by Linda Wisdom
“I was married to a cop. You hear so much that it’s natural to learn all sorts of things.”
He didn’t miss her bitterness. “Bad?”
She raised her head so he couldn’t miss the “back off” written in her expression. “Bad enough.”
He leaned back in his chair. “You know, Lauren, I’d like to get to know you better, but you seem to keep putting up walls if I ask a question that might be considered the least bit personal.”
“I didn’t realize wanting to keep my private life private was a crime. What part of ‘none of your business’ didn’t you understand?”
“Lauren, I’m not the enemy here. Obviously, running into that friend of your ex-husband’s upset you, but why take it out on me?”
“Running into Mark has nothing to do with it, although my day would have been considerably brighter if I could have run over him while driving a tank.” She toyed with her fork so she wouldn’t have to look at him. “Let me make this clear. We got married for all the wrong reasons and divorced for all the right ones. It was a time I don’t care to discuss. Especially when the man asking doesn’t seem to like to talk about himself almost as much as I don’t like talking about myself.”
“I’ve told you before, there’s not much to say.”
“That’s not what the gossips say.”
His dark eyes turned cold. “I’ve never believed in gossip, since it’s a proven fact gossip isn’t all that reliable. It is bad enough we haven’t been able to contain the talk about my secret admirer, what with her sending me flowers every week. Since it began, I’ve tended to keep things to myself even more than usual,” he said finally. “I only hope it hasn’t been too noticeable. Rumors are pretty typical around there. I’m surprised I didn’t find out about you sooner. I was involved in an important case at the time, but I usually hear what’s going on.”
“If you’d read your office memos you would have known about me before you met me at the retirement party. The local paper even wrote up a brief article about my taking over as county coroner. All about a woman working in a man’s world, and so on.”
“I barely have time to do more than keep up with my caseload, and there are times I feel as if I need more hours in a day just for that.” He automatically glanced over his shoulder as if sensing something was wrong.
“I doubt she’s followed us here.” She still kept her voice low. “We both were very careful in keeping today’s appointment quiet.”
He still couldn’t stop glancing quickly over his other shoulder. None of the other patrons in the restaurant looked familiar, but he knew that didn’t mean anything. “You never said how you got out of the office without them wondering.”
“I told them I was meeting with a colleague in San Diego. Personally, I didn’t think it was any of their business where I was going and what I was doing, but Pete kept demanding to know about calling me if a problem came up. I told him I’d probably have my cell turned off.” She shook her head in disgust. “He’s not into taking any responsibility.”
“It’s probably because Harvey refused to give him any. Harvey had a habit of treating him like an idiot. I always had the feeling that Pete’s lack of self-esteem was due to that more than anything else.”
Lauren shook her head. “And, unfortunately, I probably treat him the same way. I’m surprised he’s remained in the field with that kind of negative supervision.”
“Harvey just refused to give him a chance. I think he hoped for a promotion when Harvey’s health forced him to retire. And then you came along. Although it wouldn’t matter, because everyone knew Pete wasn’t ready to take over. Top professionals are hard to lure out here, since most people prefer the bigger cities. The trouble is, the salaries, naturally, aren’t as high and advancement isn’t as fast or as satisfying as what they can get in the city.”
“It doesn’t seem to have bothered you.” Lauren glanced up as the waitress set down her plate.
“I like out-of-the-way places where I can do my own thing. A judge in LA would slap me with a contempt charge if I showed up in jeans and not wearing a tie. Instead, it’s considered part of my boyish charm.” He leaned back as the waitress moved to his side of the table to set his plate in front of him. “Besides, I don’t need the high-profile cases to make a name for myself. I’m happy just being a small-town country lawyer making sure the bad guys stay in jail for a long time.”
She hid her smile as she concentrated on cutting up her steak. “Why do you think this woman has chosen a small-town country lawyer?”
Josh shook his head, showing the frustration he’d been feeling all along. “Beats the hell out of me. Dana’s suggestion that it has to do with my involvement with battered women sounds pretty logical, since I give a lot of talks and conduct seminars on how to protect yourself in the courts and what to expect when dealing with the police. Nowadays, the abusive spouse is automatically locked up if the cops are called, but that still doesn’t mean the other party is safe when their abuser is released.” He studied her bent head. “Lauren, did he ever abuse you?”
Her head shot up. “Abuse me? Ron knew if he ever tried it he’d find himself turned into filets. Besides, physical punishment wasn’t his style. He enjoyed women too much to beat them up.”
He didn’t need to meet her level gaze to know what he’d read there.
“Did he like to flaunt them?”
She took several deep breaths to rid herself of the roaring in her ears. “Not now, please?” she barely whispered, as she picked up her utensils with extra care and looked at the food she no longer had an appetite for.
“It seems we all have our own little form of hell, doesn’t it?”
…
An hour later, Lauren stared out the car window at the landscape speeding past them but didn’t bother looking to find anything beyond the darkness. She was relieved Josh had finally dropped the subject about her marriage and divorce. The last thing she wanted to do was reveal a piece of her past she preferred no one know. She already knew that part of her life wasn’t something Ron wanted to get around, and all documentation had been destroyed. Not exactly a legal procedure, but something Ron had insisted on doing. More for his benefit than hers, she’d always thought. The only gossip known about her was that she was divorced from a cop, which was nothing new, since the divorce rate among law enforcement was high.
As cars flashed past them, she couldn’t help but wonder if one of them held Josh’s unwelcome admirer. Could she have seen Josh leave the building and decided to follow him? How difficult would it have been for her to keep up with them on the freeway? Traffic hadn’t been heavy until they’d reached the outskirts of Los Angeles. Traffic was always heavy around the courthouse. Had she come into the restaurant when they had dinner and sat at a table nearby, watching them? Had she noticed the electricity that sparked between them? Even Lauren was stunned by the attraction they generated and feelings that shook-up. As a few more erotic pictures started to enter her mind, she quickly banished them by mentally reciting the names of the bones in the foot. Since there were so many, she knew it would take a while.
“What did you say?” His question brought her back to the present.
“Nothing important,” she lied. Few people would understand how relaxing it was to recite the names of the bones in the foot. “I’m just figuring out my shopping list. I tend to stay out of grocery stores until there’s nothing in the cupboards and I’ll starve unless I refill them.”
“You always speak Latin when you make up your list?”
“It makes it more interesting.” She turned and leaned over to turn on the radio, fiddling with the dial until she found a golden oldies station.
“No good ole shit-kickin’, boot-stompin’ country western music?”
“Not if you want to keep me as a passenger.”
“Oh, I think I want to keep you.”
That was when Lauren decided staying one step ahead of Josh might not be so easy after all.
…
As the day wore on she grew more impatient. She knew they were together. She could feel it. That story about his deciding to take the rest of the day off and her telling her staff she was going to San Diego to see a friend was all bullshit. She knew it was!
She went to Josh’s house first, but couldn’t find any clues to tell her where he might have gone. She only prayed she was wrong for once and he was alone.
Her house was a little more difficult to get into because of the alarm system, but not impossible. All she learned there was that the boxes were now emptied and the rooms looked more lived in. The gun was in the same place, the Cosmo magazine a recent issue, and she took the time to study the files on Lauren’s computer. Articles for medical and forensic journals, household records that were so complete she couldn’t resist running them off on the laser printer to see what else she could learn about her. There were even a few games on it. She looked over the online calendar and swore because nothing was written down for that day. Wouldn’t meeting a friend benefit a notation?
In the end, she flipped a mental coin and decided to stake out Lauren’s house. She felt more comfortable hiding out because Lauren’s house was set well back from the road and on high ground. The only entrance was a winding driveway. It gave the occupant a great deal of privacy because of trees planted along the road, which provided a form of protection. She parked her car along a side road up from Lauren’s house and settled back to wait. They would have to show up sooner or later. She wasn’t even going to think how she would feel if they decided to spend the night at his house. She was growing much too tired of his seeing all these other women, and if he didn’t stop soon, she knew she would have to do something about it. It had worked with Celia, years ago. It would work this time, too.
As she waited, she toyed with a strand of hair that had worked loose from her ponytail and played her favorite game. Josh had finally realized how right they were together. She saw them sharing that huge bed of his for the wildest, most incredible sex known to man. With the car windows rolled up tightly and no houses in close proximity, no one could hear her cries as her fingers and sexual visions brought her to a climax.
…
“You going to get mad if I say you look tired?” Josh swung the car around the corner when they reached Lauren’s road.
“No reason to when it’s true.” She stifled a yawn. “I was up late last night working on an article that’s due in a few weeks. Then I was up early this morning to go to a Bodypump class.”
“I’m of the old school of going out and running.”
“As a doctor, I’d like to warn you, it can be bad for the knees.”
He grinned. “Good thing I have strong knees. The only thing I’ve ever had to worry about is skinning them when I don’t look where I’m going on a new path.” He turned up her driveway to the front door. “Part of your security measures?” He nodded toward the floodlights visible from the rear of the house and a strong light burning by the front door.
“They come on at dusk. While I have neighbors, they aren’t exactly close enough to talk over the back fence, so I figured the lights might be a good deterrent.” She rummaged through her purse until she found her keys.
“Lauren.” Josh placed his hand on hers to stop her from getting out of the car. “I’d better go in with you.”
She laughed. “Is this a new line?”
“No, just a safety measure.”
“I have a state-of-the-art alarm system.” Still, she allowed him to help her out of the car and walk her to the front door. Lauren unlocked the door and the moment she was inside, punched in the code to deactivate the alarm. “I forgot to do this a couple nights ago. I found out just how loud it is at 2 a.m.,” she explained, turning back around. The look on his face told her everything. She wet her lips with her tongue. “Josh, while my marriage wasn’t great, the divorce still left a few wounds that haven’t completely healed yet.” She suddenly laughed. “Not to mention, you presently have a few problems with your own private life. Let’s not get into something that could only hurt us both.”
“If I thought it would do any good, I’d try to change your mind,” he said quietly. “But it would only make matters worse, wouldn’t it?” He didn’t bother to wait for an answer. “Stay here.” He moved around her and quickly but thoroughly looked into each room. When he returned, he stopped long enough to trail the back of his fingers down her cheek. “Good night, Lauren. Maybe we can settle this between us when the other business is over.” He closed the door behind him. It took a few seconds for Lauren to recover and activate the alarm.
She walked slowly down the hallway, stopping only when she noticed the red light on her landline phone in her home office blinking red. She walked in and retrieved her voicemail.
“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t know the two of you went off together, Laurie dear?” The whispered voice struck a dark chord. “You don’t like being called Laurie, do you? No one with the snooty-bitch name of Lauren would. Then I think that’s exactly what I’ll call you until I can give you a more appropriate name.” Her voice turned harsh. “Did you tell Josh all the dirty details behind your divorce, Laurie? Or did the two of you find a motel room together for some down-and-dirty sex? No, I don’t think you did, because if you had told him your nasty past, he wouldn’t have wanted you, would he?”
Shaking so violently she couldn’t stand, Lauren dropped into the chair next to her desk, her phone plastered to her ear as she listened to the insidious voice bring up memories she had buried months ago.
“Josh isn’t a man to take things lightly, Laurie,” the taunting voice continued. “But I can make it very easy for you. Just leave him alone and give him back to me and I’ll forget all about it. I promise. And Laurie, I always keep my promises.” Her demonic laughter whipped across Lauren’s frayed nerves just before the click indicated the answering machine had cut her off.
Lauren sat in the chair for several more minutes before she could get up and leave the room. By the time she reached her bedroom, she felt more composed and positive she could handle anything that came her way. Until she found her favorite lipstick left on her nightstand when she knew very well she had put it away that morning. While she wanted to toss the case into the wastebasket—she doubted she could ever wear it again, even if she bought herself another tube—she followed the procedure she knew would be required by Kevin. She dug out a small paper bag in the kitchen and pulled on a latex glove before carefully picking up the case, dropping it into the bag, folding the top down, taping it shut, and writing her initials across the tape along with the date and time she found it.
By then, her body shook with a soul-shattering fury instead of fear of the woman coming back.
“Who does she think she is?” she gritted, spinning around to see what else she would find out of place. “Does she honestly think any man is worth putting a person through hell? Does she honestly think I’m going to put up with her insane pranks?”
The minute she’d said it, she wanted to take it back. Even carelessly calling the person crazy was proof that her subconscious considered the woman not of her right mind. And there were too many people not of their right mind who could be considered dangerous.
She experienced a sudden burst of furious energy that she needed to get rid of before she could even think of resting. Working like a fired-up machine, she thoroughly cleaned her bedroom, including changing the sheets—she wasn’t taking any chances that the woman had lain in her bed—before stumbling into the shower. The last thing she did before going to bed was to make sure her Sig Sauer was loaded and within easy reach.
…
The moment Josh stepped into his house, he was repelled by the heavy scent of the familiar perfume in the air. Swearing under his breath, he made a check of each room, but found nothing out of order. This time, his bed was still unmade. When he checked his phone, he found the message light blinking. Fearing Lauren might have found something after he’d left, he quic
kly checked his voicemail, ready to run back out the minute he found out what was going on.
“Darling, I know you were with the Hunter bitch today. You have to understand she isn’t for you.” The unfamiliar, yet familiar, voice breathed through the speaker and left his blood running cold. “Besides, there are things you don’t know that would change your mind about her. But she and I have made a deal. She stops trying to take you away from me and I won’t give away her dirty little secret. I’ll see you soon. Good night, lover.”
Josh’s first thought was to call Lauren and warn her they must not have been as discreet in leaving town as they’d hoped, but he hesitated. What if it was only a ploy and she’d never tried to contact Lauren today? No, he’d wait and give Lauren a call in the morning.
It was a routine now to record her hateful messages and set it aside for Kevin. He tossed the evidence bag into his briefcase, along with the file folder of notes Dana had given him. He’d hoped to look them over that evening before going to bed. Right now, he wasn’t sure he wanted even that impersonal kind of contact with her.
“I hope she realizes she’s costing me a small fortune in recording tapes.”
Chapter Eight
“How do you feel about getting bad news in the middle of the night?”
Lauren looked up from her computer where she’d been finishing a report from a recent post. Considering it was four o’clock in the morning and she’d had less than two hours sleep, thanks to her frenetic housecleaning which had done little to calm her raging fury, she looked remarkably fresh compared to Gail. The policewoman wore a tight black leather miniskirt and gold Lurex tube top with a black sheer long-sleeved top over that. Her makeup was smeared and she looked like a hooker who’d had a hard night.
“I got a call to go out and pronounce a death about one o’clock this morning. I just left the crime scene a half hour ago, and will have the pleasure of beginning my day with the post.” She stretched her arms over her head, and then dropped them. She gestured toward the coffeepot. “It’s been a while since I’ve been called out in the middle of the night and I’m feeling it. Want some coffee? It’s guaranteed strong enough to float an aircraft carrier.”