The Southern Comfort Series Box Set

by Clark O'Neill, Lisa

  The knife of that had already been in his gut. If he was abducted mistakenly, how much more senseless did that make Leslie’s death? But that kind of thinking wasn’t productive.

  “My brother… he’s FBI, Ava. They’re investigating the site. The who and the why.”

  “They won’t be able to tie anything to Carlos. He’s too slick. Don’t say it.” She held up a hand, looked at him with eyes that broke his heart. “I know that my knowledge of events that night could give them what they need for a warrant. I know you’ll ask me to talk to them. Tell them what I know.”

  He squeezed her foot between his hands. “Ava. The man is a threat, to you most of all. I don’t think you have a choice.”

  Ava leaned her head back on the sofa, listened to the dying breath of wind rattle the eaves. “Do you realize what it would mean, if I did? I’d have to go into hiding. Change my name, give up my business. Everything I’ve worked for. And even if I could handle that,” she watched the rain slide down the window “I’m not sure if I could handle leaving you.”

  “Ava –”

  “Don’t.” Slightly panicked, she pushed at the hand he lifted to her face. “I knew it was coming. Knew, from the moment you walked into my clinic, that my life would never be the same. I fought it – fought you – but this is the way it has to be. I won’t let Carlos get away with it anymore. He destroys lives, mine not least among them. He drove Michael away. Brought my father to ruin. And I hold him responsible for my mother’s disappearance. She wouldn’t have simply vanished from a church parking lot if it wasn’t for him.”

  “Wait. I thought your mother passed away.”

  “No one has seen or heard from her in nearly two years. I’m sorry, it’s another black mark on me, but was easier to let you think that than to explain the circumstances.”

  Something shifted in his eyes. “That photo album I was looking at the other night. Is it still under the sofa?”

  “I think so.” She leaned over to move the candle closer while he dug the album out. “Careful, the glass is hot.” He tilted it closer, studied a picture of her first communion, and her heart began to thud. “What?” Her throat was dry, her stomach jumpy. “What is it?”

  Jordan looked at the image of the woman beside the child, her hair a lush mass of curls, her smile so vivid and bright. She glowed, positively glowed, as she hugged her only daughter. She wore a rosary.

  A beautiful, cut-crystal rosary.

  Jordan sat the candle down, and studied Ava’s face. So beautiful, so like the woman in the photo.

  “What?”

  “This rosary.” He tapped his finger against the picture. “It’s very distinct.”

  “It is. My great-grandmother had it handcrafted for her upon her confirmation.”

  “I’ve seen it before.”

  “That’s impossible.” Her tone was confused, her eyes wary. “She had it with her when she disappeared. She’d worn it to evening mass.”

  “I saw it.” Jordan gripped her fingers tightly. “The night they found Leslie. I’m sorry, Ava. But I think your mother might be buried there, too.”

  “BETTER?” Jordan handed her a cool washcloth for her face.

  To Ava’s dismay, she’d just spent the past ten minutes being violently, horribly sick. Now she sprawled on the ugly tile in her darkened bathroom, feeling as if the bottom had just dropped out of her world. She’d thought she understood the level of her uncle’s depravity, but this went beyond anything she would ever have guessed.

  He’d killed his sister-in-law in order to keep his brother under his thumb.

  “It’s my fault,” she said hoarsely.

  “What?” Jordan pinched her chin, dragged her face around toward his. “How could you say something that foolish?”

  “They – my parents – moved to Savannah to be near me. After I set up my practice. They sold their place in Atlanta. That’s where my father’s family is from, where my uncle lives most of the time.” Her lip quivered, but she bit it. “I told my father that I wanted to start fresh, that I didn’t want his… activities messing things up for me here. He was easing back. Easing away from his brother. Until my mother disappeared.”

  Jordan sat next to her on the tile, and when he took her hand she laced their fingers.

  “Papa went out of his head with grief. Uncle Carlos convinced him it had been a…a hit from one of their rivals, and Papa shot the man. It turned out the man was an informant. I guess it was Uncle Carlos’ way, again, of killing two birds with one stone. Keep his brother under his control, eliminate the competition. But it would never have happened if it hadn’t been for me. My mother would still be alive.”

  “Ava.” She heard, understood, the sympathy in his voice, but was a little taken aback by the exasperation. “I was just about to tell you, again,” he explained as he glanced over at her “how foolish it is for you to feel that way. But considering I’ve been beating myself up over what happened to Leslie, I guess that’s pretty much the pot condescending to the kettle. I’m sorry.” He lifted her hand, brought her fingers to his lips. “I understand the need to shoulder some responsibility, even if it’s wrong. It shows you’re a good person. But I can almost guarantee your mother wouldn’t want that from you, or for you. Especially when your uncle is at fault.”

  Of all the things he could have said, none could have resounded more. “You’re right. And as terrible as all of this is, the one good thing to come from it is that Uncle Carlos has dug his own grave. My father loves his brother, but my mother was… everything. I have to tell him, Jordan. He has to know what my uncle has done.”

  “I feel duty bound to point out that the burden of proof hasn’t yet been met.”

  “Such a lawyer.” And wasn’t it nice, to be able to feel that little glimmer of humor through the tears? “We both know what the tests will show, though – God – I can probably get my mother’s dental records to expedite the process.”

  “We’ll arrange it,” Jordan assured her. “I’m going to give my brother a call right now. I know that it’s small consolation at a time like this, but everything you just told me is going to make his night. It’s going to make a lot of people’s nights. You’re like the goose that laid the golden law-enforcement egg.”

  “Glad I could help,” she said dryly. “Hell, a family full of do-gooders. What have I gotten myself messed up in now?”

  Jordan framed her face between his hands. “Get used to it, Ava. Because for better or worse, you’re stuck with us.”

  He left her sitting on the floor, staring after him, while he went in search of his phone.

  JORDAN looked out the living room window as he finished his call with Jesse. One storm had passed, he thought as rain dripped softly from the eaves and the sky softened to twilight. And another one was just beginning.

  He didn’t kid himself about exactly how difficult – how dangerous – this was going to be for Ava. But she’d risked her life for his before he even knew her. How much more would he risk for her now that he knew she was his life?

  “Hey.” He turned when he heard her behind him, then opened his arms, sighing a little as she settled in. She looked better, he thought, and stroked a hand down her hair. Strong, brave. She’d need to be both to get through this.

  “We’ve set the ball rolling,” he told her.

  “It’s a relief. Scary, but such a relief,” she said. “I want some kind of protection for Lou Ellen and Katie, Jordan. When this gets out, he’ll try to hurt me. If he can’t get to me, he’ll go after the people I love.”

  “I’ll take care of it. I’d like to wave my magic wand and say that things are going to be all better now, but the truth of it is that there’s going to be a lot of ugliness in front of us. Aside from all the legal issues, there’s going to be a lot of publicity – some of it negative – that we won’t be able to avoid. But I want you to know that I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”

  She was quiet for a moment against him. “Will this
hurt you? Your reputation, your career? I don’t want to damage everything you’ve worked for. I don’t think I could stand it. I really don’t.”

  He eased back enough to look her in the eye. “Don’t compare yourself to him, Ava.”

  “I’m a Martinez.” She lifted her shoulder. “As much as I’ve tried to distance myself, I can’t escape the fact that we’re blood. And I… knew things, Jordan. Things that could have helped to put him away. Things that –”

  “Things that could have gotten you killed.”

  “But it’s not right. You’re a good man, a law-abiding citizen. A prosecutor, for pity’s sake. It’s not right that your relationship with me threatens all that when you didn’t know. I should have just… come clean with you well before now, because I did. I knew. Maybe we could just, I don’t know, put our personal relationship on hold or something until –”

  “Ava.” He reminded himself that she was distraught, that she’d had a bad shock. Several bad shocks, actually. “What kind of weenie do you take me for?”

  “What?” She looked genuinely surprised. “I don’t –”

  “And if I’m supposedly such a good man,” he said right over her “such a law-abiding citizen, why the hell would you expect me to lie? We have a relationship, and it’s damn personal. I want you to marry me.”

  The surprise morphed into shock. “Did you just… propose?”

  “It was more that I stated an intention. This, however,” he slid out of her arms, eased onto one knee “is a proposal. Ava, will you marry me?”

  “I… I think I need to sit down.” She did, right there on the floor. “Are you crazy?”

  “About you.”

  “I…” She pressed her fingers into her eyes. Flung them out dramatically. “We’ve known each other for, what? A month. Not even. Less than thirty days, Jordan.”

  “I knew the minute I saw you walk into the bar in that red dress. My heart stopped. And when it started again, it beat for you.”

  He had the pleasure of watching her mouth fall open. Close. Fall open again. “How am I even supposed to think after you say something like that? Let alone formulate a…a…”

  “Response?”

  “See?” She tapped her head. “You’ve fried my brain.”

  Fighting a laugh, Jordan pressed a kiss to her temple. “You saved my life, Ava. Let me spend the rest of it with you. And besides.” He kissed the other side. “Think what an interesting story it will make for our children.”

  “Sitting doesn’t seem to be working for me. Maybe I should just lie down.”

  He gave in to the laugh, pulled her into his arms. “Say yes.”

  “Yes,” she said against his shoulder.

  He rocked, simply rocked her back and forth, as happiness bloomed inside him. “I can’t wait for you to meet my family.”

  “Oh, God.” She pushed at his shoulder, panic in her eyes. “Your family. Jordan, what will they think?”

  “That I’m the luckiest man alive.”

  “Right. Mom, Dad. I’d like you to meet Ava Martinez. Of the Leavenworth Prison Martinezes. More likely they’ll think that head injury my uncle’s men gave you rattled your brain.”

  Jordan’s bloom lost a petal at that. “Who you are has absolutely nothing to do with your uncle. And the fact that you are who you are in spite of him speaks volumes about your character. You’re beautiful, successful, intelligent and kind. So don’t let me hear you disparage yourself again.”

  “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

  “As I’ve ever been in my life. I… hold that thought,” he said when his phone rang. “That might be Jesse calling back.”

  Jordan checked the readout, saw the local area code. Not his brother, but he figured with the bomb he’d just dropped on Jesse any number of federal agents might be wanting to speak with him. “Wellington.”

  “Jordan Wellington?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “I…” There was a pause, the muffled blast of a horn in the background, and the caller cleared his throat. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

  Confused – because if this was a federal agent on the other end of the line he sounded like a nervous kid – Jordan worked to keep the annoyance from his voice. “Unless you tell me who you are and why you’re calling, we can’t know that, can we?”

  “I…” he started again. “This is Bobby Lee Bender. Robert. Robert Bender. I’m Jeff Simpson’s nephew.”

  “Jeff Simpson’s…” Jordan shook his head when it clicked. “Right.” He didn’t try to disguise his annoyance any longer. “Well, Robert, as flattered as I am that you would bother to track me down on my personal cell after that little dance we did in the park, I have to confess that I just don’t have time for a two-step right now.”

  He cleared his throat again. “How did you know that was me?”

  “Well I only suspected, but Robert, you just confirmed it. As an attorney, I should probably point out that you neglected to exercise your right to remain silent, but as a man, I’m just going to say back off. I’m sorry you had to witness the altercation I had with your uncle, but I can’t imagine he would appreciate you jumping in to fight his battles any more then I appreciate being jumped. Goodbye, Robert. Let’s not do this again.”

  “Wait! Please.”

  The plea, the desperation, caused Jordan to sigh even as he rolled his eyes at Ava. Snagging her hand, he kissed her fingers, linked them with his before settling his back against the couch. And dipped into his reserve of patience. “Look, Robert, if you’re worried about the other night in the park, you can rest easy. You annoyed the hell out of me with that stunt you pulled, but nothing you did constituted criminal behavior. I’ll forget about it if you will.”

  “It’s not that.” Jordan heard him swallow. “It’s… man. This is hard.”

  The misery in the kid’s voice pricked Jordan’s curiosity. “Just spit it out, Robert.”

  “It’s… it’s about that man who hanged himself. The one who they said killed those women.”

  “Elijah Fuller?” Jordan’s tone went razor sharp. He squeezed Ava’s fingers before dropping them to pay more mind to his caller. “You know something about Fuller, Robert?”

  “I… you don’t think he did it, do you?”

  Boggy ground, Jordan thought. Maybe this kid had something to say and was calling on his own, but for all Jordan knew his uncle had put him up to it. To what end, Jordan couldn’t guess, but he wasn’t about to discuss his personal beliefs with Simpson’s nephew. “What I think is irrelevant in the face of the fact that Elijah Fuller hanged himself. He was indicted for the crimes, and he’s dead. Without a defendant, there’s no case for the state to prosecute.”

  “But what if there was some kind of evidence, or something, that he didn’t do it? Some, like, proof that he couldn’t have committed the murders? Would the case be open again?”

  Jordan’s brows drew together. “Much as I enjoy shooting the breeze about the finer points of the law in a criminal trial, why the hell are you calling me with this, Robert? I’m sure, if you have any questions, your uncle would be happy to explain things to you.”

  “No! No, I can’t talk to Uncle Jeff. He’s… I… I think he’s hiding something. Evidence. I think he’s hiding evidence that shows that Fuller guy might have been innocent.”

  As if the night hadn’t been explosive enough. Jordan tried to align his own thoughts, motioned urgently to Ava for a pen and paper. As she grabbed a candle, headed to the kitchen, he watched her retreating back with a swell of love and possession. She’d agreed to be his wife.

  One hell of an explosive night.

  He shook his head, forced it back into the very startling conversation with Simpson’s nephew. “That’s a pretty serious accusation, Robert. You have a specific reason for this suspicion?”

  “I overheard him. A couple of times, I overheard him talking to someone about the case. So I snooped around his home office and found…” He too
k a shaky breath, blew it out. “Let’s just say there was something that didn’t make it into evidence. Something that could clear Fuller.”

  “What?” Jordan prompted. “What didn’t make it into evidence?”

  “Um, look, can we maybe meet? I’d feel better going over this in person. Alone. I… I can’t have anyone finding out that I talked to you.”

  “We can do that,” Jordan decided, and smiled at Ava as she came over, handed him a pen. He scratched out Robert’s name on the back of one of her business cards. “The next day or so will be really busy for me. How’s Monday sound to you?”

  “I was hoping we could do it sooner. Like now.”

  “Now doesn’t work for me, Robert. As I said, I have a lot going on.”

  There was a pause, then an explosion of furious breath. “It has to be now! You think it was easy for me to call you? He’s my uncle, for good Christ’s sake. I can’t… look, I can’t spend the next couple days around him knowing, acting like everything is cool. I took something, okay? From his home office. He’s going to notice it’s gone, and then he’ll figure out it was me. He will. And then he’ll, he’ll…”

  “He’ll what?” Jordan asked softly when the kid’s labored pants took the place of words.

  “He’ll… I’m scared, okay? I want to do the right thing, that’s why I called you. But I’m scared of what’s going to happen if he finds out. Or whoever it was he was talking to. I don’t know what they might do if they found out I overheard them, or that I talked to you about what I found. They’re cops. I mean, how do you get around that? It’s why I tracked you down in the park that night, after I realized you didn’t believe Fuller did those things. I knew you were the one I needed to talk to. But I got scared, when I saw your gun, and I ran away. But it’s not right, what he did. Please. You’re the only one I can think of who can help me.”

  Shit.

  Jordan looked over at Ava. The last thing he wanted to do was leave her, and he flat out refused to leave her unprotected. But he’d questioned, cross-examined enough witnesses during his career to know when one was ready to spill.

  And if Simpson’s nephew really did have knowledge of evidence tampering, it could be enough to get the case reopened.