No One Knows

by J. T. Ellison

“It’s okay. I won’t let them in. I promise.”

  Aubrey didn’t respond, just stood there crying, eyes downcast.

  He decided to try reasoning with Daisy.

  “Wait for me. I’ll fix this.”

  Aubrey didn’t acknowledge him, so he caressed the top of her head and left her in the living room. His mother was stationed at the front door, arms crossed on her chest, face drawn. He could feel her fury from across the room; waves of negative energy spilled off her body.

  “Mom. You can’t do this. You can’t call the police on her. I invited her here. This is my fault.”

  “I just did. Oh, and look. Here they are.” She flung open the door and waved to the officer who’d pulled into the drive.

  Josh didn’t know what to do. My God, how had the night gotten so off track?

  The policeman conferred with his mother. He put his hand on his gun belt and started into the house. Josh stepped in front of him, decision made. He wouldn’t let this happen.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but my mother is mistaken. No one broke in here. I invited my girlfriend over for dinner. My mother”—he couldn’t help himself, the disdain came through loud and clear on the first note of her name—“caught us fooling around and has overreacted. She isn’t fond of my girlfriend, you see.”

  “That’s not true. Josh wasn’t home when I arrived. It was just that girl, and she was in my jewelry box, trying to steal things. She has stolen one of my rings, it’s missing from the jewelry box, it has a pearl in it, and—”

  “Mom!” Josh was shocked. He couldn’t believe she’d lie to the police.

  “Now, son,” the man said, reasonable and kindly. “Move out of the way. I just want to talk to the girl.”

  “Aubrey Trenton, that’s her name. She’s a little criminal. Lives with criminals, it’s not surprising she’s become one herself.” Daisy was screeching. Josh gritted his teeth and turned on her.

  “You are lying, Mother. Stop this.”

  She just pointed over his shoulder.

  “See? Am I lying? Look. The back door’s been broken out.”

  Josh and the policeman looked where she indicated. The door was broken. The only way to lock and unlock the door was with a key for the deadbolt. Daisy liked it for security; Tom always warned that it was a fire hazard. Josh saw the splintered wood and his stomach dropped. He turned and went to the living room, not surprised to find it empty.

  An animal, when cornered, will do most anything to escape.

  CHAPTER 32

  Aubrey

  Today

  It was nearly six in the evening, the hospital buzzing with shift changes. In Daisy’s room, they were just getting ready to make the pass-off from Tom to Aubrey when the doctor came in, all kinds of jovial.

  “Hi, Tom, Aubrey.” He turned to the bed. “Evening, Miss Daisy. Want to get that tube out of your throat?”

  Daisy blinked rapidly, her sign for absolutely, yes.

  Rasha joined the group, and the doctor shooed Aubrey and Tom out into the hall.

  It wasn’t even a full five minutes before Rasha came and grabbed them. “She did great. But let’s not tire her out too quickly, okay?”

  Daisy was sitting up in the bed, looking wan and pale, the bits of the halo biting into the skin of her forehead, making the surrounding tissue red and angry. She ignored Tom, focused laser-like on Aubrey.

  The first thing she asked was “Where . . . is . . . Josh?”

  Aubrey was tempted to smooth the hair back from Daisy’s forehead but resisted, knowing the gesture wouldn’t be welcome. Instead, she played with her own hair, trying to get the curls secured behind her ear. She glanced at Tom, who gave a half shrug and a nod.

  “Daisy, I’ve told you this before, but you’ve been under a lot of sedation. I’m not sure how much of your memory has been affected by the accident. But Josh passed away. Five years ago.”

  Daisy’s bruised face wrinkled in thought. Her words came out in a horrifying rasp. Aubrey could only imagine how much it hurt Daisy to speak.

  “That’s . . . not . . . right. You’re . . . wrong. I swear . . . I saw . . . him here.”

  Here we go again.

  “That was Chase. He’s my . . . friend.”

  A friend. That was putting it mildly. Yes, their dating had evolved differently from the normal “boy meets girl, three dates, and then it’s okay to have sex” setup. Instead they’d started with the passion, and were only now getting to know each other.

  Chase was erudite, and funny, and compassionate. Similar to Josh in many ways, selflessness and generosity just the beginning. He was due back in Nashville tomorrow, and she couldn’t wait to see him again.

  Daisy snorted, her face pinched at the word friend. Her voice was getting stronger now.

  “I know I saw Josh. I know it. Why are you keeping him from me, Aubrey? Why won’t you let me see my son?”

  “Daisy, I promise you. Chase is not Josh. Josh is dead, Daisy. Even the courts say so.”

  “Tom?” Daisy turned to her husband, imploring. “Tell her she’s wrong. Tell her I saw him. He was right here. He was at her house. I saw him.”

  The beeping monitors ratcheted up a few notches, and Rasha stepped in.

  “We need to keep her calm. Why don’t we talk about something else? Daisy, you’re such a quick healer. If things keep going well, we’ll be able to unscrew the halo. And then you’ll be able to go—”

  “Shut up!” Daisy shrieked, then started to cough. The monitors went crazy, and Rasha hurried them away.

  In the overlit hallway, Tom turned to Aubrey. “I think you should go on home now. I’ll handle her tonight.”

  As disloyal as it was—Tom had been on duty for hours and must be exhausted—Aubrey felt nothing but pure relief. It was one thing to watch over Daisy when she couldn’t fling her vitriol, but now that she was talking again, Aubrey would become the target, and she really didn’t want to be forced into arguing with a woman who’d nearly died, even one as horrible as Daisy. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I’ll get her on the right page. You can come back tomorrow.”

  “Okay, Tom. If you think it’s best.” She gave him a hug and tried not to let the skip in her step show. She’d be able to get a run in, shower, and actually spend the night in her own bed. And Winston would be in heaven—he missed his mommy. Meghan and Linda had been taking turns on the nightly and morning walks.

  After her run, Aubrey could continue her long-distance seduction of Chase. And see if Tyler had had any luck tracking down the man named Derek Allen.

  CHAPTER 33

  Chase

  Chase stared out the window of his apartment in Lincoln Park, watching the neighborhood women pushing strollers toward the zoo. It was a perfect Chicago spring day, almost warm, bright and sunny, and it felt like the whole city had emerged to get some fresh air.

  Aubrey.

  Focus, Chase.

  He tapped the keyboard again, pulling his notes together. Cursed his naïveté for thinking he could play fast and loose with his own reality.

  Every investigative reporter dreams about the moment he uncovers something no one else has and breaks a story wide open. Chase thought he just might have the lead he needed to blow the Joshua Hamilton story out of the water. And he’d been sitting on it for two hours because he now had a bigger problem on his hands.

  He couldn’t stop thinking about Aubrey Hamilton.

  Chase wasn’t a player. Yes, he’d bedded his fair share of women, but he’d never been with one who he wanted to protect. He’d felt downright chivalrous when the police had shown up at Aubrey’s door and started hounding her. He wanted to punch the officer in the face, had forced himself to take a breath and speak calmly. It had hurt him to see Aubrey getting upset, to watch her walls go back up. He’d hated to leave the next day, but he
had to get back to Chicago to file a piece on the new MacBook and get his assignments for the week. The whole time, all he could think about was getting back to Nashville, holding her in his arms.

  He had a whole alternate reality going on. He was supposed to be investigating Aubrey. Instead, he was helping her with her mother-in-law, bolstering the family in their time of need. He’d liked Tom Hamilton, and while he wanted to get as far away from Daisy as possible, he also hated to leave them. And it was tearing him up because he knew that was crazy. He was looking for a story, not a family.

  His boss had warned him about this. Getting too close to a subject. Becoming involved. It killed your perspective, made the story into something it wasn’t.

  How was he going to keep on this path? He couldn’t betray Aubrey. She’d been betrayed by too many others.

  He heard his boss in his head: That girl must have a magic cooch to get you off the scent.

  Maybe you need to follow that line of thinking, Chase. Like the papers said, Mata Hari and all that. You know she has something to do with her husband’s disappearance. You know it.

  Yet he didn’t care. All he really wanted was to run his hands along her body, and bury himself inside her. To smell her scent and make her laugh. To wake up with her beside him, curled in a snug little ball against his stomach.

  He went back to the window, feeling terribly low. These were dangerous thoughts. Especially after the things the investigation had shown about her. That there was a coldness in her. That she’d acted off from the beginning. That he needed to look deeply into her background, the life she’d led, the people she’d hung out with. Criminals, all.

  He didn’t want to see Aubrey get hurt, knew he couldn’t trust her. But . . .

  The demon on his shoulder laughed uproariously. You can’t be in love, you idiot. You’ve only seen her twice.

  Love?

  The idea shocked him into action. The demon was right. He was simply in lust. Aubrey Hamilton was a pretty, vulnerable woman, but she was a story to him. He’d made a mistake bedding her; that was stupid, the result of desire, too much drink, and a deep-seated need to get to the bottom of her mystery and make a name for himself.

  But he wasn’t in love. He absolutely wasn’t.

  But he was completely compromised, and it was time to own up to the truth.

  He called his editor, told him what was going on. That he couldn’t go forward with the story until the wife knew he was doing the piece on her husband. Because, really, unless Josh Hamilton was alive and came back for her, there’d be no story anyway. That he’d find out the truth faster this way, that she’d absolutely play along, and no, of course he wasn’t doing anything stupid.

  His editor balked, but Chase promised this was the right angle. Get the wife on board, come at it from the inside.

  His editor refused. Push through, he said. This is a huge piece. Career-making, for you and for the paper.

  Chase said no. And his editor gave him a choice.

  Do the piece, or get a new job.

  Without hesitating, he agreed to the latter and quit. Hung up on his boss and his career, ignored the phone when it rang back, his boss’s voice on the answering machine telling him to take a few days and think it over, and clicked on his notes again.

  He was going to have to show this picture to Aubrey at some point. Coming clean meant coming clean all the way.

  How would she react? How would she feel? Destroyed all over again, probably.

  Well, Chase might be the harbinger of ill tidings, but he also planned to stick around and pick up the pieces.

  CHAPTER 34

  Aubrey

  Today

  Aubrey purposefully walked by the cafeteria as she left, just in case the creep was there waiting. She didn’t see him, and sagged a bit in relief. Despite her bravado, she didn’t know if she was up for another confrontation.

  She couldn’t get Josh out of her mind, and Daisy’s attack had left her drained and upset. All the old doubts were rising to the surface, her concerns and worries. She used to be so strong. So fearless. With Josh at her side, she could conquer the world.

  The new Aubrey was prone to anxiety, carried her Ativan with her everywhere. She recognized that a pill was in order, so she went to the parking garage on the second floor where she’d seen a soda machine once when she was lost in the night. She slid a dollar into the slot and got a bottle of water.

  Josh wasn’t the man you knew, Aubrey. Oh, she knew him. Knew every inch of him.

  Pill taken, she headed around the building to the aboveground parking lot. She refused to park in the underground lot at night. It was too dark, too lonely. Unsafe.

  Aubrey dialed Tyler’s number, put the cell to her ear. Voicemail, again. She left him another message: “Tyler, I need to talk. Please call me when you get this.”

  Damn it, she needed Tyler to find out what he could about this Derek Allen character, but he’d dropped off the radar. Aubrey knew there was a good chance he was holed up with a bag and a syringe, and would emerge sometime soon needing money, or bail. So she was left to figure out the secrets alone.

  She handed the ticket to the valet. He ran off to retrieve her car, and she thought about Daisy, lying in the bed upstairs, convinced Chase was her long-dead son. It was interesting that she’d seen the resemblance between Josh and Chase, too. At least Aubrey knew she wasn’t losing her mind entirely. Meghan couldn’t see it at all. Meghan was too rational, too fixed. Too focused on helping Aubrey move past her tragedy and start living again.

  Meghan.

  Perfect.

  Aubrey glanced at her watch. Meghan had insisted Aubrey take a few days off from the store to deal with the Daisy situation, so they hadn’t talked outside of scheduling walks for Winston. She would still be at work.

  The valet returned with the Audi, and she headed toward Frothy Joe’s.

  Spring had absolutely rioted overnight. Buttery daffodils bloomed across the Vanderbilt campus, and the trees had greened up. The suddenness of the seasons in Nashville sometimes caught Aubrey off guard. One day it would be frigid, and the next the forsythia would scramble out, desperate to be seen by all passersby, the sun would linger in the evening sky, and a hint of warmth would pulsate in the breeze. The bank sign said it was seventy degrees—a certain harbinger of the impending weather shift. They went winter to summer many years, without a discernible spring.

  But this year was different. This year, they were having the lost season.

  Traffic was light, and she arrived at the coffee shop in less than ten minutes. Meghan was setting up for another poetry slam when Aubrey arrived.

  “Heya, kid. How’re you doing? How’s Daisy?”

  Aubrey gave Meghan a quick hug. “They finally took her off the ventilator. She immediately started asking for Josh. She thinks Chase is Josh.”

  “Looney tunes.” Meghan smiled at Aubrey. “Chase is back in town tomorrow?”

  “Yes.” Aubrey couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Slut.”

  “I’m not.” But she had to admit, she enjoyed the teasing. Who would have thought?

  “Are you going to stick around tonight? We have another event, and I could use the help.”

  Aubrey considered for a moment. Linda was going to walk Winston at nine—she’d have time to get home before then. “All right. I was hoping to have some quiet time, but mercenary that I am, I could use the money. And you and I can talk—I have a favor to ask.”

  “Deal. Now get crackin’, sister. This place won’t set itself up.”

  Aubrey stuck out her tongue at her best friend and got to it. She went in the back and started bringing out chairs. The extra help made things go quicker. The whole room was set in five minutes. The event began at seven. When she’d done the author introduction, Meghan signaled to Aubrey and they went to the front of th
e store. There were a few students, headphones in, heads bobbing to an invisible beat. Private enough.

  Meghan grabbed them each a cup of coffee, and they settled themselves on the stools at the counter.

  “So . . . ?” she said, watching Aubrey carefully.

  “I need your help. But you have to promise to hear me out, okay? Don’t interrupt. Let me tell you the whole story, and then you can make a decision.”

  Meghan gave her that cocked-head “are you off your rocker again?” look.

  “Seriously, Meghan. This is important.”

  “Okay, okay. I will sit and sip my coffee and let you spin me a tale.”

  “Good. Thank you. A man approached me at the hospital last night. He implied that Josh was alive, and if I wanted answers to call him. He gave me his card, but I spilled coffee on it, so I can’t see the number. He seemed really familiar, but I can’t place him.”

  “Let me see the card.”

  Aubrey handed it over. Meghan glanced at it, and Aubrey could have sworn her face paled. She set it down carefully on the counter.

  “Go on.”

  “All right. You know how when I saw Chase for the first time, I thought he was Josh? So did Daisy. She was so convinced it was him, she drove into my house. She got excited, her foot jammed on the gas. She—”

  “Was drunk off her ass. Didn’t you say her blood alcohol level was .23?”

  “Meghan. Interruption.”

  “Oh, forgive me. Please, by all means, continueth.” She grinned contritely, and Aubrey shook her head.

  “As I was saying. She was so convinced he was Josh that she slammed into the house. When she got the tube out, the first thing she said was ‘Where is Josh?’ I figured she’d just forgotten he was dead, but when we talked, she just didn’t believe me. She thinks I’m holding him back.

  “And when Tyler showed up, he told me he spent a night in holding with a guy who claimed he was running drugs with a med student out of Vandy.”

  Meghan sat there for a moment, then said, “Oh, I’m allowed to speak now?”

  “Yes. I need to find out if the med student he was talking about was Josh.”