Catherine Nelson - Zoe Grey 02 - The Trouble with Theft (24 page)

“No,”
Natalie said, scooping up a rather big bite. “I didn’t.” Then she was busy
chewing.

“Zoe? What
about you?” Susan asked.

Vince
looked irritated at the invitation. Clearly he didn’t want my company. Lucky
for him, I had more pressing things to attend to.

“I’m
sorry,” I said. “I can’t. I have to work.”

Natalie
launched into the story of her tour of McKinnon’s art collection, and a few
minutes later I heard the front door. Vince had heard it, too, and shot me an
annoyed look. I thought Vince and I were heading toward words, and I wondered
if we’d make it through dinner. I hoped we could, because I didn’t think I
wanted Ellmann—or the others—around when it happened.

“Hey, look,
you made it!” Susan beamed at him, waving a hand at the empty seat and plate
beside me. “I hope you’re hungry. We made
way
too much food.”

“Yeah, I’m
starving,” Ellmann said, pulling out the chair and sitting.

But, then,
Ellmann’s pretty much always starving.

As he said
his hellos, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, kissing
my head. When he released me and I sat back up, I noticed Vince’s face looked
particularly dark.

“How was
shopping?” Ellmann asked.

Natalie
jumped into the story of the art collections again. The rest of the family ate
and listened. Ellmann managed to seem remotely interested. Impressive,
considering how many chunks of hair he had sticking up.

“What did
the rest of you do?” he asked when she’d paused to take a breath. “Dad? Make it
to play golf?”

“Yeah,
Dad,” Natalie said, as if noticing him for the first time. “You’ve been kind of
quiet since we got here.”

He
shrugged and speared a piece of chicken with his fork. “I’ve got nothing to
say,” he said to his plate.

Natalie
scoffed. “You
always
have something to say. What’s going on?”

Ellmann
put his fork down and leaned back in his chair. He seemed to have picked up the
same vibe I had. Not that it was hard to miss. Vince didn’t do subtle.

“Dad, you
invited us to dinner,” Ellmann said. “
Both
of us.”

“No,
dinner was Susan’s idea,” Vince said.

An
uncomfortable tension settled over the table. I was beginning to really like
Susan, but for the life of me, I couldn’t understand what she saw in Vince. And
I couldn’t figure out why he seemed to hate me. He’d just met me, and before
he’d called on Thursday, he hadn’t spoken to his son in almost a year. Why the
sudden interest?

The
direction of this little family dinner seemed pretty clear. I’d only agreed to
come in effort to reach out, for Ellmann’s benefit. I had plenty of other
things to do, and I was running out of time to do them anyway.

I looked
at my watch.

“You know
what?” I said, pushing my chair back and standing up. “I forgot I made plans.
Thank you for dinner—it was delicious—but I don’t want to be late.”

“Oh, no,”
Susan said. “You haven’t even finished. Can you reschedule? We’d love you to
stay.”

Was she really
not picking up on any of this? Or did she just expect me to put up with Vince
like she did?

Ellmann
stood and stared at his father. “What is your problem?”

He was
mad. Ellmann doesn’t yell. I’ve never heard him raise his voice. But he’s still
able to get it across when he’s mad. And while I really like that Ellmann never
yells, sometimes I think his un-yelling voice is worse. Susan certainly didn’t
like it, and even Natalie seemed a little on edge. It didn’t seem to faze
Vince, though.

“Your new
girlfriend,” Vince answered evenly, leaning back and looking up at his son.
“Since when do cops shack up with criminals? I certainly don’t like having one
at my dinner table.”

“This is
my
dinner table,” Ellmann said, pounding a finger on the table with enough force to
make the silverware tremble. “And after all the things you’ve done, you have
no
right to sit in judgment.”

“The
things
I’ve
done? Do you have any idea what
she’s
done? I called
an old Army buddy of mine, had him do some digging. Tell me, son, how well do
you know your girlfriend?”

Then I saw
it. Vince knew. He knew my deepest, darkest secret. The same fear and disgust I
saw in everyone’s eyes when they knew burned in his now, right behind some
twisted kind of satisfaction.

“This
isn’t about her,” Ellmann snapped. “It’s about you. You’re a lousy father.
Maybe you’re trying to be a better one because you’re getting married again,
but let me be the first to tell you, you suck at it. So stop trying. You’ll do
less damage if you take a hands-off approach.”

Ellmann
stepped back, pushed his empty chair under the table, and then looked at Susan.
“Sorry about dinner. I appreciate the effort, but I think Zoe and I will grab a
bite somewhere else.”

“Of
course,” she said with a nod. “And I’m sorry, too. I would have liked to spend
some time with you two, gotten to know you a little, before our flight tomorrow
morning.”

“Some
oth—”

“You have
no idea what she’s done,” Vince accused again, cutting Ellmann off. “Susan,
she’s dangerous. She’s a ki—”

“Hey!” I
snapped, charging forward and banging a fist on the table, causing not only the
tableware but also all three women seated around it to jump. Ellmann may never
yell, but I do. As Vince whipped around to face me, I saw fear competing for
dominance in his eyes.

“You have
a problem with me, Vince, fine. But you come straight at me, like a man. Don’t
hide behind these people; they have nothing to do with this.”

I was
distantly aware, in the logical side of my brain, that my anger and pride were
greatly affecting my approach. The very last thing I wanted was for Vince to
blurt out my little secret right here in front of Susan, who I was coming to
like, Natalie, who may or may not have liked me better today than when she
first met me, and Courtney, who I, perhaps na
ï
vely, believed was still too young to know such evil things
happened in this world. Only two people had ever learned this secret and not
run away in terror or disgust. So this secret would put me on the outs with
Ellmann’s family for good. And while no one’s relationship with their
significant other’s family was perfect, this seemed like the antithesis of
ideal.

“Don’t
want your dirty little secret getting out, hmm?” Vince said, his tone taunting.
But his eyes still betrayed his fear. “Too bad, because this is a family issue.
And we don’t keep secrets in this family.”

Ellmann
scoffed.

“That’s a
big fat lie, Vince,” I said. “You and I both know it.”

Susan and
Natalie both looked between Vince and me, open curiosity and confusion on their
faces. Courtney was watching with more excitement and interest than she’d shown
since I’d met her. Vince wanted to believe I was guessing, but his guilt
wouldn’t let him, not enough to challenge me. Now, of course, I wondered what
secrets
he
wanted to keep hidden.

“This is
about safety,” Vince said, trying a new approach. He shot a look at Ellmann.
“How do you know
you’re
safe? How can you let her in this house, around
us?”

“Enough,”
Ellmann ordered. “Whatever you think you know, you don’t know
her
. As
usual, you’ve made a judgment without actually getting to know someone. Zoe is
a good person. She cares about people, and she tries to help them.”

“Help
them?” Vince scoffed. “When did she start helping people? When she was twelve—”

“Don’t do
this,” Ellmann said in his low, un-yelling voice.

It was
obvious Vince wouldn’t back down. He’d either spill what he knew now or wait
until Ellmann and I left. There was really only one move left for me to make.

“When I
was twelve,” I said, resentment burning in my voice, “I found my father
attempting to molest my younger brother.”

Ellmann
pinched his eyes closed then shook his head. “You don’t have to do this,” he
said softly to me.

“Yes, I
do. Vince saw to that.”

Ellmann
shifted his weight from foot to foot, and I reached out, putting a hand on his
arm. He sighed in frustration and defeat and dragged a hand back through his
hair.

“I tried
to stop him,” I went on, looking straight at Vince. “My father was a horribly
abusive man; I had seventeen broken bones in middle school alone.”

Susan
gasped and clamped a hand over her open mouth. Natalie seemed to have lost some
of her color. Courtney didn’t seem to fully appreciate what this meant, but she
was still watching and listening with unabashed interest.

“When I
butted in that night, he tried to beat me. I fought back, and he said he would
kill me. He came at me with a baseball bat, so I knew he was serious. I managed
to get my hands on a gun. I shot him.”

Susan was
staring at me with wide eyes brimming with tears, her hand still pressed over
her mouth. Natalie was white as a sheet. I saw fear and horror in both of them.
And my heart broke, like it always did. In that moment, I hated Vince.

“You
killed
him,” Vince said, leaning forward and pointing an accusatory finger at me.

“I
defended
myself and my seven-year-old brother,” I said, leaning with both hands on the
table and staring at Vince head-on.

“You
killed him,” he said again.

I stood.
“What should I have done? Let him molest my brother? Let him kill me?” I shook
my head. “How dare you judge me for something you can’t possibly understand.”

I turned
and started out of the kitchen.

I heard a
chair scrape behind me followed by Vince’s voice.

“But that
wasn’t the only time, was it? Maybe you like killing people, because you killed
a whole bunch more a couple months ago. And you almost beat a guy to death
yesterday. There’s a warrant out for your arrest.”

I spun
around, hatred burning so hot in my gut I wanted to explode. I was trembling
with the effort it took to remain where I was and not attack the bastard. Vince
stood on the opposite side of the table, that same satisfaction in his eyes.

“You son
of a bitch,” I breathed.

“That’s
it,” Ellmann said, his voice darker than I’d ever heard it. He had one eye on
me, no doubt knowing I was on the edge of losing control. “Do
not
miss
your plane in the morning. And do
not
plan on visiting again.”

“Actually,”
Susan said, throwing her napkin on the table and standing, “you need to book
yourself a different flight. I don’t want to see you again until you’ve done
some serious soul-searching. Courtney and I will go to the movie, and you
better not be here when we get back.”

“Susan.”
Vince was so shocked it was almost funny. “What are you talking about?”

Honestly,
I was a little surprised myself. Apparently Susan had not had her head in the
sand all this time. And she had the backbone to stand up to him. I couldn’t
help but respect her for it.

“This
cannot continue, Vince. This isn’t what I want in a husband. Out of respect for
you, I’ve kept quiet since we’ve been here, letting you interact with your
children your own way, even when it was against my better judgment. But this is
too much. You’re grossly out of line, and I won’t tolerate it.”

“Too much?
How can you say that? She’s a
murderer
! She’s killed people, even her
own
father
!”

“Vincent,
do not raise your voice to me. You better figure out why you’re so focused on this
and let it go. Whatever happens to our relationship, Alex will always be your
son. It’s clear his heart is set on Zoe. Since we met, you’ve told me your
regrets about not being a better father, and your wish to be a better one. This
is
not
how you become a better father. This will drive a wedge between
you and your son, maybe permanently. If you’re going to step up and be the
father you keep telling me you wish you’d been, you’d better figure out how to
fix this. And quick.”

Vince took
a step back, as if she’d struck him physically. “You’re going to choose a
killer over me?”

“You’re
not paying attention, Vince. This isn’t about me choosing sides. But you can be
sure a father would never choose
anything
over his son. While you’re in
your hotel room tonight, you should think about that.”

Vince
stared at Susan for a beat, stunned and hurt, then spun around and stomped out
of the kitchen.

Susan
turned to me. “I know it’s not enough, but I am sorry. I should have spoken up
sooner. Please don’t think whatever happened tonight has changed my opinion of
you.”

I managed
a nod. I wasn’t sure I believed her, but it didn’t matter just then.

Susan
looked at Ellmann. “Would you like Courtney and me to leave tonight? We’d be
happy to stay in a hotel.”