Ladd Fortune (34 page)

“
I will be located not far
from you,” she said, adding with a catty smile, “so I can keep an
eye on you. You know how well we work together.”

Lacy gulped. Delaney’s temperature was
heating. It seemed this Jillian might be intimately familiar with
her man. This very attractive Jillian. Lacy circled a palm around
Malcolm’s bicep. She was only glad Jillian was speaking to Nick and
not Malcolm.

“
We don’t work together,”
Nick corrected. “Hang around if you want, but it will only
underscore your second place status.”

A wicked pleasure lit up her dark eyes.
“Conceited as usual, I see. Well...” She smiled. “I only wanted you
to know that I’m nearby. My number is the same.” She bent slightly
and, with very full lips, blew Nick a kiss before walking off,
swaying her hips with a lethal swagger.

Delaney’s cell phone rang. Although
torn between the strange woman and the blaring ring tone at her
waist, she lifted phone to ear. “Hello?” Her face paled.

Lacy stiffened by Malcolm’s side.
Nick’s antennae shot up.

The hand holding the phone slid down
from Delaney’s ear.

“
Delaney?” Nick
probed.

With a faraway look, she whispered,
“Ernie’s in the hospital.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Malcolm left a fifty dollar bill on the
table, and the four of them slid out of the booth. Fran refused to
give them a bill, but a free-loader he was not. Malcolm helped Lacy
rise, Nick and Delaney easing out behind them. A busboy hurried by
them with a gray tub in hand. The restaurant had filled since they
arrived, the crew handily clearing tables for the next
patrons.

Nick paused by the hostess stand and
placed a hand to Delaney’s lower back. “Can you get a ride back to
the hotel? I need to drive Delaney to the hospital.”

Malcolm turned to Lacy. “I can drive
him,” she replied soberly.

“
Thanks.”

Delaney stood shell-shocked,
quiet as a post. The normal flush was gone from her complexion,
replaced by the lifeless look of distress.
Ernie was in the hospital
. The news
wasn’t completely unexpected, but she seemed to be hit pretty hard.
Malcolm imagined Jillian’s appearance couldn’t be helping
matters.

“
I’ll call Lanny,” Malcolm
offered, more to Nick than anyone. Lanny was their business lawyer.
He’d draw up the lease and get it ready for signatures. To Delaney,
he said, “Once you decide what you want to do about Casey, we can
go from there.” She nodded dumbly. “Call me if you need anything.”
In the meantime, Malcolm had other plans. A rush of nerves skated
through him. Big plans.

Officer Gavin Shore walked in, his
posture alert, watchful, as though he were on the hunt. Surprised
by his appearance, Malcolm wondered if he had any news for
them.

“
Hey, Gavin,” Lacy
said.

He smiled, strolling to a stop before
them. “Howdy, Lacy. Long time no see.”

“
Any word on Jeremiah?” Nick
asked.

“
Not yet.” The officer
turned from Lacy. “I questioned Troy Parker about it,
though.”

The comment poked Delaney back to life.
“Troy? What’s he got to do with it?”

“
Jeremiah gave his name as a
possible suspect. Said he’s been stirring up trouble for him since
he’s been in town, and could have had something to do with the
robbery.”

Nick cursed under his breath. Malcolm
shared the sentiment. Bastard. Luckily, Troy and Casey had left
about ten minutes ago.

“
Troy wouldn’t have anything
to do with Jeremiah,” Delaney declared.

Gavin raised his brow, hooking thumbs
to his belt. “Except stepping out with his girlfriend.”

“
How do you know that?” she
asked.

“
Paid the boy a visit last
night.” Gavin slid a wary glance around the restaurant. “While I
was there, Jeremiah’s girlfriend showed up to say goodbye to
Troy.”

“
Goodbye?” Nick
questioned.

Malcolm agreed. Jeremiah was still in
town. Why would Loretta have left without him?

“
You say Loretta left?” Lacy
asked.

Officer Shore nodded. “She seemed
pretty sweet on the boy, too. Said she was fed up with old Jeremiah
but wanted to say goodbye to him.” He snickered.

“
She didn’t even call me to
say goodbye,” Lacy complained.

“
You knew her?” the officer
asked.

“
Yes. We worked together in
Atlanta.”

“
But you—” The officer cut
himself off, as though embarrassed to finish his
sentence.

Lacy glared at him. “Doesn’t mean we
can’t be friends.”

Delaney looked devastated, but Malcolm
thought it was a good sign. Jeremiah had alienated his one ally in
town. He was alone, with no support when he needed it.

“
Well, I can assure you,”
Delaney said, “Troy had nothing to do with Jeremiah’s
mugging.”

The officer returned a skeptical gaze.
“I’m not so sure about that.” Treading lightly, he glanced around
the restaurant, settling on no one in particular before whispering,
“I hear he’s been getting into trouble around town.”

“
Trouble?”

Gavin nodded and continued to speak
softly, “Between you and me, I hear he’s been drinking.”

“
Drinking? Troy? Are you
sure?”

“
Afraid so. The clerk over
at Murray’s Liquor reported him buying a bottle of whiskey from a
guy out back.”

Delaney groaned. “Oh, no…”

Malcolm could hear the pain in her
voice, a combination of disappointment and dread. Underage drinking
was nothing new or earth shattering, but add Casey’s addiction
issues and it could be a ticking time bomb. “But you haven’t
connected him with Jeremiah’s robbery, have you?” Malcolm
asked.

“
Not yet, but we’re looking
into his alibi. He said he was bowling that night, but I haven’t
found anyone who can vouch for him.”

Delaney brought a hand to her forehead.
Troy was a good friend of Felicity’s. Malcolm was certain she was
processing any possible connection between Troy and her daughter
that could negatively impact Felicity.

“
Gavin, you need to stop
wasting your time and go and arrest Jeremiah this instant!” Lacy
cried out.

Malcolm placed a hand to her forearm,
silently urging her to keep quiet. There was no sense in letting
the officer in on the fact they knew about Jeremiah’s gambling
debt. It might look as if they set him up. As it stood, neither he
nor Nick had an alibi for the night of Jeremiah’s beating—and both
could be placed in the general whereabouts of Jeremiah’s assault if
the police asked the right people.

They’d told Delaney they had a
conference call scheduled with a hotel of theirs in Australia, and
due to the time difference, had to do so at night. While that much
was true, the call lasted only thirty minutes. For the remainder of
the evening, they had followed Jeremiah. Nick wanted to know who he
was meeting, if the man from the forest trail was indeed the same
man who had helped kidnap Delaney.

But following Jeremiah had supplied
more questions than answers. He had gone to a bar, and stayed at a
bar. Inside. There was no way Nick or Malcolm could have gone in
after him without causing a scene. The man from the trail—this
Willie, just as Nick and Delaney had suspected—showed up and stayed
for about an hour before he left, agitated, but alone. Numerous
hoodlums and goons came and went, but Jeremiah never exited the
building. Not by the front door, anyway. By three o’clock in the
morning, he and Nick called it off. The bar’s lights went out.
Jeremiah must have gone out a back door.

Lacy shook Malcolm free. “You and I
both know that Gavin is wasting his time here. If he wants to know
who should be in jail, it’s Jeremiah.”

“
And why would that be,
Lacy?” Officer Shore peered at her. “Is there something I should
know?”

“
Because,” she snapped, but
dutifully checked when Malcolm tapped her foot with his. “Because,”
she said, “because he’s a no good, two-timing scalawag who needs to
be in jail.”

Malcolm smiled inwardly. Good
girl.

Gavin grinned with a familiarity that
came from a childhood spent growing up together. “Well, I can’t
arrest a man for being dishonorable, Lacy.”

“
Well, you should,” she
huffed and crossed arms over her chest.

Clearly she was not pleased Malcolm had
reined her in, but there was no way around it. At the clang of
bells, Malcolm saw Felicity and Travis entering the diner. He
hitched a nod to Nick and Delaney, indicating they should look
behind them.

They turned and Nick said, “If you’ll
excuse us, officer...”

“
No problem. I need to get
some coffee for the road.” Officer Shore backed away, allowing them
to pass. He waved to Felicity. She waved back, but her expression
fell. Clearly she was not happy to see a police officer with her
mother.

Malcolm and Lacy followed Nick and
Delaney over to Felicity and Travis. Felicity brushed
strawberry-blonde hair behind an ear, her freckled skin flushing
pink. She seemed tense, nervous. Travis stood firm, giving a quick
fling to the sweep of bangs hanging over his brow. Although the boy
seemed calm and collected, Malcolm detected unease behind his
façade of cool.

Felicity asked, “What did Officer Gavin
want?”

“
He was asking questions
about Jeremiah,” Delaney replied, subtly nudging her daughter and
Travis away from overactive ears that might be lurking near.
Gathering her daughter close, Delaney asked quietly, “Did you know
Troy’s been drinking?”

Malcolm noted she didn’t mention the
first word about Ernie.

Felicity sought Travis for support. “Do
you want to tell her?”

“
Tell me what?” Delaney
demanded.

Travis stepped forward, Felicity
hanging close by his side. “Troy is dropping out of college, Miss
Delaney.”

“
Dropping out? Before he
even got started?” Delaney’s complexion went white, to the extent
Malcolm thought she might pass out, her system over-taxed by bad
news. Ernie, Jillian, Troy. It was proving to be an eventful
morning.

Malcolm gauged Travis for signs of
turmoil at home. His parents had to be upset. Were he and Troy
still at odds?

“
He wants to work with
horses,” Felicity said, defending her friend. “He says he doesn’t
want to go to college when it won’t help him get the job he wants
to pursue.”

Malcolm could see the very notion
angered Travis. Studious, polite and well-spoken, Travis screamed
upperclassman, graduate degree. The boy oozed all the signs of
success while Troy, on the other hand, was all bull and brunt
force.

“
Morton and Betty Ann must
be out of their minds right now,” Delaney murmured in
reply.

“
They’re not happy,” Travis
confirmed.

“
There’s something else you
should know,” Felicity piped in, a mild tremor in her voice. “Troy
has hooked up with Casey.”

Despair trickled into Delaney’s gaze.
“I saw them together this morning...”

Malcolm understood her concern. Casey
had dabbled in drugs. More than dabbled, from what Nick said. She
had intentionally overdosed. Hooking her wagon to an under-aged boy
messing around with alcohol had all the ingredients for a disaster
in the making.

“
Excuse me.”

The group turned to discover Officer
Shore standing behind them, Styrofoam coffee cup in hand. Malcolm
swallowed hard. How long had he been standing there?

Nick spoke first. “Yes?”

Officer Shore’s gaze sharpened on the
lot of them, his focus coming to rest on Malcolm and Nick. “Where
is Jeremiah?” he asked, his tone a tinge adversarial.

“
Don’t know,” Nick responded
placidly.

“
He was here about an hour
ago,” Malcolm offered, exchanging a wary glance with his
partner.

“
Is there a problem?”
Delaney asked him.

“
The Police Chief just
called. Seems there’s a warrant out for Jeremiah’s
arrest.”

“
A warrant?” Lacy asked.
“From Las Vegas?”

Officer Shore zeroed in her. “How did
you know?”

She gulped and stammered, “Um, I know
his girlfriend Loretta, remember?”

“
And you didn’t feel the
need to share the information with me?”

Lacy looked to Malcolm. Officer Shore
followed suit.

If only Lacy weren’t an open book,
reading the story aloud to the nice gentleman! But Malcolm remained
mute. The less said, the better. As it stood, all the man had was
supposition. If the officer was able to put him and Nick in the
same vicinity as Jeremiah near the time of the mugging, it wouldn’t
look good.

A loaded tray crashed to the floor in
the kitchen, snagging the officer’s attention. The group followed
his gaze, but no one said a word.