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Authors: Kathy Herman

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Eye of the Beholder (27 page)

BOOK: Eye of the Beholder
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O
n Sunday morning, Guy Jones sat with Ellen in the third row of Crossroads Bible Church, his eyes intent on the pulpit, but his mind only vaguely aware of Pastor Peter Crawford or the words of his sermon.

All he could think about was Kinsey and what might happen to her—or already had. He replayed the events of the past week in his mind and thought back over the year he had worked closely with her. In hindsight, it seemed odd that she almost never referred to any of her friends by name, but nothing in her professional demeanor should have caused him to wonder if something was amiss.
Cocaine trafficking?
How could she throw her life away like that?

Guy could still picture her standing at his bathroom door, swallowed up in his pinstriped shirt, her dark curls softly framing her face, her sleepy blue eyes both innocent and provocative. There had been something strikingly little girlish about her.

All of a sudden, Guy realized the organ was playing and the congregation was standing. He rose to his feet, slid his arm around Ellen’s waist, and supported the hymnal with his free hand.

“Are you all right?” she whispered.

Guy nodded without looking up and began to sing.

After the service, Guy stood in the back of the church and dutifully made the rounds with Ellen, greeting people and engaging
in small talk. He saw Julie and Ross Hamilton approaching, Sarah Beth riding on Ross’s shoulders. He acknowledged the threesome with a fabricated smile and a nod.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you.” Ellen hugged each of them. “Thanks again for the lasagna. It was so thoughtful.” Ellen reached up to Sarah Beth and touched her nose. “Tell Miss Ellen about the zoo.”

Guy pretended to listen to the little girl’s babble. He glanced at his watch, thinking he was ready to eat lunch, when he saw Billy and Lisa Lewis coming his way.

“How are you do-ing, Guy?” Billy said, extending his hand.

“Fine. Anything going on with you and Lisa?”

Billy’s smile was the size of the Grand Canyon. “We are getting a new couch!”

“Well, good. That’s nice.”

“Lisa and I are pray-ing that God will make your house get fixed.”

“Thanks.” Guy caught Ellen’s eye and pointed to his watch.

Ellen nodded and gave him one of her I’ll-just-be-another-minute looks.

Guy wondered why Lisa Lewis stared at him, a dopey grin on her face. He didn’t ask.

“Well,
there
you are,” said a familiar voice. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Guy cringed, then turned around and saw Blanche Davis, whose hair seemed even bluer than the last time he saw her. “Hello, Blanche.”

“We were all so sorry to hear about your house being ransacked—and your apartment. My quilting club is praying for you.”

A gossip fest, no doubt
. “Thanks.” Guy shifted from one foot to the other, wishing Ellen would hurry up.

He felt his phone vibrate and walked outside through the open doors and took it out of his pocket. “Hello.”

“Guy, it’s Kinsey. I need to see you.”

He looked over his shoulder at Ellen and then at the ground, his heart beating wildly. “Where are you?”

“Waiting in the parking lot at Seaport Beach.”

“I can’t just drop everything. I’m at church with Ellen.”

“Can’t you make up some excuse? Please? I promise I’m not here to ask for money.”

Guy saw Ellen holding Sarah Beth on her hip, the child singing a song that seemed to be entertaining everyone within earshot. “Are you alone?”

“Of course I’m alone. This is not a setup and I’m not here to ask for anything. But I have to leave by two. I need to explain something before—”

Guy heard a loud whooshing sound and then nothing. “Kinsey …? Are you there …? Kinsey …?”
Darn!

He stood paralyzed for a moment, his heart hammering and his thoughts bouncing off the walls of his mind. What if this was his last chance to make peace with Kinsey and convince her to turn herself in? Was it worth jeopardizing his already fragile relationship with Ellen?

Lord, what should I do?
Guy gave himself a few moments to quiet his heart, then dropped the phone in his pocket and walked back inside. He went over to Ellen and put his lips to her ear. “Kinsey just called. You and I need to talk now.”

Ellen’s eyes widened. “Okay, give me a minute.”

Guy ambled over to the door and glanced at his watch: 12:15.
Come on, honey. Don’t drag this out
.

Ellen kissed Sarah Beth on the cheek and handed her to Ross. She said something to her friends and, seconds later, came over and linked arms with Guy and started walking toward the car. “Tell me everything.”

He relayed to her almost verbatim the conversation he’d just had with Kinsey. “My gut tells me I should go talk to her.”

“Guy, the woman belongs in jail. Why don’t you just let the
police pick her up? She’d be safer behind bars than on the street.”

“The police don’t have enough to hold her. Everything I told them is just hearsay.”

Ellen stopped and looked up at him. “I thought they were about to arrest Rob Blakely?”

“Investigator Hamlin called last night. Blakely’s disappeared. They found plenty of evidence in his house to put him away, but nothing that implicates Kinsey. It’s really Blakely they want anyway. So if and until he surfaces and produces evidence, the police have nothing to charge her with.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you talked to Hamlin?”

“You were upset about the Iranian student who was killed. I thought it could wait. Obviously, I didn’t know she was going to call. Ellen, the girl has to be scared to death. I’d like another crack at getting her to turn herself in.”

“Fine, then I’m going with you.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, you’re not going alone. What’s your objection if you don’t believe you’re in any danger?”

Guy put his hands on her shoulders. “She might not open up with you there.”

“You don’t know that. Besides, if what she has to say is all that private, then there must be something else you aren’t telling me.”

“There isn’t, Ellen. I’ve told you everything.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

Guy turned his Mercedes into the public parking area at Seaport Beach and drove slowly down the rows of cars, looking for Kinsey’s BMW or the Ford Taurus she had rented. Finally, he pulled into one of the few available parking spaces.

“I don’t see her,” Ellen said.

“She’s here somewhere.” Guy moved his eyes slowly across
the beach from left to right. “The two other times Kinsey asked me to meet her, she had on a red ball cap and dark glasses.”

“Well, let’s get out and start looking. In these clothes, we should stand out a whole lot more than she does.”

Guy’s cell phone rang. “Hello.”

“Who’s in the car with you?”

“Ellen.”

“I wanted to talk to you privately!”

Guy looked at Ellen and nodded. “Sorry, Kinsey. Whatever you have to say you can to say to both of us. Ellen and I have no secrets.”

“Did you call the police?”

“Yes, I told Investigator Hamlin everything.”

“No, I mean the Seaport police … before you came here to meet me?”

“Of course not. And I didn’t come all the way over here to talk to you on the phone. Where are you?”

“Standing on the beach about thirty yards in front of you.” The phone went dead.

Guy looked up and saw a shapely young woman in jeans shorts and a yellow tank top, waving her arms. “There she is. Let’s go.” He got out of the car, took Ellen’s hand, and trudged across the sand.

Kinsey met them half way, then took off her sunglasses exposing the dark circles under her eyes. “Thanks for coming and for not calling the police.”

“I certainly considered it,” Guy said. “You’d be safe in custody. But the police don’t have enough to hold you unless you confess—or until Rob Blakely spills his guts. And he’s suddenly gone missing. That should make you nervous enough to turn yourself in.”

“I didn’t come here to talk about Rob.” Kinsey looked over at a group of young people playing volleyball. “Could we go someplace more private and out of the sun?” She glanced at her watch. “My ride leaves at two.”

“Why don’t we go to the lighthouse?” Ellen nodded toward the red-and-gray structure visible in the distance. “There’s a picnic area with several covered shelters. It’ll only take a couple minutes to drive down there.”

“And you’ll get me back here by two?”

Guy nodded. “If that’s what you still want.”

The three of them walked to Guy’s car and Kinsey climbed in the backseat.

No one said anything as they drove down Beach Shore Drive and out to the lighthouse. Guy spotted an empty shelter not far from the road and pulled into the parking area. He got out of the car and took Ellen’s arm and walked under the covered shelter to a picnic table.

Ellen gathered the bottom of her skirt and swung her legs over the bench and slid them under the table. Guy sat next to her, Kinsey on the opposite side.

An uncomfortable stretch of silence made him wonder if he should’ve just insisted Kinsey talk while she was on a roll.

“I know you don’t have much time,” Ellen finally said, “so I’m going to ask you a question that won’t leave me alone. Obviously, you don’t have to answer, but what possessed you to get involved in drugs?”

Kinsey sat staring at her hands. “The forty-six thousand a year I made as a legal secretary didn’t buy me enough happiness.”

“And the extra drug money did?”

Kinsey glanced up at Ellen, her eyes desolate. “Not really. But having it gave me the illusion of happiness. It’s surprising how easy you can delude yourself when you’re making money hand over fist. But I didn’t come here to talk to Guy about that.”

“Why did you come?” he said.

“To apologize.”

“You already said you were sorry.”

“I know. But there’s more to the story than I led you to believe.” Kinsey looked up at Ellen. “I didn’t plan on you listening
in on what I’m about to say. But I owe you an apology, too.”

Ellen folded her arms on the picnic table and seemed to be listening intently.

“I can’t tell you how jealous I was of you, having a man like Guy who loved you and thought of you all the time. I was happy for you, but also angry. It didn’t seem fair. No matter how I tried, I could never seem to find a man who treated me the way he treated you. I kept wondering if you even realized how lucky you were. Then when you didn’t drive up to join us for Guy’s victory dinner, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to …” Kinsey paused, her cheeks flushed with color.

Ellen nodded. “Go on.”

Kinsey shifted her gaze to Guy. “That night at Savvy’s I pretended to be drunker than I was, hoping we might end up spending the night together.” Kinsey’s chin quivered. “But you were such a gentleman. You could’ve easily taken advantage of me—I
wanted
you to take advantage of me—but you didn’t. Not even when we were alone in your apartment. I’ve never had any man respect me like that before.”

Ellen’s hand found Guy’s and gave it a squeeze.

“I’m so ashamed of what I’m about to tell you …” Kinsey wiped a tear off her cheek. “I lied to you. Rob didn’t assume we were having an affair, I
told
him we were. I wanted him to believe I was good enough to snag someone like you. So when the cocaine went missing, Rob didn’t believe what
really
happened—that some one-night stand whose last name I didn’t even know ripped me off. Rob was convinced I made up the story so you and I could sell the stuff without paying him for it. I’ve begged him to believe me, but he doesn’t. I’m so afraid he’s going to kill us both. I know you’ll never forgive me, but I’m so sorry.” Kinsey buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

Guy wanted to shake her. How could she have gambled with his will power, his reputation, and his life?

Several minutes passed without anyone saying anything.

Kinsey wiped her eyes and glanced at her watch. “That’s all I came to say. It doesn’t change anything, but it’s the truth. Would you please take me back now?”

“Who’s coming to pick you up?” Guy said. “You mentioned your ride leaves at two.”

“Actually, my ride is Greyhound. My bus leaves the station at 2:20, and I need to be there a few minutes early.”

“Where are you headed?”

“Atlanta.”

“Do you have money?”

“I withdrew three hundred dollars I had left in savings. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Kinsey got up and walked toward the car.

Guy followed her, grabbed her arm, and turned her around. He waited until he had eye contact. “Promise me you won’t go back to dealing drugs.”

“Then how do you propose I get a decent paying job without references—prostitution?”

“Don’t even
think
that,” Guy said.

“I’m not, but I’ve got two choices: Go to prison and get three squares a day, or do whatever it takes to stay free.”

“You’re never going to be free dealing drugs. Brent could make a good case for a judge to be lenient if you turn yourself in and work with the police to get Rob and his supplier.”

“Right. Then I can serve my time and wonder every day if the minute I get out someone will be waiting to cut my throat.”

“There has to be a way to work this out,” Guy said.

“There isn’t! I just came to say I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Kinsey put her fist to her mouth and choked back the emotion.

Ellen walked over and put her hand on Kinsey’s shoulder. “
I’d
like to say something. I won’t pretend that my emotions have even begun to work through all this, but at least know I forgive you. It took amazing courage to come all the way here to admit the awful truth. I’m grateful you did.”

“Thank you …” Kinsey’s voice trailed off.

Guy wondered why Ellen was looking at him wide-eyed, her eyebrows raised as if to ask why he wasn’t chiming in. He dismissed her with a headshake.

Ellen reached in her purse and pulled out a Gospel tract and handed it to Kinsey. “I want you to have this. There may come a time when it makes sense to you and you’ll want to talk about it. My cell number is on the back.” Ellen brushed the hair out of Kinsey’s eyes. “I’ll be praying for you every day, honey. Don’t despair. Your Father in heaven won’t take His eyes off you—not for a moment.”

BOOK: Eye of the Beholder
6.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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