Don't Close Your Eyes (3 page)

Natalie put down her fork. “Lily is not and never was a

hellraiser. She just likes to have fun. Tamara is more sedate.”

“You mean boring.”

“I mean sedate.” Her father didn’t look at her. He simply made pronouncements like God on high and never saw the need to justify his remarks. Natalie felt her back stiffening with the old tension, then forced herself to relax. I will not be baited into an argument that upsets me a hell of a lot more than it does him, she vowed silently. Taking a deep breath she said, “Lily and I are going to lunch today. Want to go with us?”

Andrew looked up, his eyes widening as if she’d just invited him to a slumber party. “Lunch! What in the world would I have to talk with you two about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Natalie said airily. “Boys. Makeup. Curfews. Our paltry allowances. The usual things twenty nine-year-old career women discuss.”

Her father stared at her for a moment before a grin cracked the stone of his face. “Okay. I keep forgetting you’re not thirteen.”

“I noticed. And thank goodness I’m not. My teen years were miserable.”

Andrew shoveled in more scrambled eggs. “Don’t be silly. You were the smartest girl in your class, the most popular, and the prettiest.”

Natalie burst into laughter, almost choking on her orange juice. “Dad, being the smartest girl in your class isn’t a plus when you’re a teenager.” She dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “I was popular with girls but not with boys, and as for being pretty, I was skinny and I had braces. You wouldn’t let me have contacts and forced me to wear those glasses with the horrid blue frames. I was a geek.”

Andrew shook his head. “Never believed in contacts. And you’ve always exaggerated. You were lovely. You looked just like your mother when she was your age.”

Her mother, who had never even allowed her daughter to call her “Mom.” She was always “Kira.” And she had left both of them. One day she was there, the next she was gone, off to join a commune. They hadn’t heard from her for over

six months after she left. “Don’t ever compare me to that woman,” Natalie said with quiet venom.

Andrew’s white eyebrows slammed together. “That woman is your mother,” he said fiercely.

“Being a mother involves a hell of a lot more than giving birth, so don’t tell me about how much respect I owe Kira St. John, no matter where she’s living with and with what man—”

“Do not say anything else!” her father erupted. He took a couple of deep breaths and looked out the huge kitchen window at beautiful Lake Erie beyond. Last night’s storm had left the surface littered with leaves and twigs, but the smooth water reflected the sun and puffy clouds. Harvey Coombs from next door already sat in his rowboat, fishing diligently, stained canvas hat jammed on his bald head. He’d once been a brilliant chemistry teacher. Then alcoholism had taken control of his life.

“Kira has always been the flashpoint between the two of us,” Andrew said finally.

“Which would please her because it means she’s the center of attention. But, Dad, I really don’t want to talk about Kira. I want you to understand about Lily. No one else had a mother who ran off to join a commune. The other kids teased me mercilessly about my crazy mother. Lily defended me like a pit bull. She’s always been my best friend and she always will be.”

“She encouraged you to sneak out your bedroom window at night and roam around with her.”

“All we did was go to The Blue Lady and work on our music.”

“The Blue Lady Resort!” Andrew looked appalled. “I had no idea that’s where you went. The hotel burned down!”

“Not the dance pavilion. We thought it was romantic. And the acoustics were great.”

“Acoustics? Who cares about acoustics? It suffered damage from the fire. It’s not safe. It should have been condemned years ago.”

“It’s still romantic.”

“A long time ago it was romantic. The hotel was lavish. The pavilion was beautiful, built out over the water. Some of the biggest bands in the country played there. Quite the tourist draw. Then there was that awful business in 1970.”

“In the hotel, not the pavilion. The hotel is gone.”

“I don’t care. The pavilion is a wreck. A danger. It should be destroyed.”

“It should be restored. You’re handy with a hammer and nails. Maybe you should do it. It would give you something to fill up your empty life.”

Andrew scowled. “I don’t have an empty life.”

“I know you have your medical practice and your gardening and fishing and those civic clubs you belong to, but I’m talking about a real life.”

“Define real life.”

“Companionship.”

“I see Harvey Coombs next door regularly.”

“A wonderful companion. When he drinks too much he thinks you were CIA operatives together.”

“And many dangerous missions we worked if you’d only give him a chance to tell you about them.”

“Harvey should have written novels, not taught chemistry. I’m serious, Dad. You should see someone romantically.”

“I did. Viveca Cosgrove.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Three years ago and not for long, thank goodness. Oh, I know she’s beautiful but she’s such a snob and she can’t seem to stay with a man. She broke things off with you so she could date Eugene Farley who was too young for her.”

“And I thought I was the judgmental one,” Andrew said dryly.

Natalie ignored him. “He was completely out of his depth with someone like Viveca and look what she did to him.”

“You didn’t even know Eugene Farley,” Andrew said quietly. “And his death was not Viveca’s fault.”

“Not directly, but she was the root of the problem. Thank heavens she’s ancient history,” Natalie said briskly. “What worries me is that you haven’t dated anyone since her.”

“Who says?”

“Come on, Dad.”

He drained his coffee mug and pushed his chair back from the table. “I happen to be seeing someone now.”

Natalie’s eyes widened. “What? Who?”

“I’m not telling you. You’ll be driving past her house, asking your friends all kinds of personal questions about her, maybe even dropping by her place to offer free veterinary service to her cat just to get in the front door.”

“I wouldn’t dream of prying into your life any more than you’d pry into mine,” Natalie said slyly.

Andrew rose, gathered his dishes, and carried them to the sink. “You have many wonderful qualities, Natalie, but subtlety isn’t one of them. You’ll find out about her when I’m ready for you to. That is if you stay long enough.”

“Oh, Dad, that isn’t fair!” Natalie exclaimed. “A bribe to get me to stay?”

“I like to look at it as an incentive.”

“You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?” Natalie asked. “Well, don’t be too pleased with yourself. You’ve already given away something about her.”

“And what would that be, Detective?”

“She has a cat.”

Andrew smiled. “Good luck tracing her in a city of twenty thousand people with that piece of vital information.” He turned on the faucet, drenched his dishes in water, and looked up at her. “I have work to do. Enjoy yourself today and Natalie, for once, try to stay out of trouble.”

Lily was picking her up at twelve-thirty for lunch. Dinner and clubbing last night, lunch today. I’m turning into a regular party girl, Natalie thought. Well, what better way to get over a broken heart? Except that this round of socializing couldn’t go on forever. She needed to make a decision about Kenny.

Natalie shook her head. She’d promised herself a week of relaxation with old friends. Next week she’d try to figure out the rest of her life. Right now all she needed to figure out was whether to wear a chain of silver or gold with her pale blue blouse. Silver. She tossed her long hair to one side and fastened the chain. First major decision of the day. “Natalie, you’re making fantastic progress,” she told her reflection in the mirror as she applied sienna-colored lipstick.

The doorbell rang. Her father claimed he had errands .before rounds at the hospital and had left over two hours ago. Natalie thought he’d taken flight because he feared she and Lily might drag him to lunch. No matter. It was better to have Lily to herself. She might be able to find out something about Andrew’s mysterious new girlfriend.

When she opened the door, Natalie marveled as always at Lily’s youthful appearance. Her long blond hair hung thick and straight to her shoulders with a fringe of bangs across her forehead. She wore tan linen slacks and a matching jacket over a green silk shell. Her large hazel eyes sparkled. She’d pushed her designer sunglasses atop her head and she flashed an impish grin. “How much trouble did you get into for not coming home until one a.m? Drunk.”

“Dad pretended to be asleep, but I know he wasn’t. Still, he didn’t rise to deliver a lecture. He doesn’t want to drive me away in just three days, so he’s going easy.”

“That won’t last long. Your father is a good man, Natalie, but he never did cut you much slack. Hey, are you starving!”

“No,” Natalie said as she stepped out on the porch and pulled the door shut behind her. “Dad fixed me a huge breakfast.”

“He is working hard to keep you here. I live alone so I had a stale doughnut and a cup of lukewarm coffee. I could eat one of the hamburger deluxe platters at The Hearth. And a big piece of cheesecake with raspberry sauce.”

“I will never understand how you and Tamara eat so much and stay so thin. What are you? One-ten soaking wet?” Natalie asked, climbing into Lily’s red Corvette. Ever since Lily was twelve, she’d wanted a red Corvette.

“One hundred and fifteen,” Lily said. “My sister, however, has dropped at least five pounds. Maybe more.”

Natalie picked up the serious note in her voice. “Are you worried about her?”

“A little. She is so obsessed with pleasing Warren and she thinks he’s unhappy because she hasn’t gotten pregnant.”

“Does he really want a child?”

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him display any fondness for children, but something’s wrong with him. He’s irritable and nervous.” They roared out of the driveway and shot away from the house. Lily drove like a professional race car driver. “Warren Hunt wasn’t my choice for my sister. He’s too controlling.”

“Tamara isn’t as independent as you. I think she likes his domination.”

“Maybe, but he’s not my cup of tea.”

“Which is good because he’s married to your sister.”

Lily threw back her head and laughed. She had a deep, hearty laugh that always made Natalie smile. Lily slid a CD into the player. In a moment the speeding car filled with the sounds of Nine Inch Nails.

“Ah, still a lover of the classics,” Natalie said. “I made

the mistake of mentioning to Dad this morning that we used to go to The Blue Lady to practice our music at night.”

“That was so much fun. We were going to call our band ‘Fetish.’ ” Lily giggled. “We thought the name was so shocking! Poor Tam fretted over it for days. She was afraid Mom would have a fit. Like we would have ever made it in the rock world. You were the only one with any talent. When you left Kenny’s in a whirlwind, did you remember to bring your guitars?”

“One. Toting it around is second nature to me.”

“I’m glad you never stopped playing music like Tam and I did. Speaking of Tam, I’ve got a great idea. Warren is in Cleveland at some conference. He won’t be back until tonight. Why don’t we go by and pick her up for lunch? She’d love to see you, and you’re not going to die from hunger before we get to the restaurant. I know she’s lonely.”

“I’d love to have lunch with her. It’ll be like old times.”

“I’ll give her a quick call on the cell phone. She hates being taken by surprise. You know how structured she is.”

Lily turned down the music and called. She waited a few moments, then frowned. “No answer.”

“So much for lunch. I’ll have to see her another time. I won’t be leaving for over a week.”

Lily slowly put down the phone. “Maybe we should go by her place, anyway.”

“But you said she hates surprises.”

“She does, but something isn’t right. Even though she’d already turned me down about going to Panache last night, I called right before we left. I thought it was worth one more shot. No answer.”

“Maybe she went to a movie.”

Lily shook her head. “When the great Doctor Warren is away, he always calls at ten o’clock. I called around ten-fifteen from Panache. Still no answer. I know I sound like a mother hen, but I need to see about her.”

“You have one of your bad feelings, don’t you?” Natalie asked. “One of your twin feelings.”

Lily looked slightly embarrassed. “Well, I am worried

about these unanswered phone calls, but yes, I do have one of my feelings. You probably think I’m crazy, but…”

“I do not think you’re crazy,” Natalie said as Lily turned right, heading away from the business district and toward the lake. “Even if I. hadn’t read so many articles about this mysterious communication twins have, I’ve seen it in action with you and Tamara.”

“We’re not as phenomenal as some of the people you see on television, but there have been a couple of spooky times.”

“Like when we were twelve and no one could find you. Tamara insisted you were at Ariel Saunders’s house. You were—with a broken leg. Everyone assumed Tamara had guessed where you were because we went there sometimes, but she told me she actually saw you in one quick flash lying at the foot of the staircase with your leg twisted under you. She made me promise not to tell anyone about her vision.”

“She felt odd about it. She was afraid people would think she was strange. I had a couple of visions about her, too.” Natalie noticed that they were going faster—too fast for these roads, but she didn’t ask Lily to slow down. Clearly she was worried about her sister. “I’m not having any visions now—not of Tam, at least. But last night I kept dreaming of a dog howling in the rain. It probably had nothing to do with Tam, but every time I woke up from the dream, I’d go back to sleep and dream it again. Anyway, I do have an uneasy feeling. It’s probably based on absolutely nothing except that I can’t reach her on the phone.” She turned a slightly tight smile on Natalie. “Thanks for indulging me, though.”