Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [20]
Neil Diamond was next, and she reached over and turned it off. There was a limit, and Neil Diamond was way past it. She was heading for the refrigerator when the sound of Sophie’s bright voice filtered into the kitchen.
Who could she be talking to? David never came home early, and Rachel had yet to meet anyone in this buttoned-up town who was likely to just drop in unannounced with the possible exception of Maggie, and she was kind of busy right now. The sound of the deep voice, answering her daughter, was enough to send panic lancing through her.
She slammed out of the kitchen, practically skidding into the family room where Sophie sat on the floor, legs crossed, her books scattered around her, her laptop spread out on the coffee table as she carried on an easy conversation with Caleb Middleton.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, not caring how she sounded.
Caleb was lounging in a chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him, and he simply looked up at her. “Meeting my niece. You didn’t tell me what a charming daughter you have.”
“In the kitchen. Now.” She could barely keep the anger out of her voice.
“Ma!” Sophie protested. “We were having a good time.”
Caleb got to his feet in a leisurely manner de signed to infuriate her. “We’ll continue our conversation later, Sophie.”
“The hell you will,” Rachel muttered, herding him into the kitchen. She switched on the radio again so Sophie couldn’t overhear her. “I want you to stay away from my daughter.”
He cocked his head, looking at her quizzically.
“Why would you think I’d be any particular danger to her?” he said, entirely reasonable. “She’s too young for me. How old are you?”
“Stop that!”
“Stop what?” He leaned back against the counter, watching her with that unsettling stillness.
“What’s got you so wound up?
“There’s a murderer on the loose—why shouldn’t I be wound up?”
“What’s that got to do with me?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you said it did,” she snapped.
“When did I say that?”
“Last night. In your father’s kitchen.”
“I was trying to bait you. Look at it this way—
I’d only just arrived in town. I wasn’t here long enough to find someone annoying to murder. Time, however, has fixed that.” His look at her was pointed.
“That supposed to make me nervous?”
“You don’t strike me as someone who’s easily frightened.”
“You’re right. You come to town and a young woman dies. I find that an uncomfortable coincidence.”
“Maybe it’s no coincidence,” he said, his voice expressionless.
She stared at him. “What do you mean by that?”
“Haven’t you heard about me, Rachel? I’m the bad seed of Silver Falls. The kind of kid who boosted cars and stole my brother’s girlfriends. The kind of kid who killed his mother and put his father in a wheelchair.”
She wasn’t going to panic. “Exactly how much of that is true?”
He looked at her. “Some of it. It’ll be up to you to figure out what’s what. In the meantime, you need to be careful. Things are going to get worse before they get better. Maybe you should pack Sophie up, go on a little vacation until things settle down.”
“Things aren’t unsettled, and we’re not going anywhere,” she said, trying to hide how tempting that was. “Sophie and I are both very happy here. She loves the school, loves her new life. The math program here is extraordinary, and she’s a gifted child.”
“There are other programs. Tell me, does she love my brother? David has never been the paternal type.”
“They get along very well. Sophie doesn’t need a father, she simply needs a structured, ordinary life and a chance to use her brain. I’ve dragged her all around the world, never gave her a chance to have a normal life, a normal home. She’s got that now and I’m not about to throw it away on a whim.”
“Normal home? Honey, you struck out on that one,” he drawled. “And what about you? You don’t strike me as a structured, ordinary woman.”
“I can be,” she said firmly. “I can be anything my daughter needs me to be.”
“How about gone?