Freefall (54 page)

Aunt Allegra and that man?

“Whose idea was it?” Cameron probed.

“His.”

Cameron squatted down to eye level. “It’s a quick hop. Were you together the whole time?”

Gentry stared at her aunt, unable, unwilling, to believe …

“Except the first day. He’d arranged a spa for me.”

Gentry felt punched. Some guy had arranged a spa for Allegra on Oahu? Had he then arranged an accident for her? Or Uncle Rob. She looked up at him, expecting rage and hurt, but his expression was not recognizable as either.

Cameron stood up. “Gentry saw him in a bar with the man who pushed her over the falls. Do you know any reason why he’d want to hurt her?”

“It wasn’t me.” Gentry started to shake. “It was Uncle Rob.”

Cameron turned. His concern for her had blocked him making that transition, but it only made sense. What would he gain by her death? It was money he wanted after all, just not hers.

Aunt Allegra looked as though she might faint again. She shook her head, murmuring, “He wouldn’t …”

“You’re worth more surviving me than divorcing me.” Uncle Rob had caught her thought. “He went for it all.”

Aunt Allegra made a soft mew and dropped her face into her hands. “It’s my fault. Your leg, your …”

Uncle Rob dropped awkwardly to the lounge and encircled her in his arm. He eyed Cameron directly. “You’ve got the name. Is there anything else?”

Cameron stood. “We’ll work with that.”

Gentry wanted to shout. Her hands coiled into fists. Cameron grabbed her arm and tugged her out, closing the door behind them, but fury gripped her. “All this time I blamed myself.”

“Then you know how she feels.”

His comment caught her in the windpipe. How clearly she’d drawn the line between her aunt and uncle. How quickly she’d judged. But Cameron, who’d been in Uncle Rob’s place, who could identify so closely, hadn’t. This was not the cynical man she’d first met. And his compassion stilled her rage. “Yes.” She nodded. “I do.”

Allegra had never been real to her. Most of her interaction with Uncle Rob was off and away on their adventures, and she hadn’t wondered how her aunt felt about it. She’d assumed Uncle Rob had invited her, and Aunt Allegra refused. But maybe she’d never felt included. Maybe she’d been lonely. A million maybes. Who was she to throw stones at mistakes made?

He threaded her fingers with his. “I’ll call the police. You might want to fill your parents in before the uniforms arrive.”

Gentry nodded.
Remember the guy who tried to kill me? Guess what. There’s another. The good thing is he was after Uncle Rob. I just got in the way
. She found her mother consolidating the food trays.

“We have so much left. I expected people to stay longer and eat more.”

“You can offer some to the police when they arrive.”

Her mother spun. “That isn’t funny. We’ve had enough—You’re serious?”

As a heart attack. But we don’t talk about that.
“The man responsible for our accident on Kauai was here at the party.”

“I thought they’d arrested him.”

“That was the one who actually pushed.”

Her mother’s hands dropped. “Oh my.”

I’m sorry life isn’t as nice as you want it to be
.

She felt a sudden surge of compassion and realized maybe Mom had to gloss over things in order to cope. Maybe both her parents did. Dad had a bum deal with his ticker, and they could have grown paranoid and bitter. Was their alternative so wrong?

With a rush of warmth and love, she hugged her. “It’ll be okay. Aunt Allegra knows who he is.” And they’d all help her deal with that. Somehow.

Stupid. How could she remember him? Hadn’t she hit her head, gotten amnesia? All the news stories said she couldn’t remember. But Gentry Fox had looked at him with stark recognition. Didn’t take a genius to see that. Curt swerved around the corner to his house. How long before they called the cops?

He had to get out, get out fast, but he was zilch on ready cash. He slammed to a stop in his driveway, ran inside, and stuffed a bag with things he’d need. Except he mostly needed money. His cards were maxed, and if he tried to use them he’d be flagged.

There had to be something, somewhere. He searched his closet, his drawers. Maybe he’d stashed some cash. But he hadn’t. If he drained one more cent from the Ponzi account, he could kiss himself good-bye. But if they connected him to Malakua, he’d be going down for hard time, and he’d rather be dead. Anyway, it was Saturday and he couldn’t get at it.

And then he thought of Allegra and her drawer. She’d written a check, but he’d also seen a band of cash. Might not be that other hundred grand she’d offered, but he’d be grateful for whatever. He grabbed his bag and threw it into the car, drove to Allegra’s, and used the key he’d copied in Hawaii.

He’d be in and out so fast. Except the drawer was empty, and the flashing red light on the alarm box showed he’d triggered something silent. Swearing, he started to slam the drawer, then saw the little snub nose revolver in the back. He grabbed it along with the loads and ran out the door into his idling car. He wished now he’d bought something less recognizable. As much as he hated the thought, he’d have to ditch it for another. But first he needed miles under his tires. And a plan.

After Gentry’s parents had gone to bed, Cameron squeezed after her through the little hall window onto a section of roof between two peaks. “And what motivated you to explore this particular exit?”

She pointed up with the most questionably innocent expression he’d ever seen. “The stars, of course.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You heard my parents. I was a born naturalist.” She settled down between the peaks, reclining against one, feet up on the opposite.

“So you never snuck out here to—”

“Tell secrets? Sure. Helen and I planned our lives right here.”

“To be alone with someone your parents didn’t know you were with?”

He’d packed an overnight bag in case the party went long but hadn’t anticipated perching on the roof outside the spare bedroom of her parents’ house.

“Mom caught a pretty good view of things. I doubt she’s in the dark any longer.”

“I didn’t mean me.”

Gentry stretched out her defined legs and crossed her ankles.

“What I mean is, would that window be perhaps a rite of passage for all the men in your life?”

She stared up into the night sky awash with sparkles and moonlight spilling from a strip of cloud. “This is as close as I could get to that night in the Hanalei Mountains.”

A balmy warmth washed over him. He’d felt unburdened last night, open for the first time in years to wonder and happenstance. Now side by side with Gentry, so close not even their fears separated them, he felt it again. “That was some night.”

“Do you think everyone knows the moment they fell in love?”

“I doubt it.”

She closed her eyes. “Mine was when you said those Hawaiian words, that I was in the shelter of his wings. I knew you were promising your protection as well.”

“I just wanted you to shut up and go to sleep.”

“You knew exactly what to say to soothe my fears.”

“You were furious with me the next morning.”

“True. When you woke me, and then at the pool—I could not believe you still suspected me.”

“It’s my nature to doubt and question.”

“When you suggested I was having an affair with my uncle, I wanted to drown you.”

“I didn’t know he was your uncle.” He slipped his arm under her neck and wrapped her shoulders. “And I deal with the darker sides of people everyday.”

She sighed. “I cannot believe my aunt and that …”

“Curt Blanchard’s a predator. He looks for marks like your aunt— alone, wounded, wealthy.”

“And he tries to kill their loved ones?”

“He got Malakua to do the dirty work, so he probably hasn’t killed before.”

She frowned. “Will they get him?”

He pulled her tighter. “Search area’s a little bigger than Kauai, but he’ll leave a trail. Everyone does. It’s just a matter of reading the clues.”

“Spoken like a sleuth. How did you get into fraud investigation?”

An innocent question, but it went deeper than she knew. “After our parents were lost, I invented a zillion alternate scenarios. They were spies on a mission so secret everyone had to believe they were dead. Or they’d been kidnapped for some brilliant knowledge only they had. I worked out myriad ways they could have been sneaked off the island, the most obvious that the boat had not gone down, but merely kept going. I studied people’s faces to see who knew the truth, who’d been ordered to keep us from guessing, who might break if I applied the right pressure.”

“No wonder your teachers were challenged.”

“I got good at spotting lies, even those that had nothing to do with my parents’ secret mission. Everyone had something to hide; some did it better than others. Some made it a career. I started reading about all the ways people cheated.”

“Because you felt cheated?”

He considered that. “Maybe. I studied criminology and specialized in fraudulent schemes, worked for an insurance company when Myra and I married, then branched out on my own and started getting government work.”

She turned slightly. “Have you found your parents?”

A smile touched his mouth. “Not yet.”

“Nica told me she doesn’t go into the water because it’s their grave.”

Nica was right. It was only when he uncovered something wholly unbelievable that he still allowed himself to wonder. “They never recovered the bodies.”

“Kai …”

“I know. But I don’t let go easily.” Except for his son. He’d let go before he had a chance to hold on. For Kevin’s sake—and his own. “Consider that fair warning.” His gaze slid to her mouth.

“It might be harder than you think to make this work.”

Her call last night had shown him that. He pulled her tighter, in case doubt wormed in between them. “But see, I believe in the impossible.”

“That from the man who scoffed at hope?”

“Well, God showed me once and for all that I’m not uncovering his scam. He’s no fraud. He’s the only real thing there is. That and what I feel for you.”

Her mouth was soft under his. He had a flash of Alec doing the same, and it ached somewhere deep.

She touched his face. “You’re the only man I’ve brought out here.”

Again that tropical warmth. “Not even Dan?”

“Unless the house was on fire, Daniel would never shimmy through a window. It would feel disreputable.”

“I have a hard time seeing you together.”

“I was a new believer, voracious, and he knew so much. I’m grateful for the things he taught me. We just had… different views. Irreconcilable views.”

“Does it hurt?”

“A little … that he didn’t believe me.” Her gaze ran over his face like warm, misty rain. “He doesn’t think God puts a call on women’s lives. Only their husbands have that right.”

“Then he hasn’t seen your work. If that’s not God-given talent I don’t know what is.”

She sighed. “He won’t watch a Hollywood movie.”

“There’s a lot of junk out there.”

She nodded. “That’s why it matters. It’s shaping our culture, and if every believer bails, if all the moral voices walk away, what check will there be for the realm of darkness? Who will shine, as Nica said, the Shekina glory?”

Her passion rang in his ears. He didn’t like to think of her in that realm, but he knew now that
everyone
had a call on their lives. He drew and released a slow breath. “If anyone has the strength and courage to do that, it’s you.”

“Can you stand it?”

He brushed her lips with his. “I’m not going anywhere.”