She was determined to find out what had happened to Todd Friessen. But she also wanted to find some answers and maybe find a way to hold him accountable for what he’d done to Louisa. Diana knew that if it hadn’t been for him and his hotheaded son’s hasty actions, Louisa would have had her medication, and she would most likely be there today.
But where to start? First, she needed to find a room. She remembered a small motel on the outskirts on the way to Smokey Point, still in the county, and wondered if it was still there. She pulled away from the curb and stopped when she saw an older woman on the sidewalk. She rolled down her window.
“Pardon me, ma’am, but do you know where there’s a hotel around here?”
The woman was gray haired and seemed familiar. She stepped closer to Diana’s door and waved her hand in the same direction Diana was headed.
“Why, yes, there’s a Holiday Inn on the edge of town, before the new shopping mall.” The woman squinted and peered closer at Diana.
“Thank you.” Diana rolled her window up, puzzled by the woman being unable to place who she was. A few minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn—it was, in fact, where the older fleabag motel had been. It looked brand new with the logo of the national chain above the door.
The motel clerk glanced up. Diana recognized the middle-aged balding man. He used to work at the grocery store as a store clerk, always ordered by the manager to watch to make sure Diana didn’t steal anything. She knew then that he was uncomfortable when she happened to glance up, as he’d color a bright red, visibly embarrassed. The one time he had been forced to check her bag, he apologized profusely. Now a few years older and with a lot less hair, he smiled brightly, and she hoped he didn’t recognize her. She filled out the registration and slid her credit card across the counter. He frowned, not recognizing the Fulton name. He glanced at her again.
“I’ll put you in number six. It’s nice and quiet.” He slid the key across the counter. “Have a nice stay.”
Diana was astonished when she opened the door to her room. It was a studio with a sofa and chair by the door, and it had a lovely kitchenette with a microwave and bar fridge, a large bathroom, and a separate bedroom with a queen-size bed. The heavy curtains were drawn to keep out the sun, but when she opened them, she was surprised at the lovely grounds she looked down on. All in all, it was very nice.
Diana tossed her bag on the bed and took out her toiletries in the bathroom. She freshened up and then pulled out her notepad to outline her plan of attack. Find out what happened to Todd. She pulled out the phonebook, flipping to “Friessen.” Dragging her finger down the page, she noted there were five: Todd, Jed, Andy, and C. After all these years, why was Todd still listed? She tossed the book on the desk and left the room. The best place to start would be the post office, because she knew that in small communities, the post office was the hub of gossip. The postal workers knew the personal details of every household by the mail they delivered, which told every small, embarrassing detail. In a close-knit community like North Lakewood, the locals shared, as well. If you had a grudge and wanted to trash someone’s reputation or announce news, the post office was better than standing in town square and handing out flyers.
The post office was just as she remembered, an old red brick storefront lined up in strip-mall fashion against the very short main street. She parked in front with a dozen or so other vehicles, which could have been patronizing any of the local stores. Diana noted that many were vacant, with leasing signs in front, and she wondered whether that brand new shopping mall had anything to do with it. She tossed her blazer in the SUV. She was dressed in casual slacks, flat heels, and a cream-colored shirt, very plain and conservative. Her long red hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, and she wore only a hint of makeup. She had opted for ChapStick instead of lipstick.
The woman at the counter was young, plain, and chatty, and no one she recognized. There were no other customers in line. When the young lady glanced up, she smiled brightly. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. I’d like to buy a dozen letter stamps.”
“Certainly.” The young woman slid them across the counter and rang the amount in the register. “So, are you visiting family here?”
“No, my family moved away from here years ago, when I was a child. But I see a lot of the small stores that used to be here are gone.”
“It’s criminal and such a shame. The big box stores have forced all the little guys from business. Mr. Friessen said we had to keep up with demand, so he built that huge shopping mall. He did give the stores along here an option to lease a space in the mall. It’s impossible to compete with the big stores who can afford to discount, though.”
“Mr. Friessen?” Diana did her best to appear casual. But just hearing someone speak his name had her heart racing and her skin warming.
“Well, actually, both Andy and Todd. Andy’s been running things. Seems to be a family thing that the father passes down to the oldest son.” She kept her voice low and glanced behind Diana to be sure no one else was there. “Truth be told, Todd gave Andy little choice. Todd’s mistress runs the candy store. He made sure she got a prime spot in the mall, and she pays no rent. And let me tell you, there were a few arguments that went back and forth between those two over that.”
“So Todd’s back in town?” Diana wondered if her voice squeaked.
The postal girl frowned before replying. “Back in town? Didn’t know he went anywhere. You must be thinking about his wife. She’s always gone. Don’t know why they stay married, but Todd’s discreet. Never flaunts his mistress. But we all know. And Andy, well, you can just see how the mention of her sets his teeth on edge. For Todd’s mistresses, everything’s fine as long as he wants you, but just watch out if he decides you’re done. That’s when Andy gets free rein, and he can run a girl out of town. Wonder if he knows that’s what he’s doing, cleaning up for his daddy?”
Diana gasped. So Todd was still here. Instead of tying up loose ends, she’d found a few more. Why was Andy cleaning up after his father?
The postal girl seemed to collect herself. “So who’d you say your family was?”
“My family’s no longer in the area. I was just doing business in Arlington and passing through on my way. I don’t remember much about Andy Friessen, just that he was big into football and kind of a hero around here.”
The postal girl blushed and fanned her face. “Oh, let me tell you. That hunk could easily win sexiest man of the year. Lordy, maybe it’s that killer smile, those linebacker shoulders, or the way he fills out a pair of Levis. But I tell you he has me stammering like a schoolgirl every time he comes in here. And he’s friendly…. It’s why the folks around here still worship him. But I guarantee you that Friessen money and the fact they own everything all the way up to Marysville adds to the charm.”
“Does he know you’ve got a crush on him?” Diana teased.
“That stud knows he’s got every warm-blooded girl hot after him. Just like his dad. Why, even my boyfriend teases me that maybe he’ll get an eagle tattoo on his arm, just like Andy.” The postal girl gave a hearty chuckle.
Andy had a tattoo? Diana found herself dreaming of seeing it. She had to shake herself before she too blushed. Her stomach growled. She needed a sandwich and time to think, to figure out what to do. This puzzle was not what she expected, not that she knew what to expect.
“Thank you for your time.” She rubbed her stomach. “Skipped lunch.”
“Oh, well, Merle’s is just around the corner. A local institution here. Food’s good, too.”
Diana smiled and thanked the postal girl before leaving. But she had no intention of stopping at Merle’s. She’d never eaten in a restaurant here and wouldn’t have been welcome as a child, not that they could have afforded it. She’d certainly not stop now. Instead, she stopped at a corner store and picked up a prepackaged sandwich, eating half on the way back to the motel.
She had just pulled in and was walki
ng to her room, trying to piece together what happened the night they’d been tossed out into the street. Had that been Todd’s way of getting rid of Faye, by having Andy clean up his mess? It was Louisa who had paid the ultimate price. The more Diana thought about it, the angrier she became. Someone was going to pay. She was no longer an innocent, naïve girl—she had a law degree, and she knew her rights. What Todd and Andy had done, even fifteen years ago, was a heinous and reprehensible criminal act. Diana was so lost in thought that she didn’t see the attractive stranger who stepped in front of her and blocked her way.
She jumped back and gazed into the all-too-familiar dreamy eyes of Andy. He was bigger than she remembered, towering over her, more solid through the chest and shoulders in his denim shirt. His slim hips were fitted nicely into a pair of jeans. He wore no hat, but his dark hair was cut shorter than the wild mane he’d had in his youth. No, he was definitely a man. His face was leaner, with a strong jaw and hard lines around his eyes, his mouth. There was an edge to him now that was all business. He had large hands, a working man’s hands, which looked as if they could handle just about anything. She stared up into the face of a warrior and shivered, knowing why the postal girl had carried on about him. At nineteen, he had been positively magnificent, but at thirty-four, he was dangerous. He reeked of a power she’d not sensed before, and just a hint of the eagle tattoo was visible on his left forearm where he’d rolled his sleeve up. Her heart pounded so hard in her ears that she struggled to take a simple breath. She recognized all the signs, angry at why she couldn’t shake off her ridiculous childhood reaction. She prayed she wouldn’t be doomed for the rest of her life, even though he gazed at her with such disdain and hardness that Diana shook inwardly. The timing couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Diana Claremont. Wow, Jack was right. You look exactly like Faye.”
Now she remembered—the motel clerk’s name was Jack. How could she forget? Diana smiled brightly, unwilling to cringe before Andy.
“Well, thank you, Andy.”
He frowned, his blue eyes flashing. “That was not a compliment. Just the opposite. Now, I’ve had your things thrown out. I own this place. And I was clear fifteen years ago when I said no Claremont trash is ever to set foot back in this county. Whatever you think you’re going to get ain’t going to happen. You’ve got five minutes to get out of town or I’ll have the sheriff throw you out.”
It was then she noticed her one bag and toiletries scattered in the parking lot as if they’d been tossed away, and the door to her room was closed. Andy crossed his solid arms over his chest, making it clear he’d have no problem moving her by force.
Diana trembled for a moment as Louisa’s shrieks from that horrible night so long ago echoed in her mind, and she remembered the lights, the men and their rough hands. But she wouldn’t give Andy the pleasure of seeing how he had upset her. So she simply nodded, gathered her things off the ground, and dumped them in the backseat of her SUV. She stayed calm and held her head high as she climbed in and drove away. Her foot was shaking so badly that she had a hard time keeping an even speed. She glanced once in the rearview mirror—Andy had never moved, staring after her as she drove away.
***
Diana Claremont. He hadn’t believed it when Jack phoned and told him a woman had checked in, the spitting image of Faye even though her credit card said “Fulton.” He knew it was her, and when she’d pulled up in her fancy SUV and hurried distractedly toward her motel room, there was no mistaking the resemblance, that vivid red hair, oval face and high cheekbones. Her brilliant blue eyes flashed in the same way as Faye’s, and he knew by her dazzling wide eyes and her gasp that he’d scared her.
She had been brave, standing him down instead of cowering like her mama had. She held her chin high and didn’t cry or carry on the way some women did. He admired her for that and the way she’d kept a cool head as she gathered the items he had tossed into the parking lot. He’d gone through all her things and found that she had disturbed nothing in the room except for dampening a cloth. But her pleasant scent lingered, which made him even angrier that a Claremont had dared to come back into his county. Faye Claremont had turned his family upside down. His dad had been found passed out in this very motel that they owned, then a rundown piece of crap. Todd hadn’t remembered a thing except that he’d been with Faye and she’d poured him a drink. Andy knew she’d slipped him something, and so did his dad. And he knew why—she was trying to pass off another bastard as Todd’s, but Todd had laughed and told her he owned her and she’d do what he said when he said it, and if she was pregnant, it wasn’t his, as he’d taken care of that problem long ago. But Faye hadn’t liked that, and when Todd woke up madder and meaner than a nest full of hornets, Andy had already been let loose.
Andy knew that with Todd, some things never changed. All his dad did was trade up, one low-class whore to another, leaving a never-ending trail for Andy to clean up.
One thing Andy knew for sure was that Diana was a drug, just like her mama. But never again would a Claremont get the chance to mess with a Friessen.
Chapter 7
Diana drove for thirty minutes in the glare of the setting sun. She was shaking inside, her stomach queasy either from the sandwich or the confrontation with Andy. She knew what Andy thought of her—she had learned the hard way that night fifteen years ago. Even though the pain still lived with her, she thought she’d gotten past it years ago. She wouldn’t allow him that kind of power to hurt her again. She had no choice but to leave when he stood outside her door. Oh, she knew the law, but she guessed he did, too. In this part of the county, he and his dad owned the law. Going into her room the way he did, tossing her things out, was a violation of her rights, and she knew that. She also knew that getting justice was a waste of time. There would be no justice for Louisa, for what Andy had done that night. Burning their home down, leaving Louisa without her medicine, it should have had him locked up for the rest of his life.
She didn’t know what she had hoped to gain when she came back. Diana knew there was a gaping hole of unfinished business with the Friessens and that Andy underestimated her. She left calmly, with no protest, and he’d soon learn that she wasn’t someone he could walk all over, but a worthy adversary. Her retreat hadn’t been a retreat at all, but a way for her to regroup and plan her attack from a different angle. Andy may have owned the town of North Lakewood, but he didn’t own the entire state. A smile touched her lips as a plan formed in her mind. She would find another place to go, to investigate, to stay, a place where he had no control. She would settle just outside his jurisdiction, and before he knew it, she’d be establishing herself, setting up a law practice in town. Right under his nose. And there wouldn’t be anything he could do about it. It was past time she faced the childhood that still haunted her. She would prove herself to the people of North Lakewood, and she’d earn respect from those who had looked down on her as if she were nothing. She would do it for a little girl, Louisa, who didn’t deserve the hand she’d been dealt.
And Andy… She needed to show him she wasn’t Faye and that he was wrong for what he had done to her, to Louisa. He’d shown up and been the jury and judge, branding his verdict onto her with such despicable hatred. She had worshipped him, loved him. And he had stomped on her as if she were nothing but an insect, casting them out in the dark. She wanted his apology. And then she’d have justice for Louisa.
Andy had been the driving force to succeed in her mind, because he dominated her thoughts, every part of her. He didn’t deserve that, but she didn’t know if she’d have her peace until Andy admitted he was wrong and that both she and Louisa were decent, honest, and loving. She needed to hear those words, and then finally she’d be free of the past. Maybe it had started out as curiosity of what happened to Todd, to have the answers as to why they’d been tossed away like trash. Or maybe she was finally admitting the truth to herself: The only home she had ever emotionally known had been ripped away from her in the most heinous, d
espicable way. She needed to come home to bury the ghosts of her past. She would leave when she set things right. But right now, all she knew was that she needed to come home.
Chapter 8
Jed’s mood didn’t improve much on the forty-minute drive from North Lakewood back to his ranch. He had picked up his horse, Scarlett, from Joe Patelli, the local farrier, who had fitted his horse with a new pair of shoes early that morning. What had really set his jaw on edge was hearing that Scarlett had an abscess on her right front hoof. He had since cleaned it out and needed to keep a close eye on it, or the horse would be out of commission for the entire summer season, which he counted on for that winter’s cash flow.
The plastic grocery bag of store-bought jam bumped next to him, reminding him of the stunning redhead with the dazzling blue eyes who had nearly run him down the day before. His mood darkened as he wondered who the hell she was, since North Lakewood didn’t see many visitors. He turned down the familiar driveway, dust whirling behind him as he drove the half mile to his ranch house. He had purchased the ranch with his own money, becoming the first Friessen to build something for himself without his family’s backing. Jed had worked hard to buy this place, refusing his father’s help, refusing his uncle Todd’s help. His brother Brad, who was the oldest of Rodney Friessen’s three boys, had taken over the family ranch outside of Hoquiam on the Olympic Peninsula, where he lived with his new wife, Emily; Trevor, his autistic son from his first marriage; Emily’s little girl, Katy; and their three-month-old baby girl, Becky. She was named after their mama, a saint of a woman who was nothing like his Uncle Todd’s ice-cold high society wife, Caroline. Even Jed had trouble figuring out that union.
Outcast (The Friessen Legacy Series, Book 2), A Western Romance Page 4
