Diamond (28 page)

“It’s all right,” Diamond said. “You can put your worries to rest. My past is just that—past. There’s nothing left that can hurt me, at least not any more than it’s already done.”

“Maybe nothing can, but someone still could. Am I right?” Dooley asked.

Diamond didn’t answer, but the look on her face was answer enough.

“Okay,” Dooley said. “Enough for now. You come with me. I’m taking you home. You’re not spending the night alone.”

“I’ll be fine,” Diamond said. “I’m not sleeping on that lumpy couch again, and you can’t because you don’t fit. I’ll leave with you, but you take me home, okay?”

Dooley frowned. Diamond saw the apprehension in his eyes and suspected he was afraid to say what he was thinking. She sighed, and the sound cut through both Dooley’s and Twila’s conscience like a sharp wind.

“I’m not going to do anything…
desperate
,” she said, “so get those looks off your faces. If I were that kind of woman, I’d have slit my wrists six months ago. Heck, you two, I’m just starting to have fun. There’s no way I’m going to miss this ride.” The sarcasm with which she spoke was not lost on either of them.

Twila sighed with relief. She recognized guts when she saw them, and Diamond Houston seemed to have more than her share.

“Sounds good to me,” she said. “Go home. Get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“I don’t have a phone,” Diamond reminded her.

“My God!” Twila said. “I can’t believe you’ve put up with that. Everyone has a phone, and you need one too, now more than ever.” Twila frowned, then bit her lip. This was as good a time as any to bring up her other decision regarding Diamond. “And another thing, I don’t intend to park my car in that god-awful neighborhood any longer. Be ready to go apartment hunting tomorrow. I’ll pick you up right after lunch.”

“I can’t afford to move.”

“Yes you can,” Dooley said. “I just gave you a raise.”

Diamond rolled her eyes.

“You can’t give her a raise,” Twila said. “She’s going to quit.”

“I’m not quitting my job,” Diamond said. “Besides, Dooley’s just getting the club back on its feet.”

“Oh, Lord, save me from a soft-hearted woman,” Dooley said. “Hell, honey, before you came, Dooley’s was just the way I liked it. That’s not to say what’s happened ain’t better…it’s just a lot more work.” Before she could argue, he continued. “You will have to cut back at my place. Can’t have you slinging no more drinks to bums like Walt and Deever, but I can still book you as a performer when I want to, can’t I?” He turned to Twila. “She can sing for me anytime you don’t have her booked somewhere else, and that’s that.”

Twila thought about it, nodded in agreement, and then added, “I love you dearly, Dooley Hopper. But your club stinks. You put out a bona fide sign and get rid of that damned door with your name peeling off in hunks, and you’ve got a deal.”

“I already did,” Dooley said.

Both women stared.

“No big deal,” he said shortly. “Just my New Year’s resolution. Hell, I been meaning to do it for years anyways. I just finally had the time.”

Diamond smiled at the embarrassment on his face. “Take me home, Dooley Hopper. I haven’t slept since last year.”

He grinned. “That joke’s older than you are, girl,” he teased, handing her his car keys. “Go get in the truck. It’s parked by the fire escape. You can’t miss it. I’ll be right there.”

“I’ve got to get my guitar first,” she said, and left Melvin’s office without looking back.

Dooley watched her leave and then made a dash for the chair. Twila had the same idea and beat him to the chair by inches.

“Dammit, let me look,” Dooley said, snatching the hat from her hand.

Twila frowned. “Maybe there’s a name in the hatband.”

Dooley just shook his head and turned the gold eagle toward the light. “Don’t need one,” he said. “Just look.”

Twila frowned. The emblem seemed familiar. “Where have I seen that?” Understanding came in a flash. “My God,” she said. “Does that belong to who I think?”

“It’s his, or a damned good copy,” Dooley said. “What I want to know is, what’s Jesse Eagle got to do with my girl?”

“Maybe she was his before she was yours,” Twila said.

Dooley blanched as the implication sank in. “Even so…if he cared so damned much, where the hell has he been while she was starving on the streets and looking for work? Where was he when someone broke into her place and scared her half to death? Where was he?”

“Don’t ask me,” she said. “Ask her.” Twila tossed the hat back onto the chair and shook her finger in Dooley’s face. “Remember, she’s moving tomorrow if I have to move her in with me.”

“Fine. All I need is her address. I’m not going to lose her just because she’s movin’ uptown, and you’d better face that fact,” he said, glaring at her.

She grinned. “Listen to us, fighting over her like two dogs worrying a bone. Maybe we should listen to Diamond for a change. What she needs is space, and we can give her that. Now take her home and see that she goes to bed. I’ve got some calls to make, and I don’t think they can wait till tomorrow.” She left without a good-bye.

Dooley took a long, last look at the black hat lying on the chair and left, shutting the door behind him.

The new sign in the window was gaudy, but Dooley liked it, and that was all that mattered. A combination of flashing red neon and bright orange bulbs that spelled
Dooley’s
had replaced the peeling sign that was painted on his front door.

The old door was in the dump and the new one was in place. Dooley couldn’t resist rubbing his hand over the smooth wood before he walked into the club.

Several carpenters were still inside refinishing the old flooring and adding the small stage that he’d decided to install. It was the first of his planned improvements, but not the last. In Dooley’s estimation, nothing was too good for Diamond. She’d been the one to bring life back into him and his business, and he’d do whatever it took to keep her in both.

The carpenters looked up when Dooley entered and then went back to their hammering and sanding. Dooley was heading for the bar when he noticed the man sitting at the table in the corner.

“We’re not open for business,” Dooley said.

Jesse stood. “I didn’t come here to drink.”

Dooley stopped and stared. His hands curled into fists. It was an instinctive gesture, but one that Jesse didn’t miss. This man was too big to argue with…and too old to fight.

“Please,” Jesse said. “And in private.”

Dooley walked toward his office, leaving Jesse to follow if he chose. Jesse entered and closed the door behind him. For a moment, the two men did nothing but stare. Jesse was the first to speak.

“I guess you know who I am,” he said.

“Yeah,” Dooley said. “I think you’re the bastard that broke Diamond’s heart.”

Jesse blanched. “Then you
do
know her.” He dropped into the chair behind him and wiped a shaky hand across his face. “Thank God.”

Dooley frowned. This wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. Maybe apologies, maybe excuses, but not overwhelming, gut-wrenching relief.

“I know Diamond Houston,” Dooley admitted. “But what I don’t know is what she is to you.”

Jesse stood. “She’s my life, man. And I’ve been looking for her for so long I’d almost given up hope of finding her.”

Dooley’s jaw dropped. “You didn’t dump her?”

Jesse shook his head. “Hell, no. One day she just she…” He swallowed, trying to get out the words that stuck in his throat. “She packed her things while I was gone and disappeared without a trace.”

Dooley frowned. “She didn’t leave a note or nothin’? That don’t sound like my girl.” He suspected Jesse Eagle might be lying to cover his own betrayal.

It was hard for Jesse to hear another man claim any kind of relationship to Diamond, although he knew that when Dooley had befriended her, he’d probably saved her sanity, too.

“Oh, she left me a note,” Jesse said. “It said, ‘Be happy.’”

Then Jesse laughed, and Dooley shuddered. It was the farthest sound from joy he’d ever heard.

“Is she well?” Jesse asked. “She hasn’t been sick, has she? She looks thinner, and her eyes seem—”

“She knows you saw her,” Dooley said.

Jesse grew still. The look on his face was the proof Dooley’d been waiting to see. If ever a man was in want over a woman, this one was.

“How? I was so damned careful. I was afraid if she saw me that she’d just run again before I found out why.”

Dooley pointed to the hat Jesse was wearing. “You need to take better care of that. I found her on the floor in Melvin Call’s office with it in her hand.”

Jesse stared down at the hat Melvin had returned by special messenger. Dismay overwhelmed him. Everything was only getting worse. “On the floor?”

“Fainted, I guess,” Dooley said. “She was lying by the glass wall in Mel’s office.”

“Oh, Jesus. I can’t…I didn’t mean…” Jesse slumped against Dooley’s desk. “What the hell am I going to do? I can’t live without that woman, and I don’t know for sure why she left me.” His voice shook. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you? As God is my witness, I’d die for her tomorrow. The last thing I want to do is hurt her. I love her.”

“Then that’s enough reason for me to tell you that I think she’s still in love with you,” Dooley said. He jabbed his finger gently in Jesse’s chest as he added, “But as God is
my
witness, if you hurt her again, I’ll kill you.”

Jesse nodded and offered his hand. “Fair enough.”

Dooley reached out, wrapped his huge, beefy grip around Jesse’s palm, and shook his hand. More than a vow passed between them that day.

“Diamond’s gone and got herself a manager. But that’s for business. This is personal. I could talk to her myself, if you want to set up a meeting or something,” Dooley said. “I can promise you she won’t run. I won’t let her. I did too much of that myself in my younger days, and I’m here to say it don’t solve a thing.”

It didn’t take Jesse long to decide. “No. As much as I want to see her, for now it’s enough to know that she’s being taken care of. There are a few more things I need to find out before I confront her and her manager. Who is he, anyway?”

“Ain’t a he, it’s a she. Twila Hart. Know her?”

Jesse nodded. “Got a good reputation, which is more than I can say for some.”

Dooley didn’t like what he was hearing. Secrets didn’t do anything but hurt people. “So, what do you need to find out before you talk to Diamond again? What could possibly be so important that you two can’t work it out together?”

Jesse shoved his hands in his pockets, debating with himself about how far he could trust this man.

Maybe it was the missing little finger on Dooley’s left hand, or the scar below his lower lip that nearly disappeared into his double chin. And maybe it was just the fierce look Dooley got in his eyes whenever Diamond’s name was mentioned. Either way, once Jesse found himself talking he couldn’t seem to stop.

“I need to find out about the demo she cut for Tommy. Find out if what he told me about the contract they never got around to signing was the truth. See who was really responsible for her name being left off the album. Several times I started to just reveal the whole damn mess and hope the media would help me find her, but I was scared that the fire I would start by revealing the deception might somehow burn her instead.”

Dooley’s stomach turned. This was uglier than he’d expected. She hadn’t just run from love. She’d been on the run from deceit and betrayal.

“I don’t like what you’re saying,” Dooley said. “She made an album with you? How come I don’t know nothing about—” Realization suddenly dawned on him. The mystery woman on Jesse Eagle’s new album was Diamond!

“Don’t even ask,” Jesse said. “And as for explaining the mess, if I knew how it happened, I’d be the first one to talk.”

Dooley frowned but decided for the moment to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Who’s Tommy?” he asked.

Jesse looked away. For a long moment he didn’t speak. And then when he did, the guilt was evident on his face.

“My manager. I trusted him. I’m still not sure if I should have.”

Dooley cursed. “Well, you keep him away from Diamond. I won’t have her hurt again.”

“Why do you think I haven’t faced her before now? You think I haven’t thought the same thing a thousand times? I’ve got to be sure that when I take her back into my life she’ll be safe.”

Dooley nodded. “There’s one way.”

“What?” Jesse asked. “I’m open to suggestions.”

“We could just kill the bastard and be done with it.”

“Don’t tempt me, and don’t think I haven’t considered it.” The expression on Jesse’s face was as grim as his voice. “But it wouldn’t fix what’s already broken, and I’m still not sure how much he’s really involved. I need Diamond to tell me. I won’t believe anyone else, ever. For now, just take care of her. I’ll do the rest. And one more thing. I’m asking that you don’t tell anybody about the album until I let you know.”

Dooley nodded. “You’ve got a deal.”

Jesse walked away without looking back.

And for the first time since he’d hired her, he faced the fact that Diamond didn’t belong—and had never belonged—to him.

17

Twila hung up the phone
and stared at the collage of pictures on the wall opposite her desk. But she wasn’t focusing on the images, she was lost in thought from what Dooley had just told her.

“So…Jesse Eagle. It
was
you,” she said.

She dropped her pen, turned off the desk light, and grabbed her purse as she headed for the door. If what Dooley had told her was anywhere close to the truth, the betrayal of Diamond had been carefully finessed. It didn’t surprise her. Diamond wouldn’t have been the first starry-eyed performer to come to Nashville and make all the wrong choices.

Only this time things were a little bit different. If Jesse was to be believed, someone had been operating for her on his behalf and had simply made no choices at all, leaving her to assume that she’d failed for lack of talent.

Twila fumed. If anyone had talent, it was Diamond Houston. She just couldn’t figure out why Diamond hadn’t complained. Most women she knew would have been crying aloud to anyone who’d listen about how they’d been betrayed. And about half of them would already have lawsuits pending. Something else was going on here, and she was determined to find it out.