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

by Jennifer A. Brown

  “Excuse me. I’m Melissa Fairbanks with The Springwood Daily. Any word on cause yet?”

  “Technically, no,” the guy said, without looking up.

  “Technically?”

  He sighed and paused from writing to look up at her. “An official cause has not been determined yet. But at this point, it appears to be electrical.”

  ****

  Jacob was making his way down the hall, when he heard Dan’s voice.

  “Hey, how is she doing?”

  He stopped, looking up to see Dan appear from the opposite side of the corridor, off to the left of the nurse’s station. “She’s totally unconscious.” He replied, sticking his hands in his pockets. “The doctor was just in there…he said it’s hard to tell when she’ll wake up. All we can do is wait.”

  Dan gazed back at Jacob, frowning. Jacob looked down. His cell phone rang again, and he sighed as he grabbed it, looking at the caller I.D. It was Joan Mills. He picked it up.

  “Yeah, Mrs. Mills. Sure, go ahead.” He walked on toward the elevators, only turning back once to Dan with a short wave of thanks and good bye.

  Chapter 19

  The day Becky was released Trent had to work and couldn’t get off. She didn’t really want to bother her family either who lived out of town now. So she got dressed and went to find Lyn’s room.

  She stopped as she approached the doorway. She gasped in alarm, seeing her friend sitting up in bed with a drink and watching television. No one else was in the room. Becky’s voice caught in her throat. She found that she was scared to call out her friend’s name. “Damn it, Trent!” she said to herself.

  “Can I help you?” a nurse stepped up beside her, asking.

  That of course got Lyn’s attention. “Becky!” she cried out. “It’s okay. She’s my best friend.”

  ****

  Justin spent that morning wrapping presents while Camryn cooked. Her brother and his girlfriend were spending Christmas Eve with them.

  Justin debated whether to propose to Camryn in front of them or not. He’d never met the guy but spoke to him once on the phone. Camryn had shown Justin a picture of him, but it was old; his senior picture from high school. The guy resembled Camryn, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a football jersey in the photo and had dimples.

  Camryn promised him if he allowed this, they could spend all of Christmas with Jacob and Lyn. So he was going to make the effort. He just prayed that all went well.

  Justin cursed as the tape tore from the dispenser and took a big hunk of Santa wrapping paper from the gift he’d just carefully wrapped. He hated wrapping gifts. He’d always paid someone at the gift wrapping kiosk in the mall to do it. But Camryn had begged him to do it, that she just wouldn’t have the time.

  “What love will make you do,” he muttered, resuming the chore.

  ****

  Jacob rolled over in bed that morning, kissing Robin. “Good morning.” He murmured, nibbling on her ear.

  She smiled, turning to him. “Good morning.” She said, responding to his nibbling with a passionate kiss on the lips. He moaned in pleasure, moving in closer, and then on top of her.

  Four minutes later, Robin was gripping the bed sheets beside her as orgasmic fireworks burst inside of her. Jacob lay back down beside her, the sheen of sweat on his forehead as he tried to catch his breath.

  She had been staying with Jacob since Lyn was hospitalized. Their trip had been cancelled, for obvious reasons, but they were trying to make the best of it. The next day was Christmas Eve.

  Robin got up without a word, throwing on the Old Navy tee Jacob had torn off last night before they got into bed together. She went into the bathroom and came out five minutes later to find Jacob on the phone, sitting on his side of the bed, stark naked. “Yes…I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thanks.” He hung up, looking at Robin. “Lyn’s awake.”

  ****

  Allen Harrison sent out another email to his staff members, pressing them to get their stories in. If everything came in on time, they wouldn’t need to be in the office tomorrow.

  He folded and unfolded his hands before a knock on his door made him stop. “Yes?”

  The door opened, and an older man with short graying hair appeared. Allen instantly recognized him as Brian Shirk’s uncle. He’d been at the memorial with his wife. He struggled to remember the man’s name after greeting him until the man just shrugged him off with a wave.

  “I don’t mean to stay long, so no need to be sociable,” he went on, reaching in his jacket pocket and producing a small jewelry box. “We just finished going through Brian’s things, packing up what we wanted to keep and shipping the rest off to Goodwill. But we found this, and…I think it was meant for that one girl he was seeing.”

  Allen reached out for the box and took it, opening it and viewing the bracelet inside. It had pen and notebook, and book charms on it.

  He looked up. “Thank you. I’ll see that she gets it.”

  The man nodded briefly. “Thanks.”

  He turned to go without another word.

  ****

  Lyn waved her on in, and that was when she noticed the gauze around her head. She gulped, taking timid steps inside the room. “I’m—getting released today.” She managed to say. She tried hard not to stare at the burn marks on her arm. A long red scar stretched down her right arm.

  “That’s good. I just woke up today. I guess they said I was unconscious for nearly a week?”

  Becky gazed at her friend and nodded. “We were both in a fire at the book store where I was supposed to have my signing.”

  Lyn’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Oh my God! That’s horrible!”

  Becky just continued to stare at her friend, uneasily.

  “Well, we’re both still alive at least. And you can always schedule another signing, right?”

  Becky slowly nodded.

  Lyn smiled at her. “It will be okay, hon. Cheer up.”

  ****

  Robin made some coffee while Jacob showered. Fifteen minutes later, he was out and pouring himself a quick mug.

  “Did they say how she is?” Robin asked.

  Jacob nodded, gulping down his coffee and stifling a belch. “They asked her name, she said Lyn. She doesn’t remember anything, though.”

  Robin frowned in concern. “Shouldn’t you call Justin?”

  He sighed. “Shit. Yeah, I’ll do that on the way,” he went on, looking at her and caressing her cheek. “Thank you for being so great through all this.”

  She reached up and touched his hand before feeling his lips on hers once again.

  Five minutes later, he was gone.

  ****

  Dan kept busy that day, getting caught up on all their rush orders until Toby came into the back to let him know he was going for lunch. Dan glanced at his watch. “Wow, time has flown this morning. Okay. Give me a moment, and I’ll be out there.” He quickly finished up the DVD ROM he was installing then rose and went out front.

  “Want anything while I’m out?”

  Dan considered it for a few moments. “Just bring me back a burger and fries, will you?” He handed him a five dollar bill out of his wallet as he turned to go. There were no customers, so Dan contented himself to look at the computer magazine there on the counter.

  While he was engrossed in reading an article about the future of laptops, he heard the bell on the door jingling. He glanced up, prepared to say hi and ask if he could help the person but remained speechless seeing who it was.

  Sarah Long walked up to the counter, her gaze not leaving his. “We need to talk.”

  ****

  Harrison was still studying the bracelet when he heard another knock on the door. “Come in.” he said.

  One of his reporters sauntered in with a grim and disgusted look on her face. “You need to talk to the owner of that bookstore and the fire department. They won’t talk to me.”

  He looked up at Laney Burke, who stood there fuming. “What do you mean they won’t talk to
you? You told them who you were and where you were from, correct?”

  She sighed in frustration. “Yes, but they said someone else had already been there from the paper, some girl named Melissa Fairbanks. Who the hell is that?”

  ****

  “Melissa Fairbanks” smiled smugly as she walked into the coffee shop where she’d agreed to meet Brian’s killer. She found him sitting in the corner, waiting on her.

  “You are lucky. They think it’s electrical.”

  He raised his brows. “Really? So Uncle Carson did keep his word.” He chuckled to himself.

  “Melissa” sat back with her arms crossed. “Well, those folks are going to figure out I was a fake reporter at some point. Probably as soon as a real Springwood Daily reporter approaches them. Does your uncle have a plan to protect me?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He muttered, taking a sip of his cappuccino.

  “Don’t worry about it? Damn it, Leo, I didn’t put my ass on the line for nothing!”

  “Ssh. Keep your voice down.” he demanded. “I told you never to call me by my real name.” he went on. “At least not while we’re out in public. Now, in the bedroom, you can call me whatever you want.” He said with a smirk and a wink, finishing off his cappuccino.

  She only glared at him as he got up to leave, promising to call her later.

  ****

  Cheer up? And Lyn never called her hon. Becky shook her head, those words still troubling her.

  Becky stepped out of the room quietly. Lyn’s pain medicine had kicked in, and she nodded off to sleep. Becky had sat there for a while watching TV with her. An old episode of The King of Queens was on. Lyn had started laughing that eerie laugh at one of Kevin James’ antics, and then started to moan in pain. She pushed on the button to dispense the pain medicine, and ten minutes later, Becky looked over to find her asleep. She gulped and slowly got up and stepped out of the room, where she now stood, spotting Jacob get off the elevator.

  Their eyes met, and her heart stopped.

  Chapter 20

  Robin took a deep breath, sitting down and pulling out her laptop. She took care of a few personal emails before getting to work. She’d promised herself, tomorrow and Christmas day, she’d stay away from her caseload. But she felt she really needed to concentrate on what she could for Lyn right now. She had four other cases that were nothing compared to Lyn’s. Now, with Lyn awake but having no memory, it was anyone’s best guess how long it would be before the trial began.

  As she logged into her office email, she found a message from a woman she’d tried to contact earlier in the week. Her name was Gabrielle Duncan, and she had worked at the McGregor clinic for Dr. Havash. She was a nurse who had risked her job to testify on behalf of her client. Robin felt she was her best bet in finding out any information.

  She proceeded to open the email, reading Gabrielle’s response to her question regarding a patient named Tammy Cauley.

  ****

  Anne Murray’s version of Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire played on his sister’s boom box which sat on a shelf over her computer as Justin came back out an hour later after wrapping everything.

  Camryn was in the kitchen stirring something in a bowl. The smell of stuffing and chicken assailed his nostrils.

  “Presents are wrapped, sweetie. Man, it smells good in here.”

  She turned to him, smiling as she hit the spoon on the side of the bowl. A brown batter oozed from the spoon. “Great. Justin, thank you so much.”

  He sighed, watching as she poured the batter into a cake pan. “Anything else I can do?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve got it covered. Oh, no. Wait.” She said, setting the bowl down. “I forgot to get the spice for the Chex Mix. Your sister didn’t have any. Could you be a sweetheart and go get some?”

  He pressed his lips together and nodded, actually glad for the chance to get out of there. That cake pan reminded him of a past he wanted to forget. It had been their mother’s. Lyn took most of the kitchen stuff for herself. “Thanks. The keys are next to my purse.”

  Justin turned to head that way.

  He was trying hard to look forward to this holiday, considering it was the first one for him out of prison in a while. But it just wasn’t happening.

  He picked up the set of keys, which were lying on the sofa as he headed past the computer again. Silent Night was playing now, and Justin didn’t notice the one blinking on the voicemail light on the phone as he went past, leaving.

  ****

  Allen left for lunch at 11:30 with the box. He set it on the seat beside him as he drove through town.

  The charm bracelet had to be a Christmas gift. He wanted to take it up to Lyn in the hospital.

  He just wasn’t sure he could do it. See her like that.

  He ran a hand through his hair.

  And this business about someone posing as one of his reporters…he didn’t know what to make of that. After he contacted the fire chief and the owner of the bookstore, telling them he had no idea who Melissa Fairbanks was, he had gotten the green light to re-send Laney out to do the story.

  Before Allen realized what he was doing, he found himself pulling into the hospital parking lot. He found a spot and shut the car off.

  He needed to do this. They said coma patients could hear what was going on.

  Maybe it was the perfect way to tell his granddaughter who he really was.

  ****

  The Shop ‘n Save was crowded and crazy. Just like Justin expected the day before Christmas Eve. He had to park way down in the shopping center in front of the tax place, which was closed this time of year. He took out his crutches and made his way toward the electronic sliding doors.

  He was now annoyed because he had no idea what kind of spice Camryn needed for the Chex Mix. Maybe he could get the recipe off the cereal box. He slowly made his way down to the cereal aisle, dodging kids and carts and other people in just as much of a hurry to get out of there as he was.

  He finally made it to the aisle…only to find the shelf bare where Chex was supposed to be stocked. “Damn it!” he said aloud.

  “Justin?”

  He turned and lit up. “Hey, Ben!”

  The man gleamed at him from behind a cart full of groceries. His beaded eyes twinkled from behind what looked like new bifocals. A blue toboggan covered his bald head. “What’s the cursin’ all about? It’s Christmas, son.”

  He sighed, closing his eyes. “My girlfriend sent me out for spice for Chex Mix. Stupid me has no idea what kind of spice to get, so I thought I’d see if the recipe is on a box of Chex, right? None on the shelf.”

  Ben chuckled, and before Justin realized what he was doing, he pulled a box of Chex out from underneath a huge bulk bag of flour. “Well, today’s yer lucky day. I just happened to grab a box earlier when I was down this aisle. Had to come back ‘cause I forgot to grab oat bran.” He went on as Justin took the box scanning it over. “Gotta keep those bowels moving.”

  Justin laughed, looking over the box. “Onion powder and garlic powder. Got it. Thanks,” he said, handing him the box. “And…thanks for giving me another shot at the garage. I miss working, man.”

  “Oh, that’s okay.” He said, reaching for a box of oat bran from above him. “You just hurry and get off those crutches. Lookin’ forward to havin’ you, son.”

  ****

  Jacob hurried over, looking at Becky. “You’re dressed? They letting you go?” She nodded as he looked in through the doorway of the room at his sister. “They called and said she’s awake.”

  “Yeah, she is.” Becky said. “She just fell asleep. She was having pain.”

  Jacob bit his lip, and Becky thought she saw a tear in his eye. “Damn it. I was really hoping to talk to her.”

  Becky gazed at him as he crossed his arms, holding the bridge of his nose. He sighed before looking back up. “So, how you holding up Beck?” he asked, briefly touching her right shoulder.

  “Good, thanks to you.” She said.<
br />
  Jacob managed a grim smile. “Yeah. Great guy I am. I could save you but not my own sister.”

  She blinked. She didn’t know how to reply to that.

  “So when are you leaving?” he asked her.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Trent is working, and my family’s not around.”

  He looked at her questioningly. “You mean no one is taking you home?”

  She shrugged again. “Guess not.”

  He sighed, looking in at Lyn once more, before making his decision. “Come on.” He said, guiding her back over to the elevator.

  ****

  Dan stared back at Sarah as the initial surprise of seeing her sudden appearance, coupled with her words, finally started to wear off. He didn’t want there to be any interruptions this time.

  Dan told her to wait a second while he rushed over and flipped the closed sign over in the window before locking the door. He came back over, giving her his full attention. She folded her hands together before beginning. “I work over at Mike’s Tavern. One night, months ago, you came in and seemed so lost and upset. You kept giving me this dazzling smile that made me go nuts, and on my break we sat and talked. You explained to me you and your girlfriend had just split, and I had just broken up with my man, too. Well, he just flat out left me.” She went on, sighing. “Anyhow, things were going great, and my boss was so happy to see me happy, he let me sit and talk with you between serving other tables. I had been depressed for so long with Ernie leaving me, and you were the nicest and most respectful customer I’d had in…hell, ever.”