Always and Forever (21 page)

“The Lamberts were weird. They had a fight when I was there
about giving away stuff. Mom didn’t like working with them.”

“I’ll make a note of that, too. What about Jonathan Forbes?”

“He really likes Mom.”

“Likes?” the woman asked. “What do you mean by that?”

“One time I was there, he asked her to have tea with him before she started work. Annie and I joked he had a crush on her.”

“That seems important.” His aunt was used to dealing
with major issues because Sinead hadn’t thought about Dr. Forbes as a suspect. Geez, the guy could hardly walk. Aunt Bailey said, “You should let Agent Carson know right away.”

“I’ll call him as soon as we’re done here. Just one more thing. Did you get any gut feelings, impressions about any of the people or even the places she worked at?”

Sinead wrinkled his nose. “The Forbes’s house
was kinda spooky. It’s real old and dark.”

“So you didn’t like it there?”

“No, I guess not.” He looked to Bailey. “Listen, I don’t want to give any bad information.”

“Perceptions are important,” his aunt told him. “You never know when one little feeling with help out in cases like this.”

The interview lasted an hour and then Agent Erikson stood.

“What’s going to happen now?”

“First, I’ll meet with Agent Carson after he does his round of visits today. We’ll probably follow up with searches of the premises, at the ones he thinks warrant that.”

Aunt Bailey asked, “Will you question him about being on the case when he obviously knew Brie?”

“Yes, of course.”

After Agent Erikson left, Sinead said, “Did I miss something, Aunt Bailey? Should I have seen more?
Remembered more?”

Bailey sat down. “No, honey, none of this is your fault.”

“I told her at the beginning of the summer she shouldn’t go anyplace alone. I told her I’d cancel any plans I had to go with her. Dad was really pissed about her doing solo jobs. I should have made her let me go with her every time.”

“Sinead, you’re not responsible for her kidnapping. But you can keep thinking
about your impressions and feelings that might be important.”

“Okay.”

She stood. “Come on, let’s go in the pool.” She snapped a strap that showed beneath her dress. “I got my suit on. We haven’t raced in a long time.”

“I don’t feel like doing that, Aunt Bailey.”

“You can’t just mope and wait. It’s not good for you. Exercise will help release some of the sadness.”

“I guess.”

She kissed his head like his mom did. “Now go get changed while I give Mitch Calloway the bad news.”

Sinead smiled. “All right.” Before he left he asked, “Aren’t you worried, Aunt Bailey?”

She stared real hard at him. “Yes, I am. But I’m in a lot of situations these days that make me worry. I know how to handle it.”

“That sucks, that you worry a lot.”

“Yeah, kid, it does. Now
let’s go swim.”

The house loomed before them as they drove up the Forbes Estate driveway. Brie had told Pat it was huge, but he hadn’t pictured something this old and imposing.

“You made an appointment with Forbes, too, right?” Pat asked Carson.

“Yes.”

“Then what are those cars doing in the driveway?”

“I have no idea.”

When they got closer, Pat saw Verity
Cleaning scrawled on the side of a white van.

“Cleaning day,” Carson observed. “I wondered how the old man manages alone.” They got out of the car. “Let’s go see.”

The Verity people exited the house just as Pat and the agents reached the steps. Behind them, a very frail man sat in a wheelchair. Pat’s heart sank. This was going to be a bust. This guy couldn’t kidnap anybody. But Carson
approached him anyway.

“Agent Carson?” Forbes asked in a feeble voice.

“Yes. This is my colleague, Agent Thomas.”

The old man looked to Pat.

“I’m Patrick O’Neil, Brie’s husband.”

Forbes seemed to stare blindly at him for a moment and then nodded. “I saw the news. They said there was no word on Gabriella.”

“No, sir. None.”

“Come inside. I want to help if I can.”

They entered the house. The interior unfolded before them like a movie set for the early part of the twentieth century. Long, skinny windows gleamed in the hot sun, and furniture-wax scents filled the air. “We’ll go into the parlor.”

When they were seated, Carson got down to business. As he took down details about when Forbes had last seen Brie, if she’d said anything to make him concerned,
Pat studied the downstairs. Brie’s handiwork was everywhere, in the lack of clutter and some storage shelves she’d set up. It made him want to be with her so bad, he could hardly contain his feelings.

“Do you live here alone, Dr. Forbes?” Carson asked.

“Yes. My wife died three years ago.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, how do you get along?”

“I bring in people to help. The cleaning
crew you saw. A gardener. My nephew visits every day to help me with things.”

Brie hadn’t mentioned a nephew to Pat.

“We’ll need their names.”

The old man had picked up his teacup, and it clattered to the plate. “You think someone close to me might be involved?”

“We need to talk to anyone who’s been here since Mrs. O’Neil started working for you.”

“Manuel Garcia has been with
me for thirty years. He could never be involved.”

“Still, we’ll need addresses.”

Looking at a drawer off to the side, Forbes nodded. “There’s an address book in there. If you wouldn’t mind getting it for me. Maybe other people were here in the last few weeks that I don’t remember.”

Shaky hands took the leather bound book Agent Thomas handed to Forbes. He looked through the pages. “Here’s
Manuel’s address and phone number.” A pause. “The grocery delivery boy came a couple of times when she was working.”

Carson ended up with five names. “You forgot your nephew.”

“Harlan. You don’t need to speak with him. He’s been in Europe with his maiden aunt for the month. He’s coming back soon.”

“Still, give me his contact information.”

Pat was surprised when they got up to leave.
He thought they’d search the house. Dr. Forbes wheeled behind them to the door. “Please, let me know when Gabriella is found. I’m quite worried. I’ve taken a liking to her.”

Yep, he had a crush on Brie. Pat said kindly, “I’ll be sure to do that.”

When they got in the car, Pat asked from the back seat, “Why didn’t we search the house? His and the Lamberts’.”

“Getting a warrant needs
probable cause.” Carson met Pat’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “I’ll go over all this with a behavioral analyst. If she recommends second visits, we’ll get the warrants then.”

Pat got annoyed. “Carson, my brother-in-law is the president of the United States. We could have had warrants in our hands this morning.”

“We go by protocol, Pat. I have orders, directly from the Director of the
FBI, to do this by the book.”

The
protocol
didn’t make sense to Pat. He was going to talk to Clay today and ask about it.

“Patrick!” Brie bolted up in the bed. “Patrick, are you there?”

No answer.

She was breathing hard, and a film of sweat covered her, soaking through the nightgown of Francesca’s, which she still wore. “Oh, dear Lord in heaven.” She’d dreamed
Pat was here. Dreamed he’d found out where she was and had come for her. Brie swallowed hard, but the tears came. She was trying to be strong, but she knew it had been more than forty-eight hours since she’d driven out here after Dr. Forbes had called, sounding desperate for company. She’d been so mad at Pat, she’d just…come.

Lying back onto the thin pillow, she decided she’d think about her
husband. About how he’d rescued her before. That would comfort her…

Kathleen had been a wanted baby, especially after the miscarriage Brie had suffered a few years before her birth. Both she and Pat had been elated to have a girl. But the first year of their daughter’s life had been hell. The doctors said Kathleen was a colicky baby, thus she screamed a lot and wanted to eat all the time.
Any noise bothered her. At the advice of her pediatrician, Brie stopped breastfeeding at eight months.

One day, Brie had been at her wits’ end and called Pat, crying her eyes out. “She’s not any better on the solid food. She’s still up all day. I don’t know what she wants.”

“
She
doesn’t know what she wants, lass. What can I do?”

Brie wanted him to come home so badly. His brothers had
Sinead and Sean staying with them for a couple of days, so she was alone. But Pat had taken a lot time off lately to help out. “Maybe just call. It makes me feel better to talk to you.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

Brie wallowed in misery for the afternoon, walking the baby, trying to soothe her. She was a bad mother; she knew it. Maybe she didn’t know what to do with a girl.

At about
four in the afternoon, Brie was holding Kathleen, of course, staring out at the rainy day, when the back door opened. In came Patrick, with Mary Kate O’Neil behind him. Brie wanted to weep with gratitude.

Her mother-in-law took the baby, sat down, laid Kathleen over her knees and rubbed her back. Kathleen quieted immediately. That made Brie burst into tears. “How come I can’t do that?”

“Years of practice, honey,” Mary Kate had said. She looked to Pat.

He crossed to Brie, scooped her up in his arms and left the room.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he carried her upstairs.

“Rescuing you from the Screaming Mimi. That girl sure has lungs.”

“Rescue, how?”

“You’ll see.” He set her on their bed, then went into the bathroom. She heard the water go on. He came
back out. “You’re going to have a long, luxurious bath and a glass of wine.”

“That sounds heavenly. I can’t remember when I last showered.” As the bath ran, sweet-scented oils wafted out to them. “What time do you have to be back at work?”

“I’m not going back. Pa got a friend to come in. They’ll be fine.”

Again, her eyes teared. He came to stand over her, swiped a finger over her cheek.
“You’re exhausted.”

“I’m frazzled. This is so not me.”

“I know,
leanbh
.”

He picked her up again, carried her into the bath and settled her into warm water. She moaned at the ecstasy of it. He brought her wine, lit candles and left the room. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed in there, but when she came out, wrapped in a robe, she saw Pat on the bed. Next to him was one of her favorite
dresses and a packed suitcase. “What’s all this?”

“We’re going to that bed-and-breakfast down the road you wanted to try.”

“For the whole night?”

“Yep.”

“What about your mother?”

“She’s stayin’ with the baby. Pa and Bailey are coming out later to help.”

“Really, Pat?”

“Really, love.”

They checked into a beautiful room with a fireplace and club chairs and a lake
of a bed. “Want to fool around?” she asked.

“Uh-huh. As soon as I feed you. You’ve lost weight, and it’s dinner time.”

They ate lobster and asparagus and had some wine, while soft music played in the background. They banned all talk of babies and kids and simply enjoyed each other’s company.

When they reached the bedroom, Brie was looking forward to making love. Pat went into the bathroom.
She changed into a skimpy nightgown he’d packed and pulled down the covers of the bed. She lay on a plump pillow to wait for him.

The next thing she knew, birds were chirping and sunlight filtered through the windows. The clock told her it was nine a.m. The door opened, and Pat came in with coffee. Its mere scent perked her up. While she sipped it, she said with chagrin, “I fell asleep last
night.”

“That you did, darlin’”

“We didn’t make love.”

“Ah, no.” He sat next to her on the bed. “You were exhausted. I slept, so must be I was, too.”

“Are we that old that sleep means more than sex?”

“Nah, we had a rough year with a colicky baby is all.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

She set the coffee aside, came up on her knees.

“Then prove it to me, Patrick O’Neil…”

Funny, though, Brie thought now. It wasn’t the sex she remembered today. It was the sheer love and concern for her that Patrick had shown that day.

Why had they fought over stupid things for so long? If she ever got out of here, that would never, ever happen again.

Later in the day, Patrick walked into the house, wearing the phoniest expression on his face that Bailey had ever seen. She knew he was trying not to worry Sinead, who sat with her at
the table, playing Bananagrams. But Bailey could see the worry in her big brother’s tired blue eyes.

Sinead looked up. “Dad? Any news?”

He shook his head. “Nothing to indicate the people we saw kidnapped her.”

“Did you search the houses?” Bailey asked.

After drawing some coffee, Pat walked over to them and leaned against the island counter. “You know, we didn’t. I asked Carson
about it, and he said they needed to present their findings to—”