to close that. The flies in this place are nasty.” Ember snapped her mouth closed.
“He didn’t die,” Darcy said softly.
It was interesting watching the emotions that moved across her old, wrinkled face. Darcy saw both anger and confirmation.
“How do you know this?”
“My mother told me she was paid to lie. She’s been compensated ever since to maintain the lie.”
“Interesting.”
“You know something. What aren’t you saying?” Darcy demanded.
Instead of getting angry, Sister Margaret looked almost pleased before she said, “I will say that I believe what happened with your child was the final move in a battle of wills that has been going on for a very long time. I think to find the answers that you seek, you need to go back to the beginning.”
“Meaning?” Darcy was beginning to lose her temper.
“Heidi knew a lot about a lot of people. But how did she find her information and, more importantly, where did she keep all of her information? Blackmail only works when you’ve actually got dirt on someone.”
Darcy was pondering that when Ember chimed in. “St. Agnes’s attic.”
Sister Margaret looked at Ember like she was her star student. “Heidi lived at St. Agnes and the attic is just filled with stuff. It’s the perfect place to hide something.”
“That actually explains a lot, like why Heidi was always hanging around St. Agnes and the creepy way she lurked around. But how is Heidi involved in my son’s kidnapping?”
“Like I said, start at the beginning. Find out who Heidi was blackmailing and you’ll find out what happened to your child.”
Anger turned Darcy’s voice hard. “Do you know where my child is?” she demanded.
Compassion, which looked completely out of place on the older woman’s face, softened the hard lines of her features. “No, I don’t, but I think he’s closer than you think.”
Darcy slammed the door of the nursing home. “I would like to strangle that woman, but I’ve known her long enough to know she isn’t going to tell us anything more.”
“We can go to St. Agnes and take a look around in the attic,” Ember offered.
“I’d like to, but I’m too wired to do that now.”
“So, back to Sister Margaret’s riddle. We know of a few people that Heidi was blackmailing: my husband, Trace’s uncle, and one of the Carmichaels, at least.”
“Well, we can rule out Trace,” Darcy said, earning a smile from Ember.
“And Charles has been very forthcoming about his involvement with Heidi, so that leaves the Carmichaels. Trouble is there are four of them.”
“Figures,” Darcy huffed.
“I think we can rule out the youngest of them because he was the one to tell us about the blackmailing and had, at one time, been party to Heidi’s activities. Maybe if we sat down with him, we could get him to share more about his family,” Ember said.
“Do you think he would?”
Ember held her stare and said, “Only one way to find out. Let’s ask.”
“Who exactly are we asking?” Darcy asked.
“Dane Carmichael.”
Dane had decided to keep a low profile until Heidi’s killer was found. As much as it pained him to do so, he had been sober for two weeks. He needed to keep his wits about him if he didn’t want to be staring down the barrel of gun.
His father had learned that his competition in the senatorial race had stepped down, leaving the way clear for him to take his fourth consecutive term. Dane really didn’t mind. When his dad was happy and busy with work, he left Dane alone.
He was reaching for his water and wishing it was a Scotch, when he felt the hair at the nape of his neck stand on end. A minute later, two women sat down at his table. His first thought was of Lena and how she would misinterpret the situation.
And then he saw that one of the women was Ember Walsh. No, it was Montgomery now.
“I didn’t do anything.” He immediately turned to look behind him for her husband.
“Relax, Dane, we’re here to talk,” Ember said, but Dane still kept one eye on the door.
“How did you find me?” Dane demanded.
“I called Lena,” Ember said, and Dane made a mental note to not share his whereabouts with Lena again.
“Does your husband know you’re here?”
“No.”
“Is he likely to show up, misread this, and rearrange my face again?”
An arrogant smile spread over Ember’s face. “Keep your hands to yourself and there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Right.”
He really wanted a hit of something mind-numbing. His eyes moved to the other woman and—damn, she was fine. Instinct