“We’ve had a run of bad luck but it’s over.” Alice retreated into haughtiness. “You know your father never approved of running away from problems. What do you think he’d say about all this?”
A noise inside the suite made Erin’s heart leap into her throat. Her stepfather thrust his way out of the bedroom, tugging irritably at the bow tie of his tuxedo.
Although for the past few weeks he’d behaved courteously, today his fleshy face wore a peeved expression. “I heard voices. What the hell are you up to now?” he demanded. Erin had never heard anyone speak to her mother that way.
Alice took a shaky breath. “Erin’s called off the wedding. She’s got that policeman with her.”
Lance thrust forward with such fury that Erin retreated onto the doorstep. “I told you to get lost!” he roared at the detective. “You’ve got no business showing up on my stepdaughter’s wedding day.”
“It’s not my wedding day anymore,” she said.
The corner of Joseph’s mouth quirked as he joined her on the step. “She requested my assistance with the bridegroom.”
“Erin, get in here. If there’s a problem with Chet, we’ll deal with it,” Lance snapped.
“I’ve already dealt with it,” she said. “Mom, come with us.”
Her mother uttered a short, mirthless laugh. “I’m fine, believe me.”
“Mrs. Bolding, if you need assistance…” Joseph began.
Lance blocked their view of his wife. Arms folded, he glowered. “She doesn’t need help from either of you. Erin, you may not like it but I’m Alice’s husband now and I’m tired of your attitude. In the future, if you want to talk to her, you can go through the board secretary at the Marshall Company.” He slammed the door.
Erin stood there, too shocked to stir. Her stepfather had just banned her from talking to her mother, and Alice hadn’t said a word.
Desperately, she turned to Joseph. “She’s obviously terrified. Can’t you do anything?”
He made a frustrated noise. “Not unless I can demonstrate abuse.”
“He almost drowned her!”
“I can’t prove that, and believe me, I tried.” Joseph steered her away from the building. “Unless he does something overt or she asks for help, our options are limited.”
Erin could hardly bear to walk away, knowing that once again she was failing her mother. “She was always so strong until Dad died. I don’t know what’s happened to her.”
“You can’t predict how people will react to losing a spouse.” They kept to the edges of the country club as they circled toward the parking lot, avoiding the golf center where people might gawk at her bridal gown. “I thought my mother would fall apart when Dad died in prison. Instead, she went back to work as a legal secretary and made a new life for herself.”
Suzanne Lowery had been a full-time mom, devoted to her family and always kind to Erin. She’d suffered when her husband’s alcoholism ended his police career. She’d supported him through rehab and encouraged him to apply for a job at the Marshall Company, where he’d risen to chief of security.
Then, during Joseph’s senior year in high school, his father had been accused—falsely, Erin believed—of robbery and murder. She’d tried to stand by the Lowerys but Joseph had pushed her away. She wished now that she hadn’t let him.
“I’m glad she’s okay,” Erin said. “For my mom, Dad’s death was like the bottom dropped out of everything. I guess I should have let her lean on me, but I was selfish. I took a month’s leave and went back to work.”
“It isn’t selfish to grow up,” Joseph said. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.”
Erin wanted to accept his absolution, but she retained a brutish image of Lance storming at her mother. What good was being rich if she couldn’t protect the person she loved most?
Joseph had left his aging sedan in a side lot. “I figured my dent magnet would stand out like a sore thumb next to all the Lexuses and Cadillacs in front,” he said, unlocking it.
“Is this an undercover car?” Erin moved aside a couple of files and a fast-food bag before shifting into the seat. At least there was plenty of legroom for her full skirt.
“Nope, it’s mine. Not much to look at, but it’s paid for.” After tucking her inside, he closed the door.
In Tustin, Erin had driven a low-priced model bought with her own earnings, but she knew it wasn’t the same thing. In the hospital, realizing how much trouble it would be to deal with the car while recuperating, she’d donated it to charity. Once she got permission from the doctor to drive again, she could always buy a new model. Joseph didn’t have that option.
Money only made a difference if you let it, she thought. In essential ways, the two of them were equals.
When he settled behind the wheel and stretched his shoulder muscles, the vibrations traveled along the bench-style seat. Erin relaxed. She used to love riding beside him.
“Let’s stop by your parents’ house,” he said. “While they’re out, it’s a good time for you to pick up a few clothes. Then tell me where to take you.”
“I have no idea,” she said.
“No hurry. Give it some thought.”
She fell silent as they headed between the emerald slopes of the club’s golf course. Beyond it, atop a steep rise, stood the grand house where she’d grown up. Her father had built it to command a spectacular view.
She missed it, although she was glad Lance Bolding didn’t get to preen himself in the mansion Andrew Marshall had cherished. The house now belonged to Dr. Ray Van Fleet and his socialite wife, Jean, old friends of her parents. They were probably sitting in the ballroom right now, waiting for the wedding to begin.
The wedding. Already, it seemed unreal. Erin had virtually sleepwalked through the past weeks, as if the preparations and the wedding belonged to someone else.
Now she tried to think of a place to go. Although the Marshall Company owned a number of apartments, she didn’t like the notion that Chet could get a key to any of them. A hotel room? Employees could be bribed, she thought.
Joseph had asked who might want to kill her. If that was really a possibility, she needed to be careful. Very careful.
She started to tremble. Everyone in Sundown Valley seemed to pose a threat. Except for Joseph, of course.
As for Tustin, she didn’t want to be fifty miles away if her mother needed her. Besides, she’d been attacked there.
She tightened her grip on her purse. She wasn’t going to get hysterical in front of Joseph. She’d think of somewhere to go.
His next words drove that concern out of her head—and replaced it with a more immediate one.
“Don’t
