When the guard opened the door, he looked down the row of chairs on his side of the glass dividing the prisoners from their guests. Most of the seats were occupied with inmates, spending their few precious moments of quality time with their loved ones. Further down the row, he spotted a familiar face, though it wasn’t the one he’d been expecting.
How he hated speaking through these phones to the person on the other side of the glass. It was hard to intimidate somebody when you couldn’t get up close and personal, show them who was boss. Might not be necessary for this particular guest, though. She was somebody—special.
“Corinne, what are you doing here? I thought I was meeting with your husband.”
“Change of plans, sweetie. Jonathan’s dealing with his own problems right now. Did you know the FBI is breathing down his neck? Have you got any idea how hard it is to be married to somebody stupid?”
“What did he do?” Big Jim enunciated each word, spitting them out like bullets. Drury might be an excellent lawyer who knew every fine point of the law, but the man wasn’t the sharpest wit outside the courtroom.
“The imbecile tried to kidnap Sharon. Can you believe it?”
He closed his eyes and counted to ten. “Tell me everything.”
“Well, he told you I found her, right? I showed him the photo in the magazine.” She smiled happily, practically bouncing in the chair. He made a moue of distaste, staring at her garish outfit, which was probably two sizes too small for her ever-expanding frame. Corinne had once been an attractive woman, and they’d had a brief fling, but she’d let herself go to seed. She’d always like having her ego stroked, which was one thing he could still do, no matter how distasteful.
“You did a wonderful job, Corinne. Jonathan sang your praises the last time he was here, and yes, he showed me the picture. Imagine, of all the people looking for Sharon, you were the only one who was able to find her.”
“I know. She’s been in some little town in Nowhere, Texas, all this time. I couldn’t believe how different she looked with the darker hair, but I recognized her immediately. You can’t fool me, I’ve got a great eye.”
“Of course you do, sweetheart. Now, tell me about Jonathan and the FBI. You said he tried to kidnap her?”
Corinne preened beneath his attention, patting her stringy hair and batting her heavily mascaraed eyes his way. “He went to that town, Shiloh Springs. He said he found Sharon staying with a family there called the Boudreaus. He dug up all kinds of information on her, like the kind of car she drives, how she works for the real estate company, everything. Anyway, he knew she was staying with this Boudreau family on their ranch. Can you imagine Sharon living on a ranch?” She gave a shudder. “Jonathan said he parked along the road leading to the Boudreau ranch. Sat there for hours, waiting and watching. He’d almost given up when he spotted her car in the distance, coming toward him.”
Big Jim could hear the rising excitement in Corinne’s voice, her whole body practically vibrating with it. Leave it to Drury to pull some boneheaded stunt and have it backfire spectacularly, and get the FBI involved. He drummed his fingers on the countertop, his mind racing with possibilities. This was a bloody fiasco, but maybe he could make something good happen from it, he simply needed to think. Come up with the right angle to make things work in his favor.
“Go on, Corinne. What did Jonathan do next?”
“He sideswiped her car, forced her off the road. He swears he didn’t hit it hard, he wasn’t trying to hurt her. Anyway, she climbed out of her car and came over to check on him, thinking maybe he was hurt. She honest-to-goodness trotted over like a puppy. The plan was to snatch her up, stash her somewhere, then come and find out what you wanted done. Only his car got too damaged, and he was going to have to take hers.”
“Wait, you’re telling me he really did try and kidnap Sharon? Where’d he come up with such a seriously stupid move?” Corinne pulled back, leaning away from the glass, some of her excitement dimmed. He must’ve let too much of his anger seep into his voice. Now he had to do damage control, and stroke her ego, because he was going to need Corinne’s cooperation to try and rectify the shambles her husband had made.
“He—he was only trying to help, Big Jim.”
“I know, sweetheart. It’s so hard, sitting behind these walls, unable to deal with things firsthand. And you’re doing the right thing, bringing this to my attention. If the government thinks I had anything to do with trying to hurt Sharon, I’ll never get my appeal heard.”
A trembling smile blossomed on her lips, and he knew he had her back on the hook. He should have remembered he needed to use a gentle touch with Corinne, because as bold as she might project herself to others, underneath she was an insecure little girl thinking she could play with the big kids. The best plan of action, at least until he was sprung from this place, was to play along, let her believe in her own self-importance. She’d learn soon enough how very wrong she was about her place in his world—as would her husband.
“Tell me the rest. He obviously botched things, or the feds would be all over me, thinking I orchestrated the whole thing.”
“Jonathan said Sharon took off running. There are woods and trees along that stretch of road, and she bolted after slamming his wrist in the car door. Poor thing is in so much pain.”
He
