“Bad,” he said. “But understandable. Barbara was always such a people person. I guess you got my genes. Try not to become a scary old crank like me, if you can help it.”
“If I became half as wonderful as you, then I couldn’t ask for anything else,” Lacy said.
“Stuff and nonsense,” he said. “What are the chances I could get your grandmother out here?”
“Not good.” Lucinda had never been a dancer, and especially not after her ill-fated dance party when she accidentally got drunk at Christmas.
“Mind if I tell her she has to or it will shame the family honor? I think impinging on her sense of propriety is the only way I’m going to get a dance with my girlfriend,”
“Do whatever works,” Lacy said. She gave him a pat and sent him on his way, but she wasn’t alone for long. Riley sidled up.
“You need to talk to the mayor. If you don’t, it will seem like you don’t like him.”
“I don’t like him,” Lacy said. “He’s a weasel of a man who hired thugs to scare me.”
“Yes, but he’s the mayor, and you’re a pivotal figure in the community now. People are watching. Saying hello won’t lower your precious standards.”
“Fine, I’ll say hello. But I am not sucking up to him.”
Riley shrugged but didn’t walk away. Lacy plucked up her courage. “Riley, thanks for the party. It’s really great. Perfect, actually. I know how hard you’ve worked, and I’m really thankful. Really.”
Riley bit her lip and twisted her hands together. For a second, Lacy thought maybe she was touched and fighting tears. As it turned out, she was also gearing herself up to say something. “I need a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“What?” Lacy said.
“Don’t make me say it again.”
Lacy pulled her farther off the dance floor to a deserted corner of the room. “Why do you need a hundred and fifty thousand dollars?”
“Debt, obviously. I owe some back rent, some charges on my credit cards, things like that.”
“Riley, how could you possibly run up a hundred and fifty thousand dollars on credit cards?”
“Some of it is from college loans.”
“How can that be possible? Mom and Dad paid for your college. Why would you need a loan?”
“Because I wanted to look good and have fun, okay? Yes, Mom and Dad paid for college, but that’s all they paid for. I never had enough money to go out or buy clothes. And then I realized I could take out a loan without them, so I did. And then…” She broke off and glanced away. She looked wretched, but Lacy took no comfort in her misery.
“And then what?” she prompted.
“And then my company gave me a credit card. It started out simply enough—buying things for work. But then I always needed new clothes for the parties. You know what New York was like, so competitive. Before I realized it, I had racked up over a hundred thousand dollars on the company’s cards. I didn’t quit my job. I was fired. And if I don’t pay them back within the month, then I’m going to go to jail, okay? So can I please have the money?”
Lacy’s stomach was pitching and plummeting. For all of her sister’s life, people had been digging her out of trouble. As she grew older, the trouble got bigger and bigger, and now this. Lacy knew what she had to do, but she wasn’t looking forward to it. “No.”
“What?” Riley said.
“No, Riley. I’m sorry. I won’t give you the money.”
“But you’re loaded. I know you inherited a million dollars.”
“I did, but a lot went to taxes, and a lot more is tied up in this building.”
“Are you saying you don’t have the money?”
“No. I have that much and a lot more, but I’m not going to give it to you.”
“I can’t believe this,” Riley said. She pressed her hands to her temples and shook her head. “What is wrong with you?”
“I know you don’t see it this way, but I’m doing this for your own good. All of us have rescued you from situations since your birth. It’s time you learned to stand on your own two feet and dig yourself out of the trouble you made.”
“Can’t I learn that lesson after I avoid prison?” Riley asked.
“How are you ever going to learn?” Lacy said. “I’m tired, Riley, tired of being your piggy bank. Did you remember that you borrowed two thousand dollars from me when you first moved to New York? You’ve still never paid that back.”
“And you want it now?” Riley hissed.
“Of course not, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m trying to tell you is that I’ve been bailing you out for years. Now that I have a lot more, you’re going to want a lot more, and I’m not doing it. Be a grownup and fix your own mess. If I see that you’re actually working toward a resolution, then I’ll consider giving you a loan.”
Riley bit her lip and wrenched her palms together again. “Give me the money, or I’ll tell Mom about being adopted.”
Lacy stared at her, thinking. “I suppose if you’re willing to hurt three innocent people to get what you want, then that’s up to you. But I refuse to be extorted.”
Riley threw up her hands, tangling in her hair and giving it a tug. “I knew it. I knew better than to ask you for help. What was I thinking?” Her eyes filled with tears, and she ran away.
“I think you did the right thing,” Joe said. Lacy clutched her heart and spun. He was standing in the shadows less than a foot away. Had he been there the whole time? “My sister had to give me that same speech when I was hard up on the drugs. Some people only learn lessons the hard way.”
“It doesn’t feel very good,” Lacy said. “I feel like Ebenezer Scrooge.” She leaned against the wall feeling deflated.
“I was mad at my sister for a long time after she stopped giving me money. But then she was the only person who ever came to visit me in prison. Blood’s thicker than water, they say.”
“And a lot more painful,” Lacy said.
Joe leaned against the wall, mimicking her pose. Lacy looked up at him with a smile. “Want to dance, Joe?”
“Me?” he said, pointing to his chest.
“You’re the only Joe I know.”
“You don’t want to dance with an old jailbird like me,” he said.
“I want to dance with all my friends tonight. Come on.” She clasped his hand and led him behind her. They talked and danced their way through one song. Joe danced exactly like someone who hadn’t done it in a long time and had forgotten how.
“I was never very good at this,” he said.
“Neither was I,” Lacy confessed.
“You looked good when you were dancing with that police fella,” Joe said.
“That’s because of him. He’s a good dancer. He’s good at everything, really,” Lacy said. “He even makes good coffee.”
“Could he make it here in the mornings?” Joe asked.
“Joe!” Lacy exclaimed. “My coffee is not that bad.”
“I used the leftovers to clean my sister’s paint brushes,” Joe said.
He said it so seriously that Lacy didn’t know if he was kidding. She caught sight of Jason at the edge of the dance floor. He tapped his watch. “Tick-tock,” he mouthed. She didn’t think Joe noticed, but when the dance ended, he handed her off to Jason.
“Geez, I let you go for a minute and lose you for the next half hour,” Jason said.
“Everyone wants a piece of Lacy,” she said. “I try to give the people what they want.”
“I’m so glad the success of this night hasn’t gone to your head,” Jason said.
“I’m the same humble princess I was before. Will you go with me to say hello to the mayor and his fellow cronies? I could really use the moral support.”
“Sure,” he said.
“Sure, just like that? Don’t you want to remind me that this is the mayor and I need to be on my best behavior?”
“I trust you,” Jason said. “And I’m keeping this arm handy to muffle your mouth and dr
ag you away.”
“Good thinking,” Lacy said. She didn’t plan to say anything inappropriate, but she didn’t like or trust the man. Sometimes her mouth ran far ahead of her brain. She needn’t have worried, though. Jason led her over and suavely greeted the gathered group of men. She had only to say hello and smile. He also ended the conversation quickly and smoothly before it could escalate past the greeting stage.
“You were brilliant,” she told Jason. She linked her arm through his and gave it a squeeze. “How did you get so good at that?”
“Football. You have to channel your hostility onto the field. Off the field, you have to be polite.”
“You actually learned things from football?”
“I learned a lot from sports—how to work as a team, how to be disciplined, how to set and reach goals.”
“And I thought it was just a chance to put on tight pants and hit people,” Lacy said, goading him.
“No, it was a chance to put on tight pants and make pretty girls ogle us,” he said.
“I never ogled you or anyone else on the football team,” she said.
“Who did you ogle?” he asked. “You never said who you had a crush on during high school.”
She opened her mouth to tell him about Chester Campbell, but changed her mind. She didn’t want to talk about Chester or anyone else when she was having so much fun with Jason. “The wrong person,” she said. “Clearly my taste wasn’t what it should have been. I should have joined the line of girls waiting to fall at your feet. I could have been obsessing all these years. This night of dancing with you could have been the fulfillment of a long-held dream.”
Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the appearance of a harried-looking Tosh. “Lacy, I just talked to Joe. When were you going to tell me that he saw the shooter on the night of the murder?”
“What?” Jason said. They both stared at her, waiting for an answer.
“I was going to tell you both yesterday, but then it sort of slipped my mind. The thing is, Tosh, that it confirms Pearl was the shooter. He saw her heading out of the woods right behind her house.”
“He saw someone heading out of the woods behind her house. How can you say for sure it was Pearl after all those people shot at us?” Tosh said.
“What?” Jason said with more volume.
“You didn’t tell him?” Tosh said. When no one answered, he began backing away. “Awkward. We’ll talk more later.” He disappeared so quickly it was as if he had never been there, except for the bomb he had left behind.
“People shot at you?” Jason said.
“It was just some hunters or something in the woods where we found the car. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“You mean like the way I’m upset right now?”
She nodded.
“You have a witness, and you didn’t tell me,” he said.
“I was going to. Honestly I was, but then last night was so…and today I forgot. I would have remembered tomorrow. But this helps your case; it solidifies everything. Doesn’t that make you feel better?”
“Make me feel better?” he thundered. “Are you crazy? Someone shot at you, and as if that’s not bad enough, you’ve been going behind my back to investigate this case when I asked you not to. I asked you to let it go.”
“Technically you asked me to stop representing Pearl, which I did.”
“There are no technicalities here, Lacy. You knew what I meant. I can’t believe this. Every time I think we’re making progress, I find out we’re not. It’s like two steps forward and one step back.”
“Jason,” Lacy started but he held up his hands and shook his head.
“Don’t. I don’t want to hear excuses or reasons or anything else right now. I’ve tried giving you space, I’ve tried not giving you space, I’ve tried issuing ultimatums, I’ve tried being understanding. I’m out of things to try, and I’m done.”
“What do you mean done?” she asked.
“I mean done. Stay out of the woods, stay away from this case, and stay safe. Goodbye.” He pivoted and walked away. Once he was out of her line of vision, she noticed Michael standing a few feet away, watching. He had apparently heard the whole thing. He gave her a sympathetic smile, but she turned away. She couldn’t take sympathy or kindness right now. She simply wanted to be alone to think, but that was impossible in a room full of strangers. She pasted on a smile that didn’t last long. Tosh must have been watching the exchange, too, because he approached a minute later.
“I’m sorry. I thought you would have told him. Are you okay?”
She shook her head.
“Do you want to get out of here?”
“Yes, but I can’t until everyone leaves.”
“People are beginning to filter away. I think you could get away with sneaking out. We could go somewhere and talk. Or we could to back to the woods and see if we can figure out who Joe saw.”
“Tosh, Joe saw Pearl, okay? It was her. She had motive, and no one else did. She lived right there, she’s an expert shot, she’s the only one who knew her husband was coming. If it wasn’t her, then who was it?”
“I don’t know; that’s what we need to figure out.”
“No,” she snapped, much harsher than she intended. “I shouldn’t have gotten involved in this mess in the first place when I knew Pearl was guilty.”
“You got involved because I asked you to be involved,” Tosh reminded her.
“And that was a mistake. I should have said no. I’m saying no now. I’m done being involved with this case. I think Pearl is guilty.”
“What are you saying?” Tosh said.
“I just said it. I’m done. I can’t do this to Jason anymore.”
“No, I mean what are you saying? Just say the words, Lacy. Say them.”
Like ripping off a bandage, Lacy reminded herself. “You are my closest friend, and you know how much I care about you. But I choose him.”
Tosh was silent for a few seconds, and then he smiled. “It’s sort of freeing to hear the words out loud.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Be happy.” And then he turned and walked away. Behind him, Michael still stood shamelessly eavesdropping. Lacy opened her mouth to give him the talking to he deserved, but her throat constricted and her eyes filled with tears, and she spun away instead.
Unfortunately, she was now facing the wall.
“You look like a little kid in time out,” Michael said. He sidled closer and leaned beside her.
“Maybe I should be,” she said. She felt wretched.
“Cheer up, love. There’s nothing that can’t be gotten over with enough time and distance.”
“Michael, I really don’t want to hear clichés and platitudes right now,” Lacy said.
“What do you want?”
“I want to get out of here,” she said.
“So what’s stopping you?”
“Them,” she said. She turned, only to realize that most of the people were gone. She was afraid she would have to stay and help clean up, but Riley had apparently hired a crew for that. “Oh.” Her grandparents and Riley were nowhere in sight. They must have assumed she would be leaving with Jason.
“So let’s go. I’ll take you, but you might want to change.”
She looked down at the beautiful green dress, suddenly feeling like she was Cinderella wearing a stranger’s gown. “My clothes are downstairs.”
“I’ll follow you,” he said. “Do you find this building a little creepy at night when it’s dark?”
“Yes,” Lacy admitted, especially after the harrowing event with Detective Brenner. Michael stood outside the bathroom while she changed. She had no idea what to do with the dress, so she just left it. Maybe Riley had borrowed it from somewhere and needed to return it. Either way, they could get it tomorrow. With the return of her own clothes, a little of the tension eased away. She emerged from the bathroom, and Michael led the way outside.
“Oh,” Lacy said, stopping short in front o
f his motorcycle. “I forgot about this.”
“Is it a problem?”
“I’ve never ridden one before,” she said.
“Then that is a problem.” He handed her a helmet. “You’re going to love it.”
“If you say so,” she said, but she was unconvinced. She wasn’t one of those adventure-seeking people who liked to live on the edge. Motorcycles were definitely edgy, at least in her mind. She fastened the helmet and watched while Michael straddled the large machine.
4 Arch Enemy of Murder Page 17