Lexington Connection (23 page)

Curious, Jessie thought. Like they were accustomed to supplying clothing. All women’s, various sizes, but not a wide range.

“Try this,” Margaret pulled out an outfit for Julie.

Jessie walked up and down the length of the cabin, eyeing the drawers.
Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to start going through them.
She glanced back at Margaret and Julie, who were pulling out clothing. “I’m going downstairs to change,” she announced and was relieved when Margaret merely nodded, still talking to Julie.

Security, clothing, isolated. Must really be a safe house
, Jessie decided as she went down the stairs.
Safe from what?
The stairs took her down through the kitchen, across the room and back up the stairs to the bedrooms. She kept looking around, wondering where Diana had disappeared to.

Nice cabin, not exactly rustic though. Cathedral ceiling in the living room, bedrooms overlooking the living room, library, glass, and what beautiful views. Got to be a power source somewhere. Can’t believe there’s no outside contact unless she shut it up.

She changed clothes, getting into blue jeans and white shirt, feeling more comfortable but still sore. Moving felt better than being still so she took the opportunity to wander around. She casually went through all the rooms, apparently just wandering if she ran into either of her hosts, her hands in her hip pockets, just looking and wondering where Diana had gone to, feeling her presence, still puzzling about her. With Julie and Margaret in the attic, she felt alone, and yet…she examined corners, looking for wiring. Would there be security cameras? She kept looking behind her as she cautiously went back upstairs, glancing all around as she paused at the bedroom door, waiting to be stopped. Did guests snoop in a place like this? Maybe curious ones.

She and Julie had the corner bedroom, the master with its own bath. Jessie cautiously opened the door to the next room, listening for any sound as she glanced down into the living room. This would be easier if she knew exactly where Diana was. A bedroom, queen bed, furniture, not as luxurious as the one she and Julie had. It appeared empty so she stepped inside. She caught the faint fragrance, this was Diana’s room. She quickly searched, not even sure what she was looking for. Clothes in the drawers, in the closet, science fiction book on the bedside table. Very impersonal. She checked the hallway before she slipped out.

The next room was a bathroom. At least she had an excuse for being there. Cabinet held the standard types of things, aspirin, lotions, aloe cream, first aid cream. Nothing you wouldn’t expect in a vacation house.

The last room was Margaret’s and even if she wasn’t there, Jessie could feel the atmosphere. Efficient, plain, impersonal. She was more wary of being caught here and she made a quick search but found nothing. She slipped out, not even sure what she had been looking for.

Something to tell her how Diana fit into all this, with Waldo, who her papa was. Margaret had mentioned she had promised her papa. What had she promised? Had she and Diana ever talked about her father? Did they ever talk about her? Jessie couldn’t remember. She had certainly talked about herself, her sister, her father, Julie. She couldn’t ever remember talking about Diana. Did she have a family? What kind of work did she do? But even when she had finally gotten suspicious, there had been nothing on Diana DeVilbiss.

She went downstairs, looked in the kitchen for Julie and Margaret but they must still be upstairs. Taking a lot of time to pick out clothes, she thought. I sure hope Julie’s charming her. If she can work on her, maybe I can work on Diana.

She found the small bar in the living room between the massive windows across from the fireplace. She went out the front door cautiously and no alarm sounded. Maybe there were silent ones. She didn’t even try the steps as she walked all around the deck, looking for wiring, for trip wires, motion detectors.

She came back into the house, entered through the living room, casually walked into the library and found Diana there. She stopped in slight surprise.
She wasn’t there when I stepped out,
she thought in confusion. For a moment she stood there, able to look at Diana draped sideways in the wingback chair, one leg thrown up and over the arm as she was lost in a mystery. For a moment, a brief moment, the clock turned back and Jessie wanted—wanted what? She shook her head. She reached out and knocked on the door.

Diana looked up, eyebrows raised, but Jessie didn’t think she had been unaware of her standing there. “Yes, Jessie?”

“Can we talk?”

“Sure.” Diana closed her book but didn’t put it down as Jessie came in. “You got more clothes. Back to blue jeans and white shirt uniform, I see.”

“Yeah.” Jessie looked down at her outfit belatedly remembering how Diana always found it a turn on. “Just picked out what was comfortable.” She came over and sat on the edge of the library table across from Diana. “Bother you?” Diana shook her head but Jessie wasn’t so sure. She didn’t want to have to go that route. “No dark glasses though,” she commented, trying to lighten the mood.

“Wouldn’t want that much nostalgia,” Diana said dryly. “What did you want to talk about?”

Keep it calm
, Jessie counseled herself.
Two equals just talking about things going on. Don’t be adversarial
. “You really going to get Waldo out of the country?”

“That’s the plan.”

“You know what a scumbag he is, don’t you? All the things he’s part of?”

“Probably better than you do.”

Oh, that’s encouraging.
“Why are you helping him?”

“As a favor.” Diana rested her head against the curve of the chair, looking directly at Jessie. As much as Jessie tried, she couldn’t quite see Diana there. “And having him out of the country seemed to solve a problem.”

“What problem was that?”

“He threatened you.”

“I’m flattered, but that was hardly necessary.” Jessie passed it off as she leaned against the table, hands holding onto the edge. “I’ve been threatened before. Occupational hazard.”

Diana’s expression didn’t change. “Been ambushed before?”

Jessie paused before she shook her head. That had been unexpected.

“Seems like Waldo was getting closer than just threatening.”

“If he was so close, then why didn’t he kill me when he had the opportunity?” Even though she had seen Diana come in like gangbusters, she had a hard time visualizing Diana on the gory side of crime. Okay, maybe the white-collar kind, but blood and guts, no, she couldn’t visualize that.

“He never intended to kill you, Jessie.”

“Then what?” Diana shook her head. “Oh, don’t stop now. You’ve been carrying on like the big tough broad up until now. Don’t be getting all squeamish at this point.”

“I was never told, it was just hearsay.”

“But you believed it enough to move him.”

“Yeah. I thought it was quick enough to prevent him doing anything.” She laid the book on the floor beside the chair. “I never liked dealing with Waldo, so it was a fluke I even discovered he had you.”

“So what was he going to do?” Jessie repeated, getting the feeling Diana was avoiding the question. “I mean, I’m glad you stepped in. Don’t get me wrong, but if he wasn’t going to kill me…”

“Oh, he wouldn’t.” Diana paused. “Just what did you do to cross him anyway?”

“You mean besides bust him for drugs? For possession? For distribution?” She stopped and thought about it, putting her head back to examine the ceiling. “Waldo and I seem to have been fated. A number of years ago when I was just a rookie, my partner and I pulled him over for a traffic violation. No taillights as I recall. Car was loaded with cocaine.” She abruptly looked at Diana. “About nine months before I met you. Would that be purely a coincidence, Diana?”

“Maybe fate, but I had nothing to do with any of Waldo’s drug dealings, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Can I believe that?
Jessie mused as she tried to read Diana’s mind. It had the feeling of truth. Maybe she was grasping at straws. “Anyway, he did a short term, first offense, although he wasn’t unknown to us. Then after he got out, I happened to be the one to arrest him for distributing. This last one I didn’t have anything to do with so I don’t know why he’s pissed at me.”

“I can answer that for you. During that stretch, he developed a real case of claustrophobia. Blames you for that. Sending him back to prison, locking him up, is all your fault.”

“I lose sleep at night over people like him,” Jessie said with some sarcasm. “Come on. I answered your questions. Now you answer mine.” Diana was still reluctant. “What? Rape me? Torture me? Kill me? No, you said he wasn’t going to do that. What’s the deal? He didn’t manage to do any of it.”

Diana gave in. “Since you insist on knowing,” she started. “This is only second maybe thirdhand because no one would say this to my face. He wasn’t going to kill you because he wanted you to suffer, and you couldn’t suffer if you were dead. Rape? Most likely. Torture? Yeah, he’s always had a sadistic streak. But the kicker was he was going to rape, torture, and kill Julie, make you watch. That way you could remember for the rest of your life that you couldn’t do a thing to stop him or save your lover.”

Jessie stopped breathing and when she opened her mouth to say something, her mouth was so dry she couldn’t get her tongue to work. Her stomach lurched and she gripped the table so she didn’t pitch forward. Diana watched her without moving. Abruptly Jessie pushed off from the table and bolted down the hall to the half bath tucked under the stairs.

When she finished losing her breakfast she buried her face in the icy washcloth, then sat on the commode trying to pull herself together. Delayed panic set in. All those years of worrying about Julie and now that she was out of the house, out of Jessie’s life, she was still at risk. Images came all too easily to mind, images about herself she could shut out. But not Julie.

She pulled herself together, washed her face. She was still shaken and angry as she stalked back to the library.

Adrenaline-fueled, she headed straight for Diana, grabbed her by her shirt front and pulled her out of the chair. “That son of a bitch. And how did he know anything about Julie?”

“Don’t be an ass, Jessie,” Diana retorted, not even struggling against her. “You think things like that aren’t noticed? You think the police are the only ones who do surveillance?” She caught Jessie’s wrists but she didn’t try to pull them away.

“And you’re letting that bastard get away?”

“If that was what I had to do to make sure you were out of his hands, yes.”

Jessie was shaking so badly that when Diana pulled Jessie’s hands free, Jessie let her. Diana turned her around, set her down in the chair. Then, even as Jessie tried to get a grip on her emotions, Diana disappeared. She returned almost immediately, this time with a glass of dark liquid.

“You haven’t gone off the deep end and had to join AA or anything like that, have you?”

“No,” Jessie said shortly as she reached for the glass.

“Just checking. Seems to be a frequently traveled road.”

Jessie knocked off the glass, handed it back. She felt Diana’s hand on her shoulder to steady her.

“It didn’t happen,” Diana said firmly. “It might have been, but it didn’t happen. You’re safe; Julie’s safe. You got slightly hurt. She got terrorized. In the scheme of things, nothing happened. And it’s not going to happen.”

Jessie shuddered. All the things they had threatened, she had thought they were just saying all that to scare her.

“Stop it!” Diana’s voice was sharp.

Jessie looked up at her. Diana was looking down at her, and she looked concerned instead of the bland mask.

“Breathe. Deep breaths.”

Jessie obeyed, things began to fall into place again, she got her focus back. “Don’t,” she started. “Don’t mention.” She tried again. “Don’t say anything about this to Julie.” She closed her eyes. Poor Julie, who couldn’t deal with violence.

“I wouldn’t have said anything to you if you hadn’t pushed.”

“I know. But I needed to know.”

Diana didn’t take her hand off Jessie’s shoulder. She gripped it painfully tight. “Now I’m going to tell you something else, so you listen up.”

“What?”

“Don’t you ever do that again, lay a hand on me like that. If you do that in front of Margaret, she’ll kill you. Or die in the attempt. You understand?”

“I wouldn’t—didn’t—”

“Doesn’t matter. Margaret’s my bodyguard. I haven’t moved in the safest circles. She’ll react and ask questions later.” Diana slowly released Jessie and stepped back. “It’s something we all have in common: we react to protect those we care about.” She leaned against the library table and watched Jessie for a few minutes. “You all right now?”

Jessie nodded. She sagged back into the chair. “Just seems so unfair now,” she said distractedly.

“How so?”

Jessie closed her eyes, forgetting here and now. This was Diana, her Diana. She had always been able to talk to Diana about Julie. She didn’t even stop to censure herself.

“Julie couldn’t deal with the violence, even the idea I might go out the door in the morning and not come back.”

“That is a hard idea to wrap your mind around,” Diana said quietly.

“We separated about a year ago. She couldn’t deal with it any more.”

“What!” Diana burst out and quickly muffled it.

Jessie barely let Diana’s exclamation register. She went on. “I thought we were working everything out, going to get back together. Then a couple of months ago she said she couldn’t. It was over permanently. We could still be friends, family even, just she couldn’t deal with it on a day-to-day basis.” She opened her eyes to see Diana looking at her strangely.

“I’m sorry it turned out that way,” Diana said in a voice that sounded hollow. Maybe it was just Jessie’s listening because of this latest shock.

“Yeah, so am I.” Jessie buried her face in her hands. Damn, this woman was everything she abhorred, and yet she was her friend. She felt like she needed to do everything in her power to arrest her, to take her in, to suspect everything she did, and at the same time, she wanted to sit down, talk to her, ask her how she had been. She wanted to cry on her shoulder, talk to her the way she used to, tell her all about her frustrations and her joys in life. Ask her about hers. Ask her if she ever got to be with the woman she loved. She raised her head to find Diana watching her, concern and understanding in her face, her eyes. “This is a hell of a situation, as my dad would say.”