Daylight (Atlee Pine #3)(58)

“You want something?” she asked.

“Little early in the day for me,” said Pine. “And if you’re on meds, should you be drinking?”

“Oh, I just feel like living dangerously right now,” shot back Holden-Bryant.

“I’ll have a glass of sherry, if you have that,” said Blum.

“I have everything, sweetheart. And I can use a belt right now.”

She brought over a glass of sherry for Blum, then sat down on the bed with a glass of bourbon. She crossed her legs and took a healthy sip. She primly wiped her mouth, sighed, and said, “I was engaged to Jack. For well over a year. We dated for years before that.”

“Then it must have come as a shock to you that he was fathering another woman’s children,” said Pine.

“God, I wish I still smoked,” barked Holden-Bryant. She eyed Pine shrewdly. “Why are you really here?”

“I’m going to tell you something. Something startling. It will probably shock you, at least I hope that it does. And then let’s talk about it.”

Holden-Bryant stared at her for a moment, then swallowed the rest of her bourbon and rose to pour out another one. After she resettled on the bed Pine told her some of what had happened to her family, though she didn’t go into great detail and she didn’t mention the Vincenzos’ involvement, not by name. She was saving that revelation. Even so, as she spoke Holden-Bryant seemed to grow smaller and smaller on the enormous bed.

When Pine finished, she folded her arms over her chest and watched the older woman.

Holden-Bryant finished her second shot of bourbon and put the empty glass down on her nightstand.

She sat back against her expensive and plumped pillows. “This was all a long time ago.”

“Old sins cast long shadows,” remarked Blum.

“Is that what you think, I’m a sinner?”

Pine said, “I don’t know or care. I just want to know what you might have done back then when you found out about Jack and my mother.”

“You have no proof that I found out or did anything.”

“Then let me ask you directly: Did you know that Jack had slept with my mother and that she had become pregnant?”

“And I could answer that by saying you have no way to make me respond to that question.”

“You’re right about that. And the only thing I have to fire back is I would like to know what happened to my sister. Wouldn’t you, if our positions were reversed?”

“I was a criminal defense lawyer. I lived in hypotheticals, but that doesn’t mean I have to answer one.”

“Is it really a hypothetical?”

“I don’t know,” said Holden-Bryant coolly.

“Did you know about Jack and my mother?”

Holden-Bryant glanced at Blum. “You look like a mother.”

“Six times over.”

“I never had kids. Wanted them. But I was too busy professionally. When I got married, the men I married had been married before. They had kids and even grandkids. They didn’t want a do-over. So, I lost out there.”

“But my mother had two daughters,” said Pine. “At a very young age.”

“Jack always wanted children. If we had married, I’m sure we would have had kids together.”

“But you didn’t. You broke up. Why?”

She gave Pine a whimsical smile. “Why does anyone break up? There was an issue. A problem. A falling-out.”

“And specifically for you?” said Pine. “What was it?”

Holden-Bryant got up and started to pour herself another drink. “Sure you don’t want one?”

“All right. I’ll have what you’re having.”

“Now you’re talking.”

“But the thing is, I want you to start talking.”

She finished making the drinks and slowly walked back to them.

Now maybe we’ll get somewhere, thought Pine.





CHAPTER





38





JACK AND I JUST MOVED in different directions.”

Holden-Bryant had settled back on the bed after handing Pine her drink.

“Did anything prompt that?” Pine asked.

“Look, let’s cut to the chase. We all know what men are like.”

“And for at least one person here who may not know what you mean by that?”

“It’s hard enough to get men to commit. It’s virtually impossible under one circumstance.”

“Which is?” asked Pine.

Blum answered, “When the man no longer loves you because he loves someone else.”

“Bingo,” said Holden-Bryant, though her expression did not match the triumphant word.

“Jack loved my mother over you. And you were aware of that?”

“I had my suspicions.”

“Based on?”

The woman pointed her sharp chin at Pine and gave her a triumphant look. “I was a lawyer. I know how to find out things.”

“You had Jack followed?”

“I took steps to find out why the man I was going to marry suddenly didn’t want to marry me.”

“Did that include telling mobsters where to find me and my family so attempts could be made on our lives while we were in witness protection?”