by Marta Perry
“I’d rather be too trusting than too cynical,” she shot back, uncomfortably aware of how near he was. Near enough that she seemed to feel the frustration surging in his body. “Anyway, that’s not how it was. I thought I heard something, and I opened the door to see what it was.”
That didn’t seem to pacify him. He frowned down at her. “I don’t like it.”
She blinked. “What?”
“The whole situation. Especially your involvement. It seems to me your friend Dixie let you in for a lot of trouble in return for your friendship.”
“What now? Are you blaming Dixie for being killed? She’s the victim, remember?” Deidre clung to the enmity between them, because it was a protection against any other feelings.
“It’s not that, and you should know it.” He gave her the look a teacher might give to a not-quite-prepared student. “Dixie was involved in something that made someone angry enough to kill her.” He paused, seeming to think about his own words. “Angry, or jealous, or frightened. Whatever it was, it was extreme enough to lead to violence.”
What he said made sense, but she didn’t quite see where he was going. “I suppose that’s true, but it doesn’t mean she brought it on herself.”
“No, but she did manage to put your son in danger.”
She winced at the truth of that. “Dixie loved him. She’d never have put him at risk intentionally.”
“Play with fire, and you’re likely to get burned. Sometimes that extends to the people close to you.”
Deidre hated the cynicism of the remark, but she could see some sense in it. “I would think whatever it was, Dixie didn’t see it as a physical threat.” She frowned a little. “She was always very sure of herself. As an adult I mean, not as a child. She thought she could handle anything.”
“Clearly she couldn’t. And now she’s brought this ex-husband into the picture, threatening you.”
“He didn’t exactly threaten,” she protested. “And Dixie couldn’t have guessed I’d ever even meet the man. She thought he was out of her life for good.”
“Well, he’s not. He’s right here in Echo Falls, and he knows who you are.”
She looked up at him to find his brown eyes dark and serious. “That really worries you.”
“Let’s say I take it seriously enough that I think the police have to be told.”
“But surely...” She wasn’t sure why she held back from that response. “He didn’t actually do anything.”
“If the police are involved, we can hope he won’t be able to do anything. Besides, you don’t know that he’s just arrived. You’re assuming he came to town for the funeral.”
“Well, yes.” Her breath caught. “You think he could have been here sooner? You think he might be the one who attacked her?”
“An ex-spouse is usually a prime suspect,” Jason said. “The police have to be told. I’ll do it, if you prefer not to.”
Deidre let out a long breath. Just when she thought the worst of this was over, it had gotten a lot more complicated. And Jason didn’t even know about the necklace and the problem it introduced. What was she going to do with it?
“Well?” Jason didn’t seem to have a big store of patience. “What will it be? Will you tell Carmichaels, or shall I?”
Deidre glanced at her watch. “I have to pick up Kevin from kindergarten in less than twenty minutes. I don’t have time to get into a complicated explanation now. I’ll call him after I get home.”
“You’re not just fobbing me off, are you?” Jason grasped her wrists, compelling her to look at him. “You promise you’ll tell Carmichaels?”
“I’ll tell him today. I promise.” She shook her head. “You’re really a worrier, you know that?”
That seemed to surprise him. “Not usually. You seem to bring that out in me.”
His gaze warmed her skin, and she couldn’t find any words. If she tried to talk, she suspected she’d babble. “I...I guess you feel responsible for your clients.”
“Not all of them.” He seemed to enjoy her discomfort. There was a smile at the back of his eyes. “You are the exception, Deidre. In a lot of ways.”
“I don’t know...” She met his gaze fully and immediately knew she was lost. His lips closed on hers before she could speak.
Jason’s arms went around her, holding her against the solid planes of his body. She couldn’t seem to keep herself from responding, sliding her hands up until she grasped his shoulders while the kiss sent her senses reeling off into space.
It had been so long—too long—since she had been anything other than a mother, a daughter, a friend. With Jason’s mouth on hers, his hands moving possessively on her back, she was something more—a woman, a woman who could ignite passion, could feel it...
With a gasp she came back to herself. She couldn’t do this. Except that she’d already done it.
At her first slight withdrawal, the pressure of Jason’s kiss ebbed, his arms relaxed. He drew back, his gaze searching her face.
Deidre took a quick step out of his arms, feeling the color flooding her face. She wasn’t ready to be involved with someone else. She still felt like Frank’s wife, and letting another man kiss her was a betrayal of their love.
Maybe someday, but not with someone like Jason—a stranger about whom she knew almost nothing.
Jason was the one who ought to be embarrassed, she told herself. He’d started it. But he looked pleased with himself instead.
She wanted nothing so much as to run out of the apartment, but she could hardly do that when she held the keys, to say nothing of the responsibility for Dixie’s belongings.
“I think you’d better go,” she managed finally.
Jason nodded as if that kiss had been the most natural thing in the world. “I’ll talk to you later.”
When the door closed behind him, she could finally breathe. She pressed both palms against her burning cheeks. What had she done?
CHAPTER EIGHT
STARING AT THE necklace didn’t seem to be getting her anywhere. Deidre put the pendant down on the desk in her workroom and glanced out the window at the dark clouds massed over the ridge. If only she’d never seen the necklace...
No. This wouldn’t go away just because she didn’t want to face it. If Frank had given it to Dixie, then everything she’d thought she knew about both of them was a lie.
It couldn’t be true. Oh, she and Frank had their disagreements, like any married couple, usually because he was willing to give in to his father, no matter the cost to them. But their relationship had been solid, based on a lifetime of knowing each other. If he’d been involved with Dixie, that would mean she hadn’t known him at all.
Deidre rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the tension that had taken up residence there. The necklace had to be dealt with, and to do so, she had to know how it had come into Dixie’s possession.
Which seemed impossible. Here she was at a dead end again. Maybe if she talked the whole thing over with someone, she could see her way more clearly. But who? Echo Falls was filled with people she’d known all her life, people she trusted, people related by blood or long friendship. But when she thought of confiding in any of them about the necklace, she cringed.
Jason’s lean, frowning face inserted itself into her thoughts. She had begun to trust him, even to rely on him. But then he kissed her. Even worse, she’d kissed him back, and she was no longer sure of her footing.
She could imagine what Dixie would say to her qualms. She was single. Jason was single. There was no reason why they shouldn’t be attracted to each other. Or, Dixie would say, to act on it.
But Deidre’s view of life was seldom as clear-cut as Dixie’s had been. She barely knew Jason. Worse, he worked for the judge, and she still didn’t know whether Sylvia’s dark suspicions were true.
Judith’s advice about getting an attorney to represent her had seemed logical, and Deidre had gone so far as to make a short list of people in Williamsport who might be possibilities. Although someone from even farther afield might be better, given the judge’s influence.
The truth was, no matter how many lists she made up, no attorney could do anything for her unless and until she was sure the judge intended to do something more than ask her to move in. Doing anything before that point would be like an open declaration of war between them.
The windowpane rattled again, setting Deidre’s nerves on edge like nails on a chalkboard. She ought to get Billy to cut that bush back.
Something sounded from the front of the house, and she shot out of her chair in alarm. And then laughed at herself. It was someone knocking at the door, that was all. She was letting her imagination run away with her.
She went quickly through to the front of the house, taking a glance up the stairs as she passed. Sometimes a storm woke Kevin, but he was more likely to sleep right through it. Reaching the door, she drew aside the curtain on one of the narrow side windows and looked out.
Nothing. She ought to be able to see a person standing there. Maybe the wind had knocked something over on the porch. Flipping the dead bolt, she opened the door and took a half step out. The porch furniture was undisturbed, and the pots of geraniums on either side of the steps sat out of the prevailing wind. It must have been a branch she’d heard.
Closing the door, Deidre locked the dead bolt again, shivering a little from the cool breeze. Of course she was under stress, but that was no reason to give in to fear. Maybe a cup of herbal tea would soothe her. Her mother always swore by mint tea to settle the nerves.
Deidre was headed for the stove when she heard a knock again, this time at the back door. Her nerves jumped in response, and she shook her head. This might require something stronger than herbal tea. Obviously she’d taken so long to get to the front door that whoever it was had seen the lights in the back of the house and come around to the back door.
Reaching the door, she flipped the switch to the back door light. Nothing happened. Maybe the bulb had burned out. Skirting the refrigerator, she leaned over to peer out the closest window. Thanks to the storm, it was far too dark to make out anything but a dark shadow.
A chill slid down her spine. She wouldn’t be so foolish as to open the door without knowing who was there. But she couldn’t ignore it. If something had happened to one of Judith’s children, if they needed a car to get to the hospital...
Beset by differing fears, she put one hand on the door. “Who’s there?”
There was no answer but the wind. She tried again, louder. “Who’s there?”
Nothing. But below where her hand rested on the door, the knob started to turn.
Deidre snatched her hand away as if she’d touched flame. For an instant she stood there, mesmerized, as the knob turned first one way, then the other. It was locked. Thank heaven it was locked.
She bolted for the wall phone, snatched it from the cradle and punched in 911. Pressing the phone to her ear, she sent a quick glance toward the window. Nothing, but if the intruder looked in, she was as visible as if she stood on a lighted stage. Backing up to the door, she flipped off the kitchen light as she stammered out her address to the dispatcher.
“Someone’s trying to get into the house. Please, hurry.”
The dispatcher was murmuring something soothing, telling her to stay on the line, saying the police would be right there. Barely listening, Deidre slipped out of the kitchen.
Kevin. Nothing must happen to Kevin. She ran to the stairs, then forced herself to stop at the bottom. She had to stay here, where she could open to the police when they came. But if Kevin woke...
She settled for sinking onto the bottom step. His door was ajar. If he called out, she’d hear him, or hear the monitor she still set up every night. Clutching the cordless phone, she stared at the front window, willing the police car to appear.
It felt like forever, huddled there, ears straining for any sound from the back door. How hard would it be for anyone to break in? Probably not very, but surely he must realize she’d called the police. Even as she thought it, she caught the gleam of the lights atop the police car as it pulled into her driveway.
Thankful they hadn’t come with sirens screaming, she hurried to the door, opening it the instant the officer identified himself. It was Sam Jacobson, looking so young it seemed he must be dressed up in costume as a police officer. But even the badge was enough to chase her fear away.
“What happened, Mrs. Morris?” He was looking past her, eyeing the spot where Dixie’s body had lain. “Did someone break in?”
“They didn’t get in.” A gust of rain blew in the open door, and she caught his arm and pulled him inside so she could close it. “I heard someone at the front door, but by the time I answered, no one was there. Then I heard a knock at the back. I couldn’t get the light to come on, and when I called out, no one answered.” She paused for breath. “Then I saw the knob turning. He was trying to get in, so I called 911.”
“That was the right thing to do.” He stood up a little straighter. “Now, did you hear any glass breaking, anything like that?”
She shook her head. “I’m sure he didn’t get in.”
“Okay, I’ll just have a look around outside. You keep the door locked until I come back, all right?”
She nodded. No chance she’d forget that. She watched from the window as he cast the beam of a powerful flashlight around the bushes in front of the house. The rain had stopped as suddenly as it’d started, but the wet leaves glistened in the light.
The flashlight was now moving quickly along the side of the house. Still, she didn’t suppose anyone could hide under the low shrubs.
Deidre moved to the back windows, turning on lights as she went. She held her breath as young Jacobson flashed his light around the backyard. But of course the intruder, whoever he was, wouldn’t be hanging around.
Realizing she was still connected to the dispatcher, Deidre thanked her and snapped the button to end the call. Before she could return the phone to its cradle, it rang again.
It was Jason, sounding alarmed. “Are you all right? What’s happening?”
“We’re okay, really. Someone...someone tried to get into the house. The police are looking around now, but I’m sure he’s gone.”
“I’m coming over.”
Before she could tell him not to, he’d hung up.
* * *
WHAT THE DEVIL was going on? Jason ran down the stairs and out the door. Even if someone feared that Kevin could identify him, surely Chief Carmichaels’s statement that Kevin didn’t remember anything would allay those fears. Why would anyone make a serious attempt at a break-in at this relatively early hour? They’d have to know that Deidre would still be up.
He was jogging across the lawn toward the house when the beam of a flashlight stabbed him in the eyes. He stopped, raising a hand to shield them.
“Police. Who’re you?” The voice sounded very young and a little nervous.
“Jason Glassman. I live next door. Mrs. Morris asked me to come over.” A slight exaggeration, but she probably wouldn’t deny it.
The light lowered. “You see anybody around here tonight? Like maybe lurking on the property?”
“No, but I was busy with some work, and I didn’t look out this way until I saw your lights. Mrs. Morris says someone tried to get in. Did you find anything?”
Now that his eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, Jason coul
d make out a young, serious face. The boy shrugged.
“No sign of anyone now. I was just going to tell Mrs. Morris.”
“I’ll go with you.” They walked together to the front door, with Jason wondering just how thorough his search had been. It couldn’t have been ten minutes, if that, since he’d seen the police flashers. His adrenaline pumping, he wanted to charge ahead and satisfy himself that Deidre was okay, but suspected she wouldn’t appreciate that.
And she’d be telling herself she hadn’t appreciated that kiss this afternoon, either, but that would be a lie. Her response had given her away. She’d been just as eager as he had, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Ridiculous to be congratulating himself when that was the last thing he should have done. He’d let his instincts run away with him, and look where it had gotten him. He was supposed to be investigating Deidre Morris, not falling for her.
He backed away from that phrase in a hurry. Just because he found her attractive, that didn’t translate to falling for her. He was past that stage in his romantic life. Leslie had cured him completely, and he wouldn’t be making that mistake again, even if he hadn’t been hiding a secret the size of Mount Rushmore from Deidre.
Deidre opened the door as they approached. She looked pale, standing under the porch light with the darkness pressing close. She glanced from the patrolman to him.
“You didn’t need to come,” she said, predictably. “I’m sure the officer has things in hand.” She turned to the kid. “Did you find anything, Sam?”
“No, ma’am. You can rest easy. There’s no one anywhere on your property who shouldn’t be.”
“Any signs of the intruder?” Jason interrupted with a query of his own.
“Nothing that I could see.” His gaze seemed to land on his feet. “Sure it wasn’t just the wind knocking things around, Mrs. Morris? It was plenty fierce there for a bit.”
Deidre stiffened visibly. “I know it was, but that wouldn’t make the doorknob turn, would it?”
He cleared his throat. “You sure about that, are you? I mean, maybe it was like a trick of the light or something.”