Secret Vows (Hideaway (Kimani)) (5 page)

“I don’t think you have to worry about him. He comes from money, so I doubt if he would be involved in anything illegal. Folks say he’s angry because he has no purpose or direction in life except to exist.”

“Boo hoo,” Greer drawled. “We should all have that problem. My heart doesn’t bleed for him, Uncle Bobby,” she added sarcastically.

“What would you do if you suddenly found you were wealthy beyond your wildest imagination?”

She sobered quickly. “That’s not going to happen, and if I did come into a lot of money, I’d put in for a leave of absence, then go to some private tropical island and do absolutely nothing but eat, drink, swim and sleep for at least three months.”

Bobby nodded. “That’s what I intend to do when I retire. What I have to decide is whether I want Hawaii or the Caribbean. Speaking of Chase, he’s an interesting character. And once you get to know Jason, you’ll realize he’s an all-around nice guy.”

“Why did he build a place here in Mission Grove? Wouldn’t L.A. be more his style?”

“Jason’s the antithesis of Tinseltown. He built a nice little house on an eight-acre parcel that sold for more money than some people make in two or three years. It’s not as ostentatious as a few of the others. I overheard someone say it’s somewhere around five thousand square feet.”

“How large are the others?” Greer asked. In her opinion five thousand square feet was definitely not a little house.

“Anywhere from ten to fifteen thousand.”

She scrunched up her nose. “Unless you have a tribe of children, what would you need with fifteen thousand square feet of living space?”

“I wouldn’t know. When Stella and I bought our house, we’d planned to have at least two kids, but I suppose the good Lord knew what He was doing when He didn’t give us any with both of us working around the clock.”

Reaching across the table, Greer patted his forearm. “He did give you kids, even if it was only part-time. You have me and Cooper.”

Bobby grasped her hand, pressing a kiss on her knuckles. “That He did.” A wry grin twisted his mouth. “I loved taking you and your brother camping in the woods, teaching you guys how to fly-fish and shoot. Cooper was always pissed off because you were a better shot.”

“He eventually got over it after he joined the bureau.”

Greer’s thoughts drifted back to Jason. She wanted to ask her uncle, if Jason was really a nice guy, then what was his connection to Chase? She found it odd that Chase never shared his table, and only on a rare occasion did he sit and talk with anyone for any appreciable length of time.

“I’m going to call it a night. After I soak my feet, I’m going straight to bed,” Greer said.

Standing up, she kissed Bobby’s cheek, and then walked on sock-covered feet to the kitchen, leaving the mug in the stainless-steel sink for Danny to put in the dishwasher.

Returning to the table to put her shoes back on with a groan, she exited the building and headed to Bobby’s vehicle, on loan to her for as long as she was here.

All thoughts, of Chase, Jason and why she was working in Stella’s, faded as she started up the ancient truck. The engine to Johnny B. Goode II roared to life, shattering the quiet of the night. The year she had turned fifteen, Bobby had taught her to drive. He’d bought the 1956 Ford F-100 from a farmer and named it after his favorite Chuck Berry song. Greer had stalled out a number of times until learning to ease off the clutch slowly while depressing the gas pedal. The classic truck had a rebuilt engine and was fitted with power disc brakes. It sported a new coat of red paint, and black leather seats had replaced the tattered cloth ones.

She preferred a standard shift car to an automatic because it forced her to concentrate on the narrow road winding around the lake. Several times each year a motorist would speed, fall asleep or miss a sharp turn and end up in the lake. Fortunately there were few that drowned. She passed the sign leading to Bear Ridge Estates, noting the gatehouse and towering massive iron gates protecting the residents living in the exclusive community with multimillion-dollar homes.

She still couldn’t shake her nagging suspicion that Charles “Chase” Bromleigh was more than a ne’er-do-well that didn’t have to concern himself working as a nine-to-fiver. He wouldn’t be the first wealthy psychopath that embarked on a life of crime, and if her instincts were right, then Greer knew—in order to get close to Chase—she would have to befriend Jason. And she had the perfect secret that was certain to get Jason’s attention.

Maneuvering into the driveway of the house that had become her temporary home, Greer punched a button on the visor of the pickup and the automatic door to the two-car garage slid up. She parked beside an outboard motor boat resting on a trailer. The boat, also named Johnny B. Goode, was several years older than the pickup, and she had lost track of the number of times she and Cooper would take the boat across the lake to Stella’s before either of them had driver’s licenses. Bobby had issued a firm mandate that they wear life vests when riding in the boat although they’d become proficient swimmers.

She unlocked the door leading from the garage into a mudroom, disarmed the security system, then activated it again before slipping out of her running shoes and leaving them on a thick straw mat. It was time she traded the running shoes for a pair of shoes that gave her legs the support needed for her to be on her feet for hours at a time.

The moment Greer climbed the staircase to the second floor, she knew why her uncle had decided not to continue to live at the house with awesome views of the lake and valley. It was too quiet. Even now that her aunt was gone, her presence lingered along with the scent of her favorite perfume.

Greer had programmed the lights in the house to come on and go off at different intervals, giving the appearance that it wasn’t unoccupied. The crime rate in Mission Grove wasn’t what it would be in a more densely populated area, but there was enough criminal activity to warrant having a four-man police force. There had been a time when the small town was patrolled by the county sheriff, but that had changed once the residents of Bear Ridge demanded more of a police presence and were willing to underwrite the cost of having around-the-clock police protection beyond what they paid for private security. Anyone, other than residents, entering or leaving was subject to go through a security checkpoint.

Greer turned on the water in the bathroom, added a generous amount of scented bath salts and stripped off her clothes, leaving them in a large wicker hamper. By the time she’d brushed her teeth and washed her face, the water had reached the level she needed for a leisurely soak. Removing the elastic band holding her hair in a ponytail, she combed it out and secured the chemically relaxed strands in a topknot.

All thoughts of why she was in a small Oregon town faded when she stepped into the warm water, sat down and closed her eyes. The water cooled and Greer still did not stir. It was when she found herself falling asleep that she picked up a sponge and a bottle of bath gel and soaped her neck and shoulders.

Her movements were slow, mechanical, when she finished bathing. Wrapping a thick bath sheet around her body, she returned to her bedroom and fell across the bed. Within minutes she’d fallen into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Chapter 4

J
ason woke at three the following morning, but forced himself to remain in bed. He fell asleep once more and didn’t wake again until daylight came in through the bedroom skylights. He knew his first day would be spent settling into Serenity West. He had to be up and dressed by nine. He’d contacted a cleaning service before leaving Florida to send a team to dust and air out the entire house.

His to-do list also included shopping for groceries to stock the refrigerator/freezer and pantry. Jason was as deficient when it came to housecleaning as he was proficient in writing music. He’d continued the tradition of Cole men whose mothers had taught them to cook so they wouldn’t have to rely on a woman to feed them. He knew it would take another day before he’d get into the routine of rising and going into the studio.

Going up on an elbow, he glanced around the bedroom. He’d lingered long enough the night before to remove dustcovers from tables, chairs, the armoire, triple dresser and highboy. Jason had worked closely with the architect that his interior decorator aunt had recommended, and it’d taken more than three months before he had finally approved the house’s design.

He wanted a house that would fit into the forest setting. It was to be constructed from a log-timber frame, with a broad sheltering roof and using lots of natural materials. The design brought the upper and lower decks close to a forested area, and the generous overhangs kept rain off the windows while protecting the siding and foundation. The lower level was an open gallery of rooms, the media center separate from the primary family living space and the recording studio accessible by a stairway leading to the basement level.

His cell chimed a familiar ring tone. Reaching across his body, Jason picked up the phone. “Good morning, Mrs. Jones.”

Ana’s giggles came through the earpiece. “Good morning, Jay. How are you?”

Jason smiled. “Wonderful.”

“I’m calling because Mom claims she hasn’t heard from you.”

His smile vanished quickly. “Tell
your
mother that I’m okay.”

“I’m not going to act as a go-between—”

“But you are, Ana,” Jason accused his twin sister, “when you accuse me of not checking in. I shouldn’t have to tell you how old I am because we share the same birthday, and at thirty-three, I don’t believe I should have to check in with my mother. You never did when you went away.”

There came a beat of silence. “It’s because I didn’t live at home at thirty-three. Within months of graduating law school, I moved out and got my own place, while you’re still living at home. It’s about respect, Jason. Mom didn’t even know you were gone until she spoke to Diego who told her that you’d made arrangements with him to fly to the west coast. You could’ve left a note.”

Jason ran a hand over his cropped hair. He knew Ana was right. And it was because he still lived under his parents’ roof that his mother felt he was obligated to let her know if he planned to be away for a while. All of his siblings had moved out in their twenties, and he’d stayed much too long. Recalling what Chase had said the night before—about not having a wife monitoring his coming and going—brought everything into focus.

“I’ll call her, Ana, and let her know that I’m okay.”

Jason knew his mother’s apprehension came from the alleged feud between Serenity and Slow Wyne Records because Ana had won the bidding war to sign singing phenom Justin Glover. Basil Irvine, humiliated because he’d lost to a woman, had taken a contract out on his rival. The assassin hired to kill Ana had missed his target. Tyler Cole had taken a bullet to the head intended for Ana. Fortunately Tyler recovered, and Ana had gone into hiding where she’d married her protector.

“Thanks, Jay. Mom hasn’t been herself since we discovered one of our employees was spying for Slow Wyne Records.”

Jason nodded although Ana couldn’t see him. “That’s over, Ana.”

“Is it really?”

He heard the apprehension in her voice. “Of course it is. Basil’s six feet under, so he can’t bother anyone again.”

The carefully orchestrated plan to take out the CEO of the L.A.-based record label was reminiscent of a plot from a cold war spy novel. The operative was in and out of Basil’s palatial Beverly Hills mansion in fewer than twenty minutes, having never been seen. Basil’s houseboy discovered his boss’s lifeless body. He called Basil’s brother and then the LAPD. The medical examiner’s report confirmed Basil had died from a massive coronary, attributing it to a combination of alcohol and antianxiety medication. Basil’s younger brother Webb had assumed control of the label and, unlike the deceased CEO, had elected to stay out of the spotlight.

Jason chatted with Ana for another two minutes before ending the call. He touched the cell’s screen for his mother’s number, holding the phone away from his ear when she launched into a tirade about how his disappearing act was hastening her demise.

Waiting for a pause in the ranting on the other end of the line, he said in a calming voice, “Mom. I’ve never known you to be so melodramatic.” His attempt to placate Serena backfired when she switched from English to Spanish, the words tumbling over one another. His mother was born in the States, but raised in Costa Rica after her mother had married a Costa Rican government official. Jason heard his father in the background asking his wife to calm down. Jason was tempted to hang up when David’s voice came through the earpiece.

“What did you say that set your mother off? She’s hysterical.”

“Dad, come on. You know how she is nowadays.”

“No, I don’t know
how she is,
” David countered defensively. “All I know is
my
wife and
your
mother is having an emotional meltdown.”

Jason repeated the conversation he’d had with Ana. “It’s apparent
your
wife and
my
mother is under the impression that I’m a child who has to check in as if I were on work release. Would it make her feel better if I wore an ankle monitor?”

There came a beat. “Jason, I want you to try and understand where your mother is coming from. We came very close to losing Tyler, when we all know that bullet was meant for Ana. This is the second time Martin and Parris have found their children’s lives at risk, and that is a situation no parent should have to experience.”

“What does this have to do with me, Dad?”

“I want you to be careful, son. We may have chopped off the head of the snake, but this snake is different because it has the uncanny ability to grow another head. One that belongs to Webb Irvine. One of Simon’s investigators found a witness who claims it was Basil and not Webb who’d stomped a man to death. Meanwhile Webb did a term for his older brother because, as a fifteen-year-old, he knew he would be sent to a juvenile facility rather than jail.”

“But Webb did go to jail,” Jason argued. The man had spent ten years in a California minimum security prison.

“That was only after he’d turned eighteen. There had been bad blood between Basil and Leon Burke because Leon owed him money, but the situation got worse when Webb got Leon’s thirteen-year-old sister pregnant, then denied the baby was his. Leon extracted revenge when he cut up Webb’s face. Basil retaliated by kicking him to death.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Jason asked his father. “Basil’s dead and I doubt if Webb is going to follow in his brother’s footsteps.”

“I doubt it, too. But this is not about Slow Wyne Records. It’s about your mother. She’s earned the right to worry about you because she
is
your mother.”

Jason exhaled an audible breath. “Okay. I’ll give her that, but she can’t expect—”

“I know what you’re going to say,” David interrupted, “and I agree with you. You’re an adult, and you shouldn’t have to check in. Just promise me you’ll be careful, and I’ll make things right on this end.”

“I’ll be careful, Dad.” He’d say anything not to prolong the conversation.

Jason wasn’t argumentative by nature, eschewed confrontation and occasionally stepped in as the mediator during a family conflict. Unlike his older brother Gabriel, Jason never ingratiated himself into his sisters’ romantic relationships. The only love-related advice he’d given his siblings was not to get involved with anyone in the music business. Fortunately they’d heeded his warning. Alexandra had married a man who worked for the CIA, and Ana had recently married a U.S. marshal.

“Thanks, Jason.”

“No problem, Dad.”

He ended the call, shaking his head. Jason could not have imagined his day would begin with family drama. After all, it wasn’t the first time he’d taken off without letting his parents know where he was going. If they’d wanted to know his whereabouts, then they only had to ask Ana. But things had changed because Ana and her husband divided their weekends between Boca Raton and the Keys.

Jason had come to Mission Grove to get away from the chaos, madness and mayhem that had everyone in his family on edge for the past three months. All he wanted to do was go into the studio and write the music that had haunted him for more than a year. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he headed for the bathroom. He planned to be dressed by the time the cleaning service arrived.

Los Angeles, California

Webb Irvine came to his feet when the man he’d waited days to see was ushered into his home office. He hadn’t known what to expect but it wasn’t the pale, slightly built, seemingly emaciated man wearing small oval sunglasses, making it impossible to discern the color of his eyes. His gaze went from the shaved head, narrow face and down to an ill-fitting black suit. It was impossible to pinpoint his age. He could’ve been anywhere between thirty and fifty. Webb smiled and the network of scar tissue along his left cheek was reminiscent of blisters. What had been a shockingly handsome face was now hideously deformed.

He nodded to the woman whom he’d come to depend upon to keep his household running smoothly and to covet his innermost secrets; she was his mother. “Thank you, Donna,” he said softly. “And will you please close the door.”

It wasn’t until after the death of his brother that Webb had asked her to come and live with him. At first she’d balked, then relented. After all there was more than enough room in the Hollywood Hills mansion for them not to run into each other. Webb had fired his former housekeeper because she was a snoop. The woman didn’t know he’d installed cameras throughout the house, and every night before retiring for bed, he’d view the footage. At first he’d believed it was a fluke and that she was just straightening up his desk, but when he saw her attempting to open the wall safe behind a painting, he knew he had to fire her. His mother could care less about his business dealings. She was grateful he’d moved her out of Watts to an upscale community where the price for homes started at seven figures.

Webb took his visitor’s extended hand and then gestured to two facing off-white leather love seats. “Please sit down, Mr. Monk.”

“It’s just Monk, Mr. Irvine.”

Waiting until the man was seated, he walked over to a well-stocked bar. “Would you like something to drink, Monk?”

“No, thank you. I just celebrated my sixteenth year of sobriety.” He lifted a frightfully thin hand. “It won’t bother me if you have something.”

Webb smiled again. “Congratulations on your sobriety.”

He hadn’t outlined what he wanted from Monk, but the fact that the man had agreed to meet with him would warrant a celebratory cocktail after he left. Opening the built-in refrigerator, he took out a bottle of sparkling water and poured it into a crystal glass. Sitting opposite Monk, he raised the glass in a salute. “I want to thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”

Monk wanted to tell the man with the scarred face that he’d only agreed to come in person because Webb Irvine had been recommended by a mutual friend. “Tell me what you need, and I’ll let you know whether it can be done.”

“Are you familiar with Serenity Records?”

Monk nodded. “I’ve heard of them.”

Putting the glass to his mouth, Webb took a deep swallow. “They’re my direct competition and...”

“And you want them eliminated,” Monk said, reading Webb’s mind.

Crossing his legs, the president and CEO of Slow Wyne Records stared at the toe of his imported slip-on. “I think I better give you some background information on my dilemma. My late brother hired someone to eliminate Ana Cole. She’s responsible for the day-to-day operation of Serenity.” He paused long enough to take another sip of water. “Basil hired a sniper to take her out, but they missed and shot one of her relatives.”

“That was his first dumb mistake,” Monk drawled. “If you want to eliminate someone, you get up real close and personal and put a bullet in her head.”

Webb gritted his teeth. He wanted to tell the man in black that he shouldn’t speak ill of the dead but he didn’t want to alienate him. Not when he was prepared to pay him an obscene amount of money to give Basil in death what he wasn’t able to obtain in life.

“You can’t go after her again,” Monk continued.

“I know. That’s why we’ve shifted our attention to her brother. His name is Jason Cole.”

“Where does he live?”

“Boca Raton, Florida. We had someone on the inside at Serenity that told us he still lives in his parents’ home, but mentioned he may have a place in either Washington or Oregon.”

“Did this person tell you which city?”

Webb shook his head. “No. She’s no longer working there.”

Monk rested his hands on his knees. “Tell me about this Jason. Is he married? Does he have a girlfriend or children?”

“I believe he’s single. I’m not certain whether he has a girlfriend, and I doubt if he has children.”

“That doesn’t matter. It’s easy enough to find out about his kids.”

“If he has kids, then I don’t want them touched.” Webb didn’t know how, but he could feel the heat of Monk’s gaze behind the dark lenses.

“I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, Mr. Irvine, but I don’t kill children. If Jason has children, then it would make him more visible. After all, children have to go to school. I will eliminate your Mr. Cole using my own methods. You’ve been told that my fee is half down and the other half when the job is completed. Once I pick up my final payment, you will never see me again.”