Secrets and Lies (20 page)

“We’re not really sure who took the body. And clearly we don’t have any real evidence to support the theory that Miss Davis’ mother was doing anything illegal. It’s just circumstantial for now. We’re willing to stay away from that angle.”

“Why would you be willing to do that?” He hitched his ankle up on his knee as he leaned back in his chair.

“Well there’s no sense in smearing a dead woman’s name; is there?”

“No, I suppose there isn’t.” He grinned. “Of course I’m sure you’re aware that Miss Davis does want her mother’s body back.”

“She hasn’t had it in all these years; what’s the problem now?” She snapped.

Thomas bit his tongue to try to hold in his impending rage. “She wants to burry her beside her father. You’re probably aware that the plot had been purchased long before Mrs. Davis went missing. It’s closure for the family. I’m sure you can be sympathetic to that.” Actually he wasn’t sure of her sympathetic nature at all, but he could bluff his way onto faux friendly ground.

“Yes, I see. Well, we will do everything we can to see that she’s able to do that. Just please give us some time, Thomas.”

“McGregor,” he corrected her.

“That’s right. Your friends call you McGregor. Glad to know I’m on friendly ground.”

No; his friends didn’t call him McGregor. His friends called him Thomas. Acquaintances and enemies were limited to last name only. Whether she knew it or not, Phoebe McNamara was on his list as an enemy. The woman was lying, and he intended to find out why. He would unbury the truth, no matter how hard they tried to keep it hidden.

“So, you really think whoever was involved in the hospital’s trouble just stopped?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t they? Clearly they would be worried about the truth coming out.”

“Clearly,” he nodded. Clearly she didn’t know how to use the brains God gave her. If there were actual illegal activity at the hospital all those years ago he was certain it was still there. Bad people didn’t just stop doing bad things. Getting away with it was like an aphrodisiac. Whoever it was would just keep going, making things riskier, getting off on the high that came with stealing and killing without ever getting caught. He was certain now, more than he had been in the first place, that Neenah Davis’ death was linked to that hospital, and somebody in this precinct knew it too.

“Well, thank you for updating me on the progress,” or lack there of, he thought. “I do have a stop to make before I call it a day.” He stood and she stood.

“I hope I was able to help you.”

“Oh you helped,” he nodded. “You helped a lot.”

“Good,” she sighed. He could tell she was genuinely relieved which meant she had really bought the crap she was selling. Fortunately, he hadn’t.

“When you locate the body and get it back to Miss Davis I can at least give my client some good news.”

“Of course. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.”

He tilted his head. “Good day, Phoebe.”

She smiled big. “Yes it is; isn’t it?”

He left, knowing in his heart that he would uncover the truth. He had seen so many secrets in his line of work, so many lies, and in the end they all had a way of being revealed. Patience, he reminded himself, was the foundation of all success.

Reese hovered around Thena. She wasn’t working as much as she usually did on the site. He noticed the change, and so did the others, but nobody knew why. Any other day and Thena would be in the proverbial trenches just like everybody else.

“Are you okay, Miss Davis?”

She looked up at him. He was six feet so the only way she could see him was to look up. She was beautiful, just like her mother. She looked soft like her too. He resisted the urge to reach out and touch the silken strands of her curly hair.

“Yes,” she smiled. “I just wasn’t expecting the inspector today.”

“Everything went all right, yes?”

“Yes, of course. We do things according to code and we haven’t failed an inspection to date, so I’d say things went superbly.” She swayed on her feet. He reached out and caught her arm.

“Ouch,” she jumped.

“I’m sorry Miss Davis.”

“Reese, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Thena?”

Everybody else called her Thena. He was afraid to. He was afraid she might hear something in his voice that she didn’t hear when the other men said her name. “Thena,” he uttered the single word cautiously.

“Thena,” she nodded. “As opposed to Miss Davis.”

“I thought since I was new here, maybe I shouldn’t take the liberties.”

She shook her head and smiled. “We’re all kind of like family here, Reese. Some of these men have been here since my father started the company—in one capacity or another. Take our wonderful foreman; Nick started off on the ground when my dad started this company.” She patted his arm. “Just because you’re new doesn’t make you any less important than anybody else.”

“Okay,” he watched her closely. She looked so much like her mother, had the same warmth in her tone, the same kindness in her heart.

She nearly fell down again. “Should I get you some water?”

“No,” she said breathlessly. “I think I’m going to wait outside for my ride. It’s really hot in here,” she patted his arm again, indicating that he could release the hold he had on her elbow, so he did.

Before she could get outside Reese saw Jackson guiding a tall man in; he looked like the guy who dropped her off this morning, but he couldn’t be sure because he didn’t get a good look at the guy.

“Thena,” he rushed to her side.

“I’m okay,” she lied. Reese knew she was lying because he knew she wasn’t okay. She was like her mother in that respect too—trying to put on a brave face for everybody else.

“She’s almost fallen down twice,” he said. “I’m Reese.”

“Thomas,” he didn’t extend his hand, but then again, neither had Reese. Thomas pressed his hand to her forehead. “You have a fever.”

“It’s just warm in here, that’s all.”

“I’m taking you home.”

She nodded slowly. Reese could tell she was trying to stay on her feet by herself, trying to look strong in front of the men. She was just like her mother—strength, grace, beauty, and determination. Determination was a double edge sword. Determination could get her to a lot of places; it could even get her killed.

“Take this,” Thomas handed her the antibiotic pill and a glass of water. “I should have never let you go to work today.”

“Let me?” She asked indignantly. “I’m not a child, Thomas. I can go to work as I please.”

He blew out an exasperated sigh. “That’s not what I meant, Thena.”

“Then what did you mean?” She tried to stand and she fell back down in her seat again.

“That’s what I meant.” He shook his head before pulling her up into his arms. “I should have known that you’d need a couple days to recover. It may seem like a superficial wound, but infection is a risk. You lost some blood, you’re on these pills. It was bound to hit you and I knew that. I should have tried to convince you to stay home.”

“Oh,” she smiled. “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

“I thought I had.” His dry, sarcastic tone made her smile. “I’ll take you up to bed so you can get some rest. I’ll fix you something to eat.”

“Thanks,” she nuzzled her face against the curvature of his neck.

“I know you need to be on site tomorrow, but maybe you can make it a half day.”

“I don’t have to be there tomorrow. Eddie showed up early and did his inspection today.”

“Really? Is that usual?”

She shrugged. “Has never happened to me,” she yawned. “And something else was strange.”

“What’s that?”

“He was nice to me—I mean really nice. He said he was sorry about my mother.”

Thomas sat down on the bed, still cradling her in his arms. He brushed his fingers through her hair. “Nice…that’s odd?”

“Usually he’s not really talkative. He’s all business, but not this time. And he told me something about Kyle that I just can’t believe.” She felt the tension coiling in his body. Thomas was astute; she didn’t doubt that he had already discerned that it was something of importance.

She told him about Eddie’s words, about what he had revealed that she found so shocking, so unbelievable, that her mind was still spinning from it. While she was talking about Kyle, she realized she still needed to call and cancel his visit to her home tonight.

“I’ll check into it.”

“No,” she was adamant about it. There was no way she should be prying into Kyle’s affairs. They were friends and if he wanted her to know he would have told her.

“Yes,” he assured her he would do it either way. “You told me you would trust me.”

“To investigate my mother’s case; Kyle isn’t part of that.”

“I didn’t say he was. But I’m still going to check. At least you’ll know if this Eddie guy was really lying to you. You do want to know,” he looked down into her eyes. “Don’t you?”

She couldn’t deny that she wanted to know. She couldn’t deny that she was curious, but if curiosity killed the cat then it just might kill her friendship with Kyle. “I just don’t believe it’s true. I mean, look; Kyle and I broke up and he hasn’t stalked me to high heaven.”

“You’re still friends.”

“Exactly.” She hesitated. “Oh…I see,” she hadn’t thought of that. Perhaps this other girl had completely cut him off, and tried to walk away without connection. Perhaps he hadn’t gone all Fatal Attraction on her because she never tried to cut him out of her life. “No…it just can’t be true.”

“Wouldn’t you like to be sure.”

She sighed. This was wrong. At least it felt wrong, but if Thomas did research the information and he found out that it wasn’t true then at least she would know and she wouldn’t have put her friendship on the line by asking Kyle about mere gossip. “Yes,” she whispered. “I want to know. But—”

“I’ll be discrete,” he smiled at her before placing a soft kiss on her lips. “Now, bed; sleep; rest; so I can cook.” He stood and then placed her down in the bed.

“Hey,” she grabbed his wrist. “What did you find out today?”

He bent over and kissed her forehead before looking into her eyes. “Bed, sleep—”

“Rest,” she finished his sentence. “But afterward I want to know.”

“And you will.” He tried to pull away, but she held on tight.

“Thomas…”

“Thena, I can’t cook if you’re holding on to me like this.”

“Thank you…for everything. I know this is above and beyond what your duties as a PI are, but I really do appreciate this.” She held on to his wrist. The warmth of his skin felt good against the palm of her hand. He was strong, confident, honest—he was a good man. Maybe that’s why she trusted him so easily. Yes, that had to be it—his honesty. She couldn’t have based her trust on something as shallow, as primordial, as pheromones and hormonal attraction. If she were being honest it was more than that for her. At first, yes, she felt that instant, “wow factor,” with him. She hadn’t expected it. He was so against her type. The idea that she would want this man was just unfathomably surreal. But then, as the days went by, as she talked to him, she saw something more, something deeper than the good looks and the well-toned body. She still didn’t know much about him, other than what she had ascertained from conversations they had, and from watching him work, but she knew this—he was a good man, a man she wanted to get to know better—much better—than she already did. She hoped, whenever this case was finished, if she survived, that maybe they could be more to each other. Maybe they could have more than whatever this was that they had. They were great in bed with each other, but could they carry that over into the world of dating? She didn’t know the answer because they hadn’t actually been on a date yet.

“You’re welcome,” he patted her hand before gently unfolding her fingers from his wrist. “Sleep,” he reminded her.

“Maybe just for a little while,” she yawned again. As heavy as her eyelids felt, sleep was starting to sound more and more like heaven. She put in a quick call to Kyle. He was angry that she hadn’t called him, but he said he would forgive her. He had been worried after seeing her place and he assured her he would take care of the window. She didn’t remember much more because she was fading, fast. She ended their conversation, switched the phone off and fell asleep.

She slept for at least an hour, maybe more, before Thomas awakened her. He had made vegetarian pasta for her with a nice full bodied red sauce that smelled delicious and tasted just as good. He served breadsticks covered in sesame seeds, and he had wine while she had Cran-Apple juice. She didn’t drink, and even if she did it probably would have been a bad idea to have wine with the medication she was on. She wasn’t sure the two would mix well, and she hadn’t bothered to read the bottle to verify her belief.

“You promised to tell me what you found out.” She leaned back in the chair, completely full from dinner. She needed to go for a walk, exercise, do something to work off what she had just consumed, but right now all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed. Maybe walking would wake her up, but she was sure Thomas would be opposed to doing such a thing. It was getting dark, and her safety would be an issue for him. She was more worried that somebody might kill him while trying to kill her. She would feel irrevocably guilty if that were to happen.