#1-3--The O’Connells

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  She had to pull in a breath at the passion emanating from him. How had she forgotten that?

  He seemed to steady himself as he sat back, but she could still see how tense he was. “Look, the cops showed up and arrested me. Everything about this story will sound crazy, I know—but I’m charged with the murder of a woman who was found in a hotel room booked under my name. The thing is, I didn’t book the hotel. I didn’t kill her. I had never even been there, yet they said my things were there, my clothes, personal items. I have no idea what they found. I only know I’m behind bars, charged with murder. All I can think is that I somehow pissed off the wrong person. Someone went out of their way to pin something on me. It was elaborate. They went to great lengths…”

  “Stop. What are you saying? Are you telling me you don’t know the deceased person?”

  Something in his expression gave her a sick feeling. He pulled his hand roughly over his face and shook his head, leaning forward on the table. “I do know her,” he said.

  “How well?” she said, unable to stop herself. “Never mind. I don’t think I want to know.” She was furious because she shouldn’t be feeling this way. How many years had it been? Yet she was still hanging on.

  “Look, she’s someone who is—was important to me. We were involved, seeing each other, lovers,” he said.

  She didn’t think she wanted to hear any more. She forced herself to inhale, and she didn’t miss how unsettled he looked as he glanced away. “Lover, really? You mean your girlfriend,” she said, then swore under her breath as she shut her eyes, feeling things she didn’t want to feel. At the same time, she knew this had suddenly become so much more difficult. She was treading into questions she likely didn’t want to know the answers to.

  He didn’t shake his head or try to correct her. “We were involved, not seriously, but I cared about her. She was important to me. At the same time, I don’t know why she’d be here in a hotel in Big Timber, down in Sweetwater County. She doesn’t even know anyone here. When she called me, I thought she was passing through or something. I called her back, but she didn’t answer, so I started driving, more than two hundred miles, before I was pulled over. Next I know, after they asked for my ID, the cops were coming in, lights flashing, a gun in my face. I was hauled out of my car, facedown on the concrete on the highway, cuffed. Now here I am. Yeah, I lawyered up as soon as I heard Bonnie was dead in some roadside hotel, and my things were there…” He lifted his hands. Either he was a fabulous actor, or he really was thrown by all of this.

  “So you were driving here.” She gestured with her pen.

  “That’s what I said.”

  “No, actually, you didn’t say where you were driving until now.”

  He pressed his hands over his face and swiped down, and she could see his frustration. “Look, Karen, can you get a copy of the police report, and the crime scene photos? There has to be something in there to clear this up.”

  She just lifted her gaze. “Okay, you know what? You’re right about one thing: This does sound unbelievable.”

  “I’m telling the truth, Karen. I’m not a liar.”

  She pulled back, and maybe her disgust showed in her face. “I wouldn’t know. Apparently, I’m not a very good judge of character, especially of the man I married. Would you lie?” She shrugged. “Did you lie to me?”

  There she went, down a road she’d promised herself she wouldn’t go down. This was the first time she’d ever seen him look so uncomfortable.

  “Okay, you know what?” she continued. “Scratch that. Maybe you did. I don’t want to know. Let’s get back to why you’re here.”

  “Look, Karen, there’re just some things you don’t know—”

  “Yet here I am,” she snapped, cutting him off, leaning back in the uncomfortable steel chair, gesturing with arms wide. “You want my help? Then you’re going to have to level with me. I don’t have time for this secrecy bullshit, about how you don’t lie, how things were planted, how you were driving here… That’s ridiculous. I won’t be played, not by you, not ever again.”

  His hand was reaching for hers, covering it. “Karen…” he cut in.

  She didn’t like feeling that warmth, so she pulled back. He was uncomfortable; she could tell.

  “Okay, truth time,” he said.

  She inclined her head. “Please.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm as she felt the warning signs. He was working some angle.

  “I haven’t allowed myself to care about another woman in a long time. I did once, and, well… You haven’t met my family, but let’s just say the reason we’re not together is the same reason Bonnie was murdered. I cared about her very much.”

  The way he stared at her with his icy blue eyes, she had to remind herself to breathe. She couldn’t figure out what to say.

  Jack continued. “All I can guess is that someone on the outside is manipulating things, pulling the strings, messing with my life…”

  “That’s absolutely ludicrous. Why would someone do that?”

  He was shaking his head. “Just listen to me, Karen. This was a setup. I wasn’t there. It’s nearly three hours to get here, yes. I was on my way…” He let it linger and didn’t pull his gaze from her.

  She didn’t have a clue whether he was messing with her, lying to her, but something lingered in that second between them. “Dressed in a tux?” She gestured with her pen.

  He shut his eyes and ran his hand over his dark hair, which was a mess. She sensed his frustration. “The tux was for a black-tie charity event. Bonnie was supposed to go with me. I took off early that afternoon to do a couple things before getting ready. I had a voicemail from Bonnie. She was in trouble. Her car had broken down. There was just something in her voice… I didn’t keep the voicemail. I mean, why would I?” He glanced back at her. “Look, I know how the law works, and whoever did kill Bonnie does as well.”

  She made herself take a second as she considered what else to say. “Let me ask you this: Did you call me because you knew I was here?”

  He said nothing, but the answer was there in his face.

  “You know what? Don’t answer that,” she said, then grabbed her briefcase and shoved the notepad and pen inside as she scooted back her chair, taking in how quiet he was, wanting to tell him to go fuck himself and find another lawyer. She was halfway to the door when he answered.

  “Of course I knew you were here,” he said. “I’ve always known where you were. Don’t you want to know why I walked out on you that day, why I said what I did?”

  She stopped. Wanting to know was the reason she had a restraining order against her. She pounded on the door until the deputy opened it, then said, “I’m done here.”

  As the deputy stepped in, over to a man she thought she’d never get over, Karen just looked at him. “You know what? At one time, yeah. But considering everything…no, I don’t want to know,” she said, then started out of the room.

  “So who’s the liar now?” she heard him say, but she forced herself to keep going, putting one foot in front of the other.

  There was Marcus, talking with the Sweetwater County sheriff, and both men glanced her way. Her brother said something she couldn’t make out, and the sheriff walked away. Marcus started to the door ahead of her, holding it open and waiting.

  “You all done?” he asked.

  She didn’t miss the file he was holding as she walked through the door. “Yup,” was all she could make herself say. She strode down the concrete steps in her heels, her brother behind her, staring straight ahead to her Honda.

  “Hold up a second.” Marcus had his hand on her arm again, and she turned at the bottom of the concrete steps. He held out the file, looking grim. “This guy is bad news. You were married to him?”

  She took the file. “You read it?”

  He just nodded and glanced out to the road. “Yeah. When you do, I want you to tell him to find someone else to represent him. Oh, and Mom called. Apparently, Owen texted her saying we’re having a fa
mily barbecue tonight because you have news to share.”

  She just stared at Marcus, unable to find the words to express her fury at Owen.

  He raised a brow. “Well, this makes it easy. With us all in one place, you can tell everyone. Oh, and, Karen…” he added.

  She gripped the file and her briefcase, trying to get her tongue to move, but all she could get out was a sigh.

  “I’m not kidding about telling this guy to find someone else.”

  She rested her briefcase on the hood of her Honda and shoved the file in. “Let me remind you of something, Marcus. You’re a sheriff in Livingston. I don’t tell you how to do your job, who to arrest or who to give a slap on the wrist, or a ticket, or a warning. So don’t tell me how to do mine. That includes who I help or don’t help. But thanks for the file.” She gestured to her briefcase as she pulled open the door.

  “Karen,” he said again, still standing in front of her car, his hand on his duty belt, leveling that all-cop gaze her way.

  “Oh my God, seriously, Marcus?” she snapped and made a sound of frustration.

  “Be careful,” he said, “and see you tonight.”

  She sighed, feeling the tension in her shoulders, and watched as her brother made his way to his cruiser. All she could think of was reading the file—and how in the hell was she going to get out of seeing her family tonight?

  Chapter Six

  She checked her phone after yet another ding. First was her mom, who said dinner at six, then Suzanne, who said she couldn’t wait to hear the news, then Marcus, who said there was a change of plans, and there would be a barbecue at his place, then Ryan, who suggested his place. All she wanted to do was whack her head against a wall and scream at her family.

  “Like, pick a place already!” she said out loud in frustration just before she heard a knock on her door. She dragged her gaze there from where she sat at her kitchen island, studying the police file with the details of Jack’s crime, which she was still trying to get her head around.

  She let out a sigh as she took in the photos. “Coming,” she called out and slapped the file closed. She slid off the stool and strode barefoot to the door, still in her pencil skirt and silky blouse, wanting to grab a shower and change before she had to go and face her family.

  She was on her tiptoes at the door, looking out the peephole, when she spotted her brother Owen. She swore under her breath as she unlocked the door and pulled it open. “Well, look who’s here: my brother who can’t keep his damn mouth shut.”

  Owen just shook his head and somehow moved her aside to step into her condo.

  “Hey, Karen, how are you?” she said mockingly as she shoved the door closed. “Sorry for being such an asshole. Can I come in and apologize?”

  He, though, being Owen, did nothing other than take in her living room, the pale greens, the nice touches. She was reminded of something from the night before.

  “Really?” he said. “Look, change of plans. I’m sure you’ve heard tonight has moved to Ryan’s.”

  She just stared at her brother. “I thought it was still at Marcus’s.”

  “Doesn’t matter to me where it is, but Mom called and said Luke is on his way home. He just called, so you know what that means.”

  Right, her brother would be at their mom’s, and it would be several days, depending on where he’d been, what he’d seen, and what he’d done off in whatever shithole place he’d been shipped to, before he managed to get his head together enough to go out.

  “Okay, so it’s at Mom’s, then.” She lifted her hands and couldn’t explain the tightness in her chest. “Anyone else talk to Luke?” she added, then wondered again what it was about Owen that looked so off.

  “No, but we’ll see him tonight. You about ready?”

  She leaned forward, lifting her watch. “It’s, like, four o’clock…”

  He was still watching her, and there it was, that overprotectiveness, along with something else.

  “You know,” she said, “when you came looking for me last night at the office, I couldn’t help wondering if there was something going on with you, something you wanted to talk about, before all hell blew up in my face with Jack showing up. Is there something going on?”

  Owen was looking at her island and the file Marcus had retrieved for her, which she was still trying to wrap her head around. “Nothing important,” he said. “Right now, I’m kind of worried about you. Knowing you, Karen, I didn’t want you getting lost and going to the wrong house, not when you have a family waiting to hear all the details about this husband of yours.”

  “Not my husband anymore, remember?” she said. “And why are you texting everyone behind my back like we’re teenagers, anyway? It’s like you’re trying to force my hand, and I don’t like it. You know, maybe I didn’t want everyone to know what I did. It’s embarrassing. Did you ever think of that?”

  Owen didn’t pull his gaze from her. In fact, he crossed his arms and seemed to really settle into his stance. “You know, Karen, you really have a good thing going here. You’re a really good lawyer. You have a heart of gold, and you give two hundred percent to those you’re trying to help. But while you went to law school in Missoula and came home on weekends, I was doing what I could to keep an eye on everyone. Marcus finally got his shit together, and instead of ending up behind bars, he’s finally on the right side of the law. Ryan jumped in there too as a ranger, and I still think that’s because of Marcus, because the two of them were always in trouble together, doing everything together. Luke…well, I never knew what the hell was going on with him, but he enlisted the day he was old enough. I wasn’t surprised. Then there’s Suzanne. Remember all the occupations she went through before deciding on being an EMT?”

  “You mean a fireman—or rather, woman?” she said, cutting Owen off.

  “Yeah, but she’s also trained as an EMT. Anyway, the point is she was, like, a hairdresser, a server…”

  “So what does this have to do with you forcing my hand?”

  “Because you should have told us. Do you have any idea what it’s been like, having to step up like I did? One day I was a sixteen-year-old, dating and just messing around, and then all of a sudden, Dad was gone and I had to grow up, because every one of you was looking to me. Mom couldn’t do it all.”

  For a second, she didn’t know what to say. She’d never heard her brother talk like this. “You’re not okay,” she said.

  “You’re right, I’m not,” he said. “I’m pissed off over the fact you felt you couldn’t say anything to me.”

  Now she felt like crap. She ran her hand over the back of her neck.

  “So if you don’t mind, let’s go,” Owen said. “I’ll drive, and you figure out what you’re going to say to everyone. Don’t worry about how much you want to drink. Have a few glasses of wine, liquid courage or whatever the hell you want to call it. Oh, and Marcus called me, because at least he listened to what I told him. He also wants to have a word with you, something about this case and this guy you were married to. So, are you ready?” He seemed so distracted, and pushy too.

  She took in the closed file, which she really needed to dig into. She thought about the woman Jack had known, Bonnie, and how she’d been found dead, facedown in that motel room, a bullet in the back of her head. She didn’t think she’d ever get the image out of her mind. At the same time, it didn’t look good for Jack. She considered another second before seeing Owen waiting impatiently.

  “Sure, just let me grab a sweater.”

  Karen stood in the doorway and took her time slipping off her pumps. Her feet were aching. Thankfully, Owen was nowhere in sight. Luke was drinking a beer, sitting in the same spot he always did at their mom’s, on the corner of the sofa, his back to the wall so he could see everyone coming and going. He was giving her everything. His hair was shorter, shoulder length, but appeared wet as if he’d just climbed out of the shower.

  “Luke, you just get in?” she said.

  “Not long ago,”
he replied.

  She could hear voices from the kitchen: her mom, Charlotte, Jenny, Suzanne, Ryan. Just then, Eva came running, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing blue jeans and a white shirt. She wrapped her arms around Karen’s bare leg.

  “Hey, you!” Karen said. She hugged Eva. She was a sweet little girl, so tiny. She knew Marcus and Charlotte loved her. They all did. “Heard you got your very own bunk bed. So where are you sleeping, top or bottom?”

  “The bottom. You should come and see it. You could have a sleepover too, just like Alison.”

  She heard Alison, her other niece, calling Eva from the kitchen.

  “You know what?” Karen said. “I will. This week I’ll come and see it, and you can definitely count me in on the sleepover—but you take the top, and I’ll take the bottom.”

  Alison was now walking down the hall, coming their way. She was starting to look like a normal, well-adjusted teen. Her brown hair was shoulder length, and the nose ring was long gone. Karen couldn’t remember having seen her eyes coated with all that heavy black makeup for a while now.

  “Hey, Alison. How’s school?”

  The teen just shrugged. “It’s school,” she said. The attitude she used to dish out had been tempered somewhat. “Come on, squirt.” She held her hand out to Eva.

  Eva skipped back down the hall and took her hand as if she were her big sister. Eva idolized her, and Karen was sure Alison saw her as the baby sister she’d never had but always wanted.

  “I take it everyone’s here?” Karen said.

  “Yeah. Dad said you had news to share with all of us,” Alison replied.

  Karen forced herself to keep a straight face, knowing Owen had told everyone she had an announcement just so she wouldn’t chicken out. She shrugged, then realized Alison was now calling Ryan her dad. Wow, things really had improved in their relationship.

  “It appears so,” she said. “I take it everyone is waiting to hear from me?” She stepped down into the living room, very aware that Luke hadn’t pulled his gaze from her. His feet were bare, and he had that really intense way of looking at her. She wondered what he was seeing. It was unnerving, and she found herself having to fight the urge to roll her shoulders and turn and run out the door.