Alex thought about his discussion out at Beau's house. He had learned little of value in his father's case. It just reinforced what he already knew, that half the town had reason to hate Horton Bayes, but none enough to kill the man.
Ella Moore, Adrienne's mother, had come into the bar about a half hour earlier. She hadn't noticed or cared not to notice Alex. She was sitting with a man Alex didn't know, laughing and drinking heavily. Adrienne must be home with Scotty, he thought. He knew he couldn't keep putting off the inevitable with Adrienne. He would have to settle on a course of action and commit to it, commit to Adrienne that he would be there for her and their son. Their son, he thought again.
Alex turned when he noticed Ella Moore getting up and leaving with the man she'd been talking to. They were arm-in-arm as they went out the door. He shook his head in disgust. The woman's reputation was legendary here in town, including affairs over the years with both his own father and the now deceased, Horton Bayes. He always knew Adrienne didn't have the best influences in her life. Her father had run away years earlier and had never returned. Ella was a mess and never gave her daughter much attention or guidance. Adrienne, he thought. I have to go see her in the morning.
Alex didn't check his phone until he was back home at his father's, sitting on the front porch with another beer on the table next to him. He cursed when he saw that Hanna had called two hours earlier. He hadn't noticed the call in the noise and nonsense down at Gilly's. He listened to the message. Jenna Hall was gone, back with her deadbeat husband. Just great, he thought in anger.
It was now close to one in the morning. He didn't want to call Hanna this late. He decided to send a text message. Got your call. I'll call Lonnie in the morning. Sorry. Alex.
He wanted to say more, to give her some reassurance about how he felt about her and what was happening here in Dugganville, but he couldn't find the words. Sorry. What was he sorry for? For not calling back? For Adrienne. For Jenna Hall running back to her abusive husband? Yes, he was sorry for all of it. But, what was he going to do about it?
He looked up when he heard someone coming up the walk to the porch. In the dim light from inside the house behind him, he finally saw it was Adrienne. He felt an empty panic in his gut as she came up the steps and sat next to him.
"Thought you'd still be up," she said. "Mom came home a while ago. Said you were down at Gilly's." She put her hand on his thigh. "How’re you doing, soldier?" It was an old greeting she often used when they were married.
He looked back at her and consciously thought about pushing her hand away but didn't.
"It's late," he finally said.
"Mom's home with Scotty. He's been asleep for hours," she said. "I've been waiting to hear from you."
Alex didn't respond, not sure of what to do or what to say.
"Alex?"
This time he did push her hand away and he turned to face her. Before he could speak she leaned in and kissed him.
It caught him completely by surprise and he stood up. "Adrienne! I'm not ready for this."
She looked up at him with a smile in the dim light. She reached for the belt of his pants and said. "I remember what you like."
His cell phone lit up and buzzed on the table next to where they'd been sitting. He saw Hanna's name on the screen and his heart sank.
He reached for the phone. "Adrienne, you need to go." When she didn't move and started pulling at his zipper, he backed away and walked down the steps onto the front yard. He pressed the button to take the call.
"Hanna."
He heard her say, "I got your text. Thought you'd still be up, so I wanted to talk."
He started to reply when Adrienne called down from the porch, "Alex, who's that? The little woman from Charleston?"
He couldn't cover the phone in time and he knew Hanna had heard her. There was silence for a moment, then, "Good night, Alex." The line went dead.
Chapter Twenty-six
Hanna threw her phone into the pillow on the bed beside her. No wonder he didn't call!
She was seething at the thought of that woman mocking her on the phone, knowing full well she could hear. She tried to think about what they'd been doing in the middle of the night together. She felt sick deep in her stomach and thought she might throw-up. She started for the bathroom but the feeling subsided and she sat back on the bed.
Damn you, Alex!
If she was looking for a "last straw" in their free-falling relationship, this would surely be the one. She had to come to grips with the fact that her feelings for the man had been real, but it was not meant to be. Maybe it was better she'd found out now before things got too much further along. A deep sadness washed over her again. She wasn't going to make any more vows about men, she thought. There just won't be any more men!
She had her son and his adult life was just starting. There would be a future to share there. She had her work and her clients, her beautiful family ancestral home out on Pawleys Island which was always her sanctuary.
She didn't need the company or comfort of men in her life. Certainly, not anymore.
Hanna shook her head to clear her thoughts. She knew sleep would be slow in coming. She'd been able to reach Lonnie Smith on his cell when Alex hadn't returned her call. Lonnie was going to call in an alert to the Department right away. All the street cops would have the search for Jenna Hall and her son on their bulletins. She said a silent prayer for Jenna, hoping she was somewhere safe.
The alarm on Hanna's phone went off far too early. She had set it to allow time for a shower and something to eat before they left to take her father to the hospital. Her first waking thoughts were of Alex and the voice of his ex-wife in the background at 1am in the morning. Is that the little woman...?
She wished she could get her hands around Adrienne's neck now but pushed the thought aside.
Thirty minutes later, they were all getting into her father's big Cadillac SUV. Hanna would drive. She helped her father up into the passenger seat and Martha climbed in back. They drove in silence for a while. The drive to Piedmont Hospital would normally take just a few minutes, but the morning rush hour traffic had already slowed most roads to a crawl.
Allen Moss spoke in a hoarse voice, "Martha told me last night you got upset about the will and leaving the house to her."
Hanna's senses went on full alert. "I certainly did not!" she protested. "I really don't care what you do with your house and anything else, I was just upset we were even discussing it at a time like this."
Martha chimed in from the back. "I'm really sorry, honey."
"I'm not your honey!"
"Ladies, please," her father said. "Hanna, I know you never cared for the big house and all the trappings. I felt it would mean a lot to Martha to know she can stay in our house when I'm gone."
"I don't want to talk about this now!"
After they had her father checked-in and had a brief conversation with the surgeon, Hanna and Martha were directed to the Surgical Waiting Room for a long and tedious day waiting for updates from Dr. Mason's team. Hanna purposefully sat several seats away from her step-mother. It always galled her to think of the woman in that way. Martha was barely ten years older and Hanna certainly didn't consider her a mother-figure in her life.
Hanna pulled out her phone to check messages. Alex had called again and left his third message of the morning. She hadn't answered any of the calls and she wasn't about to listen to his messages. She deleted them all.
There was a voicemail from Lonnie Smith that word was out on the street to look for Jenna and her son, but nothing yet. She was about to put the phone down when it rang again. The screen said it was Phillip Holloway.
"Good morning, Phillip."
"Hanna, hello," he answered back. "Are you up in Atlanta?"
"Got in last night. Just dropped my father here at the hospital. He's in surgical prep right now."
"Well, my best to him," Phillip said. "I hope everything go
es well today."
"Thank you, Phillip."
"Will you have some time today to discuss Mr. Frank's case?"
Hanna had to think for a moment. She honestly hadn't even considered how she would handle being on the legal defense team for Alex's father. She made a quick and conscious decision. "Phillip, I need to withdraw from the case."
"What in the world for?"
She hesitated to explain, then decided just to get it all out. "Alex and I have had a falling out. I don't think it would be fair to his father for me to be involved. There are just too many distractions."
"Hanna, I'm not very pleased about this. You bring me in on this case, ask me to cut my fee and then you bail on me."
"I'm sorry, Phillip," but I just can't be involved." She paused, then feeling even more guilty, she said, "If you need some help on the side, research, whatever, I'll try to help."
"Well, okay," Phillip said. "So, what's between you and Alex?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Phillip."
Her next call was to Greta at the clinic. She knew Greta would have called if there was any news about Jenna, but she wanted to check anyway.
"She's taken everything," Hanna heard her friend say. "Her room is cleaned out completely."
"How could that happen?" Hanna protested. "I thought you had people watching her?" Hanna immediately felt bad for chastising her friend. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just so worried about Jenna and her boy."
"The police are searching?" Greta asked.
"Yes, the alert has gone out across the city."
"Good. Good." Greta said.
Chapter Twenty-seven
The pain in his temples was the first thing Alex noticed as he began to come out of a deep sleep. The sun was just starting to lighten his room. He looked at his watch and it was almost 8am. As he rubbed his head and tried to swallow, he remembered the previous night. He'd had too much to drink. Back here on the porch, Adrienne had come on to him. He shouldn't have been surprised. It was her typical MO. When all else fails, seduce the guy. He winced when he thought about Hanna calling and hearing Adrienne in the background. After he finally got Adrienne to go home, he had tried Hanna's phone twice without success, leaving messages each time.
He had fallen asleep in his clothes and his phone was still in his pocket. He pressed the number for Hanna again. It went to voicemail after a few rings. "Hanna, it's Alex. Please call me back. I have to explain. Adrienne came uninvited and I made her leave. Nothing happened. I'm sorry you had to hear that. Please call."
He went into the bathroom and ran cold water, splashing his face over and over to clear his head. He took a long drink right from the faucet. His phone started buzzing back in his bedroom and he rushed back. It wasn't Hanna. He saw on the screen Pepper Stokes was calling.
"Good morning, Sheriff."
"Alex, wanted you to know we got two divers going down around the LuLu Belle starting at 10am."
"I'll be there, thanks."
The coffee at Andrews was hot and strong. Lucy had been keeping his cup full for twenty minutes while he worked on the eggs and bacon in front of him. He had started to call Hanna again but put his phone down. He figured her father was in surgery by now and she needed to focus on that. It was in her court to call back. God, will she ever call me back?
He was seated at a booth that gave him a view out the front window of the diner to the main street of Dugganville. There were a few cars parked on each side of the road and three storefronts in his limited view; the drug store, a lawyer's office and the hardware store. He hadn't been paying much attention to who was passing by, still thinking about last night and Adrienne... and Hanna.
He was still furious with his ex-wife for coming on to him like that. Did she really think that sex would bring him running back to her? If anything, he was more disgusted with her than ever. Hanna must surely think the worst, he thought. How would he feel if he called her in the middle of the night and heard another man mocking him in the background? Why did I answer the damn phone!
He looked up when he noticed two women walking with a young boy. It was Adrienne and her mother with Scotty. They were on the far sidewalk and slowed to go into the hardware store. Alex took a deep breath. He was not in the mood for another encounter. He signaled for Lucy to bring the check, left some money on the table and hurried out.
He was just getting into his car when he heard his name called out, "Alex, wait!" he turned and saw Adrienne coming across the street. He was tempted to get in the car and drive away, but he stood there. He watched her stop for a car to pass. Her face was not made up and she looked tired and drawn. He saw Ella and Scotty come out of the store and hurry away in the other direction.
She came up to him, breathless. "Alex, I have to apologize. I don't know what..."
"Adrienne, I don't want to hear it."
"Really, I don't know what I was thinking," she said. "My mother came home and told me she'd seen you down at Gilly's. I'd had a few glasses of wine after Scotty went to bed. I just wanted to see you and for some crazy reason, thought maybe we could be together again. It must have been the wine."
Alex looked away for a moment. He was tempted to tell this woman to go away and never come near him again. There had been enough pain between them in the past. But, then he thought of the boy. "Adrienne, listen. I'm in a relationship. You know that. Your little act last night may have killed it, but let's hope not."
"I said I was sorry..."
"That's not good enough!" he said, trying with all his will to control his anger. "Look, I have a full day." He stared at her for a moment, thinking about the boy. "I'd like to spend some time with Scotty later. Maybe we can get a burger or something for dinner."
Adrienne smiled and said, "That would be great. Thank you, Alex."
"You're still telling him I'm just a friend, right?"
"Just friends."
When Alex walked down the dock to the LuLu Belle, he saw a flurry of law officers assisting two divers who were preparing to go into the murky water around the boat crime scene. The sheriff was standing nearby, and Alex came up to him.
Stokes turned. "Hey, Alex. They'll be going down in a minute."
Alex said, "It will be tough to see down there, and the bottom is soft mud."
"They have metal detectors," the sheriff said.
They both heard someone else coming down the dock. The murder victim's wife, Meryl Bayes was walking fast, an angry and determined look on her face.
"Oh great," the old sheriff said.
Meryl yelled out, "Sheriff Stokes!"
"I'll let you handle this," Alex said and started to walk further out where the divers were assembling."
"You wait right there, Alex Frank!" the woman said.
She came up to both of them, her hair a wild mess like she'd just come through a wind storm. Her clothes looked like she'd had them on for a week."
As she came up, the sheriff said, "Meryl, you can't be out here."
"Why the hell not? It's our damn boat!"
Stokes said, "It's still a crime scene and I'd think you would want us to get to the bottom of your husband's attack."
"You mean his murder!"
"Yes, ma'am."
She turned to Alex. "Why is he here, Sheriff? You two are both working to get his father off, right?"
Alex didn't respond. The sheriff said, "We're doing no such thing, Meryl. We're just trying to get the facts. These divers will be going down to look for a murder weapon or any other evidence that may have gone overboard that night."
"Well, I need to get my boat back," she said. "Can't make any money with it sitting here tied up. Got a crew pulled together to get her back on the water."
"Who is that, Ms. Bayes?" Alex asked.
"Chaz Merton's gonna captain and he's got two men lined-up. My son, young Horton, is coming home from school to help."
Alex said, "Good, I'm sure Chaz can use the work with my father's boa
t out of commission."
"When can I have my boat back, Sheriff?"
Stokes thought for a moment, then said, "Don't see why we can't release her later today. I'll check with the prosecutor's office and let you know, Meryl."
She seemed satisfied. "Thank you." She turned to Alex. "You know, son, I hope your old man rots in that jail for what he's done."
Stokes said, "Meryl, that's not..."
She was getting fired up again and her face was turning a deep crimson. "Alex Frank, your dad has been out to get my husband for years. He finally got what he wanted."
Alex said, "Look, Ms. Bayes, we both know this was a terrible thing and whoever is responsible will have to pay for it for the rest of their lives."
"It was no damn thing and your old man will rot in hell for what he's done!"
She moved toward Alex like she was going to strike him, and the sheriff got between the two of them. He said, "Meryl, you need to go home now. Plan on having your boat back to make a run tonight if you want. I'll call to confirm after I talk to the prosecutor's office in Charleston."
She slowly backed away, not taking her eyes off Alex. "Sheriff, don't let him pull any nonsense with the evidence here."
"That's not gonna happen, Meryl. Now you go home."
Alex and the sheriff watched as the first diver resurfaced about ten feet out from the boat in the main channel of the river. He kicked his fins to move slowly back toward the dock, holding a mesh bag out of the water in front him. The bag appeared to have several muddy items inside including a couple old beer cans. The second diver came up a few dozen yards away and started back to the dock. He also had a bag he held out of the water. The two men placed their bags on the dock and began removing masks and fins to get out of the water.
Sheriff Stokes stood on the dock over the divers. "Anything interesting here?"
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