Chapter 16
16
Noel recognized the twins’ physical fatigue, but she was more concerned with the emotional turmoil radiating from them. “If you want to try to sleep, please do. Get comfortable and just close your eyes.”
“I don’t think I can.” Tad shook his head.
“Me either,” Penny agreed.
“Do you want to talk? You can tell us anything, and it will stay just between us,” Noel said. “But only if you want to. Only if you think it will help relieve the burden from your shoulders.”
They were quiet for a moment, but she witnessed the myriad of emotions racing across their faces.
Finally, Penny said, “Mom always liked nice things. She met Dad when she was a freshman at college, and Dad was a senior.” She snorted. “Mom always said she went to college for a MRS. degree. You know… just to find a husband.” She shook her head and added, “God, that sounds so ridiculous.”
Noel smiled. “While that’s an antiquated reason for going to college, I suppose there are still women who have that in their minds.”
“Mom’s parents both died when we were younger, but they were great. It’s not like Mom grew up poor. But their lives were more modest, and she told me that the first time Dad took her to the ranch, she just knew that was the life for her,” Penny said. She shrugged, then looked at Tad while chewing on her bottom lip. “This feels like I’m being harsh, doesn’t it?”
Tad shook his head. “No, Sis. Mom fell for Dad, and it wasn't a bad thing just because he came from more money. Until that became what meant more to her than anything. And then things at home weren’t much fun anymore.”
Noel continued to lean forward, listening carefully while keeping her gaze on them. She’d never counseled in the middle of a violent storm while sitting on a dirt floor in an old shed, but she’d always taken life as it came. And this was no different. “Did you feel more at ease or worse when your parents divorced?”
“Easier,” Tad and Penny said at the same time, the word rushing from both before they chuckled ruefully.
Noel’s chin jerked down as she blinked, then smiled. “Wow, that was definitive.”
“I don’t think Mom realized what was involved in running a ranch. She thought Dad should have a job where he wore a suit every day and hobnobbed with the governor or some such shit.”
“Tad… language,” Penny rebuked.
“Seriously? You think Dad and Grandpa don’t curse?”
Penny’s brow furrowed. “Well, not in front of me.”
“After today, don’t you think it’s a little late for telling me not to say shit?”
“Okay, guys, I know your emotions are all over the place,” Noel acknowledged. “Let’s focus on those emotions right now.”
Penny pressed her lips together but nodded.
“All I know is that Mom spent more time hounding Dad when he was trying to do his job… running the ranch. I heard them argue about me spending time on the ranch doing many of the jobs that ranch hands do. Dad said it was the way for me to appreciate all that went into having a successful ranch. Mom said it was demeaning to have her son shoveling horse shit.”
Penny slowly nodded as her gaze met Noel’s. “Yeah… she wanted me to go shopping or to weekend events, but I wanted to ride my horse. By the time we were ten, Dad was done fighting with her. We never heard the details, but she moved out, and we were told they were divorcing. Then we had to go to her condo to visit, so that changed some of our weekends.”
“Only if she wasn’t with one of her boyfriends.”
Penny’s shoulders slumped, and Noel felt for the young woman. “It’s hard to accept when we realize our parents aren’t perfect. Or perhaps they aren’t acting in the way we wish they would.”
Penny nodded. “I knew Roger was her boyfriend before this trip. He’d been over at her house, but I didn’t know she was taking him with us until we got to the airport. He gives me the creeps.”
Tad’s head swung around as Landon barked out, “Why?”
Noel glared at Landon, then back to Penny. “Any special reason he gave you the creeps?”
“Just the way he looked at me on the plane. Not when Mom was around, but sometimes I’d look over, and he always stared at me. Then when we got here, he said we needed to spend as much time on the beach as possible since a storm was coming and we’d have limited beach time.”
“This whole trip was stupid,” Tad grumbled. “As soon as we got here, Horticia kept talking about the storm that was coming. Mom just grinned and said it might keep us here a couple of extra days. I told her I had a math test coming up, but she ignored me. Then Mom got mad at Roger and pouted in her room.”
“When did Roger and Horticia get so close? I could see them outside my window when they were down in the garden after Mom stayed in her room,” Penny asked Tad, twisting around to look at his face.
“Mom said she’d come down here before. Something about a man she knows who had invited her. What’s weird is that I know she brought Roger here at least once because he mentioned it. Since Horticia works for some of the guests here, I guess she’d met Roger before.”
“Horticia and Roger were awfully chummy yesterday.” Penny huffed as her eyes narrowed. “I think he’s a gigolo.”
Noel’s eyes bugged out as Tad snorted.
“Mom probably makes Roger jealous with talk of the other man, and then he makes her jealous with Horticia.” Tad shrugged, then grimaced as he looked at Noel. “Mom doesn’t make good choices.”
Noel sighed and nodded. She had an intuition that Pamela’s boy toy was banging the housekeeper. But then it seemed that Pamela was involved with the man who’d invited her to the island before.
“How chummy were Roger and Horticia?” Landon’s low, steady voice broke through Noel’s swirling thoughts.
She turned toward him, finding his sharp gaze fixed on the kids, his eyes narrowing slightly as he processed the information. His intensity was palpable, a constant undercurrent she had come to recognize.
“Um… after we got here yesterday, I saw them talking. I was looking out at the back gardens from my bedroom, and they were behind some of the bushes. They were talking at first, but then it looked like they were arguing. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, though. After a while, they stepped out of my sight. Horticia came back into the house, but I saw Roger down on the beach later. I didn’t want to go down there if he was around,” Penny said.
Noel had no idea what was going through Landon’s mind, but she turned to look at him. He held her gaze, but she couldn’t read his thoughts. He sent a silent message with a quick shake of his head. She turned her attention back to the kids, sensing the need to shift the conversation.
“Is there anything else on your mind that you want to talk about tonight?” she asked gently.
Tad shook his head. “Not for me. I guess I’ll figure out what to say to Mom when we see her tomorrow. But honestly, now that I know she brought us here without telling Dad and then tried to get more money from him… it makes it hard to know what to say to her.”
His shoulders slumped, the weight of betrayal pressing down on him. At that moment, the determined young man was replaced by a heartbroken boy, and Noel’s chest tightened with empathy. Before she could respond, Penny straightened, her hand reaching out to cover Tad’s in a gesture of comfort.
“It’ll be okay, Tad,” she whispered, her small voice steady but filled with quiet resolve. “You know Mom’s always been a little... flighty. I think she loves us in her own way, but it’s not a healthy kind of love.”
Noel’s breath caught, the air rushing from her lungs. She had been bracing herself to console them, but now, here was Penny, taking on that role with a maturity beyond her years. “It’s been a rough couple of days,” Noel said softly, her voice thick with emotion. “Why don’t you both try to get some rest?”
Tad nodded, his movements sluggish. “I’m not sure I can sleep,” he admitted, though a yawn betrayed him.
As they settled down onto the tarp, their breathing soon deepened, the exhaustion of the past few days pulling them into sleep. Noel watched them for a moment, her heart aching for the burden these two young souls carried.
She leaned back, the storm’s howling winds and relentless rain filling the silence. Landon sat beside her, his focus glued to his phone, his fingers tapping furiously as he updated his team. The glow from the screen illuminated his face, casting shadows that emphasized the hard lines of his jaw and the determined set of his mouth.
Noel sighed, dropping her chin to her chest and rubbing her tired eyes. The whirlwind of the past twenty-four hours weighed heavily on her mind. What was supposed to be a straightforward trip had spiraled into chaos—an attempted extortion, a storm, a kidnapping, and a desperate rescue. And I shot at a man. The thought echoed in her head, the gravity of it still surreal. She couldn’t imagine how it would feel if she’d actually hit him.
She’d been in the presence of law enforcement many times in her job, but none seemed to carry themselves with the edge of danger she felt pouring from Landon. Not danger to her or the children… but danger to anyone who might try to harm them. He’d charged ahead as soon as they’d neared the place where the kids were kept. His movements were sure and resolute. And even though he’d told her to stay in the vehicle, just being in his presence made her want to rush headlong into the unknown to ensure the kids were safe. Who am I kidding? I wanted to make sure he was safe, too. It had been a reckless act, yet, she hadn’t hesitated. Not after the kiss they’d shared. She had never kissed someone on a case. Or kissed someone after just meeting them. Or kissed someone with such intensity. But just like in a movie, the kiss had felt right. The right time with the right man. She glanced to the side as though drawn to him.
His phone landed in his lap, and his gaze landed on her. “You okay?” he asked.
His voice was soft, making sure the kids were still asleep. She nodded. “Yes. Just a lot on my mind.”
“Want to talk about it?”
A bubble of laughter burst forth, and she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. Seeing his brows draw together in a silent question, she whispered, “You’re doing what I did to the kids earlier.”
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, but it helped them get their feelings out. Maybe it’ll help you.”
She had to admit his reasoning was sound. She leaned back and rested her head against the rough wooden wall. “I was trying to make sense of this day, but I’m not sure that any of it makes sense.” She inhaled deeply, then slowly let the air free from her lungs. “I told you before that one of the things I like about my job is that everything is different. Some days more mundane than others, but even in my toughest cases, I’ve never had a day like today.”
She rolled her head to the side and found his gaze on her. It was something she’d come to learn about Landon—when he listened, he gave his full attention. A warmth bloomed inside her chest, and she realized that the trait was rarer than most people would think. She had come to know we live in a society where people's attention spans have gone from about twenty minutes to about twenty seconds with all the distractions of cell phones and tablets. When world news was at our fingertips, the ability to truly listen to another human as they sometimes bumbled and fumbled through tangled emotions became lost. Counselors and social workers were trained to listen, and she supposed that investigators were, too.
She was suddenly very curious about him. “Is your day usually like this?”
A little smile played at the corners of his lips. “Like yours, my days vary. Sometimes, I’m the one in the office helping one of the other Keepers in the field.” He shrugged. “Today, it was my day to lean on the others to help guide us through this.”
“You may have leaned on them, but it was you running through the jungle to rescue those kids.”
A chuckle rumbled from his chest. “If I recall correctly, I wasn’t the only one who raced through the jungle to get to them.”
She exhaled heavily while shaking her head. “I honestly can’t tell you what I was thinking. I just knew I wanted to have eyes on you and them, not sit in the vehicle and just wait to see if someone was coming back for me.”
“Well, you saved us, for sure.”
“I think the saving was yours,” she admitted. “I just happened to scare the man on the roof. I had no idea he’d fall off after hearing the gunshot.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she noticed Landon staring at her, confusion flashing through his eyes before his face became blank again. She had to admit he was one of the most complex people she’d ever met. She also had to admit that she wanted to peel away the layers and find out more about him. He had not only piqued her curiosity but called to something deep and elemental inside her. Something heretofore untouched.
“What do you think about Pamela and what the kids told us?” she asked.
“Probably not much different from you. While I wouldn’t want to say this to the kids, I’d have to agree that while I think she loves her children very much, she’s driven by a selfish motivation. The Fugates are wealthy, no doubt about it. In many ways, their land is rich, even though I’d have to say they’re not hurting for money in the bank or investments. Everything I turned up on them and then meeting them this morning, they struck me as hard-working people who appreciate what they’ve been given but didn’t mind the effort it took to keep it going. Everything I knew about Pamela going into this was that she was considered money selfish. I think her actions today showed that she does love her children, but her actions placed them in a situation of being in danger.”
Noel nodded. “We’ll see how things go tomorrow, but at the moment, my recommendation will be that she has supervised visits with the kids, regardless of how the alimony situation gets settled. She’s proven she can’t be trusted.”
Landon nodded. “I think that’s the right decision.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I realize you don’t need my approval?—”
“I might not need it, but it’s nice to hear your thoughts were running along the same as mine.” Rolling her head to the side, she added, “Something else came up that I wanted to ask you about.”
He didn’t say anything, but his attention stayed riveted on her. She glanced over to see that the children had not moved and then looked back at him. “It had to do with Penny's observation about Roger and Horticia. I felt your intensity change. Why was that? What do you think was happening?”