Chapter Seventeen

Liam fidgeted, rocking first on one foot, then the other. He darted a glance at the home they’d grown up in, then looked back at the sidewalk. “No, no. I don’t want this.”

“That’s why Mia is going to take you to the diner for a milkshake.”

Mia frowned. “The house doesn’t look as if anyone has lived there in years. I’m not letting you go in there alone.”

“There’s nothing in there but memories.” Holly put a hand on Mia’s arm to lower the flashlight her friend had aimed in her face. “The diner is a few blocks up the street. I’ll meet you there the minute I’m done.”

Mia didn’t like it, but she finally caved and left with Liam who climbed into the backseat and pressed his nose against the rear window as they drove away.

Holly walked up to the porch and dug the key from beneath the ceramic planter that held the withered stems of long dead flowers. During one of his rants, Burt had said the house was the only good thing Holly’s mother had left her, but then he’d quickly backtracked and said the home was his and for her not to get any ideas. She slipped the key into the lock and pushed open the door.

The air was stale, the room chilly. She didn’t bother to turn a light on. Twisting the flashlight until a small circle lit the floor at her feet, Holly made her way into the kitchen and opened the cabinet door, wrinkling her nose at the scent of dampness and mildew. She propped the flashlight up under the sink and pushed against a board behind the pipes. One end of it swung open to reveal a small cubbyhole. Reaching in, hoping there was nothing furry and fast in there, she gripped a medium-sized plastic bag and pulled it out.

Jackpot. Mementos from some of the jobs he’d done. Burt liked to think of himself as better than others and must have kept souvenirs to remind himself that he was smarter. She shifted through the items. There were several pieces of high-end jewelry from jobs he’d done that had received a lot of media scrutiny. Too much heat to fence them, was her guess. Her fingers closed around a small notebook where he’d scribbled detailed information about some of the security systems he’d had her and Liam break through.

“Gotcha,” Holly said.

She let herself out of the house and walked the short distance to the diner, sliding into the booth across from Mia. “I found the evidence I need.”

Liam made a loud slurping noise and started rocking. Holly drummed her fingers on the table. “It’s okay, Liam. You’re not going back to the house,” she said gently.

Her brother didn’t look at her but stopped rocking.

“What’s next?” Mia asked.

“I file a report and fight like hell until someone listens this time.”

“If your uncle is still well-loved in this town, no one is going to listen to you.”

Holly said, “Then I’ll go to Rita York.”

“The newspaper reporter?”

“Her grandmother lives right at the county line. She always baked those nasty cookies every year for the fair.”

“I remember.” Mia laughed. “No one had the heart to tell her they were awful. Okay. That sounds like a plan. You drop us off at the hotel and take the rental car to her house.”

…

Holly talked for almost two hours and when she was finished, Rita clicked the tape recorder off.

Rita exhaled and toyed with a strand of her long blond hair, like she was still mentally putting all the pieces together. Finally, she said, “That’s quite a story.”

Holly bit her lip and tensed.

As if sensing how Holly felt, Rita reached across the sofa and placed her hand on Holly’s. “I believe you, and I’m sorry no one listened. I promise you by the time I’m through, the world will be listening.” She tucked the recorder into her purse. “I’ll swing by the hotel in the morning, and we’ll go to the station together. There’s a new police chief now, and he doesn’t turn a blind eye to things.” The doorbell rang, and Rita sighed. “Sometimes my grandmother will drop by my house to tell me about a show with a hot guy in it that I have to watch right now. Excuse me a second.”

Rita’s eighty-something-year-old grandmother walked into the living room, wearing her usual tracksuit, and was as spry as she’d been when Holly remembered her from high school. “I heard you were back in town.”

Holly wasn’t surprised. News traveled fast in the town.

She held out a plate of cookies, waited until Holly took them, and then deposited herself on the sofa. “Bring some milk for the cookies, Rita.”

“I’m sorry, May.” Holly set the cookies on a side table. “I really can’t stick around. I have to get back to the hotel.”

“Have at least one cookie before you go.”

Rita sat on the arm of the chair and put her arm around the older woman’s shoulders. “Grandma, it’s time someone told you the truth. Your cookies are terrible.”

May slapped her leg and laughed, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Child, I know that. Baking cookies is for old people. I’ve been buying them off Petunia Hornsbee for years. Makes me laugh my ass off every time I see someone take a bite and try to keep a straight face.”

Holly laughed and then rose. “I need to go.”

“I also saw those boys are back in town. The ones that were set up for that arson fire.” May arched her eyebrows. “Those delinquents turned into some good-looking young men.” She growled and wiggled her eyebrows.

“They’re here?” Holly paused on her way to the door.

“Hang on a second before you leave. I came to tell you something.” May took a breath, and the sparkle in her eyes dimmed. “I’m not proud of this because I believed Burt was a stand-up kind of guy.”

“Grandma?” Rita rubbed her back. “Do you know something?”

“I was in the alley at the back of the diner about ten years ago leaving some food for that vagrant. Old man Whitley. Remember him? Man lost his family in a car accident. Guess it did a number on him.”

“Grandma, what are you saying?”

“I was squatting down by the dumpster and putting that food in a cardboard box, when I heard voices. One man threatening another.”

“You stayed to listen?” Rita asked, alarmed. “You could have been hurt.”

“I know, but I’d squatted down, and then my bones didn’t want to unsquat. Anyway…the one guy says to the other that he’d better stop talking about what happened in the correctional facility, that he hadn’t meant to kill Adam Lawson. Then the other guy says for Burt not to threaten him or he’ll tell everyone what Burt was up to now. I took a peek around the back of the dumpster and saw Burt. Then he saw me.”

Rita’s mouth dropped open. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

May lowered her eyes. “Because I was afraid. Burt said old people had accidents every day and it would be a shame if something happened to me, too.”

“Oh my God, Grandma.” Rita sank onto the end of the coffee table.

Holly hugged the woman, understanding her fear. “It’s okay, May. Olivia’s father was the police chief then and he was part of that cover up. No one would have believed you even if you had come forward.”

“I want to make it right now. I’ll go with you, and give a statement first thing tomorrow,” May said.

After agreeing to a meeting time in the morning, Holly left to drive back to the hotel, worried about the reason why Jake and his friends had flown to town.

…

By noon, Butler Field was crawling with reporters from major news outlets. The story of a billionaire done wrong was hot fodder for them, and Jake guessed the details of his time in the correctional facility along with Adam’s death would continue to play out for weeks to come.

First thing this morning, he, Cole, and Mason had been awakened by a deputy wanting to talk to them about Adam. Jake scrubbed a hand down his face. May York, an elderly woman, had come forward with information about the past.

The hotel door opened, and Cole walked in carrying a pizza box. He set it on the table and put the card key beside it. “It’s a madhouse out there.”

Mason dropped a couple of newspapers on the bed beside Jake. “You need to see this.”

Jake picked up the paper and read the first article. “This is about Burt’s thefts.” He looked at his friends. “Holly is going to testify against him? She implicated herself?” He tossed the paper aside. “She was a child…” His head pounded. Ever since Holly had walked out of his life, he hadn’t slept well. He’d done a lot of thinking. Thoughts that didn’t paint him in the best of light. He didn’t care that Burt was facing prison for what he’d done. The man needed to pay, but in his opinion, he thought the man was getting off too easy. Jake wanted him to suffer the same way he and his family had.

Cole opened the pizza box and pulled off a slice. He pushed it toward Jake, but Jake stood and grabbed his coat. He needed to get out. Go for a walk and clear his head. Outside the hotel, he ducked a roving news van and walked along the sidewalk, bypassing a flower shop, a bank, and a diner filled with the lunchtime crowd.

The investigator had given him Burt’s home address in Butler Field and it was only a few blocks from the diner. He wanted to see the place where the man who’d destroyed his family had lived. As he came within sight of it, he slowed his steps. On the porch, a young man with hair the same color as Holly’s sat on the steps, rocking back and forth.

“Are you…Liam?” Jake asked.

The man scrambled up, his gaze darting wildly back and forth. “I’m not supposed to be here.”

Jake approached. “Where are you supposed to be?”

“With Holly and Mia at the diner. For lunch. I went to the bathroom and kept walking.”

Jake reached the porch. “Why?”

Liam turned around and pushed open the front door. “There are no more monsters.” He stepped into the house and Jake followed him. “I had to check. A hero keeps his sister safe.” Liam walked to a small bedroom. “Holly’s,” he said.

The bedroom held a single bed with a flat pillow and a thin blanket. A lopsided cardboard dresser was stashed in a corner. Jake couldn’t look away from the bareness, from the stench of poverty filling the room. “This is everything?”

“Toys are for good children, not bad ones.” Liam walked into the room and opened a closet door. “She hid me in here when I was afraid. She drew for me.”

Inside the closet, artwork featuring a little boy running with a puppy while pulling a kite string was painted on one wall. The other one had a little boy fishing from a pier. Jake imagined a young Holly settling her brother in the space and putting on a brave face even though she must have been afraid herself. He clenched his hands into fists. Holly was a warrior. She’d fought all her life to protect Liam and seeing this…how they’d lived, how Burt had treated them, there was no way she would have wanted to work with the man.

Squeezing himself into the closet, Liam pounded one of the floorboards until it popped up on one end. He reached inside and pulled out an empty juice bottle and a rotted bag of cookies. “When Holly did what Burt said, we could eat.” Liam smiled. Then his smile faded, and he scrambled from the closet. He touched two dark pencil marks on the wall by the window, then lingered on the one that was higher. “Holly had to stand to here.” He touched the lower one. “I had to stand here.”

The lump in Jake’s throat over what Holly and her brother had gone through threatened to choke him. “Why?”

“No score, no sleep,” Liam said. He began scrubbing the spots with his fingers.

Jake couldn’t take it anymore. Regardless of why everything had unfolded the way it had, he wanted to give Holly a good life. He never wanted her to experience fear or struggle again. It didn’t even matter if the baby was his or not. He turned around and walked out of the house back into the bright sunlight. He pressed the tips of his fingers to the inner corners of his eyes. Liam touched his shoulder.

“No more monsters,” Liam said triumphantly. “Milkshakes now.” He took off down the sidewalk.

Jake followed and halfway to the diner, they encountered Holly and a dark-haired woman.

“Liam, you scared me to death! I thought—” Holly stopped talking the second she recognized her brother wasn’t alone.

“Well, if isn’t Prince Hell-No,” the other woman said sharply.

“Mia, can you give us a minute?” Holly said.

Mia held her hand out to Liam and then made the finger-to-eye and back motion, letting Jake know she was watching him.

After Mia and Liam walked back toward the diner, Holly asked, “What do you want, Jake?”

“I don’t care if the baby is mine or not. You should come back. I saw the situation you grew up in. I can’t imagine—”

She held up a hand to stop him. “That’s awfully big of you about the baby. I’m not coming back with you just because you feel sorry for me. I don’t need your pity. I’m not that little girl anymore.” Her gaze locked with his as if she was searching for something.

“Holly.” He reached to touch her arm, but she dodged him. “I can give you the world. You’d never want for anything.” After what he’d seen, he wanted to lavish her with whatever she wanted. He wanted her future to shine so brightly it eclipsed her past.

“You can give me the world.” Her voice became a flat whisper. “And?”

“What else is there?” What more could she possibly want from him? Wasn’t it enough that everything he had could be hers?

“What else? Go home, Jake. There’s nothing here for you.” She turned around and walked off.

Jake blinked, wondering what the hell had happened. He felt like his offer had been as welcome as a toad that had jumped into the middle of a birthday cake. He’d been sincere. He’d offered her everything. He stood on the sidewalk, staring after her.

…

“You said ‘What else is there?’ Are you serious?” Cole asked once Jake arrived back at the hotel. “I’m the last guy who’s an expert in relationships, but even I know the answer to that question.”

Jake looked at Cole, then Mason. “I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is that you didn’t say you love her,” Mason said. He set a beer down in front of Jake, then grabbed one for himself. “I know it’s not any easier for you to admit that to Holly than it was for me to admit it to Olivia, but I’d say she needs to hear how you feel about her.”

Jake rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn’t wanted to admit to himself in the first place that he did love Holly, but the thought of it all scared him. He’d lost everyone he’d ever loved.

“I…” Jake stopped. He wanted to try, he did, but loving Holly already made him feel vulnerable. If he put it out there and had it thrown back in his face… He’d been an ass and the odds were high that she wouldn’t want anything to do with him. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Take it from someone who was stubborn. Prepare to be miserable if you don’t,” Mason said.

Jake thought for a second. Was the risk of getting hurt worth the risk of losing her? No, it wasn’t. “I’ll talk to her. She’ll see that it’s best for her and the baby to come back with me. I can give her and our child the kind of life they both deserve.”

“Your child? You heard the results from the lab?” Cole asked.

“No. I don’t know what I was thinking to doubt Holly about that. It was me being an idiot,” Jake admitted.

“Just like now,” Mason said. “You think by not laying it out there you’ll spare your heart from hurt. Let her go and you’ll understand hurt on a level that will make you willing to beg.”

Jake swallowed and gave a half laugh. “You’re acting like I could lose Holly for good.” When Mason didn’t answer, he swung his attention to Cole.

“If you love her, tell her,” Cole said.

“I don’t know how to say those words anymore.” His breathing became ragged. “What if I say those words and then I fail to protect her? Something could happen, and I could lose her.”

Mason clapped his hand on his shoulder. “Jake, Holly isn’t Adam.”

Cole put his hand on Jake’s other shoulder. “You can’t not love people because you’re afraid of what might happen.”

“You’re right.” He backed toward the door. “I’ll tell her how I feel and we’ll figure out what comes after that.” Jake didn’t bother to take the car they’d rented as he bolted from the hotel. He jogged along Main Street, ignoring the swarms of reporters until he reached the hotel where Holly was staying. He went up to the desk and asked the woman to call Holly’s room to tell her he was in the lobby.

“I’m sorry, sir. She checked out half an hour ago.”

“Did she say where she was going?”

“No, sir.”

Jake’s stomach lurched. Surely she’d return to Chicago. He’d tell Holly he loved her and hopefully, she felt the same way. Then they’d go from there. Everything was going to work out.