All She Ever Wanted - Barbara Freethy [60]
Chapter 10
They'd missed Malone again. Cole stared at the empty table in the front of the bookstore where the man was supposed to be sitting and felt the wind go out of his sails. After their discoveries in Malone's hotel room, he'd become convinced they were only moments away from discovering his true identity.
"The manager said he left ten minutes ago. The books went much faster than they'd anticipated, and they ran out of stock," Natalie said with an expressive sigh. "This sucks."
"It certainly does."
"I told you we should have gotten here earlier."
"If we'd rushed through Malone's room, we would have missed the wig and makeup. We'll have to try to catch him at the radio station."
"That's not until three o'clock."
"It's all I've got. Do you want to get something to eat?" He stopped, realizing Natalie had paused next to a book rack, an odd expression on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I can't believe I didn't think of this before." She pointed to the row of slim books in front of her. "Emily wrote in a journal just like that every single night we were at school, starting with the very first day in the dorms." She looked at him with a new light in her eyes. "What better place to learn the secrets of our lives than from Emily's journal? When I was reading Fallen Angel, I thought it sounded like Emily was talking. Malone must have gotten the information for his book from her journal. What she didn't write down, he filled in with his own imagination. It makes perfect sense. We used to joke that Emily could use that journal for blackmail." She paused, giving a confused shake of her head. "But how did Malone get her journal? You and your parents cleaned out our room after the funeral."
His jaw tightened as he remembered that terrible task. "I didn't pay attention to what we were packing."
"Where did everything end up?"
"In Emily's bedroom in my parents' house. If the journal is anywhere, it's there."
"I don't think it's there. I think it's with Malone."
"It wasn't in his hotel room."
"He probably didn't bring it with him. We can certainly ask him about it when we find him ... if we find him."
"We will," Cole said confidently. "He can't run out of the radio show early. We'll catch up to him there. And we'll ask him about the journal. Let's get out of here."
"And go where?" she asked, as they moved toward the door.
He thought about that. They needed a distraction, something to do for a couple of hours to take their minds off Emily and his family. Since food seemed to be of little interest to either of them, he sought another idea. And suddenly he had it. "Take me home," he said abruptly.
Natalie looked at him in confusion. "Now? We have to meet Malone at three o'clock."
"Not my home. Yours."
"I don't understand."
"Yes, you do." He saw the light slowly dawn in her eyes. "Show me where you grew up, Natalie. Take me home."
"Absolutely not."
"When was the last time you saw your mother?"
"Five years ago. She was in rehab. She asked me for cash and a bottle of whiskey. I gave her the cash. She probably used it to get the whiskey as soon as she got out."
"So why give her the money?"
"I don't know. Habit, I guess. Duty, responsibility, guilt."
"What would you have to feel guilty about?"
"I don't want to talk about my mother."
"We don't have to talk. Let's just take a drive through the old neighborhood. We won't stop unless you want to."
Natalie shook her head. "Do you ever have an idea that is not stupid or dangerous?"
"Not lately," he said with a grin.
"I should have my head examined for agreeing to them all." She studied him thoughtfully. "Why the interest now, Cole? You never wanted to know anything about my past before. Are we just killing time?"
"Maybe I wasn't ready to know before," he said candidly.
"That's a perceptive