False Accusations by Jacobson, Alan (great novels of all time .txt) 📕

“What does it matter? I had dinner with an old friend. She made a proposition and I turned her down. So what?”

“So I know how much your family means to you and right now you don’t need stirred-up memories of Catherine the vamp floating around in your sea of hormones.”

“Just because you lost out on her doesn’t mean—”

“I put that behind me many years ago. I got over her and moved on with my life.”

“And you’re saying I didn’t?”

“You did. Sort of. You more or less placed your feelings in suspended animation. She’s reawakened them.”

Madison rose from his seat. “I don’t need this, not now.”

“Now is exactly when you need it.”

Madison shook his head and walked up to Hellman’s eighteenth-floor window that looked out over downtown Sacramento. “But I didn’t do anything. We just had dinner. Proposition aside, she seemed very genuine.”

“She may have been genuine. She may’ve just been trying to be a friend at a time when you need one. But how many years has it been since you’ve spoken to her? Is that the mark of a true friend?”

Madison did not say anything.

“I know you better than anyone else in this world. At least as well as Leeza knows you—but at the moment, her view’s been influenced by external forces. You’re only human...and if you have this trump card—Catherine the vamp—in your back pocket, then subconsciously you may not try as hard to get Leeza back.” More silence. “Putting your emotions aside for the moment, if you can honestly tell me that that’s not a possibility, then I’ll leave you alone.”

A long moment passed. Without facing Hellman, Madison said, “It’s possible.”

“Don’t talk to her again. Focus on getting Leeza back. Appreciate her, Phil. I don’t have that luxury. I lost Hannah. Don’t let that happen to you.”

Madison turned around. “If it makes you feel better, I told Catherine I still held out hope of getting Leeza back, and I spent the rest of the night alone.”

“Well, that’s a good first step. What else are you going to do?”

“Try to get Leeza to come home.”

Hellman nodded. “Are you okay on this?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Madison said.

“Good. I’ve got to return all these messages,” Hellman said, picking up his stack of slips. “I’ll call you later.”

Madison left Hellman’s office. Alone in the elevator, he pulled out his phone and called up a photo of Leeza and the kids he had taken at Marine World before his life began to fall apart. A vivid reminder of what he had waiting for him, of what he had to lose. He rested his head against the elevator wall and took a deep breath.

“It’s time,” he whispered. “Come home.”

CHAPTER 34

IT WAS RAINING, 10:30 at night with a steady wind swirling around and rapping against the side of his house. Madison had spoken with Chandler a couple of hours ago and learned that his investigator was going to be returning to Sacramento in five days.

Madison had started a fire and was sitting in front of it, reminiscing about the first time he and Leeza had lit the fireplace after the house had been built. There were no kids and they had the evening to themselves. George Winston’s gentle piano solos tinkled from the CD player.

As they sipped Chardonnay, he remembered feeling the drawing heat of the fire warming the skin on his neck. They made love right there, on the carpet in front of the fireplace, Leeza’s moans drowning out the crackles and pops of the burning pine cones.

As he lay there now, sipping Chardonnay and reliving that night, he marveled at how easy life had been. Few worries. And a bright future lay ahead of them, two beautiful children merely one detail in the grand plan of plans.

A knock at the door broke his daydream; he shook his head and shuffled his mind back to reality. As he started toward the door, he thought his prayers had been answered: Leeza.

His heart beating faster than he could walk, he opened the door and saw, dripping wet in the rain, Catherine. Catherine the vamp. He could hear Jeffrey’s voice loud and clear in his head. It must have shown on his face.

He stood there, the door open; she stood there, rain beating against her red hair.

“I thought you’d be glad to see me,” she said.

“I...didn’t expect you to be at the door.”

“Were you expecting someone else?” she asked.

He hesitated, looked down at his tom jeans and old flannel shirt. “No.”

She shivered. “Can I come in? It’s freezing out here.”

“Oh. Sure,” he said, wishing he could instead tell her to get back in her car and leave, to stay the hell away from him.

“I had a good time last night.” Catherine said as she walked into the marble entryway. She hung her coat on a decorative rack against the wall. “I don’t get up this way that often, but I was in town for a deposition that was supposed to last a couple of hours. It went six. I grabbed some fast food and then thought I’d drop by on my way out of town to say hi.”

“How’d you get my home address?”

She smiled. Pearly white teeth. “Is that important?”

“As a matter of fact, it is. I don’t give it out.”

“Let’s just say I have a friend at the DMV who owes me. Big.”

“That’s Illegal.”

“This person isn’t concerned with legalities. He’s more interested in a date.”

She smiled again, but he diverted his gaze away from her face. She was dressed in a suit. Form-fitting, yet professional. She was probably telling the truth. But he didn’t want to see her. Not now. Not with the fire burning in the living room, the alcohol infecting his thoughts.

She ventured toward the fireplace, stopped in front of it, and placed her hands out to warm them. Madison walked over next to her and faced the fire. He stood there, watching the flames dance, feeling guilty having her in his house. In Leeza’s house.

“Look, Catherine,”