Truth and Consequences Read online

  The word snapped through the air and lashed at her painfully. “Don’t call me that.”

  He chuckled. “It is true that I’m not in charge of things, sweetheart. But Jeremiah is, and he and I talk sometimes. He comes by to see me every week or so. I could put in a word for Patrick, but if I do, what will you do for me?”

  Elke’s lips parted. “What?”

  “Tit for tat,” said Felix. “Like a deal. You know deals. You used to make them all the time as a prosecuting attorney.”

  “Right,” she said. “Before I lost my integrity defending your guilty ass to the public.”

  “You did that because you love me.”

  “Loved. In the past.”

  “Is it?” He raised his eyebrows. “You’re here, aren’t you? That means something.”

  “That means my little brother is in trouble, and you’re the only person who can help him.”

  “Why don’t you just go to the police?”

  She glowered at him.

  He smiled. “Here’s what I propose. I propose that you start coming to see me here. Maybe twice a week? And then I’ll see what I can do about poor Patrick.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “No.”

  “I could also just as easily put in a different word with Jeremiah. Tell him to go hard on Patrick. You say Patrick’s staying at your place?”

  Damn it. Elke shut her eyes, her pulse beginning to pound. What had she done? She’d put her brother in danger. “I will never deal with you, Felix,” she said through clenched teeth. She had to get out of there. She had to get Patrick someplace safe.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Wait, what do you mean, I can’t stay here?” said Patrick. He had been sprawled out on Elke’s couch watching TV, but now he was standing up, staring over the back of the couch at her.

  She went around the couch. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You said I could stay. Why are you changing your mind now? I don’t have anywhere else to go. They know where Mom and Dad live, and I don’t want them mixed up in this. Why are you taking it back?”

  “I’m not taking it back,” she said. “I screwed up. I told Felix you were staying with me. You have to go.”

  Patrick sat down heavily. “You talked to him?”

  “Yes. And he wouldn’t help unless I made a deal with him, which I am not about to do.”

  Patrick made a face like something smelled bad. “Man,” he muttered, “was he always such a bastard?”

  “I think so,” she said. “But I never noticed.”

  “Yeah, me either.” He shook his head. “You know, it was only a matter of time until they came looking for me here, anyway. Staying here couldn’t be a permanent solution. But I really thought Felix would help.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He rubbed his forehead. “Where am I supposed to go? I have nowhere to go.”

  “I have an idea about that,” said Elke. “How about the lake house?” Her parents owned a house on the lake. They used to spend the summer there when she and Patrick were younger.

  “Doesn’t Felix know about the lake house?”

  “No,” said Elke. “At least, I doubt he’ll think of it. He’s never been there.” Elke hated going to the lake. She was not a roughing it kind of girl. She liked civilization and paved roads. She didn’t like snakes in the bathroom or lugging wood in to start a fire in the fireplace or any of that kind of crap. Long ago, she’d told her parents she would not be attending any more family gatherings at the lake house. Her parents had obliged by not going out there for Christmas or New Years anymore. And they didn’t invite her on their summer trips either.

  “Yeah, I guess he hasn’t.” Patrick brightened. “You know, I should have thought of that before. It’s a great place to hide out.” Patrick liked roughing it. He didn’t even mind snakes. He always laughed whenever Elke screamed.

  “We need to leave right now,” said Elke. “I don’t think you should spend another night here. I have no idea how quickly Felix can get word to someone on the outside about the fact you’re here. I would think we’d have a bit of time, but you can never be sure when it comes to the way prisons operate. There are all kinds of sneaky ways that inmates get information out.”

  “Okay,” said Patrick. “Well, let me pack.” He looked around, spied his duffel back, and zipped it up. “Done. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  She and Patrick both took their own cars for the drive up. That way, he’d still have his car when she left to go home. She wasn’t going to drive her brother up there and leave him completely stranded. She could have let him drive up without her, but she felt responsible for Patrick, and she wanted to make sure he was settled in.

  The lake house was shut up for the winter, and that meant that when they arrived they needed to turn on all the breakers and the water and everything else. When Patrick left, he’d have to defrost the refrigerator and drain the toilet, which was a bit more labor intensive. Opening up was easier than closing up.

  While Patrick worked on getting the place livable, she went out to the grocery store to buy him some food and supplies. When she got back, Patrick had a fire going in the fireplace in the living room and was sitting on the couch with his feet up, looking proud of himself.

  “This is going to be great!” he told her.

  She didn’t share his enthusiasm for living in a rickety cabin in the middle of nowhere, but she was glad he was on board with it. She put away the food she’d gotten for him and they made plans to speak on the phone every day.

  Then she left him there and drove back to Haven Hills.

  On the drive back, she couldn’t help but think about how this wasn’t a solution to Patrick’s problem. This was just a way for him to hide from his problem. It couldn’t go on forever.

  She thought again about notifying the police, which was obviously the right thing to do. But she’d prosecuted drug dealers before. She knew what kind of sentences could be brought down on her brother. Even if he cooperated and worked out a decent deal, a conviction like that could derail his life. He would always have to explain it, and it could hold him back. The more she thought about it, the more she was certain that wasn’t what she wanted for Patrick, because it wasn’t entirely his fault. It was Felix’s fault. Felix had done this, and Felix should pay. Not Patrick.

  But without involving the police, she wasn’t sure how she was going to solve this situation.

  She had to do something, though. Her brother was counting on her.

  It was late when she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. The spots in the complex weren’t assigned. She needed a permit to park there, but she then could park in any of the spaces. Since it was so late, the spaces she usually took were full. She had to drive around the building twice before she found an empty spot.

  It was all the way in the back, and it was going to be a bit of a hike back to the building. Normally, she wouldn’t mind, but after the entire day she’d had—first dealing with the Fisher case, then seeing Felix, then driving all the way to the lake and back—she was bone tired. She wanted to crawl into her bed and pull the covers close and sleep.

  She parked the car and turned off the engine, but she didn’t get out right away. Instead, she closed her eyes and rested her head back against the seat. Hell, she could practically sleep out here.

  Except it would eventually get cold, she thought. She forced herself to open her eyes. She needed to get out of the car.

  She groaned under her breath, but she gathered up her purse and put her keys in her bag and pushed open the door to get out.

  The chilly air outside nipped at her nose right away. She shivered, pulling her coat closed with one hand while she fumbled to get her purse over her shoulder.

  The dome light in her car cast a circle of blue light around her, illuminating the red car beside her and the black boxy SUV. She shut the door. The light went out.

  A cold breeze fluttered against the back of her neck
and a shiver went down her spine.

  Maybe it was the sensation or maybe it was some bit of movement she caught out of the corner of her eye, but suddenly, she felt a horrid creeping notion that she wasn’t alone.

  Of course I’m not alone, she thought furiously to herself. I’m in the middle of a city, and there are people everywhere.

  She turned in a tight circle, holding her purse tightly against her body.

  The cars of the parking lot spread out in all directions. It was cold enough that frost was already beginning to form on their windshields and side mirrors. There was a hedge of evergreen bushes and a sidewalk beyond it. An empty street on the other side, streetlights buzzing down their light on the asphalt.

  Her breath came out in a noisy white cloud.

  There’s no one here, she told herself.

  She started to walk across the parking lot. Her footsteps seemed deafening, echoing through the cold night.

  She pulled her coat closer and kept walking.

  There.

  She was sure she’d seen it this time. Movement. A dark shadow to her left.

  She stopped short, turning, bringing up her arms in a defensive motion.

  But he was somehow behind her now, as if he’d circled her, and she felt thick arms go around her, pining her arms to her sides. “What did you do with your brother?” rasped hot breath against her ear.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Elke’s first inclination was to struggle. She wanted to get her arms free, maybe drive an elbow into her captor, take off running and scream at the top of her lungs.

  But then she felt the sharp point of a knife at the side of her neck. “Hold still,” said the voice at her ear.

  Her heart was battering at the cage of her ribs as if it wanted to be let out. Her breath came in harsh gusts. “What do you want?”

  “Patrick,” said the voice. “Tell me where he is.”

  “Never,” she said, her voice trembling. Oh, God, would this man hurt her over this? He had a knife to her neck. Almost at her throat. Was he going to kill her? She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t believe Felix had gone this far. Why was he so interested in Patrick? This didn’t make sense.

  Pressure on the knife. “Where is he?”

  “No.” She cringed. Oh, God, if she did die in this parking lot, what would Patrick do when he didn’t get word from her tomorrow? Would he leave his hiding place and get killed too?

  Suddenly, bright headlights across the parking lot. A car had just pulled in.

  The man holding her let go abruptly. “This isn’t over,” he said. “Tell Patrick to return what isn’t his, and all this will go away.”

  “What?” She turned around to face the man.

  He was disappearing into the shadows.

  “What does that mean? Return what?”

  The man was gone.

  Elke dragged her hands over her face. She wanted to scream.

  * * *

  “Are you sure nothing happened?” Iain looked Elke over. She seemed really shaken up. When she’d called him on the phone, she’d been too afraid to go into her apartment alone, and she’d insisted he come down and meet her in the lobby.

  “No, no.” She hugged herself. They were standing in the middle of her living room now, and Iain had just gotten done going through the place, making sure no one was there. “After what happened with the Mukherjee case, I get spooked sometimes is all. I know it’s silly. I’m sorry I bothered you. Were you busy?”

  Harley was actually there that evening, planning on spending the night, but he wasn’t annoyed at Elke’s intrusion into his evening. He was only concerned. “It’s not a problem. I told you to call me if you needed anything, and I meant that. Are you sure you’re all right?”

  She nodded, but her face was pale and her lips were bloodless. She looked terrified.

  “Do you want to stay in my guest room tonight?” Iain said. He normally wouldn’t offer such a thing. He didn’t even know why he had a guest room. It wasn’t as if he really tolerated guests. Other people made him twitchy. And on top of that, he knew Harley wouldn’t like it, but that would give him an excuse to send her home, and maybe he didn’t want her staying overnight. Every time he had to contend with her in the morning, he felt as if he was off kilter all day, since his morning routine was disturbed.

  Harley said that people in relationships had to sleep in the same bed after having sex and then wake up together. She said that was the normal way of doing things. He was trying to appease her. It wasn’t easy.

  Elke shook her head. “I couldn’t impose.”

  “Well, if you’re really that worried—”

  “I’m fine.” She forced her face into a semblance of a smile. “I overreacted, that’s all. Silly of me to get so scared.”

  For some reason, Iain didn’t think he believed her. But he couldn’t be bothered trying to figure out why she was lying. Other people bewildered him. “Okay,” he said. “I guess I’ll go back up to my apartment then?”

  Elke nodded. “Sure.”

  “You’re okay down here?”

  “Fine,” she said. She gave him that attempt at a smile again.

  He furrowed his brow. “Listen, if anything happens, anything at all, you can call me, you know that, right?”

  She let out a very unconvincing laugh. “Really, I was an idiot to call you in the first place. There’s obviously nothing wrong. Go back upstairs. I’m fine.”

  He hesitated.

  “Really. I’m fine.”

  So, he left her there and went back upstairs to Harley.

  She was in his bedroom. She had taken off all her clothes and tossed them on his floor in various places, and he looked at each article of crumpled clothing and winced. She was wearing one of his white shirts, which barely covered her ass.

  He looked at her bare legs and forgot about the clothes on the floor.

  She winked at him. “Hey.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Something wrong with your own clothes?”

  “Mmm,” she said, wandering across the room towards him. “Very uncomfortable. This is much better.”

  “Doesn’t really cover that much of your body,” he said, raking his gaze over her and noticing that she had left most of the shirt unbuttoned, and that he could see the bare skin between her breasts all the way down to her belly button.

  She tapped her finger against her bottom lip, looking perplexed. “That is too bad.” She shrugged. “Oh well, have to find something else to wear.” She pulled his shirt over her head, baring herself to him.

  On second thought, he was really fine with her spending the night. Completely fine with it.

  * * *

  Harley reached across Iain, picked up his phone and threw it across the room. “Make it stop,” she moaned in a sleep-ravaged voice.

  The phone was emitting his wake-up alarm, which Iain had been planning on silencing, except now he couldn’t, because the phone was on the other side of the room.

  “Make it stop.” Harley rolled over and pulled her pillow over her face.

  Iain glared at her and then got out of bed and went over to get his phone. He fished it up off the floor and turned off the alarm.

  “Oh, thank God,” Harley moaned. She pulled the pillow off of her face and stuffed it under her head. She rolled over onto her side and curled into a fetal position.

  Iain rolled his eyes. This waking-up-together thing? He was seriously not sold on it. He already felt out of sorts, and he’d been awake for exactly thirty seconds. He set his phone on his dresser and surveyed his room. Harley’s clothes were everywhere, and he didn’t like that. Harley was in the bed, and the covers were untucked from the bottom of the bed and he didn’t like that.

  Usually, the first thing he did upon waking up was to make the bed. Which usually didn’t take much effort, because usually there wasn’t activity in the bed that untucked everything. He’d enjoyed that activity and all, but now it was morning, and he wanted some peace and order. Everythi
ng was… wrong.

  He blew out a breath and headed into the bathroom. Maybe if he just walked away from the bedroom, it would stop bothering him.

  “Iain?” Harley’s voice.

  He turned around to look at her.

  She propped herself up in bed, staring at him and grinning wickedly. “Good morning.”

  “I have to take a shower,” he said.

  “Want company?”

  “No!” He was horrified.

  “Ouch,” she said. “Look, if you don’t want to get me all hot and bothered in the morning, don’t walk around naked.”

  “Don’t throw my phone across the room, then.” His robe was draped over a chair right next to the bed. If he’d awakened the way he’d planned, he would have already been wearing it. He went over and snatched it up. He shrugged into it.

  Harley collapsed back on the bed. “Oh, geez, Iain, loosen up.”

  “Don’t you have something to do today? Like job hunting or something? Or am I buying your groceries again this month?”

  “Screw you,” she said.

  Harley was needy that way. She was always hitting him up for cash and help and all kinds of other things. It annoyed him, but he also cared about her, so he couldn’t help but give in to her requests.

  He went into the bathroom. He closed the door.

  She opened it. She was out of bed now, and she was naked. “Say you’re sorry.”

  He looked at her breasts. He looked at the ceiling. “I’m going to be late for work—”

  “I have been looking for a job, you know,” she said. “I went to an interview yesterday. I told you that.”

  “Whatever, Harley, can you just give me a little space right now?”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Seriously? You are such an ass in the morning.”

  “Out of the bathroom.” He pointed.

  “You know, so maybe I have some issues with money and stuff, but you are hardly perfect.”

  He sighed. “Do we have to do this at this very instant?”

  “Maybe,” she said. “You treat me like garbage if I disrupt your perfect existence in the morning, but last night, I could have sworn you kind of liked me.”