Part 49 (1/2)

Dom picked up a paper weight, juggling it as if he wanted to throw it against the wall.

Normally, Dom was the most controlled man Gage knew.

Gage waited, even though he hated every minute away from Meredith. He believed she was safe at his house, but this whole sequence of events had been explosive.

Silence was a technique he knew worked while a demand for answers rarely did.

”Who was the friend?” Dom finally asked.

”A woman named Lulu Starnes. Starnes was her married name.”

”That's why I didn't catch it,” he said slowly. ”A different name.”

”Do you remember her?”

”She was Maggie's best friend. Her shadow. She would have done anything for her.” He put his head in his hands. ”I shoved her out of my memory, just as I tried to erase Maggie. It never worked.”

”Why?”

”Maggie didn't believe me when I said I didn't steal the car, that the drugs they found weren't mine.”

”When did that happen?”

”We were talking about getting married. Her father hated the ground I walked on. I was part Cajun, the son of a tavern owner. I was nothing in his eyes. Less than nothing. He tried to stop her from seeing me.

”I was eighteen, just graduating from high school. She was seventeen. I met her when she and some friends came slumming to my father's tavern. We had good Cajun food. Good Cajun music. One of her friends had heard about it. The moment I saw her I was a goner. She was beautiful. Golden hair. Wide blue eyes. She started dancing with an old Cajun, her eyes sparkling like a lake dusted by sunbeams.

”I asked her for a dance, thinking she would refuse. She didn't, and I thought we'd both fallen in love at that moment.” He was obviously seeing her again as he talked. Gage could envision her through Dom's eyes.

”We started dating. Secretly. It made everything more exciting. At least for her. I was the community bad boy. I'd gotten into my share of fights. Borrowed a car on a dare. Stupid kid stuff, but I had a reputation.”

Gage wished now that he had brought Meredith along. But then would Dom had opened up as he was now doing? It was almost as if Gage wasn't there at all.

Dom squeezed his eyes shut, as if he were in agonizing pain. ”Only a few people knew about us. She knew her father would disapprove. Lulu was one who knew. About the only time we had together was Sat.u.r.day. She would say she was going to someone's home and drive down to meet me. Sometimes Lulu would come along.”

He shook his head. ”It's hard to think of both of them dead. I liked Lulu because she liked me. And she often provided excuses for Maggie's absences.”

Dom stood again, started pacing the room like a convict paced a small cell. Habit, Gage thought. Dom was obviously recalling something very painful. He was thinking, too.

”Then I met Oliver Prescott. He saw us at a jazz place in the French Quarter,” Dom continued. ”I shouldn't have taken her there. It was risky, but a friend of mine had a gig, and Maggie wanted to hear him. He came over to Maggie and asked to be introduced.

”One day when Maggie was on a field trip, he called me and asked if I would like to try his sports car. I'd admired it before. Like a fool, I jumped at the chance. I met him at his house and he handed me the keys. I'll never know why I was so stupid, but I was a kid with a kid's love for cars. And where I came from, we didn't see many imported sports cars.”

He didn't have to continue. Gage knew what was coming.

But Dom did. ”I was arrested an hour later. The car had been reported stolen. There were drugs underneath the seat.

”My family didn't have much money but they used every penny they could borrow to get me a lawyer. It was my word against Prescott's. And because I'd taken a joyride a year earlier, I was considered a repeat offender. My father lost the tavern, and I was sentenced to ten years.”

Dom raised an eyebrow. ”Even then that was a hefty sentence.”

”I suspect someone talked to someone.”

”Marguerite's father?”

He shrugged. ”Never could prove it. Money ran out and so did my attorney.”

”And Marguerite?”

”I received a letter from her, telling me she never wanted to see or hear from me again. After that I didn't care much about anything. I was attacked and fought back. Earned a few more years. Then I met Father Murphy.”

”You must have run into Marguerite after your release.”

”No. I think we both did everything we could to avoid it. She never said anything about a child. I didn't suspect....”

He closed his eyes. His fingers were balled in a tight fist.

”Dom?”

Dom opened his eyes and looked at him.

”Prescott? Do you know what happened to him?” Gage asked.

”I was still in prison,” Dom said. ”It happened just before my release. But I sure as h.e.l.l wasn't sorry to hear of his death.”

That was convenient. He saw from Dom's face he thought so, too.

'Another dead end'. Dom obviously had no idea where Marguerite's daughter was.

”I want to find her,” Dom said. ”I want to help you.”

”It could be impossible. There are no records in Memphis, not even a birth certificate. It's as if she never existed.”

”It's not impossible,” Dom said slowly. ”If it was, someone wouldn't be so h.e.l.l-bent to keep her hidden. There has to be reasons for the secrecy. So we start with the people around Marguerite and find out why they would go to such lengths to protect a secret.”

”The deaths may not have anything to do with her.”

”But you don't believe that or you wouldn't be here.”

”No,” Gage admitted. ”I'm beginning to feel I'm in a maze that has no exit.”

”How did you find out about me?”

”Mrs. Starnes had a photo of you and Marguerite Thibadeau in front of your father's tavern. You've changed, of course, but I seemed to recognize the way you hold your head. Still, I wasn't sure until I traced down the tavern and discovered it was owned by a Cross.”

Dom looked at him curiously. ”I thought you had been suspended.”

”I've taken a personal interest.”

”Why?”