Hunted Love (A Dangerous Kind of Love Book 2) (19 page)

Ashton said flipping the page. “The Howard Hotel ten minutes away from the pub.”

“Why would she call a hotel?” Sarah asked.

Ashton flipped another page over. “According to the clerk, Robin was looking for a place to stay and called to see if they had a room available. She probably decided to stay at the hotel when she couldn’t get anyone to pick her up and take her back home. Unfortunately, she died before she could get there.”

Jamie scowled at the table. “I can’t believe Kristen and Phoebe talked to her that night and never said a word.”

“At least you now know who she talked to at home that night,” Sarah said. “Now, if we could just figure out why her sisters refused to help her.”

Ashton shut the file and leaned back in the chair. “What was she doing at the pub so late at night?”

“She wanted to run away,” Jamie said. “She was angry at her father and wanted to disappear to someplace far away.”

“What made her change her mind?” Ashton asked. “Why did she call her sisters to come and get her?”

“Her plans suddenly changed,” he said cryptically glancing over to the door.

Ashton raised her eyebrow, and when Jamie didn’t say any more, she sighed. “So, this Danny guy heard the sisters talking a few months ago about that secret phone call,” she said, “then the pub is attacked shortly after. Have you considered the possibility that Robin’s killer isn’t after anyone? Maybe it’s someone close to Robin that is trying to get revenge on anyone they think is responsible for Robin’s death.”

“Yes, I have,” Sarah said, “but that still doesn’t change the fact that I have nothing to do with Robin’s murder. I didn’t even know her.”

“But you know me.” Jamie looked thoughtful. “I’m not entirely certain that someone wants to kill you. I’ve been thinking about it all night. Fletcher could have killed you at the gym. It would have been easy enough to do. He had plenty of time to do it, but he didn’t. He left you alive.”

“Just barely,” Ashton said. “If she had hit her head any harder—”

“He was playing with her. If he wanted her—” His jaw clenched. “If whoever hired him wanted her dead, Fletcher would have killed her. Since he didn’t that must mean that they didn’t want her dead. They just wanted to scare her.”

“Why?” Sarah asked, turning his attention back to her.

“I’m not sure but . . . I think you might be bait.”

Sarah exchanged a glance with Ashton before turning back to Jamie. “Bait? For what?”

“For me,” he admitted softly. “I think someone wanted to draw me out or maybe they just want to hurt me by going after you.”

“Which goes back to our revenge theory,” Ashton said. “This isn’t about Sarah at all. It’s about you and Robin.”

“Maybe.” Jamie frowned. “Nathan seems to think Wade Hogan is behind this. He thinks Wade wants revenge for the things Patrick O’Malley did. I think Nathan’s not telling me everything, but I haven’t been able to talk to Hogan yet to see what he says about it.”

“Wade Hogan? You know, now that I think about it, something else happened at the Valentine’s Day party that was a bit disturbing. While I was passing around champagne, I saw Wade Hogan grab Kristen’s arm. I became so concerned I walked over to them to make sure she was all right and I overheard them talking as I came near. Apparently, they had some sort of relationship in the past and now he wants her back.”

Jamie’s brow furrowed. “Wade Hogan and Kristen O’Malley? When did that happen? Wade went to prison shortly after I did and got released around the same time.”

“I don’t know,” Sarah said. “I just know it was in the past and he’s still not over her.”

Jamie looked thoughtful. “Hogan’s after the pub too. Danny said that Wade sent some of his men to break his fingers when he refused to hand over the deed.” He glanced back at Ashton. “Do you think you can get me out?”

Ashton didn’t say anything at first. “Maybe. They have preliminary hearings set for this afternoon. I’ll talk to the prosecutor and see if I can get you on the docket. If I can get the officer and Fletcher there, we may have a shot at working out some type of deal. I have certain conditions though.”

“Name them.”

Her gaze flickered to Sarah. “Sarah, I need to talk to him alone.” When her sister started to protest, she added, “I talk to him alone or I walk out.”

“Fine,” Sarah said pushing herself away from the table and toward the door. “I’ll wait in the courtroom.”

Jamie shook his head. “No, you need to leave now.”

“I’m going to stay for your arraignment.”

A look of panic crossed his face. “No!”

“Jamie—”

“I don’t want you there,” he said in an agitated tone of voice.

“I don’t want to leave you alone, Jamie,” Sarah said softly. “If this was happening to me, I’d be scared to death.”

“I’m not scared. It’s not like I’ve never been through this before.”

“I’d want you with me,” she admitted quietly.

His face softened. “Please, Sarah. There’s no reason for you to stay. You need to get moving and find somewhere safe to stay. We don’t know where Fletcher is or what he’s up to. Please. You’d just be wasting time waiting for me. Your sister can call you and tell you what happened at the hearing. Please Sarah. Please go. I can’t protect you now and you need to hurry.”

Sarah closed her eyes in defeat. “All right. I’ll go.”

“Where?” Ashton asked.

“Home.” She lifted her hands in surrender. “I’ll call Casey and see if he can come over.”

“He’s not going to be able to protect you,” Jamie said. “Not from Fletcher. Pay attention to your surroundings. Make sure he’s not following you and disappear. Just get away from here. Until I can get out of here and do something about all of this, that’s your only chance.”

“Don’t worry about me, Jamie. I’ll be fine,” she said before stepping out into the hall. She wordlessly followed the guard to the door and then out into the front of the courthouse. She was half way to her car when she noticed a familiar face sliding out of a fancy expensive looking red sports car parked at the end of the lot away from other cars.

“Doctor Shaw?” she called out as Brian walked past her towards the courthouse.

He jerked his head to the side at her call. Lifting a hand in front of his eyes to block the morning sun, he looked at her with a quizzical expression on his face. Finally, he smiled in recognition. “Oh hello. How are you feeling?”

She nodded a greeting as he came nearer. “Good.”

“Any dizziness?”

“None. I’m just a bit sore but other than that I’m fine. How’s Phoebe? Is she okay?”

He looked at her strangely for a moment. “Of course, why wouldn’t she be?”

“She seemed pretty upset last night.”

He let out a weary sigh. “She’s been unhappy since we returned. She had been so excited—couldn’t wait to get here—but since all this began . . .” he said waving his hand around, “she’s just been crying all the time. I guess I better give her a call.” He snapped his fingers. “Which reminds me. She’s been looking for you.” The corner of his lips quirked up. “Apparently, you took off with her favorite pair of boots the other night.”

Sarah lifted a hand to her head with a groan. “I’m so sorry. I completely forgot. I meant to bring them back to the pub the other day but it just slipped my mind.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. She’ll survive. She’s got a whole closet full of boots.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to return them today.”

He chuckled at the seriousness in her tone. “No hurry. It’s not like you’re suddenly going to disappear into thin air.”

“Well, let’s hope not.”

“You know, we should probably get to know each other better. I’m one of Jamie’s closest friends—I’m his only friend, actually—I can tell you stories about him.”

Sarah smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Good. How about I take you to lunch after the arraignment?”

She checked her watch. “Actually, I’ll have to take a raincheck on that. I’m afraid I have to go home and pack.”

“Pack?” He frowned. “You’re not leaving are you?”

“Well, no, not exactly,” she said not sure how much she trusted the doctor. He supposedly was Jamie’s friend but discretion didn’t seem like his forte.

“Oh, well good,” he said when she didn’t say any more. “Jamie needs his friends to stick beside him.” He inclined his head to the courthouse. “Did he call you? I bet he threw you out, didn’t he?” Before she could answer with that privilege belonged to her sister, he added, “Don’t take it personally. In fact, that shows how much he cares about you. It’s only the people he’s really close to that he sends away. He doesn’t like people to see him like that. He’s too proud.”

“Are you sure he’ll want to see you then?”

“Well, right now, I’m more of a servant than a friend. I’m here to bail him out. Hopefully, they don’t set his bail too high.” Before she could respond, he added, “You know, I’m not made of money. I’m still paying off my student loans and he should see the rent on my apartment. Everyone thinks doctors are rich. Well, not at first they’re not.” He ran fingers through his black hair as the wind swept through, pushing it forward into his eyes. “So, what happened last night anyway?”

Brian’s eyes widened as she told him about Fletcher and the fight at the pub. “Hank Fletcher’s back in town?” He ran his hand through his dark hair as he let out a low whistle. “That’s bad. That is really bad.” His gaze lost focus as he stared at the pavement. “Why would he be after you?”

“Jamie thinks that Fletcher was using me as bait to get him here. We think that someone might be trying to get revenge for the past.”

“Nathan,” he muttered almost under his breath as his eyes lost focus.

“What?”

He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t listen to me. He was just the first person I thought of.”

“Why?”

Brian looked uncomfortable for a moment. “It’s nothing. I just remembered standing in this parking lot the last time Jamie was being arraigned and Nathan swearing he was going to kill Jamie if he was released. He and Robin were engaged to be married when she died—this was before he and Kristen got together.” Brian made a face. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Nathan’s all talk. He was probably just showing off, trying to make himself seem like a big man for Robin’s father. He’d never get revenge. To be honest, I never thought he cared for Robin as much as he said he did.”

“Then why did he want to marry her?”

“Because he wanted to be an O’Malley. Nathan’s father used to be Patrick O’Malley’s best friend. He died saving Patrick’s life one night when Nathan was about sixteen years old and out of loyalty to his old pal, Patrick started treating Nathan like the son he never had. That’s one good thing you could say about Patrick. He loved children. If he found one in need, he brought them in, and he and his wife took care of them. I mean, he wasn’t the greatest father, but I think he did care for them in his own way. Anyway, he moved Nathan into Bellemeade, started teaching him the business, and basically made him a part of the family. When he turned twenty, it was decided that Nathan would become a permanent member of the family by marrying one of Patrick’s daughters. Well, Kristen was a few years older than he was and Phoebe was way too young, so that left Robin who was about the same age as him. There was just one problem, Robin wasn’t having it. She told her father that she’d die before she ever married Nathan Blake.”

“That couldn’t have made her father happy.”

Brian snorted. “Patrick O’Malley was never happy, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was only when it came out a few months later that Jamie and Robin were lovers that he was finally able to get what he wanted. He got some of his goons to beat Jamie up. Then he told Robin that she could either start planning for her and Nathan’s wedding or Jamie’s funeral. It was her choice. She agreed to marry Nathan the very next day.”

Sarah tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as the wind blew through the parking lot. “I can’t imagine a father doing that to his child.”

“You’ve never met Patrick O’Malley.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “It broke Robin’s heart, but she knew her father was serious. She knew that if she didn’t go through with the wedding, he would try to kill Jamie.”

“Did Jamie know why she broke it off with him?”

“He knew.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Not that it mattered. Jamie’s invincible, and you know, young love, especially forbidden love, is pretty hard to resist.”

A wave of jealously went through Sarah but she pushed it away, embarrassed with herself for being jealous of a dead girl.

“Not even the threat of death could keep them apart,” Brian said. “It wasn’t long before they immediately started making plans.”

“What sort of plans?” she asked lifting her gaze back up to him.

“They were going to run away, go somewhere where her father and his goons could never find them. Didn’t work though. The night they were supposed to run away someone killed her.” He looked back at the courthouse. “I still can’t believe she’s dead. Even after all these years it still doesn’t feel real. It makes me so angry when I think someone could kill such a beautiful girl and just walk away as if nothing happened. How could someone do that? Don’t they understand the pain and anguish her death caused? I’ll never understand how anyone could be so cruel. Everything fell apart after she died. They hauled Jamie off to jail. People were walking on eggshells around Patrick, afraid he’d snap at any moment. The funeral was the most depressing thing I had ever been to. I remember it storming that day and there was Nathan, his arm around Kristen, comforting her. He couldn’t even wait until Robin was in the ground before he moved on to the next eligible O’Malley girl. We were back just a few weeks later for Patrick O’Malley’s funeral and there was Nathan again with his trusty umbrella standing next to Kristen by Patrick’s grave. I just kept thinking, poor Kristen. It looked like someone had ripped out her heart. Phoebe too. Nothing was ever the same after that and it all started with Robin’s murder.”