us in the clear?” Kira said slowly.
Cassidy smiled, one of those sly, barely a cut above sinister, lawyerly kind of smiles. “They can’t even arraign anyone without sufficient evidence, no matter how strong the motive. Any judge would throw it out. Hell,” she added, “any district attorney worth his salt wouldn’t even pursue it under the circumstances.”
“Thank God,” Melinda said softly, her relief palpable.
“So what do we do?” Lacy feared that things would never be quite that simple. Nothing ever was—at least not where Charles Ashland, Junior, was concerned.
“We lay low.” Cassidy looked from one to the other. “We provide moral support for each other as we always have, but our primary objective is to insure that no one lets down their guard and makes a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Kira’s eyebrows drew together in question. “What kind of mistake?”
“No one knows our secret.” Cassidy studied each of them in turn. “Only the four of us know what really happened. The water and other elements have long since destroyed any fingerprints or trace evidence we might have left on or in the car. There’s nothing to find in the house.” She turned to Lacy. “The suitcase was taken care of?”
She nodded quickly. A frame of memory—her digging relentlessly into the cold, hard earth as the snow fell around her—flashed through her mind. “There’s no way anyone would ever find it.” Not where she’d buried it.
Again Cassidy looked from one to the other, her pointed gaze settling lastly on Lacy. “I also assume that any other evidence was handled as carefully.”
For the space of two beats, Lacy had the distinct impression that everyone at the table was waiting for her to confess having knowledge of some other pertinent detail or item.
“Can I get you ladies anything else?”
The tension shrank to a more tolerable level with the intrusion. “I’m fine,” Lacy muttered. She had to get past this silly paranoia.
“No more for me.” Melinda shook her head, her face as pale with worry now as it had been earlier when Lacy had first seen her at her door.
“We’re fine,” Cassidy assured the waitress, who quickly left in search of thirsty patrons.
“So you’re saying that all we have to do is stay calm and this will blow over,” Lacy suggested.
“That’s right. We keep our mouths shut and this investigation will die a natural death.”
“But it could drag on for weeks,” Kira said abruptly, her words echoing Lacy’s precise thought.
Cassidy leveled a firm glare on her. “We’ll do whatever we have to do for however long it takes.”
“But—”
“We’re in this together,” she said, ruthlessly cutting Kira off. “Equally guilty. We stick together until it’s over. Like we always have in the past. No buts. If we do anything differently, then people will get suspicious. Call your respective offices, let them know it could be days or weeks. Agreed?”
The hesitation was gone. Kira nodded. “I can work from here to some extent. So I guess I’m agreed.”
Cassidy turned to Melinda and waited for her to voice her understanding, as well.
“Agreed.”
“Lacy?” Cassidy shifted in the booth to look directly at her.
“Of course.” Lacy blinked, the words they’d chanted all those years ago reverberating inside her.
…never tell a soul…complete silence…forever…and ever.
“Well, if this isn’t just like old times.”
The deep male voice vibrated through Lacy like a lightning bolt.
Rick.
Her head went up. She couldn’t help the way her greedy eyes lingered on him in the seconds that followed as greetings were exchanged by all around her. There was no way Lacy could be in the same room with Rick Summers and be unaffected.
He had matured into a heart-stopping, handsome man. But then he’d always been extraordinarily good-looking. All the girls had thought so. His black hair was shorter than before, but it suited him. His body looked lean and hard still. Lacy remembered how the taut muscles of his chest had felt beneath her inexperienced fingers. And the way he’d gentled his eager hands so that his touch had been tender despite the lust raging through his young body. No other man had ever touched her quite that way.
“Lacy.” He was looking at her now and she couldn’t ignore him. Not then…not now…probably not ever.
“Hello, Rick.”
“It’s good to see you.” His voice was deeper, huskier than before, but there was no mistaking the underlying tension there. His expression grew harder, more intense the longer he looked at her. Was he remembering as she was?
“It’s nice to see you, too.” Lacy broke away from those disturbing gray eyes and sipped her warm beer.
“Is there anything I can do for you, Melinda?” he asked, his tone sincere.
Melinda managed a decent attempt at a smile. “I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do,” she offered listlessly.
Had the question come from any other cop on the force, Lacy would have been certain an ulterior motive existed. But Rick genuinely meant what he asked. He wouldn’t beat around the bush. He would say what was on his mind.
“In a few days we’ll talk,” he went on. “But not now. I know you have your hands full dealing with all this. In the meantime, you be sure and let me know if you need anything at all.”
“We’re here, Chief Summers,” Cassidy said bluntly. “If Melinda needs anything, we’ll take care of her.”
He nodded, acknowledging the game point to Cassidy. “Of course. I’ll keep you informed of our progress on the investigation.”
He looked at Lacy one last time before he turned and strode away. She inhaled sharply, almost gasped.
“You okay?”
Lacy met Cassidy’s concerned gaze. “Yeah, sure.”
“This won’t be the last time the chief or one of his deputies wants to talk to us.” Cassidy’s focus moved from one to the other. “We have to be prepared to hold our ground. No one, and I mean no one, is to be caught off guard. Don’t allow anyone—not even your own family—to question you alone. We’re in this together. We’ve all known this day might come. We’ll take each necessary step together. As long as we’re united, no one and nothing can touch us.”
“Thank you, Cassidy,” Melinda said, tears glistening in her eyes. “I don’t think I could get through this without you—without all of you.”
“Right now we should all go home
