Blood Ties (18 page)

"I wonder if you could answer a few questions."

Forest flashed his professional smile and waved her
to a chair. "Certainly. If I can." He noticed that the
camera appeared to be running.

"This is Ron Link." She indicated the cameraman.
"You don't mind, do you?"

"What would you like to know?" He'd seen her piece on the island curse earlier in the week. Tess
Quinn was all charm and sweetness on air, but he'd
heard she was a shark when tracking down a story.

"As I understand, you're a longtime resident of
Tawes?"

Forest nodded. "My family settled on the island in
the eighteenth century."

Tess smiled into the camera. "Tawes has remained
isolated, an island with one foot in the past and the
other in the future." She turned to McCready. "Is it
true that no outsiders have purchased land on Tawes
for over two hundred years?"

"That may be," he conceded. "Certainly not in my
lifetime."

"And that no motor vehicles are permitted on the
island?"

He shook his head. "Tractors, motorbikes, gators,
even a go-cart or two, but no cars or trucks." He
smiled. "Our roads are not the best."

"And most of the inhabitants still make their living
from the bay?"

He nodded. "Most do."

"Yet ..." She consulted her notes. "You have a substantial law practice in Annapolis as well as on Tawes."

Forest chuckled. "I don't know if you could call it
substantial, Miss Quinn, but I do practice law."

"And you are one of the driving forces attempting to
keep development, specifically Onicox Reality, from
building a marina and housing complex on Tawes?"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Come now, Mr. McCready. Haven't you brought legal action against Onicox Reality, to prevent them
from building on land they recently purchased?"

"No comment."

"But you are against the construction of a marina?"

"Have you tried to drive around Kent Island on a
weekend? There are so many tourists, it's a nightmare."

"Are you the one responsible for bringing in a
noted archaeologist Dr. Karen Knight to investigate the possibility of a significant Indian burial
ground on the property?" Tess thrust a handheld microphone closer to his face. "A respected scholar who
was murdered two weeks ago in Philadelphia?" She
looked back at the camera. "It has been alleged that
the murder weapon was a two-thousand-year-old Indian hatchet."

"Yes," Forest admitted. "I've heard that a stone ax
was found at the crime scene and it may have been the
murder weapon."

"Our sources confirm that blood found on the
hatchet was that of Dr. Knight," Tess said, looking at
him for a reaction.

"I'm sure your sources are more accurate than
mine."

"And the Native American burial ground on the marina site has long been regarded by the islanders as
cursed. Is that true, Mr. McCready?"

He smiled. "Some may believe that." Damnable female, he thought. I'm bound to end up looking foolish if
this piece airs. "I can't say that I believe in ghosts."

"Dr. Karen Knight, herself a member of the
Delaware Indian tribe, isn't the first person connected
to the burial ground to fall victim to foul play," Tess
declared. "Earlier this month, a midshipman, Sean
Gilbert, met a tragic death under unexplained circumstances. And several decades ago, a Deal Island Waterman, Fleming Caulk, was found dead aboard his
fishing vessel in that same marsh. Both Mr. Gilbert and
Mr. Caulk had been digging in the burial ground
shortly before their deaths."

Forest leaned back in his chair. "It's my under standing that Mr. Caulk's demise was ruled accidental, and young Mr. Gilbert's cause of death is still being determined."

"Three unexplained deaths," Tess said dramatically,
turning to face the camera. "An ancient Indian burial
ground, a curse, and the deaths of three people who
dared to dig in hallowed ground. Could it be that
there are more things between heaven and earth than
can be rationally explained?"

Bailey lifted her shirt and stared at herself in the fulllength mirror in her dressing room. Her belly looked
a little pudgy, and her jeans were getting tight. The
baby couldn't be any bigger than a walnut. How could
she be getting fat already? She'd barely had an appetite for weeks. Emma had warned her that all that
would change soon enough, but if she was gaining
weight now-what would happen when she started
eating for two?

She'd been walking out the door when she'd gotten
the call from Abbie telling her that Onicox Realty had
posted the property. She was both surprised and disappointed. Karen's tragic death had robbed Abbie of a
loving mother and her of a good friend. Knowing how
close Abbie had been to her mother had made Bailey
all the more willing to do whatever she could to ease
Abbie's pain.

Bailey was certain Abbie would need her help to
complete the site evaluation. She didn't doubt that the
young woman was a competent archaeologist. Karen had praised her highly, and she was a hard taskmaster
when it came to a dig. But this was Tawes. What
worked on the mainland didn't always fly here. The islanders were superstitious and set in their ways and
didn't trust anyone whose great-great-grandparents
hadn't been born here. They could find a hundred
ways to delay or impede the project if they wanted to.
Bailey might be a newcomer to Tawes, but she was one
of them-blood kin. And that meant everything here.

Bailey couldn't imagine why the realty company
would want to cause trouble by suppressing the excavations they'd already agreed in writing to permit.
Denying access to the Indian burial ground would set
Tawes in a spin. By evening, half the couples on the island wouldn't be speaking to each other. And she was
afraid that some of those who'd been in favor of
progress would change their minds.

She and Daniel had taken opposite sides on the marina project. The morning had started out so great,
she'd hoped she could convince him to see her side.
She'd only taught one year in the Tawes school, but
the future of these children-of her own childmeant the world to her. She'd prepared some good arguments, but after they'd exchanged words, she
hadn't even wanted to be in the same room with him
until they both had time to cool down. She couldn't
help wondering if falling for Daniel so quickly had
been another huge mistake.

Not the pregnancy, however. Unplanned or not,
now that she'd gotten over the shock, she wanted to be
a mother desperately. She couldn't imagine a better
father for her child than Daniel. He'd be terrific. Her
concern was with her own judgment in choosing him
as a second husband.

Sure, sex between them was fantastic-the stuff of
romance novels. She was mad for him, and she knew he loved her. At least, she hoped he did. But nothing
on Tawes was ever simple, and Daniel held true to the
mold. He was the most secretive, endearing, and exasperating man she'd ever met. And if they didn't have
trust as a foundation, how could they build a lasting
marriage?

She dropped her shirt and made a face at herself in
the mirror. What was it Emma was fond of saying? "You
can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." She had
certainly broken a few eggs this morning when she'd
practically thrown Daniel out of the house. But he deserved it. He was so ... so damned male. She didn't
believe that he'd told her everything he knew about
his possible son. How could he be so thickheaded that
he couldn't understand her need to discuss such an
important problem?

If Daniel did have a son in Afghanistan, where did
that leave her and their coming baby? Would he want
to fight for custody of Mallalai's child? If the little boy
was being cared for by loving grandparents or other
relatives, would it be fair to intervene? Was she being
selfish? She'd never thought of herself as a jealous person, but she had zero experience with babies and small
children. Was she capable of caring for a toddler and a
newborn? In all likelihood, the boy wouldn't understand English. How would she communicate with him?

A small bubble of regret surfaced ... an ache that
another woman might have given birth to Daniel's
first child and that the boy would always be a living reminder of his mother.

Shame that she could worry more about her own insecurities than about a motherless child enveloped
her. If Daniel had a son, that little boy deserved to
know his father. She loved Daniel Catlin, and she'd
have to have a hard heart if she could deny a motherless child a place in her life.

Starting married life with two small children would
be difficult, but when had anything ever been easy for
her? She had friends on Tawes; she had Will and
Emma. If she could just convince Daniel to share his
secrets and concerns with her, they could be happy together, couldn't they?

She slipped her feet into flip-flops and made her
way downstairs to the kitchen where she'd used a
kiddy gate to lock Puzzle in the kitchen. The coating
Daniel had applied to the old wide boards in this
room made it impervious to puppy errors, and there
wasn't anything for the dog to chew here but her toys.
At eight months, Puzzle was theoretically housebroken, but she did commit an occasional transgression. Bailey didn't want to risk her Aunt Elizabeth's
beautiful rugs or the small Oriental one that Daniel
had given her for her birthday.

She petted Puzzle and went to the refrigerator for
something cold to drink. She'd taken the mandatory
prenatal vitamins earlier with a rice cake, but her
stomach still hadn't settled enough for orange juice.
She decided to weed the flower beds so the day
wouldn't be a total loss. One way or another, she was
determined to get her hands in dirt this morning.
Maybe she could work out her frustrations by yanking
wire grass and deadheading her marigolds.

An hour later, she rose from her knees, dusted off
her hands, and admired the progress she'd made. If it
didn't rain this afternoon, she'd have to run a hose
down here and give the flower bed a good watering.
Her back ached, but her black funk had lifted and she
felt much better.

Puzzle was happily pouncing on unwary grasshoppers in her fenced-in yard. The little dog had gone
into a frenzy earlier, barking and running back and
forth, without apparent reason. Corgis, Bailey had dis covered, were nothing if not drama queens, but the
pup seemed content now. Bailey decided to leave her
outside and went back into the house alone. She
hoped she could find feta cheese. She was suddenly
ravenous for a Greek salad with olives, onions, and
fresh tomatoes.

Bailey had washed her hands and was rummaging in
the back of her refrigerator when she heard a baby crying. "What in the world ..." Had she left the television
on in her bedroom? The crying sounded as though it
were coming from upstairs, but she couldn't remember watching TV this morning. She put the jar of black
olives on the table and hurried through the dining
room to the stair hall.

The crying came again ... this time fainter. Could
the electricity have fluctuated and the television come
on by itself? Stranger things had happened in this
house, and that could have been what had set Puzzle
barking earlier. Hadn't she read that a dog's hearing
was many times greater than a human's?

Bailey started up the stairs and stopped at the hall
landing. She couldn't hear anything now. Had she
been imagining she'd heard a baby? All her worry
might have-No. There it was again.

She had taken two steps toward her bedroom suite
when she heard a loud smack followed by a shriek. She
ran the rest of the way, threw open the bedroom door,
and rushed in. There was no sound but the loud tick
of her mantel clock. The room was empty. A rush of
adrenaline made her shiver.

"Who's there? Is anyone there? Daniel, if this is your
idea of a joke ..." She crossed to the dressing room
and pushed open the door.

A child's sobs filled the room. Bailey's eyes widened
as she spied a silver tape recorder lying on her
makeup table.

"Bailey Elliott, I presume?"

She whirled to face a man standing in the doorway
and couldn't hold back a gasp of fright.

He was holding a knife.

"All taken care of," Buck announced as Abbie entered
his office, followed by his brother Harry. "I've just gotten off the phone with Forest McCready and he
worked his magic with a friendly judge. You can dig to
your heart's content."

"For sure?" Harry opened the small refrigerator and
took out a soda. "You thirsty, Abbie?" he asked. "I see
green tea, bottled water, diet iced tea, root beer,
grape, and orange." He popped the top of his can and
took a drink. "Hot as he-"

Buck's scowl cut him off in mid-word.

"Hot as fried eggs, out in that marsh." Harry reddened. "Sorry, ma'am. You should have seen the sheep
fly I swatted. Big as a yearling calf."

Abbie smiled. "I don't think it was quite that big. I'll
have green tea, please." She glanced at Buck. "Unless
we're about to consume public property, Officer."