Monster In The Closet (The Baltimore Series Book 5)

  ‘It’s all right, Taylor,’ Daphne said comfortingly. ‘The instinct for self-protection in traumatized children is a strong one. You sometimes make decisions that seem right at the time, but that you regret later.’

  ‘But I’m not a child. Not anymore.’

  ‘Neither am I. But we both were children who grew up looking over our shoulders and fearing the monster in the closet.’

  Taylor swallowed hard. ‘Does it ever go away? The fear? And the panic attacks?’

  Daphne’s smile was a little sad. ‘Not really. You learn to cope, and eventually the reflex to protect yourself weakens, but it never really goes away. I still have panic attacks from time to time. The most unexpected things can trigger them, so I have to always be prepared, and that in itself can be exhausting. Have you had any counseling?’

  ‘No. We lived in a pretty isolated area, and when I did go to college, I was never alone. I majored in psychology. Maybe I thought some of it would rub off and I could . . . fix myself. But . . . yeah.’ It sounded utterly silly when she said the words out loud. ‘I probably should talk to an actual professional, huh?’

  Daphne’s lips quirked up. ‘Y’think? At any rate, there’s been no harm done to Healing Hearts. Do you plan to continue with us through the summer?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am, if you’ll have me. Especially now that I may be able to help Jazzie.’

  Daphne’s nod was approving. ‘And after this summer is over? What then?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’d like to get to know Clay better.’ And Ford, too, she thought. The memory of that almost-kiss blazed through her mind and she dropped her gaze to her fingers, hoping to high heaven that she wasn’t blushing. ‘But I have my dad back in California and he needs me too. He sacrificed so much to protect me. I can’t abandon him.’ Tears stung her eyes and she looked up to find both Daphne and Maggie wearing sympathetic gazes. ‘I’m torn.’

  ‘Well, you don’t have to decide tonight,’ Daphne said. ‘It’ll all still be here tomorrow.’

  ‘And you’ll think more clearly after a good night’s sleep,’ Maggie added kindly.

  ‘I sure hope so,’ Taylor said. ‘On both thinking more clearly and being able to sleep.’ She had to be alert tomorrow. She’d face Clay again over breakfast, then Jazzie after lunch. And of course there was Ford, who seemed to be staying the night at least.

  She held her breath, hoping he’d be waiting for her when she returned, but the kitchen was empty, the only sound that of the dishwasher’s rinse cycle.

  But he’d left her a note that made her smile. Sleep well. Everything will be okay.

  Baltimore, Maryland

  Saturday 22 August, 9.45 P.M.

  ‘Beautiful,’ JD murmured, coming up behind Lucy where she stood in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. He slid his arms around her waist, tugging her against his chest, hunkering down to rest his chin on her shoulder so that their faces were reflected side by side. ‘You take my breath away.’

  Her smile was a little bit shy. ‘We don’t have time for another round.’

  ‘Maybe Gwyn tired the kids out for us. Maybe they’ll go to sleep right away and we’ll have a quiet night.’ JD kissed her neck where he knew it would make her shiver, grinning when it did.

  ‘Dream on,’ Lucy said with an eye roll, then gave their reflections a critical look. ‘You’re all grins and I look relaxed for the first time in days. Gwyn’s gonna know what we’ve been up to.’

  JD laughed again. ‘Like she didn’t when she agreed to babysit?’

  ‘True,’ Lucy conceded, then sighed when the doorbell chimed. ‘That’ll be her now. Our little break is officially over.’

  ‘I’ll let her in.’ JD stole a quick kiss. ‘You think really stressful thoughts so you don’t look relaxed and I’ll scowl so she won’t think we’ve been up to anything,’ he said, and the sound of Lucy’s laughter followed him down the stairs. There was no way he could scowl. Not when he had everything he’d ever wanted.

  He opened the door to find Gwyn in full stage makeup, holding Bronwynne crooked in one arm and Jeremiah by the hand. She took one look at JD’s grin and rolled her eyes. ‘Tell me you didn’t make any more of these?’ she said dramatically, indicating the children. He knew her snarky attitude was all for effect. She loved his and Lucy’s two kids like they were her own.

  He also knew the snark had become her normal face to the world, a shield behind which she hid because she was afraid to let anyone get too close.

  ‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘Two’s enough. For now, anyway.’ He reached for Jeremiah, laughing when he saw his son’s face made up like a member of KISS. ‘Recruiting them early for the band, aren’t you?’ He settled Jeremiah on his hip and stepped back to let Gwyn inside.

  She curled her lip at JD, once again her bluster all for show. ‘We’re taking whatever talent we can find. We’ve had to scramble to fill the hole Lucy’s left in the schedule for months because of you. All because you knocked her up a second time.’

  Lucy’s electric violin sets were wildly popular, but they’d had a number of guest performers since she’d been on maternity leave. JD knew that Lucy had been itching to be on stage again, making that violin of hers sing. He’d certainly enjoyed the private performance she’d gifted to him upstairs.

  His grin widened. ‘What can I say? I couldn’t keep my hands off her.’

  Gwyn narrowed her eyes. ‘Wait till you see the D-R-U-M-S that I’m getting Jeremiah for Christmas. You won’t be smiling so much then.’

  JD just shrugged. ‘I’m feeling too good right now to worry about it.’ He leaned down to kiss Gwyn’s cheek, careful not to smudge her makeup. ‘Thank you,’ he whispered. ‘We needed the time together.’

  A temporary fissure in her shield of sarcasm allowed her true smile to peek through. ‘Any time,’ she whispered back.

  ‘Holy cow!’ Lucy exclaimed, coming down the stairs. ‘Jeremiah, you look awesome!’ She ruffled his hair. ‘I think we’ve got ourselves a budding rock star.’

  ‘Wanna rock,’ Jeremiah said with a hard nod.

  Lucy snorted. ‘Did Uncle Thorne teach you that?’

  Gwyn rolled her eyes again. ‘Thorne came by to take me to the club, but I think he just wanted time with the kids.’ She shifted the baby into Lucy’s arms. ‘Jeremiah’s makeup will wash off with water.’

  ‘I figured as much,’ Lucy assured her. ‘So, you’re on tonight?’

  Gwyn nodded. ‘The scheduled act bailed on us at the last minute. I’m pinch-hitting.’ Her skill on the piano was nowhere near Lucy’s on the violin, but it didn’t matter. Gwyn’s real talent was her voice. She could croon oldies, twang country, sing the blues, and belt out classic rock or opera like no one else JD had ever heard. It just depended on her mood. Tonight’s makeup and costume suggested she was going with heavy metal. Always an interesting choice.

  Gwyn looked over her shoulder with a frown. ‘Thorne was right behind me with all the baby crap. Where’d he go? He had one job, to carry the baby crap.’

  ‘I’m coming,’ Thorne snapped as he came up the walk and through the front door, laden with car seats and diaper bags. He met JD’s eyes and gave him a quick nod before resuming his rant. ‘Kids need to be trained to carry their own crap.’

  JD felt some of his tension ease. Thorne had found something on Jarvis, something he’d needed to share in person. It would either be incredibly useful or royally disastrous. JD hoped for the former.

  ‘When they get big enough to carry all that crap, they don’t need it anymore,’ Gwyn snapped back at Thorne. The two bickered with each other all the time. ‘What took you so long?’

  ‘I’m afraid we waylaid him, sugar,’ came the twanged answer, as Daphne and Joseph followed Thorne through the front door. Both of them carried zippered clothing bags. ‘We were assigned by the bride to deliver
the wedding attire.’

  Because Holly and Dillon’s wedding was the day after tomorrow.

  ‘Your tux,’ Joseph said dryly, handing JD one of the bags. JD could tell from Joseph’s expression that the delivery had been an excuse and that something else had come up.

  ‘And your dresses,’ Daphne added, handing bags to Lucy and Gwyn. ‘I’m so glad you’re here, Gwyn! You saved us a trip.’

  Lucy and Gwyn had been asked to provide the music for the prelude and processional. Some would be simple instrumental duets, Gwyn on the piano and Lucy on the acoustic violin, which still stirred JD’s emotions every time she drew her bow over the strings. A few of the selections Gwyn would sing, Lucy providing the accompaniment. The couple had made other arrangements for music during the ceremony itself.

  Gwyn feigned surprise. ‘We have dresses?’

  Lucy caught on, mirroring Gwyn’s expression. ‘We thought we’d just wear our club clothes.’

  JD chuckled, passing Jeremiah to Joseph so that he could hang all the bags in the closet. Gwyn and Lucy wore leather micro-miniskirts when they performed at the club. ‘I personally like that idea a lot,’ he said, waggling his brows.

  Daphne skewered Lucy and Gwyn with a look. ‘If I can’t wear a miniskirt to the wedding, you can’t either.’

  ‘I couldn’t wear mine anyway,’ Lucy said with a sigh. ‘I haven’t lost enough of the baby weight to get into it.’

  ‘Because Romeo there keeps knocking her up,’ Gwyn added, then tilted her head at the Carters. ‘We were supposed to pick these up tomorrow at the rehearsal dinner. And you look . . . weird, Daphne. Joseph looks annoyed as hell. What gives?’

  Daphne frowned again. ‘I have a poker face.’

  Lucy shook her head. ‘No, honey, you really don’t. What’s wrong?’

  Daphne briefly glanced at Joseph, who was now scowling openly. ‘Do you guys have a few minutes?’ she asked. ‘We have some news and wanted to make sure people knew before the wedding so all the surprise and shock can be gotten over with.’

  Joseph exhaled harshly. ‘God,’ he muttered. ‘I still can’t believe it.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Thorne repeated Lucy’s question before JD could.

  ‘Well, nothing really,’ Daphne said. ‘But we should sit down.’

  Unconvinced, JD led them into the living room, where everyone found seats. Joseph put Jeremiah on the floor near his blocks and took his place next to Daphne on the sofa.

  Daphne sighed. ‘Clay’s daughter showed up today.’

  There was a shocked silence. JD recovered first. ‘Sienna? The daughter he’s been searching for for twenty fu-reaking years?’ He caught the curse just in time, because Jeremiah had developed a recent talent for repeating swear words. ‘She just showed up?’

  ‘What did she want?’ Thorne asked, sounding suspicious as well.

  ‘She didn’t “just show up”,’ Joseph corrected. ‘She’s been at the farm for two fu—’

  ‘Freaking!’ JD interrupted.

  ‘Weeks,’ Joseph continued. ‘Two weeks. Right under my fu-reaking nose.’

  ‘Wait,’ JD said, shaking his head. ‘Did you say she was at the farm? Healing Hearts?’

  ‘That’s the only farm we’ve got,’ Joseph said darkly.

  Well, that explains Maggie’s subdued tone on the phone, JD thought, stunned.

  ‘But how?’ Gwyn demanded. ‘I volunteer there and I had to practically donate a kidney to pass the background check. How did you not know she was there?’

  Joseph glared at no one in particular. ‘She had help.’

  ‘Joseph,’ Daphne admonished. ‘You make it sound like she’s part of the Mafia.’

  ‘Is she?’ Lucy asked very seriously. Clay and Stevie were part of their family and Lucy did not take kindly to people upsetting their family. ‘Does she intend to hurt Clay? More than she already has anyway, by hiding from him for so long.’

  Daphne sighed again. ‘It’s a long story and you’ll all hear it, but just know that she didn’t mean to hurt anyone. She was lied to by her mother, Clay’s ex-wife. Led to believe that Clay was a horrible person and he’d hurt her if he ever found her. Taylor knows that’s not true now, but it was something she believed her whole life.’

  Lucy frowned. ‘Taylor? His daughter’s name is Sienna.’

  Daphne gave JD a meaningful glance. ‘Sienna’s name was changed to Taylor Dawson when she was a child.’

  JD blinked. ‘Taylor Dawson? As in the intern who connected with Jazzie Jarvis?’

  Daphne’s nod was sober. ‘The very same.’

  JD’s mind was already charging ahead at light speed. Clay’s daughter just shows up and connects with the only witness to a brutal murder? On the same day that three people were killed to make it look like the murderer of Valerie Jarvis had met his own end?

  ‘Maybe you should tell us the whole story, Daphne,’ JD said quietly.

  Daphne did, relating the lie perpetrated by Clay’s ex-wife until her deathbed confession, the sacrifices made by Donna’s husband, Frederick Dawson, and the disbelief of Taylor herself, followed by the plan she’d made to meet her father and judge his character for herself.

  When Daphne was finished, there was a moment of silence.

  ‘Wow,’ Thorne said, his normally booming voice muted.

  Gwyn snorted a laugh. ‘Wow?’ she repeated with a shake of her head. ‘Mr Defense Attorney, king of the courtroom, and that’s all you have to say?’

  Daphne made a face. ‘He is not king of the courtroom. Maybe a baron. Or a viscount.’

  ‘Jester,’ Joseph grumbled, and Daphne lightly smacked his arm.

  ‘Stop. You’re just mad that Taylor’s stepdad outsmarted your background check.’

  Which JD would ask Joseph about later. ‘How is Clay taking it?’ JD asked instead.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Daphne murmured. ‘I wasn’t there. I heard about it from Maggie and went to talk to Taylor myself after Clay and Stevie had left. Maggie said he cried.’

  Another moment of quiet. All of them knew how hard Clay had searched for his daughter and how devastated he’d been every time he’d come up empty-handed.

  The baby fussed and Lucy rocked to settle her down. ‘How did Stevie take it?’

  ‘Again I wasn’t there,’ Daphne said, then shook her head. ‘But not so good. Maggie said she was furious with the girl, but that Taylor gave it right back to her. She’d been lied to for her whole life, but she came to find the truth. I was satisfied with Taylor’s story, as was Maggie. Clay was simply overwhelmed that she was there at all. I imagine Stevie will come around.’

  ‘How do you know she’s telling the truth? That she’s really his kid?’ Gwyn asked, her voice brittle. Bitter. ‘People can say they’re a certain person all they want, but they lie.’

  Thorne put his arm around her shoulders in a platonic gesture of support. They made an odd picture, Gwyn at five-foot even and Thorne at six-six. ‘It’s a fair question,’ he said.

  ‘She looks just like him, when you know what to look for,’ Daphne said. ‘I can’t believe I missed it. Maggie’s known from the get-go. She was waiting for Taylor to show her hand.’

  The baby’s fussing grew urgent and Lucy stood up. ‘I have to nurse her. Gwyn, can you give me a hand with Jeremiah? Maybe run him a bath and clean his face? I have a suspicion JD’s going to be busy discussing cop-stuff.’

  Gwyn picked Jeremiah up, tickling him when he complained about leaving his toys behind. ‘Do we have time?’ she asked Thorne. ‘I’m supposed to be on stage soon.’

  ‘Yes. Go on. I’ll let the club know we’ll be a little late.’ Thorne turned to Joseph and JD. ‘What does Clay’s daughter have to do with Gage Jarvis’s daughter?’

  Joseph gave JD a questioning look. JD shrugged. ‘I
asked him for information on Jarvis,’ he said, then explained that Taylor was so important because she’d gotten Jazzie to open up.

  Thorne’s dark brows rose. ‘Very convenient timing.’

  ‘I thought the same,’ JD agreed.

  Daphne looked doubtful. ‘I don’t believe Taylor has any agenda other than meeting her father. And I certainly can’t imagine how she could be connected to Valerie’s killer, now that we know who she really is and why she’s here. But we’re talking about the life of an eleven-year-old girl, so I’ll hold my vote for a while.’

  ‘Does Clay know that Taylor is meeting Jazzie tomorrow?’ JD asked.

  ‘He does,’ Daphne said, ‘but I’m not sure that he knows the details. Be prepared for a shit fit when he finds out you’ve planned the meet for Giuseppe’s. Especially given the fact that Valerie Jarvis’s murderer has already killed three other people to keep his secret.’

  ‘I’ll go out to the farm tomorrow,’ JD decided. ‘I’ll meet her for myself. Until then, tell us what you know about Gage Jarvis, Thorne.’

  Thorne leaned back into the sofa cushions and regarded them all levelly. ‘Five years ago, I was approached by Cesar Tavilla.’

  JD, Joseph and Daphne all blinked in unison. ‘The head of the ST clique?’ Daphne asked, surprised.

  ‘Shit, Thorne,’ JD said quietly, not even wanting Tavilla’s name to be spoken in his home. The head of Baltimore’s Los Señores de la Tierra gang was a bloodthirsty thug masquerading as a legitimate businessman. Even their name was a mockery. Lords of the Planet, my fucking ass. ‘He’s building ST’s Baltimore clique, bent on making it even stronger than MS-13 in DC.’ Although the notorious MS-13 gang was much stronger in LA and San Francisco, it had been the largest in the Washington area for years. Tavilla was looking to upset that apple cart, then blow it sky high. Turf wars were coming, and every law enforcement officer knew and dreaded the bloodshed that would undoubtedly result. ‘Why would he approach you?’

  ‘He wanted me to handle his son’s case,’ Thorne said gravely. ‘The son had been accused of murder. Tavilla had tried to bribe the victim’s family to make it all go away, but the family wouldn’t accept a payoff. They wanted justice.’