Brownies & Betrayal (Sweet Bites Mysteries, Book 1) (28 page)

When I stopped, he scratched his cheek and blew out a huff of breath. Again, he looked to his mom as if worried about admitting the truth, but pushed ahead anyway. “You have a lot of it right, but I’ve only been paying a couple times a year. I didn’t like the terms or the amount, but it wasn’t as though Val wasn’t entitled to child support, as there was no adoption paperwork.”

Caroline sucked in a breath and set a hand on her chest. The thought of her son having an illegitimate child must have given her heart palpitations. “Tad, I can’t believe you didn’t say anything—or that Ana would have Valerie as her maid of honor if she’d known.”

“She doesn’t know anything about my relationship to Dahlia, and I couldn’t say anything. There was too much at stake. I’m sorry, Mother.”

I ignored Caroline’s comments, as they didn’t get me the answers I craved. “Then who do you think’s been paying on alternating quarters?” Maybe that’s who I really needed to track down.

He leaned back against my car. “I didn’t know someone else was paying her. It could be anyone, but my guess is Lidia.”

It was my turn to be surprised. I tried to decide if I’d heard that right. “Lidia? What did Valerie have on her?” Lidia had been helping me with the investigation—why would she do that if she were paying her sister hush money?

His brows lifted. “Wait, how did you find out about Dahlia?”

“Honey’s son is studying family trees. He talked about how much people look like their parents and there was a picture of you holding Dahlia—the picture I gave you. I looked at it and saw what I’d never noticed before.” I gestured to his pocket. “The project wasn’t supposed to be about you—just her, Lidia and Valerie.”

Tad pursed his lips and rocked back on his heels. “So Lidia didn’t tell you Dahlia is
her
daughter and not Valerie’s?”

“Theodore Geoffrey Richardson!” His mother’s exclamation showed that this shock was even worse than the first. “She’s a married woman.”

My jaw dropped. “What? What do you mean? I thought you and Valerie—”

He snorted. “There’s never been a ‘me and Valerie.’ She hinted that she was interested a few times, but I wasn’t. Lidia, on the other hand, is so different from her sister—at least on the surface. That’s why I couldn’t let anyone know I was Dahlia’s father, because Lidia was already married.” He shot Caroline a look of guilt and apology all rolled into one. “I wasn’t in a hurry to admit that I’d had a child outside of marriage, either, no matter how common it is. Can you imagine what it would do to my future political career if word got out?”

Disappointment flooded me. This was about politics, not about what was good for his child, and though I had been ready to vilify Valerie for blackmailing him when he did owe her some child support, now it turns out she had been raising a child that wasn’t even hers. If it weren’t for the blackmail, I’d have to reconsider my bad opinion of her. “So how did she end up with Dahlia? Did Lidia’s husband not want to raise some other man’s child? She said they wanted kids, but apparently hadn’t had luck together.”

Tad grimaced. “Do you know what he does for a living?”

I tried to remember what Lidia had told me. “Something about military contracts, software, lots of travel. She was vague.”

“Yes. And he’d been out of town for a few months when Lidia decided to visit Valerie. That was before Analesa and I started dating, but we were friends and hung out with the same people. I knew Lidia was married, and though I’m not proud of it, after a while, it didn’t seem to matter all that much. He was never around, she was lonely and we became friends.” Tad crossed his arms over his chest, looked away from me to his mom, explaining to her. “It started innocently enough, but we had dinner together one night, too much wine and things . . . happened.”

He jammed his hands into his pockets. “In the morning, I knew I’d screw up. I refused to be alone with her again after that, but it was too late. Her husband was waylaid with some problem with a contract and didn’t make it home for almost a month. I didn’t think about it again. Then she came to Prescott to see Valerie.”

He rolled his shoulders and looked at his mother, then at me. “Lidia came to me and admitted that she was pregnant. She was worried her husband would divorce her if he realized the child wasn’t his, and not being an idiot, he would’ve known. She didn’t want a divorce and we didn’t want to get married anyway—we’d had a nice time together when we’d gone out, but the chemistry wasn’t strong enough.”

I wanted to make a comment about the fact that the chemistry had been plenty strong that one night, but held myself back. Sometimes my self-control even impresses me. “So whose idea was it to pass the baby off as Valerie’s?”

Tad leaned back against my car, his hands stuffed into the pocket of his Dockers. “Valerie’s, of course. She’s so
helpful
and
good-hearted
.” He grimaced. “At the time I thought I must have misjudged her, that there must be much more to her than I thought. Lidia stayed around for a while, then moved to Mesa for the end of her pregnancy since her husband was out of the country yet again. Valerie started talking about her new addition and how excited she was. I guess she bought or rented a couple of prosthetic wombs or whatever—you know what I’m talking about, the ones that go under your clothes and make it look like you’re pregnant.”

I nodded, though I’d never heard of such a thing. People actually made stuff like that? Where would you rent a fake womb? A theater costume shop? Did they really do long-term rentals?

“Anyway, when the baby got close to delivery, Valerie drove to Mesa to be with her sister. Dahlia was born and Valerie showed up the next week with Dahlia in her arms.” His voice softened, his eyes took on a faraway look and his face grew wistful.

“Was that hard for you?”

“It was agony. As soon as I saw Dahlia, held her, I wanted to raise her myself, but it was impossible. I was still in school, didn’t have a lot of extra money and no time.” He looked at his mom, his expression pleading. “I know you and Dad would’ve helped out, but it would mean the end of my plans for a career in politics, and Valerie seemed to love my daughter. This way I got to see Dahlia often. Valerie let me take her for visits whenever I wanted.”

The longing in his voice made my heart ache. He slid the photo from his pocket, outlined the image with his index finger. “I didn’t realize then that Valerie was leaving almost all of Dahlia’s care to a succession of nannies who rarely stayed around for more than a few months. Since Dahlia turned three, she’s been in daycare, probably sixty or seventy hours a week.” His voice cracked. “It’s not right.”

He looked at me now, the picture still tight in his fingers. “When she asked me for more money Friday night, I told her I’d need a few weeks to get it. I needed to help pay for Dahlia’s expenses. I knew Valerie spent a good chunk of the money on herself, but I figured that’s the way things were. No harm, no foul, right? She didn’t want to wait, though. She wanted the money before the end of the week. I told her I couldn’t get it that fast—my pocketbook isn’t bottomless, and I’d had wedding expenses.”

Again he looked at his mom, whose expression had softened, and tears glistened in her eyes—though I imagine she was far too dainty to shed them. Perhaps she would cry gentle, lady-like tears one could sop up with the edge of a handkerchief without marring one’s makeup. 

Tad continued, “She knew I’d gotten money from my parents when I’d been tapped out before, so she pressed me. After we argued for a few minutes, I said I’d see what I could do and left.” His gaze swung back to me. “I swear, she was fine when I went back upstairs. I returned to my room and didn’t leave it again.”

Though I knew he couldn’t prove it, I believed him. “And that’s why you and Lidia have been in a tug-of-war over who gets to raise Dahlia.”

“Yes. Since she can still claim Dahlia as her niece, her husband wouldn’t know anything unless we told the truth. I know she’d be a good mother and Don would be good to Dahlia, but I don’t want them to take my daughter away. I’m used to seeing her and taking her out for ice cream or to the park at least twice a week. I don’t want to lose her.” His eyes pleaded with me to believe him. “The thought of her moving to Long Beach and me possibly not seeing her again for years was too much. I don’t want that to happen.”

“So the only way to get normal-ish visitation is to admit that Dahlia’s your daughter,” I said. “Which won’t make things easy.” Not least among the complications being the possible destruction of Lidia’s marriage and maybe of Tad’s future career.

“And Analesa would have a fit,” Caroline said. “You should have told her about all of this before now. She’s confused and deserves to know.” Despite the harshness of her words, Caroline touched her son’s arm, giving it a loving squeeze.

I decided to put in another plug for Bridezilla, as I could guess how I’d feel in her place. “She should know why you want Dahlia living with you, even if it is hard for her to deal with it.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. I don’t know what to do. I’m about ready to make an announcement and let the chips fall.”

I let his comment go for a few seconds before shifting the conversation. “So who do you think killed Valerie, if she was alive when you left? Did she say anything about seeing someone else that night?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Valerie made her share of enemies, not the least of which was her sister.”

“Valerie and Lidia were fighting?” I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, Valerie offended almost everyone on the planet. Why not her sister? And he had hypothesized that Lidia was being blackmailed for the other half of Valerie’s ‘child support’.

“Lidia wanted custody and Valerie wasn’t having it, which meant Lidia couldn’t push the point. It would make too many waves and her husband would definitely have found out—Valerie would have ensured that he did.” A touch of bitterness crept into his voice.

“Unless Valerie was dead and out of the way,” I suggested. “And Lidia would be free to take custody of her daughter without anyone knowing the truth.” Assuming he didn’t fight her in court to keep their daughter or get visitation. It was a reasonable supposition, and made as much or more sense than the other reasons people wanted Valerie dead.

“Yeah, but Lidia was in California Friday night. It wasn’t until Saturday evening that she arrived here in town. I spoke to her on the house phone myself,” Tad said.

That stumped me. I was running out of suspects—or were they multiplying and I was crossing them off the list too soon? I straightened and smiled at him. “Thanks for answering my questions, and I promise, I won’t spread gossip about it.”

“I appreciate it.” He glanced at his mom.

I couldn’t help giving one more piece of unsolicited advice. “And Tad, you ought to tell Analesa about everything as soon as possible. This could all come out with the murder investigation, and she’d take the news much better from you.” Hey, I didn’t have to like the woman to feel bad for her. Secrets, especially ones this big, could hurt.

“Thanks.” He straightened and moved away from the car as I reached for the handle. “I plan to fight for custody, if Ana will support me, so I’ll tell her today.”

“That’s a good idea, and good luck.”

Caroline came around behind me, wrapping her son in a hug. It was sweet, and made me ache with missing my own mother. I opened the door and climbed in, and Caroline moved her car so I could leave. Before I pulled onto the road, I glanced back and saw Tad and Caroline heading to his condo, arm in arm.

As I drove along, I replayed Tad’s words in my head. I thought they were true, but were they? And could Lidia have come into town a day earlier than we thought and killed her sister? He’d called her at home, though, so she must have been there. My cell phone rang and I picked up.

The voice on the other line wasn’t familiar. “Hi, Tess, This is Lois Hardcastle. I heard you were opening a bakery and I wondered if I could book a cake for my parents’ anniversary party next month.”

I felt my heart leap with excitement. I wasn’t even officially open for business and this would make two major events—assuming she came up with the deposit. “Sure, what’s the date?” I asked and pulled over to the side of the road to check my planner. The date would work well, as it was the week after Easter and I should have everything ready to go in time. “How about if you stop by in the next couple of days and we’ll talk about budgets and the number of people you’re feeding and what kind of design you want.”

“I’ll swing by this evening, if it’s okay by you.”

“Great.” I penciled in a note on the date she wanted, already excited.

“Is this the best number to reach you? Are you going to add another line for the business once you open?” Lois asked.

It occurred to me that I didn’t know how she’d been able to reach me. “How did you find this number?”

“You’ve never taken the line out of your grandma’s name. It’s in the phone book. That’s okay, isn’t it?”

I’d forgotten that I’d forwarded the house line to my cell. “That’s fine. I appreciate you thinking of me for this special occasion. This will be a cake to remember, I promise.” I jotted her name and number, and made a mental note to call her back the next day if she didn’t pop by that night.