Double Identity (18 page)

Cain stood and faced her. “Over? Nothing’s over. What are you talking about?”

“You’ve solved the case. I don’t need your services anymore.”

“Are you out of your mind? The Mob is after you. You’ve never needed my protection more.”

He thinks I need his protection.

Not his love. Not him.

Sophie smiled and hoped the sadness that permeated her being wouldn’t show in her face. “Your job is done, Cain. You’re a detective, not a bodyguard. You found the information I asked you to find. Send me the bill.”

He recoiled as if she’d struck him. It took all the strength in her body to stand there and stare back into his angry, confused eyes.

That’s right, Cain. I’m not your client anymore. Maybe now you can admit your feelings for me without feeling guilty for crossing a professional line…without fearing I’ll hurt you like she did.

“Sophie.” He clasped her forearms. “You are the most infuriating, stubborn woman I have ever met.”

“What happened to ‘Sophie, you have a backbone of steel’?” She grinned.

He looked like he wanted to shake her. “Stop fooling around. This case is far from over and I’m not going anywhere. Someone has killed your father and now they are trying to kill you. Do you get that?”

“Of course, I get that. I’m not stupid, Cain. Or foolish. I know it’s a probability the Mob has killed my father. But there’s another scenario, too.”

“Really? And what’s that?”

“My father isn’t dead. He’s hiding. He’s running for his life. And there’s no way I’m going to have any part in leading anyone to him. I don’t want to know where he is anymore so no one can force me to do or say anything that could harm him. I don’t want to know where…or even if…he hid evidence.”

She stepped closer. Her fingers ever so gently traced the stubble on his face. She gazed into his troubled, exhausted eyes. “It’s over, Cain. As of this minute, I’m not your client anymore. Go home. Get some rest.”

“But you’re not safe….”

She held up the pepper spray. “I’m as safe as I’m going to be. You can’t be my bodyguard twenty-four hours a day. I hired you to locate my father.”

“But I didn’t.”

She smiled into his eyes. “You did more, Cain. You gave me back my life. You found out who I really am. Where I come from. Where I belong. It’s enough.” She pressed her lips lightly against his and smiled. “It’s everything.”

“I don’t like this,” he growled like a wounded bear.

Sophie laughed. “You don’t have to like it.” She gently pushed him toward the top step of the porch. “But you have to go. Get some sleep. It will seem clearer to you in the morning.”

He took a step away and then stopped.

“Before I leave, I want you to know that I’m not mad that you pushed me to confide in you about Lucy.”

“You’re not?” Doubt rang in her voice.

He stared into her eyes. “I’m grateful. It’s the first time I shared that information with anyone. All that pain and hurt and guilt was bottled up inside of me, festering, growing. And you helped me get it out.”

She smiled but remained quiet. Waiting. Letting him tell things in his own time, in his own way.

“I’m not saying it was a magic cure for me. I still have strong emotions I have to deal with regarding that time in my life.” He kissed her forehead. “But because of you, now I have a real shot at doing exactly that.”

“Cain, you can talk to me anytime, about anything.”

He brushed his fingers down her cheek and hugged her a little closer. “I know that, Soph. You’re a good friend.”

Friend?

The blood drained from her face and an unsettling feeling twisted her stomach.

“That’s why I threw myself into my work. My emotions were spilling all over the place. I’m not used to feeling that way and I needed the space to clear my head.”

“And did you?” she asked. “Clear your head?”

“I realized I was on the verge of making a horrible mistake. I was letting myself plunge headlong into another personal relationship with someone involved in a case I was working.”

Mistake?
Her stomach clenched. This conversation was not going the way she’d hoped at all.

“Everything was happening so fast I needed to take a step back. I needed to assure myself I wasn’t doing the same stupid thing again.”

Sophie stepped away, hating the slight distance she put between them, already missing the warmth of his body as she broke their contact.

“And what great discovery did you make, Cain?” She surprised herself with how calm her voice sounded. Her insides were tumbling every which way they could but at least her voice wasn’t letting her down.

“No mistake, Sophie. I’ve realized you’re becoming one of my best friends. How can that be wrong?”

Her hopes tumbled to her feet. She looked into his stupid, grinning face and wanted to hit him.

“Friends?”

“Always and forever. I hope you feel the same way about me.”

She smiled weakly in return. “Believe me, Cain. You can’t imagine how I feel about you.”

“Good. Then you agree. We can be friends and still keep this situation between us professional.”

“Sure. Professional.” Tears burned at the back of her eyes but she’d die before she’d shed one in front of him. So he was giving her the brush-off. Because of Lucy. She suddenly understood why people swore.

Is it really that easy for you, Cain? To kiss me? To hold me? And try to convince yourself that nothing remarkable, nothing special is blossoming between us?

And then a lightbulb went on inside her mind and she smiled. He was still running. He
did
feel something special for her and it frightened him. Okay. She understood. After the horrible betrayal from Lucy, it was normal for him to be gun-shy. She’d just have to find a way to convince him he could trust his feelings again. That she wasn’t Lucy. She wouldn’t betray him…ever.

A peace settled over her. All was not lost. There’d be time for him to come to his senses. And firing him from the case was exactly what she needed to do if she wanted to release him from that “professional” wall he’d erected between them.

“I’m sorry I had nothing but bad news for you today.” Then he kissed her, gently, softly, almost as if he were trying to heal the aching hurt he knew she held inside.

“Leave, Cain.” She pushed lightly against his chest. “Go home and get some sleep.”

“I’ll leave…but not until I’m sure you’re safely inside.”

She started to speak and his fingers silenced her lips.

“A lot has been said here tonight. We both need to get some sleep. Clear our heads. We’ll talk again tomorrow.”

He led her inside. She stood in the doorway and promised to lock the door as soon as he made it to the car. Before he left, he turned on the top step and looked at her long and hard as if he was being compelled to say something more.

“Sophie, my mother called and told me what happened at the church today. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

She shrugged. “It’s over and done with.”

“Maybe so,” he said. “But I want you to remember when you think about everything that happened today, and you will—even though I’m hoping you’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep and not dwell on things—I want you to understand something really important.”

“What’s that?”

He stared at her long and hard. “People disappoint people. They do it all the time. I don’t want to ever disappoint you—I hope I never do—but if I do…” He shrugged his shoulders and gave her that lopsided grin of his. “Knowing me, I probably already have.” His expression sobered and his eyes darkened. “But God never will, Soph. If you can count on anything, you can count on that.”

FIFTEEN

S
ophie pulled back the curtain and shaded her eyes against the bright morning sun. She’d slept poorly, tossing and turning most of the night, jumping at every creak and imagined sound she heard. So much for being the big, brave I-can-stand-on-my-own-and-don’t-need-anyone girl she professed to be.

As hard as she’d tried last night to rest her body, it had been impossible to rest her mind. She spent most of the night second-guessing her decisions. Should she have told Holly about receiving the threatening telephone call? Should she have told Sheriff Dalton about the black sedan following her yesterday even though she had no proof it really had been? And most of all, should she have told Cain? He’d left last night believing there’d been no further threatening incidents for over a week. She hadn’t lied to him. He just hadn’t asked her the right questions.

Sins of omission. Hmm.

Besides, he had to leave. She’d fired him.

The beginning of a smile twisted the corner of her mouth as she remembered the shocked expression on his face. She only hoped when he’d rested and had some time to think about things that he’d realize what she’d really done—opened the door to the possibility of more between them.

She took a morning shower, a cold one, and hoped the frigid temperature would shock her system awake. Toweling herself dry, she dressed in a red tank top, denim shorts and sandals. She pulled her hair back and fastened it in a bun on top of her head so she wouldn’t have it hanging on her neck in the heat.

This is just another day. Relax. Worrying never gets a person anywhere.

As she finished her breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen, she allowed herself to think about the devastating news Cain had delivered last night. Were the federal marshals right? Had someone killed her father? A wave of pain seized her heart at the thought she might never see him again.

Or was he on the run? Frightened. Hiding. Alone.

Although she still wished he’d confided in her, she understood now why he’d left without a word. He’d been trying to protect her—just as he’d done his entire life.

Sophie pushed back the curtain over the kitchen sink. Her eyes carefully skimmed the woods for any sign of danger and found none. No shadows. No people hiding in the brush. No obvious threats. But she knew someone was out there. She could feel it. She’d felt it every day she’d been in Promise. Someone was watching every move she made—or else she’d watched too many movies and was making herself paranoid.

Paranoid or not, she chose to be vigilant and err on the side of caution.

After all these years on the run, how had the Mob found them? And why now? Would a crime family actually search over twenty-two years for someone? That joke about the only way to retire from the Mob was six feet under wasn’t really a joke, was it?

She placed her dishes in the rack to dry and emptied the sink.

And now these evil men were following her. The memory of the man’s black, lifeless eyes in her rearview mirror flashed through her mind and chills slithered over her spine.

Maybe she should have told Cain about the whispered phone threat and the black sedan following her.

No. Bad move. Can’t do that.

She needed him to come back on his own…because he wanted to…because he needed to…because he needed her. Sophie touched her lips with the tip of her fingers. Their kiss had been meaningful, something special definitely blossoming between them. And she knew he’d felt it, too. He’d call. She just had to be patient and wait.

Yeah, right. Patient. Then why hadn’t she been able to take her eyes off the phone the entire time she’d spent eating her cereal and finishing her second cup of coffee?

She wasn’t his client anymore. No professional conflicts. Freedom to explore their budding relationship further. Freedom to find out if what they had could lead to something more…something serious and lasting.

He’d call.

She checked her cell phone for messages.

None.

She crossed the room and picked up the receiver to check for a dial tone.

The familiar buzz sounded in her ear. Phone’s working. That’s good. He’s going to call. Just not yet.

She left the kitchen, walked over and looked out the front door. Again, she did a quick surveillance of her property and the surrounding woods. Everything A-OK.

What should she do now? Ever since the whispered demand to give back what was theirs, she’d ransacked every nook and cranny of this home and tried to find the “evidence” that everyone thought she possessed but had come up empty-handed.

They were out there. She could feel them watching her. Waiting. Hoping she’d lead them right to her father. She couldn’t allow that to happen. But she wasn’t sure how to avoid it.

Should she stay in Promise and hope her father stayed far away? Or would he make his way back here to see that she was okay? That was what the Mob wanted him to do. And knowing how much her father loved her, deep in her gut she was terrified that that’s exactly what he’d do…if he could.

So did she have to leave Promise?

Her eyes burned with tears. How could she? This was home now. She had a job with Mrs. Garrison teaching art to teens. She had a best friend for the first time in her life with Holly. And she had Cain…something special, something wonderful was happening between them…even if he didn’t realize it yet.

But if leaving meant keeping her father safe…

Oh, Lord, help me make the right decision.

The prayer entered her mind with lightning speed, as if talking to God was natural and normal. Sophie felt a wave of relief. It
was
natural for her to talk to God. He’d been there with her through every waking moment of her life. And He was with her now, even though she had turned away. In the quiet of this cottage, in the sunlit glow of the morning, she felt His presence—still. A lone tear slid down her face. She dropped to her knees and prayed.

God, please forgive me. I’ve been acting like a spoiled child, throwing temper tantrums because I didn’t like the circumstances of my life, because answers didn’t come when I wanted them. But You have Your own plans for my life. You have guided me and loved me all my life. I beg You to forgive me and guide me now. I am so sorry, Lord. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to turn.

When she lifted her eyes, she spotted the Bible she’d carelessly tossed on the end table when she’d first arrived in Promise—her mother’s Bible. She picked it up and caressed the soft leather. Sophie sat down, gently opened the well-worn pages and began to read.