Natalie Lyons exited her Mercedes SUV and kicked the mounds of caked snow from under the wheel wells, then stamped clean her UGGs before entering the house through the garage.
It wasn’t as fruitful a day as she would have liked, but she did discover that the private dick, Aiden O’Rourke, stopped in to see the sheriff, and that he stayed precisely forty-six minutes.
“Nat? That you?” came her mother’s voice. Then the clicking of stilettos on polished marble.
“Yeah, Mom. It’s me,” she answered in her usual flat tone.
Gabrielle Lyons poked a coiffed blonde head around the corner as Natalie hung her jacket and removed her boots.
Mother and daughter were a study in contrasts. Natalie, nineteen, was tall and reedy with long arms and legs that gave her an insect-like appearance. Dull brown hair hung unkempt around a long, bony face. Blue eyes, bright as chips of lapis lazuli, were her only redeeming feature.
Gabrielle was shorter and had some meat on her forty-six-year-old bones, but she was beautiful; there was no denying that. She’d bought herself a nose job, hair extensions, veneers for her teeth, new boobs, and a facelift. A tummy tuck and lipo were next on her list.
“What did you find out?” Gabrielle’s voice was thick with anticipation.
Natalie shrugged. “The private dick went to see the sheriff. I sat for almost an hour outside the station freezing my buns off.”
Natalie feigned disinterest for her mother’s benefit, but in truth she’d been compelled to watch and follow Aiden O’Rourke. She needed to know where he was and what he was doing. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” was one of her dad’s favorite sayings, and Natalie knew it to be good advice. It also comforted her, made her feel she had control over something in her life.
After Aiden left the sheriff’s office, Natalie had parked outside Lily’s house. Watching Lily was her other obsession. Then surprise, surprise, Miss Valier hopped into her Corolla and hightailed it up that long and winding road to Aiden’s cozy cabin in the woods.
Why was he spending time with that whore? Although she didn’t know Lily well, she reasoned she wouldn’t be much different than her slut of a sister. Since Aiden wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes, Natalie understood Lily’s attraction to the man, and she’d heard how he’d saved her from a burglary the other night. No doubt he was an instant hero in Lily’s eyes.
“So, nothing to report? You don’t know what that private eye talked to the sheriff about?”
God, her mother could be a nosey pain in the ass. She sighed. “All I know is that he was there.” She left out the details as she strutted past. Her mother didn’t care as much as she let on about her husband’s well-being, so the less Gabrielle knew, the better. Still, Natalie had to walk a fine line to keep her mother happy, giving her just enough info so the bucks would continue to flow and Deputy Deluca would remain firmly planted in her pocket. With a trust fund locked down tight until she was twenty-five, getting her hands on a lot of dough was impossible.
“You’d better call that deputy. Find out if he knows anything. Or do you want me to?” Gabrielle asked.
Natalie held up a hand. “No. I’ll do it.” She headed for the kitchen with Gabrielle trailing and took a seat at the counter. “Where’s Daddy?”
“At the office, but he’ll be home for dinner.” Gabrielle sidled up beside her daughter and plucked a red velvet cupcake from a silver-tiered tower. She placed it in front of Natalie and smiled. “Stop worrying. Everything will be fine.”
Natalie turned to her mother, pushing the cupcake away. “Daddy was questioned once. He could be questioned again, especially with that PI in town. Right now, the sheriff thinks he was away on business when Sara Valier was killed, and we both know that’s not true. If they find out, that’ll make him look guilty.”
Her dad, though far from perfect, gave her more than her mother ever did. He’d actually said the words “I love you” and even called her pet names from time to time. As far as Natalie was concerned, her mother was made of solid ice. It had always been that way, as far back as she could remember. Life wouldn’t be worth living without her dad. He was the only one who could cool the fires of fury that often burned in her, and give her a hand up when depression swept her into its depths. Nothing, and no one else, could help, not even the antidepressants the doctors kept trying to force down her throat.
Gabrielle’s lips pressed into a grim line. “I’m sick of this.” She shook her head solemnly. “If they do, then they do. We’re doing all we can to protect your dad, but he is a grown man, and maybe he should face the consequences of his actions.”
Natalie felt her face darken like a thundercloud, and her hands fisted in anger. Infidelity was one thing and, unfortunately, her mother made sure she knew her dad was guilty of that, but murder was something else entirely. “Daddy didn’t do it.” Her words were emphatic.
Gabrielle patted her daughter’s back and sighed. “I’m sorry. All I’m saying is, it’s not fair that he put us in this position. Damn him anyway.” She slapped a palm on the granite counter top, her rings clinking against the stone surface.
Tears brimmed in Natalie’s eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to Daddy.”
A frown would have creased Gabrielle’s forehead if she hadn’t had a Botox injection that week. “I know you love him, but he can be a bastard, Natalie. You’re old enough to know that. He’s far from perfect.” She bit into a vanilla cupcake, icing dotting the end of her nose.
“He’s perfect to me,” Natalie whispered.
Gabrielle sighed heavily and got up. “Got to check on Angela. She should be in here starting dinner.” She clicked her way out of the kitchen in search of the hired help.
When her mother was out of sight, Natalie made her way to the powder room and locked the door. She opened a drawer and fished through her mother’s various pill bottles, finally settling on one. Popping open the lid, she tapped out two small pills onto her palm and dry swallowed them. Who needed antidepressants when painkillers did a better job?
She sat on the lid of the toilet seat and fished her cell out of her pocket. Soon her troubles would float away, at least for a few hours. A respite from the world and from reality was sorely needed. “Please, God, don’t let Daddy get into any more trouble,” she whispered before hitting the first number on her speed dial.
“Yeah?” Antonio Deluca answered on the first ring.
“Can you talk?” Natalie asked.
“Just a sec.”
She heard footfalls as he went in search of privacy.
“OK, I’m back, but I don’t have much time.” Deluca spoke in a hushed tone and there was a slight echo to his voice, making Natalie think he was in the men’s room.
Yuck, she thought, and got straight to the point. “I know Aiden O’Rourke was at the station today. Why didn’t you phone me?”
“I was going to. Give me a chance, will ya?”
She ignored his annoyance. “Did you hear anything?”
“Only the usual.”
“And that is…?” Now annoyance was in her voice. Did she have to pull every word out of him? Antonio was quiet by nature, but the hundred-dollar bills she kept doling out to him were meant to loosen his lips.
“You know I’ve done all I can to put Wilkins on Lily Valier’s trail. Don’t worry, your dear old dad won’t go down for this. I’ve got him thinking Lily did it.”
Relief flooded her. However short-lived it might be, she was grateful for it.
“Anything else?”
“O’Rourke’s going to question Phil Kemp. You know him? The guy Sara Valier was seeing before your dad? Personally, I think it’s a waste of time. He’s innocent. Oh, and O’Rourke’s got plans with Lily for tonight. Sounds like he’s got her wrapped around his little finger.”
“I know who Phil Kemp is,” Natalie said, exasperation tingeing her voice. “I guess that’s a logical place to start.” But now the knot of worry tightened like a noose around her neck, choking her with panic. Her dad was sure to be on O’Rourke’s list, because that was the next logical step. Her only hope was her dad would be smart enough to outwit the PI.
As for Lily being wrapped around Aiden’s finger, that’d be an easy finger to get wrapped around, but what good would it do him? Phil Kemp may be innocent, but Natalie knew Lily was too.