You Can Run... (32 page)

“Are you certain Jeffrey wasn’t just overprotecting her, especially because they had a baby?”

“She believed he thought she had a lover.”

“Did she?”

“If she did, she didn’t tell me about him.”

“Are you sure she
would
have told you?”

“No. In fact, she probably wouldn’t have. She wouldn’t want another lecture from me about playing with fire, especially because she wasn’t good at sneaking around. Well, the question of a lover aside, one day over a year and half ago, she called me, frantic. Penny had always been intrigued by a wall safe in Jeffrey’s study that he never let her look into, saying it was full of boring business papers. While he was gone on one of his trips, she searched his study and under a heavy piece of sculpture, she found a piece of paper with numbers, which she thought were the combination to the safe.

“She was right, and inside the safe she found Yvette’s necklace. Penny had heard so much about it over the years, she recognized it instantly. The clasp was broken and the chain twisted almost in two. She said the damage didn’t look like what could have happened in a fall. To her it looked like the kind of damage the necklace would have sustained if there had been a struggle and someone had twisted it off Yvette’s neck.

“The fact that Yvette’s necklace was missing was the only reason the police didn’t immediately rule her death a suicide. They believed if she’d jumped out the window, the necklace would have been on her body. But Jeffrey—and several of his lawyers—claimed the necklace could have been stolen after Yvette hit the street. Before the police could arrive, a lot of people had gathered around her body and somebody did CPR and checked her pulse and God knows what else. Also, Yvette was drunk that night, she’d threatened suicide many times—even the day before her death—and it was fifty degrees outside but her window was wide open. Everything except the missing necklace pointed to suicide.”

Tyler’s expression hardened along with his voice. “Over the years, Jeffrey kept talking about the necklace, supposedly wondering what happened to it, as baffled as everyone else. And all along it had been in his safe. When
Penny found it, she knew Jeffrey must have struggled with Yvette and pushed her out that window.

“That alone frightened and horrified Penny, but what really terrified her was that she finally believed all the things people said about him—that he’d killed his father and Yvette. She talked hysterically about the way Jeffrey had begun acting with her—the moodiness, keeping her a near-prisoner in the apartment, paying no attention to her or to the baby. She thought that because he believed there was another man in her life, she was going to be his next victim.”

“Why didn’t she take the necklace to the police?”

“I told her the necklace wouldn’t convict Jeffrey of murder. He’d just left his guests at the party when a man in the room next to Yvette’s heard her shouting at someone in her own room. Then the guy in the lobby claimed he saw Jeffrey heading to the elevators right before she would have gone out the window. If what the witness said was true, Jeffrey wouldn’t even have had time to make it to the hotel room, much less struggle with Yvette and toss her out a window then hide the necklace. As for Jeffrey having the necklace years later, he could say it come into his possession after the murder. He might claim someone stole it and sold it back to him.

“Mainly, I didn’t want Penny’s knowledge to become public, because I was afraid Jeffrey might still have contact with some of his father’s mafia connections. I thought if he didn’t shut her up, they’d do it for him.”

“So you told her to run away.”

“No,” Tyler said emphatically. “I told her to get a divorce. If Jeffrey didn’t care much for Willow, he probably wouldn’t fight for custody. Penny said he’d fight for the sheer hell of it, but she didn’t think he’d let things get that far. She thought he’d kill her before he’d let her leave him, especially if he thought there was another man. I told her, ‘Penny, you can run, but you’ll never be safe.’ She was determined, though. She begged me to help her. She said she’d do it alone if I refused.”

Tyler gave Diana a despairing smile. “Penny was smart, but she didn’t know the first thing about pulling off a disappearance. She would have bungled the whole process, Jeffrey would have found out, and God knows what he would have done to her. So I relented.

“I got her all the fake identification and bought the Social Security cards from a homeless woman—they are so desperate, they’re more than willing to sell Social Security cards. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found a woman with a child almost the same age as Willow.” A smile flickered across his face. “Penny insisted I give the woman twice the money she asked for the cards. No one could say Penny wasn’t a generous soul.” The smile disappeared. “Penny told me she intended to come to Huntington, primarily to be near Al Meeks although she had other reasons, too. So Jeffrey returned from his trip to find absolutely no sign of his wife and daughter.”

“That would seem cruel if you didn’t know Jeffrey’s history,” Diana said gravely. “But I’m not certain I wouldn’t have done the same thing if I had been in Penny’s place.”

“I didn’t think it was the way to ensure her safety, but I think like a cop. Anyway, we kept in touch and I even came to Huntington to see her a couple of times—it was easy for me because I could stay with Al.”

Tyler looked away from her, his face etched with pain. “Then I got a hysterical call from Penny about two weeks ago. She said someone was asking too many questions. I had a feeling there was more going on, but she wouldn’t give me more details. She just insisted she’d been found out. She said she had to get away, which broke her heart because she’d have to leave you and Simon. Of course, I agreed to help her again. I couldn’t come immediately—I needed time to gather false IDs again. When I finally got here, Willow was in the hospital with appendicitis. We were going to leave Sunday morning.” Tyler drew a long, shaky breath. “But Sunday was too late.”

Tears glittered in his brilliant blue eyes. Diana put her arms around him and lay her head on his chest. His arms
immediately enfolded her and she felt a tear fall onto her forehead, just as her own tears spilled onto his T-shirt.

Finally, when she could speak, Diana asked, “Do you have any idea who found out about Penny?”

“No. She knew, though. She said she’d tell me when she got away from here. I think she was afraid if I knew who it was, I’d go after the person. I might even kill someone. I wouldn’t have, but Penny could get carried away, exaggerate.” He sighed. “But she sure wasn’t exaggerating the fact that she was in danger.”

“And not from Jeffrey if he didn’t know where she was until after the explosion, when her fingerprints were sent to a national database.”

“Even if he wasn’t directly responsible for that bomb, Diana, he killed her just the same. If he didn’t have the necklace, if he hadn’t given her good reason to feel her life was threatened . . .”

“I know.” Diana raised her head. “I know.”

Tyler stroked her hair then pushed it behind her ears and kissed her neck, slowly, gently, trailing kisses from her collarbone up to her ear lobe. Diana closed her eyes, heat flowing through her, as she ran her fingers delicately over his chiseled features, lingering at his lips.

“A few years ago, Penny said there was one girl in the world for me,” Tyler murmured. “She told me, ‘She’s out there somewhere, Tyler, and I know one way or another, you’re going to find her.’ ” Diana opened her eyes and he looked into them so piercingly, she felt as if he could see her soul. “About three months after she started working for Simon, she told me on the phone, ‘Your girl
does
exist, Tyler, and I’ve met her. Her name is Diana.’ ”

Diana’s eyes filled with tears again although she smiled. “She thought I was the one for you?”

“Absolutely. When I met you the night of the explosion, I felt like I already knew you. I think I was halfway in love with you from the first minute.”

“And now?”

Tyler smiled seductively, the tiny crinkles at the corners
of his eyes deepening. “And now I know Penny was right. I have met the girl for me. I just don’t know if she thinks I’m the guy for her.”

“Oh, she does,” Diana said with a rush of feeling. “She most certainly does.”

“We’ve only known each other three days.”

“Penny told you there was one girl in the world for you. My grandmother told me love strikes as quickly as a lightning bolt. It doesn’t matter if we’ve known each other three days or three years—my lightning bolt has struck.”

Tyler lowered his face and kissed her deeply, making her feel as if she’d never really been kissed before tonight. His fingers tangled in her long, curling hair, and her palm closed around his strong, hot neck. They kissed until the grandfather clock struck three. Tyler pulled away from her, his breath coming fast, his face flushed. “I’m being incredibly selfish,” he said in a breathy, reluctant voice. “You should go upstairs and try to get some sleep.”

“I’m not leaving this couch,” Diana whispered in his ear.

He smiled. “And I’m not leaving this house.”

She sat up, reached for the beautiful crocheted afghan, and pulled it over them. “Then it’s a good thing this couch is wide enough for two.”

Shortly afterward, Diana laid her head on his chest, feeling his heart beating and the tingle of his kiss on her lips. In spite of everything, with his arms wrapped around her, she had never felt so safe and happy in her life.

Eventually Diana drifted into a dream in which she sat on her bed as Clarice told her a story about Glen and Penny, about Glen coming to see Penny several times. Clarice was worried Diana would be hurt, but Diana had merely been surprised that Penny had not told her.

In dreamtime, Diana suddenly sat in the park, a picnic hamper beside her. As she took pictures of Willow, a woman chattered beside her. Then a man stormed up to them, furious. He wanted to know the identity of someone. Diana didn’t know. He didn’t believe her. He was going to hit her then abruptly he kneeled on the ground while the woman ranted.

Another time shift and Diana suddenly faced Nan in the kitchen. Nan seemed different—deferential and emotionally beaten. “I need to tell you something,” she said. She talked about Glen. Nan also needed to tell her about someone else. Penny.

Now Diana sat in the library. A handsome, dark-haired man talked to her and to Simon. He apologized for how another man had acted in the park. He said the man had suffered a shock—the doctor had said Penny was pregnant. Pregnant.

And then a glass had shattered in the kitchen.

Diana awakened with a start. She looked at Tyler pressed against the back of the couch, his socked feet hanging over the armrest, one arm thrown possessively across her, blondish hair covering one closed eye, his mouth slightly open. He wasn’t snoring.
Thank goodness he doesn’t snore,
Diana thought absently. She wanted to wake him. She wanted to tell him that her memory was returning. But did she remember anything important? Did she remember what had happened to her last night, why she’d fallen?
No, let him sleep,
she thought. He looked peaceful. Cramped but peaceful.

Diana, on the other hand, knew she couldn’t lie on this couch one more minute. She was too restless, her mind too agitated. Besides, dawn hovered—she could feel it. Slowly and gently she lifted the afghan off herself and draped it over Tyler. With equal care, Diana moved his arm. He murmured but did not open his eyes. She then slid off the couch and stifled a cry of pain as she stood up . . . and felt as if a hot poker had been thrust into her hip and partly up her back. Diana’s sprained wrist throbbed. Her head ached. Her mouth was drier than the desert. Running around dodging a killer’s bullets hadn’t been the best therapy, she thought ruefully. But a painkiller would take off the edge. Yes, she definitely needed a painkiller, a glass of ice water, and at least one cup of hot coffee. Immediately.

Diana made her way slowly to the kitchen. She took a painkiller and thirstily downed a whole glass of water. Then she reached for the airtight coffee canister and frowned. Propped against the canister was a legal-sized envelope with diana written on the front.
Nan’s handwriting,
Diana thought. What could Nan possibly have wanted to say in a letter that she couldn’t say in person?

Blake heard a clatter at his hotel room door and opened his eyes to see Lenore dragging in two small pieces of luggage. “Am I forgiven?” he asked.

“You’re getting there.” Lenore’s hair hung messily around a tired face. She’d put on a slash of rosy lipstick that didn’t improve the look of her ashy complexion or slightly sunken eyes. “I know I look like hell, but I didn’t sleep much.”

Blake sat up but didn’t offer to help with her luggage. “You never do when you don’t sleep with me. I don’t think I did anything so awful you had to remove yourself from the marriage bed.”

Lenore faced him, her hands placed on her hips. “You nearly choked my brother to death because he was understandably furious with Diana Sheridan.”

Blake’s dark eyes widened. “I did not nearly choke Jeff to death and he wasn’t understandably furious with Diana! What did
she
do to make him furious?”

“She withheld information a husband has a right to know. If she’d told Jeff about Penny’s lover, the news of her pregnancy wouldn’t have sent him into a tailspin. Diana knew and she didn’t have the decency to warn Jeff.”

“You have decided Diana knew. You have no proof, Lenore.”

She flung the smaller piece of luggage on a chair, and ran a hand through her tousled hair. “And now you’re defending her. Why? What is she to you, Blake? Why are you taking her side rather than your own wife’s?”

“Because my wife’s side is . . .” Blake broke off.

Lenore looked at him challengingly. “Your wife’s side is
what
?”

“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this. I’ll say something I regret.” Blake closed his eyes and shook his head as if trying to clear it. “I’m going to order us some breakfast. What do want?”