as she gazed at the man she had dreamed about for so long.
“I will never, ever forgive you for this.”
EIGHTEEN HOURS LATER, Gavin sat in jail contemplating his bruised knuckles and wondering why he’d felt obligated to play the hero. All he had to do was tell the police the truth—and ruin Leigh’s reputation completely.
Besides, what was the point? The cops thought they already knew the truth. An anonymous tip put his bike outside his employer’s house last night. The house had been burgled. Old man Wickert had been struck a couple of times, tied up, then left there to suffer a heart attack. If he died, the cops would add murder to the charge, and Gavin knew the police chief was just itching to do exactly that.
Gavin had been allowed one phone call. He’d used it to call George Walken. He’d elicited a reluctant promise from the man to keep Leigh out of this no matter what. He’d pointed out that telling the truth would only get him in deeper. The cops would claim Gavin had given her the drug and there was no point in dragging her name through the mud. He’d told George’s attorney, Ira Rosencroft, the same thing.
Gavin opened his eyes when his cell door suddenly clanged open. A fresh-faced officer not much older than he was took a step back and waited.
“Let’s go, Jarret.”
“Go where?”
“You need to sign for your things. You’re being released.”
“Why?”
“You like it here so much you want to stay?”
“Did Mr. Wickert regain consciousness?”
Hope filled him. The old man had been a demanding boss, as crotchety as a bear coming out of hibernation. He’d turned grumbling into an art form, but he’d given Gavin a job and a chance when no one else would, and over time, the two of them had come to like and respect each other.
The cop shook his head. “He died about an hour ago.”
“Damn.”
Their eyes met in shared sympathy. Gavin swallowed his grief. “So, why are you letting me go?”
“Your alibi came in. You know, you could have saved us all a lot of work if you’d just told us where you were last night.”
George had promised him! So had the attorney. Gavin scrawled his name on the paper he was handed and stuffed his nearly empty wallet into his back pocket. Livid that one of them had betrayed him, he started walking away. The interrogation-room door swung open.
The police chief stood in the doorway, glaring at a slim figure sitting on the hard wooden chair. She stared back with wide, unblinking eyes.
“You should reconsider,” Chief Crossley growled.
Leigh Thomas rose with the grace of a queen. Her long, golden-brown hair swung halfway down her back. She faced the man with a composure few could have matched.
“No, you should reconsider.” She spoke with quiet force. “I know you don’t like me and my sister, and you don’t like Gavin or the Walkens, but if you let that stand in your way, you won’t solve this murder, either. Gavin was with me last night, and I’ll swear to that in court. There is nothing you can say or do that will change that simple truth.”
She stared him in the eye without flinching. A slip of a girl really, yet she faced that six-foot-five-inch pompous ass with a dignity that shrunk him right down to size.
“You listen to me, girl. If we find one piece of evidence to link Jarret to that crime, I’ll have you up on an accessory to murder charge so fast it will make your head swim.”
“No. You won’t. You’d have to fabricate evidence, and you may be incompetent, but I don’t think you’re dishonest.”
“Get her out of here,” the chief snarled, turning dark angry red. Pivoting, he spied Gavin. “Get them both out of my sight,” he told the young cop standing silently to one side.
Gavin fell into pace beside Leigh. She wouldn’t look at him as they walked outside. Her chin was up, her shoulders back, and she stared straight ahead as she moved. She flinched when he touched her shoulder, and his gut tightened in pain.
“Why did you come here?” he demanded. “I told that lawyer and the Walkens to leave you out of this!”
“They don’t even know I’m here,” she told his shirtfront.
He needed to see her eyes, to know what she was thinking. Did she hate him for what had happened last night?
“Then, why come here today?”
She didn’t raise her head. “Because you were with me when the robbery happened.”
Gavin swore. “Precisely. There wasn’t any evidence against me, just some anonymous phone call. All I had to do was sit tight and they would have released me sooner or later. Don’t you realize what you’ve done to your reputation by coming here?”
That brought her pointed little chin up. She faced him squarely without a flicker of emotion.
“Enhanced it or ruined it depending on who you talk to.” Her shoulders rose and fell. “Want to know how much I don’t care? If I hadn’t come forward, the police would have stopped looking for the real criminal, just like they stopped looking for my mother. Mr. Wickert was a nice old man. He deserves better. Now, take your hand off me before I kick you in the shins.”
Gavin dropped his hand, still trying to read her expression without success. “Are you okay? I mean after last night—”
“After last night, you owe me, right?”
Surprised, he managed a nod. Beyond her, he saw her sister running up the sidewalk toward them.
“If you owe me, then do us both a favor, Gavin. Grow up. Make something of yourself. That bad-boy reputation could have cost you a prison term just now. And you made Mrs. Walken cry. She deserves better, too.”
The words lashed him with their simple truth. “I thought you were supposed to be the quiet twin,” he muttered.
“Leigh!” Hayley called to her.
Leigh narrowed her eyes. “I am. Stick around. My sister will tear a strip off you that will make you wish you were back inside with Chief Crossley. As for last night, forget it, Gavin. I plan to.”
“You won’t forget,” he said softly as she turned to meet her sister. “And neither will I.”
Chapter Two
The present
Marcus Thomas had been murdered over the roses he’d so carefully tended. Shouldn’t she be able to summon some emotion other than relief? He’d been her father after all. Admittedly that had been a technicality as far as he’d been concerned, but it was biological fact, nonetheless.
Leigh Hart Thomas found herself standing slightly apart from the small group gathered under the hot summer sun. She wondered
