Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3) (13 page)

Oh well,
 She thought. She grabbed the box of dye on the counter and thrust it at Kelsey. “Dye me.”

Kelsey obliged, and with Devin’s help, they managed to finish the job in only ten minutes with only two spills onto the carpet below. Devin smeared some of the dye across Lena’s eyebrows as an afterthought. Lena let it sit as long as the box said was safe, sure that her dark hair wouldn’t take it. After she had showered and dried it, however, she found it had worked only too well.

“Well, at least no one will recognize you.” Devin said, covering his mouth with one hand as Lena tried to use the motel drier to get ready faster; they were down to twenty minutes to seven. “Can we do blond next time? I’ve always wondered what you would look like as a blond.”

Lena glared at him and switched the drier off. Her hair now smelled like motel drier air, and the dye had sufficiently dried her out enough that her new look had the texture it had previously lacked. It was the color of milk chocolate mixed with charcoal (from the places where the dye hadn’t taken correctly) and it was extremely puffy—Lena hadn’t seen anything like it since the last eighties music video she had seen while flipping through channels on the television. But Devin was right; no one was going to recognize her now, not even Warren Astley. Probably not even Howard.

It was colder than anticipated that evening, so Lena threw on a baggy, comfortable sweater. They packed back up into the car and Lena checked out; the clerk gave her a funny look, obviously recognizing that she had dyed her hair. Lena was now sweating bullets. She had checked out a room for only a few hours, she had changed her appearance drastically while using the room, and she was paying cash—if that wasn’t suspicious, she didn’t know what was. She tipped generously hoping no phone calls would be made on her behalf, and went back out to the car.

They were thirty minutes late arriving because Devin couldn’t read a map, and then ten more minutes late because Lena couldn’t parallel park. Lena threw her cell phone into Devin’s lap as she popped the door open and got out.

“Stay here,” she said. “I’ll call from the restaurant and tell you when to come in.”

Devin looked at her like she’d said something crazy. “Why?”

“I just want to be sure it’s really him, that’s all.” Lena grumbled. If it wasn’t Warren, she didn’t know what she was going to do.

“Well, I’m not letting you go in there alone if you think—“ Devin started anxiously.

“Dev, calm down. You’re staying here with Kelsey. I’m the only one he knows and the only one that can recognize him.” Lena took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “If I’m not back in thirty minutes, or if anything suspicious happens, go home. Without me. You’ve got the cell phone, and I’ll call if I need you to come back.”

He looked at her, eventually blinking. “Fine.”

Lena closed the door and set off at a quick pace down the street to the diner on the corner of Fifth and Geraldine. She was fairly sure it wasn’t a trap, but she was placing no bets on whether someone had been smart enough to hack her voicemail and hear the message that Warren Astley had left. However, if someone was out to get her, she knew this was the last chance she might ever have to reunite Kelsey and Warren, and somehow that validated taking the risk. She checked her watch before pushing the door open to the dimming sunlight—it was nearing eight, and she hoped he was still there.

She stepped into a place that smelled of bacon grease and barbeque sauce; the floors were shiny, but made sticky noises as Lena walked through the bright fluorescent light to the greeter station a little ways off from the door. A tall woman with bleach blond hair wearing jeans and a peach colored blouse looked up from her restaurant map to smile at her.

“How many tonight?” She asked in a semi-southern drawl, reaching for a stack of menus on a podium to her near right.

Lena glanced around the restaurant; Warren was sitting in a booth at the far end, staring stoically into a cup of coffee that he was stirring absentmindedly.

“I’m with him.” Lena said pointing. “Is it okay if we just talk and not get interrupted? It’s kind of long time reunion.”

The greeter smiled and nodded, and Lena went over. As she walked passed all of the people sitting in other booths and at the adjacent bar, she tried to see if she recognized any of them; there was an old couple getting ready to order, a guy sitting alone at the bar, and two younger women, perhaps in their late teens or early twenties, sharing an appetizer. One of the young women looked up at Lena as she passed, gave her a quick smile, and then went back to silently munching on the appetizer. As she slid into the seat across from Warren, he looked up, startled, and stared at Lena for quite some time. He was as worn down as he had been last time, still tired looking and wearing shabby clothes, but the anxious look of hope had sparked in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” He finally mustered.

Lena smiled. “I think you do. We met a while back in Texas, and then once before, though I’m still trying to forget that time.”

He leaned back and looked her over one more time. “I never would have guessed…Is she here? I heard you were out with some friends, and I thought—“

Lena smiled cautiously. “She’s here. Now, wait—you’ve got to understand a few things.”

Warren smiled broadly and then looked like he was going to cry. He tersely gave Lena his full attention as she started to speak.

“She doesn’t know you the way you know her. She doesn’t even know most of what this is about.” Lena explained.

“You haven’t told her?” Warren frowned. He seemed to think for a moment. “Thank you. I think I prefer it that way.”

“The reason I didn’t tell her is because it’s not my place. You’re going to have to tell her, and I want you to tell her everything.” Lena watched as Warren stopped smiling. He looked at Lena almost angrily, his prematurely wrinkled brow furrowing as his eyebrows dove together.

He leaned in close to her, keeping his voice down. “We haven’t had easy lives, the two of us! And now you want me to spend the first moments with my daughter talking about…about her mother, and, and…how dark our lives really are? I won’t do it—these are things she just doesn’t need to know!”  

Lena looked pleadingly into his livid eyes. “Would you rather someone else, a complete stranger, even if that stranger is a relative, told her after your untimely death? Because let me tell you, I wouldn’t! Don’t let that happen to her. She needs to know.”

It took a minute for Lena’s comment to register on Warren’s face. He sat back like she had slapped him. Lena gazed out the window briefly, and then looked back at him; his expression had softened considerably.

“You might not have wanted this for her,” she started slowly, “and you’re trying to protect her, and that’s good. But you can’t protect her from the past. She’s a very intelligent girl, and sometimes it’s absolutely striking…she’s clever, Warren, and even if you don’t tell her she’ll find out. She’ll know. She knows things that I have no idea how she knows. She has a family, and two brothers, and someday she’s going to want to meet them. You can’t just take all of it away from her. You did things you don’t want her to know about, but you can’t hide it—it’s her heritage. She needs to make sense of it before someone decides to tell her a story with certain details left out, and that version makes up her mind for her.”

They sat in silence, the memory of Lena’s early days at Waldgrave aching terribly. She didn’t know where Warren intended to take his daughter, or who he wanted her to know, but the one thing Lena did know was that she didn’t want Kelsey to wind up the victim of a conspiracy she didn’t even know about.

“I understand.” Warren said quietly.

Lena nodded. “Do you have a phone?”

Warren reached into his pocket and produced an older model flip-open cell phone, and passed it to Lena. She found her cell phone number already programmed into it, and called it. She spoke with Devin for a few minutes and then closed the phone.

She looked back up at Warren. “Okay. We can’t stay here long…I’m guessing someone’s told you about what’s going on lately?”

“The killings? Bound to happen.” Warren said with a shrug. “What’s Corbett playing at, anyway? He worked very hard to maintain his standing all those years, and now he’s just bowing out?” He looked at Lena questioningly.
  

“I have no idea.” She lied poorly.

“No—seriously. What’s he hiding?” Warren’s eyes filled with concern. “Lena, if he doesn’t step up to lead, the killings will continue. The old families need someone to follow, someone to keep them in line. Otherwise, if there’s a chance to steal the lead, they’ll try for it…Whatever he’s trying to accomplish, he won’t have much to return to if this goes on for long.”  

“He’s not up to anything.” Lena said flatly.

Warren nodded, accepting that he wasn’t going to get any more out of her. His eyes narrowed as he raised his coffee to take a sip.

“Really, it’s nothing.” Lena said finally, trying to fill the silence. “Well, it’s not nothing, but it’s not anything you should be concerned about. It’s just some family business he’s having to take care of—stuff since my grandfather passed on that he’s needed to deal with.”

“I see.” Warren conceded unconvincingly.

“Um, Lena?”

Lena looked over. Devin and Kelsey were standing next to the table. Kelsey was carrying her suitcase and looked white as a sheet as she stared at Lena. Warren’s eyes had wandered up to her daughter’s face; he looked like he might cry again.

“Cheryl, is it?” Warren said quietly. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

“Kelsey.” She replied.

“Isn’t this sweet?” Devin said sarcastically. “Okay, I know those two girls over there, and they totally recognized me. May I suggest we move out now? Like,
 
right now?
”

Lena shot up out of her seat and turned around. Three booths from their own, one of the two young women Lena had seen upon entering was talking on a cell phone. Lena’s eyes met with her companion’s, and the second girl leaned over and whispered something to the one with the cell phone. The girl with the cell phone stopped talking and looked, surprised, up at Lena.

Shit.
 She spun around and looked directly at Warren. “Do you have a car?”

“Yes.” He said, getting up and looking around, bewildered.

She started speaking very fast and in a low tone. “Take her, change her hair, and don’t stop moving. Hide. She’ll tell you why—you have a lot to share with each other. Call me, from 
that
 cell phone, at exactly six tomorrow night to let me know everything is okay. Now go!”

Warren ushered Kelsey out of the diner as she gave shocked and sad looks at Devin and Lena. And just like that her face disappeared beyond the diner door; she was gone. They hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye. Lena looked over at Devin, who was clutching at his stomach, and knew the person that the girl was talking to on the cell phone was Rollin. She grabbed Devin’s hand.

“Let’s go.” She pulled him toward the diner entrance. The nearest girl, with brownish-blondish hair, got up to block their path and Lena shouldered her with force out of the way. As she fell into the table, Lena broke into a run, dragging Devin the first few steps. It felt like an eternity as they sprinted back to the car. They got in, and sped off in no particular direction. After they had cleared the intersection and Lena couldn’t see the diner in the rearview mirror any longer, she felt like she was going to be sick. It was dark out, and she pulled off into the first parking lot she could find and turned the car off.

She sat still in the driver’s seat for several seconds, just letting the action of what had happened hum through her being. Then she hit the steering wheel as hard as she could, over and over again, feeling the pain shoot up her wrists.

“Lena. Lena!” She felt Devin wrap his arms around her to restrain her. She was shaking. “It’ll be okay…”

“Shit, Devin! That might be the last time we ever see her because of
 
me!
 We didn’t even get to say goodbye—did you see the look on her face? They’re out to get me, and they saw her with me, and I didn’t even warn him!” She was tense. She tried to let him comfort her, but she knew she had screwed up this time. Kelsey was her responsibility; now, wherever she was, she was with a stranger on the run, scared and probably lonely, wondering if her two friends had even made it out of the diner. Wondering, like Lena was, if the other pair were currently safe and alive.

Lena felt hot, angry tears dripping down her face in the darkness.

“They’ll be fine, just stop worrying…Look, I only even met them after I met up with Rollin. They don’t know Kelsey at all. It’s probably better that we didn’t act like we cared that she was going off, because that really would have drawn the connection between her and us. You did the right thing.” He tried to pull her closer, but she was rigid, and she didn’t think she would be relaxing anytime soon. “We’re more interesting than she is. I mean, look on the bright side—they’d much rather be killing the two of us, right? Kelsey will be fine.”

He had intended it as a joke, but neither of them laughed. It dawned on Lena that she was now back in hiding, and this time she was on her own. Devin was a good friend, but he wasn’t Griffin. This time, she was in charge of keeping herself safe, and she wasn’t sure she was up to the job.