Burned by Deception (The Dark Side of Springwood Book 2)

by Jennifer A. Brown

  Dan smiled back. “Great.”

  Before either one could say another word the phone rang. Dan quickly answered the cordless extension. “Cyber-Fix, Dan speaking.”

  “So, what gives?”

  Dan blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?”

  The female voice continued. “Why does Jacob hate Gavin Clarke? So he sung horribly in high school. He’s obviously improved! He probably is just jealous of him. But to refuse to have him at the Christmas festival over it? That’s just childish!”

  ****

  Jacob sat there staring back at Rick. He looked confused now as his eyes pierced Jacob with question. “I agreed to meet with Robin today. Just came from having breakfast with her, in fact. She said…she wanted me as a witness because of what you said. At first I thought it was to ask me a few questions about your sister, you know? Cause she did hang around us a few times during band practice, dancing while we played. But no. She said you named me as a witness to Lyle’s last words being a confession that he killed Brenda Sowers.”

  Jacob finally found words to speak. “It…was that night we found Justin. Near the stairwell.”

  “Jacob, I never heard him say anything. Don’t you remember? I was going through the basement, checking out that casino. I was so shocked just seeing that, I couldn’t even hear myself think!”

  ****

  Jacob felt everything slow down. He only heard the beating of his own heart in his ears. Shortly after, his phone began ringing, his cell phone began vibrating in his pocket, and Mrs. Mills was coming in to tell him Gavin Clarke was slamming him and Springwood in the media.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter 3

  “Hello, Jocelyn. Please have a seat.” Dr. Gerber said as he took the seat across from the sofa where she usually sat. “You look happy today. Anything you want to share?” He gave her a comforting smile. He had been her court ordered psychiatrist for close to a month, ever since the death of Davis Cauley. He seemed to be a very easygoing and caring doctor; red hair and piercing blue eyes rounding out his warm features.

  She nodded. “Yes, I did get some good news. I’m writing for the paper again. Brian talked Mr. Harrison into letting me cover the Christmas festival with him. I guess, if all goes well with that, they’ll be giving me something else.”

  “I see. Well, that is good. Getting back into a normal routine will be a really good thing for you.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “Have there been any more memory lapses? Anything out of the ordinary?”

  Lyn began to shake her head and say no, until the tattoo entered her mind again. “No!” she said in a hushed cry as she closed her eyes.

  “Jocelyn?” Dr. Gerber asked cautiously.

  She bit her lip so hard she thought she tasted blood. Dr. Gerber’s penetrating blue eyes gazed at her intently.

  “Is everything we talk about here confidential?”

  “Well, yes. Unless it pertains to your case. I’m under a gag order to release any information pertaining to Brenda Sowers’ murder.”

  “This has nothing to do with that. At least I’m pretty sure it doesn’t,” she went on, taking a deep breath. “I…saw something yesterday that I shouldn’t have. And what creeped me out was I had a memory flash of it.”

  “Meaning, you saw it once before?”

  “But I couldn’t have. I mean—let’s just say there’s no way I could have. Unless I blocked it somehow…or” she paused before going on. “-Tammy saw it.”

  “Ah, huh…” Dr. Gerber murmured.

  Lyn closed her eyes and felt sick.

  “Can you tell me what this flash was of?”

  Her stomach did a flip. She should have known he would ask.

  “You should have just kept it quiet!” Tammy’s voice hissed in her mind.

  “I can’t do that!” She suddenly cried out, more in response to the voice. “Please…everything’s going so well, and now you have to ruin Christmas for me too!”

  She was practically in tears as Dr. Gerber leaned in toward her. “Jocelyn? Is that Tammy? Can I talk to her please?”

  She was sobbing now, clutching the edges of the sofa.

  “Tammy, please…I just want to talk.” Dr. Gerber’s soft voice pleaded once again.

  Suddenly, the sobbing halted just as quickly as it began. She looked up at Dr. Gerber, slowly.

  “I slept with Danny Nixon almost a year ago. And-“

  Tammy was interrupted by Lyn’s cell phone ringing.

  “And…what Tammy?”

  She seemed dazed suddenly, and then shook her head. “What? Oh, I’m sorry, Dr. Gerber. I meant to shut that off.” Lyn said, reaching into her purse for her phone as Dr. Gerber sat back, sighing.

  ****

  When Jacob came to, there was a paramedic leaning over him. “Hey there, buddy. How you feeling?” the dark haired young man, who couldn’t have been much younger than his sister, asked him.

  Jacob looked around to find he wasn’t in his office anymore but in what appeared to be an ambulance.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We’re not sure; that’s why we’re taking you to the hospital. A friend of yours said you just fainted.”

  Rick. They were talking about Lyle confessing he’d killed Brenda Sowers. Now it all came back to him.

  “Where’s Rick?” he asked.

  “Your friend? He said he had to go to work. I think your emergency contact has already been called. Your sister, Jocelyn Barnes?” the paramedic repeated back to him, as if to confirm. Jacob vaguely nodded. He’d made Lyn his emergency contact last time he went to the hospital for a sprain from playing basketball, since Justin was in prison at the time.

  “Looks like we’re here.” The paramedic informed him as the ambulance came to a halt.

  ****

  After the ambulance left, Mrs. Mills had to field calls left and right from all sorts of media outlets. “We have no comment at this time.” she told each person before hanging up. They wanted the big scoop on why Jacob Barnes seemed to be holding childish resentment against Gavin Clarke.

  She finally got a small break from the calls and decided to sort through the mail on her desk. In all the excitement, she had forgotten to give Jacob his mail. As she went through the pile, she noticed an envelope from the McGregor Women’s Clinic. She paused.

  The clinic no longer existed; it had been shut down that summer.

  Mrs. Mills stared at the front of the envelope which had Mayor of Springwood on it in black type. Something about it gave her chills, and she had no idea why. She shuddered and set the envelope in the rest of Jacob’s pile just as the phone rang.

  ****

  Allen Harrison sat behind his desk, his fingers tented before him. He hoped he had done the right thing, allowing Lyn to cover the Christmas festival festivities with Brian. He also wasn’t totally opposed to Brian’s idea of having Lyn write about her own trial. It may help to have readers hear her side of things.

  Of course, there was a huge part of him that was biased on the matter. One of the things that had originally lured him to Springwood was learning his biological son…Steven “Davis” Cauley, after being adopted out years ago, had a daughter. Lyn still had no idea, as far as he was aware, that he was her grandfather.

  There was a knock at his door, interrupting his thoughts.

  “Come in.” he answered.

  Sandra Holt, one of his news writers, came in. “Mr. Harrison, we need to get someone to speak to Mayor Barnes as quickly as possible. Brian’s out working on a story already, so I thought maybe I could do it?”

  Allen frowned in confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  She raised her eyebrows in question at him. “Check out GavinClarke.com. And E News, and Perez Hilton while you’re at it, too. Apparently, Mr. Barnes and Gavin Clarke are having some sort of feud.”

  ****

  “Oh my God…” Dan moaned, as he looked online at the story Gavin Clarke was giving about Jacob.

  �
��Whoa…dude, is any of that true?”

  Dan looked at Toby, who stood behind him gazing at the screen. “About Gavin trying out for our band and sounding like crap—yes—the other stuff, I don’t know. Not being able to fully work as his assistant has left me out of a lot that’s going on there at City Hall.” He grabbed the phone. “Let me call him. I’d better find out what’s going on.”

  Before he could dial, it rang. He glanced at the caller I.D. to see Lyn’s number. He pushed the answer button. “Hey, Lyn. Everything okay?”

  “Dan, Jacob apparently collapsed at City Hall. I’m on my way to the hospital. That’s all I really know right now.”

  “Do you think you’re going to be okay? I can grab a taxi and come there.” He said, hearing the frantic fragility in her voice.

  “Um…I don’t know. I’ll call you back when I know more.”

  Before he could find out anything, there was a muffled click. He sighed heavily, laying the phone down.

  “What’s going on?” Toby asked.

  Dan pressed his lips together before getting up. “I need to head to the hospital. Something’s wrong with Jacob.”

  ****

  Robin lay back in her bed allowing Jacob to run his lips and mouth down her chest, stopping to suck on each nipple as she softly gasped. A few days had passed since Jacob had what turned out to be a panic attack.

  “Jacob,” she tried to speak, but couldn’t as his lips moved farther down to her navel where he dipped his tongue. She closed her eyes, and sighed with pleasure. Before she knew it, he was down between her legs. Her phone rang. She moaned, leaning her head back against the headboard, feeling his tongue move inside her as the phone rang again. “Jacob, I have to get that.” She finally managed.

  He finally raised his head, his hair sticking out in all directions. “Fine, but we’re picking up right where I left off when you’re done.”

  She tried not to smirk at his hair as she leaned over to pick up the phone…only for the caller to hang up before she could utter a hello. With a glance at the caller I.D. she recognized the number from her own office. She sighed. “I really hope that wasn’t important.”

  Jacob gazed at her. “Who was it?”

  “My office.” She answered simply.

  He sighed, sinking back into the pillow. “I hope it wasn’t important either. This personal day was the perfect idea.” He went on. “After that panic attack Tuesday, Lyn and Danny both convinced me I’m not as solid as I want to believe. When Mrs. Mills reminded me I could take personal days off as mayor, I didn’t see how I could resist …especially seeing how much I scared Lyn.”

  Robin smiled at him. “You scared me too. I still can’t believe, as stressful as your life has been, that was your first panic attack ever.”

  “I guess I was pretty lucky.” He sighed. “And thank you for contacting Russell Simons for me. I would have never thought of the defense you came up with.”

  “Well, Lyn has a mental disorder, and technically she is still employed. She’s just on a leave of absence. With everything going on, even a mentally healthy person would have neglected the rent. Evicting her could have easily been considered discrimination.”

  “Well, with Camryn moving in with Justin, I think it’s best. We still have no idea what’s going to happen next month.” Jacob said as he stared ahead at the wall, with a troubled gaze as Robin put a hand on his bare shoulder.

  “That’s why you need to concentrate on what happens now…and enjoy Christmas.”

  ****

  Becky stood off to the side near the kitchen at Sharkey’s, counting her tips from the lunch hour so far, when a tap on her shoulder startled her. She turned to face Trent. He smiled at her, holding up his hand in a little wave. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Oh, it’s okay. I’m really not supposed to count tips until the end of my shift, but I’ve been getting so many today, and I’m trying to save up to buy my best friend something for Christmas.”

  He nodded. “Cool. Um, I stopped by for three reasons. One, to drop Bridget off for work, two to tell you I got you a book signing, and three to see if you’d-“

  “You got me a book signing? How?”

  He chuckled at her abrupt excitement. “My brother’s girlfriend runs a bookstore out in the old space where Springwood Sporting Goods used to be. It’s not Barnes & Noble, but Charity gets a lot of business, and when I mentioned you, she said she’d be happy to talk about a book signing.”

  “Oh my God…that’s great! Thank you so much!”

  He nodded, handing her a business card. “Her number is on there, so give her a call.”

  She took the card from him, gazing at it. The Book Stop was at the top in black letters with Charity Oiler’s name underneath and a phone number.

  “I was also wondering what you were doing this weekend. Do you have to work?”

  Becky sighed. “Saturday and Sunday both. This is Sharkey’s busiest time of the year.”

  Another waitress whizzed by her with an empty tray. “Table four’s order is up.” She told her.

  Becky sighed again as Trent nodded. “I should let you go then. See ya later.”

  She nodded and quickly thanked him for the opportunity as she put the card in her pocket and got back to work.

  ****

  Lyn had spent the day finishing decorating the tree she had put up with Jacob the previous day, after his scare at the hospital. It was the tree that had belonged to their parents, and their ornaments they had acquired in the years since their deaths. There was the ornament that had Lyn’s graduation picture in it from high school inside a wreath, the Santa that was mooning everyone (Justin), and of course Santa on a motorcycle, which Jacob had bought soon after the purchase of his own motorcycle. Decorating the tree had always been a family thing until Justin went to prison. It dwindled after that.

  Lyn walked around the tree, fingering each ornament until her brother’s voice startled her. “Hey! It looks good.”

  She turned to see Jacob looking nothing like he had only two days ago in the hospital. He had been so pale when she saw him lying in the ER bed, looking drained and aged about ten years. Now he had more color in his face and looked more energetic. “What are you doing here? I thought you were spending the day with Robin.”

  He shook his head, tossing his coat onto the sofa. “She had some stuff to do at her office. Believe me, I tried really hard to talk her out of it, but it must have been important.”

  Lyn smiled. “I bet you did.”

  Her tone made him gaze at her with suspicion. “What do you mean, you bet I did?”

  She shook her head, coming over to him. “I know all about you two. I saw you.”

  His eyebrows crumpled. “You…saw us?”

  Suddenly, she began laughing, and a chill raced through Jacob.

  ****

  Allen Harrison looked at the next day’s headlines, already in a layout on his computer, with satisfaction. Sandra had done a great job with the story defending Jacob against accusations from Gavin. He said in a quote that Gavin misunderstood him, and even though he didn’t think Clarke was that great of a singer in high school, he did respect what he had accomplished in his career. He also stated in the article that Gavin had, at the last minute, asked to film his new Christmas music video at the festival, and he had only turned him down on that request. “No one is turning Gavin Clarke away from Springwood…but Gavin Clarke himself. He’s welcome to come to the festival to perform.” That had been Jacob’s final statement, ending the article.

  From what Harrison had heard through the grapevine since, Gavin’s managers were going to film his performance and use it for the video, perhaps doing some video editing and enhancing it.

  He sent his approval to Nikki, the girl in charge of printing downstairs, before closing the window on his computer.

  ****

  Jacob called out for pizza that evening and watched a few Christmas movies with Lyn, trying to forget about what happened e
arlier. He felt pretty certain Tammy was deciding to make an appearance for the holidays. Once Toby dropped Dan off, Lyn quickly vanished, saying she wanted to get some writing in before the night was out. She left them alone, saying she was really close to finishing her next book.

  “Cool. Looks like you guys had some fun.” Dan said, sitting down next to his friend, picking up an already cold slice of pizza from the box on the coffee table.

  “Yeah, the end of the night wasn’t so bad.”

  Dan turned to him. “Uh oh. What happened to start it out?”

  Jacob let out a huge sigh. “I think Tammy made a short appearance. She said she knew about Robin and me, said she’d seen us together and just started laughing. I asked what she saw, and she grew quiet and looked at me dumbfounded. Lyn had no idea what she’d said, and I really didn’t feel like bringing it up, so I gave her some BS line about this joke she was telling me. It still freaked her out so I suggested ordering a pizza and watching Christmas movies, and she was herself again.”

  Dan hesitated, sitting back.

  “She’s been kind of weird with me too lately.”

  Jacob turned away from the ending scene of The Santa Clause, to eye Dan. “Weird with you? Why?”

  Dan closed his eyes. “Damn it…I knew I should have told you this, as fragile as she is,” he went on, facing him. “I fell in the bathroom the other day. I was stark naked, and she heard me fall, rushed in…I was mortified she had to see me like that.”

  Jacob gazed at him a little surprised, and then his expression turned thoughtful. “Well, it was beyond your control. Lyn was probably embarrassed too.”

  Dan bit his lip, watching the rolling credits of the movie. “I don’t know. She seemed to space out on me, like you guys have described her doing before. I’d be so pissed with myself if I caused her more trauma.”

  Jacob shut the TV off with the remote that lay beside him on the sofa. “Dan, I’m sure it was nothing, just an awkward moment between you two. Rightfully so. Just act normal with her, like it never happened, and if it’s still bugging her, I’m sure it won’t after that.”