Colorado 03 Lady Luck (66 page)

“Restitution discussion goes through my
attorney, Nina Maxwell.”

“Mr. Walker, I’m not calling about
restitution. I’m calling you to explain we’ve had a request from
Mrs. Jolinda Hayes. She’d like your contact information.”

“Who’s Jolinda Hayes?” Ty asked.

“She’s the mother of Shaun Hayes, the other
man framed by Detectives Fuller and Palmer. The man who committed
suicide three days prior to going to trial.”

Fuck.

Ty pulled in breath. Then he asked, “Why
does she wanna talk to me?”

“She hasn’t explained that, sir. She just
requested your contact number. Obviously, we can’t give her that
information unless you agree.”

“Give it,” Ty stated.

“Sorry?”

“Give it to her.”

Pause then, “Oh. Okay, well thank you –”

Ty flipped his phone shut.

An hour and a half later, it rang again. He
pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the display and saw an LA
area code.

He sucked in breath.

Then he flipped it open and put it to his
ear.

“Walker.”

“Tyrell Walker?”

“Yep.”

Pause then, “This is Jolinda Hayes, I’m
–”

“Know who you are.”

Silence from Jolinda Hayes.

Ty wasn’t silent. “Know what he lived
through, all of it, bein’ inside and not wantin’ to go back, bein’
framed, knowin’ he was goin’ down and why. Don’t know you; don’t
know the kind of life you’ve lived but I do know it’s doubtful you
lived through somethin’ like that. I know why he did what he did
too. It was his choice. It was him takin’ his power back. It was
him doin’ what he could to save you from livin’ through that hell
with him. It was not the right choice but it was a compassionate
one.”

When he stopped speaking, he heard quiet
tears and he silently listened to them for a fuck of a long
time.

Then he was done listening so he called,
“Mrs. Hayes.”

I tearful hiccough then, “Yes, Mr.
Walker?”

“Ty,” he corrected then didn’t hesitate and
continued. “It’s too late but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there to
savor. Your son got his shit together and died a good man and
everyone in the country knows it. That’s worth somethin’ so savor
it.”

“Rah… rah… right.”

“Right. Now, get a piece of paper and a pen.
I’m gonna give you my wife’s number. You wanna talk, she’ll listen.
You wanna laugh, she’s fuckin’ funny. You never call her, that’s
your choice. But way I see it, we’re family and my wife does the
welcoming.”

Another hiccough, some noise then, “I, um…
Ty, I have a piece of paper.”

Ty gave her Lexie’s phone number and
name.

Then Jolinda Hayes pulled it together and
said quietly, “Thank you, Ty, for taking my call.”

“Lady Luck finally saw fit to shine her
light on me but life taught me to share. Welcome to the light.”
That got him a quiet sob into which he said quietly, “Mrs. Hayes,
call my wife.”

“Rah… rah… right.”

“Take care.”

“You… you too, Ty.”

He flipped his phone shut, opened it, called
his woman and told her she might get a call from Jolinda Hayes and
why at the same time he hoped to fuck she wouldn’t burst into tears
again.

She didn’t. She asked him what he wanted for
dinner.

He told her he’d eat whatever she made and
flipped the phone shut after hearing her tell him she loved him and
returning the sentiment and then he got back to work.

* * * * *

Four weeks later…

Ty stood at the basin brushing his teeth
wondering where the fuck his wife was.

It was time to shower.

Unusually, as in, for the first time ever,
when they got up, he went to their bathroom, she wandered down the
stairs.

He was about to bend, spit, rinse and go
find her when he saw her in the mirror, wandering in the door
behind him, her eyes on him, her body in a pair of loose drawstring
shorts and a tight little tee, her arms behind her back, her face
wearing an expression he couldn’t read.

He continued to brush as through the mirror
he watched her slowly make her way across the bathroom to him then
he lost sight of her when she fitted herself to his back.

Then he felt her lips move on his skin and
he knew she was tracing his tat.

He put a hand to the edge of the vanity
counter, bent his neck, spit, rinsed, shoved his toothbrush in the
holder, looked at himself in the mirror and rumbled, “Lexie.”

Her hand appeared, coming around his side
and his eyes dropped to see she was holding a white stick. She
placed it on the counter by the sink.

There was a little window in the stick.

And there was a little, pink plus sign in
the window.

His body went still.

He felt her lips move against the skin of
his back as she whispered, “I’m pregnant, honey.”

Ty Walker closed his eyes because he
couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t even see her and her light was
shining so bright, it seared his retinas, beat through his skin,
his tissue, warming him straight to the marrow of his bones.

When he felt her movement, his eyes opened
and Ty watched as her other arm snaked around his waist, her
fingers light on the skin of his abs when he felt her lips go away
and her chin rest gentle on his back and she called, “Ty?”

“Boy, Julius Tatum. Girl, Ella Alexi,” Ty
declared and felt his wife still at his back.

Then she asked, “Did you just name our
future child?”

“Yep.”

“Uh, honey lumpkins, that’s the kinda thing
that’s discussed.”

“You get the next one.”

Silence.

Then, “All right, baby, I can live with
that.”

His gaze moved to his eyes in the
mirror.

Then he smiled.

Then he moved and he moved in order to take
a shower with his wife.

* * * * *

Lexie

Two weeks later…

I walked into the diner, already knowing
what I was going to order.

And it was a miracle when my step didn’t
stutter when I saw Detective Chace Keaton sitting at the booth at
the back.

It was the first time I’d seen him since
that day in my closet except once when he was on television, caught
by the news reporters walking into Carnal Police Department.

The media circus had died down, the
reporters moving on to feed on fresher meat.

But things in Carnal were still shifting and
hopefully this was in order to settle and not to rock again.

There were four police officers who kept
their jobs at CPD. Chace and Frank were two of those four. Three
had been indicted as had a clerk and the secretary who worked for
Fuller and the detective pool. The rest of the Carnal Police Force
had been discharged. Detective Darren Newcomb was one who’d been
discharged but he bought this rather than an indictment because he
made a deal and was turning evidence.

Arnold Fuller had been stripped of his
position due to multiple counts of corruption and mishandling the
investigation of a local serial killer including delayed responses
to dispatch his officers when two of his female citizens were
reported missing as well as his pending indictments for corruption,
conspiracy and providing false evidence during an out-of-state
murder investigation.

Officers from other Stations around the
county were covering as the City Council went through a massive
hiring process.

The framing of Ty and subsequent harassment,
the bungling of the serial killer case that had swept up Laurie,
Tate and Jim-Billy as well as enquiries into the death of Misty
Keaton were the focal point of the charges brought and reasons for
discharge. This was also primarily what the media fed on. There was
more, of course, and many Carnal citizens had no problems standing
in front of a camera or with a reporter taking notes and letting
them know what went down in Carnal.

It was all out there.

Except whoever financed, covered up and
protected Fuller and his men’s activities.

In other words, nothing on any powerful men,
including Trane Keaton, had leaked.

I didn’t know if this meant another shoe was
going to drop or if they were just powerful and rich enough to make
their problems go away. All I knew was that Ty was so famous, it
was very doubtful anyone would touch him or me. The reporters might
have gone away but the story hadn’t. Ty even had a listing on an
on-line encyclopedia. Laurie called me, told me to fire up my
computer and showed it to me. The pictures they included were hot.
The fact it existed was not.

But… whatever.

I was married to the man I loved, his name
was clear, he was free, I was carrying his baby and the restitution
Nina negotiated meant we didn’t have to worry too much about their
college educations
and
I could get
my reading area in our bedroom (which I did
plus
a rug for under the bed).

So all was good in my world.

But there were loose ends in Carnal.

Rowdy Crabtree had not been found.

And Misty Keaton’s murder had so far gone
unsolved.

I had been right. Misty’s friend in
Maryland, Tate discovered,
was
indeed the woman in the tape. She was also, back then, the
mother of a three year old boy and the woman whose ex was a serious
asshole. She’d kicked him out and divorced his ass but he was the
kind of man who felt he could come over whenever he wanted, shout
the house down, slap her around and take stuff, such as the money
in her wallet or things of value he could sell.

She had a job as a waitress in a bar in Gnaw
Bone called The Dog, was not close with her family as in, she never
spoke to them, and her ex kept stealing all her tips therefore she
needed out and to get out she needed money and it was the kind of
money she didn’t have and had no hope of getting especially when
her ex-husband kept taking the little she had.

So she got that money by doing sick-ass shit
with Trane Keaton. In fact, she got two hundred thousand dollars
for doing it, blackmail money direct from Trane which I didn’t
think was enough but that’s just me.

Still, it got her out of Colorado and
nearly a continent away, it set her up and her ex, being an
asshole
and
lazy, didn’t
put up the effort to trail her and continue making her life
miserable so it also bought her peace.

Until Misty died.

She confirmed to Tate that Misty was as
messed up as Misty was. Misty had doting parents, good looks and
had grown up wild because her folks didn’t know how to say no so
she pretty much did whatever she wanted to do whenever she wanted
to do it. She wasn’t used to getting no for an answer so she didn’t
mind doing what she had to do to get what she wanted.

And she wanted Chace. Like,
a lot
(obviously).

And he made it clear he wanted only one
thing from her and that was only part of what she wanted from
him.

Seeing as she’d convinced herself her
talents in bed (something for which he kept coming back for more)
and her looks would eventually win him around, she successfully set
about trapping him, thinking, insanely, that he’d eventually get
over her sick, twisted power play and fall head over heels in love
with her.

This was not a lie. This was what Miss
Maryland told Tate, straight out.

It was a fucked up play by a pretty, spoiled
girl who, personally, I thought needed mental help.

But she was dead so that was impossible.

Though, I did make a point of noting this. I
had no blood family, didn’t have a mother-figure until I was
thirteen and could see myself falling in the trap of giving a child
I loved everything she or he wanted because I had to wade through a
whole lot of shit to get what I wanted and it took thirty-four
years. Upon learning this about Misty, I decided on the motherhood
course of Do What Ella Would Do in order not to fuck up my kid by
loving them so much it made me weak and them stupid.

Misty’s friend, by the way, was terrified.
Tate, by the way, was a straight talker and told her she had reason
to be and if she had any of that two hundred grand left, she needed
to get herself safe.

Being Tate and checking up, the next time he
called, her number was disconnected.

No more was heard from Misty Keaton’s
friend. Arnie Fuller was out on bail and keeping his head down as
in, no one saw him
ever.
Gossip was
dying down and the City Council was acting fast to clean up. But
people weren’t used to living out from under small town tyranny.
They were guardedly happy yet braced. The boat had rocked and only
those who deserved to get thrown in the water got
drenched.

But after what happened to Ty, Misty and
Rowdy, everyone knew anything could happen.

So they were breathing easier but that
didn’t mean they weren’t prepared.

Chace Keaton had weathered the storm. What
he did was known, very much so. Handsome, well-dressed and having a
confident manner, he was the poster boy for the IA and pushed in
front of the cameras to show that Carnal wasn’t entirely infested,
there were good, brave men serving the community. You could tell he
didn’t like it but again, as it seemed was his curse, he put up
with it.

I just hoped for him, like it had for Ty and
me, it would eventually die down.

In the diner that day, I quickly looked away
from Chace and walked to the counter, taking a stool so I could do
what I did when I picked the diner for lunch. Order takeaway and
take it back to the salon so I could gab with Dominic, Kayeleen and
their clients as I ate lunch. I knew exactly what I wanted so I
waited for the busy waitress behind the counter to get to me. And
while I waited, my eyes went everywhere to avoid going to
Chace.