Robert went to the fridge and took out a beer. “So?”
“So I’m thinking you might’ve inadvertently recorded the guy who kidnapped Sheridan.”
There was a crack and a hiss as Robert popped the top of his beer can. “You think you’re the only one smart enough to consider that, do ya?”
“Quit being an ass**le and tell me if it’s possible.”
“Yeah, it’s possible. I burned the footage from that night on a DVD.” He raised his beer in a mocking gesture before taking a long drink and wiping his mouth. “But I’ve already gone over it a dozen times. There’s nothing that shows who dragged her from the house.”
“Can I see it?”
His glower returned. “I just told you, there’s nothing on it.”
Cain drilled him with a look. “I want to see it, anyway.”
Robert thrust out his chin as if he was tempted to refuse. Then he seemed to think better of it. Shrugging, he actually smiled. “Suit yourself.” He crossed to his desk, opened a drawer and rummaged around, closed it, searched another drawer, closed that one too, and eventually located it in his computer. “Here you go, bro.”
“Good thing you’re so organized,” Cain said.
Robert made a rude gesture. “That’s what your opinion’s worth to me.”
Cain tapped the DVD with one hand as he jerked his head toward the overflowing trash. “You’re going to catch a disease living like this.”
Robert propped his feet on a chair. “So what? My real brother’s a doctor.”
Cain chuckled and turned to go but paused at the door. “What does Dad think of the security system?”
“He doesn’t know about it.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not kidding. He’s not worried about anyone breaking in. He’d consider it a waste of money, and I don’t want to hear him bitch at me for spending this much.”
“Sounds like he’d prefer your help came in the form of a rent payment.”
“Yeah, well, I guess we can’t all be as self-sufficient as you. Anyway, I’m pulling my weight by watching out for him. He’s got a lot of valuables in that house.”
Cain wondered if Robert knew that John had proposed to Karen but didn’t dare mention it. If John hadn’t made the announcement yet, he’d place himself in the awkward position of having to explain how he’d been the first to hear. “How do you like Karen?” he asked instead.
Robert rocked back in his chair. “More than you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve noticed how you avoid her.”
Leery of the smugness in Robert’s voice, Cain continued to act as indifferent as possible. “I don’t avoid her. Dad and I haven’t been getting along that great the past month, so I rarely see her.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“There’s some sort of history between you two.”
Shit—Robert knew, or at least he suspected. Maybe this was what Karen had wanted to convey. “She used to be my English teacher. What kind of history are you suggesting?”
“Amy said something strange to me once.”
Amy. Cain had never been able to escape her lovesick eyes and grasping hands. She’d given every detail of his life her undivided attention. If anyone had guessed what happened that afternoon with Ms. Stevens, it was her. Simply because she’d always watched him so closely, known him so well, guarded him so jealousy. In the end, she’d even found out about Sheridan. That incident with his English teacher and the encounter in the camper were the only two secrets he’d ever bothered to keep. And now, there was a chance they were both out. “What’d she say?”
“She said she intercepted a note that invited you to come over and ‘help out’ after school. It wasn’t signed, but she recognized the writing.”
Amy hadn’t intercepted it; she’d probably taken it from his locker. She used to stand over his shoulder to learn his combination. He knew because she’d left him plenty of her own invitations, cookies, pictures of herself. “So? I once earned ten bucks mowing Ms. Stevens’s lawn,” he said. It was after the lawn-mowing that she’d served him a cold drink and let him know what she wanted by the way she brushed up against him and touched his hair or his arm.
“That’s it?” Robert said.
“That’s it.”
An evil grin curved his lips. “Would she say the same?”
Forcing a laugh, Cain rested his hand on the doorknob. “You’ll stoop to any level to break them up, won’t you?”
The sudden uncertainty in Robert’s face provided a modicum of relief. Cain wished he could say, “The past is the past. Leave it alone and let everyone move on.” But Robert would take that for the confession it was, and he wouldn’t be content with using it to hurt Cain. He’d go after Karen, which would cause John suffering, too. And for what? The past really was the past. That afternoon had been a one-time foolish mistake made in the stupidity of youth, a knee-jerk reaction to the overwhelming anger he’d lived with in those days. Karen felt terrible about her part in it, too.
“Way to turn it on me,” Robert said, belligerent again.
Cain lowered his voice to increase the impact of his meaning. “Bottom line, whether it’s true or not, we’d all be smarter to stay away from that one, don’t you think?”
Robert shot out of his chair. “Are you threatening to take me down with you?”
“I’m saying that in your eagerness to hurt others, you might wind up hurting yourself. If you love your father, mind your own business and quit digging for dirt.” He held up the DVD. “Thanks for the recording,” he said and walked out.
24
“I’ve got something you’ll want to see.”
Sheridan stood at the door, telling herself that she shouldn’t be nearly as excited or relieved to see Cain as she was. But ever since Tiger had left, she’d been keeping an eye on his truck, which was still parked across from the house. “What is it?”
He held up a DVD. “A recording of the street the night you were abducted.”
“Where’d you get it?” She stepped aside to let him in.
“From Robert.”
Sheridan knew Skye would want to be part of this, but her friend had gone to bed, and Sheridan wasn’t about to get her up. It was her fault that Skye didn’t like Cain. She’d done too good a job convincing her friends that the mysterious Cain Granger from her troubled past was a playboy, a mistake. But accepting responsibility for Skye’s feelings didn’t change the fact that, at the moment, Sheridan preferred not to deal with her disapproving glances. She’d told Skye that Cain had changed, but after tumbling out of his house in her underwear, she had no credibility. Skye insisted that Sheridan was seeing what she wanted to see.