Secrets Read online

  “Yes, I’m here,” he said into the phone. “It’s been a bit of a push but I made it.”

  Cassie’s eyes widened. Leo Norton had an English accent! And not one of those accents that leaves off the beginning and end of every word, but an upper-class accent that sounded to her of the BBC and the British royal family.

  She moved her body upward so she could see him. He had his back to her, his phone to his ear, and he was listening. “I’m here with him now, but Jefferson brought a crowd with him. One of them I don’t know. I think maybe she’s an innocent, but check her out anyway. Better yet, start a file on her. Her name’s Cassandra Madden.”

  He paused and listened. “No, Jeff is smarter than that. Yes, I already made the pickup. The little man slipped out of the rocks as soon as we got here. Easy as could be.”

  He paused again. “No, go ahead and pick me up today. Yes, I know I was going to stay for the weekend, but that was changed. Five o’clock at the usual place. Yes, I can be there. I’ll make them leave soon.”

  He closed his phone and stood where he was. Cassie was tempted to step out of hiding and confront him—but not too tempted. The man wasn’t obnoxious as much as he was secretive, she thought. He’d met someone here and received something, but she couldn’t figure out if Jeff knew about it or not. Besides that, what was it that he’d received? Something to do with Althea’s jewel robbery?

  Okay, so he’d made his call, so why wasn’t he leaving? To her left she heard a whistle and knew it was Jeff. She’d heard him whistle like that before and knew that he was telling her lunch was ready. When she didn’t come quickly, he’d start searching for her, and she had no doubt that he’d find her. He’d found her last night in the dark, so of course he could find her now. And if he did, Leo would know that she’d heard him on the telephone.

  She didn’t move, just kept watching Leo. What was he doing now? she wondered. He was unbuttoning his shirt! She felt panic rising in her throat. He must know she was there and he was planning—No, she couldn’t think that. Jeff was too near. Leo wouldn’t do anything like that. He—

  She drew in her breath when she saw him open his shirt and lift a thick pad off his stomach and scratch under it. She heard him sigh in ecstasy as he scratched his belly—his flat, muscular, hard belly.

  Astonishment froze her in place. The man was disguised to look fat and out of shape, but underneath, he had a stomach any bodybuilder would envy. She glanced at his bald head and wondered if that was a disguise too. The truth was that the man had so repulsed her from the first moment she saw him that he could have been wearing a latex mask and she wouldn’t have noticed.

  Very clever, she thought.

  She heard the whistle again, heard Leo mutter under his breath, then he hurriedly put the pad back in place and rounded his shoulders so he looked saggy and old and out of shape. Turning, he quickly headed back into the woods on the opposite side from the one Cassie had come up.

  The second he was out of sight, she got up and nearly ran down the path on the other side.

  “There you are,” Jeff said. “I was about to send the cavalry after you. Hungry?”

  “Famished,” she said. Leo was on the opposite side of the camp and she couldn’t help but look at him. As usual, his face instantly changed to a leer, but this time she didn’t look away. For a split second, she saw something else in his eyes and she made herself look away. She didn’t want to give it away that she knew more than he wanted her to.

  “Did you see the house?” Jeff asked.

  “No, I missed it. I went that way,” she said, pointing in the opposite direction of where she’d actually gone. “Beautiful view.”

  Jeff looked at her sharply but said nothing. He knew this place, so had she said something wrong?

  The five of them ate lunch together, but only Skylar and Brent made conversation. Cassie was quiet in her thoughts, and Leo seemed to be thinking about something too. Jeff ate and watched them all.

  12

  “ HE’S NOT WHO HE SEEMS TO BE,”Cassie whispered to Jeff as they put the cooler back in the boat.

  “Do you mean Leo?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Is anyone who they seem to be? I can’t figure out why Althea hired Goodwin, since he can hardly drive a riding mower. What kind of gardener is that?”

  “He looks great with his shirt off,” Cassie said quickly, “and stop trying to change the subject. Leo is not who he seems to be.”

  They were alone on the boat, the others still on the shore. Jeff glanced at them. “I’ve known Leo a long time, and I’m sorry he’s been so obnoxious to you. He’s not usually like that. Would you like to take a hike? We could go up to the house. Dad says the owners are away now, so we could look around. I hear she’s a fantastic gardener.”

  “No,” Cassie said, “we have to go back right away.” It was obvious that Jeff didn’t want to hear what she had to say.

  “No, we don’t. It’s early yet, so we have time. Unless you have to be somewhere.” He was joking with her, but she didn’t smile.

  “I don’t have to be anywhere,” she said, “but that man has to meet someone at five, so we need to leave soon.” She was watching Jeff and realized that he was purposefully changing the subject and pretending that he didn’t understand what she was saying. She knew from experience that he was a good listener, but now he was refusing to understand what she was trying to tell him.

  “Leo didn’t say anything to me about leaving early,” Jeff said.

  “That’s because he doesn’t want you to know what he’s doing,” she said quietly.

  Jeff stopped moving the cooler around and turned to look at her. “I think maybe you should tell me what it is that you know. Or is it just intuition?”

  Cassie’s first impulse was to tell him every word she’d heard Leo Norton say on the phone, but something stopped her. For one thing, lately, she’d caught Jeff in too many “stretches of the truth.” And for days his attitude had been odd, as though he was trying to hide something. All in all, Cassie was sure that there was a great deal more to why Jeff had come to the cabin than just a twenty-one-year-old jewel robbery.

  “Intuition,” she said with a sigh and a fluttering of her lashes that she hoped made her look innocent. “Leo doesn’t wear a ring but I think he’s married.”

  Jeff smiled in a fatherly way—and with more than a little relief, she thought. “Probably. I know he’s been divorced several times. After our hike, I’ll have a talk with him. I haven’t liked his behavior today at all.”

  Cassie started to reply but turned when they heard a yelp of pain come from Leo. When they looked, they saw him holding the side of his calf, and there was blood on his khaki trousers.

  Jeff turned to Cassie and lifted his eyebrows.

  She shrugged and said, “Intuition,” then she went to the front of the boat and asked Brent what was wrong.

  “Leo’s hurt his leg. I think we better go back,” Brent called out. “There’s a lot of blood.”

  “I bet there is,” Cassie said under her breath, then turned to smile at Jeff. He was frowning at her in a way that made her wish she hadn’t told him as much as she had.

  Part of her wanted to tell Jeff everything, but she didn’t think he’d listen to her. What she needed was some proof, then she’d be able to back up whatever she said about Leo Norton. If she had proof that he wasn’t what he seemed, then maybe Jeff would believe her—and tell her the truth about what was going on.

  Cassie stepped back and watched the others quickly load the boat. Once they were in open water again, heading back to the cabin, she turned to look at Leo. He’d wrapped a towel around his leg and it was bloody, but he was sitting there quietly looking at the water and didn’t seem to be in pain.

  She was willing to bet that there was no wound under the bandage. On impulse, Cassie got up and went to him. He was so astonished that he didn’t say a word until Cassie bent down to put her hands on the towel.

  “Wh