Tomorrow's Promise (The Hawks Mountain Series) (18 page)

She’d just about decided she had everything when she felt something odd. Grabbing it, she pulled it out. When she looked down at what she held in her hand, she gasped.

Chapter 19

FAITH GAPED DOWN at a thick roll of money held together by a rubber band. Her hand began to shake. Her knees gave way. She sank back on her rump. The top bill was a hundred dollar denomination with the edge showing telltale marks of puppy teeth. She was almost afraid to release the roll to see what the other bills were.

She pulled herself to her feet and then returned to the couch in the living room, still staring at what she’d found and trying to comprehend exactly what she had and how it had gotten in her kitchen. Certainly, if it had been there all along, she would have found it when she’d swept the floor. From the tufts of stuffing clinging to the rubber bad, she assumed the money had come from inside the bear. And there was only two people she could think of who would have access to that amount of money—her grandmother and . . . Sloan Phillips.

Out of nowhere, a vision that had been burned in her memory flashed through Faith’s mind of the Atlanta police standing in her doorway telling her Sloan had been killed because he’d held out on his drug buddies. Had Sloan hidden the money in Lizzie’s bear? Is that why they killed him? Had her mother really been telling the truth about not searching her house? Had it been Sloan’s drug cohorts all along? What would she do if they came back while she and Lizzie were home alone?

The longer she thought about it, the more frightened she became. A lump of intense fear settled in her stomach in a large, icy ball. Cold sweat beaded her forehead and coated her palms. Her hand shook so hard she dropped the roll of money. It rolled across the floor, and she stared at it as though it was a poisonous snake.

Without thinking, she reached for her cell phone and dialed Cole’s number. When he answered, she fairly screamed. “I need you, now!”

WITH FAITH’S TERRIFIED voice echoing through his very soul, Cole broke every speed limit as he sped toward Faith’s house. Scenarios of why she needed him tumbled through his thoughts. Was Lizzie sick? Had she hurt herself? Was Faith hurt? Had her mother broken in again? He dismissed the last thought. Faith was a strong woman. She could handle her mother. It had to be something worse. He jammed his foot down harder on the gas pedal.

Minutes later, the squad car careened into the driveway, and Cole had barely turned off the engine before bolting from the car and racing toward the house. He had one foot on the porch when the door opened, and Faith launched herself into his arms.

“What is it? Talk to me, Faith.” He cradled her close and fought to keep the fear from his voice.

She buried her face in his chest and babbled incoherently. “Puppy . . . Fuzzy . . . money . . . Lizzie.”

Her body shook against his and not until he felt the moisture seeping into his shirt did he realize she was sobbing. “Sweetheart, calm down. I don’t understand what you’re saying. Is Lizzie okay?”

She nodded.

“Are you okay?”

Again, she nodded.

Still holding her close, and relieved that neither she nor Lizzie were hurt, he guided her back into the house and then toward the couch. When he saw the mess on the sofa, he stopped. He recognized it immediately as Fuzzy, Lizzie’s treasured companion. But why would the bear being torn up upset Faith this much? Then she pointed at the roll of bills lying on the floor.

After seating Faith on the sofa, Cole picked up the money. The size of the roll and the one-hundred bill on top took Cole’s breath away. He guessed that, if all the bills were of the same denomination, there had to be thousands of dollars in that roll. He held the roll out to Faith. “Where did this come from?”

She hiccupped, swiped at her wet cheeks, and took an unsteady breath. “Fuzzy.” Then she haltingly spilled out the story of what had happened since she got home. When she’d finished her tale, she finally took a deep breath and said, “I think I know how it got there.”

Cole sat beside her. “How?”

“Sloan’s drug money. I think he put it inside the teddy bear because he figured no one would guess it would be there, but he got killed before he could do anything with it.” She sighed. “He was holding out on them. That’s why they killed him.”

Wow!
That was the very last thing Sloan expected to hear, but having worked in a big city police force, he’d seen stranger things.

Suddenly, Faith stood and began pacing the floor. “Damn him! How could he put Lizzie and me in danger like this? How could he be so thoughtless?” Then she laughed mirthlessly. “Not that he ever gave much thought to us anyway.”

Cole watched her pace as she poured out an indictment of Sloan Phillips. She was angry and that was much better than the emotional wreck he’d found when he first got there. While he processed all this, he allowed her to fume for a few more minutes.

He finally understood where her fear had come from. How could he alleviate her anxiety? Then he had an idea. He got up and took her in his arms. “Honey, you need to calm down so we can talk this out.” He lifted her chin with his finger, kissed her lips lightly, and then turned her loose. “I need to make a phone call. Why don’t you make us some coffee?”

Her anger evidently burned out, she nodded and went into the kitchen. Cole stared after her for a few moments. He wanted to grab her and wrap her in his arms to protect her from every bad thing in the world. He wanted to kiss her—

Be honest with yourself. You want to make love to her until the sun comes up.

He swore softly under his breath, disgusted with himself for very possibly screwing up the best thing that had ever happen to him. With one last glance toward the kitchen, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and then punched in the number of his friend at the Atlanta PD.

FAITH COMPLETED the mindless task of preparing coffee. She pushed the “on” button and stared unseeing at the machine as it gurgled and sputtered through the brewing process. Although she felt better now that Cole was here with her, cold dread that Sloan’s sins had come back to haunt her still sent chills coursing over her. In her heart, she knew she would never have peace of mind until she was certain that there was no more spill-over from Sloan’s criminal lifestyle. But she feared that time would never come.

All the what-ifs that had troubled her before Cole got there raced around in her mind again. Absolutely nothing proved that Sloan had stashed the money in the bear, but she couldn’t get the idea out of her head.

Faith realized that her panic was clouding her mind and paralyzing her thought process. She tried to clear it away so she could make some sense out of all this. Closing her eyes, she counted slowly to ten. It helped some, but the tantalizing questions were still there and without answers.

“Coffee ready?”

Cole’s voice roused her from her mental prison. She checked the pot and realized that it had finished the brewing process already. How long had she been standing here lost in her frightening reflections? “Yes. Sit down, and I’ll get the cups.”

When they were both settled side by side at the table with their coffee, Faith cupped her hands around the hot mug. She found the sting of the heated ceramic against her palms oddly soothing. Cole pulled her hands from the mug and covered them with his. The feel of his skin on hers washed away the remaining fear. How did this man have the power to bring her a serenity that she’d never known before in her life?

Because you love him.

“Listen to me.” He squeezed her hands gently, and she raised her gaze to meet his captivating eyes. “I just called a friend of mine on the Atlanta PD Homicide Division. I should have done it sooner, but you were so sure your mother was the one who had broken into your house, that I dismissed Sloan’s buddies. I apologize for that.”

Faith held her breath for what was to come next. Would this confirm her worst fears?

Obviously having seen the fright return to her expression, Cole smiled and ran a finger over her cheek. “It’s good news, sweetheart. I asked him to check on Sloan’s case, and he said it was closed. They caught the guys who killed Sloan a couple of weeks after the murder. They are, as we speak, enjoying the hospitality of the Atlanta jail and awaiting trial.”

Faith felt the strength slip from her body. She felt as if she’d been standing on the edge of a cliff and Cole had pulled her back to safety.

“Thanks,” was all she could manage. “So, if it wasn’t them, where did it—” With the specter of drug dealers ready to do harm to her or Lizzie to get their money lifted, Faith’s head cleared and practical reasoning took over.

If it wasn’t Sloan’s buddies, then who? Suddenly, her second choice came flashing to mind. “Of course. It makes perfect sense.” She shook her head in wonder.

Cole looked alarmed. “What?”

She sat back in her chair, smiled, and then looked at Cole. “I think I know where the money came from.” She hesitated, certain that Cole would think she’d gone over the edge after she said it. “My grandmother put it there.”

“Your grandmother?” He sounded as shocked as she had been when she found the roll of bills. And she couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t something a person heard every day. Deep frown lines creased his forehead. “I don’t understand.”

She swung around in her chair to face him squarely. “Remember I told you my grandmother made Fuzzy for me and that she told me he would look after me even after she was gone?” Cole nodded. “Well, put that together with her habit of hiding money, and it makes perfect sense.” The look of incredulity on his face pushed her to rush on with more details. “And don’t forget the picture of the bear in my locket. I think it was my grandmother’s idea of a hint.”

His frown deepened. “If all that’s true, why didn’t she just tell you the money was inside the bear?”

Faith laughed. “I was nine years old. Why would she tell a child where a wad of cash was hidden? Besides, she never really had the chance. She passed away a few weeks after she gave me the bear.”

Cole leaned back in the chair and chuckled. “I’ve never heard anything this crazy before.” He scratched his head. “But, right now, it’s the only thing that comes close to making any kind of sense.”

Faith took a sip of her lukewarm coffee. “If you knew Gramma Harrison, you’d understand. This is so like her.”

Cole finished his coffee and stood. “Well, now that the mystery seems to be solved, and if you’re sure you’re okay, I guess I’d better go home.”

A little voice inside Faith was telling her not to let him go.
Do not let him walk away
.
Tell him you are not okay. Tell him you need his strength every day, all day. Tell him you want to talk about the letter from the high school. Tell him you want him to stay forever. Tell him you love him.

But she said none of these. After what she’d been through in the last few hours, she wasn’t sure her emotions could stand that conversation if it ended with losing him. Instead, she thanked him for coming, walked him to the door, and then watched him drive away.

As she stared at the red glow of the squad car’s taillights disappearing around the bend, she asked herself one more question.
Haven’t you lost him already by not telling him all those things?

COLE STOPPED THE car for the fourth time on the mountain road. Each time, his intention had been to turn the car around and go back to Faith’s to make her listen to his explanation about that letter
.
Each time, he chickened out, sure that she’d made up her mind that he couldn’t be trusted.

His insides were in turmoil, and his temples were throbbing. It had been easier to walk away from a budding career in law enforcement than it had been to walk out of her house tonight. When he’d announced he was leaving, he had prayed she tell him to stay, but she hadn’t. More than anything, he’d wanted to take her in his arms, tell her he wasn’t going anywhere, and that he loved her more than his next breath.

So why didn’t you?

“Because I’m a coward,” he told the inky darkness surrounding the car. “Because I was afraid she’d say she is happy with her new life just the way it is and that she doesn’t need another man showing up and complicating it.”

He smacked the steering wheel with his fist and stepped down on the gas pedal and headed for home. It was the beginning of what promised to be another in a long string of sleepless nights.

Chapter 20

THE NEXT DAY, when a knock sounded on the front door, Faith had just finished feeding Lizzie supper and was sitting on the living room floor with her building a Lego tower. Despite her throbbing heart and swirling emotions, Faith pushed away a nagging surge of hope that it was Cole and opened the door.

Her father grinned at her. “Hi, Princess.”

“Hey, Daddy. What brings you here?” She kissed his cheek, then stood back and let him enter.

He side-stepped Pup, who had come charging in at the sound of voices, then walked into the living room. When he spotted his granddaughter, he squatted down next to Lizzie who was busy taking apart the tower that Faith had just built.

“Hi, there. How’s my favorite granddaughter?” Lizzie giggled and offered him a bright red block. “Well, thank you. I think we need to put that right here.” He placed it carefully atop what was left of the tower then straightened. “Faith, I want to talk to you.”

Faith’s heart sank. She was always “Princess.” He never called her by her given name unless it was something serious. “Okay. Let’s sit in here so I can keep an eye on Lizzie.” She motioned toward the couch. When they were both seated, she asked, “What is it?”

“We need to talk about your mother.”

Faith couldn’t imagine why her father had come to talk about her mother. Was she ill? Was he leaving her? Celia wasn’t her favorite person, but she hoped none of her guesses for his visit were true.

“Daddy, what’s going on?”

Her father looked down at his hands, then back to her. “Honey, there’s something we never told you. But I think you need to know now. It might help explain why your mother is the way she is . . . the way she’s been all your life.”

Faith’s stomach did a nosedive. She couldn’t imagine what her father was going to tell her. Whatever it was, he was obviously having a hard time getting it out. “What is it, Daddy?”