But the shyness was still there. Mo could see where Tricia would have found it charming. She watched him move through the crowd, greeting people as he went. Apparently the shelter was having a fund-raiser this evening. Mo thought of all the organizations father and son were involved in, including MSD, Inc. But it was the shelter that would have helped steal Tricia’s heart.
When he reached her, she saw the sparkle of surprise in his blue eyes. She hadn’t expected him to remember her. But then again, if he’d been having an affair with her sister...
“Maureen,” he said and reached for her hand, cupping it in both of his large ones. “It is so good to see you. I didn’t realize you were an animal lover.”
“Not as much as my sister, Tricia, I’m sure.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but his smile remained in place. “Let’s step into my office.” She followed him down a thick-carpeted hallway lined with framed professional photographs of adorable animals.
Everything about this part of the shelter felt lavishly done so she wasn’t surprised when he opened the door to his office. It had the same polished, rich look to it from the shine of the huge mahogany desk to the well-appointed other furnishings.
“We’re having a little thank-you party for some of our donors, so I don’t have much time to spare.” He closed the door behind him. “Please have a seat,” he said as he motioned to one of the chairs in front of the desk. He took his seat behind the desk. “Can I get you some coffee, water, champagne?”
“I’m good, thanks,” she said as she sank into the soft leather. “It’s been a long time.” She considered him. “You’ve changed.”
He chuckled. “Just on the outside. I’m still that shy, tongue-tied awkward guy I was in college.”
She highly doubted that and said as much.
Leaning back, he seemed to study her. “I didn’t think you ever knew who I was at college.”
She knew that Tricia would have been impressed by these surroundings. JP, like his father, had made something out of himself and he was saving animals. It would have been a deadly combination.
“But my sister would have remembered you,” she said. “When the two of you ran into each other here at the shelter.”
His eyes lost some of the blue twinkle. “She told you about us?”
“No, you did. The heart you carved in the tree at the campground above Red Lodge. You used her maiden name initial. TM plus JP. Instead of C for her married name, Colton. You did know she was married, right?” She saw the answer in his expression. “Mortensen was the name you’d known her by in college, but I guess I don’t have to tell you that.”
“She didn’t pay any more attention to me in college than you did, but we realized we knew some of the same people.”
Was that bitterness she heard in his voice? “Is that why you decided to ruin her marriage and ultimately her life?”
He sat forward so abruptly it startled her. “I loved her. I still love her.” His voice broke and tears flooded his eyes. “It just happened. Working here together, we fell in love. We didn’t mean for it to happen.”
She looked around his posh office for a moment. “Did your father know about you and Tricia?”
He sat back again. “Why would you ask that?”
She said nothing and waited, her gaze coming back to him.
Finally, he said, “My father wasn’t happy about my falling in love with a married woman, no. But I didn’t care and I told him as much. I was going to marry her and we were going to raise our son together.”
“Your son?” She stared at him. “Joey was your son?”
“I don’t know that he was mine biologically. It didn’t matter. As far as I was concerned, he was ours no matter what.”
“That’s very noble,” she said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
“I told you. I loved her. I would have done anything for her. Anything.”
“Where did the two of you get together besides here?” she asked, having seen the inviting leather couch off to one side of the room.
He sighed. “Does it really matter?”
She narrowed her gaze on him. “It does to me.”
“My father has a cabin outside of Red Lodge.” She could just imagine what Jeffrey Palmer Sr.’s cabin was like. “Are these questions really necessary? Your sister is—”
“Dead. Yes, I know. When did Tricia break it off?” She waited and when he didn’t answer, she said, “She did break it off, right? You must have been upset.”
“Of course I was upset. She told me she was pregnant with Thomas’s son. I knew she couldn’t know that for sure. But it was clear she wanted Joey to be his. She was determined to make her marriage work as if she had to pay penitence for falling in love with me.”
“But even after she broke it off, the two of you were still seeing each other,” Mo said.
He looked away for a moment. “We couldn’t stay away from each other. I wanted her to tell Thomas. I was sick of lying and hiding in the shadows. I wanted everyone to know how much I loved her.”
“You must have been angry when she wouldn’t.”
JP groaned. “What are you getting at? You think me putting pressure on her drove her to suicide?”
“Do you think she killed herself?”
He went stone cold still, his eyes widening. “I... I was told that she did. Are you telling me she didn’t?”
She didn’t take her gaze from his face. “I think there’s a chance someone murdered her.”
JP looked as if he was in shock. He stood up, but then sat back down. His gaze ricocheted around the room
