He gave a soft laugh. “Hey, Peters, Jamie Lynn. How are you?”
It was more than a casual platitude. He was asking if she was okay. Which she was. She was sad, terribly sad, but she was okay. And it was nice to know that he cared enough to call, even if he was a liar.
Who had thought he was protecting her. That seemed to be an echoing theme in her life lately.
She sighed again, figuring she was getting good at it now. “I’m fine. I talked to my mom, and I just need some time to think.”
“Okay. I just wanted to check on you, give you another shoulder to cry on and…everything. If you needed it.”
Those were the words she had spoken to him, and she realized how it must have sounded. As if their whole night together could be summed up as everything. It had certainly meant more to her than that one word, but she didn’t have the energy to get into it with him.
“Thanks, Jack, I appreciate it.”
“Hey, what are friends for?” he asked lightly.
Not for getting naked and having sweaty, giggly, therapeutic sex, which was what she really wanted to do with Jack.
“Yeah.” Jamie closed her eyes and fought the wave of longing that threatened to tsunami her. “Bye, Jack.”
She needed to hang up before she could do or say something she would regret when she wasn’t feeling so vulnerable.
“Bye, Jamie Lynn. Call me if you need anything.”
When she clicked the off button on her phone, Jamie sat still in her chair.
And let the tears finally come.
In five minutes on the interior of the Beechwood Social Services agency, Jack had figured out who the day trader was.
Jamie, who had a tired smile on Tuesday morning, hadn’t looked all that surprised to see him. Not thrilled, exactly, but neither did she toss him out on his ear. Instead, she had showed him around the office. In the third cubicle to the left, he found his man.
“This is Austin,” Jamie said, pointing to a teenage boy working at a computer. “He’s a computer whiz, so he does a lot of our data entry.”
Austin, who looked like he was in the middle of a personal experiment to see how long he could go without brushing his hair or washing his clothes, gave them a brief glance. It wasn’t poverty Jack saw in Austin’s slouchy, grubby look. It was some kind of fashion statement, from the hair that went down in black-tipped spikes over his eyes to the metal studs sticking out just about everywhere there was skin.
All that piercing and tattooing and purchasing of clothes meant to look well worn could get pricey. And before Austin minimized his screen, Jack saw exactly what he was doing.
Shopping stocks.
Jack could recognize that from across the room.
Jamie didn’t seem to notice anything unusual. She put her hand on Austin’s shoulder, getting his attention. “What’s new, Austin?”
Jack expected a sullen grunt, but instead Austin turned, looked up at her, and gave her a real smile. “Not much, Jamie. Just doing boring shit. I mean stuff.”
“Jamie says you know a lot about computers,” Jack said, hands in his pockets. He had worn jeans today because he wanted to talk to Jamie’s boss about the situation, but he didn’t want to come across as official or intimidating. Now he was grateful he didn’t look like a Suit, because he needed to talk to Austin without Jamie around.
“Yeah, so?” Austin gave him a suspicious look.
“I was a broker for a Wall Street firm for ten years, and now I run a charitable trust foundation. I could use an intern for the rest of the summer.”
Austin looked interested for just a split second, then his features settled into blasé nonchalance. “Yeah, well, I’ve been convicted for hacking and financial fraud. No place decent will hire me to do anything but clean their fucking toilets. And I don’t want to clean your john.”
Jack couldn’t believe that Jamie and her boss let a convicted financial felon have access to all their computer files, data, and funding. He felt his eyes bugging out in horror. What anyone with half a brain could do with that kind of knowledge was astounding.
While the urge to shove past Austin and throw his arms across the PC was overwhelming, he controlled himself. “As a juvenile or an adult?” he asked, curious if this kid had actually done time.
Austin looked him over, hard. “Juvenile,” he finally answered. “I’m fourteen now. Thirteen at the time of the crime.” This was accompanied by a smirk, like he wasn’t the least bit remorseful for what he’d done.
Most people who committed financial crimes were sorry they got caught, not that they’d done it. It was hard to find remorse when actions were perpetuated by greed. Jack’s world was full of good old-fashioned greed, the desire to get more for less, to ride the wave of this stock or that market, to be on the inside of the next big thing.
“Is working here part of your parole?” Jack had thought Beechwood served primarily adults and families, not juvenile offenders, but he didn’t really know.
“Yeah.”
“How about we go grab a drink on me in the lunchroom I saw and we can talk about a job that won’t conflict with your work here. Nothing volunteer. Real money.”
“Go ahead, Austin,” Jamie said, looking just as suspicious as Austin.
It occurred to Jack maybe she thought he was trying to buy her affection again.
“You can take a ten-minute break.”
Austin looked like he’d just as soon join the ballet, but he stood up, pushing his MP3 earpiece off and letting it dangle around his neck.
There was a lunchroom with vending machines Jack had noticed two doors down the hall, and he led Austin there now. He bought two soft drinks and handed Austin one.
Austin didn’t take it. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Are you one of those rich guys who’s looking for a boy toy? ’Cuz I don’t do that shit.”
Jack nearly broke his jaw on the floor it dropped so low. Then he laughed, part embarrassment, part amusement. Yeah, he really did suck at this whole spy/intrigue thing. “No. Definitely not.” He gestured with his hand toward the door. “My interests lie more with redheaded women, you know what I’m saying?”
Austin nodded in understanding, accepting the soft drink. “I got ya. You’re looking to score points with Jamie, huh? Take the loser kid she feels sorry for and clean him up.” He pointed his finger at Jack. “Pretty slick, man.”
Jack took a seat at the plastic picnic table next to the vending machines. “Maybe that’s part of the plan, yeah. But it has also come to my attention that someone has been using Beechwood’s funds—nearly a hundred grand through ten different transactions—to trade, making money for themselves. Would you happen to know anything about that?”
Austin shook his head slowly. “No idea.”
“It’s smart, done well. Pretty hidden, if you’re not looking for it, and you’re not experienced. And it’s one of those things that you figure, hey, you’re not hurting anyone, right? You don’t steal the money. You don’t keep it, you just borrow it. Make yourself a little quick cash, put it back, and no one gets hurt. But what if one time you mess up? You don’t make money, but lose it? What happens then?”
Jack was trying to sound casual, matter of fact. He had his legs out in front of him, ankles crossed. Austin wasn’t looking at him, but studying his Coke can as if the secrets to the universe were scrolled across it.
Finally, when the silence stretched out, Austin locked eyes with him. “What do ya want, man?”
“I want you to knock it off. I haven’t said anything to anyone. Jamie knows what’s going on, but she doesn’t know I think it’s you. But if you don’t quit, I’m going to have to tell her it’s you, and she’ll tell her boss. Or maybe I should do what I should have done in the first place and call the feds in.”
“You can’t prove shit.”
“Oh, give me a break, kid. You know how this works. A handful of people had access to these computers and that financial information. You’ve got a record for fraud. And y
ou’ve probably got a few grand squirreled away somewhere. They’ll pin it on you and you know it.”
Austin popped the tab on his soft drink can and took a long drink. “So what, if all activity stops, you’re just going to let it go? I don’t believe that for a fucking minute.”
“Sure, I’ll let it go.” Jack might be insane, but he had the feeling Austin wasn’t a bad kid. He was just smart as hell and bored. “I’ll give you that internship I mentioned.”
“Whatever,” Austin scoffed.
But Jack figured they had just struck a deal.
The cell phone in his pocket rang, and when he answered it, Austin used the opportunity to slip back down the hall before Jack could stop him.
“Hello?” It was his sister’s number on caller ID.
“Oh, my God, Jonathon you have got to get here.” Caroline’s voice was dripping with exasperation.
“Where is here, dear?” Lately Caro had been morphing into a mini Bridezilla, and he hoped this wasn’t some kind of tuxedo crisis.
“The nursing home. Pops had some kind of tantrum, and the director of the home called Mom, who can’t get out of Darien because she’s in the middle of a color treatment. Foil wraps everywhere. And so I had to come down here because the nurses have refused to deal with Pops anymore, and I can see why. He’s being totally unreasonable.”
Jack could hear Pops yelling in the background, “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here! You always were too much your mother’s daughter, Caroline.”
“See what I mean?” she said.
“And I don’t need any damn nurses,” Pops yelled.
Jack rubbed his forehead. “Let me talk to him. I’m at Beechwood. It will take me an hour to get there with traffic, but I want to talk to him first.”
“Fine.”
“What?” Pops barked into the phone a minute later.
“Okay, what gives, Pops? You can tell me the real story.”
“I want out. I can’t live here, Jack. These people treat me like I’m a two-year-old and a dimwitted one at that. I have assets worth over a hundred million bucks and they won’t let me use a fork! This afternoon I had a cigar, and that nurse I hate, the one with the cauliflower legs and the voice like a band saw, she just grabbed it out of my mouth. Didn’t ask me to put it out, didn’t say it was against the rules. Just grabbed it, like I was a goddamn baby. So I grabbed her ass. See how she likes people getting grabby on her.”
Okay, that was funny. Jack fought a grin. “Guess she didn’t like it, huh?”
“Nope. Which probably explains why she’s so uptight. Doesn’t know how to appreciate a little slap and tickle.”
Even over the phone Jack could hear his sister gasp in horror.
But Jack suspected at this point, Pops was going for shock. He was tired of the nursing home and wanted to get his point across loud and clear. For a man who’d spent his whole life wheeling and dealing in the fast lane, Jack couldn’t imagine how hard of a fall this was for his grandfather. And he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
“Pops, you know you can’t go home yet.”
Pops just grunted.
“So why don’t you move in with me for a while? We can have a nurse drop in once every couple of days, and the therapist to do your physical therapy. The rest of the time you and I should be able to handle it.” Jack figured Pops couldn’t live on his own just yet, but he wasn’t senile, and he was well on the way to recovery. Being in a more comfortable atmosphere might actually facilitate his progress, and Jack had a fairly light work schedule. And apparently no social life now that Jamie was through with him.
Pops wasn’t saying anything, so Jack said, “What do you think?”
“So you’d do that for me?” Pops’s voice was tight.
Jack thought about the man who had showed up at all his ball games when he was a kid, the man who had taken him under his wing in the business world, and the man who had always been free with a hug to make up for Jack’s parents, who were stingy with affection.
“Yeah, I’d do that for you.”
“Don’t want to cramp your style when hard-on girl comes around.”
Jack laughed, even as his gut gave a little twist, like indigestion. “She gave me the ‘just friends’ speech, Pops. She’s not going to be coming around my apartment.”
“Well, shit. What the hell’s the matter with her?” Pops was indignant. “You’re a damn good catch.”
“Thanks. So okay, I’ll come down there and get things settled, and we can move you as soon as possible. Let me talk to Caroline again.”
“Sure. And thanks, kiddo.”
Now it was Jack who felt his throat tighten, but his grandfather passed the phone off before he could respond.
“Are you dating someone?” Caroline asked without a hello.
Jack could practically hear her nostrils flaring in anticipation of gossip.
“No.” He knew for a fact if Jamie had told Caroline about them, his sister would have been all over him. Clearly Jamie didn’t want Caroline to know they had slept together, so he wasn’t going to be the one to mention it. Especially since he’d been dumped.
“Oh. That’s too bad.” Caroline sounded gravely sympathetic, as though it were a national tragedy that he couldn’t find a date.
Time for a diversion. “Pops is moving in with me.”
It worked.
“Oh, dear, God. Mom’s going to burst a blood vessel.”
Chapter 13
“So what do you get paid to do this?” Mike, one of her reentry students, asked Jamie Friday afternoon.
She could see he’d drawn some incredibly detailed sketches on his paper. He was supposed to be writing a résumé, but as far as she could tell he had nothing more than his name on the paper and several well-endowed dragons.
“I don’t get paid enough,” she told him, truthfully. She smiled and tapped her pen on his paper, distracted. “Now put something down there so we can move on to your housing application.”
She’d seen Jack go down the hall past the open doorway. He’d given her a wave and a smile. Nice and friendly. Just like she’d suggested. Just friends.
Only why did it feel so lousy to get exactly what she wanted?
Jack had come in to the agency every day since Monday, laboring over something on the computer with Austin. He had told her that Austin was the one who had been doing whatever complicated thing Jack had thought someone was doing. Jamie didn’t understand any of it, nor was she sure how Jack was handling it, though he had assured her he and Austin had worked out a deal.
It irritated her that in typical businessman manner, he had just strolled in and taken over. It was her job to monitor Austin, not Jack’s. But since she didn’t understand the crime, and wasn’t willing to take it to the attention of the authorities, she was stuck letting Jack handle it. None of it thrilled her. She was disappointed in Austin. And a strange, weird, unpleasant part of her felt…cut off. Jack wasn’t seeking her out. Wasn’t trying to apologize or convince her to forgive him. It was like he’d given up, taken her at her word, and was okay with the label of friends even after the amazing night they’d spent together.
She wasn’t. Which meant she was nuts.
Another student, Luis, glanced up from the paper he was laboring over. “This is wack. I don’t understand why I have to fill all this stuff out. I never got any of this shit for free before…Who’s going to give me a job, an apartment, free day care now? I thought the government had budget cuts, man.”
“These are all private nonprofit organizations who sponsor programs to ensure your successful reentry into society. We work together with them to get you back on track. If you have a decent job, a nice apartment, a safe place for your kids, you won’t be tempted to do anything illegal, right?” Jamie put a warning in her voice.
Luis stared at her. “Right.”
“Because if you screw up and commit a crime, all these things will be taken away, you’ll be back in jail faster than you can
say ‘this is wack,’ and your three daughters will be out on the street, ripe for the picking. They’re pretty girls, Luis, and your wife can’t watch them if she has to work two jobs to put food on the table.”
It wasn’t a threat, just the facts.
Luis got it. His jaw twitched. “You’re a real bitch, you know that?” he asked, going back to his paper. “That’s why I like you.”
“So, to get a break in life, all you have to do is commit a crime?” Richard, a physician convicted of insurance fraud, shook his head. “We live in a rather twisted state of emergency, don’t you think?”
“Shut up, Doc, and take your free shit,” Mike recommended.
“It costs more to maintain the judicial process and the incarcerated care of sixty-five thousand male prisoners in the state of New York than it does to provide services like these. The entire six-month heating and air-conditioning course that we’re enrolling Mike in costs less than it did to house him in prison for one week.”
“No shit?” Mike shook his head. “And the food wasn’t even all that great.”
That made Jamie laugh, even as part of her couldn’t focus entirely on her class. Her mind was on her father, her mother. And Jack.
She wasn’t sleeping well at night, and she wasn’t sure what to do, if anything. Jamie was a glass-half-full girl, and she knew she was okay, but she had no sense of direction.
What she should do. If anything. About anything. It made her feel helpless and lonely and frustrated.
Lucky for her, Beckwith had a plan.
Jack was headed out to his car after lunch to drive over to Hathaway for the rest of the day when he spotted Jamie’s father sitting on a bench across the street from the agency. He hesitated for a second.
The man wasn’t watching him, but was staring down at his feet.
Jack looked back at the Beechwood building. This wasn’t any of his business. Dealing with Austin wasn’t even really of his business, and yet he was up to his eyeballs trying to straighten that out, convinced that the kid showed promise and potential and shouldn’t be thrown away.
And here he was again, standing there knowing he should walk away, but completely unable to.
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