Summer Rain (Lightning Strikes Book 3) (30 page)

"What do you mean?" she asked, her pulse speeding up. "Are you talking about Reid? Or about someone else? Who else is involved in this? I know Reid couldn't be managing an operation of this size without help."

Tania didn't answer.

"What about the plane crash?" she asked, changing tactics. "You said Reid didn't kill the senator, but he did, didn't he?"

"He did everything you imagined he did," Tania said. "Oh, God."

"What? Tania, are you there? We need to meet again. We need to talk more."

"Someone is following me," Tania said, terror in her voice. "I thought I was careful. But they know what I did. They know I went to the ranch. I was such a fool. I tried to help you. I knew I shouldn't have done it. I just felt so bad, because I saw you at the funeral. You and your siblings were crying so hard. It was that day that I realized exactly what I'd gotten myself into. I never thought people were going to die. You have to believe me. I thought it was just about making money. I knew that day I could never leave. If I tried, I'd be dead, too."

"You were at the funeral?" she asked in shock. Now that Tania had brought it up, she remembered that Jerry had been there as well. In fact, there had been a large crowd at the church. She'd thought at the time that she never knew her father had that many friends. "Tania," she said, when the woman didn't answer.

"I have to go. I have to get away," Tania said, desperation in her voice.

"Who's following you? Where are you? I can help you. I'll come to you."

There was a clatter, as if the phone had been dropped, and then the call cut off.

Dani swallowed hard and looked over at Patrick. By the hard profile of his jaw, she could see that he was thinking the same thing she was—Tania was in bad trouble.

She punched in the number again. It rang until it went to voice mail. "She's not answering. Do you think something has happened to her?"

"I hope not," he said heavily, giving her a bleak look. "But I think so."

Nineteen

Dani tried Tania's number a dozen more times on the way back to the cabin, but there was no answer. On her last try, the phone didn't even ring or go to voice mail—an even worse sign.

She thought about everything Tania had told her, realizing that the other woman might have just risked her life to give her the truth about her father. She hoped Tania was okay, but she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't get past.

She went over the rest of their conversation in her head, one point sticking out. "What do you think she meant when she said something was going to happen tomorrow?" she asked Patrick.

"Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Could they be making some sort of a statement?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, Dani, but it's time we bring a few more people into the conversation—your family, for one, maybe the FBI or the police…"

As much as she didn't want to involve her family, she knew he was right. There was no way she could just sit on the information she'd gotten about her father. "I agree. I need to show them this file. I think my great-grandmother was right. I may have just gotten the last piece of the puzzle."

"You did well, Dani. You got Tania to trust you enough to share a piece of vital information."

"She didn't really trust me. She knew I was lying the whole time. I just caught her at the right moment. The whistleblower was right. She was ripe for an approach." Dani paused. "I know she's probably done some really bad things, but I hope she escapes. I think she could help us if she does."

"That's a big
if,
Dani."

"I know. I'm going to use my real phone to text Alicia. I'm not sure my presence in Texas is a big secret anymore."

"No," he said tersely.

She frowned at his tone. "Why not? What aren't you saying?"

"I'm just wondering when Tania was first followed. Was it when she met you for breakfast? Was it when she went to the ranch beforehand? Was it later?"

"She thought someone saw her leave the file, which means…" Her voice drifted away as she realized exactly what it meant. "They could have seen her with me at the Waffle House."

"That's what I'm concerned about."

"But no one followed us to the ranch. No one is behind us now." She looked in her sideview mirror. There wasn't another car for miles.

"I haven't seen anyone, so maybe we're fine. It's possible they were tracking Tania long before you met up with her."

She hoped that was the case. Pulling out the phone from the whistleblower, she texted Alicia:
It's me, Dani. Are you and Michael back in Texas yet?

Her sister replied almost immediately:
Yes. Had a great time. What happened to your phone?

She replied:
Long story. I'm in Corpus Christi today. Got info on Dad. Can you meet me away from house? Don't want to talk to Mom yet.

Alicia said:
Are you serious? Yes! Mom isn't home. She's at a wedding, so come to the house. She won't be back til 6. Should I call Jake?

She said:
Yes, super important. Be there in 20.

Dani set down the phone. "Alicia will meet us at the house. My mom is at a wedding, so we don't need to deal with her yet."

"You don't think she'll want to hear this?"

"I'm sure she won't want to hear it, but we will speak to her, just not yet. I want to tell my brother and sister first. My mom is still convinced it was an accident, and she hates talking about my dad. She'll be a distraction."

"Whatever you want."

"Patrick—I feel like we've gotten a little away from your mom's death. I should have asked Tania more about the crash."

"You tried. She told you that Reid did everything we imagine he did."

"But that's not good enough. I just want you to know that I'm still very invested in helping you find out the truth."

"Thanks. I think I knew from the beginning that their deaths were tied together."

"It's a morbid connection we have."

"Well, that's only a small part of our connection," he said with a smile.

He extended his hand to her, and she took it, feeling the instant heat between them when their fingers touched. Patrick was right; there was so much more between them than the mystery of their parents' deaths.

They drove the last few miles holding hands, because just like every other time they touched, they both had a hard time letting go.

* * *

Patrick finally released her hand when he parked the truck in front of her mother's house. But when she saw her sister fly out the front door, she wished she was still hanging on to him; what she was about to do was going to be difficult.

Alicia hugged her and then gave Patrick a curious look. "Hello. I'm Alicia, Dani's sister."

"Patrick Kane," he said, shaking Alicia's hand.

As Michael came down the stairs, Alicia introduced her husband to Patrick.

"Nice to meet both of you," Patrick said. "I've heard a lot about you."

"That's interesting, because we've heard nothing about you," Alicia said with a speculative gleam in her eyes.

"It's quite a story, but I'm going to let Dani tell it."

"Are Jake and Katherine on their way?" she asked as they walked up to the house.

"They should be here soon," Alicia replied.

"Great." She was relieved that she'd be able to tell them both what she'd learned at the same time. "How was the honeymoon?"

"It was amazing," Alicia said, sending Michael a beaming smile. "Everything I imagined and more."

"Same for me," Michael said.

"It's good to see you both so happy," Dani commented, thinking that marriage certainly agreed with her sister. She was as glowingly pretty today as she'd been at her wedding last weekend. It was difficult to believe only a week had passed; so much had happened since then.

"Where did you go for your honeymoon?" Patrick asked.

"We went to Maui," Alicia replied. "We had incredible weather. We snorkeled, sat in the sun, and did next to nothing. It was heaven." Alicia paused, giving Dani a questioning look. "I know Jake said for you to wait until he got here to tell us what's going on, but I'm super curious. Can you give me a hint?"

"I'd rather just say it once. Sorry."

"All right," Alicia said with a sigh. "I was just making some sandwiches in the kitchen. I'll finish them up and bring them in, all right?"

"I'll help you," Michael said, leaving Dani and Patrick alone in the living room.

"They're in such a good mood. I'm going to change all that," she said regretfully.

His eyes filled with empathy. "You are going to change that, but your sister has been haunted by the mystery. In the long run, this is what she wants."

"I suppose, but it's one thing to believe something is true and another to know it's true."

He put his arms around her and looked into her eyes. "All the pain is coming back, isn't it?"

"It's why I didn't go down this road," she admitted.

"It's hard to open the old wounds. You think they're scarred over and too tough to break, but then someone says something and you remember, and it's like it happened yesterday."

"Will we ever get past it?"

"Past it—no. Accepting, remembering the good times more than the bad—definitely yes. We've both tried to move on. In my case it was easier. I didn't think there was a mystery involving my mother until a few weeks ago, but you've been living with uncertainty for a long time."

"We're going to find out what really happened to your mom's plane, too."

"I have no doubt. We're getting closer every day." He let go of her as he looked around the room. "So this is the house where you grew up?"

"This is it. It's small, but it's always been home. As you can tell, my mother loves neutral colors—everything is beige or cream or tan, with the occasional gray thrown in. She says they're calming colors. When my father was alive, the wall behind the couch was painted maroon. There were colorful crocheted or knitted blankets on chairs and paintings from Mexico on the walls; it was chaotic and loud but also warm and vibrant. And when my dad was here, everyone noticed. He filled a room." She paused. "Alicia takes after him. She's definitely got his passion and imagination and creative tendencies. I'm really more like my mom."

"You're not beige, Dani. And you've got a lot of passion, trust me."

She flushed at his intimate look. "I wasn't talking about that kind of passion."

He smiled. "You might not be colorful and loud, but you're beautiful, intelligent, interesting, and courageous as hell. I've never met anyone like you. Every day you surprise me—in a good way. You wear a bit of a mask, and you have your guard up, but once you take off the mask and let down the guard, you're something else."

She felt a little overwhelmed by his statement, not just by the compliments but how well he could read her. "Thanks. But you should save that cheesy stuff for when you want to get me into bed," she said lightly.

"Since that's just about every second of every day—"

"Stop," she said, putting up a hand.

"You started it."

"And I'm finishing it. I don't need my family to hear any of this. There will be way too many questions to follow."

"I understand. Just for the record: I meant every word, cheesy or otherwise." He let that sink in, then walked over to the mantel to look at the assorted family pictures. "You were a cute kid."

"Better after I got the braces off," she said with a self-deprecating smile.

"This was your high school graduation?" He pointed to one of several family group shots.

"Yes. We had a big barbecue here at the house afterwards. My dad grilled up steaks. Half the neighborhood came. It was a family tradition to celebrate big events like that with barbecues. But we didn't have one for Alicia. My dad was gone by then." She drew in a deep breath and let it out. Before she could say another word, the front door opened and Jake and Katherine walked into the living room.

She introduced them both to Patrick, as Alicia and Michael came out of the kitchen with platters of food and cans of soda.

"We actually met before," Katherine said to Patrick. "In the examining room at the hospital."

"Right. I remember you. That seems like a long time ago now," he said.

"You look better today."

"Thanks. I feel better."

"What's going on?" Jake asked, giving her an expectant look.

"Let's all sit down." After everyone settled into the couches and chairs around the coffee table, she reached into her bag and pulled out the file folder she'd gotten at the ranch. She set it on her lap but didn't open it.

"What's that?" Alicia asked.

"It's a file on Dad."

"What?" Alicia gasped. "Whose file?"

"Where did you get it?" Jake asked tensely.

She looked around at their expectant faces and almost didn't know where to start. Patrick put a hand on her thigh and said, "You better give them a little history here, Dani."

He was right. "Let me back up a few days," she said. "I met Patrick last Sunday at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the park honoring his late mother, Congresswoman Jackie Kane. As some of you know, Patrick was attacked at the park, and I came to his rescue."

"You did what?" Alicia asked in shock.

"That part isn't important," she said. "What matters is that over the last week, Patrick and I have discovered that we have a connection that goes back to both of our parents. We believe that Patrick's mother's plane was sabotaged, and that the crash wasn't an accident. We also know that Dad didn't crash his plane into the Gulf. It appears that both events are tied to MDT. In researching and asking questions, we came upon some information this morning, and this particular piece is about Dad."

"Don't stop there," Alicia said. "Someone from MDT killed Dad, didn't they? Was it Jerry?"

"It might have been," she replied. "In this file I'm going to share with you, it says that Dad went to the local police and reported seeing flashes of what he thought was gunfire, along with jagged lightning strikes that didn't seem to make sense. We know that that is what started the rumors about his sanity and his obsession with lightning. But what we didn’t know is that someone at MDT had created a shadow company. They were using classified information and money funneled through MDT to make the same weapons to sell on the black market. They were testing those weapons out of a ranch about twenty miles from here—Carmichael Ranch. It's no longer in operation. I don't know when it closed—if they moved everything to Mexico, or only part of it. But the ranch was completely cleaned out when we went there this morning. There was only one thing left behind—this file."