by Brenda Novak
After blocking his number, he called Ethan.
“I saw you on TV,” he said as soon as Ethan answered, covering the speaker on his phone to disguise his voice.
“Who is this?” Ethan asked.
“You can’t guess?” Dallas replied.
“I have no clue. How would I know?”
“I’m the one who threatened Emery Bliss for you. And now the cops are looking for my ass.”
A heartbeat of silence preceded a befuddled “What are you talking about?”
Dallas tried to get even deeper into character. “Don’t play stupid with me, asshole. After what I did, she’s bound to drop the lawsuit. You should’ve seen her face when I had my hands around her neck. I did what you told me to. Now I need your help. I can’t stick around here. I need some money to leave.”
There was a long pause, then, “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Do you think it’s funny?”
“Not at all. I just... I have no clue what’s going on. Or how you got my number. I didn’t ask anyone to threaten Emery. You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
“Stop playing games, or I’m going to contact all the local news stations—including the one you work for—and tell them what you had me do.”
“I didn’t have you do anything!”
Dallas was beginning to believe him. He couldn’t imagine why anyone else would be behind what’d happened, but Ethan sounded sincere.
“What’d you do to Emery?” Ethan asked. “You said you had your hands around her neck? You didn’t choke her, did you? Is she okay?”
“She’ll be fine. I just threatened her, like you said. And now it’s time for you to make sure I don’t get in trouble for it. Bring five hundred dollars and meet me at the Santa Monica Pier tomorrow at a quarter after midnight—right at the Ferris wheel—or the entire world is going to know that you sent me to Silver Springs to make her drop the lawsuit. Then the police will be coming for you, too.”
“This is bullshit,” he cried. “There’s nothing the police can do. I’m not responsible for whatever you did to her.”
“Stop fucking around! We both know that isn’t true, so you’d better show up with the money—or else,” Dallas said, and disconnected.
“What’s going on?”
Startled, Dallas whirled around to find Seth standing in the shadow of the porch. “You followed me?”
Seth didn’t answer the question. “Who was that?” he asked, pushing away from the wall.
“His name is Ethan Grimes. I told you what happened with Emery losing her job and all that.”
“You did.”
“That it was her coanchor who must’ve been behind the attack on Friday night.”
“Let me guess—he claims he didn’t do it?”
“Yes. I expected him to deny it, but... I don’t know. He sounded pretty convincing.”
“He has to be responsible,” Seth said. “It doesn’t make sense that it could be anyone else.”
“That’s what I thought. But...what about Heidi?”
Seth pursed his lips. “The producer?”
“Yeah. No doubt she’d like to see Emery drop the lawsuit against the station as much as Ethan would like Emery to drop the lawsuit against him—and if Emery dropped one, she’d probably drop the other. Having it go away could possibly save Heidi’s job.”
“I’d be stunned if it was her. Doesn’t feel like something a woman would do.”
“That’s a stereotype,” Dallas pointed out.
He shrugged. “You’re right. I suppose it’s possible.”
“Well, I’ll see if Ethan shows up with the money and go from there.”
Seth tilted his head, a skeptical expression on his face. “Can’t you get into more trouble for blackmailing someone than fighting?”
“It wouldn’t be a fight—it would be a beating. And that’s called assault. So, no. Besides, this isn’t blackmail. I’m not going to take his money. I just want to find out who’s responsible so that I can shut him—or her—down.”
“Because you’re not in love with Emery...”
Seth’s sarcasm irritated Dallas. “I never said I didn’t care about her.”
Seth seemed to consider his response. “Fine. We’ll give it a try.”
“We?”
“I’m going with you tomorrow night.”
“Why? You don’t need to get involved.”
“I’m jumping in to make sure a cooler head prevails,” he said, but Dallas knew Seth was coming along to watch his back. He just wasn’t the type to ever admit to something that sentimental.
“Sure you are,” he muttered.
26
It hadn’t been easy to tell Susan that she was going to leave town early. But her employer took the news well. “That’s fine,” she said. “My granddaughter just got out of school for Christmas break and is eager to earn some money to buy presents. She can step in. She’s helped me so much in the past, I won’t even have to train her.”
“And you’ll have Tobias, right? The way he looks out for you makes me feel a little better.”
An affectionate smile curved Susan’s lips. “I don’t want to be a burden on Tobias. But you’re right—he makes it a point to check in and do what he can.”
Emery almost left it at that, but she was so curious about Susan and Tobias’s strange relationship that she couldn’t stop herself from asking how it had come to pass. “Is there a particular reason he’s so attentive? I realize this might be none of my business, and it’s fine if you’d rather not tell me, of course, but you mentioned that he’s taught you not to judge others and...I can’t help wondering how.”
Susan stopped lifting the oatmeal cookies she’d just baked into the display window. “You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
Setting the spatula aside, she leaned one hip against the counter. “You know my son’s a paraplegic. He worked at New Horizons but moved to LA a couple of months ago when he was offered a fabulous job as part of an IT team for a big company. He’ll be home for Christmas, but you’ll be gone by then, so you’ll have to meet him another time.”
Emery spotted movement outside the front window and thought they were about to get a new customer, but was relieved when the small group passed by the store without coming in. “If he’s anything like your daughter, I’m looking forward to it.”
“You’ll like him—everyone does,” Susan said confidently. “Anyway, when he was only eleven and my daughter was seventeen, she took him to a party without my permission. She wanted to see Maddox, her husband now, who had Tobias with him. Tobias was on some type of drug—acid, I think—and while he was wandering around the house, he found a handgun in the nightstand of the master bedroom.”
Emery covered her mouth. “Oh no...”
“Oh yes,” Susan said ruefully. “Atticus was looking for a quiet place to watch TV, away from all of those partying teenagers, but when he walked into the master bedroom, he startled Tobias at the wrong moment.”
Emery’s heart dropped along with her hand. “Don’t tell me he fired the gun.”
Susan nodded sadly. “I thank God every day that he didn’t kill him, but Atticus hasn’t been able to walk since.”
“Wow.” Emery bit her lip. “Tobias didn’t get in trouble for what he’d done?”
“He did. They tried him as an adult, and he spent many years in prison. As a matter of fact, he’s only been out for eighteen months.”
“And you’ve forgiven him?” Emery asked, as shocked as she was impressed.
“There were a lot of mitigating factors to what happened—factors I couldn’t take into account at the time. The way he was raised. The lack of intention. The severity of his punishment. The remorse he felt. It’s taken me years, but I’ve finally come to terms with it all, and with him.”
/>
“What about Atticus?”
“He was able to forgive before I could.”
“Wow.” Emery puffed out her cheeks before letting the air go. “I had no idea. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of anything like that before.”
“No doubt about it—it’s a tragedy. Although I’m sure we’re not, I hope we’re the only ones something like that ever happens to,” she said as she returned to filling the display windows.
Emery moved one of the empty trays out of her way. “No wonder he takes such good care of you.”
“It’s hard to believe, but I love him now,” Susan said simply.
Someone walked in, so Emery took their order and rang them up, after which she said to Susan, “Are you really okay if I go to Boston?”
“I’ll be fine,” Susan reassured her.
Relieved that her employer, who’d become her friend, wasn’t disappointed, Emery hugged her. “Thank you for hiring me. I know I haven’t been here long, but this job has been really good for me. And I’m not only referring to the money. It forced me to get out and interact with people when all I wanted to do was hide, and that was such an important first step to facing the world after...after what Ethan did.”
“What he did was so unfair. But you’ll put it behind you eventually, just like we’ve put our tragedy behind us. You’re a strong woman. You’ll rise to the top again. And I hope he rots in hell,” she added.
Emery was laughing at that comment when the bell sounded over the door. Because Susan was intent on finishing the baking, she walked into the back so that Emery could wait on what would be their second customer of the day. But it wasn’t a customer; it was Officer Valentino.
“Good morning.” The officer rested her hands on her gun belt. “I saw the Open sign and thought I’d stop in to let you know that we’ve done everything we can to locate the man who assaulted you Friday night. We’ve talked to everyone who was at the Blue Suede Shoe, but we haven’t had any success. Several people saw him, but no one can tell us his name, where he’s from, anything that would enable us to track him down. He must’ve come from out of town.”
“No one saw what he was driving?” Emery had slid to the ground after he choked her, hadn’t even considered following him. She’d been too weak and shaky to even stand as she gulped in the air she’d been denied.
Now she wished she’d managed to do more.
“Nothing that will help,” Officer Valentino said. “One couple claims he left in a white SUV, but you know how many of those are on the road. Without a license plate or something else...”
“There’s nothing more you can do.”
“I’m afraid not.”
Damn it. Ethan was going to get away with this, too. “Thank you for trying,” she said with a sigh.
“We’ll continue to keep our eyes open. It’s possible he’ll turn up.”
Not if he was smart. Emery guessed he lived in LA and would have no reason to come back to Silver Springs—not if she was in Boston and no longer around to bully and threaten.
As soon as Officer Valentino left, she texted her attorney:
Any word from Tommy?
It was a Sunday—not what she would expect to be working hours for an attorney—so she was surprised when she received a response: Nothing.
Are we going to be able to win this case?
All we can do is try.
That didn’t give her a lot of confidence.
She texted Tommy again even though he’d never responded to her the last time.
If you know something, please speak up. Ethan had someone threaten me with bodily harm on Friday night if I didn’t drop the suit. I still have the bruises around my neck from where he choked me.
She stared at her phone, silently willing Tommy to have some compassion. But when he didn’t reply, she gave up and shoved it in her pocket. The store was getting busy. She couldn’t continue to deal with her personal problems at work.
It was three hours later, when she took lunch and pulled out her phone to text her mother with her flight information, that she found Tommy had actually sent a message in reply: I’d drop the suit.
Her mouth fell open.
And let him get away with what he’s done?
It’s better than getting hurt.
No way. I won’t do that.
But he wouldn’t engage again.
* * *
Because her car would be safer in Silver Springs, and Aiyana had texted Dallas to say that it was okay for her to leave it at the school, Dallas drove Emery to LA after she got off work. Her flight wasn’t until midafternoon the following day, but traffic could be uncertain, especially coming from almost two hours away, so she wanted to be closer to the airport. She also wanted to repack her bags with warmer clothing and check on her apartment before flying off to Boston.
They didn’t arrive until after seven, so he insisted on taking her out for a nice dinner before they went to her place. He hadn’t mentioned staying over, so when he carried her luggage up to her apartment, she assumed she’d take an Uber to LAX tomorrow.
Her apartment wasn’t in the best possible shape. Seeing it through Dallas’s eyes made it even worse. Dirty dishes were stacked up on the counter and filled the sink. Laundry was piled on the washer and the floor. Her coffee table and end tables were thick with dust. And all the houseplants she’d abandoned were dead.
Embarrassed, she opened a window to air out the place, and started dumping any leftover food in the trash or down the garbage disposal.
“Nice place,” he said as he walked around, looking at the art on the walls as though he didn’t see—or care about—the mess.
“I could barely get out of bed when I left here,” she explained. “I’m glad I came home early so that I can get this place cleaned up.”
“It’s not that bad.” He nudged her out of the way so he could close the garbage sack she’d filled. “Where can I take this?”
“I’ve got it,” she protested.
“Let me help.”
“But you have a long drive to get back home, and it’s already nine o’clock. You should get going.”
He frowned. No doubt he could tell that she was already pushing him away—at least in an emotional sense. “I thought I’d stay over and take you to the airport tomorrow, if that’s okay.”
“No need to put yourself to the trouble. I can grab an Uber.” She tried to take the sack from him, but he wouldn’t let go.
“After what happened at the Blue Suede Shoe, I’d rather not leave you alone.”
“I don’t need you to protect me,” she said. “I’ll keep the door locked. I’m sure everything will be fine.”
Straightening, he held her gaze. “I don’t want to leave when we still have more time, Emery.”
She hated the thought that they were coming to the end of whatever had started between them. What they’d had was so unexpected and so good for her—something that had nothing to do with rational thought or checking off a list of traits and preferences that signified he’d be a good match. It simply felt right—natural, comfortable, instinctual. But she preferred to say goodbye now—to get it over with so that she didn’t have to dread it any longer.
Still, she didn’t want to be rude, not after everything he’d done for her. “It’s just that... I know you don’t get to see your brothers very often, and Seth won’t be staying in Silver Springs for long.”
His scowl darkened. “Stop with the lame excuses.”
“Fine. The garbage bin is on ground level around the building to your right.”
“Got it.” He walked out of the kitchen, but as he carried the garbage through the living room, she heard an ominous crunch.
“What was that?” She hurried out to see that he’d stepped on the broken glass she hadn’t bothered to sweep up when she’d thrown a framed photograp
h of her and Ethan against the wall.
Dallas was bending down to see what he’d stepped on. “Nothing. I got it.”
“Are you okay? You didn’t get cut...”
“I’m fine.” After staring at the picture of her and Ethan—their arms draped around each other at a friend’s wedding—he dumped the frame, the glass and the picture inside the garbage bag. “Do you have a vacuum so I can clean up the smaller shards?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
She was just opening her broom closet when he came up behind her. Resting his hands lightly on her shoulders, he said, “Why won’t you relax and let me help you?”
She was tempted to close her eyes, to let herself feel the heat of his body, the fulfillment that came with just having him around, but she didn’t want him to know that such a small thing could mean so much to her. She was determined to respect the fact that his feelings for her were not as strong as hers were for him, and she refused to make him uncomfortable by coming off as needy or grasping. She thought if he hadn’t been through what he’d been through, things might be different. But if he wouldn’t open up and let her in, there was nothing she could do. She’d tried to talk about his past several times since she’d learned of it, but he’d shut her down every time. “There’s no need—that’s all. I’ve got this.”
“It’ll be easier to clean up this place if we both do it. It’ll be easier for you to get to the airport if I drop you off. After what happened at the Blue Suede Shoe, it might even be easier for you to sleep, knowing I’m here. Why are you so anxious to get rid of me?”
“Because it’s going to be hard enough,” she said. “We should just...get the goodbye over with.”
He turned her to face him and lifted her chin so she’d have to meet his gaze, but he didn’t get a chance to say whatever was on his mind. A determined knock at the door interrupted.
Somewhat relieved to avoid whatever had been coming next, she hurried to answer it.
With Dallas in the apartment, she felt perfectly safe, didn’t bother to check the peephole. She threw the door open, expecting a neighbor carrying a box that had been delivered while she was gone or something.