Chapter 60: Conspiracy

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For as much as she always hated the cold, Rachel had grown somewhat fond of the chilly outdoor air in the evening. She supposed she owed her newfound appreciation for colder weather to her fiancé, as it seemed every time they were together, they ended up somewhere snow was inevitable. It wasn't quite snowing yet, but Rachel suspected there might be some on the way. She considered it lucky that they would be leaving for Florida soon.

The last time she had been out on the deck behind Herb Farmer's cabin was nearly a year ago, that time Frank had taken her outside to stargaze at night. It was hard to believe that was before they'd been alone at the cabin together. Now she was calling him her fiancé. Rachel glanced affectionately down at her engagement ring, which twinkled brilliantly under the moonlight. Because she'd never imagined getting married, she'd never really bothered to imagine what her engagement ring might look like. Nonetheless, it was nothing like what she would have chosen for herself – kind of like Frank himself. That was what made her love it even more.

As the thought crossed her mind, a shadow blocked the light of the moon over her ring.

"Was something bothering Fletcher tonight?" Frank asked from behind her as he closed the door to the house.

"Hm?"

"Fletcher," Frank repeated. "He seemed more quiet than usual at dinner."

Rachel sighed. "Uh, yeah, he and I had a chat earlier. About his dad."

Frank settled beside her on the floor of the deck and caught her eye with a significant look.

"Ironically, you now know more than he does about the man," Rachel said.

He waited a moment before saying quietly, "Maybe you should just tell him everything, Rachel."

"I've wondered that. I just hate to hurt him."

"It might be more painful for him to wonder about it, than to just know the truth," Frank said thoughtfully.

Rachel stared emotionlessly out at the lake water, still as a mirror beneath the moon. "So, you're saying I should also tell him the truth about Nicki?"

She heard Frank's sharp intake of breath. "What happened with Nicki was…"

"It would crush him, Frank," Rachel whispered.

"I know," Frank said softly. Only a moment passed before he added hastily, "Don't tell him about Nicki."

They were both quiet for a long time, still in the frosty silence surrounding them.

"I'm beginning to understand why you kept the truth about Nicki from me all that time," Rachel finally said.

Frank's voice lowered on the subject. "It's harder for you to be here now, isn't it? Knowing the truth about her?"

Rachel shrugged sadly and looked off in the opposite direction. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't."

"We can see Dr. Evers when we get back to L.A," he murmured.

She tipped her head to look back at him. "It's gonna be a while."

"Yeah." His eyes flicked to her belly. "You sure you're alright to go to Miami?"

"I've felt …okay."

She didn't like the way his eyes were lingering on her belly. He seemed to consider something, pursing his lips, then held his chin higher as he turned to look back over the lake. "Preeclampsia doesn't always have symptoms."

Rachel's mouth dropped open. "How do you know about preeclampsia?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "The paramedic who treated you after the fire told me she was concerned."

Rachel felt her cheeks heat up. "Listen, I was going to talk to you about it, but then I got side-tracked."

He gave her a look that somehow managed to be both loving and sardonic.

Flustered, she panic-kissed him to make up for it, and he clutched her in surprise. When she pulled away he was laughing slightly, and it made her smile.

"Get used to that," she said with mock-sternness.

"Jesus Christ," he murmured under his breath. It kind of made her want to kiss him again.

She looked up at him from under her lashes and smiled. "So about Miami…"

He raised his eyebrow at her, entreating her to continue, but they were interrupted by the vibration of her cell phone.

"It's Tina," Rachel announced. She tried to stand quickly, but was put off balance by her belly weight. Frank stood and steadied her as she answered the phone.

"Hey."

Tina was already in hysterics on the other line.

"Honey…? Honey! Slow down! What's going on?"

"He's cheating on me! I knew it! I caught the call coming in on his phone today. And that's not even the worst part. He's cheating on me with a guy!"

Rachel squeezed her eyes shut as if it would make her ears better able to hear Tina's blubbering through the phone. "Wait… did you say he's cheating on you with… a guy?"

"Yes!" Tina cried. "Oh, I could just die, Rachel!"

Frank grabbed her arm, but Rachel tugged herself out of his grip and moved to the other side of the deck.

"How do you know it's a guy?" she asked Tina.

"The call came in, and Devon immediately got up and left the room like he had to hide it from me! I heard them on the phone together!"

"Did you confront him after?"

"No, I was too scared!"

"Did you happen to see the name of the caller?"

"Devon didn't put his full name in the contacts. He must have been trying to hide it from me. It was just initials. M.H." She sobbed.

"M. H.?"

"Rachel, what the fuck am I gonna do?"

Rachel's mind was racing with all of the details Tina had just fed her over the phone, but part of her now had the feeling that it was all a big misunderstanding. "Tina, are you sure he's cheating? If it was a guy, he could have been talking to a friend."

"He's always trying to hide his phone calls from me, Rach! Why would he hide it if it was just a friend? I feel like such an idiot! All this time, every time that phone went off, he made up some excuse to get out of the room. I think he even lied about his health problems so he could spend more time away from me!"

"But did you overhear their conversation? What were they talking about?"

"I heard them talking about meeting up somewhere!"

"Where?"

Tina was suddenly silent on the other line.

"Where?" Rachel repeated urgently.

"I have to go," Tina hissed. "He's back."

The phone call ended, and Rachel stood back from her cell phone in bewilderment. She felt Frank hovering not far behind her. When she turned around to face him, she was more bewildered at the expression on his face. He looked as if he'd just seen a ghost.

"What?"

"Did she just say Devon has been in contact with a man?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't know his name. Just his initials… M.H."

Before she'd finished the sentence, Rachel immediately felt the blood drain from her face.

"What?" Frank urged, perturbed by her apparent state of shock. "Who is M.H.?"

"Oh, my God," Rachel breathed. Her head began to spin. "Marcus Hatch."

"Who?" Frank demanded, clutching her arm.

Rachel's eyes spilled over with tears of terror. "Marcus Hatch," she repeated in a whisper, afraid to say it any louder as if it might summon him out of nowhere. "He's . . . he's Fletcher's dad."

She saw the cogs turning violently behind Frank's striking blue eyes. In her own head, Rachel clamored to make sense of it all, recalling one wild coincidence after another, every moment Devon exhibited strange behavior, every crazy link to their current circumstances.

Almost unconsciously, her hand drifted down to extract the wedding invitation from her pocket.

Frank looked stunned. "You found it?"

"Crystal gave it to me."

Trembling, Rachel turned the invitation over and they both looked down at the clumsily scrawled phone number on the back.

He held her hand the entire time. She felt like she was in a dream as he guided her into his father's study and closed the door behind them. She watched every motion of Frank's fingers as he lifted his own cell phone and dialed *67. Her throat closed up as he slowly typed in the number off the back of the invitation. He put the phone on speaker so that they could both listen.

Ringtone.

Pause.

Ringtone.

Pause.

A single click. Then a voice.

"Hello?"

She didn't need to hear anything more than just one word to recognize his voice. She pushed Frank's cell phone away, slapped her hand over her mouth and crumbled against the wall.

Frank ended the call abruptly and carelessly tossed his cell phone onto the floor as he took Rachel into his arms.

"It's him?"

Rachel nodded wordlessly, unable to do anything but moan incoherently against her hand. She cried into Frank's chest for what seemed like forever, consumed by a sickly storm of panic she'd not felt in years. Every injury the man had ever given her seemed to burn again, even though there were no visible scars left on her skin. The awful memories came careening back into her mind like a freight train and she had no power to stop them.

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Frank had called the FBI before telling anyone else about their discovery. No matter where they decided to go, he now knew the capabilities of the man who was hunting Rachel. If she had the protection of the state on her side, maybe they could both give their nerves a much needed rest.

He spent the rest of that night comforting Rachel as he began to piece things together. The ransacking must have been Devon trying to find and steal back the invitation, to cover his involvement with Marcus. Devon's connection to Tina had allowed him access codes to the Sheraton's security, more than likely without her knowledge. The motive of Rachel's ex was rather clear in Frank's mind. If he'd somehow found out Fletcher was his son, then killing Rachel would release all of her assets to the boy, leaving him free for his father to claim. If Devon was acting as Marcus' accessory, maybe they had agreed to split the money.

How did they connect in the first place, Frank wondered. It seemed unlikely that they knew each other beforehand, though perhaps not impossible. There had been one photo published of Rachel where Devon featured in the background – that day at Charlie's when they'd all gone to brunch. Had Marcus seen the picture and contacted Devon, knowing he had some connection to Rachel through Tina?

It was so dizzying, Frank had no hope of making sense of it all as Rachel lay weeping in his arms. She eventually fell asleep there, leaning against him on the hard floor of his father's study, her hands clutching his shirt for dear life even in her stillness. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and her smooth face was stained by glistening streaks of tears. He could not bring himself to shift out of place, worrying that he would disturb her. All he wanted was for her to find some kind of peace.

He had just begun to drift off to sleep himself when he heard the distant vibration of Rachel's cell phone ringing somewhere underneath them. Half-awake, he fumbled around with frantic fingers until his palm collided with the phone and he squinted at the name of the caller: Tina Brennan.

Frank cursed quietly before slowly lifting himself up, allowing Rachel's sleeping form to crumple against the floor.

He answered the call in a whisper. "Hello?"

"Oh… um, Frank?" Tina squeaked in surprise. "Is Rachel there?"

"She's asleep," he replied, looking back at Rachel on the ground. "It's only four A.M. here," he reminded her.

He heard the muffled sound of Tina's hand hitting her forehead. "Oh, shit. Of course. I'm so sorry. I just wanted to update her… I called her last night, all frantic, about Devon. Can you tell her that he and I talked tonight and it's all settled? He's not cheating on me. I just overreacted."

Frank's heart was pounding all while listening to the young woman's naïve recession. It took every ounce of self-control not to tell her the truth that Rachel had just discovered that night. He couldn't say anything to Tina – he didn't know her well, but he knew her well enough to know she probably couldn't keep such a crucial secret. Not to mention, if he did reveal the conspiracy against Devon, there was no telling how long either Tina or Rachel would have to live if Devon found out.

Frank reluctantly agreed to Tina's request, letting her believe everything was fine.

He would have a lot of explaining to do when Rachel woke up.