Twice Kissed - Lisa Jackson [166]
“According to his tail, he took a side trip to the airport, but didn’t catch a flight.”
“So he’s still in town?”
“Appears as so.” Hannah fell into step with him. “You know, we probably should have kept a stakeout at Marquise’s house and forgotten keeping Walker in our sights.”
“The verdict’s not in on that one.” Together they walked through the station and headed to the parking lot. “Got a weapon?” he asked Hannah as they climbed into the department’s rig.
She patted her shoulder. “Just like American Express,” she said without a smile. “I don’t leave home without it.”
“I’m listening,” Maggie said to her sister. “Either you tell me everything that happened or I call Thane—”
“Thane?” Mary Theresa spun around and shook her head. “We’re not calling him. Not ever.”
“Why not?”
“Because…because I don’t want to face him.”
“I think you’ll have to. You have a son by him.”
Mary Theresa had been reaching for her bag. She froze. “He told you.”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” She let out a long breath. “Look, we don’t have time for this.”
Maggie knew she was right, but couldn’t resist asking, “Why did you try to blame him? Why, when you contacted me, did you say he did this to you?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Try me.”
“Because he wouldn’t bail me out, damn it. I needed help and he didn’t care.”
“You’re talking about the money?”
“Yes! It’s all about money! Wake up, Maggie. Maybe you…you can run away to some dilapidated ranch in the middle of nowhere but the rest of the world needs decent lives. It costs so much—”
“You implicated Thane in your disappearance because you wanted to get back at him?” Maggie said, seeing red. “You lied to him about having his son and yet when he wouldn’t loan you some more money you threw your voice and insinuated that he had something to do with your disappearing act?” Maggie was horrified. Who was this complex woman with whom she’d shared so much, so little?
M.T.’s chin inched up a knot. “It got you here, didn’t it? I figured you’d rush down here to save him and put some more pressure on the police—so that we didn’t have to drag the scam out any longer than necessary.”
“This is so sick,” Maggie whispered, leaning against a bar stool.
In the glow from the clock on the microwave, Mary Theresa fiddled with the zipper tab of her warm-up jacket. “I knew you never really got over him.” She bit her lip and looked away for a second. She swallowed hard. “I guess I owe you an explanation.”
“What do you mean?” But Maggie sensed what was coming, realized that she really didn’t want to know the source of her sister’s betrayal all those years ago.
“You know why I did it, don’t you?”
“Did what?”
“You know.” She lifted a shoulder and licked her lips. “When I went to Thane the first time—to his apartment.”
“You mean when you slept with him,” Maggie clarified, her heart beating dully, the pain that had been hidden away for so long emerging fresh and bitter. She gripped the counter and waited.
“Yeah, well, it was because of Mitch.” Mary Theresa’s face contorted in pain.
“Mitch?”
Mary Theresa glanced away, to stare out the window to the inky night. “I got pregnant. That night in the hot tub—it wasn’t the first. Mitch and I…well, he helped me one night when I was out on a date with Carl Janovich—he was an older boy and I…I teased him, I guess and he started getting rough. We were at a party and Mitch showed up in the nick of time. Carl had already started slapping me, calling me a slut and a whore and all sorts of horrible names.” Mary Theresa swallowed hard and her eyes shone with unshed tears. “Anyway,” she said, her voice cracking a bit, “Mitch hauled me out of there, started giving me a lecture, and I…I broke down. I was crying and upset and he…he just held me. I clung to him, he kissed my hair and one thing led to another and…” She closed her eyes. “Before I knew what was happening, we were making love. And again on prom night. And…”
Bile rose in Maggie’s throat.
“We both tried to break it