CELEBRITY STATUS (The Kate Huntington mystery series #4) (28 page)

            “This is off the record,” Mac said. “The first finger twitches on a mike or camera switch while I’m saying this, my finger’s gonna twitch. First asshole who yells anything to any member of the family coming out of that house, my finger’s gonna twitch even worse. And anybody who tries to jump in their vehicle and follow the Canfields when they leave, they’re gonna mysteriously have four flat tires real quick.”

* * *

            Once in Rose’s car, Skip had insisted his partner take him to Kate’s office instead. On the way he read the story that accompanied the damning pictures. Rose could hear him grinding his teeth.

            “Stay here, please,” he said in a flat voice, when she pulled up in front of Kate’s building. “I’ll send Ben down. I need to tell Kate about this myself.”

            Rose complied, following him with worried eyes as he disappeared into the building.

            When Kate came out of her session with Carol Foster, she was surprised to see Skip once again sitting in her waiting room, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor. Anxiety knotted her stomach. She said goodbye to her client and went over to sit beside him.

            “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” she said.

            He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He dropped his head into his hands.

            “Did something else happen?” Kate asked, the anxiety creeping into her voice.

            He nodded, but still couldn’t find the words to tell her that it had gone from bad to worse–much worse. She noticed the folded sheets of paper sticking out of his back pocket. She pulled them loose and looked at them. A small groan escaped her lips. She dropped the pages on the floor as if they were scalding hot.

            Skip dropped to his knees on the carpet in front of her. “Kate, can you ever forgive me for bringing this into our lives?”

            Startled, she didn’t answer immediately.

            Her silence terrified him. Unable to continue to look into her washed-out eyes, he buried his face in her lap.

            “Skip, this isn’t your fault,” she said, stroking his hair.

            “Yes, it is Kate, I brought this down on us, and now I can’t make it go away,” he said without raising his head.

            Skip felt the ground shift under him. Everything he’d built his sense of self on was disintegrating. He couldn’t protect his family, end the harassment. He was still that scrawny teenager being terrorized by bullies, and nothing he tried would make them stop.

            “No, it’s not,” Kate said, unnerved by the intensity of his reaction. “You’re not responsible for this.”

            He shook his head, still buried in her lap. “Yes, I am. A man’s supposed to protect his family. That’s what my Dad...” His voice broke. He stopped and sucked in air. “He always told me, ‘Take care of your family, son. Keep them safe, no matter what.’”

            “And you do that. We’re all safe. You’re a good man, Skip. A great father.” She wasn’t at all sure that her words were getting in.

            She took him by the shoulders and forced him to sit back on his heels and look at her. “Skip Canfield, you are the best husband a woman could ever ask for. You didn’t make this happen, and we’ll get through it, together.”

            He looked at her with bloodshot eyes, then nodded without saying anything. Standing up, he moved a few feet away, his back to her.

            Kate stood up. “Sit down and try to relax for a minute, sweetheart. I’ve got a client I need to call before I can leave, okay?”

            He nodded again without turning around.

            She went into her office and closed the door, but the call she planned to make had nothing to do with clients. Kate held her breath until Rob answered his cell phone.

            “Franklin.”

            Kate poured out the story as quickly as she could, fighting back tears. “I’m worried about him, and I’m not sure how to deal with this. He thinks he’s less than a man because he can’t protect his family.”

            “Where are you? At home?”

            “No, at my office, but we’re headed home. We were planning to go away for the weekend anyway, before this new development.”

            “I was on my way out to grab some lunch. I think I’ll swing by your house to see you off.”

            “Thank you.” The relief in her voice spoke volumes.

            After disconnecting, Rob thought for a moment. He decided to call in reinforcements. As he hurried to his car, he called his wife at her office.

            When Kate came out into the waiting room, Skip was sitting in a chair, his head resting back against the wall, eyes closed. He sat up when he heard her door close. Glancing furtively at her, he said, “I’m sorry.”

            She knew this time he was apologizing for losing control. She sat down next to him and took his hand in hers, not sure what to say. Finally, she settled on, “It’s okay to be human, sweetheart.”

* * *

            Rob got to the house first. When he stepped out of his car and started toward the porch, a reporter yelled out, “Hey, there’s the wife’s lover.”

            Mac waved his hand in the air, the Glock making a lazy circle. The crowd of paparazzi edged back a bit.

            “I’d behave if I were you, ladies and gentlemen,” Dolph said conversationally.

            The encounter out front served as a diversion while Rose brought Skip and Kate through the backyard and into the house.

            Inside Rob greeted them. “Maria’s getting the kids ready. Liz and I figured we’d see you off. She’ll be here soon to help Kate pack.” He took Skip’s arm and maneuvered him toward the kitchen. “I thought I’d make some sandwiches for all of us while they’re doing that.”

            Kate took the hint and headed for the bedroom. Liz joined her a few minutes later.

            While putting together sandwiches in the kitchen, Rob listened as Skip told him what had happened, pretending he hadn’t already heard the story from Kate. “Shit, Rob. I’m six-five and weigh two-fifty. There isn’t much in this world I’m afraid of, but I’m developing a phobia of Rose showing up in my office doorway, with those fax sheets under her arm.”

            “It’s damn frustrating that nothing we’ve tried seems to be stopping these assholes for good,” Rob said. “They let up for awhile and then it starts up again.”

            Skip dropped into a chair. Running his hand through his hair, he said, “I feel so damned helpless.”

            Rob abandoned the sandwiches and took a seat at the table with his friend. “Skip, we do our best to take care of our families, but we can’t always protect them from everything.”

            “I know that, intellectually. But my daddy’s voice keeps echoing in my head, ‘Protect your family, son.’ It’s...” Skip shook his head. “I feel like...” He couldn’t say it out loud to another man.

            “He was a great dad,” he finally said instead. “I always figured, if and when I had a family, if I could be just like him...” He trailed off as his throat closed up on him.

            After a beat, Rob quietly said, “If your father were alive today, what would he tell you about all this?”

            Skip stared into space for a minute. Finally, he said, “He’d recite the Serenity Prayer to me.”

            Rob nodded. “Control the things you can. Accept the things you can’t. Your dad was a wise man.”

            Kate hadn’t been much use when it came to packing. She was too preoccupied with her husband’s mental state. Liz looked through the partially packed suitcases and assessed what still needed to go into them. After they were loaded up with clothes, socks, and hiking shoes, Liz had an inspiration and headed upstairs to Billy’s room.

            When she came back downstairs, Skip was sitting on the living room floor, the kids playing around him. Liz added her find to Kate’s suitcase sitting in the hall and then went into the kitchen. Rob held up a big paper bag. “I decided to pack their lunch for the road,” he whispered. “The sooner they get out of here the better, I think.”

            Liz just nodded, her lips set in a grim line. Rob closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around his petite wife. Resting his cheek on top of her head, he blinked several times, trying to get the gritty feeling out of his eyes.

* * *

            Rose came out of the house carrying two suitcases. She headed for the red van.

            One of the reporters couldn’t resist. “Hey, is Mrs. Canfield leaving her husband?” he yelled.

            Mac waved his gun in the air again. “She’s a member of the family,” he said.

            A car pulled up and parked behind Dolph’s. Elaine got out and walked briskly across the lawn, the stark white of her clerical collar standing out between mocha skin and black blouse, under a tailored gray suit.

            One reporter opened his mouth. “She’s a family member too,” Dolph said.

            “She’s not coming out of the house,” the reporter muttered.

            “That, sir, is a technicality,” Dolph pointed out.

            The black, female reporter from Channel 2 smiled. “The Canfields have a very diverse family, it seems.”

            Dolph grinned back at her.

            “Mary Peters saw the tabloid at the grocery store,” Elaine whispered to Kate when she answered the door. “She called me. I’ve been trying to get through, but I guess you have the phone off the hook.”

            Kate told Elaine that they were going away for the weekend as she ushered the priest inside. Rose followed them in.

            Skip, still in the living room, started to get to his feet. Elaine held her hand out. “Stay put. I’ve come to bless your mini vacation. Children, come climb on your daddy’s lap.” The children complied as Elaine took Kate’s hand.

            Rose and Maria stood in the kitchen doorway, with the Franklins behind them. Maria grabbed her cousin’s hand. Rose didn’t resist.

            “Dear Lord Jesus,” Elaine’s voice rang out as if she were addressing the whole congregation. She sketched a cross over the man and his children with her hand. “Hold this family, this beautiful family, in Your hands, as they travel the roads on their journey this weekend. And also as they travel along the path of their spiritual journey. Protect them, Lord, and give them the strength to endure whatever crosses their path. Whatever
crosses
they are destined to bear. Dear God in Heaven, protect them and give them strength. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

            The children had already lost interest. They scrambled off their father’s lap to go back to their toys, as Kate and the Hernandez women crossed themselves.

            Elaine leaned over Skip. With her thumb she made a small sign of the cross on his forehead, saying in a much softer voice, “The Lord be with you, Skip Canfield. The Lord
will always
be with you.” He stared up at her.

            Elaine reached out a hand. He took it and pushed himself to his feet. Elaine squeezed his hand between both of hers before letting go. “You and your family have a grand little vacation now,” she said.

            “We will,” Skip said. As he looked down at this woman who kept showing up just when he needed a kick in the butt, he broke into a grin. “Thanks for coming, Elaine.”

            She grinned back at him. “You’re welcome,” she said, then turned on her heel and left.

            Rose carried her cousin’s overnight bag outside and put it in the trunk of her car. Maria would be spending the weekend with Rose’s parents. But first, Rose intended to follow the red van for awhile, to make sure no press were trying to determine where they were going.

            As the van pulled away, the crowd of media began to disperse, eyeing Mac carefully as they loaded equipment into their vehicles.

            The Franklins stood on the front porch of the house. Liz slipped her hand into Rob’s much larger one. “They’ll be okay,” she said.

            Neither of them noticed the remaining reporter, a tall, thin man, with salt and pepper hair, standing across the street. He tapped the fat envelope in his shirt pocket, the added incentive he had received to stir this story back to life.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

            On Saturday, the Canfields poked around the small town of Thurmont, then hiked one of the trails in the foothills surrounding it. Billy’s short legs gave out quickly. Skip swung him up onto his shoulders. When their daughter’s feet also began to drag, Kate took Billy from her husband, and Edie rode piggyback on Skip’s broad back.

            They returned in the late afternoon to their B and B, tired but refreshed. The children were nodding off over their mac and cheese at the family-style restaurant where they ate dinner.

            As Skip was doing story time with the kids, Kate was rummaging through her suitcase, looking for something. What she found instead was an object she knew she hadn’t packed. The baby monitor from Billy’s room. Kate grinned. “Thank you, Liz,” she whispered under her breath.

            Slipping into the children’s room, she kissed them goodnight and set the little transmitter on the table between the twin beds. Once out of the room, Kate held up the receiver and said to Skip in a low voice, “Let’s see if this thing works out on the front porch.”

            Sure enough, they could hear little rustling noises coming from the small plastic box, even on the porch. They settled into rockers and watched the summer sunset turn the sky brilliant above the mountains, silhouetted in deep purple against the slashes of gold, pink and violet.

            Skip sighed and reached over to take Kate’s hand. “Rob has some jim-dandy ideas sometimes.”

            “We’re so blessed to have their friendship,” Kate said.

            “I’m blessed to have you.” Skip’s voice was thick with emotion as he squeezed her hand.