Dark of the Night Read online

  She forced herself to think of Caroline. Of her sister’s baby. Of what their last minutes must have been like. She owed it to her sister to find out what had happened. To face her father. No matter how much it hurt. It wasn’t just about her family anymore.

  There were other people involved. Jake and Bryce. Even Michaels, to an extent. And Haywood Jameson. Bryce had been his friend, after all. Everything in her present was still tied up in something that had happened twenty years ago. It was time to face it and move on.

  If she could.

  Squaring her shoulders, she stepped out of the alcove into the doorway, the rain still beating down on the roof, the wind rattling the windows.

  “Riley.” Her father’s voice was startled, his expression wary. Maudeen’s eyes widened in concern, one hand raised to her mouth. Leon took a step toward her, his expression inscrutable.

  “Don’t come near me.” Riley ground out the words, holding onto the door frame for support.

  “How much did you hear?” Leon’s look softened, his eyes searching hers.

  “Enough. What I didn’t hear, I remembered.” She shot a glance at Maudeen. “It was you, wasn’t it? You put the book there, and Mr. McKafferty.”

  Maudeen nodded. “I wanted you to remember.”

  “What are you talking about?” Her father sounded confused, his eyes begging her for understanding.

  She swallowed convulsively, forcing herself to meet his gaze, tears pricking her eyes. “I was there, Daddy. In the hallway. I saw Leon push Caroline off of the balcony.”

  Confusion was replaced by understanding. “Your dream.”

  She nodded, fighting the urge to run to him.

  He took a step toward her, his arms out, and she lifted her hand to ward him off. It would be so easy to go to him. To let him tell her everything was going to be all right. But everything wasn’t all right, and he’d known it. She couldn’t trust him. Couldn’t bear to listen to more of his lies. “You knew about this.”

  Carter nodded, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.

  “He killed my sister and you never said anything to anyone.” The tears began to flow in earnest now. “How could you do that, Daddy?” Needles of hot pain spiked through her, stabbing into her, her legs threatening to give way. She clutched the door frame more tightly, determined to face them—to face the reality of who they were.

  “Riley, this isn’t about your father. It’s about me.” Leon edged another step closer.

  She twisted so she could see him. “It’s always about you, isn’t it, Leon?”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying, Riley.” Her father’s voice was soft, but there was a whisper of authority there.

  She swung back around. “How can you continue protecting this man? He’s a parasite, Daddy. Living off of people more successful than he. Manipulating things so the game comes out the way he wants it to. No matter who gets hurt.”

  “You don’t understand, anything, Riley.” Leon’s face was awash with emotion, regret colored by anger. “You’ve followed your father around for years, enjoying the lifestyle, the perks, the power. If anyone is a parasite, it’s you.”

  Her stomach contracted in horror, the truth in his words cutting deep. “I was a little girl, Leon.”

  “Well, you’re not a little girl now.”

  “You bastard.” Maudeen’s voice was low and almost inaudible.

  “Maybe.” Leon shrugged. “But at least I was honest with myself. I accepted the cost of this presidency, and I paid the price.”

  “No.” Riley’s gaze collided with Leon’s, anger deadening her pain. “Caroline and her baby paid the price. Bryce Daniels paid the price. Even Douglas Michaels paid the price.”

  “Douglas Michaels was a fool.” Leon spat the words out, his distaste evident.

  “You make me sick. All of you.” The last was said on a strangled whisper.

  Lightning flashed and something moved behind her. She started to turn, but before she could complete the movement, something hard pressed against her head, an arm clamping around her chest.

  “Nobody move, or I’ll blow her fucking head off.” The voice was rough, a low whisper. Her heart hammered in her throat, and she closed her eyes, trying to maintain some semblance of control, fear threatening to overwhelm her.

  His hand was sticky, the smell sweet and sickly, almost metallic, and she felt her stomach roil. She swallowed hard, trying not to breathe deeply, her mind scrambling for an explanation. She hadn’t heard him approaching until it was too late, her thoughts lost in the nightmare playing out before her.

  “Move.” The man shoved her forward into the study, one arm still around her neck, the gun still jammed to her head.

  The others in the room stood in wide-eyed silence. Maudeen looked frightened, her father terrified, and Leon surprised.

  “Osterman.” The word was mumbled, Leon’s eyebrows drawing together in a confused frown.

  “Wasn’t very nice of you to shoot me, Leon.”

  Riley choked on bile as she finally recognized the smell. Blood. The sticky substance was blood.

  “Let my daughter go.” Her father took a step forward, his face twisted with rage.

  “I wouldn’t do that, Mr. Senator.” Osterman shook his head. “Not unless you want your little girl here spattered all over this expensive wallpaper.” He tightened his grip, the gun digging into the soft skin of her temple.

  “If you’re here for money, name your price. I can afford to pay.” Her father was frantic now.

  “You have no idea who I am, do you?” She could hear the anger in the man’s voice. Anger laced with panic. “Shall I tell him, Leon?”

  Leon continued to stare at the man with horrified fascination, saying nothing.

  “Cat got your tongue? Well then, I’ll just have to enlighten him for you.” He pushed her farther into the room, shifting his grip, a soft groan evidence that he was hurt. “I’ve been covering your ass, Mr. Senator. Odds and ends over the last couple of months. Tailing to arson. I’m a full-service kind of guy.”

  “You killed Hank Larsen?” Riley squeaked, tipping her head back to try and see her attacker.

  “In a manner of speaking.” He tightened his arm, forcing her head back down.

  “You were paid well for your services, Martell.” Leon had found his voice, and it was filled with contempt.

  “Up until now. It seems this time,” he directed his attention to her father, “your colleague here decided that the best way to repay me for all I’ve done was to plug me in the back and leave me for dead.”

  “He was blackmailing us.” Leon shrugged, as if killing someone was the answer to everything.

  “I just wanted money to get out of the country.”

  Riley’s jumbled thoughts finally fell together in some semblance of order. She shot an accusing look at Leon. “You paid him to blow up Jake’s car.” The words were out before she’d thought about them.

  “It seemed the expedient thing to do.”

  “But I almost died.”

  Osterman tightened his grip but made no effort to quiet her.

  “You were behind the car bombing?” Her father’s anger mixed with disbelief now.

  Leon shrugged. “I had no idea Mahoney and Maudeen shared a penchant for Saabs.” His gaze shifted to Osterman. “If you’d done your job, Riley would never have been at risk.”

  “That’s right, Leon.” He pulled the gun away from her temple and waved it at Leon. “It’s always a good idea to antagonize the man with the gun.”

  Leon ignored Osterman, his eyes still locked on Riley, begging her to understand. “At least you weren’t hurt.”

  She stared at him, feeling like she’d crossed to the other side of Alice’s mirror. Reality had been distorted, and nothing was as it seemed. “No, the man you tried to kill saved me.”

  “Mahoney.” This from her father. “If he’d minded his own business, none of this would have happened.”

  Riley stared at her father
in disbelief. Leon had almost had her killed, and her father was blaming Jake.

  “Enough. I want my money.” Osterman’s grip tightened.

  Leon’s eyes narrowed, his look now speculative. “I think something can be arranged. But I’ll need time.”

  “Why don’t we just try the routine with the plane again. Only this time I suggest you place the call. Because if you don’t . . .” Riley felt him shrug, and heard the hammer click into place.

  Her father held up both hands in placation. “Please, don’t do anything foolish. I can have things arranged in just a few minutes. I just need to get to the phone.” Osterman nodded, letting the hammer drop back into place, and her father walked closer, exchanging a look with Leon.

  Thunder slammed into the house, and they could feel the reverberations. The lights flickered, and Martell’s hold on Riley loosened. With a quick intake of breath, she drove her elbow back, slamming it into his chest, praying that it hurt him as much as it hurt her.

  Surprised, Osterman groaned and dropped his arm. Riley dove out of the way as Leon rushed Martell, the two men grappling for control of the gun. She saw Maudeen drop behind the desk, and was just wondering where her father was when she felt a solid weight hit her in the back, his body covering hers.

  “It’s going to be okay, darlin’,” he whispered, and despite the absurdity of the statement, she felt comforted. But the feeling didn’t last. Almost before she could take another breath, two shots rang out, resonating above the fury of the storm.

  Jake dialed her number with shaking hands, trying to see through the downpour, fervently praying that she’d answer. It rang twice and then was answered by an automated voice talking about circuits.

  Damn it to hell.

  He threw the cell phone down on the car seat and pressed harder on the gas pedal, knowing that the rented Honda couldn’t possibly go any faster. He was driving along the perimeter of Rivercrest, but there was no access for another hundred yards or so.

  The road was slick with rain, and he felt the car losing traction. He knew he was driving too fast, but his gut told him something was dreadfully wrong and that he needed to get to Riley.

  Pumping the brakes, he tried to avoid an out and out spin, but the Honda evidently had other plans. Skidding across the road, Jake fought for control, finally wrestling the car to a stop as it plowed into the undergrowth and slammed into a tree.

  After the squealing tires and the noise of the engine, the rain drumming on the roof sounded symphonic, the windshield wipers providing timpani. He mentally checked himself, and except for a small cut on his head, all systems were go. Grabbing the phone, he tried to open his door, with no success.

  On the edge of panic, Jake slid across the seat and was relieved when the passenger door opened with only a little coaxing. Dialing David’s number, he began to run.

  Riley waited for what seemed an eternity before she dared to move. “Daddy?” She hardly recognized the voice as her own.

  “I’m here, darlin’.” His voice was low, whispered, and something about it sent a chill racing through her.

  “Is everything okay?” She waited, heart pounding, a sick feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.

  “Leon seems to have shot Osterman.” With a groan, he rolled off her, and Riley sat up, blinking at the sudden onslaught of light. Martell lay sprawled on his back, blood spattered on the floor around him.

  “Is he?” Riley asked.

  Leon nodded grimly. “This time for good.”

  Maudeen poked her head up from behind the desk, her face ghostly white, her eyes locked on Martell’s body. “Is it over?”

  “I think so. But we may still have a little problem.” Carter’s voice, if possible, was even softer.

  “Oh God, Daddy, you’ve been shot.” Riley knelt beside him, fear rocketing through her.

  Maudeen lifted her hands to her mouth, stifling a scream, and Leon rushed across the room, kneeling on the floor across from Riley. With gentle hands he pulled back her father’s bloody shirt, revealing a pulsing wound in his side, blood spouting like a small fountain.

  Riley ripped off her sweater and pressed it to his skin in an attempt to stanch the blood, the white cotton immediately turning an ugly, crimson red.

  “Maudeen,” Leon bit out, his eyes still locked on Carter, “call an ambulance.”

  Maudeen picked up the phone, her fingers fumbling with the buttons. “There’s no dial tone.” She threw the headset down, tears welling in her eyes. “The damn thing is dead.”

  “I’ve got a cell phone.” He reached for his coat pocket, then mumbled a curse. “It’s in my jacket, Maudeen. In the library.”

  Maudeen stood for a moment, her gaze resting on Carter, indecision holding her cold.

  “Go,” Leon barked, his words startling her into action. Jumping over Martell’s body, she raced from the room.

  Riley’s eyes met Leon’s, anger flooding through her, replacing her fear. “This is all your fault.”

  Leon blanched, his face suddenly looking old and tired. “I told you, I did what I did to protect your father.”

  “To protect his bid for the presidency, don’t you mean?” Riley pressed harder on her father’s wound, not caring anymore what she said. “You selfish son of a bitch. You found out my sister was pregnant, that she was in love with a black man, and so you handled the problem by killing her.”

  “No.”

  Riley looked down at her father, arrested by the pain in his voice. Not just physical pain, but heartfelt soul-deep anguish.

  “Hush, Carter.” This from Leon in a voice so gentle he might have been talking to a baby.

  “No,” her father said again. “She has a right to know the truth.” His voice was so soft, she had to lean down to hear him.

  “Let it go, Carter,” Leon pleaded.

  But her father shook his head, his eyes meeting hers. “Riley, darlin’, there’s something you need to know. It wasn’t Leon who killed your sister. It was me.”

  Uncertainty warred with shock, followed by a numbing sense of disbelief. “But I saw him, Daddy. I saw him on the balcony.”

  “That you did, princess. But Caroline was already dead.”

  “I don’t understand . . .” Tears filled her eyes, slipping unchecked down her cheeks.

  “Caroline told me about the baby, Riley. That night. Here.” He paused, sucking in a shallow breath.

  “But I don’t see. . . .” Her heart constricted, threatening to blow into little pieces.

  He held out a hand, and she closed hers around it. She wanted to wake up and find this all a dream, but the warmth of her father’s hand was as real as the look of agony in his eyes. “She wanted to leave here, Riley. To make a new life with him.” He spit the word out as if it were poison. “I couldn’t let that happen. Can you imagine the effect that would have had on my career? My daughter and the gardener?”

  His look was tortured, his mind slipping away, lost in the horror of his past. “I told her that,” he went on. “Begged her to get rid of the baby, to get rid of Daniels. But she refused. Said she’d married the bastard. The implications were staggering. I lost my temper. She did too. We argued.”

  He struggled to draw in another breath, a funny wheezing sound accompanying the effort. “I was so angry, I hit her. And she fell against the desk, knocking her head on the corner. One minute she was standing there angry and alive, and then next—” He closed his eyes, remembering, his pain almost a physical thing. “—the next, she fell to the floor, her mouth open in surprise, one hand still reaching for me. She was dead. I killed her.” He opened his eyes, his gaze colliding with hers. “I killed my little girl.”

  She stared into her father’s eyes, willing him to say it was a lie, to say that this was some sort of nightmare. But she knew it wasn’t. Knew it from the silence in the room, knew it from the anguish on her father’s face.

  He squeezed her hand, his eyes pleading now. “I didn’t mean it. I swear on everything holy, I didn
’t mean it. And if I could take it back, I would. But I can’t, Riley. I can’t.”

  She pulled away, trying to absorb all that he’d told her. To put it in context with the man she knew. The man she loved. Her father. Oh God, her father. He’d killed Caroline. She fought against her sobs, pressing a fist against her stomach, trying to contain her spiraling emotions. “If it was an accident, Daddy, why did you cover it up?”

  Her father sighed, the sound lost against his struggle to breathe. “I am not a brave man. I knew that Caroline’s death, her pregnancy, all of it would have meant the ruin of me. I couldn’t bring her back, Riley. And I couldn’t bring myself to commit political suicide. So I called Leon.” His eyes darted to his friend, then back to Riley. “He came and suggested a way out. So I let him push her off the balcony, making it look like an accident.”

  Riley felt her heart shattering.

  Maudeen rushed back into the room. “Hang on, Carter. They’re coming.”

  Her father coughed, his whole body shaking. “Maudeen, that you?”

  She leaned over him, her hand caressing his face. “I’m right here.”

  “I lied to you, darlin’. And I lied to myself. I’ve loved you for a long time. But I was afraid.” He covered her hand with his, his eyes full of regret. “And now it’s too late.”

  “Don’t say things like that, Carter.” Maudeen forced a smile. “You’re going to be just fine. You just hang on. The paramedics are on the way.”

  “Don’t kid a kidder, darlin’.” He smiled at Maudeen, then turned his head to Riley, lifting a hand to touch her cheek. “This is it, princess.”

  “No, Daddy.” She shook her head, reaching for his hand, her fingers clasping his, willing him her strength. “Not now. Not like this.”

  “Riley . . .” He drew in a shallow breath, his fingers tightening around hers. “You have to know that despite everything, I loved your sister. I never wanted to harm her. Things just got out of control.” His eyes pleaded with her for forgiveness.

  She wanted so badly to fix things. To make them right again. But she couldn’t . . . she couldn’t. “We’ll get through this, Daddy. Somehow we’ll find a way.”