Kiss (33 page)

Something about the idea of his taking the ring back triggered terrible reluctance in the deepest part of Shauna’s heart. She didn’t want to give it back, and she couldn’t explain why. Keeping it would be unfair to him, though. Irrational.

But some part of her—she could not tell if it was merely wishful or some-thing real, cloaked in a cloud of forgetfulness—believed she could love him easily and soon. How could she not, she reasoned, after the kind of love he had demonstrated toward her? How could she take all that in and not eventually find herself exploding with love that begged to be returned?

Acting on faith, she closed her fingers around the ring to prevent him from taking it, then slipped it onto the ring finger of her right hand. “If it’s okay with you, I think I’ll keep it,” she said. “For now.”

He nodded and began to pick up the elephant puzzle without looking at her, fit two pieces back together. “You should keep it. No matter what happens.”

Thirty minutes later Shauna and Miguel had their first fight.

They sat in the old Jeep, Khai tucked in the back, and were headed back through Austin to West Lake. Shauna had stashed the thumb drive in her jeans pocket and entrusted the elephant to Khai. They would drop her within walking distance of the house but, beyond that, couldn’t agree on a plan.

“We should take what we have to that detective. What’s his name—Beeson?” Miguel said. “He can offer you protection.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Several reasons, first being that he suspects me of killing Corbin.” Miguel’s eyes widened. “And he knows Corbin’s camera was in my possession.”

“How—?”

“I have no idea if the images on the camera have turned Beeson’s attention away from me. And then there’s the fact that I skipped town even though I’m not supposed to. I’ll go to jail for that alone.”

Miguel shook his head. “We’ll call him then.”

“What for?”

“To tell him what we know. Would you compromise on that for me?”

Shauna considered this. Giving Beeson Corbin’s camera hadn’t resulted in any disastrous outcomes. Yet. What worse could happen if they called the detective?

“Okay. But we should find my father first,” Shauna finally said.

“Don’t you think Wayne would expect you to seek him out?”

“No. Landon and I have not been on speaking terms lately.”

“But all things considered—”

“Wayne knows you’re with me, Miguel. From his point of view I have no reason to seek out my father. Where would you take me if I were not so stub-born and obstinate? Where would Wayne think you would take me?”

“Japan.”

“Seriously.”

“I don’t know.”

“The point I’m trying to make is, he won’t expect you to take me to my father.”

“That’s because I won’t.”

“Miguel! I need to know how deep Landon is in this. He might not be involved at all. The election is less than two weeks away. I can’t go shooting from the hip—”

“And look at what happened the last time we tried that! What makes you think he’ll treat you any differently this time? He doesn’t care about you, Shauna. He doesn’t care that you’re his daughter. Why is protecting him important to you?”

“I’m not protecting him. I’m talking about getting to the bottom of the truth first before I do something that could kill his reputation. If he’s responsible for any of this, I’ll be the first to stand aside.”

“You’re not going to kill his reputation, because you’re not going to do any-thing at all!”

Shauna crossed her arms and met Miguel’s eyes, frowning. “I dare you to walk away from the truth.”

“Already did once. It’s not so hard.”

“But if you’d kept walking I wouldn’t be here. It’s an ugly choice, I know that. But what’s happened isn’t about you and me. Don’t you see it?”

“He’ll deny everything, as he did the night of the accident. We don’t have anything new to talk about.”

“We have Rudy. Do you know what Landon will do when he figures out that Wayne hurt him intentionally? That Wilde is behind it? You were right, I don’t believe it. He can’t possibly know. He would never have let the two of them set foot in his house if he knew.”

“The two of them have found a way to successfully and illegally finance his campaign. Rudy was an unforeseen casualty of our great political system. Why do you think your dad blames you for the accident, Shauna? The man wants to stand as far away from the truth as possible. He can’t possibly confront it. He has too much to lose.”

“He only thinks I did it because Wayne set everything up to support that idea. Before now, nobody could support any other option.”

“Nobody but you, you mean. You’ve been shouting innocent, and the senator can’t hear a thing you say.”

“But now I have evidence.” She pointed at Miguel.

“I am hardly the evidence that will convince him. I sure wasn’t persuasive last time.”

“We have data.”

“Half-fleshed data. Data that wasn’t even sound enough for me to run with before the accident. I hadn’t even put it in front of my editor yet. Besides, for all we know the senator is not ignorant of what has been happening. He might even be the mastermind behind it all.”

Shauna glared at him. “I don’t believe it. I can’t.”

“Why not? The man has to keep up appearances. You don’t think he’d hire Wilde and Spade to keep his own hands lily-white?”

“He would have killed them himself to protect Rudy.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go basing your actions on your gut right now. Not unless you want to get yourself killed. Because I guarantee you McAllister doesn’t feel the same way about you.”

The fact stabbed Shauna deep. Even though his words were true, they were cruel. She made her hands into fists and pressed her knuckles against her eyelids and took a long breath.

“Mr. Spade called me this morning,” Khai said. Shauna startled. She’d forgotten Khai was in the Jeep with them.

Miguel twisted to look over his shoulder. “That would have been nice to know.”

“He was upset, worried. Said he’d gone to meet you in Corpus Christi and found your car, your phone, some clothes. He asked me to call him if I heard from you.”

“This was before or after we called you about the elephant?”

“Before.”

Shauna held her breath.

“I called him back after we spoke and told him you were with someone, I didn’t know who. That Wayne Spade, he is dangerous. I said you told me you needed to get away, that you were going to Guatemala and asked me to have some money wired to you. I remembered you telling me that you went there often.”

Shauna’s relief expressed itself in a light laugh. “Brilliance happens,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Why would he believe Khai?” Miguel said.

Khai said, “I gave him the name of a bank there. I found it online.”

“You made up account numbers too?”

“He wouldn’t have asked me for those, even if he doubted me.”

“That doesn’t mean he’d go there,” Miguel said.

“But it could mean he won’t waste his time coming back here,” Shauna said.

“The truth is, we can’t possibly know where he is,” Miguel said.

Khai said, “I offered to collect the things he’d left at the house, have them ready for him. He said he wouldn’t be coming by and instructed me to ship them to Houston.”

“He’s going back with Wilde,” Miguel said.

“Or just as easily on his way to Guatemala,” Shauna countered.

“The point is, he’s not here.”

“But the senator is,” Khai said.

Now Shauna twisted in her seat. “What else do you have up your sleeve?”

“He leaves again tomorrow morning,” Khai said. “His car came up the drive as I was leaving.”

Shauna decided. She needed to talk to Landon, needed to seize this opportunity.

“This is an in-your-face chance, Miguel. We should take it.”

Miguel shook his head. “Your father knows me. If he’s in on this, if he sees me with you . . .”

“You’re right. We can’t let him see you until we know,” she said to Miguel. “I’m going in with Khai. Wait where you drop us, and I’ll be back out as quick as I can.”

Miguel set his jaw, and she braced for a list of reasons why he would not let her out of the car.

Instead, when he parked a short distance from the house, he studied the windshield and said, “Watch out for Spade.”

30

Shauna was slightly surprised when the security detail allowed her to enter the house through the kitchen. Perhaps Patrice was not here. Or Trent had kept his promise to talk with Patrice about ending the lockout—before their falling-out.

The women parted ways in the red-tiled hall. Khai squeezed Shauna’s hand. “Don’t be afraid,” she said. “God is with you.”

The sentiment caught Shauna off guard. “My mother used to say that to me. Is that from the Bible?”

Khai nodded. “For those who believe him.”

“She also used to say, ‘Nothing can separate you from the love of God, Shauna.’ Is that in the Bible too? Or is it just a nice idea?”

Khai’s mouth broke into a wide smile. “It’s from the book of Romans. ‘Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future—’”

Shauna hardly heard the rest.
Neither the present nor the future.

“‘—will be able to separate us from the love of God.’”

Goose bumps trickled over Shauna’s arms.

“If Wayne finds us, you will not be safe,” Shauna said, worried for the woman who had so selflessly helped her so many times.

“I’m not afraid. I’m taking leave this afternoon to visit my brother.”

“I hope this is a . . . memorable time for both of you,” Shauna said.

“It couldn’t be otherwise.” Khai left her with a hug.

Shauna watched her go, wondering if it was possible that God’s love, like her mother’s, had never abandoned her, whether she had merely stopped looking for it in her life.

A noise in the kitchen snapped Shauna out of her reverie. She considered where Landon might spend the afternoon, if an hour or two was the only time he had. The fitness center, maybe. Her father’s study was on the other side of the house, the large patio between them. She stepped to the nearest window.

No one at the pool. It was October 24 and unseasonably cool, too cool today to be out, even in Texas. Taking the full-circle hallway to the back wing, then past the bedrooms, she kept an eye out for Rudy, whom she wanted to hug, and Patrice, whom she planned to avoid. She saw neither.

Coming into the wing containing the offices, she turned right and stopped to listen before she would come into anyone’s view. She heard voices. Patrice, on the phone in her office, door open. And Landon, having a one-sided conversation with someone in his office, probably also on the phone. She caught mention of a poll. She eased herself into a position where she could, she hoped, see into his office without being seen.

The tone of Landon’s voice pulled her closer. This was a voice she had not heard since—since she couldn’t say, easy and unaffected by a public expectation. This was a voice she had heard more often as a child, well before her mother’s death, and if she’d been asked a moment sooner, she would have said she couldn’t remember it. But there it was. Patient, smooth like pumpkin pie, and warm like the sun on a winter’s day.

This was not the strained voice of a man days away from a national presidential election. Whom was he speaking to? She dared to look.

The curtains of Landon’s office were drawn against the noon glare, and bulky bookcases lit by dome lights provided the main lighting. Landon sat at his desk with his back to the door, tipped back in the leather seat as far as it would go, stocking feet on the ink blotter, big toe looking green under the emerald glass shade of a banker’s lamp. He cupped a tumbler full of melting ice in both hands and laughed at his own joke.

In his own mechanical chair on the opposite side of the desk sat Rudy.

Shauna moved into the door frame and leaned against it, smiling at her brother. The horrible bruises around his eyes had faded. Or maybe it was the lighting. He looked good. Better anyway.

Landon must have noticed Rudy’s eyes shift, for as his chuckles tapered off, he put down his feet and shifted forward in the chair to see who stood at the door. She had the presence of mind to turn the ring on her right hand so that the diamonds faced her palm.

He lifted his empty glass her way, a meaningless toast offered with a shrug.

“Shauna. Rudy and I were just catching up.”

The tension of their last encounter still reverberated.

“Hi, Landon.” She took a tentative step into the room, then rounded the desk and stooped to place a kiss on Rudy’s forehead. “Hey, Rude. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

She took the seat next to her brother. Landon looked at her, silent, as if she couldn’t have hoped to enter the conversation he was having with Rudy and so wouldn’t continue it.

“That’s quite a shiner you’ve got,” he said, tipping up his glass though there was nothing left in it to drink. Shauna glanced toward the bar at the back of the room.

“Can I get you some more?” she said.

He waved her off. “Day’s young. The gray cells have a long way to go yet. Rudy and I were celebrating the passage of a little bill of mine today.”