Promise Not To Tell(79)

“Yep. The happy family will be reunited sometime tomorrow in the offices of Cutler, Sutter and Salinas. Reality TV can’t begin to compete with the Kenningtons when it comes to drama.”

“Well, at least Xavier will realize that his dad does care about him, even if Emerson is divorcing Xavier’s mother.”

Cabot drank some more whiskey and lowered the glass. “It’s the comment about the lawyer that I found interesting.”

“Do you really think that Xavier’s father will try to sue you because Xavier got kidnapped? That seems pretty far-fetched.”

“You know as well as I do that you can sue somebody over anything. That’s not what I found curious.”

“What, then?”

“Emerson mentioned the lawyer by name – Burleigh.”

“Who is Burleigh – oh, wait. Is that the lawyer who is going to fly up here to have you sign some legal papers as soon as you’re free?”

“The very same.”

“So it looks like Xavier’s father will probably try to make sure you don’t get that twenty-five-thousand-dollar bequest.”

Cabot shrugged. “Easy come, easy go.”

“You don’t care about the money, do you?”

“Got to admit it would have come in handy. But, no, I don’t give a damn about the money. The bequest means that, in the end, the old man decided not to disown my mother.”

“It means more than that,” Virginia said. “It means that your grandfather acknowledged you as a full member of the Kennington family.”

Cabot drank some more whiskey.

“Yeah,” he said. “I guess it means that, too.”

Virginia smiled. “Whether or not you want to be a member.”

Cabot grimaced. “There is that part.”

“But that’s how it goes with families, isn’t it? Sometimes you get a choice but most of the time you don’t.”

He looked at her. “And when you don’t get a choice?”

“You deal with it.” Virginia paused a beat. “Helps to have some family on your side, though.”

“I’ve got plenty on my side,” Cabot said. “Anson, Max and Jack.”

“True. And now you’ve got Xavier, too.”

Cabot thought about that. “The kid’s okay. He kept his head today.”

“I think he’s decided who he wants to be when he grows up.”

Cabot eyed her warily. “Who?”

“Got a hunch he’s going to pattern himself after his long-lost cousin Cabot.”

Cabot groaned. “His parents won’t like that.”

“No,” Virginia said. “But that’s only because at this point they don’t know how lucky they are that Xavier is choosing you as a role model.”

“I don’t want to be anyone’s role model.”

Virginia swirled the wine in her glass. “You had one.”

“Anson.”

“Yep. Looks like it’s your turn.”

Cabot turned his head and fixed her with his intent gaze. “Something you should know.”

“What?”

“By now the cops will have searched Fleming’s house. They’ll have tagged and bagged almost all of the Quinton Zane memorial crap that I found in the closet.”

“Almost all?”

“I discovered Abigail Watkins’s journal in a file cabinet in that closet.”

Virginia took a breath. “You didn’t tell the cops about it, did you?”

“No. They don’t need it to build a case against Tucker Fleming. But we do need it.”

“Because it might give us more background about Quinton Zane,” Virginia said. “Judging by the photo we found in Rose Gilbert’s nightstand, Abigail Watkins knew Zane at least a couple of years before he founded his cult.”

“Which means she probably knew more about him than anyone else we know who is still alive. And we need all the information we can get.”

“Where is the journal now?” Virginia asked.

“Anson stashed it in his safe-deposit box at his bank along with your mother’s math book. We don’t have time to study it now. Got to wrap things up with Tucker Fleming first. Still a lot of loose ends.”

“Do you think that Abigail Watkins was Tucker Fleming’s mother?”

“I think that’s a very real possibility,” Cabot said. He paused for a beat. “It fits with everything else that’s happened, and the timing works. Fleming is twenty-four, according to the cops. That would mean that he was born a couple of years before Zane founded the cult.”

“Abigail never mentioned having a child – which would make sense if Zane forced her to give the baby up for adoption.”

“That would definitely explain a few things,” Cabot agreed. “Still leaves us with the interesting question of just how Fleming discovered the truth about his biological father.”

Virginia mulled that over for a moment. “Tell me again about how he thinks he’s been getting messages from Quinton Zane.”

“I told you everything I know. The one thing I’m sure of is that Zane was not sending messages to Tucker Fleming.”

“Really? What makes you so certain?”