Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (112 page)

“I want to know where he’s being held,” she said. “Is Jack Martin even in jail or is he in some flimsy FBI safe house somewhere?”

“He’s in a correctional facility,” he said, standing up. “Hold on one minute.”

He walked over to his desk, shuffled through some papers, and pulled out a sheet and handed it to her.

Kate read it for a moment and then took out a notepad and wrote something down.

“I know you both are upset right now,” Felder said. “But later, when you’ve calmed down, do yourselves a favor and try and take the long view. Nathaniel Mortimer is dead. The other guilty parties are incarcerated. Their licenses will be revoked. When they get out of prison they won’t be able to practice medicine. It’s still a win, just not by as much as we would have hoped.”

 “A win?” Kate said. “Seriously? It’s a win that Abby will have to go through her life watching her back all the fu—”

She stopped in mid word, shaking her head.

“It’s not even going to be five years, is it? Someone with his connections isn’t going to serve a full sentence,” she said. “When?”

I wasn’t sure what she was talking about.

“Two years,” Felder said, clearing his throat. “They’ll be eligible for parole in two years.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Kate said.

We walked out.

***

We sat in Kate’s car.

“How did it come to this?” she asked. “I can’t see how losing the trial would have been any worse. At least people would have heard your side. They would have heard the truth.”

We sat quietly for a few minutes. I looked over at Kate in the dark. She was still angry, but the blackness had begun to fade.

“Why are they just slapping his wrist like that?” she said.

“I don’t know. I guess he has friends in high places.”

“Exactly,” she said.

A feeling of dread crept in around me as the last of the light left the sky.

“I’ll be home in a little while,” she said after I opened the door. “Try not to let it get you down, Abby. We’ll figure something out.”

I smiled weakly and walked toward the Jeep.

CHAPTER 25

I knew right away, because of the colors.

It was a vision. And it was all so beautiful. The colors!

I felt them as much as saw them. I touched them and they touched me, almost flowing through me. Reds, blues, purples. Different shades of green.

I was drowning in a sea of colors. But I wasn’t troubled. I was at peace. I didn’t need to breathe. I didn’t need anything.

I heard people around me, laughing. And then loud, thunderous applause. I couldn’t see them. Just the colors.

Then I heard the dog, howling in the distance.

And then that gentle voice whispering in my ear, like honey dripping from a spoon.

“We all have our secrets, Abby,” it purred.

Nathaniel.

CHAPTER 26

It was like the last scene from one of those cheesy movies. The ones that pull at your insides until you start crying. And you don’t care who sees.

As Ty walked out from the revolving door of the Redmond Airport, I ran up, threw myself into his arms, and gave him a long, sweet kiss. We stayed there like that for a long time. I was so happy he was home.

I had almost forgotten what he looked like. It was all coming back to me now.

“You’re back,” I whispered, and kissed him again.

“Of course I am. Now, take me home, James,” he said, picking up his bag. “We’ve got some catching up to do.”

Fighting to stay within the speed limit, I drove us to his place on the west side of town, not far from the river.

I was glad he didn’t have roommates anymore. The last one had left after New Year’s, moving back to Montana. And with Ty working so much at the pub, he was able to cover the rent by himself. It gave us a place to be alone and hang out.

It wasn’t that cold outside, but the house was freezing. In a few minutes Ty had a roaring fire going. It was perfect and romantic and we kissed, standing in its warm glow.

“I’ve been thinking about this forever,” he said, his hand slipping down my back and then pulling off my shirt.

“Me, too.”

He smiled, his eyes dancing in the firelight and taking my breath away. I didn’t know how it was even possible to feel the way I did at that moment.

He picked me up and took me to his bed.

“I love you, Abby,” he said, looking into my eyes.

“I love you,” I whispered back.

The morning crackled with magic and warmth and I felt more in love with him than I ever had before.

***

“Where are you headed?” I said as he started to get dressed.

“Man’s gotta eat. And a man in love’s gotta eat pizza.”

Mondo Pizza was less than a mile away. It was a beautiful day. Warm and bright, more like May than early March. The children played and the geese honked and Ty held my hand and everything was right with the world.

We sat outside, eating and talking. I told him a little bit about the reduced sentences, but I kept it brief. I wasn’t going to spoil the moment. With Ty here now, those things felt very far away.

“Tell me about Idaho,” I said. “You like it there?”

“The little I saw, yeah,” he said. “I was putting in a lot of hours, but I like the people I was working with.”

“That’s good.”

“They’ve been interviewing for a manager, but so far I guess they haven’t found the right person.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t ask you,” I said.

He stuffed the rest of the pizza in his mouth and stared at me while he chewed slowly.

“Oh,” I said, finally getting it. “They did ask you.”

“Yep,” he said.

The screen door suddenly swung open behind me, an inch from my chair. I turned around, feeling like I might know whoever it was that had walked out. But it was just the wind. There was no one there.

“So what did you say?” I said.

 “I said I would think about it. And talk to you.”

I wasn’t hungry anymore. I couldn’t stand to lose Ty again. He saw it in my face and reached over and took my hand.

“I’m not doing anything without you,” he said, his lips breaking into a smile. “This here, us, is my only priority. You and me. We’re number one. And everything else, well, it’s just icing.”

I was starring in that cheesy movie, fighting back the tears. I kept it together long enough to pull the sunglasses down from my head and over my eyes.

“So we’re the cake?” I said, trying to sound casual.

He reached over and wiped my cheek.

“We’re the cake,” he said. “And not that stale cheap stuff either. I’m talking high-end bakery quality. Sweet and moist. The kind of cake that doesn’t even need frosting.”

CHAPTER 27

I waved to David who was at a table talking to a group of his friends, and then I headed to the back to sign in and look at the schedule.

I hadn’t seen much of Mo all winter and wondered how she was doing. Last I heard, she was back together with her band, playing at local clubs and other small venues on the coast. Like her good moods, her hours were sporadic.

When I came out, David was standing by the register waiting for me. His energy suggested he was happy.

“So, Abby Craig, did you have a good weekend?”

“Yeah. It was really great.”

Ty was stopping by to say goodbye before he headed back to the airport, and I hoped David would move past his anger. But I wasn’t holding my breath.

The first hour ticked slowly. Mike sent David out on an errand and the café was strangely somber. Lyle wasn’t saying much, lost in a cloud of hair and steam behind the espresso machines.

I thought about Kate, who had told me before she left that she was going to start to look into the FBI case against Jack Martin. I knew it was in her nature to try, but I wasn’t sure what difference it would make. Whatever she uncovered wouldn’t change anything.

For my part, I was working on coming to terms with it.

While I wasn’t worried about my safety at this point, the injustice of it all still stung. But I didn’t feel it in my gut the way I had that afternoon when I first heard the news. It was starting to move up to my head more.

David returned with a large box of croissants from a new French bakery up the street that had recently started supplying us. We were having a hard time keeping them in stock. The little bundles of butter and flour were all the rage. He washed his hands and started loading the pastry case.

“Pssst,” he said, his eyebrows up. “I got a few extra for us.”

He placed a small box under the counter and I smiled.

“I even got one for Miles Mellough over there,” David said, scowling at Lyle. “But we’ll have to see how he does this next hour. He’s been in a pickle all morning.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “Aren’t
you
more like Miles Mellough?”

“Don’t typecast, Abby Craig. If anything, I’m more like Jonathan Hemlock.”

“Hmmm,” I said, scratching my head.

“You know what I don’t have, Abby Craig?” he said, squinting like Clint Eastwood.

“What don’t you have?”

“I don’t have a clue.”

After he stopped laughing, I asked him about his weekend.

“It was the best!” he said. “It’s fun when you’ve been gone for a while and then you come back and everybody loves you again! That’s how it was. I didn’t have to buy one drink!”

A dark Mustang pulled up into the parking lot and Ty got out of the passenger’s side, his hair blowing in the breeze.

My heart was heavy. I couldn’t believe it was Monday already. The weekend had sped by so fast. I didn’t want him to leave.

“I’m going to take a break,” I told David.

He hadn’t been paying attention and when he looked over and saw Ty walk in, his face contracted sharply.

“Okay, if you must leave, then go,” he said, pretending to be hurt. “I guess I’ll just have to get through this
giant
line all by myself.”

There were only three people waiting, but I was glad that they were there. That way David couldn’t go hide in the back. I met Ty at the door and we walked over to a table where he gave me a kiss.

“Can I get you something?” he said, after a few minutes. “I’m getting Frank a double shot of something so he stays awake long enough to get me to the airport in one piece.”

“No, I’m good,” I said. “I could have taken you, you know?”

“It’s no big deal. I knew you were working. Frank owed me anyway.”

I could see David’s eyes get big as he watched Ty go up to the counter. I couldn’t hear what was said but it seemed to be civil.

Ty went down to the other end to pick up his order and when I glanced back over at David, I thought I caught him smiling. I also saw that his energy was light and fast again, like it had been before Ty arrived.

We walked out to the car and Ty handed the coffee to his friend through an open window. We stood for a while, holding hands and talking.

“I’ll be home soon,” he said. “Until then, remember that I love you.”

“I love you, too. Hey, I appreciate you talking to David in there. Seems like things are a little better.”

He laughed.

“He told me he hadn’t decided whether he was going to kick my ass or not and that I’m still on probation. But I guess you’re right. At least he’s speaking to me now.”

Ty slid into the passenger’s seat.

“Good luck with the opening,” I said.

“I’ll call you tonight.”

I stood in the lot, watching the Mustang pull away and disappear down the street.

When the line was gone, David came up to me.

“I’m considering giving him one last chance,” he said. “But no more of this, ‘Oh, I don’t understand ghosts, oh, I don’t know what it all means.’ He’s all in now, or I’m kicking his butt back to that goat farm in Montana. I told him outright that nobody will hurt my BFF like that again.”

I gave him a kiss. It was special having a friend like that, someone who had your back. I dug around in the plastic basket under the counter until I found Scissor Sisters. I put it on and turned it up, and caught him moving his hips in rhythm a few times while pulling espresso shots.

At 3:45 David started getting ready to leave, but then stopped and let out a long sigh.

“What’s the matter?” I said.

“Nothing. Well, okay, you should know I guess. I mean, in case you don’t.”

“Know what?”

“I saw your friend last night. You know, the scrawny sweater guy you gave that expensive coffee to?”

“Derek? Where?”

“Club Six.”

“Hey, I thought you stopped going to that club after everything that happened there with Paloma.”

“Oops,” he said, smiling. “I did stop. For a while. But it’s the only club in this little part of the world that culture forgot that has decent music these days. And besides, it was a group decision. I said, ‘No guys, I can’t go there. The place tried to possess my friend.’ But the other clubs were dead, so I agreed to half an hour. And, Abby Craig, I promised myself too that the moment I had a bad feeling about
anything
I would leave. But everything was great! No ghosts or devils or monsters. So we stayed till two, when they kicked us out. The nerve of some people.”

I sighed. It probably was safe over there now that Clyde was gone. But still. I wouldn’t go over there if they paid me.

“Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about your friend. Seriously, I was kind of surprised to see him there because I didn’t think you hung out with people like that.”

“What do you mean, ‘people like that’?”

David moved his finger to his nose, pushing down on a nostril and inhaling.

“You know,” he said in a super slow voice. “People like
that
.”

“Drugs?”

He nodded and then shrugged.

“Well, I don’t think that was powdered sugar he was snorting. No judgments from me. He seems nice enough. But I was surprised because you’re kind of uptight about those things.”