The Last to Die (4 page)

"Coffee, may-be."

By the ti-me they slid in-to op-po-si-te si-des of the bo-oth, Tif-fany ap-pe-ared with a cof-fe-epot.

Af-ter she po-ured the-ir cups full and to-ok Jacob's bre-ak-fast or-der, she he-aded to-ward the kit-c-hen.

"Want to tell me abo-ut it?" Jacob as-ked.

"About what?"

"I saw Jamie Up-ton's Mer-ce-des par-ked in front of Jaz-zy's Jo-int in the mid-dle of the night, af-ter the pla-ce had clo-sed."

"So?"

"I tho-ught you we-re fi-nis-hed with him."

Jazzy for-ced a smi-le. "Why co-uldn't you and I ha-ve fal-len in lo-ve? It wo-uld ha-ve ma-de my li-fe so much sim-p-ler. And so much bet-ter."

"I know it's no-ne of my bu-si-ness, but… did you let him spend the night?"

"You're rig-ht-it's no-ne of yo-ur bu-si-ness. But no, he sta-yed two ho-urs and left I ha-ve no do-ubt that he fo-und so-me-body to so-ot-he his di-sap-po-in-t-ment."

"Maybe he went ho-me to his fi-an-c-ée. He is get-ting mar-ri-ed in a few we-eks, isn't he?" Jacob lif-ted his cup to his lips.

"That's what they say."

After ta-king se-ve-ral swigs, he set the cup down. "Genny cal-led me right be-fo-re I left the ho-use.

I fi-gu-re she'll be get-ting in to-uch with you to-day."

"Is so-met-hing wrong?"

"She had a vi-si-on be-fo-re day-b-re-ak this mor-ning."

A shud-der rip-pled up Jaz-zy's spi-ne. "She hasn't had a vi-si-on sin-ce… was it abo-ut-"

"It was abo-ut Jamie."

"What?"

"She saw so-me-one kill Jamie. She be-li-eves it's a pre-mo-ni-ti-on."

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"Who-who did she see kill Jamie? Was it me?"

Jacob re-ac-hed ac-ross the tab-le and to-ok Jaz-zy's hand in his. "Are you plan-ning on kil-ling Jamie?"

She jer-ked her hand away. "No, of co-ur-se not, but we both know I pul-led a gun on him a few months ago. And we both know that, un-der the right cir-cum-s-tan-ces, I might sho-ot him."

''Talk to Genny. Let her do a re-ading. She do-esn't think you'll kill Jamie, but she be-li-eves that his de-ath will cre-ate tro-ub-le for you."

"Why do-esn't that sur-p-ri-se me? All Jamie Up-ton has ever be-en to me is tro-ub-le. Ap-pa-rently he's tro-ub-le for me ali-ve or de-ad."

"Stay away from him," Jacob ad-vi-sed. "And I'll ma-ke su-re he stays away from you. I'll tell Ca-leb to ke-ep an eye out for you and call me at the first sign of-"

"You think Genny's pre-mo-ni-ti-on is go-ing to co-me true, don't you? And you're af-ra-id she might be wrong and I'll be the one to kill Jamie."

When she lo-oked in-to Jacob's moss gre-en eyes, she saw the truth be-fo-re he rep-li-ed, "Bet-ter sa-fe than sorry. No use ta-king any un-ne-ces-sary risks."

Chapter 2

Erin Mer-cer cur-sed softly un-der her bre-ath as she he-aded for the front do-or of her ca-bin. What the hell was Jim's gran-d-son do-ing knoc-king on her do-or? She tho-ught she had ma-de it per-fectly cle-ar the last ti-me he'd shown up-unan-no-un-ced and un-wel-co-me-that she wasn't bu-ying what he was sel-ling. As far as she was con-cer-ned, he was a wor-ri-so-me brat so-me-one sho-uld ha-ve dis-cip-li-ned ye-ars ago. Be-fo-re she re-ac-hed for the do-or-k-nob, she pa-used long eno-ugh to fas-ten the top two but-tons on her blo-use. No use gi-ving Jamie an ex-cu-se to ac-cu-se her of trying to lo-ok sexy for him. Stu-pid boy. As if she'd ever be in-te-res-ted in so-me-one as self-cen-te-red and im-ma-tu-re as he, even with his un-de-ni-ab-le yo-uth and go-od lo-oks. Too many wo-men had fal-len for the flashy ex-te-ri-or be-fo-re dis-co-ve-ring the ug-li-ness of the in-te-ri-or man. She'd known his type and, when she'd be-en yo-un-ger and fo-olish, she'd gi-ven her he-art to so-me-one a gre-at de-al li-ke Jamie Up-ton.

If any ot-her man sto-od out-si-de her do-or this morn ing, she wo-uld ta-ke the ti-me to check her ap-pe-aran-ce in the mir-ror, may-be even dab on a lit-tle blush and lip-s-tick. Af-ter all, even tho-ugh she was fifty, she to-ok pri-de in her ap-pe-aran-ce and knew most men con-si-de-red her an at-trac-ti-ve wo-man.

Erin ope-ned the do-or hal-f-way and gla-red at the han-d-so-me de-vil stan-ding on her do-or-s-tep. "What do you want?" she as-ked, her to-ne surly. She'd le-ar-ned the first ti-me Jim's gran-d-son sho-wed up at her ca-bin that he per-ce-ived any ple-asan-t-ness on her part as an open in-vi-ta-ti-on. Not-hing wo-uld ple-ase him mo-re than sco-ring with his gran-d-fat-her's mis-t-ress.

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"Wake up on the wrong si-de of the bed?" As he pla-ced his hand on the do-or fra-me, he le-aned for-ward. "If you'd wo-ke up with me be-si-de you, you'd be in a much bet-ter mo-od."

"It's early. I've had only one cup of cof-fee. I'm not in the mo-od for yo-ur ga-mes. I re-pe-at, what do you want?"

When he mo-ved to-ward her, she in-s-tin-c-ti-vely eased bac-k-ward, not wan-ting the-ir bo-di-es to to-uch. She didn't trust this man, didn't fe-el en-ti-rely sa-fe aro-und him. She wasn't physi-cal-ly af-ra-id of him, be-ca-use she knew she co-uld han-d-le him, if it ca-me to that. The fe-ar she felt was mo-re ba-sic, a to-tal-ly emo-ti-onal res-pon-se.

Once in-si-de, Jamie he-aded stra-ight for the li-ving ro-om. Erin huf-fed, re-sig-ned her-self to en-du-ring Jamie's pre-sen-ce for the ti-me be-ing, and shut the do-or. When she en-te-red her li-ving ro-om, she fo-und him al-re-ady lo-un-ging on her so-fa, with his fe-et prop-ped up on the cof-fee tab-le. He lo-oked as if he'd be-en out all night. His tux was wrin-k-led, his bow tie mis-sing, and his shirt but-to-ned up wrong. A hint of brown stub-ble on his pretty boy fa-ce ga-ve him a ra-kish ap-pe-aran-ce. And that's what Jamie was all rig-ht-a ra-ke. A bo-na fi-de, old-fas-hi-oned ra-ke.

Of co-ur-se, cal-ling him a ra-ke was a com-p-li-ment in com-pa-ri-son to the ot-her ap-prop-ri-ate na-mes that ca-me to mind.

"I'm get-ting myself anot-her cup of cof-fee. Wo-uld you ca-re for so-me?" she as-ked as she pas-sed thro-ugh the li-ving ro-om and star-ted to-ward the kit-c-hen.

"I'll set-tle for cof-fee, but what I'd re-al-ly li-ke is so-me tea and sympathy. You know abo-ut that, don't you, Erin? It's when an ol-der wo-man ta-kes a yo-un-ger man in-to her bed to com-fort him."

Erin pa-used, but didn't bot-her lo-oking back when she sa-id, "My gu-ess is that you've spent the night in so-me-one's bed get-ting plenty of sympathy or wha-te-ver the hell you want to call it. I sug-gest that if you ne-ed mo-re, you re-turn to the ge-ne-ro-us lady who so wil-lingly ga-ve it to you ear-li-er."

As she en-te-red the kit-c-hen, she he-ard him la-ug-hing. Dam-ned ob-no-xi-o-us boy. Hur-ri-edly she po-ured cof-fee in-to two mugs and re-tur-ned to the li-ving ro-om. When she held out a mug for him, he pat-ted the so-fa.

"Sit with me."

She eyed him skep-ti-cal-ly and sho-ok her he-ad.

He ac-cep-ted the cof-fee. "I pro-mi-se I won't bi-te."

"No, but I might. I might bi-te a plug out of that big he-ad of yo-urs and bring it back down to a nor-mal si-ze."

"You think I'm an ego-tis-ti-cal bas-tard, don't you?"

"If the shoe fits…"

Erin to-ok a se-at op-po-si-te him, with the mas-si-ve squ-are oak coc-k-ta-il tab-le bet-we-en them. "I sup-po-se you know you'll ha-ve a gre-at de-al of ex-p-la-ining to do when you go ho-me. The who-le town is pro-bably buz-zing with gos-sip abo-ut yo-ur le-aving yo-ur fi-an-c-ée alo-ne at yo-ur
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en-ga-ge-ment party last night."

"I sta-yed for ho-urs. I spo-ke to ever-yo-ne, ac-cep-ted go-od wis-hes, pre-sen-ted myself as the du-ti-ful fi-ancé. I didn't le-ave un-til ne-arly ele-ven."

"You left be-fo-re half the gu-ests did. How do you think that ma-de yo-ur fi-an-cee fe-el?"

"She knows I'm a cad… and lo-ves me an-y-way. "Jamie bro-ught the cof-fee mug to his lips.

"Strong and black. Just the way I li-ke it."

"I fe-el sorry for La-ura. She's so yo-ung and so in lo-ve with you. She de-ser-ves bet-ter. What's wrong with you, Jamie? Don't you ha-ve any idea how lucky you are? You ha-ve gran-d-pa-rents who ado-re you, all the mo-ney you co-uld ever ne-ed, and a wo-man who is de-vo-ted to you."

"Laura's not the wo-man I want." He lo-oked right at Erin, and for a split se-cond she tho-ught she saw ge-nu-ine emo-ti-on in his ha-zel eyes. Sad-ness? Reg-ret? 'Then why marry her? If she's not-"

"It's Jaz-zy," Jamie sa-id. "It's al-ways be-en Jaz-zy. It al-ways will be." 'Then bre-ak off yo-ur en-ga-ge-ment to La-ura and marry Jaz-zy."

Jamie la-ug-hed, the so-und hol-low and emo-ti-on-less. "You're a go-od one to talk. You're my gran-d-fat-her's mis-t-ress. You know he'll ne-ver di-vor-ce Big Ma-ma, yet you hang on to him an-y-way. Why don't you de-mand that he le-ave his wi-fe and marry you?"

His ac-cu-sa-ti-on hit a ner-ve. Erin win-ced. "You're free. Jaz-zy's free. The-re's not-hing to stop y'all from-"

"Big Ma-ma wo-uld di-sown me if I mar-ri-ed Jaz-zy. I'd ha-ve not-hing. Not a di-me to my na-me.

I'd ha-ve to gi-ve up a for-tu-ne. I'm not wil-ling to do that."

"Then you don't lo-ve Jaz-zy as much as you pro-fess to lo-ve her."

"What do you know abo-ut it? I lo-ve her. I've lo-ved her sin-ce we we-re te-ena-gers. And just be-ca-use Big Ma-ma is for-cing me to marry La-ura do-esn't me-an I'm gi-ving up Jaz-zy."

"Did you spend the night with Jaz-zy?"

"I went by to see her."

"And she tur-ned you away."

"You're wrong. She didn't…" With his mug sur-ro-un-ded by both hands, Jamie le-aned for-ward and held it bet-we-en his spre-ad thighs. He glan-ced at Erin. "She didn't let me stay, so I fo-und a mo-re wil-ling lady, who shall re-ma-in na-me-less. Af-ter all, I don't kiss and tell. You might want to re-mem-ber that for fu-tu-re re-fe-ren-ce."

"I don't think so."

Erin sip-ped on her cof-fee, fi-nis-hing it off qu-ickly. Why was Jamie re-al-ly he-re? Why was he using her as a so-un-ding bo-ard? As his mot-her con-fes-sor? It wasn't as if they we-re fri-ends. She didn't even li-ke him, and she wo-uldn't gi-ve him the ti-me of day if he wasn't Jim's gran-d-son. Un-less
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he was a com-p-le-te fo-ol-which he wasn't-he had to know that she'd ne-ver ha-ve sex with him. Even if she wasn't in lo-ve with Big Jim, she wo-uldn't be crazy eno-ugh to be-co-me in-vol-ved with Jamie.

Any way you lo-oked at it, he was bad news.

Jamie pla-ced his cup on a co-as-ter atop the coc-k-ta-il tab-le, then sto-od and went stra-ight to Erin. Be-fo-re she re-ali-zed his in-tent, he drop-ped to his kne-es in front of her, grab-bed her by the back of her neck and ha-uled her for-ward, just far eno-ugh to kiss her. He to-ok her mo-uth de-man-dingly. For a mil-li-se-cond she fro-ze, shoc-ked by the unex-pec-ted as-sa-ult Then to-tal awa-re-ness hit her. Her empty mug slip-ped out of her hand and hit the wo-oden flo-or with a splin-te-ring crash. She slip-ped her hand bet-we-en the-ir bo-di-es and ga-ve him a hard sho-ve. He re-eled bac-k-ward and fell flat on his butt.

He lo-oked up at her and grin-ned. "Now tell me that wasn't bet-ter than what you get from the old man."

"Your gran-d-fat-her is twi-ce the man you are-in every way. Now, get yo-ur sorry ass up off my flo-or and le-ave. I don't know what sort of ga-me you're pla-ying with me this mor-ning, but I'm not in-te-res-ted. If I tho-ught for one mi-nu-te that I co-uld help you… for Jim's sa-ke, I wo-uld. But I think you're be-yond help."

Jamie jum-ped to his fe-et li-ke a jack-in-the-box. "Walk me to the do-or, dar-lin'."

"You know the way out."

"How abo-ut a go-od-bye kiss?"

"How abo-ut get-ting the hell out of my sight?"

"Now, swe-et thing, don't be that way."

"Leave. Now!"

He win-ked at her, then sa-un-te-red out of the li-ving ro-om. She fol-lo-wed him and sto-od se-ve-ral fe-et away as he ope-ned the front do-or. Be-fo-re he left, he tur-ned to her and sa-id, "I'm go-ing to ac-ci-dently men-ti-on to my gran-d-fat-her that I was with you this mor-ning, sha-ring cof-fee, kis-sing…"

"You bas-tard!"

"I'd li-ke to be ab-le to tell the old son of a bitch that I'd scre-wed you, but I can imply as much and he might be-li-eve me. Af-ter all, if he asks you if I was he-re this mor-ning, you won't lie to him, will you?"

Whistling as he wal-ked to-ward his Mer-ce-des, Jamie ac-ted li-ke a man who didn't ha-ve a ca-re in the world, as if the-re we-ren't do-zens of wo-men who'd li-ke to put a sta-ke thro-ugh his black he-art. Af-ter get-ting in-si-de the car, he lo-we-red the win-dow and blew Erin a kiss. As he bac-ked out of the dri-ve, she he-ard him la-ug-hing.

She sho-uld pro-bably call Jim and tell him what had hap-pe-ned. Fo-re-warn him. She wo-uldn't even bot-her if it wasn't for the fact that be-ca-use of the dif-fe-ren-ce in the-ir ages, Jim wasn't as con-fi-dent abo-ut the-ir re-la-ti-on-s-hip as she was. God damn it, she ha-ted to re-lay this in ci-dent to
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Jim, kno-wing how up-set he'd be with Jamie. The boy, who sho-uld ha-ve be-en Jim's pri-de and joy, was an ut-ter di-sap-po-in-t-ment to him. A part of Erin wis-hed she was still yo-ung eno-ugh to gi-ve Jim a child, even if at se-ven-ty-fi-ve he might not li-ve to see the child grow up. But she was past the age of mot-her-ho-od and Jim wo-uld pro-bably la-ugh at the no-ti-on. Too bad he didn't ha-ve ot-her gran-d-c-hil-d-ren, at le-ast one worthy of a man li-ke Big Jim Up-ton.

For abo-ut the hun-d-redth ti-me sin-ce she left Chat-ta-no-oga at day-b-re-ak that mor-ning, Re-ve Sor-rell as-ked her-self why the hell she was do-ing this. Why did she fe-el com-pel-led to co-me to Che-ro-kee Po-in-te in se-arch of a wo-man she'd ne-ver met? It wasn't as if she ne-eded any mo-re re-la-ti-ves. Sin-ce her mot-her di-ed this past sum-mer, co-usins by the do-zens had co-me out of the wo-od-work, all with an in-te-rest in the vast Sor-rell for-tu-ne she'd in-he-ri-ted. One rat-her un-gen-t-le-manly co-usin of her fat-her's had ac-tu-al-ly had the balls to sue her, on the gro-unds that she was only Spen-cer and Les-ley Sor-rell's adop-ted child. The ca-se had ne-ver got-ten off the gro-und, sin-ce Re-ve's law-yer had con-vin-ced her co-usin's law-yer that they'd be la-ug-hed out of co-urt.