Darkest Journey by Heather Graham

Author:Heather Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

10

“How could you lie to me?” Charlie demanded. She was finally alone with her father on board the Journey, and she was furious.

The passengers from the previous cruise had all gone ashore. The passengers for the coming week were starting to board now. That left her plenty of time to talk to her father, and now she was sitting on the small sofa in his cabin while he paced the floor.

He had started off being stern and playing the father card. What was she doing? Taking part in the investigation was dangerous, and she was an actress, not a cop. It was all Ethan Delaney’s fault, he insisted, and he had no right to drag her into danger again.

Charlie had refused to cave, though, and she’d quickly turned the discussion around.

“Why did you lie to me?” she asked, breaking into his tirade. “You said you hardly knew the men who were killed, and it wasn’t even a smart lie. Half the world knows you were friends with both of them. Did you think we wouldn’t find out?”

“Yes, I knew them both. I didn’t deny that. And I guess you could say we were friends, but you don’t understand,” her father said. He was such a good speaker that he was usually eloquent under any pressure, but now he was waving his hands around in frustration, starting to speak, then stopping abruptly before starting up again.

“I’m trying to understand,” Charlie said, “but you’re not giving me anything to go on.”

“We supported each other. We supported each other at...” he said.

“At what?”

Her father stared at her and slowly let out a breath. “At anything in life,” he said softly. Then he quickly added, “Not anything bad, but if one of us asked the others to keep a secret, or if we asked for help...”

“So you were friends,” she said accusingly.

“More than that,” Jonathan admitted.

She gasped suddenly. “Masons. You were members of the same lodge.”

“Charlie, I can’t even say that! You know what we do. We raise money for children’s hospitals, for cancer...good things. Only good things.”

“Dad, I know that. I was a Rainbow Girl, remember?” she reminded him. The women’s division of the Masons was called the Order of the Eastern Star, and the girls’ division was the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. Growing up, she’d been a Rainbow Girl in her father’s lodge. She’d never seen the Masons involved in anything that wasn’t completely aboveboard and good for the community.

“Dad, I would defend the Masons in every way—unless they get in the way of justice. If someone in your lodge did this, then—”

“No, Charlie!” he interrupted. “That’s just it—no one in the lodge did this. I’m certain of that. I know those men. We’re close—we’re brothers, in a way. The thing is, if I’d admitted how well I knew the victims...well, I would have been in jeopardy of divulging things to the authorities that were told to me in confidence.”

“Dad, if what you know could lead to the capture of a killer.

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