Amy accepted her drink from the waiter and took a large sip from it as the waiter asked, “Will you ladies be having lunch?”
Amy nodded. “I’ll have a Caesar salad with braised chicken and an iced tea. Ann?”
“Nothing for me,” Ann said, and the waiter walked away.
“Please don’t go on a hunger strike, that certainly won’t help matters,” Amy said sternly.
Ann looked across at her friend, who was always watching her weight and maintained her figure at great cost with starvation diets and gym fees, wishing she could summon up Amy’s lusty appetite. If the slightest thing went wrong in Ann’s life she couldn’t eat.
She had lost eight pounds in the last several weeks.
“What are you going to do?” Amy asked, fingering her perfectly coiffed and frosted hair.
“I’m going to find some way to get Tim out of jail that does not involve taking charity from Heath Bodine.”
“I can give you about fifteen thousand right now,” Amy offered, unbuttoning the jacket of her three- piece outfit, the style up-to-the-minute and very flattering. Amy was always the perfect advertisement for her profession.
“Thanks, Amy, that’s very sweet, but—”
“I can get more if I break my father’s trust,” Amy added.
Amy’s wealthy father had financed her education at the same private school Ann had attended, but since her parents’ divorce, his money had been tied up for Amy until she was thirty. She couldn’t touch it for two more years.
“Money isn’t the only problem, Amy. The judge thinks Tim is a flight risk and wants to keep him locked up.”
“How can Heath help you with that?”
“He intimated that some high-priced legal talent might convince the court otherwise.”
“I see. One hand washes the other.”
“Right. If somebody the judge knows suddenly shows up as Tim’s counsel, things might work out very differently.”
Amy stirred the ice in her drink. “I wish I could stay down here and help you, but I have to be in my office tomorrow morning. I’m catching a flight out tonight.”
“It’s all right, Amy. It’s my problem and I’ll deal with it.”
“Forgive me for saying so, but you don’t seem capable of dealing with anything right at the moment.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“It’s the truth,” Amy said as the waiter served her salad and left the check. “How much do you weigh these days?”
“Who knows? I avoid scales,” Ann lied.
“So do I, but for a different reason. And have you been sleeping? You look exhausted.”
“I’ve been taking transatlantic calls from lawyers at three o’clock in the morning and then staying up for the rest of the night wondering what to do about this awful mess. I’m sure Heath was thrilled to see me like this. He, of course, looks like he just came back from a month at a spa.”
“Damn his eyes,” Amy said, forking romaine lettuce into her mouth. “But he always was the juiciest thing on Lime Island. Remember him at nineteen? Luscious. But he could see only you.”
“I’d rather not relive it, okay, Amy,” Ann said softly.
“Yeah, right. Sorry. Listen, I was just thinking. I’m coming back to Largo at Christmas to see my mother, do you think you will still be here?”
“I hope not. I’d like to wrap this up quickly and return to New York as soon as I can.”
“And you think Heath is just going to go away?” Amy asked, raising one brow inquiringly.
“I don’t care what he does. He can’t force me into anything, it’s still a free country.”
“Are you staying here at the inn?”
“Yes. The bank repossessed Tim’s condo on the island and my parents’ house was sold years ago. This seemed convenient to downtown and Caldwell’s law office.”
“You mean that nobody local has even called you and offered you a sandwich? Not any of your mother’s friends?” Amy asked quietly, appalled.
Ann shrugged. “Maybe they don’t know I’m here. I didn’t exactly announce my return in ten-inch banner headlines. Even if they do know, I imagine they’re all too embarrassed to talk to me. I mean, what would we discuss? My brother the felon and his illegal activities? Quite a comedown from the country club.”
“I still think it’s terrible.”
“Nothing creates distance like an impending indictment, ” Ann said dryly.
Amy glanced at her watch and then drained her Scotch. “Listen, sweetie, I hate to leave this wonderful food, but I have to go. I have to do some shopping at Burdine’s, and then stop off at the Island Bank and see the trust officer, and—”
Ann held up her hand. “Don’t explain, I understand. I didn’t exactly expect to be dropping this bomb about Heath, I thought handling Tim’s crisis would be enough for one day.”
Amy rose and grabbed the check. “Your mineral water is on me.” She extracted a pen from her purse and scribbled on the back of a receipt. “Here’s a bunch of numbers where you can reach me. You already have my apartment where you can leave a message on the machine if I’m not there,” Amy said.
Ann nodded.
“Call anytime. I mean it. I feel like a beast for rushing off like this, but if I’m not in my office tomorrow morning heads will roll and mine will be first.” She leaned over to kiss Ann on the cheek and then gave the thumbs-up sign as she began to weave her way between the tables on the restaurant terrace, her mind already on her errands.
Ann sat by herself for so long that the waiter finally returned and asked her if she wanted anything else.
“No, thanks, I’m fine,” Ann said, emerging from her reverie. She rose to go to the reception desk and get her room key. As she was riding up in the elevator, she realized that she had lived on Lime Island for seventeen years but had never stayed in this hotel. The closest she had come to it was attending several parties in its ballroom. But in those days her life had consisted mainly of parties, here and at the Lime Country Club—a charmed existence that had not prepared her for the emotional desolation that followed.
The message light was blinking on her phone when she entered her room. Sighing, she sat on the edge of her bed and dialed the desk, hearing without surprise that Harold Caldwell wanted her to call him.
“Miss Talbot, I’m glad you were able to get back to me so quickly,” the attorney said when she reached him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to sign the papers you had for me,” Ann replied. “I’ll come back to your office tomorrow.”
“That will be fine, but that’s not the reason I’m calling.”
“Has something happened?” Ann asked anxiously. Something else she added silently.
“I’m afraid so.”
Ann’s heart sank at his tone. “Tell me.”
“Your brother has been transferred to a hospital about ten miles from the county jail where he was being held pending disposition of his case,” Caldwell said.
“Hospital?” Ann said faintly.
“Yes. It seems he got into an altercation with one of the other inmates and came out the worse for it.”
“How bad?” Ann said quickly.
“He has a fractured skull and a broken leg.”
Ann gasped, gripping the phone. “How could that happen? Don’t they have guards in those places?”
“Of course they do, but fights among convicts are commonplace—they really can’t be stopped completely.”
“My brother is not a convict, Mr. Caldwell,” Ann said tersely, on the verge of tears for the second time that day.
“Certainly not, it was just a figure of speech, please forgive me. I am so sorry to be giving you more bad news, but I thought you should know about this new development immediately.”