Fatal Secrets

TWO

Zane leaped forward, only to be blocked by the truck. The driver laid on the horn, adding to the sound of screeching brakes as the huge vehicle careened to a lumbering stop.

Zane slammed into its left side and after he spun once, he raced around the back.

Kristin was sprawled facedown by the right front tire, her purse beside her. Zane sliced through the growing crowd as she began to roll over.

“Don’t move,” he told her. “Stay still for a minute. You may be hurt.”

The truck driver hurried around the front bumper. “Is she all right? I didn’t see her until she jumped out at me!”

Kristin sat up. “I didn’t jump. I was pushed.”

The driver stepped back in shock. Zane took the opportunity to move in front of him. As he did, Kristin threw back her hair. “Someone shoved me!”

Immediately, Zane glanced around, stretching his vision from one end of the street to the other. Apart from the crowd that had gathered, he saw no one hurrying away. Murmurs threaded through the onlookers at her accusation, each person checking out their neighbor. He watched each surprised face. No one looked guilty.

Zane stooped to take her arm. “I told you not to move.”

She grabbed him and pulled herself to her feet. “I’m fine. A little scraped up, that’s all.” Then, with a shocked gaze, she looked around. “Didn’t you see him? The man who pushed me?”

The driver shook his head. “I laid on the horn when I first saw you,” he cried out. “It looked like you’d stumbled!”

She threw off Zane’s helping hand. “I didn’t stumble. I was pushed. I distinctly felt two hands on my back.” She looked at Zane. “You didn’t see him, either?”

“No.” Inwardly, he cringed at his short word. It wasn’t as though he suspected her of lying, but with the blank looks from the crowd gathering around them, he wondered briefly if she’d staged this to get his attention.

Was this a ploy to avoid telling her precious secret, all the while gaining sympathy and an agreement to take her case?

Zane gritted his teeth. His mother had done something similar when he’d begun to ask questions. She’d faked an illness to avoid the truth.

Kristin straightened. “Well, someone pushed me.” With a hand that was definitely shaking, she smoothed her straight brown hair. For one brief moment, he caught sight of a long white scar just above her temple. Then, as quickly as it was exposed, it slipped back into hiding beneath the straight cloak of shiny brown tresses.

And as if realizing she was creating a scene, Kristin grabbed her purse and brushed off her jeans. “I know what I felt. I was pushed, but managed to roll away from the truck in the nick of time.”

Zane moved her away from the crowd. It wasn’t such a good idea to attract this much attention. Kristin had been evasive for a reason, and while he hated secrecy, he knew she shouldn’t be standing in the middle of the street if she needed some privacy or protection. And as a private investigator, he preferred to keep a low profile, as well. Playing hero for all to see wasn’t what his profession was about. He was trained to blend into the crowd, notice things without being noticed.

To that end, he steered her around the truck and toward his car, to get away from local curiosity.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To the truck stop out by the highway. We’ll talk there.”

She followed him to his car, hesitantly, stopping short of climbing in. “I don’t get into strangers’ cars.”

“Good advice for anyone.” Then, pulling out his car keys, he handed them to her. “You can drive if it makes you feel safer. Do you know the truck stop I’m talking about?”

“Of course. I was bor— I mean I grew up here.”

He caught her correction, but decided to ignore it for now.

“But driving your car isn’t going to make it safer for me,” she reasoned.

“Let me show you my ID. But frankly, you should have asked for it as soon as I sat down in the café.”

“You’re the first private investigator I’ve ever hired. And you come highly recommended.” After checking out his ID, she took the keys and clicked the unlock button before tossing her purse into the back. With a short hesitation, she climbed in behind the wheel. Automatically, she moved the seat up to accommodate her shorter stature.

She started the car. “Does this mean you’ll take my case?”

“Maybe. Who recommended me?”

“Jake Downs. His sister and I are in the same chemistry class. He’s the locksmith who helped me open my father’s safe a few months ago. We made a mess of the wall at home because Jake had to take the safe to his shop and drill through the side of it just to open it. You know, look at the lock from the inside? When I asked if he knew any private investigators, he recommended you.” She shrugged. “And he also recommended a good drywaller to fix the wall in my father’s office.”

Zane knew Jake Downs. A good locksmith, accredited and bonded, with a cocky charm that seemed in total contradiction with the man’s strong personal faith. He was a Christian, and had even invited him to church once.

Zane had declined. For work reasons, he’d said. Truth was, the cost of believing was just a bit too high for him.

Still, he nodded. “I know Jake, but I didn’t know he had a sister.”

“Maggie. She’s the funniest person ever, so we don’t get much chem work done.” She paused a few seconds as she pulled into traffic. “She works at the lab at the university.”

She glanced at him as she signaled to merge onto the highway. It took her a moment to ask, “Have you decided to take my case?”

He paused. “Have you decided to trust me?”

By now, they’d reached the truck stop, it being only a short drive down the highway. After parking, she turned to him. “Zane, I need to find my biological mother. I don’t know much about her, but I know she’s in danger.”

Hmm. Was this her idea of trust? A few mysterious words? “In danger of what?”

“Of being murdered.”

The words hung between them in the car, as Zane watched Kristin’s eyes grow wide with some instant realization and she sucked in a sharp breath.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Besides the obvious fact you think your biological mother is in danger.”

Her expression turned hollow as she stared out the windshield. “They’re after me,” she whispered. “Jackson was right!” She bit her lip before adding, “I should never have gone to that guy’s trial! But that couldn’t have been how…”

What on earth was she talking about? “Look at me, Kristin. What’s going on?”

She turned toward him, her eyes like a Japanese cartoon. “I went to Vincent Martino’s trial,” she breathed out. “That must have been where they saw me, but he didn’t say it was.”

He shook his head and frowned. “Whose trial?” He itched to reach for his notebook, but stopped himself, instead committing the name to memory. “Did you have to testify?”

“No. It’s a long story.”

“Where was it?”

“Chicago.” She blinked. “While I was there, I met up with Jackson McGraw again. He’s an FBI agent there. I’d met him some months ago when I started the search for my mother. During a recess at the trial—”

“Wait!” he interrupted. “Are you talking about the mobster Vincent Martino? Wasn’t he convicted, but escaped custody?” He stared intently at her. “What was so important about going to his trial? That courtroom was probably the most dangerous place to be in all of the country.”

“It was also said to be the safest place in the country.”

Zane sat back, trying to recall the details that had flooded the news last month. With the tightest security since the president was sworn in, the judge would only allow those closely associated with the trial to be in the courtroom. How did this woman get in?

More to the point, why did she think Vincent Martino was now after her? What was going on?

“Drive. Start the engine and drive,” he told her.

“Where are we going?”

“To the police station. You need to report what happened to you.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again.

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

“I should make a phone call first. It won’t take long.” She twisted around for her purse.

“And in the meantime your assailant’s trail goes cold. The police can help you, but you can’t be calling a girlfriend first.”

Their gazes locked. He could easily see the irritated indecision in hers. “The police can only help you if you’re timely, Kristin.”

“It wasn’t to call a girlfriend.” She looked exasperated. “It’s a long story.”

He’d hurt her feelings, he noted. Still, she needed to see the police. “The police should know about it, Kristin.”

Finally, she nodded. After starting the engine, she carefully eased from her parking spot and out onto the highway.

He wanted to ask her a thousand questions, mostly sparked by his own curiosity, but common sense told him to report the incident in front of the café.

And then walk away.

Yes, Zane. Walk far away. You don’t need this hassle.

And yet, he argued silently with himself, there was something earnest about her, a deep hurting quality that tugged at his protective instincts.

The police station came into view, an ordinary brick-and-mortar building on the other side of the town. But after parking in the visitor spot, Kristin made no effort to climb out. Zane sat there patiently, staring out at the line of snow-topped mountains that trimmed the horizon behind the station. In front of them, the flag jerked about in the increasing wind.

“You have to report what happened to you, Kristin.”

“I don’t know. Jackson said—”

This Jackson guy must have a title in the FBI, but he’d find that out later. “Never mind what he said. You think someone tried to kill you, so you need to talk to the police. If it has anything to do with the Martino family, you need to let them know even more.”

She snapped her head over. “How do you know what I need? Or what I think, or anything?”

“You have the face of an angel, Kristin. Every thought that runs through your head is displayed loud and clear to those who know how to read people. And I’ve made it my business to read people. You think what’s happened to you is related to the Martino family. And we both know you’re not telling me everything, but you will tell the police.”

“Maybe.”

“No maybes about it. You obviously don’t trust me, but surely, you’ll trust the local police force.”

She sat ramrod still, not answering him for a few minutes. He had the time to wait her out, but when he looked up at her face, a tear rolled down her perfectly clear cheek. It dropped to her jeans.

He groaned inwardly. “What’s wrong?”

She hastily brushed the tear away. “The last time I was here was to pick up my adoptive parents’ things. The police had come to my door and taken me to the hospital.” She looked at him with hollow eyes. “Did you know that they have a morgue in the basement there? I had to identify my mother and father. They’d been in a car crash south of here. The police were actually willing to take me to where they died, but I… It was the worst thing to ever happen to me. I couldn’t do it.”

She swallowed, obviously fighting back difficult emotions. “Then a policewoman took me home and spent the night with me, until one of the ladies from the church could come and stay. A couple of days later, I was asked to come here to collect my parents’ things. They handed me a box and two bags of stuff that was broken and splattered with—” She inhaled shakily. “Then the police were done with me. I haven’t been back since.”

Zane slumped. He remembered a crash about five months ago. The roads were clear, but still the car had plunged over a short embankment into Lindbergh Lake. Both the husband and wife had died. The autopsies and even tearing apart the car couldn’t reveal any reason for the accident. The story fell off the radar shortly after their funeral.

They were her parents?

Abruptly, Kristin threw open the door and climbed out.

“Kristin!” Zane scrambled out. “I had no idea. You should have said something.”

She colored as she pulled her short vest closer around her neck. Outside the center of town, the wind was stronger and cooler. “I should be able to come to the police station without tears, right? I’m a big girl. Regardless of Jackson’s warning, I need to report what happened to me. I mean, he’d insist I tell the police if he knew I’d been pushed into traffic, right? They’d be able to investigate it better than he could.”

She straightened her shoulders, obviously trying to look taller than she really was. As a petite, slender woman, she couldn’t really pull it off.

Why wouldn’t this Jackson guy trust the police? Why even say that? Zane thought. Unless it had something to do with that phone call she’d received back in the café. The one he now figured came from Jackson.

He was from the FBI, Kristin had said. He wouldn’t fool around with her life.

Several government cars pulled into the parking lot. Kristin moved to one side to allow them to park. The wind raised a few strands of her hair, flicking them over to one side. His hand itched to set them back in place and cover that scar she hid so well. “You don’t have to go in there.”

“I should. I should remember what my pastor told me. My parents are together with Jesus now. And the Lord wouldn’t give me any situation I can’t handle. I handled their deaths.” She looked over at the station, as if steeling herself. “I can do this.”

Zane shifted uncomfortably. Another one like Jake Downs that believed God is good, even when He dumped on you. That was because they didn’t have the childhood Zane had.

“Nonetheless, you don’t have to go in.”

She wavered a bit, he could see. Then she shook her head. “I should. Someone pushed me in front of that truck and I wouldn’t be here right now if I hadn’t managed to roll away quickly. God was looking out for me.”

“If God was looking out for you, He wouldn’t have put that truck on the road or that idiot on the sidewalk.”

“He gave me the agility I needed.” A frown marked her forehead. “This isn’t the time to debate the merits of my faith. I need to go into this station sooner or later. I’m going in, now.” She lifted her chin. “And maybe I can show you that I’m sincere in doing this, so that you’ll help me find my biological mother.”

He hated her intuition, not to mention the guilt she was dumping on him. But before he could say anything, she added with a soft, sweet smile, “I appreciate all you’ve done so far.”

“I haven’t done anything,” he growled.

“You were there for me at the café.”

He took her arm and steered her toward the front door. He hadn’t done a single thing for her yet, nor had he promised to do anything. And yet she was thanking him.

He should help her.

But still, a voice within him whispered, she hasn’t told you much. All you’ve heard is a sad, little story.

He glanced down at her as she tugged free of his grip and moved forward. He watched her straighten up and stiffen her spine.

Across the back of her vest were two faint smears of something dark and iridescent. Some kind of grease? From the hands of the man who pushed her?

Before he could say anything, she strode toward the front door. With a frown, he took the few long steps needed to catch up with her.

Inside the station, a police officer recognized Kristin, and led them down to a small office. She hesitated in the doorway before pushing inside. They sat down and Kristin began to speak.

She told her story, haltingly, he thought.

And leaving out, he noticed, the part of why she had asked to meet Zane.

And the part about Martino’s trial. Zane kept his mouth shut, deciding he would say something only if it became necessary. Maybe she was rethinking that just because she’d attended a trial did not necessarily mean the convicted felon would go after her.

The officer recorded it all, getting the statement written up quickly for her to sign.

“You should take her vest,” Zane suggested to the man when all was done.

The officer frowned. “Why?”

Zane answered by asking Kristin to remove the vest. With a small frown, she peeled it off, and Zane spread it out on the table between him and the officer. The dark smudges he’d seen earlier stood out starkly in the cool fluorescent lights. They shimmered like some kind of special automotive grease. The two marks were shaped like fingerprints.

“Whoever pushed her left those marks. They may reveal fingerprints.”

The officer retrieved a large paper bag and set the vest in it, then wrote out a receipt for her. “I’ll have a look at it later, but you must remember that this is a college town, and students do stupid things, even early in the morning. Someone could have just jostled you, Ms. Perry, and then slipped back into the crowd so he wouldn’t be accused of anything.”

“I distinctly felt two hands on my back.”

“This is a thick vest. Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” She stiffened her shoulders. “Why would I lie?”

The officer shook his head. “I’m not saying you’re lying. You may be mistaken. We often get reports of students jumping the gun on things that later prove to be just an accident, or not real at all.”

She glared. “I know what I felt.”

“You just lost both parents, Ms. Perry,” the officer continued calmly. “It can have a devastating effect on people.”

Zane’s hand shot out to stop Kristin before she did or said something stupid. He could feel her muscles tighten under his fingers. “Can you just check the vest?”

“Sure.” The officer looked doubtful, but then shrugged. “We’ll see what we can find, but don’t expect too much.”

“I understand.” Rising, she shoved out her hand. “Thank you. I hope you can find something useful on that vest. And I hope you find who did this to me.”

“You said no one saw anything. It may be hard to do.”

“Surely if you ask around, someone will remember something. People aren’t going to accuse others right in public, but they may be willing to talk in private.” Kristin looked hopefully at the man.

The officer shrugged before shaking her hand and then Zane’s. They left the office, passing several plainclothes officers who watched Kristin closely. Was she known to them because of her adoptive parents’ untimely deaths? Minutes later, she and Zane were outside again.

She sighed. “That felt like a waste of my time.”

Zane stopped her as she walked toward his car. “Why didn’t you say anything about the trial?”

“Because of the way Jackson was talking. Like I shouldn’t trust anyone. Plus, it may not have been related.”

“You thought it was a few minutes ago.”

“I know.” She looked uncertain. “I had second thoughts. I wanted to go in there. I wanted to tell him, but I thought of my parents, and Jackson, and even my mother, then when that officer first looked at me, remembering me from the crash, I just lost all…strength. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You’ve been through some rough times.”

She blinked. “Have you ever lost someone you love?”

He thought of his parents, and the beatings, the way his mother wouldn’t look at him for days on end. When he was young, he thought she was mad at him. Later, he realized she was saving her own skin. He didn’t miss them when they died, and he hated that truth.

“I need to call Jackson back before I say anything more to the police,” she said when he didn’t answer her.

“How do you know you can trust him?”

“He works for the FBI. I was even in his office, and that building is like a fortress.” She paused, tossing her hand out. “Okay, I trust him, that’s all. He seems to be very careful dealing with me. It’s almost as though he treats me like a princess or something really delicate.” Her hands flew up in defense. “I know that sounds egotistical, but it’s not. I think he genuinely wants what’s best for me, and is determined to find my mother. But he’s afraid my mother and I will both be killed.”

Pausing, she shook her head. “I don’t even know if I’m remembering his words correctly. I’ll call him back to make sure. He sounded as though he thought Vincent Martino was planning to come after me. That guy might already know where I am because of the trial.” She started walking again. “I realize that I’m not making any sense, but it’s hard to explain.”

Zane stopped them. Holding out his hand, he said, “Give me the car keys. I need to do something.”

Kristin handed him his keys. “Like what?”

He looked at her. She stopped halfway to the car, holding herself close and rubbing her arms. The cold wind, now coming down from Canada, defiantly tossed around her hair. The flag nearby fluttered even more noisily. “I have to get you home so you can get a coat to wear. You do own a decent jacket, don’t you?”