He sighed, sitting on the sofa. “Hanging in there. Things may be looking up, though. Her lawyer and I spoke to the prosecutor yesterday. I guess Carson Sowers is willing to testify that Lyle Freeman is responsible for his wife’s death in exchange for a lighter sentence.”
“Oh, wow. He’s that one mob guy, right?”
“Right. He’s also responsible for shooting Dan Nixon.”
“Danny?! Oh my God! How is he?”
Jacob smiled. “He’s okay. Speaking of, I need to call him and see how he is. We all went to listen to Gavin Clarke last night, and I haven’t heard from him. I looked for you, but-”
“I didn’t go. I had some other things to take care of,” she went on. “Jacob, I know you’re really busy right now, but—could we get together for dinner or something?”
Jacob beamed. “Yeah, sure. How’s tonight?”
“Perfect.”
He could hear the smile in her voice. “Great. Six o’clock sound good?”
It did. Jacob hung up after getting directions to her hotel.
It was Christmas. Leslie was back in town, and his sister stood a good chance of being acquitted of Brenda Sowers murder. Life was definitely looking up!
****
Dan worked around his sling that morning, making himself coffee and a toasted blueberry bagel. As he sat down and crunched into the bagel, his phone rang. He got up and glanced at the caller ID, hesitating before answering it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, man. How’s it going?”
Dan sat down, blowing air from his mouth, his cheeks deflating. “Been better.”
“Dude, I know things are uncomfortable with my sister, but I don’t want this to wreck our friendship.”
“Did I say it was?”
“Well, no, but—you’re doing a great job of avoiding me.”
“Jacob, I’ve been busy running the shop. And you’ve been busy running Springwood.”
“Are you getting along okay on your own?”
Dan shrugged, crunching away on his bagel. “I’m managing.” Dan heard an audible sigh of frustration from Jacob. “You know, I get this sling off in another week. It’s not like I’m crippled for life here.” He tried to reassure him.
“Okay.” Jacob finally said. “Well, how is Toby Matthews working out?”
“He’s great. Really knows his stuff.”
“Good.” Jacob went on. “Well, I guess if everything’s okay, I’ll talk to you later?”
“Sure.”
They said their goodbyes, and Dan sat there with a pained expression, staring at the phone long after ending the call.
****
Lyn slept peacefully for the first time in quite a while, not waking until nearly ten-thirty. After Jacob had come home early yesterday evening to tell her the good news regarding her case, she had been ecstatic. It was the first piece of good news in quite some time. They had gone out to eat and to see Gavin Clarke perform to celebrate.
Lyn got up and made her way into the front room to find her brother on the phone.
“Well, I guess if everything’s cool, I’ll talk to you later? Okay, Dan. Bye.” He ended the call, hanging his head, not even seeing Lyn standing there. “He’s not himself,” she heard him murmur to himself.
She bit her lip, seeing scenes again in her mind from the accident. How she had literally seemed to wake from a daze only to see the front window of the credit union right before she crashed into it, Dan at her side…
“Hey; good morning.” She heard her brother greet her. She looked at him.
He met her troubled gaze, reading it instantly. “You all right?”
She stood there, wringing her hands. “Is Dan okay?”
He gazed at her, thoughtfully. “Dan’s fine.”
“I just heard you say he’s not himself.”
Jacob reluctantly sighed and went over to place his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t need to worry about Dan, Sis.” He went on, lightly touching her cheek. “Now, what sounds good for breakfast?”
****
Justin could hardly believe what he was considering, but he practically had himself convinced, wrong or not, that it made sense. His sister would probably, God forbid, either go to prison or back to the psych wing of the hospital—where this advance check would do her no good.
Justin on the other hand had no job, a girlfriend with a baby on the way…he needed this money.
He sat on his sister’s sofa bed, staring at the check and turning it over to where he’d forged his sister’s name, and then wrote pay to the order of Justin Barnes. He’d copied his sister’s handwriting exactly. He should have no problem cashing it.
When each of them was born, their parents had established a savings account at First National Bank for them. He had used up a lot of his money but was pretty sure he’d left the minimum amount of twenty dollars sitting in his account.
Hearing Camryn’s car pull up outside, Justin quickly folded the check and put it in his wallet, refusing to let the little nag of guilt at the back of his neck force its way into his conscience.
****
Lyn offered to help her brother make omelets. While they sat eating them, they talked about the concert the previous night.
“I wonder if we’ll end up in the video? There was a cameraman near us.” She said, taking a bite of the egg, cheese and bacon omelet.
Jacob laughed. “Yeah, probably catching me spill popcorn all over the place.” He went on. “I can see Gavin pulling that, posting an embarrassing scene of me in his video. Last night as we were leaving, I waved at him and he totally blew me off. I think he still has some issues against me.”
Lyn laughed and shook her head, getting up. “Sad.” She said, as she stepped over to the sink to wash her plate.
It wasn’t until after Jacob left that morning and got out onto the road, he realized he had forgotten to mention the photos to Lyn as he had planned. He intended to just bring it up discreetly and ask when the last time was she went through old family photos. But he really still had no idea how to bring it up without even a little suspicion settling itself in her mind.
And they had been getting along so well since yesterday. It had been like old times. Lyn had been smiling and laughing over her strawberry daiquiri and steak fajita. Despite a few stares they received, they had enjoyed dinner before heading to Mercy Park for the concert.
Gavin Clarke’s one hit started playing on the radio as he prepared to turn into the parking lot of Leslie’s hotel.
****
Lyn eagerly sat on the sofa, her leg underneath her as she swung her other leg back and forth. She had her laptop in front of her. She clicked send on the email she had just composed to the acquisition’s editor at Lerner & Matthews publishing. Her query letter, the synopsis of her second novel, as well as its first three chapters were enclosed. She decided it would be better to just announce its completion when she knew for sure she had a contract. A few moments later, she was receiving the automated email from Lerner & Matthews confirming receipt of her submission.
Adrenaline and excitement flowed through her. She felt nervous but confident they would accept the second novel. She hoped recent events in Springwood would not sway their decision to publish her again. They were a small but relatively well known publisher in New York. Since they had a wait time of three months for query responses, she wanted to be sure it was in.
She had also been leery about submitting it until she got the news she did yesterday. She had been uncertain as to whether or not she would even be able to promote her first book the way she wanted to. She almost hated herself for it, but she felt very grateful to Carson Sowers.
She closed the laptop after logging out of her email. She got up to return it to her brother’s bedroom, oblivious as her flannel lounge pants brushed against an old Photo King envelope sticking out of her brother’s briefcase on the floor against the sofa.
Chapter 9
Robin was ecstatic to have nearly a whole day free.
After sleeping in, she went out and got breakfast then got her nails done. An hour later she was standing in front of The Engraving Place at the mall, gazing at the display window where mugs, Christmas ornaments and necklaces adorned it.
She bit down on her lip, wondering if she should buy a Christmas gift for Jacob. Had he even bought her anything? Things were going well between them, but Robin just wasn’t sure how he felt, whether he was serious or—she was just a welcome distraction from the chaos surrounding his new position and his sister.
She turned and walked away from the display, the smells of the food court ahead luring her. A nearby sign next to a Christmas tree reminded everyone Christmas was only twelve days away. Jingle Bell Rock played on the mall’s loudspeaker system, another reminder of the upcoming holiday.
None of it influenced her mood, though, until ten minutes later when she spotted Jacob through the window of El Nachiro’s Restaurant, hugging another woman.
****
“I am so happy you’ve become mayor, Jacob. No one else deserves that more than you.”
Jacob smiled, taking in the scent of her hair as they hugged. It was a familiar scent and brought back warm memories. Leslie let go of him, still smiling…but now there was a hint of something else. Something unsettling.
Jacob gazed at her with concern. “Are you sure everything’s all right with you?” he asked for the second time since he’d picked her up an hour ago. She had gotten into his car smiling, but it had faded as they passed the hospital on the way to the mall.
She bit her lip, looking down. She tried to keep the tears at bay, but they came anyway. “Oh, God, Jacob…I don’t even know how to begin to tell you this.”
****
Lyn chose to spend that afternoon cleaning her brother’s house. She had to have something to throw her nervous energy into, and besides, guilt tore away at her for even being there and causing the hassle she knew she had to be. Despite whatever her brother said, she knew a part of him had to miss having a place to himself. Giving the place a thorough cleaning was the least she could do.
She could tell it had been quite a while since it had been cleaned. She coughed, waving at the cloud of dust, as she cleaned around his entertainment center against the far wall.
An hour later, she stood in the doorway to the bathroom. She could still see Danny’s bare butt and that haunting tattoo. But she knew that bathroom had to be cleaned as well. She slowly stepped into the room, holding the sponge and cleaner in her hands.
****
Robin just stood there, rooted to the spot, staring at Jacob and the other woman. The hug stopped, and the look on Jacob’s face made her feel nauseous.
There was something between those two. It wasn’t just a friendly hug.
Robin quickly darted away, nearly knocking over another guy who had stopped to tie his shoes. “Hey! Watch it lady.”
She bit her lip, quickly moving on, expertly dodging other mall goers until she found the exit doors and stepped out into the wintry cold. Her head started pounding with every ring of the bell the Salvation Army volunteer rang beside her.
“Merry Christmas, ma’am.” She heard him say, whether it was to her or someone else, she didn’t know. She just tried to see past her tear blurred vision to get to her car.
****
Leslie took a deep calming breath once she was back in Jacob’s car. After breaking down at the restaurant, they had left when a few people shot them interested looks. The last thing Jacob needed was more rumors getting started, and Leslie felt horrible about even letting herself break down like that in public with him. She had told herself she wouldn’t let that happen, but the stress and emotions she’d been dealing with were too much.
“My daughter was involved in an accident a few weeks ago…She’s been unconscious most of the time since, but she has awoken a few times, long enough for the doctor to figure out why she walked right out into the street. She was hit by a semi which was speeding. She said right before she was hit, she started seeing moving spots in one eye. Something got into her other eye, so she was blinded temporarily. The doctor said she suffered a migraine.”
Jacob slowed for a red light. “Oh my God, Les. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
She managed a sheepish smile. “It’s just hard. She lost a lot of blood in the accident, broke her collar bone…her ribs were fractured too. But the main thing has been the blood. Jacob, I’m not a match. She’s been living on the hospital’s supply of donated blood, and they’re running into a shortage with AB.”
A frown crossed his face as he made a left turn. “Well, what about her father? Is he a match?”
She bit her lip, looking at him. “That’s why I came here. I need to find out.”
****
By eight o’clock, Lyn was exhausted. She had cleaned every room but Jacob’s bedroom. She had concentrated hard on cleaning the bathroom, focusing on scrubbing the white tiles. She fixed a glass of iced tea and sat down in the living room. She relaxed and apparently fell asleep because a cool wet feeling on her legs woke her up. She gasped, realizing she had spilled the rest of the iced tea on herself. She quickly got up, going into the kitchen and grabbing some paper towels, trying to soak up her already damp lounge pants.
“Damn it!” she muttered. She threw the crumpled paper towels in the trash and quickly took off the pants, moving down the hall toward the bedroom.
“Oh, come on! Don’t tell me!” she pleaded, going through her backpack. She had no more clean pants. And she knew Jacob hadn’t had time to do laundry. Neither had she, lately. She’d been spending time with Brian, and with everything else happening…clothing had not exactly been a priority.
She sat back against the wall, closing her eyes in frustration.
****
Robin drove home on autopilot and went directly to her bathroom where she started a shower. Numbly, she stepped under the warm spray, wanting to erase the image of Jacob and the other woman.
It was only a hug, but Robin couldn’t mistake the look on Jacob’s face. It was the look of a man totally enamored by a woman. It was the way Kyle, her ex, used to look at her.
She shut her eyes tight. She really didn’t know how serious her feelings for Jacob were. Sadly, it took seeing him with someone else to realize they were quite serious.
****
Jacob pulled into a space by The Regency Hotel where Leslie was staying. He shut off the engine. He had been quiet ever since Leslie admitted she was there to see if her daughter’s father was a blood match. Leslie remained quiet, too; her heart thundering in her chest. She was surprised he didn’t hear it.
“Leslie, who’s her father? Why would you have to come here to find out if he’s a match?”
The big question. There it was. She gulped, flipping some hair out of her eyes. “Honestly? I don’t know.”
“Well, you must have some kind of idea if you thought you had to come back here to find him.”
She closed her eyes, willing her heart to stop pounding. “I only slept with two people here in Springwood before moving away to Milltown…” she went on. “One of those people was you, and the other one was a monumental mistake.”
****
“God! She is so stupid!” Tammy cursed, tearing through Jacob’s drawers for something to wear temporarily. Long enough to at least walk over to the apartment and get more of her clothes. That was if Barbie doll wannabe Camryn hadn’t started wearing them.
So far, it didn’t look like Jacob had anything she could wear. “Wow, Lyn. If you would just let me handle things MAYBE we wouldn’t even BE in this situation!” she cried, slamming another drawer shut. She sighed in frustration, looking at the time. It was eight-thirty.
Suddenly it hit her. “Brian…” she said to herself, smiling. Yeah, she could call Brian and ask if he could bring her some clothes. Knowing how much he adored Lyn, he’d probably rush to get her at least ten new outfits. She reached for Lyn’s phone and scrolled through the list of contacts, looking for hi
s number.
****
The silver and black phone rang where it lay on the floor; Lyn’s name and number appearing on the screen. Someone walked over to where it lay and picked it up but didn’t answer it. It eventually stopped ringing, and the figure placed the phone in their coat pocket.
They turned back to where Brian’s body lied…where he had just slumped after the person killed him. The killer shook his head, smiling. It was way too easy of a kill. The kid never even saw it coming.
Unfortunately, it had to be done. As soon as he got the call from Dr. Havash, Saturday night, he knew it had to be done. Reporters were always way too nosy for their own good.
With that last thought, the killer left.
Chapter 10
Jacob was never so happy to return to his mayoral duties the next morning to take his mind off the eventful weekend. The perfect cap to his sister driving her car into the credit union and Dan acting indifferent toward him, was learning the shocking news from Leslie and coming home to find his sister—well, mentally Tammy—doing laundry in her underwear and finding his room ransacked. So it was a relief to concentrate on work…until Mrs. Mills informed him that Trina Owens was there.
He drew in a big breath before saying he’d be right out.
****
Becky stepped into The Book Stop with a copy of her book clutched to her chest. It was no Barnes & Noble, but it was still a nice bookstore. Shelves of books made three rows on each side of her. A long runner rug was underneath her, leading to a larger oriental rug where there was a couch, coffee table, and two armchairs. There was even a cappuccino machine over at the counter about five feet away where the register was.
Burned by Deception (The Dark Side of Springwood Book 2) Page 7
