Normal life. “Does Annie know?”
“Afraid so.” He grinned. “Mom and Dad, too. Everybody knows but you. I actually hid Mom and Annie here until I moved them this afternoon.”
Caitlin thought back to Tom asking her about her pregnancy at Quentin’s house. Even knowing that, he hadn’t breathed a word to her about Edelweiss.
“Don’t you want to see the inside?” Penn asked, obviously itching to show her all he’d done to the place. “It’ll take your breath away.”
“No!” she said quickly.
His smile faded. “Why not?”
“That’s like the groom seeing the bride before the wedding. It’s stupid, I know, but I don’t want to jinx anything.”
“Okay, okay. I guess I can wait. Annie would want to be here anyway. I just wanted you to know that it’s ours.”
Caitlin shook her head, still unable to believe that he’d done this, or that the family had managed to keep it from her. “I really can’t process it,” she said, still crying.
“But you’re okay with it, right? You’re happy?”
She nodded.
“Well, let’s get out of here before you go into terminal depression.”
He led her to the head of the right-hand staircase, where she paused. Miles of empty space opened to the west of them, seemingly endless darkness broken only by twinkling lights. She looked upriver and thought of Tom, hiding in the deep forests of Jefferson County with Melba Price.
“Are you really all right?” Penn asked. “Is there anything you need to tell me?”
For a few seconds she considered telling him everything. Penn would be furious, of course, but in the end he would be glad she’d told him the truth. Yet something kept her silent. She supposed it was her promise to Tom: the twenty-four hours of peace she’d sworn to give him. But truth be told, she wasn’t sure.
“What are you thinking about?” Penn asked.
The truth pressed against the back of her throat like a lump of food that refused to go down. “I’m just worried about Tom. I’m sorry.”
“I’m worried, too. Let’s just hope Walt is back with him.”
She stood on tiptoe and kissed Penn lightly. “I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“Oh, God,” she groaned, as she always did when he showed sentimentality.
He laughed so hard that he didn’t notice the cars racing up Broadway, but Caitlin could see them over his shoulder. Seconds later the sound of roaring engines made Penn whirl.
A sheriff’s cruiser screeched to a stop in front of Edelweiss. The second vehicle, a white pickup that Caitlin felt strangely certain belonged to Lincoln Turner, stopped some fifty yards back, beyond the head of Silver Street.
Sheriff Billy Byrd got out of the cruiser, looked up at the gallery, then crossed the sidewalk and marched up the right-hand staircase. He was red-faced and out of breath by the time he reached the main floor.
“What do you want?” Penn asked him.
“Your father,” Sheriff Byrd said. “Go inside and tell him to come out.”
Penn looked at Byrd like he was crazy. “What are you talking about? Who told you he was here?”
“That makes no difference. Open the door.”
Penn considered the order for a few seconds, then said, “Go back to your office, Sheriff. You’ve got no business here.”
Byrd took a step closer to the big cypress door. “I said open that house.”
Penn moved between the sheriff and the door. “Do you have a search warrant?”
Something in Penn’s posture made Caitlin’s stomach flutter.
“I don’t need a warrant,” Sheriff Byrd said. “I’ve got probable cause.”
“Not from where I’m standing.”
Caitlin’s heart began to pound. If she hadn’t known Tom was hiding in the next county with Melba Price, she would have assumed, like the sheriff, that Penn’s behavior meant Tom was inside the chalet.
“I’m the sheriff of this county, Cage,” Byrd said, hitching up his gun belt. “Being mayor don’t mean shit compared to that. Open the door, or I’ll open it myself.”
Caitlin heard a door slam at street level. Looking down, she saw Lincoln Turner climbing out of his truck, his eyes on the gallery.
She whipped her head to the left. Penn had backed against the door as though he intended to die defending it. Why is he doing this? she thought frantically. But almost as quickly, she knew the answer. Penn had felt impotent for so long in this battle over his father that a corrupt sheriff had become the focus of his frustration. He would make a reckless stand over something meaningless in order to gain some control over the situation.
“I’m going around the back!” Lincoln called from the ground. “Dr. Cage might be trying to get out that way.”
“Who’s down there?” Penn asked Caitlin.
She dreaded answering, but she knew she had to. “Lincoln Turner.”
Penn shook his head and glared at Byrd. “Is that who’s calling the shots over at your office now?”
“Get out of my way,” the sheriff said, his right hand settling on his pistol. “I have reason to believe you’re aiding and abetting a fugitive wanted for killing a Louisiana State Police officer. I’m going to search these premises no matter what you say.”
“Let him search, Penn!” Caitlin cried. “Your dad’s not in there. What does it matter?”
Byrd looked back at Caitlin as though suspicious she was playing him. Then he turned to Penn again. “Listen to her, Mayor.”
“This is my property,” Penn said evenly. “I’m refusing you entry without a search warrant. Now, get off my porch.”
“Boy, you’ve lost your mind,” said Byrd, disbelief in his voice.
“I told you to get off my property, Sheriff.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Take it as you will.”
For a few seconds Sheriff Byrd seemed nonplussed by Penn’s defiance. Then he backed up two steps and lowered his gaze to Penn’s feet. “Are you armed, Mayor?”
“I’m licensed to carry a firearm.”