Marta Perry - Murder in Plain Sight

“A couple of years ago, I’d have said this place was a last refuge of peace.” He stopped, wishing he hadn’t said it. Jessica didn’t need to see that far into him-into the terrible riddle of his father’s suicide. She just needed to finish her work as quietly as possible and get out of here.

“If you’re that upset at the photo in the paper, why did you take Thomas’s parents to the courthouse? For that matter, why did you jump into helping when you heard about the arraignment? You didn’t have to.”

“Yes, I did.” He said the words first and then thought about them, but they were true. He’d had to. Everything about his upbringing had prepared him for that. “I mean, I knew my mother would want to take Thomas’s parents, and I certainly wasn’t going to let her go alone.”

“Is that all there was to it?” She linked her hands around her knee, seeming ready to stay there indefinitely.

“I suppose not,” he admitted. “Do your friends enjoy being cross-examined about their motives?”

“My friends…” She stopped. “My private life has nothing to do with this.”

“Sorry,” he said. “My mother did teach me not to ask personal questions. I just forgot for a moment.”

She shrugged, glancing over her shoulder again. “Forget it. If that’s all…”

“Not quite.” He said the words reluctantly. He didn’t want to say them at all, but he’d promised. “Aaron and Molly Esch sent over a message that they’re ready to talk with you anytime. I said I’d take you over there tomorrow.” She’d think he was arranging things without asking again. “Is that okay with you?” he added, hoping to avert an explosion.

“I suppose so,” she said slowly. For once, she didn’t seem to take offense. “I probably should have gone to see them today. They must have been confused about the arraignment.”

“Yes. I tried to reassure them, but it’ll come better from you.”

“At the risk of saying something personal, you seem to be involving yourself even more. For my client’s sake, I appreciate it, but if you’re hoping to influence Thomas’s parents in some way affecting the case-”

“Of course not.” He snapped the answer, but in his heart he knew he wasn’t really annoyed with her but with the situation. “Look, I don’t expect you to understand this, but the Morgan family has always looked out for people around here.”

Her eyebrows lifted again, making him aware of just how laserlike those blue eyes could be, even in the dusk. “Like a feudal lord?”

His jaw tightened. “Like a friend. To the Amish especially. My father used to say that the Amish may not always realize it, but they need English friends. Thomas’s family is totally unprepared to cope with his trial, so it’s my responsibility to help them.”

He waited. If she had a smart remark for that…

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then she put her hand on his arm. He seemed to feel that touch running along his skin, carrying warmth, setting his mind spinning. Her eyes widened. Darkened. For an instant she leaned toward him, and the air sizzled.

She snatched her hand away as if she’d touched a hot stove. “I…I’m glad. I mean, that you’ll go with me to see Thomas’s parents. That will be very helpful.” She rose, as if she couldn’t wait to put some space between them. “Maybe we should go inside.”

Maybe they should. And maybe he should stop putting himself in situations where he was alone with her.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER? Jessica kept a smile on her face as she said goodbye to everyone, but once she got into her car and started back toward the lane, the expression slid away.

How could she have let that happen? She took a deep breath and focused on the turn to the two-lane blacktop road. The Morgan place was several miles from the village of Springville, and the road wasn’t much traveled, it seemed. No other cars came along to distract her with their lights. She was alone, and at the moment that gave her too much time to think.

She tried telling herself that nothing had happened. Or that, if there had been some spark when she touched Trey, it had been entirely on her side, and he hadn’t noticed a thing.

Wrong, said the judicial little voice at the back of her mind. Wrong on all counts.

It had happened, and it hadn’t been just her. Trey had most definitely noticed it, too. When she’d scrambled to her feet and headed into the house, she’d seen the same stunned expression on his face that must have been on hers.

She took another breath, blew it out on a long exhale and tried to relax tense muscles. All right, face it. There had been a spark of attraction between them. A very strong spark. More like a flare gun.

For the most part, she kept her relationships on the light side, going out casually with people who were as wedded to their jobs as she was. People who would understand.

Not that she had any intention of letting something develop with Trey. Trey was still just as annoying, just as bossy, just as sure he was right as he’d been before.

She couldn’t be attracted to him, for more reasons that she could enumerate. For one thing-

A deer bounded across the road in front of her, and she slammed on the brakes, catching a glimpse of the white tail as it vanished into the cornfield on the opposite side of the road. Her heart pounded with the suddenness of the animal’s appearance, coming out of the dark and vanishing just as quickly.

She gripped the steering wheel and drove more slowly, eyes alert for movement on the berm of the road. As for Trey…she learned when she was just a kid that trusting someone with her heart wasn’t wise or safe. She’d figured that out the day her father shipped her off to boarding school as if she were an inconvenient package, separating her from the woman who’d been the only mother figure she’d ever know. She’d learned to control her emotions, not let her emotions control her.

Sure, she thought about marrying someday. Having a family. But she wouldn’t approach that on the basis most people did. She’d use her mind, not just her heart.

She’d file that bit of attraction to Trey under the category of “Foolish Mistakes” and concentrate on the case.

She fished her cell phone out of her bag and checked for messages. None, but she’d promised to give Sara a call tonight. She almost pushed the button but dropped the cell phone on the seat instead. All she’d need was to have her attention distracted when another deer decided to wander onto the road. Or a skunk. Or a rhinoceros. Who knew what kind of wildlife they had around here?

The blackness all around her was beginning to make her nervous. She hadn’t seen another light in miles, only the narrow ribbon of blacktop, shining as far as her headlights reached.

She switched on the radio, found nothing but hard rock and country, and switched it back off again. She must be almost to Springville. She just couldn’t see the lights of the small town for the black bulk of the hillside.

Even as she thought that, a pair of headlights appeared in her rearview mirror. The car accelerated, gaining on her quickly. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Was that idiot going to pass on this winding road? To be fair, it might be perfectly familiar to him. He could be fuming at the sedate thirty-five she was going.

She steered closer to the edge of the road, giving him more passing room, but apparently that wasn’t his intention. He slowed about two car lengths behind her, keeping pace with her.

That was normal. That was what any safe driver would do. But for some reason the pair of lights, glaring at her from her mirror in the midst of all that darkness, began to get on her nerves.