BlackJack (A Standish Bay Romance Book 1) (5 page)

The appeal
filed by his lawyer was denied.

Some say he was
railroaded, others say he got his just due.

Only Cole and
Lindsey Jackson’s true killer knew justice had not prevailed that dark day in
the New York City Courtroom.

***

John McKenzie
stared at his cell phone in his hand, tossed it on the sofa and then picked it
up again. He had every right to question Shannon’s motives when it involved
their son. She may think, with his job, the never-ending suck the life out of
him house, his kids by his second wife, and another one on the way, that he was
in over his head. Which he was, hell he didn’t even have time to take a crap. Well,
he did, although interruptions always happened, making him understand why he guzzled
bottles of pink medicine. Anyway, he was not too busy he would let this thing
with Cole Jackson slide. He heard his son’s voice last night when he called him
and it sounded to him like he idolized the man. Now there were many other musicians
he wouldn’t mind his son worshiping, but Cole Jackson? Come on. He punched in
the numbers for Shannon’s cell phone. He placed the phone to his ear. His
knuckles turned white from his relentless grip, and he began counting the
rings.

Chapter
Four

Shannon,
startled awake in the morning by the music of her cell phone, groaned as she
slid the little arrow across. “Hello.”

“Shannon, what
the hell were you thinking letting our son socialize with a murderer?”

She groaned
again, lay back down in bed, holding the phone away from her ear to let John
rant and rave. She’d known this was coming. Knew there would be a price to pay
for last night. John liked controlling the people in his life, and her name
still graced his list.

“And you, when
I talked to Cameron last night he told me Cole Jackson asked you out on a date.”
His voice climbed high on the Richter scale. “Are you out of your fucking mind?
He killed his wife. I can’t let you date him! I won’t let you date him!”

How dare he tell
her what she could and couldn’t do? He gave up that right after they divorced, not
that he ever had it to begin with. Although she had the feeling he would have a
different opinion on that subject.

“My mind is
fine, thank you very much. I have every right to make decisions for Cameron and
myself. And I take offense to you thinking otherwise.” Her body shook along
with her voice, attesting to her anger and frustration. Many times they had
loud emotional filled conversations and nothing ever got resolved, so she took
a deep breath and spoke calmly. At least one of them would act sane and
reasonable this morning. “Calm down John, and while you listen to me, why don’t
you grab a bar of soap and wash out your foul mouth.” She heard him curse again.
“First, Cameron had the time of his life last night. You should’ve seen him. He
was awesome. This is his life’s dream and being exposed to the business now is
a good thing. Besides, I was with him the whole time and let me tell you, every
single member of BlackJack is a role model. And there were no drugs or booze
anywhere.”

“Yeah, because
they’re all recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.”

“Only Cole is,
smart ass. Which by the way, does not make him a bad person in my book or
anyone else’s for that matter. Second, Cole didn’t kill his wife. And third,”
she continued no longer capable of keeping the anger out of her voice. “Where
do you get off telling me what I can and cannot do?”

“Oh, Shannon,
please!” John said exasperated.

“I truly
believe he didn’t do it. If you met him, you would feel the same way.” She
heard him yell at the dog, something in the tune of, go wipe your muddy paws.

“Shannon, be
reasonable, don’t date this man. Please.”

“Whether I date
him or not, it’s none of your business. And just so I make myself perfectly
clear and there is no confusion, I
do
want to go out with him.”

“Fine. If
that’s your decision. However, I don’t want Cameron anywhere near him.”

She growled
into the phone. He was determined to make her lose it. “Don’t do this. If you’d
seen them together.” She flinched when she heard him bang something.

“Shit! I think
I broke my God damn hand. I’m coming to the hotel to pick him up in an hour. Wake
him.”

“Cole leaves
town tomorrow, what’s the big deal?”

He sighed
deeply. “I love you Shan. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Nothing will.”

“That remains
to be seen. I’ll see you in an hour, be in the lobby.”

Before she
could respond, he’d hung up. She dragged her suddenly weary body out of bed and
took a long, scalding hot shower. Why was John being so unreasonable? Sometimes
he drove her crazy. She didn’t know how Cheryl put up with him. He could be so pigheaded.
She just thanked her lucky stars she wasn’t married to him anymore. As much as
she loved him, he drove her nuts. After drying her hair and getting dressed,
she woke Cameron up by lightly shaking him and pulling off his covers.

“Meet me
downstairs in thirty minutes all packed. Your father’s picking you up.” She
hoped her voice didn’t betray her anger with John.

He gave an
unintelligible groan and rolled over. Wouldn’t that tick John off more if Cameron
showed up late? Shannon smiled as she left the room. It would serve John right
if Cameron kept him waiting.

She entered the
dining room, paid for Sunday morning brunch even though all she could stomach
was coffee and a muffin. She took a table next to a window facing the street. The
sun shined brightly, guaranteeing another beautiful day. Too bad, after her
conversation with John, she would have trouble enjoying it. Then her eyes found
him
as he entered the restaurant, causing her heart to soar. He wore
jeans and a blue chambray shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His
eyes scanned the room and when they locked on hers, he smiled and nodded in
greeting. Immediately her body quivered with anticipation. She watched him pile
food on his plate and stroll over to her. My God, even the way he walked
screamed out sex.

“Good morning
Shannon, you’re up early,” he said as he slid into the chair opposite hers.

“Morning Cole,
so are you.”

***

His radar spiked.
Something had changed since last night. He took a sip of his steaming coffee
and studied her. Yup, something was definitely wrong and his stomach took a
dive. Was it him? Did she regret kissing him? Only one way to find out.

“Mind telling
me what the matter is?”

She forced a
smile. “What makes you think something’s the matter?”

He sat back, cradling
his coffee mug in his hands, his brows drawn together. “I may have only met you
yesterday, but I’m an extremely perceptive person and something’s screaming at me
something’s wrong.”

She played with
her muffin, breaking off pieces and letting them crumble onto her plate. “John
called.”

“Ahh, John, as
in the ex, he heard.”

“Yeah, he heard.
I’m sorry Cole. He’s coming to pick up Cameron.” She glanced at her watch. “Soon.”

She didn’t say
anything, just stared at him and her eyes said it all. The look caused his
pulse to jump and sent a jolt to his heart. “I see,” he said, not even trying
to hide his anger. Or was it hurt? After putting his coffee mug down, he leaned
forward and covered her small warm hands with his large ones. “He shouldn’t
blame you. I invited Cameron on stage. In hindsight I shouldn’t have asked. I
should have realized his father would not approve of him playing with a convicted
murderer. How people perceive me is always dead center in my mind, but Cameron’s
talent blew me away I wasn’t thinking there would be consequences. I’m so sorry
I’ve caused you trouble.” He went to pull his hands away but she stopped him.

***

“No, don’t go,”
she pleaded. “You’re right. But you don’t know John. He’s just doing what he
thinks is right. He thinks he needs to protect his son from you, but he’s
wrong.”

This time she
didn’t stop him when he pulled his hands away, even though the loss of contact
was almost physically painful to her. He ran them through his hair, and she
noticed for the first time all the gray hairs mixed in with the blond. It
wasn’t all she noticed, his hands trembled.

“Tell me
Shannon, what does John do for a living?”

Shannon openly
cringed at his query and paused for quite some time before she finally answered
in a near whisper. “He’s a police lieutenant.”

Cole closed his
eyes, and when he opened them, Shannon witnessed the hurt she caused—correction,
John caused. “I’m sorry he feels that way, but if he met you, I know he’d
change his mind. I know he would,” she said with strong conviction, which
wasn’t easy to do, considering her throat burned as she fought back the panic
and tears sure to come. “And I meant everything I said last night,” she added
with a deep sigh.

He reached over
and wiped the single moist tear slowly trickling down her cheek, and then
touched his heart. “I know you did, but I’ll not be responsible for your
ex-husband making your life miserable or causing problems with Cameron.” He
pushed his chair back and stood to his full height. After clearing his throat,
he continued in a quiet voice, “Good-bye Shannon Gallagher, it’s been an honor
and a pleasure meeting you. Tell Cameron to keep up with his music. I expect to
attend one of his concerts someday.”

She watched him
leave through a haze of tear stained eyes, and she swallowed the lump in her
throat. That’s it. Done and over before the relationship began. Her hand found
its way to her chest and she’d swear her heart stopped beating.

She watched as Cole
briefly spoke with Cameron who had just come into the restaurant. He gave him a
hug and her heart broke, for her son, for Cole and for herself. Damn you to
hell and back John for being so stubborn.

By the time she
met John in the lobby, anger overtook her heartache. She was fuming. It was
probably the first time she had barely been civil toward John. She kissed and
hugged Cameron. “Keep your studies up at school and behave. I’ll be back in one
week.” She didn’t acknowledge John’s hug or kiss, nor did she speak to him. Which
she could tell didn’t sit well with him.
Well that’s just too damn bad
.

***

Cole watched
the happy family reunion from a chair in the lobby, sitting off to the side so
they couldn’t see him. The ex was an imposing figure, and he held himself with an
air of confidence and arrogance many police officers possessed. He stood
extremely tall and fit, his dark hair showing signs of receding. He seemed to
Cole to genuinely care for Shannon, and he clearly loved his son.

Cole felt a
twinge of envy. He’d been robbed a family of his own. Oh, he knew there was
still time, but he didn’t have any delusions of grandeur. If nothing else,
prison life made him a realist and forced him out of the world of songs and
music. He now lived in the world convicted murderers lived in. He knew that was
always in the back of people’s minds when they met him. And he believed, deep
down inside, his bandmates and other acquaintances couldn’t get it out of their
minds either. He didn’t really blame anyone for believing he killed Lindsey,
after all he did the time. Oh, he didn’t feel sorry for himself, he was out of
prison and things were going relatively well. He felt sorry for Lindsey because
her life had been stolen from her, and her murderer was left to run free.

As he came to
the understanding he would probably never see Shannon Gallagher again, he
thought ahead to the tour. Tomorrow they left Boston for New Jersey. He was
skipping over New York. He couldn’t bring himself to face the city responsible
for convicting him. The city he loved beyond all others.

***

Shannon moved
through her day on automatic pilot. The book signing turned out well. But
somehow, she couldn’t get excited about it. She began plotting ahead to the next
two days in New York. She had three different bookstore appearances and a guest
spot on
Good Morning American
.
During the evenings she would have
some time to herself, but her days were tight.

After dealing
with John and his stubbornness that morning, she’d decided she would look into
Cole’s trial. With any luck she would get to talk to the detective or
detectives in charge of the case. She’d use the excuse she was doing a book
about the murder of Lindsey Jackson. Of course, that wasn’t the real reason—the
real one was a selfish one. Shannon wanted to clear his name so she could see
him without John hassling her. And put the nagging minuscule amount of doubt in
her brain to rest. Maybe she could dig up something everyone missed way back
when. She would contact his lawyer, knowing ahead of time, he wouldn’t reveal
anything confidential, but he may have some helpful suggestions on where she
should investigate.

When the
signing ended, she walked to a small café in Copley Place and ate a late lunch.
Back at her hotel room, she stripped down to her underwear and bra and climbed
in bed to take a nap. When she awoke, darkness swirled around her. She wondered
how the concert was going for Cole and wished she were there. He’d been
incredible to watch last night. His tall, lean, muscular body playing guitar
and singing song after song had made her totally aware of the fact he was all
male and she was all female. His blond hair flying, his body dancing and
jumping on stage had taken her breath away. The memory had her burning for him
now.

How he had
treated Cameron as one of the band members, instead of the self-absorbed
teenager he could be at times touched her deeply. She had been shocked when he
told her he’d never been with anyone but his wife. The tabloids had portrayed
him as a philandering playboy, even though he was married. What they never said
was he had genuine morals. He’d had so many opportunities to trip up in life
with his career, but he hadn’t. His only real mistake had been to drink himself
to the point of numbing his heart and brain from his unfaithful wife.

Shannon could
not, for the life of her, understand how Lindsey had turned to other men when
she had Cole. And
why
did she not remember that being a factor in
the trial? They portrayed her as the innocent monogamous wife and Cole as the
adulterer.

Her mind made
up, she would go to Cole and see him once more before they both left tomorrow
for different lives. She’d let her imagination run wild last night with the
possibility she and Cole could have a future together. Then reality crashed
around her. She traveled the country on book signing tours or researching
settings or was held up in her office in her bedroom writing. He toured the
country in a band and Christ, she didn’t even know where he lived. But none of
that mattered at the moment. The only thing that mattered was she had to touch
him, see him, smell him and taste him one more time. Say goodbye one more time.

***

Cole was not
nearly as nervous for the concert tonight as last night, nor was he as enthused.
Shannon and Cameron had added to the air of excitement. Electric currents
crackled through the air with her around. Tonight the electric currents eluded
him. The air around him hung suspended, void of life, choking and suffocating
him. Some things would never change though—he still puked in the barrel off the
stage before he went on. There was a great crowd again tonight, enthusiastic,
energetic and cheering them on, and it wasn’t long before they sucked him into
their excitement. The band gave it everything they had, and then some. Cole’s
body and soul were truly wiped out when the last encore ended. And as with the
previous night, he took off immediately, leaving everything once again for AJ.