I smiled at him. “Maybe you should. I hate to start my tenure here with interrogations, but I’m not going to put up with that kind of thing. If it is someone’s idea of a joke, they will be very disappointed because I don’t frighten easily.” I tasted the hot grits and blew on my spoon. “You know, don’t worry about doing any sort of investigation yet. I can do that myself. I have some experience, you know. Let me see if I can figure this out without putting the staff through the wringer.”
“Okay, you’re the boss. But let me know if you change your mind.”
Summer walked back into the dining room as if she had not left in a huff. Her demeanor was friendly, and she smiled as she sat down with a scant plate of food. “Mitchell has gone home. He says to give you his apologies.”
“No apologies necessary. It’s completely understandable.”
Reed smiled at her and said, “After breakfast, Avery is going to sign the papers. I’d like you to stick around as a witness, Summer.”
“Sure, whatever I can do to help.” I stared at her and Reed. She didn’t seem to notice my surprise at all. “I’ll get on the phones and call the board and the family elders for you, Avery. May I use the study, cousin?”
“Of course. And thank you, Summer. Do what you need to.”
“Great! And I’ll take you on a tour of the home. Reed says he didn’t get to give you one yesterday.”
Reed appeared pleased by our conversation but didn’t add anything. He sipped his juice and walked to the coffeepot to refill his cup and mine.
“No, he didn’t. I would like that, Summer. And let’s clear the air here. I am not stupid. I can’t imagine what you are feeling, but I didn’t plan this, and I don’t want to take anything from you. I don’t think myself superior to you. You’re my cousin, and I‘m sure you have a lot to offer our family. Let’s work together for the good of everyone. I don’t know why Aunt Anne put this honor or whatever you want to call it on me, but I am glad you are here. I would like you to help me if you are willing to do so. I will be the first to admit I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.”
I saw Summer’s heart-shaped face soften. “I would like that, Avery. I would like that very much. You know, you will have to finish up quickly and change. This is kind of an important day for the family,one of the most important. All of the family will come now to see you and pay their respects. You might as well clear your calendar for the next week or so. Some of the rooms will need to be opened, and there will definitely need to be more staff and shopping for supplies and food.”
And that was all that needed to be said. Somehow, by God’s good graces, I had an ally, and as I would find out, a strong ally indeed.
It was a good feeling. Maybe my luck was changing.
Chapter Fifteen
Jamie Richards
I pounded on my desk with my fist, surprising the hell out of my new partner, Chris Green. I didn’t care for him already since he had an attitude. “You can’t be serious!” I yelled into the phone. “What are you guys doing down there? Who did the search?”
I listened to the rookie cop on the other end of the line. He was full of excuses. They’d bungled the search on Surrette’s apartment, and now all that stuff inside it would never see a courtroom. The jury wouldn’t hear about the shrine to Avery, his stack of letters to her, his disturbing artwork depicting her with scratched-out eyes or without a head. This nut job just might walk, and the trial hadn’t even started yet.
“Richards, pick up line two!” My chief’s expression said it all.
“I swear to you, Langdon. If this guy walks because you two idiots couldn’t wait on a search warrant, I am going to kick your ass so hard your grandchildren will feel it!” I slammed down the phone and stared at the flashing light on the second line. “This has to be the biggest screw-up in the history of the department!”
Chris put his hand up and said, “Listen, we aren’t giving up, Jamie. We have to regroup, that’s all. This is a major case, and we aren’t going to blow it. Just give everyone some time. I think it might be nice if you go call the victim, though. She’s gonna need to know that he’s walking around, at least until we can make these charges stick.”
“I hope to God we can. What else is left? The only thing we don’t have is the knife. And unless we find it with her blood on it, this case isn’t going anywhere. Surely he wasn’t stupid enough to leave a knife lying around. This jerk is really going to come after her. He’s not going to quit until she’s dead.”
“I don’t know, maybe he’s gotten it out of his system. I don’t think he’d really go all the way to Alabama to finish the job.”
“What? He won’t drive four and a half hours to kill the woman he hates more than anyone in the world?” I sneered at his observational skills. “Listen, you weren’t in that apartment. If he walks, she’s done. Even with all the restraining orders in the world. Can’t the district attorney keep him on something? Traffic tickets?”
“Nope. He says other than this, he is squeaky clean. I hear Latham is going into chambers now to see the judge. Maybe he’ll see it for what it is, an unintentional rookie mistake.”
“Yeah, right.” I shrugged. “Whatever happens, I have a duty to keep this woman alive. I promised her I would keep her posted.”
“Hmm… I hope you aren’t getting too emotionally invested in this one, Jamie.”
“Get out of here with that crap. I just don’t want to see someone die when I could have prevented it is all.”
He went back to dialing numbers and following leads and ignored me for the rest of the afternoon.
Yeah, I didn’t care for the guy.
Two hours later, I was leaving my apartment with an overnight bag, my gun, and an extra box of ammo. I’d told the chief what I was doing, and he agreed but said I had to be at work on Monday.
“No going down there and falling in love, Richards. Get your ass back home. We’ve got other cases besides this one.” I had scoffed at the idea that I would fall in love with Avery Dufresne.
But the truth was different. I had fallen in love with her. What was there not to love? She was beautiful and intelligent, and she knew a dirtbag politician when she saw one.
Regardless of my crush on her, I took my duties seriously. I would protect her, and if Surrette came for her, I would be ready.
This was the right thing to do.
Chapter Sixteen
Amanda Collins
“Are you sure this is a good idea? Just showing up like this?” Ed Stanwyck whined from the back seat.
“Are you talking about for you or for me? Because I told you from the beginning, you shouldn’t just show up, Ed. At least she used to like us. She never could stand you, but this was your harebrained idea, remember?” In the front seat, Jonah checked his face in the visor mirror for the tenth time. I rolled my eyes as I watched him meticulously smear his eyeliner.
“We are clear on the details, right? You’re here as my assistant, you man the camera.”
I grinned at Ed in the mirror. Whatever, dude. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Avery was going to give this guy an exclusive interview. Ed licked his lips nervously as I nodded and said, “That’s right.” The only reason I brought him was to record the reckoning between them. She hated him…and Jonah, for that matter. Avery Dufresne wasn’t the kind of girl to hold back on her feelings, and I’d be there to report on it all. Yeah, he was squirming in his seat. Time to stir Jonah up a bit now.
“It’s a good thing you had plenty of free time on your hands now that Imperial canceled your tour. Have you guys talked since your breakup?” Breakup. That was a nice name for it. Imagine seeing your significant other licking the tonsils of a girl little more than half his age.
“Just the once, but at least I didn’t steal her job. You couldn’t wait to get a seat at that desk. Well, you got it. Didn’t you?” He sent me a scowl, reminding me of his lack of charm when it came to Avery. So the bad boy rocker still had a thing for her? Funny h
ow things worked. She’d been gone an entire month, and he acted like he was going to die without her. Whatever, wimp.
I stared at the traffic ahead of me and ignored them both. No sense in taking the bait since they were both total losers. Especially Jonah. Guys wearing eyeliner. So unattractive. Why would Avery want someone like this guy? I thought I knew her, but evidently, I didn’t. She’d proved that by not keeping me in the loop on the Greeley interview. Avery was all about herself. She didn’t care what that interview could have done for my career. Luckily for me, the folks at News Quarter took my side. They understood I wasn’t that kind of reporter.
Jonah wasn’t my type, but then again, picking guys was not my strong suit. Bradley and I had just called it quits. I’d passed my kid off to my neighbor so I could make this trip. She needed the money, and I needed a break. A big break. I hoped this would be it. Damn it, Bradley! Just when things were going great at work, he had to bail on me. Men. Another reason to get out of town for a while.
Jonah leaned the seat back, just about landing in Ed’s lap, and closed his eyes. “Why we couldn’t fly, I’ll never know.”
“People know you, Jonah. They know us. Everyone would know where we were going and who we were going to see. This was the deal, remember? Ed gets the interview about the attack, and I get exclusivity on your reunion with Avery.”
“Whatever, just wake me up when we get there. I’m sick of being in this horrible tiny car.”
“I’d think, being British, you would enjoy my tiny vehicle. Besides, you aren’t as tall as I imagined. You look bigger on stage. I suppose it’s the drugs?”
“The ones you take? Save your questions for Avery. I’m going to catch forty winks now if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. I’ll wake you on down the road,” I said, giving him the evil eye as he slept. Stanwyck had his headphones on and was scanning through his phone, probably watching YouTube videos of himself. Jerk. Avery was right about one thing. This guy was a “sandwich.” I sighed and turned on the radio, looking for something to help me relax.
“I can’t sleep with music on,” Jonah said from under his navy blue scarf.
“Aren’t you a musician?”
“Yes, and that’s why I can’t sleep with music playing. I listen to every note. I hear every mistake. It’s misery. You have no idea.”
“I’m starting to understand,” I said sarcastically, but he didn’t pick up on the double entendre. Yes, this guy was definitely a male bimbo. Without another word, I flipped to my favorite news channel. Marla Riley’s voice flooded the car. She was one of the few people I liked at News Quarter. We shared ambitions over drinks occasionally.
I rehearsed in my head what I would say to Avery. Perhaps “America’s Newscaster” would feel all nostalgic when she saw me. Might actually feel bad that she left me holding the bag for her major mistake. As if the company would go in for that kind of crap? She should have known that the tree of politics hung low over the media, and it covered News Quarter like any other news organization. I doubted she knew any of that. Avery actually believed real journalism mattered. It didn’t. I’d figured that out in college.
And she had no idea I’d been after her chair for six months. The Blonde Bobblehead, as Stanwyck liked to call her, didn’t seem to notice that I’d dropped ten pounds, upgraded my hairstyle, and spruced up my resume. I was done being her producer. I knew what it took to be in front of the camera and to have the eyes of the world watching you. I wasn’t getting any younger, and if I didn’t make my move now it would be too late. She’d have to give me a break. And if she didn’t want to give me the inside scoop, then I could report on that too. She owed me big time. I didn’t care at all about what happened to David Greeley, the cheating politician she busted. I didn’t care that he’d lost his job, his family, his wife. I didn’t care that Stanwyck was up for contract renewal and things weren’t looking too good for him. His own fault. He really needed to lay off the Irish whiskey. I sure as hell didn’t care about Jonah Blight.
I did care about my future. I gave myself a confident smile in the rearview mirror as I watched Ed doze off. Yep, it was my time to shine now, come hell or high water.
Two hours later, thanks to Jonah and his incessant need for fountain drinks and bathroom breaks, we were pulling into rinky-dink Belle Fontaine. It was truly the middle of nowhere. I had to check my GPS twice to make sure I was in the right place. Could this be right?
Ed whined about being in the back seat. Jonah checked his makeup in the mirror once more as I eased my Toyota down a long narrow drive and pulled up in front of the most amazing house I had ever seen.
“Holy hell!” Jonah said as he flipped his visor up. How long would it be before I got the reek of his patchouli out of my car? I pulled into the circular drive, right up to the front, just like I belonged there. There was a whole slew of cars here already, but that didn’t deter me. This was it, according to my sources. She hadn’t taken my phone calls or answered my emails. She had left me with little choice but to show up unannounced.
“Stay in the car, please. I’m going up now to make sure she’s home. It is really, really important that I get a photo of her when she first sees you, Jonah. Capisce?”
“I think the word you’re looking for is…” Ed started to correct me. “And I’m not staying here. I’m going too.”
“Shut up, Ed, and stay in the car,” I said over my shoulder as I closed the door on him.
Walking up to the huge front door, I pushed my shades up to the top of my head, put on my best smile, and knocked, confident that someone would answer. I didn’t have to wait long. A nicely dressed housemaid answered, but she did not let me in. “Yes, how may I help you?”
“I am here to speak to Avery Dufresne. I’m a co-worker of hers. May I come in?”
“I’m sorry. No, ma’am. She’s working at the moment. I will be happy to accept your card and give it to her later.”
“That’s not good enough, I’m afraid. Go give her my card, and I’ll wait here.”
“Wait here, please?”
“Yes, I will wait. I want to see her now. I came all the way down here from Atlanta. You do know how far that is, don’t you?” The girl stiffened. She wasn’t budging.
“She is somewhere on the grounds, but unfortunately, I am not sure where. I think it might be best if you leave your card and allow her to call you when she’s free.”
Luckily I had one of my business cards in my pocket. I handed it to her with another smile. “No, I can’t do that. I’m here on business, and I have to see her today.” I was seething inside, but I smiled at the girl. “What’s your name?”
“My name is Robin. I see yours is Amanda?”
“Yes, Amanda Collins. I am an old friend of hers.”
“Who is that, Robin?” I heard another voice approaching us. It belonged to a young woman with beautiful dark-blonde hair that hung in spiral curls around her face. She had an even tan and blue eyes. She could have been Avery’s little sister.
“Hello?” I pushed the door open with an even bigger smile on my face to get a better view of her. Robin handed the woman my card and stepped back, not sure what to do about the pushy broad at the door. Apparently, they didn’t have bad manners here in Belle Fontaine. Well, I was here now, wasn’t I? With my best Reese Witherspoon smile, I extended a hand and said, “I am Amanda Collins. I used to work with Avery at News Quarter. I’d like to check in on my friend, and I have two of our mutual friends with me in the car. I can’t imagine that she would want us to go stay at a hotel. Didn’t she get my messages?”
The woman stared at the card and looked down the hallway. Whatever or whoever she was looking for was not there. That was our in!
“I guess we can go to a hotel and wait for her to call,” I continued.
“No, we have room for you here. Our Fourth of July party is this weekend, so we’ve got guests everywhere. But I think we can make room for a few more folks.” Robin shuffled behind her, unhappy abou
t the decision, but obviously, Robin wasn’t in charge.
“That would be perfect. Thank you, um…what is your name again?”
“Summer Dufresne. I am Avery’s cousin. Please, Robin, go tell Nan to make up the blue plaid room.”
“Oh, I hate to be an imposition, but would it be possible to have two rooms? There are three of us, and my friend and I…” I didn’t need to explain. Jonah was walking up behind me.
“Oh, I see. Good afternoon, Mr. Blight. Nice to meet you.” Jonah bounded up the stairs with Ed behind him. Stay in the car. Right.
“Hello, love. Nice to meet you, too. What a place! Is there a loo nearby?”
“Of course, Robin, please show Mr. Blight to the restroom in the red hallway. And come right back. We need to get the room ready for them.”
“Please, no Mister. Just call me Jonah.” He smiled at the plain-faced Robin, and she blushed with pleasure. Yes, I had forgotten what a star he was, and how popular he was with people Robin’s age. Maybe having him tag along hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. Ed lingered in the background, hoping someone would notice him too. He shoved his aviator glasses up to the top of his head.
Summer smiled at him politely and to both of us said, “Follow me, please. Your room is down this way. It’s rather small, but I am afraid it’s the last one we have. All the other rooms have been claimed by relatives coming into town for our family party. But the bed is a king, big enough for two people to sleep in without touching. We can arrange for a cot to be brought in for the third person. One more thing, I am going to have to insist you refrain from taking photos while you are here. No cameras and no smartphones.”
“What?” I said, dragging my suitcase behind me. I didn’t bother grabbing Jonah’s bags. Let him fend for himself. He was sure to act like a rooster in a henhouse during our stay here. “How are you going to enforce that? Everyone lives on their devices now.”
The Hauntings Of Sugar Hill: The Complete Series Page 15