All She Ever Wanted - Barbara Freethy [103]
Chapter 17
Natalie spent most of Friday morning looking for Cole. She'd been to his apartment, his office; she'd even driven by his parents' house to see if his car was there. It wasn't. She was getting more worried by the moment. Since Cole had stormed out of Dylan's apartment the day before, he had been completely unreachable. She'd decided to give him a little time to come to terms with Dylan's feelings for Emily, but that time was up. She wanted—make that needed—to talk to him, to make sure he was all right.
Taking a chance, she drove down to the marina and walked out to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. sure enough, he was there, leaning against a brick wall, looking out at the water. She pulled her sweater tightly around her body as a cool breeze made her shiver, then walked up to him.
"How did you know I was here?" Cole asked without tinning his head.
She leaned against the wall, resting her arms on top of it, as she nudged his shoulder with her own. "Lucky guess. Aren't you cold?" He had on a dress shirt and slacks but no coat.
"I don't know. I haven't thought about it." He paused for a moment. "Did you find Em's journal?"
"No, it wasn't in Dylan's closet." She saw his pulse jump and knew he was still having a hard time thinking about that closet. "It wasn't as bad as it looked, Cole."
"How can you say that?" He turned to gaze at her, and she saw pain and anger in his dark eyes. "Dylan was obsessed with my sister in some weird, sick way. And I never knew. I thought he was my friend. I trusted him. We all did. My parents were happy when Emily went to Santa Cruz so Dylan could look after her. My God, we encouraged him to see her." He shook his head in self-loathing. "I can't believe I trusted him."
"Dylan did look after Emily. According to Madison, he was in love with Emily, but he never told her. And she never acted like they were anything but friends. I don't think he crossed the line, Cole, except in his own imagination." Natalie didn't know why she felt so determined to convince him, but she did. Maybe because Cole had already lost his sister; she couldn't let him lose one of his best friends, too. "There have been so many misunderstandings. Don't let this be another one. Talk to Dylan before you judge him."
"What don't I understand, Natalie?" he asked with a frustrated wave of his hand. "My best friend lied to me. Even if it was a lie of omission, it's still a lie. And why are you defending him? He hates you."
"Thanks for reminding me," she said dryly. "I know he's not my biggest fan, but we looked through the closet, Cole. Yes, there are tons of photos of Emily, but it's not like they're nude photos. We also found drawings that must have been done when Emily was young. It looked like she and Dylan tried to make their own magic tricks. And they wrote stories together about magical places. I guess Dylan based his virtual-reality games on some of those stories. From what I read, they were pretty good. The closet was like a big scrap-book. You should go back and look inside. You'll see there aren't any monsters in there."
Cole stared at her as if she'd grown two heads. "I don't get you, Natalie. You sound forgiving. Haven't you figured out yet that there's a good chance Dylan either is Garrett Malone or fed Malone the story because he wanted to punish you for Emily's death?"
That thought had definitely occurred to her. "Of course I get that, Cole. If Dylan believes that I hurt Emily, then he's wrong, and I will make sure he understands that at some point. Especially if he's the one who wrote the book that is destroying my reputation." She paused, wishing she could make him understand that she'd been touched emotionally by some of what she'd seen in that closet. "I have to tell you that I'm a little in awe of the love that Dylan had for Emily. He adored her. That's clearly evident. Whatever he did, he did out of love."
"A sick kind of love obviously."
"Why was it sick? Because