Tell Me No Lies

Jake turned and said to somebody, “Get me a collar and the backboard.” She felt a soothing hand on her head. “Don’t worry, Tessa, we’ll get you out of here.”

Before she faded back into unconsciousness, she heard, “Call Dan Logan at the DA’s office. Tell him to get to the hospital right away.”

COLD FEAR LODGED in his throat as Dan rushed into emergency ten minutes after his assistant found him about to begin the trial.

Please, God, please, let her be all right.

He found Janey in the waiting room, huddled in a chair, her face ashen. As he got closer, he saw her hands twisting a handkerchief.

“Oh, no, Janey, what—?”

“She’s all right. Brad saw her before her own doctor came in. He said she’s got bruises and she’s shaken, but it doesn’t look like there’s any serious damage.” Janey drew in a breath. “Her doctor told Brad to tell us to wait out here and she’d find us after she examined Tessa.” Thank God Janey’s husband was a doctor.

His body went limp. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to calm down. Dan could do this now. He could do anything so long as she was all right. “What happened?”

Janey looked over his shoulder.

Dan tracked her gaze and saw a firefighter coming toward him.

“Hey, Dan,” Jake, their neighbour, said. “I was the first responder. Tessa’s rattled and bruised, but basically fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Her doctor’s examining her, but, yeah, I think she’s okay. Except…”

“Except what?”

“She’s really shaken. We had to pry her hands off the steering wheel. They’re black and blue from holding it so tight.”

“Is that uncommon in a car accident?”

“It happens. But she also kept saying she was sorry.”

“Poor Tessa.” She hated to drive and this would make it worse. “Was she at fault?”

“Nope. A red Mustang T-boned her when he ran a light. Luckily on the passenger side, which was empty.”

His stomach roiled. If one of the girls had been with her…

“The driver of the Mustang is okay, too. He admitted the accident was his fault.”

“It’s just like Tessa to believe she could have driven more defensively so this didn’t have to happen,” Janey said.

“She’s a sweetheart.” Jake smiled. “My kids love her. Anyway, count your blessings it wasn’t any worse.”

When Jake left, Dan turned to Janey. “I think it’s more than what you said.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tessa hates to drive. She didn’t even have her license when I met her, which is odd for someone her age.”

Her sister said nothing.

“Look, Janey, you know that accident when she was nineteen made her gun-shy. I had to coax her into learning to drive after we were married.”

Janey sank into a chair. “That would make anybody gun-shy, wouldn’t it?”

Dan dropped into an adjacent seat. “I guess.” He watched Janey fidget with her wedding ring, and his gut instinct—the one that made him a successful lawyer—kicked in. “Is there something I should know?”

“No, nothing.”

He grasped Janey’s hand. It was cold and clammy. “Honey, I’m crazy about your sister. If there’s any way I can help her, please tell me.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What was she like when she had the accident? I know so little about how you two grew up. I wish I had more information, but it upsets Tessa to talk about it.”

“You know the important details.”

Some of them, he thought. They never knew their father. Their mother drank and took off with some guy when they were little. Child protective let them live with their grandmother.

“Tessa said she worked in a diner after high school. I always wondered why she didn’t go to college. She did great at Buffalo University when she got her librarian’s degree.”

“Sometimes people aren’t ready for college right away.”

“That’s what she said.” But he always thought she was hedging. Just like Janey was doing right now.

“You’ve been so good for her, Dan. That’s all that counts.”

“Dan, is that you?”

He glanced up to see that their doctor, Lisa Benton, had come out of E.R. “How is she, Lisa?”

“Physically, she’s fine. Emotionally, she’s shaken.”

“Pretty common after an accident, right?” This from Janey.

“Yes, often it is.” Lisa looped her stethoscope around her neck and looked down at a chart. “But Tessa’s response is a bit exaggerated. She’s quiet and withdrawn. She’ll answer my questions, but there’s some kind of, I don’t know, fear in her behavior.”

“She hates driving,” Dan said.

“Maybe that’s all it is.”

“Should we do anything?” Janey asked.

“Not now. Take her home, keep her in bed the rest of the day, and call me tomorrow. If she’s still this upset, we’ll think about what to do.”

“All right.”

“I can stay with her,” Janey said after the doctor left.

Dan looked askance. “I’m not going back to work after this.”

“Okay. Could I have some time alone with her?”

An odd request. “Why?”

Janey’s lower lip trembled. “I was scared that something bad was going to happen to her, Dan.”

Janey loved Tessa unconditionally. And he knew being with Janey was good for his wife. Her mood was lighter after her visits with her sister or even after talking to Janey on the phone.

Dan touched her shoulder. “Tell you what. We’ll get her home and make sure she’s all right. The girls will need to see her, then I’ll take them to a McDonald’s restaurant and you can have an hour alone with her.”

“Thanks, Dan. For understanding our bond.”

“Janey, I want what’s best for Tessa. If being with you for a while will help, so be it.” He put his arm around her. “Now let’s go get our girl.”

TESSA BURST INTO TEARS when Dan walked through the curtains of her cubicle in the E.R.

He strode to the bed. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

“It was my fault,” she said, clinging to him, burying her face in his chest. This was what she needed now. His closeness. The feel and scent of him. “I should have been more careful. I should have waited at the light longer.”

His hand in her hair was soothing. He kissed the top of her head. “Tess, the driver of the other car admitted guilt. He said he ran the signal light. He took legal responsibility. None of this was your fault.”

“It’s all my fault.”

“No, no.”

After a moment, his steady heartbeat quieted her and she drew back. She raised her hands to her cheeks and flinched. “My face hurts.”

“It’s banged up a little.”

Her gaze flew to Janey.

“The bruises will go away,” Janey said.

On the outside, maybe. Tessa fell back into the pillow. “Lisa said I can go home, right?”

“Uh-huh. As soon as you get dressed and I sign the papers.”

She took Dan’s hand. It was big, and holding it always made her feel safe. But she had to be careful here. “I’m okay. Just shaken. When I think that Molly and Sara could have been with me. The other car hit the passenger side so hard.”

Dan drew a handkerchief out of his pocket, and she wiped her eyes. “They weren’t with you. They’re safe with my mother. She picked them up after school and brought them to her condo.”

“Do they know what happened?”

“Not yet. I wanted to wait to tell them until they could see you in person.

“I’ll stay with you while he gets the girls,” Janey said.

“Oh, okay.”

Dan kissed her nose. “I’m so sorry you have to go through this, honey. I know driving is hard for you. This must be your worst nightmare.”

“I’ll be fine.” She fisted her hands in the lapels of his suit coat. “I’m sorry I’m being such a baby.”

“You’re entitled.” He stood. “Want me to help you get dressed?”

“I’ll do it.” Janey stepped closer to the bed. “Maybe you can take care of the hospital stuff.”

Dan cocked his head and looked puzzled. “Sure.” He squeezed Tessa’s shoulder, and walked out of the cubicle.

When Dan was gone, Janey sat down on the side of the bed and enfolded Tessa in her arms. “Oh, God, Janey, what did I do?”

“You did nothing. Not this time or the last.”

“Yes, yes I did.”

She could still hear the screeching tires and breaking glass. The screams and the sirens.

“Don’t associate the two accidents, honey. They’re unrelated.”

“I was driving this time.”

“I know.”

“I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt someone again.”

“The only person hurt today was you.”

Releasing her sister, Tessa lay back. When she closed her eyes, she could feel the terror creep up on her. “I can’t forget what happened fifteen years ago. This has brought it all back in Technicolor vividness.”

Before Tessa could say anything, the curtain swung back. Dan stood in the entryway.

How much had he heard?

“DOES IT HURT, MOMMY?” Molly cuddled into Tessa on their bed, and Dan watched his wife wince. Sara stood across the room in the safe circle of his arm.

“Yes, sweetie, a little bit.”

“Hey, kiddo,” Dan said to Molly, “I think your snuggling could be a little less fervent today.”

Molly glanced over at him. If it had been Sara, Dan wouldn’t have said anything and let Tessa bear the brunt of her daughter’s enthusiasm. Sara was sensitive and unsure of herself and even a gentle chiding would have made her feel bad.

But Molly was tough. Maybe too tough. “Okay, Daddy.” She drew back, and touched the purple bruises on Tessa’s face. “It looks yucky.”

“I know, Mol. But what’s most important is that nobody was hurt.”

Not today, anyway.

Dan had overheard his wife and Janey talking in the E.R. Once again, he squelched his anxiety that Tessa was keeping something from him. Something important. He’d have to deal with that sooner or later, and he would, but Tessa was at her worst right now and he wasn’t going to force the issue.

Even if secrets were abhorrent to him. Even after he’d made Tessa promise she wouldn’t lie to him, either outright or by omission, as his parents had. She was the one person he’d trusted in his life to be honest with him.

He made sure there was no concern in his voice when he said to the girls, “Are you two ready to eat yet?”

Molly catapulted off the bed. “McDonald’s!” she shouted. “They got a mad-cool slide in the playground now.”

Sara buried her face in his waist. “I don’t want to leave Mom.”

“How about if you visit alone with Mom for a few minutes, then you come with us.”

“Okay.” Letting go of him, Sara crept to the bed and perched on the side.

Molly skipped over to Dan. “Come on, Dad.”

“We’ll go keep Aunt Janey company. Sara, five minutes.”

His little girl nodded. As he left the room hand in hand with Molly, he saw Tessa wince again as Sara, albeit gently, went into her mother’s open embrace.

Janey was fixing iced tea when they came down to the kitchen. “All ready to go?” she asked Dan.

The roses sat on the table, reminding him that it had been their anniversary only a few days ago. Everything had been fine then. Now, his wife was bruised as a boxer, and he’d discovered there was something more to that accident in her past that he didn’t know about.

Molly snitched a cookie from the jar and said, “I’m goin’ outside to wait for you and slowpoke.”

“Go ahead, Mol.”

When she left, Dan watched Janey fuss with a tray filled with tea and crackers, which was all Tessa wanted to eat. Though Janey wasn’t any bigger or heavier than her sister, she always seemed sturdy and strong, whereas Tessa appeared fragile.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

He folded his arms over his chest. “I overheard you two in the hospital when you thought you were alone.”

If he wasn’t sure before that something was going on, he was now. Janey went pale.

“Don’t bother to deny it. I heard you talking about what happened fifteen years ago. I assume it was the accident that caused Tessa to hate to drive. The one you and I discussed.”

“Dan, I—”

He held up his hand. “No, I’m not asking you to betray a confidence. As soon as she’s better, I’ll get it all out in the open myself. Now, she’s too raw.”

“All right.”

“I love your sister.” He gave her a smile because she looked so sad. “Almost as much as you do.”

Janey’s return smile was weak.

“Now take the roses upstairs, too, so Tessa can enjoy them. And send my other daughter down.”

As she walked by him holding the tray, Janey stopped and kissed his cheek.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I won’t upset her now.”

“Thanks, Dan.”

When Sara joined him a few minutes later and they went out to find Molly, Dan put his cause for concern out of his mind. Since he’d become an expert at repressing negative thoughts, he was able, for the time being, to forget this one.

“SO, FRANKIE, your walkaway day’s coming up next week.”

Frankie was sitting at a table in the cafeteria with Shank, sipping hot tea that tasted awful. But he’d been to the infirmary again for this damned cold, and they told him warm liquids would help. The consistently loud din in this place hurt his ears and the bright lighting made him squint. “Yep, it is.”

“How’s it feel to be getting out?”

“Feels right, Shank.”

“I’m gonna miss you.”

“Me, too.” That was a lie. Frankie couldn’t wait to be done with this place. He couldn’t wait to see Trixie again.

“She coming to get you?”

Shank had some crazy obsession where Trixie was concerned. If they were on the outside, he’d beat the crap out of any guy for thinking about her that much. Frankie was a jealous man—and proud of it. Trixie was his, and if any other guy got near her, he’d bust the jerk’s face open.

“Is she coming for you, Frank?”

“Um, no. She can’t get off… She isn’t… I’m gonna surprise her.” His vision blurred some. He blinked hard to clear it. “She don’t know the exact date.”

But he did. He’d been counting the days. It was fifteen years ago today since the stupid accident and only a week more on his sentence. During the trial, the judge had had it in for Frankie and was jonesing to put him away. In the end, they separated Frankie from Trixie because everybody hated him. But she didn’t and that’s all that counted now. He’d see her soon.

In a line of prisoners, he left the cafeteria. A guard at the front took a group of them and veered off to the library. Since he was about to be paroled, they’d started letting him use the Internet. He got right online after the assistant read him the dumb-ass rules again; he clicked into his hometown Web site, Iverton, Ohio. The Iverton Banner was posted every day.

Same old, same old. New superintendent of schools. An issue up before the city council on paving the streets. Minor break-ins and petty larceny on the police page.

He stopped short at the headline on section B. Fifteen Year Anniversary of Tragic Accident. Shit, small towns. They never forgot nothing. You couldn’t make one single mistake without it following you for life. He was going back there to get Trixie, but he planned to leave that hick town in the dust. Morbid curiosity made him read the article.

Fifteen years ago today, Franklin R. Hamilton ran a red light and drove his car into the back end of a Chevy truck, killing Mrs. Serena Summers and her daughter, Joanna, age five. Shock filled our small community when it was discovered that both Hamilton and his companion, Tessa Lawrence, had been smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. An undisclosed amount of cocaine was also found in the trunk of the car.

Frankie stopped reading. Tessa? Who was she? For a minute he didn’t remember. Then he did—her sister called her that. Frankie had given her a nickname. To him, she was always Trixie. His Trixie.

Hamilton was sentenced to twenty years in a federal penitentiary for negligent homicide and possession of a controlled substance, and Lawrence received three years in a federal prison camp on the possession charge. Lawrence was released on probation after serving eighteen months. Hamilton is up for parole as this article is being written. He refused to talk to reporters at the prison. The husband and father of the slain family could not be reached for comment.

The reporter then went on to enumerate statistics about drunk drivers and increased penalties for DUI and drug possession, and ended with a comment about never being able to make up for such an atrocity.

Screw them, Frankie logged off the Web site. His life was gonna be just fine, as soon as he could get out of here and be with Trixie again.

Hmm. It was time for another letter from her.

CHAPTER THREE

DAN WANTED A CONVICTION on Eddie Cramden in the worst way. As the defendant sat in the witness chair, wearing a spiffy suit his rich father had most likely bought him and his hair slicked back in a ponytail, Dan had to curb the vehement urge to nail the guy. He forced himself to wait until his assistant district attorney brought in the new evidence that had come to light last night.

Cramden was on trial for a VOP, violation of probation, and Dan was losing his case. The witness who was to testify that Cramden had completed a drug transaction had recanted, so Cramden was off the hook not only for that crime, but for the VOP, which had been hinging on the drug deal. For his entire career in the D.A.’s office, Dan had fought to get drug dealers and users off the street and away from innocents, like his family.

The judge sat behind her oak bench, her face inscrutable, and nodded to him. “Mr. Logan, would you like to cross-examine the witness?”

In his peripheral vision, Dan saw Karen Jackson, his assistant D.A., enter the courtroom carrying a folder and, better yet, smiling.

“Yes, Your Honor, I would. Might I have a minute to confer with my colleague?”

“Do you want a recess?”

“I don’t think so. I need to confirm the relevance of a question I have for Mr. Cramden.”

In her no-nonsense way, Karen handed him the folder. “Got it. K-Mart store, last year. The amount was low, so he pleaded guilty to a noncriminal offense of disorderly conduct when he appeared before a judge at the arraignment. Though at that time he was indeed on probation, he was never prosecuted, therefore no one got him on the VOP. His daddy managed to make the charge go away.”

“Hooray.” Dan strode to the witness stand and stood in front of Cramden. The guy was at ease because he’d been informed before the proceedings got under way that Dan had no case. Which had been true up until a few minutes ago. “Mr. Cramden, were you ever arrested for shoplifting?”

“Objection!” Allison Markham, the defense attorney, was on her feet. A partner in a prestigious firm, she was one of the best criminal lawyers in town. “Mr. Cramden is not on trial for shoplifting.”

“Mr. Logan, are you going somewhere with this?” Judge Wicker asked.

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Sweat began to bead on Cramden’s face, and he frowned over at his father, who was paying Allison’s enormous fees. “I didn’t get a conviction for shoplifting.”

Dan held up the file. “I have here a document that shows you were involved in an incident at a K-Mart store.”

Cramden’s smiled disappeared. “That was nothing. I didn’t get charged with a crime.”

“Approach, Your Honor.” In her blue power suit, Allison was already marching to the bench. “What’s going on, Dan?”

“Your client was picked up at a local discount store for shoplifting. He stole a ten-dollar fishing pole.”

“Was he arrested?” the judge asked.

“No, he got off with noncriminal disorderly conduct.” He nodded back to the rows of spectator seats where the indulgent father sat. “A deal was made.”

Judge Wicker’s eyes narrowed on Dan. “You know, Mr. Logan, any case involving prosecution for ten dollars is liable to be thrown out of court.”

“Maybe not. Given the security tape and the testimony of the supervisor we just obtained, which wasn’t used before, a judge might reconsider opening the case. If he does, even prosecution for the incident constitutes a violation of probation.”

Though a judge might not consider opening the case, the defense couldn’t afford to take the chance that Cramden would go back to jail for ten years.

Allison’s face flamed. “I know nothing about this! The D.A. withheld evidence.”

“That came to us only minutes ago.”

“This is a witch hunt.”

Judge Wicker bristled. “Violation of probation, no matter how minute, is something my court takes seriously, Ms. Markham. I’m adjourning for today in hopes you and Mr. Logan can come to some agreement so we don’t have to go through a full-fledged trial.”

Stifling a grin, Dan knew he had the guy.

Allison came to the same conclusion. By four, they had a plea bargain and Cramden was headed back to prison for three years. Happy, Dan sauntered to his office. He was meeting Tessa at the library at five and they were going to the lake for dinner. Nick was taking the girls to SeaBreeze, a local amusement park.

Dan dropped down behind his desk. Tessa. Now that he had a minute to think, he played back what had happened in the week since her car accident. Most of the bruises on her face had faded, but the ones on her legs and butt were still nasty. Poor baby. Her mood had improved, too, and she was no longer blaming herself for the crash. He’d waited until last night to bring up the question he’d had about her past….

“Tess, honey, sit with me a minute.”

She’d been standing at the kitchen counter, and he had taken a chair at the table. “I should finish up the salad.”

“In a minute. The kids are watching a video. I’d like to talk to you about something.”

She had sat down. “What’s going on?”

“When you were in the emergency room, I overheard you and Janey talking about the car accident you had when you were nineteen. You said something about still feeling guilty.”

Her hands had clenched the skirt she wore. “Did I? I don’t remember.”

“Tess, love, you can tell me anything. We all make mistakes.”

There had been a wounded look in her eyes. “I didn’t have a happy childhood, and I had a worse adolescence.” She had drawn in a breath. “One of the reasons I didn’t want a relationship with you all those years ago was because you were always prying into my past. I hate it when you do this.”

The accusation had stung. Sure, Tessa had been more than wary of his attention when she worked at Chico’s Diner and waited on him. She refused—innumerable times—to date him. He didn’t remember one of the reasons being his interest in her past, though.

“No, I haven’t forgotten what happened eleven years ago. Or the fact that you only agreed to marry me because you were pregnant.”

Her face had shadowed at the reminder of the baby she’d lost.

“Dan, why are we going over all this? You know I love you, the kids and our life together. What possible reason could there be for you to delve into something so painful for me?”

“The car accident made you sad.”

“Right now, you’re making me sad.”

So he’d dropped it….

Tonight he hoped to make up to her for being so pushy. He should have let it go, he guessed. Sometimes, his overprotectiveness caused him to be too aggressive. Maybe he’d leave work early and pick up some flowers for her.

He was stuffing things into his briefcase when the administrative assistant, Wanda Anderson, strode into the office. “Dan, Mayor Nash is here to see you.”

“Why?”

Wanda shrugged. “He’s with two city councilmen. They said they want to talk to you right away.”

This was unusual. He circled his desk and went to the door to greet them, hoping this wasn’t bad news, hoping he got out of this meeting in time to meet his wife.

“THAT’S A WISE CHOICE, Chelsea. It’s one of my favorites in the series.”

Book in hand, the pretty blonde with world-weary blue eyes looked over at Tessa. “I already read Go Ask Alice and Jay’s Journal.”