Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(40)

Then she asked me about school and how I was liking being back in Glenn Valley. When she asked about the time I spent with my aunt, I sugarcoated my answers for her.

Oddly, she said nothing about my father. She didn’t ask after him at all, almost like she was avoiding the subject. By the time we were well into the main course, I realized if I didn’t bring him up myself, she might not mention him, and I didn’t want to leave here without talking about him at all.

I swallowed a bite of chicken, forcing it down. “Do you see my father much?” I finally asked before taking a sip of water.

Alison’s gaze darted to Drew before she answered. “No, Candy. I’m afraid we don’t. There just never seems to be enough time.”

“I don’t see him much either. Or at all, actually.” I stared at Alison, desperate for something more from her, begging for it with my eyes.

She sat there looking at me, and her body stilled. When I felt tears pressing in on me, I broke away to look at Drew, who had a strangely expectant expression on his face as he watched his mother.

Finally, Alison exhaled and dropped her fork onto her plate with a clatter.

“I can’t do this,” she said.

Drew nodded at her, his posture relaxing.

My gaze shifted between the two of them, wondering what thoughts were being silently exchanged.

“Candy.” Alison’s expression became sympathetic. “We know your father’s not at home with you. We know he’s gone.”

My emotions were running so high that tears sprang to my eyes. I couldn’t do much more than blink them away as overwhelming relief washed over me. They knew, and they wanted to talk to me too.

“Oh, Candy,” Alison said softly when she saw my tears. Coming to stand beside me, she rubbed my back soothingly and kept saying it was going to be all right.

“Can I tell her?” Drew asked.

Alison nodded with a resigned expression.

“Our dads worked together,” Drew said. “I’ve known all along. Since we were kids, but I wasn’t supposed to say anything because your father didn’t want us to.”

“Why didn’t my father want me to know?” I managed to ask. “Didn’t he trust me?”

“He did it to protect you,” Alison said. She bent down to my eye level. “Your father wanted to keep his job separate from his family because his role was different from most of ours. Do you know what he did for the organization?”

I swallowed, understanding why her voice had taken on a grave tone. “He killed people.”

She nodded. “He thought that made him dirtier than the rest of us. He kept so much from you because he didn’t want any of that to taint you or your mother.”

“But we knew.”

Alison nodded. “Over time, you came to know some of it. But your father kept the details from you and your mother.”

Everything Alison told me sounded just like my father. Secrets were a part of him like the blood in his veins and the darkness that lived behind his eyes.

“What’s Mr. Hoyt’s role in the organization?” I asked. I’d always been told he was some kind of diplomat.

She smiled. “Persuasion. Getting people to do what he wants.”

“Espionage,” Drew said, sounding impressed. “And he speaks how many languages?”

“Four,” Alison replied.

Four languages. That caught my attention. “Including Chinese?”

They both looked at me. “What makes you ask that?”

I gnawed the inside of my cheek as the words sat poised on my tongue, but deep down, I knew I had to take a chance. I’d already taken one when I admitted my father was gone, and now I had to tell them why if I wanted to learn more.

“I saw some documents of my father’s. They were written partly in Chinese. I found out my mother was in a clinical trial for an experimental cancer drug financed by the Chinese government. My father managed to get her into it by giving them something in exchange.” I released a shallow breath. “He did what they’re accusing him of. He’s guilty, but only because he wanted to get my mother into this drug trial.”

Alison looked at me for a long time. “Your father told you this?”

I shook my head. “The documents were my mother’s medical records from the trial. He left them for me to find. I think he wanted me to know why he did it if he ever got caught.”

She and Drew exchanged a look as Alison sat down again. “I’m glad. Did he also tell you how he found the trial?”

“No.”

“He heard about it from me. I learned about it at a charity event Tom and I went to. It was to raise money for cancer research being hosted by the consulate general of the Chinese embassy. Some of the Chinese doctors we met were talking about this trial and how hopeful they were about it. I asked Tom to look into it with your mother in mind.”

My mouth fell open, and she smiled kindly at me.

“Tom spoke to some people and learned they were having promising results with a new drug,” she continued. “They were taking a different approach, something about using the body’s own immune system, and the side effects were less severe than with current therapies.”

Alison reached out to pat my arm, her touch that of a reassuring mother. “A lot of people were trying to get into that trial, and most were turned down. When Tom inquired about letting your mother participate, he didn’t have much hope. He was surprised when they said yes so quickly. But then they added a condition. We had no idea who in the government was funding the trial, but whoever it was knew who Tom worked for. The condition was information. Classified information from the organization.”