FAMILY FALLACIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series #3) (16 page)

Driving to work, she
was thinking,
This is crazy!
Then she looked at the diamond winking at
her from the ring finger that had remained naked for less than forty-eight
hours. Crazy or not, it felt right.

On top of all the other
adjustments involved, both practical and emotional, she was having a bit of an
identity crisis. “Guess I’m gonna have to stop thinking of myself as a widow,”
she said out loud, just barely catching herself before she added “Eddie.”

She held her breath for
a second, but she suspected he wouldn’t answer her. A wave of sadness, not
quite as strong as the one on Wednesday, washed over her. Then she saw Eddie in
her mind’s eye, sitting on the edge of his cloud, an indulgent smile on his
face as he slowly shook his head at her.

Kate laughed.
I
really do have an over-active imagination.

When she arrived at the
center, Pauline informed her that Tammy had cancelled again, and this time she
had not rescheduled. Kate could only hope the woman was gone for good.

Then she had an idea.
She gave Rob a quick call before her first client of the day arrived.

“Hey there, are you
free for lunch today, since we missed our normal Wednesday get-together? My one
o’clock client cancelled.”

There was a pause as
Rob checked his schedule. “Yeah, actually I can do that. And I have something
to talk to you about, so good timing.”

Kate’s curiosity was
peaked, but her first client would be in the waiting room by now. “Okay, see ya
later.”

When Kate arrived at
Mac’s Place a little after one, Rob had already claimed their favorite booth.
He waited until they had ordered before bringing up the latest development in
the malpractice suit. “Got a call this morning from Wells. He’s suggesting a,
quote, ‘reasonable settlement’ might be possible.”

“I’m not willing to
settle with these people, Rob. That’s rewarding their behavior, and then
lawyers like him are just encouraged to pursue more of these suits. And quite
frankly I’m not sure I can handle dealing with that sleazeball right now.”

“I understand, but if
he calls the insurance company, they may jump on a settlement to avoid the
possibility of having to shell out even more if you lose in court. I think we
at least need to hear him out, so the insurance company sees you as being
cooperative... And you don’t need to deal with him. He was pushing for a
meeting quickly so I tentatively agreed to go by his office today at two, since
I’m going to be in that section of town anyway for another appointment. I’ll
tell him you couldn’t get free on such short notice but I’m there to listen to
what he has to say.”

Kate reached out and
squeezed his hand. “Thank you for being willing to take care of it for me.”

“Happy to. I’ll call
you tonight with his offer.” Rob squeezed her hand back, then let go of it as
the waitress arrived with their food. He snitched her pickles to add to his own
on his crab cake sandwich, and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

Rob was working up the
nerve to broach a subject he knew might get touchy. Trying to sound nonchalant,
he said, “I am truly happy for you, Kate. But aren’t you guys moving kind of
fast?”

Kate snorted. “Skip’s
analogy was a runaway stagecoach.”

Rob hesitated. “He’s
the one who seemed to be pushing things forward the other night.”

“That wasn’t his
original intention. Life events have picked us up and carried us along lately.
First there was all that mess last weekend. When Amy was kidnapped and then
Phyllis and Michael...” She stopped and shook her head in frustration. “I
needed him there so badly, Rob, and he
was
there for me. And it just
seemed ridiculous to keep on holding him at arm’s length. And then...”

Her voice trailed off
as she realized what she had just said. She hadn’t called Rob to fill him in on
what had happened to Amy until Saturday morning. If Skip hadn’t been in her
life,
Rob
would have been the person she reached out to first.

“It’s okay, Kate. If Ed
were alive last weekend, he would’ve been the one you leaned on first. And then
you would’ve told me about it later. It may take me a little while, but I’ll
get used to being a close second in your life again.”

“I don’t know that it’s
first or second, Rob. It’s just different.” She paused, trying to figure out
what she meant by that. “I had an insight awhile back, about you and me, our
friendship. We’ve always said we’re like siblings. But after Eddie died, after
all we’ve been through together, it’s more like we’re
twins
.”

Rob looked at her for a
moment, digesting that idea. Then he grinned and shook his head a little.
“You’ve got to analyze everything until you have it pinned down, don’t you,
sweetheart?”

“Occupational hazard,
I’m afraid,” Kate said.

“Actually I agree with
you. That is a good way to describe us.”

“Twins. About as
connected as two people can be, but still not the same kind of connection one
has with a mate,” Kate said, coming back to her original point.

“No, Liz is...” As he
thought about the woman he had lived with and loved for two and a half decades,
Rob’s voice dropped to a tender whisper. “Liz is my soul.”

Kate wasn’t quite sure
how to respond to that. She knew he adored Liz but it wasn’t something he
normally talked about, even with her.

Rob took a bite of his
sandwich to cover his embarrassment. When he glanced up, he stopped chewing. A
strange look had come over Kate’s face–confusion mixed with wonder.

“Soul mates,” she
breathed. “I always thought that concept was so corny...”

She fell silent again,
marveling at the revelation, and then marveling that she hadn’t figured it out
sooner. She was the therapist, the great analyzer, the one who was supposed to
be so all-fired astute.

‘You’re too close to
it,” Rob said.

“Aw, crap! Now I’ve got
two men reading my mind.”

That broke the mood.
They both chuckled as they picked up their sandwiches again.

“So it’s definitely not
too soon now? Before, you said you were afraid of feeling guilty or disloyal to
Ed,” Rob said, referring to a discussion they’d had the previous summer.

“I get an occasional
twinge of guilt. And now I think I understand why.” She put her sandwich down.
“Rob, Eddie was the love of my life. If anyone had ever asked me if he was my
soul mate, I would have sworn that he was.” She dropped her eyes to her plate.

“But he wasn’t.” Her
voice was just barely above a whisper. “That’s what I feel guilty about. That I
sometimes feel
closer
to Skip than I did to Eddie.”

Unaware of what he was
about to unleash, Rob put his sandwich down and took her hand in both of his.
“Kate, Ed was the closest male friend I’ve ever had. And I
know
that he
was thrilled to be the love of your life. The love, and the life, that he had
with you...” He choked up a little. “It was all he ever wanted or needed.”

The tears she hadn’t
even realized were building up in her eyes suddenly broke loose and wandered
down her cheeks. He handed her his handkerchief. She just sat there, staring
down at the white cloth in her hand, while the tears kept coming.

She knew that Rob and
Eddie had liked each other, had grown close even, as she and Liz had over the
years. But she’d never realized the depth of their friendship.

“You loved him, too,
didn’t you?” she said, still looking down at his handkerchief, as a tear
dropped off her chin, making a spreading gray circle on the snowy whiteness.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, Rob, that I
wasn’t there for you when you were grieving for him. I didn’t even realize...”
She couldn’t continue. She was afraid she’d start sobbing.

Rob let go of her hand
to gently lift her chin. “Sweetheart,” he said softly, “I intentionally hid my
grief from you. You already had too much to deal with, and I had Liz to lean
on.”

Kate’s face crumpled.
She buried her face in the handkerchief in her hands, as sob after sob shook
her body.

Rob quickly dug out his
wallet and dropped some money on the table. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s take a
walk.” He gathered her up from her side of the booth, draped her coat around
her shoulders, and turned her toward the front of the restaurant. Mac, coming
through the kitchen door just as they walked past it, took in their expressions
and froze.

“She’ll be okay, Mac,”
Rob said in a quiet voice. “Just a little residual grief. Could you hang onto
my briefcase for me for a few minutes.”

Mac nodded. “Take care,
sweet pea,” he shoved past the lump in his own throat.

Kate hadn’t seemed to
hear either one of them.

On the sidewalk, Rob
helped her into her coat. Then he put his arm around her shoulders again. They
walked the short distance to the park in front of the courthouse, and sat down
on a bench.

“He gave you his,
remember? His handkerchief,” Kate said softly, looking down at the piece of
cloth grasped in her hands. “When Liz was in the hospital and we were afraid
she wasn’t going to make it.”

“I remember,” Rob
murmured.

“He didn’t have...
well, yes he did, but he didn’t care about any damned meeting the next morning.
He just figured you and I were closer... and I... that you would be able to
talk to me easier.” She looked up at Rob finally, tears again streaming down
her face. “He was the sweetest man who ever lived!”

“Yes, he was,” his
friend agreed. “And he loved us both dearly.”

“Oh, dear God, I loved
him so!” She started sobbing again.

“I know, sweetheart.”
Rob wrapped his arms around her. “So did I.”

His own eyes were
stinging. As he held her, he rested his chin on the top of her head and
swallowed hard.

After several minutes,
she sat back and dried her eyes. Watching her, Rob noticed how drawn her face
was, her eyes a washed-out gray. And he’d
never
seen her lose control in
public before. Cry, yes, but not lose it completely. Not even at Ed’s funeral.

“Do you have to go back
to work this afternoon?” he asked.

“Yes, but I’ve only got
one client, and she’s easy to work with. And then I’m going to indulge in some
retail therapy. I have a little surprise planned for Skip. So, this afternoon
I’m gonna drag Rose with me to get the supplies I need.” Her face brightened a
little at the thought of what she had planned for this weekend.

Rob smiled at her as
relief washed through him. He didn’t need to ask his next question after all.
She might still have some grieving to do, but it didn’t seem to be affecting
her feelings for Skip.

Kate had managed to
produce a small smile. She held up the soggy ball that had been his
handkerchief. “And I need to do some laundry.”

I
t was hard for Rob to
make the transition, from grieving with Kate in the park, to the office of
Phillip Wells. He just kept saying, “I’ll have to consult with my client about
that.”

That is until Wells got
to the last stipulation for settlement.

“I seriously doubt that
my client will agree to that, but I will ask her,” Rob said, struggling to
maintain his court face.

“The offer’s only on
the table for a short time,” Wells said, with a sly smile. “Be good if you got
back to me, say, by tomorrow. Or my brother and sister-in-law might change
their minds.”

Rob wanted to kill the
man with his bare hands.

This was not something
he wanted to discuss over the phone, so Rob swung by Kate’s house after his
last meeting of the day.

Skip answered the door.
“Come on in the kitchen. We were just sitting down to eat. Join us?”

“Did Kate cook it?”

Skip laughed. “No,
Maria did.”

“Hmm, then I really
hate to turn down that offer, but Liz is expecting me home soon.”

They went into the
kitchen and Skip resumed his seat. Nudging an empty chair with his foot, he
said, “Have a seat. You want some iced tea?”

“Sure.”

Maria had jumped up and
was taking an extra plate out of a cabinet. Skip told her that Rob couldn’t
stay to eat but would she get him a glass of tea, please.

Rob paused for a
moment, taking in the sight of the three of them, Kate and Skip sitting at the
oak table with the baby in her highchair between them. The little tableau, as
well as the soft glow that shone through the fatigue on Kate’s face, warmed his
heart.

But then, despite their
conversation earlier at lunch, he felt a small pang of something. Not jealousy
exactly. Displacement? Since Ed had died, he and Liz had adopted Kate and Edie
into
their
family. It would take some adjustment to think of her as a
member of a
different
family again.

Maria brought him his
iced tea, then she sat down and they started eating. Rob hated to ruin their
good mood, but it couldn’t be helped.

“I met with the
plaintiffs’ lawyer in the malpractice suit today,” he told Skip, then turned to
Kate.

“I’m not even going to
start with the amount he mentioned, because there’s another stipulation I’m
pretty sure you won’t like. They’ll only settle out of court if you agree to
remove yourself from Au...uh, the client’s case. Actually they want you to
refer her to someone outside the center.”

“I can’t do that. I’m
not about to abandon her, right in the middle of her recovery process. And it
would be highly unethical for me to do so.” Kate had put her fork down. Now she
pushed her barely touched plate away.

“
¡Dios mio!
You
need eat, Kate,” Maria said. Kate just shook her head.

“I knew you would say
that,” Rob said. “This actually isn’t totally a bad thing–”

“Wait a minute,” Kate
interrupted. “Was there someone specific they want me to refer her to?”

“Yes, but I don’t
remember his name. I didn’t even bother to write it down because I knew you
weren’t going to accept that stipulation.”

“Wasn’t Dr. Zebulah
Simpson by any chance, was it?”

“Actually yes,” Rob
said.

“Those...” Kate caught
herself. She’d been about to cuss in front of the baby. “He’s one of the big
proponents of the false memory theory. They want him to
de-program
their
daughter. And they want
me
to talk her into going to him!”

Rob’s face broke into a
grin. “That is excellent.”

Both Skip and Kate
looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“They’ve overplayed
their hand, guys. The insurance company can’t make you accept a settlement that
would breach the code of ethics for your profession. Trying to force you to
abandon your client and support an action you believe would be harmful to her,
those are rather blatant breaches. And the insurance company might have settled
otherwise because the plaintiffs are offering to settle for thirty grand. Which
is probably less than it would cost them in attorneys’ fees if we went to
court, win or lose.”

Kate had calmed down
but she hadn’t resumed eating. Skip nudged her plate back in front of her. She
ignored it. Rob and Skip exchanged a glance.

“Something the lawyer
said makes me think the thirty grand’s going mostly to him,” Rob added.

“That jives with
something the client reported,” Kate said. “At one point, the parents were
talking about dropping the suit but the uncle talked his brother out of it.”

Rob shook his head in
disgust. “The sleazeball’s trying to make a buck off his own family’s misery.”

Skip picked up his fork
and took another bite of food but Kate didn’t follow suit.

“So I tell him no and
we go to court. He’ll want to depose you but I’m going to try to stall him
until after Christmas.” Seeing Kate’s face tighten at the prospect of enduring
a deposition with Wells, Rob amended his statement. “Strike that. I’m going to
make
him wait until after the holidays.”

“Try not to worry too
much about it, guys,” Rob said, standing up.

“Finish your dinner,
darlin’,” Skip said, also rising. “I’ll walk Rob out.”

Skip followed Rob
outside, closing the door behind him. He gestured toward the porch steps and
the two men descended and walked toward the street. Skip waited until they were
beside Rob’s car before he spoke.

“I’m getting a little
worried about her, Rob. When she came home today... I’ve never seen her quite
so worn down.”

Rob nodded. He wasn’t
about to tell Skip that an unexpected bout of grief had played a major role in
how worn down Kate was. “I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of
times I’ve seen that woman lose her appetite,” he said instead.

“The only time I’ve
ever seen it, before all this happened, was when
you
were in danger two
years ago,” Skip said. “But she wasn’t like this back then. She took charge.”

“Liz said she even
cowed her poor father into following her lead,” Rob said.

Skip nodded. “Yeah, she
was something else.”

“There’s your answer. She
was able to
do
something then. She’s the one who pointed out to me
afterwards, that helplessness is the most... debilitating I think was her word.
It’s the most debilitating emotion humans can have.”

Rob was a bit surprised
when Skip shook his head, then combed the hair out of his eyes with long
fingers. There was worry in those eyes. Rob had never known Skip Canfield to be
anything but confident.

“I’m glad you two are
finally together,” Rob told the younger man. “You’ve got more patience than
most men I know.”

Skip snorted and shook
his head again. “I can’t help thinking I wasn’t patient enough, that I took
advantage of her in a weak moment, when she was still upset about Amy–”

“Did you seduce her?”
Rob intentionally interrupted.

“Hell, no! I don’t need
to seduce women,” Skip said, then looked embarrassed when he realized that
sounded a bit obnoxious. “No, she clearly gave me the green light, but...”

Rob laughed and slapped
him,
lightly
, on the shoulder. “Then I can guarantee you that she was
doing exactly what she wanted to do and had thought about it long and hard.”

“Yeah, she has an
annoying habit of doing that. Especially the long part.” Skip’s voice was
light, but his face was still anxious. “But then I went and rushed things by
blurting out that I wanted to marry her, in front of a room full of people, and
a cop to boot.”

Rob put his hand on the
other man’s shoulder. “Skip, I thought the way you handled Randolph was
masterful. You got him to take the situation seriously, to look at it as a father
rather than a cop. I’m not sure you could’ve done that without claiming Kate,
and therefore Edie, as your family... And there’s one thing that I’m totally,
one hundred percent, sure about.
You
are not part of the problem. You’re
the best thing that’s happened to Kate in a long time.”

Skip grabbed Rob’s hand
and shook it. “Thanks, Rob, coming from you that means a helluva lot.”

Rob held the handshake
for an extra beat. “Hang in there, man.”

Skip nodded. “Thanks,”
he said again, then turned to lope back toward the house.

As Rob unlocked his
car, he realized that he might or might not develop the level of friendship
with this man that he’d had with Ed Huntington. But he and Skip were forging a
bond, based on the fact that they both loved the same woman, although in
different ways.

~~~~~~~~

S
aturday morning, after
breakfast, Skip pulled Kate to her feet. Trapping her hands against his chest
with one of his, he looked down into her eyes. They were closer to their normal
sky blue this morning.

“I’m afraid I’ve got to
work today, darlin’. Surveillance job. Lady thinks her hubby’s having a
Saturday rendezvous with his mistress, instead of working overtime like he
claims.” He skimmed his other hand through his hair, shoving it back off his
forehead. “Man, I can’t wait until Rose and I are established enough that we
don’t have to take these kinds of cases. But until then, another cheater,
another check.”

Kate wondered if this
was a good opening to bring up her money. Skip glanced at his watch, then
grimaced.
Maybe not
, she thought.

“Better get a move on,
but speaking of Rose. She’s off duty today. So if you need to go out for any
reason, you call her, okay?”

Kate nodded, looking up
at him. He squeezed her hands tighter against his chest. “Darlin’, if you keep
looking at me that way, I will definitely be blowin’ off this job and staying
here.”

She smiled. “No,
Sweetheart, you go. Do your manly thing and bring home the bacon. I’ll be fine.
I promise to call Rose if I need her.” Unbeknownst to Skip, she and Rose had
already conspired to do something together today, and for once Kate did not
want him around.

Skip leaned down and
touched his lips to hers. He struggled to keep the tender kiss from deepening
into a more lustful one, or indeed he would be unable to leave her. As she
relaxed against him, he couldn’t resist wrapping his arms around her and
kissing her a little longer. Finally he broke away and left for his job.

~~~~~~~~

A
t one-thirty, Kate was
standing in the middle of the master bedroom in fresh clothes, towel-drying her
hair and hoping she had successfully gotten all the paint out of it. She looked
around the room, admiring their morning’s work.

Rose had arrived
shortly after Skip had left and they had moved all the furniture except the
king-sized bed and Kate’s dresser into an upstairs room for temporary storage.
With Maria watching the baby, Kate and her friend had gotten the rest of the
morning’s tasks done in record time. The walls that had been a pale yellow were
now a medium shade of blue, and the old flower strewn border at the ceiling had
been covered by a new one, a geometric print in shades of blue and burgundy.

In the middle of the
stripped-down bed, which was now on the opposite wall from where it had been,
were three Kohl’s bags. They contained a navy blue comforter, matching sheets
and window curtains, burgundy area rugs, and several throw pillows in all the
colors in the border.

In the adjoining
bathroom a new burgundy shower curtain was already hanging around the footed
bathtub and striped towels–navy, burgundy and white–were on the towel rack.

After they grabbed a
quick lunch, if Skip still wasn’t home yet, they would start moving the
furniture around. She was going to switch most of the things from this room
with those in the guest suite.

Kate headed for the
kitchen where Rose was making sandwiches. She changed course when the doorbell
rang. Rose hurried out of the kitchen after her.

Looking through the
peephole, Kate saw a tall, thin fiftyish white man and a short, stocky,
forty-something black woman, both dressed conservatively. She was trying to
decide if they were Jehovah’s witnesses when the woman opened a small leather
case and held a gold shield up to the peephole.

“It’s police
detectives. Maybe they’ve found out something,” she told Rose, as she unlocked
and opened the door.

After ascertaining that
Kate was indeed Kathleen O’Donnell Huntington, the woman introduced herself as
Detective Jones and her partner as Detective Bradley.

Kate gestured them
toward the living room sofa, then perched on the edge of an armchair herself.
“Have you found out who’s sending the notes and kidnapped my niece?” she asked.

Detective Jones arched
an eyebrow. Her partner cocked his head in confusion.

“Mrs. Huntington, we
need to ask you some questions,” Detective Bradley said.

Something about these
detectives was giving Rose a bad feeling. She didn’t think they were here about
Amy’s kidnapping. “Questions about what?” she jumped in, her tone sharper than
she’d intended.

“And you are?”
Detective Jones asked, aiming the arched eyebrow in Rose’s direction.

“Officer Rose
Hernandez. Off duty at the moment. Helping my friend do some painting.” She was
hoping that her status as a police officer might get these detectives to be
more forthcoming.

It worked with Bradley.
“You with Baltimore County?”

“Yes, sir. Robbery
division.”

Bradley smiled at her
and nodded. “That’s probably why we haven’t crossed paths then. We’re...” He
clamped his mouth shut when his partner gave him a repressive look.

Detective Jones turned
to Kate. “Ma’am, where were you between three o’clock yesterday afternoon and
eleven this morning?”