Down and Dead in Dallas, page 22
Nervous tension high-jacked her attempt at humor.
She debated telling him her discovery. He did need to know it, and it would probably be better to learn it now from her. “Jackson,” she said softly. “I have a confession.”
“Another one?” He looked troubled, not that she could blame him.
“This is different, but I think you should know it.”
“Okay.”
“Remember the night I smelled the popcorn?”
He draped his arm over her shoulder, pulled her closer to him on the seat. “Yes.”
“I had the feeling we were being watched.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We were.”
“What?” He looked from the window down into her upturned face.
“I saw them—with a mirror.”
“Saw who?”
“I couldn’t make out their faces, but there were a handful of people sitting in lawn chairs, facing the trees, between our cottages.”
“Guarding us?” he asked.
“I guess. But the next night, there were more of them.”
“Because we were talking at the windows, they figured we were going to try to escape or something?”
“I don’t know why they were there,” she said, though she’d spent a lot of time speculating. “But every night, there were more of them.”
“They were eavesdropping on us?” He sounded horrified.
She couldn’t blame him. They had gotten really personal. But she couldn’t blame them, either. “I’m not sure our voices would carry that far.”
“In that quiet? They’d carry for miles.” He let out a healthy grunt. “I can’t believe they would do this.”
She stroked his shoulder, gave him a soothing pat. She’d had more time to think about this. “What we do impacts them directly, Jackson.” She looked at him. “They’re afraid.”
That took the air out of his tires. “You’re probably right.”
“We shouldn’t mention that we know, I don’t think.”
“With everything else, I doubt we’ll have the chance. But if the occasion arises, I’ll be taking it. We agreed to house arrest, and we—“
“Broke their trust,” she said. “We have nothing to complain about no matter why they were there.”
Jackson worked through that, then said, “I’m having a hard time reconciling the spitfire who took on Martin and his men with the understanding woman you are now.”
“I know. Sometimes, I’m having trouble figuring myself out, too.”
“This place changes you.”
It did. But she couldn’t be dishonest with him anymore. “Being cared for by a man you care for changes you more.”
He smiled. “I totally get that.”
The carriage stopped. Speckles opened the door, then stood back and announced, “The manor house.”
The bottom fell out of Christine’s stomach. The time to pay the piper had arrived.
Chapter 31
At the foot of the stairs, Mr. Jenkins stepped aside. “Go directly to the conference room,” he told Jackson and Christine. “Do not speak to anyone, and do not stop anywhere between here and there.”
Jackson nodded.
“Mr. Jenkins?” Christine couldn’t resist. “Is there any word on Caroline?”
He looked right through her as if she hadn’t even spoken to him.
Jackson tugged her hand and began climbing the steps.
The conference room didn’t look at all like it usually did. The large table in its center had been removed. Now a long, narrow table had been placed at one end. A row of chairs had been placed behind it. Seats for the committee members. Two chairs stood in front, in the center of the room, facing the table. Ten feet behind them, thirty or so folding chairs stood empty and waiting.
They’re allowing spectators? Jackson swallowed hard.
“Your seat is on the left,” Abigail said to Christine. “Jackson, you take the other one.”
They sat down and Abigail exited the room.
“This setting seems pretty formal.” Christine swerved her gaze to Jackson. “Have you seen these type of proceedings before?”
Jackson shook his head that he had not, and shot her a worry-laced glance telling her he wished he weren’t seeing them now.
The committee entered the conference room single file: Rose, who looked torn between being furious and scared to death, followed by Matthew, Darby, Mr. Perini, Lester, and then Miss Emily. Dr. Rossi left an empty seat next to Miss Emily. The committee members sat down.
A man about to enter the room stopped outside the door. Jackson couldn’t see his face, but he did glimpse that the man was tall and wearing a dark suit. Who could that be? Jackson wondered, but Lester claimed everyone’s attention with a gavel tap that echoed through Jackson’s soul.
“Due to the late hour, and the attorney being delayed,” Lester said with a glance at the doorway. It now stood empty. “We’ll forget the formalities and just get on with this business.” He looked to Jackson, then Christine. “You know your crimes well enough. So do we. If you have anything you’d like the committee to consider, now’s the time to let us know it.”
Christine raised her hand.
“What, Christine?”
She started to stand. A hand at her shoulder kept her in her seat. She looked back over her shoulder and saw Lucas. “Sorry,” she said, then faced the committee. “I have to tell you two things. Well, maybe three.”
“Spit ‘em out, girl.” Lester said, his voice gruff.
“When Jackson brought me here, he didn’t know I wasn’t Caroline.”
“We know that already,” Lester said. “Anything else?”
That blew her huge defense of him. “The wrongs done are all on me,” she said. “All of them. Did you know that, Lester?”
“Actually, they ain’t,” Lester said. “Facts are facts, and Jackson played his part, too.”
“I did,” Jackson said.
“You ain’t been recognized to speak, son. Zip it.” Lester turned his gaze back to Christine. “What else you got?”
“I need to make a phone call,” she said.
The whole committee gasped.
“A phone call?” Lester’s jaw dropped. “That is not happening, girl.”
“Wait, please.” Christine went on to tell them about the video and letter, how if Nell didn’t hear from her on the 31st, she’d be delivering those items to an attorney whose involvement could be problematic for all of them.
“Why did you wait until the 31st to tell us this?”
“There are no calendars at the cottage.” Christine’s face heated. “I didn’t realize the 31st was today until tonight. I realize the deadline has expired, but if I phone Nell right away, I’m certain I can stop this.”
Lester looked up and down the table, then just stared at Christine. “No phones allowed at the Park.”
Christine had to convince them. “I understand that, but this call is critical, Lester. Not to me, to all of you.”
That got their attention. Now they all glared at her, looking ready to pounce. “Explain yourself.”
“When I delivered that package to Nell—Dr. Nell Richmond—I didn’t know about any of you or what you did here. I didn’t even know where here was until I got here myself. If I had known, of course, I wouldn’t do what I did.” Christine squeezed her eyes shut, then reopened them. “If you’ll just let me call Nell, I can stop this and there won’t be any threat to any of you.”
The man glimpsed outside the door earlier walked in. Christine didn’t recognize him, but since no one appeared surprised to see him, she figured they all knew his identity and why he was there. He was huge, distant and stern and intimidating.
He turned a cold gaze on her. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that, Christine.”
That comment set off a flurry of worried whispers and more than a few groans.
The imposing man took his seat at the center of the table next to Miss Emily. “Lester, we need a short recess,” he said. “Lucas, get them out of here.”
Lucas led Christine and Jackson to an adjoining ante-room full of antiques. A sofa, two chairs—no windows and the one door. They’d negated any means of escape.
“I’ll be back for you.” Lucas closed the door and locked them in.
Christine swallowed hard. “Jackson, who is that man?”
“Dex?” Jackson sat down on the sofa.
She nodded. “Dex?”
“Dexter Devlin. He’s a lawyer.”
“Oh my gosh.” Christine grabbed the sides her head, certain her brain was going to explode. “Oh, my. What have I done?”
“What’s wrong? Dex is a decent guy. He’s helped a lot of people here—including Caroline and me,” Jackson said, reacting to Christine’s upset. “Christine, what is wrong with you?”
She paled, her skin losing all its color. “Dexter Devlin is the lawyer I told Nell to contact. He knows it all.”
Jackson cocked his head. “Why isn’t that a good thing? It strikes me as the best possible news. The information is contained.”
“No, Jackson. If he already knows it, then it means Nell contacted him early!” Christine dropped her voice. “How can we possibly convince them she hasn’t contacted anyone else?”
“Ah, I see.” Confusion fled Jackson’s expression. He actually looked almost relaxed.
She sat here having heart failure and he was relaxed? “Do you understand what I’ve said, Jackson?”
“I do.”
Lucas entered. “They’re ready for you.”
Scared stiff, Christine took a steadying breath. Her goose was as good as cooked. Probably Jackson’s too. What about Caroline? Would she be missing forever? And now what about Nell? This bunch had the reach—Dexter Devlin, for pity’s sake. Would the committee use all this against Nell?
Christine let resignation slide through her. If the committee deemed it in its best interests, it would…
Rose intercepted Jackson in the hallway. Her face was pasty, dark smudges circled her eyes, and her lips seemed fixed, thin and drawn tight. “What have you done, Jackson?” she spat in a stage whisper.
“He can’t speak, right, Lucas?” Christine looked from Rose to the head of security walking behind them.
“He cannot,” Lucas said, and his expression said if Jackson did, Lucas might just shoot him.
Rose growled, deep and throaty. “I’ve been fighting, begging and pleading with them to spare your lives for a solid week. You knew she wasn’t Caroline and you didn’t tell anyone—not even me?”
Lucas stepped between them. “Sorry, Rose. We have to get in there.”
She glared at her brother, then entered the room and took her seat next to Matthew.
Jackson hadn’t said a word, but even if permitted to speak, what could he say? His jaw was tight enough to crack and the pain in his eyes at having hurt his sister scalded Christine.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered for the fortieth time.
He didn’t so much as glance at her. She couldn’t blame him for that. For anything, really. She’d been so bent on finding Caro, Christine hadn’t given a single thought to what her actions could do to Jackson. To Rose or Matthew, or anyone else. She sat down in her same seat and Jackson sat beside her, focusing directly on the committee members.
Lester tapped the gavel, but it was Dexter Devlin who spoke. “The committee has now reviewed your video, Christine, and read your letter to me.”
She waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. The silence in the room stretched, taut and tense and discomforting. “May I speak, Mr. Devlin?” she said, unable to bear the silence another second.
He didn’t answer, just stared at her.
“Briefly,” Lester said.
“I didn’t know about any of you. I only knew my sister was missing and the odds were good I’d be killed trying to find her.” Christine wanted to stop there but she had to admit the whole truth. It would complete her humiliation, but it could spare Jackson their retribution. Well, some of it. “Once I got here, everything changed.” She’d belonged. “But this was my only lead on Caroline. I was terrified to say anything then. I was afraid I’d been removed and… I had nowhere else to look.”
Christine’s voice thinned. She paused, hoping by some miracle something infused it with strength. “If it were your sister missing, your only blood relative, would any of you have done anything different?”
That came out sounding a little more belligerent than she intended, but she wouldn’t apologize for it. If they were willing to kill her and Jackson for their transgressions, they would certainly do worse themselves. Well, at least as bad.
“I’m going to take exception to that, young lady.” Mr. Perini stood up, flung his hat down on the table. “Serious exception.”
“Why?” Christine asked. “How could I offend you? I don’t even know you.”
“I am Paul Perini,” he said. “I’ve taken enormous risks to help Rose and Matthew and your sister. We all have. So don’t you dare take that tone with us.”
Of course, they had. “I’m sorry, Mr. Perini.” Christine said and meant it. “I am aware that while I was pretending to be Caroline and drawing fire from Martin and his thugs, all of you, including Jackson, were keeping Caroline safe.”
“We were.” He nodded.
“Jackson tried to put my fears for Caro to rest. He told me everyone here would die to keep her safe.”
“Of course,” Mr. Perini said. “She’s family.”
But Christine was not. “This is all so frustrating.”
“What is?” Dex asked.
“Everything.” Christine never resented being an outsider more than at that moment. “I’m here and I still don’t know where my sister is. I’ve gotten Jackson and myself into all this trouble, and the whole bunch of you are scared to death—I’m not sure why. It seems counterproductive to be sidelined while Caro is still out there, maybe fighting for her life. She’s not a fighter,” Christine warned them. “She never has been. And she’s not like any of you. If she had been…”
“She’d have taken on Martin and his thugs herself,” Lester said. “We know all that, Christine. We know now you were telling the truth about things, and your video and letter to Dex confirms that things are what you said they were.”
“Not to mention the retainer check,” Rose said. “Nobody writes a check like that unless they’re desperate.”
Miss Emily nodded. “Thank God it was to Dex.”
Lester slid them both a warning to hold their peace, then looked back at Christine. “Why was it to Dex?”
“He’s the best.” Christine shrugged.
“That’s it?” Dex asked. “No one referred or recommended me? Nell Richmond didn’t suggest me?”
“No,” Christine said. “I don’t know if Nell had ever heard your name before my video and letter.” Christine paused, but clearly the committee members were waiting for more, so she gave it to them. “I needed someone I could trust.”
Dex snorted. “You didn’t know you could trust me.”
“Not personally, but there are thousands of people on the Internet who trust you implicitly. Case studies, opinion essays, news articles. I should have recognized you, but you don’t much look like your photographs. I’m thinking now that’s intentional.”
“I prefer a certain amount of anonymity,” he admitted. “And you still haven’t told us why you trusted me. We’ve never met, Christine. Someone had to send you to me.”
“No, we haven’t met, but no one sent me to you. I told you, I researched you. I wanted the best.” Christine worried her lower lip with her teeth. “When I read your pleadings on the Mason case—“
“The New York Mason case or the one in Sacramento?” he asked.
“Neither,” she said, frowning at him for baiting her. “It was the Florida case. When I read the pleadings, I knew you were the one. Oh, everyone says how great you are, and that you’ve got the sharpest legal mind maybe ever, but this was about my sister’s life and maybe mine, and something was missing. So I kept researching you. I found what was missing in the Mason case.”
“What did you find?” Lester asked.
“Heart.” She hated admitting this aloud, but there was no help for it. “Here was a woman—June Mason—who clearly was as guilty as guilty gets, and yet you took her case and, by the time you were done, we loved her. No devices, no tricks, no manipulating the truth.”
“Heart.” Miss Emily said. “That’s our Dex.”
“I believe her,” Matthew said.
“Me, too,” Mr. Perini agreed, though he seemed a little put out at having to say so. “Not that believing her cures our ails.”
Jackson broke his silence. “What exactly are your ails, Mr. Perini? Not with me. I know exactly what they are with me. I mean with Christine.”
Matthew looked to Rose. Miss Emily to Lester. Mr. Perini to Darby, and Darby to Dex. He frowned. “We know what to do with you, Jackson. We don’t know what to do with Christine.”
She lifted a hand. “Why do you have to do anything with me?”
Dexter folded his hands on the tabletop. “The people here survive because they’re all invested. Everyone has a lot to lose. That vested interest makes the survival of one another as important to each of them as their own. It takes all to have all here.”
“The code keeps them all safe,” Jackson said. “I broke the code, telling you anything. Even by bringing you here, since I didn’t verify you were who you claimed you were. That’s on me.”
Christine frowned, looked at Mr. Perini. “Am I not at least a little bit of an insider here because I’m Caro’s sister? She came to Sampson Park not knowing anyone, and you call her family.”
“She didn’t deceive us.” Mr. Perini shot back. “Though I’m giving you props for taking the heat of being her for all those months. We know Martin’s as mean as a snake. His henchmen, too. We don’t doubt your courage or your devotion to your sister, Christine. Neither is in question nor our issue.”
“I won’t disagree about Martin or his men, though one of them was half-decent. He gave me a note warning me Martin was about to kill me, or to order them to and he’d do it. But he did give me a heads up.”
