Reckless Hours: a Romantic Suspense novel (Heroes of Providence Book 3) (5 page)

“I think I need to find this Serena Davco and talk to her.”

He chuckled low. “Well, join the club. It’s taken me a month to get
this
far.”

“You mean you’ve never met her?”

* * *

Dylan lifted his coffee to his lips and paused to stare at this strange woman. He could see what Cash had seen in the girl. With the sun streaming through the window and shining on her hair, her face, he could see firsthand that she was much prettier in person than in the picture. When she opened her eyes up wide, her whole face transformed and she lit up the room. That wasn’t something you’d get from a snapshot.

But despite the fact that she’d agreed to talk with him, she was still playing with him, and he didn’t like it one bit. He’d spent the last month trying to talk with this woman, and now that he was face-to-face with her, he was getting the runaround. But Dylan could out-game anyone and he wasn’t about to let her get away from him without getting answers.

She said her name was Tammie Gardner. He’d have a fellow police officer in Providence, Jake Santos, run a check on that name later to find out if Tammie Gardner even existed. And if so, what, if anything, she had to do with Cash. Maybe Tammie Gardner was just an alias Serena Davco used to keep herself hidden from whatever danger Cash was worried about. If so, Dylan would get to the bottom of it. He didn’t want to involve his dad until he absolutely had to.

“No, I’ve never met Serena Davco,” he said evenly, then took a sip of his coffee.

She sighed, seeming as frustrated as he was about that fact.

If she was determined to play this game, then he’d play along with her, earn her trust. Cash wasn’t a man to just go off blindly chasing a pretty face. He’d been secretive about his relationship with Serena, and maybe that was a game they’d both played. But it was going to end here.

He put the coffee cup down on the table and stifled the growing disappointment that enveloped him once again. It hurt Dylan more than he wanted to admit that his brother hadn’t confided in him about something so important until the very end. Until it was too late. He could have helped Cash, if only Dylan had known the truth.

Maybe this woman had her reasons for not wanting to confess to being Serena Davco in public. Dylan wanted to learn all about those reasons, because he was sure they were at the root of his brother’s disappearance.

Tammie put the picture down. “When was this taken?”

“I have no idea. But it was the only one I found in my brother’s apartment after he vanished.”

“Vanished? You haven’t heard from him at all?”

“No. It’s been several months, and that’s not like him. He’s always been very close to me and our sister. He would check in with the family at least once a month even when…”

He stopped himself from saying too much. Cash was secretive about some things but only because he worked undercover for the DEA. But these days, even that was something Dylan questioned.

“Even when what?”

Dylan held back details. “When he was working on a big project.”

He squashed the guilt that had been eating at him ever since he made the decision to leave the Marines and come back stateside. He’d been ready to re-enlist after a twelve year span in the military in a position that had been exciting and rewarding.

But then his kid sister Sonia had phoned him in Indonesia to tell him Cash was acting strange and he should think about not re-enlisting. She’d said it’d be better for him to come back to the States.
For good.

Sonny didn’t make requests like that. As beautiful as she was, Sonny was a nose-to-the-books computer geek and never cared much for his or Cash’s sense of adventure. But her message was clear.
Come home.

He’d ripped up his re-enlistment papers and submitted new paperwork to retire permanently from the Marines. As difficult as it was to leave what he loved doing, he hadn’t looked back. His family needed him.

Tammi
e nodded, and nibbled on her bottom lip. “I
think
it’s time to go to this mansion where you say Serena Davco lives and see what she has to say. Do you know where the mansion is?”

Dylan tossed a ten-dollar bill on top of the check the waitress had left in front of him. “Follow me.”

Less than fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of 322 Riverview Road. Dylan had kept a close watch on the car as it drove behind him, making sure the woman didn’t try to ditch him by turning down one of the many winding country roads in these parts. He’d been caught on a few of them by accident these last few weeks.

With a quick breath, he pushed the car door open and climbed outside. She was still sitting in her car, just staring at the mansion, which must have been grand at one time, but now looked like something out of a gothic movie. The brick walkway leading to the front steps was starting to crumble and was covered with moss. Although the flowers were well tended to and the shrubs were trimmed, the wooden gate and the siding on the main dwelling were in serious need of a several cans of paint. The curtains were drawn. They always were on the days he’d stood outside, trying to get in. His curiosity had him wondering if it was to keep people from looking in or keep whoever was inside from seeing what was out here.

He’d never seen anyone come or go from the house. But hadn’t done surveillance on the place so it was possible he just missed seeing someone. But he had seen the housekeeper. He was counting on her being here again to face this woman.

The flash of fear on Tammie’s face as she came up beside him didn’t make his resolve waiver. The key to finding his brother was getting this woman to talk to him about their relationship. This woman who claimed her name was Tammie Gardner.

Well, maybe today it was. There had been some rumblings at the diner about mental health issues when he pushed for information about Serena Davco. He’d play the game a little while longer, earn her trust and then he’d get the answers he needed. Maybe being in her own surroundings would make her feel comfortable enough to talk.

With a hand placed gently on her back, he walked with her over the brick pathway. At times, it felt as if he was even pushing her toward the front door.

She flashed him a quick smile that hinted of nervousness as she twisted her hands together. Puzzled, he nodded toward the doorknob, but she surprised him by reaching out and ringing the doorbell.

# # #

• Chapter Three
  

Bill was right, Tammie thought. She needed serious therapy. In a week’s time, she’d quit her job, traveled clear across the country because of a letter that was well over twenty years old and hooked up with a crazy man who’d led her to an old house in the middle of nowhere.

And she’d willingly followed him.

He’d called it a mansion and it was. The house was huge.

Heart pounding in her chest, she waited for someone to answer the bell. The bushes on both sides of the porch were tall, creating a tomblike enclosure in front of the door. A spring breeze shook the large shrubs and made a wind tunnel out of the covered entryway, adding to the cold dread consuming her. Old, dry leaves swirled around her feet.

Tammie turned and forced a smile at Dylan, darting a glance to the street, where her rental car sat parked. She could leave now, end this nonsense and beg to get her job back.

Sighing, she turned back to the door. Leaving now wouldn’t change anything. There’d always be questions that needed answering. And until she got those answers, she wouldn’t stop looking for them. She’d come this far. She had to go the distance.

Her hand was poised to ring the bell again, but the heavy, carved wooden door swung open.

Tammie didn’t know what she’d expected to see on the other side of the door, but the shocked look on the face of the young woman who looked outside echoed what Tammie had felt in the pit of her stomach earlier when she saw that picture of Serena Davco.

“Miss Serena? What are you doing outside?” the woman, wearing a maid’s uniform, said. Her blond hair was pulled back and tucked underneath a white kerchief. The smell of lemon filtered out into the spring air. They’d probably interrupted her cleaning, Tammie surmised.

Confusion mixed with anxiety within Tammie as the young woman continued to stare with wide eyes, and Tammie lost her tongue for a moment.

“Is Serena Davco available?” Dylan said from behind her. The woman looked past Tammie to where Dylan was standing and scowled. “You again? What have you done? Aurore will not be happy about this.”

Something prickled the back of Tammie’s neck.
Aurore.
Where had she heard that name before?

“May we come in?” she asked.

The woman was obviously flabbergasted, but she stepped aside. “Of course.”

Once inside, Tammie looked around. The wide foyer was richly decorated, with an old drop-leaf table that held a large colorful pottery vase with flowers. Tammie knew nothing about antiques, but the pieces she saw looked quite old, though they seemed to have been well cared for over the years. None of them matched the contemporary style Tammie normally favored, but the room just off the foyer held a homey elegance that was inviting.

Noise from the back of the house roused the young maid’s attention.

“Susan?” a voice called out.

“Don’t go anywhere,” the woman said to Dylan, then she disappeared down the hall to answer the call.

Within seconds, voices were raised, but Tammie found it hard to hear anything that was being said in the other room. She gave her attention to the room where she and Dylan had been left, taking in all the ornate details.

“Anything look familiar?” Dylan asked.

The mantel in the dining room, adjacent to the room they’d entered, caught Tammie’s attention. There were pictures lined up along it. But as much as
Tamm
ie wanted to see the pictures, see the woman who lived in this house, they hadn’t been invited to go any farther than the room they were in.

She turned to Dylan, who was leaning against the doorway with his arms folded. “No. Should it?”

“You live here.”

He was probing her with his dark eyes again, making her uncomfortable.

Tammie’s shoulders sagged. “I told you—”

“Yeah, your name is Tammie Gardner. I get that. But you’re also Serena Davco. The question I’m asking myself is why you’re continuing to use a different name? Why the pretense now that we’re in familiar surroundings?”

She lifted her arms, but then let them fall to her sides again. “I don’t know this Serena Davco you’ve been talking about, and I’ve never been here in this house before in my life. I’ve never even been to Massachusetts. I’m just as curious about all this as you are.”

“Yeah? If you’re not Serena Davco, who do you suppose posed for that picture?”

Dylan pointed up the carpeted stairway, which led to a landing. Between two large stained glass windows sat an enormous painting of a pregnant woman with a little girl with dark brown curls sitting on the floor beside her legs. The woman’s face clearly matched her own. Even closer than the picture Dylan had showed her.

A chill raced up Tammie’s spine, causing her to shiver. “I have no idea. But you can be sure I’m going to find out.”

The voices in the hallway grew louder.
“You just left her alone with him?” someone said.

An older woman charged into the foyer on the heels of the young maid, who Tammie guessed was Susan. A sense of deja vu made her skin crawl. Nothing about this house or this town was familiar to Tammie—except this older woman. She’d seen her face somewhere before. Or rather, she’d seen the devastating scar that marred her cheek and neck. It had been sometime in her youth, but for the life of her, Tammie couldn’t remember the details. All she remembered was how frightened she’d been.

The woman with the scar stopped short, eyes wide and gasped. “What on earth is going on here?”

“What—? We’re here to see Serena Davco,” Tammie said. Although the woman tried to hide it, Tammie caught the almost imperceptible change in her expression before she shifted her attention to Dylan.

“You again?”

Tammie whispered to him, “Did anyone ever tell you that you have a funny way with people?”

“I get that a lot,” Dylan said dryly, in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

“So you’ve had a run-in at this house before?” Tammie asked.

The scarred woman folded her arms across her chest. “I told you never to come here again.”

“Yeah, you did,” Dylan said. “But this time I was invited.”

“By whom?”

Dylan gestured toward Tammie.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it, Aurore?” Susan said in a hushed tone.

Eyeing Tammie again, the woman sneered. “You think bringing an imposter here is going to get you what you want? You’re mistaken.”

Tammie blinked at her hostility. “Imposter? No, no, my name is Tammie Gardner. I wasn’t trying to fool anyone.” Turning to Dylan, she asked quietly, “What’s going on here?”

“I don’t care what your name is or what your intentions are. You both need to leave here immediately. Susan, call the police.”