Abandoned

by Rhonda Pollero

  “I don’t think she’ll be here that long. As I said, my mother is quite ill.”

  “Sorry to hear that. What’s wrong with her?” he asked.

  “She suffered a stroke a few months ago, and it’s been downhill since then. Two weeks ago she had a heart attack, so things don’t look good.”

  Conner held her gaze. “Two weeks ago? That’s about when you moved to Purdue. Why didn’t you go to her side instead of taking an out-of-state job?”

  “I’m supporting my mother and supplementing my sister.”

  “But since you have more money than Renae Burke, you don’t have to work.”

  They were entering dangerous territory. “My mother insisted I take the job.” That was true enough.

  “So why is your sister here?”

  Emma shrugged. “Probably to chew me out. She’s a little annoyed with me.”

  Luckily they’d arrived at her car, effectively ending the conversation. Then the awkwardness set in again. The console between them in Conner’s SUV included a computer and a radio system, and it was effectively keeping them apart. Tension crackled in the air. He was looking at her mouth and she was looking at his. Her stomach knotted but she didn’t know whether to lean in for another kiss—which she wanted more than her next breath—or simply to step out of the SUV with a belly full of desire.

  Conner made the decision for her. “See ya in a few minutes.”

  “Right.” Emma did her best to dismount from the high-profile vehicle. The sound of her heels hitting concrete echoed through the nearly deserted garage. Pressing her key fob, she heard the Mercedes chirp loudly and its lights flashed.

  Once she was alone with her thoughts, she realized that having sex with Conner had been stupid. It was a complication piled on a whole case of complications. She had to find out who had been sending the clippings and why. That was the goal. Not sleeping with the hottest guy in town.

  She groaned as she pressed the start button for her engine. And now I get to go home and deal with a presumably pissed Amelia.

  Her driveway was crowded with vehicles. She assumed the red mid-size she didn’t recognize was Amelia’s rental. She was relieved that Jeanine, David, Conner, and Sam were in the house. That would keep Amelia silent. There was no way her sister would discuss the news clippings or Emma’s presence in Purdue in front of strangers. So for now Emma figured she’d have a brief reprieve.

  As soon as she stepped inside she smelled coffee and heard the din of conversation in the living room. Plastering a smile on her face, she dropped her purse on the front table and joined the group.

  Jeanine leapt up and asked, “Would you like something to eat?”

  “Thanks, I ate earlier, but coffee would be great.” Emma made a beeline for her sister and gave her a hug. She could feel several pairs of eyes on her. On them, actually.

  “You look wonderful,” she told Amelia as she took a step back. Her sister was wearing a cute, Bohemian-style short dress with leggings and a pair of ballet flats. Her ears, nose, and eyebrow were pierced, and large hoop earrings dangled to her shoulders.

  “You look tired,” Amelia observed. She checked a funky plastic watch on her wrist. “Do you always work this late?”

  Emma shrugged. “I went out to dinner after work. I would have come straight home had I known you were coming.”

  Amelia smiled. “Had you known, you’d only have blown me off.”

  That was true. “How is Mom?”

  “The same,” Amelia said sadly.

  “Hey, Sam?” Conner interjected. “Get your stuff. We need to leave these ladies alone to catch up.”

  “Right,” Sam said. Then she handed David a book and told him what chapter to read. David only nodded but Emma read a little more into his gesture than that. If she had to guess, she’d say David was smitten with his attractive tutor. She glanced over at Conner, but if he noticed anything he didn’t let on—which told her he hadn’t noticed that his baby girl had an admirer.

  With the Kavanaughs gone after a few moments, Jeanine and David excused themselves as well and Emma finally found herself alone with her sister. Amelia wasted no time getting to the point of her surprise visit. “You’ve been here for two weeks and unless you’re hiding something from me, you don’t know anything more than you did before coming to this place.”

  “I’m still getting the lay of the land,” Emma insisted. “It isn’t like I can just walk up to people and ask them if they know anything that would explain why our father assassinated a sitting president.”

  Amelia sighed loudly. “The why doesn’t matter, Em. We’ve known that since we were kids. Mom went to a lot of trouble to shield us from the public. New names, new location, a normal life. You’re putting all that at risk.”

  Emma took a sip of coffee. “Does this mean you still haven’t told your fiancé our dirty little secret?”

  Blushing slightly, Amelia nodded. “I’m marrying a wonderful man with a large extended family. I don’t want them to know that my father was a killer. Would you?”

  Shrugging, Emma thought about it for a minute. “I think I’d have to tell the truth. Like it or not, that is our history.”

  “No, our history is what Mom did afterward. I’d much rather tell people I was raised by a single mother after the untimely accidental death of my father when I was eleven. That’s normal. A hell of a lot more normal than ‘I’m the assassin’s daughter.’ I’d think you would understand that. Look what happened to you in New York.” Amelia said.

  “I know. But you have to understand that I have to do this. Someone in this town knows who I am and they went to a lot of trouble to get me here. I want to know why.” Emma argued.

  Amelia huffed. “Just to screw with you?”

  “Then why not send the clippings to you or to Mom? Why me and why now?” Emma asked.

  Amelia frowned and asked, “Does it really matter?”

  “That someone knows the truth?” Amelia parroted. “Yes.”

  “I agree, which is why I plan on staying here until I find out the who and the why.”

  “Have you learned anything so far?” Amelia asked.

  “I met Kenny Simms.” Amelia gave her a blank stare. “He was the police officer who shot Daddy,” Emma added.

  Amelia’s eyes grew wide. “How did you meet him?”

  “We were introduced at a party. I’ve also met most of the movers and shakers in Purdue’s political landscape. And my housekeeper is a virtual font of information.”

  “She seems nice.”

  “Jeanine is wonderful. Her son David has potential, too.”

  Amelia laughed. “You always were one to pick up strays. Is everyone on your payroll?”

  “No, just Jeanine and Willis Maddox. He’s working on the grounds around the house.”

  “This house you have alarmed to the teeth?” her sister asked, with one brow arched accusingly.

  “I live out in the sticks. It’s prudent.”

  “You have a conceal-and-carry permit. God help anyone who would try to break in to this place.” Amelia’s expression grew serious. “Unless something has already happened…”

  “Not really. Nothing that can’t be explained away simply. Besides, the town sheriff is here twice a day to drop off his daughter and pick her up again.”

  Amelia smiled slyly. “The hot sheriff?”

  Emma felt her face grow warm.

  “Oh my God! You’re blushing. You’re sleeping with him.”

  “Amelia! We’re just acquaintances.”

  “With benefits.”

  The warmth grew into a raging inferno. “We’re consenting adults.”

  “That was fast.”

  “Too fast,” Emma agreed. “I’m going to put the brakes on it. The last thing I need is a distraction.”

  “You need to come home,” Amelia said with conviction. “There’s nothing here that can lead to anything good. Well, except for Sheriff Kavanaugh.”

  “Please stop saying that.” Emma
stood. “I’m exhausted and I have to work tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind sharing. I gave the guest rooms to David and Jeanine.”

  “I have a reservation at the airport Hilton. I have an early flight out in the morning.”

  “You just dropped in for a few minutes?”

  “I wanted to beg you to come home in person but I can see you’ve dug your heels in. Please, Em, don’t do anything that dredges up the past.”

  “No promises,” she replied apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

  Amelia grabbed her purse. “I also wanted to tell you that Mom signed a DNR.”

  Emma felt the implications of that stab her in the heart. “When did she do that?”

  “A year ago. When she was diagnosed with high blood pressure. It was on file with her general practitioner and he sent it over to the critical care unit.”

  Emma sucked in a breath and shook her head. “Damn it.”

  “I just thought you should know.”

  “Thanks.” Emma moved to hug her sister. “And thank you for taking care of Mom while I do this.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t. Can’t you let this alone?” Amelia practically pleaded.

  “No,” she answered quietly. “Do you know how to get back to the airport?”

  Amelia nodded. “Think about what I’ve said, Em. I’ll call you tomorrow when I get home.”

  “Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  She watched from the window as Amelia drove off. Thoughts pinged around in her brain. Knowing her mother had lost the will to live. Knowing how much her decision to come to Purdue was aggravating Amelia. Then from time to time thoughts about Conner seeped in, reigniting her desire.

  She showered and went to bed but sleep was elusive. She was tossed and turned. She tried reading. Nothing seemed to work.

  Then the quiet of the house was shattered by the shrill ring of the phone.

  “Hello?” she said as she grabbed it before the first ring ended, fully expecting it to be news about her mother.

  “Emma, it’s Conner.”

  She looked at the bedside clock. “It’s two in the morning.”

  “I’m at the hospital.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. It isn’t—”

  “Sam?”

  “No, it’s your sister.”

  “Amelia? What happened?” She was already out from under the covers and heading to her closet.

  “Close as we can tell, someone ran her off the road.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  What is it?” Amelia asked as she chased a bit of egg around on her plate. It had been three days since the accident and she was cleared to fly home tomorrow.

  Emma slipped her fingernail beneath the envelope’s seal and slit it open. “An invitation from Renae Burke for tea.”

  Amelia rolled her eyes. “You hate tea.”

  Emma shushed her sister since Jeanine was just steps away in the kitchen. “But I need to know more about Renae and her husband.” Emma began to stuff folders into her briefcase. “I want to know what she remembers about that day.” She closed her case and grabbed her purse. “I’m sorry Jeanine has to be the one to take you to the airport. I missed the mandatory meeting so now I have a heavy caseload of drunk and disorderlies and one icky child porn addict to represent.”

  “You do have all the fun,” Amelia teased, pushing back her chair and getting to her feet. “I’ll walk you out.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  Amelia nodded in Jeanine’s direction, then followed Emma out the front door.

  The sun was just cresting the horizon and the morning air was damp and fragrant from the scent of some sort of flowers Willis had planted on either side of the staircase. She didn’t know flowers, just that these smelled good and were a pretty shade of pink.

  “I’m genuinely scared for you,” Amelia said on a rush of breath. “What if my accident wasn’t an accident?”

  “I’ve seen the way you drive,” Emma quipped. “You admitted that you cut someone off just minutes before. That’s road rage, dear sister. Not some convoluted conspiracy plot out to kill us both.”

  Emma was startled when Willis Maddox appeared out of the mist. For a large man, he was very stealthy.

  “Keep it up and I’ll have to put a bell around your neck, too,” Emma joked.

  “Ma’am?”

  “Nothing,” Emma said. “Jeanine has your money for you. Are you going to start on the backyard this week?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You can call me Emma,” she told him for the umpteenth time. She turned back to her sister and gave her a gentle hug, avoiding the sling on her left arm. “Call me when you get home so I won’t worry.”

  “I will.”

  Emma slipped behind the wheel and headed for her office. She’d put up something of a brave front for her sister. In reality, she was starting to wonder if all these little incidents were related and dangerous. If Amelia had actually been run off the road, it could have been because she’d been mistaken for Emma. After all, they both drove red cars and they did look identical to one another.

  “What I wouldn’t give for a sounding board,” she muttered as she pulled into her regular spot in the garage in the municipal building.

  She was the first one into the office so she went into the kitchenette and made a pot of coffee before attempting to tackle the stack of files on her desk. As she went back to her office, mug in hand, Harriett was just placing her sweater over the back of her chair. Harriett was a paralegal with the P.D.’s office and Emma was impressed with her work. She was a friendly twentysomething brunette with an eventual goal of going to law school. Emma smiled. “Good morning.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” the other woman replied. “I love springtime. Not too hot yet.”

  “I’ve been forewarned about the Florida summer,” Emma said ruefully.

  “It sucks,” the pretty brunette said. “I swore that once I got out of school I was going to move someplace with real seasons.”

  “But?”

  “I ended up with an Associate’s degree in Paralegal Sciences and got this job and well, I just stayed will I earned my B.S.”

  “For which I am eternally grateful,” Emma insisted. “You make my life ultimately easier.”

  Harriett scoffed. “You hardly have me do anything. Mr. Whitley treats me like his personal gofer.”

  “Bill and I have a different approach to things.”

  “Yeah,” Harriett said in a near-whisper. “You aren’t an asshole.”

  Emma was smiling as she returned to her office and began to read. Her smile faded as she read file after file. It seemed as if every young man between the ages of twenty and thirty had spent the weekend literally drunk and disorderly. The only thing that differed between the files was the definition of disorderly: public urination, a brawl at The Grille…even a guy found swimming in the town fountain in his underwear.

  In her experience, these folks sobered up and regretted the error of their ways. But she’d spend the majority of the day in court making that very argument.

  Elgin called her into his office just as she was heading over to the courthouse. “How is your sister?” he asked.

  Emma stood behind the visitor’s chair. “Fine. She’s leaving—”

  “This morning,” he finished.

  “Was that in the local paper?”

  “No. I’ve got a nephew who works at the motorcycle shop. David Segan told him. My useless nephew told his mother and my sister-in-law told me.”

  “I keep forgetting that this town doesn’t need a newspaper.”

  Elgin smiled. “Sorry you got the short stick this week but I warned you about missing the morning meeting.”

  “I don’t mind,” she said. “Well. I mind the Charles Lawson case. Any chance you’d give that one to Bill? I’ll take a half dozen of his cases in the deal.”

  “Lawson?” Elgin repeated. “The weather guy, right?”

 
; “He was on the local news channel as a meteorologist until the cops caught him trying to hook up with a fifteen-year-old boy. Then they executed a search warrant on his house and found a ton of kiddy porn on his computer. I hate child molesters.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Elgin said, then he checked his watch. “You’d better go. Don’t want to be late with Judge Crandall.”

  Emma made her way to the courthouse and greeted people as she was taken to the attorney conference room in the basement of the building. She met with her first client, and as expected, he was contrite.

  “It was a bachelor party,” he explained. “I vaguely remember someone daring me to swim in the fountain. It was stupid.”

  “Yes it was,” she agreed. “This is your first arrest?” she asked, flipping through the folder.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Do you work?”

  “I design software. It’s entry level and I work out of my home, except when the company needs me. Then I drive to Greenville, North Carolina, for a few days.”

  “Married?”

  “Yes, with two kids.”

  “Are you the sole supporter of your family?”

  “Yes. And my wife isn’t working since she had the second baby so I couldn’t even afford to bond myself out this weekend.”

  Emma met his gaze. “Don’t worry about that. I’m free, part of the Constitution at work.” She paused and offered him a smile. “Given your history and your otherwise exemplary record, I’ll ask the prosecutor for probation before judgment.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means you’ll get probation for a period of time and if you keep your nose clean, the charge will be dismissed.”

  He sighed heavily. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I’ll see you upstairs.” Emma took her things and made a quick trip upstairs, then began searching for Hayden Blackwell. She found him in Judge Crandall’s court room.

  “Good morning,” she greeted him.

  “Miss McKinley. You seem out of breath.”

  “I keep meaning to join a gym, but who has the time? Listen, I’d like to talk to you about Michael Ellison. First case on the docket today?”

  “The fountain swimmer,” Hayden said as he nodded. “I’ve got dashboard camera video of the guy being yanked out of the fountain in his underwear.”