“You do?” she asked, instantly feeling foolish.
His mouth tipped into a small smile. Troy shook the overgrown bangs from his eyes and asked, “Why do you always act so surprised when I say stuff like that?”
Because she couldn’t believe it. Because he’d never said it before. “I don’t know.” Casey shrugged and evaded him with a glance toward the kitchen. “I always thought you kinda liked Felicity.” Then there was that older woman he was with yesterday, the one her “daddy” came in and made a scene over.
“Aw, dad gum. Felicity’s only a friend. She likes Travis, anyway, not me.”
Casey’s attention intensified. “She does?” When he nodded yes, she detected a hint of sadness in his eyes. Did it upset him? Did Troy want Felicity to like him, instead?
“I like you Casey.”
Anxious excitement pumped in her chest. Fine time to tell her—he was leaving.
“I wanna have some fun before I go.” Sipping again from his coke, Troy held her in his gaze. Nerves rippled and frayed. “Do you wanna go out tonight?”
“Go out?” Like out out, as in boyfriend, girlfriend? she wanted to ask, but didn’t dare. There was no way she was sticking her neck out that far.
“There you go again, acting all shocked.” A boyish grin seized hold and he asked, “Is there something wrong with me?”
“No—not at all. I just...” Involuntarily, she glanced at the booth he’d been sitting at with the blonde woman.
Troy whipped his head around and his eyes lit up with the realization. “You worried about that woman you saw me here with yesterday?”
“No.” Casey shrugged again but refused to look at him. Of course she was worried about that woman. What were they doing together? Wasn’t he the one acting all interested in her welfare, yet he was cavorting with the enemy? She didn’t understand him. Though she wanted to, in the worst way.
“She don’t mean nothing to me.”
Casey stared at him, distrust pricking at her heart. “Then why have lunch with her?”
Anger thundered beneath his voice as he replied, “Listen. That woman means nothing to me. I was only using her for information.”
“Information? What kind of information?”
“You don’t worry about that,” he said firmly, closing the subject with a dead-bolt. Troy reached over and tried to grab her hand, but she withdrew it, depositing both hands into her lap. Displeased, he repeated, “Do you wanna go out with me? I can pick you up. We can talk,” he added, as though that would convince her.
Did he have other intentions? Or was he only after friendship?
When she hesitated, he persisted. “C’mon, Casey, don’t play like this.”
Play like what? she wondered. Play like she didn’t want to be with a guy who was obviously interested in someone else? He was, wasn’t he?
“I’ll follow you around if you don’t.” A light smirk curved his mouth to one side. “I’ll make you’re momma think I’m crazy.” The imagery tugged a smile from her as she watched him beg. It was warming to her ego. “I mean it. You don’t agree, she’ll make you, just to get rid of me.”
Casey doubted that but enjoyed how hard Troy was working. It made her feel good. Maybe it was true he didn’t like that woman. Her heart dipped. But Troy was leaving. Right when they got together, he would be gone. It wasn’t fair.
Troy acted like a sad puppy dog, his brown eyes pleading. “I’m waiting.”
Shouldn’t she take every second she could before he was gone? “Okay. I’ll go.” Of course she would. Casey would take Troy any way she could get him.
Chapter Nineteen
Eager to speak to his friend Willie, Clem Sweeney pushed through the heavy metal door leading to the visitation room. He wanted to know what happened with the gold, if Willie showed Jeremiah like he told him to, and did he follow him afterwards. Clem didn’t trust Jeremiah, but he was the only man he knew with any money who could help him make bail. He spied Willie at the first cubicle, his ratty black hat and grubby clothes unmistakable, looking like somethin’ the dog’d been keepin’ under the porch. Clem surely wasn’t gonna get a dime out of him. He only trusted Willie not to steal the gold because the man was dumb as dirt. Didn’t have two brain cells to rub together and, besides, Clem had the goods on him. He happened to know for a fact that Willie was involved in a certain robbery that took place on the Baxter Farm. Old man Baxter was madder than a wet cat covered in mud, and both knew he’d pull out his shotgun before he dialed the first number to the police.
Shuffling to a stop before the cubicle, Clem eyed Willie. “Well?” Willie looked from side to side, then scooted real close as Clem sat across from him. Cigarette smoke seeped through the small holes in the window, giving Clem an itch for a cigarette. “Did you find out anything?”
Willie withdrew a toothpick from his mouth and muttered, “Jeremiah is a dog, Clem.”
Clem’s gut tightened. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I showed him where that gold was, just like you told me, and then he done went and told his buddies about it!”
Clem scowled. “How do you know that? You followed him like I told you?”
“Yeah, Clem, you know I did!” Willie fidgeted with the toothpick in his mouth. “I followed him all the way to Bucky’s place.”
Jeremiah wouldn’t let Willie get within ten feet of him. How did he overhear what was going on? “Did you hear it with your own ears?” Why would he go talkin’ about it with you right there, listenin’?”
Willie snatched his toothpick. “What do you take me for—a fool? I ain’t no fool. Course I was watchin’ from across the bar. He went to Bucky’s place and I hid in the corner. I could tell by the looks on them there faces of his pals. They got all serious like and started lookin’ around.” Willie snuck a gaze around the visiting room and whispered, “You know how folks get when they hear about gold.”
Lightning bolts ripped through Clem’s midsection. Willie might be as clueless as a blushin’ sow on butcher day, but Jeremiah was a snake. “That no good two-timin’ double-crosser.” Willie nodded like a bobble doll. “Who does he think he is?”
“Jeremiah Ladd?” Willie offered.
“Shut up,” Clem snapped. He lashed his gaze around the lobby, his thoughts unraveling. Jeremiah wasn’t gonna pay his bail. He was gonna take the gold for himself, with the help of his buddies. “I got to think a minute.”
Willie sat, his face twitching, fiddling with the chewed-up toothpick as he stared at Clem.
Clem should never have believed Jeremiah when he said he’d help him with bail, out flappin’ his lips faster than a preacher caught with his pants down, already out tellin’ everybody in town about the gold. How was there gonna be any left for him by the time he got out?
“What we goin’ t’do, Clem?”
He set his lips in a firm line. Jeremiah had another thought comin’ if he figured on double-crossin’ Clem Sweeney. He might be locked up, but he wasn’t powerless. He had friends on the outside. Loyal friends. “You’ve got to call Harley.”
Willie nodded. “Harley.”
“You’ve got to tell him I need to see him.”
“Okay, then what?” he asked eagerly, pleased Clem had a plan.
“You tell him come see me. I’ll take it from there.”
With a determined step, Lacy filed through the forest at a virtual race walk, recounting her steps from yesterday with Malcolm through the fading light. Misty air cooled her skin as she travelled, the rich scent of earth filing her nose with familiar scents and memories old and new. Running wild through these woods as a child had been glorious but so was her hike with Malcolm. He was glorious, she mused. The only dim spot in his journey was Malcolm’s call for an early dinner this evening. She had refused him—again—claiming Aunt Frannie was fussy about spending too much time with him. Lacy professed the need to placate her aunt, all of which was true, but this expedition was the real reason she had declined. Recalling the disappointment in his voice,
Lacy smiled. She really liked him and would love to be dining with him this very instant, but the job of convincing Annie was taking longer than she had anticipated.
Last evening, when Lacy had gone to Annie’s salon and revealed the news, Annie had shut her down. You’re lying. But Lacy heard insecurity in her objection. Annie wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure what to believe and wanted to see for herself. Lacy had been thrilled! It was the opening she needed. She was telling the truth and the sooner Annie realized it, the sooner the two could mend their broken fences and start acting like a family again. Unfortunately, Annie had been working the late shift and the forest would have been too dark last night, but today was a new day. A new day for discovery and forgiveness.
So now, like two thieves in the night, they were charging through the shadows of green and brown. Stepping over a root, Lacy sighed and looked over her shoulder to make sure Annie was still following her. Not the most athletic person, her sister was struggling to keep up. But if they didn’t keep up their pace, the blanket of night might just smother them to a standstill. “C’mon, Annie, we’re almost there!”
The path was easy to remember. All she had to do was find the rock where Malcolm kissed her and then look for the group of boulders near a low-lying creek just beyond. Simple. She’d remember that rock anywhere. Sticking out from the mountain, it was a flat panel of stone where he pushed her—trapped her with his body—and kissed her. A squiggle of delight scurried low in her belly. It had been the best kiss ever.
“Slow down,” Annie hollered at her from behind. “You didn’t tell me it was this far!”
“It’s not that much farther,” she encouraged, clueless as to how much farther it really was—but they had to be close. She and Malcolm hadn’t hiked for that long before they made it to the spot. The spot. Her insides tingled again. Malcolm’s mouth on hers had been so gentle, his body so warm and hard and delightful... “There!” Lacy cried, elated to have found the rock. She ran up to it, inspected the wall of earth around, skimming her palm down the center where she had stood only hours before. Stood. Leaned back against. Been pushed into. A swell of desire rose inside her. This was the rock where they kissed, no question. Lacy pivoted and searched off the trail, scanning the forest floor to their right. Yes. “Those are the rocks where the gold is!”
Annie came to a stop at Lacy’s side. Staring in the direction Lacy pointed, Annie surveyed the landscape. “Where?”
“It’s in one of those rocks over there. You see that group? It’s the one on the right, I think.”
“You think?”
Lacy dismissed the fresh swarm of doubt in Annie’s expression. “It’s there, I’ll show you,” she said and confidently trotted down the same narrow path she had taken with Malcolm. She only hoped Annie could see the yellow hue of the stone. In this waning light, it might all look gray and drab.
Traversing the soft forest floor, she breathed in deeply. The air was infused with a musty scent of wet clay and decaying plants and her senses wallowed in the moist smell. She loved it out here, always had, though as a child it was all about the adventure, the freedom of roaming the forest outside the watchful eye of her parents. Then she’d moved to Atlanta and the opportunity to lose herself in the woods, in the middle of nature, all but evaporated. There was always the chore of shopping or laundry, work or dates—something that interfered with her desire to get outside and find a hiking trail. Stumbling over a rock on the ground, Lacy inhaled again and thought, yes, she loved the forest with every fiber of her being.
Annie stomped a branch in half as she trekked behind Lacy who slowed, circling a group of boulders, their surfaces blotched with patches of white fungus and smiled. “See. There it is!” she declared proudly. “Gold on Ladd Springs.”
Annie looked at the rocks, but clearly saw nothing. “Where,” she demanded.
“Right there.” Lacy motioned for Annie to come closer. She tapped a finger on the ragged line cutting across the gray stone. “See it?”
“Oh, my...” Annie’s breath expelled in a rush as she inspected the dusty lines in the rock. She touched them, fingered them, outlined them as if to prove to herself she wasn’t seeing things. All trace of displeasure erased, she stood mesmerized.
“I told you I was telling the truth.”
Annie gaped at her. “I can’t believe it.”
Lacy nodded. “Now you know. So when you get the property rights for Casey, you’ll be sure to include this as part of the deal.” Annie didn’t say a word, only stared, moving her gaze slowly between Lacy and the streak of gold in the stone. “This will help, won’t it?”
“Yes, but...”
“But what?”
“But I’m sure Delaney will try and keep this section for herself. She won’t let Casey get anywhere near it.”
Disturbed by the declaration, Lacy frowned. “But who’s she to say? Shouldn’t a judge or someone important like that be the one to make the decision?”
Annie fixed her focus on Lacy. All edgy hate and anger had dissolved, softening her sister’s features into those of the girl she grew up with, the one who used to braid her hair and paint her nails. This was her big sister, Annie Grace, the girl Lacy had looked up to her entire life. “You don’t understand,” Annie said. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“Why?” Lacy asked, refusing to be discouraged. “Because of Jeremiah?”
“Because of Jeremiah, Felicity, Ernie...”
“Jeremiah doesn’t deserve the property, after everything he’s done. The man has become so hateful. Why, you should have seen the way he treated his daddy today.”
“The law doesn’t care about his personality, Lacy. It only cares about the rules.”
“Can’t Ernie tell him no? Can’t he give it to you and Casey instead? Along with Felicity, I mean, seeing’s how she’s already on the new deed,” Lacy added matter-of-factly.
Annie slumped against the stone, an utter sense of fatality settling into her gaze. “Ernie already signed it over to Felicity,” she repeated, as though reminding herself of the facts.
It occurred to Lacy there was more to getting the property than proving Casey was Jeremiah’s daughter. And it dashed her enthusiasm. Why should doing the right thing be so hard? “Well,” she said flatly, “I’m sure we’ll think of something. We have to. It isn’t right for Casey not to get her share.”
Annie crossed her arms and brought a hand to her mouth. She massaged her chin, glanced at the rock, the trees. She seemed so intent, Lacy was certain she was coming up with a solution this instant. Then Annie tightened her gaze around Lacy and said, “Thank you.” Lacy’s pulse jumped. “Thank you for telling me about this. I appreciate it.”
Nerves fluttered beneath Lacy’s breast, trapped, anxious. For the first time since Lacy had arrived in town, her sister’s hatred showed signs of thawing. “Even if you can’t get it?” she asked, desperately hoping Annie would say yes, even then.
Annie offered a smile, small, but genuine, embracing Lacy with a warm gaze. “Yes, even then.”
“Oh, Annie Grace!” Lacy threw her arms around her sister and hugged her as tightly as she could. There were no words for the gift she had just received. No words for the first step her sister had taken toward her. Lacy would do whatever she had to do to help Annie get Casey’s share of Ladd Springs. The epiphany of her predicament slammed home. Even if she had to take sides against Malcolm, she would. For Annie, she would.
“Are you two here to steal my gold?”
The shouted question iced Lacy’s exuberance. Jeremiah.
Annie sprang from her embrace. “Jeremiah!” she cried under her breath.
Standing up on the trail, the green of his shirt blending in with the mountainous landscape, his mocking leer slapped them with accusation. “Now you know I don’t take kindly to thieves.”
Lacy’s mind scrambled for reason. How did he know they were out here? Had someone told? But who? No one knew. She hadn’t even told Malcolm where she was going
.
I can trust you, right? You don’t want me to get into trouble, do you?
Oh, silly fool! Why had she broken her promise to Malcolm? And now she stood face-to-face with Jeremiah on her own!
Annie took charge. Gesturing for Lacy to stay behind her, she walked toward him and demanded, “What are you doing here, Jeremiah?”
“Collecting what’s mine,” he said snidely, then jogged downhill through wooded brush.
“Nothing here belongs to you,” Annie informed him.
Jeremiah cocked his head. “Aren’t you all high and mighty these days?”
“I’m relating the facts, Jeremiah. Nothing more and nothing less.”
Lacy’s breathing grew shallow. She didn’t like the mean-spirited look flashing in Jeremiah’s eyes. It reminded her of the day she left him. He’d been so callous, so awful, announcing that he wasn’t giving her any more money. His days of supporting her were over.
She’d only been seventeen! She had no savings, no experience. How did he expect her to go out on her own? Jeremiah didn’t care. Just like that, no warning, no leeway, he’d strolled through their front door and told her she was on her own.
Jeremiah slanted a glance toward the rocks behind them. “I see you know about the gold.” Annie didn’t respond. Lacy kept mum. “Who else knows?”
“Unfortunately you do,” Annie returned evenly.
“Watch your tongue, Annie,” he said, jumping at her. Annie shrieked, causing him to laugh. “Not so tough are you?”
A bomb went off in Lacy’s heart and she hollered, “Shame on you, Jeremiah!” The man was infected with the devil, that’s what he was—pure evil and she was leaving this instant. She turned on her heel, but he grabbed her arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Let me go!” she cried and yanked her arm. His fingers dug into her skin like bear claws. “You’re hurting me!”
“I’m gonna do a whole lot more, you walk away from me like that again.”
“What do you want? I don’t have anything for you.”
Ladd Fortune Page 18