who else would I mean?”

Skylar put down the menu and narrowed her eyes at Cassie. “What are you up to? Why all these girly questions?”

Cassie smiled. “I just thought that now that I won't be employed by Jeff any longer, we might be friends. The truth is that I was hoping to lead up to asking you to give me some advice about clothes, that sort of thing.”

Skylar looked at Cassie's wrinkled shirt, which was now buttoned to just below her collarbone. “You could use some advice. But you're around that Fairmont dame all day, so what do you want
me
to help you with?”

Cassie had to think for a moment. Of course she didn't want any help with clothes from Skylar. Only if she planned to take up pole dancing for a second career would she ask Skylar for help, but she did want to find out the truth about her and Jeff. She needed to get Skylar back on course. “The truth is that I thought maybe you could help me win Brent.”

Skylar sat upright against the wooden bench. “So now it's Brent that you want?”

“I think so. He's been very nice to me. He took some photos of me….” Cassie did her best to blush and insinuate that the photos were something that they weren't.

“You know, don't you, that Brent doesn't have a dime?” Skylar said coldly.

For a second, Cassie looked at Skylar in disbelief. She had Jeff, yet she'd been flirting with Brent for a whole day. And now she was acting like Cassie was stepping onto her territory with Brent. Cassie wanted to tell the woman that she couldn't have both men. “I can't say that I ever gave his income a thought. He has a good job working for Althea.”

“Cutting the lawn?” Skylar said with a sneer. “Is that all you want from a man? Somebody's gardener? If that's true, honey, you need more work than just some new clothes. Besides, how can
you
afford good clothes? I don't shop at Wal-Mart.”

Cassie had to work to keep the smile on her face. “I know that you're a woman of the world.”

“And what is that crack supposed to mean?”

“Nothing bad,” Cassie said. “I just meant that you've traveled and seen things and met people.”

Skylar was quiet for a moment as she looked at Cassie. “So what exactly is it that you want?”

“I just want some tips on winning a man, that's all. After all, you've won a catch like Jeff, so you must be an expert.”

Smiling, Skylar took a deep drink of her beer. “He is good, isn't he?”

“So how did you win him? I mean, all the women at the country club have been after him for the last year, but they got nowhere. What's your secret?”

“Just, you know, natural attraction.” Skylar wouldn't meet Cassie's eyes.

“So when did he first tell you that he loved you?”

“After the first night,” Skylar said quickly.

“After the first night you made love?”

“Right. Not that it's any of your business. Why this third degree, anyway?”

“This is what girlfriends do,” Cassie said, smiling broadly. “Anyway, I'll have to make out a list for you about all that Elsbeth needs—her foods, her schoolwork. Everything. And then there's Thomas. He takes quite a bit of care because of his heart. You have to watch him because he'll cheat on his diet, so you'll catch him eating fried chicken. I'll get that list to you as soon as I can. I'm sure you're anxious to see it so you can start taking care of things.”

Skylar looked at Cassie as though she'd lost her mind. “I don't change diapers.”

Cassie laughed. “I can assure you that Elsbeth was potty trained years ago. But she is only five, so she needs a lot of attention. In the winter she has school, but in the summer she has quite a few lessons during the week. She has ballet and swimming and riding. She loves horses, and Jeff is thinking about getting her one. You'd hardly ever have to clean the stables, though.”

Skylar was staring at Cassie in horror as the plates of food were placed on the table. The waitress looked at Skylar and said, “You decided what you want?”

“Freedom,” Skylar muttered and looked back at the menu.

The waitress turned and left, and the next minute, Jeff and Brent came into the café. Brent was smiling; Jeff was frowning.

“Come and have your food while it's hot,” Cassie said to Jeff. He took the seat beside her and quietly began to eat.

“What pictures did you take?” Skylar asked Brent as soon as he'd sat down beside her and given his order to the hovering waitress.

“Funny you should ask,” Brent said as he got up. “I ran them off last night and I have a set of prints in the car. I'll go get them.”

“How's Elsbeth?” Cassie asked Jeff after Brent left.

“Great,” Jeff said. “And Dad will get the info to the right people.”

“What information?” Skylar asked.

“Nothing,” Cassie said, and for the first time she felt that she was part of the in-group, not the one who was on the outside. “Your dad okay?”

“Everyone is fine,” Jeff snapped, still looking down at his plate. “Life is just great.”

“What's your problem?” Skylar asked, taking a drink of her beer.

“Where did you and Goodwin go?” Jeff asked, ignoring her question.

“Just walking,” Skylar said, then said nothing else.

Brent returned with an envelope and tossed it toward Cassie as he took his seat beside Skylar.

She was a bit leery of what she was about to see, so she took the photos out slowly. But her eyes widened when she saw them. They were excellent. Even if they were of her, she knew they were very good.

The light from the outside, streaming through the conservatory windows, put an ethereal shine on one side of her face, while the one toward the camera was in deep shadow. The contrast was arresting.

The dress Cassie had on was magnificent, true, but it was the expression she was wearing that made the photos so good. It was as though every thought that was in Cassie's mind could be seen on her face. In the first pictures, she was a lovely young woman who was thrilled to be in such a beautiful dress, but after Brent told her to become the character who'd worn the dress, Cassie's face changed. She was an innocent young woman who was about to be executed, and she was begging for her life.

“Scary,” Skylar said, tossing the photos onto the table, but she seemed to look at Cassie differently.

“Houston,” Brent said, “you should be a model. I can see terror in your eyes, real fear. Looking at these, you'd think an axe was hanging over your head.”

Cassie was pleased by his compliments, but Jeff said nothing. She turned to him. “What do you think?”

“You look great,” he said, holding up one where she was on her knees and looking up into the light. Jeff looked at Brent. “So when did you take these? And what did you say to Althea to get her to let you use her dress for these pictures?”

“Well,” Brent said, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Cassie, “we didn't really ask. In fact, I think we are guilty of…What were our crimes?”

“Trespassing,” Cassie said. “And stealing. Or maybe not stealing, since we didn't take the dress out of her house, but I'm sure that what we did was illegal.”

“Not to mention what we did in the closet,” Brent said.

At that Cassie started to laugh and Brent joined her. In the next second, they were telling the story of what happened the day he took the photos and how they'd had to hide in the closet, smashed together, while Althea was in the bedroom.

“I don't know what would have happened if we'd been caught,” Cassie said, laughing. “I don't know if Althea would have forgiven us or called the police.”

“She would have called someone, but not the police,” Jeff said, looking at Brent like he wanted to strangle him. “I really don't think your job includes pilfering your employer's possessions.”

“Oh, come on, Jeff, lighten up,” Skylar said, much to Cassie's surprise. “It sounds like fun. Does that old woman have anything in her attic that a real person could wear?”