Marta Perry - Murder in Plain Sight

“I’ve heard enough.” He towered over her, face set in rigid lines.

She stood, too, with a sense of finality. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

“Any rational attorney would feel the same.” He stalked toward the door.

“What about any father?”

Her words stopped him, his hand on the knob. At least she’d given him pause. Maybe…

But when he glanced at her, there was no feeling at all in his face. “I see no reason to prolong this conversation. When you’ve come to your senses, you may contact me.”

He went out. The door closed with a muffled slam, as if to put a period to one part of her life.

SHE WEPT, OF COURSE. But there was a sense of relief in the tears. She’d burned all the bridges now. There was no place to go but forward.

Still, she couldn’t help a flare of hope when she heard a rap on the door an hour later. If her father had come back…

“Who is it?”

“Trey. Open the door, Jessica. We have to talk.”

Given the impatience in his voice, it seemed likely that if she refused to let him in, he’d stand there and knock until the entire floor had heard him. The Springville Inn seemed a bit limited in its security when first her father and then Trey could arrive at her door without warning.

She may as well face him, although it didn’t seem likely they had anything left to say to each other. She turned the knob then stepped back as he entered.

“What is it, Trey? It’s late.” And I’ve been through enough emotion for one night.

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry. “I had things to do. By the time I went back to the house, you were gone.” He hesitated for a moment. “That wasn’t necessary, you know.”

“It seemed best.” Only the firmest control kept her face noncommittal.

“Something’s wrong.” He reached out a hand toward her and then let it drop. “What’s happened?”

She suppressed an insane desire to laugh. What wasn’t wrong? If she told him what Bobby had found out about the pendant-but how could she do that?

“My father was here earlier,” she said finally. “It was a…difficult conversation.”

“I’m sorry.” The sympathy that filled his voice sounded genuine, and it touched something deep inside her, something that wanted to respond to him.

But she couldn’t. She had to stand on her own in that, as in everything else. “It’s all right. What was it you wanted to talk about?”

He ran his hand through his hair. “Look, what I told you about my father’s suicide today…I want your word that you won’t make that public. I should never have said it.”

“How can I promise that? For heaven’s sake, Trey, it fits in with the idea that more is going on in Cherry’s murder than a lover’s quarrel that went too far. I have to protect my client any way I can.”

His face hardened. “Don’t you mean your career?”

“Career?” Once again that crazy need to laugh swept through her. “What career? Obviously you haven’t talked to your mother or Leo. Henderson gave me an ultimatum this afternoon-either settle the case quietly with a plea bargain or forfeit my position.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “You gave up your job for Thomas.”

“What else could I do? I wasn’t going to sacrifice his life for the dignity of Henderson, Dawes and Henderson. That’s what it would be, we both know that. He wouldn’t survive in prison…certainly not emotionally, maybe not physically, either.”

“Is that why your father was upset with you?”

She didn’t want to look at his face. The subject of fathers was too loaded for both of them. “He took it as a personal affront. I let him down.”

“I’m sorry.” He did touch her then, the lightest of strokes on her hand. “That must have hurt.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She had to believe that. “The only thing that matters now is the truth.”

He looked at her steadily for a long moment. “Do you really believe that?”

“Yes.”

Three vertical lines appeared between his brows as they drew together. “Then tell me the truth.”

She blinked. “About what?”

“About whatever it is that you’re hiding, whatever is bothering you so much I can sense it. What aren’t you telling me, Jess?”

He’d called her that once or twice, in moments of stress. No one else ever had except Sara. The intimacy of it twisted her heart. She couldn’t lie to him. But how could she tell him the truth?

“I can’t.” She choked on the words.

“Just tell me. It has to do with my family, doesn’t it? That’s the only thing I can think of that you’d feel you had to keep from me.”

She took a breath, released it. Her heart seemed to reach out in a silent plea for guidance.

The uncertainty drained away. Telling him would widen the barrier between them, but she couldn’t help that.

“Bobby traced the ownership of the pendant.” She didn’t want to see his expression, but she forced herself to meet his gaze. “It was bought from a dealer in Pittsburgh two years ago. By your father.”

He stared at her, his eyes unreadable. “That’s impossible. You must have misunderstood.”

“I didn’t misunderstand. That is what Bobby found. It was purchased with a company credit card belonging to your father.” She had to ask. “You didn’t see it? He never mentioned buying such a thing?”

He shook his head, frowning and baffled. “Never. I suppose…well, he might have bought it, just as a curiosity for his collection. But he’d have shown it to me. And he’d never have given it to Cherry. He barely knew her.”

“Are you sure of that?” She hated to ask, but-

“Of course I’m sure!” The words exploded from him.

“He bought it. She had it. If he didn’t…” She stopped, unable to finish the thought.

“If he didn’t, then I must have?” He said it for her, acid lacing the words. “Nice to know you think so highly of me.” He spun and walked to the door, purpose in every determined line of his body.

“What are you going to do?” Her heart throbbed with apprehension. Pain. Doubt.

He paused, hand on the knob, and gave her a dark look. “I’m going to find Bobby. I’m going to look at this so-called evidence. And I’m going to find out the truth.”

TREY LEANED BACK IN the desk chair that had been his father’s and rubbed his eyes. Had he slept at all last night? It seemed unlikely, unless he’d dozed off in the chair while searching through Dad’s credit-card records.

He’d been trying to reach Bobby since he’d left Jessica last night, with no success. Anger surged. Bobby should have come to him with this information, not Jessica. And where was he? By this time he ought to be in his office, but he wasn’t answering there, just as he hadn’t answered his cell or responded to the messages Trey had left.

Trey clipped receipts together and returned them to a file folder. The anger he’d felt at Jessica had dwindled in the long hours of the night to sorrow and pain. Given Jessica’s background, it was already difficult for her to trust anyone, and he’d certainly given her no reason to believe she could rely on him. If he felt anger at anyone, it had to be himself. He’d handled this whole situation badly, and he didn’t see any way it was going to right itself without a lot of people getting hurt.

The truth, Jessica had said. The only thing to do was find the truth. He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the tension. Well, he’d spent the night looking for truth, and he hadn’t found anything even remotely suspicious anywhere in Dad’s records.

Of course, Bobby would be the one with access to the business end of things. Bobby’s scrupulous care of financial records was an asset, since that sort of thing bored Trey to tears. If the vendor said the charge was on Dad’s card, Bobby would have checked the records. But there had to be an explanation.