Lost Along the Way(93)

“Joke’s over. I don’t know who you are, but I’ll only repeat myself once. Get out of my house before I call the police,” Reed said, fumbling around the floor looking for his pants.

Cara held up her cell phone. “I don’t think you want to do that. Don’t you want to see what’s on this first?”

“What are you talking about?” Reed asked again. “Are you drunk?”

Cara tossed him her phone. “Go ahead,” she said. “Scroll to the left.”

Cara watched as Reed glanced down at the pictures. His hands began to shake, then his ears turned bright red when he processed what he was seeing. He scrolled through shot after shot of him lying naked on the couch with Jane Logan, persona non grata in any circle within a hundred miles of New York City, straddling him, nuzzling his neck, wearing his wife’s pearls. Cara had to admit they’d done very, very good work.

“What the hell is this? When did this happen? This doesn’t make any sense . . .” He trailed off as he started to piece together the last few things he remembered, exactly the way Cara knew he would. “Oh my God. The tea. You drugged me.”

“‘Drugged’ is a strong word. I helped you sleep. That’s all.”

“Have you gone completely crazy? You psychotic bitch!” he screamed.

“Sweet-talking won’t get you anywhere,” Cara said, knowing full well how much he hated to be antagonized.

“Those are pictures of you cheating on your wife with a well-known but not well-loved woman. I believe you recognize Jane Logan,” Nick said effortlessly, keeping in character as Cara’s attorney.

“Where is she?” Reed asked, hopping off the couch. He ran into the kitchen, checked the bathroom, opened the coat closet as if this were some twisted game of hide-and-seek. “Jane!” he screamed. Nick and Cara sat quietly on the couch while Reed scoured the first floor for signs of his nemesis. “Jane, get out here!”

“She’s not here,” Cara said, feeling icy and calm.

“As you can see,” Nick said from his place on his couch, “these pictures are quite incriminating. If you look closely you’ll notice your wedding photo is prominently displayed in the pictures. There is no doubt that these photos were taken in your home, and that Mrs. Logan is wearing your wife’s necklace. Should these photos surface in the tabloids, your reputation would be irrevocably damaged. From what your wife tells me, you’d rather choose death. I think maybe it’s time you sit back down and listen to what we have to say.”

Reed grabbed the phone and feverishly began deleting the photos. When he was convinced they’d all been erased from the memory card, he dropped the phone back on the couch. “That’s it? That’s your big plan? You go through all of this and then you just turn over your cell phone? You’re more of an idiot than I thought, Cara. Now what are you going to do?”

“Actually, neither one of us is as stupid as you’d like to believe. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but copies of those photos have been sent to my law offices. Copies have also been placed in a safe deposit box controlled by Jane Logan with instructions that should anything happen to her, they’ll be released to a certain tabloid editor who has been quite anxious to get an exclusive interview with her. As you can imagine, she’s not all that concerned about these pictures being released. In fact, she couldn’t care less. She has bigger things to deal with at the moment.”

“This is blackmail,” Reed said, the color draining first from his earlobes, and then from his entire face.

“I like to think of it as persuasive reasoning. That sounds much better. Don’t you think?” Cara said. “Besides, blackmail is illegal. I would never dream of breaking the law. I’m just a stupid housewife, remember?”

“You’re willing to embarrass yourself by making it look like I had an affair with your slut friend?” Reed seethed. “Your pride is worth that little to you?”

“Slut friend? Hmmm. That’s interesting. Didn’t you tell Cody that neither you nor I knew her? When Tabitha mentioned that she saw her outside our house, didn’t you say that it was ridiculous, and that you’d never seen her before in your life? Looks like you’re going to have to explain that to the fellows at the club. Do you think they’ll believe that li’l ol’ me orchestrated this? Or do you think it’s more likely that they’ll take one look at these photos and figure you were sleeping with her and then lying to cover it up? I’d imagine that will make for some pretty good gossip at the next poker game, don’t you?”

“Oh my God. Cody and Tabitha are supposed to pick us up tomorrow for the party,” Reed said. “Did you send these to Tabitha?”

“No. Not yet,” Cara answered. “I texted her and told her not to pick us up. No one knows anything as of now, but believe me when I tell you that it won’t take much for me to make sure that every guy you hang out with sees these pictures. Don’t push me.”

“I never liked Jane. Not from day one,” Reed said, his mind clearly processing the fact that Cara now single-handedly controlled his precious social life.

“She knows, but she doesn’t care. Never did, and neither do I,” Cara answered, smiling as she echoed Jane’s exact thoughts when they’d discussed Reed’s opinion of her in the kitchen only a week ago.