A Man Like Morgan Kane (18 page)

"When?"

"Next Thursday.Ten o'clock.JeffersonCountyCourthouse."

"Oh. God!" Lifting her hand to her mouth, she bit down on her clenched fist.

"You knew it was coming. Better to get it over with. There's a chance you won't have to go to trial."

"Do you really believe that? With all the evidence the district attorney has against me, I don't see how the jury could rule in my favor."

"If we can find Farraday's murderer, all the charges will be dropped against you." He crossed the room, reached out and gripped the back of her neck.

Unmoving, she stood there and staredat him, her body as tense as a coiled spring. "What are our chances of discovering who killed Jimmy by next Wednesday?"

He stroked the side of her neck with his thumb. "I won't kid you. The odds are against us. But even if the grand jury rules to hand you over for trial, it doesn't mean you'll be found guilty."

"I'm scared, Morgan. For myself. And for Anne Marie. I don't know what she'd do if I had to leave her."

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Morgan drewBethanytoward him; she went without hesitation. He wrapped her in his arms; she laid her head on his chest.

"I'm not going to let you go to prison for a crime you didn't commit," he said. "I'm not going to let anyone or anything hurt you orAnne Marie. Not ever again. I promise."

"Oh, Morgan. I thought I told you not to make any promises you couldn't keep."

Lifting her chin, he tilted her face upward, then lowered his head and brushed her lips with a featherlight kiss, "I'll do everything in my power to protect you and your daughter. And that isa promise I'll keep."

"If I go to prison—"

He silenced her with his mouth, the kiss forceful and demanding. When he lifted his head, he said. "You aren't going to prison."

"But if I do, would you … will you keep your promise to protect Anne Marie?"

"You aren't going to prison," he repeated.

She clutched his shoulders. "But if I do, will you—?"

"I'll keep my promise."

Smiling weakly, she nodded as she swallowed her unshed tears. "Thank you."

Chapter 8

«^»

The days passed quickly forBethany—far too quickly. Tomorrow grand jury would convene and her fate would be decided by a group of eighteen men and women who didn't personally know her or Jimmy Farraday. They wouldn't know what a bastard Jimmy had been, what a lousy father, what a habitually unfaithful husband. And they wouldn't know that she was innocent. The prosecutor would present them with the facts. And the cold hard facts pointed directly toBethanyas Jimmy's murderer.

She knew that it would take a miracle to prevent the jury from binding her over for trial. Despite Morgan's continuous attempts to boost her morale and convince her otherwise, she realized the deck was stacked against her.

She was scared. For herself. For Anne Marie. And she was even scared that the real murderer might turn out to be someone near and dear to her. The pressure she felt on a daily basis was compounded by Morgan's presence. With every subtle glance, every unexpected touch, the tension between them increased. But she couldn't send him away, not when there was every possibility that she would have to turn over Anne Marie's care to him sometime in the very near future.

"Let's review all our information again." Morgan propped his big feet up on the paisley ottoman in front of him and readjusted his hips in the Chippendale armchair. "There has to be something here that can help us."

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"I can't imagine what it could be."Bethanyslipped off her shoes and let them drop to the floor. Bending her knees, she lifted her feet up on the sofa. "All this information proves—" she threw the file folder on the coffee table "—is that I wasn't the only one with a motive for killing Jimmy. A lot of people hated him, but I'm the one whose fingerprints were on the gun that shot him. I'm the only one who threatened to kill him the night before he was murdered. And I'm the one who witnesses will swear was at the scene of the crime a few minutes before Jimmy's body was discovered."

"You and I both know that one of the suspects on our list went into Jimmy's office, got your gun out of your purse and used it to kill Jimmy, then slipped out of his office without being seen."

"Well, that narrows it down, doesn't it?"Bethanysaid sarcastically. "Every suspect on our list was at the television station that afternoon. Mother was there. James was there. And of course, Tony and Vivian were both at the station."

"And Seth Renfrew," Morgan said.

"Despite what you think, I do not believe Seth killed Jimmy. My heavens, if Seth had been going to kill Jimmy, he'd have done it years ago, wouldn't he? I mean, why wait until now?"

"As far as I can see, Seth had more reason to hate Farraday than anyone else, except perhaps your mother."

Grabbing one of the numerous throw pillows on the sofa,Bethanyhugged it to her. "I've told you repeatedly that I refuse to believe my own mother would allow me to go through the hell I'm in right now.

If she killed Jimmy—"

"Eileen might not be thinking rationally. We both know that she's always acted first and thought about what she did later, after the fact."

"As far as I'm concerned, we can scratch Mother, Seth and James off the list."Bethany's oval nails dug into the burgundy polished cotton pillow.

"You're thinking with your heart and not your head," Morgan told her. "You love these people so you don't want to believe one of them killed Jimmy, and for all intents and purposes framed you for the murder. If we eliminate them, that leaves Vivian and Tony, and from what we've been able to find out, both of them worshipped Jimmy."

Bethanyflung the pillow at Morgan. He grabbed it midair and tossed it back onto the sofa.

"But Vivian has a motive and so does Tony," she said. "Just because they were in awe of Jimmy doesn't mean one of them couldn't have killed him. Lord knows that Mother was madly in love with Jimmy and yet she hated him, too."

"All right, let's look at the facts." Kicking the ottoman forward, Morgan stood, walked over to the front window and gazed out at the gray morning sky. "Vivian and Jimmy were lovers on and off, ever since she came to work for him. Maybe he promised to divorce Eileen and marry her. Maybe he strung her along for years. She could have gotten tired of waiting, of being lied to, and killed him. But we have no evidence. Only a theory."

Glancing over her shoulder,Bethanystared at Morgan's broad back. Memories flashed through her mind.

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Morgan swimming laps in the pool. Morgan doing push-ups in his room. Morgan checking his gun and then strapping on his shoulder holster.

"So that leaves Tony,"Bethanysaid calmly, while butterflies danced in her stomach. She hated herself for letting Morgan's nearness affect her so strongly. But it had always been that way. From the first moment she saw him, when she was eighteen. "Tony's only motive is that he wanted Jimmy's job. But all he had to do was wait a couple of years until Jimmy retired. He was already the heir apparent."

"Maybe Tony got tired of waiting. He wouldn't be the first prince to eliminate a king in order to acquire a throne."

A roll of distant thunder rumbled noisily. Dark, sooty clouds swirled in the sky. Morgan stuck his hands in his pockets. From the evidence they'd acquired during the last few days, Morgan couldn't see any real reason for Vivian or Tony to have murdered Jimmy. Not unless something showed up after the agency dug a little deeper into their backgrounds.

Vivian Crosby was a model citizen, except for her longstanding affair with a married man. And Tony Hayes seemed to be cut from the same cloth as his mentor—a loudmouthed sleaze, adored by his public and despised by those who knew him intimately. But just because a guy was a real son of a bitch didn't mean he was capable of murder.

"Didn't the Dundee Agency come up with any information on Vivian or Tony that might help us?"Bethany asked.

Turning around, Morgan glanced atBethany. Dark circles under her eyes told him what he already knew.

She wasn't sleeping well. He often heard her stirring about in her room in the middle of the night. He had longed to go to her, take her in his arms and give her comfort. But if he'd gone to her, she would have sent him away. She knew as well as he did that, between them, comfort would soon turn to passion.

"Dane hasn't come across anything that could help us," Morgan said. "Just general stuff. Things like Vivian was homecoming queen in high school. She's been married and divorced. Nochildren. And Tony was born illegitimate andadopted by his stepfather when he was two years old. He did a stint in the army and he's worked at a dozen different television stations in the past twenty years. He's never been married, has no children, but considers himself quite a ladies' man."

"You don't have to tell me."Bethanygrimaced, remembering her second date with Tony, when she'd had to fight him off.

"Have you had some trouble with Tony Hayes?"

"Four years ago I had two dates with him. The first one was a social function, and I actually had an enjoyable time, but the second date turned into a physical struggle. He thought that a second date meant he'd be invited to spend the night."

"So, you rejected him. Maybe he's been carrying a grudge the past four years. That would give him a motive for framing you. Now, if we could just come up with a believable motive for him to have killed Farraday."

"We're back where we started."Bethanyslid her legs off the sofa and stood. "We keep going around in circles and we always come back to Mother, James and Seth."

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"Despite your misgivings, we're going to have toconsiderall three of them as suspects."

"I thought you told Anne Marie that you didn't think James killed his father."

"I don't think he did," Morgan said. "I kind of like the kid. But that doesn't mean I can rule him out as a suspect. Especially not since we learned that Jimmy had a million-dollar life insurance policy and James is his sole beneficiary."

"That's not a good reason."Bethanypaced back and forth in front of the stone fireplace. "Mother buys James anything he wants. She adores him. Mother and Jimmy were always fighting over the way she spoiled James. Jimmy even demanded that Mother not let James have any money without his approval."

"You've just given James another motive. He hated his father. He loves Eileen and didn't like the way Jimmy treated her.Not only does he stand to inherit a million dollars in insurance money, with Jimmy out of the way, but now there's no one to censor Eileen's generosity."

"Whatever you do, don't let Anne Marie know that James is still a suspect." Crossing her arms over her chest,Bethanyincreased her pace to a frantic speed, marching back and forth from the round, cloth-covered table by the fireplace to the double windows, draped in green plaid.

Sweeping across the room, Morgan grabbedBethany's arm. "Honey, will you stop pacing? You're making me crazy."

She glanced down at his hand holding her, then up at his stern face. Jerking away from him, she almost toppled over, but righted her footing before he reached for her again.

"I'm making you crazy!" she shouted. "I'm the one who's going out of my mind. My life has turned into a nightmare. Jimmy's fans keep sending me letters—"

"Letters you don't even see," Morgan told her. "Letters that I intercept and take care of without your being bothered with them."

"And now that I have a new, unlisted home phone number, those idiots are calling my boutiques and harassing my employees."

"Since we've had a caller ID box attached to the phones, those calls have practically stopped."

"There were people picketing my boutiques this past weekend," she said.

"And the police dispersed the picketers before they did any harm."

"Well, Tony's daily condemnation of me on television as harming me. And Maxine can't stop him because he's nevermentioned my name and he always refers to me as the suspect."Bethanyrushed out of the living room.

Morgan caught up with her in the kitchen. She stood at the open refrigerator, her back to him. He held out his hand, but let it hover over her, not quite making contact. He wanted to comfort her, but touching her would be a mistake.

"Look, honey, you have every right to be nervous, upset and even angry. But you have to stop and think. We've beeninvestigating every aspect of Jimmy's murderfor only a week now.As difficult as it is for
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you, you're goingto have to be patientand believe that sooner or later, we'll unearth something thatwill head us directly to Jimmy's real murderer."

"'Be patient'?" She whirled around, a package of sliced chicken in one hand and a hottie of mustard in the other. "If I were the only one being affected by this situation, I might be able to deal with it better. But my child is suffering and I can't bear it. God only knows what Anne Marie is putting up with at school right this minute. I want to be there with her, all the time, protecting her, defending her."

"Believe it or not, I understand how you feel," Morgan said. "When we dropped her off at school, I wanted to go in with her and issue a warning that nobody had better mess with Anne Marie Wyndham or they'd be sorry." Morgan's mouth curved into a halfhearted grin. He'd knownBethany's child only a week and yet he felt connected to the girl and as protective of her as he was of her mother. He supposed he felt that way because Anne Marie wasBethany's child, or maybe because the girl so obviously adored him. Whatever the cause, he had to admit that he was feeling downright paternal toward her.