The Amber Stone (33 page)

He’d gotten too cocky and talked too much. Louisa had been right about him having another woman, but he’d needed the stress release and Pernelle could ride him like no other. He probably shouldn’t have told her about Louisa and what a problem she’d become to him. But that wouldn’t have been bad if he hadn’t gotten tipsy and told her how he’d killed her. But his nagging conscience hadn’t let him keep his mouth shut, and after a hot lay and a couple of cold drinks, he’d told her everything.

“So what happened?” Pernelle asked, stroking the inside of his thigh, just the way he liked it.

“With Louisa?”

“Yea.”

“I took care of her.”

“How?”

“You’d never guess.”

“No,” she said sliding her hand higher up his thigh. “That’s why I’m asking.”

He felt his lower half come to attention and looked down with a grin. “With him,” he said laughing. “He did all the hard work for me.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

So he told Pernelle about the undetectable poison he’d put on the tip of his condom. He knew it would attack her system faster vaginally than orally. It was a revelation he should have kept to himself.

“Thomas!” Helene said, banging the table with her hand. “What did you do?”

He sighed, weighing his options. It would be Pernelle’s word against his and he’d gotten rid of the proof. Women were known more for poisonings than men. He was a doctor with a reputation, he had that in his favor. She couldn’t hurt him. He calmly folded the paper. “I told you, ‘nothing.’ Pass me the pepper.”

But three hours later when the police arrived at his practice, Thomas knew she had talked and an hour after that, when he sat in an interrogation room and they mentioned Louisa’s unborn child, he knew that everything he had tried to protect—his reputation and most importantly his marriage—was gone forever.

***

Sean opened his eyes to the sight of soft lavender walls, dried flowers in a vase sitting on the windowsill, and a picture of a field of poppies swaying in a breeze. He smiled. Teresa’s room fit her perfectly and he briefly imagined her as a little girl gathering flowers in the garden or running with a kite along the bay. He turned to her as she slept beside him. She was safe and he planned to keep it that way. He felt renewed and invigorated, although not one hundred percent. But he felt strong enough to protect her. No one was taking her away from him again. He pushed her hair from her face and she opened her eyes. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.

“That’s okay,” she said, sitting up and stretching. “I need to make breakfast.”

Sean shook his head. “No, you don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do. Especially once he wakes up,” she said jerking her head in the direction where his brother slept. “Go take a shower and freshen up. You look like a wild man.”

He grabbed her wrist before she could stand. “I am a wild man. And you have to stay with me because Renee—”

“You can tell me at breakfast.”

His grip tightened. “No, I need to tell you now. We have to leave here. Renee is still alive and—”

She covered his hand with hers and flashed a sad smile. “Renee is dead.”

Sean swallowed feeling suddenly ill. She didn’t believe him. “Teresa, I saw her.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Was he going crazy? Had it all been a dream? Why was Teresa looking as if she pitied him? Had his family gotten to her and convinced her that he was delusional? But he wasn’t. He knew the danger was real. “Please listen to me,” he said trying to keep the panic from his voice. “I saw her at the hospital. The woman in my room—”

“Was not Renee,” Teresa said in a soft voice. “Her name is Pernelle Hall and the police are looking for her.” She turned when she heard a soft knock on the door. When she opened it, Michelle stood there with a grin. “She’s been caught. It’s in the paper,” she said handing the torn article to her.

Sean looked at the two women confused. “I don’t understand. Who?”

Teresa returned to the bed and pointed to the picture. “Does this woman look like Renee?”

He nodded.

“She had some plastic surgery, but she’s not Renee and she’s in custody right now for trying to kill you.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. How do you know that?”

“I put some pieces together, but it started with a book of Louisa’s I found. It started making me think about my conversations with Pernelle and how she said she knew you, but never wanted to see you. And she had a strange reaction when I told her we were married. But things didn’t come fully together until I realized the only place where I’d left the thermos was in the back of the bookstore where Pernelle had access.”

Sean shook his head. “But I don’t know her. Who is she?”

“An obsessed fan of your wife, which isn’t uncommon for TV personalities. She did everything she could to be like her. After your wife died, she made it her duty to keep her memory alive. At first, just dressing and looking like her until she’d convinced herself she ‘was’ her and then she started stalking you. She didn’t want you to forget Renee, since she felt that you were the cause of your wife’s death.

“In her delusion, you and Renee were to be united forever, you were to love no one else. The fact that you’d remarried and moved on with your life broke her hold on reality. She couldn’t face the fact that Renee was truly dead, so she had to make you pay. She distracted me and put something in the thermos knowing I was going to give it to you.”

Sean held the paper in his hands and stared down at the image. “Renee’s really dead?”

“Yes.”

He felt a fresh wave of grief that she had truly been dead all these years and regretted his hatred towards her, then he felt a sense of relief. That chapter of his life was finally closed. He put the paper down, turned to Teresa and wrapped his arms around her. She was safe and she’d remain that way. His past couldn’t hurt her. “Thank God,” he whispered and when she buried her face in his neck, he could feel the sweet wetness of her tears.

***

“Come on, you need this as much as she does,” Sean said parking his truck in front of Bertha’s house.

“Bertha doesn’t need anything.”

“I know it wasn’t easy for her to make the decision she did.” He lifted his hand to knock.

Teresa turned the doorknob. “Why bother?” she asked, stepping inside. “She probably knows we’re here.”

“Yes, she does,” Bertha said from the other room. “Come and join me.”

Teresa and Sean found her in the sitting room, a bowl full of ripe mangos on the center table. “Help yourself,” she said.

“No thanks,” Teresa said sitting.

A soft smile touched her lips. “You think they’ll be sour?”

“I’m sure they’re wonderful, Mother,” Sean said, taking one then placing a quick kiss on her cheek.

She looked up at him in approval. “You seem to get better looking every time I see you.”

He sat beside Teresa and grinned. “You helped me find the right remedy.”

Bertha let her gaze shift to Teresa. “But your wife is still mad at me.”

Teresa sighed. “I’m not mad.”

“Of course you are. I pricked your pride. I forced you to depend on others. You are the one who likes to do the rescuing, but it made you uncomfortable that you had to be rescued by the powerful lawyers your brother-in-law could afford. That you had to stay with your sister, Michelle.” She looked at Sean. “Even that he had to make his way to you.”

Teresa toyed with her bracelets, annoyed that her friend’s logic made sense. “I know.”

“You two must promise me one thing. That no matter what happens, you will always turn to each other.”

“Consider it our apology,” Evan said.

Teresa looked down at the manila envelope Evan had carelessly tossed on top of the piano keys, barely missing her fingers. She’d been playing for Sean, who lazed on the couch with Mist resting on his stomach. They had been enjoying time alone—Patrick and Darcy had gone for a walk—when Evan and Robert had returned from an errand.

Sean sat up, sending his brother a look. “Because saying ‘I’m sorry’ is too hard for you?”

“We did what you asked,” Robert interjected before his brothers could argue. He sat down across from Sean. “You were right about Valley Ray.”

Teresa opened the envelope and took out the papers inside. “What is it?”

“Proof that Valley Ray is very dirty. We had some supplement bottles tested and none of them had the herbs they’d stated on the label. Worse, they contained ingredients like pine nuts, which some people are allergic to.”

“We’ve contacted the Attorney General with our findings,” Evan said, taking a seat beside Robert. “They have a lot to explain.”

Teresa gripped the paper, her mind briefly going back to Dr. Knox’s report and how it had bothered her. She shook her head in disappointment remembering how he’d refused to help her with the thermos and had warned her ‘not to look too deep’. “I knew it. I knew something was wrong.”

“We also learned about a woman named Helene Wright and her connection to the company—she was their master herbalist,” he continued.

Robert nodded. “She’d provided the company with the ingredients for the peppermint gel and was given a sizable payment, which wouldn’t have drawn much interest if Thomas’s affair with Louisa hadn’t intrigued us.

“We spoke to his lawyer and although he admits to the affair and getting information from her, he continues to vehemently deny killing her.”

“Which is no surprise,” Evan said.

Teresa sighed in agreement. She was still reeling from the discovery that Louisa had been in a relationship with him, and that Pernelle had been as well. Pernelle had also admitted to sabotaging Sean’s truck and putting poison in the thermos.

“When we spoke to Helene, she denied knowing anything about Valley Ray’s fraudulent practices, but her connection to the company will impact her reputation since she didn’t disclose to her clients her financial tie to the company. Plus, it’s possible that the supplements had been designed not to work so that a third party pharmaceutical company that both Thomas and Valley Ray have interest in could benefit from his patient referrals.”

Teresa shook her head, stunned that a doctor would think more about making money over the health of his patients. “I can’t believe it.”

“That’s just the beginning,” Evan said with a note of caution. “Nothing’s been proven yet.”

Robert looked at her, his friendly brown gaze a little unsure. “But is this enough to make you forgive us?”

Teresa smiled at him without hard feelings, relieved to be finally vindicated. “Absolutely.”

***

The cry of a seagull could be heard overhead as a warm August evening settled over the bay and the canopy that housed a large table decorated with candles and an assortment of dishes including jerk chicken, coconut shrimp and sautéed zucchini.

“Only my husband would want to host a farewell dinner for the very people who tried to put you in prison,” Jessie said to Teresa and Michelle and their cousin BJ as they stood a few feet outside the canopy, watching Kenneth say something to Evan and Robert, making them laugh. “He’s so damn likeable.”

“Plus they’re family now,” BJ said, watching Darcy look out over the water. “It’s good to get on with them.”

“Especially since there are so many of them,” Jessie said with a grimace. “Every time I turn the corner there’s another Casey.”

“Hamilton,” Michelle corrected.

“Oh, yes,” Jessie said, slapping her forehead. “I keep forgetting.”

“I don’t,” Syrah said, picking up the Frisbee she’d been throwing to Patrick that had landed at the adults’ feet. “Their name is the same as the county.”

“County?”

“Yea, Hamilton County. You know the one people call South Bank.”

BJ paused and sent Jessie a look. She snapped her fingers. “I knew that pendant looked familiar.”

BJ shook his head. “You don’t think—?”

“What?” Michelle asked when Jessie remained quiet. “What do you think? What are two talking about?”

“There’s an old photo of the founder of Hamilton County wearing a pin on the lapel of his jacket,” BJ said. “The design matches Sean’s necklace.” BJ looked at Teresa. “I knew there was something I recognized about that sketch when you showed it to me, but I never put it together.”

“Are you sure there’s a connection? It could be a coincidence and—” Teresa stopped when Sean joined them.

He looked at them acutely aware of their sudden silence. “I can feel my ears burning. Were you discussing me?”

“Yes,” Michelle said.

“No,” Teresa countered.

“We’re curious about something,” Jessie said.

He folded his arms, but the gesture was more relaxed than defensive. “What is it?”

“Are you in any way related to the Hamiltons of South Bank?”

He nodded. “Yes,” he said then reached for Teresa’s hand. “Now, can I steal my wife away for a few minutes?”

“No,” Jessie said. “You can’t admit to something like that and then just walk away.”

“Why not?”