Tangled Lies (6 page)

They stopped at the car, and Eve stared at her over the roof. “Aren’t you scared? What if they can’t stop the cancer?”

“Of course I’m scared. Terrified. I’m trying not to think about it. And to have faith. Our job is to find out what happened to Tony. That’s what I’m focused on.” Sasha pulled open the door and slid into the furnace-hot car.

Eve got in beside her and blasted the air-conditioning, which thankfully kicked in quickly and provided blessed relief. Sasha leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes as Eve pulled away from the curb, trying to pinpoint what about their meeting with the chief bugged her most.

“So when you get those files next week, what are you going to do?” Eve asked.

Sasha cracked her eyes open, wishing she’d remembered to grab her sunglasses from the Jeep.

“I’ll read them and then tell Mama what they say.” She shrugged.

“You need to call me—” Eve began. Sasha turned her head toward Eve and narrowed her eyes.

Eve cleared her throat, started over. “When you get the files, will you call me and let me know what they say?”

“Of course, but I’m not expecting much. It sounds like what we’ve always thought. That Tony drowned. Why do you think Mama is so convinced he’s alive?”

Eve gnawed her lower lip. “Maybe it’s like she said. It’s a mother thing, a feeling. I don’t know.”

Suddenly Sasha sat up and stared hard at Eve. “There isn’t more to the cancer than what you’ve told me, is there?” Pop had said there wasn’t, but Pop wouldn’t want anyone to worry.

“How can there be more? What are you saying?”

“Is it much worse than everyone has let on? Is that why she’s pushing so hard?”

Eve swallowed hard, and Sasha wondered if she would tell her the whole truth, or try to protect her as always. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Eve. Just spit it out.”

“If there’s more, they haven’t said anything to me. All I know is what I’ve told you. The cancer has come back and they’re trying this experimental treatment.”

Sasha tried to imagine a world without Mama, but her thoughts couldn’t go in that direction. She couldn’t, simply couldn’t. She knew they would lose their parents someday, but not yet. It was too soon. She looked around as Eve pulled into the big Stuff Mart in the next town. She hadn’t even realized they’d left Safe Harbor. “What do you need to get?”

Eve opened her door and stepped out of the car. “Not me. You’re getting a new phone.”

Sasha thought of the few hundred dollars left in her checking account and the money due from her last job she would likely never see and sighed. Might as well cough up the cash.

When Sasha fell into step with her sister, Eve asked, “What made you decide to quit your job and come home? From your email a few months ago, I thought you really liked this job.”

Sasha sighed. “I did like it.” She paused, not sure why she didn’t just spill the whole ugly tale. Maybe because she knew Eve would just shake her head, as though it were Sasha’s fault. Which, yeah, it probably was. “It’s a long, boring story. It was time to go, that’s all.”

Eve looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but she didn’t. She just nodded as they headed toward the cell phone display.

Sasha wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but half an hour later she was the reluctant owner of a shiny new smartphone that absolutely terrified her. What the heck was she supposed to do with this fancy thing?

“Once you get the hang of it, you’ll love it,” Eve said. “Trust me. This is so much better than that old flip phone you had.”

“I liked my flip phone. I understood my flip phone. Mostly. This is . . .” Words failed her. She sat down in the car, relieved that she remembered how to unlock the screen. “We should take it back. I’ll get one of the other—”

Eve reached over and tapped a finger on Sasha’s lips. “Stop. It’s my birthday-slash-Christmas gift to you. Besides, this way we can stay in touch better.”

Sasha grinned. “Always a salesman, aren’t you? What you’re really saying is that I can run, but I can’t hide.”

Eve laughed out loud. “Guilty.”

“But really, it’s too much—” Sasha said for the second time.

“Sasha, please. I wanted to do this. For you, and yeah, for me, too. If you’re going to be here with Mama and Pop, I want to know I can reach you. Besides, they don’t have Internet at the house, so this way, you can do research, too, if you need to.”

Sasha just looked at her blankly. “You forget who you’re talking to here.” She waved a hand. “OK, thank you. I’ll do my best to learn how this beast works, just for you.”

Chapter 4

It was still dark outside when Sasha stumbled down the steep stairs the next morning, Bella right on her heels, and followed the smell of coffee to the kitchen. The light was on above the stove, and Pop sat at the kitchen table reading the local paper, coffee dripping into the pot. Sasha let Bella out, kissed Pop on the top of the head, and reached for a mug. Once she had swallowed enough to wake a few brain cells, she smiled at Pop over the rim. “Bless you for getting this started.”

“Can’t have you running off the road in your sleep.”

Sasha plopped down beside him at the table and sipped her coffee while she listened to Eve rustling around in the tiny upstairs bathroom.

“Mama still asleep?”

Pop shrugged. “She’s pretending to be. She doesn’t sleep much, but she doesn’t want me to know. Or worry.”

“So you don’t sleep well, either. You keep watch.”

When he looked up and nodded, Sasha’s heart clenched. She fingered the mariner’s cross around her neck, pushing back a wave of emotion. Pop had always kept watch. Especially during her teen years. It was his job, he’d once said, as the family protector. She imagined Blaze was costing him more than a little sleep these days, too.

As if the words had conjured her, Blaze clumped into the kitchen in jeans, a tight T-shirt, clunky black boots, and attitude. She reached for the coffeepot, her blue hair shimmering in the meager light.

“You’re up early,” Sasha said.

“I’m going to the airport with you.” She didn’t turn around, just fixed a mug of coffee and joined them at the table.

“OK,” Sasha said.

“Just OK? That’s it?” Blaze smacked her mug on the scarred wooden table.

She wanted a fight, but Sasha wasn’t giving her one. Not now, with Pop there and not enough brain cells working to keep up.

“You want to come along, come. Doesn’t matter to me.”

Eve thumped down the stairs with her rolling suitcase, laptop case, and a purse big enough to hold a Saint Bernard. She piled everything in the corner and said, “Good morning. I sure didn’t expect a crowd this early.” She helped herself to coffee, and Blaze rolled her eyes behind her back.

“Blaze’s coming to the airport with us. And Pop got up to start the coffee.”

“And kiss my little girl good-bye,” he said.

Sasha looked away as Eve’s eyes filled with tears. Her own emotions were too close to the surface this morning to deal with Eve’s, too. She pushed her chair back and stepped to the coffeepot for a refill.

“Time to hit the road, gang. Traffic in Tampa will get ugly fast.” Sasha grabbed Eve’s suitcase and laptop and headed for the door. “I’ll meet you at the car.”

Outside, she stowed the bags in the trunk of Mama’s Buick, spread an old beach towel on the backseat, and motioned Bella inside. When Blaze clumped down the porch steps and plopped onto the backseat like she was headed for prison, Sasha bit back a grin and shut the door after her. Eve hurried out moments later, wiping her eyes. She climbed into the passenger seat and leaned her head back.

“I hate good-byes,” she mumbled.

Sasha ignored her and started the car, tuning the radio to a local jazz station. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and within five miles, she heard snoring from the backseat, in stereo. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Bella’s head on Blaze’s lap, both sound asleep.

She turned to share a smile with Eve, but her sister stared out the window, still wiping at tears, so Sasha said nothing. Eve had always cried over the dumbest little thing, and Sasha never knew what to say. Mama’s cancer wasn’t a little thing, but still, tears made her uncomfortable. Back in Russia, her papa had told her crying solved nothing. Action solved problems. Instead of crying, she fixed things. Or threw something.

When Sasha reached the airport access road, Eve straightened and went into what Sasha called checklist mode. “So listen, you don’t have to park the car. Just drop me off at the curb. It’ll be cheaper and quicker.”

Sasha ignored her and headed for short-term parking.

“Did you hear what I said?” Eve demanded.

“I heard. But I don’t agree. Pop asked me to see you off.”

Eve huffed out a breath. “OK, fine. Do you have your—”

“New cell phone?” Sasha said. “Yes, and it’s charged and it’s turned on, and yes, I will text you back when you tell me you’ve arrived in DC. Did I miss anything?”

Eve narrowed her eyes at her. “And you’ll let me know—”

“When I get the police files. Right. We’ve talked about this, Eve.”

Eve sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t want to leave.”

“And you don’t want to be out of the loop on what’s going on,” Sasha said, grinning.

Eve snorted. “Fine. Yes. That, too.”

They parked, walked to the terminal, and waited while Eve checked her bag. Then they walked to security together, Blaze trailing three steps behind.

Eve set her carry-ons at her feet and turned to hug Blaze, who held herself stiffly but didn’t squirm out of her grasp.

“Thanks for the way you’re helping out, Blaze. I’m glad you’re there.”

Sasha watched Blaze’s face, her usual glare softening at the words. “They’re family. It’s what you do.”

Eve pulled back and looked her in the eyes. “It’s what we do, yes, though not every family does.”

Blaze scowled at Sasha. “Some of us take that seriously.”

Sasha wanted to snap at her, but this wasn’t the time or place. Instead she hugged Eve when it was her turn. “Be safe, Sis. I’ll keep my phone on, promise.”

Tears ran down Eve’s cheeks. “I’ll call you as soon as I land. I’ll—”

Sasha turned her toward the ever-growing line for security and handed her bags to her. “I know. Go, or you’ll miss your flight.”

Sasha and Blaze waited and waved one last time before she disappeared from sight. Once they were back in the car, Blaze up front and Bella sprawled across the backseat, Sasha said, “So what’s up, kid?”

Blaze’s eyes widened before she looked away. “Who said anything is up?”

“You wouldn’t be here right now—not this early—if you didn’t have something to say, so out with it.”

“Maybe I just wanted to say good-bye to Eve.”

“And maybe I’m Lady Gaga.”

Blaze folded her arms and huffed out a breath. “I know you and Eve went to the police station to ask about Tony.”

Sasha tried to remember when she and Eve had talked about it and whom they’d said anything to. “So after you ran from the room, you came back for a little eavesdropping?”

“It’s the only way I find out what’s going on. Nobody tells me anything. I’m not a little kid!”

Sasha looked over at Blaze and was reminded, once again, of how very much she had been like Blaze at that age. “It’s rough to be a teenager, no question. Adults think you’re too young to understand. Or they think you don’t care.”

“I do care. This is Mama we’re talking about. And nobody tells me anything.”

Sasha gripped the steering wheel when Blaze swiped angrily at her tears. What was it with crying females this morning? She hadn’t even had breakfast yet.

“Look, Blaze, nobody is trying to exclude you. Yes, Eve and I went to the police station. We asked for the report on Tony’s disappearance.”

“What did it say?”

Sasha shrugged. “We don’t know. They said it will take a couple of days to get it out of storage.”

“Don’t they have it on the computer?”

“Not yet. They said they’re working on scanning in all their old files, but they haven’t gotten that far back yet.”

“That really stinks. So now what? What’s our next step?”

Sasha turned to stare at her, taking in the stubborn chin and determination in her green eyes. “What do you mean, our next step? When they call, I’ll go take a look.”

Blaze crossed her arms. “I’m going with you. Now that Eve isn’t here, I’m your partner in this investigation.”

“I, ah, that is . . .” Sasha tried and failed to come up with a good reason why she shouldn’t have this surly teenager underfoot for the foreseeable future.

“Don’t even try to get rid of me. I’ll camp out in front of your bedroom door if I have to. I want to help with this. I need to.”

Sasha glanced at her again and sighed. Oh yeah, she understood. Better than most. “Look, Blaze, you’re welcome to come with me, see what we find out.” She scrambled for the right words and finally said, “But none of that, and nothing we do or don’t do, is going to change what’s happening with Mama.”

Tears rolled down Blaze’s cheeks as she stared out the side window, but she didn’t say anything. Sasha reached over to take her hand, but Blaze jerked it away and swiped the tears from her face.

They drove in silence for the next thirty miles, then Sasha pulled into the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant.

“OK, partner, what’ll ya have?”

They ordered breakfast and got back on the highway, neither saying a word. But all the way home, Sasha tried to figure out how on earth she was going to find answers for Mama. And how they would all live with them once she did.

Jesse woke before sunrise and winced when his almost-healed knife wound protested as he sat up. He’d be glad when he didn’t get reminded of his stint behind bars every time he moved without thinking.

He eased out of the sagging twin bed he’d slept in throughout his childhood summers and padded to the kitchen to start coffee. At some point he’d move into Aunt Clarabelle’s bedroom, but not yet. He wasn’t ready. Besides, he couldn’t see sleeping under flowered sheets and waking up to flowered wallpaper. He shuddered and headed for the bathroom while the coffee did its thing.

The sun hadn’t yet peeked over the horizon when he trotted down the porch steps to his truck and stopped short, coffee sloshing out of his mug. The security light from the neighbor’s house illuminated the truck. Both tires on the driver’s side were flat. Jesse muttered a curse and marched over for a closer look. Not just flat. Slashed.

He walked around to the other side and froze. Whoever it was had slit all four tires. He slammed a fist against the side of the truck, then cursed the pain that radiated up his arm while hot coffee sloshed over his other hand.

He shook out his aching hand and threw the coffee mug onto the straggly lawn. Not only would he lose time he didn’t have, but given the size of the truck, replacing the tires wouldn’t come cheap. He stood for a moment, fighting to bring his frustration under control. He’d known there’d be some who wouldn’t welcome a guy who’d spent time in jail to their tidy little community. But the fact they’d done this right after he arrived showed a level of animosity that ticked him off.

He just wanted to prep his boat and win the race. And OK, yeah, start over in this little one-horse town. That didn’t seem like too much to ask. Apparently, it was. He wasn’t one to go looking for a fight, but someone had brought this one right to his door.

He stomped over and scooped up Clarabelle’s flowered mug, annoyed the stupid thing hadn’t smashed. He scrubbed a hand over his face. Whatever. He had work to do. He double-checked the size of the tires, marched back inside, traded flip-flops for tennis shoes, and tossed some water bottles and a sandwich into a backpack. The sky was gradually lightening as he started the two-mile trek to Safe Harbor Marina. That should give him plenty of time to get his temper under control.

Sasha pulled into the gravel parking area next to the house. She really wanted to crawl back into bed for another hour or so, but she’d told Pop she’d help him at the marina when they got back.

Blaze opened her door and slid out, then said, “Don’t try to weasel out of this and go without me.”

“I told you I’d take you with me.”

“I’ve heard about how much your word is worth.”

Sasha winced at the accusation. Before she could respond, Blaze slammed the door behind her, and Sasha wanted to yell that she shouldn’t slam doors when Mama was trying to sleep.

The irony made her sigh. Oh, that girl could get under her skin. She eased the car door closed—they’d made enough racket already—and looked up, surprised to see Jesse walking down the drive from the road.

“Morning.”

He raised a hand in greeting and kept walking. Well, that was rude. She turned and intercepted him just as he reached the shed Pop was letting him use as a workshop.