Childfinders Inc - Hero For Hire Part 35

And her soul. "No, not a saint, just human. I have my son back and he's not harmed.

That's all that matters."

Hearts like hers left themselves open to being hurt-didn't she understand that?

Anne might not have been the mastermind of the plot, but she had been a key player.

"Well, he came d.a.m.n close to being hurt. You realize that, don't you?"

Veronica said nothing for a moment, trying to come to terms with the fear that

suddenly spiked through her. She knew it would be a long time before she could finally bury it. But to be able to do that, she needed to know all the details once and for all. Now, with no surprises later.

"Tell me," she said. "All of it. Everything you know." She gave him a starting point. Ben had told her what hospital Neil had been taken to, and she'd called to find out his condition. The nurse had said he was stable. "What does my brother-in law have to do with it?"

"Other than bringing the viper into the fold, very little. Not that he had much of a chance of saying no. Josephine made sure she was in the right place at the right time, with all the right words to stroke his ego." The police had brought her in a short while ago, screaming obscenities at anyone within earshot. "From what I gather, Josephine's the mastermind behind all this. They just brought her in." He nodded at another room down at the far end of the hall. "But she's lawyered up. Not that it matters that much." Not with Anne giving a sworn statement. The jury would believe a socialite before they'd believe the story of a ragtag guitarist of a third-rate band.

Despite herself, Veronica shivered. She ran her hands along her arms. "Was she the one who shot Neil?"

"Yes, she was." Chad took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

"No, it's all right," she began to protest.

"Keep it on." It was an order, not subject to debate. "Neil overheard Josephine on the phone with Anne and pieced things together. Apparently he had some scruples, and he told her he was going to call the police. That was when she shot him. She told Anne she killed him-I guess you socialite types are stronger than you look.

Josephine was coming to get Casey."

She didn't want to let her mind go there, but she couldn't help it. "But not to bring him to me." It wasn't really a question.

"No, not to bring him to you," he agreed slowly. "Casey could identify both of them, and Josephine was not about to spend her new fortune in prison. She told Anne to get him ready. Anne was afraid that Josephine was going to kill him, too, so she took the boys and started to run. That's when we caught up to her."

He still hadn't answered what she wanted to know. "But why do this to begin with?"

"For the oldest reason in the world. Money. Seems your best friend didn't share everything with you. She was too ashamed."

Veronica couldn't bring herself to think of Anne as a coldhearted manipulator.

"Of what?"

"Seems that her husband's got a d.a.m.n good divorce lawyer. He used an earlier indiscretion of hers as leverage and got off without paying alimony, child support or the customary fifty-fifty split because of alienated affections."

She knew about the so-called indiscretion. "That happened six years ago when they were separated. He'd almost demolished Anne's self-esteem. When someone started paying attention to her, she was so hungry for affection she made a mistake. But only that one night."

"Apparently once was all it took."

That was so unfair. "But he's the one running off with a woman half his age."

"According to his lawyer-" he was quoting Anne, "-it was after the fact."

The h.e.l.l it was. Her heart was going out to Anne more and more by the minute.

"And the child support?"

"Her about-to-be ex claims that Andy's a result of that little liaison your friend had. He says Andy's not his. The upshot is, Anne was desperate. Desperate enough to listen to her cousin's plan. At least at first. To her credit, she says she tried to back out of it, but Josephine wouldn't let her. She threatened to go to the police. Anne was afraid of her."

That Veronica could well understand. There had been something about the woman's eyes that had made Veronica uneasy in her. presence. "Josephine's her cousin?"

He nodded. "According to Anne, they share a second aunt or something. And now they'll share a prison cell," he said grimly. "At least figuratively. I suspect the DA'll be more lenient with Anne because she did try to save your son." In his book,

though, she didn't earn many points for that. "But the way I see it, if she hadn't provided the opportunity in the first place and then kept him in the guest house, there would have been no need to save him, because there would have been no kidnapping."

Casey had answered her questions on the way home, but she'd tried not to ask too many, afraid that she would make him realize that this all hadn't been a big game the way he'd been told.

"The guest house? Was Casey there all the time?" Why hadn't she gone there to look for him? Why hadn't her mother's instinct told her he was there?

"All the time." He studied her face, trying to read her thoughts. Her brow was furrowed, and before he could stop himself, he eased the furrows away with the tips of his fingers. Their eyes held for a long moment. He talked himself out of kissing her. The case was over and there was no sense making himself suffer over something he'd known from the start wasn't meant to be. "Still want to stand by her?"

It took Veronica a moment to examine her conscience to make certain. Nothing had changed. If anything, her conviction had only grown stronger. "Yes."

He shook his head in disbelief. "After all she's done to you? d.a.m.n, Veronica Lancaster, but you are one rare woman."

She didn't see it that way. "There but for the grace of G.o.d..."

Who was she kidding? He knew her better than that. "You wouldn't have stolen Andy if the tables had been turned."

"No." She knew that for certain, but who knew what desperate thing she might have been capable of if she had been afraid like Anne. "But then, I've never been tested that way, either." She saw him begin to disagree and placed a finger to his lips, silencing him. "It doesn't matter. We can debate this thing forever. The bottom line is that she did save my son. She didn't let anything happen to him. For three days I've been haunted by the fear that this wasn't going to be resolved in any manner I could live with. But it was." And now that it was, she could get on with her life. "I'm going to call her a lawyer-and not the one she had handling her divorce."

He laughed shortly and folded his arms. She certainly was something else. "I suppose you'll be a character witness, too."

There was no hesitation. "If it helps."

Chad knew there was no way he was going to get her to leave. In her own refined, genteel way, the woman could be as stubborn as the best of them. "C'mon, I'll see if I can get you a few minutes with Anne. As long as you promise not to try to spring her."

She held up her hand, a smile playing on her lips. "You have my word." The dimple in her cheek deepened.

He talked himself out of kissing her again, but it was getting harder.

Chapter 15.

Chad brought Veronica home an hour later. He stood back and watched as Casey rushed up to greet her, and listened as she told Andy that his mother sent her love and would be with him as soon as she could. Listened and marveled at how upbeat Veronica sounded. He'd never met anyone quite like her and knew he probably never would again.

The boys went off to play, and the housekeeper retreated after asking if there was anything special Veronica wanted for dinner. She'd opted for hot dogs and French fries, favorites of both Casey and Andy.

That left the two of them alone.

There was nothing left to do except tie up loose ends. Tie up loose ends while he felt his stomach tie itself in knots he had no idea how to undo. He followed her in silence as she went to the den to write the check that would terminate their a.s.sociation.

He'd known when he took on her case that he had no place in her life. That his only function was to help her, and for that she was paying the same sort of fee all the other clients who'd come to ChildFinders, Inc., had.

Except that he hadn't slept with any of the other clients.

Because she wasn't like any of the others.