Burned by Deception (The Dark Side of Springwood Book 2)

by Jennifer A. Brown

  ****

  Brian went home and tried to kick back and relax but couldn’t. After losing his third game of bowling on his Wii, he angrily threw the controller down, releasing a deep sigh.

  He looked at the tree he and Lyn had picked out several days ago along with the ornaments they had hung on its branches as they glistened under the clear lights.

  He didn’t tell Lyn, but this was the first year he had even bothered putting a tree up in this apartment. He never saw a need to without family nearby. The holiday was simply just another day to him. Until this year.

  He sauntered over to a nearby drawer, taking out the pill bottle he’d taken from Lyn’s medicine cabinet only a few weeks ago. They were birth control pills that had been prescribed for her alter personality about six months ago. The prescriber, as he’d come to find out through a little online research, had been Sharrad Havash, a doctor at a former clinic that sat on the outskirts of Springwood. The clinic had gone under due to financial troubles. He remembered the newspaper doing a story on it.

  He opened the pill bottle, looking at the pills still inside of it. They had been prescribed to Tammy, but he wondered if Lyn had even noticed them.

  Now, with this suspicious accident, Brian really held some deep concern. As much as he wanted it to be a drama-free, Merry Christmas, it looked like Tammy was going to see to it that it wasn’t.

  ****

  Jacob was just finishing up, signing for every new bench the workers were feverishly putting up, when his phone rang. He reached in his pocket to see the number for his sister’s apartment displayed across the screen as he answered it.

  “Hey, Justin, what’s up?”

  “Jacob, I—I have really thought this over. I didn’t originally want to bring any of it up because it’s Christmas, but-“

  Jacob walked toward his car, putting his hand to his eyes to shield them from the sun. “What is it, Justin?” he asked, prompting him to go on.

  “I…found some pictures in Lyn’s closet. I think Tammy defaced a lot of them, but-“

  “Pictures? What kind of pictures?” Jacob asked, stopping as he came to his car, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, remembering his sister’s photo shopped nude pics decorating the wall of his campaign center only a month ago. The words Tell us your secrets, Mayor had been painted across certain areas on Lyn in the photos. Ironically, not long after, Davis Cauley held Jacob’s sister before a live audience on a web cam via his campaign site as Tammy spilled Davis’s accusations against Jacob. Jacob still got chills as he remembered how Davis had tried to contact him years before, after the death of their parents, to contest custody of Lyn. His real name had been Steven Cauley. Davis was his middle name he used on the air.

  “Most of them are photos of us all on vacation. There’s some from the last year mom and dad were alive,” he went on. “And then, there’s some of dad and—someone else that I’ve never seen.”

  ****

  Tammy smiled widely at Becky, trying hard not to laugh as her eyes grew larger and larger. “Do I look okay to you, Becky?”

  Becky gulped. Tammy’s smile softened in the only way an evil person’s could.

  “Lyn’s okay too. Even though if she hadn’t fought me like she did and just let me have a moment alone with Dan, maybe the freaking accident wouldn’t have happened.”

  Becky stared at her. “You’re blaming Lyn for the accident?”

  Tammy turned a narrow eyed glare on her again. “The bitch can’t handle the wheel when she fights me. The ticket’s in her name, so it’s her fault.” She closed the laptop, smiling again at Becky. Becky shakily stood with her arms wrapped around herself. “Enough about me, though. And Lyn. I heard you got a new book.”

  Becky gazed at her, perplexed. “Yeah.”

  Tammy came over, standing before her. Becky backed up slowly.

  “What’s the matter, Becky? I just want to congratulate you. And wish you the best of luck with it,” she went on. “And believe me, you’ll need it.”

  ****

  Justin opened the door to let Jacob in twenty minutes later.

  “We need to make this quick. Becky’s still at my place with Lyn, and I promised her I’d be back before two.”

  Without another word, Justin handed him the three photos he had never seen before. Jacob’s face crumpled in confusion as he stared at the pictures.

  “That’s definitely not mom.” He said.

  “No, it isn’t.” Justin agreed.

  Jacob flipped through each picture, studying it closely.

  “So who is it?” Justin finally asked.

  “I have no idea,” Jacob went on, shaking his head. “None of us talked to him, especially toward the end, due to his long hours. I was too involved in my band, you were normally hanging out over at Jeffrey’s, and Lyn…” he trailed off.

  “…apparently had it in for dad. Or Tammy did,” Justin finished for him, showing him the worst few of the defaced photos. “And if that photo is any proof, we now know why.”

  ****

  Brian found himself driving into the newest addition of homes in Springwood Heights, the wealthy end of town, where he had looked up what had to be the home address for Dr. Sharrad Havash. There was only one in Springwood.

  He felt compelled to do something, and right now, it felt safer to do this instead of going to question Dan. That would only upset Jacob, and he didn’t want to do that at the moment.

  He slowed as he approached number 1122 which had been listed as Dr. Havash’s residence. A dark blue SUV sat in the driveway. It also seemed to be the only house with not even a fraction of Christmas lights up.

  He hesitated before getting out of the car and walking up the front path to ring the doorbell. After a few moments, it was opened by a short Indonesian woman wearing a long sleeved green knit sweater and black pants.

  “May I help you?” she asked, with a slight accent.

  “I’m looking for Dr. Havash. I’m Brian Shirk from the Springwood Daily Newspaper.”

  Her mouth dropped open a little. “The newspaper? We weren’t-“

  “Fasima?”

  A deep male voice sounded from inside the house before a tall, dark skinned man with graying hair at his temples appeared in the doorway behind her.

  “Dr. Havash?”

  The woman began to protest to the man in their native tongue, but he put a hand up to stop her. “Yes?”

  Brian took another deep breath, willing his heart to stop pounding inside him as he showed his press ID. “I’m here to follow up on a story concerning the McGregor Women’s Clinic. I apologize for the late notice, but could I ask you a few questions?”

  ****

  Their father cheated on their mother. She cheated on him, and as a result, their sister had been born. All of this information spun inside his head as Jacob drove home. Tammy had obviously been the photographer of the photos Justin showed him. He felt certain if his sister had ever seen those, she would have said something.

  It was only one o’clock, yet it felt as though it had already been a long day.

  He turned onto the road that led to his place, passing the credit union. The front window was all boarded up. He sighed, knowing his first order of business Monday would be to get that mess straightened out.

  He braked for the traffic light up ahead as his phone rang. Glancing at the screen, his heart missed a beat seeing the caller was Robin.

  “Hey, sweetie! How are you feeling?”

  “Better,” she said. “Um, I just got a call from the prosecutor. Carson Sowers was released from the hospital today.”

  He released a breath he wasn’t aware he had been holding. “Oh. Okay. That’s good, right?”

  “I’m not sure. Apparently, he wants to talk to us. You and me. He’s cutting some sort of deal, probably using part of his connections.” She went on. “Where are you right now?”

  “Headed back to my place.”

  “Okay. The prosecutor wants to meet us in an hour. I can he
ad there and meet you-“

  “Robin, before I agree to anything, I need to know what this is about.”

  She sighed. “I’m—not real sure, but the prosecutor insisted we do this, that it would be in Lyn’s best interest.” She went on. “So, can I meet you at your place? Head there together?”

  ****

  Dan kept busy for most of the day, and Toby avoided him as much as possible. Until lunchtime rolled around.

  “Hey, I thought maybe…we could call out for pizza?”

  Dan looked up from the hard drive he had been working on for the past half hour. “Sure. That sounds good.”

  “Anything you want on it?”

  Dan shrugged. “Whatever you want, man. I’m not picky.”

  Toby nodded then disappeared out front, and soon afterwards, Dan heard him on the phone ordering the pizza. Then he heard more customers come in; a few kids laughing and carrying on. Then he heard a female voice cry out, “No. Elizabeth! Come back here.”

  The giggling sound grew closer, and he turned to see a little blonde girl with a ponytail standing beside him. Dan couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Elizabeth! Come here! Oh, geez, I am so sorry about this! They’ve been with my sister all day, and-“

  The woman who had come back there to claim Elizabeth stopped cold as her eyes met Dan’s. He glanced at her. “It’s okay. Kids will be kids.”

  The woman’s stare didn’t waver, though, as Elizabeth skipped right back out of the room.

  “Is…something wrong?” Dan asked, uneasily.

  She gulped and frowned.

  “Hey, Sarah! I need your opinion on this keyboard!” Another female voice from the front called for her.

  She shot Dan another uneasy look before bolting from the room, leaving him spooked for the second time that week.

  ****

  “Thank you for allowing me the time to speak to you.” Brian said after the doctor had let him in and led him into his den just off to the left of the foyer.

  “Of course. I don’t understand why there is a follow up on the story, though. It’s closed. I now work with a family practice as I stated in my previous interview this summer.”

  “Yes, I know. The clinic fell under hard times, and there was no other recourse. I understand that,” Brian continued, biting his lip. “It’s just that recently, allegations have been made, anonymously to the paper, regarding prescriptions that were given to people with fake names.”

  Brian watched Dr. Havash’s expression. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Although I can’t comment on patient’s records, I do assure you that nothing like that occurred.”

  Brian raised one eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”

  The doctor gave him a stern look. Brian hesitated, holding up his hands. “Okay, I was going to be discreet about this, but you’re giving me no choice. I have recently been given information that you prescribed Tammy Cauley Desogen. And if you have kept up with the news, you know who Tammy Cauley really is.”

  “I don’t. I’m a very busy man. I have no time for news programs.”

  “Does the name Jocelyn Barnes ring a bell? Her brother Jacob is the mayor of this city.”

  Before that point, Brian had never seen an Indian man turn pale. “What does this have to do with them?”

  Brian sat forward on the leather couch. “Tammy is Jocelyn’s alter personality. And you, doctor, prescribed her birth control pills.”

  ****

  Speechless, Becky kept backing up until she felt her foot twist. Her heart beat like a jackhammer.

  Becky had backed into a pair of Jacob’s shoes on the floor. She stumbled back and fell against the open door. Tammy stood there, smiling devilishly, until she heard Jacob’s voice.

  “Hey, Becky! I’m back!”

  Tammy shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose, before hearing Jacob’s voice, now closer.

  “Becky? Hey, what happened?”

  Lyn looked at her brother, who stood in the doorway leveling his gaze at the floor in concern where Becky was trying to get up and grabbing the back of her head, a little teary eyed.

  Lyn kneeled down to her quickly. “Becky?” she asked in alarm. “Are you okay? When did you get here?”

  Chapter 8

  Robin was in her little red Honda on her way to Jacob’s thirty minutes after speaking to him on the phone. She did seem to be feeling better, aside from still having some stuffiness and a slight cough. But work had to be done. If the courts were willing to do something to help Lyn, she had to push for it.

  She drove by the credit union, glancing at the boarded up windows. She closed her eyes, releasing a sigh. She’d been informed of the incident from the prosecutor when he called to tell her about Sowers. So far, there was no word yet on any charges filed by Trina Owens, the president of the credit union, but Lyn was cited for failure to control her vehicle.

  Robin reached the street that led to Jacob’s, making a right turn.

  ****

  Dan was still in a haunted daze when Toby came in the back room with the pizza, thirty minutes later.

  “Time to eat, finally! Man, I thought I’d never get rid of that girl. She changed her mind a half dozen times.” Toby set the box on the counter where Dan sat with a troubled expression. Toby shot him a cautious gaze. “I’d ask if you were okay, but I don’t want to get snapped at like I did earlier.”

  Dan looked at him, and then hesitated, closing his eyes. “Look, man, I’m sorry about that. There’s a lot going on with me right now, and—whatever happened earlier didn’t help it any.”

  Toby stopped chewing long enough to frown. “What do you mean?”

  Dan ran his hand back through his hair. “That girl that came back chasing after the kid? She looked at me like she was seeing a ghost.”

  ****

  “The last thing I remember is Jacob leaving the room to answer the door.” Lyn said slowly, after Becky had gotten up. They were both now sitting on the bed.

  Becky held a hand to the back of her head. Jacob had gone to grab an ice pack for it.

  Lyn just sat there staring into space as Jacob returned with the ice pack. “Here you go.” He said, handing it to Becky. He then turned to his sister with concern. “Everything okay?”

  Lyn wanted to tell him everything was fine, but deep down she knew it wasn’t. The voice inside her head screaming for Becky to die was a sure giveaway.

  ****

  Justin was relieved now that Jacob knew about the photos. It was in his hands.

  About twenty minutes after Jacob left, Camryn called to tell him one of her finals was going a little late, so she wouldn’t be home until about six. He decided to log onto his sister’s pc and go online for a little while. Maybe play some games.

  He sighed seeing all the Christmas ads lining the home page of Yahoo. He had no idea what to do about Christmas. He still had no job and very little money. He may have enough to get Camryn something from Wal-Mart, but that would be it. He really hated to go crawling to his brother for money. It was bad enough Camryn was paying for the apartment as well as utilities now. And not very many people would be willing to hire a guy on crutches. Let alone one just out of prison.

  A sound outside interrupted his thoughts. He turned around just in time to see the mailman pass by the window. He hobbled up and over towards the door, stepping out onto the front stoop and reaching into the mailbox near the door.

  There were four pieces of mail. An advertisement for a local chicken restaurant, a credit card offer for—Justin had to snicker—Tammy Cauley, a women’s clothing catalogue, and something from Lerner & Matthews publishing…his sister’s publisher.

  Justin’s heart missed a beat seeing advance check enclosed printed on the outside of the envelope.

  ****

  Jacob seemed distracted on the way to the courthouse, so Robin finally lured the story out of him about the scene he walked into at home.

  “I’ll bet that was scary for Becky.” She murmured.
<
br />   Jacob sighed. “Yeah. I thought I noticed tears in her eyes.”

  Robin turned to him. “Do you think Lyn will be okay by herself for a while?”

  Jacob shrugged. “I don’t know. Considering the circumstances, I don’t think she should be with us for this meeting. My place is probably the safest for her right now.”

  Robin’s cell phone began ringing and as she grabbed it and talked while maneuvering around a slow moving semi, Jacob couldn’t help but think about those photos once again. A distracted frown took the place of the worrisome expression he’d had only moments before.

  ****

  Tammy couldn’t believe her luck. Everyone was gone. Jacob, Becky, Dan…and precious Lyn. She giggled with glee, tearing into the package that had come, which had left Lyn scratching her head.

  Of course Lyn would not remember ordering it. Tammy had ordered it.

  She took out the copies of Becky’s book she’d ordered, her heart pounding. She was praying Lyn wouldn’t try to open them and wonder why she’d ordered ten copies of Becky’s book. So far, Lyn only knew maybe a little about what had happened with Dan, and she knew nothing about what she had planned for Becky.

  With any luck, it would stay that way.

  ****

  Jacob awoke the next day to the sound of his phone. He scrambled off the sofa to answer it.

  “Hello?” he answered tiredly.

  “Hi, Jacob. I hope I’m not waking you.”

  His eyes grew wide. “Leslie! Oh my God! I was hoping to talk to you again.”

  “Same here. I hope you don’t mind me looking up your home number?”

  “Not at all. I am so, so sorry for the other night.”

  “It’s not your fault, Jacob. I completely understand.” She went on. “How is your sister?”