The Woman He Married (17 page)

“Sounds like an open and shut case,” Amy said.

“Except the report, and the environmental specialist—
both
 
went missing two days before all the evidence was due in court.” Josie shot an accusing stare at
Lanny
. “And Brian, conveniently, winds up in jail on some bogus charge of public misconduct—arrested by your very uncle, Old Man Montgomery’s brother.”

“I see that your memory’s improving.”
Lanny
sat back and crossed his arms. “That would have been the end of it, too, except our little Jocelyn here got wind of a rumor that the ‘lost’ report was locked up, safe and sound, in the plant’s file room.”

Everyone at the table gasped, except Patrick. His gaze was riveted as he leaned forward. “So, what happened next?”

“Well, that’s where
my
knowledge comes to an end,”
Lanny
admitted and everyone turned, gaping at Josie. “What about it, Jocelyn? You want to tell us
all
 
how
you managed to get your hands on a document that was locked in a restricted, secure facility?”

White as a sheet, John said, “I think that we’ve heard enough. This is getting a little out of hand.”

The voices around the table rose in disapproval as
Lanny
said, “What’s the statute of limitations on breaking and entering?
Ten years…maybe?”
Looking around the table for confirmation, he said, “Let’s have it,
Jocelyn.
I think that after all these years, I have a right to know…put the mystery to rest, so to speak.”

John mumbled something like, “God, almighty,” as he wiped his hand down his face. Then, turning to Josie, he said, “Well, tell the man what he wants to hear.”

Josie
so
did not want to go into all the gory details. “John’s right. We should probably just drop it.”

“How’d you get the file…
Josie
?”
Lanny
asked.

She knew that telling the story was the only way out, or she could run like hell, but to where? Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, she looked around the table and saw that Trisha was glaring at her—Trisha hated it when someone else was getting all the attention—Andy was sporting his usual smarmy expression, while everyone else appeared to be hanging on her next word. Even Barbara was looking curious now after trying unsuccessfully to avoid the subject in the beginning.

Trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, Josie started, “Well, my friends and I…we knew the report was in the plant just like
Lanny
said.” Josie paused and John jumped in.

“By
we,
do you mean,
Gina
?” John winced as he uttered her name.

“Yes, actually.”
Josie glanced at John to see if he wanted to ask anything else before she continued. “We also knew there were these guys that worked at the plant who always partied at a little dive bar in town after work. They were always coming on to us—” John cleared his throat again, indicating that Josie should move on. “Anyway, some of us girls waited there for them and…well…um…when the plant workers were properly intoxicated, a few girls stayed behind…you know, to look after them…and a few of us simply took their coveralls, hard hats, and security badges from their truck, put them on and let ourselves into the plant.” Josie rattled off the last part fast, knowing that it was all a bit more complicated than that.

Silence.
Everyone was staring at her, speechless.

She took a deep breath and finished quickly. “We got the report, end of story.” Silence again, except for Andy’s stifled laugh.

“Yeah, but once you got in,”
Lanny
said, not satisfied with the
Readers Digest
version, “how did you get the report? It was in a locked room—in a locked cabinet—there was a security guard.”

Josie glanced over at John before continuing. He was staring straight ahead with a blank expression. She couldn’t make out what he was thinking, but she was pretty sure their marriage was over, or he was plotting her demise. Either way she really didn’t have anything more to lose at this point.

“Well, we may have given the security guard the impression that he would be ‘pleasantly’ rewarded if he gave us a tour that included the file room.” Josie felt her cheeks flush.

“You’re telling me that one of
my
daddy’s security guards just let you into the file room and then stood back while you ladies rifled through the files?”

Ugh, does he have to hear every little detail?
 
“He was sort of…distracted, you might say.”

“Distracted!”
Trisha questioned, her face distorted as she made quotations with her fingers.
“By who?”
Then, she finished with a sardonic, “You?”

“Whom,” Josie retorted;
honestly, she’s John’s press secretary?
 
“Yes, me.”

“And just what did this ‘distracting’ consist of?” Andy asked the question everyone wanted to know.

Josie ignored Andy. “Anyway, when Gina got the file, she gave me the thumbs up, and we took our leave. The next day we showed up in court, and the judge had no choice but to set a date for trial. Brian was released. The water was eventually cleaned up, and the families compensated.” Josie stopped a short moment, thinking about how satisfying it was to take down a toxic polluter. “I will never forget the look on Old Man Montgomery’s face when we waltzed into court with that missing report. Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to make it to my next birthday.”

Silence again. No one dared to speak, or even move.

“Well, I’ll be goddamned!”
Lanny
shrieked, slapping the table with his hand. “Mystery solved—
and
I finally get to meet the elusive Josie McClain.” With a huge grin, he put his arm around Barbara. “This is turning out to be one hell of a trip.”

“Sir…” John couldn’t quite find his words. “I just want to say that—”

“Oh, don’t you fret. Jocelyn’s a hero. Hell, what my daddy was doing was wrong. I probably would have given her the report myself—all she had to do was ask.”

Everyone stared, mystified at
Lanny’s
sudden change in demeanor.

Josie stammered, “You’re kidding…right?” As she watched
Lanny
rejoicing over what they did to his daddy fourteen years ago, Josie thought maybe somehow she’d tripped and fallen into the twilight zone.
I’ll be damned.

The band started up, playing an old Bennie Goodman song and Barbara, looking pleased overall, turned to her husband. “
Lann
, do you remember this song? Let’s dance for old
times
sake.”

“Great idea.
Come on, ya’ll, let’s all dance.” He motioned to all the men. “Come on, grab your
darlin
’. I feel like celebrating!”

Everyone pushed their chairs out while still glancing tentatively at Josie, before making their way onto the dance floor.

Josie pushed her chair back to stand up, but John stayed seated.

“John,” she said, “I think
Lanny
wants everyone to dance.”

Standing slowly, he asked, “Just so I have this right. You broke into the plant of my biggest contributor—a felony, I might add. Stole documents…and then,
slept
with the security guard to cover it up?”

“Well, the documents were already stolen; I just took them back. And…technically, we didn’t actually
do
any sleeping.” She gave John a demure smile and a wink before swiveling around. The chiffon hemline of her dress floated up lightly with the movement as she headed for the dance floor.

John trailed, befuddled, in her wake.

* * * *

Josie’s head was reeling as she twirled slowly on the dance floor in John’s arms for the first time in…well she couldn’t recall for sure. Talking about the old days when she and Brian were fearless, self-righteous, and invincible made her feel almost giddy. She’d been cornered by
Lanny
but stood firm, took him on, face to face, and somehow everything turned out all right. Unconsciously, a smile kept forming on her lips, but she tried to rein herself back in; she didn’t want to appear too smug.

Dancing as close as two people with healthy girths possibly could,
Lanny
and Barbara keep smiling over at Josie. Patrick and Amy were nestled together romantically while Andy tried to tango with
Lydia
. With one arm around Trisha,
Denton
was typing on his Blackberry with the other, while Trisha watched John. Following Trisha’s gaze, Josie was surprised to see that John’s eyes were fixated, staring down at
her
.

“So, Brian McAlister…” John said. “The same Brian you’ve been working with for the past six months or so, is the same Brian you…lived—” John choked on the word
lived
, “with during college?”

“Yeah, I thought you knew that.” She really hadn’t meant to keep it a secret.

“I’m pretty sure that I would have remembered something like that,” John said, distracted, looking over Josie’s shoulder—and she knew it was in Trisha’s direction.

“Oh, please! You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said in the last year.” Josie shocked herself, and John, with her own frankness, and then added, “Maybe more.”

Turning his attention back to Josie, he wrinkled his brow, eyes amused but thoughtful as he carefully regarded her face before asking, “You
really
impersonated a steel worker and risked prison to save a small town that you have no known ties to in order to stop a toxic polluter?” His lips turned up as his eyes warmed.

Josie shrugged, feeling her cheeks blush. She couldn’t remember the last time John had smiled at her. “And, to get Brian out—”

“How did Brian feel about you…um…doing what you did with the security guard?” he asked, his voice pensive, his gaze locked with hers.

“I think he was more concerned with getting out of jail and cleaning up the water than…well, some inexperienced
security guard
that…” Josie
hesitated,
thinking about how she’d inadvertently left everyone with the impression she and the guard had had sex. Truth be told, he’d barely made it to first base. Josie laughed on the inside, remembering how he’d fumbled around, trying to figure out what to do next. “Well, anyway, we didn’t actually have sex.” She decided to come clean. “I mean, by the time he was…um…getting warmed up, Gina had the report and we were on our way.” She felt John breathe a sigh of relief.

Glancing back over at Trisha, Josie watched while she and
Denton
continued to avoid conversation. And then, as though the wind had suddenly abandoned her sails, Josie felt her mood drop, realizing that what she’d done all those years ago couldn’t possibly make any difference now. Only a few feet away, Trisha was keeping an eye on John while around her wrist, tiny reflections of light danced beautifully from her bracelet
.

* * * *

At the front desk, Josie tapped her finger while the clerk tried to figure out why her key card wouldn’t open the door to their room. After they’d all enjoyed a dance,
Lanny
said it was time for the men to “get down to business” and they headed off to devise a plot to conquer the universe—or so it seemed. On her own now, Josie had considered going to the island’s club, but stopped short at the door. Looking in at all the young people in trendy clothes, rubbing up against each other as they danced, she decided that her feet hurt and headed to the room.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am,” the clerk said, appraising Josie carefully. “What did you say your name is again?”

“Josie—Jocelyn Bearden.”
Why is he looking at me like that?

“Uh, huh… Let me just try something else.” He turned his accusing eyes back to the monitor and typed fervently before stopping abruptly and breathing out deliberately.