Iris Avenue (18 page)

“Scott’s a good friend to this family, that’s all.”

“So you’re not attracted to me, is that it?”

Ava hesitated, and Jamie took that as encouragement. He jumped up and came over to where she stood at the window. Ava looked past him to the door.

“Scott took the older kids to their grandmother’s house and Theresa has little Fitz in the parlor,” Jamie said. “No one will hear us.”

He took Ava in his arms and she smiled at him.

“That’s a wicked smile,” he said, and for a moment she could see a glimpse of the vulnerability beneath his confident charm.

He kissed her, and the chemistry was as good as she thought it would be, had imagined it would be. She was lonely for that kind of passion, and he had it to give, she could feel it.

She broke away, saying, “I’m a married woman.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” he said, and winked at her.

Ava tried to slap him across the face but he caught her hand and held it.

“How dare you,” Ava said. “Get out of here.”

Jamie smirked at her and walked out of the room, saying, “When you change your mind, Ava, you let me know. I’ll be waiting.”

When Scott woke up Thursday morning, Ava was standing next to the sofa in her family room, looking down at him.

“Is everything all right?” he said, as he struggled to sit up in a tangle of blankets.

“Everything’s fine,” Ava said, and sat down on the edge of the sofa, turned toward him.

She was dressed for the day and had on her coat.

“Where are you going?” he asked her.

“I’m going to see Lily,” she said. “I need you to stay here with the children until I get back.”

“Why are you going to Lily’s? What time is it?”

“It’s five o’clock, and I’ll be back in plenty of time to wake up Charlotte and Timmy. Here’s the baby monitor. Little Fitz should sleep, but if he wakes up, change his diaper. If you give him his pacifier afterward, he should go right back to sleep, but you might have to rock him a little. You can handle it.”

“Wait for me to get dressed and I’ll take you. You shouldn’t be out alone. It’s not safe.”

“Agent Brown’s taking me. He’s outside warming up the car.”

“Oh,” Scott said.

“I want to talk to Lily and I need you here with the children,” Ava said. “You’re the only person I feel safe leaving them with right now.”

She kissed him then, not on the cheek but right on the lips. It was a brief, light kiss, but it was definitely more intimate than the cheek kisses Ava usually gave him.

“You’re my rock, Scott. I couldn’t get through this without you.”

She smiled that warm smile and she was so beautiful. Scott felt his body react and he almost reached for her, but she stood up and patted him on the shoulder.

“I knew I could count on you. I’ll be right back.”

As she closed the back door behind her, the cold wind whipped around the corner and made Scott shiver. Through the baby monitor he could hear Little Fitz snoring softly.

‘What just happened?’ he thought.

Lily was expecting Ava, and swung open the door to her sunroom as Ava walked up the shoveled flagstone path. Jamie stayed in the car with the motor running. It was still dark out and bitterly cold.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me,” Ava said, feeling awkwardly formal, even though she’d known Lily Crawford since she was a child.

Lily was a round, soft woman with white hair and wire rim glasses. She was dressed in jeans and a pink sweater over a pink pinstriped blouse. Ava thought she looked like a Sunday school teacher.

“Ava, you’re always welcome here, you know that. I’m an early riser, so I’m always up this time of the morning.”

Ava followed the older woman into the kitchen, where Lily’s basset hound Betty Lou was curled up in a basket by the gas heater, with a small cat nestled in next to her. Betty Lou wagged her tail but didn’t get up, and the small striped cat curled itself into a tighter ball and covered its nose with its tail.

“She’s lazier than ever,” Lily said. “She didn’t even run out to greet you.”

“How are they doing?” Ava asked as she took off her coat.

“Happy as two peas in a pod,” Lily said. “They can’t bear to be separated.”

Ava sat down at Lily’s kitchen table and accepted the cup of coffee Lily offered.

“You have some questions for me,” Lily said.

“You need to tell me how you know Mrs. Wells,” Ava said. “I saw her here a few weeks ago when I brought the children out to go sledding.”

“I’m sorry to say I’ve known Mrs. Wells for many years,” Lily told Ava. “I hate to speak ill of anyone, but that woman is truly evil.”

“She came to my house and threatened me and the children,” Ava said, with tears welling up in her large brown eyes. “She’s demanding half a million dollars she says Brian stole from her. I’m hoping if I repay the debt she’ll leave us alone. Do you think that’s possible?”

“Once you’ve dealt with her,” Lily said, “she never leaves you alone. That I know from experience.”

“But how do you know her?” Ava asked.

“It’s a long story,” Lily said. “It may not make you feel any better, but you deserve to know the truth.”

Lily wrapped her hands around the heavy mug on the table before her, as if to warm her hands, and began.

“Simon and I were high school sweethearts. He got drafted, went to Vietnam, and somehow managed to survive the experience. Afterward he went to Clemson University on the GI bill; they have a good agricultural program there. After he graduated we got married. He said when he was over there, in Vietnam, that our dream of living on a farm was all that kept him sane.

“His family was dirt poor, but I have a small trust fund, and my parents were willing to help us buy the property. They were sure we’d get tired of it and move back to Greenville, S.C.; that’s where both our families are from. Both sets of parents are gone now. I was an only child. Simon lost touch with his brother Paul, who went to Canada to avoid the draft. Simon respected Paul’s choice but Paul did not return the favor. Anyway, we were not hippies but definitely into the idea of living a peaceful, rural life.

“Simon’s degree was in horticulture. He worked as a county farm agent for a long time, but the politics and bureaucracy involved made him unhappy. We had my trust fund, but he wanted to support us through work he did with his own hands. Farming is hard, and there was very little support for organic methods back then. We could barely break even when the weather did cooperate. Without me knowing about it, Simon planted a little plot of cannabis, at first just to smoke himself or share with our friends. He’d learned to like it in the service, said it calmed his nerves. I didn’t like it but I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. It didn’t seem to hurt Simon, and it helped when he got to remembering too much about the war.

“What he grew was very good, apparently, and when it became clear that it could be a small business, he sold some of it. Our friends smoked it like some people drank wine, just socially, but weren’t into drugs in a major way. Simon built a lab in the loft of the barn, experimented with different strains, and developed a hybrid that was extremely potent plus resistant to drought and infestation.

“We belonged to a Harley riding club, and while most of the people we met through the club were harmless weekend bikers like Simon and me, we occasionally crossed paths with some shady characters. Mrs. Wells’ father was the local drug dealer, and a dangerous man, but we naively thought that we could have dealings with him and not get our hands dirty. Simon made a deal with Mr. Wells to sell him everything we grew as long as Simon agreed not to sell it to anyone else. We could hardly keep up with his demand. Simon devoted a whole mountaintop to it on a remote part of our property. He planted it among the rows of corn we grew for the cattle.

“It seemed ideal until we found out the kind of business Mr. Wells was actually running. He was the kind of man who would sell heroin to children. He killed people who tried to move in on his territory. He was paranoid and suspected Simon of selling to others even though he wasn’t. He would show up at our house, high out of his mind, making crazy accusations and threatening to kill us. We wanted to get out, but we were so far into it we didn’t know how. Simon finally came up with what he thought was the perfect solution. He offered to sell Mr. Wells the hybrid formula and train someone else to grow it and process it like he did. In exchange Mr. Wells would let us out of the business.

“Mr. Wells agreed. Simon went down to Mexico and trained a farmer there. After he came home, he destroyed what was left of his source stock, plowed up and razed the ground that had been used to grow it, and locked up the lab. We thought we were home free, and were relieved to be. We had enough money to see us through the rest of our lives, and we were out of danger, or so we thought.

“Mr. Wells was eventually murdered, some say by his own daughter, who is now referred to as ‘Mrs. Wells.’ She took over his business, so of course she knew of our connection. Soon after Simon died, Mrs. Wells came to me, and threatened me. She wanted money, and she knew I had it. If Simon had been alive, we may have been able to handle her, but alone I felt there was nothing I could do but cooperate. I’ve been paying her a substantial amount every month since then.

“I’m down to almost nothing now, and she wants the farm. She’s threatened to have me murdered if I don’t deed the farm over to her. I don’t care about my reputation any longer. I don’t even care about losing everything. I’d go to jail if I thought I’d be safe there, but she has people everywhere, people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill you for money.”

Ava spoke for the first time since Lily started her story, and Lily took a sip of her coffee.

“Aren’t you afraid to tell me all this? Don’t you worry she has the house and phone bugged?”

“You haven’t met my nephew.”

“Your nephew?”

“David,” Lily said. “He’s probably out in the car with your friend Jamie, keeping him company. I’m as sure they’re listening in on us as I’m equally sure Mrs. Wells is not.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You have your new friend Jamie, and I have David. He’s staying with me while he considers buying the farm.”

“I don’t understand. How does he know Jamie?”

“He’s an agent, dear, just like Jamie. We’re telling everyone he’s my nephew, but he’s actually from the FBI.”

“So you’re going to testify against Mrs. Wells.”

“Yes, I am. So is Gabriel, Maggie’s ex-boyfriend. So was Brian supposed to, before he escaped. So, I’m guessing, are you.”

“I already knew about Gabe,” Ava said. “You remember when Margie died and Scott found a stash of stolen mail in her attic? There was a letter hidden there that Gabe wrote to Maggie seven years ago. In it Gabe wrote how Scott gave him the choice to leave town or be arrested, and how Brian got him involved in a big drug delivery in Florida. After they wrecked the car they were using to transport the shipment, Brian left Gabriel there, injured, to take the blame. He’s been in prison all this time.”

“Gabriel was a good boy,” Lily said. “He just got involved with the wrong people. He’s coming to stay with me as soon as he gets out, which should be any day now. I think they must be going to arrest Mrs. Wells soon if they’re bringing him here.”

Ava took a deep breath and let it out with a whoosh.

“I thought when Theo died and Brian went to prison things would go back to normal.”

“I’m so sorry you had to be involved,” Lily said.

“It’s all Brian’s fault,” Ava said. “You didn’t do anything to me.”

“I’m sorry just the same.”

“Thank you,” Ava said as she pushed her chair back and stood up. “For telling me the truth. I hope we all survive this.”

Lily smiled, but it was a tired effort.

“You have more to live for than me,” she said. “At this point I don’t care to lose everything. I just want to stop her from hurting anyone else.”

Ava hugged Lily briefly and then put her coat back on.

A tall blonde man with light blue eyes came in through the back door and offered Ava a firm handshake.

“I’m David,” he said, “Lily’s nephew. It’s good to meet you.”

Ava rolled her eyes and gave him a pinched smile.

“Uh huh, whatever you say. Just take good care of her.”

She said goodbye to Lily and went out to the car, where Jamie was standing, holding the passenger door open for her.

“I guess you heard all that,” she said.

“Watch out, Ava, your real feelings are showing. We can’t have that.”

“What if Mrs. Wells has people watching?” Ava asked him. “What will they think about you and me being out here together?”

Jamie pushed Ava back against the open doorway of the car and kissed her, long and hard. She eventually pushed him away with a frown.

“I guess they’ll be jealous,” Jamie said.

“Don’t do that again,” Ava said. “There’s enough gossip about me going around this town as it is.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said, but he was grinning. “Very unprofessional of me, I know. I promise I won’t do it again unless you ask me to.”

“I won’t,” she said.

“You will. You need a man, Ava, and I’m ready, willing, and able.”

“I don’t need a man, but if I ever do, it won’t be you.”

“Listen,” Jamie said to her, still standing close. “Why don’t you leave Scott alone? I know you can be pretty ruthless when it comes to men, but he’s a good guy and he belongs with your sister-in-law.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. I’ve been observing you for a while now, even before you knew it. You’re a great mother, a successful business owner, and an upstanding citizen in your community. You’ve played the pitiful abandoned wife for a long time now, and I don’t fault you for that; you did what you had to do to survive and protect your kids. But I think there’s a part of you that’s just about done with being a good little girl.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know more than you think. But there’s one thing I don’t know that I’m dying to. Why did Theo leave you all that money?”

“I have no idea.”