The South Beach Search Page 17

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  TAKI CLOSED HER eyes and swallowed hard. Now what? If she told Reese about her plan to check out Key West, which sounded like an interesting place to live, full of creative people, if also expensive, he might track her down. If he did, she wouldn’t be able to resist him.

  But if she simply said, “I don’t know where I’m going,” he would think she was even loonier than he already did.

  And of course she couldn’t lie outright. Not that lawyers didn’t love to lie. Or what had the judge called it? Misrepresentation.

  Just thinking the word made her stiffen, brought back her white-hot rage when she’d learned her father’s attorneys had misrepresented the facts about her mom, told lies that ensured her dad got full custody of his daughter.

  Taki shook her head to clear her chaotic thoughts. Once again Reese had thrown her mind into turmoil.

  “I haven’t gone anywhere yet,” she told him. “Let’s figure out how we’re going to find our property.”

  “Any more psychics up your sleeve?”

  Matching his lighter tone, she said, “We could always try a séance.”

  “Why am I not surprised you know a medium? Not that I’m questioning your beliefs,” he added quickly.

  “Yes, you are, but I’m actually kidding. I still think I should contact Bruce Mayhugh again,” she said.

  “Taki, please. We’ve been through this.”

  “I know, I know,” she said. “But you and your FBI people can be in on everything. Isn’t it worth a try?”

  He seemed to mull over her suggestion. “I’ll discuss it with Javi. Would you consider wearing a wire?”

  “A wire? You mean like a listening device so you could hear what goes on?”

  “Right. We’d be monitoring you the entire time.”

  While Reese proposed a few scenarios to see what she thought, Taki breathed a sigh of relief that Reese had stopped his probing. She couldn’t tell him where she was going.

  Then, with a rush of total, gut-churning horror, she realized her half-truths to Reese were exactly the same sort of misrepresentation her father’s lawyers had engaged in sixteen years ago. They hadn’t told an out-and-out lie, either, just cleverly shaded the truth about her mother’s rebellious life as a young woman. The cruel way they’d portrayed her mother to the court left the judge no choice but to deny her custody of a nine-year-old daughter.

  And those heartless misrepresentations had resulted in her mother’s death.

  She’d misled Reese about who she was, hid the total truth about why she was leaving. She hadn’t told him the depth of her father’s cruelty.

  Tears pricked at the back of Taki’s eyes. She sincerely tried to be a good person, one that made a difference in the world, who made people’s lives better.

  But maybe she was no better than the people she was running away from.

  * * *

  JUST AFTER DARK, Reese pulled into Taki’s driveway and cut the Jag’s engine. Considering how late they had left Mike’s, they’d made good time. Neither of them spoke for a moment.

  Finally, he turned to her. Illuminated by a soft glow from a porch light, she gazed at her hands clasped in her lap. Taki had been unusually quiet for hours, answering his questions only with a nod, or a murmured yes or no.

  He’d been practicing law long enough to know that meant she didn’t want to volunteer anything other than precisely what was asked.

  More than once during the long drive home he’d seen her wipe moisture away from sad eyes. Maybe the idea of wearing a wire bothered her. He’d make certain there was no danger, but if the idea frightened her, she didn’t have to go through with it.

  “What’s wrong, Taki?”

  She opened her mouth to issue what he knew would be a quick denial but stopped herself.

  “I’m tired,” she admitted.

  “It was a long trip,” he agreed. “Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

  “No,” Taki whispered.

  “Me, either.” And they both knew why.

  She glanced up, her eyes moist and bright. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “I make a special valerian tea blend that would help you sleep tonight. It’s got a strong taste, but works very well. Just add honey and...” She trailed off. “That is, if you don’t mind being prescribed herbs illegally.”

  Reese smiled, marveling at her attempt to be helpful even when so obviously upset. “Thanks,” he said. “I’d very much like some of your tea.”

  “Okay, then,” she said and pushed open her door.

  He followed her into her cottage, wishing he knew what went wrong, how to get through to her. He hated to see her so dispirited. On this trip he’d realized there was an air of loneliness about Taki. Maybe because she was an only child. She hid it well, but he sensed she’d been fascinated by, and maybe a little envious of, his large family.

  And what was bothering her now? Had he done or said something to cause the tears she tried to hide? Was she thinking about her move?

  “I’ll just be a minute,” she said. She flipped on a light and went into the kitchen.

  As he rubbed his hands together, Reese shook his head. It was almost as cold inside her home as out. He knew the cottage didn’t have central heat, only space heaters, which were expensive to run. Taki insisted she liked cool temperatures, but could living in an environment like this really be good for her?

  She returned with a plastic bag containing loose herbs and a round, aluminum object he couldn’t identify.

  “I doubt if you have a tea infuser,” she said, “so I’ve included one with the blend. Just put the tea inside the infuser and insert in boiling water. Allow it to steep for at least five minutes.”

  When she handed him the tea, he pulled her into his arms, wanting to warm her, himself, and not allow their journey together to end.

  “Thanks,” he said, breathing the word against her soft, sweetly scented hair.

  “You’re welcome. Thank you for the ride.” Her voice caught, and she ran her hands under his jacket, hugging him tightly.

  He hugged her back. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “I can’t,” she said, her words muffled against his chest.

  “If you’re worried about wearing a wire when you meet Mayhugh, then—”

  “It’s not that.”

  “Is it your father?” He lifted her chin and caught his breath at the tears swimming in her blue eyes. “Maybe I can help.”

  Shaking her head, she attempted a smile, then lifted onto her toes and lightly kissed him on the cheek. Reese turned his head and caught her mouth hungrily, tasting salty tears on warm, trembling lips that parted willingly for him.

  As he explored her mouth, he realized that none of their many differences seemed to matter when he kissed her. Whenever she was in his arms, he felt they belonged together, no matter how different, no matter the obstacles.

  Those damn obstacles just kept getting in the way.

  He pulled away and located a handkerchief in a pocket. She grinned as she accepted it and blew her nose. Then she laughed, seeming a little embarrassed by the noise.

  “Way to spoil the mood, huh?” she said.

  “You’re too sweet to spoil anything, Taki.”

  Releasing a sigh of denial, she looked at the floor and shook her head.

  He drew her into his arms again. “Let me stay with you tonight.”

  She sucked in a quick breath, causing her breasts to press into him. His suggestion had definitely affected her. He just wasn’t sure how.

  She stepped out of his embrace, her eyes now bright but dry, and cupped his cheek with her warm palm. “I don’t think I’d be very good company
tonight, Reese,” she said softly.

  “Let me be the judge of that.”

  She cocked an eyebrow and dropped her hand. “I thought you wanted to be governor. Now it’s a judge?”

  He wanted to smile at her attempt to lighten their downer mood, but frustration ate at him. Why did she always push him away?

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Don’t worry about me. I get like this sometimes when I don’t get enough sleep.”

  “Okay.” He studied her carefully. There was something else going on, and he hated to leave her alone and unhappy. “I’ll call you tomorrow after I talk to Javi.”

  “All right,” she said. She tucked her arm into his and moved him toward the door. “Now go home, make some of my tea and get a good night’s rest. You have to work tomorrow.”

  He didn’t believe anything short of a narcotic would provide him a good night’s sleep. His thoughts would be filled with her mysterious moods and how much he hated leaving her.

  How desperately he wanted to make love to her.

  “Good night,” he said and kissed her softly.

  “Goodbye, Reese.”

  * * *

  TAKI REMAINED AT the door, straining to hear the fading roar of the Jaguar’s engine. When she heard nothing but the faint ticks of her kitchen clock, she knew Reese was gone and that she would never see him again.

  She turned from the door and allowed her gaze to roam over her small, comfortable cottage. Time to start packing. She shivered, unsure if it was from the cold or from the longing that consumed her so thoroughly. If only, if only...

  But it was time to go. She needed to get away from Reese before she ruined his life. She was glad she’d told him the truth, or most of it, anyway. But they’d never make it work between them. They were too different. He was too much like her father. Or maybe she was too much like her mother.

  Bowl or no bowl, she had to leave Miami and make a fresh start somewhere new. But she’d done this so many times. She was so very tired of being a nomad.

  She closed her eyes and was briefly transported to another room in a much larger house. A warm room. A room full of love. She was laughing so hard that her tummy hurt while playing a game with her mother and father. She wore one of her mother’s huge, floppy hats and a pair of too-big shoes, pretending to be something she wasn’t even then.

  But why...why couldn’t she picture her mother’s face? Taki squeezed her eyes shut, trying to bring the image to her mind. Had she forgotten what her mother looked like? How could that happen?

  Opening her eyes, she grabbed the tapestry footstool and scooted it across the hardwood floor. At her bedroom closet, she stepped on the stool and reached to the farthest corner for a large, ragged cardboard box. Her treasure chest. She kept it with her always, taking it whenever she moved, but had avoided looking inside for years.

  She carried the carton to the middle of her living room, turned on the space heater and sat cross-legged on the floor beside it.

  First came letters, depositions, stock certificates, a copy of her grandmother’s will—for years she’d tossed legal garbage into the box and out of sight. Now she had to remove handfuls of hateful documents to find what she wanted....

  An old photo album, its yellowing, plastic-protected pages long since ripped from the binder. On the first leaf she found a faded color photograph of her parents standing beside their elegant, three-tiered wedding cake, gazing into each other’s eyes with complete adoration. When she flipped the page they were laughing and feeding each other messy gobs of white frosting. Taki smiled and stretched out along the floor with her chin propped on her hand.

  How could she forget her mother’s face when everyone always said they looked just alike? Her first-grade teacher had even told her mom on back-to-school night, “I don’t need to ask whose mother you are.”

  With tender care, Taki leafed through the only photo album she had taken from Rhode Island, one compiled by her mom. The photos revealed images of happy, carefree days with her parents. Taki ran her index finger across a photograph of the three of them on a swing, grinning at the camera. Who had taken that shot? Where had the swing been located? She didn’t remember one on the estate, but there must have been.

  Hard to believe she had once been that little and so obviously cherished by two loving people. She remembered few specifics of those times, only vague, haunting memories that could have sprung from these very pictures, rather than from the events themselves. All of this seemed so long ago.

  What had been etched painfully in her mind was her father’s subsequent harsh rule, a structured life full of strict nannies, starched dresses and standards impossible to live up to. Her father could give her anything on earth she wanted. Anything except love.

  Her father had taken love out of a child’s life as surely as he had killed her mother. He’d probably torn down that swing set.

  Closing the photo album, Taki pulled more mementos from the carton. Anniversary and Valentine’s Day cards from her father to her mother. Four goofy pictures of the two of them in a photo booth. Flimsy newspaper clippings about important social events in their lives. A small lock of blond baby hair in a frame. Her hair, she supposed.

  Surrounded by keepsakes on her living room floor, Taki began to reread a stack of her parents’ love letters.

  * * *

  DURING THE THIRTY-MINUTE drive from Taki’s home on Miami Beach to his condo on Brickell Avenue, Reese tried to pinpoint exactly when she’d become unreachable. He must have inadvertently touched a sensitive nerve to cause her withdrawal. Had he somehow hurt her feelings? He couldn’t fathom what he’d said, but believed her cool, polite distance had everything to do with her family. No, had to be her hated father, the man she called a monster. He decided to run a search on the name she’d given him tomorrow.

  As he mentally combed over every snippet of their conversation for hidden nuance, he always circled back to one disturbing thought. Her parting words sounded like goodbye. Forever. As in, Goodbye, Reese. Have a nice life. It’s been great and I’ve enjoyed knowing you, but we’ll never see each other again.

  The end, fini, over and out.

  And, damn, he had heard regret. She wanted to see him again. He knew how to read people. That ability was what made him a good prosecutor. Taki was as attracted to him as he was to her.

  Or maybe he just wanted to believe that. Maybe he was fooling himself.

  As he turned into the concrete garage of his high-rise building, Reese wondered how he could possibly read so much into two short syllables. Often he didn’t get that much meaning from a two-hundred-page deposition transcript. He eased the transmission into Park and cut the engine.

  Rubbing the bridge of his nose where Taki’s recent gift had begun to irritate, he realized he already relied on the optical magnification. Maybe the glasses pinched a little, but they were definitely worth the bother.

  He relaxed his head against the backrest. A faint click sounded as the Jag’s alarm snapped on automatically. A tiny red light over the windshield began to blink.

  Regarding himself with pure disgust, Reese admitted he had a feeling—no, much more than a feeling. A certainty that churned in his gut. If he didn’t go back to Taki right now, he would never see her again. She would slip out of his life as if she’d never been in it.

  What was happening to him? He had no facts, no evidence to back up this ridiculous theory. All he had was a softly spoken farewell that sounded moving-day final.

  The hell with that shit.

  He turned over the key, but the ignition froze because the alarm had engaged, and a shrill siren echoed against the surrounding concrete. Reese killed the noise and backed out of the parking space, refusing to believe she could disappear in half an hour.

  Not even Taki could manage that.


  * * *

  TAKI LOOKED UP at an insistent knock on her front door. She’d been rereading a poem by her father, not one of his best, where he begged her mother to forgive him, to marry him, to “ignore the jealous roars of the howling Spencer beast.” Taki interpreted the “beast” to be the Spencer money. Good description.

  Finding it impossible to follow the sweet but somewhat skewed logic of the poem while someone beat on her door, Taki rose and checked through the peephole, assuming her visitor was Victoria wanting to learn about her reading with Robin. Or maybe about her journey with Reese.

  As if her thoughts made him manifest, Reese stood in the doorway with an unreadable expression on his handsome face. She heard herself gasp his name and without thinking, opened the door.

  “Can I come in?” he asked.

  “Oh...of course.” She stepped out of the way and motioned him inside. “Did you forget something?”

  “Yes,” he said. His gaze swept the interior of the cottage, and he nodded. “I see you’ve already started packing.”

  Following his gaze to her cardboard box of memories in the middle of the floor, Taki stepped forward to tuck her mementoes away again, back where they belonged. As she moved past Reese, he shot out his arm and pulled her to him.

  “I don’t want you to go,” he said as he wrapped both arms around her, hugging her tight.

  She rested her cheek against his chest, drawing the familiar scent of his spicy aftershave into her lungs. Where did he think she was going? “But I was just going to—”

  “I mean I don’t want you to leave Miami.”

  “Oh,” she whispered. Why did he come back? Is he going to ask me to stay?

  He raised her chin with his thumb and searched her face. The room spun during his careful scrutiny, and she focused on a tender light in his gaze that first warmed her with its glow, then consumed her with a fiery surge of heat. She placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, and knew she could never let him go.

  Taki parted her lips, hoping Reese would kiss her soon.