She Drives Me Crazy (31 page)

Chuckling, Johnny tenderly brushed his fingers through her hair before tugging her closer. "Daneen's got an alibi."

Across the room, Nick watched them, an enigmatic smile on his face. "And while my ex-wife might be a lying, cheating little she-devil, I honestly don't think she's a murderer."

"Neither do I," Johnny said.

Men. Pfft. "If Jimbo fired her and dumped her, all on the same day…"

"There are other people who might have done it, Em," Johnny said, obviously trying to calm her down.

"The victim's wife," Nick pointed out.

Johnny nodded. "Daneen's father. Or Jimbo's mysterious business partner."

"No, it's not her." Seeing Johnny's surprise, she quickly explained everything she'd learned today at Let Your Hair Down.

"You mean Mona Harding made sex movies? She's gotta be in her sixties." Then he chuckled. "Wait'll I tell Virg."

Nick snorted. "Bet he'll be looking at his video collection differently from now on."

They were laughing, grinning like fools while they sat here discussing murder. "I think you're crazy. Daneen had to be out of her mind angry with Jimbo."

"She has an alibi, darlin'. Believe it or not, she spent the night—and the morning—with Fred Willis."

Emma let that sink in. Daneen and Fred. Wow. "You're sure?"

Johnny nodded. "He confessed it right in front of her father, who looked ready to tear him a new one. We got outta there quick."

"Fred Willis," she whispered again, having a hard time picturing brassy, sexy Daneen with someone so…so ordinary. "He's so quiet. And nice. He seemed really embarrassed about having to lock me up last week. He could barely meet my eye when I ran into him at the reunion and at the courthouse Tuesday."

"Fred had a crush on Daneen in high school," Nick admitted. "Followed her around like a puppy dog through freshman year. 'Course, she hardly gave him the time of day."

"Well," Johnny said, drawing out the word in a slow drawl, "she obviously gave it to him at least
once
in high school." He and Nick met each other's stares and Nick slowly nodded.

"What?"

"As it turns out, Fred might very well be Jack's real father."

Emma couldn't help it. Her jaw dropped completely. Then she looked back and forth between the two impossibly handsome men sitting in her living room.

"Somebody start explaining. Right now."

Daneen
almost
did it. She almost allowed Fred to cover for her. But in the end, full of grief and guilt and shock and dismay, she just couldn't.

She had to admit the truth, though not to her father. She'd barely gotten out of the jailhouse without breaking down under his disappointed frown.

God love Fred, he'd put himself right into the line of fire of a much-too-overprotective father with his lie. He'd lied to help
her
. Heaven forgive her for every unkind thought she'd ever had about the man.

Knowing there was one person she had to confess to—before the state police showed up—she headed straight toward a house she'd never imagined visiting. Emma Jean Frasier's.

When she arrived and saw all the cars in the driveway, she realized this wouldn't be as easy as she'd hoped. She wouldn't only be confessing in front of Johnny and Emma, but also her ex-husband. Who happened to answer the door after she halfheartedly knocked.

"Nick."

"Hello, Daneen."

He somehow managed to look unsurprised, as unflappable and unreachable as ever. God, how different might her life have been if she'd been able to hold on to this man?

"She's here?" she heard from inside. Emma Jean strode to the front door, shouldering Nick out of the way and blocking Daneen out. "What do you want?"

Ms. Ladylike Emma looked all riled up and angry. Protective, even. It almost made Daneen smile, the thought of Emma needing to protect the wicked Walker brothers from her.

"Is Johnny here?"

"He is."

"I need to talk to him." Daneen swallowed her pride. "Please, may I come in?" Then, softly, so softly she almost didn't hear her own voice, she added, "I have a confession to make."

As he watched Daneen lower herself to the edge of the chair Nick had vacated, a number of scenarios ran through his head. Anything was possible—because Daneen looked…broken. That was the only way to describe the slump of her shoulders, the pinched, weary look on her face and the emptiness in her eyes.

Emma, it seemed, noticed as well. "Can I get you something cold to drink?" she murmured softly. "Some iced tea?"

Offering sweet tea to a woman she thought was a murderer. Heaven help anyone who claimed Emmajean Frasier's granddaughter hadn't inherited her good Southern manners.

Daneen shook her head. "No. I just want to get this over with."

Steeling himself, Johnny said, "I'm not the police, Daneen. You don't have to talk to me, or to anybody else, without a lawyer."

Daneen turned her full attention on him. "I'm not coming to you as a prosecutor. I'm coming to you as a friend, because you deserve the truth." Swallowing, she admitted, "Fred lied. I didn't spend last night with him. He pulled me over outside Jimbo's, then followed me home to make sure I was okay. Then he left."

"He was protecting you," Nick murmured.

Daneen looked up at her ex and nodded. "God knows why." Leaning forward, she put her elbows on her knees and rubbed a weary hand over her eyes. "But I swear on my life, I didn't kill Jimbo. I might have
wanted
him dead for a while last night after he threw me over, but I'd never have killed a man I loved. A man who might be my boy's father."

Beside him, Emma sucked in a shocked breath. For a woman who'd publicly admitted to having had only three lovers in her life, he supposed today's revelations about Daneen
were
pretty shocking. He squeezed her hand, though he continued to focus on Nick's ex-wife.

"I didn't know anything about Jimbo's death until I went to the office after Jack left for school this morning. I planned to have it out with him." She laughed bitterly. "Only, I had it out with his wife, instead."

Ouch
. "Hannah was there?"

Daneen nodded. "She was with Cora Dillon, and the police."

"Mrs. Boyd was arriving as our estimable sheriff was hauling me off to jail," Emma said.

Daneen shot her an apologetic look. "Anyway, Hannah said some things…things I guess I deserved. Cora watched every bit of the spectacle." Daneen shook her head. "You know, I think Cora was the one who told Hannah about me and Jimbo. She was almost clapping the whole time I was being called a slut and a whore and a home-wrecker."

Emma's hand tightened reflexively in his. The dead look in Daneen's eyes, and the resigned tone of her voice revealed more than anger ever would have. She was crushed. Completely crushed.

Some would say she deserved it, that she
was
all the things Hannah had called her.

Johnny preferred to remember the young girl who'd been seduced by her father's best friend not long after the death of her mother.

Finally, as if she'd come to the end of her rope, Daneen rose wearily to her feet. "That's all I've got to say. I'd best go get Jack now." She crossed her arms, hugging herself. "I want to see my baby."

Emma rose and walked the other woman to the door. Johnny swore he saw her give Daneen's shoulder a little squeeze, though she'd probably never have admitted it.

"You need a ride?" Nick asked his ex.

She shook her head. "I'm okay." Then she looked back at Johnny. "Don't go too hard on Fred, okay? He was just trying to protect me. He's always been… well, he's always liked me, I guess." And without another word, she left.

"My God, how sad," Emma murmured once she was gone. She gently pushed the front door closed, then moved to the window air conditioner to crank it up a notch.

It was damn hot in here. Not as hot as it had been last Friday—but pretty bad. Made more so by the thick layer of unhappiness Daneen had worn like a cloak.

"I still don't like her, but I feel very sorry for her." Emma admitted. "And I think you're right. She didn't kill Jimbo."

"No, she didn't." Johnny remained still, sitting on the couch as he analyzed all the bits and pieces of information floating around in his brain.

"My," Emma said, shaking her head, "Fred must really care about her to lie like that to protect her."

That made him pause.

Fred. Good old Fred.

Noble Fred who'd loved Daneen for years.

Fred, who'd come back to Joyful after one year in college—right around the same time Daneen had come back.

The man who'd been unable to look Emma in the eye… on, oh, God, Emma had said.
..Tuesday
. At the
courthouse
.

And suddenly everything came together.

Daneen hadn't killed Jimbo. Johnny knew it, just as sure as he knew who had.

Not two seconds later, his brother's jaw dropped. "That lying sack of shit."

"Yeah," Johnny said as he rose from the couch.

"What?" Emma asked, obviously reading their sudden mood change. She looked confused.

Of course, she would be. Because she didn't know everything. Didn't know Fred had loved Daneen for
years
. Didn't know about the conversation Johnny and Nick had had in his office the other day…Tuesday…the day Emma had seen Fred in the courthouse. She couldn't have realized how violently a deceptively strong former football player would react to the truth about what Jimbo had done to Daneen when she'd been practically a kid.

Johnny pressed a quick kiss on Emma's lips. A kiss of reassurance that everything was going to be okay. Because it was.

She practically stamped her foot in annoyance. "Is somebody going to tell me what's going on?"

"Fred wasn't protecting
Daneen
with a phony alibi," Nick said.

"No," Johnny agreed. "He was protecting himself."

For the first couple of days after Deputy Fred Willis was charged with Jimbo's murder, everybody in Joyful talked about nothing else.

If he'd done it—yes. He'd confessed almost immediately after being confronted by Johnny Walker and the state investigators.

When he'd done it—sometime around 7:30 a.m., immediately after Jimbo had shown up for work on Thursday.

Why he'd done it—for Daneen, who'd been having an affair with the mayor. And who Fred had loved most of his life.

How he'd done it—with a wooden stake. Snicker, snicker.

And what would happen—anyone's guess.

Emma was glad when the gossip finally died down, at least at the beauty parlor. After all, they had other things to talk about. Other plans to make.

Speaking of those plans…it was about time to fill Johnny in on them, she decided Tuesday afternoon. Ever since Friday, he'd been tied up with the investigation. He'd been the key liaison to the state police working on the case, since Sheriff Brady had resigned.

That resignation had added more fire to the scandal. The women of Let Your Hair Down were the only ones who really knew why the chief had quit. So far.

Johnny had called at lunchtime, saying he was finally going to leave the office at a reasonable hour, after working ungodly long days straight through the weekend. And Emma was going to be ready for him. Pies at hand, a confession in her heart, she would be ready.

She planned to tell him the truth. Those tense moments Thursday when she'd been near to panic at the thought of him being alone with a possible murderer had made her realize something. Whether he wanted to hear it or not—whether she was a fool to tell him or not—she was going to let Johnny know how she felt.

She loved him. Madly. Passionately. Always had, always would, forever and ever, amen.

A hint of self-doubt whispered in her brain, reminding her of his views on love, relationships, commitment.

As in, never.

As for marriage? Not in a million years.

"Tough," she told her reflection in the misty bathroom mirror. "You're telling him."

"Telling who what?"

She whirled around, shocked to see Johnny standing in the doorway of her bathroom, wearing a salacious grin. No wonder, considering she was dressed in nothing but a loose towel, which she'd tucked around her breasts.

"You scared me. You're early."

"Want me to leave?"

She grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare." Then she stood up on tiptoe, holding her towel with one hand while, with the other, she cupped his head and pulled him close for a kiss. She kissed him deeply, holding nothing back, letting him feel the emotions that had so far gone unvoiced between them.

When they finally drew apart, he stared searchingly into her eyes. "Emma? You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Let me get dressed, okay?"

"You don't have to on my account." Nibbling her lip, she looked away. "Yes, I do. We need to talk."