Нора Робертс - Hideaway

“I want to know.” Trembling or not, the words came fierce. “I don’t want to get sent away again. I want to know.”

She pulled away, marched right up to the car as it parked, blurted out the question as Red got out. “Did you catch them?”

He gave her steady look for steady look. “They’re in police custody. We’ll talk about it.”

The sound escaping Lily’s iron will was half sob, half gasp. When Cate turned to her, eyes wide and worried, she could only shake her head. “It’s all right. I’m all right. I’m just relieved. Just relieved. Let’s all go inside. It’s turning cold.”

She called out when Aidan opened the front door. “Have somebody put some coffee on, will you? And for God’s sake, somebody mix me a martini. A big one.”

“Are they in jail? Are they going to get out? Are they—”

“Slow down, tiger. I wouldn’t say no to coffee,” Red said to Lily. “I’d appreciate if we could talk to everybody at once, as we need to get back.”

“Of course. I’ll round them up. Most of us had to get back home, so it’s just my husband and me, Aidan and Cate, Rosemary, Nina. You’ve had a long day, both of you,” she added as she escorted them in.

“I’d say everyone has.”

“Why don’t you sit down. The fire’s nice on a brisk evening. I think Rosemary’s upstairs, and— Oh, Nina, would you go up and tell Miss Rosemary the sheriff and deputy are here?”

“Right away. Oh, Caitlyn, you need to wash the sand off your hands.”

Hastily Cate wiped them on her jeans. “They’re fine. Please.”

Before she could insist, Lily tapped her own hand in the air behind Cate’s back.

“I’ll go tell Miss Rosemary, and get the coffee. Should I stay then?”

“I’d appreciate it if you would,” Red told her, and nodded as Aidan came in. “Sorry to intrude again.”

“Not at all. My father will be right in.” He searched Red’s face. “You have some news for us?”

“I do, and I hope it’ll give you some peace of mind.”

“They’re in custody. He said they were, but didn’t say how. I want to know—”

“Caitlyn Ryan.” The quiet warning from her father had her straining, but silent. “Can I take your coats?”

“We’re fine. We’re not going to take up too much of your time.” To get things rolling, Red sat, smiled at Cate. “Been down to the beach, have you?”

“I wanted to go outside. I like the beach.”

“It happens to be my favorite place in the world. You surf?”

“No.” Now she angled her head. “Do you?”

“Every chance I get. If it’s cranking tomorrow, I may put on my steamer, grab my stick, and go on dawn patrol.” He winked at her. “Surfer talk.”

Intrigued, she sat on the floor, crossed her legs. “Did you ever see a shark?”

“See one? I punched one right in the face once.”

“No, you—really?”

“Hand to God.” He swiped one over his heart then pointed his finger up. “It wasn’t a very big one, but I like to make him bigger every time I tell the story.”

“Do you surf, too?” she asked Michaela.

“No.”

“I’m going to teach her.”

Michaela made a sound between a laugh and a snort. “No, you’re not.”

“You just wait.”

Hugh came in with a martini glass in one hand, a glass of whiskey in the other.

“My hero,” Lily murmured, took the glass and the first long, slow sip.

Hugh sat. “Nina’s finishing up the coffee. I hope you’ll come back, both of you, when you’re not on duty so I can mix or pour you your drink of choice.”

“I’ll see we do.” Red got to his feet as Rosemary came down the stairs. “I’m sorry to disturb you, ma’am.”

“Not in the least.” Rosemary took the whiskey glass from her son. “Aidan, be a dear and get Hugh another glass of Jameson’s. I’m taking his.”

“The sheriff said he punched a shark in the face.”

Rosemary nodded, sat. “I’m not surprised to hear that. You’re an avid surfer, aren’t you?”

“Avid as they come.”

Small talk, he thought, kept things smooth until.

Until Nina came with the coffee.

“Okay then. We wanted to come by, tell you that Grant Sparks and Frank Denby, suspected of kidnapping our girl here, are both in custody. The state police apprehended Denby in a motel room south of here.”

“How did they know he was there?”

Red looked down at Cate. “Well, I’ll tell you he wasn’t too smart. We did our job, and got his name—”

“How?”

“Cate, it’s rude to interrupt.”

She glanced back at her father. “How will I know if I don’t ask?”

“There’s a point to that,” Red agreed.

But when he hesitated, Michaela made a decision. The girl deserved to know. “Ms. Dupont gave us the name when we talked to her. When we knew who we were looking for, we got some information. Like where he lived, and what kind of car he drives, and the license plate. We put out an alert to other police. And the state police spotted his car, the license plate, in the motel lot.”

“Then he wasn’t very smart.”

“No,” Michaela agreed, “he wasn’t. But he wasn’t very smart to leave you that spoon, was he? And you were the smart one.”

“That’s a stone fact,” Red put in. “As for Sparks, he was packed up to take off. Didn’t move fast enough, and the police in L.A. arrested him. Both of them are being transported here, and we’ll lock them up, we’ll talk to them.”

“How long will you lock them up?”

“Well, that depends on the lawyers and the courts. Mic and me? We don’t get to decide. But I can tell you with the evidence and statement and the case we’ve made? It’s going to be a real long time.”

“Like a year?”

“No, honey, a lot longer. Maybe twenty years.”

“My mother, too?”

More cautious here, Red looked at Aidan.

“We’ve talked about it. Cate needs to know, we all do.”

“Then I’ll tell you. Because your mother gave us information on the two men and information on what they all did, planned to do, the state’s attorney—that’s the person in charge of trying cases like this—made an agreement with your mother’s attorney. It’s called a plea bargain. So they made this bargain, and for the information, they eased back on some of the charges, providing she says she did the things she did. She has to go to jail, too, for ten years. She can get out in seven if she meets the requirements, and the people in charge of that say she can. But she has to go to jail for seven years for certain.”

“She won’t like it there,” Cate said, mostly to herself. “She can’t go shopping or to parties or auditions. I don’t have to see her.” She looked back at her father. “Even when she can come out.”

“No.”

“And we’re divorcing her.”

“Yes, baby, we’re divorcing her.”

“She doesn’t love us. Nina’s not in trouble.”

“Not a bit,” Red assured her. “We need to keep your phone in evidence for a while longer, Ms. Torez.”

“I don’t want it back, thank you. I really don’t want it back. Caitlyn, now that you’ve talked to the sheriff, we should go up, get you cleaned up for dinner.”

Not altogether satisfied, but calculating she’d gotten all she could—for now—she stood up. “Will you tell the people who helped me? Dillon and Julia and Gram?”

“It tells me about your character you’d ask that. It tells me good things. Yeah, we’re going by there when we leave here.”

“Will you tell them thank you again?”

“That’s a promise.”

“We’re going to live in Grandpa’s guesthouse for a while, and we’re going to Ireland with Nan to stay there for a while, too. But will you tell me if you’re right, and they have to go to jail for twenty years?”