Once, the truth about the crash had haunted her, eluded her, a hazy outline she could never quite bring into focus. Now Natalie wished she’d never coveted that prize.
What if that elusive truth destroyed the powerful, but still newborn and fragile connection between Liam and her?
Chapter Thirteen
If it weren’t for the breathtaking Lake Tahoe scenery distracting her, Natalie might have thrown up. She was glad Liam was driving the car up the curving mountain road that overlooked the topaz blue alpine lake, and no
t her. He handled the tight curves like a pro. A thought struck her as she stared at the steep drop-off that looked to be only a few skinny feet from the right front tire of the rental car.
“You said your mother grew up in Tahoe. Do you still have family here?”
“Not anymore. My aunt and uncle lived in Incline Village until I was about nineteen, when they moved to Sacramento.”
“Did you visit when you were young? I was wondering why you seem so comfortable driving on this road.”
Liam gave her a quick glance, his brow furrowed. Natalie barely resisted an urge to shout at him to look back at the road.
“Is my driving making you nervous?” he asked, a grin tickling his mouth.
“Not your driving, no. You seem very confident. It’s this road. I mean…maybe you can’t see it, but there’s like a hundred foot drop about two inches away from my door,” she said, glancing anxiously out the passenger window.
Warmth spread inside her when he started to laugh, a lighthearted sound she hadn’t heard from him for several days. In many ways, they’d grown closer in the past week, spending quiet time together, swimming in the continued warm summer weather, taking walks or just sitting on the terrace, always touching, as if they wanted to know the other was there in some tangible sense. He was always warm and considerate with her; he was a great deal more than warm in bed.
But in many ways, she couldn’t help but feel he’d grown distant since that night at the fundraiser. He seemed as if he was constantly trying to work out some kind of puzzle in his head. Over the past few nights, she frequently saw him on his computer. On several occasions she heard him talking on the phone in the distance. He’d spent the duration of the flight from Detroit to Reno working, looking over his notes with a sober expression of concentration.
So his deep, earnest laughter filling the interior of the car sounded especially wonderful to her at that moment.
“I’ve driven this road maybe a dozen times or more in a car, but my cousins and I have circled it a hell of a lot more in dirt bikes.”
Natalie gasped. “I can’t believe your parents let teenagers on this road on dirt bikes.”
Liam chuckled. “People in the area don’t think of this road like you do. Most residents could drive it in their sleep. If you saw some of the mountain paths my mother used to take on horseback, you’d realize this road is a cakewalk.”
At the mention of his mother, his grin flattened.
“Liam…how do you think we should try to get in to see Lincoln DuBois? Should we try and call when once we check into the hotel? I can’t imagine he has a number listed publicly, a man like him.”
“I have both his address and phone number.”
Natalie looked at him in surprise. “How’d you get those?”
“Detectives have their ways.”
She laughed. “Apparently.”
He shrugged. “It’s why you initially hired me, right?”
She wanted to blurt out that a lot had changed since she’d given him a check to investigate his own father, but she figured now wasn’t the time to broach that sensitive topic.
“So, how are we going to proceed?”
“We’re going over to DuBois’ place and ask him if he knows anything that might be relevant about my parents and the crash.”
“Just like that?”
He gave her a wry glance. “He’s expecting us.”
Natalie was so shocked she forgot to clutch at her seat as Liam maneuvered a hairpin turn. “You already spoke to him?”