Best-Kept Secrets. Dani Sinclair

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      “I’m not real excited about the idea, either!”

      “Pay attention at all times to your surroundings. It would be best if you stayed with others and didn’t let yourself become isolated.”

      Truly frightened now, Amy’s first thought was her daughter. “Do you think Kelsey is in danger?”

      “Look, maybe this was just a fluke, but I’m even more concerned now that you told me someone may have been loitering out front after Officer Jackstone left.”

      “Maybe…maybe it was Jake.”

      “Why would you think that?”

      “I didn’t call you because I’d half convinced myself that Jake had come back to sort of keep an eye on us.”

      Hepplewhite said nothing and she found herself explaining more than she’d wanted to. “Jake and I were, uh, good friends a long time ago. Despite rumors to the contrary, Jake isn’t involved in organized crime.”

      The lines beside his eyes crinkled in amusement. “I know.”

      “You checked him out?”

      “It wasn’t difficult. One of the locals, Noah Inglewood, recognized Mr. Collins as a Special Forces leader he had shared a mission with once. Mr. Collins has a rather impressive military record.”

      “Oh.”

      The chief stood and thanked her for her time and the iced tea. Silently, she walked him to the front door.

      “Please apologize to your mother again, but try to warn her to be careful. That serial rapist you referred to earlier was never caught. I don’t want to find out the hard way that he’s returned to his old stomping grounds.”

      Amy shuddered. “You think this could be the same person who was in the area a few years ago?”

      “No,” he said firmly. “If, and I stress the if, the person last night was a would-be rapist, I suspect it was a matter of seizing what he saw as an opportunity.”

      “I understand.”

      “Stay alert. And if you can think of anything that would help us identify the woman and baby in the root cellar, let me know.”

      “There is one thing. Have you talked with the Perry family? The restaurant is the old Perry mansion, you know. The mayor’s mother lived in the house until a few years ago.”

      He paused on the front porch and nodded. “I’m afraid Ms. Perry’s mental faculties aren’t sufficient to be reliable anymore. I plan to have a talk with her niece, the mayor, but—”

      “What about her brother?”

      Hepplewhite hesitated, his brow pleating. “Eugene?”

      “Not the mayor’s brother, I meant Ms. Perry’s brother, the mayor’s father. General Marcus Perry actually inherited the estate but he didn’t live there once he joined the military. He and his wife, Millicent, had Cindy Lou and Eugene. I’m not sure where Eugene lives, but I know old Ms. Perry lived in the house until she started having problems. Of course, she was always a little—”

      “Strange?”

      Amy nearly smiled. “I was going to say reclusive. Her brother Marcus is…” She paused on the verge of calling the general strange. “I’ve met General Perry in the course of my duties for the military,” she added quickly instead. And in every case Marcus Perry had stared at her with a disquieting expression. Amy had taken to avoiding any place where she might run into the man. “He would probably know when the root cellar was closed up.”

      “An excellent suggestion. Thank you. I’ll ask Cindy Lou how to get in touch with her father.”

      “Good luck.”

      She closed the screen door behind him. After a moment, for the first time in memory, she locked it as she watched the officer stride to his waiting vehicle.

      “IF I UNDERSTAND YOU correctly, Officer Garvey, someone tampered with that dump truck on purpose.”

      “I didn’t say that, Mr. Collins.”

      The policeman’s gaze swept the empty dining room. Shortly, the Perrywrinkle would open and the carefully laid tables would fill with the usual lunch crowd.

      Jake tipped his head and raised his eyebrows. “Is there some indication that the truck had faulty gears?”

      Lee Garvey smiled ruefully. “The state police are looking into that for us. I know you already answered this once, but I thought maybe after sleeping on the incident you might have remembered seeing someone near the truck before it began to roll backward.”

      “My attention was elsewhere at the time.” On a woman with golden-brown hair and lips made for kissing. A woman who had haunted his memories for years and given life to his child.

      A woman who hated him.

      “You think someone deliberately put the truck in gear?” Jake asked.

      “Not necessarily. It could have been a kid fooling around.”

      Instantly Jake came alert. His body tightened imperceptibly. “Matt was on the other side of the hole. I saw him myself right before I realized the truck was moving.”

      “I wasn’t accusing anyone.”

      Perhaps not, but fifteen-year-old Matt Williams’s reputation made that almost inevitable. Matt had been caught boosting vehicles for a car theft ring the FBI had broken up several weeks ago. An orphan, Matt had lived with his maternal aunt and her husband until he’d witnessed a murder and become a liability to the car thieves. To keep him silent, his aunt and uncle’s house had been blown up—with Matt inside. The boy had been lucky enough to survive.

      “I understand he’s staying with you,” Garvey said.

      Jake tensed. In truth, he had no legal standing where Matt was concerned. Matt’s paternal aunt and uncle were still his official guardians, but Dwight Kornbaum had confessed that he and Matt couldn’t be in the same room without arguing. The boy was ruining his marriage and his life. Dwight was more than ready to turn Matt over to another relative.

      “Matt is staying here so his schooling won’t be interrupted while his aunt and uncle’s house is being rebuilt,” Jake said simply. “Catherine and Dwight are staying in D.C. with some friends who live close to where they work.”

      He didn’t add that Matt acted as if the new arrangement didn’t matter to him one way or another, but Jake recognized the signs of a boy who knew when he wasn’t wanted.

      During the time the Perrywrinkle was being gutted and refurbished, Jake had done his best to get to know the skittish boy and earn his trust. If Matt wondered why his relatives had come to this arrangement with Jake, he’d never asked, though Jake had presented several opportunities for him to do so. Matt trusted no one. Forging a bond with him took time and patience. Jake had plenty of both.

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