Free Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies by Cynthia Cooke Page A

attention riveted on her. For a second she closed her eyes and absorbed the area around her, opening herself up to any hostile vibrations. But surprisingly there were none.
    She frowned. Where were Emerich’s men? They’d been at the airport. They would surely know this was the first place she’d come looking for her father. They should be here, ready to spring a trap. But she felt nothing amiss. No evil lurking in the shadows. The ferry must have somehow beaten them to the island.
    “Usually my father would call someone from the house to pick us up,” she muttered uneasily, noting the lack of vehicles on the docks.
    “I don’t think anyone is there to call.”
    “Then we’ll have to walk,” she said, and started up the road toward the island village and her father’s estate. “It’s only about a mile but we’ll be walking through town. Feel free to stop at the local pub and grab yourself a beer. It shouldn’t take me long.”
    “Not a chance,” he said, a knowing smile lighting his eyes. “Nice try, though.”
    She shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
    “In fact, we should bypass the town altogether.”
    She looked up and saw his gaze scanning the area around them. “Looking for Emerich’s men?”
    He nodded. “They don’t seem to be here yet, but they will be soon enough.”
    “No doubt.” She veered off the main road and led him into the trees.
    They walked in silence for a moment, taking in the soaring lodgepole pines and the thick blanket of ferns covering the forest floor. She breathed deep the crisp scent of pine, ocean, and clean air and sighed. “I used to love this place,” she said.
    “I can see why. How long have you been gone?”
    “Since my mom died. After that, we closed up the house and left. Dad changed our names and split us up, sending us each to a different part of the world.”
    “Just when you needed family most? Why would he do that?”
    “He thought we’d be safer that way. It’s why I didn’t mention them. My sisters, I mean. I-I just don’t. Ever. To anyone.”
    “That was a terrible thing to do to you,” Kyle blurted fiercely.
    She turned to him, her eyes narrowing. “It wasn’t.”
    “He took away your family.” Disapproval thickened his voice.
    “He was trying to keep us safe,” she countered.
    “I thought you said your mother died in an accident.”
    “She did. It was.”
    “Then what possible reason would he have for doing that?”
    Genie blinked. Her mouth parted to make a knee-jerk retort. Kyle had no right to say those things, to judge her father’s decisions. But suddenly, for the first time ever, she realized she didn’t have an answer. She’d never even asked the question. Why would her father have separated them at a time when they needed more than anything to be together? Just like when he told her to leave Kyle, to leave the CTA, she never questioned his judgment. He knew what was best for her. But did he? Had it been best for her? For her sisters? Or for himself?
    “We will find him,” Kyle said softly, filling the silence growing between them.
    She looked up at him and, in that moment, she believed him. But more than that, she was grateful that he was there. As difficult as this situation was, he was trying to make the best of it. And she hated to admit it, but she was very glad she didn’t have to face the ghosts of her childhood home alone.
    Finally, they stepped out of the forest and onto an expansive velvet green lawn that led to a grand white house sitting on top of a small hill. Its wall of windows faced an elaborate pool and the brilliant blue ocean below them. Beyond the house was a large barn, and beyond that, an empty dock.
    Kyle whistled.
    “It’s something, isn’t it?” she said with a wry smile.
    “You could say that.”
    She reached out with her mind, but still didn’t sense any danger. She felt a vague, misty presence of her father, but that was no doubt residual energy from his living on the estate.
    She glanced once