Love Inspired Suspense January 2014 (50 page)

NINE

M
ax felt as if he was watching some strange movie as they pulled up at Trevor Ancho's place of business. He knew it wasn't police protocol to let civilians in on the questioning, but for whatever reason, Chen allowed them to follow along. The man who'd just introduced himself certainly had the same stature and build as the guy who'd bashed out Dan's truck windows, but he had never seen the face clearly. And this man, all smiles and strong handshakes, appeared completely at ease.

He heard Laney suck in a breath as she confronted him. “I told them what you did to me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Did? Do I know you?”

Laney shook off her father's arm. “You can lie all you want, but I told them you stunned me and shoved me into the trunk of your Aston Martin and brought me to Mountain Loop Road.”

Trevor blinked and shook his head. “I'm not sure which part of that I'm more surprised about, that you're accusing me of kidnapping you or the fact that you think I own an Aston Martin.” He jerked a thumb behind him. “That's my one and only vehicle right there. I was just checking on one of my jobs down the mountain.” He looked at Chen. “It's the grocery store remodel on Fifth.” He offered an apologetic smile. “You can check with my foreman if I need an alibi. I've been chewing him out for the past few hours and he'll be happy to tell you all about it.”

Officer Chen said he would check. “Mr. Ancho, am I clear in understanding that you do not own an Aston Martin?”

Ancho laughed. “Yes, sir. If I had the money for that, I wouldn't be driving a ten-year-old pickup truck, let me tell you.”

“You know I'm going to run your vehicle registration information,” Chen said.

“I would hope so, with these accusations flying around. Do whatever you need to do to assure yourself I had nothing to do with hurting anybody.”

Max thought the smile was a little too easy; the good-old-boy charm rang somewhat false in his ears. Or was he just looking for reasons to support Laney's story? “Laney says you are the one who broke Mr. Thompson's car window.”

“Dan's? Why would I do that?”

“You know each other?” Max asked watching the flicker of emotion that passed over Dan's face. He could not decipher it quickly enough before it was gone.

“Only in passing. Used his cabs a bunch of times. Certainly got no reason to bust out his windows, do I, Dan?”

Dan went still. “No.”

Officer Chen asked a few more questions and thanked Ancho politely.

“Happy to help,” Ancho said. He offered a smile to Laney. “I'm sorry there's been a misunderstanding here, but I hope everything turns out well for you. You're a skater, I know from the papers. Had a string of misfortunes, haven't you? Paper said you're looking to make a comeback and I think that's just great.” He frowned, looking around as though he was noticing for the first time where he happened to be. “Say, isn't Mountain Loop the place where you were hit all those years ago?”

Laney eased back a step as if she could distance herself from the memories he knew had to be assailing her at that moment.

Ancho frowned. “Weird...”

He apparently thought Laney was going to respond, but she looked at the ground instead.

With a final shrug, Ancho returned to his office.

Chen said he would be in touch with all of them and checked one last time to be sure Laney did not want medical treatment.

She shook her head and thanked the officer in a very small voice.

Max watched Dan take his daughter in his arms. He spoke low, so low Max didn't catch all of it.

“I know what kind of monster he is, Laney,” Dan said.

Her head jerked up. “You know I'm telling the truth?”

“Yes, I know. And I'm going to take care of it all, don't you worry.”

She gripped his arms. “You know things about him? Dad, we have to make the police see the truth.”

Dan shook his head. “Listen to me. The police can't help with this.”

“Why not? What's going on?” Her tone was pleading.

“I promise, I'm going to take care of it. Give me a few days.”

“No, I'm scared of that man, and I don't want you doing anything crazy.”

“Nothing crazy, I just need to settle something with him and this will all be over.”

“Dad...”

“Trust me.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Trust me to fix it. You've always trusted me before and I've never betrayed that trust, have I?”

She shook her head.

He nodded. Clearing his throat he looked at Max. “All right. Drop me back in town and take this gal back to the dorms since she refuses to go to the hospital. I'll check in with you later.”

Laney held on to his hand until he detached himself and all three of them squeezed into the front seat of Max's truck. It did not escape Max's notice that Laney made sure her father was in the middle. Avoiding him? He wasn't surprised.

They drove slowly, since it was now fully dark, and Max dropped Dan at his shop.

“Please be careful,” Laney said, stepping out and embracing him hard before she got back in the car.

“I will.” He beamed a bright smile at them both. “Go rest and hit the training hard tomorrow. I'll be there to see your ice time.”

Laney didn't answer as Max waited until Dan went inside.

As they took the road back to the oval, the sound of the tires crunching in the snow was the only break in the silence.

What should he say?

I'm sorry....

I should have believed you....

You're not a commodity to me....

Nothing sounded remotely correct in his mind.

“Laney...” he finally started when he couldn't stand her silence anymore.

“Peterson mentioned Ancho's name,” she blurted.

“What?”

“Hugh Peterson asked me if I knew of someone named Trevor Ancho.” She glared at him. “Odd, huh?”

“Yeah.” He mulled it over. “I'm going to check it out.”

“No, I will.”

He sighed. “Laney, I want to help you get to the bottom of this....” He read her face. “And not because it's going to impact your training or your racing or anything to do with skating. I care about you, I always have, and whatever is going on here is dangerous.”

“Whatever is going on here? So now you think I was telling the truth?”

“I know you'd never make something up, Laney, it was just a lot to take in all at once.” They pulled into the parking lot and he turned off the engine and reached out a hand for hers. She jerked it away.

“I'm sorry,” he said.

“Don't be sorry,” Laney snapped as she got out. “I'm tough. I can handle it.”

“See you in the morning,” he called to her back.

He heard her sniff, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

Though he watched until she'd safely let herself into the dorm, she did not turn around.

The door clicked close with a loud snap, leaving him alone in the night, snow settling heavily down upon him.

* * *

Laney did not cry until she was locked safely inside her room. Even then she did so quietly, her head shoved into a pillow in case the other girls might hear her sobs and come investigate. Cubby leaped softly onto the bed and curled up next to her. Laney stroked his fur, comforted by the rumbling purr.

She experienced alternating waves of fury, terror and hurt. Ancho had fooled everyone except her father. How would her father deal with a man that could lie so smoothly and cover his tracks so skillfully? And what was she supposed to do while her father “settled things” with this monster? Go on with her training?

She swallowed.

Pretend that her heart hadn't been cut in two at Max's distrust? Why did it hurt so deeply to see that doubt in his eyes? When the pain circling inside became too much to bear, she folded her hands and prayed until she ran out of words. Then she called her sister, her spirit buoyed as it always was when Jen picked up.

“Hey, sis,” Laney said. “Am I interrupting your studying?”

“Please. It's a welcome distraction. I'm knee deep in human genetics. How's racing life?”

They exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Laney decided not to share with her sister the worry that weighed her down.

“I got a weird phone call today from Carol Finch,” Jen said.

Carol was a long-time family friend and Realtor. “What about?”

“She heard that Dad was selling the cabin, and she was hurt that he hadn't contacted her to arrange the sale.”

“What?” Laney nearly dropped the phone. The tiny cabin tucked between two mountain peaks not two hours from the oval was their refuge, the place their father went religiously every chance he got to fish, so much more than a vacation spot it was like a member of the family.

“That was my reaction, too,” Jen said. “I figured it must be some kind of a mistake. Dad would never sell the cabin without telling us first.” She paused. “Would he?”

“I... No. I'm sure he wouldn't. It must be a mistake, like you said.”

“Yeah.” Laney heard the note of indecision in her voice. “It's just that...”

Laney could fill in the blanks. “It's just that my training is ruinously expensive.”

“I wasn't going to say that. It's not only you. My school isn't cheap. That's why we both work whenever we can swing it.”

“But you're covering most of your tuition with scholarships. I'm the one sucking him dry.”

“Laney Elise Thompson. Both Dad and Mom wanted you to have every chance to go after your dream.”

“But what if it's the wrong dream, sis?” she said, voice quavering. “Maybe being a gold medalist is a selfish dream that's costing us all too much.”

“Mom said God would use your skating to bring Him glory, remember? When you get that medal, you'll be able to start your skating school and give kids a better start. Isn't that what you want?”

“Yes,” she said. “I'm just worried right now that the cost is too high.”

“It's a higher cost when you don't do what God made you to do.”

She fought against tears. “I love you, and I don't want to let you down.”

“I love you, too, big sis and the only thing you could do that would disappoint me is quit.” She said good-night and they made arrangements to talk again after Jen's finals were over.

Laney paced the tiny room. Had her father really decided to sell the cabin? She called his phone, but he did not answer. She longed to talk to Max, but her aching heart reminded her that Max was not what she'd thought him.

And what was that, exactly?

Her best friend?

The man she'd once been more than a little attracted to?

Old news. Old life.

She forced out a breath.
Focus on the now. What can you do to help your father?

She could only think of one action to take. Retrieving the business card from her bag, Laney dialed the number.

“Hello,” she said to the answering machine. “Mr. Peterson, this is Laney Thompson. I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I'd like to meet with you as soon as possible.”

* * *

Max lay perfectly still on his bed in the dorm, listening to the creaking of the floor boards as trainers and coaches tucked in for the night. Then in excruciating slow motion, the clock began to tick away the hours until morning. Though his body was tired from what seemed like an endless day, he could not fall asleep.

Why hadn't he believed Laney?

There were certainly plenty of odd goings-on lately to make him think something nefarious was afoot—the disappearing skate, the guy in the parking lot. So all that in play, and he hadn't believed she'd been forced into a trunk and left at the scene of their crash?

His disbelief was, he realized, not because of Laney. The fault lay deep within his own cowardice. Max Blanco did not want to be taken back to that place, not mentally, not physically. To believe that someone had forced Laney to that crash site purposefully meant that he, too, had been taken against his will to the darkest place, the time of deepest despair. He didn't want to return there, so he'd told himself she hadn't, either.

Coward. He'd run, sprinted, in fact, away from her claim just as fast as he'd been able.

But maybe it was better, after all. Here in the safety of complete isolation, he could allow himself to admit that he had begun to see someone else when he looked at Laney, not the athlete, not even the peer who had journeyed with him through the past arduous years. He'd started to see someone who knew him more than he wanted, who seemed to see Max Blanco as he wished he could be instead of as he actually was. The sweetness of her soul, the warmth with which she treated others, stayed in his memory. Her laughter lit his heart inside and almost illuminated the dark corners.

Almost.

He thought, then, of the bright lights of the hospital room when they had inserted the needle into his hip to harvest the bone marrow that would save his brother.

“See, Robby?” his mother murmured, tapping gentle fingers on Robby's ankles and tickling him up his legs to the tummy. “Max is going to give you his good bone juice and it's going to grow inside so you'll be healthy like him.”

Robby, too sick to move, had answered with a smile, those wide eyes turned toward his older brother. And Max had believed it. His mother, his father, the chaplain, they all believed it. Max's body would heal Robby's. God had made him to save his brother.

He had thought that as the years passed, the sharp edge of pain would have dulled. It hadn't. As agonizing as ever, it surged through him again.

Not strong enough for his brother.

No longer fast enough to win.

Not brave enough to return to the past, and without the courage to move beyond it. Stopped, like a skater with a broken blade. But Laney was not trapped. She could have a future, be a winner, but not if she looked to him for anything but training.