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

by Jennifer A. Brown

  She sighed in mild annoyance. “Unfortunately. She stole a book from me.”

  His eyebrows rose. “Really? Oh, that’s right. You are a writer.”

  Her gaze went down. “Yeah. A writer…” she said.

  Her look grew distant, and Leo watched her skeptically. “You okay? Do you want to leave?”

  She closed her eyes and grew very silent.

  “Jocelyn?” He prompted, and after a few moments, she opened her eyes and nodded.

  “Um, yeah. Let’s get out of here. Just let me run to the bathroom real quick.” She said, getting up and heading in that direction.

  ****

  Justin sat on the front step of his brother’s house feeling overwhelmed and sick. He was scared they had lost their sister for good, and now according to Jacob, they had another sister? And Jacob’s old girlfriend was the mother?

  That only meant one thing. Justin felt sick at the fact their parents had obviously cheated on one another. Now they had two sisters to remind them of it.

  “Jesus…” Justin moaned, holding his head and praying that Jacob would arrive soon.

  ****

  “This is not happening…” Jacob muttered, after cursing to himself. He took both his hands through his hair, looking down at his blown, front passenger side tire. He’d pulled over the moment he felt the tire grinding into the pavement.

  With it being New Year’s Eve, he wasn’t sure how quick he could get a tow service to help get him home. And, as the minutes ticked by, he knew it was a minute more that they lost the chance of finding Lyn.

  He exhaled heavily, dialing a number on his phone.

  ****

  “Wow. That was an amazing dinner.” Sarah commented, as she and Dan walked out of the restaurant.

  He smiled. “Glad you liked it.”

  She returned his smile as they reached his car. “It was worth the wait for the table. I think we did miss the last ShowTime for the movie, though.”

  Dan looked at his watch. “Oh. Yeah, looks like we did.” He sensed her growing closer to him and got another whiff of the perfume she wore. He looked up to see her face only inches from his. “Anything else you’d like to do?” he asked.

  She remained silent as her lips grew closer to his. His lips and tongue finally found hers, and they began kissing in the parking lot of the Southern Coast Steakhouse.

  ****

  “Lyn? Jocelyn Barnes?”

  She heard her name and turned to the face that had just emerged from the stall next to hers. It was familiar, yet she had trouble placing it. Until the girl introduced herself.

  “We worked at the paper together. Beth Thompson.”

  She nodded and wanted to say something more. Like, she had no idea how she’d gotten there, that she was totally scared and didn’t remember anything before the girl had spoken to her. But she remained silent and somehow managed to ask her how she was before Beth washed her hands and left the room.

  Lyn closed her eyes, feeling dizzy. She braced the sides of the sink, gazing into the mirror. She had some flashes of being at a table across from that guy, and that was it. Until Beth said her name.

  She closed her eyes, as another wave of dizziness overcame her. She tried to fight it, but it was too hard. Everything went black.

  ****

  Leo kept glancing nervously at his watch. She’d been gone for nearly ten minutes. They needed to leave soon if they were going to. He needed to put his plan into action.

  “Excuse me…where did the girl go that was sitting here?”

  Leo turned to look up at the waitress Lyn was eyeing earlier. The plagiarist. He shot her a nasty look. “None of your business.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Look, the girl who you are with, you may not be fully aware of this, but she’s my best friend and has an alter personality. She’s very dangerous.”

  Leo glowered at her. “Don’t you have tables to wait? Or maybe more books to steal?”

  Becky went pale as a sheet. He shook his head, slapping a few twenties on the table. He got up, sending her one last nasty look before walking off.

  ****

  A half hour later, a tow truck arrived. Jacob paced while the heavy set man put Jacob’s spare on. “That ought to do ‘er.” He said, hefting his huge frame up after the job was done.

  “Great. What do I owe you?” Jacob asked, reaching for his wallet.

  The guy waved him off. “Fer the mayor, nothing. Unless you want to buy me a drink?” He laughed, jabbing him in the side. Jacob smiled lightly and thanked him as he hurried into his car, driving on to his place. He had called Justin and told him what happened, only to get more lip in response. “How far are you? I could walk there and change it for you before the stupid tow truck even shows!”

  He had still insisted Justin stay put. Of course, he’d gotten mad and hung up.

  He pulled into his drive, looking for his brother. For a few moments, he didn’t see him and started to get worried. But as he shut off the car and got out, relief flooded him upon spotting him walking out from the other side of the house.

  “It’s about fucking time,” he went on. “Let’s go find Lyn, before it’s too late.”

  ****

  Becky was exhausted but cleaned off another table, preparing it for the next customer. As she set out more silverware, she heard another girl’s voice behind her.

  “You’re Lyn’s best friend, right?”

  She turned around to face the girl with the long dark curly hair. Her dark eyes gazed back at Becky worriedly. “Lyn Barnes? Yeah.” She answered cautiously.

  She sighed, stepping up closer. “Good. I thought so. There was this guy helping her out to a car. She looked really out of it, and he was acting kind of mean. I wanted to call the police, but my boyfriend told me to stay out of it. I did get a picture of them on my phone, though,” she quickly held the phone out to her, showing her the photo. Becky stared at the screen. It was dark, but you could make out enough to see the guy was practically dragging her out by her hair, thanks to the partial light from a post in the parking lot.

  Becky swallowed a lump in her throat. “Oh, my God, Lyn. What’s happening now?”

  ****

  Jacob drove into the entrance of Mercy Park as Justin eyed him questioningly. “Here?”

  Jacob looked at him. “Isn’t this where she usually ends up?”

  Justin sighed, holding his head.

  “What were you two supposed to do tonight?” Jacob asked.

  Justin closed his eyes. “She was going to move back in to her apartment. Robin already got permission and everything.”

  Jacob remained silent for a few minutes. He turned on his high beams as heavier fog from the river floated across the car.

  “Justin that may not be a good idea.”

  “Well, it hasn’t exactly worked out at your place, now has it?”

  Jacob sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Justin…I spilled coffee this morning. In my lap. Tammy tried to help clean it up and ended up squeezing my balls.”

  Justin looked at him in shock as silence blanketed the car again. No one spoke until a few moments later, and Justin froze, hearing the tone of his brother’s voice. He was crying.

  “I don’t want to say this man, but—Sis needs help. And neither one of us can give it to her.”

  Chapter 32

  Lyn felt really strange. Her head was spinning, but she was sitting still. There was a dull ache in the back of her head, but the weird feeling was what consumed her.

  “I see the Roofies are taking effect.”

  She heard the voice near her and tried to look up. Then there was laughter.

  “Yes, sir, they are taking effect. I think you’re ready.”

  She frowned. “Ready? Ready for what?”

  It was dark, and she could not see well, but she felt a hand caress her cheek.

  “I think you’re ready to meet your destiny, Sis.”

  ****

  Sarah finally found her breath after
they finished kissing and smiled. “Wow. You’re a good kisser.”

  He smiled back, nodding toward the car. “Want to come back to my place? Since we’ve already missed the movie?”

  “After that kiss, how can I say no?”

  He climbed into the driver’s seat, and just as she got in on the passenger side, his phone rang. He reached for it, looking at the number and sighing.

  “Who is it?” Sarah asked. “Something important?”

  He bit his lip, watching as the call went to voice mail. “Probably not.” He went on, hitting the button to play it. “But I’d better make sure.”

  ****

  As Jacob continued to sob, Justin remained silent. He finally spoke a few moments later if for no other reason than to have another sound other than Jacob crying. He hardly ever heard Jacob cry, but when he did, he hated the sound. The last time he heard him cry had been after their parents died. He had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and overheard Jacob crying in his bedroom. He’d gone back to bed afterwards but had trouble sleeping. The next morning he had fallen asleep in Civil History class and had so much trouble concentrating, he skipped the rest of the day. When Jacob woke him up later that afternoon demanding to know why he skipped class that day, he’d feigned a headache.

  “I think I can take care of her. I have a lot less responsibility right now than you do. I’m working, even though it’s only a few hours a day until I’m fully back on my feet, but I think that’s going to change soon. And…I’ve been getting along better with Tammy since the bookstore fire.”

  Jacob remained silent, his eyes straight ahead.

  Justin studied him. He thought he felt the car weave a little.

  “Jacob?”

  But neither one of them had the chance to speak as there was a thud.

  ****

  Becky was glad the night was finally winding down. She hadn’t been able to focus much all night after being shown that photo. She was worried and felt that she needed to do something so she called Dan and left him a voicemail. She just wasn’t ready to talk to Jacob again after what had happened.

  As she made her way into the back to replace some ketchup bottles, she slowed down, hearing arguing as she approached.

  “I know what I saw, Tony! Don’t lie to me.”

  “Bridget, I’m not talking about this now. We have tables to wait.”

  Becky frowned in confusion. Tony and Bridget had started dating about a week ago, not long after he started working there. It sounded like they were having their first argument. She started to walk on, not wanting to hear any more, when Bridget spoke again.

  “No, Tony. This is too serious. We need to talk about this now. I need to know why you were putting something in table eight’s food. And what the hell was it?”

  ****

  Leo finished pouring the gasoline around the displays of Cyber-Fix, as Lyn stared up at him helplessly. “So, here’s the story. I figure I owe you that much before you die.” He said, setting the gas can down and looking at her casually. “I grew up without a father only to discover, you killed him.” He went on as she shook her head and tried to weakly protest. “Oh, I know, you don’t remember anything, and the police could never prove anything since your prints weren’t on the hedge clippers. It was deemed some horrible accident.” He said, making quote marks with his fingers. “But, indirectly, you killed him.”

  Lyn closed her eyes as tears coursed down her cheeks. He began to pace. “So I knew I had to do something since the cops were worthless. I decided to come here. And as luck would have it, your brother was hiring. I made up a resume, threw in some fake businesses where I had worked, asked a couple friends to pose as my old bosses and wham! Toby Matthews was hired.” He went on. “A week later, I was getting coffee when I overheard Dr. Havash having a rather intense conversation on the phone. I guess your little boyfriend was trying to investigate his prescription fraud. The good doctor was very happy to work with me once he discovered what I knew about him. His files were very easy to hack. So I took care of two birds with one stone there. Made a deal to take care of Brian as long as the good ol’ doc took care of me.” He went on, looking quizzically at Lyn. “You been tested for HIV yet? You know the rumor was dad had it? Ah, not that it matters since you’re going to die anyway…just like your precious love, Brian.”

  He threw the gas can down before turning to smile at her. “I guess by now it must be painfully obvious Brian was no friend of mine. I never even met him before I gave him a call at the newspaper. I posed as a former patient who wanted to come forward after seeing the newspaper had done a story on the closing of the clinic. I had promised him information on the story he was doing on Havash. We agreed to meet. I disguised myself as a woman, came up to his place and the moment he had his back turned, injected rat poison into his side. He had no idea it was even coming.”

  He laughed a little maniacally to himself as he folded his arms, looking around the store. He smiled to himself, becoming more sentimental. “I was actually quite proud of myself for a while. I was doing something good with my life, not wasting it away on video games like my mom always complained about. Every time I got reminded of why I was really here, and this was not a life I was to keep…I started to get depressed. I had to stay focused. I had to get revenge for dad.” He said, his voice cracking as he looked up. “Well, dad, here we are. I told you I’d get your revenge,” he said, as he reached into his pocket for a book of matches. “And I meant it.”

  ****

  Dan listened to the message, hearing the worry in Becky’s voice as she described the incident at Sharkey’s. “I don’t know what’s going on, Dan, but I’m at work, and—just please call me back if you find out anything.”

  He sighed, hanging up the phone.

  “What’s going on?” Sarah asked.

  Dan turned the key in the ignition. “I’m not sure,” he said, pulling out of the parking lot.

  ****

  Lyn wanted to scream, anything. But the Roofies held her down as she watched flames lick up the walls of Cyber-Fix, blazing around the displays. The smoke started to get to her, and she coughed.

  God, was this it? It couldn’t be! She was finally back, only to get knocked down again.

  She stared through the flames at Leo—or Toby Matthews—her brother. He stood there, trying to light the last match in his pack, which was stubborn, as his arm lightly brushed against a large flame in the process.

  “Shit! Yeaaoowww!!” he cried, trying to put out the fire on his arm, but it just spread despite his efforts. Lyn watched in drugged horror as he turned into a stumbling body of fire that eventually crashed through the glass counter beside her, collapsing.

  Tears streaked down her face as she felt herself growing weaker, and eventually she blacked out.

  ****

  “What the hell was that?” Justin blurted, jumping out of the car and running around to the front before Jacob could react.

  Jacob sat in the driver’s seat, staring into his brother’s eyes in the high beams as they turned wide with horror before meeting his.

  He gulped, trying to stop shaking as he reached for the car door handle.

  ****

  “Bridget, I said I’m not talking about it right now!”

  Bridget started to respond, but fell silent as Becky entered the room. “Table eight was where Lyn Barnes was earlier,” she said, eying Tony as Bridget crossed her arms.

  “Yeah, it was Carla’s section. I saw him sprinkle something on it before she had a chance to take it out to them.”

  Tony clenched his fists. Becky eyed him, suspicion in her penetrating gaze. “You drugged her, didn’t you?” she asked, folding her own arms.

  He looked at her painfully. “The guy offered me a hundred dollar tip to give her food some extra flavor. I didn’t know what the shit was.”

  Bridget ran her hands through her hair, turning away. “Oh, God, Tony…” she kept saying over and over again before Becky turned and fl
ed from the room. Tears blinded her eyes as she raced out to her car, ignoring the words from her on duty manager. She couldn’t hear what he was saying. All she could hear was her heart beating in her ears.

  She was just glad she would have a witness to back her up when she reported Jacob’s former campaign worker for tampering with Lyn’s food.

  ****

  Dan drove down the road trying to concentrate on each traffic light as well as Sarah’s dialogue. But it wasn’t working. Becky’s call had definitely distracted him. He wanted to call her back but was afraid to. If Sarah discovered something was going on, whether Lyn was in danger or not, she’d be upset. He didn’t want to do that to her again.

  “Danny? Did you hear me?”

  He turned to her. “No. I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  She sighed. “That’s the third time you’ve drifted off. Dan, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting this way ever since getting that call.”

  He glanced at her, seeing concerned green eyes as she gazed back at him. He sighed. “The call was from a friend of mine. She’s worried about my best friend’s younger sister.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “Really? Sounds like she should be talking to your best friend instead of you.”

  He bit his lip, coming to a red light. He started to reply, but stopped, seeing the building a block ahead that housed Cyber-Fix. His eyes grew wide with horror.

  ****

  Tammy coughed, waving smoke away as she tried to get up and get to a phone. Unfortunately, whatever that clown had drugged her with still had a strong hold over her. She staggered, trying to get her balance as she let out a strangled cry. Leo’s form, still burning, lay only inches away from her.