Daring Dylan (The Billionaire Brotherhood Book 2) (22 page)

Gracie bristled.
“You know he doesn’t know anything about Lana’s disappearance.”

“I don’t
know who knows what right now.” With short quick motions, he gathered the bags
and returned them to the envelope. “But it should be interesting to find out.”

Not to me
. Dylan watched Gracie escort Fleming to
the door. He already knew a damn sight more about the cuff link than he wanted
to.

As the
patrol car disappeared down the drive, Gracie raced to the bedroom to throw on
some clothes. “I’m sorry to leave, but I have to go find Clay.”

“I
understand.”

Dylan must
be as unsettled as she was by the morning’s news. How he could stand in the
doorway and look so nonchalant, she didn’t know.

And then,
instead of letting her say good-bye at the door and being done with it, he
followed her to her grandfather’s truck.

He hooked
his arm around her shoulders. “If you aren’t back by the time I leave, I’ll see
you Sunday.”

“Okay.” She
cautioned herself to keep it light. Keep it simple. Keep it quick.

He opened
and closed the door for her, waiting while she lowered the window and adjusted
the mirror, seat, and steering wheel. She turned to give him a fluttery wave,
but he put his hand under her chin and kissed her, drawing his fingers over her
cheek in a brief caress. “You have my number. Call or text if you learn
anything about the fire or Clayton’s mother while I’m gone.” He paused and
cleared his throat. “Call me if you need me.”

The
suggestion that she might need him for any reason, and even more amazing, that
he would respond if she did, stunned her into speechlessness. She gaped at him
and groped blindly for the gearshift, refraining from comment.

He stuffed
his hands in his pockets and studied the ground. “Shit.” He shook his head.
“Maybe I shouldn’t leave.”

“You
should.” For her own self-esteem, Gracie could never let him know how much she
wanted him to stay. “There’s nothing pressing to do here, and if anything
urgent comes up, I’ll let you know.”

“I could talk
to the security guard from Old Maine.”

“He might
not even be in town. I’ll keep on the lookout for him at the festival and talk
to him if I get a chance.”

“I don’t
know.” He scratched his chin, adorably reluctant. When he looked at her, really
looked, his eyes held a heady combination of affection and concern. “I’ve got a
bad feeling about this. Maybe you should leave it alone while I’m gone.”

“Okay,” she
agreed readily enough.

He scowled.
“You won’t. You’ll go off on your own and get into trouble. That’s why I should
stay.”

“You may
not believe this, but I take care of myself all the time. People come to me for
help. I’m a
doctor
. And everyone here
likes me. No one will hurt me.” She leaned out and kissed him to end the
discussion—and because she wanted to. He tasted like morning and coffee and
toothpaste and like someone all set to argue with her. She put the truck into
gear without giving him a chance. Her smile froze at the thought of him flying
to New York. “Be careful.”

“
You
be careful,” he countered as she
rolled down the drive.

Sweet
though his concern may be, she doubted he’d give her another thought once he
was in the air and back among his friends. But all the way to Clay’s house, she
worried about Dylan piloting himself and hoped he would think of her from time
to time.

Gracie
turned down Clay’s tree-lined street in time to see the M.E.’s Ford Explorer
driving away from the unassuming white clapboard house. As a friend of David’s,
he visited often. Unfortunately, this morning’s visit wouldn’t have been a
social call. She parked in the drive and hurried inside.

“Clay?” she
called from the entryway. “David?”

“We’re in
here, Gracie.” Clay stuck his head out the door of David’s bedroom.

She dashed
down the hall, searching his pale and tense face as she moved. A world of pain
and bewilderment swam behind his eyes.

“I just
heard about your mother.” She gripped his arms with her hands and pulled him
into a hug. “How’re you doing?”

“Better
than David.” He nodded into the room and shook his head. “I’m worried about
him. Will you get him a glass of water? I don’t want to leave him alone.”

“Be right
back.”

In the
kitchen, an abandoned breakfast littered the table. Toast had grown cold,
granola soaked up milk in a bowl, and coffee cups sat forgotten on the table.
Gracie filled a glass and returned to the bedroom.

“Here,
David.” She hid her concern behind a smile. Under an ashen complexion, he
appeared to have aged ten years overnight. She lifted his head and held the
glass to his lips.

“Give him
this.” Clay handed her a small white tablet.

David
accepted the drink and the pill but didn’t acknowledge Gracie’s presence. He
tossed his head back and forth as if grappling with unseen forces. “She was at
the cabin all this time. How could I not have known?”

“It’s not
your fault,” Clay soothed. “No one knew.”

The old man
grasped the younger one’s hand. “
He
knew. The killer knew.”

“Try to
rest,” Clay said. “Let the police get to the bottom of it.”

Gracie pulled
the blinds, plumped the pillows, and straightened the blankets on the bed. She
had expected David to be comforting Clay, not the other way around. Of course,
with his precarious health, any shock could be a hazard. After a few more
fretful moments, he slipped into a fretful doze. Clay drew up a rocker beside
the bed and slumped into it.

“That
sedative will knock him out for a while,” he said.

Gracie
rested her hip against the end of the bed. “I was worried about you. I didn’t
think David would take the news this hard.”

“I guess
hearing she’d been found brought it all back for him.” He leaned his head back
and stared out the window.

“But how do
you
feel?”

“Numb, I
guess. Dealing with David gave me a good excuse to delay facing the facts. How
did you find out?”

“I was at
the Bradford cabin last night when the fire broke out. This morning, Chief
Fleming came by to notify Dylan about what they’d discovered.”

He plowed
both hands through his hair making it stick up all over. “I keep picturing her
in that old cellar, cold, alone.” He swallowed and shook his head. “Dead for so
long. When David told me yesterday that he suspected Matthew Bradford of
killing her, I didn’t believe it, but now...” He turned his head toward her.
“Does Dylan still doubt that his father was involved with my mother?”

“I don’t
know what he thinks.”

“Doc Harvey
said there was evidence to identify her. Do you know what it is?”

“Her charm
bracelet.” Gracie blinked to hold back her tears. “Remember? It had those
little scissors on it from when she graduated from beauty school and that
little bootie with your birth date. A lobster. And a Statue of Liberty. She
always let me play with it when she cut my hair.”

“It had a
four-leaf clover for good luck.” Clay slumped further down in the chair and
covered his eyes with his hand. “I should have assumed she was dead, but I
always believed she’d come home with some outlandish explanation about where
she’d been.” He threaded his fingers together. “Yesterday... After I found out
about the money... David believed Matthew had set it up, but I hoped my mother
had been providing it somehow. Crazy, huh?”

“I know how
you feel.” She reached out to pat his shoulder. “The Navy assured us that my
father couldn’t possibly be alive, but I still watch television programs about
POW’s and MIAs, hoping to spot him. No matter how old or smart or responsible
we become, there’ll always be the abandoned child inside us praying for the
parent to return.”

“Of course,
you understand. You always do.”

“We’ve been
through all of it together. That’s what friends do, you know.”

He stood
and wrapped her in his arms, giving and taking comfort at what had to be some
of the worst moments of his life.

After a
moment, she stepped back and wiped her eyes. “I keep thinking there should be something
I can do for you. Is there?”

A thousand
emotions flickered across his face until it settled into one of resolve. “Would
you stay with David for a while?”

Her eyes
widened. “Well, sure, but where are you going?”

“It seems
wrong to be sitting here, doing nothing, when I finally know where Mom is. I
want to talk to Ron and find out what he knows. It may not help, but I can
rattle some cages and try to wrap my mind around the situation before I
explode.”

Familiar
with his need for activity in moments of stress, she didn’t object. “I’m happy
to help any way I can.”

“I know you
are, sweetheart.” He cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her on the cheek.
“Thanks for always being here for me.”

After Clay
left, David slept fitfully.

Gracie
watched over him with the patience she’d learned while her mother lay dying in
this very room. David’s restlessness, frailty, and uneven breathing brought
back painful memories of anxiety and sadness. Eventually, the old wounds turned
to the fire, the discovery of Lana’s body, and the hours she had spent with
Dylan.

Dylan.
Her face warmed just thinking his name, but
she feared she’d made a terrible mistake. Not by sleeping with him, that was a
pleasure she would never regret.
How have
I become so crazy about him in such a short time?
Despite her actions of
the night before, she never indulged in light affairs, and light, emotionless
affairs were his calling card.

Maybe the
best she could hope for was that he never learned how much the episode meant to
her. Keeping things going forward on an easy and uncomplicated level had been
her goal throughout the morning.

She wasn’t
completely sure that she loved him. Only that she didn’t want to. No matter
what, she couldn’t imagine anything permanent in their future. When he left for
the last time, she’d smile him on his way or die trying. Even if her heart left
with him.

Maybe this
break would give her time to sort through her feelings and get her equilibrium
back. But his departure left her more unsettled instead of less. If only he
weren’t flying.

A breeze
drifted through the screen and pulled her toward the window. She craned her
neck in search of a plane, but nothing except fluffy white clouds filled the
vivid blue sky.

After
checking on David again, she made a low-voiced call. At the other end of the
line, Gran fretted over the fire at the cabin and expressed concern for David
and Clay. Gracie asked if she could get along without her for a while.

“Of course,
dear. David and Clay need you more than I do today.”

“What about
Granddad? Since I took the truck this morning and left your car at the cabin
last night, you don’t even have a ride to the hospital.”

“Dylan
volunteered to take me to the car when he goes to meet the insurance
investigator.”

“He’s still
there?”
Maybe he wasn’t going to leave
after all
. Stop that, she ordered her racing heart. Of course, he was
leaving.

“He brought
his bags down earlier, but hasn’t left yet. He said he had to make some phone
calls first.”

She tried
to swallow her disappointment, but it stuck in her throat like a fish bone.

“I’ll stall
your grandfather as long as I can, but if you aren’t at the hospital by noon,
I’ll send for the ambulance.”

“He won’t
like that,” Gracie warned.

“No, but
he’ll be so glad to leave the hospital that he’d let me roll him home like a
bowling ball if I need to.”

Gracie
smiled, imagining the sight as she replaced the receiver, but her smile
disappeared as David’s agitation returned. She checked the time. Too soon to
re-administer the sedative.

When he
spoke, he slurred his words. “Is it true? Did they find Lana this morning?”
Reaching for Gracie, his fingers gripped her wrist.

“Yes,” she
said in a calm voice.

With each
labored breath, he shrank a little more. “Where’s Clay?”

“He’ll be
back soon.” She leaned closer to him. “Is there something you want? Anything I
can do?”

“No, no.”
Distress marched across his features. “I wanted to tell him... I should have
done something.”

She made
shushing sounds. “It wasn’t your fault. There wasn’t anything you could have
done to prevent it.”

“I should
have told someone.” His head thrashed from side to side. “She made me promise
not to tell, but I should have anyway.”

“David,
please.” Taking his wrist, she checked his pulse. “You know Lana wouldn’t have
wanted you to break a confidence. You couldn’t do that, as a doctor or a
friend.”

“But if I
told the police chief about the baby…” His breathing labored again. “He’d have
questioned Matthew. When he died the next week… It was already too late.”

Baby?
Lana was pregnant when she died? With her
heart pounding, she froze, hoping he’d reveal more. Hoping he wouldn’t.
Resuming the soothing noises that comforted him, Gracie straightened his covers
and smoothed his limp silver hair from his forehead. But her brain had stalled
at the startling announcement.

Dylan
didn’t want to believe his father had indulged in a fling with Clayton’s
mother. He’d be devastated to discover the affair had lasted for years. Her
heart hurt for him just thinking about it.

David
continued to mutter and argue with himself until he drifted into another fitful
sleep. Gracie considered telling Clay when he came back. Surely it was David’s
place to tell him, not hers. If the old man seemed stronger, less distressed later,
maybe they could tell Clay together. But that seemed unlikely.

The
decision was taken out of her hands by the arrival of Ethel Brady. “Clay sent
me to sit with the doctor. He said you’d be reluctant to leave, but he told me
where to find David’s heart medication and the sedative, so you can leave him
in my hands.”

Gracie
remained planted. “He’s been rambling. Talking out of his head.”

The nurse
moved around the room with the precision of a drill sergeant. “I’ve sat by
bedsides plenty of times. I know when to listen to a patient and when to ignore
one. And I also know your grandmother could use some help today. Did you know
Chester’s been released from the hospital?” Ethel took Gracie’s arm and
escorted her to the door. “You run along now.”

Only in East
Langden did anyone still treat Gracie like a ten-year-old. She found herself on
the porch outside without having a chance to argue the point further.

Dylan
propped his back against Gracie’s door, stretched his legs out in front of him,
and waited for her to return. The door was unlocked and he could go inside, but
it was a gorgeous day. He had plenty to think about, and after talking to the
authorities at the cabin all afternoon, he smelled about as bad as he had after
the fire. Better to wait on the landing than invade her apartment without
invitation.

He should
be long gone. But during a phone conversation where he brought Uncle Arthur up
to speed on the details about the cabin, insurance claims, the recovered bones,
and local speculation about Lana, he’d realized he didn’t want to leave Gracie
or East Langden at all.