Just Desserts (28 page)

She wanted Finn. He would understand. He had driven back to his place to get Rhoda. How long did it take to drive to Montauk and back? If there was something to worry about, he would tell her. He hadn't minced words earlier when he told her about the phone call from the private investigator. He wouldn't mince words about Lizzie either.

“Idiot,” she said out loud. He always had his cell phone with him. She had his number programmed in hers. She dashed upstairs to get her phone.

Finn answered on the first ring.

“I don't like it,” he said after she explained the situation. “I saw Zach at the supermarket near my house this morning. He was getting money from the seven-day banking center.”

“I don't understand. What does that have to do with Lizzie?”

“I'm not sure,” he admitted, “but I don't have a good feeling about this.”

Ten minutes later he pulled into the driveway and for the first time since she discovered Lizzie was missing, Hayley felt like they were doing something to find her.

Finn had Tommy call the local police.

“Nothing,” Tommy said after he hung up. “No accidents. No reports.”

The relief was palpable.

“Maybe it really is nothing,” Hayley said. How many teenagers could resist that bouquet of cars in the driveway?

“You need to check her computer,” Finn said.

“I can't do that.”

“E-mails, browsing history, whatever you can find.”

“That's an invasion of her privacy. I would never do that.”

“I read your diary when you were in sixth grade,” Jane said. “I was afraid you were taking drugs.”

“You did what?” Hayley spun around toward her mother. “I didn't know that.”

“You weren't supposed to know it,” Jane said. “Fortunately I had nothing to worry about.”

“Thomas made my life a living hell,” CeCe said. “Now don't be shocked but this”—she patted her coiffure—“isn't my natural color. I was entirely gray by the time I turned forty. He and Jack—” She turned toward Hayley. “That's Finn's father. He and Jack used to cut school and head into Manhattan to hang out with other musicians. God knows what they did when they got there. I needed Valium to get through his teen years.”

“I eavesdropped on you and Michael when you first started dating,” Fiona admitted. “I knew he was bad news. I should have followed my instincts and kept you two apart.”

“Parents do what they have to do to keep their kids safe,” Tommy said. “It's a dangerous world. The old rules don't apply.”

“I concur,” John said. “My late wife and I had many difficulties with our oldest daughter. For what it's worth, now is the time to take charge.”

“I'm not a parent,” Finn said, “but I know which side I'd come down on.”

Her daughter's safety or her daughter's trust. At that moment she was willing to forfeit the latter for the former.

“I can't do it,” she said to Finn. “You do it.”

Finn looked at her but she refused to meet his eyes. He wasn't part of the Goldstein girls' permanent landscape so he was the perfect candidate for the job. Lizzie's anger would fade right along with his memory.

He followed Hayley upstairs to Lizzie's room.

“A teenager who hangs up her clothes,” he said, trying to keep things light. “Wow.”

“She doesn't get it from me,” Hayley said.

“The shower curtain. I remember.”

There had been something between them. Something real. The possibility of something lasting.

Damn.

Lizzie's laptop was open on the center of the bed. The AC cord snaked across the pale ivory spread. He followed the trail to the wall outlet a few feet away.

So this was parenthood, he thought as he pressed the power button. Feeling like a low-life bastard for a very high-minded reason.

Resuming Windows…

“Okay…there's her e-mail client…AuntieEm?”

“My sister-in-law Michelle.”

“GoldCoastConnie.”

“My former mother-in-law.”

Friends. Teachers. Spam.

“MKG329302.”

“Her father.”

He scanned the folder of e-mails. Lizzie's heart was right there on display in every single one of them. She loved her father and the son of a bitch had been using that to his best advantage.

He searched Word folders and Notepad files, and checked her browsing history.

“Does she have an account at Lakeside Bank?”

Hayley blanched. “Her college fund.”

He hated to ask the next question. “Does she have access to it?”

“Yes.”

“Go through her files and e-mails,” he said. “Take the computer downstairs and print out everything that might be pertinent.”

“You're scaring me.”

“I don't think she's in physical danger.”

“But—?”

“I think she's been making withdrawals from the account,” he said, wishing he didn't have to tell her his suspicion.

He could see the thousand different scenarios, each one worse than the other, as they flew through her mind.

“I think she's been giving the money to her father.”

“Not even Michael could be that big a bastard.”

“I saw Zach at the bank this morning. He was making a withdrawal. I have a gut feeling it's connected somehow.”

“Zach? How could he figure in this?”

“Another suspicion,” he said.

“What aren't you telling me, Finn?”

“Nothing. I—”

The house intercom crackled to life. “Better get down here,” Tommy said through a hail of static. “The boys are back and Lizzie isn't with them.”

They raced downstairs and found Tommy, incandescent with rage, and two extremely uncomfortable teenage boys in the study.

“Tell her,” Tommy commanded the second Hayley and Finn burst into the room.

Zach shot him a look. “But—”

“Everything,” Tommy said. “Every last thing you told me.”

 

Hayley felt like she had stepped into the eye of a category 5 hurricane. Zach and Winston finished their story and before she could fight down her fear Finn stepped in and took charge with Tommy not far behind.

“What's the name of the café where you left her?” Finn asked as he grabbed for his car keys.

“Kelley's,” Winston said.

“That's in Quogue,” Tommy said to Hayley. “Off Montauk Highway, west of here.”

It might as well have been an island off Sumatra for all she knew of Long Island geography.

Finn hesitated then drew her into a quick embrace. “We're going to find her and bring her home,” he said. “Keep your cell on.”

“I'm going with you.”

“No chance in hell.”

“She's my daughter.”

“You need to stay here in case she phones.”

“She has my cell number. She'd use that.”

“I'll go with you,” Tommy said.

“Not a good idea,” Finn said. “You don't exactly have a low profile, Tom.”

When Tommy Stiles walked into a room, everyone noticed. Finn's biggest advantage was anonymity.

“You can't stop me from going,” Hayley challenged him. “I'll take one of Tommy's cars and follow you.”

“Is that what you really want?” Finn shot back. “Do you really want Lizzie to see her mother and father going at it right in front of her and everyone else in that café?”

“No, but—”

“Think about it. He's in trouble. You read those e-mails. Who the hell knows what he's not telling her? He's set himself up as a victim in her eyes and she'd do anything to help him. She knows how you feel about him. Whose side do you think she'd take if it hit the fan?”

The truth really did hurt. A lot more than she would have expected.

“You shouldn't go alone,” she said as the fight began to drain out of her.

“He's not.” Anton loomed in the doorway. “Never hurts to have backup.”

She almost cried with relief. “I don't care about the money,” she said as bile seared the back of her throat. “I don't care about Michael. Just get her away from him.” She struggled hard to keep from crying. “Just bring her back.”

 

“You know the odds, don't you?” Anton had never been one to sugarcoat the truth.

“I don't give a damn about the odds,” Finn said, adjusting the windshield wipers.

“They dropped her off over an hour ago. She's probably gone off with her father by now.”

“Maybe,” Finn said. “Maybe not. From what Zach said, she was going to meet him somewhere between two and three. He doesn't strike me as a real punctual kind of guy.”

“People can get real punctual when there's money involved.”

He clued Anton in on the information Charles had given him earlier that morning. Hard to believe that was less than five hours ago. It felt like a lifetime.

“He's connected?” Anton asked.

“Seems like.”

“Not good.”

“Tell me about it.”

“If he has that crowd after him, he's desperate.”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “Desperate enough to strip his kid's bank account.”

“It could get ugly.”

As far as Finn could see, it already had.

 

The rain let up and Hayley escaped the house for the relative solitude of the terraced deck. The endless offers of food and drink and company were meant to comfort her but they made her feel more of an outsider than ever.

She almost groaned at the sound of footsteps behind her.

“It's freezing out here,” Willow said, wrapping her arms across her chest. “Tommy's mother made a pot of coffee. Come in and have a cup.”

She shook her head. “I'm fine.”

Willow leaned her elbows on the railing and looked out toward the ocean. Up close and without a scrap of makeup, the woman's beauty was staggering.

“What is it like to be so gorgeous?” she asked, unable to stop herself.

“What is it like to be you?” Willow countered. “You're all they can talk about in there. Where's Hayley? Is Hayley okay? Does Hayley need anything?”

“They're worried about Lizzie.”

“Sure they are,” Willow said, “but it's you they're talking about.” She met Hayley's eyes. “I've been around for almost two years and I still barely register with anyone but Thomas.”

“He's crazy about you,” Hayley said. “It took me all of ten seconds to figure that out.”

“Well, the rest of them aren't.”

“Then it's a good thing you're marrying Tommy and not his entire family.”

“You have a lot to learn. The Stiles clan runs in a pack and those she-wolf daughters of his are never going to let me into the sacred circle.”

“If it's any consolation, they're not too thrilled with me either.”

Willow laughed. “Actually that does make me feel a lot better.”

“Glad to help,” Hayley said with a grin. “Maybe we should hire a food taster.”

Willow didn't get the reference so Hayley let it pass.

“How are you feeling? Is everything okay with the baby?”

“We're fine. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you the other night. I saw Tommy talking to you and—” She wrinkled her face. “I jumped to conclusions. I'm really sorry.”

“Given my father's marital track record, I can't say I blame you.”

They chatted easily about pregnancy and childbirth and to her surprise Hayley found herself starting to like the beautiful young woman.

“Just in case you were wondering, I don't need his money,” Willow said as the rain started to come down again. “I might actually have more than he does.”

“It's a new world,” Hayley said with a sigh. “Marriages are formed like corporations. Everyone wants their golden parachute in case things go wrong.”

Willow didn't get that reference either. This time Hayley chalked it up to the generation gap.

“Finn says they're protecting him, but I think they're protecting their inheritance.” She grimaced. “Sorry again. I didn't mean it the way it sounded. You're one of his kids. You're in line to inherit too.”

“I know what you're really worried about,” Hayley said. “You're worried they won't love your child.”

“Wow,” Willow said without irony. “How did you know that?”