Lethal Deception (12 page)

Cassidy shook her head. Amy had a nursing degree and could work in any medical facility with no problem; could afford to live anywhere she wanted, yet chose to stay in her childhood home with a mother that drove her crazy.

But that was Amy’s choice and Amy’s life. Cassidy would stay out of it—for the most part. Since Amy had become a Christian right before Cassidy left for Brazil, she did seem to be trying a little harder. It would just take some time—and prayers.

The two women left and Cassidy shrugged. She turned to Alexis and said, “How you doing, munchkin?”

Alexis laughed and held up her picture. “Pretty?”

“Gorgeous,” Cassidy affirmed with a laugh.

Fifteen minutes later, Amy was back. “You ready? I think Mother and I got things straightened out. She’s going to use the paintings somewhere else.”

“Sure, I’m ready.”

“Mother also said she would be glad to keep Alexis if you wanted her to.”

Cassidy frowned. “That’s sweet, but I couldn’t ask her to do that.”

Amy laughed. “You didn’t ask. She did. You know the security around here is impregnable. She’ll be safer here than out with us anyway. And besides, Mother would love nothing more than to have the opportunity to make another conquest. I think she’s already fallen in love with the munchkin.”

“It’s not hard, is it?” Cassidy laughed and nodded. “Okay, that sounds great. I think Alexis would enjoy being the center of your mother’s attention more than she would like being dragged from store to store.”

Amy exclaimed, “Great! Let’s get going.”

Cassidy hurried after her energetic friend. In the foyer, she offered her thanks to Mrs. Graham for the impromptu babysitting service and then returned to the office to kiss Alexis goodbye. “I’ll be back soon, sweetie.”

Alexis didn’t look worried at all about being left behind. With all the upheaval in her life, Cassidy knew she’d either be clingy or independent. Apparently, Alexis had chosen the independent route. “Bye, my Cass-ty.”

Cassidy wiggled her fingers at the child. “Bye, my Lexi.”

The two women made their way out the front door to Cassidy’s waiting car. She did her best to ignore the bodyguard, Joseph, following several cars behind.

Two hours later, Cassidy groaned and hung the dress back on the rack. While she’d found the perfect dress for her mother and one for Alexis, she’d had no luck finding anything for herself.

Cassidy followed her friend out onto the sidewalk to head to the next store and felt her phone vibrate in her purse. She reached in, pulled it out and flipped it open without checking the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Cassidy. It’s Gabe. How’re you feeling this morning?”

Cassidy felt her stomach curl at the sound of his voice. His image swam to the front of her mind and she smiled. “I’m better. Thank you so much for everything you did yesterday.”

“You’re welcome. What are you doing for lunch?”

“I’m actually shopping with Amy right now. She felt like I needed something normal to do. And as long as I can ignore my shadow back there, I can almost believe the past several days were just a bad nightmare.”

“Well, they weren’t and you need to be careful.”

The worry in his voice touched her and she promised, “I’ll be careful, honest.”

“So, a rain check on the lunch?”

“You bet.”

“Good. Just to let you know, Craig’s working on the break-in at your house. Rafael had a grappling hook on him.”

“A what?”

“It’s usually used by the military. But anyone can make one. It’s a hook that’s attached to a rope. The hook has a shaft with a hole at the base…think of a really big needle with an eye. At the other end of the shaft are three equally spaced hooks. Picture trying to catch three fish at the same time. So all he had to do was toss the hook up on your roof and walk up the side of your house, jimmy the lock on your window and haul himself in. He pulled the rope in with him. Easy enough.”

Cassidy shuddered at the image Gabe presented to her. “But why didn’t the alarm go off when he opened the window?”

“Craig checked with the alarm company. It did go off for about ten seconds, then the code was punched in. As long as the code is entered within thirty seconds of the alarm sounding, the company just considers it a false alarm—the owner accidentally tripping it. They don’t respond to those.”

Her stomach rolled. “How did he get my code, Gabe?”

“That, I don’t have an answer for. But we’re working on it. Also, I found out something interesting about your lawyer.”

Cassidy gripped the phone and ignored the people shoving past her. She stepped over to an empty bench and sat down. Amy motioned she was going into the store behind her. Cassidy nodded and then asked Gabe, “What is it?”

“My detective friend decided to do a background check on everyone you’ve come in close contact with over the last few months. He got a court order and got Mr. Morgan’s bank and phone records. The man’s made quite a few large deposits to his checking account over the last several months—and some hefty withdrawals.”

“Well, that could be from anything.” Cassidy tried to rationalize the money. She didn’t want to believe her friends had trusted a crooked attorney.

“You’re right, it could be. I also found out Mr. Morgan is the attorney of record on all of Brian and Susan Cooper’s real-estate holdings.”

Cassidy frowned. “But that’s crazy. He’s not a real-estate attorney.”

“Doesn’t matter. He was also referred to Jacob and Kara by Susan. She gave Oliver their names and he contacted them. Susan and Kara didn’t have much communication going on, did they?”

Cassidy snorted. “Try none. Although I know Kara tried. She sent letter after letter to Susan, who returned them unopened.” Then she said, “Okay, so there’s a connection. But if he was on Brian and Susan’s payroll, why read the will and give me custody and the money when he could have forged a new one? And why would Kara and Jacob use Mr. Morgan when she didn’t trust Brian? Although, I’m sure she would have had him checked out first. His background check must have been clean.”

Amy stuck her head out the door of the shop, saw Cassidy was still on the phone and ducked back in. A twinge of guilt struck her and she feared that she was ruining Amy’s shopping trip by staying on the phone.

But she had to get to the bottom of this.

Gabe was saying, “First of all, maybe Mr. Morgan’s background turned up clean because he probably has other people do his dirty work. Second, too many people knew about the new will and Jacob and Kara’s wishes for anyone to do any kind of tampering with it. My guess is that Brian and Susan are biding their time until you are out of the picture. Then Mr. Morgan will make sure that the Coopers get the custody—and the money. And then take his share, which is probably a lot more than just doing the legal part of his business.”

Anger at Brian and Susan built slowly, like a tsunami getting ready to crash and destroy everything in its path. Cassidy tamped it down and focused on what she needed to do. She said, “Well, we have to make sure that doesn’t happen. I will not lose that little girl and have her brought up in that kind of environment. I’d just give them money if they’d leave Alexis alone.”

“I know you would, but that’s not what Kara and Jacob wanted. And it wouldn’t be fair to Alexis.”

“I know. I just wish I knew what to do.”

“We’ll get there, Cass. Just hang in there.”

Amy popped out of the store again and this time Cassidy didn’t feel right staying on the phone. “Listen, Gabe, I’ve got to go. Could you come over tonight?”

“You move back in with your parents yet?”

“No. I’m staying where I am.” Before he could protest, she continued, “I have two bodyguards on the house at night, the alarm system recoded and my garage all fixed. Alexis needs the stability—and so do I.”

His sigh reached her ear, but then he said, “All right. Yeah. I don’t like it, but I understand. I’ll bring dinner, okay?”

“Make it Chinese and you’re on.”

A
my had stayed to chat for a while, but left about five minutes before Gabe knocked on the door. Cassidy opened it and drank in the sight of him. She’d missed him. He wore comfortable blue jeans and a sweatshirt. When he smiled, her insides quivered.

“Can I come in? I brought food.”

A flush started up her neck when she realized she’d been standing there staring like a starstruck teenager. She’d have to process that stupefying realization later. She coughed and stepped back to let him through the door.

“You brought Chinese food. Of course you can come in.”

“Gabe!” Alexis ran over and grabbed him around the knee. “Hi. Want up. Kiss.”

Cassidy watched his expression melt the way it did every time he was around the little girl. He planted the requested kiss on the tiny upturned nose and Alexis giggled. Cassidy laughed at the pair and said, “Here, give me the food and you can bring her.”

Cassidy carried the goodies into the kitchen and set them on the table. Gabe followed and sat Alexis in the high chair. He handed her an egg roll and the little girl batted her lashes and said, “Thanks, Gabe.”

Cassidy giggled and Gabe laughed. “You women sure learn young, don’t you?”

“Yep,” Alexis agreed, and bit into her food. Cassidy put a cup of milk on her tray and then turned her attention to her garlic chicken and brown rice. She shared the noodles and some plain chicken with Alexis. Gabe had thought of everything.

They enjoyed a companionable supper avoiding any topics that would ruin the meal. While they ate, Cassidy watched the interaction between Gabe and Alexis and felt the pang of longing that had become a familiar ache lately.

“You want to put her to bed while I clean up?” Gabe asked.

Cassidy looked at the two paper bags that now held the remains of their dinner. All he had to do was walk them over to the garbage can and drop them in. She raised an eyebrow and said, “Don’t strain yourself.”

Gabe burst out laughing and Alexis laughed because Gabe did. Cassidy allowed a small smile to pull at her lips as she released Alexis from her high chair. “Knock yourself out. I’ll put her pajamas on her and get her into bed. It may take me thirty minutes or so, but if you don’t mind waiting, we can talk after she goes to sleep.”

“I don’t mind. You want some help? I was just kidding about the cleaning-up thing.”

She shook her head. “But you can start a fire in the fireplace if you want. It’s April and feels like February out there. The weather is crazy. Blazing hot one day and freezing the next.”

Gabe agreed and Cassidy moved to the back of the house, Alexis in her arms.

Forty-five minutes later, she returned to the den to find a roaring fire popping and snapping brightly behind the screen—and Gabe asleep on the couch.

She walked up and stood beside him to look down at him. Frown lines cut deep grooves in the sides of his mouth. His forehead was drawn tight and his brows pulled together. He twitched, stirred and mumbled something under his breath.

Cassidy moved closer. Should she wake him?

“Gabe?” she whispered, and touched his face.

His eyes flew open and his hand shot out to catch her wrist in a painful grip. “Gabe! Wake up!” Cassidy forced herself not to struggle against him. She desperately tried to ignore the flashes from her kidnapping, concentrating on the pain in her wrist and getting Gabe to full consciousness.

“Cassidy?” he whispered, still somewhere between his nightmare and reality.

“Gabe, you’re hurting my wrist.”

He immediately unclenched his fingers, regret clouding his tense features. She clutched her throbbing wrist to her chest, but didn’t move away from him.

He sat up more fully and rubbed his face. “Cass, I’m sorry. Let me see it.” He held his hand out. She shook her head. “It’s fine. What were you dreaming about?”

“Nothing. Let me see your wrist.” He reached out and very gently took her hand to pull it toward him.

Refusal would get her nowhere. She let him look, but insisted, “It’s fine. It might bruise, but I wouldn’t worry about it. I bruise if a fly lands on me.” She tried to smile. The intense pain in his eyes stabbed her heart and she knew he would never have hurt her had he been aware of what was going on.

“Ah, Cass, I’m so sorry.” He pulled her closer and tugged her into a hug. His heart beat a wild rhythm under her right ear.

“I promise,” she insisted. “It’s okay. You were dreaming.”

“I know, but I hurt you and I would never…” His voice trailed off.

She looked up into his dark eyes. Eyes that seemed haunted with something she couldn’t figure out. “What is it that won’t let you sleep without invading your dreams?”

He closed his eyes and tilted his forehead to rest against hers. The fire snapped in the background; Cassidy just noticed the classical music playing softly on the stereo.

When he opened his eyes again, a fierce determination played through them. He swallowed hard and said, “Cassidy, I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’ve brought a light into my life I didn’t know was missing. You even got me talking to God again. I’m just afraid…” He trailed off again.

Cassidy was thrilled to hear his words, but sensed there was something more, something he wanted to say; he just couldn’t get the words out.

Gabe tried to think, but it was too hard to do that with her this close to him. He wanted to answer her questions in detail. He wanted to tell her everything he knew about Micah. Maybe then the dreams would stop. And the guilt would quit eating away at his insides. But he’d lose her for good.

So he changed the subject.

“How did you get involved in your dad’s work?”

“In college, after I broke up with my fiancé, I started listening to my father’s speeches. I realized that although he wasn’t a Christian, he had some deep beliefs about what was right and what was wrong. And he wanted to make a difference in the world. One person at a time. I dug in to help and the rest is history.”

“You’re amazing.”

Cassidy flushed and Gabe felt his heart sputter. How different they were. Instead of being brought closer to God through tragedy, he’d pushed God away. Gabe stared at her and thought he probably loved her. And yet if he told her the truth, she’d hate him—maybe. So he asked, “What made you change from the flighty party girl I used to read about in the paper?”

Cassidy laughed. “Ah. Now, that’s a story.”

“Yeah?” Gabe lifted an eyebrow.

Cassidy nodded. “As you know, Kara and I grew up together. When you call me ‘princess’ with such disdain, it makes me mad.” Cassidy gave a short laugh. “But if I’m honest, I understand why you do it. It’s an accurate description of my life up until about two years ago. Kara became a Christian a few years before I did. All of a sudden she was this person that I didn’t understand anymore. I saw her change. I watched her become a selfless, giving person and it confused me—made me jealous.”

“Jealous, how?”

Cassidy shrugged. “Overnight, she had other interests. No more parties, no more sleeping in on Sunday mornings, and she was hanging out with people I couldn’t relate to.
Church people.
It really bugged me. I felt like I’d lost my best friend and someone had replaced her with this look-alike. Amy and I became closer during that time. She didn’t understand what had happened to Kara, either. But Kara kept working on me. E-mails, letters, pictures. Stories of how wonderful her God was. I decided to try it. I’ve been hooked ever since.” Cassidy smiled then waved a hand as though to dismiss her story. “But enough about me. Tell me about your dream,” she prodded.

No way. “Can’t get out of it, can I?”

Cassidy stared at him for a few moments then shrugged. “It’s late. As much as I’d like you to stay, we both know that’s not an option. You can save that story for next time on one condition.”

He arched a brow. “What’s that?”

“You have to come to church with me tomorrow and on Easter Sunday.”

“Church?”

“Yep.”

“Will Alexis be there?”

She frowned at him. “Of course she will.”

“Okay, then I’ll seriously consider it.”

“Why, you rat!” She punched him in the ribs and Gabe rolled off the couch laughing. She leaned over the edge, trying to frown down at him but failing miserably. She finally gave in to the grin struggling to break free.

Tenderness filled him. He needed to go. He stood and pulled her up against him to hug her, inhaling her sweet fragrance. Maybe he’d dream about that instead of the fact that not only did her brother die in the jungle, it was because of Gabe that Micah was there on a mission he never should have been involved in.