Нора Робертс - Hideaway

“It’s all right. I’m not lying.”

“Why don’t you tell me why you think Ms. Dupont’s having an affair with this Mr. Sparks?”

“I don’t think, I know, because I walked in on them. I’m so sorry, Mr. Aidan. She said she’d fire me and see I’d never get another job if I said anything.”

“Aidan, you can’t believe that.” Now Charlotte reached for his hand, her face filled with love and sorrow. “You can’t possibly believe I’d be unfaithful.”

He pulled his hand free. “Do you honestly think I’d give a goddamn at this point about you having sex with your personal trainer? Do you think I give any kind of damn about you now?”

“Oh, oh, Aidan!”

“You can turn off the fucking tears, Charlotte. That scene’s played out.”

“Nina, why would it matter right now about Ms. Dupont and Mr. Sparks?”

“His ringtone. I’ve heard the ringtone on his phone. It’s that one Cate said. The hat dance one.”

“As if Grant’s the only one in the world who—”

“Shut up,” Aidan snapped.

“He called her ‘lover,’” Nina added. “He called her that right in front of me. Cate and I were visiting her grandparents, and she really wanted this story she’d written for school, to show them. They don’t live far, so I said I’d run back and get it. She was so proud of it. I thought they—Ms. Dupont and Mr. Sparks—were in the gym, downstairs. I never thought about it, but just ran right upstairs. The bedroom doors—the master’s—were wide open. I heard them first. I heard them, then I saw. They were in bed together.”

She let out a breath. “I guess I made some sound—I was so shocked. When she heard me, she got up, and came right out. Naked. She told me if I said anything, I was done, and she’d tell the police I tried to steal her jewelry. I didn’t want to lose my job, I didn’t want to leave Caitlyn. I didn’t want to go to jail. I didn’t say anything.”

“Not a word,” Aidan said quietly when Charlotte started to deny. “Not a single word. Is there more, Nina?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Aidan. I’m sorry. After that she didn’t bother to hide it so much, not from me. And he called her ‘lover.’ Like, ‘Lover, she’ll keep her mouth shut. Come on back to bed.’ Or when she had me bring a bottle of wine down to the gym, he called her that. He always called her that.”

“Let me ask you, Nina, do you always keep your phone with you?”

Clasping her hands together, Nina nodded at Red. “Yes, sir. Almost always. Except when I need to charge it, but I try to do that at night.”

“And yesterday, after you realized Caitlyn was missing?”

“I had it with me when I looked for her. Later, after Ms. Dupont blamed me for it, Miss Lily and Miss Rosemary said I should move downstairs for the night, to the room off the kitchen so Ms. Dupont didn’t get more upset. I did, and I left my phone in there, on the charger when we were all waiting for the kidnapper to call back.”

“Ms. Dupont waited with everyone, too?”

“No, sir, she was upstairs. Lying down. I think she took a sleeping pill, and was sleeping when he called back.”

“Okay, Nina. Ma’am,” he said to Rosemary, “is there any way to get to that bedroom, the one down here, from upstairs without going by where you all were waiting?”

“Several ways.”

“What we’re going to do is take your phone in, Nina. With your permission, since it’s a cell phone, we can use the computer to bring up the actual calls.”

He saw the slightest flicker in Michaela’s eyes at the bluff, but Red always figured when you bluffed—or lied outright—you should do it with casual confidence.

“First thing is, if the call Cate’s told us about came in when you were in the room with witnesses, we’d know right off it wasn’t you who made it. Next, even if they didn’t use names, we’d run the voices on the phone through voice recognition. Since this is a kidnapping, we’d get the FBI to help with that. Their equipment’s amazing.”

Playing along, playing well, Michaela nodded. “It’ll be a simple matter to match the voices, since we have the two men already.”

“Yep. Mic, why don’t you go upstairs with Ms. Dupont so she can get dressed.”

“You’re not taking me to jail. I’m a victim. I’m a victim. You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

“I think I get the gist, but if you want to make a statement, that’s just fine. I’m going to record that. But I’m going to read you your rights first.” He took a recorder out of his pocket, turned it on, set it on the table. “That’s how we do it.”

Calculation, that’s what Red saw as he recited the Miranda. “You understand all that, Ms. Dupont?”

“Yes, of course I do. I’m appealing to you for help. I made a terrible mistake, but I was being blackmailed.”

“Is that so?”

“I did have a fling with Grant. Another terrible mistake. I was weak, Aidan, I was lonely and foolish. Please forgive me.”

His face, his eyes, his voice held no emotion. Not even disgust. “I don’t care.”

“Are you claiming Grant Sparks blackmailed you over the affair?”

“It was a paparazzo. He got pictures of us. It was awful, just…” Lowering her head, she covered her mouth with her hand. “He demanded millions, or he’d publish them. I wanted to protect my marriage, my family, my little girl. All of us. I didn’t know how to get the money.”

“Staging a kidnapping was the solution?” Red demanded.

“Grant had the idea. If we faked a kidnapping … I lost my mind. I wasn’t thinking straight. The stress. I knew Grant would never hurt her. We’d pay, and she’d be back home quickly. It was insane, I see that now. I was insane. I was desperate.”

Aidan walked away from her now. Had to walk away.

“What was the blackmailer’s name?”

“He said his name was Denby. Frank Denby. After the first time, Grant met with him. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t bear it. Please believe me, after Caitlyn … I was terrified. I started thinking of everything that could go wrong, and—”

“Did you know where they’d taken her?”

“Of course! She’s my daughter. I knew where she was, but—”

“And being afraid, worried something would go wrong, you didn’t call it off?”

“I couldn’t!” Imploring, she clutched a hand under her throat, reached out toward Red with the other. “I didn’t know what to do! I made that call because I needed to be sure Caitlyn was all right.”

“They drugged her.”

Charlotte looked over at Aidan. “It was just a little sedative, just so she wouldn’t be afraid. She’d just sleep through it until—”

“They terrified her, put bruises on her face, threatened her with a gun.”

“They weren’t supposed to—”

“You did this for money, for sex. She climbed out a second-story window, wandered lost in the dark, in the cold, for God knows how long. You used your own child, risked your own child over a goddamn affair.”

“She was supposed to sleep! It’s her own fault she didn’t drink the milk!”

“How did you know the drug was in the milk?” Michaela asked, still taking meticulous notes. “Did you tell them to use milk?”

“I—I don’t know! You’re confusing me. She wasn’t hurt. She was supposed to sleep. When we had the money, they’d have me drop it off.”

“That was part of it? You make the drop?”

“Yes, and then they’d take Caitlyn to the turn onto the peninsula, leave her right there.”

“And you, you could play the shattered, loving mother through it all.” Hugh got to his feet. “You’ll never see that child again if I have any say. You’ll never see a penny of Sullivan money. You’ll never step foot in this house again.”