Two-Faced (9 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Jess glanced at the fro
nt door as she set down the drinks. Still no Maddy. Most of the mourners had already arrived and her small house was beginning to feel uncomfortably warm and claustrophobic. She fought down a wave of panic, praying that if Maddy were still being detained by Sykes, it was because they were involved in a flirtation rather than anything to do with the case.

"Excuse me," she said to Mrs. Franco, who was describing in great detail how she
’d first met her father. Jess had just seen Maddy walk in and she wanted to nab her before she became involved in a conversation with anyone else.

"What's up? You holding up okay?”
Maddy asked, as Jess motioned her into the kitchen.

"I'm fine" Jess said quickly, trying to hide her anxiety. "I saw you talking to Detective Sykes a
t the cemetery. What were you two talking about?"

"You mostly," Maddy shrugged.

Jess's stomach fell.

"Me? What about?"

"He asked if we had plans last Thursday night.”

"Oh? What did you tell him?" She was trying to sound casual but couldn
’t mask the tension in her voice.

Maddy shrugged. "I just told him that we talked about going to an open house on Thursday, but I didn
’t remember if we actually decided to go. But then, you weren't at work that day and Sally told me that you called in sick.”

Jess nodded, relieved.

"I did try calling you in the afternoon, to see how you were,” Maddy continued. “But you didn't pick up so I figured you were taking a nap."

“
Yeah, I probably was,” Jess mumbled.

"You know, he's kinda cute," Maddy said as she sc
ooped some egg salad onto a peppercorn cracker. "In a sexy alpha Navy SEAL kinda way." She popped the entire cracker into her mouth and washed it down with a glass of wine. "Anyway, what are you worried about? It isn’t like you had anything to do with your father’s getting killed."

"I know. He just makes me nervous. I guess."

"Hmm," Maddy said, raising her eyebrows, clearly misreading Jess's meaning. "He is single. I checked.”

"Oh? Well you should go for it. He
’s not really my type,” Jess said, happy to change the subject.

Four hours later the guests had gone and Danny was tucked into bed and sleeping soundly. Must be from all the excitement of the day, Jess thought. Danny’s GI Joe was clutched firmly under his arm, his eyes shut tight. A small snore escaped from his open mouth and he looked for all the world like a younger, plumper Lars.

At least her concerns weren't affecting him. She could be thankful for that.

Back in the living room, Maddy offered to stay and spend the night again, but Jess sent her home with her thanks. As she closed the door behind her, she still couldn't get Sykes and his questions out of her head. "How did you know on Wednesday that you were going to be sick on Thursday?"

She knew the answer she gave him didn
’t convince him. Just the way his eyes bored into her when she’d answered, not changing expression at all––as if he wanted her to know that he didn't believe her.

If only she hadn
’t made two different excuses, one to Lars and a different one to her office. She should have waited until the last minute, like Ally suggested and then told them both that she wasn’t feeling well. But when it came to Danny, she had to make arrangements for him in advance to know for sure that he would be taken care of.

Besides, it wasn't as if they could prove that she wasn't home sick that day. Could they? Jess walked over and picked up paper coffee cups from the fireplace mantel and tossed them into the garbage bag.
If only she could talk all this over with Maddy.

But that was impossible. Not just because she'd promised Ally she wouldn't tell anyone. She trusted Maddy with her life and would certainly trust her to keep the whole smuggling incident a secret. But she d
idn't want to get Maddy involved in anything illegal. She didn’t want to put her in the position of having to lie to the police.

Of course Jess had to admit that there was another, less honorable reason as well. She was ashamed of what she'd done. Smuggli
ng drugs or whatever was in that hat was a despicable act for anyone, let alone the mother of a young son.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Jess made it to the showing only five minutes late. She walked the client, a single woman in h
er forties, through the lovely two story craftsman cottage that was priced well below market. The owners were leaving town and in a hurry to sell. "This one's going to go very fast." Jess told the woman. “If you like it, you’ll need to put in an offer right away.”

"I
’d like to see a few more,” the woman told her as Jess locked the door behind them. “How about tomorrow afternoon?”

"Of course. I
’ll give you a call.”

Jess headed back to her car, checking for messages on her cell. There were the usual busines
s calls but, to her relief, nothing from Detective Sykes. It had been two weeks since the funeral and every day that she didn’t hear from him, she grew more secure. Perhaps she’d only imagined that he suspected her. Or perhaps Maddy’s confirmation of their open house plans had satisfied him after all.

On her way to her next showing, Jess
’s cell phone rang. It was a client calling to cancel his appointment, so Jess headed back to the office. It would be a good opportunity to take care of some of the paperwork piled up on her desk.

  She looked towards Maddy's empty desk. "Maddy’s not in yet?" she asked Sally who handed her a stack of messages.

"She called and said she
’s not coming in today,” Sally rolled her eyes. “Again.”

Jess nodded. Maddy seemed to be mi
ssing an awful lot of work lately. She wondered if she had some hot new secret lover on the side. Though for Maddy, the term "secret lover" was an oxymoron. If Maddy did have a new man in her life, she would certainly have told Jess all about it. In graphic detail.

Jess started to walk toward her desk, when Sally grabbed her arm.

"Jessica..."

"Yes?"

"I just thought you should know...there was a detective here earlier and...he asked about you."

Jess stared, dumbstruck. "What did he want to know?”

"About that Thursday that you called in sick––the day your father died."

"What did you tell him?" Jess tried to keep her voice even.

"Just that you called in sick. That day and the next day," Sally shrugged.

Jess nodded. "Did he ask anything else?"

"No. Not to me anyway. But he spent like fifteen minutes talking with Mr. Collins in his office. I just thought you'd want to know."  

"Thanks, Sally."

Jess walked back to her desk, her heart racing. It was what she feared. The detective did suspect her. She forced herself to think calmly. After all, what could Collins have told him about her? That she called in sick the day of the murder? She’d already admitted to that. Of course there was the matter of her request for eighty thousand dollars. Would Collins have mentioned that? Probably. It was just the sort of the thing the police would be looking for. Money was always the best motive for murder.

She had to think this through. She had told detective Sykes that she needed the money from her father for a new
car. But unfortunately she’d told Collins that she needed the money for lawyer’s fees. 

Well, there was nothing she could do about that now. She'd stick to the excuse of her car problems, though lately her troublesome SUV was purring away like a pussycat
. No recent mechanic's bills. Nothing.

She grabbed her purse and stood abruptly, nearly knocking the chair over.

"Sally, can you tell Collins I won’t be at the afternoon meeting," she called on her way out of the office. "Just tell him an emergency came up."

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Jess pressed the buzzer again. Still no answer. Why didn
’t Ally answer? She was obviously home, her car was right out in front. Next to it was a shiny black Harley Davidson which meant that Ally probably had company but Jess didn't care. She needed to talk to her sister. Now.

Jess kept impatiently pushing the b
uzzer until Ally's irritated voice called from behind the door.

"Who is it?"

"Ally, I need to talk to you."

Ally made no effort to hide her annoyance as she opened the door. "I have company, Jessica.”

"I don't care. We need to talk. Now."

"If this is ab
out my not showing up at the funeral again, you can just..."

"No," Jess interrupted. "I don't care about that. I'm nervous, Ally...the police keep questioning me. That detective...Sykes...."

Ally let out an exasperated sigh. She cinched the silky tie of her short kimono tighter around her slim waist and stepped out onto the slate walkway, in her bare feet. "Look," she said, pulling a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of her robe. "They're questioning me too. It's not a big deal. Unless..." Ally paused dramatically and looked at her sister."You didn't do it, did you, Jess?"

"What? No! Of course not! Are you nuts? How can you...”

"Relax then," Ally said with a wave. A thin wisp of smoke trailed behind the cigarette in her hand. "Just forget it. You have nothing to worry about."

"But I don't have an alibi!" Jess
’s voice sounded shrill and panicky, even to her own ears.

"Look,”
Ally said, her green eyes hard and serious, "What do you want to do? Tell the truth to this cop and get us both arrested for smuggling?"

Jess shook her head in frustration. What did she want from Ally? She didn't know. Other than to somehow do the whole thing over. To start fresh from the very beginning and to never have met
Zach or slept with him. To never have seen her sister again. To have it be like when they were kids jumping rope––when one of them would stumble they could call out "Do over!" And they were allowed to start the whole thing over again from the very beginning.

“
I don't know what I want," Jess shrugged.

"In case you forgot we made a deal," Ally said coolly.  "I expect you to keep your side of the bargain like you promised."

Jess nodded, unable meet Ally's eyes. She didn't know what kind of help she'd expected but clearly she wasn't going to find it here.

"Just relax" Ally said again. "Everything
’s going to be fine.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Ally stepped back inside her house and locked the door behind her. She stubbed her ci
garette out in the Lalique ashtray on the cocktail table.

"Who was that?" A low male voice called to her from the bathroom. He came out, wiping his freshly shaved face on her white terry cloth towel, his shirt unbuttoned and fluttering in the breeze.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it.” She walked over to him and ran her hand down the center of his broad, muscular chest. He began to button his shirt but Ally shoved his hands away, "What's your hurry?"

She leaned in to lick the spot she'd just traced over
with her finger. Further and further down her lips travelled. She undid the button of his Levis and roughly pulled them down from the curve of his hips. He wasn't wearing any underwear and she pressed her lips to him.

He emitted a low growl and grew stiff
under the touch of her expert tongue. "There's no hurry," he moaned. He grabbed her head and pushed himself deeper into her mouth. "No hurry at all.” He jammed himself further into the back of her throat, causing her to gag. Her eyes glared as she ran her teeth roughly over his sensitive skin.

"Shit!" He pulled himself away and looked down at her. "What the fuck..."

She looked back at him and smiled. "Just relax. You don't have to choke me. Just take your time, Zach. We have all day."