“Jenny, everything smells wonderful, as usual.”
The short, dark-haired woman threw her a quick smile, never pausing in her work. “You were never a tough one to please, Miss Madeline, but thanks, anyway.”
“How’s Bob?” Madeline inquired solicitously about the woman’s husband.
“Last doctor visit he got a clean bill of health. The doctor said there’s a little permanent damage to his heart, but he’ll be back on his feet in no time.”
“Tell him I said hello, and to take care of himself.”
“I’ll do that, miss.” The cook shot a wary glance at Geoffrey, who was eyeing her coldly. “Will there be anything else, sir?”
He waved a hand, dismissing her. “That will be all, Mrs. Parks. We’ll call you if we need anything.” The cook disappeared through the kitchen door. He waited until she was out of earshot before saying disapprovingly, “Really, Madeline, I would think that by now I would no longer have to remind you about engaging in banal conversations with the hired help. You’ve been taught better and it’s most unbecoming for you to treat them as-”
“As human beings?” Madeline finished for him in a tight voice.
He frowned at her interruption. “You know perfectly well what I mean. There’s no need to be disrespectful.”
She mentally began to count to one thousand, striving to hold on to her rapidly escalating temper. She knew from experience that arguing with her father never did any good. He detested what he referred to as emotional outbursts, and she suspected that what he really hated was emotion, period. Every word he uttered was delivered in the same smooth, level tone Anger, joy, frustration-it didn’t matter. His expression rarely altered, his voice never rose.
Where had
They certainly had gotten more than they bargained for in Madeline. She had been a squalling baby with a shock of red hair and a temper to match. The Caseys must have doubted that they’d been given the correct infant at the hospital. Even worse, a severe case of asthma had made it impossible for her to be packed off to a boarding school, as her brother, Kevin, had been. No, they’d been forced to keep Madeline at home with them, had to deal with her childish chatter and deplorable manners. Almost every word she could remember either parent directing at her when she was growing up was in the form of a command or a reprimand. She would have grown up thinking that hers was a normal family if it hadn’t been for the people hired to run the household, such as Mrs. Parks. The occasional glimpses she’d had into their homes had shown her otherwise.
A huge genetic mistake, that’s what she was. She was no longer a child, but she knew her reactions to her father were firmly based in the roots of her childhood. She had grown accustomed to masking her emotions in his presence, or at least making the attempt. The only way her father would listen to her was if she could remain as cool and calm as he did.
Not that he made a habit of listening to her. Geoffrey Casey had never lost his aptitude for engineering everything and everybody around him to suit himself, his daughter included. She’d made it her life’s work to not be manipulated by him, but it was grueling going sometimes.
“I understand you’ve been assigned to a new case.” Her father interrupted her thoughts.
Madeline could feel herself bracing for what was to come. One reason she avoided him was that he insisted on making her business his own. He wouldn’t ask what she was working on like other fathers. He would use his contacts through the city to make it his business to know. And since he’d spent nearly twenty years on the city council, his contacts were numerous. Then he would proceed to instruct her on the best way to handle her case, and herself, until she was ready to scream.
Her father nodded, as if he already knew. “So I hear. Brewer assigned this case to you?”
“Yes.”
He nodded again, chewing reflectively. “You’ve been paired with a Cruz Martinez for the duration of the case?”
She gritted her teeth. His information was accurate, as always. “Yes.”
“What’s he like?”
She looked at him in surprise. “Why, do you know him?”
“It’s impolite to answer a question with another question,” he admonished her. “But, no, of course I don’t know him. That’s why I asked you.”
She shrugged, knowing the casual gesture would annoy him. “He’s all right, I guess.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to link him to the gun sales?”
Madeline froze in the act of raising her fork to her lips. Then slowly she replaced it on her plate. “Where,” she asked in carefully measured words, “did you get that information?”
He waved her question away nonchalantly. “I have my sources, Madeline, you know that. Now, please answer my question.”
But she had no intention of doing so. When she spoke again it was difficult to keep her voice from shaking with anger. “I’ve told you before, I do not care to have your snoops spying on every aspect of my career and then reporting back to you. You have no business asking for, or receiving, such privileged information about an Internal Affairs investigation. It’s a complete abuse of your position to even request it.”
But her father, as usual, was unmoved by her words. “For heaven’s sake, Madeline, I certainly don’t have hired men ‘spying’ on you, as you so inelegantly put it. I happened to run into a friend at my club and we had a drink together. You know how it is.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “He shared the information with me because he thought I’d be interested.”
Oh, yes, Madeline thought, her stomach churning with fury. She knew exactly how it was. How it had always been. He’d never trusted her to live her own life, and he never would. He was constantly looking over her shoulder, warning her about which decisions to make, second-guessing her all the way. She knew blowing up at him would solve nothing, but she could no more stop herself than she could quit breathing. “We’ve had this discussion before,” she said furiously. “When are you going to keep your nose out of my professional life?”
When he answered, Geoffrey’s voice was crisp. “When I can trust your professional judgment. From what I’ve heard of Martinez, he’s quite a ladies’ man. I don’t want you to make another mistake.”
The color leeched from her face. “What exactly are you implying?”
“You know very well, Madeline, but if you insist on having it spelled out… As soon as I heard about this job you’ve been assigned-to see if Martinez is clean-I had a feeling of deja vu. I just think you need to be very careful that you don’t succumb to this man’s surface charm and overlook any evidence to suggest that he’s a criminal.”
“Like I did before?” she said woodenly.
“With Dennis Belding, yes. Good Lord, you were planning to marry the man before he was caught going through my personal papers in my office. The damage he was intending to do me was only barely averted. You don’t exactly have the best track record in your judgment of men, my dear.”
“May I remind you,” she retorted, “that you were totally in favor of our engagement? Dennis had your wholehearted approval.”
“Hmm, yes, that was unfortunate. But it’s neither here nor there. You understand now what I’m talking about. Perhaps it would be best for you to ask Brewer to assign someone else to Martinez.”
“That is out of the question,” she snapped.
Predictably, her show of temper had little visible effect on her father. His voice, when he spoke, was tinged with censure. “Well, then, be very careful, Madeline. You act as if you despise the power that comes with my position, but it was the only thing that saved you from being implicated in Dennis’s little schemes.”
Her chair clattered as she stood abruptly. “That’s not true!”
He surveyed her impassively. “Isn’t it?”
She closed her eyes briefly, but trying to rein in her temper at this point was impossible. “I prefer to believe
