Bounty (Walk the Right Road)

by Eckhart, Lorhainne

  Sam seemed really irritated, which was so unlike him. Diane glanced back at Zac because what she really wanted to do was take each of them aside, Sam and then Marcie, and have a good, long talk.

  “I’ll give Sam a hand,” Zac said.

  “Great,” Diane said and scooted past Sam. “Zac will help you. I’m taking this water out to Marcie.”

  She could hear Zac ask Sam, “So, how old is your daughter?”

  She didn’t hear what Sam said as she shut the front door behind her. “Here, Marcie.” She handed her the tall glass and sat beside her on the wooden step.

  Marcie sipped and then set both hands around the tall glass. “Thank you, Diane.”

  “You’re welcome. Enough with the pleasantry. What’s going on between you and Sam?”

  Marcie lowered her head, her hair swept down like a curtain, hiding her face. She pushed it back with one hand as she lifted her head and gave one of those tough smiles that was absolutely plastic. “It’s that obvious?”

  Diane watched the pain on her friend’s face. “Yeah, it’s uncomfortable to watch. What happened?”

  “Well, you know, we kind of drifted. I don’t think he trusts me,” she said, and Diane could tell she was holding something back because she hesitated and took a breath, which sounded more like she was fighting to hold it together.

  “Sam told me he asked you to marry him and you said no.”

  Marcie seemed to freeze, and then, ever so slowly, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a long swallow of water as if considering what she was going to say. “He did? Well, how about that. I guess he would see it that way.” Marcie let out a sad, pitiful laugh. When she glanced at Diane, tears glossed over her heavenly blue eyes. Marcie appeared so lost and hurt, at the end of her rope.

  “What the…? Marcie, what are you doing? Why would you say something like that? You make it sound as if…” She stopped because she couldn’t figure out where her friend’s head was.

  “He only asked me after I told him I was pregnant again. He’d been so distant for a while, keeping me at arm’s length. He didn’t mean it,” she said.

  “Marcie, I don’t mean to pry….”

  Marcie shot her a look.

  “Okay, so I do,” Diane admitted. “You two need to talk. Maybe it’s not such a good thing that Sam is coming with us to help with the investigation. Maybe you two need one-on-one time. I can take Kyla for a few days when I get back, after I close this case.”

  “No.” Marcie patted her leg. “Sam needs to go with you. Although…” She glanced over her shoulder at the closed door. “Zac seems…how long were you going to keep him a secret? Diane, I didn’t know you were involved with anyone.”

  “Well, we’re not really involved,” Diane said, and Marcie frowned.

  “Men don’t normally take over your kitchen and cook for you and your friends. Might I point out he seems quite comfortable in your kitchen, too? Don’t think I didn’t notice what a fine piece of man you’ve snagged in there.”

  Diane couldn’t keep her face from warming. “I just met him. I don’t really know him.”

  Marcie didn’t turn away to allow Diane time to compose herself. “Wow, Diane Larsen, you are absolutely smitten.”

  Diane pressed her hands to her cheeks. “I like him. He seems to understand me.”

  Marcie was now sporting a goofy grin. “Good. I’m happy for you. I always hoped you’d find someone. Don’t shut the door on him. Let yourself have some fun.”

  Diane cleared her throat because she was picturing fun with Zac in ways she wasn’t about to share with anyone. “Okay, enough about me. Marcie, I want to ask you something.”

  “Okay. Depends, really. Are you prying again?” This time, she didn’t sound so defensive.

  “Totally. Sam mentioned something to me: He thinks you’re keeping something from him, said it was a feeling he’s had for a while.” She watched as Marcie turned her head away, but not before her expression betrayed her. “Marcie, are you hiding something?”

  She faced Diane. “Sometimes, Diane, there’re things you shouldn’t share.” She paused. “I did something.”

  Oh, she had done something, all right. Her friend was looking as guilty as the last kid Diane had picked up with a joint in his pocket, and she remembered his face as he tried to tell her it wasn’t his. She wanted to grab Marcie and shake her, but then she glanced at the door behind her and wondered if Marcie’s secret was about Dan and what Sam suspected, whether she still had feelings for him. Sometimes it was next to impossible for women to get that kind of poison out of themselves. Diane had seen it too many times. She had lived it.

  “Marcie, maybe you should tell someone. I don’t know what it is, but secrets can rip you apart and can tear up this good thing that you and Sam have. You two are so good together; you have a baby. Do you still have feelings for Dan?”

  From the look of horror on Marcie’s face, Diane knew that whatever Sam was picking up on, that wasn’t it, not by a long shot. “Are you kidding me? Dan McKenzie, after what he did to us, to me? I thank God every day that he’s out of me and gone from my life. To hear that he was killed, when Richard was accused of his murder and set up, I felt guilty because I had wished him dead, and for a moment I was happy. It rocked my world, but not in the way you think. Before we heard he had been murdered, I kept asking, why is this guy still around, getting away with screwing people the way he does over and over? What happened to karma? From where I was sitting, it didn’t look as if he was reaping anything bad. I thought, why does he still have the ability to go in again and again and fuck with people’s lives? Why wouldn’t he just go away?

  “Then, when they couldn’t find his body, just all that blood and an altered surveillance video, I had this off feeling that something wasn’t right. I knew Richard would never do anything to Dan, as he was so wrapped up in Maggie. Even though you guys found him the best lawyer around, Richard was going to go down for a murder he didn’t commit, and I kept asking myself, is Dan even dead? I knew I had to do something because it seemed as if it had become a witch hunt. Remember, even Child Services stepped in with that Mickey Mouse show, trying to prove that Maggie was an unfit mother? I had to do something.” She stopped and shook her head. When she looked Diane in the eye, Diane felt as if someone had slammed a fist in her gut.

  “You know, Marcie, I always thought it was awfully convenient how Sam and I found Jane so easily and she confessed just like that, after she’d gone to ground and all but disappeared,” Diane said hesitantly. “Then the case against Maggie in family court was dismissed. Even the court-appointed guardian never finished her investigation—that report on Maggie and her relationship with Ryley. The way it was going with everything, Ryley was going to be removed from Maggie’s care, and Richard was going to prison. Every brick wall Sam and I came up against suddenly dissolved as if someone had stepped in and made everything go away.” She watched her friend, who couldn’t lie if her life depended on it. Marcie flinched as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “What did you do?” Diane asked, and she waited while Marcie appeared to be thinking of what to say.

  “I called Lance Silver and went to see him,” she finally said. “I asked him to make it go away for Richard and Maggie, to help my friends and find the 911 caller, find out what really happened to Dan.”

  “What?” Diane barked. She stared at Marcie in disbelief, her mouth open. “You didn’t tell Sam? Why wouldn’t you tell him? Why would you go to that snake? Silver is a dangerous man; he runs the west coast drug trail, and we’ve been trying to put him away for how long?”

  “Diane, I did what I felt was right. And I couldn’t tell Sam. Take a look at how you’re reacting now. With Sam, it would be worse, so I made a decision not to tell him. But I also couldn’t allow Richard and Maggie to suffer as they were, to have their lives ripped away from them and their family torn apart even more. Sam wouldn’t forgive me if he knew. After all this time, telling him now, how do you
think he’d react?”

  “Honestly, he’d have the same reaction as me, but you’re right that it would be worse. He’d be mighty pissed, but at least he wouldn’t be wondering whether you still have feelings for Dan. Because I can tell you, watching Sam and hearing him wonder about it…no, it couldn’t be worse. You have to come clean.” She couldn’t believe Marcie had done what she had, but a lot was beginning to make sense. “Wait. How did you know to go to Lance Silver?”

  Marcie didn’t say anything for the longest time. She blinked before slowly turning to her. “Lance Silver, as powerful as he is, wouldn’t be as safe and untouched if he didn’t have friends in high places: politicians, cops. Don’t forget that since he runs the underground here on the west coast, no one crosses him. Of course he knows who’s doing what, because no one would be stupid enough to get in his way. Do you know, the few hours I sat at his house…”

  “You went to his house?” Diane gritted her teeth and fought the urge to yell. She glanced at the door, hoping no one had heard her.

  “Yeah, I sure did. I called him, and he asked me to come over, and I did. I sat with him in his den, drank coffee. His housekeeper took care of Kyla. He was kind and thoughtful, a gentleman, and he listened and made some calls. He had direct numbers to whoever he spoke to. You and I both know what happened next. As I sat there in Lance Silver’s den, the phone would ring, and he’d listen and say ‘Well done’ to whoever called, and then, ever so calmly, after the last call came in, he said that Jane had been found, the case against Richard had been dismissed, and Maggie would no longer be bothered by Child Services. But you know what? The entire time I was there, he seemed to care for me. I know this sounds weird.”

  Diane watched her friend, seeing how a man who was the scum of the earth had managed to weasel his way into her heart. “You care for him,” Diane said. She’d seen that blind devotion before. “Are you crazy? You sold your soul to the devil, and what did you promise him to get him to do all these favors?” My God, what had she done? What kind of mess had she dug herself into? Diane lowered her face into her hands. “You know what, Marcie? I always knew someone had done something, but I really wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, you know? I knew that if I didn’t ask too many questions, Maggie and Richard would have their lives back, but never in a million years did I think it was you.”

  Marcie shrugged. “Someone had to do something. I listened and knew I had to call Lance.”

  Diane shook her head. “You and I both know Lance Silver is a snake. You may think he cares for you, but it comes at a cost, Marcie. Powerful men like him don’t do anything for nothing.”

  Marcie gazed at Diane, unblinking, with a look that wasn’t so much confused as understanding. She was confident in whatever she’d done and was completely at peace. “Well, this time, Diane, I believe you’re wrong. He did what he did with no strings attached. I’m not a fool. I don’t believe for a second that Lance Silver does things out of the kindness of his heart, but he did that for me and asked nothing in return.”

  Diane didn’t know why, but she had to ask: “Marcie, you haven’t seen Lance again, have you?”

  She didn’t answer. Instead, she linked her fingers together, locking them tightly and then flexing them. “He invited me back, me and Kyla. He wanted to see her and know how we were doing.”

  “Are you crazy? If Sam finds out, he’ll lose it.”

  “I think he knew my mother.”

  “In what way did he know your mother? Was he her drug dealer, were they involved, or did she work for him? What way are you talking about?” Diane couldn’t believe the way this conversation was going. Geez, what did she really know of Marcie’s past? Only what she’d said: The man she’d thought was her father was a predator, a heroin dealer, her mother was a drunk, and her brother had been murdered. Her granny had rescued her. Maybe there was a possibility that Lance and her mother had known one another.

  “I don’t know who my father is, not really,” Marcie said. “I’ve thought a lot about it recently and asked Sally, Granny’s old friend. I know she knows.”

  “I thought your granny and Sally made sure Lance Silver would stay far away from you. Did you at least tell her?”

  The look Marcie gave her was no surprise.

  “Unbelievable, Marcie.”

  She shrugged. “Sally wouldn’t understand.”

  “I’m not sure I do, either.”

  The door opened behind them. “Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but lunch is ready,” Zac said.

  Diane got up and reached for Marcie’s hand. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

  Marcie took her hand and stood up. The expression on her face was so sad. “I’ll talk to Sam,” she promised.

  Chapter 14

  Diane was in the kitchen, helping Zac wash the dishes and clean the table. Sam was outside in the backyard with Marcie. Diane watched silently as Sam threw his hands in the air and turned to walk away before spinning around and stalking back, yelling, “You lied to me! How could you?”

  Marcie lowered her face into her hands and started crying. Zac was beside Diane, and she could feel his comforting warmth. She wanted to be around him, and this familiarity was what she needed.

  “Everything okay? Something I should know about?” he asked.

  Diane looked up into the kindness of his gray eyes and didn’t miss the way he frowned and glanced over her head, first at the sliding doors and then back at her again. Diane glanced out at Sam, who was furious, yelling at Marcie again. This time, she couldn’t make out his words, and Marcie was crying harder.

  “Oh, she’s just coming clean about something she should have told him long ago,” Diane said.

  Marcie reached out for Sam’s arm, and he yanked it away so hard she almost lost her balance. That was when Zac stepped around Diane, tossing the dishtowel down.

  “Zac, no!” she yelled and grabbed his arm. “Don’t go out there. Sam’s just angry. He wouldn’t hurt Marcie.”

  They watched now as Sam stormed into the house, his gaze filled with such fury, and glared at Diane. “Did you know what she did, going to Lance Silver, making a deal with the devil behind my back?”

  “She just told me.”

  “She lied to me again,” he snapped. “So what else has she done that I don’t know about? I’m done. I’m taking my kid, and we’re leaving.”

  Diane blocked his way so he couldn’t take one step down the hall toward Kyla. “Don’t you dare, Sam. I’m not defending her, but we had our backs up against the wall. Richard was going down for the murder. Maggie would have lost Ryley. You know this. She just had the guts to do what we should have done.”

  Zac stepped outside, leaving Diane to calm the angry man who was pacing liked a caged lion in front of her.

  “You wouldn’t seriously consider taking Kyla from Marcie,” Diane said. “You have another baby on the way. If you’re not going to sit down and talk to her calmly… Sam, she’s confused from going to see him again and again. She thinks he somehow knew her mother. Put yourself in her shoes. She has questions, and maybe instead of being so angry…” Diane stopped talking, because Sam wore a look of absolute fury and disbelief. For a minute, she thought he was going to walk out the door, and she wondered what she’d just said. She felt as if the blood had drained from her. “She didn’t tell you she’s been going to see Lance, or about her mother, just now.”

  He set his hand on his forehead and shut his eyes, letting out a laugh that sent a shiver up Diane’s spine. Kyla cried from the next room. She was awake, wide awake. “Get out of my way, Diane,” Sam said.

  “Sam, walk it off,” Zac barked. He stepped inside, a sniffling Marcie beside him. Her eyes were red rimmed, tears still pouring down her cheeks.

  “This is my family, Zac. Don’t you dare butt in!” Sam yelled, raising his fist.

  Zac stepped in front of Marcie calmly, one step, then two steps toward Sam. For a minute, Diane thought Sam was going to lunge at him.

  �
�Don’t be stupid,” Diane said, grabbing Sam’s arm. He yanked it away.

  “Hey, don’t do that. Don’t you ever treat Diane like that.” Zac had said it calmly, but Diane saw the flash in his eyes, the hardness in his face. He was suddenly protective and had gone completely alpha on her. She was astonished.

  “This is my business, Zac. Stay out of it. I have a right to be furious,” Sam said.

  “Yes, you do, but you don’t have the right to act like an idiot. You come back and talk to your wife when you’re calm. Go for a walk before you both say something you’ll regret.”

  “She’s not my wife,” Sam spit out before walking out the door.

  And Marcie wept.

  ***

  Diane sat beside Zac in the small commuter airplane that was flying them to Sandpoint. She glanced across the aisle at Sam, who was resting his head against the seatback, his eyes closed. She was very aware of Zac beside her, his hand skimming hers, and she fought the urge to rest her head against his shoulder.

  “Do you think your friend is going to be okay?” Zac stirred her from her thoughts. He was a man who filled more than his share of space; as he leaned closer, his arm pressed against her. She let out a sigh and moved closer just as he set his hand over hers.

  “Which one?” she said.

  Zac glanced over her head toward Sam. “He was pretty upset. I’ve seen it many times, a woman keeping a secret from her husband. He finds out and loses it, walks out without forgiving her, and the marriage is over.”

  “She told him because I asked her to, Zac. Then I made it worse, because I guess she didn’t get to finish telling him the whole story before I opened my mouth.”

  He watched her, and her heart flip-flopped as he slid his thumb across her cheek. She couldn’t fight the instinct to lean into his large hand. She shut her eyes, losing herself in the moment, in his touch.

  “What about Marcie? She was still crying when she left,” he said.

  Diane felt awful, especially since Sam had refused to drive Marcie to the ferry. He hadn’t even said goodbye. Marcie had strapped Kyla in the car seat, and when Diane had tried to hug her, she felt as if her friend had given up. Marcie was so hurt by what Sam said that Diane had wanted to kick him, too, but he’d walked onto one of the trails off her property and hadn’t come back until Marcie drove away.