More Than Cookies (The Maple Leaf Series) (22 page)

“Mr. Finley?” a male voice asked.

“Yes.” Orion turned around to see a face he did recognize.

“You were at Sage’s,” the man said immediately.

“I was.” Orion couldn’t believe his luck today. He didn’t remember breaking a mirror or walking under a ladder or crossing paths with a black cat, but that guy who’d come to Sage’s house right before they were going to… have some fun… stood there in the flesh.

The man’s mouth turned down in a scowl. “You’re friends with her, Mr. Finley?”

“I’d like to think so, yes.” Orion knew a squaring off when he smelled one.
Watch what you say,
he reminded himself, because he really wanted to tell this guy to take a leap off the nearest mountain peak.

 “Hmm, I would have figured Sage had more sense than to get involved with someone like you,” the man said.

Glancing to the name plate proclaiming the desk as belonging to Detective Scott Henrison, Orion said, “Look, Detective, I haven’t done anything wrong. I merely picked up my daughter when she called and said my ex-wife hadn’t come home. What was I supposed to do?”

“Call the police, perhaps?” Scott sat at his desk and powered up his laptop.

“I did call the police, but they said my ex-wife hadn’t been missing long enough yet for them to do anything.”

“I see.”

Orion knew Scott didn’t see at all. “I would never take Myah illegally. I’m filing for a modification to the custody agreement through all the proper channels. I have a lawyer. I wouldn’t risk doing something to hurt my chances of seeing my daughter.”

“Doing something like making sure your ex-wife
couldn’t
come home to her daughter might seem like a good idea to a man in your situation.” Scott leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist.

“I didn’t do anything to Adriana. I have no idea where she is.”

“And what about her car, Mr. Finley? How did that come to be in your driveway this morning?” Scott squinted at Orion as if trying to see beyond his facial expression.

“I don’t know why her car is in my driveway. It wasn’t there last night. I didn’t hear it arrive either.”

“No doubt because you were involved with some other female company.” Scott tapped a few keys on his laptop. “Officer Landis reported you walked with a slight limp. Are you injured?”

Orion pulled up the right leg of his shorts to reveal the bandage. “I was shot in the thigh by some hunters while marking trees on my property. It was an accident.”

“I see,” Scott said again, and those two words were quickly becoming Orion’s least favorite.

Scott opened his mouth to say something more, but he shut it when his phone beeped on his desk. Holding up a finger to Orion, he picked up the phone and said, “Henrison.”

He listened for a few moments. “Okay, send him in.” He hung up and stared at Orion. In intimidation? It wasn’t working.

A moment later, the office door opened again, and Jack Benson strode in.

“What is the meaning of this?” He sat beside Orion and set his briefcase down on the floor at his feet. “I’m Attorney Jack Benson. Sorry, I’m late.” He turned to Orion. “I went to your house first then figured you ended up here.” He faced Scott again. “Mr. Finley has gone through the correct process to get the wheels in motion to modify the custody agreement concerning his daughter, Myah. He has absolutely nothing to gain by getting involved in anything nefarious concerning his ex-wife. Furthermore, he called the police as soon as he received the call from Myah saying Adriana Whitfield-Finley was missing. If he had something to do with her disappearance, why the hell would he alert the authorities? That’s against Basic Bad Guying 101, Detective…” He squinted at the name plate, “Henrison.”

“I don’t know Mr. Finley’s motives,” Scott said. “Perhaps they have something to do with Miss Sage Stannard. With his ex-wife out of the picture entirely, he has the opportunity to start his little family over.”

“Sage has nothing to do with this,” Orion said. “I was trying to get Myah back before I even met her.”

“But you didn’t have the legal counsel to do so until Miss Stannard got involved, did you, Mr. Finley?” Scott gestured to Jack. “Your lawyer here was secured by Sage, correct?”

How did he know that?
Why
would he know that?

“How my services came to be requested is not the issue here,” Jack said. “You questioning my client on flimsy grounds is the issue.” He rustled around in his briefcase and extracted a manila file folder. He flipped through the pages contained in the folder until he found what he was looking for. Angling the folder so Scott could see the page, he said, “This states that should anything happen to Mrs. Whitfield-Finley, my client, Mr. Orion Finley, is to be granted full custody of his daughter, Myah Finley. Therefore, Mr. Finley had done nothing wrong in taking his daughter to his residence after Myah informed him her mother did not return home to care for her.”

Scott scanned the contents of the page and turned a steely glare on Orion. “This is all well and good, however, there is still the question of what has happened to Mrs. Whitfield-Finley and why is her car in Mr. Finley’s driveway?”

“We agree those two matters need answering,” Jack said, “but there is no cause for Mr. Finley’s home to be searched or for him to be hauled down here like a criminal. I request his release and we’ll leave you to your investigation. Mr. Finley would be more than willing to cooperate in any way he can.” Jack looked to Orion who nodded. “He benefits from his ex-wife being found too. Without her, our appeal to modify the custody agreement gets put on hold. So let’s work together, not against each other. Furthermore, Mr. Finley should not be considered a suspect in any wrongdoing here.”

“Unless we have probable cause to suspect him, Mr. Benson.” Scott had a smug smile on his face that Orion wanted to knock off.

“Do you have probable cause, Detective?” Jack asked.

“Not at this time.” His gaze never left Orion. He probably couldn’t figure out how Sage would choose a backwoods chainsaw artist over an educated man of the law.

But she had.

The temptation to gloat about that was almost overwhelming, but Orion managed to keep quiet.

“Okay, then,” Jack said. “My client and I will be on our way. Should you have any more reason to speak to Mr. Finley, you can contact me first.” He slid a business card across Scott’s desktop. “Orion? Shall we? Myah is waiting for at least one parent to care for her.”

Jack stood and Orion looked to Scott who gave a wave indicating he was free to go.

“Don’t go too far, Mr. Finley,” Scott said.

Once outside the police station, Orion sucked in a huge breath of warm summer air. The walls of Scott’s office had been closing in around him.

“Thanks,” he said to Jack.

“No problem. They have nothing on you anyway. They’re just looking for a loose string to pull, but you’re not it. You’ve got a daughter to take care of while her mother is up to something.” Jack scratched at his jaw. “Any reason you can think of for Adriana to disappear?”

“Not one,” Orion said. “She’s a bitch, but when it comes to playing by the rules to keep Myah to herself and away from me, she’s always stuck to them obsessively. She wouldn’t want to do anything to give me a chance of getting custody.”

“This whole thing smells weird.” Jack shrugged. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, I’d like to pop over and question Myah if I could. No reason we shouldn’t have everything we need in place when your ex-wife is found. Then we can proceed with our modification request.”

“Sure,” Orion said. “Myah is at Sage’s right now. If you give me a lift there, you can talk to her.”

Jack nodded and unlocked his rental car. “Hop in.”

The two men talked about California and Vermont, lawyering and chainsawing, and a few other manly topics on the drive to Sage’s. When they arrived, Orion felt as if he’d known Jack his whole life. In Sage’s driveway, Jack stopped him before he rang the doorbell.

“Look, Orion, it might be a good idea if you downshift whatever you and Sage have going on. A relationship with her could be construed as reason for you to want Adriana out of the picture.”

“The unfriendly neighborhood detective suggested the same idea, but Adriana
is
out of the picture.
She
took herself out of the picture when she divorced me.”

“Well, she could be up to something, and you seeing Sage could come into question. You don’t want to drag her into this mess, do you?”

Orion shook his head. That was the last thing he wanted. Sage had been nothing but kind to him. She didn’t deserve to be questioned or suspected of anything.

“Okay. Let’s get Myah and you can talk to her back at my house.”

“Sounds good.”

Orion lifted his hand to ring the bell, but the joy of waiting for Sage to answer the door was long gone. To see her only to tell her thanks and goodbye?

Well, that just plain sucked.

****

“I have a pancake hangover.” Sage patted her full stomach then reached over and patted Myah’s. “You packed them in too, Little Miss.”

Myah rubbed her own tummy, a dopey, satisfied smile on her round little face. “Those were the best pancakes I ever ate.”

“Thank you, Myah,” Lily said. “I do feel as if that was a superior batch.”

“It’s all about the syrup you use.” Rick tapped the bottle emblazoned with his own name.

“Or do Lily’s pancakes make your syrup taste better?” Hope teased.

“All right, all right,” Joy cut in. “Let’s agree that both the pancakes and the syrup are divine and make an excellent pairing.” She winked at Rick and Lily.

“Those are fair terms,” Lily said. “Let’s hope travelers think so too when we open the bed and breakfast at my grandmother’s place.”

“They will,” Sage said. “That place is gorgeous.” She clanked her glass of orange juice to Rick’s and finished it off.

“I like your family, Sage.” Ian had been all smiles throughout the entire meal as Sage’s family included him in conversations.

“They are great, aren’t they?” Sage said. “Even Rick.”

Rick balled up his napkin and tossed it at Sage. “Shut up, Brat One.”

Myah giggled. “Sage isn’t a brat. She’s a nice lady. My daddy wouldn’t like her if she wasn’t a nice lady.”

“Yeah,” Ian said. “She brought us cookies.”

“Ah, she
bribed
you with cookies,” Rick said. “That explains it.”

Sage held up a fist at Rick, but didn’t get to deliver a biting remark because the doorbell rang. Myah popped up from her seat.

“This has to be Daddy!” She scrabbled to the door and ripped it open.

Sage followed and the sight of Orion standing there in his T-shirt, cargo shorts, and work boots got her all fired up. Had there ever been a man who could do that to her?

Nope. Not one.

She barely noticed Jack step inside the house. Her eyes were still glued on Orion, but something wasn’t right. He wouldn’t look directly at her. Instead, he focused on Myah who upon opening the door, had squealed and raced toward him. She was trying to climb up him, so he bent down and scooped her up.

“Hiya, Daddy. You missed the best pancakes ever.” She nuzzled her face into Orion’s neck, and Sage wanted to do exactly the same thing.

Something kept her from taking a step closer though.

“Myah,” Orion said after kissing both her cheeks and smoothing her hair. “This is Mr. Benson.”

Myah turned her attention to Jack. “Hiya, Mr. Benson.”

“Hello, Myah.” Jack shot a quick smile to Sage, thereby proving she wasn’t suddenly invisible. That Orion must have seen her and was
choosing
to ignore her.

Interesting.

“Mr. Benson wants to ask you a few questions back at our house, okay?” Orion asked.

“Aw, Daddy, can’t we stay here for a little while longer? Sage’s family is so fun.”

At that comment, Orion did look at Sage, making her insides flare to supernova levels.

“Honey, we really—”

“Hang on, Orion.” Jack divided a look between Orion and Sage, appeared to have an internal discussion with himself, then said, “Maybe we have a quick moment. I’d like to catch up with Lily and tell her how fantastic her grandmother’s place is. It’ll make a superb bed and breakfast.”

“Lily is in the dining room,” Myah said as she squirmed free of Orion’s hold. “I’ll show you, Mr. Benson.” She reached for Jack’s hand and tugged him toward the dining room, leaving Orion still out on the front steps and Sage in the foyer.

They spent a long moment looking at each other. Finally Sage couldn’t take it anymore.

“Are you going to come in?” she asked.

Orion hesitated. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts and crossed the threshold. He leaned against the wall in the foyer, making Sage assume his leg was sore. He’d no doubt overdone it, but being dragged down to the police station would do that to an injured man.

 “Thanks for taking Myah and Ian for me.”

“No problem. I loved having them and so did my family.” Why was this so awkward all of a sudden? Better to get to the meat of it. “So, what happened at the station?”

Orion gave her what she assumed to be the Cliff’s Notes version, going no farther into her house than the foyer.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with Scott. I’m sure another detective would have been more impartial.” She lowered her shoulders and wished she’d never gone on that stupid date with Scott in the first place. If she had known meeting Orion was right around the corner… but she hadn’t. How could she know? And why did she feel as if a huge barricade blocked that corner right now?

“I guess I understand why any cop would suspect me,” Orion said. “I just wish I knew if Adriana is in trouble or is just causing
me
trouble.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of it.” Sage took a step closer, but Orion backed up. “Orion, what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

He ran a hand through his hair and scratched at the back of his neck. “Look, Sage, I… I think it’s probably best if we call a time out until this situation is resolved.”

“I see,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.