Midnight Sins (42 page)

broken all ties with her and that friendship has

disappeared.

And people wondered why she avoided

commitment like the plague.

“Her daddy let her out to play?” Cami questioned

quietly in amusement. The fact that Anna Corbin rarely

came to Sweetrock was no secret.

“Oh, sweetie, that so is not the end of it,” Emma

drawled.

The most interesting bit of gossip was the fact

that the Corbin son, and heir William, Crowe’s uncle,

and James Corbin, the patriarch, were given a fierce,

heated dressing-down by Miss Anna. The first of the

week when he and daddy Willy were arguing with

Saul Rafferty over the fact that they couldn’t run the

Callahan cousins out of town.

Said to be the spitting image of her deceased

aunt, Kimberly Corbin, and named for her, Anna

Corbin insisted that the Corbin, Rafferty, and Roberts

families were rumored to be temperamental and a

pain in the ass when it came to authority. Of course,

how anyone could be certain, Cami didn’t know. Her

parents had hired tutors when she was young, then

sent her to private schools in California and Texas

until college. She was currently attending a very

exclusive Eastern college and vacations were always

spent in some exotic location with her family.

“Oh, really?” Cami asked, silently prodding

Emma for information.

“Definitely, really,” Emma assured her. “She

insisted that the Corbin family was turning into

monsters where her cousins were concerned, and if

they weren’t all careful, she was going to return to fix

the situation herself. I hear she dropped her little

bomb, then lifted that pert little nose of hers and

stalked right out of the house and headed to Amelia’s.

The Sorensons are rather close with the Corbins I

hear.” The last Cami had heard of Amelia, she had

detested the Corbins, but that had been years ago,

Cami admitted silently.

“And who was sharing all this interesting

information?” Cami arched her brows as she sat on

the low cement wall behind her and watched as

Amelia and Anna stepped from the bar and found an

empty table.

The blowup was recounted by a maid who was

promptly fired, paid off, and forced to leave the

county, I hear. No one said the Corbins don’t know

how to move quickly or live with enough drama to

create their own soap opera,” the other woman said,

laughing.

“I hadn’t heard any of it,” Cami admitted.

“Because you’ve stayed locked in your room

rather than joining us in the teachers’ lounge,” Emma

pointed out. “But dearest, that’s just the tip of the

iceberg, if the gossip I’m hearing is true. Teachers,

administrators, and entire families are now

discussing the past, resurrecting it, dissecting it, and

coming closer by the day to rejudging the Callahan

cousins.” Emma tossed her head with amused

mockery. “Bastards. They should have done that,

what? Twelve years ago?”

Emma wasn’t a native of Sweetrock or Corbin

County. She well understood school and county

politics, but that didn’t mean she agreed with any of

them.

“Twelve years ago,” Cami agreed softly.

Emma’s expression morphed swiftly to regret.

“Oh hell, Cami, I’m sorry. I forgot that was the same

summer—”

Cami gave her head a quick shake to silence her

friend. She didn’t want to hear the rest of it.

“It’s okay, Emma,” she promised her. “But the

time line is right. And I agree with you. They should

have thought of this then, rather than now.”

Emma sat down beside her, her hands braced

on the edge of the seat as she breathed out heavily.

“My parents would have had a stroke had a child been

treated so cruelly in school as I heard they were. Your

barons, as they’re called, have a lot to answer for, my

dear.”

“They’re not my anything,” Cami sighed. “And the

influence they had then was strong, Emma. It still is,

though it’s diluted a bit over the years.”

“Damned good thing,” Emma sighed. “I would

have been fired had another child been treated that

way. I would have had to have my say, you know.”

“That red hair,” Cami agreed softly. “But I know

what you mean. I had a few rather heated fights myself

with several individuals, despite the fact that they

were out of school.”

They were silent then, staring at the dancers,

occasionally glancing at Anna Corbin and Amelia

Sorenson as they seemed deep in conversation.

“Tell me,” Emma’s voice lowered. “Was there

ever a connection proven between the grandparents’,

parents’, and Clyde Ramsey’s deaths?”

Cami’s head swung around to stare at the other

girl in surprise. “Excuse me?”

Emma frowned. “There was no connection?”

“Not as far as the cousins believe. And if they

had believed it, we would have heard about it,” Cami

answered without answering the underlying question

regarding the connection.

“Damn, I was hoping for more county-wide

conspiracy and mystery,” Emma sighed ruefully.

Cami gave a light, forced laugh, hoping Emma

didn’t catch the fact that she was uncomfortable with

the subject.

It took a few moments, but she was able to steer

the conversation back to the school, the teachers, and

the upcoming socials.

She didn’t want to talk about Rafe, and unless

there was more information than simply gossip, then

she didn’t want to talk about any other Corbin either.

After a final drink, Cami rose and wished her

friend a good night before turning and crossing the

street to head home.

As she rounded the first block and the lights

became a bit dimmer and the streets much quieter,

she could feel a distinct tingle along the back of her

shoulders.

Once, long ago, she and Jaymi used to play a

game. Jaymi would follow her, or Cami would follow

her sister, and the one who caught sight of the other

the quickest was the winner.

Even Tye, Jaymi’s husband, had joined in the

game while he and Jaymi had dated.

Cami had developed a feeling, a tension at her

back that let her know whenever Jaymi was stalking

her. She could feel that tingle now, but she knew it

wasn’t her sister following her.

Her steps quickened.

Gripping her keys tightly in her fist, the longest

key extending between two of her clenched fingers,

she watched the shadows suspiciously. She wasn’t

panicking yet, but she knew someone was out there.

Waiting. Watching.

For a moment, she was drawn back to her

childhood.

Jaymi and Tye laughing as Cami had managed

to evade them the last day before he shipped off to

Iraq.

The Navajo her sister had married had taught her

how to move much more quietly than she ever had

over those months. She’d gotten good enough to

evade Jaymi, but not Tye himself.

“She’ll be hell to catch if some bastard ever

decides to chase her in the dark,” Tye had bragged

on her that night. “Little sister will know how to evade,

and when I come back, she’ll learn how to fight.”

But Tye hadn’t come back. Six weeks before he

was due to ship out, he’d been caught in an explosion

and killed instantly.

She hadn’t just lost her own best friend that day,

but she had also lost her sister. A vital part of Jaymi

had died the day the Army officer and chaplain had

arrived to tell her the news.

As the memory dissipated, she realized she was

doing as Tye had taught her, weaving in and out of the

shadows, never taking a straight path, using the trees

as cover.

She never walked beneath the street lights, and

didn’t hesitate to walk on someone’s lawn rather than

venturing too closely to the pooled light beneath the

tall posts.

It wasn’t long before the sensation eased, though

that feeling of tension that still gathered inside her

assured her someone was still out there.

She entered the house by the back door,

stepped in, and locked the door back quickly.

She didn’t turn the lights on.

She didn’t turn on the television.

Slipping up to her bedroom, she spent most of

the night staring at the locked bedroom door and

wondering who the hell was following her.

CHAPTER 13

The next morning Cami awoke as the sun poured into

the skylight over her bed, still dressed in the jeans and

sweater and sneakers she’d put on after returning

home the night before.

The boots would have been impractical if she’d

had to slip out her bedroom window and make her

way along the roof to where she could drop to the

ground more safely.

The knowledge, or the feeling, someone had

been following her had spooked her. She was on

edge, restless, and that Saturday morning she was

just plain pissed.

That was not Marshal Roberts playing with her

head, no matter what Rafer believed.

As she poured another cup of the fragrant brew,

the sound of the cell ringing had her quickly reaching

for it and checking the caller ID. She prayed it was

Rafer.She’d actually swallowed her pride and called

him the night before, but it had gone instantly to

voicemail, an indication the phone was either turned

off, or in a dead zone.

A frown pulled at her as she activated the call

and brought the phone to her ear.

“Good afternoon, Jack?” she greeted him, a

question in her voice.

“Hey, Cami, I’m pulling onto your street,” Jack

Townsend answered back. “Do you have a few

minutes to talk? I have something I want to tell you.”

“Sure. I’ll be waiting at the door.”

Disconnecting, she moved through the house to

the door and opened it as Jack’s tow truck pulled into

the driveway. She couldn’t imagine why he was at her

house that early, or what he could want. She hadn’t

taken her car in since he’d returned it after the

blizzard, more than a month ago. Well, actually, she

thought, closer to two months.

He wasn’t alone, though; his wife, Jeannie, was

with him. The petite blond lifted her hand in a wave as

she practically jumped from the truck and joined her

husband as he came around the front, glaring at her.

“I keep telling her I’ll help her out,” he groused as

they reach the front porch. “But Short Stuff insists on

jumping. One of these days she’s going to break a

leg.”

Jeannie punched him in the shoulder lightly with