About That Man (25 page)

“Aren't you spinning your wheels now? You might as well be doing something.”

“And that's a daytime job,” Walker said thoughtfully. “It could free up my evenings, at least until we think there's another deal about to go down. I like it.”

“Wouldn't free up your weekend, though,” Tucker pointed out. “Most of these boats will be on the water tomorrow and Sunday.”

“I haven't got anything better to do this weekend,” Walker said, then glanced at Andy. “You?”

“If it will keep me away from hanging curtains, I'll do it. Besides, I've been dying to get a little fishing in while I'm down here.”

“We could even bring Tommy along,” Walker said. “His being there will be great cover. We'll just be a bunch of guys on the water enjoying ourselves.”

Tucker shook his head. “Just don't enjoy yourselves so much that you forget to take notes.”

When they got back to the house to let Daisy, Gail and Tommy in on their plans for a fishing excursion, Walker thought he noted a brief flicker of disappointment in Daisy's eyes. That was promising. Maybe absence really did make the heart grow fonder. Maybe he wouldn't have to figure out this courting business, after all.

Then he saw the way her arm protectively circled Tommy's shoulders, saw her mouth set stubbornly, and realized that her disappointment was about something else entirely. She was upset that he hadn't remembered his promise to keep Tommy as far away from his police work as possible. Obviously she'd figured out that this fishing trip wasn't exactly as innocent as he and Andy had described.

Sensing something, Tommy glanced up at her worriedly. “Is something wrong?”

“No, your uncle and I just need to have a little talk,” she said.

“You're going to let me go fishing, though, aren't you?”

“We'll see,” she said.

“But it's the first time we've gotten to go in forever and ever,” Tommy protested. “You gotta let me.”

“Maybe we should leave,” Gail said, latching on to Andy's elbow and steering him toward the front door. “See you tomorrow, Daisy. Maybe I'll see you, too, Tommy. We can really use a guy's help.”

“I ain't hanging no curtains,” he said. “You can forget that.”

Daisy frowned at him. “Don't be rude.”

Walker was on the kid's side on this one, but he wasn't about to say it aloud. Daisy clearly had enough issues on her agenda as it was.

“Tommy, you go on up to bed,” he said instead. “Daisy and I will work this out.”

“I'm going fishing with you,” Tommy said flatly.

“We'll see,” Walker said. “Now go to bed.”

When Tommy started to stomp out of the room, Walker added, “Say good-night to Daisy.”

“Yeah, whatever,” the boy mumbled, back turned.

“Tommy!”

He turned around then and said a more polite good-night, but his eyes were stormy. Walker sighed as he left.

“I'm sorry,” he apologized to Daisy. “I should have talked this over with you first.”

“Yes, you should have,” she said, eyes flashing. “Don't think for one minute that I believe this is about catching
a few fish for dinner. If it were, I'd have no objections, but you and Andy are up to something, aren't you? Some sort of police business?”

Walker saw no point in denying it. If he did, she would just go to her brother for an explanation, and Tucker would tell her the unvarnished truth. That would only raise the temperature of the hot water Walker was already in.

“Yes, but I swear to you there is no danger involved. We really are just going out to fish.”

“And observe who else is out fishing, as well, I imagine.”

He was only slightly startled by her perceptiveness. After all, she was smart and her brother was the sheriff. “Yes.”

“Then I'm coming, too.”

“No way.”

“If it's safe for Tommy, it's safe for me. And people will be even less suspicious if you have me along, won't they? And four pairs of eyes are better than three.”

He had several arguments he could mount, including whatever help she'd promised Gail for Saturday, but he sensed it would be a waste of breath trying them on her. “I'm not going to talk you out of this, am I?”

“No,” she said cheerfully. “It's been ages since I've been fishing. I used to be quite good at it.”

Walker didn't doubt it. She probably used stubbornness and charm to talk the damned fish into the boat.

“Come here,” he urged eventually.

“Why?”

“Come on, Daisy. Have a little faith.”

“You're not the first person to use that line on me lately.”

His gaze narrowed. “I hope you're talking about Anna-Louise.”

“Who else?” she said, then studied him intently. “You were thinking it might be another man, weren't you?”

“It crossed my mind,” he admitted.

“And that would bother you?”

“While you and I have all these unresolved issues? Yes, it would bother the hell out of me to think you were having intimate little tête-à-têtes with another man.”

“Interesting,” she said, looking pleased.

He gave her a lazy grin. “Interesting enough to get you over here?”

“Maybe,” she said, but she took a step closer, then another, until he could reach out and tumble her into his lap.

Walker resisted the urge to cover her breast with his hand or to cover her mouth with his own. It was enough that she was here, in his arms, and for once not protesting one thing or another, just gazing up at him with those eyes the color of violets covered with dew, all soft and sparkly and filled with anticipation.

“What am I going to do about you?” he murmured, mostly to himself.

“What do you want to do?”

“Right this minute, I'm fighting the temptation to make love to you.”

She reached up and laid a hand against his cheek, then sighed. “Don't fight too hard,” she whispered. “Please.”

Startled, Walker stared for a minute, but as the words sank in, as her hand drifted to the buttons on his shirt, he got the message loud and clear.

“Drive me crazy, why don't you, Daisy Spencer?”

“I'm trying my best,” she said with a fervor that brought a smile to his lips.

“I've missed you,” she added quietly.

“I've been right here.”

“No,” she said impatiently, sliding his shirt away so she could drop clever little kisses across his chest. “You've been at work or down at the hotel on your best behavior.”

“I thought that's what you wanted. I thought that was what we agreed to. No affair, especially with the stakes so high.”

“I've changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“You have a willing woman in your arms, and you want to know why?” she asked, staring at him incredulously.

“As a matter of fact, I do. It's not that I'm not thrilled, because I am. But something's going on here that I don't understand.”

“You think too much,” she declared, just before her mouth closed over his.

“Probably so,” Walker murmured, right before he stopped thinking at all.

 

“Do you want children? I mean, more children?” Daisy asked out of the blue as they sat at the kitchen table in the morning.

She had already baked brownies and packed a picnic for their fishing trip. Apparently she hadn't slept all that well. Walker had the uneasy feeling that the topic of kids was what had kept her awake.

Fortunately Tommy had gone outside a few minutes earlier, because Walker was stunned into silence. This
was definitely not a topic he wanted to discuss in his nephew's presence.

“What brought that on?” he asked cautiously. “Last night? We used protection.” It had been a last-minute thing, but his brain had finally kicked in in the nick of time.

“There was no need,” Daisy said flatly.

“Of course there was. I'm not going to be irresponsible where you're concerned.”

Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes, tears he had no idea how to interpret. “What?” he said. “What did I say?”

“It wouldn't be irresponsible,” she whispered so low that he could barely hear her.

“Dammit, Daisy, it is my responsibility—”

“I can't have children,” she told him, her eyes shimmering as tears spilled down her cheeks.

If she had landed a solid punch squarely in his gut, Walker couldn't have been more stunned.

Or more devastated. For her, though. Only for her. Daisy deserved a houseful of kids. If ever he had run across mother material, she was it. She had proved that with Tommy.

Oh, God, that was it.
That was why she had fought so fiercely for his nephew, why she had viewed him with such distrust. Tommy was more than just a boy who needed a home to her. He was her chance at being a mother.

Dealing with Daisy was a minefield under the best of conditions, but Walker had a feeling he was tiptoeing through live ammunition right this second and that whatever he said was going to decide not only Daisy's future, but his own.

He wanted to ask her how she knew, if she was certain, but there was time for that. Now he simply took her hand in his. With his other hand, he wiped away her tears.

“I'm sorry. I know how devastating that must seem to you.”

“You know that years ago I was engaged.”

“Yes, you mentioned it. Does this have something to do with why you didn't get married?”

She nodded. “He didn't take the news well. He broke the engagement when he found out we could never have children of our own. Nobody knows that except for Anna-Louise. Daddy, Tucker and Bobby were furious with him for dumping me, but I wonder if they would have felt the same way if they'd known the truth.”

“Of course they would. The man was a fool.”

She managed a rueful smile that broke his heart.

“Yes, he was, but I could understand it in a way. I wanted to have babies, my own babies. But after a while, I realized I just wanted children, that it didn't matter if I gave birth to them. There are so many children in the world who don't have a home, who don't have a chance.”

“Like Tommy,” he said.

She nodded. “Like Tommy.”

“I'm not going to take him away from you,” Walker reassured her. “I want to share him with you. I want us to raise him together. I want us to get married. I have all the children I need.”

As soon as the words crossed his lips, as soon as he saw the devastated look in her eyes, he knew it was the worst possible thing he could have said. How insensitive could he possibly be? He had just reminded her that he had something she wanted desperately, something she could
never have—not just a blood relationship with Tommy, but biological sons of his own, sons he probably didn't pay nearly enough attention to, to her way of thinking. In speaking so rashly, he had put his own needs before hers, not out of cruelty but out of total, male-mentality insensitivity.

Suddenly he realized that he
had
taken his boys for granted. With stunning clarity, he admitted to himself how badly he missed having them in his life. He'd been in denial because the pain of losing them had been too much to bear, because he'd been filled with guilt over the breakup of his marriage.

He resolved then and there not only to fight to get them back into his own life, but to bring them into Daisy's.

He framed her face in his hands, looked deep into her eyes. “You will have the family you deserve,” he promised her. “One way or another, you will have all the children in your life you could ever want.”

She gave him a watery smile then. “You can't go out and catch them like fish,” she told him.

“You caught Tommy, didn't you?”

Her eyes brightened. “In a manner of speaking.”

“And now you've reeled me in.”

“Have I?”

He kissed her thoroughly. “Do you still doubt it?” he asked eventually.

“That was fairly convincing,” she conceded.

“Remind me when we get home tonight, and I'll see if I can do any better.”

“An interesting prospect,” she said. “I'll look forward to it.”

But Walker noticed as she said it that there were still
shadows in her eyes. He also realized that they'd been there all along. He just hadn't recognized the barely concealed sorrow for what it was, because she worked so hard to maintain her cheerful, optimistic facade.

Now that he knew the truth, he had to wonder if there was anything he could ever say or do that would chase those shadows away entirely. Or was this the kind of heartache that never completely disappeared?

T
he fishing trip was about as productive as every other attempt Walker had made to snag the drug suspects. He had a long list of boat registrations, absolutely none of which matched up to anybody who seemed anything less than squeaky clean.

“Maybe we're going about this all wrong,” he suggested to Tucker a week later. “Maybe we need to be keeping an eye on the school, see if somebody's hanging around there who shouldn't be.”

“It's worth a shot,” Tucker agreed. “Take an unmarked car and park near the playground. If anybody's dealing drugs to the kids, it'll be after school. They'll want the area to be busy with adults coming and going. I doubt they'd try it during recess or phys ed, when the teachers are the only grown-ups around.”

Walker nodded. “I'll get over there this afternoon. I think I'll take my own car, since any car you have might be familiar, even if it is unmarked.”

“Works for me. Did Andy ever turn up anything on that guy with the supersonic boat?”

“Nothing. Craig Remington seems to have made his money legitimately in the tech industry, some dot-com
start-up. Took his bundle, retired early and started collecting expensive toys.”

“I don't care how legit he looks, it still makes me suspicious, a guy his age spending all his time down here. Don't get me wrong. I love Trinity Harbor, but it's not exactly a hot spot with young adults.”

Walker grinned. “It will be if Bobby has his way. Wait till he gets that boardwalk development he's been talking about.”

Tucker shuddered. “And you think we have problems now? I dread the day the crowds start rolling in.”

“At least you won't be bored.”

“I'm not bored now.” He studied Walker intently. “Are you?”

Walker wondered if he could ever be bored with a woman like Daisy around. He certainly wouldn't mind having a few uninterrupted weeks to find out. Maybe, if he could get this case wrapped up before the end of her summer vacation, the three of them could take a trip or something. Maybe he'd even see about his sons joining them. Of course, maybe his first priority ought to be a honeymoon just for the two of them.

The fact that he was even considering such a thing startled him. Not once in all the years he'd been with Laurie had he been anxious to take off on a vacation. He'd even cut short their honeymoon, because he'd been too consumed with work. Was that because he was a workaholic, or because the luster on his marriage had worn off practically before the end of the ceremony? He had a funny feeling it was the latter. Getting married had been Laurie's idea, and he'd gone along with it because it had seemed like a natural progression of their relationship, but there had been plenty of warning flags, both in terms of
her unreasonable expectations and his own lack of interest in changing to meet them.

He was still pondering that a few days later as he pulled up beneath the shade of a spreading oak tree just across from the elementary school for his fourth stakeout. He'd switched cars with Daisy today, just for a change, but so far everything looked routine. Not a single suspicious person had been lurking in the vicinity. And no one seemed to be paying any attention at all to his presence.

A handful of school buses were lined up in the driveway. The drivers had congregated in the first one to smoke and chat. Other than that the block was quiet.

A few minutes later, mothers started pulling up to wait for their children. A crossing guard took up his position at the corner down the block.

And suddenly, out of the blue, a teenaged boy wandered down the street from the direction of the high school, his gait nonchalant, maybe a little cocky. He was wearing the teen uniform—baggy jeans slung low on hips so narrow it seemed impossible that they held the pants up at all, a bulky jacket and expensive sneakers. He looked old enough to be from the high school, rather than a seventh grader attending this school.

Could be a big brother sent to walk his little brother or sister home, but Walker didn't think so. There was just something about the way his gaze furtively studied the area, the way he stayed far away from the buses and the mothers.

He heard the distant sound of the bell echoing through the school, and the afternoon quiet was shattered as children rushed from every door. Some headed for the buses, a few sought out their moms, and others—mostly the older ones, sixth-and seventh-graders—gathered in clusters.

And then two of the older boys drifted away from the others and approached the teen Walker had been watching. There was a lot of bravado and posturing and high fives, all innocent enough. And then, just when he was about to dismiss it as one more false alarm, he saw one of the younger boys slip something to the teen in an obvious exchange.

He took a closer look and realized with dismay that the younger kid, the one handing over what could very well be drugs, was Gary Finch, Tommy's thirteen-year-old friend.

“Damn,” he muttered, opening his door just as a sheriff's car, fully marked, came screeching around the corner and slammed to a stop beside him.

The deputy was out and at Walker's side before he could react.

“Out,” he ordered. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

Walker stared at him incredulously, then darted a look back at the corner to see that all three boys had disappeared, scared off by the deputy's arrival. He slammed his palm against the steering wheel in frustration.

“You idiot,” he barked.

The deputy stared at him in shock, then took a step back. “Walker, isn't it?”

“It is,” he said wryly. “And you have just blown a stakeout that was about to pay off big-time. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Dispatch got a call from a mom that some guy had been hanging around here every day this week. She didn't recognize him and thought it was suspicious, that he might be some sort of a pervert.” The kid winced as he said it. “Sorry. We had to check it out.”

“Yes, of course, you did,” Walker conceded with a heavy sigh.

The blond, fresh-faced deputy looked around. “Was something really going down?”

“It looked that way. At least I recognized one of the kids involved. It's the best lead we've had so far.”

“I can explain to Tucker,” he offered.

“Not necessary. You were just doing your job.”

“If I'd known you were in here—”

“You still would have had to check it out,” Walker told him. “Forget about it. Things happen.”

That night he stopped off in Tommy's room while he was doing homework. “We need to talk,” he said, sitting down on the bed.

His nephew stared at him worriedly. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, absolutely not, but I need to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth, even though it might get somebody into trouble, okay? It's important.”

Tommy's eyes widened, but he nodded.

“When you told me about overhearing some kids talking about pot a while back, was Gary one of them?”

Tommy squirmed, his expression miserable.

“Tell me the truth,” Walker repeated.

“I don't want him to get in trouble. They were just talking. They weren't doing anything wrong.”

Walker sighed. That was confirmation enough. “Until further notice, you are to stay away from Gary, understood? No visits to his house or to his dad's boat, okay? And not a word to him about this conversation.”

“But he's my best friend. He's gonna want to know why,” Tommy protested.

“Tell him you're grounded, which you will be if you don't do exactly as I ask.”

“This stinks,” Tommy declared.

“Yeah, it stinks,” Walker said, but he doubted they were talking about the same thing.

 

The next day Walker laid out his suspicions for Tucker.

“Not enough for a search warrant,” Tucker concluded.

“No,” Walker agreed. “We could bring the boy in for questioning, though.”

Tucker shook his head. “Not unless you catch him making another deal and actually see the drugs. For all you know, what he was passing out yesterday were cigarettes. I don't want to think about what a lawyer would say if we dragged a thirteen-year-old in here on such flimsy evidence.”

Walker knew he was right, but he was frustrated. While they were proceeding carefully and by the book, Gary could be getting some other kid hooked on pot. And where was he getting it, if not from his father? Perhaps the mother was even part of this, as well.

“Since my cover's blown at the school, put somebody else in there,” he suggested finally. “I'll go back out on the river and keep an eye out for Finch's boat from the marina, and I'll see if he happens to have anything else docked at home. If he's into this big time, it won't be long before he tries to smuggle more drugs into the area.”

“Have you told Daisy about your suspicions?” Tucker asked.

“No, just that I didn't want Tommy anywhere near Gary for a while.”

Tucker grinned. “Which means she's figured it out on her own by now.”

“Probably,” Walker agreed.

“Just in case, I'll stop by and fill her in while you're on duty tonight.”

“Put in a good word for me while you're at it,” Walker
suggested. “I think she might be wavering on the marriage thing.”

“Asking a woman's brother to do your courting for you,” Tucker said with a shake of his head. “How pitiful is that?”

“I'd do it myself if you weren't working me to death. Explain that to her, too.”

“And have her on my case? No way,” Tucker said fervently. “But I will tout your virtues as an honorable, hardworking deputy. In fact, I'll make you sound so noble, she'll probably start a petition to have you awarded a medal.”

“I don't want a medal. I just want the woman to marry me.”

“Then you'll have to get this case wrapped up so you'll have time to ask her, won't you?”

“You have a unique way of providing incentives for your officers, don't you?”

“So far you're the only one I've tried it on. Now get out of here and nail this bastard.”

Walker hoped it was going to be as simple as Tucker made it sound. Since the man had had even him fooled for weeks now, it didn't seem likely.

 

Daisy might have taught history, not math, but she could still add two and two. Based as much on what Walker hadn't said as what he had, she gathered that he suspected Gary and Paul Finch both of being involved in some sort of drug operation. Paul, maybe, she conceded, but the boy? Never.

There was one person, though, who might be as quick to defend Gary as she was: Maribeth Finch.

With Tommy safely at the marina in Bobby's care and no evidence of the Finch boat in its slip, she went to pay a call on the woman. She knew she had to go about this
very, very carefully or risk Walker's wrath. He was not likely to be overjoyed that she'd inserted herself smack into the middle of his investigation.

The Finches lived on a cove a few miles outside of town. The lot was heavily wooded, the weeds out of control and the house in need of repairs, but there was a shiny new sport-utility vehicle in the driveway. Daisy rang the doorbell and waited. It took several tries before she heard the sound of footsteps inside, then a hesitation before the door opened a crack. She plastered a smile on her face.

“Maribeth, I hope I'm not disturbing you. Please forgive me for dropping by unannounced, but I had a little time before I pick up Tommy and I thought maybe we could get better acquainted.”

“I…I don't know,” Maribeth said, her gaze darting around nervously. “Paul's not here.”

“All the better. You're the one I wanted to chat with.”

The woman looked startled, as if no one had taken an interest in her in years. “Why?”

“Because you're Gary's mother, of course. And you're new in town.” Defying every ingrained social grace she possessed, she pushed her way past Maribeth and stepped into the foyer, then gaped. It looked as if the boxes from their move had never even been unpacked…or as if they might be leaving again.

“I see you're still settling in,” she said brightly. “Can I help?”

“Oh, no,” Maribeth said. “Actually…” Her voice trailed off.

“You aren't moving again already, are you?”

Suddenly tears welled up in the other woman's eyes. She nodded. “Tomorrow, in fact.”

“I had no idea. Why? You just got here and Paul is retired, isn't he? Aren't you happy here?”

Maribeth rushed from the foyer, disappearing into what turned out to be the living room. Like the entry, it, too, was filled with packed boxes. Maribeth stood at the sliding glass doors that looked out onto the cove, her shoulders shaking. Daisy joined her, tempted to offer solace, but fearful that it wouldn't be welcomed.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asked quietly.

Maribeth shook her head. “Everything's such a mess.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I can't.”

Daisy sensed if she put the cards on the table, Maribeth would open up now, so she took the plunge. “Paul's smuggling marijuana, isn't he? Is Gary dealing it?”

Maribeth turned a horrified gaze on her. “No, absolutely not. Gary would never touch the stuff. He's seen how it's ruined our lives. His father…”

“Tell me,” Daisy encouraged.

“I can't,” she repeated. “I can't talk to you, of all people. Your brother's the sheriff. If Paul ever found out, he'd kill me.”

Daisy's blood ran cold. She feared Maribeth meant that quite literally.

“Maybe
you
should talk to Tucker,” she said. “He could protect you and Gary.”

Her expression despondent, Maribeth shook her head. “It's too late for that.”

Not knowing what else to do, Daisy gave her a hug. “If you ever need anything, anything at all, you can call me.”