All That Lies Broken (Ashmore's Folly Book 2) Read Online Free

back into her purse. “I’ve got to run. Can you get the check?”
    “Of course, but—”
    Diana shook her head wildly. “Sorry. Can’t right now.” She threw the last of the debris in her purse and clambered out of the booth. She leaned down and brushed her lips against Lucy’s cheek. “I’ll call you later, promise! Bye.”
    And she ran out the door as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her ankles.
    It’s official , Lucy thought. The world has gone mad.
    She paid the bill – this was the third time in a row that Diana had stuck her with the tab, she was taking it out of Diana’s pay from the club the next time she cut checks – and left to walk to her office. It was 8:15 now, and the business district was coming alive. Her office was five blocks straight, and Richard’s office was down two blocks – she stopped.
    He had to sign the petition, swear that everything was true and that there was no hope for reconciliation. He’d told Tom that he’d be out of the office for the morning, but maybe he hadn’t left yet. She could try to catch him—
    No, she wasn’t ready to talk to him yet, not until she had time to think. Better to messenger the petition to him for signature when he got back, and she’d file it during the afternoon.
    First things first. She had to find out if Laura had lied to her. Diana had included too much detail – the parallel crashes in the Texas Panhandle – to dismiss her story out of hand. She’d chart out that story about Francie’s death on Ash Marine, separate fact from fiction. See if Laura had indeed woven life and fantasy together into a tapestry of death and betrayal.
    Because, if Francie had indeed died on Ash Marine, and Diana hadn’t killed her – and Di was right, a sneak attack wasn’t her style – then who by her own admission had been the only other one there? Who had taken the gun? Who had mothered Francie’s child? Who had suffered a lifetime of coming in second best to Francie?
    But Laura hadn’t killed Francie. Lucy felt sure about that. Leave home without a word, shut out her family, take another’s child as her own, stay married to a man she didn’t love, maybe even – better not! – go off with her sister’s estranged husband – oh, Laura could do that, and more. But kill?
    So she had to clear Laura before Diana started to come to the logical conclusion.
    Then she’d deal with Laura’s whereabouts over the weekend.
    ~•~
    Conversations decorated the day, beads on a loosely strung necklace.
    The first came early, as Laura lay in bed, loathe to rise, loathe to relinquish the warmth of the comforter he had draped over her the night before as she hovered between sleep and wakefulness. I have to leave, he’d whispered to her. No, don’t get up, I’ll let myself out…. She’d remembered his lips on hers throughout the night; she’d wrapped the comforter around herself to compensate for his loss. During the night, Max had taken his place, and the heat of his purring body had made her warm and secure.
    When the phone rang, Max raised his head hopefully to see if she was ready to do her duty and feed him breakfast. He’d been extraordinarily patient the day before, not making his demands known until she had gone into the kitchen to make omelets for dinner.
    She reached for her cell phone and squinted at the caller ID. Her lover had programmed in his various numbers over dinner, taking over the speed dial buttons once occupied by Cam. “Morning,” she murmured lazily in her best bedroom voice, and Richard laughed, a low, masculine laugh that made her want to sink further into the featherbed.
    “I wouldn’t mind hearing that every morning,” he said. “Did you sleep well?”
    She couldn’t help smiling as she snuggled back into the comforter. “Oh, yes.” She’d slept soundly, the result of two fitful nights, two days of considerable walking, and a morning and afternoon of emotional peaks and valleys. “How about you?”
    “Well