Fidelity (Infidelity #5)

CHARLI’S GRIP FINALLY loosened as her breathing found a steady rhythm. It was possible that I’d slept at some point during the night. I’m confident that I had when we’d first surrendered to sleep. After that, it was only for minutes at a time. Even when Charli wasn’t fully awake, her body twitched, her head shook, and she mumbled words.

I couldn’t make sense out of it until she began screaming. Her protests were loud and clear. My name even infiltrated her monologue. At first I assumed she was telling me no, but that wasn’t it. She was calling out to me, for me, and I wasn’t there.

As the sleepless night continued, with each of her outbursts—whether done in her sleep or causing her to wake—I saw red, blood red. Deep, dark crimson filled my vision as it flowed over my thoughts. My fists clenched, aching to connect, to seek vengeance, to mutilate Edward Spencer.

Charli had broken her promise to stay safe. I wasn’t blaming the victim. Like I’d said, no one deserved to be scared like that asshole had scared her; however, she’d made me one promise, the same one Jo had made, and by getting in that car, she’d broken it. I’d promised her consequences for her actions, and when the time was right she’d experience them, but her consequences weren’t what kept me from sleeping.

It was his consequences that kept me awake—and her stepfather’s too.

Slipping from our warm bed, I eased into a pair of jeans from the closet, grabbed my phone and opened the door to the balcony. A gust of cool late-morning air made me turn, hoping I hadn’t woken Charli. I hadn’t. Buried under the covers, her only movement—the rise and fall from her breathing—verified she was finally sleeping.

Sighing, I made my way outside and quietly closed the door behind me.

With the sun fully up, the breeze showed itself on the sound as white caps dotting the surface and muting the colors. The bright blues of summer were fading. To the side of the property I took in the dense line of trees. Some stood bare like skeletons of their former selves, the seclusion they’d granted with their leaves now gone. The former shields were now dried, brown, and dead, their useless bodies scattered over the lawns. The few leaves remaining kept the grayness of winter at bay, holding tight to the autumn colors—the oranges, yellows, and reds.

A little farther south from my house was a yacht club. On a Sunday during the summer, the water would be alive with activity. But November in New York didn’t lend itself to sailing. Stepping to the railing I inhaled, expanding my chest and filling my lungs with the brisk air. The cold burn was the wake-up call I needed. As my thoughts volleyed with the recent and not-so-recent past, the chilly surface of the decking made itself known under my bare feet.

Soon enough I’d go downstairs for coffee. First, I had a call to make.

“Lennox,” Deloris answered on the first ring.

“Tell me what’s happening.”

“The Montague lawyers are doing their best, but Spencer is still in jail.”

“What did you learn about the body?”

“Not much. They still haven’t confirmed it as Melissa Summers. They’ve called her family to identify her.”

“Identify? So the body is identifiable?”

“So it seems.”

Wouldn’t that mean she was recently killed? I ran my hand through my hair as the autumn scene before me disappeared and Alton Fitzgerald’s face came back to my memory. “Fitzgerald came to the interrogation room at the police station last night. He accused me of being behind this whole thing—some mastermind plot to incriminate Spencer. He said he knew Melissa Summers was connected to Infidelity. When I saved Charli, I’d mentioned that Spencer was a client. Fitzgerald threatened to figure out the connection and told me that my plan wouldn’t work.”

“He accused you of planting the body?”

“Not in so many words, but yeah, he did.”

“He’s grasping at straws. He and his crooked police and judges can’t ignore a dead woman on Spencer’s property.”

My teeth clenched. “This is going to be a nightmare. If he exposes Infidelity…”

“As I said, he’s desperate. Before yesterday everything was circumstantial. Now they found a body. That combined with Melissa’s earlier statements… Lennox, you didn’t even know who she was when she went to the police. There’s no connection. Alton Fitzgerald is grasping. I’ve been listening to their phones,” Deloris went on, “and audio from Montague Manor. The surveillance was set up in the manor during the chaos as guests left the party last night. The crew was in and out dressed as part of the catering staff. Mr. Demetri also secured audible surveillance at Montague Corporation and Hamilton and Porter. I can’t listen to everything at once, but I have a team working on it. We’ll know what they’re thinking as soon as they do.”

“It’s Sunday. The law and corporate offices should be closed.”

“The law office has been buzzing. Are you kidding?”

“Is Fitzgerald there?”

“No. He was at Magnolia Woods and now is back to the police station. The poor man hasn’t gotten any sleep. I’ve listened as he’s yelled at Mrs. Spencer about it all morning.”

Mrs. Spencer. The name reminded me of Charli instead of Edward’s mother.

“What do you know about the marriage license they showed me yesterday?”

“Have you talked to Alex about it?”