After Dark (31 page)

    "But who?" Lane sucked
in a startled breath when realization dawned. "You think whoever
killed Kent killed Jackie, too."

    "That's my guess."

    "Oh, Johnny Mack." Lane
sighed. "Can life get any more complicated than it already
is?"

    He eased her back into his arms and
kissed her softly, then lifted his head and grinned at her. "What happened
between us this morning is another complication, isn't it? I figure
you're confused about us. About the way you feel. About the way I feel.
And about how Will might react if he knew you and I were… together."

    "Are we together?"

    He lowered his hands from her waist
to her hips and shoved her up against his arousal. "We are most definitely
together."

    "We had sex, Johnny Mack, but
that doesn't necessarily mean anything."

    "It damn well means something
to me. And you can't tell me that it doesn't mean a hell of a lot to you,
too, lady. You don't give yourself to a man the way you gave yourself to
me and that act be meaningless."

    "You've had sex countless times,
with numerous women," she said. "You can't tell me that most of
those encounters were anything more than-"

    He kissed her. Forcefully. Demandingly.
Couldn't she get it through her pretty head that anyone who had come before
her didn't matter? That every other woman he'd ever had didn't mean anything
to him in comparison to her.

    "We both know that I sowed more
than my share of wild oats," he said. "But these days, I'm no
horny kid who has to lay everything in a skirt. I'm a man who knows what he
wants. And what I want is you, Lane Noble."

    "Lane Noble Graham," she
corrected. "Neither of us can forget that I was Kent's wife for ten
years."

    "Okay, so we can't forget your
past or mine, but what we can do is put the past where it belongs. Behind
us. All that matters is the here and now. Today. And what we can have together."

    "No commitments? No plans for
the future?" she asked. "We'll just take this relationship
one day at a time?"

    Yes, he wanted a commitment. Lane
was his, and he sure as hell would never give her up now. But maybe she
wasn't ready for him to stake a permanent claim on her. After all, what
had he ever done to deserve her? But he could be patient, especially
when it came to getting something he wanted. He most definitely wanted
Lane. And he meant to have her. Tonight. Tomorrow. For as long as there
was breath in his body.

    "We'll take it one day at a time,"
he lied. "Just as long as you let me keep on loving you. Once didn't
even begin to satisfy me. I can't get enough of you, honey. Don't you know
that?" Cupping the back of her head, he speared his fingers through
her hair and brought her lips to his.

    When he kissed her, she moaned quietly,
surrendering herself to him. God, how he loved the sounds she made, those
enticing, feminine sighs and gasps that told him, without words, the way
his touch affected her.

    "Johnny Mack-" Will came
rushing into the library. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't know y'all were…
I'm sorry." Will froze to the spot several feet over the threshold.
Embarrassment colored his face.

    Lane ended the kiss abruptly and
shoved on Johnny Mack's chest, but he held her in place, refusing to relinquish
his claim on her.

    "Will, let me explain,"
Lane said.

    "There's nothing to explain."
Will shrugged.

    Johnny Mack eased his hands upward,
then draped his arm around Lane's shoulder. "Your mother and I care
about each other. We haven't made any plans for the future, but I promise
you that when the time comes to make some serious decisions, you'll
be included in that decision making. Your mother would never do anything-"

    "Look, save it, will
you?" Will said. "If you and Mama have got something going on,
then it's okay by me." Will puffed out his chest and stood straight and
tall. "But you just remember that if you hurt her, you'll have to answer
to me."

    "I'll keep that in mind."
Johnny Mack forced himself not to smile. He had one hell of a son there.
Yes, he did.

    "Will, honey, did you want something?"
Lane asked.

    "Yeah. Quinn sent me to tell
y'all that Mr. Foster, the PI guy Johnny Mack hired, is here. And he's got
some information that might prove somebody besides Mama had a strong
motive for killing Kent."

    Johnny Mack exchanged a hardy handshake
with Wyatt Foster and indicated for the man to take a seat, but the tall,
rugged PI, shook his head.

    "I'd rather stand," he said,
his voice like sandpaper against metal.

    Foster nodded an acknowledgment
to Lane and then gave Will a quick glance. The man's aura of command probably
intimidated a lot of people, Lane thought. But nothing and no one intimidated
her these days. And that was good, considering she was in a room with
three ultramacho guys. Her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of
Will, standing at Johnny Mack's left, and she emended her count to four ultramacho
guys. No doubt about it, Will was his father's son. Strong. Stubborn. Handsome.
An alpha male in the making.

    "I understand you've unearthed
some information that might help us." Johnny Mack reached down and
took Lane's hand in his.

    "That's right. I think I've found
y'all a new suspect. But it's just a hunch on my part, you understand."

    "At this point, we'll take your
hunch," Quinn said. "Remember, I know all about your hunches."
He turned to the others and explained. "If Wyatt Foster's gut instincts
tell him something, then that's the way it is. His hunches are practically
foolproof."

    Foster had come highly recommended
by Quinn, who had used the former Dallas cop on numerous cases. If Quinn
trusted the man's instincts, then why shouldn't she? After all, her new
lawyer had never lost a case, and she had to believe that he could find a
way to prove her innocence.

    Foster's lips twitched, but he
didn't smile. "Y’all want the kid in on this?" He glanced at Will.

    "I can leave." Will headed
for the door.

    "No." Johnny Mack grabbed
his son's arm. "Will's not a kid. He's a young man now. And he's as involved
in this mess as any of us. He stays."

    In that one moment, Lane knew why
she loved Johnny Mack Cahill, why she had always loved him. Nothing he could
have said or done would have won him more points with Will. If given
the chance, he was going to be a really good father.

    "Is that all right with you, Mama?"
Will asked.

    "Of course," she replied,
suddenly realizing how important it was for a boy to have a father's understanding
of the male psyche to counteract the feminine protectiveness of his
mother.

    "Get to it, Foster," Quinn
said.

    Wyatt Foster opened his brown leather
briefcase and removed a folder. "I've documented all the information,
and there's a few pictures in here, too."

    "Give the folder to Quinn,"
Johnny Mack said. Now, tell us what you've got."

    "James Ware, Nobel's Crossing's
mayor and Edith Ware's husband, has been having an affair with a beautician
named Arlene Dothan for quite some time now." Foster cut his eyes
in Will's direction, cleared his throat and continued. "The man
has no money of his own, so to speak. His wife holds the purse strings, and
the two signed a prenup. So a good question is how did he pay for Ms. Dothan's
new car? He purchased the new Buick in her name over in Huntsville six
months ago. And there's a talkative jeweler over in Decatur who identified
James Ware and Arlene Dothan from photos I showed him. Seems that over
the past few years, Mr. Ware has bought his sweetie several pieces of expensive
jewelry. A ruby ring. A diamond-studded wristwatch. A couple of gold necklaces
and a diamond heart pendant."

    "Interesting," Quinn said.
"How did a guy who is dependent on his wife for his income pay for a
car and expensive jewelry?"

    "There's more," Foster
said. "Seems there's been several nice vacation trips. To Jamaica.
To the Smoky Mountains. To Aspen. And even one to Disney World, when they
took Ms. Dothan's two kids with them."

    Johnny Mack let out a long, low whistle.
"James is getting his hands on some cash somewhere. Want to take a
guess as to where?"

    "From Edith," Lane said.

    "Grandmother would never have
given him that kind of money," Will told them. "And those trips
Jam went on were supposed to be business trips, conventions where mayors
from other towns got together."

    Johnny Mack grinned. "Miss
Edith didn't give h' the money. He stole it from her."

    "Of course!" Lane agreed
enthusiastically. "James took over as Miss Edith's lawyer as well
as my family's lawyer when his father died. He takes care of all of
Edith's holdings. It wouldn't be that difficult for him to skim a little
off the top."

    "There's no telling how much
money he has embezzled from her.' 'Johnny Mack focused his attention on
Wyatt Foster. "Have you found any hidden bank accounts?"

    "If the man has a secret bank
account, it's probably in Switzerland," Wyatt surmised.

    "I know this information is
damning," Lane said. "But I don't see what James's embezzling money
from Miss Edith could possibly have to do with Kent's murder or how it can
help me."

    Wyatt lifted his shaggy eyebrows
in a but-what-if mannerism. "I'm just supposing here… but what if somebody
else found out what we suspect James of doing? And what if that somebody
confronted James and threatened to expose him? Now, what if that somebody
was Kent Graham? I'd say that would give James Ware a damn good motive
for murder."

    ''My God!'' Lane covered her mouth
with her hand. Was it possible that sweet, easy-going, hen-pecked James
was capable of murder?

    ''But you don't have any proof
that Kent knew what James was up to or that he confronted James." Will
draped his arm around his mother's shoulder. "What good is this information
if you can't prove your theory? Besides, I can't believe James would
hurt a fly, let alone kill somebody."

    "I'm just the messenger,"
Wyatt said. "I don't know the players personally. But my knowledge
of human nature tells me that anyone is capable of murder, given the
right motivation."

    '’Getting the truth out of James should
be easy foe me.’’ Johnny Mack entwined his fingers, bringing his big hands
together in a choking gesture.

    ‘’Don’t do anything stupid,"
Quinn advised.

    "All I'm going to do is pay
the mayor a little visit first thing in the morning."

    "I'll go with you," Lane
said.

    "No, honey, I'll handle this
alone. Man to man, just James and me."

    Arlene sighed with contentment
as she lay on the cot in the back of her beauty shop and watched James Ware
dressing. By most women's standards James wouldn't be considered all
that good-looking. His hair was dunning and turning gray. He was of medium
height and medium build with a thick middle and the beginnings of a beer
belly. But to her, he was prince charming. She loved the guy something awful
and lived for the day they could stop sneaking around to be together. All
she wanted was for them to get married and start a new life somewhere
outside of Noble's Crossing. But James kept saying that they needed more
money. Didn't he realize that she would live with him in a tent if they could
just be together?

    "I've got to go." James leaned
over and kissed her on the mouth. "God, I hate to leave you."

    "Then, don't leave me. Stay
the night"

    "Now, sugar, you know I can't
do that." He kissed^ her again, but when she tugged on his tie, he grabbed
her hand. "I've got to go. I'm supposed to pick Edith up at the hospital
and take her out for dinner."

    Arlene jerked her hand from his
grasp, crossed her arms over her naked breasts and puckered her lips in
what she hoped was a sultry pout

    "Now, don't be angry with me.
I'm doing what 1 have to do to secure our future. Yours and mine and
the kids."

    "I'm getting tired of waiting
for that future you keep promising me. We're not neither one getting
any younger. Before I get too old, I'd like to give you a kid all your
own."

    That stopped him dead in his
tracks, as she knew it would. James adored her two children, and she suspected
he wanted one of his own. He cupped her face between his hands and stared
directly into her eyes.

    "I love you, Arlene. And I
promise you that you're going to have everything you ever wanted, including
that baby."

    With downcast eyes, she sighed.
"You'd better get going. Don't want to keep your wife waiting."

    "Sugar, I'm sorry. Really I
am."

    "It's all right," she told
him.

    "No, it's not all right, but I
can't do any better by you right now. But soon, Arlene. I promise."