Secrets Of The Rose

“No.” The tears had stopped. Shelby was drained of everything. How long had it been since they’d abducted her daughter? “I’m not all right, Tim. I want my daughter back.”

“I know you do. But Aimee is fine, Shelby. We have to believe that.” Tim stared at her, his eyes filled with shadows. “The writing said she was safe.”

“I don’t believe that. And neither do you. She was safe here with me, Tim. Happy and healthy and loved. How can Aimee be safe away from the one who loves her most?”

“But, Shelby, you have to have faith. You have to.”

“It’s hard to keep hoping, Tim,” she whispered. “All the terrible things you hear that happen to kids. What if Aimee–”

“No!” Tim jumped to his feet. “Don’t say it. Don’t even think it! Until we know differently, Aimee is fine. Do you hear me? She’s fine!”

LOIS RICHER

Sneaking a flashlight under the blankets, hiding in a thicket of Caragana bushes where no one could see, pushing books into socks to take to camp—those are just some of the things Lois Richer freely admits to in her pursuit of the written word. “I’m a book-a-holic. I can’t do without stories,” she confesses. “It’s always been that way.”

Her love of language evolved into writing her own stories. Today her passion is to create tales of personal struggle that lead to triumph over life’s rocky road. For Lois, a happy ending is essential.

SECRETS OF THE ROSE

LOIS RICHER

MILLS & BOON

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Be still and know that I am God.

—Psalms 46:10

This book is dedicated to Cristopher, who keeps

digging until he gets the answers he needs.

Congratulations on reaching your goal.

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Finders, Inc.—a place dedicated to finding the truth. The idea for this series grew after a return visit to a city I particularly love, Victoria, British Columbia. While I was sitting in the hotel lobby, a woman stopped in, tossed off a cryptic comment then disappeared. And my story wheels started turning.

Shelby Kincaid is my kind of heroine. She’s tough, strong and competent. But she’s also vulnerable in her love for her only child. As I imagined the pain and terror of a mother whose child is missing, I was drawn to thoughts of God and His suffering when we refuse to walk with Him, to obey His rules. Our human love pales against His. There is no greater love than the Father for His beloved creations, His precious children.

I hope you’ll return for another visit to Finders. Until then I wish you contentment with whatever state you’re in, courage to deal with the future and most of all love—without it we are nothing.

Blessings,

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

ONE

But he that dares not grasp the thorn,

should never crave the rose.

—Anne Brontë

Victoria, British Columbia

Monday, April 21

Perhaps it was the date—ten months to the day after Grant’s abrupt, tragic death.

Perhaps it was the hour—that no-man’s-land of black yawning silence in which all the world seemed to die.

Or perhaps it was simply that she wasn’t yet used to being alone.

Whatever the excuse, Shelby Kincaid was wide-awake. She lay on her bed, bathed in a puddle of moon shadows that washed through her balcony doors, and ordered her mind to shut down, to forget the past and focus on the future.

It might have worked—except for the creak of one tired floorboard in the hall.

Shelby sat up, glanced at the greenish-blue hands on the gilt clock Grant had presented on her last birthday: 3:13 a.m. Shadows danced over the walls as a shiver of wind tickled the blossoms of the apple tree outside her window.

Creak.

The hardwood’s protest came again, closer this time. Just outside her door.

The phone on the nightstand sat waiting. All she had to do was pick it up and dial 911. She reached out.

Reech!

Her hand froze. The second squeak was barely discernible over the thud of her heart, but Shelby knew exactly where it came from, had vowed to oil that same hinge a hundred nights before when she’d crept in to check on her baby.

Aimee’s door.

Someone was inside her house and now they were going into Aimee’s room!

Forget the phone.

She twisted toward the security panel on Grant’s empty side of the bed and stabbed the silent alarm. Soon the soundless summons would bring police from all directions of the city. But she couldn’t wait for them. She had to go to Aimee.

Her legs, rubbery with fear, barely held her upright. Shelby pushed away from the bed, tiptoed across the thick butter-cream broadloom and opened her door just a crack, enough so she could scan the hall, perhaps catch a glimpse of the invader.

No one lurked in the shadows. Which meant he must already be inside Aimee’s room.

Her entire body began to tremble. Her stomach squeezed into a knot imagining her five-year-old daughter’s terror waking to a stranger’s face. Shelby reminded herself of her past training with Grant: Assess, then act.

She couldn’t wait for the police, her daughter’s life might be at risk. All she wanted to do was get to Aimee, hold her, keep her safe. Shelby slipped into the hallway, then surged ahead, pausing only long enough to wrap her fingers around the brass candelabra from the hall table, the sole weapon in sight.

Something—a squeal—made her careless and the candles fell to the floor with a clatter. Though quickly hushed, the noise galvanized her into action. She raced to Aimee’s door, thrust it open, and breathed her daughter’s name.

But Aimee could not respond.

Aimee was gone.

The four-poster lay empty. Only the soft organdy curtains moved, billowing in through the window, carried by the night air.

Shelby rushed across the fuzzy white rug, stared down through the glass into the gloom. The cavernous darkness of the garden lay below, silent, brooding. She could see no one.

When she turned, Shelby noticed the red letters scrawled across her daughter’s mirror.

Aimee is safe.

Her brass weapon fell to the carpet.

“Not my baby, God. Please don’t let them take my baby!”

Once they arrived, the police questioned her for hours.

Was the alarm functioning properly? Who would know how to disable it? Was the front door securely locked? Had she heard a car? Did she have any enemies? Was this connected with Grant’s accident?

“I don’t know.” She recited the words over and over again. “I don’t know. Please, just find my daughter. Don’t you understand—they’ve taken my daughter!”

And she hadn’t been able to stop them. The guilt burned through her like acid.

Within two hours the house was brimming with crime scene investigators, their gray-white powder covering every surface in sight. Esmeralda Peabody, who had been the housekeeper first for Shelby’s grandmother and then Shelby, would be furious at having to repolish the intricately carved antiques. But Aimee would have a field day mucking through all that powder. If she ever came home again.

“Mrs. Kincaid? We really need you to concentrate. You’re sure you didn’t hear anything else but the footsteps?”

Shelby closed her eyes, forced herself to replay the scene in her mind, to relive the moment when she saw the bed, knew her child was gone. The moment her stomach hit her toes and her world stopped.

How could this have happened?

“Nothing else.” Shelby gulped down the pain. She couldn’t break down now. She had to help them find answers. “Just the footsteps in the hall, the door creaking. A muffled sound. That’s all.”

She looked up suddenly, her mind honing in on the last memory.

“Do you think they hurt her?” she whispered. “Is that what I heard?”

“No, we don’t think that. Not at all.”

The rush to reassure did nothing to ease Shelby’s anxiety.

“We found a bit of material stuck in the frame. We think it was torn off something—pants, perhaps. You probably heard the thief muttering when he caught them, Shelby. May I call you that?” The lead investigator, a woman, taller than Shelby and about seven years older, kindly wrapped a blanket around her shivering shoulders, then sank down beside her.

“Call me anything.” Shelby huddled into the warmth, wishing it would penetrate to her heart. “Ask whatever you need to. I don’t care. I just want my daughter back. Please, can’t you find her?”

Why didn’t they do something, call someone? Why did they keep asking the same thing over and over?

Shelby felt her world spinning and knew she needed to reach for the focus that had kept her centered during key investigations she’d handled in the past. But she’d been out of the workplace too long, her training gone rusty with disuse these last ten months. Besides, those had been other people’s loved ones.

This was Aimee, and Aimee was all she had left. All Shelby could do was silently implore God, the police, anyone who would listen—beg them to bring Aimee back where she belonged.

“Please, Detective. We need to find my daughter. She’ll be afraid. She’s only five.”

“We’ll find her. We’ve already started searching.” The smile was grim, but it promised results. “Please call me Natalie. Natalie Brazier,” she repeated, as if unsure whether Shelby had heard her say the same thing five minutes earlier. “I haven’t lived in Victoria very long, so I’m not familiar with your history. I’d like to learn a little more about you, Shelby.”

Detective Brazier resembled a starlet more than a policewoman. She arranged her long, lean body on the sofa beside Shelby with a natural grace and elegance, her black silk suit molding itself to every curve. Shelby recognized the designer—and it wasn’t a knockoff. Whatever her job, this woman had expensive taste.

Shelby found it odd how her brain had never stopped storing details, even though she hadn’t returned to work after Grant’s death. Height, weight, hair color, body language. Once that had been vitally important to her job. But that was before Grant—

“I understand you lost your husband a short time ago.”

The sting of reality dissolved her memory of those halcyon days in the past. Though the reminder hurt, it helped Shelby center herself, refocus. She nodded, pinched her lips together to stem the prick of nearby tears.

“Grant died ten months ago. Ten months tod—yesterday.”

“Ten months to the day?” Natalie lifted an eyebrow at her nod. “Well.” She made a notation. “Can you tell me what happened to him?”

What would Grant say if he knew she’d lost their precious child? Or did he already know? Was Aimee with him?

No! Please God, not Aimee, too.

Come home, sweetheart. Please come home to me.

Shelby closed her eyes, drew several deep breaths, then dashed away the storm of tears.

The policewoman studied her as if she wasn’t sure what to do next, then she reached out for the tissue box and held it toward Shelby. Another detail to store—the woman was good at reading people. But then she would be, in her job.

Shelby took one, wadded the softness into a ball and forced herself to go back in time.

“I’m sure this is all in your files,” she muttered, unable to quench the bitterness that always boiled up at the unfairness of it. “You’d only have to read it.”

“I’d rather you told me.”

“Fine.” Shelby unclenched her fists and began. “We owned—I own a business called Finders, Inc. Someone asks us to recover something they’ve lost—stolen art, heirloom jewelry, that sort of thing. Or they ask us to find someone they need to get in touch with—a friend, a brother, heirs. We employ a team of specialized investigators who are trained to discreetly locate these things or people and, if possible, restore them to the client. At the time of his death, Grant was working on a project.”

The utter silliness of those words struck Shelby as she said them. Grant was always working on a project. He loved nothing more than the thrill of the chase, the rush of tracking down a special order and presenting it to a buyer with that grand flourish only he could pull off. He would never do it again.

Would it be the same with Aimee?

No! She wouldn’t think that. Stabs of pain radiated from behind her eyes. She squeezed them closed, breathing deeply to regain control. Focus, she ordered her brain.

“Can you go on?”

“Yes.” Shelby forced herself to speak of a time when life had been simple, happy. “The thing you need to understand is that I didn’t work Grant’s case.” She struggled to pull up whatever scant details her brain possessed. “Anything I say is secondhand information. I don’t know many of the particulars, but that he’d been hired to find something a client had lost years ago—in Europe, I think. At one point Grant had information that the object was in Greece, but the lead never panned out. He’d returned and was following something new when the ex-explosion took place. He was killed in the fire.” She bit her lip, the loss bitter still.

“I see.” Natalie wrote something on her little black pad in precise letters. She tapped a pencil against the paper. “Can you tell me what the object was?”

Shelby and Grant had created two rules when they’d developed their plans for Finders, Inc. He’d insisted that in order to protect themselves, they must refuse to be involved in anything illegal. The second rule was Shelby’s idea—once accepted, Finders would always finish the case. Underlying both rules lay the implicit understanding that a client’s identity would never be revealed.

Finders never broke a confidence. Never.

“Why would you need to know that?” Shelby took a second assessing look at the detective who appeared more like a model. “My husband is dead. Are you implying that Aimee was taken because of something he couldn’t find? Are you implying that she, too, might be dead?” She could barely say it. Only by clenching her fists could she force the unspeakable words past her lips, even while steeling herself for the worst.

“I’m not saying that. No! Not at all.” Natalie’s warm hand closed over Shelby’s. “Please don’t think that for a moment. But if we knew who his client was, what he was searching for and why, we might have an idea about who may be behind Aimee’s abduction. Perhaps your client was angry that your husband didn’t find his or her item. Perhaps your husband did find it and sold it elsewhere.” She held up a hand as Shelby began to protest. “It’s all supposition, but barring any other leads, I have to consider every angle. We want to find your daughter, Mrs. Kincaid.”

Was this woman trying to smear Grant’s reputation? Would that help her find Aimee? Shelby hated her sudden suspicion of everyone, of every situation. Grant would never have endangered her or Aimee. Never.

If Aimee was all right, then she was being held by someone. But there had been no ransom request. Nothing made sense. Who would steal a child from her home, from the mother who loved her beyond anything else in the world, for no reason?

“I can’t imagine what any of Grant’s work would have to do with Aimee’s abduction. And remember, my husband died ten months ago. Why wait this long?” She saw Natalie’s lips part and realized she was wasting time by arguing. “Never mind. Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

“Just tell me what you can recall.”

Shelby thought for a moment, organizing the bits of information her brain had retained.

“I never knew exactly what my husband was trying to recover. I was busy, working my own cases. When we were home, we deliberately focused on each other and our child, not on work. I do remember that Grant said his client was an older woman—over ninety, I think.” Was that what he’d said? Shelby reconsidered. “Or maybe the client hired him to find someone over ninety. Anyway, age was one reason why he wanted to conclude his investigation quickly.”

She reached toward the phone.

“I’m afraid I don’t know the client’s name offhand, but I can find out if you must know. Though I can hardly imagine she’d be a threat.”

Natalie frowned, shook her head.

“No. You’re probably right, a woman that old wouldn’t be involved in kidnapping. Perhaps something else connected with the business then? Some new client whom you’ve offended in some way?” she asked hopefully.

Shelby shook her head.

“Not me. Since Grant’s death, I haven’t even gone in to the office. Daniel, that’s Daniel McCullough, is in charge now. He was one of our operatives, but he’d ceased most of his fieldwork and begun to fill a role as coordinator when the business grew too much for Grant and I. Since Grant’s—well, lately Daniel’s been handling everything. If you want to know about other clients, you’d have to talk to him.”

“Okay. I’ll call him later. He’s trustworthy?”

“Completely.” At least there Shelby had no hesitation.

“Good. Now, I have more questions for you.”

Shelby rose, her mind moving into the automatic mode it would have used if this had been someone else’s child she’d been hired to find.

“Yes. You’ll want a picture, of course.” She started toward the door, but was prevented from moving by a firm hand on her arm.

“It’s okay, Shelby. We already have one. Your neighbor came over a few minutes ago. He woke up, saw the cars and was worried about you. He found a photo of himself and Aimee. We’re using that. For now.”

There was a look on Natalie’s face that Shelby didn’t understand.

“Tim? Tim is here?” She looked around, then realized that they would keep him away from her until they had all their answers. “Thank you, Lord, for Tim.”

“How well do you know Tim Austen, Shelby?”

Some flicker in the detective’s midnight-blue eyes added a waver of unease to the moment. Shelby frowned. There was something suspicious in her question.

“How well?” She shrugged. “As well as I know most people. Better, actually. He’s lived next door for about six months. No, maybe it’s been longer than that.” She drew a hand through her mussed-up hair and realized she hadn’t combed it, hadn’t yet showered. As if that mattered.

“I don’t remember exactly when Tim bought the house. But he never knew Grant. He came after that.” She smiled. “Aimee loves Tim. And he loves her. Tim often used to watch her playing while I was busy arranging details for the garden.”

“The garden?” Natalie stood at the window, her eyes on the newly tilled earth beyond the windows.

Shelby sucked in a breath of courage. Rehashing all these details seemed futile to her, but she supposed the police had to start somewhere.

“The rose garden. Yes.” She walked to the doors, pulled them open and motioned to the area beyond. “My husband loved roses. This was his garden. I’m working on plans to make this house and its grounds a public attraction, as a sort of memorial to him. He’d want to share the beauty he and Gran planned. Grant was my grandmother’s soul mate when it came to roses.” She couldn’t help the little smile that bubbled up at the memories.

Natalie scribbled in her book.

“The two of them had this saying: ‘The secrets of the rose can teach you about life.’” Clear as a bell, she heard Grant’s voice repeating the familiar phrase, his hands grimy with soil, face flushed from the sun, his grin radiant. He was so real in that moment, she could have believed he was standing there.

Then, like a mirage, the image dissipated, and she was alone.

Again.

Shelby swallowed, stared at the bush nearest the doors, the last one Grant had planted. Deep Secret he’d named it.

“Anyway, that’s my plan,” she murmured. “Aimee and I don’t need all this room.” Not anymore. Not with just the two of them.

Or would there now be only one person living in her grandmother’s home? She pushed away the ugly thought, concentrated on the detective. “Anything else you need to know?”

“You grew up in this house?” Natalie Brazier seemed surprised.

“With my grandmother, yes. My parents died when I was young. Gran took me in, cared for me, loved me. She helped erase—” Just in time Shelby stopped herself. There was no point in rehashing her childhood. “I was a researcher. This was home base. She told me it would always be mine. That was after I’d come back from Istanbul. I was hired to retrieve a painting for a museum. I met Grant in Istanbul.”

Shelby watched the men moving methodically across her lawn, knew they were police, scouring the ground for any clue they might find.

“Look, none of that past history matters, does it? I just want to find my daughter.” Her arms ached to hold that squirming little body, to feel those pudgy hands cup her face, kiss her cheek with a sticky sweetness that mere water couldn’t wash away. Would she ever feel that again?

“We’re trying, Shelby. Humor me, will you?”

As if she had a choice? Shelby let her glance slide around the room, felt a stab of anguish when it came upon the Christmas portrait they’d had taken the summer before, while the roses still bloomed. Aimee, beautiful beyond description in her white fairy-princess dress, as she called it. Grant, brown and fit from that trip to Greece, with his arms around “his girls.” Herself, grinning, blissfully happy, totally unaware her world would soon shatter. In the weeks and months that followed, Aimee was the reason she’d hung on, kept it together. The Christmas cards with the picture sat in the basement yet, still boxed, never to be sent. But this one photo she kept up here. It helped ease the loss of Grant somehow, helped her remember to be grateful she had his child to love.

Aimee. Her baby. If Aimee didn’t come home…Fear for her beloved girl clawed at her. She was so tiny, so innocent. Shelby’s heart shuddered. She could no more stop her tears than the rush of love that welled up inside her.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized over and over, “I can’t seem to stop crying.”

“You go ahead and cry if you want. Believe me, I understand.” Obviously uncomfortable, Natalie got up, walked around the room. “This is an interesting old house. How many rooms are there?”

“H-how many rooms?” Shelby considered it a most dubious inquiry to make at this particular time and began to wonder about Natalie’s experience in cases such as this. Shelby’s patience was running short, she wanted action. “I don’t know how many rooms there are. I never counted them.”

“Did your husband mind living here?”

Shelby blinked. She’d always assumed Grant had loved the old place as much as she. But she realized now that she’d never outright asked him. Something else there hadn’t been time to do.