Double Identity. Diane Burke

same time I’ll find out if this is your home in the first place.” He placed his hand on his belt, thrumming his fingers against the butt of his gun. “Meanwhile I’d try to keep a low profile if I were you. You’ve already caused enough excitement in this town with your near hit-and-run. Now this. If the incident at the diner this afternoon wasn’t enough to clue you in, let me remind you that your grandfather was a highly respected and loved member of our community.”

      Sophie blinked hard but remained silent. She shouldn’t be surprised that the sheriff had already heard about the altercation with Charlie in Holly’s diner. Gossip in a small town travels faster than a brush fire after a drought.

      “A lot of folks won’t be happy to know Elizabeth Weatherly’s daughter is back in town,” the sheriff said. “The memory of your granddaddy’s broken heart is still fresh in most people’s minds.”

      He stared hard at her as if he was waiting for his words to have an impact. “So I’ll hop to it, ma’am, and get started on investigating the bad guy who trashed your place.” His eyes narrowed. “But I’m also gonna make a point of talking with your daddy about the title and marriage license, too. No sense leaving any questions unanswered now is there, ma’am?” He tipped his hat in a “have a good day gesture” and walked away.

      Sophie’s legs trembled, refusing to hold her upright a moment longer. She plopped down on the edge of the sofa and drew in a deep breath. What would the sheriff do when he found out her identity was a fake and her father was missing? Would he throw her out in the street? Where would she go? What would happen to her then? She lowered her face in her hands. More importantly, where was her father? He held all the answers to her questions. Was he dead or alive? She had to know his whereabouts. Even if he was dead, she had to know. Not knowing was its own kind of nightmare.

      She looked up and her eyes scanned the room. Who had done this to her home? What did they want? Had they found what they came for or would they be back to search some more? Fear crept down her spine.

      Sophie’s father had gone out of his way to teach her to be strong and independent. Considering the events of the past two weeks, she felt like he had been training her for this very day. But the past two weeks had taken their toll. She’d lost her father…twice. She was still reeling from both his disappearance and his deception. As if that hadn’t been enough, someone had tried to run her down today. And now her home had been ransacked.

      Was it so wrong to need someone to talk to? Someone to help her make sense out of the chaos? She lowered her head and wished she was still on speaking terms with God.

      When she looked up again, her eyes locked with Cain’s across the room. Within seconds, he excused himself from his conversation with one of the officers and headed her way. Her heart skipped a beat and a rush of heat filled her cheeks. Was she that transparent? Could a mere glance communicate her confusion, her fear…her need for comfort?

      Cain had seen a flash of panic in Sophie’s eyes. But that’s all it had been. A flash. A split second of letting down her guard before she returned to wearing her protective mask of self-reliance and strength. His heart filled with empathy.

      He stepped gingerly over the broken items strewn on the floor and made his way across the living room. So much had happened to her in such a short period of time. She was holding up a lot better than most folks would in her situation. Probably better than he would if he had to face the loss of his dad and the fallout from a lifetime of deception. But she was hanging in there. He had to admit he admired her.

      Then he reminded himself that he shouldn’t be feeling admiration or empathy, or anything else for that matter. This was a job. Sophie was nothing more than a client in trouble and needing his professional help. Professional help, buddy. Keep your emotions out of it. No matter how cute she is. No matter how vulnerable beneath that tough persona. That’s your Achilles’ heel, remember? Your fatal flaw, to always want to run to the rescue. Not this time. Professionalism all the way.

      Cain sat beside her. “It’s going to be okay.” Sophie lifted her eyes to his. He smiled to offer reassurance and perhaps a little comfort. “Have you had a chance to look around? Is anything missing?”

      Sophie sighed and forced herself to take another look around the room. Drawers hung open, their contents scattered across the gray carpeting. Pictures hung askew on the walls or had been pulled down and the frames shattered. Clutter and chaos flowed in one unbroken rhythm from the living room to the kitchen, and she imagined it continued into the bedrooms. She hadn’t had the heart to walk back there yet and see.

      “It’s hard to tell,” she replied. “Everything’s been moved…and broken…and…” Her voice choked on a sob. “I’m sorry.”

      “Don’t be,” Cain said. “You’re doing fine. You’ve been through a lot today.”

      Sophie squinted at something she saw in the distance. She jumped up, hurried across the room and carefully lifted a wooden box lying open on the floor.

      Cain came up behind her. “Is it broken?”

      She turned the small chest around, examining it for damage, and then clasped it against her chest.

      “No.” A look of relief flooded her face.

      “It’s special?”

      Sophie lowered the small box and ran her fingers slowly, almost tenderly, across the hand-carved design on the lid. “My dad made this for me when I was just a kid.” Tears shimmered in her eyes but she blinked them back and forced a smile. “My father is a craftsman, loves woodworking.” She swept her hand in a slow arc around the room. “Almost everything in here…the furniture, cabinets…even the picture frames were all hand-carved by my dad.” Her smile was bittersweet. “He loves working with his hands. He has a true gift for carving.”

      “Is that how he made his living? The Charlottesville police report couldn’t find any tax returns or bank accounts in his name.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could call them back. She stiffened and the smile faded from her lips. The questions had to be asked. But did he have to ask them right now?

      He felt her eyes on him, studying him, choosing her words before answering. “My dad’s an artist. He hand carves furniture, animal lawn ornaments, unique wooden birdhouses, all sorts of things. He’d travel across the country from one craft fair to another selling his wares.”

      “You traveled with him?”

      She blinked with surprise and then grinned. “Of course. I literally grew up on the craft circuit. We’d frequent many of the larger annual fairs. After a couple of years, it was like a family reunion meeting up again with the friends we knew from the years before.”

      Cain took the box from her hands and studied the intricate design carved into the lid. “This is beautiful.”

      Sophie beamed with pride. “Thank you.”

      He handed it back. “What about school?”

      “I was homeschooled. Dad used to say I’d get more of an education touring the United States than I would ever get in an overcrowded classroom.”

      Cain digested the information and wondered if he should take a chance and push for more. Treading as carefully as he could, he asked, “Have you always traveled with your dad? I understand you had to when you were a kid. But you’re not a kid anymore, Sophie. Did you ever want to do something else? Something on your own, maybe?”

      Sophie shrugged. “Sure. Doesn’t every teenager long for the day they can leave home and set out on their own? I wasn’t any different.”

      Cain gave her a questioning look but remained silent.

      “Around my eighteenth birthday, my dad got sick. We thought he’d had a heart attack but it was just a really bad respiratory infection causing muscle spasms in his chest. But it scared me silly. Dad had never been sick before. I realized not only was he the only family I had, I was the only family he had, too. It had been the two of us for so many years and if I left—”