Faces Of Evil: Traceless Part 7

Emily chewed her lip as she studied the front door of her parents' house. It was a crying shame when a woman Emily's age was afraid of facing her own parents. Maybe not afraid. She dreaded facing them. Desperately wanted to avoid another talk.

But she had to go inside. She needed her cell phone charger. Her battery was almost spent. Like everyone else in the world, she couldn't survive without the d.a.m.ned thing.

She'd spent most of the day at the library doing research on incidents of parolees going back to prison for violations, just to rea.s.sure herself that her quest was reasonable. Focusing on that research had helped keep her mind off the whole "he might be innocent" nonsense. Clint Austin wasn't innocent. The rumors meant nothing. Princ.i.p.al Call hadn't seen anyone else, and neither had Emily. Only Austin.

Another warning chirp forced her out of her car. Technically, since her car was equipped with OnStar she could make an emergency call if she found herself between a rock and a hard place, but she preferred the convenience of her cell. She needed the charger. She walked deliberately to the front door. With a deep breath she turned the k.n.o.b and opened it, trying hard not to make a sound. She'd had lots of practice at that the past few years.

The cool air inside made her shiver. She looked around; so far so good. Holding her breath, she eased into the hall to the right of the foyer. She was almost there.

A shout stopped her cold. Male. Her father?

More shouting. Her mother this time. Definitely coming from Emily's father's study, a fourth bedroom claimed for other purposes, just left of and across the hall from her bedroom. The door was closed. She frowned. How strange.

Dread congealed in her stomach as the arguing continued. Had her actions pushed her parents to this? Were they at each other's throats because of her?

Cringing at even the brush of fabric against her skin, she stole the rest of the way to her room and slipped inside. She narrowed the door opening to a mere inch, left it ajar just enough to peek out. Then she stood perfectly still and listeneda"eavesdropped, an act she'd been taught from birth was both inconsiderate and underhanded.

"There has to be something you can do!"

Her mother.

"I can try to pay him off!" Emily's father bellowed. "Maybe that's what he wants. He won't say at this point."

His tone took Emily aback. Her father never raised his voice to anyone, much less her mother.

"This was supposed to be settled," Carol insisted, much more calmly. "No matter what you offer him, what's to keep him from telling someone? You know you can't trust a Fairgate."

"Just tell me what you expect me to do, Carol!"

Fairgate? Emily couldn't fathom a reason her parents would be discussing the name Fairgate. She didn't really know the Fairgates, just the reputation, and it was all bad. Very bad.

"I have no idea," her mother snapped. "You got us into this mess, you can figure the way out."

She burst from the room. Emily jerked back.

Her father stayed behind. The silence almost tugged her out into the open and across that hall to check on him. G.o.d, she hoped this didn't have anything to do with something she had done. Or failed to do.

Fear joined the dread inside her. Austin had worked for Fairgate. Could this be about that? Surely not.

The remark Justine had made about Austin's alibi nagged at Emily. It was a lie. Old man Fairgate had sat on the witness stand and said so under oath. For a man like him the oath part probably didn't mean squat... nor did it mean that Austin was telling the truth. He'd lied. No question.

Her father's voice hauled her attention back to the study.

"This is Ed Wallace. Put Fairgate on the line."

The silence seemed to go on forever. Emily's pulse thumped in her ears. There had to be a mistake. She was surely missing some important piece of the conversation that would explain away the implausible portion she'd just overheard. Edward Wallace could not possibly have any dealings with a Fairgate.

"Just tell me what you want," her father demanded.

The anger in his tone startled her.

"And if I don't?"

Her heart skipped. Was that a threat he'd just issued? Her father? What the h.e.l.l was going on here?

"Fine."

He slammed the phone down.

His face was a deep crimson when, like her mother, he charged from the room.

Emily grabbed her phone charger, waited until she was sure it was clear, and slunk back into the hall. She was not supposed to have heard any of that. If she left now, they might not know.

She made it to the front door. The sound of the icemaker in the kitchen confirmed she was home free. She opened the door, stepped onto the porcha"

"Emily?"

She froze, her hand still on the k.n.o.b of the half-open door. Three more seconds and she might have escaped. Now her parents would know Emily had overheard their argument. She could just ask what was going on, but it didn't work that way in her family. Ed and Carol's privacy had always been sacrosanct.

"Em, is something wrong?"

Emily braced herself, produced the requisite smile, and turned to face her mother. "Hey. No, everything's fine."

"Are you just coming in?" The flash of cold suspicion in her mother's eyes settled the issue of bringing up Fairgate.

Emily nodded. "Yes. I just... yeah." So many lies.

Her mother's expression thawed. "Some of your friends came by this afternoon."

"Who?" Did anyone even know she was in town?

"Cathy, Megan, and Violet," Carol ticked off the names, then smiled warmly. "They were all so excited about the possibility of seeing you."

Emily moistened her lips. "I'm... sorry I missed them." More lies. And to her mother at that. "I just realized I left my purse in the car. I should get it." At least that was true. Emily prepared to escape once more, but Carol Wallace wasn't letting her go.

"You really should call," she urged. "Friends are important, Em."

Emily just wanted out the door before she did something rash, like ask her mother what she and Emily's father had to do with Fairgate. "I stopped by the school today."

The words just sort of popped out. Definitely a good choice, though. The idea that Emily had gone to the school seemed to relieve some of the tension in her mother's seriously concerned expression.

"Princ.i.p.al Call showed me the plaque in the senior hall," Emily went on. "And I talked to Ms. Mallory. I watched the squad perform a couple of routines."

Relief, sheer grat.i.tude, and more glittered in her mother's eyes. "That's wonderful."

"I should get my purse." Emily gestured vaguely toward her car. She really wanted to go. The idea that something so simple as stopping by the school could give her mother such joy spoke volumes about just how worried Emily's parents were. "Maybe I'll try to catch the girls for dinner." Lie. Lie. Lie.

"I left Violet's number by the phone," Carol offered. "You cheered on the same squad for all those years, Em, it would be a shame not to get together,"

"Don't worry; we will," Emily promised... just not today.

She'd actually started to close the door when her mother added, "Just so you know, I mentioned that you're having some difficulty with Clint Austin's release."

Emily counted to ten. Don't react on impulse. Be calm. Be cool. Her mother was only trying to help.

With far more poise than Emily would have imagined she could master, she smiled. "I appreciate that. I'm sure they're as upset by the news as I am."

Her mother nodded, regret registering along with the concern. "We all understand that it's far harder for you, Em. I think sharing your feelings with your friends would help."

"You're probably right." Whatever she wanted to hear. "See you later."

Emily closed the door behind her. She stood really still, tried to breathe away the ache in her chest.

Megan, Cathy, Violet, Heather, and Emily. The rising seniors on the squad that summer. Emily and Heather had been selected as team captains, a decision that didn't sit so well with Violet and Cathy. Both had suffered with jealousy issues. Megan pretty much went with the flow, but not the others, especially Violet. Everything had to be about her.

Emily pushed the past away and headed for her car.

She now had a more immediate issue. Were her parents in financial trouble? Why else would they have dealings with a loan shark? They would never forgive her for eavesdropping if she mentioned it.

That left only one way to find out what was going on.

5:55 p.m.

Emily steeled herself as she rolled up to the gate of the property on 612 Red Bird Lane. She'd had to ask the clerk at the Sack&Go for Fairgate's address, which would no doubt prompt more rumors. After pressing the buzzer on the speaker box, Emily waited.

Not for long. "What do you want?"

"h.e.l.lo." She cleared her throat. "My name is Emily Wallace and I'd like to speak to Mr. Fairgate."

Several seconds pa.s.sed with no response.

"h.e.l.lo?" she repeated.

The sc.r.a.pe of metal dragged her attention to the gate in front of her. When it had jerked and scooted out of the way, she drove through.

Her heart climbed into her throat and stuck there in one shuddering lump as she parked in front of the ma.s.sive house. She didn't know what she'd expected, but it wasn't this. She could honestly say that she'd grown up in Pine Bluff and not once had she ever seen this place. Reminded her of Graceland. Big columns. No lions, though. Ah, but he did have dogs. Two fierce-looking Dobermans alternately marched and sniffed their way around her car before marking each wheel.

Thankfully a mountain of a man lumbered from the front entrance and summoned the animals. Gifting him with a grateful smile, she opened her door, glanced around just to make sure there was nothing else to worry about before getting out. A long white limousine sat in the bend of the circular drive.

Tugging at her blouse, she closed her car door and summoned the nerve to head for the entrance. The towering door opened and another ma.s.sive man gestured for her to enter. Emily walked past him and paused just inside the grand entry hall.

"Are you armed?"

She scowled at the man. "What? No."

"Lift your arms," he ordered.

Appalled but not inclined to learn the consequences of refusing, she raised her arms. He patted her down, just like in the movies. She gasped when he reached her thighs.

He glanced up. "Spread your legs."

Horrified but certain this was the only way to get past the man, she obeyed. When he'd finished, he stood. "Let's go."

Reeling at the violation, she followed him up an elegant staircase and then into a large office.

Sidney Fairgate sat behind a wide, gleaming desk. He was older than Emily by several years, but she'd seen him around at the trial. She recalled quite distinctly that he had a reputation for being as crude as he was unattractive.

"Do you need money?" he demanded, those beady eyes peering at her as if he hoped to see through her clothes.

She remembered that, too. He was known for being nasty and mean when it came to women. "No."

"Then why are you here?"

She wet her lips and took the necessary leap. "I want to know if my father is in trouble... financially."

Fairgate's eyebrows shot upward. "I can't discuss anyone else's business with you. What kind of man do you think I am?"

Fear sparked along her nerve endings, made standing still extremely difficult. "I just want to help."

"You can't help."

Emily blinked, startled by his indifference. "Surely there's something I can do."

A sinister smile spread across his hawklike features. "There are always things a woman can do," he said as he blatantly sized her up, "but I'm certain you wouldn't be interested."

Anger kicked up enough to make her go temporarily stupid. "Stop hara.s.sing my father."

"Or what?" Fairgate fired back.

The huge guy who'd led her here and who had waited by the door until now took a step in her direction.

Time to go. She turned her back to the pig behind the desk and started for the door.

"If you want to know your daddy's troubles, Miss Emily Wallace," Fairgate said, causing her to hesitate, "ask him to tell you the secret he's been keeping for all these years."

What kind of secret? What did he mean, all these years? Don't ask. Just go! She prepared to move toward the door once more.

"Everybody has their secrets, including your precious daddy," Fairgate taunted. "n.o.body's perfect."

Anger poked at her, had her sucking up her courage and turning to face him. "There's one difference between you and my father, Mr. Fairgate." That beady, penetrating gaze probed her, but she refused to be intimidated. "My father would never keep a secret that would hurt another person. You, I am quite certain, would have no qualms doing just that."

He sneered at her. "I have secrets, Miss Wallace. Many, many secrets. And, as you say, a number of those would cause harm. Some already have."

She told herself not to be baited... told herself to go... but she couldn't walk out now without asking. Between Justine bringing it up and Emily's parents' argument and then this... she couldn't not ask.

"Like ...," she heard herself say, her mouth going sandbox dry, "... the one about Clint Austin's alibi?" Her heart stumbled as her own words, words of betrayal, ricocheted in the room.

Fairgate snickered. "I wondered how long it would take people to start asking that question now that he's out. I got one thing to say; the answer to that question is for me to know and you not to, Miss Wallace. That's the thing about secrets. You can keep them. If you have other interests regarding Mr. Austin, perhaps I can a.s.sist you with those."