Crossing Lines: A gripping psychological thriller (Behind Closed Doors Book 3) (13 page)

“You’re lying. If Mom knew she was going to die, she wouldn't have asked for any of this to happen.”

“No. She wouldn’t. But she knew, Georgia.” I sigh. “She wrote a letter, one that Robert was only allowed to give to me if something happened to her. It explains everything.”

“How convenient for you, that there’s a letter you can’t show us.” Her chiding and her disbelief cut me in two. Her voice cracks as she makes the accusation, “You did it for the money!”

“Money?” I choke on her words. “Oh, how I wish this was just about the money, Georgia.” Money, not possession or control, or punishment. It would be so much easier to smoke Calvin out with a big fat check, and be rid of him forever, if it was
just
about money. If I had the guarantee he would never ever come back, I’d have bought the lowlife scum off years ago. But I knew that paying Calvin off would only give him ultimate control, and the opportunity to keep coming back for more. Dead or alive, Calvin McKenzie would forever haunt us, and I should have known better. This was exactly how Calvin would play it. He’d manipulate and control Georgia, just like he had my sister for years. Who knew if Georgia would ever see the truth? Or want to accept it?

“You won't even deny it,” she hisses. “I can't believe this is the first civil conversation you and I have had since Mom's funeral, and you're still lying to me."

I know now that I’ve lost her. And who knows, it might be another seven years before I’ll have the same chance with her again. “I don't know what to say anymore.” I shrug, more to the empty room, because she can’t see me. “I’m not going to fight with you, Georgia. When you decide you actually want to talk to me instead of shutting out everything I say, you know where I am.”

“I’m never going to listen to your lies, or hers!” she cries. “She made it all up, so she could take Caitlyn and Zoe away from Daddy. He loved her, Darryl. He worshiped the ground she walked on. He loves us, all of us, and no matter what you've done, you’re still a son to him!”

There had been a time I had thought that was true, but slowly I began to suspect it wasn't. It wasn't until I reconnected with Faith, however, had I confirmed that all I’d ever been to Calvin was a cash machine.

“What reason could I possibly have to lie about any of this, Georgia? And why would your mom make this up? You don't even know if it’s lies, because you're not interested in hearing anyone else's side of the story.”

“This isn't a story, Darryl, it's our lives and
you
ruined them.” I hear her choke on a sob and I hate myself; this isn’t a conversation we should have over the phone. “Dad said you'd try to turn me against him like this.”

“I don't want to turn you against anyone, Georgia.” I’m finally out of patience with her. “He's the one making you choose.” When the line falls silent for too long, I sigh again. “All I want is for you to see Faith's point of view. I have nothing to gain from making you take sides. But I can't, and I won’t, stand by and let you desecrate her memory, when you don't know, and refuse to find out, what life was like for her!”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Because—” I cut off my short-tempered snap. I won’t be drawn into an argument with her when it achieves nothing. "This isn't about money, Georgia. You can give him as much as he needs to keep the girls safe as far as I'm concerned—”

She makes a small cry on the other side of the phone. “How do you know about that?”

I bite my tongue. I can’t tell her that the detectives looking for Faith’s killer are tracking him through the money Georgia sent to him. Patrick Wilson knows all about the thousands of dollars she has sent to different locations around the country on a regular basis. If she knew, she'd only tell Calvin, and drive him deeper underground. “Does it matter? Georgia, he needs help. The kind of help you and I can't give him.”

“What do you think I'm doing? I’m helping him.”

I can't explain it to her. I don’t even know where to start, even if I could. This is something Georgia would be better hearing from Faith, in her words. Even if she’d made me promise never to tell them. “The only way you'll understand what I mean is by reading Faith's letters.” Knowing that I’m breaking a promise I made to Faith a very long time ago, I give them up as my last resort. “They're in my desk drawers.”

“I don't think so.” Her voice spits viciously into my ear. “Even if they do exist, I don't need to read them to know what happened. Dad says he never hurt Mom, and I won't turn my back on him or subject myself to her lies. My daddy is a good man!”

That’s it. My temper explodes. “
Your
Dad,” I hiss through clench teeth, “is a lying, cheating son of a bitch who murdered my sister! And don't you ever forget that, Georgia!”

“You're wrong, Darryl!” she yells, “No one really knows what happened that day, and I believe him. But
you
, you jumped to conclusions! You destroyed him. After everything he did for you. How is that fair?”

“Fair?” I repeat. “Here's a news flash for you, Georgia.
Life isn't fair.
And it's time you grew up and stop acting like a brat. Topic closed.”

“But—”

“I'm not arguing with you anymore!”

“You can't do that!”

“I just did.”

“But—”

“Discussion over.” For the first time ever, I end the call before Georgia has the chance.

I pace Ashleigh's bedroom, still wearing only the bath towel, as I tap my cell against my palm.
I won’t get mad. I will not lose my cool. I know I’ve done the right thing. It's time she learned the truth, because keeping Faith’s secrets has done nothing but tear our family apart. It’s
—

The bedroom door bursts open. I spin around. Julia flies into the room, her eyes ablaze. It’s like she hasn't seen me at all. Which is totally fine by me, because the only thing separating her gaze from my complete nakedness is the towel hugging my hips.

She wanders straight into the bathroom.

“Julia?” I watch her come out of the bathroom and walk into the closet and back out again. Her eyes cast a look around the room, her expression a little puzzled when she looks at me. “She's away until Sunday,” I remind her.

Her eyes roll, and she shakes her head. “I swear, my brain has turned to mush this past six weeks. It's … oh, um, sorry.” Her gaze travels the entire length of my body, her cheeks pinking as she takes me in.
Is she … is she checking me out?
Her approval stuns me. It charges the atmosphere between us, and an awkward heat pools in my stomach.
What the hell?

I clamp down on the wayward reaction, hard. The last thing anyone needs right now is for me to start seeing Julia as a woman capable of distracting me from my purpose here. Besides, isn't she married? Ashleigh said Julia loves her husband, and intends to go back to him.

“It's the hormones.” I don’t realize that I’ve spoken until panic floods her eyes. The startled expression zings straight to my tummy before I have time to catch it. As she stares at me, like a deer caught in the headlights, I fight the urge to pick up a club and beat away all those demons that make her scared of me. I want her to feel safe with me. I
need
for her to feel safe with me. I cannot become a threat to her in any way.

“Are you okay?”

“Did you tell her that I'm still pregnant?”

I shake my head. There hadn't been any time between Ashleigh's argument with Sean and Ashleigh leaving for her promotional tour. Besides, I regard what Julia says to me as doctor-patient confidence, and there is still so much about her confession I don't understand.

“But why?” Julia asks of my reply. “If you love her, you should tell her everything, shouldn't you? I've never kept secrets from Wayne—well, not for a really long time …”

“I will tell her if you want me to,” I say quietly and she sits on the bed. “You said she went to a lot of trouble? Put her relationship with her dad on the line?”

“Yes.” Julia nods. “I wasn't planning to have an abortion. The thought had never entered my mind. But Wayne took me to court to stop me from having one. I don't know why he thought I would. But Ash was just as pissed as I was. I mean, how dare he, right? But honestly, Darryl, if you knew how special my baby is, you'd understand.”

All children are special. Just because I can’t see myself ever resolving my issues with parenthood, she doesn’t need to justify her change of heart to me. I’m almost forty. I've pretty much run out of time to figure it out. And if you were to ask Lisa, I’m pretty much certain she wouldn’t wish my parenting skills on anyone. But I had my chance; I had a wife begging me to have children with her, and I blew it.

“Anyway,” Julia is speaking again, and I mentally shake and tell myself to get it together. “Ash has this theory that Wayne is going to use our child to control me from now on.”
Ashleigh has a very good point. But if she’s right about the abuse, then Julia was at a greater risk at home. Abusive partners tended to get worse during pregnancy.

“I only made the appointment because I was so angry with him.” She looks at the carpet as she sighs. “He was there, that day at the clinic. He asked me not to punish him because we’d had a fight. Then Ashleigh saw him, and she threatened to drag his ass back to court over the restraining order he’d insisted on after I was granted bail.”

“A restraining order? To stop you from contacting him?”

“Yes. I’m not allowed within 500 yards of him.”
I don’t like the sound of that. Was it a power play? Had Wayne used the system to place sanctions on Julia? But he was a cop, he’d know contacting Julia would break the restraining order, rendering it unenforceable. Did Julia?
But as I look at her, she runs a hand over her tummy.
Absolutely not. So why isn’t Ashleigh sharing that detail?
“So I can’t tell him I didn’t go through with it, and I don’t dare tell her, either.”

Ah, okay. That piece of information slotted into the puzzle perfectly. Ashleigh doesn’t want to give Wayne the opportunity to manipulate Julia into going home.
But does she realize she was manipulating Julia by keeping that from her?
I reach for my t-shirt on the bed beside her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

As though the spell has been broken, she snaps out of the trance. “No.” She stands up with an angry sigh. “Talking about it won't change anything.” She doesn't say another word until she has one hand on the door. “Sorry.” She turns back. “This whole situation has been a nightmare from the start. I should never have let Ashleigh talk me into leaving him.” Her gaze leaps up from the carpet to meet with mine. “You won't tell her I said that?”

A smile tugs at my lips. “Heaven help us if Ashzilla was to hear of it.” I suddenly remember the warning Caleb gave me, and add, “Although she’s actually quite easy to take down when you know how.”

Julia laughs. A small, quiet laugh but it seems to break the tension in the room. “You’re good for her.” She smiles and takes a step toward me, then stops. “She went through a rough patch not so long ago, but recently she’s more like the Ashleigh I remember from before she first moved here. I thought it was Dex; it makes sense, right? They were dating when she moved here. But I guess it was you all along.”

I don’t know what to say. I can’t take the credit for something I haven’t done. But I’ve also made a silent vow never to lie to her again, and any reply I can offer would be just that: a lie.

“Darryl, why do I feel like I can tell you anything?” Her eyes take in the length of me again, but this time I don’t feel like it’s admiring, more like she’s measuring me up as someone she’s still not sure she could trust. “I shouldn't. I don't even know you.”

Again, I’m at a loss for words. She’s right. She shouldn't trust me. Everything about her says it’s against her nature to trust me, yet she seems as drawn to me as I am to her. And that’s something I can use to my advantage, because she needs a reason to justify what little trust she has in me.

So, the manipulation begins?
My stomach turns as I say the words. “Every sane guy knows not to come between his woman and her best friend, Julia.” I add a smile, but it doesn't make me feel any better inside.
I’m a terrible human being, and yet I let this continue.
“Unless you ask me to, I'm never going to do anything to affect your relationship with Ashleigh.” When that doesn’t seem to get the response I need from her, I go one step further and explain. “I’m a psychiatrist, Julia. People tell me their biggest fears and their darkest secrets.”

“They talk, and you listen?”

I nod.

“You don’t tell anyone? Ever? Not even Ashleigh?”

I shake my head, and with that she closes the door. “Okay,” she steps deeper into the room. “The D.A. has offered a deal.” It’s said so quietly, with her gaze falling everywhere but toward me. I almost feel like she’s sharing a national secret or something. Then her gaze stops on me. She shuffles awkwardly on her feet as her eyes sweep across my exposed skin, hovering over my bare chest again.

I pull the t-shirt over my head. “Go on,” I encourage as I head toward the walk-in closet. In the mirror, I still catch Julia rolling her eyes, as they settle in toward my lower back as I walk away. “What's the deal?” I ask, pushing the closet door closed enough so she can't see me dressing, yet keeping it open enough for the conversation to continue.