She glanced up briefly and saw the uneasiness in Jace’s gaze, but he didn’t comment, and she went on.
“He and the young woman—Maryanne Richards—had been seeing each other for a while. He cried like a baby when he told me he’d been in love with her. She was a member of Danny’s church in L.A. Danny swore he could never have hurt her—that he loved her blindly. That she was his dream, and he’d wanted to marry her someday.”
Abbie raised her gaze to Jace’s again. “The evidence against him was damning, but he was so devastated and sincere, I believed him. He had reasonable answers for every question the police threw at him. The medical examiner’s time of death was plus or minus two hours, and Danny had alibis for much of that time. The presence of his DNA was easy to explain because they’d had an intimate relationship. Even the rage inflicted on that poor girl’s body was easy to explain away because every character witness I called swore Danny wasn’t capable of such a grisly act.”
“She was beaten?”
Remembering the crime-scene photos, Abbie huddled her hands more tightly around her cup. “Savagely. But the police never found the murder weapon. The crime scene guys determined that it was a baseball bat, but the prosecution was never able to produce it. Most of her injuries were postmortem, and sexual in nature.”
When Jace’s questioning gaze searched hers, she murmured, “Her…pelvis was smashed. Yet every witness I put on the stand—women he worked with, his local minister, his employer, his landlady—all said he was every mother’s dream. And every time one of the prosecution’s expert witnesses offered testimony, I cross-examined them until they admitted that what they’d said wasn’t absolute.”
She began to shake harder, and Jace took his corduroy jacket from the back of his chair.
When he’d settled it on her shoulders and pulled it around her, she thanked him with a weak smile and continued.
“I put Danny on the stand, and he was brilliant. It was easy to read the expressions of the jury, eight of whom were women. They believed him, too. No one could be as torn up as he was and still be guilty. When it was the prosecution’s turn to cross, Assistant District Attorney Garrett shoved the crime scene photos under Danny’s nose, and he actually threw up.”
Abbie met Jace’s attentive gaze again. “Garrett questioned other women he’d dated, hoping to find a pattern of abuse, but there were only a few, and his relationships never lasted. Not until Maryanne. I suspect Danny lost interest with the others when he realized they were too experienced.” She drew a breath. “Danny wanted a virgin.”
“Then he did it?” Jace asked gravely.
Abbie nodded. “But no one could believe someone with Danny’s boyish good looks and charm could leave a woman’s brutally beaten body on a sandy beach…arranged in a humiliating position…and still sob his heart out on the stand.”
Jace’s voice went cold and shaky, and he glanced at the sealed envelope on his desk. “This is the bastard who sent you the card?”
She didn’t have to nod. He knew the answer. “He fooled us all,” she murmured. “Then one morning, the day before we were to make our closing arguments, he spazzed out on me—got all churned up and started crying again. I tried to reassure him that the trial had gone very well for us. I told him that I didn’t think he’d have to pay for that sweet girl’s death.”
Abbie shook her head, still stunned that she hadn’t seen his guilt until then. “That’s when his eyes changed and he got this…this strange, feral smile on his face. Right in the middle of the most heart-wrenching display of grief and fear I’d ever witnessed, he stopped and smiled. Then he said, ‘She wasn’t that sweet, you know. Some other guy broke her in.’ And I knew he’d done it.”
A soft rap sounded at the door, and hesitantly, Ty poked his dark head inside. After nodding soberly to Abbie, his troubled gaze shifted to Jace. “Everyone’s gone, so I’m taking off, too,” he said. “I’ll lock up. There’s still coffee in the pot if you want some.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” He hesitated again. “Call my cell if you need me for anything.”
“I will,” Jace returned. “Have a good weekend.” Then the door closed, and he murmured his apologies. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. What did you tell him?”
“Just that something had upset you and we needed some privacy.” He nodded at the tea she’d barely touched. “There’s a microwave across from Ida’s desk. Can I warm that for you?”
Abbie nodded and stood. It was still drinkable, but she needed time to regroup before she continued. Before she admitted to him that she’d trashed every legal tenet she believed in, and she didn’t know if she would ever get over the guilt. “Do you mind if I do it? I need to walk.”
“Sure.” Jace pushed to his feet, too, and as she glanced up into his solid gaze and towering confidence, she was reminded of her dream—the first part of it, when she’d felt so safe in his arms. And she was glad she was here with him now.
He motioned her ahead of him. “After you.”
In the sunlit, pine-paneled reception area, she waited beside Ida’s desk while her tea reheated and Jace poured himself a cup of coffee. “I’m guessing this guy’s the reason you jumped out of your skin when that champagne bottle smashed the other night.”
“Good guess.”
“I’m also guessing he’s not behind bars.”
“No, and if anyone needs to be, he does. After I left the jail that day, I talked with a psychologist friend, Susan. She said he has to be totally around the bend.”
The microwave beeped. A few moments later, they were back in his office and Jace was perched on the edge of his desk.
Abbie took a sip of her tea. “Without examining him, these are just suppositions on her part, but she thinks that Danny probably did love Maryanne, and that he’d built up a dream of her purity in his mind. He’s the son of a fire-and-brimstone preacher who hammered the need for chastity into him from the time he was old enough to understand the word. Not that Danny’s into hero worship. He loathes his father.
“Anyway,” she said, returning to her story, “Susan said it’s possible that when Danny fell in love with a girl who didn’t live up to his expectations, he was so outraged to see his dreams die that he lashed out. She also said that Danny’s tears and pain were probably real, but they were for himself—for what he’d lost—not for her.”
“What happened after you spoke with your friend?”
Abbie set her tea on his desk before facing him again. “I wrestled with my conscience. I knew the reputation of the judge on the case, and I knew he wouldn’t allow me to step down. The county had already spent too much time and money on the trial, and the court docket was full.”
She glanced away. “I also knew that if Long was as screwed up as Susan and I thought, he could do it again. While I was preparing his defense, we had some long talks. He’d told me that there’d been another girl he’d loved, several years ago—a girl from his hometown. I told Danny that if the character witnesses I called weren’t making an impression on the jury, I’d put her on the stand to establish that from an early age, he’d been respectful of women. But he didn’t want the girl involved. He was so adamant about it, he wouldn’t even tell me Prudence’s last name.”
“But you found out.”
“On a hunch, I phoned his father. The relationship between them was extremely strained when I saw them together, and I wondered if Dr. Long had detected something disturbing about his son when he was growing up— but was too loyal to come forward. When I contacted him, I learned that Prudence had been a member of his congregation, but had suddenly stopped coming to services a few years ago. Then, without my asking, he gave me her phone number. When I asked if he planned to tell Danny about our conversation, he said no.”
“You took a real chance.”
“I could’ve been disbarred.” A terrible weight settled on her chest as guilt returned. “I still might be. I’m bound by law to give
my client the best defense I’m able to give. And I did my best to get him convicted.”
“Then the girl told you something useful.”
“It took a while because she was embarrassed, but yes. She finally admitted that she and Danny had had sex once when they were in high school, and she’d been the one who’d initiated it.”
Abbie slipped Jace’s jacket from her shoulders and handed it to him, then walked to the rear window and peered through the open slats of the mini blinds. The sun shone brightly, melting patches of snow…warming the tiny birds pecking nervously at one of the redwood feeders.
“When Danny realized there was no resistance when he entered her, he went ballistic. He slapped her around and demanded that she take off the gold cross and chain she wore because she wasn’t fit to wear it. Then he threw her and her clothes out of his father’s car. Susan said his hormones were undoubtedly warring with his upbringing. He wanted sex, but he wanted his partner to be pure. He saw Prudence’s sexual past as a betrayal.”
Jace came over to stand beside her. She sensed his hesitance, but then he covered her shoulders with his hands. “And that’s what you think happened with the dead girl?”
“Maryanne. After I threw up, I drove eighty miles out of the city, bought a track phone and made an anonymous call to A.D.A. Garrett. I disguised my voice, but I think he knew who I was. When Prudence Reese showed up in the courtroom the next day, I made a mild objection to the state calling a ‘surprise’ witness, but Garrett justified it, and her testimony was admitted. Long knew I’d betrayed him. I saw it in his crazy eyes.”
Abbie swallowed. “Her testimony wasn’t flawless, but she was good. It took three days for the jury to come back—three long days for Danny to sweat. In the end, they found there was reasonable doubt and acquitted him. When the verdict was read, he laughed and threw his arms around me, which no one thought was odd. I was the only one who heard him whisper, ‘I would’ve told on you if the verdict went the other way. Now it’s time for you to sweat.’ Then he winked and said, ‘I’ll be thinking about you.’”
Jace strode to his desk phone. “I’m calling the police.”
“Wait!” Following, Abbie covered his hand on the receiver and met his eyes. “Not until we see what’s inside. I could be wrong. But I’m betting it’s a cheap musical greeting card and the sentiment says ‘thinking of you’— or something close.” She finished with a trembling breath. “That’s what the first one said.”
“There was a first card?”
“Yes.”
Jace paused for a long, steely-eyed moment, then he took a slim metal letter opener from the drawer and cloaked his hand with a tissue. A moment later, the envelope with the Los Angeles postmark was back on the desk…and a pretty card with a sprig of violets was open and tinkling out a lilting melody beside it.
Abbie started to shake again when she read the message.
How’s your deodorant holding up? I missed on purpose, you know.
Swearing softly, Jace slipped an arm around her again. “What does he mean, he missed on purpose?”
“He shot at me. At least, we assumed it was him. It was dark in the lot behind my apartment building. That’s when the partners at my firm ordered me to come home early for my dad’s wedding.”
“Abbie, we need to get the cops involved. Now.”
“Not the locals. Not yet. First I need to contact the LAPD. They’ll want to see this card.” After pulling her cell phone from her purse, she speed-dialed the precinct captain and raised the phone to her ear.
While it rang, she spoke to Jace again, her voice trembling. “I know the post office closes early on Saturday, so I can’t overnight it. Where’s the nearest FedEx, and how long are they open?”
Chapter 6
“You need to get out of your father’s house right now,” Jace said firmly as he followed Abbie out of the Laurel Ridge Police Station three hours later. “This jerk knows where you are.”
The time and temperature marquis on the bank across the street said it was 2:27 p.m. and the temperature was fifty-one degrees. But Jace was so illogically churned up, it felt liked eighty. The more details he learned about the creep who was after Abbie, the more uncomfortable he got. And that made no sense. They’d been strangers for over a decade before she’d entered his life again. Everything he was feeling was too deep, too over-the-top. Too damn emotional.
They’d made it to FedEx before it closed, then they’d returned to town to speak with Chief of Police Glenn Frasier. Abbie’d been right: the LAPD wanted the card immediately for fingerprint, DNA and handwriting analysis.
The card had Glenn more than a little concerned, too. After hearing the story—minus Abbie’s anonymous tip to the prosecution—he’d requested a description and mug shot from the LAPD on the outside chance that Long would suddenly decide to come East, then went a step further and put out a B.O.L.O.—Be On The Lookout—for Daniel Long Jr.
Jace opened the door of his black Explorer, waited for Abbie to shed her jacket and step inside, then closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. In a moment he was backing out of the parking space beside Frasier’s office.
He watched as she stretched her seat belt across her red sweater and snapped it in place. Unbelievably, her face was composed and she now seemed to be taking it all in stride. That made him wonder if she dealt with this kind of thing often.
“Did you hear what I said to you?” he asked.
“Yes, but you’re wrong. He knows where he thinks I am. He can’t know for sure unless he has contacts here, which he doesn’t.”
“That card was postmarked three days ago. If he hopped a plane, he could already be holed up somewhere close. And if he’s as wacky as you’ve said, I can’t believe you haven’t considered that he’d come after you.”
“We know enough about him to know that he wouldn’t fly. Also, the Department of Motor Vehicles says Long doesn’t own a car.”
“That still leaves buses and trains, and he doesn’t have to own a car to have a car.” Jace pushed harder. “You need to move into a motel or stay with friends for a while.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She stared at him incredulously. “First of all, because it’s not necessary. I spoke to a friend two nights ago, and he told me that Danny’s still there. Secondly,” she went on, “I’ve been gone for years. Most of the friends I had in high school have relocated, or we’ve drifted apart. And I’m certainly not going to show up on the doorstep of a friend who stayed, and ask if I can use her spare room because I might be at risk.” She spoke wryly. “As for motels, the only one in town has outside entrances to the rooms, and that’s scarier than staying alone.”
She slid her fingers back through her auburn hair, revealing the clean line of her jaw and her classic bone structure before letting it slide forward again. “I’ll be okay. My dad has a state-of-the-art security system.”
Jace stopped for the red light at Market and Main. “And you have a state-of-the-art nutcase after you who might not give a damn if he sets off a few bells and whistles.”
She lowered her voice. “Jace, I appreciate your concern, but I’m not moving.”
He didn’t want her appreciation, he wanted her to exercise some caution. And suddenly he wondered why Morgan didn’t feel the same way. “What does your dad say about all of this? Considering the way he ran roughshod over your life before you headed for the West Coast, it amazes me that he left you here alone.”
“If he’d known about the threats, he probably wouldn’t have.”
Jace sent her a startled look. “You didn’t tell him?”
“Of course not. He would’ve gotten all upset and postponed his honeymoon for no good reason. He and Miriam have been pouring over brochures and planning this cruise to the Bahamas for months. I’d never ruin this trip for them.”
Grimly, Jace stared dead ahead through his windshield at the Market & Main Diner while sporadic traffic rolled by. By the time
the light changed, he’d made a decision.
Easing his boot off the brake, he made a left and pulled into the diner’s parking lot.
“We’re stopping here?” she asked, surprised. “I thought we were picking up my car.”
“We will,” he said. “In a few minutes.” After releasing his seat belt, he reached over and released hers, his fingers brushing her hip and his face only inches away.
For the briefest moment, their gazes locked, and the light scent of her perfume filled Jace’s nostrils. Then he felt a quick, hard thump low in his gut and her cheeks got a little flushed.
“Come on,” he said, getting out, then coming around to the passenger’s side to open her door. “You haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
Abbie’s dark eyes met his warily, then she turned her body away and reached into the back seat for her purse. “Why do you care that I missed lunch?” she asked as she stepped out and he shut the door. “For that matter, why do you care where I stay?”
Damned if he knew. “Look,” he grumbled, evading the question. “All I want to do is get something to eat and talk about this. If you’d rather pick up your car now, that’s fine. Hop back inside. But if you’re not in a hurry, you’re welcome to join me.”
The amusement in her dark gaze was unexpected. “You do go on and on about things, don’t you?” she asked, then added, “Thank you. I’d like that. But I’m picking up the check.”
Scowling, Jace touched his hand to the small of her back as they crossed the tarmac to the diner. She hadn’t changed. She’d talked often about standing on her own two feet during the three weeks they’d seen each other. She didn’t like people thinking of her as Morgan Winslow’s pampered princess. Now, as she slung her bag over her shoulder and preceded him into the old-fashioned, railcar diner, he saw that she was still determined to make her own way.
That kind of thing could be a major drawback in some situations.
And suddenly Jace wondered why her marriage had ended.
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