Out of the Dark (8 page)

He parked as close as he could get, then got out. His stride was long, his steps hurried, as he crossed the street and entered the front door. Immediately he was struck by the sea of moving bodies spread out before him. Some were still reclining on cots, while others were up eating the breakfast the Red Cross was providing. Some children were crying, while others were quietly devouring sweet rolls and oranges.

“Sir, can I help you?”

Luke turned around to find himself face-to-face with a weary, middle-aged woman.

“I’m looking for someone,” he said. “Do you have a list of names?”

“Somewhere,” she said, and then sidestepped a toddler with a dripping, half-peeled orange as she moved into a small office to their right.

Luke glanced toward the sleeping area, then followed her into the office. The woman shuffled through the same stack of papers three times before she found it.

“Ah, here it is,” she said. “What’s the name of the person you’re looking for?”

“Jade Cochrane. She’s in her twenties. Very beautiful woman with long black hair. She might be with a—”

The woman suddenly looked up. “A tall, dark-haired man who looks as if he could have posed for Michelangelo?”

Luke’s pulse kicked. The man who’d been photographed with Jade could easily have been described in such a manner.

“Is she here?”

“She was, or at least she should be,” the woman said. “We haven’t checked anyone out, although the place is such a madhouse, I can’t swear to anything.”

“It’s imperative that I find her.”

The woman hesitated, then looked him square in the eye.

“I need to see some identification.”

Luke pulled out his wallet. “Yeah, sure. Name’s Luke Kelly, and among other things, I’m a private investigator. I was hired by a man named Sam Cochrane to find his daughter.”

“Is she a runaway? Because if the woman I’m thinking of is the one you’re looking for, she’s already of age, which means she can’t be forced to go anywhere she doesn’t want to go.”

“She’s not a runaway,” Luke said. “She was kidnapped by her mother when she was four. He hasn’t seen her since.”

“Oh dear Lord!” the woman said. “Poor man, but how did you come to think she would be here?”

“I’d already been hired to find her when I saw her…or at least I thought it was her…on the national news during some of the taped flood coverage.”

“Oh, yes, that,” the woman said. “The media has been all over the place, taking up a whole lot of rooms that we could use for the flood victims, instead. However, that’s another story altogether. As for your search, feel free to go look. She’s not a child, and she’s not alone.”

“I still don’t want to cause her concern. The less fuss, the better off we’ll be. If Jade Cochrane is here, then it’s doubtful she remembers much of anything about the first four years of her life.”

“Of course,” she said, and then clasped her hands to her breast and tried not to cry. “This is just so…so moving.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Luke said, as he left her at the desk.

His heart was pounding as he started down the aisles, focusing on young women with pretty faces and long, dark hair. Twice he thought he’d found her, only to realize at the last moment that he was mistaken. The number of people he had left to see was growing smaller by the minute, and then he stopped to pick up a ball of yarn that an old woman had dropped. When he handed it to her, she started to cry.

“It’s all I have left,” she said softly, then clutched it close to her chest as she stared off into space. “I can’t finish the sweater now, you know. I don’t know what to do. I always finish what I start.”

Luke’s heart went out to her, but he needed to find Jade. Going back to St. Louis and facing Sam empty-handed wasn’t something he wanted to do. He took a couple of twenty-dollar bills out of his wallet, then put them in the old woman’s hand.

“Here,” he said gently, making her look at what he was giving her. “It’s forty dollars. Now you can buy some more pink yarn to finish your sweater.”

For a few seconds she stared at the money, then looked up at Luke.

“More yarn?” she said, as if the thought had not occurred to her.

He nodded, then closed her fingers over the money.

“Yes, more pink yarn,” he said.

“To finish the sweater.”

Luke touched the back of her head, a little startled that he could feel the rapid and irregular beat of her pulse against his palm.

“Yes, darlin’ to finish your sweater.”

She shuddered, then curled her fingers tightly around the money.

“Why, yes, I can do that,” she said, and then looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you, young man. Your mother must be proud of you.”

Luke didn’t bother to tell her that his mother was dead. It was immaterial to the fact that the old woman’s confusion was beginning to subside.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and then looked up.

It was then he realized there was a group of children gathering at the far end of the room. He moved closer, then closer still, until he saw that they were gathering around a young, dark-haired woman.

She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a handful of colored markers near her knee. There was a small girl sitting motionless beside her, seemingly enthralled by the fact that a butterfly was being painted on her cheek. Another child with a tiny green turtle on his forehead was running away from the crowd to show his parents, while yet another sat looking in a mirror, mesmerized by the black nose and cat whiskers she’d painted on his face.

At that moment, someone said something that made her look up. When she laughed, the breath caught in the back of Luke’s throat. It was the woman from the photograph. There was no mistake about it.

He took a step forward and then caution made him stop. Barging in without explanation could be a big mistake. He needed her cooperation to make Sam’s dreams come true, and he had no way of knowing how she would react. So he stayed where he was, watching her work her magic to calm the frantic children and, in turn, give weary parents a moment’s rest.

Raphael came out of the bathroom, as always looking for Jade to make sure she was all right, then tossed a handful of wet paper towels into the trash. He patted his pocket, checking to see if the paper with Clarence’s phone number was still there, then headed for the makeshift kitchen to see if there was any more coffee. He’d heard on the radio a few minutes ago that the flood waters had crested during the night and were now starting to subside. As far as he was concerned, it would be none too soon. Considering the damage the flood had done and the amount of rebuilding that would have to take place, their best bet would be to move on. Their livelihood depended largely upon the tourist trade and carnival-style gatherings, and the disaster of this flood couldn’t help but impact that in a negative way.

He called out to Jade in passing, asking her if she wanted some coffee. Too intent on the little mermaid she was painting on a small child’s hand to look up, she just shook her head.

The moment Luke had seen the man coming out of the bathroom, his last doubts as to whether he’d found Jade Cochrane disappeared. It was the same man from the photographs, right down to his Hollywood good-looks and shoulder-length black hair. But there was something in the way his gaze swept the room and the set of his shoulders that told Luke they might be on the run from more than a flood. When he walked away, Luke moved closer to Jade.

The first thing Raphael noticed when he came back with his coffee was the man watching Jade, and not with the abstract attention one might expect from a stranger. He was staring at Jade as if he’d just seen a ghost, and it made Raphael nervous. He discarded his coffee and started across the room, unaware that his fingers had curled into fists. When he was close enough to see a mole on the back of the man’s neck, he spoke softly.

“She’s none of your business.”

Luke jumped, then turned around, surprised that he’d been caught so unaware and by one of the people he’d been looking for. It wasn’t the introduction he’d envisioned, but it was too late to change it now.

“I’m Luke Kelly.”

The man didn’t budge, nor did he return the gesture of introduction, but it didn’t dissuade Luke from what he’d come to do. He took out his wallet and flashed his ID.

“Look, I mean her no harm. I’m a private investigator from St. Louis, Missouri.”

Raphael’s heart skipped a beat. The woman who’d bought the painting of Ivy had claimed to be from St. Louis, too. This couldn’t be a coincidence, but he needed to know for sure.

“What are you doing here?” Raphael asked.

“Sam Cochrane hired me to find his daughter.”

Raphael tensed.
Oh my God…can this be true?
“Who’s Sam Cochrane?”

Luke turned and pointed toward Jade. “Is her name Jade?”

Raphael hesitated, then nodded.

“Was the woman in the painting her mother?”

Raphael’s eyes filled with tears, but he blinked them away. “Yes.”

“What happened to her?” Luke asked.

“She died when we were kids.”

“What are you to her?” Luke asked, pointing at Jade.

Raphael looked at Jade, unaware that every fiber of the love he felt for her was mirrored in his eyes.

“We’re family,” he finally said.

It wasn’t the exact answer Luke wanted, but he figured it was all he would get.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Raphael’s chin jutted as he met Luke’s gaze. “Raphael.”

“So, Raphael, do you have a last name?”

“No.”

“Look, I’m not out to cause either of you any trouble. If you’re running from something, it’s none of my concern. I’m just trying to find a lost daughter for a friend of mine.”

Raphael thought of the years separating them from Solomon and his people and wondered if it would ever be enough. But that wasn’t what this Luke Kelly meant.

“We’re not ‘on the run’ from the law, if that’s what you’re implying,” Raphael said. “And I’m not hiding my identity. I never knew my mother or my father. My earliest memories are of the People of Joy. They called me Raphael.”

“People of Joy? Are you still, uh, involved with them?” Luke asked.

“No,” Raphael said shortly. “If the world is lucky, they no longer exist.” He felt out of control—afraid of what was coming, but aware that if this panned out, it could be the answer to his prayers. “Is this Sam Cochrane a good man?”

Luke smiled. “Oh, yeah. The best.”

Raphael sighed. “So’s she,” he said softly.

Suddenly sensing that she was being watched, Jade looked up, then saw Raphael talking to a stranger and frowned. They weren’t in the habit of chitchatting with people, especially ones they didn’t know. She arched an eyebrow at Raphael in a questioning manner.

He shrugged and smiled, then waved her over. “Got a minute?”

Jade nodded and stood. As she did, the children around her began to scatter.

Raphael held out his hand. “Then come with me, baby. There’s someone I think you should meet.”

Jade’s eyes widened as her gaze suddenly moved from Raphael to the man beside him. His expression was fixed, his chin jutting slightly, as if bracing himself for unseen blows. All of a sudden she could hear the old cabdriver’s voice telling her not to be afraid and to trust the big man. But she didn’t trust anyone except—

“Raphael?”

“It’s going to be okay.”

Jade’s expression darkened.

Luke felt her distrust as vividly as if it was physical, but he said what had to be said.

“Jade Cochrane, my name is Luke Kelly. I was hired by your father, Sam Cochrane, to find you and bring you home.”

“I
don’t believe you,” Jade said, then gave Raphael a panicked look. “How can you? We don’t know anything about him. What if Solomon sent him?”

Again Luke removed his wallet and held it toward her.

“I don’t know anyone named Solomon. These are my credentials. I’m an ex-cop. I have a private investigation company in St. Louis, Missouri. Twenty-some years ago, a woman named Margaret Cochrane took her four-year-old daughter, Jade, and disappeared. Her husband, Sam, spent every spare penny he had for more than ten years hiring people to try to find them, but with no luck. Years later, Sam Cochrane is still alone and growing old. Then the wife of one of his good friends brings home a painting that she purchased at a San Francisco street fair.”

Jade paled.

“The painting was of his wife, Margaret, only the artist called her Ivy. Can you imagine what this did to Sam?”

Jade felt rooted to the spot as she listened with growing disbelief.

“His hopes went from high to low within seconds. Whatever dreams he might have entertained ended the moment he learned she was dead. It was like losing her all over again.”

“Oh,” Jade whispered, and exhaled a sigh.

The room was starting to spin, and she was beginning to shake. She wanted this to stop and the man to go away, but it was like witnessing an accident and not being able to look away. As frightening as this was, she had to know the rest.

Luke could tell this was tough on her, but not as tough as it had been on Sam, and it had to be said.

“Initially, Sam just wanted me to find the artist. He figured that since the artist had known Margaret well enough to paint her, she might have known her daughter, too. Never in a million years did he imagine that they were one and the same.”

“How did you know?” Raphael asked.

“We ran a fingerprint on the painting through the national registry. No one was more surprised than we were when we learned it belonged to Sam’s little girl.”

Jade’s heart skipped a beat. What made this even more frightening than Solomon was that she was beginning to believe him. But what did this mean to her world? Could she go back and live with a stranger? Even if he was her father, he was still a man—a man she didn’t know.

“Oh dear Lord,” Jade muttered, then grabbed Raphael’s hand. “Raphael?”

“What, baby?”

“What do we do?”

“This isn’t about me,” he said gently.

Jade froze, looking wildly from Luke to Raphael and back again; then suddenly she grabbed Raphael’s shirtsleeves, clinging tightly as she cried out, “This
is
about you, too. We’re family! You and me! Me and you. That’s the way it’s always been, and it’s never going to change! I don’t care if there are a dozen people trying to claim me, I go nowhere without you, is that understood?”

There was an underlying hysteria to what Jade was saying that told Luke her transition back into Sam Cochrane’s household would be impossible without Raphael. He spoke quickly, anxious to reassure her before her panic became full-blown.

“Please, Miss Cochrane…it won’t be a problem with Sam, I can promise you that.”

But Jade didn’t believe him. It wasn’t in her to trust. When Luke moved forward, she immediately moved backward until she felt the edge of her cot behind her knees. She sat down with a thump, then shoved her hands forward, as if warding him off.

Unaware of the panic that fed her fears, Luke followed her, then squatted down until they were staring eye to eye.

“Miss Cochrane…Jade?”

“What?”

“You’ve been without a mother for years. It had to be difficult. But you have another parent who is yearning to reconnect with you. Don’t you want to see your father again? I can’t believe that your life has been easy…that you don’t want to give it up. Help me understand.”

“I don’t remember having a father,” Jade said, and then stared off into space. “I don’t remember anything before Solomon.”

Luke frowned. “Is he the man your mother ran away with?”

“I don’t know about that, but he was the man who—”

Then she stopped. Luke watched Raphael grip her shoulder, then give it a squeeze. When Jade looked up, her face was expressionless.

Without thinking, Luke slid his hand up the length of her arm. It was meant to be a friendly, calming gesture, but it backfired. Jade flinched and then paled. The look on her face so startled him that he stood up and yanked his hand back before she could speak.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean anything by that.”

Jade grabbed at the place on her arm where Luke’s hand had been and then scooted back on the cot until her back was to the wall. She knew she was acting crazy, but she didn’t have the wherewithal to explain. She was too busy trying not to scream to make herself talk.

Raphael panicked. He needed this to work more than either of these people could ever know. Making peace between them without giving away any of Jade’s secrets was imperative. He put his hand on Luke’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, she just doesn’t like to be touched,” Raphael said.

Luke exhaled slowly, watching the fading terror on her face. He wouldn’t ask why. Not now. Maybe never.

Jade shuddered lightly, then tried to smile. In her heart, she knew he’d meant nothing by it. It had only been a simple gesture that ordinary people pass off as part of the conversation. But Jade wasn’t ordinary, and neither was her life. She was flawed—so horribly flawed. If they knew…If this Sam Cochrane knew, he wouldn’t want her back. No one but Raphael could love her, because only he could understand.

Luke didn’t know what was going through her head. Her reticence was obvious, but he owed it to Sam to push the issue.

“Sam Cochrane is a good man. He’s also a very gentle man,” Luke said. “Please give yourself, and him, a chance.” He shoved a hand through his hair in frustration, afraid that he was going to lose her before Sam had a chance to make amends. “God…lady…I don’t know what else to say other than you owe this reunion to yourself…and to him.”

Raphael knew Jade. She was incapable of making a decision like this. Her gut reaction to everything was to run, and this was something she should run toward, not away from.

“She’ll go,” Raphael said, and when he felt her shoulders tense, he added, “we’ll both go with you.”

Luke breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Jade’s chin jutted. “I can’t go without my things.”

“We’ll get them,” Raphael promised.

“What if they got wet?”

“If it’s clothes you’re concerned about, we can easily replace those for you,” Luke said.

Jade shook her head. “It’s not the clothes. It’s the faces. I can’t lose the faces.”

Luke started to ask what she meant but caught the look Raphael gave him and shifted mental gears.

“Whatever it is you need, I will get,” Luke said gently. “And that’s a promise…from me to you.”

Jade was staring at him now. He had no way of knowing how many times men had promised great things to the child that she’d been, or how many times she’d been disappointed and hurt. All he knew was that if it took the rest of his life, he was going to gain her trust and see her smile.

“So who do I need to see to get your things?” Luke asked.

Raphael dug the piece of paper from his pocket with Clarence’s phone number on it.

“We were staying at a place called The Forsythia Inn. The owner’s name is Clarice. She’s staying with her brother, Clarence. He took us out of the flood in a motorboat, so if the water hasn’t gone down there yet, the only way to get back there is still by boat.”

“Give me the number. I’ll contact him and see that your things are retrieved. What room were you in?”

“No,” Jade said. “We’ll do it.”

“Why?” Luke asked.

Jade looked taken aback. “What do you mean, why? Because it’s our stuff, that’s why.”

Luke threw up his hands in frustration, then stifled a glare.

“That’s all well and good, but if you will pardon me for saying this, you both look like hell, so I suggest you take the help that’s offered.”

Jade’s lips parted in shock. Raphael stifled a grin.

“You might not get it all,” Jade muttered. “It might not all fit in Clarence’s little boat.”

Luke sighed, then softened the tone of his voice.

“Lady, if it will make you happy, I’ll commandeer the damned Coast Guard. Just let me do what I was hired to do.”

“Fine,” Jade said.

“Hallelujah,” Luke muttered.

“Now, may I have the phone number?”

Raphael handed it to him. Luke punched in the numbers on his cell phone, then walked a short distance away to make the call.

The moment he was out of hearing distance, Jade grabbed Raphael’s arm.

“I’m scared,” she muttered. “I don’t want to do this.”

Raphael put his arms around her and pulled her close. “I know you don’t,” he said gently. “But you have to. Think about it, honey. You have a father, and a home, and obviously people who cared about you greatly. If the situation was reversed, trust me, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

Jade looked at him, feeling oddly betrayed by what he’d said.

“Why? Aren’t I enough?”

Raphael’s stomach knotted. “Oh, honey, you’re everything to me, but family is something different. They’re people with whom you share the same blood, even the same genetic history, for God’s sake. Someday, when I’m gone, no one will even remember that I lived. My picture will not be in someone’s old photo album. There will be no one to say, ‘I think Raphael looks like his grandfather,’ or ‘he has his mother’s eyes,’ because I don’t know who the hell they are. No one does. When I die, it will be as if I never existed.”

Jade cried out, unable to bear his pain. Tears welled in her eyes, then started to spill down her face. “Don’t talk about dying. Ever! I love you. You’re my brother and my friend and the only person I could ever trust.
I
will remember you. I will. I
will!
”

Raphael wouldn’t let himself dwell on the ugly truth of what he’d admitted. Right now, convincing Jade to reunite with her father was the most important thing he could do.

“I know. I didn’t mean to sound all sorry for myself,” he said, and made himself smile when he wanted to cry, too. He wiped away her tears with the palms of his hands and then teasingly pinched the end of her nose. “Your nose is all red.”

“That’s your fault,” she muttered. “You made me cry.”

“Then I’m sorry,” Raphael said. “But you have to go back to your father, and if you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for me.”

Said like that, Jade felt ashamed. In her heart, she knew it was the right thing to do, but she wasn’t certain that her father would want her back once he knew the truth about her.

“Yes, I’ll go,” she said. “We’ll both go, but if this Sam Cochrane doesn’t like us, you have to promise me that we’ll leave.”

“Honey, there’s no way he won’t like you.”

Jade’s eyes glittered angrily. “You’re not listening to me. I said
us.
If he doesn’t like
us.
”

Raphael’s heartbeat stuttered. Us. The luxury of that word no longer applied within his world, and he didn’t know how he was going to bear it.

“It’s going to be okay,” Raphael said, and then noticed that Luke Kelly was coming back their way. “Here comes Luke.”

Jade wouldn’t look.

Raphael tipped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“I want you to give him a chance. He seems like a man we can trust.”

“You trust him for me,” she said.

Raphael’s voice suddenly deepened, and for one of the few times in their lives, he spoke harshly, almost angrily.

“Damn it, Jade! Try not to be so unforgiving, okay? Every man walking this planet is not out to hurt you, and you cannot live your life in denial of that fact.”

Jade was stunned by his anger. It was so unlike Raphael that she was momentarily speechless. When Raphael shoved his hands through his hair and started to walk away, she grabbed him by the arm.

“Raphael.”

He stopped; then his head dropped forward and his shoulders slumped. Immediately he turned, his expression filled with regret.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

“I’ll do what you say,” Jade said, talking quickly before he could say anything more. “Just don’t be mad at me, Rafie. I can’t bear it when you’re mad.”

He wanted to crawl in a bed, pull the covers up over his head and wait for it all to be over, but he couldn’t. There were things that had yet to be done before he could focus on himself.

“I’m not mad at you, baby. I’m never mad at you. Only at the situation. I understand why you feel like you do, but you’ve got to get past it.” When she started to speak, he held up his hand. “Wait. Let me get this said. I’m not asking you to forget what happened to you…what happened to us…but I’m telling you that we’ve got to get past it. If we don’t, the bastards that fucked with our lives will have won. Do you understand that? Just because we left Solomon all those years ago, doesn’t mean we’ve escaped. As long as you keep that hell alive in your mind, then we’re still there.”