by T. L. Haddix
“Hormones,” she muttered.
Lauren scowled. “I heard that.”
“Ah. Normally, I wouldn’t bother,” Beth answered Lauren, “but believe it or not, Grandmother has called me several times since I’ve been gone, and she almost apologized for the things she said the last time I met with her. Dad has only been back over to their house once since I was shot, and that was for a five-minute visit at Christmas. I think she’s seen that her actions have consequences, and she doesn’t like them. Or at least, I can hope that’s the case. What are your schedules this weekend? I’d like to have you over to the guest house and cook dinner.”
Lauren tugged on her ear. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I could have sworn I heard you offer to cook dinner for us.”
“Oh, you’re a comedienne today.” Beth smiled. “And I did offer to cook dinner for you.” She knew they both were thinking about her well-known lack of prowess in the kitchen. “Trust me, okay? If you are both free, why don’t we have a nice get-together tomorrow evening?”
Annie grinned. “Girls’ night! I’m in. Worst case scenario we can always order a pizza.”
Beth shook her finger and tsked. “Oh, ye of little faith. Lauren? Can you make it?”
“I’ll be there with bells on. What time, and do you want me to bring anything?”
“Nope. I have it covered. Say six thirty, seven? Oh, but you are definitely in charge of dessert, however, if you don’t mind.”
With a hug for each of them, she headed out. As she walked to the Beast, she danced with anticipation, thinking about their reactions when she pulled off dinner. It gave her something positive to think about as she drove to her grandparents’ house.
~ * * * ~
As Jason came off his shift Friday afternoon, he stopped by Neva Brewer’s desk. “Hey, gorgeous. Have you seen Ethan?”
Neva smiled. “No, but he called a minute ago and said he was on his way down. He’s been in court all day. If you wait a couple of minutes, he should be here, honey.”
Leaning up against her desk, he flirted shamelessly while he waited. Sure enough, the detective walked in not two minutes after Neva had said he would. Picking her hand up, Jason planted a smacking kiss on the back of it with a wink, and followed Ethan into the bullpen. They stopped at his desk.
“You keep that up, she’s going to demand you marry her.”
Jason grinned. “I might just take her up on the offer.” Sobering, he rubbed the back of his neck. “You have a minute?”
Glancing through his messages, Ethan nodded. “Sure, what’s up?”
When Jason cleared his throat, he drew Ethan’s full attention. “Walk outside with me?”
Ethan dropped the messages back on his desk without a word and gestured for Jason to lead on. As they headed down the back hall that led toward the parking lot, they made small talk about a current case, falling silent as they made their way through the small group of smokers who hovered around the door.
As soon as they were out of earshot of the group, Ethan spoke. “What’s going on? Is something wrong?”
Jason waved the concern away as they reached his jeep. “No, nothing like that. I just wanted to let you know something before you heard it from someone else. Beth is home.” He watched Ethan carefully, unsure of what the other man’s reaction would be.
Ethan leaned up against the jeep, arms crossed, and looked back toward the courthouse with a pensive gaze. “When did she get in?”
“Last night. Chase was the only one who knew she was coming. Surprised the heck out of all of us.”
“Is she - how is she? I know the trial starts soon. Is she back for that?”
“She seems good, actually. The trial’s part of why she’s back, but I think she was ready to come home anyhow. She asked about you.”
Ethan looked at him then. Hope flared in his eyes for an instant before he masked it. “Is she still upset with me? I suppose ‘upset’ probably isn’t the right word. You know what I mean.”
Jason shook his head. “That’s something you’ll have to ask her yourself. I think I should stay out of it. I just wanted you to hear the news that she was back from a friend.”
“You’re right.” Sighing, Ethan pushed away from the vehicle. “I’m not going to try and contact her, not right away, but I don’t want her to think I’m deliberately ignoring her. Can you let her know that much?”
“Now, that’s something I don’t have a problem doing. I’ll let her know, but you guys will probably run into each other in town, anyhow. It’s inevitable.” He climbed in the jeep and rolled the window down.
“Thanks for telling me. You didn’t have to, so I appreciate it.”
Jason squinted up at him against the afternoon light. “Ethan, I’ll tell you what I told Beth. We’ve been friends for a long, long time, and if I thought you had hurt her deliberately, I’d kill you myself. You’re still not on my Christmas card list, but I’m also not willing to write you off just yet. Give it time. That’s all you can do right now.” He saluted Ethan as he backed out of the parking spot.
“See you next week.” Ethan turned to go back inside, walking like a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Jason watched him for a few seconds before driving away. He knew had done the right thing, but wished he could do more. As much as he wanted to help, however, he knew that his sister and his friend had to come to terms with their relationship on their own.
Chapter Fifty Four
Beth’s weekend had practically flown by. Her meeting with Marshall had gone well, and she would be returning to work as a pinch-hitter for the newspaper on Monday. Whatever job needed doing until a reporting spot opened up, she would be handling it. Dinner with Lauren and Annie had gone equally well. Her friends were suitably impressed by her newfound cooking skills.
To top it off, Tara Michaels-Lewis, owner of the River House Bed and Breakfast in Leroy, had called Beth, eager to find out more about Hannah. Answering the questions, Beth had urged Tara to give Hannah a call. She had her fingers crossed that the two of them would hit it off, and that Hannah would be offered the manager’s position.
Late on Monday afternoon, she managed to slip away and go to Sharon Jenkins’s office. She’d called the counselor on Friday to set up the appointment. Sharon greeted her with a hug, and they headed back to the solarium and settled into their usual chairs.
“Well, you look like a different person. How are you?”
“I am doing very well.” Beth was glad to be able to say the words and mean them. “I still have a few bad moments from time to time, but they’re fewer and further between.” She brought the doctor up to date on where things stood, and before she knew it, the hour had gone by.
“Do you want to continue coming here? Do you feel like you need to?” Sharon asked as they walked to the front of the house.
Beth moved her shoulders restlessly. “I don’t believe I need to continue, not right now. If I hit a rough patch I can’t get through, I’ll definitely head back in, but for now, I’m okay on my own. I’ll miss talking to you, though.”
Sharon smiled. “I’m right here if you ever want to talk, and I’m certain we’ll see each other around town. I’m glad you’re doing so much better, Beth. On a strictly professional level, I hope you never need my services again.”
Beth laughed, agreeing. After saying goodbye, she headed for her next stop, the library. In addition to picking up several books, she needed to see Stella Moore and make sure things were okay between them.
A steady rain had started falling earlier, and she made a mad dash up the steps to the front door, hoping to make it inside before getting soaked. When she reached the dry foyer, she turned to look back outside to the parking lot, watching the rain run down the glass doors in thick rivulets. She turned, not paying attention to where she was going, and found herself bumping into a very solid human body. The other person’s arms came up to steady her. A laughing apology sprang to her lips, but it died as she looked up into the
startled eyes of Ethan Moore.
“Oh! H-hi,” she stammered, caught off guard. His hands slowly released her and she took a step back. “Sorry about that.”
“Not a problem. You okay?”
Beth nodded. As she pushed her damp hair off her face, she sent him an embarrassed smile.
Ethan’s dark eyes searched her face as though reconciling reality with his memories. He broke the awkward silence. “Jason mentioned that you were home.”
“Yes, he told me that he’d spoken with you. How are you, Ethan?”
He shrugged, thrusting his hands into his pants pockets. “I’m doing okay. How are you? Are you glad you’re back?”
“Very much so.” There was another awkward pause, and she cleared her throat. “I probably should head on inside. Is your mom working today? I’d hoped to see her.”
Ethan held the inner door open for her as he answered. “She’s in there, and she’ll be tickled to see you. Take care.”
She went inside with a small wave. As soon as was out of his sight, she detoured into the children’s section and moved behind one of the taller shelves where she was partially hidden from view. Leaning against the shelf, she drew in a shaky breath. Her heart beat wildly in her chest from the surge of adrenaline that had rushed over her upon finding herself face to face with Ethan.
Forcing herself to breathe slowly, she managed to calm down enough to continue into the main section of the library. As she raised her hand to push her hair back again, she caught a faint whiff of Ethan’s cologne and called herself ten kinds of fool when she couldn’t prevent the involuntary curl of pleasure that went through her. Drawing her scattered emotions around her like a cloak, she straightened her spine as she went in search of Stella. Right now wasn’t the time to analyze her reaction to seeing him. There would be plenty time for that later.
~ * * * ~
Ethan let the door close behind Beth and let out a shaky breath of his own as the door quietly settled into place. He was very glad Jason had taken the time to let him know about Beth’s return, because he wasn’t sure what his reaction would have been, meeting her like this without warning.
As he raised his hand to push the outside door open, he realized it was shaking and he snorted. He hoped Beth hadn’t seen the trembling. Walking to his truck, he barely felt the rain as he pictured her face in his mind, comparing the reality to his memories. She had regained the weight she’d lost after the shooting, and her hair was a shining curtain that danced around her shoulders. The cut made her look older, more mature, but it fit her better somehow than the longer hair had.
Inside the truck, he closed his eyes and pulled himself together. He wondered what else about Beth Hudson had changed, and if there would be any room in her new life for an old wreck like him.
Chapter Fifty Five
Over the next three weeks, Beth’s life returned to something resembling normal. She settled into her revised role at the paper, reestablished some of her old routines, and was glad to discover that she was no longer the object of so much public attention. When the shooting did come up, it was discussed in a non-sensational way and was usually a brief topic of conversation. Newer gossip had moved in, and for that, she was grateful.
The lease on her apartment came up for renewal, and the tenant she had found in the fall made her an offer, having been permanently assigned to Leroy. It had been a fairly easy decision to make, she found, choosing to let the apartment go. She discovered that moving back in held no appeal whatsoever, and her parents were happy to let her continue renting the guest house. The transfer had gone through without a hitch, and she moved on, content with the way things were going.
Hannah had indeed been offered the position as manager of River House, and she and Paulo were due to arrive in Leroy any day. Beth was excited, and could hardly wait to introduce them to her family and friends.
In addition to all that, Gordon had driven over from Louisville a couple of times, having Sunday dinner with the family one weekend and picking up Beth for a leisurely Saturday outing the next. They had kept in touch via phone and email during the time she was away, and while they weren’t dating, they enjoyed each other’s company and had developed a strong friendship.
All in all things were improving, and if Beth found herself tossing and turning at night, restless, lonely, and thinking about someone who slept just a few miles down the road, she acknowledged it only to herself.
Ruby’s trial was scheduled to begin the second week in April, and preparations were underway for that. Beth had met with the prosecutor on a few occasions, discussing her testimony and what to expect during the trial. Rhonda Roberts was going to be handling the prosecution, and Beth was glad. Although she had thought harshly of the woman in the past, the more Beth was around her, the more she realized that Rhonda would not stop until she put Ruby away for life. Rhonda wouldn’t settle for anything less, and Beth was very much looking forward to seeing Rhonda making the woman pay for her crimes.
Two days before the opening statements began, Beth met Chase at the Lighthouse for lunch, and they discussed the case.
“Her defense attorney is trying to play the insanity card. She’s undergone evaluation, but the psychiatrists they used seem to think she’s competent to stand trial.”
“Do you think she’ll use that to get out from under the charges?”
He shook his head. “No. There’s no way Rhonda will let that happen.”
He seemed certain, but Beth wasn’t so sure. Until Ruby was locked away for good, she’d still have just a little bit of the sensation that someone was looking over her shoulder.
“What about Ormsby?”
Chase laid his fork down, and reached for his water glass. “He’s fully cooperating with law enforcement, in exchange for not getting the death penalty.”
Beth moved her salad around on her plate, her appetite gone. “Did they ever figure out how many victims he had?”
“No. There just wasn’t enough evidence to trace any of them,” he told her. He looked at her, and Beth knew they were both remembering what Gordon had told them, about Ormsby’s disposal methods. It had effectively put a damper on the lunch, and they’d headed their separate ways.
The first day of the trial, the defense attorney reasserted his position that Ruby was neither sane, nor responsible for the majority of the charges, claiming that she had committed the crimes under duress and in fear for her own life. Prosecutor Roberts had scoffed at that and slashed across his argument with several concise presentations of evidence. The trial had moved quickly from that point, with the prosecution’s first roster of witnesses providing the framework for the crimes Ruby had helped Chad Ormsby commit. Beth had seen enough trials to know that Rhonda was playing her cards wisely.
Because she was a witness, she wasn’t allowed in the courtroom during the first two days of testimony, but Rhonda had put her on notice late Thursday night that she would probably be called the following day. Friday morning, she made her way to the courthouse with her parents, where they met Chase and Jason. The family insisted on staying with her and lending their support as she waited to be called.
There had been some tense moments when they arrived, as Ethan was also present and waiting to be called into the courtroom. Rhonda had started questioning him the day before, and told Beth she expected his testimony to wrap up quickly this morning. When he was called in and the doors closed behind him, a collective sigh went up from most of the Hudsons, and the tension in the hall lessened significantly. To Beth’s surprise, Gordon showed up soon after that.
“What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d drive over in case you needed me.” He walked with her to the end of the hall and they stood next to the windows that overlooked the streets below. “Any word on how it’s going in there?”
Beth shook her head as Chase came over to stand with them. “Not really. They finished with the expert testimony yesterday, and Ethan was called after lunch. Rhonda said he’d be f
inished this morning. He’s testifying now.”
The three of them chatted for a few minutes, and when they heard the door open, they turned and watched as Ethan exited the courtroom, his face grim. He glanced around and stopped when his gaze found Beth. When he saw who she was standing with, his jaw tightened, and he nodded. Turning, he went across the hall into the men’s restroom, just as the courtroom door opened again and the court officer called Beth’s name. Swallowing, she straightened the jacket of her pantsuit and walked toward the door. She sent her family a tight smile and headed inside. Gordon slipped in behind her, and as she made her way to the stand, Beth realized most of the eyes in the room were on her. As she placed her hand on the Bible and followed the instructions for being sworn in, a commotion erupted at the defense table. Beth turned in time to see Ruby stand.
A shaking arm pointed at Beth, she screamed, “You! You were supposed to die, you bitch. We had it all planned out, and you ruined it.” Her attorney stood up and tried to grab her arm, but Ruby kicked out at him, knocking him off balance. She started around the table toward the stand where Beth stood, stunned and immobile. All the terror she’d felt the day of the kidnapping rushed back in, and Beth was at a complete loss. She wanted to run, but she couldn’t make her muscles move.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gordon jump up to cut Ruby off, but two of the bailiffs beat him there. One used his Taser, stopping Ruby in her tracks, and the courtroom erupted into pandemonium. The judge slammed his gavel down repeatedly, calling for order at the top of his lungs. The bailiffs didn’t wait for Ruby’s body to stop jerking before they slapped a pair of handcuffs on her and hauled her to her feet. As they half-carried her out the door, she starting fighting them again as the effects from the Taser wore off.
“I’ll make that bitch pay if it’s the last thing I do. Damn you, let go of me!” The sound of her curses carried through the courtroom, diminished but still audible as the door slammed shut behind her. The defense and the prosecution both tried to get the judge’s attention, and a third bailiff approached Beth where she stood, backed against the witness stand. The judge finally managed to quiet everyone down with a shrill whistle, and as silence fell, he glowered across the courtroom.
