Devil's Deal

  Since I was done for the day before the shopping rush, I made a quick stop at the market for dinner before I headed home. I’d just closed out the last file in Uncle Jimmy’s office. The owner of one of the wills he’d written a year ago had passed on and I’d just wrapped up the simple probate. I was glad to be through with the old cases. Uncle Jimmy’s approach to the practice of law and recordkeeping had lacked a certain finesse and follow-through.

  Anthony had come down from Dallas for a week, and over pizza and margaritas we’d spread out the files, torn them apart, and gotten the motions and signatures and other minutiae in order. Once the details were professionally fixed, the delighted county clerks helped me grease the cases through the judges’ dockets.

  Being finished with my pledge to Uncle Jimmy had a bittersweet tang. What’s next for me? Do I hang a shingle and become a small-town lawyer, or was it time to try something different? Money wasn’t an immediate issue. Even with what I’m sure is close federal attention to my movements, I still have my stash from Dad and the asset deal had allowed me to keep some of my accounts, so I’ve got plenty of cash at my disposal.

  Lately, with my physical therapy done and my shoulder back in working order, I’d been thinking long and hard about the “vehicle” part of “recreational vehicle” and just taking off. Maybe drop off the grid for a while and just be.

  Tomorrow was a good time to think about that. Right now I wanted munchies and a drink.

  Returning all the waves as I wound through Heaven’s Gate, I made the final turn onto Angel Lane to find a motorcycle in my driveway. I parked on the street, only mildly annoyed. My neighbor in the Airstream had visitors that had parked there more than once. I’d talk to him about it later. I grabbed my grocery bag off the front seat, turned, and saw that dinner was delayed.

  Ethan Price sat in one of my patio chairs with Simon cradled in his lap. What I thought was a dead dry well where my emotions used to be was immediately revealed as a lie. My stomach lurched, and I was torn between wanting to get back in my car and wanting to run to him.

  I said the first thing that came to my mind: “Hey.” My conversation skills had also been honed to a razor’s edge during my self-imposed exile.

  “Hi,” came the reply.

  So far the reunion was not living up to all of my late-night musings.

  A honking horn reminded me that I lived in a sieve. If I didn’t want a half-dozen curious neighbors dropping in, I needed to get this out of my yard. I walked toward my office-shed and motioned for Ethan to follow. He put Simon in his doghouse and waited for me to pop the lock and slide the door open. Other than a thorough cleaning and disarming, I hadn’t changed a thing except for replacing the prehistoric air conditioner. Ethan took in the kitschy decor, including the comical painting of me with a smile. It was a far cry from my designer digs in Dallas.

  “So what brings you to Cochinelle? You have a new case?”

  Damn. Dial it back, okay?

  When he didn’t take the bait, I dumped my groceries and pulled two glasses and a bottle of bourbon out of the desk drawer. I’d decided to honor that office tradition as well.

  He took the glass. “It’s good to see you.”

  “You too. How are you?”

  Instead of answering, he sipped his drink. He was thinner with new lines around his eyes, the kind that sleep and relaxation wouldn’t smooth. He still had his traffic-stopping aura. Looks like his went bone-deep.

  “I had to wear a flak jacket for my busted ribs for a couple of months and they still surprise me if I do something stupid. But overall, it’s not too bad. How about you?”

  At least he didn’t ask me if I was okay. It was nice to not have to explain or lie.

  “I’m maintaining. Once I got through physical-therapy boot camp, things picked up fast.”

  Damn, this was awkward and going nowhere. I decided to prod one of the shadows lurking in the corners of the room.

  “Ethan, why didn’t you come to see me? I mean, not a word. What the hell was that about?”

  CHAPTER 82

  “What? I tried. I tried until I got threatened. Didn’t anybody tell you?”

  That wasn’t the answer I expected. I poured more bourbon and motioned to the two armchairs.

  “No. Why don’t you tell me now?”

  “They brought us by ambulance to the same hospital. I was all the way awake by the time they hustled you into trauma. That was the last I saw of you. While they were deciding if my brains were scrambled or not, they kept me pretty much taped into bed. As soon as they let me up, I sneaked down the hall to your room. That’s when I met your mother.”

  I laughed.

  “I remember some of that. Just snips. By any chance were you Christ on a cupcake?”

  A small laugh in return.

  “No, I was Satan in a sandwich along with a few other mom-scenities. She was guarding you like a dragon.”

  Serious now, he said, “The third time she called my boss. I got the lecture about witness contact and contaminating the case and so on. He also told me that unless I wanted to be flying a desk in Omaha for the rest of my dubious career, I’d better back off. When I tried an end run through our computer system, I found that my access to your files had been yanked. By then, I didn’t know where you were or if you wanted to see me.”

  The subject had to come up sooner or later.

  “I’m listening, but I don’t want to hear any platitudes.”

  Ethan stretched and settled down in his chair.

  “Good, because I don’t have any for you. The short form is that a couple of weeks after Wendy gave me her news, I got called upstairs. They had a new case, white-collar crime with terrorist overtones. They framed it in all the buzzwords they knew would make my tail wag.”

  I could imagine him there, vital and attentive, the adrenaline rush kicking in.

  “They told me you were the key. My assignment was to gain your trust, appeal to you, and to charm the info about the offshore banking empire out of you.”

  “In other words, they sent you to seduce me.”

  “If that’s what it took. The profilers said that based on their evaluation, I had a high likelihood of making a connection with you and gaining your trust. Also, it was no big secret in my shop that I was on the rocks and restless. I’d been volunteering for anything and everything, the more reckless the better. That’s how they set the hook.”

  I immediately knew what he meant.

  “What did they offer you?”

  “Pretty much whatever I wanted. For starters, I’d get a raise in grade at max-out salary and transfer to the office of my choice. They finished off with a five-year pension credit and a long paid leave of absence before I moved.”

  “In exchange for my panties? I’m flattered.”

  “In exchange for delivering the information that unlocked the secret financial system. Jewel, I don’t have any great and grand justifications. It was a chance for me to put Texas in my rearview mirror for good. You were painted to me as nothing but suits, stilettos, and attitude. You defended bangers and dealers and corporate scum. I also wasn’t opposed to exacting a little revenge on the fairer sex while doing something that was sold to me as noble.”

  It all made sense. My attraction to Ethan had been immediate and he’d turned the full force of his charm on me. Had the pillow talk morphed into an interrogation, I might have fallen for it. Who was I kidding? I had fallen for it.

  Ethan, have you ever thought about not going in at all?

  He put his glass on the stained side table and turned to me.

  “Then I met you in person. I’m not going to go all golly-gee farmboy on you. I’ve dealt with beautiful women on undercovers before.”

  The rude noise I made earned me the sight of his dimples.

  “But they weren’t you. I was serious about you taking my breath away, standing there with your hair loose in the breeze and wearing all that ink like a suit of armor. Man, the way you handled us, especiall
y how you owned Fisk when he was being such a monumental dick.”

  Ethan sat back and folded his hands behind his head.

  “The plan was that you’d be shocked and intimidated. Instead, you held your ground like a damn Valkyrie. I was already having doubts about the whole thing by the time we got to Dallas that first day. First, it wasn’t who I was, and second, I was quickly finding out who you were. That was the profilers’ mistake. They forgot that the woman I would appeal to might also appeal to me.”

  The light in his eyes and sincerity in his voice burned me like fire. I’d buried my anger a long time ago in a psychic grave next to my passion for him. Not all the scars were on my skin. I stood and went to the desk, using the bourbon as an excuse. What I really wanted was to have my back to him to blunt the connection.

  “Jewel, do you know when I dropped my assignment?”

  “No, tell me.”

  “When I drove up in the Challenger, you were sitting by that statue outside your lawyer’s office. I knew you’d been to the jail to see your father. You looked so sad and lonely that all I wanted to do was to make you laugh. Just once.”

  Hey there, baby, good thing I brought my library card because I’m checking you out.

  “You did and it was a lot more than once. It felt good. There wasn’t a lot to laugh about that day.”

  “Jewel, later at your place had nothing to do with the mission. I don’t know if you believe that or not, but it’s the absolute truth. None of our nights had any hidden agenda.”

  I’m taking command of this operation.

  “We both know that if I’d gone for it, we would have been together a lot sooner. Be honest, when I went to the motel alone, would you have come with me if I’d asked?”

  “Yes, and you could have pressed your advantage when we came back from Mike’s place. I’m not ashamed of my attraction to you.”

  His hands landed lightly on my shoulders and I reacted the same way I had to any unexpected touch since I’d left the hospital. I flinched. Hard. He snatched his hands away like he’d been shocked. I whirled around to explain, but saw nothing but a look of petulant hurt.

  He backed toward the door. “I knew this was a mistake. I’m sorry. I won’t bother you again.” He turned to walk out.

  Rage flooded me, hot and sharp. I grabbed his arm before he could get outside and spun him around. That same look, like the only thing that mattered was that I hadn’t fallen into his arms crying my forgiveness, unleashed something I didn’t know was still inside me. I round-housed every bit of strength I had into a slap I’m sure my neighbors heard. Pain rippled through my repaired shoulder, but it accomplished what I wanted. It wiped that self-pitying look off his face.

  Ethan stepped back with his hand on his reddening cheek. “Jewel, what the hell was that?”

  I lunged at him, peppering his chest and shoulders with my fists.

  “How dare you act offended and hurt because I jumped when you surprised me. How fucking dare you. I’ll have you know that since your little taskforce succeeded in getting me beaten, slashed, and covered in pureed brains, I have a frigging problem with being touched. It scares the crap out of me if I don’t see it coming. I’m not sure who I am anymore, but I’m no Valkyrie. How dare you show up here after all this time and then walk out on me because things didn’t go exactly the way you wanted them to. Fuck you.”

  I punctuated the last two words with hard open-palmed slaps on his chest. I lifted my hands to continue and he grabbed me by the wrists.

  “Stop, please. I do get it. Better than anyone, I get it. I’m sorry and, as usual, you’re right. I was only thinking of myself. Yeah, I know, there’s a first. Juliana, do you want me to stay? I hope so, because, more than anything, I want to stay.”

  I nodded and my eyes flashed hot. He relaxed his grip and I gathered his shirt in both hands as sobs tore through me. Images and feelings that I’d buried washed over me and my tears became a flood. His hands tentatively slid down my arms, and after I laid my head on his shoulder, gently slipped around me. In his embrace I let the tears I’d held for all these weeks fall and carry some of my pain with them.

  “Baby, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for all of it” was all he said while he held me.

  When my emotions were spent, I stepped back and looked at him through blurry eyes. He reached around me to a box of tissues on my desk, grabbed a handful, and dabbed at my cheeks. I fought back the panic, remembering Fisk doing the same thing.

  I have to get by this.

  Instead of pulling away like I wanted to, I closed my eyes and let him dry my face.

  “Now, if it was my mom that was here, she’d pinch your nose and tell you to blow. How about I give you this instead?” He pressed fresh tissue into my hand.

  My laugh came out as a cough, but he got the point. Ethan sat on the edge of my desk while I pulled myself together.

  “Ethan, tell me your side of it. You’ve told me how you ended up there. Now tell me what happened before.”

  He drained his bourbon glass and I had another unsettling flashback to Nesbitt doing the same thing.

  “Wait, I’ll be right back.” I ran up the steps into the camper and grabbed two sodas out of the fridge. I had to break this vibe, but I also needed to know. He accepted the cold drink with a crooked smile. He knew exactly what I was doing. He popped the can and drank. He was silent for a few minutes and I didn’t push it.

  “I was playing possum when they cut me down in the van. I was hoping someone would get careless and I could do something, anything. When Mike punched you in the face, the dear departed Bobby grabbed your arm and it twisted bad as you went down. I was afraid it was broken. I wanted to kill them all. They left me locked up while they hauled you inside. I worked my cuffs against some exposed metal, but they’d used police-grade, so it was nothing doing. When they dragged me in there, you were already strung up.”

  He stopped and I heard a metallic noise. He’d crushed the can like it was a paper cup.

  “Nesbitt. Goddamn fucking Nesbitt. We’d all had breakfast at the sheriff’s office in Cochinelle before the meeting and he’d spouted his high-and-mighty bullshit against the plan. He was there, under my nose, the entire time. It’s my fault he cut you. He said he would and I let my mouth run. I take that dream to bed with me every night.”

  I resisted the urge to go to him. This had to get out without candying it up.

  “Ethan, whatever share of the blame-cake in this mess is yours, that piece doesn’t belong to you. Do you really think he wasn’t going to use that knife on me? All you did was give him an excuse that he knew would hurt me even more.”

  My hand went to my chest and I made a decision.

  “Ethan, look at me.”

  His eyes were dark and haunted with tears in the corners. I took two deep breaths and unbuttoned my blouse, revealing my girlish cotton bra. His sudden gasp made me turn my head. Even though I expected it, I still started when his finger traced the path of the scar. After kissing me on the forehead, he did the buttons back up and straightened my collar. Wiping his tears with the back of his hand, he sat down again.

  “There’s not much more. Even though I knew there was nothing I could do, I had to draw his attention, so I concentrated on ripping that bar off the wall. When he zeroed in on me, I thought I was a goner. I didn’t want to leave you alone with them, but while he was beating on me, he wasn’t hurting you, so I held my stuff as long as I could. That was my last thought before he clocked me. Fisk told me the rest of it at the hospital. He’s rattled and will be for a long time. The only thing I wish is that I’d pulled the trigger. I do every night in that same dream.”

  CHAPTER 83

  Even though I’d asked, his memories were triggering too many feelings. Monsters were starting to swirl around in my head. I needed to change the focus.

  “Ethan, I have to ask, why are you here now? I’ve been back in Cochinelle for months.”

  “This isn’t the first time I’ve been he
re.”

  I let that one hang in the air while I thought about it.

  “Spill it, Price.”

  “Let’s just say I’m not real popular in Dallas right now. My statements were scathing. The word came down from Washington to seal them as part of the Internal Affairs investigation. Everybody on that taskforce is hanging on by their fingernails.”

  I remembered Snow’s fear and nervousness when I confronted him.

  Good.

  He continued. “So, they’re afraid to fire me, but didn’t know what to do with me. I was put on disability leave because of my ribs. First thing I had to do was deal with Wendy. In a fit of spousal loyalty, she served me with divorce papers at the hospital. She now claimed I was the baby’s father and you know what that means.”

  I couldn’t suppress my disgust. In all of this, I’d almost forgotten about that twit.

  “I owe you the rest of my life for Katie Peterson. She’d been waiting for me to call. Damn, she took care of some business. It was a massacre.”

  For some reason, this pleased me to no end. A rush of guilt also swept over me. I’d cut all ties with my old friends except for Gerald and Anthony.

  Ethan continued. “Wendy, the future Mrs. Kevin Price, will be delivered of my legal-daughter, who is really my bio-niece, and now my legal-niece in a few weeks.

  “Remember me telling you that Wendy insisted I sell grandpa’s farm?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, I did. I sold it to Kevin. For full market price. Katie made a few calls and settled my back child support for about half the outstanding balance. She wrote a check to the state and just like that, I was a totally free man. Because of you, after twenty years, I’ve got the pink slip on Corey.”

  “The farm? I thought you wanted to keep that property.”

  “At one time I saw myself retiring there. But that town has nothing for me. I decided I’d rather keep it in the family. With Wendy around his neck, Kevin is stuck there forever.”