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“No, no, no,” Willy stammered. He gripped his middle just below his sternum as if he’d been stabbed. “Oh, Christ,” he said, crumpling the papers. “I’m in a world of shit.”
****
A buzz sounded and the heavy iron door swung wide. At the discharge desk the prisoner gathered his personal effects from the manila envelope, putting keys and change back into his pocket before leaving the station house and walking into the bright spring sunshine. Outside a car was waiting.
“It’s about time I got out of there,” he said.
“Get in. I’m taking you to where you need to be.”
“I’m coming for you, my love. I’ll be there soon.”
Stephen Powers released a tired sigh and shook his head as Mark Chambers reached for the car’s door handle. “I’m really starting to regret taking this job. I don’t know exactly what Bree Laine wants with you, but I do know Angel is not your love.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Days passed and there had been no word from Eric. Jenna called Mrs. Cummings again, but the elderly woman hadn’t heard from him and thought something must surely be wrong. Nick had given Jenna his number the night of the concert, so she called him. He said if Eric had something heavy on his mind he would take off for parts unknown. She supposed he hadn’t been so sure of his feelings after all.
Janie never asked about Eric. She went about her days, quiet and contemplative, as she adjusted in her own way to the news that he was her father.
“Are you sure she’s okay?” Randi asked. She had stayed to offer support, avoid her unruly children, and drink a nightly goblet of pinot noir undisturbed.
“I hope so,” Jenna answered.
“The best thing you can do for her is to go on with your life and show her nothing has changed.”
“Nothing has changedyet.” Jenna’s voice no longer broke into despair filled shudders, and she spoke in the flat tone of someone who’d come to terms with a loss. “But our lives are going to blow up ifTrue Hollywood Scandalsmakes that documentary.” She sank deep into the cushions of her sofa and curled her feet beneath her legs. “My poor baby is so confused. At first, she didn’t want me to tell Eric about her; but now that he’s gone and I can’t, I’m sure she feels abandoned.”
Randi reached over and squeezed Jenna’s hand. “Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. Maybe he got cold feet. He still thinks Janie is Mark’s. Maybe he still can’t—”
“Accept her? I guess that makes two times I’ve misjudged his feelings.”
Still holding hands, the two friends sat quietly in Jenna’s living room. It was a lovely collection of soft colors and plump cushions, pale wood with wispy draperies and knitted throws, airy yet cozy. It was a haven, the home of a woman who’d almost realized security.
“Maybe I’m getting what I deserve. If I’d told him the truth when I first found out, my life wouldn’t be spinning.”
“The only thing you deserve is to be happy. You’ve made a great life for yourself here, and you don’t need Eric Laine in it. You need to get over him.”
Through eyes blurred by tears, Jenna looked at her friend. “How do I get over him now, when I never really got over him the first time?”
****
Eric nodded his head in the direction of the bunk opposite his own. “Have a seat, Chief. You don’t look so good.”
Eric was stretched out on his back with his head cradled in his arms. His bare feet were crossed at the ankles like a man languishing on a beach chair rather than someone who’d been beaten up and in the confines of a jail cell for six days. He sat up and studied the police chief. Sweat glazed Parks’ forehead and damp rings showed under his armpits. He raised his head presenting Eric with a face that seemed to have aged in the last hour. Dark puffy sacks dragged his eyes down, and his cheeks had melted into jowls.
“I told you who I was,” Eric said.
The chief tugged at his tie. “How the hell do you have such a long rap sheet? And attempted manslaughter?”
“Tough childhood…bad luck…and the guy deserved it. I was acquitted for that last one.”
Willy’s mouth yawned wide as if he struggled to breathe. “Now what?”
“Now you can tell Ash who I am, and he’ll probably tell you to shoot me and bury me in the foundation of one of his townhouses.”
“J-Jesus.” Willy swiped at his forehead, and his hand came away slick. “That’s exactly what he’ll do. I’m in a world of shit.”
With his torso still a collection of bruises and fractures Eric grimaced as he stood. “Face it, Chief, a lot of people are going to wonder where the hell I am. My business partner knows I was here in Cromline, and so does Jenna Black and Ina Cummings. If you kill me, you’ll just be in a bigger world of shit.”
