by B. J Daniels
“The reason I hired you is the same reason you’re not going to quit,” she said simply.
He wanted to tell her just how wrong she was but that damned hunch of his was doing the lambada across the back of his neck to a little ditty called “Here Comes Heartache.”
He heard her take a sip of her drink, taking her time. “Come on, Jake,” she said impatiently. “You know the reason.”
“Blackmail.” He had a bad feeling that Kiki knew all the blackmail in the world couldn’t make him do something he didn’t want to do. He had his own personal reason for being here, and his hunch machine told him Kiki knew that, had known it all along. So what the hell had she hired him for?
Kiki sighed deeply. “Jake, we both know why you’re in Montana, and it has nothing to do with blackmail.”
He couldn’t believe he was playing this game with her. “Why don’t you spell it out for me, Kiki.” He held his breath, afraid she was about to validate the strongest hunch he’d ever had.
“You’re in Montana because you think Clancy’s the key to proving your father’s innocence.”
Bingo. Jake squeezed the phone and closed his eyes. Clancy was the key. Had always been the key. She’d lied on the witness stand to protect her own. father and let Jake’s go to prison. And now Jake had Clancy where he wanted her. He’d taken this case for one reason only: to get the truth. And as certain as the coming sunrise, he’d do whatever he had to do to get it out of her.
He stared across the bay at Clancy’s. “My motives for being here don’t worry you?” he asked Kiki incredulously.
“No,” she answered in that tone he’d come to despise. “I’ve seen how deep your loyalty runs. Unlike your mother. She could never forgive your father for disgracing her. She moved the two of you to Texas. She never visited him in prison. She forgot Warren Hawkins as if he’d never existed.” Kiki sounded so damned sure of herself. “You, on the other hand, can’t let go of the past. You believe in your father’s innocence and would do anything to prove it. The same way you can’t let Clancy go to prison for a murder she didn’t commit.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he said, moving away from the window. Kiki thought he was a crusader for injustice? He wanted to laugh. Didn’t she realize it was Clancy who’d done him the injustice? The woman was a liar; she’d proven that tonight. How could Kiki be so convinced Clancy hadn’t killed this Dex Westfall guy? Blind loyalty? He’d once felt that for Clancy, and look what she’d done to him and his family. No, he suspected with Kiki it was simply a matter of saving the Talbott name.
“I’m quite sure of you,” Kiki said, her tone downright haughty.
He wanted to tell her what a fool she was. After all these years, she’d just offered him the perfect opportunity to get what he wanted. The truth. And revenge at the same time. “What makes you think you know me so well?”
Kiki let out a long sigh. “I heard about how wonderful you were for years, Jake Hawkins. Did you forget that for a long time, my niece foolishly thought she was in love with you?”
Kiki hung up before he could respond. Not that he had a response for that one, anyway.
* * *
CLANCY’S EYES POPPED OPEN at the sound of the phone ringing and realized she’d dozed off standing in the shower! Panic came in hot pursuit of the realization. What if she’d fallen into one of her deep sleeps and sleepwalked again—this time totally naked?
Whatever it took, she had to stay awake. She cranked the shower handle and let out a shriek as the cold water made her skin ache. But just as she was being revived, the phone began to ring. She quickly turned off the water and reached for a towel.
Dripping, she hurried to the phone and picked up the receiver. “Hello.” She could hear breathing at the other end of the line. “Hello?” There was no answer. Just what sounded like soft, labored breathing. “What do you want?” she demanded. No answer. Clancy slammed down the phone. A prank call. Someone who’d read about her in the paper. She’d get her number changed. Maybe even get an unlisted number.
She sat on the edge of the bed, suddenly too tired to move. The soft warmth beneath her beckoned her to crawl in, to cover her head and escape for a few hours in sleep. She stood and headed back to the shower, not about to make the same mistake she’d made earlier. After spending two nights in jail, she’d been running scared and not thinking clearly. She’d been so desperate she’d called her aunt Kiki who’d pulled strings and got her out right after the late afternoon bail hearing Monday. Clancy’s plan had been to go to Bozeman and Dex’s apartment as soon as she got out on bail. She’d come straight to the lodge to pick up a change of clothing. Unfortunately, after she’d hurriedly packed and started to leave, she’d spotted the flicker of a flashlight at the Hawkins’ lodge and spotted the blue outboard tied at the dock. She’d assumed the county attorney had put a deputy on her.
She knew she was only out on bail because of Aunt Kiki and her money. She figured maybe the county attorney had gone along with the bail to please Kiki but had put a deputy on her to cover his political posterior.
So Clancy had foolishly sat by the window to wait him out—not knowing it was just Jake Hawkins, not some deputy, watching her. And she’d fallen asleep and sleepwalked.
She stepped back into the shower and let the icy cold water beat her body wide awake. She didn’t dare let that happen again. Nor could she afford to wait until morning to leave. Although she didn’t relish the idea of crossing the lake in the dead of night, Jake had left her no option. She’d wait until she could be relatively sure he was asleep, then she’d take her boat to the mainland marina where she kept her car. From there she’d drive to Bozeman, go to Dex’s apartment and—She wasn’t sure what she’d find there, but hopefully something that would prove she was innocent.
Sometimes she could almost forget about the upcoming trial. Almost pretend none of this was really happening. Then she’d get a flash of Dex Westfall sprawled on the couch in the garret. Murdered. And her standing over him with the murder weapon in her hand. One of her own sculptures.
Her heart told her she hadn’t killed him. But reason argued: how do you know you didn’t? You were asleep. And look at all the evidence against you.
Exhaustion tugged at her, beckoning her to the one place where she didn’t have to think. Sweet slumber. But with sweet slumber came somnambulism, and she feared her nocturnal wanderings. Look what had happened tonight. What had happened tonight? She wasn’t even sure. Her hands shook as she pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
She clung to only one hope. That somehow she could prove her innocence. And the only place she knew to start was with Dex. She had to find out everything there was to know about him, including why he’d ended up dead in her garret.
She told herself going to Bozeman, to another county, wasn’t really violating her bail. And anyway, she’d be back before anyone even knew she was missing. If she was lucky. But she’d take extra clothing, just in case. In case she found out something that would prove she had killed him and she decided to make a run for it?
Clancy was coming down the stairs, her hair wrapped in the towel turban-style, when she heard the pounding at her back door.
“Clancy, I know you’re still up,” Jake called. “You might as well open the door.”
She pulled the towel off her head, shook out her hair and used the tip of the damp towel to clean her glasses. Maybe he was coming to tell her he was leaving, going back to wherever her aunt had found him. Hadn’t she wished for the opportunity to really see him before he left?
If only her other wishes were granted that easily, she thought as she opened the door to find him standing on her step. He’d changed out of his wet jeans; he wore chinos and a white T-shirt that accented his broad shoulders and his tanned, muscular arms. A Houston Astros cap was snugged down on his sandy blond head; his hair curled at the nape of his neck still wet from a shower. His clean, spicy smell engulfed her.
“It’s late,” she said, but
he didn’t seem to be paying any attention. He was staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. The same way she was staring at him.
Her earlier impression of Jake hadn’t done him justice. He’d been cute at nineteen; now he was strikingly goodlooking. Strong features. A full, sensual mouth. Expressive gray eyes. A man with character. He had the kind of face she’d love to sculpt. A mixture of toughness and tenderness.
“You wear glasses,” he said simply, sounding pleased.
She didn’t tell him she’d worn glasses since she was fifteen—just not around him when she was a girl. “I can’t see much without them.”
He smiled then. “That’s nice.” He leaned one broad shoulder against the jamb.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say. Goodbye? Or maybe that he was sorry he’d hurt her. Or even that he understood she’d only done what she had to at the trial. “It’s late,” she repeated.
“Yeah,” he said, the smile dissolving as if he’d suddenly remembered why he’d come over. “It’s about your case.”
She stared at him, telling herself she shouldn’t be surprised. “I thought I fired you.”
His frown deepened. “Your aunt hired me, and she’s the only one who can fire me. And trust me, as much trouble as she’s gone to to get me here, there isn’t much chance of that happening.”
Clancy could only assume her Aunt Kiki had lost her mind.
“So now that we have that settled.” He glanced past her into the lodge.
“Yes, I guess that settles everything.” She yawned openly, not that the Jake Hawkins she used to know could take a hint.
“Except for one thing,” Jake said, his voice deadly soft. “I had a fishing trip planned that your aunt interrupted to get me up here.” He held up his hand to silence her before she could tell him what he could do with his fishing trip.
“Let me give it to you straight. I’m here for only one reason—to get the goods on you,” he said, his gaze hard as his body looked.
She swallowed, the cold hatred in his voice making her heart ache, her eyes burn with tears. Only stubborn determination kept her from crying. She wasn’t about to let him see how much he’d hurt her ten years ago, how much he could still hurt her.
“I’m going to find evidence I can use against you,” he said. “And then you’re going to tell me the truth about what you really saw the night of the resort fire, the night Lola Strickland was murdered.”
Clancy started to tell him she had told the truth, but she knew it would be a waste of breath. He hadn’t believed her at the trial, why would he believe her now?
She looked into his eyes, wondering what had happened to the boy she’d loved, the boy who had loved her. She saw nothing in all that gray but bitterness. But instead of hating him, her heart broke as she thought of all the years he’d suffered. Because of his father. Because of her. Jake should have trusted her. He should have known she wouldn’t lie, she wouldn’t hurt him or his father, and she wouldn’t have thrown away their love without a fight, the way Jake had.
“In the meantime,” Jake said, “you and I are going to be inseparable until you’re acquitted—or sent to prison.”
She bit back a curse. “You’re making prison look better all the time.”
His gaze met hers. “I think I know why you lied about my father, but no matter the reason, you’re going to admit it to me. And very soon.” He touched the brim of his baseball cap. “See you in the morning.”
She slammed the door and dropped into a chair at the table, feeling incredibly tired and despondent. Aunt Kiki had brought Jake back knowing how he felt about Clancy, knowing how she’d once felt about him. That old familiar ache seized her heart in a death grip. How Clancy still felt about him.
Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down over her cheeks, bitter on her tongue. She wiped at them. She still loved him. Through all the hurt, she’d never stopped loving him. Could never stop loving him. But like him, she felt betrayed. And angry with him for not trusting her. She knew she’d have to draw on that anger to keep Jake from knowing how she felt about him—and using it against her.
Emotional exhaustion and lack of solid sleep stole at her strength. She leaned her head on her arms and closed her eyes, telling herself she’d rest for a while, just until she could be sure Jake was asleep. Crossing the lake at night seemed less dangerous now. Much less dangerous than facing Jake Hawkins. If there was more incriminating evidence out there against her, Jake would find it.
She wished with all her heart that she could turn back the clock, back before the night of the fire and Lola’s murder, back when Jake loved her. She closed her eyes. And saw Jake come sauntering up the sandy beach, sixteen and suntanned, that grin she loved on his handsome face. And she ran out to meet him, as carefree as the breeze that rippled the surface of the lake.
* * *
CLANCY OPENED HER EYES, shocked to find the sun streaming in through her bedroom window. Even more shocked to find herself curled in the middle of her bed, the quilt rough with sand from her bare feet. She lay perfectly still, her mind frantically trying to recall when she’d come to bed. No memory.
That’s when she noticed her left hand clenched into a fist, as if she held something that might try to escape. With dread, she slowly uncurled her fingers. There in her palm lay a single tiny blue bead.
Her heart pounded. There was nothing unusual or unique about the bead. Except Clancy knew where it had come from. With a tremor of terror she remembered Friday night when Dex had called and demanded she meet him at the Hawk Island Cafe on the other side of the island.
He’d been holding a necklace of colored beads when she’d walked up to him. The outdoor café was empty that late at night and that early in the season. Dex sat at a table in a flickering pool of light from the Japanese lanterns strung overhead. She had looked at the necklace with growing dread, thinking it was another present, wishing she hadn’t agreed to meet him.
He must have seen the expression on her face, because he gave a bitter laugh as she took a seat across from him.
“Don’t worry, it’s not for you,” he’d said, holding up the string of beads for her to see. With a jolt she realized she’d seen it somewhere before. The tiny beads were pale blue. A handmade ceramic heart hung from the center of the necklace. It was painted navy with a smaller pink heart in the middle.
“Where did you get that?” Clancy asked, trying to remember where she’d seen it before.
“It’s part of my mother’s legacy,” Dex said.
His mother? “What are you doing here?” Clancy demanded, wishing she’d never come, wondering how he’d even known where to find her. She’d never told him about the family’s lake lodge. When she’d broken it off with him in Bozeman, she’d thought she’d never see him again. She felt a chill as she watched him hold the necklace up to the light and smile.
“What do you want, Dex?” Clancy asked with dread.
His eyes narrowed as he glared at her. “You’re part of that legacy, Clancy.”
She felt her fear level rise. How could she not have seen this side of him from the very start? “I thought we’d agreed not to see each other again.”
“We agreed?” He reached across the table and grabbed her arm, squeezing it until she cried out in pain.
“Leave me alone, Dex. I’m warning you—”
He squeezed harder. “If you think you’ve seen the last of me you’re—” He looked past her, seeing something that made his eyes widen. He released her arm almost involuntarily. She turned to look but saw nothing in the darkness beyond the café.
He lowered his voice. “I’m not leaving this island, Clancy. Not until I get what I deserve.” He’d hurried off, leaving her sitting, head reeling, wondering what he’d seen in the darkness that seemed to frighten him. And what Dex thought he deserved.
Just hours later, he’d turned up dead in her garret.
Now she stared at the tiny bead in her palm, knowing this had to be one of the b
eads from the necklace. Apprehension rippled through her as she stared at her sandy feet. Something had triggered her night wanderings again. And she couldn’t seem to stop them. Now she’d returned from sleepwalking with a single bead from a broken strand. When had it been broken? And where had she found this one blue bead? Even more frightening, how had she known where to look?
She slid her legs over the side of the bed and staggered into the bathroom. As she dropped the bead into the toilet and flushed, she watched it disappear with growing terror. She couldn’t keep kidding herself. Like the broken string of tiny blue beads, her life was coming unraveled.
Chapter Three
Clancy glanced warily across the bay at Jake Hawkins’s lodge. The shades were drawn; she could catch no sign of movement behind them. The blue outboard was still moored at his dock, a boat she assumed he’d rented to get to the island. She looked at her watch, surprised to find it was earlier than she’d thought. Then she turned her gaze again to Jake’s lodge across the small bay. The coast looked clear. She picked up the overnight bag and her purse and opened the back door, expecting Jake to suddenly appear and block her escape.
As she stepped out onto the small back porch, she glanced apprehensively behind the lodge. While she found no one hiding in the lilac bushes that brushed the back side of the building, she did see something that stopped her cold. Slowly she put down her purse and overnight bag and moved toward the first lilac bush. Some of the branches along the lodge side of the bush had been broken. They hadn’t been yesterday afternoon when she’d returned from jail. She was sure of it. She’d stopped on the porch to dig out her key and picked up the sweet scent of the lilacs, now in full bloom. And she wondered where she’d be this time next year when they bloomed. In prison?
Clancy brushed back the branches, not surprised to find the grass beneath the kitchen window crushed where someone had stood, looking in. Through the glass Clancy could see her coffee cup at the table, the chair pushed back from where she’d sat last night. Someone had stood on this very spot, watching her!
