Page 16 of A Treasure Worth Seeking

Desultorily she entered the room and saw that Lance had turned out all the lights except one small lamp on the table beside his chair. She spread out one of the blankets on the leather sofa, placed a pillow in the corner of it, and sat down, stretching her legs along the couch and covering them with another blanket.

Lance waited patiently, staring moodily into space, not speaking. He made no effort to turn off the light and Erin couldn’t lie down while it was still on. That would make her too vulnerable, too exposed. Trying hard not to look at him, she glanced around the room, an occupation that had filled most of the afternoon.

“There has never been a fire in that fireplace,” she remarked idly.

Lance didn’t move his head, but his eyes shifted toward her. “What?”

“Did you notice that there has never been a fire in the fireplace? It has a lovely carved wood mantel, the logs are stacked, but there is no soot on the bricks. I can’t imagine having a fireplace and never lighting a fire in it.”

“That’s a very keen observation. Maybe you should have gone into my line of work.” She looked across at him to see him smiling at her from his slouched position in the chair. Without having to think about it, she smiled back. “Do you have a fireplace?” he asked.

“Three.”

“Three?”

She laughed at his astonishment. “Yes. I live in my parents’ house, the one that I grew up in. When Dad died, Mother wanted to sell it. I begged her to lease it for a while, and she did for several years. Then when I left New York and came back home, I moved into it. It’s modest, but very old and full of character. I’ve redecorated and refurbished it.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Most people would never give it a second look, but to me it’s home. I guess when you’ve been adopted, it’s very important to establish family traditions, things like that. It’s almost an essential part of your life to secure an identity.”

They were quiet for a long moment and then Lance asked, “The O’Sheas, they were good to you?”

“They were wonderful parents. No one could have asked for better. Dad was tall and robust. He always seemed huge to me, even after I was grown. He was the gentlest man I’ve ever known, despite his size. He was a carpenter. Mother is petite, spunky, and has laugh lines around the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen.” Besides yours, she added to herself.

He stretched his arms high over his head while he yawned broadly, then raked his fingers through the gilded brown hair. “You’d better get some sleep. Good night,” he said as he switched off the light.

“Good night.”

She shifted down between the blankets until she was lying on her back, staring into the darkness. She could hear Lance making himself as comfortable as he could in the chair. There was a rustle of covers, a deep sigh, then silence fell over the room.

After long, silent minutes, knowing instinctively that he wasn’t asleep, Erin whispered, “Mr. Barrett?”

“Hm?”

She plucked at the blanket with nervous fingers. The darkness lent an intimacy to the situation. Like lovers after… “What will happen to my brother when you find him?”

Sounds of him changing his position in the chair reached her out of the darkness. His voice was low, hesitant… sad? when he answered, “I don’t know. That’s beyond my realm of expertise. He embezzled a tremendous amount of money from a national bank. The theft alone would be enough to keep him incarcerated for years. The federal government gets sticky about someone taking its money.”

“He’ll have to go to prison,” she said without emotion. It was a mere statement of fact. She hadn’t thought of it before now.

“Yes. It may help that his father-in-law is president of the bank. Winslow didn’t call in the local police, though we’re using some of their men who are trained to find needles in haystacks, so to speak. Maybe if Lyman hasn’t spent the money and can return it, he’ll only be slapped with a stiff fine and a long probation.”

“You don’t really think that, do you?”

His voice sounded tired and resigned when he said, “No.” Moments later he said, “In all my years of doing this kind of work, I’ve never understood the criminal mind.”

“My brother is not a criminal!” she cried.

“He committed a crime. By definition that makes him a criminal,” he reasoned.

She drew a deep sigh of remorse. “Of course you’re right. I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

“Well, it looks to me like he had so much going for him. Why did he do it? Why did he risk everything? Leave Mrs. Lyman? It was a dumb, stupid thing to do. He must know we’ll catch him.”

Erin was surprised to hear the anger in his voice. It was almost as if he wished he didn’t have to find Ken. “Melanie will be so terribly hurt by all of this. I don’t think she realizes the gravity of the situation.”

“She doesn’t. She’s a sweet kid. We could have set up our base of operation anywhere, you know. We’re here partly to protect her. We don’t know if Lyman was working alone or if he was involved in something bigger. She may become the innocent victim of someone seeking revenge. Hell, I don’t know.” His exasperation with the case was all too clear, and Erin felt a pang of contrition for having added to his headaches.

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