Chapter 15
Bea led Jesse through the open door to the large kitchen, which was brightly illuminated by the industrial lights hanging from the ceiling.
The glow bounced off the polished stainless-steel appliances that framed the space.
Walk-in coolers, cabinets, and stoves. Even the countertops were stainless steel. It was blinding.
Bea motioned her toward a small table set beneath the window as she moved to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of freshly brewed iced tea. Then, grabbing two glasses, she joined Jesse.
Jesse remained silent as the older woman took a seat and poured out the tea. She’d assumed that Bea was trying to distract her, but there was something troubling about the way the older woman sat stiffly on the edge of her seat.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
Bea delicately cleared her throat. “You know how much I admired your dad.”
“Of course.” She reached out to grasp Bea’s hand. “And he felt the same about you. As far as he was concerned, you were a part of our family.”
“Nothing made me happier. Truly.” A wistful expression settled on her round face. “I understood that no one could ever replace your mother, and I would never have tried. But I hoped both of you knew that I would be there whenever you needed me.”
Jesse squeezed Bea’s fingers. She wasn’t sure what she would have done without Bea’s steady presence in her life. Obviously she couldn’t replace Jesse’s mother, but she’d been like a favorite aunt.
“Why do I sense there’s a ‘but’ coming?” she demanded.
“But Mac was …” There was an awkward pause, as if Bea was struggling to come up with the right word. “Restless after your mother passed.”
“What does ‘restless’ mean?”
“He missed having a woman in his life, but I think he worried about dating.”
Jesse was caught off guard. It was true that her father rarely went out, but she’d assumed it was because he was so busy with the bar, not to mention raising a daughter on his own.
“Why would he be worried?”
“Because he didn’t want you to think that he was going to replace you in his heart with another woman. You’d already lost your mother. He didn’t want you to fear you were losing your dad as well.”
Jesse’s heart twisted with regret. He’d been right to worry.
She’d felt vulnerable growing up without her mother, and acutely aware that he was all the family she had in the world.
That made her depend on him more than was healthy.
And even though she’d been sixteen when he’d married Victoria, she’d resented having to share him with someone else.
“He sacrificed everything for me,” she muttered.
“Yes, well …” Bea took a drink of tea, glancing away as if embarrassed. “A man in his prime has needs, and since Mac wasn’t interested in traditional dating, he sought out relationships that were temporary.”
It didn’t take a genius to guess what the older woman was implying. “You mean one-night stands?”
“Sometimes.”
The air was slowly squeezed from Jesse’s lungs. “And affairs with married women?”
“Yes.”
“Women in town?” Bea nodded, keeping her gaze averted. Jesse swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “A lot of them?”
“More than a few.”
“And people knew about this?”
“It wasn’t much of a secret. Especially after he was caught by Virgil Tillman in bed with his wife.”
Jesse didn’t recognize the name. “Who?”
“Adam’s dad.”
“Oh my God.” The truth stabbed into her heart like a dagger. Adam hadn’t been making wild accusations. He had intimate knowledge of her dad’s indiscretions. “What happened?”
“They divorced when Adam was around seven or eight years old and Virgil moved away. I think he got married again and has a new family.”
“That’s why Adam hates my dad,” she breathed.
“He’s certainly held a grudge over the years.”
Jesse swore in frustration. It was petty, but she’d wanted to believe that Adam had tried to frame her father because he was guilty.
Instead he was just a petulant victim. And worse, she couldn’t deny a disappointment in her father.
Not that he’d sought out someone to ease his loneliness.
He wasn’t a monk. But that he’d been willing to betray his morals.
He’d destroyed families. The thought made her sick to her stomach.
“I had no idea.”
Bea at last met Jesse’s disappointed gaze. “We all loved you, Jesse. Everyone in town. We’d do anything to protect you.”
Jesse abruptly rose to her feet. She didn’t doubt her friends had truly intended to protect her, but right now she felt like a blind fool. How often had people whispered behind her back? Or laughed when she na?vely claimed her dad was happy with just the two of them.
Was anything from her past what it seemed? Her dad. Victoria …
Had everything been a lie?
Ignoring Bea’s worried frown, Jesse hurried out of the kitchen and returned to the Tap Room.
Parker hadn’t been wrong to bitch about her procrastination.
She’d been deliberately dragging her feet.
Partially to give herself time to discover the truth about Victoria’s mysterious past. And partially to reconcile herself to the knowledge that her father was never coming home.
But she couldn’t dawdle in Canton forever.
She needed to take care of the tasks that she’d been putting off.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t continue with her investigation.
Or have the repairs she wanted done on the bar before she put it up for sale.
But she needed to feel as if she was moving forward, not forever stuck in the past.
Returning to her dad’s room, Jesse grabbed the garbage bag and started stuffing it with the clothes that she intended to take to the charity shop.
First, she dumped in the shoes and coats before grabbing the stack of jeans, doing her best not to think about the last time her dad had been in this room getting dressed for the day.
She was moving forward, right?
It was only when a small metal object slid out of the jeans and onto the floor with a loud ping that she realized she should have checked the pockets. With a frown, Jesse finished pushing the clothes into the bag and then leaned down to pick up the object.
A key.
But to what?
It was too small for any of the doors. It was more like something for a drawer. Or a small safe.
Curious, Jesse moved around the bedroom, searching for the matching keyhole.
When she came up empty, she circled through the rest of the apartment, eventually expanding her search through the rest of the building.
She even went down to the cellar to see if there was another safe she’d somehow overlooked.
At last forced to admit there was nothing in the building that the key could unlock, Jesse told herself to forget about it. If the key was important, her dad would have put it in the safe, right? Then again, he might have had it in his pocket and forgotten about it.
Jesse muttered an expletive. The key was going to gnaw at her until she figured out where it went. The last thing she needed was another mystery.
Refusing to consider whether she was using this as yet another excuse to avoid dealing with the task she’d set for herself, Jesse grabbed her purse and power walked her way to WALKER & WALKER and pushed open the door.
She blinked as she stepped into the lobby, briefly blinded.
It was a shock to go from the searing sunlight to the dark shadows.
A second later, her eyes adjusted enough for her to see that the reception desk was empty.
Sam was nowhere to be seen and the blinds had been lowered over the large front windows. Which explained the gloom.
Jesse hovered next to the door, belatedly realizing it must be close to lunchtime. Was the office closed?
It was the creak of a chair followed by the soft tread of footsteps that warned Jesse that she wasn’t alone in the office.
Instinctively, she prepared to flee as a tall form appeared in the connecting doorway.
Right now she didn’t trust anyone or anything.
If anything felt weird, she was going to run first and ask questions later.
Thankfully, she could easily make out the older man’s handsome features and tailored suit despite the shadows. He halted as he caught sight of her, deliberately glancing at the expensive watch strapped around his wrist.
“Hello, Jesse,” he murmured. “Do we have an appointment?”
“No.” Jesse cleared a lump from her throat. During her impetuous dash to the office, she hadn’t considered the fact that she was intruding into Eric’s busy schedule, not to mention interrupting his lunch. “I’m sorry I keep bothering you, but I have a quick question.”
“Okay.” It was obvious he was struggling to remain polite. Understandable. His lunch was no doubt getting cold.
Jesse held up her hand. “I found this key in my dad’s stuff, but I have no idea what it unlocks.”
“Can I see?”
“Of course.” Jesse forced herself to move forward. Her feet felt heavy, and she stopped well out of arm’s reach. As if her subconscious was warning her to be careful. “I thought it might be for a safe-deposit box?”
Eric flipped on the overhead light and leaned forward to study the key. “Your father didn’t have a safe-deposit box. At least as far as I know.”
“It doesn’t fit anything in the bar.”
Eric wrinkled his brow, as if he was considering the various possibilities. “It must go to his storage unit,” he at last said.
“My dad had a storage unit?”
“He still does.” Eric stared at her in confusion. “You should have seen the monthly bill on the statement I emailed to you. It’s listed in the itemized section.”
Jesse knew about the statement. It came the tenth of every month, without fail.
And she had a vague idea that it listed the lawyer’s retainer fee, plus the expenses from her father’s estate.
Taxes, insurance … the sort of stuff that bored her silly.
It was all automatically deducted from her dad’s savings account.
“Sorry, I barely glance at it,” she admitted.