Searching for Eden, page 23
Selah, Dax, the homeless kids she took food to every night. Who cared for them now? Did any of them miss her, or was she a blip on their radar?
“Enough. All this feeling sorry for yourself. A few months ago, you thought this kind of life was for starry-eyed fools. You’re a bonehead for pining after someone who put his faith in a fantasy.” She snorted at her own stupidity, and jumped from the bed, tore the sheets to the floor, and headed to the bathroom.
Not knowing when the next chance would come for such luxury, she entered the shower, cranked it to hot, and turned her face into the spray, letting the scalding water melt the tears. Until her mind became a blessed blank.
Until her heart went numb.
After she dried her hair and stuffed her few belongings into a garbage bag, the sheets went into the wash, the bathroom got a full clean, and she wiped down everything else in the house.
A sob grew at the base of her throat. All trace of her gone with a swish and swipe.
With her pitiful bag of clothes at her feet, she stood at the kitchen counter, pen poised over a blank sheet of paper. Words refused to form. Nothing would be good enough.
Thank you was something you said when someone passed the ketchup or opened a door for you. Not for people who taught you about life and love.
It occurred to her she had no clue how to say goodbye. People in her life just left without a word.
One day her father went to work and never came home. Her mother overdosed not long after. She and Jared lived with their grandmother until they didn’t. Jared breezed in and out of her life as he pleased. The way he lived, she never knew if it would be the last.
Heat burned behind her eyelids. She dropped the pen, grabbed her bag, and crossed the kitchen floor for the last time. At the door, she stopped. The urge to turn and gaze on it all one last time almost destroyed her.
But it would hurt too much.
The old familiar loneliness seared her insides the instant the door slid closed with a hollow thunk. This ache went far deeper than in the past.
Always on the outside looking in.
Dragging her garbage bag luggage across the gravel, she tossed it in the back of the Jeep. She’d find a way to get the car back to him. Find a way to repay Liam for all he’d done. Right now, she needed a get-out-of-dodge free card.
She shoved her hands into her coat and walked to the obstacle course. It was the first time Liam had looked past her faults. Maybe even respected her in his own gruff way.
Everywhere her gaze landed, there was a reminder of the last couple of months. She dropped her chin and shuffled her feet before she pivoted to walk away when something caught her eye.
A cigarette butt?
She scanned the area. There were so many of them. The night by the fire pit. The smell. The noises.
Someone had been here.
She dropped her arms to her side and took two steps back, searching the trees for any sign of life. They could be out there now. Waiting. She executed an about-face and dodged for the Jeep.
A tsunami of adrenaline surged through her veins.
She didn’t belong here. Never did. Jared and Smoke were the only people she had left.
Smoke. Her feet slowed. Of course. He would know where Jared was. Her brother’s warning rang in her head. Trust no one.
She put the thought aside for now and climbed in the car.
At the end of the driveway, she paused. Which way? No ID, no passport, where does someone like that go? It really didn’t matter. Her only goal was putting as much distance between herself and the Conlins.
She turned right.
West seemed as good a direction as any other.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Liam wound his way through the parking lot of Wildwood Elementary. His heart rate accelerated with each repeated loop of the strange phone call from the school secretary. It fell into the no parent wants this call category.
No disclosure of what the problem was, no idea which kid was involved, just “we need to see you as soon as possible.” The cryptic everyone is fine did nothing to appease the dread settling into the nooks and crannies of the muscles bunched between his shoulder blades.
The fact he’d just started his search for the initials he’d found in Eden’s chicken scratch the night before heightened the drama barreling through his veins like a tank down main street.
His eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the dark interior of the old building after the bright glare from the morning sun. Typical, old school smells mingled with the cloud of cologne floating from the guy in front of him at the secretary’s window.
She photocopied the man’s license and had him sign the log.
Liam rocked back on his heels. While he was happy about all the precautions, he could do without all the chit-chat that went along with it. After thorough directions to get to the cafeteria, the man left, and Liam stepped up to the plexiglass window.
“Liam Conlin, to see the principal.”
The chit-chatty smile contorted into a frown, followed by a mumbled pfft. She buzzed him through the door without a greeting.
Zoe squirmed in a chair outside the principal’s office. With her feet on the seat, head crumpled against her knees, she didn’t see him.
A gentle breeze could have knocked him over. Neither of his kids had a history of trouble in school, but his money had been on Noah.
Zoe glanced up and scrubbed the heel of her palms into tear-soaked eyes, blinked three times, then launched herself from the chair. “Oh, Daddy, I didn’t mean to do it. It was an accident.”
He knelt down, and she wrapped him in a suffocating hug. “What happened?” He pulled her back and wiped a tear.
Her eyelids dropped, refusing to look at him. “I didn’t mean to do it,” she repeated.
“Mr. Conlin, thank you for coming.”
Liam stood and extended his hand.
Principal Barrett was a tall, slim woman in her mid to late fifties. Usually, a warm, friendly smile greeted parents. Today, her mouth pinched into a tight slash. “Zoe. Wait here while your father and I talk.” She motioned to the bench outside her office. “I’ll call you in a few minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Please have a seat.” Ms. Barrett waved him into her office and closed the door behind them. “I’m sorry to have to call you like this. Zoe has never been a problem before, and I’m sure it’s as she said, an accident. But we can’t let something like this go unaddressed.”
“Exactly what happened?”
Ms. Barrett pulled out a chair and sat. “It seems she decided to show her friends one of her new self-defense moves during PE. The teacher was busy with another student, and Zoe used the time to hold her own class. I’m all for kids taking martial arts, but they should be taught the importance of discipline. They can’t use the techniques on their friends.”
Liam shook his head. “Wait, you lost me. What self-defense moves? She isn’t taking martial arts classes.”
“I just assumed since she said she’s been learning self-defense that you took her to classes. If you’ve been teaching her, then I would object. It’s been my experience that something like this should be left to professionals. They know better how to train the young ones.”
Liam shrugged off the slow burn that warmed his neck. The fact this woman thought him so irresponsible was a secondary issue. Zoe hurt someone? “Let’s try this again. My Zoe, the little butterfly sitting outside your office, attacked another child? She must have landed a punch, or I wouldn’t be sitting here. And, just spit-balling, but based on your attitude, you must think I condone this kind of behavior.”
She busied herself shuffling a stack of folders and nodded. “No need to be defensive, but yes, that sums it up.”
“I’m sure this must seem like the end of the world but, my daughter doesn’t know self-defense. Maybe she flailed her arms or something and caught another kid by mistake. I hardly think this warrants a visit from me.”
“Mr. Conlin, I assure you, the entire thing was witnessed by several children. Zoe was teaching the girls how to get away from someone when attacked. In the process, she punched one of the boys in the eye. When he left with his parents, it was already turning purple.” She primly folded her hands on top of the folders and pinned him with a scowl.
He quirked an eyebrow. “My Zoe? Blackened another kid’s eye?”
“Why don’t we see what she has to say?” Ms. Barrett called Zoe into the office. “Zoe, tell your father what happened.”
“It was an accident.”
“Okaaay. Why don’t you tell me what you were doing to cause the accident?” He tried to keep his voice level and calm, but the tenuous hold on his control slipped with each minute that ticked by. None of this made any sense. His happy, bubbly little girl didn’t even like it when Noah stepped on a spider.
“I wanted all my friends to be safe, too. It’s not fair if I know how to defend myself, but they don’t. I asked Dylan to pretend to be a bad guy. I wasn’t going to really hit him, I just got too close.”
“But Zoe, you don’t know anything about this. Why would you do that?”
“Yes, I do. Eden taught us, and I’ve been practicing.”
Everything slowed to a crawl. He had no idea how much time passed as he processed this new information. “Eden?” He managed to ground out from behind clamped teeth.
“Yup. She’s been showing Noah and me...” Zoe’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wider than an innocent fawn. “I wasn’t supposed to tell.”
“You weren’t supposed to tell...” Liam’s jaw locked, and a muscled ticked under his ear. “Ms. Barrett, I am sorry for what happened today. Zoe will write an apology to Dylan and his parents.”
“While that’s a nice gesture, I’m afraid that won’t be enough. She’ll have a week of in-school suspension for the violence.”
“Violence? She’s seven—”
The principal jutted her chin high, and her eyebrows crinkled across her forehead. “I understand you’re upset, but a little boy ended up with a black eye. He’s going to be fine, but his parents are understandably angry. We have a no-tolerance rule at the school. She’ll spend today thru next week sitting with the teacher in the detention room. Recesses and lunches will be on the sidelines. Hopefully, she’ll take the time to think about what is appropriate and what isn’t. Starting with afternoon recess, she’ll be sitting on the bench at the side fence.”
Liam held back the snappy retort he wanted to throw out. He hated to see his butterfly’s wings clipped over an accident, but he needed to remember how he would feel if the tables were turned. A boy ended up in the nurse’s office. “I understand. Zoe and I will have a long talk about this at home.”
Ms. Barrett stood and crossed the floor. “I’ll give you two a minute. Normally, we would send her home for the rest of the day, but given her exemplary history and no blood was drawn, we’ll start the detention this afternoon.”
Liam waited for the door to close, then knelt, eye to eye with Zoe. “What were you thinking? You know better than to use violence to solve your problems.”
“But I wasn’t trying to solve a problem, Daddy. I didn’t want to hurt Dylan. He didn’t do anything to me. Eden said you won’t always be there to protect us. She was trying to make it so we can take care of ourselves, or we could get hurt.” She flung her arms around his neck.
All the anger he’d been holding onto rumbled to life as his innocent daughter burrowed her sticky face into his collar. What kind of person told a child something like that? Better yet, what kind of father allowed that kind of person near his kids?
He pulled back and wiped the tears from her face. “You never have to worry about that. You understand me? I’ll always be there. Eden... Eden had a different life than you and Noah.”
Zoe sniffed and ran a palm over her nose. “You mean she didn’t have a daddy to take care of her?”
“Maybe. Look, you have to go with Ms. Barrett. You messed up, now you have to pay the consequences. At recess, I want you to sit quietly where they tell you, too. Don’t cause a scene. Are we clear?”
She nodded her head.
“We’ll talk more about this tonight.”
First, he needed to clean house.
LIAM slammed his cell phone on the counter after yet another failed attempt to reach Eden.
He’d gone straight to the house after leaving school. The wise voice in the back of his head cautioned about confronting her while the need to throttle something, anything still consumed him.
He’d squashed that wimpy voice like a bug on a windshield. But in the end, it didn’t matter. When he’d pulled in the driveway, the Jeep had been gone. Maybe she was out running errands. The urge to wring her graceful neck made his fingers ache.
She hadn’t answered any of his calls or returned his messages. With no idea where to find her he headed back to the store.
As the day wore on, he vacillated between fury and uncertainty. The weak, sage voice prodded him to remember she probably had good intentions. Probably. Not being familiar with kids, didn’t realize what would happen.
Like that, the ignition flipped. He did know what would happen. Which is why he told her to butt out. But she couldn’t mind her business. And then he let her past his fortresses. Given her permission to butt in. To be part of his family.
His life had been orderly, neat, planned. Maybe a bit bland. But it was safe.
Then Eden came along. What was it about her that made him ignore his instincts?
Made him forget the life lessons he’d learned the hard way.
“Howdy, Liam.”
He’d been so steeped in his own misery he never heard the bell over the door. “Sheriff, what brings you by?” The smile cracked the skin across his cheeks. He wore his foul mood like a billboard.
Ben’s grim expression reinforced the dark atmosphere Liam had been stewing in all afternoon.
Warning bells in his head clanged and drowned out the other man’s response. When Ben swung a camo backpack onto the teak counter, Liam knew nothing good would follow.
A heartbeat bellowed in his ears. “Going with a new look?”
Despite the fall temps, a sheen of sweat coated Ben’s cheeks. “‘Fraid not. Deer hunting season started two days ago. A guy out by Silver Bay has a box stand off Two Pines Drive.”
“Middle of nowhere.”
“It is, and not easily found.” Ben removed his hat, putting it next to the bag. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, the thin skin around his eyes fatigued. “He showed up to find a flipped car crashed through the legs of the building. The whole structure collapsed on top of the car.”
Liam kneaded the back of his neck. “Is it hers?”
Ben sighed. Unzipping the bag, he took out a wallet, a key ring, and cellphone. “The cellphone was loose in the car. There is only one number saved, no name.”
“I suppose there is no answer when you call the number.”
“And it’s the standard voicemail greeting. We’re tracing it now, probably a burner.” Ben paused. “Like hers.”
Liam’s fingers itched to rip through the contents of the bag. Pulling out anything that might answer the million questions firing in his brain all at once.
“Her name is Eden Glover, she’s twenty-nine years old from Dallas, Texas.”
Sweat trickled from Liam’s hairline over his brow. “She’s going to be relieved you found the car.”
Unless she didn’t want it found.
Ben took a deep breath and reached into the bag. The sad glint from the corner of his eye did nothing to lesson the turmoil seething through Liam’s blood stream.
“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say finding this car was the last thing she’d want.” Ben pulled out an evidence bag and laid it on the counter. A 9mm Glock stuffed inside.
Paralysis froze Liam to the spot. Bile churned into his throat. The sheriff’s lips moved, but no sound penetrated the ringing in his ears.
A gun.
He couldn’t reconcile his Eden as someone capable of firing a weapon, let alone a gun favored by most criminals.
“That’s not all. The trunk contained a duffle bag full of cash, and another full of drugs.”
Liam groaned, teeth clenched until the metallic tang of blood exploded on his tongue. “Holy shit.”
“It gets better. Heard about the DEA agent killed in the Dallas drug bust?”
A quick nod. Of course, he’d heard. Have to be dead to have missed the story plastered all over the news every night.
“The car matches the description of the one seen racing from the scene. Now, I don’t have forensics back yet, but I suspect that gun was used in the killing.”
A sucker punch to the face hurt less than this. He laced his fingers behind his head and stared at Ben. “This can’t be happening.”
“I’m real sorry, Liam.”
“Sorry?” Liam slammed both fists on the counter and leaned into the sheriff. “You’re sorry? A cop killer stumbles into our little town, and not only do you do nothing, but you pawn her off on me. My kids.” The bit of his brain that still operated on a rational level recognized the ridiculousness of his statement.
None of them could have known.
No one told him to trust her.
To open the door to his heart —
No.
She’d fooled them all.
It made perfect sense. Her notion that a ten-year-old boy in a pizza parlor might have a knife. The fear his kids would be defenseless. The nightmares that still plagued her most nights. She lived in a dark world. The kind of world he’d done everything in his power to insulate Noah and Zoe from.
Liam had no one to blame but himself. He chose to believe the house of lies she constructed.
He’d been a fool. “That was uncalled for, Ben. This isn’t your fault.”
Ben’s shoulders sagged. “We don’t know the details. Let’s not jump to conclusions—”
A sarcastic laugh burst from Liam’s lips. “You’re joking, right? What other explanation is there?” Damn. After the appointment at school, he’d forgotten all about the scribbled notes.
