Betrayed

The clerk in the hardware store looked up from a magazine she had been reading and nodded at Lance as he entered. He saw what he was looking for on the end of the aisle close to the front of the store. Taking it off the display, he stared with unseeing eyes at the prepaid phone in his hand as his thoughts waged an internal debate.

I could call and tell her I have a phone, just in case she ever wants to contact me. Just in case things don’t work out for her in Denver. The clerk at the register glanced over at him and then returned to her magazine.

I could tell her I bought it because she told me I ought to have one. Just keep things light until I test the waters. But maybe she won’t want to hear from me. Maybe she’s trying to forget me. He wrestled with his impulses.

What if she’s happy to be home with her husband? What if my call just messes things up for her? Finally, he put the phone back on the rack and left the store empty-handed.

Chapter 56

The following week, Brook arrived for her second meeting with her lawyer. During the first appointment, she’d held back a lot, focused only on getting the divorce proceedings started. This time, however, she elicited a promise of confidentiality from him, and then laid out the ugly truth of her situation. She kept her eyes on him as she spoke, and watched the expression on his face shift from sympathy to disbelief, to shock, and finally acceptance. He picked up a pencil and began writing furiously on his pad, looking up at her from time to time and posing short questions to clarify some point or another.

After listening to Brook’s tale, the attorney sat mute for several long moments, staring down at his yellow legal pad. Brook had never seen Alan Brentwood speechless before. Finally, he laid his pencil aside and shook his head.

“This is incredible. Just incredible.” His expression was frank, open. “At first I couldn’t figure out why you’d want a divorce. I thought you would need your husband more than ever, especially now. But, this explains everything.”

“Yes. Yes, it does.” Brook pulled a tissue from her purse and dabbed at her eyes.

“I assume your husband will be employing Pendleton, Barkes & Clyde as usual?” Mr. Brentwood asked.

Brook nodded. “He always does.”

”I’ll contact Rupert Pendleton and sort out the details,” he said. “The Temporary Orders will guarantee you enough income to live comfortably until the divorce is final. Under the circumstances, I doubt your husband will object to anything you might ask for. Since the two of you seem to agree on the division of property and debts, there should be no problem. But I have to say, Brook, I believe you should go to the police with what you know and let him rot in jail.”

“Mr. Brentwood,” Brook said, then in a softer voice, “Alan. You said everything I told you would be confidential.”

“And it is.” The attorney sighed. “I’m just giving you my advice. You could come away from this with everything. And I do mean everything.”

“I don’t want everything, Alan. Clark simply got in over his head. He was like a kid on a roller coaster. Once he got on, he didn’t want to get off; he just kept going for the bigger thrill. I believe him when he says he didn’t mean for me to be hurt, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not vindictive; I’m just finished. He’s repulsive to me now. It seems strange I guess. But even though I can’t stand to be around him, I don’t really have any desire for revenge. I just want out with enough money to start fresh.”

“That’s unbelievably generous of you,” Alan remarked, leaning back in his chair. “I hope Clark appreciates it.”

“He doesn’t exactly appreciate it. But he is smart enough to realize what a break he’s getting. Truth is, I don’t even know if any of this could be pinned on him. I doubt there’s any real evidence linking him to the crimes. It would probably boil down to my word against his. He kept his distance from the actual thieves, using this D’Macio as a middleman. I suppose if D’Macio is ever found and brought in, then Clark would have something to worry about. In the meantime, I’m sure he doesn’t want the authorities crawling all over, sorting through his financial records and snooping into his activities. Who knows what they might find?” Brook sighed. “I don’t even really know the man anymore. He’s a stranger.”

“I remember when I first met you and Clark at the club,” Alan recalled. “You’ve always been viewed by everyone as the golden couple; a couple everyone else looked up to. Someone everyone wanted to be like. You always seemed so much in love that this whole thing has taken me by surprise.”

“You were right. I was in love with Clark, or at least with the man I thought he was. Not the man he really is,” Brook said bitterly. “The man I thought he was is either dead or never really existed. I don’t know which, and I don’t really care much at this point.”

“What about the gang who took you? What’s happening with them?” Alan asked.

“They’ve all been taken into custody, and they’re all turning on each other. The detective handling the case told me they’ll probably plead out. I might not even have to testify.”

“Good. You’ve been through enough already.” He cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Brook. There’s really nothing a person can say to someone who’s suffered the way you have. I wish I had some words of wisdom to offer you, but I don’t. So, I’ll just say my heart goes out to you, and leave it at that.”

“Thank you, Alan. I’m dealing with it, and it gets a bit easier as time passes.' Brook gathered her things to leave. “But, that’s neither here nor there. Is there anything else I need to do while I’m here?”

“No, that should do it for now.” Alan rose from his chair and walked her to the door. “I’ll be in touch.”

Outside, Brook leaned against the side of the building for a few minutes before walking to her car. It had been a mixed blessing opening up to Alan like she had. There was a catharsis, a release, but there was also sadness. And on top of it all, she missed Lance with an intensity that was like a physical malaise, creating a continuous ache throughout her entire body. She had never before experienced anything quite like it. The closest she had ever come to feeling this way was when she had lost baby Lacey Joelle, and her arms had hurt with the longing to cradle her child.

This physical manifestation of her emotions left her drained. She drove back to her hotel in almost a dreamlike state. She had thought talking to Alan would bury her in a swamp of horrific flashbacks from her captivity. Thankfully, it did not. Instead, she was flooded with memories of Lance. She wondered if he missed her as much as she missed him.

As she left her car with the valet, Brook forced her thoughts away from Lance and onto her upcoming trip to Kansas. In a few days, she would be flying into Wichita where her parents would meet her at the airport and drive her to their house in Newton. She looked forward to being in the safe and loving environment of her childhood home. The thought of hugging her parents filled her eyes with tears.

Brook spent the afternoon shopping for regular clothes, the kind of clothes she used to wear before she married Clark. Pretty, sensible, comfortable clothes. ‘Elegant’ wasn’t even on her list as a possibility. She wondered what she would do with all the chic expensive outfits she had taken from her marital home. She no longer had any desire to wear them.

Chapter 57

“Let’s get you out of this pen for a while,” Lance said to Gilbert, who watched him with hopeful eyes from the other side of the fence. She bounded out, kicked her rear feet high in the air, and tried to romp with her owner. But Lance was preoccupied. Gilbert gave up and strolled toward the house, looking around as she went.

“She’s not here.”

The words meant nothing to the goat and she wandered around the cabin peering in the windows. Soon she