“If Mom’s screaming, it’s probably about you.” Carter smiled. “Don’t worry, Li’l Bit. I’ll let you know what you’ve done as soon as I find out.”
“What’s wrong with Leigh?” Michael asked.
“Don’t you worry about it,” Janet replied. “I’ll handle Leigh. You go get my grandchildren and bring them here. I don’t want them to spend one more second with that little slut.”
“They’re in school,” Michael said. “I’ll pick them up and bring them here tonight.”
“They’re never to see her again,” Janet ordered.
“I know that!” Michael assured her.
And that was only the beginning. Kimberly would be lucky to have the clothes on her back and five dollars when he was done with her.
When Carter opened the door and stepped inside, everyone’s eyes were on him and he knew something was horribly wrong. “What’s going on?”
“What are you smiling for?” Janet asked.
“I—” Carter began.
“You’re to blame for this too,” she said.
“For what?” Carter sensed a Chase family crisis was at hand.
“Close the door behind you,” Steven ordered. “I don’t want your sister to hear.”
“What did I do now?”
“You kept this secret from us.” Janet walked over to him and pointed her finger in his face. “You knew that Kimberly was a whore from the beginning and you let him keep this lie from us?”
Carter’s mouth fell open, but no words came out. He turned to Michael, who was sitting on the chaise looking completely broken. “What the fuck is going on?”
“They know,” Michael said. “Something’s happened.”
“Why would you help him keep this secret?” Steven asked.
“Because he’s my brother and he loves her. And that wouldn’t have mattered to either of you.”
“Encouraging his infatuation with some whore was more important than protecting this family?” Steven didn’t believe that either of his sons was on his side anymore.
Janet turned away, shaking her head. “Steven, we have no chance of fixing this if our own sons work against us.”
“What happened?” Carter asked, knowing already this was not the time to share his good news.
As Steven and Michael told Carter of everything that had happened since David had come to L.A., Janet sobbed and moaned her way through it. Carter was blown away.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Carter asked. “Since when do you keep things like this from me?”
“Are you serious?” Michael asked. “First, I didn’t fucking know. Second, when I did, I was a little sore from when you tried to choke me to death to pick up a phone and call you.”
“What?” Janet fell onto the leather sofa next to the bookcase of Steven’s first editions. “When did . . . You know what, never mind. I can’t take any more.”
That fight seemed like a year ago to Carter. “I’m sorry.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Steven said. “You need to get on your phone now and call the district attorney’s office. Use your connections to find out where the case stands.”
Carter took his phone out of his pocket. “Dad, I—”
“Don’t worry,” Steven said. “I know you’re a lawyer. If anything illegal has to be done, you won’t know about it. But I need you to make that call.”
As Carter made the call, Steven took one last sip of the whiskey and let it burn his throat. “Any talk of revenge or anything like that needs to stop now. We have to focus on the only thing that matters. First, getting that tape. Second, making sure nothing leads to Kimberly. Michael, you have to put together an airtight alibi for her just in case.”
“We have to protect her?” Michael asked.
“No,” Janet said. “We have to protect the family. As much as I would like to abandon her and let her go to jail, if she is exposed we are exposed.”
“Third,” Steven continued, “we have to find that witness.”
Carter hung the phone up. “She’s at the station now.”
“Oh my God.” Janet felt a heat flash coming on.
“This is good news,” Steven said.
“She was picked up trying to get back in the room.”
“The tape?” Michael asked.
Carter shrugged. “She had nothing but the clothes on her back.”
“Is that good or bad?” Janet asked.
“One thing I know is bad,” Carter added. “The assistant D.A. said the lead detective is Sean Jackson.”
“Just perfect.” Steven wondered if they would ever be free of that damn Jackson family. He looked again at his phone. “Now it’s time for me to make some calls.”
Leigh had locked up her office at Hope Clinic and was on her way toward the lobby when she heard raised voices. Just a few minutes from being able to go back home and get under the covers, and now there was foolishness to deal with. She wasn’t in the mood already, but when she got out front and realized it was Lyndon making the fuss, Leigh was livid.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as she approached him trying to negotiate with Carlos.
Lyndon appeared relieved to see Leigh although she was giving him anything but a welcoming expression.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“We’re closed,” Carlos said. “Let’s go, buddy.”
“I’ve got nothing to say to you.” Leigh nodded to Carlos.
“Let’s go, movie star!”
“Fine.” Lyndon jerked his arm out of Carlos’s grasp. “But you listen to me. I don’t know what your mother is up to, but you better not fuck with me.”
“Oh, you must be crazy.” Carlos grabbed Lyndon by the collar of his polo.
“This isn’t one of your movies.” Leigh smiled vindictively as Lyndon struggled like a little boy. “You can’t win a fight when the other guy isn’t paid to take a dive.”
He was nothing but what others had made him up to be. Everything about him was only enough to maintain a surface. Once that surface was chinked a bit, it all went to rust.
“I know your family is asking around about me,” Lyndon said. “About Nick.”
Carlos pushed him out the door.
“It’s not just me, Leigh.” Lyndon grabbed the door before Carlos could pull it shut. “There are a lot of people who need me, live off of me. They’re not going to put up with this.”
Leigh tossed the clipboard in her hand on the floor and darted for the door. She grabbed the handle, looking Lyndon in the face. “It doesn’t matter. They can’t help you. They can’t save you.”
She slammed the door in his face so hard the building shook.
“Damn,” Carlos said. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
Leigh felt a rush of energy invigorate her. “You know what, Carlos? You’re the last person that is ever gonna say that.”
She was done being the angel.
Sean Jackson rang the bell at Booking for a third time. “For Christ’s sake, where is everyone?”
He slammed his hand on the counter until Jerry Carlson wobbled into the area behind the security gate.
“Where the hell were you, Jerry? I’ve been here for about five minutes.”
“And the whole world was gonna fall apart?” Jerry stuffed the last piece of his hoagie sandwich in his mouth and licked his fingers.
“Really nice,” Sean said. “Can you take five seconds away from getting fatter to tell me where my suspect is?”
“Look at you.” Jerry feigned impression. “The chief gives you your first homicide case and you think you’re in charge of the joint.”
Sean might have been a little too anxious, but this case could be what got him his promotion to Homicide. He had to do this perfectly. “I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“It looks like you already have.” Jerry slid the sign-in sheet under the partition. “The FBI already stepped in.”
“The FBI?” Sean smirked. “Yeah, right. Like they�
��d be interested in a dead pimp.”
“They said it was some interstate crap. I don’t know. Look, their signatures are right there. Special Agent Allen and Special Agent Booker.”
Sean read the names but didn’t recognize anyone. “I would know if the FBI was coming in on my case, Jerry. Did you see ID?”
“What do I look like, an idiot? Of course I saw ID.”
Sean knew something fishy was going on. “Fine, where are these jokers at?”
“They’re gone.” Jerry pointed to the sheet. “Can’t you read? They left about ten minutes ago.”
“What the . . .” Sean grabbed the sheet, ripping it off the board.
“Hey,” Jerry yelled. “That’s official—”
“They stole my suspect? Did Chief Mills approve this?”
Jerry furrowed his brows. “Have you been listening, Junior? They’re the FBI. He has to do what they say. They took the girl and her stuff.”
“Stuff?” Sean’s fingers reached through the bar between him and Jerry. “Jerry, please do not tell me they took all the evidence.”
“They took all the evidence.” Jerry appeared pleased to share the news.
Sean realized his textbook hooker-kills-pimp case might not be textbook after all. He couldn’t say why, not yet, but he had a bad feeling he wasn’t going to see that suspect or the evidence again. And he was probably not going to see a promotion to Homicide.
Reluctantly, he dialed the number for his FBI contact. He got a sinking feeling in his stomach when his buddy told him there were no such cops named Allen and Booker, and the FBI wasn’t at all interested in a pimp murder case.
14
When Carter stepped out of the kitchen and onto the back patio, he didn’t see his parents anywhere. Maya said for certain they were out there.
“Maya!” he called back. “Where are . . .”
Just then he saw the front door to the Caribbean-style guest house about fifty yards from the pool open and both of his parents stepped out of the rarely used but fully and luxuriously furnished two-thousand-square-foot residence.
“What’s wrong?” were the first words to exit Janet’s mouth at the sight of Carter.
“You hiding someone in there?” Carter asked. He made his way to the bar alongside the pool.
“We were thinking it might be nice to turn it into a sporty playhouse for the twins,” Janet said. “We never use it for anything else.”
Carter offered Steven a drink. “Haley will put a contract out on anyone who lives in that house. You know she wants to live there.”
“Not a chance,” Steven said. “The last time she lived in there, she thought it meant she could throw a pool party every day. There was at least one near drowning.”
“That happens a lot around here.” Carter offered his mother a glass of tonic water.
“And a small fire,” Steven added.
“So there are no bodies in there?” Carter asked.
Steven could see he was smiling, but knew he wasn’t kidding. “You’re a lawyer, Carter. There are things you just don’t need to know.”
“Stop it,” Janet said. “No one is in there. As usual, money did the trick.”
Carter knew he couldn’t know more than that. “Michael wants the tape.”
“Ugh.” Janet put the glass down.
“I destroyed it,” Steven admitted. “And no, I didn’t watch it.”
“Now that that’s taken care of,” Janet said, “it’s time to get on with business.”
“Before you start planning Kimberly’s demise . . .” Carter put his drink down. “I have some good news for once.”
“I’ll believe that when I hear it,” Steven said.
“Avery gave birth two days ago.”
Steven nodded. “Isn’t that a little—”
“Early!” Janet inhaled sharply as she saw the smile curving on the edge of Carter’s lips. “Carter, no!”
“Yes.” He was beaming with endless pride. “I was right the first time. It’s mine.”
Steven was shocked. “How do you—”
“She told me,” Carter said. “She felt guilty and confessed.”
“I knew it!” Janet felt her heart leap with joy, much needed joy. “What is it?”
“Who in the hell does she think she is?” Steven asked. “How dare she think she can keep this from us? That whole family. They were in on it too, weren’t they?”
“Yes.” Carter’s smile faded for only a second, returning for his mother. “You got what you wanted, Mom.”
“A girl!” Janet was around the bar in a second. She wrapped her arms around Carter and leaned up to kiss him again and again.
“Those sons of bitches,” Steven ranted.
“Steven!” Janet huffed. “It’s wrong how they went about it, but you’re kind of missing what’s important here.”
“Of course,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m happy for you, son. I know this is what you wanted.”
Carter could only partially hug his father because his mother hadn’t let go. “I haven’t forgotten what we talked about, Dad.”
“You’ve seen her?” Janet asked.
Carter was beaming. “She’s beautiful, Mom. Perfect.”
“Things are a little different now, right?” Steven asked. “You can’t still want her after finding out she’s lied to you.”
Janet looked suspiciously at the two of them. “What are you talking about? What are you up to?”
“Nothing, Mother.” Carter kissed her on the forehead as he reached for his ringing cell phone. “You’re wrong, Dad.”
“We have to go over there now,” Janet said. “Michael is supposed to be here with the boys and the rest of their stuff, but I can’t wait another second.”
“Here’s our boy now.” Carter brought the phone to his ear. “Where are you? I have some news that’s going to blow your fuc . . .”
Janet finally let Carter go when he slammed his drink on the bar. Looking up at him, she could see his brows turn down and his eyes get smaller and smaller. She couldn’t take any more. She honestly couldn’t.
“Just calm down.” He looked at Steven and rolled his eyes. “Michael, listen. It’s gonna be all right. Just get over here now. This won’t be hard.”
Steven braced himself as Carter hung up. He would be dead in a year because of these kids. “What now?”
“It’s Kimberly,” Carter said. “She picked the boys up from school and they’re gone. Michael went home and Marisol said that she’s packed some stuff, taken some money and her jewelry. They’re gone.”
So much for enjoying the good news.
Haley made her way to the piano at a brisk pace and slammed her iBook right on top of it. Leigh stopped playing and looked up.
“My ears are bleeding,” Haley exclaimed. “I’ll pay you to stop.”
“Careful,” Leigh said. “This is a Macassar ebony Steinway.”
Haley made a smacking sound with her lips. “I’ll chop it up and put it in the fireplace right now.”
“Yeah, right.” Leigh gently placed the cover down. “That would actually require you to exert yourself and work. We all know that’s not happening.”
“I know why you did it.” Haley turned the Mac around to face Leigh.
“Did what?” Leigh grabbed the laptop to take a closer look.
“Dumped Lyndon.” Haley laughed. “This is so juicy. I swear.”
It was the most popular celebrity blog on the Internet, one that broke more big news than the gossip magazines combined. BREAKING NEWS was flashing at the top of the page, just above a picture of Lyndon Prior being led to a police car in handcuffs.
“This has actually made you kind of interesting,” Haley said.
“Lyndon Prior has been arrested and charged with the assault of his friend and . . .” Leigh paused as she read the next word. “Lover?”
“Did you know this guy, Nick?” Haley asked. “Please, please tell me you walked in on them. You should’ve taken a picture. Y
ou would have made millions.”
“Don’t be gross.” Leigh read on.
Nick Gagan was in the hospital in critical condition. He had accused Lyndon of beating him up after threatening to come clean about their love affair and mutual drug addiction.
“Those twelve steps are a bitch, huh?” Haley laughed. “And to think I had him on my he-can-get-it list. Good thing I took him off the second he showed interest in you. I knew something was wrong with him then. Your flat chest probably reminded him of a boy.”
“Shut up!”
Haley blinked, shocked by Leigh’s reaction. “What’s your problem? There’s no mention of you in there. Only that Lyndon’s reputation is shit now. He won’t even get a commercial in Japan.”
Leigh stood up, handing the Mac back to Haley. “Where’s Mom?”
“In the castle room.” This was what all the Chase children called their parents’ bedroom, which took almost the entire west wing on the second floor of the house. “Why?”
“Nothing.”
“Hey,” Haley called after Leigh turned to walk away. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Leigh turned around. “Mind your own business.”
“Oh . . . My . . . God!” Haley yelled. “Did Dad do this?”
“Seriously, Haley. You need to stay out of it.”
“Of course he did.” A bemused smile traced Haley’s lips. “His perfect little angel got into some trouble or something. It had to be serious for Mom and Dad to interfere with you again.”
“Don’t you have a class to fail?” Leigh asked.
“At least no one got killed this time.” Haley didn’t back down from Leigh’s glare. “What? That’s good news, right? You only caused Dad to ruin a guy’s life instead of end it.”
“Go to hell, you little brat.” Leigh turned and headed upstairs.
Haley slammed the Mac down on the piano again and then kicked the shiny bench over. She didn’t care if it was a Steinway. Maybe if she chopped it up, she’d get a little attention for once. Between Leigh and whatever was going on with Michael, Haley was sick of being left out of the loop. It wasn’t that she cared. It was the principle of the matter. She didn’t like being sidelined in her own family.
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