Always Faithful Read online

  “I don’t know. I don’t trust the guy. Maybe I should have Jess or Mike check him out.”

  “Phillip, we don’t know these people. Who’s to say you can really trust them?”

  “Right now I have to trust them with Rowan’s and Ian’s lives. Are you saying I shouldn’t?”

  They stared at each other for what seemed an eternity before Zach slipped the car into gear and drove back to Rowan’s house.

  * * * *

  Rowan woke to find Ian snuggled against her. With all the room the king-size bed offered, she was allocated a two-foot wide space for herself. Reaching over to scoot him aside, she was greeted with a sleepy-eyed grin.

  “Well, good morning.” She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big hug. “How long have you been here?”

  Ian stretched. “I don’t know. Dad and Oscar took up all of my bed, so I came up here.”

  Phillip came back?

  “I’m starving.”

  He was always starving. “Pancakes and bacon?”

  “Now I’m extra-starving.”

  Rowan laughed and swung her legs over the side. “Then I’d better get busy.”

  She stopped long enough in the bathroom to clean up and get dressed. By the time she trotted downstairs, Ian was curled in the chair watching cartoons.

  The smell of coffee lured her onward. Rowan expected to see her mother in the kitchen with breakfast underway. Instead, she found Phillip’s friend Zach and Captain Connors sharing sections of the newspaper, cups of coffee steaming in their hands.

  “Is my mother still asleep?”

  Neither bothered to look up, but the lawyer friend answered, “She and Jess went to her house last night when we came back. She felt everyone would be more comfortable with a little more room. Jess didn’t want her alone over there, just in case.”

  Rowan nodded and extended her hand. “You probably already know this, but I’m Rowan McKinley.”

  He looked up with a warm smile and slipped his hand into hers. “Zach Taylor. I have the dubious honor of being Phillip’s best friend.” He grinned, flashing a set of dimples.

  “Then I would say you have your hands full.”

  “Phillip would tell you it goes both ways.”

  Rowan laughed softly. A flash of silver outside the kitchen window caught her eye. “I see Oscar’s up.”

  Captain Connors craned his neck for a look. “Been chasing birds and squirrels and having a great time.”

  “No matter how inept he is at it,” Zach added.

  “Well, we’ll see if the smell of breakfast cooking will tempt him back inside before I no longer have a flower garden. How about it, Captains?

  Connors glanced her way. “Only if we can leave the formalities back at the office. Agreed?”

  Rowan smiled and nodded. It made sense, especially if they were going to continue to be in close quarters. Then she paused.

  “Zach, why did you come back with Phillip? I thought you were both going to return to the Officers’ Quarters.”

  He smiled, a devastating combination of dark eyes and square jaw. “Simple, really. We couldn’t find our way to the main road in the dark.”

  Rowan and Mike laughed.

  The first whiff of frying bacon brought all the laggards to the kitchen—Oscar, Ian…and Phillip. Rowan tensed when he walked in. He wore a T-shirt and running shorts that were as rumpled from sleep as his hair. Without a glance or a word to her, he brushed by and helped himself to a mug of coffee.

  “Can I have some coffee, too?” Ian hoisted himself onto the countertop.

  “Get down.” The gentle reprimand was simultaneous from both parents.

  He hopped to the floor without question. “Can I?”

  “Just a little,” Phillip replied.

  Rowan almost protested until she saw him fill a cup with a splash of coffee, then topped it off with lots of milk and two teaspoons of sugar. He lifted an eyebrow, asking her approval. Rowan gave a single nod.

  Phillip handed the cup over to Ian. “There you go, bud. A cup of coffee fit for a man.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “Once breakfast is over, how would you like to go with me to Disneyland?”

  “Oh, boy! Mom, too?”

  Sensing Phillip’s hesitancy, Rowan turned with a smile she didn’t exactly feel. “I think your dad wanted it to be a guy thing, just the two of you. Besides, someone has to stay home with Oscar. And I have to clean house and do yard work. Why don’t you get your suitcase and put in enough clothes for two days? I’ll check it after breakfast.”

  He ran off to his room, coffee forgotten.

  Phillip leaned against the counter. “Thank you for that.”

  Rowan turned back to her bowl of batter. “Not a problem… Phillip, before you go, I think you and I need to talk.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. There’s nothing you can say that will make a difference. Everything is in the past. You did what you did and that’s that.” His voice was low and harsh.

  She spun around. “That’s not fair.”

  “I could spend hours telling you about what’s not fair. But again, it wouldn’t make a hell of a lot of difference at this point. The fact is that I have a son and I intend to be the best damn father I can, now that I know about him. You can save any explanation you’ve got for him when he gets older and asks where his father really was for the first eight years of his life, not that stupid story you let him believe.”

  “Phillip, I tried to tell him the truth, but he turned it into something he could understand.”

  He shook his head, halting her. “I don’t want to hear your lame excuses. How many times do I have to make that clear? Now, if you will pardon me, I have to get ready to take my son to Disneyland.”

  He tossed down his coffee and set the mug aside with a thud so hard Rowan was afraid it would break. She held back the pain and frustration with an iron will she didn’t know she possessed.

  The mask stayed in place until she waved goodbye to them an hour later. Once Phillip’s car was well down the road, she let her shoulders sag. An arm slipped around her and she turned to Zach’s understanding gaze.

  “He’ll have to cool down sometime.” Zach gave her a comforting squeeze. “But you know, if it will help, I’m here to listen.”

  Rowan sat and rested her chin in her hands. The words came, slowly at first, then like a flood as the dam of emotions burst. Her long-kept secret was finally out in the open.

  She looked up. Both Zach and Mike stared at her in open-mouthed surprise. “That’s why I have to get him to listen and try to make him understand why I never told him about Ian.”

  “Good God, Rowan, Phillip is going to go ballistic when he hears this,” Zach said in a rush of breath. “He has to know. You have to talk to him.”

  She nodded and started to clear the table, anything to keep her mind focused. “You saw. He won’t give me the time of day. He’s so angry and upset, and I really can’t blame him.” She picked up the empty coffee mugs. “He needs to hear the whole story, start to finish—why I left him the way I did.”

  Mike jumped up to help. “You can snag him tomorrow night when he gets back with Ian. We’ll make sure he gives you his full attention.”

  A simple plan—or so it seemed. But so had all the others been before they had blown up in her face. She was beginning to wonder what good it did to plan when life threw obstacles into her path on a whim.

  Rowan occupied her time with household chores, enlisting her two bodyguards for tasks too heavy to accomplish on her own. It helped to exhaust her body and mind while she counted down the hours until Phillip’s return.

  But when that moment came, Phillip derailed their plan before it could be put into effect. By the time Rowan realized that he had no intention of remaining, Ian was inside the house and Phillip already driving back down the road to the base. She stared at the dust trail in dismay.

  “You want me to go after him?” Mike asked.

  Rowan
shook her head. “No. He can’t avoid me forever.” She set her jaw, determined to make him listen.

  * * * *

  Rowan paced a groove in the hallway outside the defense offices. Phillip obviously wasn’t coming. He was going to let her flounder. Why else wouldn’t he have shown up?

  It was noon already. Her arraignment was in one hour. He couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate revenge. She would be in prison for the rest of her life, Ian would be his and she could just about guarantee that Phillip would never let her see her son again.

  Inside Phillip’s office, Zach glanced at his watch for what must have been the hundredth time. Rowan could almost count the minutes each time he did. It was a mystery to him as well. She could see that in the furrows along his brow, even if he didn’t say so.

  “I hate to say this, but with everything else that’s happened, do you suppose someone made sure Phillip didn’t get here?”

  Rowan froze when she heard him ask that of Mike and Jess. The thought hadn’t occurred to her. What if something has happened to Phillip? Never mind her circumstances, Ian would be devastated.

  “We don’t have much of a choice,” Mike said. “I’m the one most familiar with the case. I’ll have to go in as her counsel.”

  Before the last word could die away, the outside door swung open and Phillip strode in, dressed crisply in his green court uniform, briefcase clutched in his hand.

  “Sorry, I’m late. I had some business to attend to.” He motioned Rowan into his office and shut the door behind them.

  Rowan fidgeted. The room was small enough, but with five people crammed in there, she found it a little unnerving.

  “Let’s get started. We have a lot to cover before—”

  A sharp rap on the door interrupted him. With an impatient flick of his wrist, Phillip yanked it open.

  Laura Cushing started but held her ground. “I need a word with you.”

  “You can have as many words as you’d like, counselor.” Phillip leaned out of the way to let her in.

  After a moment or two of hesitation, she crossed the threshold and shoved the door shut behind her. “Very well, Captain. I would have liked to discuss this with you privately, but since you are again being uncooperative, I thought it only fair to warn you that I intend to demand that you be released from this case. This will give you the opportunity to withdraw gracefully as counsel so someone else can step in.”

  A ghost of a smile flitted across Phillip’s face, almost too quickly for the others to catch.

  “Who’s going to step in for you?”

  She was puzzled.

  “If you demand I be released, I intend to do the same with you. Surely you can see the folly of one old girlfriend prosecuting another—or do you really want the court to know you and I had an affair?”

  The words sliced into Rowan’s heart. It was foolish to think that either of them had pined for the other over the last nine years. She certainly hadn’t been celibate. But to hear the words, to see the other woman… It cut her to the quick and she wondered if Phillip had made his bald statement with that purpose in mind.

  Laura spared Rowan a glance then squared her shoulders. “All right, Captain Stuart. Have it your way. I can be objective and professional if you’re sure you can be.”

  Phillip swung open the door. “I can take care of my own business. Thank you so much for caring, but your concerns are not really necessary anymore.”

  Laura flushed, obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable. Without another word, she left the office. Rowan felt a twinge of sympathy for the woman. Until now, she’d never realized Phillip could be ruthlessly cruel—a trait no doubt inherited from his father.

  His voice enclosed them once more. “All right, Rowan. This is what we’ve got to work with. The choice is yours. I meant to discuss this with you on Friday, but… Well, I’m sure we all know what happened on Friday.”

  He laid out the evidence to date in simple terms. She could walk away scot-free today or go in for the long haul and, with luck, bring down the murderer. It seemed the choice was hers, but she couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t make a decision.

  “So, what’s it going to be? Which way do you want me to go?” Phillip asked.

  Rowan clenched and unclenched her hands. She wanted this done with, her life and reputation restored. Yet, here was the opportunity to finish what she had started, this time with a team to help her—and Phillip.

  “What about the danger to Ian and my mother?”

  “Not to mention you,” Zach added.

  Jess popped a toothpick between his teeth. Rowan wasn’t sure if that meant the whole plan made him nervous or that it earned his seal of approval.

  “There is a risk,” he said in his gravelly drawl. “You know that. We’re doing everything we can to protect all of you. But if this guy thinks you’re going to take the fall for his crime, maybe he’ll start to get careless and tip his hand. Either way, it’ll also give us more time to investigate. In the meantime, we’re gathering more and more forensic evidence to ensure that you’re cleared of all charges.”

  Rowan glanced around the room, hoping someone would tell her what to do. No one met her gaze. The decision was solely hers. She drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves.

  “I want to catch this guy.”

  Phillip snapped to his feet. “Excellent. Then let’s set a few snares and see what we come up with.”

  Sally Kemp was the first person Rowan saw when they walked into the courtroom. She sat in the far row of chairs, back against the wall, hate blazing from her pale eyes. Near the front of the room at the prosecutor’s table, Laura Cushing shuffled papers and ignored them. At the court reporter desk in front of the judge’s bench, Ellen gave Rowan a nod that said ‘hang in there’ then the proceedings began.

  This was the first step toward trial. Arraignment…the Article 32 hearing. If the evidence presented upheld the charges, the case would go to trial. By holding back the evidence of Rowan’s innocence, Phillip was guaranteeing that would happen.

  The Hearing Officer assessed them.

  “Is there anyone here who would like to recuse themselves?” he asked.

  Phillip glanced up. “No need. We’re all professionals here.”

  “Let’s get started then.”

  Even knowing what she and Phillip had planned didn’t make it any easier for Rowan to sit there and listen to it. For each piece of evidence the prosecutor presented, he gave no argument.

  Malcolm Collins took the stand and threw out his pathetic evaluation of the crime scene. The smoking gun issue was brought up. On the surface, it all appeared bad for her. She prayed that Phillip, Jess and Mike hadn’t erred in the evidence they had tucked away.

  Phillip’s one and only true act of defense was to request that the charge of adultery be dropped on the grounds of hearsay. Prosecution presented no opposition.

  By the time the hearing was over, two hours had passed. Rowan had a headache that wouldn’t quit, her stomach churned and her nerves were shot. Crowded once more into Phillip’s office with the men, Rowan listened to the debrief and the men’s plans but could offer no insight of her own.

  “I guess that takes care of that business for now. On to other important matters.” Phillip sat at his desk, hauled a sheaf of papers from his briefcase and tossed them to Zach.

  “I need you to serve these on Rowan.”

  Zach glanced at the documents. “Phillip, you can’t—”

  “Do it.”

  Rowan’s heart fluttered like a frightened bird caught by a tomcat. Phillip’s cool, professional demeanor was gone, replaced again by the livid anger. It showed in the cold set of his face and the stiff tilt to his head.

  Reluctantly, Zach handed her the papers. Rowan took them with shaking fingers. She was afraid to look, afraid not to.

  “The custody hearing’s tomorrow morning at eight-thirty. Make sure you’re there.” Phillip shoved to his feet and stalked from the room.

  Through a
haze of fear, Rowan examined the forms. Phillip was suing for custody of Ian. Clamping her hand to her mouth, she dashed for the ladies’ room.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I’m surprised you aren’t out having a victory cigar. You remember. Your usual celebration after serving someone a crushing blow?”

  Phillip didn’t bother to turn around when Zach stalked up behind him. He stared at the activity in the parking lot and the constant flow of vehicles in and out. “What are you talking about?”

  “You know exactly what I mean. That was a rotten thing to do to Rowan. How could you possibly think of taking Ian away from her?” His voice held the unmistakable sound of reprimand.

  “I didn’t. Better check your facts before you go jumping to conclusions next time, counselor. It’s joint custody with a healthy child support payment each month to help her out.”

  “Why—?”

  Phillip held up his hand then motioned with a tilt of his head. “Check it out. That gray pickup in the parking lot.”

  “So?”

  “I think it’s the same one that passed us the other night when we were parked down the road from Rowan’s house. It was also in the area last night when Ian and I got back. I dropped him off as quickly as I could but it was gone by the time I got to the main road to take a better look.”

  Zach edged closer. “You’re waiting to see who it belongs to?”

  “Yes, I thought I’d—”

  A woman’s cry from within the building cut him off.

  “Someone help! Kemp’s wife is trying to kill Rowan!”

  Phillip raced inside with Zach mere footsteps behind.

  “Bathroom,” the woman shouted, pointing.

  They burst into the room. The door slammed against the wall, shattering plasterboard. Sally Kemp didn’t budge. One mad-eyed glare at them was all it took for her to tighten the purse strap she had around Rowan’s pale throat.

  Rowan clawed at Sally’s fingers but the bloody gouges didn’t pierce the other woman’s rage. Rowan jammed her elbow in the woman’s ribs but Sally didn’t move. Rowan was tall and in top physical condition, but Sally’s grief and fury lent her the strength of a madwoman.