Count on Me (Petal, Georgia) (3 page)

Eighteen months of licking wounds and then moving on. Dating a lot. Having some great sex too. But nothing like he’d had with Anne, because he’d been in love with her. It was old fashioned, he knew, but fucking was a hell of a lot better when you were connected with the person you were in bed with.

Caroline was someone he’d known peripherally, but there was something new about her too. Unusual. He liked it.

He planned to make it his goal to find her around town to get that number. He could have gotten it on his own, but he rather liked the idea of letting it all play out slow. Enjoy it.

She’d give in eventually. She was pretty clear about that, so why not let it play out and see what happened?

This was the best thing that had happened to him in a grocery store pretty much ever. He snorted and started home.

Edward Chase was mighty glad the pastor must have been hungry and finally closed out the sermon so Edward could head home with his wife and have lunch.

Polly gave him a look, a hint of amusement on those pretty lips of hers. She knew him inside and out. Hell she probably had a snack for him in that giant handbag.

“Shane and Cassie are coming over with Ward. I think Maggie and Kyle are bringing the boys by as well. Good thing I started that ham before we left.” She was talking about their two oldest sons, their wives and their grandsons.

He grinned, knowing how much noise and energy his boys and their families came with. Knowing his wife was in raptures when she got to love all over their grandchildren.

“Hummingbird cake for dessert and I’ve got potatoes in the slow cooker too.” She winked and he squeezed her to his side.

“I’m a very lucky man.” He brushed a kiss over her mouth. “Even luckier when everyone goes home,” he whispered as he straightened.

Her delighted laugh sped his heart. There wasn’t another person on the whole of the planet who made him feel like the one he’d cleaved his life to.

He might even be able to squeeze a little time with her in bed before everyone arrived if they could get out of church fast enough.

He steered her toward the doors but before they got there, Abigail and James Lassiter stepped into their path.

Abigail extended her hands, and he took them, squeezing before letting go to shake James’s hand.

“We won’t keep you long.” Abigail’s accent was old-school Georgia. She’d been third runner-up for Miss Georgia in her day. Even in her eighties she was still striking. She was a powerful person with very set opinions on everything. She’d grown up in Atlanta, where her people owned and ran one of the oldest and largest building companies in the Southern US. She’d met and married James, a Petal boy born and raised, and they’d settled just a few blocks from where Edward had grown up.

There was history there. James was fifteen years older than Edward. He’d been the quarterback, the most popular this or that. His family and the Chase family had been tight as James’s father had been a judge in the county for forty years. James Lassiter was sort of like an older cousin in Edward’s extended family.

Abigail smiled Edward’s way. “We wanted to thank you for giving Caroline a job at the firm. She needs some roots here and with you she has them.”

Edward shook his head. “Believe me when I tell you it was no imposition or even a favor on our part. Your granddaughter is a coup for us. She’s incredibly accomplished. For her to have so much experience at her age is stellar. We’re thrilled to have her on board.”

Polly shifted, sliding her arm through Edward’s. “Caroline is so intelligent and successful. You and James must be so proud.”

Edward knew she had taken a shine to Caroline, but this was more. Polly had just planted a flag with that declaration. Caroline Mendoza was under her protection. Woe to anyone who lobbed anything at the girl now.

Abigail though, she smiled, a genuine flush of pleasure that reached her eyes. “We’re very proud. James’s daddy would have been so thrilled to see his great-granddaughter go into law and do so well.”

But then the smile faltered. “Now that she’s back, James and I are hoping she’ll finally let go of her fool notions about
that man
.”

Edward had known it would only be a matter of time before it came up, but even he was surprised by the venue.

They walked out to the church steps and down toward the parking lot. He aimed for the car, preferring to avoid the topic.

But Abigail wasn’t having it. She planted herself in their path. “Heaven knows we’ve tried over the years. Tried to force her to see the error of her ways. She has no call to go stirring up painful memories for a lark. She needs to grow up and get serious.”

Edward shook his head. “She’s a grown woman, Abigail. It’s not my place to get in the middle of this.” Nor was it theirs. But he’d been blessed enough to have never lost a child so he had a difficult time saying that part aloud.

“She’s shaming this family by siding with his people.”

Polly’s pretty green eyes narrowed and her grip on his arm tightened. “Now, Mrs. Lassiter, I surely do hope you don’t really feel that way. Why your Caroline is such a beautiful, successful young woman. Family minded. Sometimes our loved ones have opinions we don’t agree with, but we love them just the same.”

Abigail took Polly’s measure. Polly was no slouch herself though, and gave Abigail a similar look. Abigail broke her gaze first as she sniffed. “She should show her love by not demeaning the murder of her mother. You and Edward are good influences on her. I’m simply asking him to exert some of that in the right direction so she can have a home in this town.”

“We’re glad to have her on board at the firm. And most assuredly happy to have her in town. She’s an asset to us and I hope we can be one to her as well. It was very nice to chat with you both, but Polly and I need to get home. We’ve got kids and grandkids coming over for lunch.” Edward kissed Abigail’s cheek and squeezed James’s shoulder and firmly stepped away, guiding his wife toward the car.

He had some thinking to do because this situation wasn’t going away. He liked Caroline, and he knew she’d be in for a bumpy road as she settled back into Petal.

Chapter Four

“Ready to head to the courthouse?” Edward paused in her doorway. She’d been there since about seven and had already put the cases and files in order and begun to get her schedule organized.

She stood, grabbing her suit jacket and sliding it on before hoisting the strap of her bag onto a shoulder. “Yes. Thank you.”

Edward, Peter and Justin had all offered to let her come along as they went to the courthouse, and she’d eagerly accepted. It was good to get to know what their schedules looked like when they were working and to be introduced to people that way. They tended to see you as a colleague that way instead of perpetually the new girl.

Edward was the only one in the firm who currently practiced criminal law so he also offered to take her to the jail. Given the firm’s location and the types of cases she’d most likely get, she’d end up at one of the local county lockups and some of the outlying city jails. Occasionally she’d need to go to one of the over thirty prisons in the state. But she knew a few of them pretty well already, especially the Georgia Diagnostic Classification State Prison where her father had been on death row for fourteen years.

As they walked, Edward motioned across the street. “How about you let me take you to lunch afterward? It’s meatloaf sandwich day at the Sands, and chances are better than even that there’ll be cherry pie.”

“I haven’t been there in ages.” The diner had dominated Main Street in Petal since before her parents had been born. It had also been the chief competition to her parents’ family-style diner and café out on the main highway.

So many memories greeted her every single day she woke up back home in Petal. Which seemed stupid when she’d been back to visit at least twice a year since she left. It wasn’t like she’d totally left it behind.

Edward’s eyes went kind. “We can go elsewhere if you like.”

“No. No I’m fine. It’s not like I can avoid going to diners my whole life. Anyway, diners are the best source for gravy and gravy-related products. Like I’m giving that up?”

At the end of the block, they paused at a hail for Edward.

Edward smiled as he turned to face the living incarnation of every single hot-cop fantasy she’d ever had.

“Hey, son.”

Edward hugged his oldest son and turned to Caroline. “Caroline Mendoza, this is my son Shane. He was recently elected police chief here after running the sheriff’s office for years. Shane, this is Caroline, though you might know her from school.”

He shook her hand as he gave her a once-over with cop eyes. Albeit gorgeous ones. She was used to cops looking at her like that, especially if they were just meeting her in her official capacity. Over time she’d made friends with a lot of the cops she dealt with after they got to know her and realized she wanted justice just as much as they did. She was fair, though, without vanity she could say she was damned good at her job. But she didn’t cheat or lie to win, and despite its failings, she did believe in the system.

Shane Chase was a cop, and she was not only a defense attorney, but new to his town and to his dad’s firm. He’d suspect her until she proved she was worthy of his trust, and she was all right with that.

“I think I was too far ahead of her in school to have been there at the same time.” Shane turned his attention back to Caroline, and while it was clear he was still going to keep an eye on her, his expression was friendly. “Welcome back to Petal, Caroline. How are my dad and uncle treating you?”

“It’s only been a few hours, but so far I’ve gotten a lunch invitation out of it so I can’t complain.”

“We’re on our way to the courthouse. I figured I’d toss Caroline into the deep end and let her handle some bail hearings.”

Which was news to her, but okay then. She’d done bail hearings so many times that even in a new jurisdiction she should have no problems.

They headed up the front steps and into the large foyer of the courthouse. “We’re on the second floor. That’s where they bring over the non-flight risks from the jail. We’ll have hearings on the three cases I put on your desk this morning.”

This had been a test of her preparedness. She’d read those case files before he’d even arrived at the office. It was easy to forget that Edward Chase was an incredibly accomplished man because he was charming and jovial.

But beneath that exterior he was a little bit of a shark. It made her like him even more.

“Depending on the judge I think Reggie Miller and Marvin Wilson should be fine. Abel Carson though, this is his third arrest on receiving stolen goods. From what I understand of this judge, she doesn’t take too kindly to repeat offenders. Even when their daddy owns the car lot and the feed store in town.”

Edward grinned like she’d just won first prize.

She dived in and handled the hearings. Edward didn’t say much after he introduced her to the judge. She met with her clients, and maybe two of the three wouldn’t be back for a repeat performance if she could get them out of trouble.

After wrapping things up at the courthouse, they’d headed over to the Sands for lunch. Once they’d put in their orders and two tall glasses of iced tea had been set before them, Edward raised his in Caroline’s direction. “You did a good job today. Glad to have you on board.”

She snorted but raised her glass back. “Thanks.”

“So, tell me something, Caroline.”

“What’s that?”

“Your daddy was found guilty and he lost three appeals. Why do you still think he’s innocent?”

She preferred direct people in her life and Edward Chase was no exception. Better he ask than she try to figure out what she could talk about and in how much detail.

“Where was the motive? Why would a happily married man with no criminal history and not a single whisper of trouble in his marriage suddenly violently murder his wife? They had nothing. The only physical evidence was paper thin. His DNA at the scene? A diner he was in daily? He had no defensive wounds. If he’d have stabbed her forty-two times, how did he not nick himself a single one? Where was the murder weapon? There was so much evidence they just never followed up on. There were footprints outside the back door. Three sizes bigger than my father’s. There was blood, three drops of it, from my mother’s body to the back door. Not the same type as my father’s. They never even ran a DNA test.”

“So why arrest your daddy then? Why put him on trial? Why find him guilty?”

“Sure, because you and I both know people never ever get railroaded for stuff they didn’t do.”

“No shortcuts, Ms. Mendoza.” He wagged his finger.

“Look, here’s this guy, an outsider in a small town. The beautiful blonde former cheerleader and homecoming queen is horribly murdered.” Her jaw hardened for a moment as she thought about her mother, about how truly lovely her mom had been. Caroline had seen the crime-scene photos, the ones her father’s family had refused to let her look at until she’d turned eighteen and gotten the case file herself.

Her mother had been broken. Stabbed and bloodied. Hanks of her hair had been cut off with a knife, probably the same one that had killed her.