The Case of the Missing Secretary (16 page)

Tansy’s eyes opened and she looked less frail. “Oh, my goodness. Poor child!”

“She’s a trooper. Amy and Polk like her. Guy is his father all over again. I imagine he’s giving her the devil.”

“She’s too young to bear the brunt of Emmett’s hatred of her brother. I shouldn’t have recommended her for the job, but she’d just lost a job she’d had for two years and she was too afraid of Emmett to even live in the same city he did. I saw a chance to help Logan and Melody. But if Emmett is going to make a habit of coming back here, I may have done more harm than good. Poor child!” she repeated.

“Emmett didn’t even look like himself,” Kit said, recalling with a mental shiver. “I thought he was easygoing and funny.”

“Did you? Emmett wears a mask. Most people see through it a lot sooner than you did. He has plenty of enemies.”

“If he’s like he was today when he rides in a rodeo, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he wins every event,” she said. “He’s ruthless.” “He always was. It’s his way or no way.” Tansy shook her head.

The Case of the Missing Secretary 415 “I’ll have to apologize to Melody. But Emmett won’t be in town for long, I’m sure. Logan will protect her.”

Kit wasn’t certain about that, but she didn’t say so. She stayed and talked for a little longer, before she looked at her watch and realized that she was already past due back at the office.

“I have to go,” she said, bending to kiss the thin cheek. “You know where to find me if I can do anything for you. And I won’t tell Logan or Chris where you are. I promise.”

Tansy studied her face for a long moment, reading accurately the acquiescence in it. “That’s a deal. Come back tomorrow. Maybe it will be good news.”

She didn’t sound as if she expected it to be. Kit was an incurable optimist, though, and she knew what a strength of will Tansy had.

“I’d bet on you, no matter what,” she told Tansy. “You’re too special to lose.” She smiled and left the room before Tansy had time to reply.

It didn’t help that later in the day Dane Lassiter wanted to know about her progress.

She considered lying to him. That didn’t seem particularly bright. Dane was a detective himself, and much more experienced. If he wanted to find Tansy, it would take him no time at all. And it would be dishonest to lie. So she asked to speak to him privately and told him everything.

“So you see,” she said miserably, “I don’t know what to do. I told Tansy I wouldn’t tell Logan a thing. Professionally I’m bound to.” Her eyes searched his stern face. “Where do you draw the line?”

“In this agency, we stand behind our detectives,” he said, smiling gently. “It’s your decision.”

“Thanks for not firing me.” She got up from the chair she’d been sitting in.

“Don’t be absurd,” he murmured. “I trust your judgment.” He sighed. “God, I hope it’s not cancer. Logan pretends that his mother is a trial to him, but he loves her.” “So does Chris,” she added. “Of course he does. But Logan will take it harder.” She nodded. He was right about that. The icy Mr. Deverell had

Diana Palmer

a surprisingly soft side, and he did adore his mother. Even if he raised the roof over some of her antics from time to time.

“Kit,” Dane said as she started to leave, and he looked solemn, “think very carefully about the position you’re putting yourself in. You and Logan are engaged. Keeping this sort of secret between you could irreparably damage your relationship. I won’t blame you if you do give in and tell him. No one would, least of all Tansy.”

“I don’t know about that.” She clung to the door. “If I tell Logan, I’ll be betraying Tansy’s trust.”

“It’s a hard decision, I know,” Dane said. “Just remember, you have to live with the consequences of your actions. I don’t. Neither does Tansy.” “Yes. I know,” she said quietly.

Kit had hoped that she wouldn’t have to lie to Logan. The following day, after all, she’d know for certain about Tansy. But she had no such luck.

Logan telephoned less than ten minutes before she was due to leave the office that afternoon. In the background, boisterous yells and shouts interrupted him.

“I’ll pick you up about six and we’ll eat out,” he said. “Can you kids shut up?” he yelled. “My God, they’re driving us nuts! Emmett promised to be back by five, and he isn’t here! I don’t know what to do!”

“Bring them with you,” Kit suggested, buying time. “We can look after them.” “Kit, are you out of your mind?” he asked.

“I guess so. But we can’t ask Melody to have them, not the way Emmett treated her.”

“I know.” He paused. “Have you found my mother?” he asked abruptly.

The question shook her. She took a slow breath and steadied her nerves, preparing to hedge the question. She was flirting with finishing their relationship before it began, and she knew it, but Tansy trusted her. She had to consider that before she considered her personal feelings. “I’ve got a good lead that I’m following up,” she replied care-The Case of the Missing Secretary 417 fully, mentally crossing her fingers at the lie. “I should know something by lunch tomorrow,” she added, praying that she would, and that it would be good news. “I thought you were an ace detective, Miss Morris.”

“Detective work can be slow, Mr. Deverell,” she countered. “And you might remember that I am very efficient.”

“So you were.” He chuckled. “Come on over here and go home with me. We can pick up your car in the morning.” “Okay. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” she promised.

She and Emmett arrived together. He was unusually quiet as he rode up in the elevator with her, totally uncommunicative. “Did you get signed up for the rodeo?” she asked. “Yep.”

And that was all he said, all the way to Logan’s office. He walked in, saw the kids sitting all in a row on the sofa with their hands angelically folded and did a double take.

A harassed, black-eyed Melody glared at him. “You can take them with you, now, if you don’t mind,” she said stiffly. “I hired on here to be a secretary, not a baby-sitter.”

“We ain’t babies,” Guy muttered with a hard glare in her direction. “And we ain’t scared of that electronic gadget in your desk, neither!” “What electronic gadget?” Emmett said with deadly menace.

Melody looked straight at him, opened her desk, picked up a black box and pointed it at him. She pressed a colorful button. Death ray sounds out of a Grade-B science fiction movie filled the room.

“Tomorrow morning when you wake up, you’ll have green skin and antennae,” she promised him. “And warts.” Emmett’s eyebrows lifted.

“She tried to turn us into Martians with that thing, but we weren’t scared of it, Emmett,” Amy said proudly. Her haughty expression wavered just a little when she glanced at the black box. “But, we’ll go now, won’t we? Before she points it at us again, I mean.” “Witch,” Emmett accused. “Scaring little children.” Melody put the black box back in the drawer. “Those aren’t little

418 Diana Palmer children,” she said icily. “They’re a homebound terrorist unit, complete with hardware. Look at this, for heaven’s sake!”

She started pulling things out of the desk. When she finished, there were screwdrivers, Swiss Army knives, fingernail files and other assorted tools in a heap before her. “Just look! They could break open a safe with this!” “No, we could not,” Polk said indignantly.

“We only tried one,” Guy reminded his brother. “And it was old. If we worked on a new one…” “That’s right!” Amy agreed.

Exasperated, Melody stared at Emmett. “Congratulations,” she said. “You can visit them all in federal prison next year after you’re through riding in rodeo competitions.”

Emmett stared at his children. Comprehension was dawning. He’d spent two years hating his ex-wife and blaming her for all his problems. He’d spent an equally long time running away from the kids.

Now, here they were, and he was just beginning to see what his neglect had accomplished. Instead of normal, wholesome children, he was raising a family of potential second-story men.

“Where did you kids get that stuff?” Emmett asked, nodding toward the desk.

“We’ll never tell,” Amy said, making a motion across her lips like a zipper closing. “That’s right,” Polk agreed.

“We’ll see about that,” Emmett said grimly. “Let’s go. I’ve booked us into a hotel for the night.”

“Great!” Guy said. “At least we can escape the wicked witch of the stock market before she makes Martians out of us.”

Emmett herded them to the door. He paused, glancing at Melody, who was composed and not very communicative. “Kind of you to watch them,” he said reluctantly.

“I’ll quit before I do it again, even if it means starving,” she said quietly.

His lean face hardened. “No stomach for children, Miss Cartman?” “I like most children,” she replied.

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“There’s not a damned thing wrong with those kids,” he said furiously. She didn’t reply.

“Emmett, that’s enough,” Logan said with quiet menace. “Go away.”

“You hired her to get back at me, didn’t you?” Emmett accused his cousin.

“You think everyone is out to get you, don’t you?” Logan asked quietly. “Your biggest problem is your own lack of trust.”

“I trusted Adell. Until her damned Romeo brother,” he pointed at Melody, “waltzed in and carted her off!”

Melody colored. Her hands were shaking. She clasped them together tightly, “Adell said she got tired of dirty diapers and living alone with three toddlers,” she said with pure bravado and a shaking voice, “while you strutted around with pretty young girls at ro-deos.”

Emmett didn’t say another word. His face hardened to stone. He turned and went out, slamming the door so hard that the windows shook. “Well, he did,” Melody muttered, shaken.

“I know,” Logan replied. “You don’t have to tell me about Em-mett. I’m sorry, Melody. I won’t let him in here again.” “Thanks,” she said quietly. “I seem to set him off.”

“Everything does. Get your things and I’ll lock up. I’m taking Kit out to eat. Want to come along?”

Melody smiled. “Thanks, but I’ve got a nice pot full of soup waiting.” “That sounds good on a cold night,” Kit remarked. “Well, good night, Melody,” Logan said.

Logan took Kit to an elegant restaurant and they drank expensive wine and ate perfectly cooked steak, paying much more attention to each other than to the food.

“Two more days,” he groaned when he kissed her good-night at her door. “I’ll never make it!”

“Yes, you will,” she said, smiling with delight at his hunger for her. “Good night, Logan.”

Diana Palmer

He kissed her one last time and reluctantly let her go. “Good night. If you find out anything about Tansy, call me, all right?” he added. She cleared her throat and averted her eyes. “Certainly I will!”

Logan saw that suspicious, guilty look and scowled. “You aren’t holding anything back, are you?” “Logan!” she exclaimed. “Of course not.”

He stuck his hands into his pockets and stared down at her, frowning. “I love my mother, despite her shenanigans,” he reminded her. “If you know something, and you don’t tell me, I won’t forget it.”

Her conscience was killing her. She wanted to tell him. She should tell him. But she couldn’t force the words out. She groaned. “There’s nothing to tell yet,” she said. “When?” “Soon. Really.”

He nodded, but his eyes were watchful. And there was a blatant withdrawal in his manner when he turned and walked away from her.

She closed the door behind him, locked it and leaned back against it. Her heart was beating her to death with its mad rhythm. Blast her own tongue! She wasn’t good at lying. Now Logan was suspicious, and Tansy would never forgive her if he found out anything too soon. But, then, how could he?

By the time she went to bed, she’d convinced herself that he had no way of knowing that she wasn’t telling the truth. And Dane wouldn’t blow her cover. No, she had nothing to worry about.

Late in the morning, after she’d gone through her files and done some legwork on an unrelated case, she drove to the hospital and went to find Tansy.

She knew by the expression on the older woman’s face that it wasn’t cancer.

“You’re all right, aren’t you?” she asked Tansy, smiling. “It wasn’t cancer after all, was it?” “No,” Tansy sighed, smiling. “Thank God, it wasn’t.”

The door opened suddenly and Logan Deverell came in, his face like a thundercloud. “So here you are,” he told Tansy. “Hiding out in a hospital…what’s wrong with you?”

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Tansy stared at Kit and grimaced. “You told him! You told him, after I begged you not to!” “No,” Kit began. “Why are you here?” Logan demanded from his mother. Tansy glared up at him. “I thought I had cancer.” He went stark white. “And…?” “It’s not,” she said shortly.

His dark eyes, relieved, went to Kit’s white face and kindled again. “You lied to me, damn you,” he said softly. “You told me you didn’t know where she was! She’s been in here with the threat of cancer hanging over her and I wouldn’t have known!” Kit didn’t reply. She couldn’t. She felt as bad as he must. “Oh, Kit, I’m sorry,” Tansy began.

“Dane’s going to get an earful about this, and I damned well hope he fires you!” he said, bristling with rage at her betrayal. He’d trusted her, planned to marry her. But she didn’t trust him. She’d covered up his mother’s situation and her hospitalization. She’d deliberately lied to him about it! He was so furious that he could barely speak.

“Get out of my mother’s room!” he said viciously. “Get out of my life, while you’re about it! You can take that damned marriage license and rip it up, because I wouldn’t go five feet toward the altar with a two-faced, cold-blooded little liar like you!”

Kit felt the tears welling in her very soul. They both blurred in her blue eyes as she turned and went out of the room with the tatters of her dignity around her. “But it’s not her fault,” Tansy was saying loudly. She didn’t hear what Logan said. She kept walking.

Eventually she found her car, through a mist of hot tears. Her eyes were red and swollen long before she got back to the office and went to tell Dane Lassiter what had happened. Tess was with him. They both gaped at the sight of her.