Lightning Lingers

by Barbara Freethy

  "So you're rich now?"

  "I'll find the money somewhere. This isn't just for me. My mom needs TJ to be okay. He's her rock. Just think of me as the messenger."

  "The messenger is the one who usually gets killed," he said darkly.

  She didn't waver under his angry gaze. "I'll take that chance. I need to fix this, so will you help me or not? Because if the answer is no, then I need to move on."

  "You're really good at moving on, aren't you?"

  "And you're really good at helping people who are in trouble, or at least you used to be."

  "You don't know me anymore, Katherine."

  "And you don't know me."

  "You can get another pilot."

  "The man I spoke to earlier said you're the only one available, and the truth is I want it to be you, because you can tell me where to look for TJ. You know the area. So, what's your answer, Jake?"

  He hesitated for one long minute, if for no other reason than to make her squirm, but deep down he'd known he was going to say yes from the second she asked him for the favor. "All right. I'll do it," he said slowly.

  "You will?"

  "Don't make me say it again."

  "How soon can we go?"

  "I need to talk to my boss, fill out the necessary paperwork, see what plane we have available." He glanced at the big clock on the wall. It was a little after nine. "If there aren't any snags, we should be able to take off by noon."

  "Thank you, Jake."

  As he looked into her eyes, he felt like the years between them suddenly fell away. They were young. They were in love.

  And then they weren't…

  He straightened and broke the connection. "Before we go, I think we should talk to Alicia. She's at my mom's house." He pulled out his phone. "I'll tell her we're on the way."

  "I'm not supposed to talk to anyone about this, Jake. I shouldn't have even told you."

  "Alicia knows more than you do about TJ's situation. She talked to him about the murders at MDT, and she's been in touch with the police and the FBI and God knows what other agencies. You need to get up to speed on the situation your brother may be involved in, and so do I. If I'm taking you into danger, I'd like to know what we're getting into."

  Indecision played through her eyes. Katherine wanted to say no, but she was a smart girl, and she had always, always done her research. "I suppose that makes sense."

  "Why don't you wait for me outside? I'll get the paperwork started for our flight, so we'll be ready to go when we get back."

  "How long will that take?"

  "Not long."

  "Is there any way you cannot put my name down as the charter or the passenger? TJ was concerned that someone might be checking the airline database for any attempt I make to go to Mexico. I didn't even know that was possible."

  "I'd have to check with my boss."

  "It's important."

  "Like I said, I'll look into it."

  "All right." As she turned to leave, his boss walked through the door. Rusty was in his late sixties and had a square face, intelligent brown eyes and a full head of copper-colored hair that had given him his nickname when he was a small boy.

  Rusty gave Katherine a nod. "I see you've met Jake, Ms. Barrett."

  "Yes," she said shortly. "He's agreed to fly my charter."

  "I'll fill Rusty in," Jake said, cutting her off.

  "Okay." She paused, her hand on the door. "Just don't change your mind, Jake."

  He really didn't know if he could promise that, but thankfully she left without waiting for an answer—probably because she didn't want to hear his answer.

  Rusty walked around the counter and set down the coffee cup in his hand. "So you're taking her to Mexico?"

  "Apparently, you told her I was the only one available."

  "Well, she asked for you first," he said, a twinkle in his eyes. "And since she's a beautiful blonde, I figured you'd be interested. If I were thirty years younger, I'd take her wherever she wanted to go."

  "That's because you don't know her."

  "And you do?" Rusty shot back.

  He frowned, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. "I used to. We were together a long time ago—in high school and part of college."

  "I didn't know that. What happened?"

  "It doesn't matter. It ended. That's that."

  "Or that was that until now…"

  He ignored that comment. "Can you get started on the paperwork? And I'll need you to dummy up the passenger information."

  Rusty raised an eyebrow. "So she's not only trouble, she's in trouble?"

  "Not her; her brother. She needs to get down to Mexico without anyone noticing. Is that going to be a problem?"

  "As long as I can make a copy of her passport, and you vouch for her, I'm good with it."

  "Thanks. I'd like to get in the air by one at the latest, but I have to run out for about an hour."

  "You still like her, don't you?" Rusty gave him a knowing look.

  "Not even a little," he lied.

  Three

  Katherine got into her car and pulled out her phone. Since she had a little time, and she really didn't want to spend it thinking about Jake and how shaken she felt after seeing him again, she decided to call one of the few friends she had left in Corpus Christi.

  She'd met Rebecca Saunders sophomore year in high school, and they'd clicked right away with their passion for medicine. They'd started out at different colleges until Katherine had transferred junior year. Then they'd gone through medical school together.

  Unfortunately, they'd lost touch a few years ago when Rebecca had decided to do her residency in Corpus Christi at the Halliwell Medical Center. But despite the time that had passed between now and their last conversation, Katherine felt fairly sure Rebecca would be able to help her with her mother's situation. Besides being a friend, Rebecca was also a neurologist who specialized in diseases of the brain. In fact, she really should have gotten Rebecca involved before, but her mom had been insistent on working with her long-term physician.

  She punched in the number she had for Rebecca and was happy to hear Rebecca's voice come over the phone.

  "It's Katherine," she said. "How are you?"

  "I'm great. What a crazy coincidence. I was thinking about you yesterday. You finished your residency, right?"

  "Last night at eleven. What about you?"

  "Two weeks ago. Congratulations. Are you coming back to Corpus Christi?"

  "I'm not sure yet."

  "I bet you have a lot of options, but the medical center here is really good. They've updated all the equipment, the labs. It's first-rate."

  "I'm keeping it in mind. I actually called because I need a favor. I think I told you my mom had a stroke several months ago."

  "I did hear that, not from you, from my mom."

  "Of course. The neighborhood grapevine has always been strong."

  "How's she doing?" Rebecca asked.

  "Not good. I called Dr. Benner this morning, and I was informed that she's no longer a patient of his, which doesn't make sense because she's been seeing him for thirty years. I looked at one of her pill bottles, and the prescribing physician was no one I'd ever heard of. His name was Malcolm Watkins."

  "I've never heard of him. Did you try his office?"

  "Yes, but I didn't even get an answering service. It just rang and rang, then disconnected. I don't know what's going on. My mother told me she switched doctors, because some nice woman told her to. I don't know who that was. And her caregiver said that she doesn't deal with the doctors; she's just there to make sure my mom has her daily needs met."

  "Well, what about TJ?"

  "He's out of the country, and I can't reach him. I have to go away for a few days, and I really need someone to check in on my mom, and I'm hoping you might make a house call. I know it's a big favor to ask. I'm just in a bind, and I don't want my mom taking the wrong medication."

  "I'd be happy to look in on her, Katherine, as long as she's oka
y with it."

  "She won't know if she's okay with it or not. But I think if you remind her that we went to school together, that you used to love her peanut butter cookies, she'll be happy to let you take a look at her."

  "Sure. I'm off tomorrow, so I can go by then. Do you want me to call you afterwards?"

  "That would be great. My cell service might be spotty, but I will call you when I can."

  "Where are you going?"

  "I'll tell you when I get back."

  "That sounds mysterious. Is there a mystery man involved—someone tall, dark and handsome?"

  Jake's image flashed through her mind. "There is a man," she conceded. "But he's not the man for me."

  "Maybe you should give him a chance."

  "Believe me, he doesn't want one. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks again."

  She ended the call, feeling better about leaving her mom now that she knew Rebecca would check on her. Now, she just had to figure out how she was going to deal with Jake.

  As she saw him walking across the parking lot, her heart squeezed tight with that long-ago familiar sensation of need and desire. That should have passed by now. Why hadn't it?

  And it wasn't fair that Jake was even more attractive now than he'd been ten years ago. Old boyfriends should never look better with age. Why couldn't he have lost his hair or turned gray or gotten fat? Why did his body have to be broader, stronger, and more masculine?

  And those eyes of his—a light piercing green that always seemed to see more than she wanted him to see—were still as unsettling as ever. She wanted to find something wrong with him, but his scruffy beard, faded jeans, navy T-shirt, and black leather jacket only added to his attractiveness.

  Maybe it was a good thing he still hated her—because she was having a hard time remembering why she'd ever walked away from him.

  You know why, she told herself forcefully.

  She wouldn't be where she was now if she'd continued her relationship with Jake. Just because he could still make her palms sweat and her pulse race didn't mean a damn thing. She wasn't a hormone-driven teenage girl anymore, and Jake wasn't the boy she'd fallen in love with.

  Besides, he probably had someone in his life now—a girlfriend, maybe even a wife. That thought should have made her feel better, but for some reason it didn't.

  "Ready?" he asked, as he opened the passenger's door.

  "Yes." She was happy to be in the driver's seat. She liked to be in control. Jake wasn't going to go anywhere she didn't want to take him, at least not right this second.

  As Jake settled in next to her, a wave of nostalgia put a knot in her throat. Jake had taught her how to drive. Her dad had always been too busy, and her mother had been too nervous, so she and Jake had gone out together on the weekends. After the driving lessons, they'd usually climbed into the back seat and fooled around. She'd lost her virginity to Jake in the back seat of her dad's Ford Explorer. It had seemed wildly passionate and amazing at the time.

  Actually, if she were honest, it still was one of her most vivid memories. There had been a lot of things that had gone wrong between them, but being together like that had never been one of them. They'd been as combustible as a match to gasoline—the good girl and the bad boy. And it had never ever been like that with anyone else.

  Which was a good thing, she reminded herself. She'd lost her mind with Jake and almost given up on her dreams. Thankfully, she'd found the reins and pulled back just in time. She knew Jake didn't see it that way. But they'd both been on the wrong road, and now they weren't—at least she wasn't. She didn't know about him.

  She started the car and pulled out of the lot, keeping her gaze on the road as she drove back to the neighborhood she'd just left. Jake's mom's house was only a few blocks from her mother's house, another reminder of just how closely intertwined their lives had once been.

  She was a little surprised that Jake didn't say anything on the ride. No snarky comments. No insults. Nothing. The silence was highly unusual, because Jake almost always had too much to say.

  Finding the quiet a little too intense, she broke through with a question. "Why is Alicia here in Texas? I thought she moved to Florida."

  "She did. She came back for Dani's going away party last night."

  "Where is Dani going?"

  "Washington DC. She got a job with Senator Dillon. She's headed for Capitol Hill."

  "That sounds interesting."

  "She's excited about it. She loves politics."

  "I remember the campaign she ran when she wanted to be sophomore class president. She made posters, videos, and had her own street team of lobbyists," she said.

  "She turned our house into campaign headquarters that year. She was obsessed. But she won, so I guess it was worth it."

  "What's Alicia doing now?"

  "She's a photographer at a newspaper in Miami. In her spare time, she chases storms and photographs lightning strikes."

  She shot him a quick look, hearing a dark note in his voice. "She's still crazy about lightning?"

  "As much, if not more, than she ever was. She's convinced there's an answer to my dad's plane crash in every flash of lightning."

  She'd known that Alicia had taken her dad's death very hard, but she hadn't realized just how much of a long-lasting impact it had had. "What answer could there possibly be?"

  "A few weeks ago, I would have said none, but now…"

  As his voice drifted away, she glanced over again. "What's changed?"

  "Alicia got some information that suggests my dad's crash might not have been an accident."

  "What?" She was shocked by his words.

  He shrugged. "A former friend of my father's claims there are things we don't know."

  "What things?"

  "He didn't specify. It could all be bullshit. In fact, I'm fairly certain that he was just yanking Alicia's chain, but she's not going to rest until she knows for sure that there's nothing to find."

  She couldn't imagine what anyone could find now. "Wasn't there an exhaustive search for your dad's plane?"

  "Yeah," he said shortly, turning his head to meet her gaze. "But it's possible there was a rush to judgment to call it an accident. At least, that's what Alicia thinks."

  "What do you think?"

  "I haven't made any decisions. I've agreed to help finance an investigator to look into the accident. We'll see what he comes up with."

  "Do you really want to go back there, Jake?" The question slipped past her lips before she could stop it.

  "No, I don't want to go back there," he snapped. "It was the worst time of my life."

  "Then why do this?"

  "Because my sister is convinced there's more to find out, and if there's some small chance that she's right and someone had a hand in my dad's death, then I couldn't live with myself if I didn't help her get to the truth."

  Jake had always been an intensely loyal person and very protective, especially when it came to his family. "What does your mother think about all this?"

  "She doesn't want to talk about my father—not his life, not his death. For the time being, we're going to leave her out of the loop until we figure out if there is something for her to know."

  "Has she ever remarried?"

  "No. She still works at the university. She has a lot of friends and seems happy enough. She's sad to see Dani leave and wishes Alicia would move back, but she seems to have accepted the fact that the girls are going to go their own way."

  "She still has you."

  "Yeah, but I don't go shopping with her," he said dryly.

  "Well, I'm glad she's doing well." Jake's mom had been very nice to her when they'd been together, but after the breakup, she'd delivered a few choice words to Katherine—

  words she probably deserved. But with all that was going on in her life, she didn't know if she could handle dealing with Jake's mother, too. "Is your mom home now? Will we see her?"

  "I have no idea. She was there earlier, but who knows? Why?" He gave her a
thoughtful look. "Do you have a problem with my mom?"

  "I think she might have a problem with me."

  "Not that I've seen," he muttered. "She loves to tell me how great you're doing."

  "Really? After we broke up, she wasn't too happy with me."

  "How do you know that?"

  "We ran into each other at the store one day. She said a few things."

  "What kind of things?"

  "I don't remember exactly. It doesn't matter."

  For a moment, she thought he might argue the point, but then he said, "You're right, it doesn't matter."

  And they went back to a tense silence.

  Ten minutes later, she parked in front of his mom's house and then followed him inside.

  Alicia was waiting in the living room. She looked as exotically pretty as ever with her dark hair cascading in waves down her back, her deep-brown eyes and warm smile.

  "Katherine, it's been so long," she said with a smile, giving her a hug. "How are you?"

  "I'm all right." She wasn't sure what Jake had told Alicia on the phone, and she was actually a little surprised at Alicia's warmth. She didn't think his sisters had been any happier with her than his mother had been after she'd walked away from their relationship. But apparently Alicia hadn't held a grudge.

  "I want you to meet my fiancé," Alicia said, grabbing the hand of a darkly handsome man. "This is Michael Cordero. He's a brilliant architect and real-estate developer, and he's also going to be my husband once we set a date. Michael, this is Katherine Barrett—Jake's high school girlfriend—and a brilliant doctor."

  Michael smiled and shook her hand. "From one brilliant person to another—it's nice to meet you."

  She smiled back. "Alicia exaggerates."

  "I know it," he said. "But as long as it's in my favor, I don't care."

  Alicia playfully punched Michael's arm. "I spoke only the truth—about both of you." Then she turned to Katherine. "So what's going on? Jake didn't say anything except that he was bringing you by and that you wanted to talk to me about TJ. I have to admit I'm surprised that you and Jake are talking about anything together."

  "Why don't we sit down?" Jake suggested, waving Katherine toward an armchair.