The secrets they keep, p.1
The Secrets They Keep, page 1
The Secrets They Keep
Knox and Sheppard #2
Emerald O’Brien
Copyright © 2018 by Emerald O'Brien
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Cover designed by Alora Kate of Cover Kraze
Interior designed by The Write Assistants
Editing by Mountains Wanted Publishing
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All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Printed in the United States of America.
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty One
Chapter Thirty Two
Chapter Thirty Three
Chapter Thirty Four
Chapter Thirty Five
Chapter Thirty Six
Chapter Thirty Seven
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also by Emerald
About the Author
For my cousins,
Jason, Justin, Cristin, Caitlin, Colin, Mark, Kevin, and Megan.
Chapter One
Light dinner music filled the reception hall, buffering the awkward silence between Madigan and her parents. As the music changed to an upbeat tune, the wedding party danced into the room, and Jack Holden entered the reception hall holding hands with one of his older sister’s bridesmaids.
His charming smile lit up the room. With her chin propped up by her hand, elbow against the table, Madigan couldn’t stop staring.
“There’s Jack,” Madigan’s father, Bill, nudged her and pointed in his direction.
Did he catch me staring?
Madigan nodded with a small smile as her father chuckled and clapped along to the music with the rest of the guests. On his other side, her mom, Felicity, plastered on a fake smile and downed the rest of her wine.
As Jack’s older sister, Doreen, and her new husband, Kurt, entered the room, everyone stood, and the tiny hall filled with thunderous applause. Madigan also stood, holding the back of her chair to catch her balance in her heels. She tugged at the thin straps of the black dress she had borrowed from Grace for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.
I can’t wait to change into comfy clothes, snuggle with Buster, and go over the night’s events with Grace.
The wedding party of eight settled down behind the head table, and Steve Holden, Jack and Doreen’s dad, took his place at the mic and podium, announcing that dinner and speeches would commence momentarily. After he finished, he wandered over to their table.
“Thank you so much for being here,” Steve said, shaking her dad’s hand, and hugging her and her mom. “It’s been so long, but you’re as beautiful as ever, Felicity.”
They laughed, and his wife, Nicole, turned around in her chair, waving at them. “Will you all come over to our place afterwards for some celebratory drinks?”
“We’ll be there,” her mom called.
Steve returned to his wife as their salads were served.
“So,” her dad said, picking up his low-ball glass. “How’re things at the paper?”
This’ll be another let down. Great.
Madigan folded her napkin over her lap. “I actually don’t work there anymore. It wasn’t a good fit.”
Her mom frowned and leaned over across her dad. “That was a perfectly good job,” she whispered. “What happened?”
“Like I said, it wasn’t a good fit.” Madigan sipped her wine and shrugged.
Her mom pursed her lips and picked up her fork, stabbing at the salad a few times before putting it down. “Well, where are you working now?” she asked.
“Um, back at Roy’s. Just until I figure things out.”
“How come your boyfriend’s not here tonight?” her dad asked.
“Will,” her mom said, eyeing her up and down.
“We aren’t together. Haven’t been for months.” Madigan took her fork full of lettuce and shoved it into her mouth.
If they only knew he was about to propose until I turned him down, this evening would turn into a full-blown interrogation.
Despite their promise to remain friends, after the way things ended between Madigan and Will, she knew the chances of that happening were slim.
Nothing good stays, and it’s my fault.
Her mom continued to stare at her.
She knows he was too good for me. She probably assumes he broke up with me.
“What?” Madigan asked with a huff. “Something in my teeth?”
“I just can’t get over your hair,” her mom sighed. “It’s so… dark.”
“That’s what I was going for,” Madigan mumbled.
All she sees when she looks at me is disappointment.
Maybe I am a disappointment—but she’s been gone too long to know anything about me anymore. Just that I was the new daughter who was part of the reason they lost their real child. Maybe what she really sees is the one she wishes died that day.
“Looks great, hun,” her dad said.
“So where are you living now?” Her mom smacked her lips together and grabbed her wine glass, setting it back down once she noticed it was empty.
“Grace’s.” Madigan avoided her disapproving glare as the microphone screeched.
“Testing. Could I have everyone’s attention?” Steve spoke into the mic at the podium. “I’d like to invite my wife, Nicole, up to make a toast to our beautiful daughter and our new son-in-law, Kurt.”
Madigan pushed her salad plate away as they gave their speech. With no room for her parents to ask any more questions about her life, keeping her mouth too full to speak was no longer necessary.
After arriving back in Tall Pines from their second home in Florida the night before, they had asked Madigan to come for a visit before the wedding, but she had declined, telling them she couldn’t get out of work. In truth, she couldn’t bear to face the awkward and tense emotions that arose each time she saw her adoptive parents after their long stays in Florida, the place they escaped to after their son, and her brother by adoption, Drew, passed away.
Their happy family camping trip turned into a nightmare when she and Drew were kayaking down the river, and his kayak overturned, sucking him into the cold, rushing water.
She blamed herself for the accident after all the questions from her parents and the police were asked, like what had she seen, and what had she done to help, but eventually came to the conclusion there was nothing she could have done. Madigan was sure her parents, on the other hand, especially her mom, hadn’t arrived at that same conclusion.
They hadn’t been there on the river when Drew had been pulled under the water, away from her before she could realize what was happening. She had always been thankful they didn’t witness the back of Drew’s head bobbing up above the water as he was swept further away from her, before going down, never to rise again.
As Steve finished his speech, everyone clapped, and a few chair legs screeched against the floor as people started for the bar or out the front door for some air or a cigarette.
This is my chance to get a break from the awkwardness of the evening.
“Can I grab anyone a drink?” she asked.
Her dad shook his head, but her mom leaned inward. “Another white wine, please.”
Madigan took her time with each step toward the bar, swaying with the imbalance of her heels—Grace’s heels.
Won’t be long before the high heels come off of most of these women, and bare feet are dancing around in front of the band.
She dug into her handbag and shook the flask she’d stashed away before her parents picked her up, but no liquid splashed against the sides.
I guess I drank more than I thought before the ceremony.
The band began a rendition of an old ballad from the sixties as she joined the line for the open bar, pulling the straps over her shoulders again. She swayed to the music, stepping up to the bar and ordering a white wine and a Jack Daniels and coke. “Make that a double please.”
“Madigan?”
Before turning around, she placed the gruff voice, along with pine and cinnamon cologne, as Jack Holden’s.
“Hi,” she said, nodding to him and then the woman in a pink dress beside him with her arm linked through his.
A pang of jealousy caused her chest to ache as she forced a wider sm ile across her lips, staring back at Jack.
Don’t be awkward. Don’t be awkward.
“I thought it was you,” he said. “You dyed your hair dark? And it’s shorter now too, isn’t it?”
She nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “You look different.”
Good.
Once she had arrived back from South Bend, the neighbouring town, that winter after helping to solve the disappearance of a girl she met in the foster care system, she had decided to start a new hunt—not for a killer—but for the identity of the man who attacked her at Grace’s the previous fall. To have the upper hand, should she find her attacker, she had made the decision to change her appearance enough so there would be a chance he wouldn’t recognize her.
If my childhood neighbour barely recognizes me, there’s an even better chance my attacker won’t.
“Great to see you,” he said, nodding with a cute grin. “Madigan, this is my girlfriend, Aleesia. Aleesia, this is my old friend, Madigan. Her family lived across the street all my life.”
Madigan shook her hand, going in with a firm grip but releasing as Aleesia’s hand barely wrapped around hers. Aleesia pulled her long blonde hair over her bare shoulder and smiled, flashing teeth whiter than the bride’s dress.
She’s prissy. Probably high-maintenance. Why is he with her?
“Good to see you too.” Madigan smiled. “Your sister looks beautiful.”
“Doesn’t she?” Aleesia’s eyes opened wide, and she squeezed Jack’s arm tighter.
“Yeah, Kurt cleaned up well too.” Jack smirked. “Credit where it’s due. So, how long will your parents be back in town for?”
The bartender set Madigan’s drinks down on the sill. She sighed. “Who knows?”
Jack pressed his lips together and nodded with a knowing stare.
His mom must have told him all about my tumultuous relationship with my parents since Drew’s passing.
She tugged at one of the straps over her shoulder, feeling exposed and a mess compared to Aleesia, before grabbing her drinks.
“Enjoying the open bar?” Aleesia giggled, nodding to both drinks.
She opened her mouth to tell her one was for her mom, but decided against it.
Why do I feel like I need to explain myself?
“Okay, well,” Jack said, glancing at Aleesia.
He wants to go. They have better things to do than stand around with me.
“Yeah, have a nice night,” Madigan said, stepping to the side.
“You too,” Jack said before Aleesia tugged him toward the bar sill.
A girlfriend. Why am I surprised? He’s beyond handsome, is physically fit, and has his own house, a career as a firefighter, and one of the best personalities of anyone I know.
Of course he’s taken.
She wandered back to her table as the Maid of Honor began her speech.
Was he with Aleesia when I called him to pick me up from Will’s after we broke up? Or when I dropped off Buster to stay with him while I was in South Bend?
She sat at the table, passing her mom the wine glass. The serving staff set their main courses in front of them. Her mom took a long sip of her wine at the same time Madigan downed half of her own drink.
I guess we deal with awkward interactions in the same way now. She’s never been a drinker, especially after Drew passed, and Dad started looking for answers to their problems at the bottom of liquor bottles.
Before Drew’s death, she held it all together. The family. The household.
Maybe it’s a new hobby she’s picked up since Florida.
“So you live with Grace now,” her dad said. “How’s she doing?”
“Good,” Madigan said. “Really good. Has a little house by the coast.”
When Grace had moved from the city of Amherst to the small town of Tall Pines, Madigan had to admit she was worried about her sister. Grace saw moving as a setback since her undercover operation had gone bad in the city, and she had been demoted to Deerhorn County. After Grace worked out her issues and confronted some personal demons, Madigan hadn’t seen her thriving like that since she started her career with the Amherst P.D.
Her dad picked up his fork. “Maybe we could get the four of us together sometime while we’re here?”
Madigan nodded, but her mom set her fork down.
“I’d like to speak with you alone first,” her mom whispered, turning away from the couple at the other side of the table. “We both would, right, Bill?”
They have something to tell me.
Her dad nodded with a smile.
“Of course,” he said. “Say, this pasta dish looks a lot like the one we had at Zancola’s back in the Keys. You remember that place?”
Madigan lost their voices in the crowd of others and the music from the band as she picked at her food. With a direct line of sight to where Aleesia sat, she noticed each time she waved up to Jack at the head table.
I bet she’s clingy. Dependent. That’s her weakness.
Her first foster father had taught her to find her mark’s weakness as fast as possible in order to take advantage of them. The habit became second nature as she grew up being forced to cheat people out of money, and continued even after being removed from their house on Warbler Way. After all the damage she had been manipulated into doing to others at such an early age at the insistence of her foster father, she promised herself that along with noting one’s weakness, she would take note of their strength too.
She tipped her glass up, drinking the last of her cocktail.
I should think of a positive. Why has it been so hard to think of those lately?
She knew deep down it was because of the recent betrayal of her first foster mom—Eli’s wife, Evette. They had been close, even through all the abuse, neglect, and manipulation in her childhood. Evette had been a comfort in an unconventional way during difficult times. She had thought, in Evette’s own way, she loved her.
I was wrong about her. I could be wrong about anyone.
Aleesia blew Jack a kiss from her table, and he reached his arm up, making a fist, pretending to catch it. His laughter, acknowledging his own cheesiness, carried over the rumbles of the crowd and the music.
She makes Jack happy. That’s her strength.
Her stomach churned, and she searched past the crowds for an exit.
Chapter Two
“Grace, you stay here,” Mac whispered. “Vila, you take the backyard over the fence there, and I’ll be by the side door. Malone—”
“Actually,” Grace said, “Malone and Vila should go to the back together.”
Mac pressed his lips together, glancing from Malone to Vila.
Come on. Don’t question me. Vila’s in terrible shape. We can’t count on him for a chase on foot.
“Right.” Mac nodded.
Malone and Vila jogged down the street toward the corner and disappeared behind a bush.
“Do you think they’ll risk it tonight?” Grace asked. Puffy clouds of hot breath rose between them.
“No vehicle in the driveway. Quiet night on the street,” Mac whispered. “Yeah, they’re coming tonight.”
It had been over a month since the two young men pretending to be smoke detector inspectors committed their last break-in. They cased their targets, usually the elderly, the week before a break-in. Their latest victims, a senior couple in a quiet subdivision, had read the story in the Tall Pines Gazette urging the community to come forward regarding any suspicious men approaching their homes or asking to come in, giving them their current lead and set-up.
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