Maybe Len had harbored a real crush on her for a while, but now his arm was angled over Karen’s chair. His smile for her appeared both warm and sincere. She was happy for them both. Just lonely for herself.
At last time wound away and the party began to break up. Ashley had been so relieved to see Karen that she had forgotten David Wharton’s insistence that she tell him where she was going to be, but now she realized he’d never shown up. Too bad. The party was over and Jan was going to take her home.
Karen was going with Len. Being Karen, she took a minute to whisper to Ashley and Jan when they rose to go. “Can you believe I went through with this surgery now? He was amazing in bed! I have to admit, I’ve never been so vocal in my life, but he’s built like Atlas. I was screaming from the minute I saw him.”
“Spare us the details,” Jan said firmly.
“No problem, because we’re leaving. Len?”
“Good night all,” Len said, waving as he and Karen started toward the door, hand in hand.
“Doesn’t that just beat all?” Jan said. She yawned. “We need to get going, too.”
“Right. Thank you, everyone,” Ashley said, as Jan grabbed her arm.
But when they stepped outside the restaurant, David Wharton was there. Ashley nearly crashed into him.
“Hi. Boy, I’m really late, aren’t I? The party is over, I see.”
Ashley introduced him to whoever was still around and of course to Jan, who seemed more than appreciative.
“Hey—did your other friend show up?” he asked Ashley.
“Yes, she did, she was fine.”
“That’s a relief,” he said. “What happened to her?”
“A long story,” Ashley said.
“Liposuction,” Jan told him, then turned away for a moment as Gwyn asked her something.
David grinned. “Can I give you a ride home, Ashley? We can talk.”
She hesitated. He lowered his head, his voice low. “C’mon. I can hardly be planning to do you in when at least half a dozen would-be cops know you’re leaving with me.”
“All right. Jan, you’re off the hook,” she called out. “David is going to drive me.”
“Okay. Good night, then.” As Jan hugged her, she said, “Ash, my Lord, first Len and now him? How do you do it?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Hey, I’m not Karen. How do you know what I’m thinking?” Jan winked at her, told David it was a pleasure to meet him and waved to the others. Ashley started across the lot with David Wharton. They reached his car, and she climbed in the passenger seat. After he had put the car in gear and reached the road, she stared at him, frowning.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“A great deal. Did you know that Stuart is showing signs of improvement?”
“Yes. How do you know?”
“I have my ways,” he told her. “And Peter Bordon was seriously injured in a prison brawl.”
“Yes, I heard. What does that have to do with Stuart?”
He stared at the road and swore softly at a car that cut him off. “Let’s wait until we get to your place. Did you find out about the property?”
“Not yet. Sharon hadn’t been back yet when I went home to shower, but the files should be in my room by now. She was going to leave it for me.”
“When we see it, I’ll explain what’s going on.”
“David, this mystery stuff is getting annoying.”
“We’re almost there.”
He parked at Nick’s. It was Friday night, and the place was jumping. He hesitated in the car.
“What is the matter with you?” she demanded.
“I don’t want to be seen.”
She sighed. “We can go in through the house entrance, though Sharon and my uncle may be around.”
“Let’s chance it.”
“Why don’t you want to be seen?” she asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“Because Nick’s is always full of cops, and you know I’m persona non grata with them.”
They went through the house. As Sharon had promised, the file was on Ashley’s bed. David picked it up, not noticing that there was a second one underneath. He sat on Ashley’s bed, eagerly looking through the papers. “Caleb Harrison was the buyer,” he said, perplexed.
Ashley studied the information in the other file. A chill swept over her, along with a surge of fury. She stared at him, and he must have felt the anger emanating from her, because he looked up, too. As he did, something hard settled over his features.
“Ashley—”
“You son of a bitch! You own the property next door!”
She was furious, but something about the way he looked alarmed her. She turned to head out of her room.
She didn’t reach the door. He was behind her instantly, grabbing her around the waist with one hand, strangling the scream that would have torn from her lips with the other.
CHAPTER 21
Midnight. Jake dozed and woke, dozed and woke. His muscles stiffened and cramped each time he sat in one position too long.
Still Bordon clung to life.