she absolutely could not reveal any information involving Will or any other students.
“If you turn in that list, what happens next?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you could make a pretty good guess.”
He was a bright man. “Yes.”
“And?”
“My guess is you’ll lose the scholarship.” She quickly added, “But you won’t have to pay back the money already spent.”
He nodded again, the tightening of his jaw the only evidence of the emotions that had to be roiling through him.
Addy took a deep breath, praying for the strength to get through this while she slowly unraveled inside.
He couldn’t see that. Couldn’t know what this was doing to her. She wasn’t going to play the vulnerable-woman card. He didn’t deserve that garbage.
“What are you going to do?” he finally asked.
“What would you have me do?” If he asked her to throw the list in the trash, would she?
Mark was silent for so long she figured he wasn’t going to answer her. When he finally spoke, it was only to ask, “Who are you working for?”
“I can’t disclose that information.”
“Why not? Is someone forcing you to do this against your will? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
Addy’s eyes filled with tears. Even now he was coming to her rescue. For the first time in her life she wished she was in trouble.
“No.”
“Is someone blackmailing you?”
“No.”
“That cop that was behind you yesterday—he has something to do with this, doesn’t he?”
“I can’t say.”
“Are you part of an investigation?”
“As a suspect, you mean?”
His gaze narrowed again and, too late, she realized she’d just given him a clue. “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”
“No.”
“So you’re involved in an investigation, but not as a suspect.”
Her silence told him what he wanted to know. But if she’d denied the allegation, he’d have known she was lying.
And that’s why it had been wrong to sleep with him. She’d handed him the keys to her heart—to the ability to read through her subterfuge.
“Who are you?”
She didn’t answer. She tried, but no words formed.
“What are you?”
“What does that mean?”
“Are you a cop?”
“No.”
“What, then?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
Mark’s jaw dropped. He swung around toward the door. Swung back. Stared at her as though she’d sprung up from the sewer, turned and left.
And Addy learned something new.
It took only one second for a heart to break.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MARK MADE BACON. And eggs and toast, too.
He sat at the kitchen table and forked food into his mouth, chewed and swallowed, all the while pretending that he didn’t see his grandmother’s knowing stare.
He couldn’t answer to her. Not this morning.
Sometimes a man just needed space for himself.
It was something he couldn’t help.
“You slept with her!”
“That’s none of your damned business.”
“Uh-oh. What happened?”
Mark jabbed at the last piece of fried egg on his plate, turned his fork prong down and shoved the egg into his mouth.
“You didn’t hurt her, did you? She’s different than the girls in Bierly. Some girls are just raised more fragile. Don’t you worry none about it....”
Taking his plate to the sink, Mark ran water over the egg yolk and left the dish and his silverware to soak.
* * *
SHE HAD TO TURN over the list. No matter how much Addy loved Mark, the fact remained that his scholarship posed the most risk as being the cause of the threats against Will. The timing was right. The letters had started arriving almost to the day that Mark had accepted entrance into the university. It was too much of a coincidence for her to ignore.
Will was counting on her.
She’d not only given him her word, she’d taken payment for her professional services. While technically it could be argued that because there was no formally signed fee agreement, she was not beholden to professional ethics in this case, the argument would be weak at best. And wrong.
Wiping tears from her face, Addy sat at her kitchen table, dressed and ready to leave for campus as soon as she reapplied the makeup she’d cried off, and knew what she had to do.
But first, she picked up the prepaid cell phone given to her by Sheriff Richards and dialed. Mark’s phone.
He still might not pick up if he saw the unidentified number on his caller display and suspected that it was her. She wouldn’t blame him. But figured she had a better chance of getting him if he didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello.”
“It’s Addy.”
“I figured.” And he’d still answered. She took that as a good sign.
“I’m getting ready to head out to campus to drop off yesterday’s assignment. Nonnie calls me from the porch anytime