One Step Away (Hazel Green Book 2)

by Cindy Kirk

  Once Dixon and Lilian left and Sophie was in bed, Leo called a family meeting.

  She knew Leo had been surprised when she insisted that what she had to say was best spoken with his entire family present. Instead of sitting on the sofa and taking the chance that Leo would sit beside her, Nell grabbed a floral wingback.

  This was her battle, and she needed to fight it alone. She didn’t want his family to think she was going to drag him—or them—into this mess. Any further than she could help, that was. She hoped that once Leo heard her story, he would see the wisdom in distancing himself from her.

  Gloria’s hijinks had made a splash in the press more than once in the past, and Nell knew tabloid reporters liked nothing better than a juicy story, especially one where someone got bloodied.

  By the time they finished with Nell, her reputation would be in tatters. She would never be able to stay in Hazel Green without screwing up Leo’s life and the lives of everyone she held dear.

  She might have already done irreparable harm to Leo’s career, and the thought made her want to weep.

  “Would anyone like a glass of wine before we get started?” Wells asked. “Or a brandy?”

  “I’ll take a brandy,” Tim said.

  “None for me.” Leo remained standing, his hands resting on the top of her chair. “I’ve had enough alcohol tonight.”

  “I made coffee,” Marty said with a hopeful smile.

  Nell certainly didn’t need any caffeine, but then, she wasn’t going to sleep tonight anyway. Besides, a mug would give her something to do with her hands.

  “Thank you, Marty.” Nell summoned a smile. “Coffee would be nice. I can help.”

  When she started to rise, Leo waved her down. “I’ll get some for us. Black, right?”

  For us. As if wanting to make sure the family knew he had her back. Oh, Leo.

  “You know me so well.” It was a thoughtless remark, one she regretted uttering practically from the moment it left her lips.

  He squeezed her shoulders, then headed into the kitchen, returning less than a minute later with two steaming mugs.

  After setting one in front of her, he finally took a seat on the sofa when his mother sat and patted a spot beside her.

  Wells handed his father a brandy, then picked up the mug of coffee his mother had brought him. “What’s this about?” he asked Nell.

  The two men remained standing behind the sofa where Marty sat with Leo.

  “Liz informed me that someone from my past will be in town tomorrow. He wants to speak with me. I’ll meet with him at Matilda’s.” Nell wrapped her hands around her mug and glanced around the room. “This situation will provide a lot of fodder for the gossip pigs. I have no doubts that this man will serve me up to them on a silver platter.”

  Wells exchanged a puzzled glance with Tim.

  Concern blanketed Leo’s face. “If it has to do with our relationship, there’s nothing sensational about—”

  “It has to do with my past. A lobbyist—Stanley Britten—saw a picture that was taken of you and me with your parents at the Illumination Stroll. He recognized me.” Nell expelled a breath. “Stanley mentioned to Liz he’s been looking for me for a long time.”

  “Why do you believe Stan Britten is out to get you?” Tim’s brows drew together. “What’s his connection?”

  “Stanley and I went to the same high school, back when my name was Susannah Lamphere.”

  Wells’s fingers tightened around his cup.

  Leo rounded the chair to stand in front of her. “What do you mean when your name was Susannah?”

  “Cornelia Ambrose isn’t my real name.” Nell took a deep breath and let it out. “My given name is Susannah Lamphere.”

  “I didn’t even know your real name.” His handsome face looked as if it had been chiseled in stone. “You should have told me.”

  “Yes. I should have.”

  Leo stepped back. Though it was only a few feet, it felt like miles. He crossed his arms across his chest. “Go on.”

  “I was raised in an unconventional household by my mother, Gloria.” Nell lifted the mug from the table in front of her, needing the warmth of the cup. Simply saying the woman’s name had everything inside her going to ice. “Gloria is a charismatic sociopath and a compulsive liar. She’s also very beautiful. Most people who meet her are initially charmed.”

  Nell set down the mug, realizing the heat couldn’t begin to touch the coldness inside her. “Gloria has been arrested several times and interviewed by the police numerous times for crimes she’s committed. But she’s smart and savvy and always manages to land on her feet.”

  “Couldn’t have been much of a childhood.” Sympathy filled Marty’s voice. “Having someone like that for a mother.”

  “It wasn’t a childhood.” Nell’s laugh held no humor. “By the time I was Sophie’s age, I was picking pockets, shoplifting and being her decoy.”

  Marty’s hand rose to her throat. “You poor thing.”

  Leo said nothing. He just continued to stare at her with unblinking blue eyes.

  Oh, how Nell wished she’d told him everything. But that train had already left the station. She blew out a breath.

  “When I was ten, Gloria started setting fires. Sometimes, she did it to cover up a job or simply out of spite. Sometimes, just for fun. It was always someone else’s home or business. Except once, when she needed the insurance money, it was a house she recently purchased.”

  “Was she ever charged with arson?” The question came from Wells.

  “She was under suspicion by the police plenty of times. No matter how hard they tried, they were never able to pin anything on her. The funny thing was, she would deny she’d done any of the crimes and truly seemed to believe she hadn’t.” Nell forced herself to stay seated. Just thinking of Gloria made her twitchy. “As I grew older, I realized if I stayed much longer, I’d end up in jail. Or worse, turn out just like her.”

  “Did you ever speak with a school counselor?” Wells asked. “Or with a pastor?”

  “Saying anything to anyone would have brought severe repercussions.” Nell licked her lips. “My brother and I were beaten for simple infractions, or for nothing at all. We feared she’d kill us if we ever betrayed her.”

  Nell slanted a glance at Leo. Her heart lurched. Same stony expression.

  “How does Stanley Britten factor into all of this? Why do you believe he has it out for you?”

  Had the questions come from Wells? Or his father? Did it really matter?

  “I was seventeen and a senior in high school when my mother ordered me to get friendly with a junior named Stanley Britten.”

  “Did you sleep with him?” Wells’s question earned him a sideways look from Leo.

  “No, I didn’t have sex with him. I became his friend. It wasn’t hard. I was popular. He wasn’t. Being seen with me upped his status at school.” Nell took a moment, remembering back. “He was a loner, and I was lonely on the inside, so we connected. I never took friends home. My mother was unpredictable. The lives other girls my age talked about were foreign to me.”

  “You were telling us about Stan.” Tim’s gaze remained riveted on her face.

  “Stanley was smart. I was smart. Our conversations revolved around topics most high school students had no interest in.”

  Marty offered an encouraging smile. “You became his friend.”

  “I did. I spent time at his house, got to know his family. His dog, Daisy, adored me. She was a Maltese.” Nell paused, then added, “Gloria wouldn’t let Dixon and me have a pet.”

  Now, Nell realized that had been for the best. When Gloria got angry, her first impulse was to strike out. A puppy wouldn’t have stood a chance.

  “If you and Stanley were such good friends, why do you think he wants to hurt you now?” Leo asked quietly.

  “After our friendship was solidified to Gloria’s satisfaction…” Nell paused and shifted her focus to Wells. “I let Gloria believe I slept with h
im. In her mind, a friendship with a man was always about sex. Anyway, Gloria ordered me to get the code to the Brittens’ safe that was in the parents’ bedroom closet.”

  “How did your mother know about the safe?” Marty asked.

  “Mr. Britten bragged about it at a party my mother crashed.” Nell shook her head. “The safe they had was known for its thicker, stronger metal. My mother didn’t want to go to a lot of work to get the money and jewels inside. She wanted the combination.”

  Silence filled the living room. Nell understood. They were a nice Midwestern family. What she was saying sounded like it came straight out of the script of a soap opera.

  Nell took a sip of lukewarm coffee. “I stalled for as long as I could, but Gloria became impatient.”

  “How did you get it out of him?” Leo asked.

  “Through casual, everyday conversation. We talked a lot about current events and school gossip. Stanley was fond of discussing history, especially World War II.” These discussions had been the best parts of her time with Stanley. Though he could be snarky, he had a curious mind. “Remember, he considered me a friend. We were always discussing computer passwords and lamenting the need to change them frequently. This was before the days of password-manager apps.”

  “Why does he have it in for you?” Leo impatiently circled a hand.

  “Don’t rush her,” Tim snapped. “These details may be important.”

  “It’s okay.” Nell expelled a breath. “Stan had told me many times that his dad had trouble recalling his passwords, so he kept them all the same. Mr. Britten used his wife’s name and year of birth.”

  “A password isn’t the same as a safe combination,” Wells pointed out.

  “No. It isn’t.” Nell tightened her grip on the mug. Until that fateful day, Stan hadn’t even mentioned the safe. “Stanley was in high spirits the day he gave me the combination. He’d aced his calculus final. We started talking numbers again, and he brought up his dad. It bugged him that his father was so tech challenged. He repeated what I already knew about his mother’s name and her year of birth. I asked what his dad did about combinations, and he told me the sequence on the safe.”

  “Did he realize the significance of what he’d divulged?” Leo’s expression remained unreadable.

  “Not until later. Gloria broke into their house that night and took all the money and jewels from the safe. On her way out, she lit a fire.” Though the cup was still in her hands, the coffee had gone cold. Nell drank anyway. “The family was at the symphony at the time. Daisy was the only one home.”

  “The Maltese,” she clarified when she caught Marty’s questioning look. “Daisy nearly died of smoke inhalation. The picture of the firefighters resuscitating her made the front page of the newspaper.”

  “Stanley knew it was you.”

  Nell heard the question beneath Leo’s comment.

  “When they found the open safe, the police assumed the burglary and arson were connected. For reasons too numerous to mention, my mother was their number one suspect. I was her alibi. I told the detectives she was home with me all evening.”

  “Stanley knew it was you,” Leo repeated. “He knew you’d played him. You lied to him, made him care, then stabbed him in the back.”

  Tears stung the backs of Nell’s eyes, but she blinked them back before anyone could notice. She deserved every bit of Leo’s censure. He’d trusted her, and she’d lied to him.

  “Stanley was on his knees in the picture that made the front page. He was crouched over Daisy while the firefighters worked to save her life. The family had arrived home shortly after the firetrucks rolled up. The photographer captured his expression of anguish.” Nell cleared her throat. “Anguish was the word used in the article, but I saw guilt. Shortly before we left town, Stanley attempted suicide.”

  A wave of nausea washed over Nell. The guilt over knowing she’d caused a boy so much pain that he hadn’t wanted to live, had been the impetus she’d needed to make the break with Gloria and leave home.

  Nell kept her gaze focused straight ahead as the silence stretched and extended. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. She did not want this family to be hurt because of her.

  “You need this information to protect yourselves. I believe Stanley wants payback. He’s going to want to bring to light all the ugliness of my past and make me suffer.” Nell gave a humorless chuckle. “If I stay, Gloria’s legal difficulties—she’s being held without bond —will become mine. Her life and escapades will become mine. Stanley’s vendetta against me will bleed onto all of you. Knowledge is power.”

  Tim gave a curt nod. “First, Leo needs to distance himself from you.”

  “That would be best,” Nell agreed, resisting the urge to glance in Leo’s direction.

  “I’ll speak with Anissa, my PR person, to see if we can get some talking points for the family.” Tim stroked his chin. “That way, if Stanley goes public, we’re already prepared.”

  “You were just a child.” Marty’s eyes were soft with sympathy.

  “She broke the law. She lied to the police to give her mother an alibi,” Wells reminded his mother. “Nell was seventeen at the time. That’s old enough to know right from wrong.”

  Nell glanced at Leo, saw him scrub his hands across his face. She surged to her feet. “Please know that the last thing I wanted to do was cause problems in your family.”

  Leo cleared his throat. “We wouldn’t be having to scramble at the last minute to figure out how to deal with this if you’d been honest from the beginning.”

  “You’re right.” She licked her lips, her heart pounding an erratic rhythm in her chest. “I should have told you everything.”

  “Yes, you should have.” Leo cocked his head. “Why didn’t you?”

  “I was afraid of losing you.” Nell lifted one hand as if to reach out and somehow bridge the chasm between them. But his eyes were dark and unreadable, and she let her hand drop. “Now it seems I’ve lost you anyway.”

  Leo said nothing, but the flicker of pain she caught in his eyes was worse than if he’d screamed at her.

  “I’m truly sorry I let you all down.” Nell cleared her throat and glanced around the room. “My meeting with Stanley is at eleven.”

  She turned to go, but when she stepped past Leo, she gave in to impulse. Flinging her arms around him, she gave him a fierce hug.

  He didn’t pull away or tell her she was holding him too tight, but neither did he wrap his arms around her. He simply stood there, his body stiff and unyielding.

  That’s when she knew it was truly over.

  Burying her head against Leo’s shirtfront, she savored the sensation, holding it tight to her heart so that she could recall his scent, the feel of his body next to hers in the years to come when she was alone.

  Tim touched her arm, his voice soft. “Nell, you need to let go.”

  “Yes.” She dropped her arms to her sides and expelled a ragged breath. “It’s time to let go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “What’s the plan?” Wells swirled the brandy in his snifter and glanced at his father, who was pacing the living room. “You told Mom before she went to bed that we would support Nell. Did you mean it?”

  “Of course I meant it. I don’t make a habit of lying to your mother.” The tight edge to Tim’s voice had Wells lifting a brow.

  “Sorry.” Tim raked a hand through his two-hundred-dollar haircut. “This is a cluster. First, Steve. Now, Nell.”

  Wells finished off the last of his brandy. “Leo loves her. He’s angry with her right now—and hurt—but he loves her.”

  Tim nodded. A muscle in his jaw jumped. “We don’t have much time, so let’s get down to business. Stanley Britten.”

  “We already know he’s considered one of the top lobbyists for the gaming industry and has worked with Steve on legislation.” Wells tapped a finger against his thigh. “He’s also married with a couple of kids in private schools.”

  “He and
Steve worked closely on several important pieces of legislation.” Tim frowned.

  “Do you think he could have slipped money to Steve under the table for a vote on the gaming legislation?” Leo asked.

  “It’s a distinct possibility. Heck, he could even be the one who gave Steve the money that was found in his freezer.” Tim expelled a breath. “I wish I knew if Stan was on the FBI’s list. Either way, we need to keep our distance.”

  Wells rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure we’re going to be able to keep Leo from that lunch meeting.”

  “You’re going to have to sit on him. Keep assuring him that staying away is what’s best for Nell.” Tim pressed his lips together. “It sure as hell is best for his career.”

  “If this was Mom or Dani, you’d never keep us away.”

  His father speared him with a glance. “Nell isn’t your mother or Dani.”

  “I’m just saying.”

  “And I’m telling you to sit on him. Recruit Matt if you think you’ll need extra hands.”

  “If I can find Matt.” Wells shook his head. “What about you? What will you be doing?”

  Tim expelled a breath. “I called Pete. I’ve got him searching for dirt on Britten.”

  “You’re really going to try to help Nell?”

  “Don’t sound so surprised.” Tim’s gaze grew distant. “I remember when your sister was seventeen. Kit thought she was a grown-up, but she was still very much a child. Nell may have been more street savvy, but that doesn’t change the fact that seventeen is still a kid.”

  Wells nodded in agreement.

  “Besides, you know Stanley Britten has been on my blacklist ever since he implied to the media the FBI thought I might have a role in the bribery.” A sardonic grin spread across Tim’s face. “The maraschino cherry atop this very ugly sundae is that I may get to take down Britten in the process.”

  As soon as Nell stepped into her apartment, she started packing. She’d do what she could to defuse the Stanley situation, then she would leave Hazel Green forever. Hopefully, her absence would save Leo, his family and her friends from the full impact of Stanley’s wrath.