by Lisa Hughey
Shane had known the route to Jack’s family home. “You’ve been here before?”
“For certain clients, my service occasionally extends to pickups or drop offs at their house.”
Keisha nodded.
“How about you?”
“Company holiday party.” Keisha’s stomach roiled again as she thought about how nice and welcoming Shelley had been. Keisha had been a little awestruck by the size and opulence of the Stone Mansion. In actuality the furnishings weren’t super fancy but the house was a sprawling monstrosity with an ornate two story entrance, seven bedrooms, and the entire back of the house was walls of windows with incredible views of the Pacific. But Shelley had put her at ease, sharing her own reaction the first time she viewed the ocean from the house.
Keisha curled her fingers around the chrome door handle. “Let’s get this over with.”
Shane nodded and they exited the car.
Jack had the massive front doors open before they even breached the porch. “Jesus, you two look like you’re going to a funeral. It can’t be that bad.” He had tugged on a ragged pair of grey sweat pants and a wrinkled white t-shirt, and wore a small grin.
Keisha and Shane strode into the grand entryway. A massive chandelier hung over a fancy Persian rug that probably cost more than her car…when it was new.
Keisha clutched the expensive, highly accurate digital camera, her fingers tight with the effort to hold in her worry.
“Let’s go into the kitchen.” Jack lead them into the casual, welcoming warmth of the center of the house. He gestured to the long mahogany plank table and they sat in silence with Jack at the head and Shane and Keisha flanking him on either side. “Let’s have it.”
Keisha pulled up the shots of Shelley in the warehouse and handed the camera silently to her boss and friend.
He’d long since lost his smile, but he wasn’t pissed…he was frowning. He went through the set of fifty time-stamped digital pictures, once then twice. One hand rubbed the center of his chest while he analyzed the evidence.
“I’m sorry Jack.” Shane’s voice rumbled from his chest.
“There’s got to be something else going on here.” Jack shook his head. His hair stood straight up but his sleepy eyes were now sharp as he flipped through the pictures again. “I know this looks bad.”
“Didn’t you say the results came back on the produce?” Keisha asked and resisted the urge to wrap her arm around his wide shoulders. She knew how awful it was when someone you trusted let you down.
“Yeah.” Jack rubbed his palm over his hair until it stood up. “But Shelley wouldn’t do something like this.”
“Sometimes, people let you down,” Keisha said softly.
Shane watched the quiet drama between Keisha and Jack, keeping his mouth shut.
He didn’t know Jack’s stepmother well but he would certainly keep an open mind until all the facts were in. Of course the evidence looked damning, but hell, this was Jack Stone’s mother. Not his biological mother, but the woman who came to live here when Jack was fourteen. She became the sole parent of three basically orphaned boys and her daughter, because sure as shit, Jack’s father hadn’t given a rat’s ass about his kids.
But this moment had given him the opportunity to see Keisha’s soft side again. She had exposed that gooey, marshmallow center and was patting Jack’s hand, her voice firm yet compassionate as she tried to comfort him. As she spoke, Shane had to wonder who had let her down so badly she didn’t even entertain the thought that Shelley was innocent, because clearly she spoke from experience.
“You’ve got to accept that Shelley let you down and start dealing with it.”
“I hear what you’re saying Keish, but you don’t know my mom.” Jack drummed his fingers over his lips and stared at a gleaming polished mahogany bowl filled with red and pink foil-wrapped candy hearts.
Keisha blinked and sent an imploring look Shane’s way, as if saying ‘talk some sense into the crazy man’.
“You’ve got to let the food bank know we found the culprit,” Keisha said more firmly.
“We need to talk to her first.” Jack nodded. “Get her side of the story before we convict her.”
Before Shane could interject, the entry door from the garage into the kitchen swung open.
Shelley tiptoed inside. She seemed to note the kitchen lights were on at the same time she realized that Jack, Keisha, and Shane sat at the kitchen table. And Shane sure couldn’t help but think that for a moment she looked guilty as hell.
Shelley stopped abruptly her red hair swung around her shoulders. She closed her eyelids over her striking green eyes. She had been young when she’d had Jess so she was only about ten years older than Jack. She clearly took care of herself. She could easily pass for a woman in her thirties.
She had a look of utter surprise on her face, which then morphed into a sheepish grin. “Busted.”
“Hi Shel,” Jack said softly.
“Well, this is certainly an odd time to be entertaining.” Shelley bustled into the kitchen and headed for the refrigerator. “Jack, you didn’t even offer your guests something to drink.”
“It isn’t a social call, Shel.”
“Oh. Oh,” she drew out the word as her green eyes widened. “Sorry to interrupt then. I’ll just go on up to bed.”
“Actually this concerns you.” Jack sounded grim.
“Me?” her voice squeaked.
“Have a seat.” Jack pushed one of the heavy wood chairs out from the table, the scrape and screech against the Saltillo tiles loud in the very silent room. “We need to talk.”
“Well, doesn’t this sound serious.” Shelley tried to joke but Shane noted exactly when she realized that no one else was smiling.
Shane kept a close eye on Keisha, trying to figure out who could have hurt her so badly that she’d automatically assume that Shelley was guilty. Of course, the current evidence would suggest that to be true. But it wasn’t logical.
He and Jack had had enough conversations about their mothers that Shane knew that Jack wouldn’t believe that Shelley was guilty until he had incontrovertible proof or her confession.
After she sat in the chair, Jack handed the camera to his mom.
Keisha now stood by the back French doors, arms crossed over her chest. Her body language was so defensive that it was a wonder that she didn’t bust out a weapon and try to remand Shelley into custody.
“Oh dear.” Shelley leaned back in the chair, her posture relaxed as if she’d snuck a cookie before dinner, not delivered tainted produce to be distributed to the unsuspecting working poor. “You caught me.”
Keisha was nodding, her lush lips pressed in to a flat, disapproving line.
Shane wondered if he should make Jack leave the room. Because they couldn’t afford to go easy on Shelley if they wanted to get to the bottom of this. “Maybe you should take a break, Jack,” Shane said ominously.
Jack shook his head. “I’m good.”
Shane took a deep breath and settled into a zone. She was no longer Shelley, Jack’s mother, she was an enemy combatant whose actions could jeopardize lives. With each inhale, he increased his bulk, tensing his muscles, expanding until his body was an unmistakable physical threat.
“What exactly did we catch you doing?” Shane’s tone brooked no excuses. He hardened his heart and his voice.
Shelley handed the camera back to Jack and pressed her hand over her stepson’s. “It’s a little silly.” She still wasn’t showing an appropriate level of fear for the situation. Shane had caused grown men to break with just his bulk and yet Shelley was still treating the situation as a minor infraction rather than the serious crime that it was. Something definitely wasn’t right.
Keisha huffed out a disgusted breath.
“Mom,” Jack said gently.
Too nice. She needed to be worried not cajoled. Shane silently indicated to Jack to shut up. “Start at the beginning.”
“I started a farm co-op with some mon
ey I got recently from your father.”
So far she hadn’t said anything that would be admissible and she still wasn’t getting the seriousness of her actions.
Shane knew he needed to do something to up the intimidation factor. He carefully pried her fingers from Jack’s hand and pressed her palm flat against the table.
“And…?” Shane hated to make her uncomfortable. But he narrowed his gaze and waited.
Shelley licked her lips and it finally seemed as if she was starting to comprehend that she was in trouble. Her gaze darted between Shane and Jack, who hadn’t said a word when Shane had disengaged their hands.
“We bought the land a few months ago. Prepped, planted. We’ve got several full time employees and just harvested our first crop of broccoli a few weeks ago.” Her smile was tentative as if waiting for approval. “And we’ve delivered thousands of pounds of nutritious vegetables to Food for Life.”
So far, Shelley hadn’t said a word about the fact that they’d used illegal pesticides. Shane was getting a very bad feeling about this. He shot Jack a questioning look. His eyebrows raised. Did Jack want him to continue?
Jack dipped his chin, and watched his stepmother.
“I don’t understand why you are so upset.”
Shane shot back. “Why deliver under cover of the night?”
“Well, we wanted the donations to be anonymous, rather than making a big deal of the fact that we were contributing more.”
Keisha snorted.
And Shelley crossed her arms across her waist, seeming to hug herself.
“You realize that your actions could be construed as trying to hide evidence of your wrongdoing.”
“Evidence?” Shelley’s voice rose and she straightened up, her tone getting defensive. Finally. “You’re making it sound like I’m a criminal.”
“So you had no idea that the produce you delivered has been sprayed with banned substances.”
“What banned chemicals?” But Shelley didn’t let them answer. “No! That can’t be possible.”
Keisha spoke, “Aldicarb.”
Shelley was shaking her head. “That’s illegal. It can’t be used on broccoli.”
“You had no idea?” Keisha’s derisive comeback shot out of her mouth and Shane could see the moment when she realized she had just basically accused her boss’s mother of illegal activity.
“Of course not,” Shelley said indignantly, liquid shimmered in her eyes.
“Mom this is important.” Jack squeezed her fingers. “You had no knowledge of illegal activity?”
“I would never jeopardize the health of the recipients of our food.” Shelley stood abruptly, shoving back her chair so violently that it tipped over and would have fallen if Keisha hadn’t grabbed the back. “The goal was to get more healthy food onto the plates of people who need it.”
“Okay. Okay.” Jack tried to placate her.
“You’re sure you didn’t know?” Keisha said one more time but her eyes had softened and she was about ready to wrap Shelley in a comforting hug. Shane was fascinated to see that caretaker, that soft-centered woman, come barreling out of the tough cookie that she’d been only minutes ago.
“Who authorized the spray?” Jack asked urgently.
“I have no idea.”
They still weren’t any closer to finding the culprit. “Who’s your co-op partner?”
“Don Wallaston.”
The smarmy guy who had leered at Keisha’s hickey? Shane didn’t like the guy but that didn’t mean he was a criminal. “Would he have access to the illegal pesticide?”
“I don’t know. That substance was banned by the FDA on certain types of fruits and vegetables years ago.” Shelley seemed hesitant. “But he does own a corporate farm. He supplies several types of produce to Del Monte.”
“So he could potentially have had access to it?”
“I guess. It would have to have been purchased a while ago,” Shelley replied drily. “But yes, it is possible. He’d have more access than I would.”
“He couldn’t use the pesticide on his own farm’s crops.” Jack said, “All the registered commercial crops are tested regularly for illegal pesticides. The incidence of illegal chemicals has been all but eradicated here.”
“But it doesn’t make any sense.” Shelley pursed her lips. “I do the finances for our little co-op and we bought and used the correct approved pest repellents. We actually argued about this because I wanted to go organic but Don insisted that our crop yield would be better with the chemicals. So I gave in.”
Jack asked, “If he switched the banned substance with the allowed substance he would have a use or outlet for the allowable pesticides you purchased.”
“I’m not sure I follow,” Shelley said reluctantly.
“Say he had some Aldicarb gathering dust at his corporate farm and he knew he couldn’t use it. This was the perfect way to get rid of the chemicals. He’d save on the purchase of legal pesticides and then substitute the illegal for the legal and use the correct safe pesticide at his corporate farm.”
“That’s awful.” Shelley reluctantly admitted, “But possible.”
“We need to find out where those chemicals came from and who authorized the use of the pesticide.”
“Oh, my God.” Shelley put her hand to her forehead. “We’ve got to get that produce out of the warehouse before it’s distributed to the public.”
Jack stood and wrapped his arms around his mother. “Don’t worry. Luckily Bob Michaels wanted to test the produce before he started delivering it.”
“Wait, so you investigated the food bank?” she asked as if she were just putting all the pieces together.
Jack shrugged. “Actually, Shane and Keisha were undercover at the wine and dine the other night.”
“I thought I saw you!” Shelley’s eyes watered and she blinked rapidly. “Do you really think that Don Wallaston would have authorized the use of an illegal substance on produce for the hungry?”
Shit, Shane did not want to deal with tears.
“It’s either him or you.” Keisha snarked.
“Now, Shelley. We are going to nail that sucker.” Shane had gentled his voice, and softened his tone, wanting her to settle. He’d been pretty sure she hadn’t had direct knowledge of the tainted produce and now that they knew for sure, Shane’s job was to protect her. Keisha was staring at him with an enigmatic look on her face.
“How?”
That was a good question. Because they needed to proceed carefully. They had to make sure that they caught the culprit either without implicating Jack’s mother or with a way to clear her, because right now Shelley was still considered culpable.
Keisha patted Shelley on the back, trying to comfort her, as if to make up for the fact that she had earlier believed that Shelley was guilty. “Don’t you worry, Shelley. Jack, Shane, and I are going to get him.”
Jack said, “Go on to bed. I’ll let you know if we need your help with anything.”
Shelley wiped the wetness from beneath her eyes and nodded. After she left the room, Jack sighed heavily. “Unless we can get Wallaston to confess, she’s fucked.”
“So let’s get him to confess.” But Shane knew they were going to have to come up with a plan and no matter how he twisted things around, they were likely going to have to use Shelley as bait.
Seven
“Well, that was fun.” Shane rubbed his large palm over his bald head and huffed out a breath as they walked to his car. “Let me get you home.”
And maybe while he had her captive in his car, he could delve into the workings of her mind. Then once he’d discovered her secrets, he’d move on to exploring her body and they’d engage in a repeat of their incredible sexual chemistry from last night.
He mentally snorted.
Shane started the car, headed out of Seventeen Mile Drive and toward the highway. The car was filled with an easy silence as they both contemplated their thoughts.
“You were good with her,” Kei
sha said. “I mean it.”
“I felt like a big bully.”
“We needed to know for sure if she was involved.”
He’d been rough on Shelley at first but it had been necessary. And while he’d managed to get the information by being scary, he’d eased off once they had her ‘confession’.
“You thought she was guilty.” Shane kept the statement as noncommittal as possible, trying hard not to piss Keisha off. But he really wanted to understand her. Wanted to know what made her react the way she did in every situation.
“Yes.”
“Why did you assume she was guilty?” He glanced at her as he took the bend in Highway 1, juicing the engine and increasing his speed.
“People let you down.” Keisha shrugged. “I try to believe the worst, and be surprised by the best.”
Shane shifted his attention back to the road. People let you down. People. Before tonight, he would have thought she meant men, but now he perceived it was more than just a disappointment in men. “Parents?”
“Maybe.”
“My mama never let me down.” Shane emphasized never. Because it was true.
“And what about your father?”
“Never knew him.”
“Left before you were born?” Keisha asked. “Like mine.”
He’d take that out and examine it later. She expected his father to be a deserter. “No. He was killed in a drive-by shooting. The bullet was meant for a gang banger walking past his house. Unfortunately, it ricocheted, went through the living room window, and pierced his heart.” Shane rubbed his hand over his chest to ease the ache that never seemed to go away.
The physical ache was a sadness for his mother. For Shane, it was hard to miss someone he’d never known, but his mother had never gotten over his father’s death.
“Oh.” Keisha laid her palm over his wrist, her fingers delicate compared to his larger thicker bones. The simple contact zapped straight to his groin. His cock swelled with desire as she turned that sweetness on him. “I’m so sorry for your mother.”
