Best-Kept Secrets

“There is one thing. Have you talked with the Perry family? The restaurant is the old Perry mansion, you know. The mayor’s mother lived in the house until a few years ago.”

He paused on the front porch and nodded. “I’m afraid Ms. Perry’s mental faculties aren’t sufficient to be reliable anymore. I plan to have a talk with her niece, the mayor, but—”

“What about her brother?”

Hepplewhite hesitated, his brow pleating. “Eugene?”

“Not the mayor’s brother, I meant Ms. Perry’s brother, the mayor’s father. General Marcus Perry actually inherited the estate but he didn’t live there once he joined the military. He and his wife, Millicent, had Cindy Lou and Eugene. I’m not sure where Eugene lives, but I know old Ms. Perry lived in the house until she started having problems. Of course, she was always a little—”

“Strange?”

Amy nearly smiled. “I was going to say reclusive. Her brother Marcus is…” She paused on the verge of calling the general strange. “I’ve met General Perry in the course of my duties for the military,” she added quickly instead. And in every case Marcus Perry had stared at her with a disquieting expression. Amy had taken to avoiding any place where she might run into the man. “He would probably know when the root cellar was closed up.”

“An excellent suggestion. Thank you. I’ll ask Cindy Lou how to get in touch with her father.”

“Good luck.”

She closed the screen door behind him. After a moment, for the first time in memory, she locked it as she watched the officer stride to his waiting vehicle.

“IF I UNDERSTAND YOU correctly, Officer Garvey, someone tampered with that dump truck on purpose.”

“I didn’t say that, Mr. Collins.”

The policeman’s gaze swept the empty dining room. Shortly, the Perrywrinkle would open and the carefully laid tables would fill with the usual lunch crowd.

Jake tipped his head and raised his eyebrows. “Is there some indication that the truck had faulty gears?”

Lee Garvey smiled ruefully. “The state police are looking into that for us. I know you already answered this once, but I thought maybe after sleeping on the incident you might have remembered seeing someone near the truck before it began to roll backward.”

“My attention was elsewhere at the time.” On a woman with golden-brown hair and lips made for kissing. A woman who had haunted his memories for years and given life to his child.

A woman who hated him.

“You think someone deliberately put the truck in gear?” Jake asked.

“Not necessarily. It could have been a kid fooling around.”

Instantly Jake came alert. His body tightened imperceptibly. “Matt was on the other side of the hole. I saw him myself right before I realized the truck was moving.”

“I wasn’t accusing anyone.”

Perhaps not, but fifteen-year-old Matt Williams’s reputation made that almost inevitable. Matt had been caught boosting vehicles for a car theft ring the FBI had broken up several weeks ago. An orphan, Matt had lived with his maternal aunt and her husband until he’d witnessed a murder and become a liability to the car thieves. To keep him silent, his aunt and uncle’s house had been blown up—with Matt inside. The boy had been lucky enough to survive.

“I understand he’s staying with you,” Garvey said.

Jake tensed. In truth, he had no legal standing where Matt was concerned. Matt’s paternal aunt and uncle were still his official guardians, but Dwight Kornbaum had confessed that he and Matt couldn’t be in the same room without arguing. The boy was ruining his marriage and his life. Dwight was more than ready to turn Matt over to another relative.

“Matt is staying here so his schooling won’t be interrupted while his aunt and uncle’s house is being rebuilt,” Jake said simply. “Catherine and Dwight are staying in D.C. with some friends who live close to where they work.”

He didn’t add that Matt acted as if the new arrangement didn’t matter to him one way or another, but Jake recognized the signs of a boy who knew when he wasn’t wanted.

During the time the Perrywrinkle was being gutted and refurbished, Jake had done his best to get to know the skittish boy and earn his trust. If Matt wondered why his relatives had come to this arrangement with Jake, he’d never asked, though Jake had presented several opportunities for him to do so. Matt trusted no one. Forging a bond with him took time and patience. Jake had plenty of both.

Since he’d come to stay with Jake, Matt had slowly begun to lose some of his initial wariness. Jake wasn’t about to have that destroyed by a false accusation.

“He had nothing to do with the truck,” Jake stated firmly.

“Hey, I believe you.”

After a moment Jake inclined his head. “I thought the fact that Matt once stole your car might still…rankle.” Especially since the policeman had left a gun in the car that was later used in a murder.

“You can stand down, Papa Bear,” Lee said with an infectious grin. “I don’t hold grudges. I’m looking for answers, not pointing fingers.”

Jake decided it was hard not to like the affable policeman.

“The chief may have already asked you this, but did you know about the root cellar when you bought the estate?”

“No. There was a decaying gazebo close to that spot. I took some pictures of the grounds when I first purchased the land.”

Lee’s expression lit up. “May I see them?”

As they passed the bar, Ben waved at them from behind the large mahogany counter where he was inventorying stock. Jake inclined his head and led Lee up to his makeshift office. The upstairs was sparingly furnished in used pieces, many of which had come from the original estate. The attic was still filled with items the family hadn’t wanted. Jake hadn’t had time to go through it all.

Lee Garvey peered around curiously, but Jake offered neither an apology nor an explanation. The furniture might not be much, and he’d made no attempt at any homey features, but the place was clean and his files were neatly organized. Without hesitation, Jake pulled out the pictures he had taken shortly after buying the Perry estate.

“If you look closely, in this shot you can see the remains of the foundation for what I believe was the old servants’ quarters. Right about here is where the parking lot caved in.”

The picture clearly showed the gazebo inside the area that must have been an outbuilding. The gazebo was nearly rubble from the same lack of care the rest of the grounds had received.

“As you can see, the outbuildings had all been torn down before I bought the estate.”

“At least this explains why the root cellar was so far from the main house. It went with the servants’ quarters and not the main house.”

Jake said nothing.

“May I borrow these for a few days?” the officer asked.

“I have the negatives.”

“Even better, thanks. I’ll return them.”

As the two headed for the stairs, Matt came running up to the second floor. “Hey, Jake!”

The teenager stopped dead when he saw the police officer. All trace of youthful exuberance faded from his expression. His features became wary and instantly defensive.

“Officer Garvey needed some pictures of the original grounds,” Jake explained softly.

“Oh.”