Mad, Bad and Blonde (32 page)

“It doesn’t work for me,” Faith said.

Abs nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”

“A gut feeling?” Faith teased her.

Abs smiled. “Something like that.”

Faith wasn’t looking forward to telling her father about her decision. And it was now a decision. She was a children’s librarian at heart. That didn’t make her weak. It made her strong. She loved watching kids’ eyes light up at story time or finding a new book for a beginning reader. Hooking books with kids gave her a sense of satisfaction that she’d found lacking in her new job.

Sure, finding that missing money for Candy Haywood’s divorce case had felt good, but those moments were too few and too far between all the other nasty stuff. And, yes, she enjoyed research, but she’d rather research what a sixth-grader who loves horses should read next.

It turned out she was more like Jane Austen after all. A new kick-ass version of Jane Austen.

Her dad showed up in the office later, right after lunch.

“I thought the doctor said you were supposed to take it easy,” Faith said as she trailed after him.

“I am taking it easy. I took the entire morning off, during which time your mom and I booked a trip to England for our anniversary.”

“That’s great.”

“So how are you holding up today?” he asked.

“We need to talk.”

“I was afraid of that.” He sat in his ergonomically designed chair behind his desk. “You’ve decided to go back to the library, right?”

“How did you know?”

“You’d be safer.”

“I’d be stronger,” she corrected him. “Because I’d be following my heart. That’s not to say that I’m not willing to help out around here from time to time. But this isn’t where my passion lies.”

“I got the feeling from the way you were looking at him that your passion might be with Caine. Is that right?”

“I’m not ready to talk about Caine yet.”

“Notice I’m not asking you to talk to him on the company’s behalf.”

“Good. And before you ask, no, Caine didn’t have anything to do with my returning to the library.”

“I can’t say I’m not disappointed that you’re not staying, but I can understand. Maybe Caine would like to work with us. He’s a good investigator. Not as good as you, of course. He could make sure we don’t screw up again like we did with his father’s case.”

“You’d have to talk to Caine about that.” Faith went around the desk to hug her dad. “I’m glad you’re okay. When I saw you unconscious in that chair with blood on your face . . .” She shivered.

He stood and gave her a giant bear hug like he used to do when she was a kid. “And I’m glad you’re okay.” He patted her back. “I know I don’t say this often enough, but I do love you, you know. And if being back at the library is where you want to be, then I’m for it a hundred and ten percent.”

Faith sniffed back the threat of sentimental tears. “Thanks, Dad. I love you too.” She had yet to figure out how her love for Caine and her love for her father could coexist peacefully. But she was determined to figure it out somehow.

“You’re back!” the kids shouted as she walked in on afternoon story time at the library later that day. The three- and four-year-olds gathered around her like sheep returning to the flock.

“Thank God!” a frazzled Maria said. “I’d just about given up hope.”

Faith was surprised to see that Maria was handling story time. Usually the branch manager had plenty of other duties to fill her time. But Maria did have five kids. She should be able to manage story time with one hand tied behind her back. Come to think of it, her kids were all older. There was an art to dealing with little ones this age.

“I should have called first,” Faith said. “But I wanted to talk to you face-to-face.”

“Just tell me you’re back.”

Faith nodded. “If you’ll have me.”

“Great. Here, finish this.” Maria handed her the book she’d been reading.

“
Charlotte’s Web
?” Faith shook her head. “I’ve got something else in mind.” She reached into her Golden Books tote bag and pulled out her Scaredy Squirrel book.

“We thought you were never coming back,” one little kid said.

“Never say never,” Faith said.

“Why?” a little girl named Latisha asked. “Is it a bad word?”

“No, but you never know what could happen next.”

“You just said never.”

“Yes, I did. Never mind.”

The kids giggled. “You said it again.”

“You’re right.” Faith grinned. Damn, it felt good to be back. “So let’s find out what Scaredy Squirrel is up to now.”

“I told you West had messed up the investigation on your father’s case,” Vince crowed. “Time to break out the good booze and celebrate.”

“No, thanks.” Caine didn’t feel like celebrating.

Vince shrugged and poured himself a generous splash of high-priced Scotch from the Irish crystal decanter on his mahogany sideboard. “Well, I’m going to celebrate. Why aren’t you smiling?”

“Because my father was murdered.”

Vince frowned. “So? You knew he was dead. Dead is dead. The bottom line here is about West Investigations screwing up royally. I’ve scheduled a press conference for later this afternoon. I want you to get all emotional and tortured about how West ruined your dad’s life. Then you can announce you’re suing them.”

“I’m not going to sue them.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I’m done letting you use my father as a pawn in this war you’ve got going on with Jeff West.”

“I would have thought a man like you, a former Marine, would know how to wage a war.”

“I know this particular war isn’t worth it.”

“It is to me. And it used to be for you too. What changed? Wait, let me guess. It’s the girl, right? You got whipped by a fancy piece of tail—”

Caine grabbed Vince by his Armani suit lapel and growled, “Watch what you say about her. Not another word.”

Vince just shook his head in disappointment. “Never allow your emotions to affect your business decisions.”

Caine let him go. “Call off the press conference.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you played a part in this mess. You sabotaged the investigation by bribing the West employee originally in charge of the case not to dig any further. Oh, yeah, I know about that. The guy doesn’t work there anymore. He isn’t even in this state anymore. But I tracked him down and convinced him to talk. I have a copy of his sworn deposition. I really don’t think you want me flashing that at your press conference.”

“West still had the chance to review the case for himself, and he didn’t.”

“There’s plenty of guilt to spread around,” Caine agreed.

“I thought I could count on you. I thought your hatred of West equaled mine. But no, they got to you. Weakened you. I hate weakness. Weak people ruin everything. They always let you down. You’ve let me down, Caine.”

“Same here, Vince. Same here. By the way, I quit.”

“Going to work for the enemy now?”

“I don’t know.”

“If you tell him about the deposition you have, I’ll sue you until you don’t have a penny left to your name. You signed a confidentiality agreement when you came to work for me,” Vince shouted after him as Caine left. “Don’t forget that.”

Caine had no intention of forgetting anything. He was still working on forgiving. With that thought in mind, he crossed the street to visit West Investigations. He called ahead first. “We need to talk,” Caine told Jeff West as he entered the high-rise building. “I’m on my way up.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Jeff said.

Jeff was standing by his open office door when Caine arrived. “Faith isn’t here right now,” he told Caine. “Just in case you were wondering.”

Caine didn’t say anything. He took the chair facing Jeff’s desk and waited until the other man was seated before speaking. “I’m not going to sue you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Again, I can’t express how sorry I am that this case wasn’t handled better. I’ve been reviewing the work done by one of our employees, and I have the feeling that Vince King played a part in there. The person involved no longer works for my company. Even so, I should have caught the problem when I reviewed the case. I didn’t. I’m not trying to pin this on King or heat up the vendetta he has against me. I will, however, be much more vigilant regarding cases and employees in the future. But the bottom line is that even if King had a hand in messing up the case, I should have caught that. The buck stops here with me.”

Caine bluntly said, “I no longer work for Vince King.”

“Faith no longer works for me,” Jeff said just as bluntly.

Caine couldn’t hide his surprise at this news.

“She didn’t tell you?”

He shook his head.

“She’s gone back to the library. She says that’s where her heart lies. She’s a damn good investigator, as are you. If you want a job here, it’s yours. I’d be honored to have you.”

“Thanks for the offer, but no. I’ve got other plans.”

“Involving my daughter?”

“Some of them. I’ve had enough of the investigative business. I want to work with returning Marines, help them merge back into civilian life—get jobs, health care, affordable housing, social support, family therapy. I’ve talked to a couple former Marine buddies of mine who are setting up a nonprofit organization.”

“I’d be honored to make a generous donation to such a worthy cause,” Jeff said.

“You can’t make up for what happened to my dad by writing a big check,” Caine said.

“I know that.” Jeff looked older than his years. “Believe me, I know that. And I’ll regret to my dying day that I didn’t detect something was wrong.”

Caine knew what his father would want him to do. He’d want him to forgive. “Even if you had, there’s no guarantee that you would have caught Fred Belkin in time to stop him from murdering my father.”

“That’s generous of you to say.”

Caine cleared his throat. “There’s another matter I wanted to discuss with you as well. It’s about Faith. I’ve got this plan.” Caine told Jeff about it. When he was done, he said, “What do you think?”

Faith’s dad smiled and nodded. “I approve.”

Two weeks later:

“I’ve never been to a Crosstown Classic game,” Caine told Faith as they stood in line outside Comiskey Park aka U.S. Cellular Field. He was wearing jeans, a Cubs T-shirt and baseball cap and garnering jeers from the White Sox fans nearby. “The Cubs versus the White Sox. A classic rivalry. Well, we know which side you’re rooting for.”