Betrayal (33 page)

Max was grinning as she read out loud in a voice filled with importance. “It’s an editorial about all the movies that came out at Christmas. They’re predicting you’re going to win an Oscar for
The
Sand
Man
, and the guy who writes this column is usually right. How do you like that, Mom?”

“It sounds great, but you can’t believe all those predictions. He’s just guessing. We’ll see.” The nominations weren’t due out till February. And then she added, “I’ve been nominated twice before and didn’t win.” But even being nominated would be terrific and great for the picture, if it turned out later that she was, and she might be nominated for a Golden Globe Award too.

“There’s a nice optimistic attitude,” Max scolded her. “If you get nominated, can I go with you?” Max asked her. She wanted to get in her bid early. And it reminded Tallie that she had gone the last time with her father, but it would be fun to go with Max, and Max had been with her before, although it was a long, sometimes tedious evening. But it would definitely be amazing to win an Oscar, with Max attending the award ceremony with her. It gave her something to look forward to.

It was time to live again, and with Brigitte pleading guilty to all charges, at least Tallie wouldn’t have the trials to worry about. Things were finally looking up. And there might just be an Oscar in her future. She didn’t dare hope for that. It was just a silly prediction, Tallie knew, but it would be incredible if she won one. It was an exciting dream.

Jim called her that afternoon and congratulated her on the article too, and said he hoped she’d win, and he suggested a night for their skating date that they’d all been looking forward to and the date he offered sounded fine to her. It was later that week. “How was your Christmas?” he asked her pleasantly.

“Small. Quiet. Nice. We missed my dad a lot,” she said honestly, “
but
we had fun too. And we’ve been busy ever since.” The time always flew by when Max was home, and he said the same about Josh. He said he has taking the boys skiing at Squaw Valley over New Year’s, and he had suggested their skating date the night before.

Max and Tallie met the three Kingstons at the skating rink on Thursday night. Max brought a tin of brownies she had baked for them, and the five of them spent several hours on the ice, laughing and chasing each other around. Josh was by far the best skater, as he’d been skating recently in Michigan, and he tucked Max’s hand into his arm and glided smoothly onto the ice with her and kept her from falling, while Bobby speed-skated around the ice with friends. Jim and Tallie went around the rink more sedately, but talking and laughing, until they finally sat down on a bench to catch their breath after an hour. They were having a lot of fun. Tallie had worn pink earmuffs and matching mittens, and she looked like a kid with pink cheeks and bright eyes, while Jim looked barely older than his sons. They were a handsome group as people noticed them skating together.

“I haven’t had this much fun in ages,” Tallie said, smiling at him.

“Neither have I. I always have a good time when I’m with you,” Jim said, looking shy for a minute. “I hope you realize that I don’t normally introduce my children to the people I work with.” He hadn’t wanted to say “victims,” but she understood what he was saying. “You’re a remarkable woman, Tallie. I’m honored that I’ve gotten to know you. I wish I could have achieved a better outcome for you, or that none of this had happened to you at all. But as long as it did, I’m glad I was assigned to work on your case, and have
gotten
to know you now.” In some ways, they felt like they’d become friends, and he really had gotten to know her, through some of the hardest events in her life.

“I feel the same way, and I think you’ve done an amazing job. If it weren’t for you, we would never have caught Brigitte or been able to stop her. I’m just grateful it’s behind me now.” She had bounced back better than he’d expected, and she seemed stronger now every time he saw her. And she was a very attractive woman, and so gentle and kind that he liked her better and better and was more and more attracted to her. He had never spent personal time with a “victim,” but he loved the time he spent with Tallie, and on every occasion he saw her, all he wanted was to do it again.

“I didn’t want you to think that this is a usual occurrence for me. In fact”—he looked away for a moment and then back into her green eyes—“I haven’t dated since Jeannie died.”

“I understand,” she said softly, took off one pink mitten, and patted his hand, and he gently took her hand in his own.

“Would you have dinner with me sometime, Tallie?” he asked her with a cautious look. He was afraid that she would say no, and he’d spoil what they were sharing now. She smiled at him and nodded.

“I’d like that very much.” As she said it, he beamed at her, then stood up and pulled her to her feet. She had just given him everything he wanted, and he was afraid to say more. And for the first time, looking at another woman he didn’t feel disloyal to his late wife. He felt sure that she would have liked Tallie, and how kind she was to his boys, and Max was a lovely girl. They all seemed to fit together, and the three times they had all seen each other had
been
innocent and fun. And Jim had already warned Josh not to misbehave with Max, and he had promised. Jim didn’t want anything to go wrong. Tallie had been through enough, and so had Max.

For the rest of the evening, the kids skated together, and sometimes Jim and Tallie skated with them. And in between they sat on one of the benches and talked for a while. Jim said that sometime he wanted to take her to a restaurant called Giorgio Baldi, where they had the best pasta in the world.

They all hated to see the evening end, and reluctantly left the ice when the session was over. It was eleven o’clock, and they had been skating for four hours. The three younger members of the group didn’t even look tired. And the Kingstons were leaving for Squaw Valley in the morning for three days of skiing. The boys promised to call Max when they got back, and Jim exchanged a long look with Tallie when they said goodbye and kissed her on the cheek. Tallie waved at them as they left the parking lot first. It had been a wonderful evening, and it sounded like there were more to come. She had had a lovely time with Jim and his boys, and so had Max, who was leaning back in her seat in the car with her eyes closed, listening to her iPod, which allowed Tallie to drive home in silence, lost in her own thoughts.

Tallie didn’t hear from Jim for a week after he got back from Squaw Valley. He was busy at work with a flood of new cases that had landed on his desk after the first of the year. But he called her the day after Brigitte pleaded guilty to the charges of embezzlement,
mail
and wire fraud, abuse of trust, and tax evasion. She had pleaded guilty to all of it. And then to first-degree murder. The sentencing had been set for early April. And the probation department would be working on the pre-sentencing report and recommendation to the judge until then. Jim said that she would probably do ten years because she had pleaded. She could have gotten as much as twenty, or even life, if she hadn’t. So she had done herself a big favor with the plea. And Tallie’s civil suit would be a matter of negotation for restitution. Brigitte’s guilty plea had included an agreement to make restitution in full to her victim. Jim warned Tallie that she might not be able to recoup that much, if Brigitte had hidden it or spent it, but she would get something. But except for the sentencing and the negotiations for restitution in the civil suit, it was over. And Tallie wouldn’t have to go through the agony of a trial. She was enormously relieved.

“Were you in court for the plea?” Tallie wanted to know.

“Yes, I was.”

“How was she?”

He hesitated and then told Tallie the truth, however hurtful. “She was cool, calm, and collected. Totally unemotional. She didn’t look scared. She gave her guilty plea in an unwavering strong voice, not a tear, not a tremor, and she looked the judge right in the eye. She’s a perfect sociopath, through and through. Her hair was even clean and freshly done, and she wore a very sexy dress that you probably paid for.” It was shocking to hear. Tallie tried to envision it in disbelief.

“I don’t understand,” Tallie said quietly.

“You wouldn’t. Most people wouldn’t. That kind of personality
is
so foreign to the rest of us. That’s why they get away with what they do. We can’t even imagine it, so we don’t suspect it, while they lie, cheat, and steal, and occasionally kill someone. It’s pretty scary stuff. I feel sorry for Hunter Lloyd,” he said quietly, “but I’m glad it wasn’t you.”

“So am I,” she said, thinking about Max. It would have destroyed her if her mother had been killed.

“So what about our dinner? Does Friday night work for you?” he asked quietly, afraid she might have changed her mind.

“Perfect.” Max had gone back to New York that morning, and Tallie was free. She wasn’t going out socially, and since she wasn’t working at the moment, she had time on her hands. All she was doing was talking to investors for her next picture.

“I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty,” he promised, and they were both smiling when they hung up.

And when Jim arrived promptly on Friday night, Tallie was happy to see him. Knowing that Brigitte had pleaded guilty really had given Tallie a sense of relief all week, and she felt freer than she had in months. And Greg was moving ahead with negotiations for a stipulated judgment in the civil suit, to get some of her money back. She was slowly putting it all behind her.

And she and Jim talked nonstop through dinner about their kids, their work, their families when they grew up. The evening sped by and the food at Giorgio Baldi was as delicious as he had said. And when Jim took her home, he hesitated for a long moment as they stood outside her house, and he kissed her gently on the mouth, and then looked at her with concern.

“I just want you to know that I’ve never kissed a victim before,” he said softly.

“I’m not a victim,” she whispered back. “And I never will be again.” She was definitely coming back. He smiled at what she said. She had told him at dinner that she had taken her most recent letter from the Victim Identification Program with her number on it and thrown it in the trash when it arrived that day.

“You know what I mean,” he said. “I’ve never gotten involved with anyone through my work.” He had already told her that when they went skating, but he wanted to be sure she knew it was true. “I don’t want you to think that I go around hitting on the people I work with.” But she had never thought that. If anything, she had thought they were friends, until he kissed her.

“I have kind of a problem too,” she admitted, as long as they were being honest with each other, which she liked. It was essential to her, and always had been, but more so than ever now. “I’m not sure I could ever trust anyone again.” She looked very serious, and he laughed when she said it, which startled her. “I mean it,” she said for emphasis.

“I know, and I don’t blame you … but if you can’t trust an FBI agent, who can you trust?” She thought about it for a minute and then smiled.

“You have a point.”

“This may be the safest relationship you’ll ever have. I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but … ” Before he could finish his sentence, she kissed him back. He had forgotten what that could be like, and so had she. She had blotted everything out of her mind
and
heart, and he had thought he was dead after Jeannie, and now he realized he wasn’t. He was very much alive, and so was she. And as she looked up at him, she had no idea what would happen, but what she did know was that she could trust him, and she was safe.

Chapter 20

ONE OF THE
last of the formalities Tallie had to go through relating to Brigitte and the embezzlement was a visit from the senior probation officer assigned to do the pre-sentencing report to recommend the length of Brigitte’s sentence to the judge. As it turned out, she was a friend of Jim’s and he knew her well. She had called him as soon as she was assigned the case, and he filled her in on the details, without mentioning that he was dating Tallie. It was irrelevant to the case.

“What’s she like?” Sandra Zinneman couldn’t resist asking him. She had been momentarily impressed when she realized who the victim was. Sandra was a big fan of her movies, and she wanted to stay professional about it, but a certain amount of curiosity got the best of her nonetheless. She had always liked what she’d read about Tallie, and when she went through the file, she was sorry about what had happened to her. “It sounds like she got a really rotten deal from her boyfriend and the defendant, to say the least,” she commented to Jim.

“She’s a very decent, down-to-earth person. She’s been through a lot with all this. Are you having her come in to see you?” Jim wished he could somehow spare Tallie having to talk about it all again, but the probation officer’s recommendation was important for the judge. He would base the length of Brigitte’s sentence on what Sandra put in the report. She was a key person in the final result. She would also be interviewing Brigitte and everyone involved in the cases, in order to offer a well-rounded suggestion, based on all the elements of the case. And she was known to be thorough and fair.

Sandra sounded thoughtful for a minute. “I was actually thinking of going out to see her at her place, for a couple of reasons. I thought it might be less upsetting for her, and I kind of wanted to see where they worked together, and what the atmosphere was at ‘the scene of the crime.’ ” She was referring to the embezzlement, not the murder. “The setting must be pretty grand,” she said, sounding slightly in awe.