Old Flames Never Die (Valentine Mystery) (15 page)

There were moments he thought he'd give
in; tell Liv he was sorry but couldn't help her. But a part of him recoiled at
the idea. It would mean sacrificing a piece of himself and he'd probably end up
resenting Tess for that. He already resented that she had the power to bring
him to his knees while she could so easily move out. He pounded his fist into
the steering wheel. Damn her!

He merged onto the main route running to
northern Virginia, determined to take time to sort through his life. The first
thing, though, was to deal with the Worthingtons. It was time to cut his
losses. He'd made an effort to work with them for reasons he couldn't quite
remember. But now he'd had enough. He pressed the button on his dash and heard
the musical beeps as it dialed Brad.

“I need you to go to Jefferson Tavern
tomorrow and get me out of the Worthington deal.”

“Who is this?” Brad asked.

Jack rolled his eyes. “It's Jack. Your
boss.”

“It's after six. I'm not on the clock.”

“Then I'll call tomorrow at 5:00 a.m.
and tell you to get your ass out of bed and get me out of the Worthington deal.”

“Have Tess do it. She's a lawyer.”

Jack usually didn't mind sparring with
Brad, but he wasn't in the mood now. “She's busy doing some consulting with the
police.”

“Really? She's decided to be a
consultant? Smart move. Lawyers and consultants make big money, but a
consulting lawyer—”

“Can I count on you?”

“Yeah, yeah. I told you not to do it in
the first place.”

“Save the ‘I told you so’ for some time
when I don't feel like I might fire you.”

“You won't fire me. Not now anyway,
because I'm the only one you can browbeat to get you out of the Worthington
deal,” Brad said, either oblivious or not caring about Jack's foul mood. “Do
they know you want out?”

“No.”

“Well that ought to be fun. Where are
you going to be?”

“I'll be at my place in Arlington. I
thought I'd spend some time with Cora.”

“One battlefield to another, eh?”

Brad was partly right. Relations with
Cora had been strained since he started spending more time in Jefferson Tavern.
He'd tried to get her to stay with him and Tess, but she insisted that she'd
only get in the way of the 'ring-a-ding' she was certain they did all day,
every day, in every way. He supposed there had been times she'd been right.

“Well, if I have to get up in the middle
of the night to deal with the Worthingtons, I need to meditate and get myself
in the right mind,” Brad said.

“Have a drink for me too,” Jack said,
knowing Brad's meditation was 100 proof.

“Will do.”

They hung up and with the click of the
phone Jack could feel tension sliding away. One problem solved, he thought. 
Dealing with Tess wouldn't be so easy. He couldn't send Brad to handle that for
him. He just wished she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. He understood her
fears. He even got that she didn't like Liv's story, but she should trust him.
Liv had made passes and he shot her down both times because he wasn't
interested. Liv was attractive, and he knew from experience that she was
creative in bedroom games. But with Tess, he'd learned that there really was a
difference between sex and making love, and he preferred the latter. And Tess
was pretty creative herself in that respect. 

He shook his head to rid it of erotic
thoughts of Tess that would only weaken his resolve to get away.

His Bluetooth beeped and Liv's name
crossed the screen on the panel. He let out a curse. She was another problem he
needed to manage. He pressed the engage button.

“Hi, Liv.”

“I've been wanting to call all day, but
wasn't sure I should. About the article in the paper. Did you see it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you mad?”

“I'm not happy about it.”

“And Tess?”

What about Tess
? he thought.
She barely acknowledged it. What did that mean? Was she already detaching
herself from him and so it didn't matter to her? “She knows there was nothing
to it.”

“Good. I was worried. I'd hate for my
mess to ruin things with you two.”

“No worries,” he lied.

“Jefferson Tavern is a beautiful area,
but the people can be so nosy and small- minded.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

“Are you alright? You sound strange.”

“I'm in my car. You're on speaker phone.”

“Oh…is Te—”

“No, it's just me.”

“Not that I said anything wrong but…”

“It's fine.”

“Jack, I hate to do this, but Charles'
funeral is the day after tomorrow. Is there a chance you can be there?”

Jack wanted to say no. Not because it
might further complicate his life, but because Liv was another issue he needed
time away from. But a funeral wasn't something you could just blow off when a
friend was in need.

“Yeah, sure.”

He could hear her sigh of relief. “I
can't tell you how much that means to me. Charles' son and daughter-in-law just
showed up and…well, I don't want to get into it, but Jack, you're the only
friend I can trust here and I could really use the support.”

“I'll be there,” Jack promised.

As they hung up, Jack realized that for
the most part he was alone in Jefferson Tavern too. The Worthingtons wanted to
claim him, but only for the money he could bring them. Tess was the only reason
he was still in Jefferson Tavern. In fact, he'd been getting ready to sell his
home when he'd run into her again. He had stayed because he wanted to see what
they could make together. But now he realized that he needed to rethink his
living situation. He still wanted Tess, but he wasn't sure he could build a life
in Jefferson Tavern where people either wanted something from him or were suspicious
of him. The question was would Tess leave Jefferson Tavern to be with him? As
he drove into Manassas and headed towards I-66 to take him to Arlington, he
suspected the answer was probably no.

~~~~

“Oh God, did she dump you again?” Cora
sat on the couch in Jack's penthouse apartment eating grits with butter and
pork sausage and watching a morning news show.

Jack shook his head. He wasn't really
surprised that she was in his apartment instead of the one next door that he
bought for her. But having just woken up after a long, restless night thinking
about Tess, he wasn't ready to deal with Cora. “No.”

“Then why you here?”

“Why are you here?” He grumbled as he headed
to the kitchen, hoping Cora had made enough coffee that he could steal a cup.

“Did ya fight? Because you're in a
pisser mood.”

Jack was able to get three-quarters of a
cup of coffee from the pot. He returned to the living area and sat in the Eames
lounge chair he'd bought for Tess. “It's too early and I haven't had nearly
enough coffee.” He sipped the piping brew and willed his nerves to settle. He'd
known Cora all his life. She'd been good friends with his parents and a
surrogate grandmother to him. She'd helped him and his mother when his father
was killed in the line of duty as a D.C. police detective. She'd helped his
mother when she suffered from terminal cancer. And she tried to help him after
his mother died. But he learned several months ago that there was nothing
surrogate about Cora. She was, in fact, his biological grandmother who'd
whisked him away and placed him for adoption when his birth mother was
murdered. It was a lie that still bothered him.

He felt Cora's eyes bore into him. “You
haven't taken up with that hussy again, have you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I saw the news. I saw how her husband
was murdered. I bet she did it. No wonder Tess tossed you out.”

“Tess didn't—”

“And now I'm really mad because I don't
want to feel bad for Tess and you're putting me in that position.”

“Tess and I are fine,” Jack said, hoping
it was true.

“Then why are you here?”

“I thought I'd take you to the spa you
like. Maybe some lunch,” he said, hoping distraction would get her off the
topic of Tess and Liv.

“I want a pedi and mani.”

He nodded. “Fine.”

Cora was silent, but Jack knew it
couldn't last. “You sure you're not with that skank?”

~~~~

Tess was disappointed when Jack didn't
show up at her door with breakfast. Disappointment turned to worry when he
didn't pick up his phone when she called. She left a message and decided she
needed to focus on the work she'd agreed to do for Daniel.

“The son and daughter-in-law are in
town. Sam and I were planning on talking to them today and maybe you'd like to
join in.”

“I would, but I'd also like to go down
to Bucks County to find out about the land Danforth and Wilson were planning to
develop.” She left out the part about how the Senator's interest in the land
increased her suspicion that there was something more to the Danforth-Wilson
partnership.

“How about we meet this afternoon? I
have some other cases I need to work on this morning.”

“Perfect.”

~~~~

Tess enjoyed the ride down to Bucks
County. May was the reward for surviving winter, Tess decided. Tess hated winter,
and in particular, February in Virginia. Everything was cold, dead and dark.
March and April were improvements, but it wasn't until May, with its green
trees and colorful blooms that gave vibrant life to the world, that Tess felt
like winter was finally over. Although, she thought, this last February hadn't
been so bad once Jack re-entered her life.

The road south took her through the
green horse country and over the James River that ran from the Alleghany
Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. As a teen and even in college, Tess, Kate and
other friends spent many lazy summer afternoons drifting in inner tubes with a
rope tied to a cooler full of whatever alcoholic beverage they'd been able to
get their hands on. In Tess' case, she preferred homemade wine coolers. She
smiled at the thought. The cliché “Those were the days” came to mind. In those
days she'd been outgoing, even a little reckless, not just in life, but in love
as well. She knew better now.

When she got to the property, she parked
on the side of the road and got out of her car. The land owned by Charles
Danforth and Bobby Wilson looked like a giant red clay hole in the ground.
Several backhoes and dump trucks stood quiet on the land that had been cleared
away like the icing off of a cake. Tess didn't know much about land
development, but it seemed to her that more dirt had been moved than was
necessary.  She wondered what it was about the spot that required so much dirt
to be cleared away and if it could be the source of dispute Liv mentioned
between Charles and Bobby. Was the land bad? Was the deal falling apart?  She
snapped a picture with her phone and then got into the car to head to the
county office building.

The brick structure of the Bucks County
Clerk's Office and Court House had been designed by Thomas Jefferson as had
many of the buildings throughout central Virginia. The original building had
burned in the eighteen hundreds, but was rebuilt using the same plans Jefferson
had created. Tess always enjoyed entering historic buildings, walking in the
footsteps of lawmakers two hundred years before her. She wondered what they'd
think that a woman lawyer was walking in their hallowed halls.

She entered the registrar's office
hoping that, despite the old architecture, access to documents was available in
a more modern technological form.

“Can I help you?” an older woman with
bluish-gray hair in a lime-green polyester suit asked.

“Yes, I was hoping to get some information
on a planned development on Route 687 owned by DW Enterprises.”

“What sort of information? Deeds?”

“Yes, I'd like to see a deed. And maybe
the plat and building permits.”

“I can look up deed information on the
computer, but you'll need to pay for a copy. Plats are housed down the hall and
you'll need to visit the planning office for information on permits.”

“I'll start with the deed then.”

The deed didn't offer anything Tess
didn't already know. She suspected that Daniel probably had a copy of the deed,
but she sprung for a copy of her own then headed down to the building and
planning office.

The woman at that counter was probably
the same age as the first women, but with her dyed-blond hair and drawn-on
eyebrows, she looked older.

Tess explained to the woman what she
wanted. “Oh, isn't that the man who was killed recently in Jefferson Tavern?”

“Yes.”

“Is this part of the murder
investigation?” the woman asked with enthusiasm. “I've never been questioned
about murder before. So little ever happens down here.”