Page 28 of Break My Fall

He widened his eyes at her, and there was a grin tugging at his lips. “I would never.”

“Fine. Since you’re good at so many things, I’ll clarify. You’re good at getting people to talk to you. To open up. To spill their darkest secrets.”

“Have you spilled your darkest secret?”

Oh. He was good. She had a secret. It wasn’t dark, but it was private. And somehow she suspected that he knew. “I think I’ve gone as far as I’m willing to go.” For tonight, anyway.

“Fair enough.” He went from teasing, or was it flirting? Maybe?No. It must have been teasing. Regardless, he went from whatever it was to business in a nanosecond. “You’re right. Trace Ledbetter is a scary man. He’s second in command to Marvin Johnstone and definitely the one in line to take over the criminal enterprise when Johnstone steps down. I don’t suppose you can avoid them?”

She dropped her head. “No.”

“Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this story?”

“No. I mean, yes. I mean. Not exactly.”

He picked up the pen and held it over the notepad. “I’m ready. Hit me.”

It was going to hit the fan, but better now than six weeks from now. “It’s about the wedding.”

“The wedding you’re doing the flowers for? The wedding where I’m going as your plus-one?”

“What other wedding would it be?”

“Meredith, right now, if you told me you’d left out the part where you’d seen a mountain troll in a cave and you were sure he was terrorizing the town, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She didn’t have to fake her outrage.

“It means you dribble out information in no particular order. I’m waiting for you to tell me you’ve committed to giving Marvin Johnstone a root canal or something.”

It annoyed her that he wasn’t wrong. Or that she had more to say. “He could use a dentist. His teeth.” She shuddered. “It’s the meth. I see a lot of it.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Gray waited.

“Fine. The thing about the wedding is that the girl getting married—”

Gray closed his eyes like he was facing a firing squad. No. That wasn’t right. If he faced a firing squad, she guessed he would do it with his eyes wide open.

“Why are you closing your eyes?”

“I’m praying for God to give me strength to handle whatever you’re about to say.”

“Fine. The bride is the niece of Johnstone. I didn’t know it when I agreed. Her last name is Finley. And the groom is Officer Nichols.”

Gray dropped his head to his desk and lightly tapped it on the surface. Repeatedly. She let him vent his frustration.

“Is this the same Nichols you overheard Ledbetter and Hardaway talking about?”

“I assume so. He’s young. Moved to Neeson about eighteen months ago. Met Lydia Finley the first week he was here. Lydia’s in her early twenties. Precious. She has four younger sisters, all of whom will be bridesmaids. I didn’t know they had any connection to Johnstone until a few weeks ago when they gave me a list of people who needed bouquets and boutonnieres. Lydia’s mother, Mrs. Finley, is Marvin Johnstone’s youngest sister.”

Meredith gave up on her roaming around his office and took a seat again. “The bride is lovely, and unless I’m very much mistaken, the wedding is a love match. I don’t get any sense that she’s being coerced. They’re adorable together. They’re poor and probably always will be, but he came to me and asked if there was any way I could do the flowers for the wedding because Lydia’s a big fan of my work. It was a surprise for her. I couldn’t say no.”

“Because they’re young and in love?” Did Gray sound bitter? Or sad?

“What better reason? She’s found her person. She loves him, and he loves her back. They’re young, but they’ll grow up together. She wants to travel, and he wants to take her places. She hasn’t lived a fairy-tale life. But in this one area, I can help make her dreams come true. At least, I think I can.”

“Besides the obvious possibility that Marvin Johnstone is going to show up at the wedding, what has you worried?”

“What if the bad guys are planning on using this? The wedding. Their love. Her. What if she’s the way they’re going to turn Nichols to the dark side? Am I aiding and abetting?”

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