Ladd Fortune (18 page)

“
I don’t call fifty thousand
dollars ‘no reason.’”

“
He owes that
much?”

“
He owes that much,” Malcolm
said. “Confirmed it with a friend of mine which is why he’ll be
running scared when he receives a visit from the local sheriff.” A
visit he and Nick were going to provoke.

Malcolm walked to the door and Delaney
blurted, “Where are you going? Aren’t you staying for
dinner?”

“
No, ma’am. I’m going
fishing at the local watering hole.” Malcolm tipped an imaginary
hat and let himself out.

Jeremiah sat in a plastic chair in the
county jail visitation room. He tapped his toe on the floor,
impatient to see Clem, but grateful he’d made it before visiting
hours ended for the day. There was a young woman to his right,
visibly agitated with the inmate sitting across from her and to his
left a man sat bent over, repeatedly looking from side to side, as
though plotting an escape and worried someone was listening. At a
loud slam of metal door, Jeremiah looked through the glass
partition to see Clem Sweeney being led over to him. Clean-shaven,
thin, his jail garb was a washed-out gray, he shuffled his feet as
he walked. He looked old, Jeremiah thought, much older than his
forty years. But Clem’s health and well-being were not his concern.
His knowledge of Delaney was what mattered.

Clem dropped to a seat before him,
curiosity glittering in his eyes beneath the glare of fluorescent
lighting. “Jeremiah Ladd,” he drawled, scrutinizing him as one
would an apparition. “It’s been a long time.”

“
Sweeney.”

“
I didn’t believe it when
they told me it was you.”

“
Sorry it has to be under
these circumstances,” Jeremiah said.

Clem shrugged. “What brings you to
town?”

“
Delaney
Wilkins.”

The name set fire to Clem’s expression.
“I reckon you know about what happened.”

“
Not really, but I’ve been
hearing things.”

Clem set his mouth in a grim line, his
eyes distrusting. “What kind of things?”

“
Things that I don’t like,
Clem.” Jeremiah responded, reeling his catch in, slow but
sure.

“
Nothing to like about that
woman, I’ll give you that.”

Jeremiah chuckled. “Aw, now, she wasn’t
so bad as a kid.”

“
She’s trouble now.” He cut
Jeremiah in half with a hateful gaze. “You heard about her and your
daddy?”

Jeremiah nodded and assumed the saddest
look he could. Did Clem know his father was sick? “Don’t seem
right, her taking full rights to the property from him like she
did. She could have at least called me.”

Fury blustered through Clem’s features
and he hissed, “She don’t care about nobody but
herself!”

“
People change, I reckon.
But with my daddy feeling the way he does?”

“
He don’t like her none,
I’ll tell you that right now,” Clem spat.

“
I mean his
health.”

“
His health?”

“
He doesn’t look well,”
Jeremiah said, hinting that he knew, that Clem could open up to
him.

“
I don’t know about all
that.” Clem lifted his cuffed hands and laid them on the counter,
the metal skidding across the Formica. “I only know that Delaney is
a greedy little thing. She tricked him somehow, kept threatening
him with court.”

“
Court?” This was the first
he heard about Delaney going to court. “On what
grounds?”

“
Grounds?” Clem looked
around as if he were searching for somewhere to spit his dip. “I
don’t know nothin’ about grounds. I’m only telling you what I
heard.”

Jeremiah nodded. “She was probably
trying to coerce him to sell.”

“
She ain’t got no money!”
Clem hollered, drawing a sharp glance from a nearby
guard.

Staring at the man he’d known his
entire childhood, the man who had never been very bright, Jeremiah
doubted he’d get anything meaningful regarding Delaney’s abuse of
the legal system. Time to change direction. “Well, from what I
hear, you and my dad were pretty close.”

Clem stilled. His right eye
twitched.

Hooked
. Jeremiah paused for effect, then added quietly, “Thanks for
looking after him for me. I know I didn’t leave on the best of
terms, but I was young back then, ya know?” He shifted his weight
in his chair. “I didn’t know the importance of family like I do
now.”

Clem pursed his lips, the wheels of
thought spinning behind his eyes. He slid his hands down into his
lap. “Have you seen him?”

“
Briefly. He’s still angry.
I don’t say as I blame him, but I still had to try.”

Clem paused, as though finally catching
on. He slid a wary gaze around the room before settling in on him.
“What are you after, Jeremiah?”

Point blank. Jeremiah almost smiled. He
respected a man who got right down to business. “The property,” he
said. “I want what’s rightfully mine.”

Clem smiled thinly. He licked his lips,
glanced about and said, “I might be able to help you with
that.”

“
Help me?” Did Clem think
Jeremiah was going to cut him in? He almost laughed in his face,
but held himself in check. He wanted to hear what came
next.

Clem nodded. Knitting his brow, he
rubbed his skinny chin and pondered who knows what. The nearby
woman wailed at the man across from her, attracting a guard to
their cubicle. “I know a secret about Delaney.”

“
You do?”

His eyes lit up with a wicked gleam. “I
do.”

Jeremiah wondered if it had anything to
do him trying to kidnap her. “Tell me.”

Clem visibly retreated and Jeremiah
cursed himself for moving in too soon. Checking for unwanted
attention, Clem said, “Not yet, not yet. I got to think about it a
while.”

What the hell was there to think about?
It was his family they were discussing!

“
Can you come back
tomorrow?” Clem asked.

Jeremiahs’ instinct was to refuse, but
on account he had no other leads, he agreed. “What
time?”

“
Ten o’clock.”

“
Ten o’clock,” he
confirmed.

Clem’s smile returned. “I think we may
be able to work together to get us some revenge, you and
me.”

Chapter Fourteen

At the knock on the door, Annie clicked
off the television set. Nine o’clock in the evening, no one should
be calling on them at this hour. Casey was up and en route to
answer it. “Are you expecting someone?” she asked, rising from the
couch.

“
No,” Casey
replied.

Annie took a brief survey of her
apartment—a quick assessment of its suitability for guests—and
judged it to be tidy. There wasn’t a whole lot to the two-bedroom
apartment, and with Casey spending most of her time in her bedroom
or on the couch watching television, not a whole lot to mess up.
“Check through the peep hole,” Annie instructed. “It could be a
stranger.”

Casey did, then opened the door. “Hi,
Candi.”

A staccato of pulse erupted.

“
Is your mom home?” Candi
asked.

“
Sure.” Casey stepped aside,
allowing Candi to enter.

But Candi stood locked in place.
Hesitant, her brown eyes latched onto Annie, but she didn’t take
the first step.

“
What are you doing here?”
Annie demanded.

“
Annie, we need to
talk.”

“
I’ve said everything I have
to say to you.”

Casey gaped between them,
obviously confused by the hostility between friends.
Ex-friends
. Annie had yet
to tell her daughter about their change in status.

“
Please,” Candi pleaded,
wary of Casey. “Two minutes. That’s all I need.”

Annie slanted a gaze toward her
daughter. “Casey, will give us a minute?”

“
Sure,” she said, and
meandered out, curiosity tearing through the sudden tension filling
the living room.

Candi ventured inside, closing the door
behind her. Annie stared at her, determined not to give her a
second longer than necessary. Looking at her ex-friend now, she
only saw a tramp, her naked body wrapped around Jeremiah’s, the two
laughing in their betrayal. Annie shut the images from her mind,
crossed arms over her chest. The woman made her nauseous. “What do
you want?”

“
Jeremiah came by today.”
Shards of ice filled Annie’s heart. “He mentioned he ran into you
and that you were seeking rights to the property. I explained about
Casey and he tried to say she was Clem’s.” The accusation found its
mark, dead center in her chest. The two women went still. “So
it’s
true
...”

“
Who I slept with is none of
your business,” she said, but she felt shamed by the shock
circulating through Candi’s expression. She’d never told her. Never
once had she let on she had slept with her brother. But then again,
Candi never mentioned her affair with Jeremiah either.

“
But she
isn’t
, Annie,” Candi said quickly.
Rooted in place, she shook her head vehemently. “She
can’t
be. Clem is
sterile.”

Annie’s emotions imploded. Disbelief
streamed through her limbs, unwound her arms. “What?”

Candi nodded. “Clem is sterile. He
can’t possibly be Casey’s father.”

“
How do you know
that?”

“
A girl once tried to claim
he was the father of her baby. She was fifteen, he was eighteen.
Her family was trying to get him on rape. Clem denied he ever slept
with her, but the judge ordered him to take a test. Turned out, he
was sterile. The girl had been lying the whole time.”

Annie’s world caved in. “Oh my
God...Clem is sterile.”

“
You get a paternity test
and you’ll have your proof positive,” Candi said
proudly.

“
Jeremiah is Casey’s
father.” It’s what Annie had insisted all along, yet somehow
doubted.
Clem is sterile
.
Jeremiah is Casey’s
father
.

“
Just like you thought all
along,” Candi asserted.

“
You mean to tell me that
man who made a scene in the diner today is my father?” Both women
whirled. Casey stood at the edge of the hallway, repulsion
simmering in her gaze.

“
How long have you been
standing there, young lady?” Annie exclaimed, feeling none of the
authority she was trying to display. The pain etched in her
daughter’s features broke her heart. Annie could feel her
daughter’s deep fury stir. It matched the shame churning through
herself.

“
Long enough to hear the
truth.”

“
Oh, Casey, I’m
sorry
,” Candi burst
out.

“
Because that loser is my
father? It’s not
your
fault.” Casey honed in on her mother. “How could you sleep
with a man like him? How could he be my father?” Disgust spilled
from her expression. “He’s
not
. He’s nothing but a sperm donor.”
Casey turned on her heel and fled to her bedroom.

“
Casey!” Annie ran after her
daughter a few steps but gave up. She dropped her face into her
hands and muttered, “What have I done?”

Candi came to her, sliding an arm
around her shoulders. Warm, solid, they were allies again. “She’ll
be okay. She just needs time.”

Annie lifted her head and turned.
Peering into the eyes of her best friend, a woman she had shunned
only days ago but now needed more than ever, she asked, “Time to
what—accept that her father is a loser? I think she’s managed that
quite well, don’t you?”

“
Annie.”

“
Well? It’s the truth.”
Annie gazed off in the direction of her daughter’s bedroom.
“Jeremiah Ladd is a loser, with a capital L.” Annie knew Candi
wouldn’t disagree with her. She couldn’t. Coming from a family of
bitter relations herself, it was a condition with which Candi was
all too familiar.

“
I’m sorry,” Candi
said.

“
For what?”

“
For everything. For
Jeremiah, for Clem...”

The words fell away, leaving the two
mired in the wake of their choices. A frivolous commercial flashed
on the television screen, adults resorting to ridiculous antics for
the sole purpose of selling clappable light switches. Totally inane
in the scheme of life. Unlike trust. Trust lay at the core of life.
Candi had done her friend wrong. Annie had done Candi wrong. But
who had poor Casey done wrong?

No one.

“
Can you ever forgive me?”
Candi asked.

Candi had slept with Jeremiah behind
her back. She had betrayed her in the vilest of terms—breaking the
code of sisterhood. Women didn’t sleep with their friends’
boyfriends. That was out of bounds. Annie considered the notion.
Was it okay if they slept with their brothers? In the sweep of one
question, all the hurt and anger and shame were brushed away.
“There’s nothing to forgive.” Candi hugged Annie. She hugged back,
holding her friend like the lifeline she was, would always be. “I
love you, Candi.”