Marta Perry - Murder in Plain Sight

“I’m sorry.” Her voice choked a little. “Trey, I’m sorry. I never imagined.”

“No. I didn’t either.” He let out another breath. “My father was the most honorable man I ever knew. He couldn’t have been involved in anything wrong. But that symbol-” He shook his head, sure of only one thing. “My mother can’t know about this. His suicide was devastating enough. I can’t let her be hurt again.”

“Trey, you’re not thinking straight. There could be some innocent explanation.”

“Like what? If Dad was involved with this society, if his name comes up in connection with Cherry’s death, don’t you see how that would hurt her?”

She drew back a little. “You’re underestimating your mother. She’s a lot stronger than you think.”

“You think I’m overprotective, is that it?” A distance seemed to have opened between them, and he stared at her across it.

She stiffened. “Yes. I do. I know how much you love your mother, but you’re treating her as if she were a child.”

“You don’t know anything about it.” He snapped the words and was instantly sorry, realizing how that must sound. “Jessica, I didn’t mean that.”

She took a careful step away. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? You have to put your mother first. I have to put my client first. That’s the way it is.”

He wanted to say something, anything, that would bridge the chasm that had opened between them, but he had a feeling anything he said would just make matters worse. His jaw clenched. Then he turned and walked out of the office.

JESSICA DIDN’T HAVE TIME to vent. Leo came back in almost immediately after Trey left. Well, it was his office, after all. He probably wanted to get on with the sorting and packing he was doing as he prepared for his retirement.

Leo glanced at her, seeming to register the fact that something was wrong. But he refrained from comment, sitting down and pulling over the file box he was sorting.

It was an effort to keep a calm facade when what she wanted to do was crawl into a corner. But what she’d said to Trey was true. From the moment they’d met, the same barrier had stood between them. His loyalty was to his mother and hers to her client, and that seemed destined to put them on a collision course.

How could a relationship between them ever have worked? Trey had to control everyone in his orbit. Oh, he probably didn’t think of it that way. He thought he was protecting, thought he was doing what was best.

But she’d learned the hard way that the only person she could rely on was herself. She couldn’t ever be the kind of woman Trey needed, even if she had turned to him for support.

No, it was better this way. But it would be a long time before she stopped hurting. Before she stopped thinking of what might have been.

Somewhat to her surprise, calls began to come into the office as soon as the noon news had aired. Apparently a number of people had opinions on the symbol, none of which seemed very helpful.

And, of course, there were the requisite number of crank calls. After the third suggestion that the symbol was a message from outer space, she looked across at Leo and lifted her eyebrows.

“Was I crazy to do this?”

“Not crazy,” he assured her. “But you did bring the crazies out of the woodwork. And we should weed through all of the calls, just in case.”

“Except the outer space ones,” she amended. “I draw the line there.”

The smile lingered on her face when her cell phone rang. It disappeared when she saw that the caller was Mr. Henderson. Taking a deep breath, she answered.

Henderson didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He was furious, as furious as Trey had been, but where Trey was hot, Henderson was cold.

“You are making a spectacle of yourself. More important, of this firm.”

“Sir, I-”

“You were given a simple task, one any first-year law student should have been able to handle. Make a deal with the district attorney, do the best you can for the client and get out. What is so difficult about that?”

Anger began to stir under the intimidation. “Nothing, except for one small fact. I believe my client is innocent.”

“Innocent. And do you have any evidence to back that up, other than this fairy tale about a secret society?” He sounded as if the words tasted sour on his tongue.

“Not evidence, exactly-”

“Then stop this nonsense. You’re not doing the client any good, and you’re holding the firm up to ridicule. Talk to the district attorney-no, better yet, just come back to the city. I’ll send someone else to make a deal.”

Her heart seemed to stop for a moment. “You can’t do that.”

“This is my firm.” His voice froze. “I will do as I see fit.”

“The client will never agree.” She hoped. How long would Thomas stand up against a lawyer determined to make him plead guilty?

“Then you’d better find a way to make him agree. Do that, now, or your association with Henderson, Dawes and Henderson is at an end. Do you understand me?”

She closed her eyes, seeing her father’s face against the blackness. Disappointed. But then, when had he not been disappointed in her?

She couldn’t kid herself. If Henderson let her go under a cloud, she wouldn’t find another firm eager to accept her. The career she’d always wanted could be at an end.

“No.” The word was out before she’d even thought it through, but she knew it was right.

“No? What do you mean?”

“I will not let my client down for the sake of sparing the firm embarrassment,” she said, her voice surprisingly clear.

“Then your association with us is ended as of now,” he said promptly. “As for your client-feel free to take him with you. Just make sure that everyone knows that you are no longer acting as a member of this firm.”

“Very well.” If he said anything about her father, she’d…she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

But he didn’t. Apparently he was just as eager to end the call as she was. He clicked off, no doubt to begin spreading the word that her embarrassing conduct did not represent Henderson, Dawes and Henderson.

She tossed the cell phone onto her desk, not sure what she felt. She glanced at Leo. He’d obviously heard enough to understand what happened.

“I’m sorry.” He hesitated. “But if you’ll forgive my saying so, I never did think you were a good match with them.”

“Maybe not.” It was too bad that her father would never share that opinion.

“Are you all right?”

She considered. She’d just lost the man she thought she loved and been fired by her firm. She ought to feel miserable.

“I think so,” she said slowly. Deep inside, the conviction was growing. She had done the right thing. No matter what anyone else said or thought, no matter what it cost, she’d done the right thing.

JESSICA STAYED ON AT the office after Leo left that afternoon. He was bound for home and grumbling about the rest his doctor insisted upon, muttering that he was being treated like a two-year-old.

She didn’t really have a reason to stay. The phone calls trickled off. The truth was that she couldn’t bear the thought of going back to Geneva’s house.

She’d have to go through with her plans to move out. That was the only possible thing to do, and now even Trey would agree to that. But her stomach tightened into a knot at the thought of trying to explain her reasons to Geneva. She couldn’t tell Geneva the truth, and the woman had an uncanny knack of knowing all the things a person wasn’t telling her.

The telephone rang. Since Leo’s secretary had left when he did, she picked up. To her surprise, it was Bobby Stephens.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” he seemed tentative, as always. “But there’s something I need to talk with you about.”