Сандра Браун - Thick as Thieves

“Afraid you would turn me out,” he said with a heat that matched hers. “And then you would have been completely defenseless.”

“Instead, you deceived me into thinking…” She covered her face with both hands and spoke from behind them. “All sorts of things.”

“Not everything was a lie.”

She lowered her hands. “No? Which part was honest?”

“You know which part.”

“Don’t you dare mention last night.” Her voice cracked on the last two words. She shot from her chair and headed for the room she slept in. “You know your way out.”

He went after her, putting his shoulder to the door she tried to slam in his face.

“Get out of here! I’ve had it with you and your infernal cold war with Rusty Dyle. In my opinion, you two were made for each other.”

“Will you please calm down for a minute and listen to me?”

“What for?”

“Because Rusty isn’t done yet. Ask yourself why he all but admitted to killing Hawkins and threatened to implicate us? Hear me out. Please.”

She hesitated, then backed up to the bed and sat down.

Ledge looked down at the floor and ran his hand around the back of his neck. “Several weeks before Easter of 2000, on a Saturday morning, Rusty cornered me in a diner. He laid out his plan to rob the store. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and basically told him he was crazy and to fuck off. I was on the verge of leaving when he threatened me with reprisal if I didn’t go along.

“He was sly, subtle, but his message hit me like a hammer. For all my badass attitude, I was convinced that if I told him no soap, he would punish me for it, and I would have to live with knowing that I had caused destruction or death to something or someone I cared about.

“So, weighed against my uncle’s bar, his life , I chose instead to commit a felony crime. That doesn’t excuse what I did, but that’s the reason I did it. I wish I could undo it. I can’t.”

She looked in the area of his upper arm where she knew the tattoo to be. “Infinity.”

“That’s right. It’s forever.”

She assimilated all that, then sharpened her gaze on him. “How did my dad get away with the money?”

“I swear on my uncle’s head, I don’t know.” He told her about Rusty’s appointing himself keeper of the cash for six months, when they would divide it. “Minutes after we split up, I was arrested.

“I don’t know what happened beyond that point, but Rusty somehow lost possession of that bag, because he’s still bitter over being cheated out of the money. Bitter enough to get vengeance.”

He walked over to her where she still sat on the bed. “Hate me. You’re entitled. But don’t underestimate him. You know firsthand what he’s capable of. I think he has more in store. That’s why I fear for your safety.”

Startling them both, another voice intruded on their conversation. “How touching.”

Chapter 37

Lisa stood in the open doorway, taking in the tableau with a frown of disapproval. “I knocked, but I guess you didn’t hear me above the storm.”

Ledge couldn’t tell if she meant that literally or metaphorically. He looked to Arden to gauge her reaction. She stood but stayed where she was and didn’t greet her sister with either a welcoming hug or even a smile.

Stilted, she said, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

Lisa slid a glance in his direction. “Evidently.”

Arden motioned toward him. “This is—”

“Oh, I know who he is. His fear for your safety obviously extends to sharing your bedroom.”

“Who I share my bedroom with is none of your business,” Arden said. “Although I understand that you made it your business yesterday.”

Ledge didn’t know what she was talking about, but it was apparent that Lisa did. Defensively, she raised her chin a fraction.

“Jacob called me last evening,” Arden said. “He left a voice mail, but I didn’t listen to it until this morning. He told me that you had showed up at his house yesterday, unannounced, and that you created quite a scene when he refused to disclose personal information about me and my relationship with him.” Arden paused to give Lisa time to comment. She didn’t.

“He said you became so contentious, his wife threatened to call the police. Jacob persuaded her not to go to those lengths, but the upshot was that he had to order you, in no uncertain terms, off his property.”

“All right, yes,” Lisa said. “I tracked him down.”

“After intercepting and reading a letter he sent to me. Who gave you the right to do that?”

Ledge reasoned that Arden must have listened to the voice mail before joining him in his kitchen that morning. Maybe if Rusty hadn’t arrived she would have told him about it. But it was clear to him now why she wasn’t overjoyed to see Lisa, who, even though called out, had retained her cool.

She said, “We should be having this conversation without an audience.”

“Don’t mind Ledge,” Arden said. “He knows all about Jacob.”

As Arden explained the nature of her relationship with Dr. Jacob Greene, Ledge witnessed the slow disintegration of Lisa’s hauteur, and he enjoyed watching it.

Arden didn’t let her off easily, either. “By accusing Jacob of adultery, you degraded me, him, his wife, but most of all yourself. You made a complete fool of yourself.”

“No, you made a fool of me,” Lisa fired back. “Why didn’t you tell me you were having that procedure?”

“Because I didn’t need your consent, and I didn’t want to hear all the reasons as to why it was a bad idea.”

“You misled me into thinking that you were carrying on with a married man.”

“No,” Arden said, dragging out the word. “You drew that conclusion without any help from me, and I wasn’t going to defend myself against an assumption that was baseless and false.”

She paused and swallowed hard. “My daughter, who I desperately wanted, was dead. Vindicating myself for how she was conceived—no matter how it had come about—was not a priority. I didn’t care whether you approved.”

As though to underscore that declaration, lightning lit up the room. The flash was followed by a crack of thunder that rattled the windows, calling Lisa’s attention to the blistered paint on the sills. She took in the room as a whole, her critical gaze eventually drifting across him.

She said to Arden, “I thought you had told him his services weren’t wanted after all.”

He’d been leaning against the bureau with intentional indolence. Now, he pushed himself off it. “You don’t need Arden to act as a go-between. You can speak to me directly.”

Finally deigning to look at him straight-on, Lisa sized him up. “You’ve changed since I last saw you.”

“Not you. You’re exactly the same.”

He hadn’t meant it as a compliment, and she got that. She arched an eyebrow. “Your shoulders are broader, but the chip on them is still firmly fixed.”

“That’s not all I’m shouldering these days.”

“Oh? What else is burdening you? Isn’t that dive of your uncle’s doing well?”

Arden stepped in. “That was uncalled for, Lisa. What’s the matter with you?”

Ledge put up a staying hand. “It’s okay. She can’t think any worse of me than she already does. Not that I give a shit what she thinks. In fact, feel free to share with her what I told you just before she got here, see how she reacts to that.”

Arden looked at him with apprehension and gave a small shake of her head. “We’ll talk more about that later. You need to go check on your uncle.”

Lisa said, “Actually, I would like to hear what he has to say. Why is he fearing for your safety? Does he fear this roof will cave in on you, that a high wind will—”