For the Defense (25 page)

Diana took a closer look at the man before her. Other than a deep scar in Jared’s cheek, the brothers were identical feature-wise. But looking into Jared’s eyes, Diana knew she’d never mistake the men. She had the strangest sensation that at some point in Jared’s life, he’d fought an internal demon—and lost.

“How’s your aunt?” he asked.

“Wonderfully resilient. Doctor says she’ll be sore and
sporting a whopping bruise for a while, but otherwise will fully recover. May I see Mel now?”

He nodded. “Follow me. I’ll get you in.”

J
ACK FOUND THEM
in Mel’s room as soon as the doctor had finished bandaging his arm. Diana was sitting on the edge of the bed, Shirley standing beside it. Mel was propped up on the pillows. When she saw him, she smiled.

“I can’t believe that twice in one night I missed out on all the action,” she said in a voice brimming with disappointment. “I don’t remember a thing!”

Her hair was matted and there was a small cut on her forehead, but her color was warm. Compared to the pale face and lifeless body he’d held in the twenty minutes it took for the paramedics to arrive, she looked wonderful.

“Thank you for rescuing me, Jack.”

He came to a halt in front of her bed, touched by the simple sincerity in her words. “You’re thanking the wrong person. We wouldn’t have known who took you if Holmes hadn’t seen through the disguise Lyle wore.”

“And Holmes took a painful blow trying to stop Lyle,” Diana added, sending her aunt a look of gratitude and love.

Being the object of three sets of staring eyes seemed to make Shirley self-conscious. She cleared her throat and puffed some nonexistent smoke from the pipe in her mouth as she looked down at her feet.

Mel stared at her great-aunt with an expression on her face that Jack had never seen before. “Thank you,” she said. Simple words, but their meaning was not.

Shirley eased onto the edge of the bed. “You would have done the same for me, my dear Watson.”

“I’m not that brave,” Mel admitted.

“Bravery is simply the brain listening to the heart,” Diana said. “Don’t ever sell either of yours short, Cute Stuff.”

“She’s right, Watson,” Shirley said. “Women generally are about these things. We men think we’re out there doing
the brave deeds that will insure a better tomorrow. But it’s the women who are holding the future in their hands, because they are holding the hands of the children.”

As Mel smiled at Shirley, she gently captured her great-aunt’s hand in hers.

Jack glanced over at Diana’s face to see the tears glistening in her eyes. He slipped his fingers through hers.

“You’ll excuse us a moment?” he said in the general direction of the bed as he pulled Diana out into the hall.

As soon as the door was closed behind them, she turned to him, her smile a dizzying gleam. “Thank you for bringing Mel safely back. You’re my hero, Jack.”

And at that moment, he never felt more like one. Folding her into his arms, he kissed her with all the need inside him. When he finally released her, he found them surrounded by an appreciative audience of patients and hospital personnel.

Jack took Diana’s hand and bowed to their audience. Diana chuckled at that as much as the onlookers. When the others had dispersed a moment later she brushed a kiss over the bandage on his arm. “Does it hurt?”

“Just a flesh wound. Hot damn, I always wanted to say that line.”

Her laughter was the best painkiller of all. He told her then of finding Lyle and listening to the conversation he had with his mother.

“Did they say anything after you got the gun away from him?” she asked.

Jack nodded. “Lyle figured out Bruce had killed Amy after hearing about the hit-and-run on the news and seeing the blood on the car fender. When he told his father, they confronted Bruce together and got him to admit he’d deliberately crashed into the tree to try to hide his crime.”

“And Lyle and his father threatened to turn Bruce in if
he didn’t join AA and stay sober,” Diana said, understanding. “What about Judge Weaton?”

“Lyle claims they never told her because he and his dad knew that as a judge, she’d have to turn Bruce in. When Lyle found out that Bruce was going to marry Connie to give her a child to replace the one she’d lost—”

“
That’s
why he wanted to marry her,” Diana interrupted. “Dear God. Like one child could simply replace another.”

Jack nodded. “Sick bastard’s idea of Step Eight. Bruce deliberately let the air out of her tire that first day so he could drive by and play good Samaritan. His subsequent meeting with her was also planned.”

“When did Lyle and his father find out what Bruce was doing with Connie?”

“Not until that day of the barbecue. Both Lyle and his father were shocked to learn who Bruce had been dating and what he intended. They were trying to talk some sense into him when Connie bolted from the garage. Lyle thought she’d overheard their conversation. He’s believed all along that she hit Bruce with her car because of what he did to Amy.”

“When did he tell his mother that Bruce had killed Amy?”

“Not until after you deposed him. That’s when he started to worry about what you might uncover. He told her about Bruce so she’d lean on Staker to plead Connie out. Barbara told me she met with you because after hearing what Bruce had done to Amy, she really did want to forgive Connie for killing him and put it all behind her.”

“So she was telling the truth,” Diana said. “I feel terrible for her. It’s bad enough that Bruce turned out to be a criminal. Now Lyle has shown himself to be one, too.”

“Before Jared walked in, Lyle told me right out he’d deny everything he said.”

Diana exhaled in disappointment. “Shame. Lyle could have given the jury all they needed to know about Bruce’s motivations for pursuing Connie.”

“Then this should come in handy,” Jack said as he pulled a tape out of his pocket and placed it within her palm. “Unbeknownst to him, I recorded Lyle’s confession.”

Diana’s fingers closed over the tape almost reverently. “Well, that cinches it, Jack Knight. You are definitely my employee of the month.”

Jack laughed, so lost in her lovely smile that he didn’t care if he ever found his way back.

“O
N THE COUNT
of murder in the first degree,” Jury Foreman Ralph Montgomery announced in a strong voice that carried to the corners of the courtroom, “we find the defendant, Connie Pearce,
not
guilty.”

Diana hugged Connie as the spectators in the courtroom came alive with excited murmuring and applause. Judge Gimbrere pounded his gavel to restore order, but all Diana heard were the words being whispered into her ear.

“Thank you, Ms. Mason. You’ve saved my life.”

Diana pulled back to see the tears of gratitude slipping onto Connie’s cheeks. She gave her client another hug. “You’re so welcome, Connie.”

Catching a movement out of the corner of her eye, Diana turned her head to see Jack sitting with Mel, Shirley, her mom and Ray—all of them smiling at her and clapping loudly, heedless of the pounding gavel and the call for order.

At that moment she wondered why anyone in her right mind would choose to be anything but a defense attorney.

D
IANA WAS ON HER WAY
to join Mel and Shirley in the witness room where Jack was protecting them from re
porters when Ronald Kozen appeared, bringing her to an abrupt halt in the hallway.

“You’ve made a powerful enemy today, Mason,” he said in his gruff tone. “Staker’s never going to forgive you for making him look like a complete idiot on such a high-profile case. You realize all this bad publicity is going to cost him his judgeship?”

Diana faced the senior partner straight, knowing this was one of those occasions when speaking her mind was an absolutely necessity. “I sincerely hope so.”

Ronald studied her quietly, that perpetual half smile reflecting back at her like a smirk. “Gail kept telling me I’d underestimated you. Should have listened to her. Damn good job, Mason. You beat Staker a few more times like this and your name will be coming up for junior partner one of these days.”

Diana was so shocked that several seconds passed before she noticed that his hand was extended toward her. “Thank you,” she said as she shook it. “But what about Gail’s junior partnership?”

He smiled, a real smile. “She has it, Mason. Told her this morning. We were only waiting to be sure that foolish affair with Staker was behind her.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not the only one who has the sense to hire White Knight Investigations when something needs to be checked out.”

With that Ronald released her hand and disappeared down the hall. Diana was so surprised and relieved, she burst out laughing.

“G
REAT GOING
, M
OM
,” Mel said when Diana entered the interview room.

“A verdict full of justice,” Shirley declared.

Jack watched as she hugged her daughter and aunt in turn.

“Grandma and Ray have gone ahead to get the celebration feast started,” Mel said. “Can we go now?”

“Sounds good to me,” Diana said.

The fleeting look she sent Jack was inviting. Unless he was merely seeing his own feelings mirrored in her eyes? She’d been even more diligent over the past couple of weeks trying to keep the nights they spent in each others’ arms from her daughter. He’d once joked that she was ashamed of being seen with him.

Didn’t seem like much of a joke now.

All his business reasons for being with her had ceased. She could end the personal one with a word. That she had the discipline to do it he had no doubt. That she might at any moment sent a chill through his heart.

“Hungry, Jack?” Mel asked.

Only one thing scared him more than what he was about to do. And that was not doing it.

Before Diana could take more than a step, Jack positioned himself in front of the door, barring her way. She halted, looking up at him quizzically.

Jack held Diana’s eyes as he addressed her daughter. “Mel, I can’t be just your mother’s friend. I’m in love with her.”

“I know.”

“You know,” he repeated, surprised by both Mel’s immediate response and the blandness of her tone.

“She loves you, too,” Mel said.

“How do you know?” Jack asked, his pulse quickening as his eyes darted to the girl’s face and found her smiling at him.

“Because she looks at you the same way you look at her. Holmes and I have been wondering when you were going to tell us.”

Jack stared into the beautiful face before him. “Diana, do you love me?”

She chuckled as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “And still he has to ask. Some detective.”

He pulled her close to his fast-beating heart and brushed his cheek against her hair, every nerve ending in his body happily humming with the message in her words.

“Maybe I can hire Holmes to give me some pointers,” he said in a voice not quite steady.

“Always happy to be of assistance,” Shirley assured. “Although I will have to admit, Watson and I are going to miss the fun of watching Jack trudge through the backyard at four in the morning trying to find his car in the trees.”

“And tripping over the weeds,” Mel said with a giggle.

Jack shook his head in amusement. What had ever given him the idea that he was a good actor?

“You’re all right with this, Mel?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the gentle radiance on Diana’s face.

Mel’s responsive sigh was full of dramatics. “I suppose if Mom
has
to lose her mind over a man, she could do a lot worse than a great drama coach.”

Jack smiled. “Diana, I may not be a fan of kids, but I’ve sure fallen for this little supercomputer of yours. And having Sherlock Holmes in the family is a dream come true for any private investigator. Looks like the only way I’m going to be able to gain custody of them is for you to marry me.”

“Marry?” she repeated, and he was all too aware of the astonishment in her voice. “I thought you weren’t that brave?”

He traced the exquisite curve of her cheek with his fingertip. Until this moment he hadn’t known she’d given herself to him so unconditionally. For the woman she was
that had taken a lot of love. A feeling full of gratitude and rightness poured through him.

“Bravery is simply the brain listening to the heart,” he quoted.

Her lips drew back in a smile. “I seem to have heard that somewhere before.”

“An actor always steals the best lines.”

“Ah, but you’re a private investigator now.”

“Which is why if you marry me, I can promise you’ll never have to pay full rate for private investigation services again.”

“I’d think twice before turning down such a generous offer,” Shirley said soberly. “I’ve seen Jack’s bill.”

“Say yes, Mom, or we’re never going to eat,” Mel chimed in. “He’s blocking the door.”

“Diana, I love you so much we’re going to beat the hell out of the divorce statistics. Be brave. Please. Tell me the answer is yes.”

Diana’s sigh was a happy sound as she wound her arms around his neck. “Of course, it’s yes. Doesn’t the hero always get the girl in the end?”