by Darla Jones
“Dr. Wilson called me as soon as you rushed from his office.” Jeff eased his body into the car seat.
She was confused. Events had taken place without her knowledge. “Dan called you? Why?”
He grinned sheepishly. “Because we had a talk when this whole mess started, and I asked him to call if anything out of the ordinary occurred.”
“So Cassie is…”
“She’s fine. Jean’s getting the kids from daycare.” He started up her Subaru and they headed home.
“Why did Bart Nathan tell me you were dead?”
Taking his eyes from the road, the handsome man expelled a long sigh and gave her a quick glance. “It was their plan, but we got to them before they had a chance. Trent pretty much told us everything, except he didn’t know Nathan had gone after you.”
“Oh, Jeff, I felt so sick when he told me you were dead, and I’m so sorry about your Buick,” she apologized.
“You don’t have to worry about my Buick. You’re safe, and it is really over now.” He reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Everyone on the list is in jail or soon will be. I can’t believe Trent was mixed up in this though. He seemed like a good man. We couldn’t find Bart Nathan, and we thought perhaps he decided to skip town, then when Dr. Wilson called I knew exactly where he was.”
“Thanks to you figuring out about the CD,” she added.
When they reached her house, LynAnn’s eyes blurred with tears when she saw her children. She didn’t think she would ever see them again. They never looked more beautiful as they ran to her arms and began chattering. Jean and Stu were both present, and their faces were illuminated with huge smiles.
“I think Bart Nathan was the leader, and he nearly killed LynAnn.” Jeff rubbed his cheek.
“Oh my God.” Jean gasped with disbelief. LynAnn noticed the couple clung to each other as if announcing they were never going to part again.
They decided to order pizza, and LynAnn wanted to take a shower before it arrived. She wanted to wash away the stinking scent of Bart Nathan from her body.
Jeff called to her as she headed to the bathroom. “Trent admitted he was the man in a blond wig you saw at the lounge. He was also the man in a black wig at Kennywood. He said Nathan attacked you in the doctor’s office. He wanted you to tell him where the CD was.”
She stopped and inhaled a long deep breath of relief, then turned back to him. “So I wasn’t seeing things, except I can’t explain the white mouse.”
“Oh, Matt.” Stu uttered a loud deep laugh. “You were to keep your mouse in its cage.”
“What?” LynAnn’s mouth dropped open. “Matt, why didn’t you tell me you had a mouse?” She wanted to chastise both her son and Stu. She should give them a good piece of her mind, but the occasion was too happy to spoil.
The boy hung his head. “Stu bought him for me when he took me for a haircut. It was our secret.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Stu ruffled Matt’s hair. “That’s what I was doing in the basement the evening you caught me there, Jean. You see, Matt called me when he was staying at Jeff’s and asked me to feed his mouse. Somebody had to look after the little thing.”
In unison, the women both groaned.
Matt hurried to the basement, and when he returned, he was toting his white mouse in its cage. “Squeaks is really a good mouse, Mommy. Can he stay up here with us?”
LynAnn laughed and nodded her head.
She took her shower and put on fresh jeans and a T-shirt. When she returned to her kitchen, the pizza had arrived, and Matt fed little crumbs of pizza crust to his pet mouse. “Squeaks stays in his cage,” she reminded the boy.
After they ate, Jean and Stu, arm in arm, disappeared up the stairs.
The box of CD’s from the basement still sat by the computer, and Cassie decided to play them. As the little girl rummaged through the box, she pulled out an old photograph. “It’s my daddy.” She jumped gleefully and ran to show her mother.
LynAnn nodded as she looked at the picture. It was actually her and Todd together in happier days before he went undercover. Jeff had seemed uneasy when Todd’s name was mentioned, but Cassie insisted she show him the old picture.
Sitting across from him at the kitchen table, LynAnn watched his expression as he examined the picture closely. He scrutinized it for some time, glancing at her and then back to the picture. Finally, frowning, he tossed the picture on the table and leaped to his feet spreading his hands on the table, he leaned toward her. “I knew I recognized you from somewhere, and it took this picture to remind me.” He was raging mad, and blue veins bulged above his temples. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He spat the words at her. “I tried to think of you the way you look now, but back then your hair was short and darker. You came to my office then and asked me to look into your husband’s death.”
Shocked, she had no idea why he was so angry. “I thought you’d figure it out sooner or later, but why are you so angry?”
“Why?” He growled, towering over her, his scowling face close to hers. “Because you used me.” Standing to his full height, he threw his arms in the air and then plopped them to his sides and made tight fists with his hands. “This whole thing was a charade to find Todd’s killer. I don’t like being used.” He was livid. He glared at her, and his lips moved as he muttered curse words to himself.
Abruptly, turning his back, he suddenly stomped to the door and then turned back to her. “I don’t like being tricked.” With a sharp about-face, he slammed the door behind him and was gone.
She hadn’t had a chance to utter a word in her defense.
Oh Lord. She never expected his reaction. At first, when they met at the cabin, she wanted him to remember her being in his office. She did actually beg him to look into Todd’s death. But why was he so angry? She was the one who should be angry. He promised to check into Todd’s death and never did. She tried to reach him by phone several times, and his secretary always said he was out of the office. He’d ignored her like Jim Anderson. He thought she was a basket case. She didn’t use him, but he must feel she did. She should have reminded him of her visit to his office long before this. Maybe it was too late now.
It should be a glorious day for LynAnn, Todd’s murderer found. Although she didn’t know who pulled the trigger, since Nathan was so anxious to kill her she assumed he was his killer. Todd did not commit suicide, and he was not a dirty cop. She’d come close to death and survived without a scratch. Late into the night, she sat up for hours, going over the long day’s events, but her thoughts always returned to Jeff and his raging anger. She went over again and again the words of Andrea Maccotti, especially the part about him and Judith emailing each other. She wondered if they had been corresponding since her play. Probably Jeff had already phoned her and told her he was free to be with her.
She didn’t hear from Jeff the next day. Despite the fact he was now with the beautiful, young Judith, she called him. After all, the man had been completely devoted to her and while others labeled her as off the deep end, he didn’t doubt her, not once. He saved her from Bart Nathan. She had much to thank him for even though he headed to Judith’s arms. He didn’t answer his phone so she left a message: “Hi, Jeff. Thank you for saving my life and everything you did for us.” She wanted to add, “Please call,” but no, she was too proud to beg, and besides, her voice was beginning to quiver.
He didn’t return her call.
The morning TV news anchorman made the announcement: “County officials are now behind bars after the breakup of a criminal ring dealing in human trafficking. The young women enticed from Mexico or other Central American countries were promised a good life in the United States and ended up being thrown into prostitution.” A news clip ran showing handcuffed Nathan, Cooper, and Boyles, and some others she didn’t know being escorted to jail.
In another live broadcast in front of the courthouse, the mayor spoke while Jeff stood by his side: “This is a great day for Pottersville and Delta Cou
nty. We were betrayed by the very people we elected to protect us, but thanks to the hard work of our prosecutor, Jeff Kelley, those men have been apprehended.” He handed the microphone to Jeff and the reporters crowded closer with cameras and microphones.
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” Jeff showed no emotion as he took his turn to speak. “I can tell you, right at this moment, law officers, including the FBI, are rounding up criminals all over the country from the names and dates discovered. I cannot take credit for these arrests myself. A state policeman named Todd Johnson uncovered the crime ring and was murdered before he got a chance to pass the information to the authorities. All the credit belongs to him.”
At the mention of Todd’s name, a huge lump formed in LynAnn’s throat. “Thank you, Jeff,” she whispered the words to the TV screen.
He handed the microphone back to the mayor and as he walked away a reporter shouted, “Is it true Mr. Kelley, you and Mrs. Johnson are an item?” He pretended not to hear the question and kept on walking. Watching his broad shoulders moving away, tears filled LynAnn’s eyes. She remembered kissing those shoulders. She remembered his tender, slow love making.
****
Jeff flipped off a rerun of the newscast. He should have been elated by the crime ring bust, but he wasn’t, even though it was the largest group of criminals he’d ever apprehended. He proved Todd Johnson was not a dirty cop and he didn’t commit suicide. “I hope this makes you happy, LynAnn,” he spoke sarcastically to himself. He emptied his bottle of beer and decided to get another. He wanted to numb his brain. He didn’t want to think about LynAnn. She certainly did a number on him, going so far as to give him her body. The sight of her nude body lying next to him would be permanently etched in his brain. It was all a trick, a cruel trick. How could he have been so fooled?
Except for work, he spent the next week holed up in his house. Jon had been begging for days to see his grandparents, and finally on Saturday afternoon he gave in to the boy. With an air of excitement, both his parents greeted him at the kitchen door. Of course, they were very proud, especially his father. “Son, your work was amazing.” He patted his back. “I bet LynAnn is pleased you cleared her dead husband’s name.”
“I guess she is,” he growled.
Rose and Robert exchanged glances. “What do you mean?” Robert asked.
“I mean she used me this whole time to clear her husband’s name.” His mouth curled into a frown.
“She used you?” Robert’s brows arched.
Jeff didn’t answer. Instead, he went to the refrigerator, grabbed a beer, popped the top, and took a long swallow. Then he trudged into the living room and paced the floor. Dumbfounded by his behavior, his parents followed him. Finally he turned in their direction. “I thought I remembered her from somewhere before I met her at the cabin, and after all this was over and she was nearly killed, I remembered she came to my office right after her husband died and pleaded with me to look into his death.”
“LynAnn was almost killed?” His mother gasped.
He nodded.
“Did you look into his death then?” Robert asked.
“I talked to Jim Anderson, and he assured me LynAnn was a mental case.” He slumped into a stuffed chair and took a gulp of beer. “I guess I shouldn’t have taken Jim’s word for it, but I did. Jim’s been around for a long time and can get a handle on people quickly. Jim said she was a grieving widow and couldn’t bring herself to believe her husband committed suicide.”
His father didn’t understand. “So how did LynAnn use you?”
“She didn’t tell me about being in my office four years ago.” He gritted his teeth as he spoke. “She deceived me. She tricked me into all this investigation.”
“What does LynAnn say?” Rose questioned.
“I didn’t give her a chance to say anything. I hightailed it out of there.” Jeff raised his voice, something his parents rarely heard.
“Okay, son, take it easy.” Robert shook his head, he didn’t understand. “How did she deceive you? If you ask me she’s the one who should be angry. Perhaps, if you had dug deeper four years ago she wouldn’t have gone through the pain about her husband all this time.”
“So now you’re blaming me.” Jeff tried to control the anger in his voice, but failed. “You think it’s my fault LynAnn was put through this ordeal.” He leaned forward and smacked his can of beer on the coffee table. “Go on. Tell me it’s my fault.”
Robert sat down on the arm of the stuffed chair with his son and spoke softly. “No one is blaming anyone, except you may be blaming yourself. Maybe your anger is aimed at yourself. LynAnn never brought up the fact she spoke to you after her husband died, did she? She had to be angry when she met you again. She remembered who you were, yet she didn’t throw it in your face.”
Silently, he mulled over what his father said. He hadn’t considered her point of view. He hated to admit his father was right.
Robert continued, “If I remember correctly she didn’t know you were going to be at the cabin.” He glanced at Rose and she nodded her agreement. “The woman didn’t lay out a plan to meet you and get you involved in her problems. As I recall, didn’t you tell us she wanted to leave the cabin and you talked her out of it?”
“Yes.” He nodded. True, he had asked her to stay. A spasm clenched deep in his gut and refused to go away.
“So did she pursue you? It seems to me you’re the one who got involved with her. She didn’t plan any of this, and I don’t see any trickery on her part.”
Rose chimed in, “LynAnn’s not the type to trick anyone.”
Jeff sank deeper into his chair. “She never had any problems until we started dating. I think one of the criminals saw us together and knew I would be looking into her husband’s death.”
Rose gave her gray head a sad shake. “I remember her the night at your house. The poor woman was scared witless thinking she saw her dead husband.”
“Who was Trent in a wig,” Jeff told them. “She wasn’t seeing things. He was also wearing a black wig at Kennywood. He said he wasn’t planning to abduct the boys, he only wanted to scare LynAnn and me off. He wanted me to believe she was mentally unstable.”
“Oh my.” Rose groaned. “Your father and I both decided she had gone over the deep end.”
Jeff gulped down his beer and called to Jon. He had to give some thought to what his parents said. He did see her phone message the morning after he stormed out of her apartment, but he was so angry he’d ignored it.
Before he left his parents, his mother suggested, “Maybe you should go to your cabin next weekend. You need to relax and give yourself some space.”
He rubbed his cheek and shook his head. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Ever since the picture forced him to remember his past meeting with LynAnn, he was raging mad at her deception. He felt like a thirsty man who had found an oasis in the desert only to discover it was a mirage. “I’ll let you know.” He didn’t want to go to the cabin. It would remind him too much of LynAnn being there.
****
Saturday, more than a week after Jeff stormed out, LynAnn prepared dinner for her family. At least, her body went through the motions although her mind wouldn’t allow her to forget Jeff. Someone rapped at her door and for a brief second her pulse speeded up, thinking it might be him. When she opened the door, it wasn’t Jeff, but she was stunned when she found Todd’s mother and father standing on her doorstep.
“Hello, LynAnn. May we come in? It seems we have a lot to apologize for, and if you permit it, we would really love to see our grandchildren.” Charles Johnson’s voice was somber, and deep wrinkles etched his face as though he had aged ten years in the last four.
Too shocked to respond, she stood aside allowing them to enter.
Charles Johnson spoke again. “Naturally, we’ve been watching all the news broadcasts about Todd. I don’t know how you managed to get this suicide mess all resolved, but we’re certainly glad you did. I said some awful…”
&nb
sp; Cassie and Matt burst into the room, hungry for their dinners. They halted in their tracks when they saw the visitors. Cassie slapped her hand to her mouth and muffled a scream. “He’s the man, Mommy. The one who knew my name.”
Charles quickly walked across the room and knelt in front of the girl and then his wife did the same. “Hello, Cassie. I am your grandfather and this is your grandmother.” He motioned to his wife.
Marge Johnson couldn’t speak as tears streamed down her face and her frail body trembled.
“Your daddy would be so proud of you.” Charles’ eyes were as wet as he surveyed the two little blonds.
Cassie’s eyes were wide with wonder. “Did you know my daddy?”
“I sure did. I knew him well.” He reached out and pulled the girl into his arms.
Chapter 22
Sunday morning, LynAnn found herself in her old routine back at church. The day was dreary, and even the stained glass windows were dull. She thought of Jeff almost constantly. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time. Life felt empty now. She had gone over and over their meeting with Judith after the play. Not only did Jeff compliment her, she returned them, going on about how her mother loved to work for him and what a wonderful man he was. An image of Jeff and Judith spending their nights together surfaced in her mind, and a physical pain jabbed deep in her chest.
She only had herself to blame. Jean and Stu warned her plenty of times. The note on the napkin warned her, too. She assumed it was from a man with a grudge against Jeff, but perhaps it was a woman he’d dumped like so much garbage. After all, there were women at the bar. She had no idea the finality of his departure would come so swiftly and without warning. I guess you’re the winner, Jeff. It was a sexual conquest with you, and I didn’t understand how your game worked.
Forlorn, she sat through the church service and today, although she didn’t listen to the sermon, she did thank God she was alive and she could tell her children their father was a hero. She went so far as to get in the congregational line up after church and shake hands with Rev. Barnes. “Hello, LynAnn. Good to see you.” Tom Barnes was cordial and gave her a pleasant smile. He might be recalling finding Jeff in her house one morning, but she didn’t care. The man could draw whatever opinions of her he wanted.