Pine Lake

by Amanda Stevens

  Olive stared at him, dumbfounded. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re my only family here in Pine Lake since the old man passed away. Marc knows how close we are. I wouldn’t put it past him to use you to get to me.”

  “What? That’s crazy,” she said with a frown. “Why would he need to get to you, anyway? You were the one who saved him from serious jail time.”

  “That was a long time ago. Lately he seems to think I was trying to turn Jamie against him.”

  “Were you?” Jack asked.

  “I helped her go back to school. I gave her a job and encouraged her to continue her education. I opened doors for her, but Marc saw it differently.” Nathan paused as he eyed Olive warily. “Would you mind giving us a moment?”

  Her scowl deepened. “Yes, I mind. Whatever you have to say to Jack can wait. All of this can wait. He needs to go to the emergency room.”

  “That’s his call, not ours.”

  She turned back to Jack. “I’ll drive you there myself. I don’t mean to nag, but you really do need to see a doctor.”

  “I appreciate your concern,” he said. “But I’m already feeling better. A couple of painkillers for the headache and I’ll be my old self again.”

  Olive didn’t look at all happy about his decision, but she shrugged in resignation. “I can’t force you. I’m going back to the office for a bit and then straight home. If either of you need me, call my cell.”

  “Thanks for coming, cousin.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Jack said.

  She stared down at him for a moment and then with another shrug, picked up her handbag and headed for the door.

  Jack had the strongest urge to call her back. She was right. Whatever Nathan Bolt had to say to him could wait. Right now, he wanted to be alone with Olive. Needed to be with her, but he couldn’t for the life of him explain his sense of urgency.

  She walked out the door and he didn’t call her back. Instead, he got up and went into the kitchen on the pretext of needing water and aspirin. He stood at the sink and watched her through the window. Even for a high school principal, the navy dress and beige heels were sedate. Her appearance was understated and professional, and yet Jack felt a dangerous awareness as he took in her slight curves and the graceful sweep of red hair over one eye. She tossed the thick strands aside with a shake of her head, a movement that was unaffected and yet undeniably sensual.

  As if intuiting his perusal, she turned to glance back at the house. The sunlight streaming through the window was still so bright, he didn’t think she could see him, but her gaze seemed to find his through the glass. She didn’t wave or nod to acknowledge his presence, but a smile flitted before she opened the door and climbed behind the wheel.

  It was barely a response and yet Jack knew he would have felt the impact of that smile from a mile away.

  * * *

  NATHAN STOOD AT the large window that looked out on the lake. He glanced over his shoulder as Jack entered the room and then turned back to the water.

  “I always did say Leon had the best view on the lake.”

  “Yeah, it’s nice.” Jack went over to the couch and plopped down on the leather cushions.

  “Let me know if you decide to sell,” Nathan said. “I’ve always wanted a place like this. A little cabin on the water where you can hunker down and get away from civilization.”

  “It’s less than a mile from town,” Jack reminded him. “But it is a long way from Austin.”

  Nathan turned with a wry smile. “So you’ve already tuned into the local gossip, have you?”

  “I’ve heard some things. But you didn’t drive out here to talk about politics or real estate.”

  Nathan shoved his hands in his pockets as he leaned a shoulder against the window frame. “No, you’re right. I came to find out why you didn’t let me know you were coming to Pine Lake.”

  “Because I didn’t come here to work for you,” Jack said bluntly. “I came for my own reasons. And in case you haven’t heard, I’ve been a little busy since I got here.”

  “Another reason you should think about selling this place. Pine Lake seems to bring you nothing but bad luck.”

  Jack shrugged. “It’s different this time. Unlike you, I don’t have a connection to the victim.”

  “Oh, come on,” Nathan said. “You can’t think I had anything to do with Jamie’s death. I never did anything but try to help that girl.”

  “I’m sure the sheriff will be sympathetic.”

  Anger flared behind the round glasses, but Nathan’s expression remained composed. “Your attitude about what happened is annoyingly cavalier. Jamie’s death may not mean anything to you, but a lot of people have been devastated by the news. She was a good person. Everyone in my office liked and respected her. She did her work without complaint or drama and that’s a lot more than I can say for most people.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Jack said sincerely.

  Nathan turned back to the water with a brooding frown. “She made mistakes when she was younger, but she learned from them. And she’d been trying ever since to turn her life around. She was even talking about going back to school to become a paralegal. But you know how it is in a place like this. The harder you work to make something of yourself, the harder others will try to tear you down.”

  “People like Marc Waller, you mean.”

  “People exactly like Marc Waller. Scum of the earth, that man.”

  “The one thing everyone around here seems to agree on,” Jack muttered. “And yet you were not only his lawyer, you got serious charges against him dropped.”

  “I don’t have to like my clients, but I do have to represent them to the very best of my abilities. Even creeps like Marc Waller.”

  “It’s a dirty job,” Jack said.

  “It can be.” Nathan came back into the room and sat down across from Jack, leaning forward as he draped his elbows over the armrests. “Jamie had been trying to break things off for a long time, but Marc didn’t take kindly to rejection. He’s a violent, volatile man who seems to have little to no control over his temper. I wouldn’t put anything past him if he thought she was seeing someone else.”

  “Even murder?”

  “I think he’s certainly capable.”

  “Was she seeing someone else?”

  “I don’t know. I suspected but I never saw her with anyone.”

  “Does Tommy know about the altercation at your office?” Jack asked.

  “It’s a matter of public record. Jamie filed a complaint with the Pine Lake PD. If Tommy Driscoll wants to talk to me about any of this, he knows where to find me.”

  “That doesn’t sound very cooperative.” Jack absently massaged his temples.

  “Like I said, he knows where to find me.” Nathan’s gaze turned shrewd. “I understand you’ve been in to see him already.”

  “I’m the one who found the body and the lake area is the county sheriff’s jurisdiction. I wouldn’t read anything more into it than that.”

  “I wasn’t. But I can’t help wondering about suspects. He must have leads,” Nathan prompted.

  “I can’t help you there. Tommy Driscoll isn’t likely to talk to me about his investigation.”

  “I thought he might have let something slip.”

  Now it was Jack who turned sly. “Your name came up.”

  A shadow flickered again behind the glasses. “In what context?”

  Jack waited a beat before he continued. “He told me that on the night of Anna’s murder, you left the house after midnight and didn’t return until nearly sunup.”

  “Anna’s murder?” Nathan stared at him for a moment as he shifted gears.

  “That’s the bait you used to get me here. Tommy Driscoll’s whereabouts on that night. Seems
your movements are also in question.”

  Emotions flickered across Nathan’s face and he grew pensive. Jack wondered if he was thinking back to that night or trying to figure out the best way to squirm out of his lie. Finally he said, “Okay. I did leave the house that night, but there was nothing sinister about my movements. I went out looking for Olive. She had a sleeping disorder back then. She would get up from her bed and wander around at all hours. It got really bad after her dad died. When she and her mother came to live with us, I developed a kind of sixth sense about her sleepwalking. Sometimes I would rouse in the middle of the night and know she was gone. When I woke up that night, Tommy was also missing. At first, I thought they might have left the house together, but Olive despised Tommy. I couldn’t see her going off with him so I went out to look for her.”

  “Where did you find her?”

  “It took me half the night, but I finally found her on Lakeside Road not far from the old bridge.”

  Jack’s voice sharpened. “She was sleepwalking?”

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t wake her up?”

  “I never did back then. I led her back to the house and she crawled into bed as if nothing had happened.”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re saying Olive was on or near the old bridge on the night Anna was murdered?”

  Nathan’s gaze burned into Jack’s. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. She had a perverse fascination for that bridge. She used to go there a lot. I don’t know how much you remember about her circumstances, but her dad was killed in a head-on collision on a similar bridge. He’d been away on a business trip and was rushing back for Olive’s birthday. It was raining, the road was slippery. His vehicle went through the guardrail after the crash. Olive blamed herself. She’d begged him to come back that night rather than wait until morning. Her mother was no help. She was so devastated she could barely look after herself let alone deal with Olive’s guilt. My old man took charge and moved them in with us. Olive’s mother was his baby sister. He was protective of her just the way I’ve always been of Olive.” Nathan’s gaze was still on Jack. “Do you see where I’m going with this?”

  “I want to hear you say it.”

  “I didn’t go to the police for the same reason you didn’t tell Tommy the truth about Monday night.” He put up a hand as if expecting Jack to interrupt. “Don’t worry. Olive never said a word, but I knew she’d been sleepwalking the moment I heard what happened. She was already at the lake when you found the body, wasn’t she?”

  Jack said nothing.

  “You made up a story because you were afraid she’d seen something. You were worried Jamie’s killer would come after her if he found out she’d been there. I understand, Jack. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your discretion.”

  “I didn’t make up anything. Events happened just the way I reported them.”

  Nathan smiled. “Of course.”

  His smugness rankled but Jack let it go. “So you woke up that night and found both Olive and Tommy missing. How did he explain his absence?”

  “He told me he’d gone out to meet someone, an older woman that he was seeing. He said there would be serious consequences if anyone ever found out about the affair. Especially for her. She might be fired or even arrested. I assumed he was seeing a teacher.”

  “He never mentioned a name?”

  “No. It’s possible he made up the story, but you remember what a horndog he was back then. Still is, from what I hear. I’ve never understood why Beth puts up with him.”

  “Maybe she loves him.”

  “That’s even harder to understand. A guy like that? She must have known what was going on behind her back. All those girls in school coming on to him, following him around like a bunch of damn groupies. It was disgusting.” Nathan’s expression hardened. “You know what he told me once? He said he’d actually talked some of those girls into getting the same tattoo. His mark, he called it. He laughed at their gullibility. He didn’t care about their feelings. It was just a game to him. Like cutting notches in a bedpost.”

  “We all did stupid things back then,” Jack said. “I never heard about the tattoos.”

  “Of course not. Tommy liked to brag to me, but he looked up to you. He always wanted your approval.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “I know,” Nathan said. “I saw a side of Tommy Driscoll you never did. He wasn’t just mean, he could be downright vicious. A bully in every sense of the word. You asked earlier if I thought Marc Waller killed Jamie. I don’t discount the possibility, but he’s not the only one with a motive. A few months after Jamie came to work for me, the air conditioner in the office went out. It was sweltering inside the building so I sent everyone home. Jamie volunteered to stay and answer the phones. She always wore long sleeves in the office to cover her tattoos, but that day she’d taken off her sweater. I saw Tommy’s tattoo—his mark—on her shoulder.”

  “You think she was seeing him?”

  “I doubt that tattoo was a coincidence. Think about it, Jack. Tommy Driscoll is a married man. That alone gives him a motive, but Jamie was still underage when she first came to work for me. If she and Tommy were seeing each other that far back and if she threatened to expose the affair now, what do you think he’d do? Jack? Are you listening to me?”

  Nathan’s voice receded to a dull roar. The sudden churning in Jack’s stomach had nothing to do with the drug he’d been given. A memory had surfaced, distant and hazy at first, but now the image sharpened as if he’d adjusted a focus ring. He got up and paced to the window, staring down at the water with a brooding frown as his mind tumbled back to a mild fall night on Anna’s front porch.

  She and some of her girlfriends had gone to Dallas for the weekend. She’d come back with a tattoo of a heart shot through with a lightning bolt, laughing sheepishly when Jack had first discovered it on her hip.

  I had a little too much to drink...someone dared me... Do you hate it?

  No, I like it. It’s sexy. But I’m trying to figure out what the lightning bolt means.

  It doesn’t mean anything. It was just a whim. A stupid mistake.

  Maybe if I could have a closer look...

  Stop! My dad could come out here any second. Do you know what he’d do if he found us like this?

  I thought you liked to live dangerously.

  Maybe I do. Jack?

  Hmm?

  I love you. You know that, right? You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but sometimes I wonder...what if I’m not the girl you think I am? Jack? Are you even listening to me?

  “Jack?”

  He turned. “What did the tattoo look like? The one on Jamie Butaud’s shoulder?”

  Nathan gave a contemptuous snort. “It was a heart with a lightning bolt rammed through the center. Real subtle. Just like Tommy Driscoll.”

  Chapter Seven

  After a shower and several glasses of cold water, Jack started to feel human again. He grabbed a beer and headed down to the dock to enjoy the last of the sunset. The past twenty-four hours remained a mystery, but the harder he tried to recover those lost memories, the more painful the throbbing in his head became. He told himself to relax. Bit and pieces would come back in due time.

  But he still had a nagging worry that something bad had happened during his blackout. Had he found the driver of the black truck? Had he confronted Marc Waller face to face? Had they fought? Jack had no recollection of a conversation, let alone an altercation, but something needled at the back of his mind as he massaged his banged-up knuckles.

  Halfway down the steps, he came to an abrupt halt. A woman sat on the edge of the dock, dangling her feet in the water. His first thought was that Olive had come back, but as he descended a few more stairs, he saw that the woman’s hair was d
ark and clipped short.

  “Can I help you?” he called out.

  She started at the sound of his voice and scrambled to her feet, turning with a wry smile as her gaze traveled up the steps to where he waited. “Hello, stranger!” she called back.

  He stared down at her for a moment. “Beth? Beth Driscoll?”

  She laughed. “Oh, good! You remember me!”

  “Of course, I remember you.” He descended the rest of the steps to join her.

  Dressed in a simple cotton skirt and sleeveless blouse, she looked young and carefree standing in the afterglow of the sunset—just the way Jack remembered her. Even the short hair was the same. But as he drew closer, he couldn’t help noticing the lines around her eyes and at the corners of her mouth. The hardness in her stare and the brittle quality of her smile. His old friend was far from carefree. Marriage to Tommy Driscoll had been no picnic.

  “I heard you were back,” she said.

  “Word always did travel fast around here.”

  She motioned to the edge of the dock where her sandals had been abandoned. “I hope you don’t mind my dropping by like this. It’s still so hot out and the water looked inviting. I couldn’t resist.”

  “I don’t mind, but you could have just knocked on my door.”

  A cloud flitted across her expression. “I meant to, but somehow I lost my nerve when I got out here.”

  “Why would it take nerve to knock on my door? I don’t bite,” he said as they stood awkwardly facing one another.

  Her laugh was self-conscious. “I know that. It’s just...” She trailed off. “This is crazy.” She closed the distance between them and gave him a quick hug.

  He returned the embrace, taking note of her slenderness. She wasn’t naturally slight like Olive, and Jack wondered about the weight loss that had stripped away her curves and revealed too much of her collarbone. Her arms and legs looked as fragile and hollow as bird bones.

  She said against his shoulder, “It shouldn’t be this hard to greet an old friend.”

  “I wasn’t sure I had any friends left in this town.”

  She pulled away, searching his face. “I know it must have seemed that way back then, but I never stopped being your friend.” Her hand came up to flutter against his bruised cheek. “You were always good to me, Jack.”