by Lee, Rachel
Then he heard it. It was soft, stealthy, almost inaudible. He strained his ears, trying to make it clearer, trying to pick out what it could be. It moved across his front porch, he realized.
His heart slammed. Something was out there. Just a raccoon, he told himself. Just a raccoon.
He didn’t believe it.
He had a choice. He could sit there and try to tell himself it was a racoon, and not believe it, or he could go outside and look.
It should have been easy, but he found himself paralyzed with trepidation. God, he hated this. It was so simple to get up and look. And if he’d known for sure there was some human agent out there, even one that was bent on killing him, he could have moved forward.
It was not knowing that was killing him and making him helpless. A sudden surge of bile rose from his stomach, and fury filled him. He was not a coward, and was not going to act like a coward.
With a supreme effort of will, he pushed back from the table and headed for the door. He hesitated again when his hand touched the knob. He could feel the night on the other side of the door, a huge, breathing, hungry entity, pressing inward, trying to reach him.
Stupid! With a violent yank, he pulled the door open.
The night shrank back before the lamplight that spilled forth. Reaching out, he found the switch for the porch light, and flipped it on.
There was nothing out there. Nothing. Not even a startled raccoon. Furious at himself for his sick imaginings and his fear, he turned to go back into the house.
That was when he saw that a chair had been moved halfway across the porch, so that it stood right under the window.
As if something had been using it as a ladder.
Callie slept poorly and couldn’t face the thought of breakfast, so she set out early for the Monroe County Courthouse. At eight o’clock she was in the courtroom as the judge began the hearings over closed-circuit TV.
Jeff’s case didn’t come up until nearly nine-thirty. As soon as the bailiff recited his name and the charges, she leaned forward, straining to hear every word, her stomach twisting into tight knots. She listened to Shirley’s argument, but in the end what she heard, all she really heard, was that Jeff’s bail had been set at a quarter of a million dollars.
Shirley argued for a property bond, but the judge said that would have to be dealt with in a separate hearing.
The sum boggled her mind, and she had to keep reminding herself the house and land were worth more than that. Much more than that. She slipped out of the courtroom and met Shirley in the hallway.
“A quarter million,” Shirley said immediately upon seeing her.
“I heard.”
“Damn good for two charges of murder. Charges that might well become capital murder.”
Callie’s heart stopped, and she felt hot and cold wash over her in sickening waves. “Capital murder?” she repeated, her voice a croak.
Shirley nodded somberly. “Two murders committed during the commission of a crime, namely grand theft.”
“They want… they want the death…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence. Reaching out, she grabbed at the wall to steady herself. It didn’t offer a whole lot of support.
Shirley took her other arm, tucking it through her own and steadying her. “The death penalty,” Shirley said flatly. “They’re sure as hell thinking about it. But they didn’t push it that far today, which is the only reason bail was set.”
Giving a gentle tug, Shirley pulled Callie toward the door. “I don’t know if you heard most of what I said.”
Callie shook her head, feeling too stunned to speak, or even to remember exactly what Shirley had argued.
“Well, I argued the weakness of the case, Jeff’s prior good behavior—basically, Callie, the judge wasn’t much more impressed by the state’s case than I am.”
“How do you know that?”
“He gave your brother bail. A very small bail, considering the charges.”
“Oh.” Callie tried to tell herself this was good news, but she couldn’t believe it, not when the death penalty was being considered.
“Anyway,” Shirley continued, “I asked for a property bond and the judge refused to discuss it in advisory, which is what the hearing today was. So I’ve set another hearing for tomorrow morning, for a full bond hearing.”
“You mean I can’t get Jeff out today?”
“Well, you can if you’ve got twenty-five thousand dollars in cash to pay a bail bondsman.”
“I don’t have that kind of money!”
“I didn’t think so. Listen, Callie, here’s how it works. You pay a bail bondsman ten percent of the bail—which you never get back, because that’s his fee—and he’ll take your house as surety for the rest. Or you can hang in a couple more days, and we’ll get you a property bond from the clerk of court. They’ll still put a lien on your house for surety, but at least you don’t have to pay the bail bondsman twenty-five thousand to do the same thing. It’ll take two or three days to get it straightened away, but it appears to me this is the only way you can do it.”
Callie nodded, feeling almost numb as the news kept getting grimmer. But only one thing truly mattered. She turned to face Shirley. “And Jeff? Is Jeff going to be okay?”
“I can’t make any promises as to outcome, Callie. You know that. Jeff should never have been convicted of aggravated assault four years ago, but he was, primarily because the victim was a wealthy doctor and your brother was a nobody. I still haven’t seen all the state’s information on this case, and I still don’t know what information I’ll be able to put together on Jeff’s behalf, so I don’t want to even speculate on the outcome. But I will tell you this. I don’t believe Jeff did it.”
That wasn’t much help, but it was the only straw Callie had to cling to. At least Jeff’s attorney believed in him. Getting in her car, she drove straight to Stock Island to the jail.
The new Monroe County jail was set on stilts like most of the newer buildings in the area, above the floodwaters that could occur from a tropical storm or hurricane. Underneath was a paved parking area that was still roped off by construction fencing. The sheriff’s petting zoo was at one end of the building, but Callie hardly noticed the animals. Her mind was fully focused on how she was going to give Jeff the bad news.
An elevator took her up from the parking level to the reception area, a large, softly lit room floored with blue, black, and beige tiles. Blue-plastic chairs were clustered in a couple of places, some of them occupied. Everyone in the room sat with their heads down.
A woman in uniform sat behind a glass window under a sign that said INFORMATION. Callie walked over to her and asked to see Jeff.
The lady checked her computer and shook her head. “He’s having a hearing this morning.”
“I know, I just saw it. It’s over.”
“But he’s with a group of prisoners, ma’am, and he won’t be returned to his cell until everyone’s hearings are done.”
“Do you know how long that might be?”
The woman shook her head. “That depends. I really couldn’t say.”
Callie took her seat with the others and found herself sitting with her head down, staring at the tile on the floor. She told herself to lift her head, that she had nothing to be ashamed of, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was ashamed even to be there.
Two hours later, divested of her purse, she was allowed in to see Jeff. The instant she laid eyes on him, her heart started to break. He gave her a smile, but she could tell how hard it was for him. He looked pale and exhausted.
But he insisted he was okay, that no one was hurting him.
“Just tired,” he said, giving her another wan smile. “I didn’t sleep much last night. I was too scared.”
She wanted to reach out and hug him, but she wasn’t sure that was permitted, and they were being watched by a guard. “Shirley’s got a bond hearing set for tomorrow,” she said, trying to encourage him. “I won’t be able to get you
out right away because it takes a couple of days to put the house up. Two or three days, Shirley said. Can you make it?”
He nodded. “Sure. I can make it.” But the skin around his eyes was even tighter now than when she’d first seen him. “I’m sorry, Callie. God, I’m so sorry!”
“You didn’t do anything wrong! You didn’t kill those men.”
“No… but if I’d just been responsible enough to come back in time to go to work, I never would have tried to salvage that boat.”
She shook her head because her throat was suddenly tight, and she didn’t think she could speak. Finally she managed to say hoarsely, “You didn’t do anything wrong, Jeff. Certainly nothing that deserves a murder charge.” Daring, she reached out and covered his hand with hers. The guard didn’t say anything, but she could feel his eyes burning into her head, so she drew her hand back quickly. “Do you need anything?”
“Cigarettes.” His mouth twisted. “I know, you probably think this is a great time for me to quit.”
Right now that didn’t seem very important to her. “How do I get them to you?”
“There’s no point, sis. They don’t let me smoke in here…”
This time she was the one who forced the smile. “Good.”
He gave a choked laugh at that. “Yeah, I got three or four days to quit, right? Say, are you going to see Eric? He was at advisories this morning, too, but they wouldn’t let us talk.”
“I guess I can do that.”
“Thanks. I don’t know if his folks will come visit him.”
“I love you, Jeff. We’ll beat this thing.”
“Sure. I didn’t do it. They can’t execute me for something I didn’t do, right?”
He didn’t sound any more confident than she felt. She hung around for another hour, and got a few minutes with Eric. He had a public defender, he said, and no, he hadn’t heard anything from his parents.
“Do you want me to call them?” Callie asked.
He shook his head. “I already did. I left a message. They’ll come see me.”
Callie hoped he was right. Five minutes later she was taking the elevator down and feeling even worse than she had before she came here.
Jeff was released on bond three days later at one-thirty in the afternoon. Callie spent the intervening time scraping the peeling paint off her house like a madwoman, finding her only relief from worry and fear in keeping busy. The phone rang frequently, but she soon realized it was mostly reporters looking for a story, or friends who seemed more curious than sympathetic. Before long, she stopped answering it. Every day, twice a day, she called Shirley to learn what was happening.
In all that time she didn’t see Chase, not even sitting on his porch, and vaguely she wondered if he’d gone away. As focused as she was on her concern about Jeff, however, she didn’t even think to go knock on his door and see if he was all right.
As soon as the clerk of court finished verifying the tax and property records, and approved the bond, she was off like a shot to get Jeff.
When Jeff stepped out of the sally port, Callie felt her heart sink. He looked even more exhausted and frightened than the day before. His shoulders were slumped, and his step had none of the cocky assurance he usually displayed.
“Did they hurt you?” she demanded the instant they got outside. For the last three days, she had worried about that constantly, plagued by all the horror stories of what could happen to people in jail, fearing that he was lying to her when he said everything was okay.
He shook his head. “It was scary, but nobody hurt me. I slept on the floor, though…” His voice trailed off. “I’m sorry, Callie.”
She looked up at him quickly, hearing the thickening in his voice, and saw to her horror that her brother was about to cry. His eyes were red and watery. “Jeff…”
“I’m sorry, Callie,” he said again, and drew a shaky breath. “You had to put the house up… I’m so sorry…”
He looked quickly away and took a couple more shaky breaths. “God, I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Jeff.”
“Yes, I did! I shouldn’t have gone off half-cocked that morning just ‘cause I was angry at you. I shouldn’t have sailed when the weather was going to be bad, and I shouldn’t have cut out on work.”
“Maybe not, but what you did wasn’t bad enough to warrant a murder charge, Jeff. We’ve been over this already, and I want you to stop beating yourself up over it. As for putting the house up to get you out—we do what we have to do. That’s life. As long as you don’t skip out, it won’t matter anyway, so don’t even think about apologizing.”
He looked at her, his eyes burning. “I won’t skip out on you, Callie. I’ll do everything they said I have to. I swear.”
“I know you will.” Reaching out, she hugged him tightly. “I love you, Jeff. I don’t say that enough, but it’s true.”
“I love you, too, sis.” His voice was muffled, awkward with embarrassment.
She stepped back, her own throat tight with feeling, and tried to give him a bracing smile. “Now let’s get you home.”
He didn’t say much during the hour-long drive home. Jeff usually had plenty to say about everything, and was rarely repressed for long. Apparently getting charged with murder had shaken him to his very core. She wondered if he would ever be the same again and feared that he wouldn’t.
For some reason she hadn’t expected it to hit him this hard this quickly. Nothing had ever seemed to hit Jeff very hard, not even his conviction for aggravated assault when he’d been immediately released into Callie’s custody and sentenced to probation. He’d lost a little of his cockiness for a while, but it had all come back eventually. She had expected to get treated to some of his youthful bravado when he came out of the jail, to hear him talk about all of this like it was going to blow away in the next breeze. A little denial, maybe some anger.
Not this total dejection, as if he had given up hope.
When they got home, he headed straight for his bedroom, saying he hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night, lying on the floor of the cell. He didn’t say whether discomfort or fear kept him awake, and she didn’t ask. His youthful male pride had taken enough dings in the last few days. She certainly wasn’t going to ask him if he was afraid.
While he slept, she started cooking a big old-fashioned dinner of the kind her mother had used to make when her dad came home from the sea. Even though Jeff had only been gone for a few days, she had a feeling that he had traveled a lifetime. A homecoming celebration seemed in order, even if there was little to celebrate.
While she was peeling potatoes for the pot roast, she glanced out the window and saw Chase Mattingly walking along the path toward her. Wherever he’d been the past few days, he was back. After a moment’s indecision, she decided that if he’d come to ask about Jeff, she would invite him to stay for dinner. It was the neighborly thing to do. Besides, it might be good for Jeff.
But she found herself hoping he would keep on walking. She wasn’t at all sure she liked him. He was abrupt and sometimes blunt to the point of rudeness. Worse, he was an attractive man, and once or twice when she’d thought of him, she had felt her body stir in ways it hadn’t stirred in years.
And that wasn’t good. Not at all. Never, ever again was she going to get involved with a man that way. Every man in her life had abandoned her eventually. The way she figured it, if she never let a man get that close again, it would be too soon.
But her hands fell still as she looked out the window and watched Chase walk along the narrow beach, climbing up to disappear among the mangroves, reappearing when the path returned to the shoreline. His limp was bad today, and something about the stiff way he was holding himself spoke volumes for the pain he must be suffering. Despite it, he kept on walking, never once pausing to give himself a break.
Whether she liked him or not, she respected him for that. At her job, she dealt with women who had suffered terrible experiences, either as rape victims
or the victims of spousal abuse. They were women who had a lot to feel bad about, women who had every reason to complain and feel sorry for themselves. And some did. But she always most admired the ones who refused to think of themselves as victims. The ones who were determined to find ways to deal with what had happened to them, and were determined to put their lives back together.
Chase had that kind of spunk, she thought. So why was he hiding out here like this?
Suddenly remembering the potatoes she was peeling, she dragged her attention from the window and back to dinner preparations. A few minutes later, she heard the knock on the front door.
Wiping her hands on a dish towel, she went to answer it. Chase stood there.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said. “I’ve been in Miami visiting a friend, and I was just wondering if Jeff got out?”
“He’s out on bail.” She hesitated, really reluctant to invite this man into her life again. Yet it was possible Chase would know something to say to make Jeff feel less crushed. For all her training in psychology, Callie didn’t feel she truly understood the male ego. “He’s sleeping now, and I’m making dinner. Would you like to join us?”
He shook his head quickly, taking a step back. “I’m not trying to intrude. I was just wondering about Jeff.”
She felt strangely rejected. Silly considering how she felt about him. “Well, if you change your mind, I’ll be serving around six. And I know Jeff would like a chance to talk with you.”
“Thanks.” He backed up another step. “I might come over later. Thanks.”
Then he turned, limped down the steps, and continued his walk.
Strange, she thought. Why had he stopped to ask about Jeff, then lit out like he thought he might catch something?
Shrugging, she went back to work on dinner. She would never understand men.
CHAPTER 6
He couldn’t go on like this.
The thought struck Chase as he stood looking out at his nemesis, the sea. She was unusually beautiful today, dappled in a variety of greens and blues, the water clear enough to see the seaweed beds on the bottom. He still felt a chill creep along his spine when he saw the water, but that was gradually lessening.
