Eye of the Beholder (25 page)

Ellen stood motionless, even after the magnificence faded and the sun finally rose above the clouds. The presence of God, all encompassing and all protective, paralyzed her with joy.

Gradually, the feeling left her and she turned around to jog back to the car, startled to see a man running toward her. A second later she realized it was Guy and waved. “What are you doing here already?”

He ran to where she was standing and wrapped her in his arms. “I couldn’t sleep so I decided to pack up my things and drive back. I saw your note and didn’t want to wait any longer to see you. I hope I didn’t interrupt your prayer time.”

“I’m just glad you’re safe.” Ellen nestled in his arms for a few moments, then pushed back and looked up at him. “You must be exhausted.”

“I just needed to be with you. I have so much to tell you. Some of it will be pretty upsetting.”

Ellen looked deep into his eyes and couldn’t decide if what she saw was anxiety or guilt. “Maybe I should make you breakfast before we get into this.”

“I’d just as soon get it off my chest.”

“All right.”

Guy took her hand and trudged across the dry sand, then sat in it.

Ellen sat next to him, hugging her knees. “Guy, you’re scaring me. Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“Not with the law.”

Ellen prayed silently,
Lord, help me hear this with Your ears and react with Your words
.

“Honey, everything I’ve told you about the break-ins, the cocaine I found, confronting Kinsey with it, and going to the police is true. But some things have happened since then that you need to know about.”

Ellen listened as Guy told her about Kinsey calling and asking him to meet her, how reluctant he was to do it, and what she wanted. He told how Duncan Manning had followed Kinsey and soon suspected that the man who had banged on her motel room door was not a loan shark. Guy explained how he had withdrawn fifteen thousand dollars from the bank, and then described his ordeal of being held at knifepoint in the stairwell.

Ellen shuddered. “I’m sure you realize you could’ve been killed!”

“By the grace of God, I wasn’t. And the minute Duncan called back and said he thought Kinsey was dealing drugs, my lending her money was out of the question.” Guy seemed pensive and appeared to be staring at nothing. “There’s more.”

He told Ellen about yesterday’s meeting with Kinsey and recounted her explanation of why and how she had gotten involved in cocaine and why her supplier kept upping her debt.

Ellen felt the muscles in her neck tighten. “Kinsey’s supplier thinks you’re her
boyfriend
, and the two of you ripped him off?”

“She said she tried setting him straight, but he doesn’t believe her.”

“What would make him think you’re her boyfriend?”

“He must’ve been following her because he knew she had stayed at my place and that I had gone to hers. Remember I told you I went to her condo to confront her about the cocaine?”

“You said you confronted her. You never said
where
.”

Guy’s eyebrows gathered. “I also went there for lunch one day—for spinach salad. Nothing else.”

“How could you be so careless? For a man who’s so concerned about his image, not to mention his marriage, you certainly set yourself up to fall!”

“I was looking for answers, honey. Cheating was the furthest thing from my mind.”

“And, of course,
you
could never be tempted?” Ellen threw up her hands, then looked out over the water. “If this Blakely is out to get you, why didn’t he just kill you when he had the chance?”

“He probably wants what belongs to him. If he kills me, he gets nothing. If he intimidates me, he might get the thirty grand.”

“I shudder to think what might happen when he gets tired of trying to collect!” Ellen paused and realized she was shaking. “Who would have ever imagined Kinsey supplying drugs—and dragging you into it?”

“Though she knows it’s illegal, I don’t think she sees what she’s doing as morally wrong. If there’s any way she could pay off Blakely and keep dealing, she would.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“Ellen, she begged me not to turn her in. I told her I had no choice, and that I couldn’t believe she had exposed me and my family to this. She just stared at me with eyes so dead they gave me chills. She said she’d get out of my life so she wouldn’t put a strain on my storybook family. Then she got out of the car and ran off. I have no idea where she went. I hope and pray Rob Blakely doesn’t either.”

Guy lay on the porch swing at Owen and Hailey’s, his head propped on a cushion and his knees bent, watching a huge, fuzzy spider spinning a web in the corner of the ceiling. He heard a lawn mower in the distance, and the sound of children playing, and Sid’s cell phone ringing.

The front door opened and Ellen came outside and stood next to him. “Mind if I sit?”

Guy swung his legs off the side and sat up. “Not at all.”

Ellen sat next to him and pulled his arm around her shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re still speaking to me,” he said. “I hope you know I didn’t start out with the intention of withholding information from you.”

“And yet you did. The same way I did that time I followed up on a lead and went to Chicago without telling you—then ended up in the middle of a mob vendetta. Deception is easy to justify till we get caught.”

“You’re right. I knew you’d never agree to my lending Kinsey the money. If it’s any consolation, my conscience has tormented me.”

“Good.” Ellen linked her fingers with his and seemed to be lost in thought. “It’s baffling to me that you were willing to go to such extremes to help a drug dealer and yet belittled me for reaching out to people who’ve done
nothing
wrong … other than not measuring up to your standard of who a prominent attorney should be seen with.”

“I know, Ellen. You don’t need to remind me.”

“I think I do. Julie and Ross, Billy and Lisa, Blanche—and yes, even Mina and Ali—are decent, caring people. But because they don’t fit your social mold, you’ve acted as though they’re the dregs of the earth.”

Guy just listened.

“You do realize that once they arrest Kinsey, every detail will come out. So much for the perfect image you were worried about.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?”

“And unfortunate. I’m sure you’ll learn to hold your head high, but it’s going to be painful for a while. It seems the media is never kind these days—especially if they can turn something into a juicy scandal.”

“Brent says he’s going to do the damage control. He told me not to talk to the media.”

Ellen’s hand seemed to go limp. “You told
Brent
before you told me? What’s happening to us? We used to be so close I didn’t think anything could come between us. Now I’m not so sure. Without communication, what we’ve got isn’t much better than cohabitation.”

“It’s not
that
bad.”

“Yet. At the rate we’re going, we might end up old and miserable and stuck with each other. I always envisioned us growing old together—the darling twosome shuffling down the sidewalk hand-in-hand, drawing the attention of couples that hope they’ll still be in love when they’re our age. Now I picture us eating our meals in front of the television with nothing to say to each other.”

“My outlook is more positive than yours.”

“Well, Owen’s certainly isn’t. He won’t say it, but I think he’s scared we’re going to end up divorced.”

Guy lifted his eyebrows. “Divorced? How could he even think that?”

“Because he’s baffled that we seem to be so much at odds lately.”

“Well, divorce is not an option.”

Ellen looked at him, her eyes glistening, her nose red. “I know it’s not an option. But I don’t want us to end up emotionally bankrupt and spend the rest of our days simply tolerating each other because we promised we would.”

 25
 

A
t five o’clock on Saturday evening, Gordy Jameson walked into the crab shack from the back deck and spotted Ellen and Guy Jones coming in the front door. He walked over to them and rested one hand on Ellen’s shoulder and shook Guy’s hand with the other. “Good to see you two. Are you back in your own house now?”

“No,” Ellen said. “It’ll be at least Wednesday before the workmen are done.”

“Still don’t know who tore it up?”

“The police aren’t finished investigating,” Guy said. “So how’re you feeling a week away from tying the knot?”

“Cool as a cucumber, but I’ll be happy when it’s all over and we get Pam moved in. We just had the place remodeled. It’s gonna be great.”

“You’ve got a house on the beach, don’t you?” Guy said.

“Yeah, I bought it way back when beachfront property was affordable. The location’s great but it needed remodelin’. I turned Pam loose with all that. Looks like a new place.”

Ellen linked arms with him. “We’re so happy for you, Gordy. We’re looking forward to the wedding.”

“Yeah, me too. Don’t let me hold up your dinner. You wanna sit in your usual spot?”

“That’d be fine,” Guy said.

Gordy picked up two menus and led the Joneses to the corner table by the windows. “There you go. How about a couple of limeades—on the house?” He winked at Ellen.

She looked as though she were going to protest and then smiled. “Sure, why not?”

“I’ll get those right out to you. Enjoy your meal.”

Gordy went over and told the waitress to bring the limeades and noticed Will and Margaret Seevers sitting in a booth. He walked over and slid in beside Margaret and kissed her on the cheek. “How’s the matron of honor?”

Margaret laughed. “Starved. I may even order dessert tonight. But we’re going to
pay
for it,” she quickly added. “We didn’t think you’d be here. How come you’re working the evening shift?”

“I gave Weezie the weekend off. Told her to rest up since she’s gonna work double shifts while Pam and I are on our honeymoon.”

“Remind me how long you’re going to be gone?”

“Just three days. But I don’t trust anyone but Weezie to run the place.”

Gordy looked across the booth at Will, who seemed absorbed in the menu and hadn’t made eye contact with him. “Hey, Chief, would you mind comin’ down to my office for a minute? I need to tap your brain about somethin’.”

Will’s eyes never left the menu. “And I need to decide what I’m going to order.”

“You always end up getting the same thing.” Margaret snatched the menu from him. “Go on, I’ll order for you.”

“You two are so obvious.” Will slid out of the booth. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Gordy followed Will down the hall and into his office and shut the door. “How long are you gonna stay sore at me?”

“You as much as told me I’m incapable of doing my job, Gordy. How would you feel if I waltzed in here and told you I didn’t think you were treating your customers right—and that you couldn’t be objective about it? Frankly, I’m ticked. I don’t appreciate your penny ante opinions about stuff you know nothing about.”

Gordy sighed. “I apologize for hurtin’ your feelings. There’s no one I respect more than you. I didn’t mean what I said to be a personal attack.”

“Sure sounded that way to me.”