“There’s a court of law,” Brady said, drumming his fingers on the table restlessly, “and there’s the court of public opinion. And from what I’ve seen, in your mother’s case, the latter might be almost as bad.”
Ash looked at him and after a moment nodded slowly. “Yes. Yes, you’re right. Her image has always been paramount to her. If we can’t put her in jail for murder, that would be the next best thing.”
“Gavin can see to that. He’s got an incredible amount of juice, and the media will have what we couldn’t prove spread around as quickly as what we can prove. Which is that she paid and probably planned what was done to you, her own daughter.”
“And take out that disgusting excuse for a psychiatrist in the process?” she asked.
“Indeed,” Hayley said determinedly. Then she looked at Brady. “A wild card in this is your boss. You’ve said he’s tight with Mayor Alexander. How tight?”
Brady stopped his tapping. A wry smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “Not tight enough to go down with her, if that’s what you’re asking. Once the torpedo hits, he’s more of an every-man-for-himself kind of guy.”
“Good to know,” Quinn said with a grin. He glanced back at Ash. “Is there anybody else we need to worry about? Extended family or powerful friends?”
Her brow furrowed. “My grandparents died before I was born. She has a brother she doesn’t have any contact with, but that’s it.”
“By his choice, if he’s smart,” Brady muttered. Ash glanced at him, and he thought he saw a flash of…something, appreciation maybe, in her eyes before she went on.
“She has the usual sort of political friends, but no one she’s really close to.” She grimaced. “She always said taking care of her job and me took all her time.”
“Another layer to the guilt and confusion,” Brady said, feeling the anger surge in him again. He turned and covered Ash’s hand with his own. She instantly turned hers to wrap her fingers around his. Even that small gesture had the power to steal his breath, and it was a moment before he could speak. “Do you want the confrontation, Ash? Do you want to face her down and tell her you know it all, what she’s done, what she is?”
He thought he already knew the answer. And then he saw it in the narrowing of her gaze and the tightening of her delicate jaw in the moment before she spoke.
“Damned right I do.”
And Brady couldn’t help but smile widely as he nodded at her.
CHAPTER 34
Ashley thought she’d understood the power of Foxworth, but by Monday afternoon, she knew she’d underestimated.
The amount of background and research and evidence they’d put together in such a short time astonished her. The arrival of Gavin de Marco Monday morning was the icing; that a man with his reputation came immediately when Hayley had called spoke volumes. Even Brady had appeared a little awed when they’d shaken hands.
The man wasn’t just dramatically good-looking—he radiated competence and charisma and got up to speed so swiftly she understood why he’d become famous around the world as the man to go to if you were in a jam. She’d never heard why he’d quit the world of criminal defense, but she was sure his years on the top of that heap probably gave him great insight into what the more twisted denizens of the world—including her mother—might do. And yet he was kind, tactfully making sure she knew what she was in for.
“There’s enough to put her away for a while,” he told her. “Perhaps long enough for us to come up with further evidence about your father’s case. But I can’t promise that.”
“I understand.” Then, hesitantly, she glanced at Brady before looking back at the attorney and saying, “I don’t want Brady in trouble over this.”
Gavin only smiled. “He won’t be. He saved them a lot of humiliation, saved a life, uncovered a crooked, drug-dealing physician and solved a cold murder case, all of which got by them because the sheriff succumbed to political pressure. I dare them to try and twist him up over that. And I’ll be happy to take them on if they do.”
She took a deep, relieved breath.
The lawyer studied her for a moment. “How bad do you want this meeting to be?”
Her mouth twisted. “The loving family reunion, you mean?”
He nodded. “Right now, do you want to do this publicly, see her broken and humiliated in front of witnesses and the media, or do you want a private confrontation? It will all become public, but do you want to become public yourself? It’s your call.”
Ashley blinked. Foxworth was definitely different. “I just want…to say what I need to say to her. As tempting as the other sounds… I don’t want to be an act at the circus.” Gavin smiled in understanding.
“I wouldn’t have your restraint,” Brady said from where he sat close beside her. Wonderfully close. “But that would show her you know she’s the crazy one, not you, and that you’re far above her level. And that she didn’t, could never break you.”
She looked at him and smiled. “Yes. That.”
“Then we’re agreed?” Gavin asked, with a glance at Hayley and Quinn. “We take her down now for the gaslighting and bribery and fraud, let her know we’ll be turning over what we have to the authorities to reopen Ashley’s father’s case—she doesn’t need to know that might come to nothing, let her worry about that, too—and that her daughter will be under Foxworth protection until she’s safely locked away?”
Ashley nodded, although she hadn’t really thought of that—that her mother might try to do away with her after all. But she had little doubt, not anymore, that Nan Alexander would do anything she thought would save her.
“I don’t want you alone with her,” Brady warned.
She looked at the man in whose arms she’d spent the last three nights, feeling magnificently light and free despite it all. And from that new, unshadowed intimacy, she’d drawn all the strength she needed.
“I don’t need to be,” she said. “And I’m angry enough it’s probably best I’m not.”
“I’ll be there,” Gavin said. Then with an assessing look at Brady, he added, “And you, I think.”
“In uniform?” Brady asked.
Gavin grinned as if he’d read his mind. “Absolutely. And if you could get me a few minutes with your boss, I’ll see to that, too. As Ashley said, we don’t want any of this rebounding on you.”
“That’ll be the biggest name-drop of my career,” Brady said with a laugh. Clearly he wasn’t worried.
“You’re sure it won’t?” she asked anxiously. “Because if it could hurt Brady, I won’t do it.”
Brady’s head came around, and he stared at her. “What?”
“I’ll just take option one and go away.”
“Ash—”
“No, Brady. I won’t have her hurting someone else I love.”
She saw the shock spread across his face. It wasn’t the way she would have wanted to say it, but she wouldn’t take it back. And then he lowered his gaze to stare at their clasped hands. But he was smiling. Almost embarrassedly, but smiling.
She looked at the others. Gavin showed no reaction, but she would have expected that. Hayley and Quinn were both smiling as if she’d only confirmed something they already knew.
And Cutter simply gave her a look she could only describe as smug. And in that moment, she believed every word they’d told her about this uncanny dog.
* * *
Brady felt odd in full dress. He’d been going to go simply for the standard working uniform, but de Marco had said go full-bore dress uniform, complete with honors. So his badge, gleaming name tag, top-ranked marksmanship medal, training officer pin and the two medal of valor pins were on display. He’d even dug out his hat, pulling off the plastic rain cover for better effect.
It had also felt odd, going back to his place to get the gear. He’d found himself looking around his home critically, won
dering if Ash would like it.
I won’t have her hurting someone else I love.
The words that had been circling wildly in his mind since she’d said them made another round. He hadn’t had the chance to really respond, and maybe that was just as well. There might be a better time for it.
He tapped his finger on the steering wheel of his marked SUV. Stared at the front door of the house where he’d been once before and had been greeted by a haunted, tortured woman who bore little resemblance to the woman who had warmed his bed, his body and his heart. The woman who deserved so much more than she’d been dealt, who had been nearly broken but had come back fighting with a courage that humbled him.
The Foxworth phone beside him beeped. He glanced at the screen, saw the texted Ready. No trouble with the boss, then, but he hadn’t really expected any, not with the arrival of Gavin de Marco. The man had instilled dread in better men than Sheriff Carter.
He sent back Copy. Contact in two.
He got out of the vehicle, settled his uniform jacket and drew himself up to his full six feet. Then he walked to the door of the mayor’s house, where she had been in essence imprisoning her daughter. The woman had arrived about a half an hour ago, after sucking up some oxygen at a meeting of the local merchants.
She answered the door herself. He might have expected at least a maid, such were her delusions of grandeur, but Ash had told them no one lived in. Now that made sense. Don’t want any witnesses around while you gaslight your own daughter.
He reined it in and put on his best I’ve got bad news face.
“Mayor Alexander,” he said, taking his uniform hat off politely.
Then he spotted something over her shoulder that nearly blew everything up. Packing boxes, full of what appeared to be clothing and other personal items. And on top of one was the same jacket he’d seen in Ash’s room. She was packing up her stuff? She didn’t even know where her daughter was, if she was even alive, and she was packing up her stuff?
It took every bit of determination he had to keep his expression even when she spoke. “Deputy…Crenshaw, isn’t it? You helped my daughter the day she had that awful accident.”
“Yes. And I’m afraid she’s why I’m here now.”
He was watching carefully for her reaction to his phrasing. There was just enough delay, and a fraction of a second’s calculation in her expression, to tell him she’d been expecting this. An instant later her face showed nothing but distress.
“You’ve found her.”
“I’m afraid so.” And you should be afraid. Very afraid.
“She’s dead, isn’t she.” It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t think he was wrong about the split second of relief that flashed in her dark, cold eyes.
“We need you to come to the sheriff’s office.”
She actually did pale at that. “Why?”
“I’m afraid there will be some details to handle.”
“Oh. Of course.”
“I will drive you, Madam Mayor. I’ve been instructed to offer you every courtesy.”
He didn’t think it was possible, but his loathing grew at her preening reaction to that ploy. And as he drove the vicious woman, he allowed himself a brief fantasy about dropping her off—literally—the lookout where Ash had nearly jumped. But what was coming would be even better, and he had to smother a smile of anticipation as they pulled into the back parking lot and he escorted her into the building.
“We’ll be using the sheriff’s private conference room,” he said, thinking he’d arrested and brought in fried meth heads and drunks who had puked all over themselves with less repugnance than he felt now. Being obsequious to her was turning his stomach.
He pulled open the door to the conference room, seeing that his boss had decided to vacate the area. Covering his bases, Brady guessed, in case this didn’t go as planned. But there were two uniformed deputies standing at the other door, and he gave them a nod.
But it would go as planned. He knew that the minute they stepped inside and the two men already there stood up. One, holding a folder, was Gavin de Marco, whom the mayor gave a puzzled look, as if he were familiar but she couldn’t place him. The other was Dr. Andler, who gave her a look Brady could only describe as terrified as, at a word from de Marco, he scurried out that other door into the hands of the two deputies.
He felt the woman beside him falter just for an instant when she saw the doctor run. But then she steadied herself, and he could just imagine how her mind was racing, trying to think of how she was going to turn this away from herself.
“You notified my daughter’s doctor before me?” she said, going on the offensive with her tone.
De Marco didn’t even look at her. Instead he spoke to Brady. “This is her?”
Brady almost smiled at the disdain in the man’s voice. “It is.” And then, dropping the formality and letting a little bit of his glee about what was about to come at her show, he said, “Nan, meet Gavin de Marco. You may have heard of him? And of who he works for, the Foxworth Foundation?”
She looked utterly shocked. De Marco didn’t offer to shake her hand, didn’t even nod at the introduction. Instead he said, in a voice that gave even Brady a chill, “Yes, that Foxworth. The ones that helped take down a corrupt governor. So let me say up front, a small-town mayor is no challenge at all.”
Nan Alexander sank down into a chair at the small conference table, looking shaken at last.
Oh, we’re just getting started, you pitiful excuse for a human being.
At de Marco’s nod, Brady walked to the door the doctor—who he knew had poured out his guts in the hope of lighter consequences—had used and opened it. Ash was just outside, looking a little pale but determined.
“You can do this,” he said softly. “I don’t have a doubt in the world. Just remember you’re fighting for yourself, and for the father who can’t, because of her.”
She drew in a deep breath, steadied herself and nodded. Took a step toward the doorway, but stopped when he spoke again from right behind her.
“Oh, and Ash?” She looked back. “I love you, too.”
CHAPTER 35
Her mother rose to her feet, one hand pressed against her chest. Ashley knew better than to believe it was in relief at seeing her, but there was a split second when she wavered.
You’re fighting for yourself, and for the father who can’t, because of her.
Brady’s words about what she was facing, and the fact that he was solidly at her back, steadied her.
I love you, too.
And those words made her able to smile in the face of her mother’s treachery and evil.
“Hello, Madam Mayor.”
She was delighted that it came out evenly, almost casually. Gavin de Marco gave her an approving nod and sat down as if content to watch. Brady looked as if he were stifling a grin.
“Ashley, I don’t know what they’ve told you, but—”
“Don’t bother.”
“But—”
“I remembered, Mother. Just as you were afraid I would.”
“Honey, you’re just confused—”
“Do not even try. Sit down.”
Her mother looked as if she would protest, and Brady took a step toward her as if to enforce the order. She sat.
“I’m going to give you a list. You will stay silent until I’m done. Is that clear?”
Ashley had the pleasure of seeing her mother’s uncertainty for the first time. “There’s no need to be rude, dear.”
Ashley nearly laughed out loud at that. She glanced at Brady, who was again stifling a grin. And then he winked at her, and she knew she could, as he’d said, do this.
She walked to the opposite side of the table from her mother, put her hands down flat on the surface, leaning toward her.
“One, I know you and Dr. Andler have bee
n drugging me with some home-brewed concoction that caused my symptoms—”
“Don’t be—”
“—and I have the chemical analysis to prove it.” There, Ashley thought, she’d winced at that one. “And the tea you’ve been forcing down me is being analyzed as we speak.” Bingo, Ash thought as the woman’s expression flickered again. She went on. “Two, you conspired with him to further the illusion that I was mentally ill, with things like the missed appointments—changing the date in my phone and on an new appointment card he gave you—and the fire in the kitchen, the snow tires and a dozen others I could name. Three, I know you intended to have me either declared incompetent or committed to an institution.”
“For your own safety—”
“I said silence. Four, I know about the payments from the Amalfi Group.” Nan Alexander went white then. And glanced fearfully at Gavin, who allowed himself a small smile. “Yes, Mr. de Marco and Foxworth are very, very thorough. So I think we can do away with the farce that this was out of any concern at all about me.”
“Ashley—”
Ashley cut her off again. “Fifth, and now we’re getting to the really good stuff, I know you did the same thing to my father.”
The woman—for that was how Ashley was now starting to think of her, that or just Nan—gasped. “You know he was unstable!”
“You mean he wouldn’t dance to your tune?” Brady said, the first time he’d spoken. Nan frowned as she glanced at him, as if she were trying to figure out exactly how he fit into all this.
He’s the man who saved me. And if I get some kind of justice for my father, it will be because of him.
“You meant for me to overhear that discussion with Andler, didn’t you? You were setting me up to believe he was becoming violent. Violent enough that he would have to be sent away.”
“Of course not.”
“My snow globe,” Ashley said as it suddenly occurred to her.
Her mother blinked. “What?”
“You’re the one who smashed it. Tell me, was it to further the perception that Dad was becoming violent, or simply to hurt me because you knew I treasured it so?”
Harlequin Romantic Suspense December 2020 Box Set Page 70
