See Me in Your Dreams (6 page)

"A
fourteen year old girl is in trouble." And Keelin couldn't, wouldn't, turn
her back on the daughter, no matter how the father felt about her.

"You said
something about personal reasons before."

"Yes, I
did."

"If you
want me to believe you, you'll have to tell me more. Be totally honest."

Lies. All lies...

Why did he do it? Why? Now that I know, everything is
ruined...

Keelin's head
spun with the remembered fragments of her dreams. Cheryl had to have been
thinking of her father. Who else?

Careful as to
how she framed her response, Keelin asked, "Have you always been so
honest? Would you reveal every detail of yourself to anyone who would ask? For
that fact, would you be completely truthful even with your own daughter?"

She'd
definitely hit an open nerve. Tyler's complexion paled. His skin appeared
almost gray, Keelin thought, realizing she was far from happy for hitting her
mark. Her discomfort grew when his gaze meshed with hers and she recognized the
pain that went deeper than his eyes, perhaps all the way to his soul. She had
intimate knowledge of that kind of pain, and she respected its right to remain
private.

Chagrined, she
said, "I'm sorry."

Slowly, he
nodded. "But you had a point."

"I wish
you could take me on faith."

"Let's
say, I continue to give you the benefit of my doubt."

"As long
as that means I don't have to do this on my own."

He sat back
and stared. "I don't get you."

"You
needn't."

Keelin could tell
Tyler Leighton didn't particularly like puzzles, especially ones he couldn't
solve. She guessed he was a man who would pick away until he came up with a
solution. Hopefully, she wouldn't be around him long enough for him to lay her
open.

"Let me
tell you about the dreams," she suggested.

Keelin spent
the next quarter of an hour replaying them both to the best of her ability,
giving Tyler every visual detail she remembered. Holding back on Cheryl's
thoughts because she didn't want to sound accusatory. Because she didn't want
to sharpen his pain. Besides, whatever had happened between father and
daughter, he already knew. And it was none of her business. Tyler and Cheryl
would have to work on the reasons,
after
they found her.

"Who
could she have been meeting at the concert?" Tyler murmured once she fell
silent.

"I never
saw the person. That's when I awoke."

"Maybe
one of her friends."

"Have you
spoken to them?"

"The
police have tracked down her school friends as well as ones in the
neighborhood. And the private detective I hired did the same. They came up with
zero."

"Who does
Cheryl know in the city?"

He shrugged.
"Beats me."

"Does she
have an address book at home?"

"I'm not
sure...but we can look for one. Good thinking."

A carefully
modulated if throaty voice countered, "If she were thinking straight,
darling, she wouldn't be here with you, now, would she?"

To Keelin's
amazement, an elegant blonde in a clingy summer sheath appeared at their table.
She was stunning and perfectly groomed, as if she'd just stepped out of an
exclusive salon. A thick gold necklace and several rings with large stones
attested to her wealth.

And Tyler
muttered, "Vivian," as if her name were a curse.

The luscious
Vivian gave a speechless Keelin a once-over. "A bit unsophisticated for
your taste, isn't she, Tyler?"

"And
you're as rude as ever, Vivian."

She batted
long lashes over intensely green eyes. "You didn't always think so...and
not so long ago, I might add," she purred, running long French-manicured
fingernails under his chin.

Tyler ducked
his head away from her touch. "Don't make a scene. Whoever you're with
must be waiting for you."

"Yes, he
is, thank you." She turned to Keelin. "And you, darling, a little
friendly warning between us girls. Be on guard. Tyler Leighton takes no
prisoners. He'll break your poor heart if you let him. Ta."

With a wave of
her
beringed
hand, she was gone.

Leaving Keelin
speechless, and with heat climbing her neck.

She was more
than thankful when Tyler ignored her discomfort, casually saying, "If you're
done eating, I'll take you over to Grant Park, to the
bandshell
."

The last place
she'd seen Cheryl in her dream.

Chapter Three

AS HE AIMED THE JAGUAR FOR GRANT PARK, the
bandshell
area being barely a mile from the
restaurant, Tyler was aware of exactly how much Vivian Claiborne had flustered
Keelin. While she could be the most engaging creature on earth, when angry,
Vivian could also be a nasty piece of work. He'd quickly grown tired of her
razor-sharp tongue. Besides which, he'd suspected she had her sights on him to
be husband number three. One marriage to a woman more interested in what he had
than who he was as a person had been enough. He'd gladly broken off his short-lived
relationship with Vivian before things could get out of hand.

Unfortunately,
Vivian was a woman who didn't take even the smallest of rejections well.

And she'd
definitely managed to subdue Keelin. The Irishwoman sat in silence, her
attention fixed on whatever flew by the passenger side window. He let her
alone, figuring she would recover quickly enough once they arrived.

The
bandshell
was not in use tonight, the area dark and fairly
deserted. Even so, with the Buckingham fountain on the north side working again
added to the lure of the lakeshore a quarter of a mile east, finding a free
parking meter was out of the question. He pulled the car into a No Parking/Tow
Zone a few hundred yards from the
bandshell
and cut
the engine.

"Parking
here isn't legal," Keelin murmured.

"I
noticed. I break the rules when I have to," Tyler said grimly.
"C'mon. Get out. I doubt we'll be here long enough for it to make a
difference anyway."

By the time he
circled to the sidewalk, she was out of the car, facing west, taking in the
electric skyline looming over Michigan Avenue. He closed the door and stared at
her features, garishly illuminated by the street lights. Her eyes were wide,
her lips parted, and a visible pulse throbbed in the slender column of her
throat. She was caught. And for the moment, he was caught by her.

What was going
through that head of hers? Did she recognize the area or was she trying to make
him think she did? Cynic that he was, Tyler knew it would take more than her
word to make him believe her.

"This is
it," she finally murmured. "I recognize everything. The position of
the buildings. The lit signs. The bridge she took to get to the
bandshell
."

Tyler focused
on Monroe Street, on the other side of the Art Institute. A homeless man had
stationed himself on one side of the bridge. A couple of punks were play-
streetfighting
on the other. The kind of people his
daughter had been forced to deal with? He didn't know that, Tyler reminded
himself, trying to remain calm. He still wasn't convinced that Cheryl had been
on her own. If he believed she was, then he would have to believe she ran away
from him. He would have to believe her being missing was
his
fault.

The suggestion
made him gruff. "Getting any good vibes?"

Keelin's eyes
narrowed as they met his. "Let's walk around the
bandshell
.
Maybe I'll pick some up."

Tyler didn't
miss the sarcasm in her tone. He took her arm and escorted her onto the lawn.
She was silent but for the small breaths and sighs she occasionally released as
she gazed around the area this way and that, seeming able to see through the
thickening dark. Suddenly she stopped dead and faced the
bandshell
,
her flesh trembling under his hand. Instinctively, he released her.

She glanced to
her right, her gaze narrowing as if she were measuring. She stepped several
yards back and to her left. Adjusting. Checked herself and corrected her
position again.

Finally
satisfied, she nodded. "Here."

"Here,
what?"

"Where
Cheryl waited. Afraid. Trying to concentrate on the music. Liszt. A piece
you
listen to." Forehead pulled
into a frown, she faced him. "She was upset because it reminded her of
you."

Hair prickled
at the back of his neck. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

As if she
didn't hear, she sank to the lawn, concentrating. The prickle spread when she
cocked her head and glanced over her shoulder, pointing. "The voice came
from over there somewhere."

He stared in
the direction she indicated, hoping to see something, feel something. Of course
he didn't.

"The
voice startled her," Keelin went on, as if in a trance, "and she
jerked around..."

She sat very
still for a moment, obviously concentrating. Her expression changing slightly
as if she remembered something. Then she swept her hands through the grass.

"What?"

"Something
flew out of her fingers onto the ground."

Right
. "And the clean-up crew would have found whatever that
was."

Keelin would
know that, he told himself. She was merely play-acting for effect. Still, he
tensely watched her as she continued to examine the ground around her, getting
to her knees and widening her search. He fought the urge to drop to his knees
and help. Fought making a damn fool of himself.

Still his gut
tightened when she murmured, "Wait...I think I felt something."

Her fingers
scrabbled, digging through the green blades to the earth below. When her hand
whipped up, something small was clasped tightly between two fingers. Quickly
she rose to her feet and came to his side.

Tyler held out
his hand and Keelin placed the object in the center of his palm. A chill shot
down his spine. Even in the near dark he recognized it. A fairy charm from the
bracelet his daughter always wore.

He remembered
Cheryl complaining that he hadn't been spending enough time with her last
summer, that he was too busy with his work. He'd tried making up for his
negligence. They'd spent an entire weekend together, Sunday at the Renaissance
fair. They'd had a great time. An unforgettable day, just the two of them. The
bracelet had been outrageously priced for scraps of leather and small bits of
metal, but he'd seen how his daughter's eyes shone when she'd looked at it, and
he hadn't been able to resist buying it for her. The bracelet was her prized
possession and she rarely removed it.

Keelin's eyes
were shining when she asked, "Now do you believe me?"

"I
believe you know something about Cheryl," he agreed, the proof in his
hand. "What I don't know is if you're telling the truth about these dreams
of yours."

"But the
charm–"

He slipped it
in his pocket. "Could have been planted. Or you could have had it all
along, palmed it, pretended to have found it." He loomed over Keelin and
grabbed her upper arms, wishing he could wring the truth from her. "Did
you have anything to do with my daughter's disappearance?"

The excited
light extinguished from her eyes, she said, "No!" and pulled her arms
free, one at a time. Features saddened by disappointment and disgust, she
turned her back on him and marched across the lawn.

Tyler lost no
time in following. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To my
hotel."

"What
about my daughter?"

"What
about her?" She stopped and faced him. "What truth did she learn that
was so devastating that she ran from you?"

"I don't
know what you're talking about." But, deep in his heart, Tyler was
beginning to fear he might.

"At this
moment, is anything more important to you than your daughter's safety?"

"Nothing."
She was his whole life. If anything happened to her...

"Then
prove it. Take some responsibility and stop placing the blame."

His "All
right" seemed to take her off guard. She blinked and took a big breath.

"Suddenly
you believe me?" Keelin asked quietly. "Just like that?"

He couldn't
say the words. "I'll stop placing the blame," he promised instead.

Innocent or
guilty, Tyler sensed Keelin would lead him to his daughter. In the long run,
bringing Cheryl home safe was all that mattered to him.

"So what
have we accomplished by coming here?" he asked. "Other than your
treading the path in your dream?"