“Could I see it?” He saw the indecision in her eyes. “I can get a court order, Ellie.”
She bit her lip. “There’s nothing here to see, but I’ll show you.”
Ellie hadn’t been upstairs in several days. Two bedrooms, one on either side, opened off the wide hallway. A bathroom at the end of the hall served both bedrooms.
She flipped on the light in the bedroom on the right, and the glow illuminated the queen bed with its new white quilt and aqua throw pillows. After pulling up all the old carpets, she’d refinished the oak floors to match the ones downstairs, then put down area rugs. The room still held the lingering scent of Mac’s shampoo and favorite pumpkin candle.
Grayson followed her into the room and looked around. “It almost looks like she lived here.”
“She left clothes here and some of her books.” She indicated the white bookcase on the right side of the bed. “She’s a big Stephen King fan as you can tell.”
Seeing Mac’s things here left a boulder lodged in her throat. Would her sister ever pull out her well-worn copy of The Stand again or curl up in the upholstered armchair with her computer? She stepped to the closet and opened the door to the small walk-in space. Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined the back wall, and clothing hung on either side of the closet.
“Mac’s a neatnik, and she puts most everything in the closet.”
She caught the scent of Mac’s light floral perfume, Daisy, on her clothes, and her vision blurred. She blinked until she could see again, then moved to the shelving. Boxes, games, and more books resided back here as well as seldom-used toiletries like blue nail polish and a foot bath. Sometimes she wondered why Mac hadn’t just moved in with her since she’d brought so many of her things. Her sister had a loft apartment in the downtown area, but Ellie had never liked the cold, featureless space. Mac evidently didn’t either.
Grayson joined her in front of the shelves. “You mind if I look through the closet?”
It wouldn’t do any good to object. “Go ahead.”
She watched him step into the walk-in closet and look at the shelves. Her gaze was caught by the family treasure box. It was a large wooden box with an ornately carved picture of a tall ship on the lid. She reached for it and held it to her chest.
“What’s that?”
She lifted her chin at the suspicion in his voice. “It holds our keepsakes. I thought I’d sift through it just to feel close to Mac.”
“Mind if I have a look?”
She hugged it closer. “Absolutely not! It’s just personal stuff.”
“You never know where your sister might have hidden something important. Unless you’re afraid she’s really guilty?”
Even though she knew he was manipulating her, she thrust it at him. “Fine, take a look through old family pictures and keepsakes. Maybe you’ll see Mac would never do anything illegal.”
He took the box and carried it out of the closet to the bedroom. After setting it on the bed, he lifted the lid and looked inside, then lifted out the jumble of contents. An old locket of their mother’s, their grandfather’s pocket watch, both of their diaries from when they were teenagers, tickets to various music venues over the years, and pictures of them together from childhood.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he got down to the bottom of the box.
Several yellowed newspapers were folded up in the bottom. Ellie picked up the top one and unfolded it. The front page of the Lavender Tides Journal featured a picture of her and her little sister at the park. She was swinging Alicia, and the four-year-old wore a wide smile and an expression of bliss. Ellie’s breath seized in her lungs at the unexpected snapshot of a time long past.
Though she wanted to thrust it back in the box, she forced herself to scan the article about her sister’s death. It wasn’t anything she didn’t relive every day.
Grayson inhaled as he was reading the article over her shoulder. “When did your parents get back?”
She forced herself to answer. “I can’t really remember. Hours later. Mom was gone to the store much longer than I’d thought, and I never asked where Dad was, but he didn’t get home until after she did. One of the neighbors drove me to the hospital and then back home to wait on them. I tried calling the grocery store, but the clerk didn’t seem to know who she was. It was a new employee, I think. I didn’t know who to call to find my dad, so I called his best friend, but no one answered. I can’t remember the time, but I know it was dark by the time they got home.”
“You were by yourself while you waited?”
She shook her head. “My best friend and her parents stayed with me and Mac.” The horror of that entire day stole the strength from her voice. “Mom about went crazy when she got home. I knew I deserved every bit of her anger, though.”
She put the papers back inside the box, then reached for the other items. “There’s nothing here, like I said.”
Nothing but the pain of her worst memory.
Chapter 11
Home remodeling can show you what you’re made of. It can bring out the worst in people.
—HAMMER GIRL BLOG
The one they called Wang—which meant “king” in Korean—stood in the deep shadow of the oak tree on the west side of the driveway and watched the lit windows in the upstairs bedroom. Why was Ellie roaming upstairs with that man? He kept seeing them pass back and forth in front of the window, but he couldn’t tell what they were doing.
And who was that man anyway? Was this a new threat?
Another shadow moved, and Tarek Nasser joined him. “About time you got here,” he told Nasser. “If you’d come earlier, you could have snatched her before the big guy got here.”
Nasser’s face couldn’t be seen in the darkness, and his voice came out in a low hiss. “What’s he doing here?”
“You know the man with her? Who is he?”
“Grayson Bradshaw. He’s been dogging every move I make. What’s he doing with Ellie Blackmore?”
“I don’t know. He’s as big as a football player, though, and I think we’re going to have to scratch tonight’s plan. I don’t want to risk alerting them and then not taking her. We’ve got a little time before I need the picture.”
“He’s probably here looking into the stolen cocaine. I can call some more men. We can take him down, then grab her. I’ve been wanting to get him off my back.”
Wang shook his head, then realized Nasser wouldn’t be able to see him. “No, things are at too crucial a point. I don’t want them realizing what we’re doing. You can take him out after it’s done.”
“He’s smart. He showed up at the barn, and I barely got out first. Don’t underestimate him. He could stop us.”
“I never underestimate anything, Tarek.”
“With him on this investigation, things just got a little dicier. Are you sure everything is in place?”
“With Mackenzie out of the way, nothing can go wrong.”
There was a long pause, and when Nasser spoke again, his tone was as cold as the night breeze. “I hope you are right. If you mess this up, you will regret it.”
A shiver ran down his back. Wang had always assumed he could control Nasser, but maybe that was like thinking you could control a pet tiger. You never knew when the big cat would turn on you and rip you to shreds.
He turned and moved toward his car parked down the road. “I’ll see what I can find out about her whereabouts tomorrow.” He headed into the tree line.
It was only when he was behind the wheel that he looked back toward the house and saw a shadow slipping around the side of the house. Nasser was still there. He cursed and slammed his palm against the steering wheel. Nasser had better not derail all his careful planning.
Ellie’s steps lagged as they went down the stairs to the living room. She’d rather go to bed and pull the covers over her head than continue to think about those articles in the treasure box. Stirring up the pain from so many years ago felt like undergoing surgery with no anesthetic. She’d managed to lock most o
f that pain and guilt away in a dark closet, but it came surging back into the light, bringing more horror than she liked to deal with.
Hadn’t she endured enough this week? And why had her sister kept that old newspaper article?
Grayson followed her. “Look, I know you want to protect your sister, but if she’s innocent, why not let me look at her computer?”
“I’m sure there’s personal stuff on there too. I don’t want to invade her privacy.”
“Ellie, you’re not facing facts. I hate to say it, but do you really think she’s still alive?”
A weight settled on her chest. “I can’t give up hope. Not until I’m sure. And what if she turns up alive and I’ve helped you build a case against her? I’d never be able to live with myself.”
“How about if I agree not to use anything on the computer in any charges? I just want to get at the truth. If Mackenzie isn’t involved, then I can quit wasting my time in that direction.”
He had a point. She hated drugs and would love for the Coast Guard to get that cocaine back off the streets. “Do I have your word you won’t use anything on the computer as evidence against Mac?”
His eyes held hers in a long gaze. “You have my word. And I never break my promise.”
She squared her shoulders and reached for the computer, double clicking on the file titled “EMP Bomb.”
Grayson’s shoulder snugged against hers as he leaned in to look too. His warm breath touched her ear, and she struggled to ignore the heat spreading in her chest. There was no way to move away without looking rude, so she forced herself to relax. Why was she so prickly around him?
They began to read through the files together. There was a link that looked like a technical article on the damage a nuclear EMP bomb might cause. A nuclear one detonated high in the air would cause the most widespread damage to people while an electromagnetic bomb would cause more localized knockouts of technology. There were numerous articles about Kim Jong-un and his threats against the United States. And one article about how to build an EMP bomb.
Grayson sat back. “Any idea why she’d be researching North Korea?”
“For her class maybe? She’s interested in everything about Asian culture.”
His mouth twisted. “Nothing about the cocaine she stole.”
“She didn’t steal the cocaine! You have found nothing on this laptop linking her to that theft, have you?”
“No. But if she did take it, what if she’s part of a terrorist organization planning to detonate an EMP device?”
Where did he come up with such a weird leap of logic? “That’s ridiculous! It’s just research on North Korea for her class.”
“What if it’s not? What if we ignore all this and there’s a huge loss of life? Could you live with that?”
His expression told her he knew she couldn’t. A widespread EMP device would shut down the grid so much that people would die of starvation. Normal life would come to a screeching halt as people struggled for daily necessities. There would also be radiation fallout to deal with. While she didn’t believe Mac could be involved in anything evil like this, she couldn’t just walk away from it. There was some reason Mac had these technical files.
“Look, just think about it, okay?” He yawned. “I think I’d better get home and go to bed. You know as well as I do that we can’t ignore this.”
She shook her head. “I guess we can’t. I’m not sure where to look for answers, though.”
“First we track the cocaine and see where it leads.” He rose and headed for the door.
She followed him to the door and opened it, then stood aside for him to exit. “Mac doesn’t have your cocaine.”
His broad shoulders barely passed through the door frame. “We’ll find out.”
She shut the door and threw the dead bolt. “Find Mac and find the cocaine” seemed to be his mantra. She was reluctant to trust him to search for the truth.
Only the streetlights and a few house lights lit the darkness as Grayson drove through Lavender Tides after leaving Ellie’s. He should be exhausted since it was the wee hours on eastern time, but he was wide awake. He drove down to the ferry pier and parked in the lot, then walked down to the water’s edge.
Omar’s belongings had yielded no new leads, and he wasn’t sure where to look for Tarek next. He was here somewhere, though.
Waves collided against the sides of the ferry, and he felt cocooned by the darkness and solitude. The brilliant canopy of stars overhead filled him with awe, and he settled on the pier to dangle his legs over the edge. The October air held the sting of a cold forty-degree breeze, but he felt warm enough in his jacket. His sister was probably sitting down to dinner in Okinawa, but he ached to hear her voice to bring normalcy to a life that had suddenly careened off course. He pulled out his phone and called her.
Isabelle answered on the first ring. “I was just thinking about you.”
“I don’t hear the girls. Am I interrupting dinner?”
“No, we’re eating late tonight. Shinji took the girls to Cape Manza for the day, and they are stopping for dinner on the way home. I had a deadline looming, and he wanted me to have time to finish. And I did.”
His sister was a novelist and nearly always on deadline. She’d married his best friend growing up, and he knew she was happy, which made up for only seeing her every couple of years. Living in Okinawa had shaped both of them. He loved the courtly way his brother-in-law treated his sister, and he sought to be that kind of man himself.
Cape Manza, with its elephant rock, was one of his favorite spots, and he wished he could close his eyes and be there without all this drama hanging over his head. “I should plan a trip out to see you. I miss you, Izzy.”
“I miss you too. You sound sad. What’s going on? Where are you? It’s crazy early there.”
“I’m back in Washington. You talk to Mom or Dad lately?” He’d asked them to let him tell Isabelle, but he wasn’t sure they’d honored his request.
“Not in a couple of weeks, now that you mention it. Mom usually calls every Friday, but she hasn’t. Something’s up, isn’t it? What’s going on?”
“They’re fine, but I’ve had some pretty earthshaking news. I’m adopted.” He let the long pause linger as he could almost hear the wheels turning in her head.
“That’s not possible. You look so much like Mom. Where’d you get a crazy idea like that?”
“Believe me, it wasn’t something I came up with on my own. Mom and Dad confessed as soon as I told them my biological sister had contacted me.” He launched into the story of how Shauna had found him and told him of his origins.
“Oh, Gray, how are you handling this? I can’t quite wrap my head around it.” Her voice wobbled.
“It’s a lot to take in. I’m in the town where I was born now. I keep getting flashes of familiarity but no real memories. I just needed to hear your voice to ground me.”
“Well, it changes nothing. Mom and Dad love you, and so do I. That’s just past history. No matter how you became a Bradshaw, you are one. Nothing can change that.”
“I don’t quite know who I am anymore, sis. I hardly know what’s real and what isn’t.”
“We’re real, Gray. Me, Mom and Dad, you. I’m not saying don’t get to know your other family, but your identity is with us. You belong to us and always will. The memories we share and the love we have for each other is real. Mom and Dad should have told you instead of letting you be blindsided like this. Do you know why they didn’t?”
“I guess Mom thought it would confuse me or something. I don’t really know. Dad wanted to tell me, but she didn’t.”
Isabelle gave a sound of disgust. “I love her, but I’ve never liked how remote she’s always been. She’s never been good at sharing her feelings, not with either of us.”
His mother’s reserve was something he was used to, but now that Izzy mentioned it, it all made sense. No wonder she held him at arm’s length—she never forgot he wasn’t hers.
/> “Maybe I should come see you. I just hit Send on this manuscript, and I have a month before I start a new book.”
“The kids need you and so does Shinji. I’ll be all right. I just needed to hear your voice.”
“You saying you don’t want to see me?” Her voice held a teasing lilt.
“I always love to see you, but I can fly there when I finish this case. It would be an easy trip from this side of the country.”
“I’ll hold you to that. Tell me about this new sister.”
“Jealous? No one could ever take your place. Shauna is nice, though. She has a five-year-old boy I haven’t met yet. Her first husband died, and she remarried a couple of weeks ago. Zach seems like a stand-up guy. I liked both of them. I think she hoped I’d throw my arms around her and just accept everything. But I couldn’t do that.”
“Wow, another kid in the family too. I can see why you’re shaken. What about your birth parents and any other siblings?”
He told her what he knew about his dead parents and the still-missing sister. “It sounds like my dad was a real piece of work. I’m kind of glad I don’t have to face him.”
“I’ve got a little time now. Let me see if I can dig up anything on Brenna.”
She was a master at research. “Thanks, that would be great. Zach is looking too.” They talked a few more minutes, then his eyelids began to droop. “I guess I’d better get some sleep. It’s been quite the day.”
“Love you, Gray.”
“Love you too, Izzy. Thanks for talking me down. I’ll let you know how things go here.”
He ended the call and slid his phone back into his pocket. Isabelle was right—he was a Bradshaw at his core and always would be.
Chapter 12
Well-built doors and windows are the bones of security in a house. Never skimp on them.
—HAMMER GIRL BLOG
The sound of the bedside clock ticking seemed unusually loud. Ellie stirred and threw off the covers, then wiped her damp forehead. She’d been having a nightmare where she ran through a maze with a black Taurus following her. Crazy. Probably from that car she’d seen a few times.