Chapter 28
She silenced the alarm and took a deep breath, taking in a familiar smell. Coffee. Scott must be up.
Eli’s texts. Even though she’d dismissed his implication that Scott wasn’t on the up-and-up, Eli had created an element of doubt about Scott. Tori didn’t know him, not really.
She massaged the muscles in her neck. Scott had jumped right on getting Amy to Logan Point with protection.
Was it so he could keep tabs on both of them?
Amy knew about as much about Walter Livingston’s case as Tori did.
And then he’d practically insisted on her staying at Oak Grove last night.
It would explain why he’d seemed too good to be true.
Were there really men out there like him, who wanted to help without asking for anything in return?
And now she had to go downstairs and pretend nothing had changed, that she completely trusted him. If only Eli hadn’t put that sliver of doubt in her mind!
Tori pushed the thoughts away and focused on getting dressed.
Just before she stepped out of the ensuite, a quick check of her hair in the antique mirror had her sweeping the tangled mess in a ponytail.
Seconds later a strand slipped from the band.
Frustrated, she found a bobby pin in her makeup bag and pinned it to her head.
Then she applied a light touch of lipstick, surprised there were no dark circles under her eyes.
She descended the stairs, making a mental note to call Richard Livingston and change their appointment before she picked up Drew. Correction. Before she and Scott picked up Drew.
Scott turned as she entered the kitchen. “Good morning. How do you like your eggs?”
Tori pasted on a smile, which wasn’t that hard—the man cleaned up nicely with a long-sleeved blue shirt and khaki pants. And he’d already shaved. Her breath quickened. There was something about a freshly shaved man.
But what if Eli was right? Was she letting his good looks and easygoing nature blind her? No, she couldn’t go there right now. Maybe she could talk to the sheriff about Scott after their meeting, just to get his opinion of him. “I, ah, usually just eat toast.”
“That’s not enough. Today you’re having bacon and eggs and biscuits.”
“Biscuits? Did you make them?”
He laughed. “No, they’re whop biscuits.”
“What kind?”
“You never heard of whop biscuits? You know, whop the can on the side of the stove and it pops open?”
She groaned. “You’re not a dad, but that sounds like a dad joke.”
His grin spread. “Actually, it’s what my dad said every time he made this breakfast.”
“So it is a dad joke.”
“Yep.” He set a plate of biscuits on the table beside the bacon. “And you never said what kind of eggs—how about scrambled?”
“Sure.” If she ate anything other than toast it was usually a protein bar, and at least eggs were high in protein. She eyed the flaky biscuits. They looked pretty tempting.
“Butter is on the table. Eggs are coming right up.”
Thirty minutes later she sat back in the chair with a cup of coffee in her hand. “Those eggs were great. What’d you do to them?”
“Added cheese. And water—makes ’em fluffy.”
“Where’d you learn to cook?” She sipped the coffee and held up the cup. “And make this? It’s not bitter.”
“A little salt helps with bitterness. And it was learn to cook or starve when I went to college. Found out I liked it.”
“Glad someone does.” She rubbed the top of the cup handle. Scott was so easy to be around, but no matter how hard she tried, Tori couldn’t get Eli’s accusations out of her mind.
“You okay?” Scott asked.
She jumped, sloshing coffee on the table. “Oh, what a mess I made!”
He hopped up, grabbed a handful of paper towels, and mopped up the coffee. “It’s all right. I’m the one who usually does something like this.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Not a problem.” He paused with the wet paper in his hand. “You seem . . . distracted.”
“Just worried about Drew.” It wasn’t a lie if it was partly true, was it? She checked her watch. “I think I’ll see if Richard or his secretary are in their office so I can reschedule my appointment with him once we finish with Ben.”
He cocked his head. “Do I need to reschedule my rehab?”
“No. I’ll be fine.” Tori didn’t want him to hang around after the meeting. “Ben’s office is only two blocks from the Livingston parking lot. No one is going to bother me that close to his office, and you need to keep your appointment.” And give her space to get her mind settled.
Tori dialed the office number but no one answered. She would call on the way to Erin’s house. She pocketed her phone and turned to Scott. “You don’t have to go with me to pick up Drew—I can handle getting him to Ben’s office.”
He gave her a curious look. “But I want to go with you. Drew is a good kid, and he needs someone in his corner since Zack seems to be MIA.”
“You got that right. I hope he shows up this morning.”
“Me too, but if he doesn’t, I thought . . . if we drive separately, maybe Drew could ride with me. I might get him to open up, maybe even tell me what he was doing in Jenny’s neighborhood the night she was murdered.”
Since Drew had gone silent on her, it made sense to let Scott try and gain his confidence. “Sounds like a plan.”
“I know.” Scott winked at her as he grabbed his keys from the counter. “And that way if the meeting goes long, I can leave and make rehab at ten.”
She agreed and followed him out the door. Ten minutes later, her heart sank when they pulled into Erin’s and her dad’s Chevy Blazer was sitting in the drive. Tori hadn’t figured on having to deal with him.
When Erin opened the front door, Tori jerked her head toward the drive. “What’s he doing here?”
Her sister narrowed her eyes. “Really, Tori? He’s here for Drew. Not everything is about you.”
Tori brushed past her sister without answering. She didn’t want to deal with her dad today. She turned around. “Let it go.”
“No. You ought to be glad that Dad wants to support Drew. He spent the night here and he’s talking to Drew now.” Erin glanced toward the road. “Is Scott Sinclair going with us?”
“Yes.”
Erin’s eyes narrowed. “You want to explain to me why you spent the night with Scott?”
Leave it to her sister to think the worst of her. A small voice whispered, Aren’t you doing the same thing with Dad?
Tori brushed the thought away. She probably should’ve explained to Erin last night, but Tori had been so tired.
“I didn’t think I had to, but if you have to know, someone tried to run me off the road, and I didn’t want to endanger you by coming here.
” She lifted her chin. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I slept in a guest room at Oak Grove. ”
“Wait, did you say someone tried to—”
Tori hadn’t meant to say that, but it was too late now. She nodded. “And it wasn’t the first time since I’ve been home that someone attacked me. I didn’t want to tell you because we have enough to deal with in Drew’s case.”
Her dad appeared in the hall doorway. “Did you say someone tried to harm you? Who was it?”
Tori palmed her hands. “I don’t know.” She took a deep breath and softened her voice. “Can we discuss it later, when we have more time? Ben Logan said to be at his office at nine, and it’s almost that now. Where’s Drew?”
“In the den,” her dad said and then yelled over his shoulder, “Drew! Let’s go.”
A few seconds later her nephew shuffled into the living room wearing the same pullover and she assumed the same jeans from yesterday. If there weren’t dark circles under his eyes, she’d think he wasn’t at all worried about the interview. “Don’t you have another shirt and pair of jeans?”
Drew looked down at his clothes. “I’m good. Took a shower, and these clothes aren’t dirty.”
They would have to do. Richard’s and Eli’s offer to contact an attorney popped into her mind and she glanced first at Erin, then her dad. “Do we need a lawyer?”
“This is Ben Logan we’re dealing with,” Erin said. “He’s not going to try and twist what Drew says into something that isn’t true.”
Tori hoped that was true. She checked her watch. Eight minutes before they had to be at Ben’s office. At least a person could be anywhere in Logan Point in five minutes, and that left three to park and get inside. “Would you like to ride to town with Scott Sinclair? He’s going with us.”
“Sure. He’s cool.”
At least that got a positive reaction from her nephew. He’d probably thought Tori planned to grill him on the drive downtown. She turned to her sister. “You coming?”
Erin shook her head. “I have to make changes to the Livingston proposal and get them to Richard before noon.”
Rats. Tori had forgotten to call again to change her appointment. Maybe this meeting wouldn’t last long. Then she frowned. “Where is Zack?”
“He’s not coming,” Erin said, her voice tight. “Said there was an emergency at the warehouse.”
“And this isn’t an emergency?” she snapped. Zack probably had a hangover.
“He thought we could handle it,” her dad said and cleared his throat. “Mind if I ride with you? No need to take more vehicles.”
Tori swallowed back the instant “Yes, I mind” that wanted to pop out. Why couldn’t she do what Erin advised—get past what happened? But how did you change your heart or get back respect you’d lost years ago? Baby steps, one at a time. She sighed and nodded. “Good point.”
Her dad opened the door and let Drew and Tori go first, then followed them out. “Nice car,” he said, opening the passenger door on her Toyota while Drew climbed into Scott’s pickup.
“Thanks.” She fastened her seat belt, backed out of Erin’s drive, and pulled out behind Scott. “I bought it while I worked full-time at the TV station.”
“I never have told you how proud I am of you and everything you’ve accomplished.”
It surprised Tori that his words warmed her heart.
“But then you haven’t given me much of a chance to tell you anything,” he said.
The void left by her mother’s death hit her, a pain so deep she ached. “I wasn’t the one who messed up.”
“You think I don’t live with that every day of my life? I wish it’d been me who died that day, not your mom. Maybe if I hadn’t had a hangover when that tire blew—”
“What tire?” She didn’t remember anything about a tire blowing.
“That’s what caused me to lose control of the car.”
Why did she not remember that? Had she needed someone to blame so badly that she purposely blocked it?
She hadn’t been in Logan Point when it happened, and the funeral and the few days she’d spent here afterward were like a distant nightmare.
She’d barely gotten her equilibrium back when Michael was murdered.
Tori glanced her dad’s way. What if the accident wasn’t his fault?
“Dad, uh—”
“Watch that pickup!”
With a horn blaring in her ears, Tori slammed on the brakes, and her car skidded through a stop sign. She barely missed the driver laying down on his horn. He flipped her off and gunned his truck around her. Tori was glad she couldn’t hear what he was yelling.
She loosened her death grip on the steering wheel and slumped against the seat.
She’d almost killed them both . . . and maybe the driver of the truck.
It would have been her fault. Her hands shook as she turned toward her dad, who looked as though he didn’t have an ounce of blood in his face. “You okay?”
He swallowed hard and tipped his head. “Yeah. How about you?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m sor—”
“We all make mistakes, Tori.” He squeezed her hand that was still trembling. “But no one died this time.”
She held his gaze and managed a tiny smile. “But they could’ve,” she said softly.
“Don’t dwell on the negative. I do it enough for both of us.”
“Maybe we can change that.”
“We’ll see, but we better get to the sheriff’s office.”
She nodded and put the car in gear. A couple of minutes later, she pulled in beside Scott’s pickup and climbed out, her legs still shaky.
“What happened? You were right behind me,” Scott said.
“I almost ran a stop sign.” He questioned her with his eyes. “We can talk about it later. Right now Ben’s waiting for us.”
She tapped on the window. “Time to go, Drew.”
He climbed out of Scott’s truck, moving like an old man with his shoulders slumped. Tori would give anything for him not to go through this. She fell in behind. “You okay?”
His answer was a grunt.
“You haven’t done anything wrong. Ben will see that. Just tell the truth.”
“Tell the truth.”
She barely heard him mutter the words under his breath. “That’s all you have to do—the truth is something you can tell over and over.”
“I didn’t kill Jenny.”
“I know that.”
He rubbed his face. “But what if Ben Logan doesn’t believe me?”