Bouquet of Lies Part 22

"Yeah," Jake said.

"I don't," Lacey said. "We never played Hide and Seek in the house."

"Not after that," Jake told her.

"What happened?"

Jake wiped some crumbs from his mouth before he began. "Darla got lost and we couldn't find her even though we could hear her and Edward stood there laughing at us. He tried to stop me from going to get Harper for help."

Lacey shook her head. "I don't remember."

"Trust me, it happened. Harper knew exactly where to find her and after that he told us to play outside or to stay in the playroom. All he said to Edward was 'Leave the kids alone.'"

"Hmmm," Lacey said. She looked at Henry. "So go on."

"One day I heard the Cadillac start in the garage. Now, no one drives those cars but me, and I thought someone was boosting it. I grabbed the phone and looked out the window. I saw Edward at the wheel and Darla was in the car. I should have followed him." He sighed like all this had happened yesterday. "But I didn't. What I did do was turn on the tracker. They all have them. I figured out that he'd gone to the mall. It was weird, but, it wasn't exactly my business. When he came back and there was no Darla, I panicked. I didn't confront him. That wouldn't have done a bit of good. I drove to the mall and I searched. I could follow his path exactly with technology the way it was and it didn't look like he'd parked for any length of time so he probably hadn't gotten out of the car. I figured he'd dropped her off in the parking structure. I drove around and found her. She couldn't have been out there for more than forty minutes between the time it took for Edward to get back and for me to then drive to the mall, but that's a really long time for a five-year-old. She was scared to death. I brought her home and told Harper about it. I don't know what he said to Edward. Don't think he mentioned me because Edward never confronted me or treated me any different."

"Maybe he said the cops found her and brought her home and that scared the bejeebers out of him," Jake offered.

"Anything's possible," Henry said. "He never tried it again. Not that I know of."

Lacey sat on her bed, back against the headboard, knees up, cell phone in her hands. Henry's story was interesting and she was glad he'd told her. But it certainly wasn't anything that would be in Maggot's missing file. His file was about her mother and who knew what else? It had to be something about Edward or Edward wouldn't pay. So how did that add up to her father, then Maggot, being murdered?

Courtney called. Sigmund called to tell her a joke. But Dan's ID never lit up the cell window. She must have run him off for good.

Don't think about him.

Crystal, a.k.a. Tiffany, didn't call. After what Uncle D had told her about the death certificate, she was more certain than ever that Crystal and Tiffany were one and the same. Why hadn't she thought to get Honey and Crystal's phone number? Then it occurred to her. They'd be listed. They wouldn't pay to keep their names and numbers out of the phone book.

Honey sounded absolutely giddy when she answered the phone, and the good mood caused her to be a lot more forthcoming than when they'd had their face to face.

"Look, honey," she said after Lacey identified herself. "I told you I'd tell her about you, but she ain't come home yet. That's right, she's still working. She cleans houses. I don't know what houses. I don't go with her. I don't want to be talking out of school here, but you seem like a nice kid. She cleans houses and I don't. She used to do what I do, but to hear her tell it, she's cleaning up her act. Pun intended." Honey laughed. "Ain't the nicest thing anybody ever said to me, but I don't hold a grudge. And all that aside, I pick up a bit of business when they call for her. I just tell 'em I'm her. Ain't n.o.body complained yet. So, you see. She'll call you when she knows to. I've got me this date and I'll leave her a note. That's the best I can do."

Tiffany . . . Crystal . . . was a hooker? Or had been a hooker. Their mother? Lacey thought of the mansion she lived in. Their mother had gone from this to that? Why would she run off when apparently she had nowhere to go but the streets? Maybe she did have a place at the time. Maybe she had somebody else back then. Lacey felt nauseous. Her mind went in circles.

Harper was gone. She couldn't ask him questions. And Edward would snort and cackle if she went to him. He'd be glad she was upset. He'd relish it. And he'd either lie about Crystal or wouldn't talk.

Who could she ask? The family lawyer? Henderson? What did he know? Maybe everything, maybe nothing. Harper switched lawyers the way hotel maids changed sheets. Henderson had been around the longest, but not that long. He might know something. But what about lawyer/client privilege and all that c.r.a.p?

And speaking of c.r.a.p, she needed to start thinking about business school, college, becoming a CEO. She slid down on the bed. Actually, she had a year to think about that. Missing, lying, absconding moms were more pressing. And should she be including murderous among those adjectives? Had Darla really seen Crystal in the library with the poker? Not Professor Plum. Not Miss Scarlett. Not Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the candlestick.

After torturing herself for an hour and getting nowhere, she called for Tiffany again. The answer machine picked up and she almost left a message, but then thought she better not.

She hugged the pillow, the phone clutched in her hand, as her mind traveled down a list of what was what: Father murdered, relations.h.i.+p never to be mended. Check.

Deadbeat mother discovered alive, may be a murderer. Check.

Baby sister, mixing romance novels with reality, is about to get married to someone she doesn't know. Check.

Grandfather Edward still here, still drunk, and still a toxic personality. Check.

Jake ready to ride off into the sunset to take his mind off Darla. Check.

Dan-the-Man, nowhere in sight. Double check.

Uncle D circling the wagons. Help!

She'd never felt so lonely in her life. She sat up and shook her body as if she were a Malamute emerging from a lake.

When lonely, don't mope around. Call someone. Go somewhere. Buy a bride magazine. Help Darla pick a wedding dress. That might be carrying things a little too far.

She chuckled and then stopped. The upcoming nuptials were no laughing matter. But she had no way to stop it and she'd told Darla she'd help her, and laughing helped. She started to scoot off the bed when her phone rocked out. She stared transfixed. The caller ID said: Ticket Master.

Twenty-one.

FOR THE LIFE of her, Lacey couldn't figure out what it was about Dan that had her so intrigued, so enamored, so desirous.

Lots of guys were good looking and without a doubt more fun. Sometimes he had the personality of a stone. So what was this hold Dan had over her? Just because he called, she'd said "Yes, come pick me up. Yes, I'll go to the Santa Monica pier with you. Yes, we need to talk."

We need to do more than talk. We need to pick up where we left off in the kitchen that night.

Protect your heart.

He arrived in a green Dodge Challenger SRT8 and she nearly fell over. Strolling around the zoom-zoom machine, she glanced from it to him. Nice car, but it wasn't him. At least it wasn't how she thought of him. See? She didn't even know him. The car had dual, full body stripes and he had dual, full body personalities. "What's going on?"

"I bought a car."

"This car?"

"Yes, this car. From a friend of a friend. You're the first to see it. What do you think?"

"It . . . it's . . . shocking!"

"Shocking?" He laughed. "Why is that?"

Had she ever seen him laugh? She didn't think so.

"You don't like to go fast."

"I don't like you to go fast. On city streets. And I ride a motorcycle."

"For work."

"I also race at the drags."

"Oh."

She must have looked stunned because he laughed again.

Viewed from the top of the Ferris wheel, the sky and sea came together as if they were one piece of black slate. City lights split the expanse and defined the Pacific Ocean coastline. The bright LED bulbs that edged the wheel blinked and chased and made merry. Down below, rides on the pier glowed. It was a balmy evening with no wind. The mild scent of salt air let riders know they were suspended above the ocean even if it appeared as a vast void because it was night.

Dan turned to Lacey with a serious stare. He'd been chattering all evening, talking like she'd never heard him talk. It was as if a dam had burst. As if he'd bottled up everything he wanted her to know about him and had chosen this moment to spill his guts.

He mentioned he had a wife who died. He didn't explain any more than that, except to say she was the reason he learned to drink wine with dinner and why he learned to ballroom dance.

He said his aunt and uncle had taken him in when he was fourteen because he'd lost both of his parents by then. He said he'd been a Marine. That explained his perfect posture. He talked about the car he just bought. How he recently had gone back to the drag strip.

He talked about how he was thinking of selling his house and buying another one. About how he might make a career move and study to become a lawyer so he could become a judge. Maybe even run for office one day.

Ethical Dan-the-Man. She'd vote for him.

He took her hand and the smile fell from his face. The Ferris wheel car rocked ever so slightly. "I need to tell you something and I feel guilty about this."

He was back to the Dan she was familiar with. Mr. Serious, Block-of-Wood. She wasn't big on feeling guilty and shook her head. "And we were getting along so well."

He let go of her hand. "I followed you."

"I hope I went somewhere interesting." She was curious, not bothered. She'd followed him home that one day. Had he forgotten?

"To the Hotel Pamela."

Okay, now he had her attention. If he asked her what she was doing there and she didn't tell him, would he arrest her? Haul out the old handcuffs? There was that provocative image again.

"You look amused." The worried edge in his face vanished.

"Turn about's fair play."

"You mean because you followed me."

"Yeah. So we're even."

"You followed me because you wanted to know where I lived. I followed you because I thought you were keeping something from my uncle."

"Really?" So he was going to ask about the exquisite Hotel Pamela.

"I do. But then I decided, that's his job and if it's true, he'll get it out of you."

Dan's matter-of-fact manner sort of stung. What was Uncle D going to do? Apply Chinese water-torture? Drop out of the sky and rock the Ferris wheel car until, terrified, she sang?

Dan laughed and, as if reading her mind, said, "He has his ways. Terror isn't one of them."

It appeared her face could be an open book. She quickly covered. "I wasn't worried. So you followed me. I forgive you. Let's move on."

Away from the Hotel Pamela. Away from Tiffany.

"Can't. It isn't just the following you I need to confess." He stalled. "When I saw you on the back of that motorcycle with another guy, my good sense went right out the window."

"What are you talking about?"

"I wanted to pull the guy over and make you get off the bike."

"Really?" She grinned. "So why didn't you?"

"Huh?"

"You wanted to do something, why didn't you do it?"

"Because it was wrong. Because you have every right to have your arms around some other guy, if that's where you want them to be. I hadn't expected it. I hadn't expected to feel jealous."

His candor surprised her. "Jealous, huh? Not so sure there's much you can do about it. I mean, it's a fairly common emotion. I've felt it myself from time to time. But I can tell you right now, Jake would have laughed. He's like a brother to me and I'm like a sister to him. You could have pulled us over and-"

"Stop! I don't know if you make fun because honest emotions make you uncomfortable or if it's because you want me to get only so close."

She didn't know the answer to that herself. Humor helped get her through most things. In a household like she'd been raised in, what else was there to do but joke? And now that she thought about it, had she ever had a close, serious relations.h.i.+p with a male?

His voice went low. "I'm trying to tell you something. I'm trying to tell you that you matter to me." There was an intense sincerity in his eyes she hadn't seen before. "If you don't want that then you need to tell me. I'm not saying I can stop how I feel, but I am saying I won't come around. I won't call you." He took her hand again. "I won't touch you." His lips came close to hers. "I won't kiss you."

She felt his breath on her face. His fingers brushed her cheek. She melted. Her insides went hot. Then they went cold. Then they were hot again. She closed her eyes and her heart raced. His lips were suddenly upon hers, his hands on either side of her face.

The Ferris wheel began to rotate and with it any sense of control she might have had over the situation blew away with the breeze. He'd confessed emotions he'd tried to keep in check. If she were honest with herself, she didn't want them kept in check. There was a burning sensation at her core. She was crazy about him. She'd stop the jokes, let him get close. But what would happen then? Her head began to spin.

Did she have the guts to tell him how she felt? How he was always there in the back of her head? How the feel of his hands upon her right now was insanely wonderful? How his mouth devouring hers made her want to surrender herself to him then and there?

On a Ferris wheel?

She pulled back and murmured, "I think I'm dizzy."

"I know I am," he said and he kissed her again.

Between thoughts of how wonderful their second and third kisses had been, how nice it would be to go to his house and experience more, how fantastic it felt to have his strong arms around her as they strolled the pier together, Lacey forgot about Tiffany, her sister and her dead father.

For over two hours life was good. Nothing but the two of them mattered. Trouble had stopped knocking at the door and their relations.h.i.+p seemed filled with promise.

They rode the rides and lost at the arcade games until finally, Dan won a large purple monkey which he gave to her. They stopped to play Break A Plate where Lacey smoked the ball and won handily. Dan whistled and shook his head. "That's one mean arm."

"Just the right one." She curled it and tensed the bicep. "The left one's meek and mild." She s.h.i.+fted the purple monkey and curled her left arm, but didn't do anything to bulge the muscle. "See?"

The arcade attendant awarded her a stuffed tiger and she presented it to Dan. "For the best date ever."

He accepted the tiger and gave it a pet. Then with an exaggerated, faux appraisal, he looked at Lacey's face. "I'm not so sure there isn't something significant about the way you cracked that plate to pieces. Maybe some pent-up anger issues I should know about? You know, just in case."

She played along. "No, I don't think so. Maybe the one arm, but that's about it. The rest of me gets a little grouchy when I'm hungry."