Old Flames Never Die (Valentine Mystery)

by Harte, Jenna

  “This is the kind of talk that is getting you in trouble with the police.” Jack finally picked up his fork to eat. If anything, he needed the food to counteract the alcohol he'd drunk. His being at Liv's hotel was going to be bad enough but if he lost control of his senses, it could be disastrous. He wondered how long it would be before Daniel called Tess to tattle on him.

  “Just because I had a loveless marriage doesn't mean I killed him. Our lives were loveless before we married. I had no reason to kill him now.”

  “Do you think you could love again?” Jack felt certain he'd done irreparable damage to his relationship with Tess. Now he had to face the prospect of living the rest of his life alone.

  She shrugged. “I'm not sure I've ever really loved anyone. I did try to love Charles. Yes, I'd be open to true love if it exists.”

  “Tess is afraid of love.”

  “That's silly, considering she has you falling all over her. That's like saying you're afraid to quench your thirst when there is tall glass of water begging to be drunk.”

  “If you always ended up thirsty after drinking you might. Tess grew up in a loveless home. Her parents were like Charles, cold and unloving. She was engaged until she caught her fiancé in bed with someone else.”

  “Ouch.”

  “It was work to get her to take a chance on me. The fact that she did tells me that she loves me.”

  “So what happened? Why'd she break it off?”

  “I got angry and gave her an ultimatum. She chose door number two.”

  “So, her fear came true again?”

  Jack stopped in mid-bite. “It's my fault?”

  “You gave the ultimatum. You gambled and lost.”

  “I offered her forever and she didn't take it.”

  Liv laughed. “It's all or nothing, huh?”

  “At this point, yes.”

  “And what point is that?”

  He sat back and stared at Liv. He'd come with anger and hurt and Liv was adding guilt.

  She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Look. She didn't make the decision you wanted, so why not stay with me. You have no ties.”

  He frowned.

  “Except that you still love her. You should go back to her. You're acting like it's over, but it isn't.”

  “I can't go back. As long as she is focused on this case, we're going to butt heads even when we try not to.”

  “If you don't have anything to do with me, then you'd have no reasons to butt heads. Stop defending me to her.”

  “It's not right that I have to give up my convictions just to make her feel more secure. Besides, you helped me. I can't abandon you.”

  Liv took a sip of wine. “It's your choice. You can be noble or you can be happy. But I don't need you so much that it's worth your losing Tess.”

  That wasn't the impression she gave during all the calls over the last week, Jack thought. “I do love her. God, how I love her. But if I give in on this, what next? I can't spend my life trying to prove my love to her. At some point she needs to trust.” He leaned his forearms on the table and looked at Liv. “She didn't even try to stop me from leaving.”

  Liv gave him a sad smile. “I guess everyone has their limit. There were times I wanted to give up on Charles and then he'd make some little gesture and I'd think maybe now he'll come around, maybe now he'll love me. But he never did. I guess now he never will.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  “I don't know. There are many people who could have wanted him dead. I suppose me included.”

  “Like who?”

  “My first thought was his partner, although it would have been easier for him to kill Charles in a hunting accident.”

  “Why him?” Jack asked.

  “He and Charles were building some development down in Bucks County. But at the last minute, Charles halted all the work.”

  “Do you know why?” Jack asked and he wondered if Tess knew why.

  “No. Charles never really talked about business or anything with me.”

  “But Charles couldn't stop it all on his own. They're partners.” He wondered if he should ask why the Senator was interested in the land as well.

  Liv shrugged. “I don't know. All I know is that there is no building going on and Wilson wasn't happy about it.”

  Jack's brows pulled together. “Weren't they supposed to go hunting together the day he was killed?”

  “Fishing. But they often were at odds and would somehow remain friends.”

  “What about other family members? Doesn't he have an ex-wife?”

  “She wouldn't bother. The only person who really has anything to gain would be his son Kevin. He'll inherit most everything.”

  “Were they close?” Jack asked.

  “Charles wasn't close to anyone, including his son. Not that they fought. Charles treated him like he treated everyone else; he was indifferent.”

  “He's here for the funeral?”

  “Yes, but more likely he came for the will. He has a fondness for the good life.”

  “Is he in debt?”

  “I don't know. I doubt it. His allowance from the family estate is pretty hefty.”

  “Liv, have you told the police about all this?”

  “I told them, but I don't know if they have done anything about it.”

  Jack shook his head. He remembered how the police focused on him to the exclusion of other viable suspects during Asa's murder investigation. “Hopefully they're looking at other options.”

  “I try not to think about it. Right now I need to get through the funeral and the gathering afterwards. It will be at the house, if you'd like to come.”

  “I'll do whatever you need.”

  “I don't want to cause any more problems for you and Tess.”

  “If it wasn't this, it would have been something else.” Isn't that why Tess had moved out in the first place? This issue had brought to light that they didn't know each other well enough and had difficulty communicating.

  “Funny how we ended up loving people who are difficult to love,” Liv said.

  Tragic is more like it, thought Jack.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tess woke with a start. Why was she sleeping in her car? She looked out the window and realized she was parked in front of Jack's house. The home had been dark when she arrived, which wasn't unusual. Jack never wasted electricity. If he was at the back of the house, the front would appear dark. But he didn't answer the door and when she walked around the back of the house, it was as dark as the front. She could have let herself in. The key was still on her key chain, but under the circumstances, it could be trespassing. So she waited. And waited.

  Checking the clock on the dashboard she saw it was 9:30. She'd been asleep for nearly an hour. She looked back at the house to find no signs that he'd returned. If he'd come home, he would have awakened her, wouldn't he? “I'm done,” his words echoed in her mind.

  She wondered if he'd gone back to his apartment in Washington, D.C., ignoring the thought that he could have gone somewhere else. Was with someone else.

  She started her car and drove towards town. As she headed up Colonial Avenue, she considered driving by Liv's hotel to see if Jack's car was there. Except, she didn't want to know. So she took a right on Main Street and hoped her hotel room was available again.

  Tess closed the door to her hotel room. “Home again,” she said sarcastically. She'd been able to get the same room she'd been in before. The clerk at the desk didn't ask about her sudden return, but did offer to give her a new room. She declined. There was no sense in messing up another room. And on the off chance Jack came looking for her, she wanted him to find her. She held on to that kernel of hope that he would show up, even though a part of her told her he'd meant what he said.

  She lay down on the bed, and wondered what her next move would be. She finally understood what limbo really meant. She couldn't move forward, but couldn't move back. So she stayed where she was, a recluse in a hotel room
. The thought of it depressed her more.

  She replayed the conversation with Jack in her mind to try and figure out where their love had gone so wrong. How could two people love each other and yet create such a mess?

  Jack had made several valid points. In hindsight, she shouldn't have moved out. She understood now that she'd been afraid and felt removing herself would make her feel more in control. She'd been wrong.

  But she couldn't get past his siding with Liv with such conviction. He treated her like a jealous ninny. Not just jealous, but callus too, she thought, as she remembered how he told her to give Liv a break because she'd just lost her husband and a baby.

  Tess shot up from bed. Baby? If Charles Danforth had a vasectomy as indicated in his medical reports, how could Liv have been pregnant? Tess worked to rein in the ideas and emotions whirling in her head. There could be a perfectly good explanation, she thought. Perhaps they used a donor and in vitro fertilization. But she couldn't bring herself to believe Charles would do that. She'd never met Charles, but from the way his family and friends described him, he wasn't the fatherly type. So either Liv went to a specialist on her own or she had an affair.

  Tess reached for her purse, grabbed her phone and called Daniel.

  ~~~~

  “Are you alright?” Daniel asked. He studied her from across the table as Tess laid out her notes, the newest of which were about Liv's pregnancy.

  “Fine,” Tess answered. She wasn't really fine. But focusing on the case helped keep her mind off losing Jack and better yet, the tears at bay.

  “Where's Jack?”

  Tess took a deep breath. “I think we've broken up.”

  Daniel lifted one brow. “You think?”

  “He said he was done. That sounds final. But I don't want to talk about it. Jack said that Liv recently lost a baby—”

  “Does he know you're telling me this?”

  “Would it matter?” Tess asked.

  “Not to me, but it might to you, in case it's not over with you two.”

  She understood that Daniel was trying to protect her. Earlier that evening Jack accused her of using information he'd given her to help nail Liv. Tess had a tinge of guilt. But mostly, she felt she was on verge of something even if it wasn't proof of murder. She shook her head and decided she wouldn't think of Jack and her duty to him now. “I think Liv had an affair.”

  Daniel studied her for a long moment. Tess thought he might push her to share more about her breakup with Jack, but to her relief he said, “Are you sure she was pregnant?”

  “No. But she apparently told Jack she was.”

  “What about in vitro?”

  “I don't see it.” Tess said. “It has to be another man.”

  She saw it in his eyes, the minute he thought it.

  “Is there any chance that Jack—”

  “No!” Of that she was certain.

  Daniel sat back in his chair. “How do you think all this fits in with the murder?”

  “I don't know. Maybe it's nothing,” she admitted.

  “It could be something. What if she didn't know about his vasectomy and when she shared the good news about the pregnancy with Charles, he knew what she'd done and he threatened to divorce her? That would give him a good reason to leave, if Shelby's gossip is to be believed. People have killed for less.”

  “Or maybe the baby's father killed him,” she added.

  “Maybe it was the stepson?”

  Tess looked at Daniel in surprise. “I'd think she has better taste. Why?”

  “Because he was visiting her this afternoon at her hotel. Without his wife.”

  “I don't know. The wife is probably dead drunk somewhere. And as heirs, they probably met to discuss the house and property. He said they didn't get along.”

  Daniel nodded. “That's what I thought too. But why not do that at the house? They were both there earlier. Or better yet, with an attorney? It's hard to believe those two would be amicable with so much money at stake.”

  “That's only if the will isn't clear. There's nothing to discuss if the will is solid.”

  “Maybe you're right. I didn't get any weird lust vibe from them,” Daniel said.

  “Lust vibe?” Tess laughed.

  “You know what I'm talking about. Two people who want each other, but don't want anyone to know about it, but they can't hide it either.”

  “I didn't get that either. It seemed to me they barely knew each other.”

  “Well, it certainly gives us something to talk to her about. I'll go through the records again. Maybe someone said something or knows something about the baby.”

  Tess was thankful that he was giving credence to her theory. She knew deep down that the news about the baby could be nothing. With Liv's alibi, it probably was nothing.

  “So now you can tell me what happened with Jack.”

  Tess shook her head. “I don't know.”

  “Did you fight?”

  “It was the same conversation that we always have. Usually it ends in a stalemate.” Or with both of them naked, she thought.

  “Not this time?”

  “No. Something was different. He arrived annoyed and I didn't give him the answers he wanted.”

  “What did he want?”

  Tess shook her head. “I don't really want to talk about this.”

  Daniel reached out and took her hand. “It's alright with me if you cry, Tess. I've got strong, waterproof shoulders.”

  That garnered a small smile.

  “He wanted me to back off Liv. He feels like I don't trust him.”

  “She's a beautiful woman,” Daniel said and winced as if he said the wrong thing.

  “Not that kind of trust. He thinks I don't trust his intuition about her. He doesn't like that I think she's using him. He feels he needs to stand by her. I suspect even if she is guilty, he'll help her.”

  “And you feel like he's choosing her over you.”

  “Not in a relationship. But he dismisses my concerns.”

  “And so he left?”

  “He gave me an ultimatum. Either I love him and move back with him or I don't.”

  “Sounds like a hail Mary to me. You chose not to go?”

  “I didn't have time to answer. I was so stunned at first. And before I could gather my thoughts he was telling me he was done and leaving.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Maybe he just needs to blow off steam.”

  Tess looked to Daniel's eyes to see if he really believed that. She could see only pity.

  “Hey, I know,” he said giving her hands a squeeze. “Why don't you take a day or two away. He did it, although it didn't do much to clear his head. But maybe it would do you good to get away.”

  “Where would I go?”

  He thought a moment. “Aruba?”

  It sounded nice, Tess thought. Except she couldn't help but imagine Jack shirtless on a pristine beach, standing in clear blue water.

  “Or New York. Mom says there's great shopping in New York.”

  “I'm not going with the crew.”

  “No. Just you. Alone with your own thoughts. Oh wait, I know. You can do a visual verification that Liv was all the places she says she was the day Charles was killed.”

  “She gave receipts.”

  “That doesn't mean she was the one who gathered them.”

  Tess knew he was trying to give her an excuse to get away. It wasn't likely Liv had people visit the spa and shops in New York to get receipts to cover her alibi. But getting away did sound appealing. The four walls of the hotel room were closing in.

  “I doubt the city would pay for it.”

  “You let me worry about the city,” he said.

  “I don't know—”

  “Tess. When was the last time you did something to take care of you?”

  She shrugged. “It's supposed to be nice up there this time of year.”

  “There you go. I'll make all the arrangements. I'll need a day. Tomorrow is the funeral and I need to go
.”

  Tess nodded. The odds of the killer being there was high.

  “But maybe the day after. I'll give you a call tomorrow afternoon when I know.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay,” he said. He stood and pulled her to a stand. Then he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. At first she was hesitant. She didn't need him thinking that with Jack gone, he now had a chance.

  “It's just a hug for a friend,” he whispered. The kindness released the hold on her tears. Daniel held her, letting her weep. Finally her body stopped shaking and her tears abated.

  “I'm sorry.”

  “Don't be stupid. You hurt.”

  Before she could respond, her phone rang.

  “Maybe that's him,” Daniel said.

  God, she hoped so. Her caller ID indicated otherwise.

  “Hey, Tess,” Kate said on the other end. “The gals and I are at To livers and I was thinking you might want to join us.”

  Tess swallowed the lump in her throat and willed her tears to stay at bay. “No. Thank you.”

  “What's wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Liar. I'm coming over.”

  “You don't have to come. Daniel is here.”

  There was a pause and then Kate said. “I'll be there in ten minutes.”

  Tess tried to tell herself that Kate was being a friend, but she knew a part of her insistence was to see Daniel. Well, maybe he'd finally notice Kate, Tess thought. Then at least someone would be happy.

  “Kate's dropping by,” Tess told Daniel.

  “The reporter Kate?”

  Tess nodded.

  Daniel frowned and began to sweep up Tess' case notes.

  “She's not coming for a story,” Tess said.

  “But she'll report it if she sees it.”

  Tess wasn't sure why Daniel was so paranoid about the press, but she supposed he was right. She helped him file the papers back in her briefcase.

  “Do you want me to go?” he asked.

  “No. I could use the company,” she said. It was the first time, Tess realized, that she wasn't pushing people away. That was progress, she decided. Progress made in part from her relationship with Jack.

  The knock at her door pushed the thought of Jack out of her mind.