Part 22 (2/2)
Carson wasn't laughing. Whatever their reasons, they had no business digging into Harcourt Farms affairs. And Carson intended to put a stop to itonce and for all.
Elizabeth got a call from Zach on Friday afternoon saying he wouldn't be arriving in San Pico until late.
”I've got an afternoon appointment with the attorneys for Themoziamine. It's going to take us a while. And the traffic's always bad on Friday night.”
Elizabeth's fingers tightened around the phone. ”I um tried to call you Wednesday night, but you weren't home.”
”Why didn't you leave a message?”
”I figured you were I thought you were probably ”
”Probably what, Liz?”
”Out on a date.”
Silence fell on the other end of the line. ”I've never even thought about going out with someone else, not since I started seeing you.”
”You don't owe me anything, Zach. I didn't mean for it to sound as if you did.”
”Are you dating other people?”
She swallowed, thought about lying. ”No.”
”Then neither am I.”
”Okay.” The relief she felt made her dizzy. It was a very bad sign. ”I guess I'll see you tonight.”
”Count on it.”
She waited for him to end the call but he didn't.
”Why did you call me on Wednesday?”
”I wanted to tell you I didn't find anything in the papers. I can try the police blotter but it's going to take a lot of time and I don't really think I'll find anything useful.”
”I was really hoping you would.”
”Maria called me yesterday morning. She saw the ghost, Zach. Up close and personal. A little blond girl. I'll tell you about it when you get here. She was really scared, Zach.”
Zach blew a breath into the phone. ”I'm going out to see my dad first thing in the morning. Maybe he'll remember something.”
”I hope so. Maria looks terrible. I'm really getting worried about her, and the baby.” She hoped Maria wasn't alone in the house tonight.
”Just hang in there. We'll come up with something. I'll be there as soon as I can.”
Zach arrived even later than he had expected, but Elizabeth waited up for him. She hadn't imagined he would stride through the door and sweep her into his arms, carry her into the bedroom and make pa.s.sionate love to her, but he did.
She smiled as she padded into the kitchen at nearly midnight to fix them a snack while they talked about Maria and what she claimed to have seen in the house.
”If the ghost really is a little girl with blond hair and blue eyes,” she said, ”that eliminates a number of children who lived in the house over the years.”
”Unless this has nothing to do with a child who actually lived there.”
”What do you mean?”
”Maybe she was a friend of someone who lived there.”
Elizabeth blew out a breath. ”I hadn't thought of that. For the present, let's just stick with the theory we have.”
”Yeah, this is all hard pretty hard to swallow in the first place. Let's not complicate matters unless we have to.”
They snacked on cold roast beef Elizabeth made into sandwiches while she filled him in on her failed efforts to discover the secrets of the house. Sometime during the night, they made love again. Still, neither of them slept very well.
Elizabeth worried about Maria and what might be happening to her in the house, and Zach worried about Raul and whether the boy would do something crazy if he found out his sister was in trouble.
He brought up the possibility as they dressed the next morning to drive over to Willow Glen to see his father.
”I hope she keeps her brother out of this,” Zach said, pulling a short-sleeved, yellow knit s.h.i.+rt over his head.
”I know she'll do her best. She's very protective of Raul. And she wants very badly for him to succeed.”
”They seem to mean a lot to each other.” There was something in his face, something that looked strangely like envy.
”I guess that isn't the way it was with you and Carson.”
A disgusted sound came from his throat. ”Carson hated my guts from the moment he laid eyes on me.”
”How old were you?”
”Eight, the day I moved in. Carson was ten.”
”Ten. That's pretty young to start hating people. How do you feel about him? Do you hate him, too?”
Zach shook his head. ”Not really. Hating someone takes too much energy. Besides, I guess I always felt a little sorry for him.”
”You felt sorry for Carson? Why?”
”Because my father expected so much of him. Carson never seemed to come up to scratch, no matter how hard he tried. Me, my father mostly ignored.”
”Until you got out of prison.”
”Yeah. I don't know exactly what happened. Maybe he figured he was partly to blame. When he found out I was serious about turning my life around, he did everything in his power to help me.”
<script>