Read Online Summer Rain (Lightning Strikes Book 3) by Barbara Freethy - Free Book Online

Rebecca. I wanted to know if we could include her or her mother in the ceremony and told her that we would certainly like to honor the senator as well as my mother." His lips drew into a hard line. "Rebecca told me that the last thing she would want to be involved in was an event to celebrate my mother. She told me that my mother was having an affair with her father and that she was glad that they were both dead."
    "What?" she asked in amazement. "Had you ever heard that before?"
    "Never. I told her she was crazy. There was no evidence they were having an affair. But she said they'd had numerous late-night meetings in the days before the crash, that my mother insisted he make the trip back to Texas with her despite the fact that it was her mother's birthday. She said she overheard her dad talking to my mom on the phone about keeping everything a secret and no one could know." He paused. "The longer she talked, the more truth her story seemed to hold. After she hung up on me, I couldn't stop thinking about what she'd said. That's when I started wondering if I'd missed something. Maybe she had been having an affair."
    "Did you ask your father?"
    "No, of course not. I wouldn't go to him with a rumor like that. It would crush him. I've been trying to get confirmation or denial from other parties, but I'm not having much luck. My mother's chief of staff died a year after my mom, and I don't think my mother would have confided in anyone else on her staff. Senator Stuart's widow is traveling in Europe, which is why I could only reach Rebecca and not her. Stuart's former chief of staff, Craig Haller, who now works for another senator, is not returning my calls. Congressman Parker spoke to me briefly at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but said he'd only met my mother once and didn't have any information about the crash. And, as you know, I haven't been able to speak to your boss, either. It's been my experience that the greater number of people avoiding me—the closer I am to some hidden truth."
    "Or it's just that you're trying to get truth out of people who work in politics, and they're trained to spin and avoid and then spin again."
    "Nice group you work with," he said dryly.
    "I know the realities. Politics is a game, and you have to know how to play it."
    "Which is why I need you, Dani."
    Her nerves tingled at his words. She liked that he needed her but not what he needed her for. "I don't think so. You can open Pandora's box all by yourself. It's not a two-person job. As far as this whole thing is concerned, I'm Switzerland."
    "I'm not asking you to take sides."
    "I think you are." She got to her feet. "We should call it a night. I'm sure you're tired, and I know I am."
    He gazed back at her, an emotion in his eyes she couldn't quite read. "Okay," he said finally as he slowly stood up. "But I'm not going to say good-bye, Dani."
    Her pulse quickened at his words. "You should say good-bye and you should go back to Texas."
    "I probably should, but I don't think you and I are done. I got a room at a hotel a couple of blocks from here—the Parkside Inn."
    She couldn't believe he was setting up camp so close to her. "You're wasting your time, Patrick. You can pound all you want on some doors, but they're never going to open."
    "I don't quit before I've tried."
    "What about the attack last night? If you don't think it's connected to your last case, is it possible it's connected to the questions you're asking now? Who else have you spoken to about all this?"
    "Not too many people. My cousin Marcus is the only one in the family I've talked to. I asked him not to share the information with his mother, who is my mom's sister. She would also be devastated to know there are rumors about my mother's fidelity."
    "What about outside the family?"
    "Congressman Parker, Rebecca Stuart." He paused, thinking for a moment. "I spoke to Beverly Larson. Her husband Ned was Stuart's staffer who died in the crash. She's actually remarried now to a