by Caila Jaynes
Claire nodded as she rose to pack up her own belongings. She still needed to make a list of questions they’d ask the assistant US attorney who was prosecuting the case, but it was something she could do at home. Then she’d have time to pack for her weekend trip to Florida to help her boyfriend, Gabe, entertain potential clients for his investment firm.
As they headed out of the library, Claire hefted the leather strap of her tote over her shoulder and looked up at the sky as they walked. The setting sun had etched streaks of pink onto the horizon, giving the campus buildings a rosy glow as they entered the parking garage.
“I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said.
“What time’s your flight tomorrow?”
“Eleven a.m.”
Leah gave her a sidelong glance. “Cutting it kind of close, aren’t you? Our meeting’s at eight, and it’s probably gonna go until after nine.”
Claire’s cheeks warmed, a tingle that spread to her ears. “Gabe needs me there before his clients arrive.”
“Good thing it’s you and not me. You got that whole future-trophy-wife thing going on, with your Cover Girl look and Neiman Marcus wardrobe. If it were me, I’d just scare the investors away.”
Claire glanced at Leah’s short, asymmetrical haircut, dyed a bright green these days. With her tattoos and piercings, her friend was as unconventional as Claire was conservative—which was exactly what drew Claire to her in the first place.
“What are you saying?” Claire gave her the side eye. “That you don’t look the part of a business-function host?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Leah said with a smirk.
“Be happy you don’t. Most of these events are really boring,” Claire said, then changed the subject. “What are your plans this weekend?”
“I’m thinking about getting another piercing.”
Stunned speechless, Claire stopped short and stared at her friend, taking in her multiple ear studs, eyebrow piercing, and nose ring.
What’s left to pierce?
Leah barked out a laugh as she too came to a halt. “Just kidding, hon, but dang, you should see your face.”
“You really had me there,” Claire said with a laugh. “Honestly, I think you’re perfect just as you are.”
She said good-bye as they reached their cars, tossing her tote into her BMW before she slid into the driver’s seat.
Would Leah be hired by a traditional law firm? Probably not, but it didn’t look as if it bothered her. She did her own thing and seemed happy about it. Leah’s no-bullshit approach to life was fascinating, and Claire envied her ability to live her life as she pleased.
Half an hour later, Claire unlocked the door of her Georgetown condo, laughing as her golden retriever, Charlie, woofed out a greeting. He jumped up and ran over as she walked inside, wriggling with excitement as he danced around her feet.
“How are you, bud?” Claire set her things down and crouched to give the big dog a hug. “Did you enjoy your walks with Verna? Or did Sheryl come walk you today?”
Claire dropped a kiss on the dog’s furry head and then stood. “Verna’s going to be back tomorrow. She’ll be taking care of you this weekend. I’ll probably miss you more than you’ll miss me.”
Charlie studied her with his expressive brown eyes as if he understood what she was saying.
Thank goodness for her dog sitters. On long days at school like today, they were a godsend, popping in twice a day to take Charlie for walks, and took him home with them whenever Claire traveled.
“Let’s have dinner.” She walked into the kitchen with Charlie trotting alongside.
After filling the dog’s food and water bowls, Claire took a seat at her dining table, ignoring the darkening view of the Potomac from the large picture windows that lined her condo’s living area. Instead, she opened the salad she’d picked up on her way home and turned her attention to the last-minute details that needed to be taken care of before her trip.
Reminding herself she needed to take Charlie out for a walk, she glanced wistfully at her running shoes lined up neatly beneath the hook that held his leash. No time for a run tonight.
Between the packing she had to do and the preparations she needed to make for tomorrow’s meeting, it was shaping up to be a late night.
Chapter Three
Grayson woke up abruptly Friday morning in his childhood bedroom. Shortly before he’d drifted off, the bedside clock had read three a.m. Now it was five thirty.
He’d slept for less than three hours, but there was no use trying to go back to sleep. It wasn’t going to happen. The insomnia that had plagued him since he was a boy rarely let him sleep more than five hours, especially when he was on a case, and sleeping pills gave him headaches that were worse than the lack of sleep. Now, though, with everything going on with his mother, the inability to sleep for long had worsened.
Grayson threw the covers back, rising as his thoughts turned to yesterday. Before driving up here to Scranton, he’d met with Darryl at a park in northwest DC, but the meeting hadn’t gone as well as he’d hoped.
Impatient with the slow pace of the investigation, Grayson had made a hard push for being accepted into the drug ring. Jumping up to pace back and forth on the sidewalk as Darryl lounged on the wooden park bench, Grayson had made his case.
“Can’t you cut me in?” he’d pleaded. “I really need the work.”
“You want to deal?” Darryl had raised a pierced eyebrow as he brushed his light brown dreads over his shoulder, which Grayson thought looked ridiculous on an overweight white guy.
“Yeah.”
“You know what you’re doing?”
Grayson had glanced around to be sure no one was walking nearby, but lowered his voice anyway. “I told you already, I sold weed in California before I got busted. Before that, I moved weed and coke when I was stationed at Fort Irwin.”
Darryl had sneered at him. “Military, huh? Maybe you should’ve stayed in California.”
“Couldn’t. Needed to be near my kid.”
After more pleading on Grayson’s part, Darryl had reluctantly agreed to talk with Rex Gibson, his supplier. The task force had already learned that the ring was led by someone known as the Iceman, but they still had no idea who he was or where he was based. It could be anywhere since the ring operated in DC, Virginia, and Maryland, and those were only the locations they were sure of. The Iceman was the key, and Phoenix had spent hundreds of man hours over the past few months trying—without success—to pin him down.
Shaking his head, Grayson pulled on a T-shirt and jeans before padding into the hallway and pausing outside his mother’s open bedroom door. The room was dim and had a faint medicinal smell, but it was quiet, the only sound her soft breathing. When he’d arrived the night before, he was relieved to find she’d been released from the emergency room and was asleep in her own bed.
This morning, she was lying on her side, her body seeming frail due to the weight she’d lost recently. Thank goodness her fever was down and her discomfort had eased.
He approached her bed and ran his hand gently over his mother’s brow. Eleanor’s head, shaved now due to the chemo, revealed faint blue veins. She shifted in her sleep, pressing a hand to her stomach and wincing before she settled again.
Wanting to let her sleep, Grayson headed down to the kitchen. Until recently it had been peaceful coming here, the one place he could count on getting some sleep. But worry for his mother now stole any chance he had of rest.
Trying to shake off his negative thoughts, he turned on the coffeemaker and busied himself with setting it up. By the time his aunt came downstairs, the coffee had just finished brewing and the first signs of dawn were bleeding through the darkness outside.
“You’re up early, Gray.”
His mother’s twin, Mary was a mirror image of Eleanor. Both women had a tall, willowy build and shoulder-length dark hair now streaked with gray—or, at least, his mother used to. Grayson pinched his eyes closed
at the thought. His mother’s hair used to be like Mary’s until she’d started undergoing chemo. And now she needs to wear a damn scarf around her head.
“How long can you stay?” Mary asked, tugging at the sash of her bathrobe before taking a seat at the round oak table in the kitchen.
Grayson forced his attention to his aunt. “I need to be back in DC by tonight.”
Mary frowned and looked away.
“How long are you staying?” he asked.
Her dark brown gaze sharpened on him. “For as long as it takes. I put in for a leave of absence from the hospital. Someone needs to be here.”
Although the words stung, Grayson gave her a nod. Pushing away thoughts that he was a lousy son, he said simply, “She’s in a lot of pain.”
His aunt looked down at her hands clasped together on the table, her expression so sad, it nearly broke his heart. “She’s been trying to hide that from you.”
Grayson’s vision blurred and he blinked hard. Turning to the kitchen cabinet, he busied himself with selecting a couple of mugs and pouring coffee for the two of them . . . black for him, sweet and light for her.
As he joined Mary and placed her mug on the table, she said, “Can I say something to you, Gray?”
Steeling himself, he sat down and wrapped his hands around his mug. “Of course.”
“I know you’re a lot like your mom and that facing this kind of thing isn’t in your DNA, but you’re going to regret it if you’re not here more.” Mary gave him a pointed look as she picked up her coffee, blowing on it before that first tentative sip.
Unable to meet her eyes, Grayson stared at his mug. What would he do if his aunt weren’t here? Take his own leave, probably, and God only knew how that would play out. As it was, he felt like he was about to lose his mind. Nervous energy had made him jumpy and irritable since he’d entered this house. He needed to go on a run, punch a bag—do something to relieve the tension.
Instead, he sat still, enduring his aunt’s silent scrutiny over the rim of her coffee mug. His already bunched muscles contracted even further. Could she sense his restlessness? The fact that he wanted to bolt?
Grayson pulled in a deep breath. She could judge him all she wanted. If her judgment was the price of him not having to watch his mother suffer, then it was a small price to pay. The fact that Mary was a nurse back in Minneapolis was an incredible stroke of luck, and her willingness to take a leave of absence to take care of her sister was a godsend. Mary could berate him all day long in that passive-aggressive way of hers; he could take it.
His aunt set down her mug. “I’m going to make some eggs for your mom. Hopefully, she’ll be able to keep those down.”
“Sounds good. While you’re doing that, I’ll make her some Earl Grey tea,” he said. “You know how she loves that.”
Relieved that the inquisition was over, Grayson pulled his mother’s favorite teapot from the cabinet and started making her tea.
Chapter Four
Claire jerked awake and blinked her bleary eyes before she glanced at her alarm clock. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the three green numbers glowing there so innocently.
No way it could be 7:50 already. That couldn’t be right—she’d set her alarm for 5:30.
But another hurried glance at the clock confirmed it, and a dim memory returned of shutting off the alarm in the darkness before dawn. She’d had every intention of getting out of bed in just a few more minutes, but she’d apparently fallen back to sleep.
Claire groaned as she quickly flung back the covers, startling Charlie in the process. He blinked up at her from the other side of the queen-sized bed, and his big brown eyes morphed from grogginess to joy. With an excited bark, he jumped down and ran to the kitchen where she could hear him scrabble to a stop, most likely to sit and wait beside his food and water bowls.
She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and checked her messages, frustrated to see her father’s driver had left a voice mail. Somehow, she’d slept through that too.
Glancing back to the clock, she gnawed on her bottom lip as she debated her options. The meeting at the jail would begin in a few minutes, so there was no chance of asking for it to be pushed back. And she couldn’t take a later flight to Jacksonville. Gabe had made it clear that he needed her at the resort on Amelia Island early this afternoon, so there was no way around that. What Gabe Rogers wanted, Gabe Rogers got; she’d learned that a long time ago.
Shaking her head, she dialed Leah. While her friend would probably take the news well, Professor Moore’s reaction wouldn’t be pretty.
“Are you at the jail?” Claire asked after Leah answered, and breathed a sigh of relief when she said that she was. At least one of us is on the ball.
“Just got here,” Leah said. “Are you running late?”
“I won’t be able to make it.” Claire’s throat grew dry as she explained what had happened. “I’m going to call Professor Moore to let her know. Then I’ll email you the notes I made last night of the questions to ask the prosecutor.”
“So I’m on my own?” Leah let out an annoyed huff, then clucked her tongue. “Girl, Professor Moore’s gonna let you have it.”
“I know.”
Claire ended the call and dredged up courage before dialing her professor, who picked up on the first ring.
“I’m on my way in, Miss Parker. What about you and Miss Holmes?”
“Leah is already there.” Claire’s cheeks burned. “I’m so sorry, but I won’t be able to make today’s meeting.”
“What?”
Raising her voice, Claire repeated her words.
“I heard you, Miss Parker. I simply can’t believe it.” The disdain in her professor’s tone was clear. “Are you sick?”
Claire couldn’t bring herself to lie. At the same time, she couldn’t admit how irresponsible she’d been to oversleep like a teenager. “I’m not sick.”
“It’s related to your father’s campaign then.”
It wouldn’t be the first time. Claire had already missed a few days this semester, flying to Massachusetts to help her father at campaign appearances. Senator Thomas Parker had a tough challenger in his re-election campaign, and now at the end of September, the election was only six weeks away. He needed all the help he could get, and didn’t hesitate to lay on the guilt when Claire tried to beg off so she wouldn’t miss school.
“No, I . . . it’s a commitment I made to my boyfriend. An out-of-town event for his business.”
“What about your commitment to law school?”
Claire squeezed her eyes shut. How could she respond to that? This whole situation was mortifying. How could she have overslept?
But Professor Moore didn’t seem to expect a response as she barreled ahead, picking up steam in her condemnation. “This has gotten ridiculous lately. More importantly, your continued absences are unfair to your classmates. If you’d rather be pursuing something else, Miss Parker, then you should just pursue it.”
Claire took in a quick breath. “Leah is going to handle the meeting for us, and I’ll email you my notes so you’ll know I’ve been doing my share.”
“If you can’t be there today, then it’s clear you’re not doing your share. All your classmates have managed to meet with their clients.” Professor Moore paused, then let out an annoyed huff. “Go ahead and email me, but I’ll be taking today into consideration in my grading.”
Claire winced, trying not to let the comment sting. “I understand. I’ll send you my notes right now.”
After ending the call, she quickly emailed the file to both Leah and Professor Moore. Then she pressed the number for her father’s driver.
“I overslept, Fred.”
He let out a chuckle. “Figured it was something like that. Would you like me to come back to get you?”
“Please. We won’t be going to the jail, though. Just to the airport.”
Fred was available this morning only because her parents were away on a ten-day campaig
n swing through their home state of Massachusetts, appearing at town hall meetings, giving interviews, and meeting with donors. Normally Fred was with her father all day, either in DC or in Boston, but this trip was a bus tour, so Fred had stayed in DC.
Claire rushed into the bathroom after she ended the call, zipping through her shower in three minutes flat. Charlie whined as she hurried past him to get dressed, and she promised to take him outside in a few minutes. Disgruntled, he flopped to the hardwood floor and laid his head on his paws, his eyebrows twitching as his gaze followed her movements.
Now all she needed to do was get dressed and take Charlie out and feed him. Verna was set to pick him up at noon to take him home with her, and Fred would be here any minute. With that in mind, Claire hurriedly put on a pot of coffee to brew, and then made a mad dash into her closet.
Putting away the pantsuit she’d taken out the night before to wear to the jail, she yanked a sundress from its hanger and slipped it on, then tugged on a pair of heeled sandals. She did her hair and makeup in record time, and then grabbed Charlie’s leash. By the time she reached him, he was dancing back and forth in front of the door.
She’d just finished Charlie’s walk and set out his food when the doorbell rang. When she opened the door, Fred gave her a big smile, picking up her suitcase and tote as Claire knelt to stroke Charlie’s fur.
“You be good for Verna, okay? I love you and I’ll see you on Sunday.”
Charlie’s butt wiggles and enthusiastic attempts to lick her face told her all was forgiven.
“You sweet boy,” she said, grasping his ears to kiss his furry forehead.
If only everyone else in my life were so easy to please.
With her purse strung over her shoulder, Claire picked up the go-cups of coffee she’d made.
“Thought you’d be in too much of a hurry for that this morning,” Fred said with a grin.
“Never too busy for you,” she said. “Americano, two sugars, one cream.”