Girl Undone (TJ Peacock & Lisa Rayburn Mysteries Book 3)

by Marla Madison

  be better.” He caught the scent of her shampoo as she came closer to the bed and kissed him on the cheek.

  What had seemed like an impossible dream, having Jen as his girlfriend, suddenly felt within his reach. He sensed she was making an offer now, the visit, the mail, the plant, but he knew he had to pass it up. A few weeks, even months, spent with her at his side wouldn’t be worth it when she inevitably left him for Drew; the man was a drug to her. From his research for some of the blogs, Bart knew way too much about addiction and didn’t want to be the patsy when Jen succumbed to hers again.

  He didn’t know if he and Shannon could be more than friends, but he hoped so. She’d

  been very good to him, and he realized that he was eager to get out of the hospital and find a way to make it up to her.

  He and Jen talked a few minutes, with Bart deliberately not picking up on a few of Jen’s

  hints about things they could do when he came home. She got up to leave just as Shannon returned to the room.

  “Well, call me if you need a ride home . . .or anything.” Jen walked out the door.

  “I saw that,” Bart said to Shannon.

  “Saw what?”

  “You know, the eye roll.”

  She laughed. “I didn’t roll my eyes. I was just admiring the violets.

  He found himself wanting to explain his thoughts about Jen, but instead said, “Eric invited

  me to stay there for another week after I get out of here, or until I get back on my feet. I think that plant would look nice on the island in his kitchen, don’t you?”

  EPILOGUE

  In the middle of January, TJ got the call from Detective Tenuta, the one in charge of Dr. Felhaber’s murder,

  “We got her,” he said. “Our forensic guys located the Felhaber woman’s money trail. She

  had an account out of state under another name and withdrew twenty grand in cash a few days before her husband was shot.”

  “How about the guy that did it?”

  “We’re still working on that. I thought you’d want to know about Fellhaber, though. We

  still have her in lockup here, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to hold her very. Her attorney is trying to get her out on bail. Probably unlikely, but you know how it goes. The right judge and she’s out. I’m hoping she confesses and agrees to some kind of deal. No one wants this to go to trial.”

  “You should be able to use her pregnancy to get her to cave, right?”

  “That’s what the DA tells me. It’s out of my hands now.”

  When TJ conveyed the news to Rina, her gratitude was almost embarrassing. She offered

  to keep TJ on a permanent retainer and have her oversee all the security for her home and her businesses. The offer came shortly after she and Richard took their family trip to Disney World with JR. They didn’t have everything all worked out yet, but the time away had done wonders for their family. Richard had softened, and they were working on a way to keep the family safe—and under the same roof. She believed they had formed a bond strong enough to survive anything life dealt them.

  That January was the mildest Lisa could remember in years. Sitting across from Kelsey in her office, the bay window framed a landscape of bright snowflakes dusting the winter shoreline of Pewaukee Lake.

  “I think I probably don’t have to come here anymore, don’t you?” Kelsey asked.

  “You’ve come a long way,” Lisa said.

  “What does that mean?”

  “Just that. You’ve made a lot of progress.”

  “You don’t think I’m ready to be on my own yet?”

  Lisa hadn’t expected Kelsey’s question and took a moment to study the girl. She

  was back in school now and sharing an apartment with a girl from her study group. Lisa wasn’t sure Kelsey was ready to leave therapy and believed they still had more work to do. They hadn’t even scratched the surface of the girl’s issues surrounding her mother. “Kelsey, you are living on your own again. I believe, however, you would be happier in the long run if we still saw each other at least every two weeks for a while.”

  Kelsey folded her arms across her waist. “This is about my mother, right? You want me to

  talk about her some more.”

  “And you don’t want to do that?”

  “I don’t need to. Why would I?”

  “I think you’ve made excellent progress dealing with everything that has happened to you

  and with how you’re handling the issue of your baby that Patricia’s carrying. But I believe your poor choices have probably been related to your childhood, in other words, your relationship with your mother and how you were raised. I’m concerned about your future unless you work through that, Kelsey.”

  The girl was quiet, her gaze moving out the window, following the gusting snow.

  “You’ll need to be strong after the baby is born. The fight isn’t over.”

  “I know that. Mrs. Felhaber’s attorney blocked the DNA testing until the birth. And then

  social services might take the baby and place it in a foster home until we settle the custody issue. It’s so unfair.”

  “That isn’t going to be easy for you. Or your aunt.”

  “You’re right about things getting harder. My aunt acts like this is her baby, not mine. I

  need to finish school, so once I get custody, we’ll have to stay with her. The baby will be more hers than mine.”

  “Kelsey, there is another option. You could put the child up for adoption and be sure it got

  a loving home with two parents to care for it.”

  “Rina would never agree to that.”

  “Rina doesn’t have to agree. She could fight your decision, but I don’t think she would get

  very far. She’s rather old to raise a baby and her dubious history would make her a poor candidate for adoption.”

  “I don’t think I could do that. Never see or know my baby? That would be awful.”

  “There are ways around that, you know. Some couples would be willing to let you visit

  the child, take part in his or her life.”

  Kelsey walked away from the window and sat across from Lisa. “All right, you win. I’ll

  keep coming to see you for now. All those things you brought up, they are going to be hard to deal with.”

  After Kelsey left, Lisa remained sitting in the chair. The snow was sticking to the ground

  in a fine, white blanket that covered the stale, gray snow beneath it. Talking about Kelsey’s baby brought up her own situation. Lisa and Eric’s test results had shown no physical reason they couldn’t have a child of their own, but it could take years to get pregnant at her age. They were on the verge of a decision of their own. Adopting a child seemed like the perfect way to share their happiness. She thought about Kelsey’s baby and wondered about becoming a foster parent. How wonderful it would feel to give a baby like Kelsey’s a loving start in life. Realistically, she knew that as a foster parent she couldn’t choose the baby she wanted to take into her house. But then, she thought, why not try?

  A dinner party brought everyone back out to Eric’s house where an early February storm had left eight inches of fresh, powdery snow over the area. Eric was trying to organize a trip to the nearest hill with his toboggan. Lisa, happy that TJ and Richard seemed to be working things out, joined them after dinner in front of the latest tree, an artificial one decorated with hearts for the upcoming Valentine’s Day. TJ complained about it, saying JR would expect one at home, but Eric said the boy could come to visit it whenever he wanted to and was counting on him to help decorate it for Easter.

  Bart enjoyed the party, but was looking forward to moving back into his own place the

  next morning. When the time finally arrived, he entered his office, and his eyes went to the empty shelves in front of the windows. He had decided not to replace the violets. The one he’d gotten from Jen was enough. The unique plant would serve as an excellent reminder, a reminder
not to slip back into old habits. With that in mind he’d scheduled a few personal appearances, and made plans to join his new group of friends for the next get together on Valentines Day.

  He had the book outlined and the first chapter drafted, thanks to Shannon’s assistance.

  After receiving a healthy advance from the publisher of his dreams, he couldn’t wait to start gathering the research, which was going to require frequent trips to Iowa. He hoped to be able to interview the third firefighter, the friend of Caruthers that hadn’t been at the New Year’s Eve party. The cops in Iowa didn’t believe he’d had anything to do with the murders and the kidnapping, but were pretty sure the three of them had done some rapes. The guy would be in jail for a long time, and hopefully, would feel like talking about his buddies.

  Shannon had agreed to go with him when she could and planned on spending part of the summer helping him write the book.

  He opened his computer to check his emails and look over the book’s outline once more

  before going to bed. After adding a few points to his outline, he heard the ping of an incoming message. He opened his mailbox, thinking he had gotten a late message from Shannon. His breath stopped when he saw the return address and he made a silent plea that some moron who followed his blog was just messing with him.

  Bart opened the message.

  Hey, asshole,

  How r they hanging? Guess yur getting rich with all that free publicity I gave you. Hurd yurr writing a book about me. Can’t wait to reed it.

  Headliner

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