The Perfect Husband - Lisa Gardner [73]
“Relax, Marion. It’s just a machine.”
“Fucking machine,” she supplied.
“Have it your way.”
She attacked the second ball, and since she had phenomenal hand-eye coordination and a wicked learning curve, she made the machine sing. A light began to burn in her eyes. And for a moment she looked exactly like J.T.
“She’s something, isn’t she?” J.T. murmured.
Tess nodded. “What did your parents feed you?”
“Lies. Pure lies. Taught us the truth of the world early on.” His lips curved into a ghost of a grin. “See any sign of trouble at the door?”
“No.”
“Huh. Maybe Marion was right. Maybe I just need a drink.”
“J.T.—”
“Shit!” Marion yelled, and hit the machine. “Piece of junk!”
J.T. jostled his sister aside. “Easy, honey. Machine can’t help it if I’m better than you.”
Marion leaned against the wall next to Tess, but she no longer looked relaxed. J.T. settled in at the pinball machine, looking like a captain at the helm of his ship.
“Face it, Marion, you should’ve joined the marines.”
“No, thanks. I figured one Dillon punching out COs was enough.”
J.T. pulled back the handle and sent the silver ball flying. “I suppose I could’ve just enrolled him in the Communist Party, but beating the crap out of his own wife seemed to deserve something a little bit more personal.”
“Communist Party?” Tess asked. She wasn’t sure she wanted to understand this conversation.
“West Point,” J.T. supplied. “I enrolled the director in the Communist Party. I hated West Point.”
“And that got you kicked out?”
“Nah. That was considered a boys-will-be-boys prank. When he came to call me on it and found me in bed with his daughter, that got me kicked out.”
“You seduced the director’s daughter?”
“He’s a pig,” Marion said. “Absolutely no self-control.”
“How do you know I was the seducer?” J.T. quizzed innocently.
Marion shook her head. “Give it up, Jordan. If you were turned loose in a nunnery, by the end of the day they’d all renounce God.”
“Thank you. I try.” J.T. gave Tess a look that was blatantly wolfish. “Did I scare you?”
“When?” She was having trouble concentrating.
“Earlier. When I asked Marion to call the police.”
“I guess. I have a lot to be scared of.”
“You have both Marion and me here, Tess. It’s even legal for Marion to shoot to kill.”
“He’s right, you know,” Marion said. “At least this time. It’s not easy to become an FBI agent, and it’s even harder for a woman. I’m good. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you, Tess.”
Tess didn’t answer; she’d been told such things before, and none of the assurance had helped her when Jim had stepped out of her closet and hefted a bat to his shoulder. She said, “That was a nice thing you did—putting away the beer. Teetotaling is really getting to him.”
“Yeah, I guess it is. I knew about the annual tequila binges, but they’re only once a year and, well, given the circumstances . . .”
“His wife’s death?” Tess guessed.
Marion nodded. “Teddy died instantly. But Rachel . . . She was in a coma for five days. J.T. just kept sitting there in the hospital, holding her hand. He seemed so certain that she would open her eyes and be with him again. He just couldn’t let her go. He’s weak that way.” Marion pushed away from the wall. “You have to be able to cut your losses, to move on. But J.T. can’t seem to do that. He wants to go back and fix things way after the fact. It’s a waste of time.”
J.T. lost his turn and Marion strode forward, leaving Tess to digest this unexpected burst of information. J.T. came to lean against the wall beside her, stretching out his legs and crossing his arms. He already appeared much more relaxed. She moved a little closer to him and joined him in a comfortable silence.
It wasn’t until the seventh game that the trouble happened.
Tess never did know who started it. One moment she was watching J.T. volley the silver ball back into the megapoints zone, the next she heard a scream followed by a crash.
Everyone turned at once.
A man, obviously drunk, was towering over the woman who’d been playing