Secrets and Lies (26 page)

“Why don’t you have a seat over there and tell me about it. Maybe I can help you clear this up once and for all,” Thomas gestured to the round table in the corner.

“Yeah, sure. Why not? I mean I’ve been deep in crap since that day. What are a couple more hours,” he shrugged.

“I picked a lady up at a bar…or more like she picked me up.”

“Kyle, you don’t pick women up at bars.” Thena was flabbergasted. The Kyle she knew wasn’t even into the bar scene.

“I was so pissed at the problems I had been having because of Sandy. I lost a contract bid because of her, and I just needed to let off some steam. I had gotten to my car when the woman I saw inside approached me and asked me to take her back to my place. I wasn’t drunk, but I was angry and that’s just as lethal to a man’s sanity.” He told them how he had gone home with the woman. She said she was in town for a couple days. He had sex with her and two minutes after they were done her phone rung. She answered it, closed the call quickly and said she had to go. He never heard from her after that. “She was cute, but not my type. She had big breasts,” he gestured with his hands, “a small waist and she was a wildcat in bed. She kept telling me to call her name; she slapped me when I didn’t comply the first time. I figured she was just into wild stuff you know…Phoebe, who thinks a chick with a name like that, and that mousy brown hair, would be so kinky?”

“Phoebe…no,” Thena shook her head, “can’t be the same one. She has blond hair and she’s clearly still in town.”

“She used to have brown hair,” Thomas said absently. “Did you get her last name?”

“Not because she gave it to me, but when she answered the phone she answered it with “McNamara,” so that’s how I knew it. It didn’t matter because she left town the next day—at least she said she was leaving—and I figured I didn’t have a chance of getting the cops to go look for her anyway.”

“I can’t believe it,” Thena stood and paced the room. “It’s the same woman. But why would she lie to him?”

“She didn’t,” Thomas assured her. “Phoebe left Boston for New York, but she wasn’t gone long. She transferred back out here. Her transfer got pushed to the top of the pile. Even though they had a more qualified detective in mind for the transfer they picked her. She’s gone blond since her rendezvous with Kyle, but it’s definitely the same Phoebe.”

“Who is she?”

“She’s a cop, Kyle. To be more accurate, she’s the cop working—or not working, my mother’s case.”

“I should have known that chick was trouble. She had been flirting with some old guy just the night before.”

“Did you get a good look at him?”

“Yeah. He was old man, I mean old. And he was wearing a suit. I thought he was her father at first, but then the way she kept touching him—if that was father-daughter relations then she has one messed up family.”

“And yet you still went home with her.” Thena rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, it was stupid. I know that now, but that night I just wanted to let go, and for a little while I did—with her.”

“If you see this guy who was with her again would you know him?”

“It’s been awhile,” he shrugged. “But I think so.”

“I have some pictures back at my office that I’d like for you to look at. Do you have time?”

“If it will help Thena I have all the time in the world.”

Thena hugged Kyle. “Thank you. I’m so glad you’re going to help us. And I’m so glad the two of you are going to get along. Kyle is my best friend,” she looked at Thomas. “And Thomas is my boyfriend,” she looked at Kyle. “I’m so glad both of you are going to be civil with each other.” She didn’t jump right to friendly because the look on Thomas face still made her think he didn’t fully trust Kyle. Perhaps trust would come with time; perhaps it wouldn’t, but the least they could do was be nice to each other in the meantime.

“Real subtle, Thena.” Kyle patted her arm.

“I know; right?” She laughed. “Now you two go on and handle business and I will stay here and work.”

“You’re coming with us,” Thomas assured her. She could argue with him, or she could go. Arguing would solve nothing because in the end she was sure Thomas would win. He had that determined look on his face; the one that told her he meant business. Besides, she was curious herself and if she were in the room while Kyle looked at photos then she wouldn’t have to wait to find out what happened—or why it was relevant to the here and now.

Kyle had been more helpful than Thomas imagined he would be, given the fact they hadn’t gotten off to the best start with each other.

“That one,” Kyle hit the photograph. “That’s the guy. He was wearing a snazzy suit too. I thought maybe he was one of those business men or something.”

“Congressman is more like it,” Thomas snapped.

“Let me see,” Thena nearly knocked Kyle out of his chair to get a look at the photo. “He doesn’t look familiar.”

“He doesn’t represent our state…but you might know his son.”

She looked at him, silently questioning his words.

“Doctor Evans.”

“No way.” She looked over the gray haired man’s picture. “They don’t look anything alike.”

“Adopted,” he told her. “His mother was a widow. Her husband died in a military training mission while she was pregnant. Congressman Evans wasn’t a congressman at the time, but he had political ambitions. He married her a couple years after her husband died. It boosted his ratings too. It was a smart move for both of them—politically and financially. Her son got a father, she got a husband, he got a playing card.”

“How sad,” Thena shook her head.

“I don’t know how sad it is. He seems to love him like his own blood. They’re so much alike you wouldn’t know any difference existed between their bloodlines.”

“Well, I’m going to be late for an appointment,” Kyle stood. “If you need me, Thena knows how to reach me.” He turned and pulled Thena into his arms. “Keep your head up; things will get better.”

She smiled at him. “Drive safely.”

“I always do,” he grinned. “Call me later.”

She nodded before turning her attention back to the pictures. Thomas showed him out the office. Janet wasn’t in, yet again, because she had a parent-teacher conference with one of Mike’s teachers. He hoped it wasn’t anything serious, like trouble, because he knew that even though Mike had some good influences in his life lately, he still felt anger over his father, and sometimes he would act out by skipping school. Thomas thought putting him in the youth soccer program would be good for him. So far it had seemed to help give him a feeling of family, of belonging, but he wondered if maybe he needed more.

“I get it now,” Thena turned to look at him when he reentered his office. “Doctor Evans killed my mother and the congressman is covering it up with the help of that woman.”

Thomas shook his head. He was going to have to find a way to settle Thena down so she would stop running off half cocked with wild ideas. “You don’t have any proof of that.”

“Oh please! It’s so obvious. Call the FBI, or CIA, or whoever deals with this and have those murdering bastards arrested.”

“Thena,” he sat down in front of her. “You need proof. The congressman having a drink with Phoebe, who wasn’t even a detective up here at the time, doesn’t prove anything.” The way she looked at him told him she heard his words, but she wasn’t going to easily believe them. She had made up her mind on what she thought was truth and she wanted him to do something about it now—not tomorrow, not next week, but now.

“He has a point.” The voice from behind her made her jump nearly out the chair, while Thomas calmly lifted his eyes to the man standing at the door. He knew the voice right off, which is one reason he didn’t feel a need to pull his gun.

“Drake, good to see you.” He was early.

“You too. Geneva sends her love,” he nodded his head in the direction of Thena, as if he expected not only an introduction, but a full on explanation of what their relationship truly was.

“Drake, this is Thena Davis. Thena, this is Drake—a really good friend.”

“Hi,” she smiled. “It’s so good to meet some of Thomas’ friends—he seems to be hiding them all from me.” She crossed the room and shook Drake’s hand. “Come on over, have a seat.” She tugged at him until he was at the desk. Drake rearranged one of the chairs so that he could sit with his back not facing the door.

“Can I talk freely with her in the room?”

“Hey,” she said indignantly.

“About this case,” Thomas nodded affirmatively. “What do you have for me?”

“Doctor Evans isn’t your guy. He has an airtight alibi, although you won’t see it in any of the papers or police reports…buried police reports,” he added. “He was being questioned at the hospital on suspicion of theft. They thought he was taking drugs and—”

“Selling them!” Thena chimed in.

“Using them,” Drake shook his head. “Does she always do that?”

Thomas nodded. “Sadly it does seem to be something she insists on doing.”

“Funny,” she shook her head. “I didn’t think you could be a doctor if you used drugs. I mean, don’t they kick you out of the profession for stuff like that?” She started tinkering with one of the files Drake had brought with him. Drake judiciously unfolded her fingers from his files and moved the folders out of her reach. She smiled sheepishly before apologizing.

“They couldn’t prove it…or more like they didn’t want to. The hospital received a rather hefty donation the same day the investigation on Harold Evans stopped.”

“I told you they did it. I’m not sure how, but it was them.” She jabbed her finger at the photo of the congressman. “What are you going to do about it, Thomas?”

Thomas took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. There was nothing he could do about her theory, other than investigate it, but somehow he knew telling her that wasn’t going to go over well.

“There’s no proof. It’s just circumstantial, and given the ease at producing an alibi—”

“No way do they get away with it. You have to do something.” She stressed her words. “If you can’t, then I will.”

She stood and Thomas quickly got to his feet and around the desk in time to put her back in her chair. He couldn’t have her running off and doing something stupid, like throwing accusations around that could get his investigation set back to square one, or get her killed. “Listen,” he sat down on the corner of the desk. “I’m going to say this once, and once only. You do not go out there and do anything.”

“But—”

He held up his hand to keep her from talking. “If I have to handcuff you to the bed until this is over, I will.”

She smiled deviously. The smile had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge. What was she up to now?

“You have handcuffs?” The tone in her voice told him she was thinking of all the things he could do with those handcuffs, or more like all the things he could do to her while she was wearing them. He shook his head. Drake snickered.

“The point is, Thena that I’m handling this investigation and I say when it’s time to make a move. Now is not that time.”

“But, Thomas. They are doing something illegal at that hospital, the same hospital where my mom worked. Then my mom goes missing, not just missing, she gets killed. They have to be involved. It can’t just be a coincidence.”

She had a point there; he couldn’t deny it. He didn’t believe in coincidences; something somewhere within this mess of information had to be connected. But he couldn’t just run off making accusations without proof, especially when politics were at play. If they were involved then they had killed once to protect the secret, and he knew they would be willing to just as easily kill again. What he couldn’t understand was why they hadn’t just gotten rid of the body all those years ago. Why hide it in the walls of a home that was being newly constructed? On the other end of that, what were the odds that somebody would come through and want to completely gut out the home and redo the interior structure? Whether it was bad luck or stupidity didn’t really matter. Their secret had been unearthed and now they were going to have to scramble to cover over it.

“Promise me, you’ll trust me to handle this. Promise me you won’t do anything.” He refrained from adding the words, anything stupid, to his sentence because knowing Thena that would just give her reason to do just that. She, of course, wouldn’t think anything she was doing was stupid, even if he did.

“Okay…I’ll trust you to handle it—for now.”

He shook his head again.

“She has fire,” Drake said. “I can see why you like her so much.”

Thomas didn’t bother to dispute Drake’s words. Even though he hadn’t talked to him about his feeling for Thena he was sure Drake had noticed in the way he dealt with her that he felt something for her—something more than PI and client relations.

“Now,” Drake stood. “I need to talk to Thomas about something and it’s not for your ears.”

She looked to Drake and then to Thomas. “Oh, all right. I’ll wait outside.

Thomas shook his head no. “You’ll wait in here. We’ll go out into the reception area.”

She laughed. “Scared I might run off on you?”

The thought had crossed his mind. He handed her some blank eight by ten paper. “Here,” he put a pencil in front of her. “Sketch some of those changes you insist I should make to the kitchen.” He watched the light in her eyes shine brighter. Thena was in love with architecture. If he really needed to keep her busy, keep her mind occupied so that she wouldn’t keep thinking about ways to trip up the doctor and the congressman, then he had to give her something to focus on that she loved.