Secrets and Lies (22 page)

This was her first time talking to the good doctor by herself and she was determined to give him a reason to move her higher up on his pay ladder. What the Captain and her father didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. She was tired of being the least paid in this game. She wanted a bigger cut, but if her father found out what she was doing he would have the good doctor kill her for sure. Money was more important to her father than blood. She would have to, without her father’s knowledge, convince this guy she was worth more money than the other two players in the game.

“Is he still asking questions?”

“No. But he does want the body back. I think if we can produce it he’ll go away.”

“Not going to happen. Not unless it comes back in ashes.”

Phoebe bolted out of her chair. Dinner was getting colder by the second, but right now food wasn’t her concern. “You can’t do that,” she protested. “Do you know what kind of trouble that would cause? Her daughter will demand an investigation and we won’t really have a good reason not to give one.”

“Tell them the body got mixed up with one that was going to cremation.”

It wasn’t that simple, there was no way she could get away with it. “He’ll never buy that.”

“Make him,” the baritone voice ordered as if things were that simple. “You’ve used your body to get what we needed before; use it now.”

Sleeping with the congressman had been a necessity, something she had to do to gauge just where they all stood in this pile of crap—more like to see where she stood. Thomas McGregor would be fun, would be a conquest, the apex of victory, but if she came on too strong he would know something was wrong.  “He’s not that dumb,” she quipped. “Get the body back, within the week, and I can make this go away.” She could come up with something, some lie to provide as reason for the sudden return. Maybe she could say the body got mixed up with another one and went to a school medical program. She could, and would, make a solid excuse for the return of a body, but she couldn’t come up with an excuse for the return of ashes. Thena Davis would be over emotional. She would run to anybody and everybody who would listen and the last thing they needed right now was pressure from the media, or from the mayor.

“It might be a little late for that.”

“What do you mean?” She tried to steady her voice. “What have you done?”

“Are you sure you don’t just want the ashes?”

“Did you—my God, you did. I thought the body was a keeper.”

“Well there may be a few pieces still lying around.”

She felt sick, really sick. Had he cut up the body? They had all agreed they would take care of it once it was safe to do so. Nobody, not him, not her, not anybody, was supposed to make a move until they had the all clear.

He laughed. “Nah, I’m just joking with you. The body is in the same place it was yesterday.”

She felt her anger rising. This wasn’t a joking matter. It was her behind on the line and if she went down she was going to take them all down with her.

“You’re supposed to be resting.” Thomas had convinced Thena to stay at home, his home, for the day. Work could wait, he assured her. She needed rest. She might have thought she could keep going at full speed, but he knew better.

“I am resting.” She sketched more changes on the paper in front of her. “I’m thinking of building another house,” she kept drawing.

“You’re moving? You could move in here.”

“Not for me, silly. It’s for Twist of Fate. Megan, my friend…you know the one who runs Twist of Fate…well she has been thinking of expanding. I talked to her a few days ago about maybe drawing up the designs for a new living facility. It’s not set in stone yet, but she wants to see my plans.” She sketched some more. “I don’t know if she’s going to get the financing. And I can’t afford to do this one for free,” she mumbled. He got the impression that maybe her friends took advantage of her sometimes. Thena was the kind of woman who would give her last to a friend; she would probably give her last to a person on the streets begging for money and food too. He wondered just how many of her friends were actual friends.

He tried to ignore the feeling in his gut when she breezed over his invitation for her to move in with him. He wasn’t sure where the words had come from, but he knew it had been his voice sounding them out. He wasn’t ready for marriage; he had told her that. Yet he had just said she could move in with him. Shocked was the word he would use to describe what he felt. Of course, he was now feeling a little disappointed that she hadn’t even considered the possibility of living with him. Did he really have a right to feel that emotion? After the conversation he had shared with her just last night was it even fair to utter the words he just had?

“Surely she doesn’t expect you to do it for free,” he said in an effort to break his own inner thoughts.

“Well…what she’s doing is for a good cause. And I have done a lot of things for the center, but…I just can’t do this for free. I think she’s hoping I will, but I already told her I would have to charge her. That’s when she told me that she might not be able to get the financing.”

He growled low in his throat. She needed new friends. “How was she planning to get the land?”

“I own the land,” she stated so calmly, as if it didn’t matter that her friend was planning on using her.

“And you’re just going to give it away?”

She put the paper and artist pencil down. “Well, I’m not really using it for anything. And it would be for a good cause. But…I was kind of hoping to use it for something else one day.”

He sat down beside her. “Like what?” He brushed his fingers along her cheek.

“I was thinking of building a medical center—just a small one. My mom, as far as I remember anyway, had talked about opening a free clinic one day.”

“Thena, you can’t run everything.”

“Oh, God, I wouldn’t run it.” She looked at him as if he had grown three heads. “I don’t know the first thing about medicine. Are you crazy?” She shook her head. He laughed. Yeah, maybe he was crazy. He had thought she was thinking of trying to live out her parents’ dreams for them, while clearly not focusing on her own. He looked at her drawings. She was good, very good. She wasn’t giving half the time she could have, and should have, to her own goals. She was trying to work the architectural business into the contracting business, but clearly the contracting business was consuming most of her time.

“I wouldn’t run it. I wouldn’t even have anything to do with it. I just figured I’d donate the land to the clinic and maybe I could get some of the guys to help me build it. If not…well, I know how to build homes and businesses…I could do it by myself. It would take longer, and I’d have to put some things on hold for a while, but I could do it.”

He shook his head. “You have to stop trying to take on the world, Thena. You’re going to run yourself into the ground.”

She shrugged. “It’s not like I have a family left, Thomas. I was an only child. Both of my parents are gone…staying busy helps me not think about being…lonely,” she whispered as if this were the first time she was truly acknowledging the feeling. “I mean I have friends, but it’s not the same as having family.”

He did know that. He had his family; even though his father was a complete idiot he still had him too. She didn’t have anybody. She kept busy, kept working, kept doing everything and anything not to have to think about it.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I was fine until I found my mom’s body. I guess it just really hit me, you know…It was at that moment when I realized that I was the last one left…the only one left.”

“You have me,” he once again uttered words that he probably had no right to utter. But she did have him.

“Ah, yes...I have you,” she smiled at him.

The look on her face told him she hadn’t really considered the fact that she had him. She still wasn’t truly considering it. It was like being punched in the gut. It shouldn’t have hurt him, but it did. Why? He wasn’t making her promises so why should she seriously consider the fact that she had him? Because she did, that’s why. He was in her life, and she needed to be sure of that fact. “And I don’t want anything from you. So you see, completely strings free friendship here.” He tried to reassure her of his words.

One corner of her mouth turned upward. “Nothing at all,” she placed her hand on his thigh. “Are you sure about that?”

“Hmmm…” he mumbled. “Well there is that; isn’t there?”

“Yes there is,” she grinned deviously. “What are you doing home so early anyway?”

“Poker night,” he shrugged. “I wouldn’t go, but a friend of mine is going to bring some information to me tonight.”

“On my mother’s case?” Her eyes lit up with interest.

“No, about Kyle. I had him look into some records for me. Seems the arrest was handled at the precinct I use to work at. He’s going to bring me some details. I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

“Nobody knows I’m here…but if it will make you feel better you can drop me off at Meg’s place. I can go over these sketches with her.”

He wasn’t sure that would make him feel any better either. On the other hand of things, he wanted to make sure the information he received was private—as in not overheard by one very inquisitive Thena Davis. Shawn had told him the information was a whopper and he couldn’t discuss it over the phone. Thomas knew he didn’t want Thena to find out that way. He would let Shawn speak freely with him and then he could filter out some of the details before talking to Thena. If this was going to be bad, and he was sure it was otherwise Shawn would have told him over the phone, then he didn’t want Thena to have to bear the full brunt of it.

“Okay. I’m going to shower and change. Then we’ll leave.”

“I could use a shower too. That is if you don’t mind the company.”

“Can’t say that I do,” he took her hand in his and helped her off the couch. “Beautiful woman, naked and wet—”

“In more ways than one,” she wrapped her arm around his waist.

“In that case, I’d say the company will be a welcomed change.”

She laughed. “Like you haven’t showered with a woman before.”

“Never at my place…and not in a long time. I tend to shower at home.” He wasn’t a celibate saint. He wasn’t a male slut either. But showers weren’t something he did with just any woman.

“So I’m the first…”

“The first to what, Thena? The first to sleep in my bed? The first to shower in my shower? Yeah, you’re the first for both of those things.” He tightened his hold on her, pulling her closer to his body. “Does that make you feel better?”

She looked up at him. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. Yeah…I like that I’m the first to share that bed with you…the first to share that shower with you…it feels really good to know that. I don’t know why it does…but it does.”

It felt good for him too. Knowing he was sharing his home for the first time, in this way, with a woman as special as Thena sent all sorts of emotions through him—every one of them felt good, except for one—he still wished he was able to claim her as his own, as his wife, to know that no other man would ever have the chance or the right to do so. She might say she could wait forever, but he wasn’t sure she could. He wasn’t sure that somebody wouldn’t come along to show her that she could have all that she deserved. Knowing that, feeling that, made him full of jealousy. Just the thought of another man touching his woman, caressing her, tasting her…he couldn’t bare the thought, but he didn’t have the right to ask her to wait for him. If she wanted to leave, he would have to let her go.

“Don’t worry, Thomas. I’m not getting super possessive on you. When you want me to leave I’ll go quietly. But until you say those words…well, you’re stuck with me.”

She had obviously misinterpreted his silence. “I don’t want you to leave, not now, not ever. I won’t be uttering those words, Thena. So I guess you’re stuck with me too.”

She turned sharply, stood on the tips of her toes and wrapped her arms around him. “Good. I was so hoping you would say that.” She placed a soft kiss on his lips. “I think that makes me happier than knowing I’m the first to share your shower with you.” She chuckled. “You surely do know how to make a woman happy.”

“Allow me to show you just how happy I can make you.” He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the shower, where he proceeded to show her just how happy he could make her, again and again.

“What did you find out?” Thomas pushed his hands into his pockets. He was almost late getting to the poker game, which had more to do with the naked woman in the shower with him than it did having to make an out of the way stop along the way. When he arrived he didn’t have a chance to talk with Shawn first. He couldn’t focus on the game because he was too busy wondering what information awaited him. The first sign of a break and he had pulled Shawn to the side to get the information he craved.

“No shop talk guys,” Denison reminded them. This was a stress free zone, or so they had marked it when they started holding these poker games. Denison Traylor had been, and still was, one of the best sharp shooters the Boston PD had. He was well skilled in his ability get to the prime shooting location without being seen. His five foot four inch stature, along with his skinny build, made squeezing into tight spots easy for him. While the rest of the guys needed space, Denison could wedge his body between almost anything.