Nineteen
My morning agenda was twofold. First, I had to call Sam, and second, I needed to go to Susan Reid’s house and take a look around.
See if I could find anything to incriminate her.
Knowing something in your heart and proving it were two very different things.
As I headed out after breakfast, walking toward the street, I called Sam.
“Jory.”
“Hi.” I smiled into the phone. “How are you?”
Long silence.
“Sam?”
“Jory… Jesus Christ, Jory! Where the fuck are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“That’s not what I fuckin’ asked! Where the fuck are you?”
Up to that point I had thought I’d heard every variation of Sam Kage’s voice, but cold fury had been missing from the repertoire without my knowledge. I had never ever heard him so angry.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I really am.”
“You have no idea how sorry you’re gonna be.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means that when I get you—”
“You won’t leave me, will you? You’re not so mad that you’re gonna move out or something?”
“I haven’t even moved in yet!” He was incredulous.
I laughed because it was absurdly funny.
“Jory!”
“What?” I chuckled, wiping my eyes. He was a riot.
“Tell me where—”
“I was just worried. I hoped you weren’t so mad that you would leave me.”
“Are you kidding me? For fuck’s sake, Jory, there’s not gonna be anything left to leave! I’m gonna fuckin’ beat you till—”
I sighed deeply. “Beating’s fine, just so long as you stick around.”
There was a noise, and then an even icier voice.
“Where…precisely…are you?”
“Hi,” I said. “Is Candace okay?”
“Yes, Jory, Candace is fine,” Dane said, clipping his words, using the crisp tone I hated more than anything. “Where are you?”
“I’m all right now, even though the bruise from where he hit me—”
“Hit you? Who hit you?”
Muffled sounds and then: “Who hit you?”
“Rego James,” I told the love of my life.
“But I’m fine. It just looks bad.” And it did.
When I had seen myself in the mirror in the morning light, I’d looked worse than I thought.
I had a black eye, and my lip was split.
My eyebrow, of everything, looked the best, and I had not, as Carrington thought, torn any stitches.
“When were you with Rego James?”
“In the car.”
“In what car?”
“His limo.”
“Rego’s limo,” he clarified.
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
He growled at me. “And he hit you?”
“Yeah, but I kinda deserved it. I freaked him out a little.”
“Jory!” he exploded, pushed to the edge.
“Sorry.” I sighed. “I’m really… I know I’m makin’ you nuts.”
He cleared his throat. “Okay…tell me now where you are.”
“In Dallas.”
He coughed.
“Sam?”
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”
“What?”
“You left the state?”
“Yeah. I hafta save Caleb.”
“Jesus Christ,” he groaned.
“Sam, he’s innocent, I know he is.”
“And so you’re gonna do what…find something nobody else could and vindicate him?”
“Yes,” I said confidently.
“Jory, there are—”
“Jory!”
Dane had taken the phone back. This was fun.
“Is Aja all right?” I asked my brother.
“What?”
“Is Aja—”
“Aja’s fine. She’s with her folks and policemen and her very own bodyguard, who could kill most people with his pinky, so you don’t worry about her.
Right now we need you, so very shortly you’re going to get a visit from the Dallas PD, and they’re going to take you in for us and keep you safe until we get there. ”
“Have you thought about what you’re saying?”
“What?”
“If Caleb is the bad guy in all of this, and that’s what you truly believe, and he’s there, and I’m here…where’s the danger coming from that you think I’m in?”
“Are you kidding?”
“No. Explain.”
“The danger is from you running around getting in the way of both criminals and law enforcement. You need to be home under lock and key.”
“Okay,” I said, placating him.
“The police have been notified, so I suggest you sit tight and wait for them.”
He was so full of crap. “Look, I really wanna see Susan and Daniel’s house. I have a theory.”
“Oh, I’m sure you do.”
“Listen, Dane, I—”
The noise cut me off, something moving over the phone.
“Jory, you need to listen to me.” Sam again. “I want you to just—”
“I can’t stop now, Sam.”
“You’re just gonna keep doin’ whatever the hell you think is right, aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” I told him honestly. “I hafta save Caleb.”
“Jory—”
“He’s innocent, Sam, I know he is.”
“You don’t know shit. You’re just hoping that he—”
I grunted, cutting him off.
“Agent Calhoun wants to talk to you.”
“Is he gonna put me in jail again?”
“No, Jory, what would be the point? You would just get out.”
I chuckled, and he growled at me.
“You’re in trouble for slipping out of custody.”
“Collins let me out of jail and he’s on Rego’s payroll, so maybe that should be the bigger takeaway here.”
Silence on the line for a moment.
“Sam?”
“Jory.” Sam’s deep, resonant voice came over the line. “Tell me where you are.”
“I’ll call ya later. I just wanted you to know that I was okay.”
“Hanging up would be a mistake.”
But I did it anyway, then turned off the phone before I climbed into the back of the cab that stopped for me.
Now, should I have told Sam and Dane where I was going?
Probably not. Did I think the Dallas police department, or technically a police department outside of Dallas, would simply deploy on Sam’s word to stop me?
No. No I did not. But I decided not to worry about the situation until I had to.
That was how I got through quite a bit in life.
Worrying about things outside one’s control was not helpful in the least. So I concentrated on what I was going to say when I got there instead.
The ride was long and boring, and when I finally reached the house—I had the address in my contacts with all the rest of her information—I was antsy and close to being claustrophobic.
It was a split-level ranch on land I couldn’t see the end of.
I felt the same way I did after a long plane ride, like if I didn’t walk around, I would just snap and start screaming.
Standing beside the mailbox next to the road, I saw how lush and manicured the front yard was.
There were solar panels on the roof, three golden retrievers playing together in the fenced front yard, and two Toyota Priuses parked in the driveway.
The front of the house was a wall of windows, and I saw someone moving around inside.
The trumpeting barks from the dogs brought Gwen, Caleb’s sister, out the side door.
“Jory,” she called over to me, waving.
I waved back as the dogs continued to bark at me.
“Knock it off!” she yelled at them, which—surprisingly—worked the first time. I watched her closely, unsure of what to do.
“Come in,” she motioned for me. “Hurry up, it’s cold as shit out here.”
So not the greeting I was expecting. “Hey.” I waved at her.
“Just walk inside the gate, the dogs are loud but harmless, I promise.”
Taking her at her word, I opened the gate, which brought on lots of happy whimpering, and stepped inside, closing it behind me. I petted each of the dogs, who were all sweet and fluffy, and when I started toward the house, they all followed.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, stepping out onto the porch.
“I was in town for business, and I thought I’d come see ya.”
She let the screen door slam shut behind her, and when I reached the porch, she rushed forward to hug me. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Me too.” I sighed, hugging her back.
“Ohmygod.” She jerked away, looking at my face. “What happened to you?”
Interesting that she had no idea. “I was in a small car accident. Just a fender bender, and all is well.”
“Good,” she consoled me. “You don’t look that bad, but I can tell you’re a bit banged up.”
“I am,” I agreed.
“Ohmygod, you’re not gonna believe this, but my folks are actually in Chicago as we speak.”
I squinted at her. Was she kidding?
“I know—how funny, right?” She widened her eyes before turning back toward the house and introducing me to the dogs, giving me all their names. She had each of them shake hands with me.
I was more concerned with her brother though. “Gwen?”
“Yeah?” she asked as she led me into the house, the dogs coming with us.
“Honey, what about Caleb?”
“What about him? He’s good.”
I just stared at her.
“What? Are you gonna see him while you’re here too?”
I wasn’t sure if she was messing with me or not.
“Jory?”
“What are your folks doing in Chicago?”
“Mom said they had to go see Dane about something.” She made a face.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Gwen?” I pressed her.
She let out a quick breath. “The business isn’t going well, J.
If Dad wants to keep helping other people go green, he’s gonna have to either get a loan from Dane, find other investors, or take on a partner.
He doesn’t like the idea of the investors or the partner, so I think he went to hit Dane up for money. ”
I nodded. “That’s where they are? In Chicago, asking Dane for money?”
“Mom said they were going to see Dane, and I’m not stupid. I hear what’s going on, ya know?”
I didn’t think she was stupid, but she was out of the loop big-time on this one. “So can I ask you a favor?”
“Course.” She yawned. “You want a mocha? I’m making myself one. Casey bought me a cappuccino maker for my birthday last month.”
“Casey?”
“My boyfriend, Casey,” she said, giggling. “I only talk about him all the time.”
“The paragon of virtue, Casey.” I smiled. “I remember.”
She swatted my arm. “Jory, just because you’re a huge slut doesn’t mean everybody is.”
Gwen Reid and Casey Mills had been dating for five years, and they had, as far as I knew, never had sex. The whole no-sex-before-marriage thing had me stumped, but I respected the choice, if nothing else.
“So? Coffee?”
I shook my head. “No thanks on the mocha thing, but do you think you could help me find all the stuff your mom has about Dane’s adoption?”
She squinted at me. “Sweetie, all that stuff’s in the safe, I’m sure, but…why do you wanna see it?”
“I just really wanna find the agency that put him up for adoption, because I think maybe the Harcourts had another child that I wanna check on.”