For the Defense (10 page)

Jack looked her up and down suggestively. “Manning phones. What a waste of womanpower.”

Tina’s eyes darted to her watch. “Oh, what the hell. I’ll put on the answering machine. I can return the calls when we get back, right?”

“Right,” he said as he finally extricated his hand from hers and reached for the sweater on the back of her chair. “A bit of a breeze out. You may need this.”

She looked him up and down. “Honey, with you beside me, I won’t be cold.”

D
IANA CHECKED HER WATCH
. Nearly seven. She’d called Jack’s cell at six and again at six fifteen, but received a recording both times that said he was not available. She’d left a message, but he hadn’t called back.

The depth of her disappointment irritated her.

Well, there was no use waiting around any longer. She picked up the phone to call her mother to let her know she was on her way, but got a busy signal. No doubt Mel was using the Internet. Diana locked the door of the deserted office behind her, got into her car and headed for home.

Traffic was light. A breeze had blown away the clouds leaving the long summer evening warm and clear. Within minutes she was on a peaceful country road, the sun
bouncing like a white tennis ball through openings in the heavy canopy of trees.

Most of the other employees at the law firm lived within ten or fifteen minutes and would consider anything beyond that excessive. But Diana was comfortable with the longer commute because she liked living far from the hustle and bustle of town.

Her childhood had been spent in large noisy cities. Every couple of years the dictates of her father’s career would have them packing up and relocating to yet another one. Always having to adjust to new schools and school-mates. No sense of security, permanency.

Diana had promised herself Mel would know a stable environment. Her daughter had lived in the same community and home since she was two. Even after their move next week, her grandmother would still be close by and Shirley would be in their new place to surround Mel with her own special brand of zany love.

But Diana didn’t kid herself. No matter what she gave Mel now, it would never be enough. She’d screwed up on the most important responsibility a mother had to her child—the choice of the right father.

Diana turned into her mother’s driveway and pushed the remote control button for the garage. As she maneuvered the car forward, she caught sight of a man’s figure in her peripheral vision. He was sitting on one of the patio chairs at the front of the house.

As her head swung toward him, he lifted his hand and waved. She was so surprised to see him that she nearly drove into the wall.

“M
ORE COFFEE
?” Margaret asked as she stepped onto the front patio, the pot in her hand.

Jack eagerly held up his cup. “You sure this stuff isn’t a love potion, Margaret? I’ve got a sudden urge to challenge this Ray guy for your hand.”

She shook her head as she refilled Jack’s cup. “Good looks
and
charm. You must have to fight the women off.”

“I have more fun when I don’t fight them
all
off,” he said, sending her a wink.

Her smile was full of mischief. “I’ve watched Mel’s tapes of
Seattle.
Didn’t look to me like you fought
any
of them off when you played Derek Dementer.”

Jack chuckled as he sipped more coffee, glad he’d made the decision to come here, if for no other reason than he’d had the chance to meet Diana’s mother.

Margaret was a living embodiment of the sweet wholesome homemaker—comforting and bolstering everyone around her, dispensing love and warmth to the weary family who trudged through the door at the end of the day. And even to a stranger like him who had straggled in un-announced forty minutes before.

“Can your daughter make coffee this good?” he asked, wondering why he did as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

“Diana does everything well,” Margaret said with a tone full of pride.

As though hearing her cue, the door to the house opened and Diana came outside.

Margaret greeted her brightly. Diana’s response was warm, but dropped several degrees when she spotted him sitting comfortably on a lounge chair.

Mel came bounding onto the patio a second later holding the article she’d written on fictional villains he’d asked to read. “Oh, hi, Mom. Jack said he saw you driving up a minute ago.”

Diana gave her kid a hug before facing Jack. “I thought you were going to call me at the office?”

“I was late getting out of an interview,” he said.

“Problem with your cell phone?” she asked, oh so sweetly.

“Didn’t think you’d still be at the office this late,” he said. “Figured I’d catch you at home where we could talk about the developments on the case in privacy.”

She eyed him silently. He eyed her right back.

“But first we’ll have dinner,” Margaret said. “Jack kindly accepted my invitation to join us. Will five minutes be enough time for you to wash up, dear?”

“Five minutes is fine,” Diana said, stepping inside the house.

A smile tugged at the corners of Jack’s lips. She was cool and composed on the surface, but he could tell she wasn’t happy with his unexpected presence in her home. She’d chosen not to make an issue of that fact in front of her mother and daughter. Still, he had a feeling he’d be hearing about it later.

“Do you really want to read this?” Mel asked.

Jack realized he’d been staring at the door Diana had disappeared behind a moment before. He took the paper Mel had patiently been holding out to him.

Damn, the thing was at least two inches thick. “I’ll start
reading it tomorrow,” he promised, batting at a gnat that was buzzing his ear.

Mel’s response was a wary stare that reminded him of Diana. He wondered what had happened over the past couple of minutes to cause the kid’s easygoing manner to change.

“We’d better get inside before the bugs have us for dinner,” Margaret said.

At her urging, Jack went to sit in the small dining room. The walls were painted cocoa and trimmed in cream. The lighting was soft. Mel spread a white cloth over the cozy table for four. Margaret placed a vase of fresh-cut flowers in the center all the while humming to the soft music drifting in from the next room. Navigating the tight corners with perfect synergy, she and Mel set the table.

Jack shook his head in wonder. Guys living together would be shouting at each other to be heard over the ball game blasting away on the tube and bumping into each other on the way to the kitchen for pizza and beer.

Men and women weren’t simply from different planets. They had to be from different galaxies.

When Diana joined them, Jack saw that she’d changed into black slacks and a white sweater, both of which revealed lovely curves her formless business suits had completely covered.

Her freshly brushed hair flowed loosely over her shoulders. The soap she’d used to wash with left a hint of vanilla on her skin. When she slipped onto the chair next to Jack’s, he realized he should have gotten up and held it for her. He might have, if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with his reaction to her.

Tina had hung all over him that afternoon, and there’d been not so much as a twinge. Now just sitting next to Diana he was turned on.

Dinner began with a large salad full of fresh vegetables,
slices of sweet almonds and nectarine, topped with finely grated cheese and a fragrant homemade dressing Margaret mixed at the table. Poached salmon covered in a light dill sauce with glazed carrots followed. Dessert was baked apple covered in dried cranberries and currants.

There were no heavy gravies or breads or fat-laden sweets, and Jack found he didn’t miss them. The trim figures around the table were evidence that these females didn’t miss them, either.

If Diana ate like this every night, there was very little chance he’d be able to impress her with his selection of dinner—cooked in or out. The fact that he still wanted to was another bad sign.

“That was great,” Jack said when he sat back after cleaning his plate. “And not a French fry in sight.”

“We’re not into foods with bad fats,” Mel said as she got up to start clearing the dishes. The standoffishness was still in evidence. “Grandma’s taught us how to eat healthy.”

Jack turned to face Margaret, his curiosity aroused. “Where do you get your nutrition information?”

“Reading the scientific journals,” she said very matter-of-factly.

Margaret might be a sweet little homemaker, but obviously not one of the stereotypical, cake-baking variety. Each generation of female in this family was a surprising original.

When Mel went into the kitchen with the dishes, Jack turned to Diana. “So, what are you doing with all those chocolate bars hidden in your handbag?”

Margaret chuckled.

Diana sent him a look that was slightly less amused as she stood to collect her dishes and his. “Mom’s been reading the relevant reports on healthy eating for thirty years. She’s better than any encyclopedia on nutrition.”

Like Margaret’s tone earlier, Diana’s was warm with pride.

Most women Jack dated rarely even got along with their mothers. This was a nice change.

When Diana disappeared into the kitchen, Jack remembered the manners his mother had so diligently tried to instill in him and offered to do the dishes. Margaret waved him back into his seat. He sat down, relieved.

“I need to talk to you before Mel and Diana return,” she said, noticeably lowering her voice as she cast a glance at the closed door to the kitchen.

Ah, a secret. He loved secrets. Margaret made him wait a few more seconds as she collected her thoughts.

“I’d like you to come to my wedding this Saturday,” she said finally. “The ceremony will be an informal affair here in the garden, just family and a few friends. We’ve asked that no one bring presents. Heaven knows Ray and I already have more junk than we’ll ever need. Jack, I realize this is very short notice and you probably have other plans. But if by chance you are free, I would really appreciate your being here.”

The invitation had been delivered so sincerely—as well as so clandestinely—that Jack knew there was a lot more than mere politeness behind it.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked.

Margaret sighed. “There’s a man who will be coming who is not very nice. I don’t want him bothering Diana. If he sees you with her, I’m hoping he’ll leave her alone.”

“Between you and me, Margaret, I think Diana can handle a bothersome male.”

“Normally, I would agree. But this one is Ray’s stepson, and what with Ray being so close by and all, well, she…”

“Might feel constrained,” Jack finished when Margaret failed to find the right words.

She nodded.

He rested his hand on top of hers. “I’ll be here.”

Margaret’s smile was golden. “Some very fortunate woman is going to rejoice when she gets you for a son-in-law.”

“Does this mean you’re going to introduce me to your mom?” Jack asked.

Margaret was laughing with delight when Diana entered from the kitchen.

“Do I get to hear the joke?” she asked.

Margaret got herself under control. “Jack’s such a lot of fun. I’ve asked him to the wedding, and he’s graciously agreed to come. Will you sit beside him so he doesn’t feel uncomfortable among a bunch of strangers?”

“Jack uncomfortable among strangers,” Diana repeated, like she thought that could ever happen. “Sure, Mom. I’d be happy to make him feel comfortable on Saturday. But right now I need him out on the porch for a little conference regarding our case. You’ll excuse us?”

From the look on her face, Jack didn’t imagine the upcoming conference would be a comfortable one. He followed her outside. The moment she’d closed the door after them, she turned to him, folding her arms across her chest.

“What’s going on?”

The soft evening light danced through her hair. Her face glowed with annoyance.

“Your mother was kind enough to invite me to her wedding,” he said, trying not to stare at her too blatantly. “Something about that bother you?”

Clearly, a lot about that bothered her, but putting the reasons into words seemed to be causing her considerable trouble.

“Why did you come here?” she asked after a moment.

“As I told you, so we could talk about developments on the case.”

“We were supposed to do that over the phone.”

“Some things are better said in person.”

“You could have driven to the office and talked to me there. And speaking of driving, where’s your car?”

“I sort of misplaced my keys.”

“Sort of misplaced?” she repeated.

“Down Tina Uttley’s blouse,” he said bluntly.

The startled look in her face was charming. “What?”

“Tina of red lace bikini fame was the witness I was interviewing this afternoon and into early evening,” Jack said. “And let me tell you, getting the information I needed ended up requiring more Scotch than anybody should be able to consume.”

“Let me get this straight. You’d been
drinking
when you showed up at my home this evening to be with
my
mother and daughter?”

Anger was lighting her now—brilliant, beautiful anger. Jack was beginning to think any emotion would look good on her.

“I showed up here to be with
you,
” he corrected. “And, believe me, I was definitely sober and thinking straight. You are not a woman I can trust myself to be around in any other state.”

He hadn’t intended to be quite so forthcoming. But the desire to see the range of emotions crossing her lovely face made him reckless.

She contemplated his admission for a couple of seconds before confusion lifted, and a pink cloud covered her cheeks. Yep, any emotion.

Getting her poise to slip was dangerously fun.

She quickly regrouped and went back to the offensive. “How many drinks did you have?”

“One’s my limit. Always has been. You’re looking at a guy who can’t hold his liquor. But, boy, can Tina put them away.”

“You deliberately got her drunk?”

“She got herself drunk,” he corrected. “Which is why I had to drive her home.”

“Let me guess. That’s when you…misplaced your keys?”

“That’s when she snatched the keys out of my hand and dropped them down her blouse. Getting them back didn’t seem nearly as important as getting out of her apartment at the time. As it was I barely escaped with my virtue intact.”

“Barely escaped,” Diana repeated. “Let’s see, you’re what, six-one? Hundred and eighty pounds of muscle? Tina’s bikinis were a size small, which tells me she’s probably a hundred and fifteen pounds at the most. Yeah, I bet you were shivering in your shoes.”

He tried to laugh lightheartedly, but the sound ran deep with another emotion. On Diana, sarcasm looked so damn sexy.

Some of that must have shown on his face because she was getting that uneasy look again.

Jack strolled toward the edge of the garden, stopping in front of a stone birdbath as he filled his lungs with the clean country air. Time to get back into his
detached
private investigator role. Damn, this shouldn’t be that difficult a part to play.

“Why didn’t you call?” she asked after a moment.

“My cell phone’s in the glove compartment of the locked Porsche.”

“There weren’t any pay phones?”

“None that worked. Fortunately, I was able to hail an unoccupied cab. I would have taken it to your office, but it was late, and I figured you’d left. Your mother let me use her telephone when I got here. Your office line was busy.”

“What are you going to do about your car?”

“I reached my dad. He’ll hide a second set of keys to it and my condo underneath the front right wheel.”

“And the set that Tina has?”

“Will be retrieved when she’s sobered up and not a moment before. Now, do you want to hear what I sacrificed my afternoon to learn or do you want to stay mad at me?”

She eased onto a patio chair. “I’m not mad at you.”

He stared at her, not saying anything.

Her lips curled slightly upward. “Anymore.”

The emotions that brought a smile to her lips were the best of all. She had the kind of face he could never get tired of looking at. As Jack settled in the chair across from her, he assured himself that at least looking was no problem.

“What have you learned?” she asked.

“First, let me tell you about Bruce’s garage.”

Jack explained that Jared had found the drop cloth and collected it with other debris, but that neither Bruce nor anyone in his family had owned an old car.

“Still, if there is any evidence that the vehicle that killed Amy was parked in Bruce’s garage, it will help immensely,” she said. “Did Tina tell you anything of importance?”