Sapphire Nights (Crystal Magic Book 1)(41)

He all but inhaled half his soup before speaking again. “How much do you remember?”

“You’re thinking this was all a hoax, aren’t you?” She opened a brown bag and pinched off a bite of fried fish. Remarkably, she didn’t resent his assumption. Knowing who she was made everything sane again. Joy ballooned inside her. One took moments of happiness and reveled in them as they happened, she’d been taught.

She would get angry later, but her empty head required peace to fill it.

“I’m thinking you’re as looney as the rest of the Lucys if you want me to believe that finding Cass magically returned your memory.” He reached into the bag, produced a fish sandwich, dumped slaw on it, and ripped off a huge bite, obviously not as happy as she.

“That’s fair,” she acknowledged. “I have no idea how she did it. The night we met, Cass explained that Jade and Wolf had been paid to keep me away from her and her family and anything to do with Hillvale. It’s a complicated history. I’m not sure how much of it I buy either.”

The fried fish melted on her tongue. She didn’t want to pollute it with cabbage. She poked around and found shrimp and sampled that next.

He tugged his cell phone from his pocket, hit a number, and said, “Sofia, did you run the genealogy on Cassandra Tolliver?”

Sam wriggled with happiness. She knew problems still existed in Hillvale, but for right now, she was a recent college graduate with a master’s degree and her whole life ahead of her, and she was about to find out about her birth family. And she was sitting next to a powerful man who could summon information with a phone call. She was pretty certain Sofia wasn’t in the sheriff’s office.

“I’ll check my account, thanks.” He clicked off, hunted through his phone icons, pressed one, and opened up a list of files.

“Cass took my backpack. That’s where all my valuables are.” Sam watched with interest as he opened what looked like a family tree. He had to scroll back and forth to follow the lines on the little screen.

“We need my laptop to read this,” he said, as if reading her mind. “But if I start at the top, it looks like Cass is related to the Kennedys through her father. He was married twice, to her mother first when they were young, and to Geoff’s mother after his first wife’s death.”

“Geoff?” For cheap thrills, she peered over his muscled shoulder while nibbling her way through fried shrimp.

“Geoffrey Kennedy was Carmel’s husband, father of Kurt and Monty. I knew that much. He died from a sudden illness just before my father disappeared.”

“Ah, I remember that. So that makes Cass their what? Half aunt? Do they know that?”

“I didn’t know enough to ask.” He scrolled through some more, then hit a contact number. “I think we’d be better off asking Cass to explain in the morning, if she’s up to it. We need to find a place to stay for the night. I’m off duty at this point, but I’ll have to let the sheriff know I’ll be late coming in tomorrow.”

Sam munched her way through the food while he called both his offices. She tried recalling meeting police officers or even businessmen, but the gallery owners her adopted parents occasionally entertained were the best she could summon. Her university professors occasionally wore suits, but there was nothing particularly authoritative about scientists and teachers. Even in his uniform, Walker exuded command—the kind that got things done.

Which was why she was surprised at his frustration in arguing with what she had assumed to be his secretary.

“Then take the f. . . frigging suite,” he all but shouted, obviously substituting a mild swear word as if talking to his mother. “I’m not driving back up the highway at this hour.” He grimaced, ran his hand through his short hair, and listened to the voice on the other end. “Fine then, call it my case and bill it to me. It’s not as if the d. . . darned suite will break us.”

He waited a moment, nodded, muttered, “Good, got it, thanks,” and clicked off.

Taking a deep breath, he visibly calmed his temper and reached for a fry. “I inherited my secretary from my father. She thinks we’re still building the business and counting every penny. She runs a tight ship and I can’t complain, but sometimes. . .”

She hid her smile at his frustration. She liked that this powerful man treated his elderly secretary with care.

He munched the fry, checked that the bags were empty, and stood up. “There’s some kind of festival in town. All the hotels are booked solid. The only opening is a suite at the resort back up the road. I hope you don’t mind.”

He didn’t sound as if he cared if she did. He was already stalking toward the car. Taking her time, Sam strolled after him. Powerful men needed people who reminded them they didn’t rule the world.

Her parents had raised her to be independent, although the extremely narrow environment they’d raised her in hadn’t fostered independence. Interesting.

Walker turned around and realized she lagged behind. He waited for her at the end of the pier. “Did you want to see more of the coast? We can walk toward the cannery.”

She brightened. “Is there a place where we can have wine and watch the sunset?”

“It will be packed at this hour,” he warned, but he took her hand and led her down the street.

She’d tell him later that she knew where her backpack was and what was in it.