The Silent Sister (42 page)

“You hit your head on the coffee table when she pulled you off his lap,” she said.

I touched my forehead and the small divot that had been with me all my life. When I lowered my hand, Celia rested her fingertips on my knee again. “I'm sorry to have to tell you all of this,” she said. “I really am. But you needed to know. I couldn't let you think she'd ever willingly cast you aside.”

I nodded. “Thank you for telling me,” I whispered.

“Jade refuses to cancel New Bern,” Celia said, resting her hands in her lap. “She'll take whatever Danny and his friend dish out. Even if it ruins her. And you know it will. She's being really brave, but she's going to be locked up for the rest of her life, and I'm so scared for her.”

I pressed my fingers to my eyes and they came away wet. “I'll talk to Danny again,” I said, hoping he hadn't already spoken to Harry. “But I don't think he'll bend.”

She picked up my phone from the floor. “I'm putting my number in your contacts,” she said, tapping the screen. “Call me after you talk to him, all right?”

“He's
driven,
Celia,” I said. “All he cares about is hurting Lisa the way he thinks she hurt him. He's looking for justice.”

She stood up. “I won't stop hoping.” She leaned over, surprising me with a kiss on the top of my head. “And besides,” she said, straightening up again, “justice comes in many forms.”

 

56.

I didn't even consider going to bed after Celia left, although it was four in the morning. My body was exhausted, but my mind reeled. That image of Lisa pulling me off Steven Davis's lap and blowing him away in a fit of fury was never going to leave me.

I tried calling Danny, unsurprised when he didn't answer. I grabbed my duffel bag and locked my apartment door before heading down to the deserted garage. My phone rang as I got in my car. Jeannie again. I would call her from the road. Right now, I was anxious to get back to New Bern. I'd drive straight to Danny's trailer and wake him up. I had to tell him what I'd learned. I'd beg him not to talk to Harry … if he hadn't already.

The night was pitch-black and I had the road nearly to myself. I started to call Jeannie twice, but each time tears filled my eyes and I knew my voice would shut down on me, and I stopped the call before it could go through. I was nearly to Goldsboro by the time I thought I could talk without crying.

She sounded frantic when she answered the phone. “Are you all right?” Her voice surrounded me in the car. “I've been so worried. I had no idea what—”

“I'm alive,” I said. “That's about the best I can tell you.”

“What happened?” she asked.

My tears started again and I couldn't speak.

“Oh, honey,” she said. “Tell me. Talk to me.”

“Steven Davis was my father,” I said.

She was silent and the dark air of my car filled with my sobs. I could hardly see the road in front of me.

“No,” Jeannie said finally. “I don't believe it. I don't
want
to believe it!”

I told her everything Celia had said, my words nearly unintelligible. Jeannie had to ask me half a dozen times to repeat myself. By the time I'd choked out the story, her voice was thick as well.

“If only Lisa had told your parents what was going on!” she said. “They could have done something to help her.”

“I know.”

“She was such a gentle girl,” Jeannie added. “I could never even picture her
holding
a gun, much less shooting one. Now it all makes sense. She would have done anything to protect you.”

“And I was horrible to her, Jeannie!” I said. “I got so upset when I was talking to her.”

“Did you tell her to stay away from New Bern?” Jeannie asked.

“She's coming anyway,” I said. “I have to talk to Danny. I have to try to—”

A deer suddenly darted into the road in front of me, nothing more than a flash of tawny fur in my headlights. Reflexively, I yanked the wheel to the right as I let out a scream. My car went airborne, the steering wheel useless, the tires off the road, and I catapulted like a rocket, upside down, into the black night.

 

57.

Jade

Jade and Celia were quiet in the sterile breakfast room of the hotel in the morning. Across the table from them, Shane and Travis talked about the set list for that night's concert as they wolfed down their eggs and bacon, seemingly oblivious to the strain between the two women. Jade knew that Celia was upset with her, and who wouldn't be? She was upset with herself, but for different reasons. She wanted to see Riley again. She wanted to take a cab over to her apartment right that second, but fear held her back. The way Riley had left her the night before had been so decisive, as though she was washing her hands of Jade forever. If only she could have more time with her. She wanted to build the connection with Riley they'd never been able to have. The yearning was so all-consuming that it nearly overshadowed her fears about tonight's concert in New Bern. Had Danny already told his cop friend? Would she be led away in handcuffs once again? Her heart sped up at the thought of her hands bound together as they'd been so long ago. She didn't think she could take it. Twenty-three years ago, she'd been facing years in prison. That would seem like a walk in the park in comparison to what she'd be facing now. Not only had she killed someone, but she'd jumped bail and assumed a false identity and … oh, who knew what all the charges would be? At least Daddy wasn't alive to be charged as well. That would only have doubled her distress.

All she knew was that she would confess to everything. Every charge against her—she'd accept it without argument. There would be no trial. She was never going to let Riley learn that she'd had an abusive son of a bitch for a father.

She stared down at her plate with its untouched scrambled eggs and slice of bacon, and a small pathetic sound—a
whimper
—escaped from her throat.

“What's the matter?” Travis looked across the table at her, his fork in his hand. Travis was sweet. The caretaker of the rest of them, and the peacemaker, always. He hated any sort of conflict. But she couldn't say anything to put him at ease this morning. She could only stare at her plate.

Celia put her arm around Jade's shoulders. “It's all right,” she said softly in her ear. “We'll work this out somehow.”

“What are you talking about?” Shane asked. “What's going on? What do you need to work out?”

“No big deal,” Celia said. “She'll be okay.”

She wanted to tell the guys right now, over breakfast. They'd be caught completely off guard tonight and that seemed unfair, but Celia said they needed to “just sit with it” for a while. Jade didn't know what that meant, but she also didn't have the strength to argue with her about it. Celia had been gone a long time the night before and she was quiet when she returned, not wanting to talk. Jade hated the uneasiness between them. This could very well be their last few hours of freedom together, and they were destined to have a sour, miserable day leading up to … what? Would the police come for her before the concert or after? Would Riley be there or would she stay home, not wanting to watch the disaster she and Danny had set in motion?

“You really look like shit,” Shane said to her.

“Shane,” Celia chided. “That's not helpful.”

Jade pushed her chair away from the table. “I'm going up to the room,” she said, but she didn't stand up.

“You should lie down for a while,” Travis said. “We don't have to be out of here till eleven.”

She nodded, but couldn't seem to get to her feet. Her body felt rubbery, her bones like jelly. At eleven o'clock, all four of them would pile into the van they'd rented for this leg of their tour. She dreaded the two- or three-hour drive to New Bern, with Shane and Travis wondering what was wrong with her, and Celia's anger mounting. She would pretend to sleep.

Celia's cell phone rang. The ringtone was one of their original songs that was so perky and upbeat it made Jade cringe. Celia looked at the caller ID, then raised the phone to her ear.

“Hello?” she said, then, “Yes, I'm Celia.”

Celia listened for a few seconds and Jade sensed a new tension in her as she got to her feet and walked away from their table. She watched her walk toward the windows, talking into the phone, but she couldn't hear a word from where she sat. For a moment, she wondered if Celia could be talking to Riley … but Riley couldn't possibly have her number.

Travis glanced over his shoulder toward Celia, then looked back at Jade. “Are you two all right or what?” he asked.

She looked at him. His face was boyish despite the blond stubble of beard he always wore. She thought of a dozen responses, but none came out of her mouth. She watched Celia. She was still talking on the phone, but now she walked out the door of the breakfast room toward the hotel lobby. Where was she going? If Jade could have made herself stand up, she would have followed her.

“What's going on, Jade?” Shane asked.

She couldn't look at him. “Tell you later,” she said.

Celia reappeared in the breakfast room. She was off the phone now, and her worried expression made Jade finally get to her feet.

“What is it?” she asked.

Celia clutched her forearm, probably harder than she meant to. “Okay,” she said to the three of them, and her false-sounding calmness told Jade that something was terribly wrong. “Here's what we need to do.” Celia looked down at the men, each of them with a coffee cup in his hand and confusion in his face. “Jade and I have to leave right away,” she said. “I just called for a car.”

A car? Jade frowned at her.

“You guys follow later,” Celia said to them. “We'll all meet up at the hotel in New Bern, okay?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Shane set down his cup. Jade wondered the same thing, but kept her mouth shut. She would find out soon enough.
An attorney,
she thought. Somehow, when Celia was out walking last night, she'd managed to reach a lawyer and they were going to see him or her. She didn't know if that was good news or bad.

“There's something we have to do and we'll explain it all later, but right now Jade and I need to pack.” Celia tugged her arm. “Come on,” she said.

“Hey!” Shane called after them as they walked toward the lobby. “I think you at least owe us an explanation.” He was so loud, other diners turned to stare.

Celia ignored him, and Jade waited until they were in the elevator before she finally spoke. “What's going on?” she asked. “Who was on the phone?”

“A woman named Jeannie Lyons,” Celia said.

“Jeannie!” she said. “Why would she be calling you? How could she have your number?”

The elevator doors opened and Celia took her arm again, walking her down the hallway toward their room, ignoring her question. It took Celia three tries to fit the key card into the lock and Jade's nerves were about to give out. She impatiently pushed the door open when the green light finally flashed.

“Tell me!” she said once they were inside.

“Listen to me,” Celia said with forced calm. “Riley's been in an accident. She—”

“Oh, no!” Jade froze, her body unable to move a muscle. “Tell me she's okay,” she pleaded. “
Please.
Where is she?”

“She's unconscious and she's in a hospital.”

“Oh, God. Here? Can I go to her? How badly is she hurt?”

“Not here. A town called Goldsboro. Jeannie is there with her. It happened when she was driving back to New Bern last night … or I guess really early this morning. She was talking to Jeannie on the phone when it happened, and the hospital called her because her number was the last one dialed on Riley's phone.”

“But how would Jeannie know to call you?”

Celia raked her hands through her hair and sat down on the edge of one of the chairs. “I can't help it if you're pissed at me,” she said. “I know you will be, but I don't care. I had to do it.”

“Do what?” She was scaring her.

“I went to see Riley last night.”

“You …
where
? How did you find her?”

“I got her address off your phone.”

She remembered hearing Celia rummaging around the living room of their suite last night before she left.

“Please tell me you didn't tell her.”

Celia looked at her squarely. “I told her everything,” she said.

Jade let out her breath, nearly doubling over as though Celia had hit her in the gut. She sat down on the corner of the bed.

“How could you
hurt
her like that?” she shouted. In a single blow, Celia had destroyed the protective wall she'd worked so hard to build around her daughter. “I spent my whole life preventing her from ever finding out. How could you do that to her? How could you do that to
me
?”

“I had to, Jade!”

Jade shook her head in disbelief. “I thought you were the one person I could trust with the truth,” she said.

“I couldn't sit back and watch her destroy you. Destroy our family. I thought if I talked to her, if I—”

“Oh, my God.” Jade interrupted her. “She must have felt so…” She could think of no word to describe the anguish Riley must have endured. “No wonder she had an accident. She had to be so upset.”

“She
was
upset at first, but she was calmer when I left her.” Celia twisted her wedding band on her finger. “Honestly. I thought she was all right or I wouldn't have—”

“What did she say when you told her?”

Celia bent over, her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands, and she stayed that way for so long that Jade had to ask her again.