Chapter 8
EIGHT
It wasn’t until I pulled into the garage that I let myself feel relief.
From the moment Amy stared at Lock’s photo and registered…
nothing, I’d turned to stone in my mind.
She had seen the man she believed had abducted her sister and described him with enough detail to help render a composite sketch of him.
She studied Lock’s photograph from no more than a foot away from it.
I couldn’t read minds. But in my years as a prosecutor interviewing and cross-examining witnesses, I had a pretty good sense of body language and facial expressions.
She did not recognize Lock. Lock couldn’t be the man who had dated or abducted her sister.
How could I have ever let such intrusive thoughts take hold of me? In the last ten years I’d sought therapy. I tried to unlearn my tendency to catastrophize everything. And yet, I’d let myself go right down that road against the only person I ever trusted.
I went into the house and kicked my heels off in the foyer. I heard Lock’s voice coming from his study. He was on the phone.
“Yes, Mother.”
The great and powerful Olivia Bennett Manning. Lock’s desk phone was the only landline we kept. It was the only number she’d call when she wanted to reach him. As if she wanted to keep Lock physically tethered to her when they spoke.
They hadn’t spoken since Christmas. She had three and a half months to stockpile her grievances.
She was paid a handsome annuity each month to fund her extravagant lifestyle overseas.
She’d chosen Monaco most recently. But she’d done stints in Paris, London, Dubai, even Tokyo.
And every year, she used emotional blackmail to get Lock to increase her allowance.
He paid it mostly to keep her from coming back to Lasalle Harbor.
I took off my earrings and placed them on the counter, then hung my suit jacket on a nearby wall hook. Unbuttoning the top three buttons on my blouse, I headed for the study.
“You’ll have it,” he said. “The wire transfer has already been initiated.”
When I entered the study, Lock had his back to me. He stood at the front of his desk with the black receiver in one ear, his other hand on his hip. I watched the sharp rise and fall of his shoulders as he sighed with exasperation.
“I love you too, Mother. I’ll try to call you next week. Mina sends her love as well.”
I watched the man I loved as visions of the evidence on those papers flashed through my mind.
The NDA, the nickname, the cutlery. Should I fear the man in front of me?
I tried to reassure myself. Remember that Amy hadn’t recognized Lock.
Perhaps it was normal in these affluent circles to have such specific obsessive tendencies around dinnerware placement?
Could it be a common enough predilection for the rich and bored?
Then I heard Lock’s tone change.
“I know,” Lock said, dropping his head. “You think I could forget his birthday? Yes. I’ll take care of that too. I do every year.”
Lock leaned forward, knocking his fist against the desk. A shudder went through him as he hung up the phone. And I forced all the concerns in my head to dissipate.
I felt terrible. How could I be suspecting the man I loved?
“Lock?” I said, not wanting to startle him.
His eyes were filled with torture as he turned to me. But the second I took a step toward him, his expression brightened and turned soft.
“Mina,” he said, pulling me into an embrace. “You’re exactly what I needed.”
Despite everything I had been thinking, I loved the warmth of his hands on the small of my back. I reached up and tucked back an errant lock of hair from his forehead. I ached for him, was I letting that cloud my judgment?
“Should I even bother to ask?”
Lock sat on the edge of the desk and brought me toward him until I stood between his legs, his arms around my waist. I rested my head against his chest. He smelled good. I could feel his heartbeat beneath my cheek. Steady. Strong. Healthy.
“Same thing as always. Money. My father knew without guardrails she’d spend the family fortune in five years or less. But she resents being treated like a child, as she calls it.”
“It’s not her money,” I said. “She married into it.”
“By that argument, it’s not mine either. I was born into it.”
“So let’s spend it all. End her main reason for contacting you.”
He laughed, and I loved the vibration of his chest. I pulled away so I could see his face.
“If it were that easy, I’d have done it. But then how could I keep my gorgeous wife in the style to which she’s grown accustomed?”
“I know how to live without it. You’re the one who doesn’t. I would have signed a stronger prenup, walking away from all of it.” I spoke more quickly than I’d intended, almost defensively. The list from Corrine’s police file floated in front of my mind. That stupid NDA.
He frowned, then hooked a finger under my chin and brought my lips to his. Instantly, my heart eased. He brought me back down to earth.
“I’d give up every penny in a heartbeat,” he said. “But then I’d have no real way to help anyone. I’m doing all of this for Bennett’s Place.”
“I know,” I said. But when he mentioned Bennett’s Place, something went through his eyes. I stepped away from him.
“This mood you’re in. It’s not just about Olivia, is it? What happened?”
He shook his head. “We can talk about it later. Tell me how your day went.”
“Fine,” I said a little too quickly.
“Mina?”
“Fine, really. Just mundane stuff with the task force. Interviewing witnesses. Reading through dry police reports. Doing research for a suppression hearing I’ve got next week in a domestic assault case.”
“Well, that sounds dull as dirt,” he said, pushing himself off the desk.
We made our way to the bedroom and retreated to our own corners.
Lock loosened his tie. Peeled off his dress shirt and slipped into a pair of track pants and a T-shirt.
I did the same, trading what was left of my suit for yoga pants and a tank top.
I sat on the bed, twisting my hair into a topknot and sliding a clip through it. Lock plopped down beside me.
“Turn around,” he said.
I did. He started working the knots out of my shoulders. I let out a sinful moan.
I saw his face in the full-length mirror in the corner. Deep lines creased his brow.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
His hands froze. “I got called to the ER this morning.”
“One of the boys?”
“Terrence Shannon,” he answered.
I racked my brain, then hit upon the memory. “Terrence,” I repeated. “You were going to pick him for the scholarship.”
“He OD’d last night,” Lock said.
I rested my chin on his shoulder. “How? I mean… did he bring something in?”
Lock shook his head. “He left the home yesterday morning. Apparently hooked up with some friends. All three of them ended up in the hospital. This one’s probably going to land on your desk at some point. The cops have already managed to find the dealer.”
“I may have to recuse myself if the victims came from Bennett’s Place.”
“I hope not,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t have even said anything. I just… I thought we were getting through to Terrence.”
“You know how this goes. It’s never linear. Boys like Terrence are going to try to fail and fail again. One step up, two steps sideways, remember?”
He twisted so he could face me. “Hey, that’s my line.”
“You can’t take it personally every time one of these boys messes up, Lock. They’re human. So are you.”
He got that dark look in his eyes again.
I knew what he was thinking. That photograph he kept in his office of those first boys who didn’t make it.
The one Eli used to remind me how much more he knew about Lock’s history than I did.
I felt guilty for even having that thought.
Once again, I probably just let my own paranoia and insecurity creep in.
Eli wasn’t lording anything over me. He was expressing concern about his friend.
“I wish you’d told me about the boys who lived in the house with you,” I said. If I was honest with myself, it was one of the things making me worried about whatever secrets he was hiding.
“How did you know about that?”
“Eli mentioned it.”
“To you? Why? And what was going on between the two of you yesterday? I walked in on something. Did you argue?”
I debated not telling him. But how could I keep something from him when his lies were what was fracturing us right now?
“I walked in on Eli and the event planner in a compromising position.” I studied Lock. If he was this WhisprMatch suspect, he’d have been cheating on me for years. Did he approve of what Eli was doing? Worse, did he know? “I told Eli I thought it was inappropriate. He disagreed.”
Lock’s face fell. “Eli would screw a garden hose if he could figure out how. I’ll talk to him.”
“Please don’t. He asked me not to tell you. He doesn’t want to disappoint you. Despite what a cad he can be, he loves you. That makes him important to me too. I don’t want him to feel like I tattled on him.”
“He shouldn’t have put you in that position.
I can forgive him everything except upsetting you.
I can’t let that stand, baby.” Darkness flashed in his eyes.
But I wondered if this meant he knew Eli was cheating, if he allowed his friend to do it.
If he could forgive Eli so easily for breaking his vows to Piper, did that mean he could break the ones he’d made to me?
“Just try not to put me in the middle. Not that Piper is that big a fan of mine, but I don’t like feeling like I’m aiding and abetting her husband’s infidelity.”
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go have dinner.”
The mention of it made my stomach shift again. Lock must have seen something in my eyes.
“Mina? You don’t look well.”
“It’s just been a long day.”
“Are you nauseous?”
An innocent question under normal circumstances. But with what we’d gone through, it was loaded.
“Lock.”
“Mina… you were supposed to test four days ago. You haven’t started. I know that much.”
Then Lock moved with purpose. He took my hand again and led me into the bathroom. He opened “The Drawer” and pulled out a long, thin paper package and handed it to me.
“I’ll wait outside,” he said, knowing better than to smile.
He left me and closed the bathroom door.
I stared at that white and purple stick.
Closing my eyes, I said a silent prayer.
Then, I pulled off the purple cap and took that test for at least the fiftieth time.
Not knowing if I wanted the same answer anymore.