Fear Familiar - Familiar Remedy Part 18

"I'm waiting, and I'm certain he's right." She wanted to lift him into her lap, but she didn't want to alert the airline to his presence. He was a stowaway. Sarah couldn't stand the idea of putting him in the luggage compartment, and they also didn't want a record of the cat traveling, even though they themselves were using a.s.sumed names. The less trails they left, the more certain they were that they weren't being followed.

"I wish we'd been able to call Mom." Sarah was still concerned. With the turn everything had taken, Mora might be in danger.

"It'll be better if we contact her once we're there. And after we've talked with Estis."

"You're right." Sarah knew it, but the facts were still difficult to accept. She cast a sideways glance at Daniel. Since the aborted meeting with Paul Gottard, he'd been as hard as steel. She knew he felt betrayed, and used. Those were probably the two worst feelings a person could deal with. Except guilt. And judging by Daniel's expression every time Cody Pruett's name was mentioned, he had a plentiful helping of that emotion, too. The toughest part was that there was nothing she could do to comfort him.

Reaching over, she captured his hand and squeezed it. "We're going to figure all of this out."

"Knowing the answers won't change things."

How many times had she thought that very same thing? How many years had pa.s.sed with her trying to believe that? "It won't change things, not for either of us. But it will put things to rest. At least for me. And I think for you, too. Someone was responsible for what happened to Cody, and for what happened to my dad."

"Do you think revenge will make either of us feel better?"

She lifted his hand to her lips and kissed it softly. "No, I don't believe anything could make the pain and loss go away. Nothing can bring Cody back. Knowing the truth may or may not affect what you're feeling toward the FBI now. It could certainly change my feelings. And it will positively put an end to the tragic things that are happening all around us. That's what we have to think about. If we don't find out what's going on, more innocent people will suffer and possibly die."

Daniel strained against his seat belt as he turned to envelop her in his arms. "You sure know how to drain the self-pity out of a guy." He squeezed her tight. "Thanks. I was almost six feet under with feeling sorry for myself."

"I've been there." She kissed his cheek. "Now, how are we going to convince Graham to talk with us?"

"Do you remember him?"

"Brief moments. I haven't thought of him in years. He was always at the house with Dad. You know, he'd stop by for breakfast and a late supper. He wasn't married then. I guess he was really just a kid. But Dad thought he was very sharp."

"FBI trained, according to Jenkins."

"You say that as if you don't really believe it."

Daniel made a derisive sound. "I don't believe anything I've been told by them. And Jenkins is one of them. That's what I'm trying to figure out, if he was using me the entire time. How big an idiot was I?"

"You were only trying to do your job the best way you knew how. By the book. That doesn't make you stupid or dumb, Daniel. You know that." She nudged his shoulder. "Now, back to Graham. I was eleven, so he was at least twenty. Maybe twenty-two."

"He still has a long career ahead of him."

"Retirement for a sheriff's deputy isn't exactly plush." Sarah was trying to imagine the young, shy officer as a mature man. He had been smart. Cal's right hand, as it seemed. And he had known a lot about fingerprints and chemical a.n.a.lysis. It was very possible he'd been trained by the FBI. "I wish there was some way we could check out his past."

"So do I, but under the current circ.u.mstances, I don't think there's a s...o...b..ll's chance in h.e.l.l. Even the people at the agency who would like to help me will be afraid of any contact. Their careers could be ruined."

"I know."

The captain's voice alerting that landing was in ten minutes came over the air, and Sarah bent to check on Familiar. She could tell the cat was growing weary of his confinement in the carryon, but there was nothing she could do. "Another fifteen minutes," she whispered to him. "Then we'll spring you."

Less than half an hour later, with Familiar asleep on the seat between them, they were crossing the five-mile bridge across Lake Ponchatrain and on the way to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The lights of New Orleans glittered behind them as they rose higher and higher on the bridge. Ahead, the distant sh.o.r.eline was only a faint sprinkling of lights.

"We'll get a room in Biloxi," Daniel said. "Then tomorrow, bright and early, we'll have a talk with Estis."

"And contact Mom." Sarah tried not to worry. Surely Mora would be fine. No one in their right mind would think she knew anything.

"I know you're worried." Daniel brushed her cheek with his right hand as he drove.

"Meow." Familiar stretched and moved to curl up in Sarah's lap. She stroked his head and scratched under his chin, eliciting a purr. "When will those tests be back?"

"Possibly tomorrow. I didn't leave a number. I just said I'd call and check."

"What if there's nothing there?"

"I don't know." Daniel glanced at Familiar. "He seems fine now, and I don't believe he took such a dislike to Lucinda that he'd destroy her Washington future on a mere whim." He grinned. "Though it was a spectacular scene."

Sarah, tired to the bone, couldn't help grinning, too. "I've had nightmares about something like that happening. But she was so d.a.m.n mean to me, I don't even care. My career is probably ruined, and I can't get awfully shaken up about it. Mom's right. If push comes to shove, I can move back to the coast and work at one of the new casinos."

"And what about me?" Daniel's question was put in half jest, but there was an undertone of sincerity in it.

"Last time I heard, you were unemployed, too." She was teasing, but she wanted him to know she sympathized. "It would seem we're both in the same boat, and neither of us did anything to deserve it. We can both try our luck at the casinos. You'd make a distinguished blackjack dealer."

"I'm trying to learn to savor the feel of being unemployed." His grin was rueful. "But it does give a certain amount of freedom. I suppose I could work as a valet at one of the casinos. Maybe even practice up my singing act. I used to be pretty fair at ballads."

Sarah laughed out loud. "What a pair we'd make."

"Maybe if we practiced, we could become the new Fred and Ginger of the gambling world. You were pretty good on your feet."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I know my talents are in cooking, not dancing, but I'll support you in your efforts."

His hand caught hers and held it tightly. "Thanks for that, Sarah. And thanks for making me laugh. It's the best medicine now."

"Except for sleep. Let's. .h.i.t the strip and park this chariot. I'm about to fade away."

"Tell me where we should stay and how to get there, and then you go to sleep," Daniel offered.

"I think the Cabana Royale in Biloxi would be a good choice. Stay on I-10 until I-110, then take a right on the beach. It's about two miles. That'll put us close to Jackson County, and close to Mom."

Daniel nodded. Lights in the rearview mirror caught his attention. For the past twenty miles, the same vehicle had been behind them. He really didn't believe they were being followed, but, the way things had gone, anything was possible. Instead of telling Sarah, he kept it to himself. She had enough to worry about with her mother.

"I'll drive us there while you rest," he said.

"Meow." Familiar stretched up, looking over the center console into the rear window.

"Go for it," Daniel told him as the cat made a dash for the rear window. "Just bob your head like one of those little dogs folks put up in the window." He drew a sigh of relief as the car behind him put on a burst of speed and pa.s.sed in a long streak of black paint and darkened windows.

Still staring at the road disappearing behind them, Familiar perched in the window and seemed to sleep.

THE MISSISSIPPI SOUND glittered in the bright sunlight and Daniel slipped out of his jacket. "They're wearing shorts. It's November!" He pointed to the tourists romping on the white sand beaches. It was too cold to swim, but not too cold to enjoy the day.

"There were plenty of Christmases I wore shorts." Sarah made a face. "I hated that. Christmas is best when it's cold."

They drove along Highway 90 and Sarah pointed out the sights, many of them connected to personal memories. "This place has changed," she said with a note of wistfulness in her voice. "The casinos have really sprung from the sand. It's so... different."

"Growth and progress." Daniel's tone was tinged with a bitter acceptance of economics. "More jobs, more money. Growth."

"But why does everything from the past have to be swept away in the tide?"

"It's cheaper and easier to build new." They pa.s.sed several of the homes that made the stretch of beach from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula famous. "Now that's what I imagine when I think of the Old South."

Sarah sighed. There was still plenty of the past left, at least for a while. Besides, it did no good to bemoan change. "Graham is working the night shift, so he should be home now."

"And probably asleep."

"We could wait until after lunch." Sarah didn't want to wait. She didn't think she could stand to wait.

"What about it, Familiar?" Daniel noticed that the cat was watching the cars as if he expected to see someone he knew.

"Meow."

"Familiar says do it now," Sarah said. In fact, there had been a sense of urgency in the cat's tone. She wasn't imagining it.

They crossed Biloxi Bay and entered the small town of Ocean Springs. Daniel had obtained Estis's home address by calling the Jackson County sheriff's office in the guise of a floral delivery man looking for Graham Estis. He'd also learned that the deputy worked nights, had recently separated from his wife and was living alone in the family home at 211 Jefferson Street.

Daniel found the well-kept lawn and parked beneath an enormous live oak. The old Victorian house sported a fresh coat of pale yellow paint and a new tin roof. It was picture-perfect, right down to the pansies blooming in the flower beds and the bare pecan limbs of a small orchard in the backyard.

"Looks like he had a solid family life," Daniel said. "Wonder what went wrong."

Sarah tried to imagine. It was impossible for her to get beyond the young man who'd been so polite and so easygoing. Was he really the one who'd lied about her father? "It's tough to be married to a cop," she said. "I heard my mother say it often enough."

"Erratic hours," Daniel admitted.

"And more. Let's talk with him and see what he says." She could feel her heart pounding. Now that she was on the scene, she didn't want to be there. She was stepping through a door to the past that could change her forever.

"Sarah?" Daniel stood at her car door, waiting.

"I'm ready." She gave Familiar a pat, but he jumped out before she could stop him.

"Familiar." She hurried across the lawn after him with Daniel one step behind her. "Familiar!" The cat was up the steps and nudging the front door open.

d.a.m.n! He was inside the house.

"Familiar." Sarah hesitated on the steps. She didn't want to go bursting into someone's house, but she darn sure didn't want Graham Estis to discover a stray cat had invaded his home. He might think Familiar was dangerous and hurt him.

"Sarah!" Daniel's hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks. "Wait a minute. Let's knock."

"He might hurt the cat."

"He might hurt you if you go bursting into his house." Daniel's fingers tightened. "Use that pretty head of yours."

She knew he was right and quit trying to pull away from him. She knocked briskly against the wood of the already open door and called his name. "Graham Estis, it's an old friend of yours. Graham?"

The old house was neatly kept. She could see the polished wood of the hall and the mahogany table beneath an antique mirror. A beautiful arrangement of silk flowers graced the table, adding the sense of a woman's touch to the room.

"Graham?" Sarah felt her anxiety notch even higher. Where was he? And where was that cat?

"I'm going in," Sarah said suddenly. She pushed the door open wide. Daniel grabbed for her but missed.

He was almost inside the house when he heard the sound of tires screaming as a black sedan whipped around the corner and headed out of the dead-end street. Sarah, only two feet inside the door, turned back to see what the commotion was about.

"That's the car from in front of the beauty shop." Sarah knew it wasn't possible, yet she recognized the car.

"Are you sure?" Daniel dashed out to the street to see if he could get a tag number.

"I'm positive." Sarah walked to the edge of the porch and waited for him. "I'm absolutely positive."

"There are a million black and dark blue cars." His voice was cautious.

"But that car was the same one. There was that red dirt on it, and a Mississippi tag. It's that strange blue tag. I noticed it several times in front of the beauty parlor."

"I didn't get the number."

"But it was Mississippi, right?"

"I didn't make it positively, but if it wasn't Mississippi, it was close." Daniel didn't want to admit any of this. If that car had followed them from Washington... But that was impossible.

They'd flown. And without telling anyone. They'd even used a.s.sumed names. And since they knew Sarah's telephone was tapped, they'd carefully avoided using it for any important calls. Daniel's mind hadn't fully turned the events inside and out when a tragic thought struck him.

"d.a.m.n!" He ran up the steps and inside the house, not even bothering to pretend to wait for permission from the owner.

"Daniel, what is it?" Sarah's heart lurched. She recognized that look on his face. It meant trouble.

"The phone at Idlewild." He slammed his fist into the wall of the hallway. "Estis, are you here?" His voice was angry, worried.

"What about the phone?" Sarah followed him into the house.

"That telephone man. I should have trusted my instincts. He wasn't real." His fist hit the wall again. "d.a.m.n! I should have seen it. I should have known." He turned to Sarah. "You spoke with your mother about Graham Estis that day as soon as the phone was repaired."

A chill as cold as the bitterest winter ran through Sarah. She knew then what they would find in the neat Victorian house with the tin roof.

"Graham? Familiar?"

The black cat appeared at the end of the hallway. He sat down as if he waited for them. When Sarah tried to enter the room, he grabbed her foot with his claws.

"Wait here," Daniel said. Before she could protest, he pushed into the room and closed the door behind him. Graham Estis was in bed. The bullet wound was small, a professional job, and completely effective. Just to be on the safe side, Daniel went to him. A chill had already settled over the body. With great care, Daniel carefully removed any trace of his touch.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he turned from the bed.

"Is he... ?" Sarah stood in the doorway. She'd pushed the door open, but the sight of the body in the bed had stopped her cold.

"Dead." Daniel pulled her against his chest and held her as the first wave of anger and sorrow ran through her.

"It's my fault," she said. "I said his name. I gave it away."

Daniel held her tightly. "Sarah, they wouldn't have killed him unless he knew something. Something important." He shook her lightly to stop her angry tears. "You didn't kill him. He did that to himself years ago, when he became a part of whatever it was that destroyed your father."