They were strolling through a particularly old part of the cemetery-always Shade’s favorite place to be in any graveyard-when Tyler’s cell phone rang. The dog looked back at him in annoyance.
“I agree,” Tyler said, “but then, if someone is calling me now, I should take it, don’t you think?”
Shade sighed and kept moving.
Tyler answered the call.
“Mr. Hawthorne? This is Samuel Gunning. I-uh, I don’t know if you remember me.”
“Of course I do, Mr. Gunning.”
His business in St. Louis had been to help a dying man named Max Derley, who wanted desperately to convey news to Mr. Gunning-the boy being raised as Max’s son was in fact wealthy Samuel Gunning’s son. Gunning had been shocked, and then pleased. When Tyler left the city, Gunning was talking to the boy’s mother-an old flame-about caring for the two of them.
“I’m sorry to bother you so late, Mr. Hawthorne, but here in Max’s notes, it says it’s best to call you at this time of night.”
“Please call me Tyler. Max was correct about the time to call. How are you this evening?”
“Yes, well, you call me Sam-and I’m fine. I can’t thank you enough for that, although I’m still not sure how-”
“I can’t really explain it myself. What can I do for you now, Sam?”
“Well, Tyler, I just wanted to let you know that someone at the hospital where Max died has gossiped a bit, and as will happen with gossip, didn’t get the story quite right. To make a long story short, I’ve got some relatives out there in California who never had a snowflake’s chance in hell of inheriting my money, but they’ve taken it into their crazy heads that you cooked up some plot with Max to trick me into changing my will.”
“You’ll pardon me for asking this, but are you so certain they’re wrong?”
“I have never been more certain of anything. He’s my boy.”
“You’ve had DNA tests done?”
“Don’t need them. One look at him is enough. Besides, I know what I know.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Tyler, I’ve had to hire bodyguards to look after all of us here, at least until I can convince the law to do something about these folks, but I’m afraid they may also be after you. I wanted you to be on guard. I promise I’ll attend to it just as soon as I can.”
“I’m not afraid for my own sake, Sam, but I do have a friend living with me at the moment, and I would like to ensure his safety.”
“Can I offer you help from my security service?”
“I have one of my own, thanks. I do need to know more about these relatives, though. Give me whatever information you think will be helpful.”
“You have e-mail?”
Tyler gave him his e-mail address.
“Great. I’ll send something to you right away. You have any questions, just give me a call.”
Tyler thanked him and hung up.
Shade was watching him.
“You heard?”
The dog wagged his tail.
“Do you stay with Ron or come with me to the desert?”
Shade made a tight circle around him.
“All right, then I’d better call Danton’s Security. In fact, until Danton’s is able to show up, I probably shouldn’t leave Ron and his medical team alone at the house-”
But Shade had anticipated his concern, and was headed toward the car at a brisk trot.
10
Late Friday night, Amanda drove down a dark desert road, asking herself why in the hell she had thought she’d ever enjoy herself for a minute at this or any other of her cousins’ parties.
Well, she thought, I take that back. She had enjoyed herself for a few minutes. A really good-looking guy named Colby had spent time talking to her. It hadn’t taken long for one of Rebecca’s friends to butt in on the conversation, though. Colby had given Amanda a rueful look and excused himself to go have a cigarette. She saw him talking to Brad on his way out, doubtless making an excuse for leaving early. And even if he had the good sense to exit Rebecca’s party before she did, besides being a smoker, she could tell he was a player, so she didn’t take his momentary interest in her to mean a thing.
After that, things went downhill. She had forgotten how boring it was to be nearly the only sober person at a party full of heavy drinkers and pot smokers. She had tried not to think of the last time she had been at such a party-the holiday evening that had left her an orphan with a roomful of ghosts. She did her best to cope with Rebecca’s party until the more exotic drugs came out. She knew they were probably commonplace at Rebecca’s wild weekends, but she didn’t think she could enjoy herself if everyone else around her was loaded. She decided to leave. Rebecca saw her leaving and intercepted her at the door.
“Thanks for inviting me, Rebecca, but-well, I think I’d better be going.”
“You are the most boring thing, Amanda. But I don’t think I can take another five minutes of looking at that outfit anyway. Where did you find anything with pockets that big? The length of the top is all wrong for you-it makes your butt look like the back end of a battleship-”
“Gee, why on earth wouldn’t I want to stick around to hear more of this?” Amanda said, noticing that Rebecca had an audience now-an amused audience. “Good night, Rebecca.”
Brad hurried up to them. “Wait! Wait! Amanda, you can’t leave yet!”
“Watch me.”
“No, stay a little while longer.”
“Why?” she asked suspiciously.
It appeared to her that Brad didn’t really have an answer, but then he smiled and said, “There’s someone here who has been asking about you!” He took her elbow and steered her away from the door.
Did he mean Colby? she wondered. Maybe he hadn’t left.
She allowed Brad to lead her toward a group standing near the bar. Suddenly she heard Rebecca squeal, “Tyler!”
She turned to see Tyler Hawthorne doing his best to resist Rebecca’s attempt to cling to him.
Not that she could blame her cousin. He was dressed in jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt, and a leather jacket. Casual, but he made it look as elegant as a tux. He was glancing around the room, saw Amanda, and smiled.
She smiled back, raised her hand in a little wave, felt like an idiot, and turned away.
To come face-to-face with a nightmare.
She hadn’t seen Todd Norenbecker in eight years. Not since the night that her parents, and Brad and Rebecca’s parents, had died in a car accident. It also happened to be the night of a neighborhood Christmas party. And the night she lost her virginity to Todd.
They had been dating for a teenage eternity-three months. Todd had spent most of that time begging her to give it up to him. He had sworn undying devotion to her in the same breath with which he had said he would have to find a more “mature” girlfriend if she wouldn’t have sex with him. Being incurably honest with herself, later she had owned up to the fact that she had never loved Todd any more than he had loved her. Curiosity and hormones-and for her, a long-since-abandoned, but then oh-so-strong desire to fit in-had driven her to experiment that night. An experiment that had never inspired her to try it again.
The accident that killed her parents severely injured Amanda, and she had spent several weeks in the hospital. Todd never visited her, never called, didn’t do so much as send her a text message saying, “Sorry about your parents.” Ron, who had always disliked Todd, had been by her side as often as possible.
“You remember Todd!” Brad was saying.
Todd smiled smugly.
“No,” she said, “I don’t think there’s any reason I should.”
Brad looked startled and uneasy, and she realized in that moment that Brad probably didn’t know much of how her history with Todd had ended-Brad’s parents had also died in that accident, and understandably, any thought of Amanda’s love life and breakups at that time wouldn’t have registered on anyone else’s radar.