Fatal Intent - Jamie Jeffries Page 0,70

she would have to stop thinking about only herself and her own feelings. She’d have to start thinking about others, and how her actions and attitude affected them. She’d treated Dylan very badly!

“I don’t know how to apologize to him and get over what I’ve done. He told me to stay away from the Patriots, and I should have listened. I’m glad I didn’t though, except for how it’s going to make him feel. If I’d stayed away from them, I wouldn’t know about my mother.”

“Life isn’t always cut and dried, Alex. But when you love someone, you own up to your mistakes and then you move on.”

“What if he can’t forgive me?” Alex put her hand to her mouth and bit at a hangnail, and then put her hand under her leg to stop fidgeting.

“Well, that would tell you something about his true feelings. But from what you’ve told me about him before, I have a feeling he will. You won’t know until you try.”

Alex sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to find out the hard way. First I have to go talk to my dad. I have to tell him about Mom in person.”

“Have you forgiven him for not telling you about her before?”

“I guess.” Alex looked away.

“You might want to do that before you talk to him, if you want to have a relationship with him afterward. I wouldn’t suggest you take him that news while still angry. He might feel that you were exacting revenge for his failure to tell you the truth about your mother.”

Alex brought her head up sharply, a frown forming as she spoke. “No! I mean, I don’t want to hurt him. I just feel he needs to know.”

“Of course he does, and what you just said tells me you have forgiven him. So now, tell me what you’re going to do.”

Obediently, Alex summarized her plan. “I’m going to leave here and drive to Dodge to talk to my dad. I’ll spend the night, and then tomorrow I’ll drive to Tempe with my things and move in with Dylan, if he still wants me. I’ll apologize for the way I’ve been acting, and try to put this behind me.”

Alex left her counselor’s office feeling more confident and in control than she had in days. She had the beginnings of a plan, but the remainder would depend on Dylan. She was calm about that. Her counselor had made her understand that Dylan’s decisions were his own and she couldn’t control them. If she had screwed up their relationship, she’d have to think about how to move forward. But a warm glow around her heart when she thought about Dylan gave her hope that it wasn’t too late for them.

One thing was certain. Whatever she decided to do now, it wouldn’t be staying in Casa Grande. Many of the Patriots had been caught thanks to her, but she had no doubt others were out there somewhere, and her cover had been blown big-time. It remained to be seen whether they’d pursue her into a bigger town, where she could remain less visible.

All bets were off should she score a reporting job on a Phoenix TV station. She’d have to cross that bridge when she came to it. Realizing she was thinking in clichés, Alex shook herself again, this time physically.

Pull yourself together, girl. You’ve got a dad to devastate.

Alex had told the detective she thought they had the wrong man in jail for the murder of the woman she believed to be her mother. Arrangements were being made for a DNA test she thought might be unpleasant. But it was necessary for closure, even though she was morally certain her conclusions were right.

Legally, more hard evidence than a string of logical leaps would be needed to prove his innocence. Even if the remains did prove to be her mother, proving her death to be an accident—or suicide—would be another leap. Harvey Lloyd may or may not spend the rest of his life in prison for a murder he may or may not have committed. That wasn’t her concern. He’d no doubt murdered or caused the murder of others, so justice was being served anyway, even if it was for the wrong crime.

What concerned her was convincing her father. He’d lived in denial for so long. On the long drive to Dodge, she rehearsed several different approaches, but couldn’t decide on the best one. Waving at Rick, who was following her, she pulled over in