Secrets (14 page)

“Second, I don't think she's the kind of woman who would worry herself about some cabin and whether or not it's being robbed.”

“Is that what Goodwin told you the problem was?”

“He said Althea'd had a dream that the cabin was full of…Let me see, I think he said ‘mice and bad men.' Now, tell me, does that sound like something Althea would be afraid of?”

Jeff sat down on the leaves about three feet from her. “I think that if Althea thought there were ‘bad men' up here she'd be here herself in ten minutes.”

“Exactly,” Cassie said, then looked at him. “So you want to tell me the truth?”

He looked straight out at the lake and took a while before he answered. “Remember those shots you heard recently?”

“Yes,” she answered. “Althea said they were fired by her ex-husband and that they were from a prop pistol.”

“Not quite true. In fact, every word of it was a lie.”

“Just for a change, I'd like someone to be honest with me. Just to be a little different.”

Smiling, he leaned toward her, picked up her hand, and kissed the back of it. In the next moment, he seemed to realize what he'd done and put her hand back on her knee. “Too much moonlight to do that,” he said.

“Yeah, mustn't touch the nanny,” Cassie said under her breath.

“Anybody but the nanny,” Jeff said cheerfully. “Okay, I'll tell you the story that Althea told to my father and he told me. The truth is that the shots were real and they were fired by a man who's been dead for over twenty years.”

Cassie looked behind her to see how far the nearest tree was, then she scooted back so she could lean against it. “Just wanted to get comfortable,” she said. “I love a good story.”

Jeff moved back too, but he stretched out on the ground beside her, his head near her. With all her might she wanted to tell him to put his head on her lap, but she couldn't make herself do it.

“Of course the man wasn't really dead,” Jeff said, looking up at the dark leaves above them. “What Althea said is that years ago he raided her safe of all her jewelry, then faked his death.”

“Does that mean he's now been seen and he's trying to kill her?” Cassie asked.

“Exactly right. You should write mysteries.”

“Why write them when I'm living in the middle of one? So how did you and Brent get involved?”

“I don't know anything about him. Maybe Althea told him the same story she told Dad. Anyway, Althea managed to keep the robbery quiet. The public didn't hear about it.”

He rolled onto his side to face her. “Between you and me, I don't think Althea cared that her public knew about the robbery. I think there was something else going on with the man that Althea didn't want the world to know about.”

“Such as?”

“I have no idea. I'm just an ordinary guy with an ordinary job. What do I know of the underworld?”

When he looked up at Cassie, for a moment it flashed through her mind that what Brent had told her was right: Jefferson Ames was not the man she thought he was. The very last thing he was was “ordinary.” But maybe just she felt that way. “So Althea kept the robbery out of the media.”

“Better than that, she didn't even tell the police. She hired her own squad of PIs to try to find the man and her missing jewels.”

“But they found out he was dead.”

“Yes. His boat blew up with him and the jewels on it.”

“A great actress like Althea would never believe that story. She's seen too many movie sets to not know that everything is fake.”

“Right.”

“So if I can figure this out, why couldn't the private detectives?”

Jeff turned onto his back, smiling. “Althea thinks they were paid off. The investigators knew they had her where they wanted her. She couldn't go to the police or her secret would be out. She told Dad that in the end it was either lose the jewels or have whatever it was that she was hiding exposed.”

“If you think about all that's known about her life, I can't imagine what could be so awful that she'd need to hide it,” Cassie said. “She laughs and talks about her ‘hundreds' of lovers. What could she want to hide?”

“I don't know. My guess is that she wants to protect someone.”

“That's an interesting thought. So, anyway, how did she find out that this man was still alive?”

“She's had someone looking for him for the last twenty-one years.”

“Not Brent?” Cassie asked in astonishment.

Jeff looked at her in disbelief. “He's just a kid.”

“You?”

“How old do you think I am?”

Cassie smiled. “I think you can't possibly be as old as you act toward me,” she said sweetly.

Jeff looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled and looked back up at the trees. “A whole year of living with you and I never knew you had such a smart-aleck mouth.”

Cassie couldn't help the little thrill that went through her. His words were titillating. Sexy. It was night, the moon was bright….

“Where was I?” Jeff asked.

“On my mouth.”

Jeff chuckled. “No, this is about Althea. She paid some detective for over twenty years to find the man who'd robbed her, and about six months ago he did. That's the good part. The bad part is that the idiot detective was so glad to have found the robber that he asked him if he was…” Jeff waved his hand. “Whatever the man's name is.”

“So then the robber knew that Althea was still searching for him and that she'd found him. So what happened next?”

“It's bad. Are you sure you want to hear?”

“Yes.”

“The private detective called Althea, told her he'd found the robber, and gave her all the facts on the man. The next morning he was found dead in his hotel room.”

Cassie didn't say anything for a while. “And he was the one who shot at Althea?”

“Yes. You and Dana saved her life. You can see the beach from the house and when he saw you two, he fled.”

“Althea never gave a hint that she had just faced death.”

Jeff smiled. “She told Dad that she'd rather face a loaded gun than the critics' reviews of her movies.”

Cassie smiled. “That sounds like her.” Her head came up. “So why are we here? What does this place have to do with Althea and the robber?”

Jeff took a while to answer, as though debating what to tell her. “Dad has a friend in the CIA,” he said at last, “and he did a bit of digging and found out that the robber used to own a cabin up here.”

Cassie had been leaning back against the tree, but she sat upright. “Are you telling me that Althea asked her gardener and the son of her latest boyfriend to find out about a
murderer
?”

“'Fraid so,” Jeff said. “That dear woman set this whole thing up. Dad said she had a major meltdown and asked him to help her because she was afraid for her life.”

“Interesting,” Cassie said, thinking about the last week. Althea had never given a hint that she was living in fear. “Dana and I saw her right after she'd been shot at and she wasn't the least bit upset. Not that I could see anyway. But she finds out about some cabin and she has a fit?”

“That's pretty much exactly what I said to Dad, but he asked me to come up here and have a look around.”

“And it was a good excuse to get to spend the weekend with the woman you love, so you came.”

“Cassie,” Jeff said slowly, “there's something you should know about Skylar. Her father—”

“So help me, if you tell me that you're spending time with her just to get her father's money, I'll hate you forever. That's despicable.”

Jeff closed his lips into a tight line and said nothing.

“So what were you going to tell me?”

“I think I'd better say nothing. Tomorrow we're going to be covered in mosquito bites.”

“Are you planning to marry Skylar or not?” Cassie asked point-blank. “Since my job future depends on your answer, I think you should tell me.”

For a moment Jeff looked as though he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. “I…,” he began. “You…I mean, we…” He took a breath. “Cassie, sometimes a person's life doesn't belong to himself. Sometimes there are bigger things out there than just us. Sometimes—”

He broke off because they heard a car moving slowly down the gravel road that curved around the lake and led to all the cabins. It was two o'clock in the morning. Who was arriving at this hour?

Jeff was instantly on his feet. “Stay here,” he whispered, then he disappeared into the trees.

He'd certainly moved quickly, hadn't he? she thought in disgust. Ask a man a point-blank question and he'll do whatever he can to squirm out of answering it. In this case Jeff had run from her question to see if an approaching car might possibly contain a murderer. Better to be shot at than to answer a question about marriage.

She stood up, her back against the tree, and looked about her. He certainly seemed able to see his way in the dark. And if he could see so well and move so quietly, maybe he'd seen her standing by the tree. Which meant that when he'd knocked her to the ground and straddled her, he'd known exactly what he was doing and to whom.

Yet again, Cassie had the feeling that she was in the middle of a play, and it was as though everyone except her had a script.

After what seemed a long time, Jeff suddenly appeared beside her, and again she marveled at how he managed to travel about in the woods in silence.

“It was nothing,” he said quietly, “just some tourists. We'd better go in and get some sleep before morning.”

As they started walking, she said, “Which cabin is it that belonged to the robber?”

This question seemed to catch Jeff off guard, but he recovered in seconds. “That one,” he said, pointing behind them. “The one with the yellow porch light. But someone else owns it now.” He shrugged. “I never had any hope we'd find anything.”

“Too bad. I would have liked to pull up the floorboards and find a hoard of jewels. Do you know exactly what was stolen?”

“Historic pieces, I think. Some things that used to belong to Lillie Langtry.”

“Nice,” Cassie said. “Did you look inside the cabin?”

“Break and enter, you mean? No, I didn't.” He sounded almost prudish, as though he'd never think of doing something illegal. He paused for a moment, then said, “But I did make some plans for us, though.”

“And what are they?”

“The reason I agreed to come on this wild-goose chase was because an old friend of mine is here this weekend, Leo Norton. I invited him to go on a boat with us tomorrow morning. Can you water-ski?”

“Never been on them in my life.”

“Good,” he said. “I'll teach you.”

He said it in such a lascivious way that she laughed. She started to reply, but he put his finger to his lips. Their cabin was in front of them and the windows were open. He motioned that he'd go ahead of her. No doubt he thought she couldn't open a door without making noise. She was tempted to yell out that she and Jeff were back and see what would happen, but she didn't.

Minutes later they were inside the cabin and Jeff was mouthing good night to her as he slipped into the bedroom he was sharing with Brent. At least they had twin beds. Cassie quietly went back to the bedroom she shared with Skylar, put on her nightgown, and went back to bed. She was asleep in seconds.

I
T WAS ONLY
9
A.M
. and already Cassie had thought of a thousand ways to murder the obnoxious Leo Norton. She couldn't believe he was friends with Jeff. In his fifties, with a big belly, and a loud voice, all he did was leer—and his leering was directed solely at Cassie.

“What's a little honey like you doin' with this bunch?” he demanded when he saw her at the boat. She had on a one-piece swimsuit under a loose pair of trousers and a big cotton shirt. It wasn't exactly what would inspire lust in a man. On the other hand, Skylar was wearing something straight out of
Vogue
. It was a microscopically tiny bikini, barely covered by a big, semitransparent white jacket that just reached to midthigh. Her big straw hat had a band of the same fabric around it.

When Skylar walked down to the dock where the boat that Jeff had rented was waiting, she gave Cassie a look up and down, then smiled as she let Brent help her onto the boat.

Cassie was looking after the huge cooler that held drinks, sandwiches, and fruit. She'd gone to the grocery at seven—it was open for fishermen—and bought lunch for all of them. No more watery pasta.

Jeff was waiting for her when she returned from the grocery. “You should have told me where you were going,” he said, frowning.

“I was sneaking off to meet my lover, so I couldn't tell you,” she said as she handed him a bag of groceries. “Are they up yet?”

“Yeah,” Jeff said, still frowning. “You look awfully chipper this morning.”

“And you look grumpy. Has something happened?”

“No. It's just that when I got up and you weren't here I was worried. You should have at least left a note.”

Cassie stared at his back in wonder as he took the bags to the kitchen. Worried? Because she was out of his sight for forty-five minutes? What in the world was wrong with him? In the year she'd lived in his house, he'd never once worried about her. Was it the idea that a murderer used to own a cabin near here? Was that what was bothering him? Whatever his problem, she was quite happy as she put the groceries away and made sandwiches for the day's outing. Even when Skylar came into the kitchen, perfectly made up and wearing her beautiful outfit, she didn't stop smiling.

But she did stop smiling when she met Leo Norton. He walked onto the porch, pounded on the screen door, and bellowed, asking if anyone was there. Cassie was the only one in the house. She had no idea where Skylar was, but Jeff and Brent had gone to pack the boat.

“Anybody home?” he asked in an accent that could only be called “redneck.” “I'm a-comin' in, so get your clothes on,” he said as he entered.

Cassie put the last of the sandwiches in the cooler with a pack of hot dogs, and went into the living room. He was tall, older, with hair that was one long strand combed over his nearly bald head. His shirt was half out of his trousers. When he saw Cassie, his eyes widened. “Who are you?” he asked in astonishment, then seemed to recover himself quickly. “Well, little lady, who are you? You're the prettiest thing I've seen in a month of Sundays. Do you belong to Jeff or Brent?”

“I don't belong to anyone,” she said, trying not to frown. “Are you Mr. Norton?”

“Sure am, honey, but you gotta call me Leo. All my best friends do. They say I remind them of a lion, so the name fits.” With that, he turned his head to the side and gave a little growl.

Cassie managed to give him a tiny smile, but she began thinking of excuses as to why she couldn't go on the boat with them. Spend a whole day with this man? Her stomach turned at the thought.

“I work for Jeff,” she said. “I'm his daughter's nanny.”

“Are ya, now, honey? You can be my nanny any time you want.” He took a step toward her and Cassie backed toward the kitchen.

“Mr. Norton,” she began, “I don't think—”

Jeff opened the door and came into the living room. “Leo, I see you've met Cassie. She's—”

“Your nanny. She told me.”

Something that Cassie didn't understand passed between the dreadful man and Jeff.

“I was just gettin' to know this little honey. Why don't you leave us alone for a while?”

Jeff moved so his body was between Leo's and Cassie's. “Why don't you go down to the boat and I'll help Cassie get ready here. Goodwin and Skylar are already on it. I'll be there in seconds.”

The man hesitated, but after one more glance at Cassie, he left.

“That man is a
friend
of yours?” Cassie asked when she was alone with Jeff.

“He hasn't always been that bad,” Jeff said as he went into the kitchen. “Once you get to know him, he's…” He trailed off. “Is this cooler ready to go?”

“I don't like the way he looked at me or the things he said,” Cassie said. “I don't want to go. You three go without me.”

“You can't stay here alone,” Jeff said. “I can't leave you here.”

“Then let Brent and Skylar go boating with him, and you can stay here with me.”

Jeff's face softened. “I'd love to do that, but I can't. I mean, Leo is my friend, not theirs. Come on, Cassie. We'll have fun, I promise.”

Cassie was torn between wanting time with Jeff and not wanting time with that lecherous, greasy Leo Norton. She looked at Jeff, trying to decide.

“Please,” he said. “For me.”

His eyes, looking so full of need, won her over. “Okay,” she said at last, “but if that creep touches me I'll hit him with the gas can.”

“I'll beat you to it,” Jeff said. “Just stay close to me and I'll protect you.”

With a reluctant heart, she'd added more bottles of juice to the cooler, and Jeff carried it to the boat. Leo Norton was already sitting on one of the padded seats at the back. Brent was in the front at the steering wheel and Skylar was perfectly posed in the middle. When Leo saw Cassie, his eyes lit up. “Oh, boy, honey, you are a sight for sore eyes. I'm gonna love this trip from just lookin' at you.”

Cassie took Jeff's hand as she stepped onto the boat. “Mr. Norton,” she said firmly, “my name is not ‘honey' and I don't like your innuendos.”

“Cool it,” Jeff said, giving Norton a warning look.

Leo put his hands up, as though Jeff was going to hit him. “I meant no offense. What's wrong with women today that they don't want to be told they're pretty? Now Skylar here, she loves to be told she's pretty. Don't you, pretty lady?”

“How would I know?” Skylar said, smiling broadly at the man, as though she liked him very much. “Why don't we stay here all day and let me find out what I like and don't like that you do?”

Leo gave a laugh that rang out across the lake, and Cassie looked from one to the other in wonder. She would have thought that Skylar would look down her nose at a man who was as fat and greasy as Leo was. His big belly alone was enough to turn a person off. But his loudness, his leering, and his generally obnoxious behavior didn't seem to matter to Skylar.

Brent started the big fiberglass boat with a key, and they set off. There was a bimini across the middle, and Cassie and Jeff stayed under it, but Brent, Leo, and Skylar were never out of the sun.

After a while, Cassie was able to ignore Leo, and she enjoyed the wind on her face and the water spraying onto her. They didn't water-ski. Instead, they just rode in the boat for over two hours. The lake by the cabin was fed by a river that led out into the Atlantic Ocean. In theory, they could travel up the coast to Maine and into Canada, she thought. She asked Jeff if they were headed somewhere specific. He nodded but didn't tell her where.

Everyone and their damned secrets! she thought, looking up at Brent and Skylar standing by the helm, their heads often close together. She glanced at Jeff sitting across from her, then at Leo in the back. He was staring off into the distance, and for a moment he didn't look as stupid as he seemed. But when he turned and saw her looking at him, his expression changed to a lascivious one, and she looked away, puzzled. It was almost as though he was trying to keep her from looking at him.

She wondered why Jeff wasn't with Skylar. If they were in love, wouldn't this be the perfect time to be together? Instead, Skylar was with Brent, occasionally taking the wheel, then laughing when they hit a wave. It seemed to Cassie that if Jeff were in love with Skylar he'd be jealous and stop what was going on.

But Jeff didn't seem to notice. Once, he went to the front and talked quietly to Brent, who nodded often. Jeff seemed to be giving directions. As far as she could tell, Jeff was in charge of everyone and everything—and no one disputed his authority.

After Jeff left Brent, he returned to the middle of the boat, sat down by Cassie, and asked if she was having a good time. She honestly told him yes and again asked where they were going.

“To a little cove where I've been before,” he said, leaning close to her ear so she could hear him. “I thought we'd have lunch there. Sorry about the water-skiing, but Leo couldn't go so I thought—” He shrugged to finish his sentence, then leaned closer to her. “Besides, the sight of you in a swimsuit is more than ol' Leo's heart could stand. It's too nice a day to have to deal with a dead body.”

Cassie laughed, then turned to him, their faces close together.

“Hey!” Leo yelled from the back. “You two gonna do it on the floor? Get away from her, Ames, I got dibs on that baby.”

“Your fantasy life is only exceeded by your girth,” Jeff yelled back at him, but his voice was full of humor. “You want a beer?”

“I thought you'd never ask.”

Jeff winked at Cassie as he got up and went to the drinks cooler and tossed a can of beer to Leo and took one for himself, then he threw cans to Brent and Skylar. He asked Cassie if she wanted one, but she declined. He then went to the back of the boat, where he sat with Leo for nearly half an hour, their heads close together as they talked in low tones. Cassie tried to hear what they were saying, but she could only catch bits now and then. She heard the name “Althea” three times. And two times she heard Leo say that he “didn't know.” Jeff seemed to be the one asking all the questions and Leo did all the answering. Every time Cassie turned her ear toward them so she could hear better, Leo would look at her in a way that made her turn back to the front of the boat. Again, she felt he was doing it on purpose.

By the time she heard Jeff tell Brent that they were to pull into the coast, Cassie's mind was full of unanswered questions. For months her life had been ruled by her belief that Jeff was going to marry Skylar Beaumont and that she was going to lose her home as well as her job. Skylar had often appeared at Jeff's house and he'd often left with her, and other times, he'd said that he was going out with her. But when Cassie thought back on it, she knew she'd never seen the two of them locked in an embrace, never stumbled on them in a passionate hug.

And today, Jeff had never so much as asked Skylar if she was all right. He seemed not to care that she had spent the whole trip laughing with Brent.

And as for Brent, wasn't Cassie supposed to be
his
date? So why was he ignoring her? Not that she minded, but it was odd, wasn't it?

Jeff directed Brent to pull the boat into an opening in the coastline that couldn't be seen from the water. To Cassie, it looked like just rocks and trees, but as they got closer she could see a narrow inlet that led back in toward land. Brent cut the engine to an idle and slowly made his way into the narrow waterway. When they got past the shallow water, they hit wider, deeper water. A river.

It was eerily quiet as they moved along the river, with tall trees looming over them. She felt as though she was an early explorer, seeing the North American continent for the first time.

“Where are we?” she whispered to Jeff when he moved to stand beside her. She could smell the beer on his breath and she wondered if his lips were cool on this hot day.

“Maryland,” he said. “Private property. Dad knows the owner.” He pointed ahead. “There's a little cove up there with a big rock overhang. I thought we'd have a picnic there. You like the idea?”

“Very much,” she said, and wished she could make the other three people disappear. What would happen if it were just she and Jeff on the boat and they landed in a secluded cove?

When she gave a great sigh, Jeff asked if she was feeling all right. “Not seasick, are you?”

“There's some sickness about her, but it ain't from the sea,” Leo said. He'd left his perch at the back of the boat and was standing across from them, holding on to the poles of the bimini. “Ain't that so, little missy?” he said, looking Cassie up and down.

Her shirt was unbuttoned so the top of her suit was exposed, as well as some skin. She pulled her shirt closed.

“Cut it out!” Jeff said to the man as he moved away from Cassie, but there was no anger in his voice.

Brent turned the engine off and they floated toward a pretty little rocky beach. As Jeff had said, there was a deep overhanging rock, enough to shelter them if it started to rain. Jeff jumped over the side into the water and soon had the boat tied securely to a tree. Brent helped Skylar down, then Jeff held his arms up and Cassie fell into them. She hoped he'd fall into the water with her on top of him, but he held her securely and they didn't fall.

Behind her, she heard Leo laugh, as though he knew Cassie's thoughts. She ignored him. He made his way up to the front of the boat and climbed down the ladder, as though he didn't want to get wet.

Brent started gathering wood to make a fire and Skylar stretched out on a rock in a pose straight out of a magazine. Jeff was unloading the cooler, so that left Cassie and Leo on their own. Behind her was a narrow trail and she stepped toward it. She'd really like to walk some after being on the boat. But first she looked at Jeff askance and he nodded. His eyes said that he'd keep Leo away from her.