Page 21 of Ashes of Us
Danica nodded, not sure what to say, her eyes drifting around the room. She could see a lot of pictures of the same three women, a blonde and two women with black hair who were clearly twins, and bore a faint resemblance to Maverick, everywhere and nodded toward them. “You're sisters?”
Maverick chuckled. “Just the twins, the blonde is my girlfriend, I guess.”
“You guess?” Danica glanced back at him. “You're not sure?”
“We haven't really had the talk yet.” He shrugged. “It's a long story. So, what can I do for you?”
“You didn't talk to David?” Danica felt a wave of apprehension come over her. She hoped she wouldn't have to go over everything again.
“No, I prefer to hear my client's stories directly from them.” He studied her for a minute, and his expression softened. “You can just give me the crib notes for now.” Danica sighed and, for the second time in three hours, she went over her situation. When she was finished, Maverick was frowning as he jotted a few notes into his tablet with a stylus. “So, to sum it up. You want me to investigate this Lucy Gamache, see what I can find out about her and her relationship with your late husband, and see if I can get evidence that your husband didn't want this child?”
“That's right.” She paused, chewing her lip. “We only have three weeks before we have to be back in court.” She was worried that wouldn't be enough time, but Maverick waved his hand.
“Yeah, that's not a problem.” He got up and walked over to his computer, waking it up. A few minutes later, he was back with a bunch of papers he had printed on a clipboard. “The first three pages are my standard contract with my fees, and the last four are questions about things I need to know. If you don't have the answers, it's fine. Just answer what you can.”
He picked up her empty mug and asked if she wanted more. When Danica shook her head, he picked up his and headed down the hall. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of running water and figured he had a small kitchenette backthere. Realizing he was giving her space so she could read everything over without him staring at her, she quickly skimmed through the contract and, after some thought, signed it, realizing this was the best chance she had to find out what had happened between Jasper and Lucy.
Maverick came back into the room when she was about halfway through the form, which just had basic questions to see how much actual digging he would have to do, like if they had social media, if she had passwords and if so, what were they? She couldn't answer a lot of the questions about Lucy and glanced up at Maverick, who was on his phone and looked like he was texting someone. “I can probably get more information about Lucy this evening. Jasper's family are coming by the house for an informal memorial.” Maverick glanced up, his expression perking up.
“Would you mind if I came? I'd like to get my own impressions.”
Danica shrugged. “Sure, but we should probably tell them you're a co-worker from the hotel.”
“Perfect.” He grinned, and she actually found herself melting a little with those dimples of his. “Just tell me what I do.”
Chapter Eighteen: The Memorial
Danica wasn't home long when Emilia, Xavier and the three kids showed up. Emilia immediately put the two oldest to work, instructing them to start putting tablecloths on the tables Xavier was setting up. With Gracie watching her parents closely from where she was quietly playing with her dolls at one of the tables, Danica and Emilia followed behind them, putting weights on the corners of the tablecloths so they wouldn't blow away and plastic glasses full of plastic utensils in the center of each table. “Are you expecting many people?” Emilia asked curiously as she started unfolding chairs.
“I have no idea,” Danica admitted. “I know Reggie and his wife and kids are coming; he's offered to man the barbecue. Trey said he'd stop by, so did Heather, Penny, Aaron, Jennifer, Morgan, and Matthew. If they all come with their families...” She trailed off. The Prestons rarely had fewer than two kids, so there were going to be a lot of people. “Let's just hope they don't all come at the same time.”
They were setting up a table that had a large picture of Jasper on it when Reggie showed up. After the hugs andgreetings, he headed over to the barbecue to get it set up, and Xavier grabbed the two oldest boys to help bring out the coolers with hot dogs and burgers in them. Danica set up a pile of boxes with tea lights in them at one end of the table and laid out a few boxes of matches so people could light a candle for him. Emilia, who had been introducing Reggie's wife, Vera and their daughters to her kids, joined her and, after a moment, rubbed her arm.
“You know,” she murmured. “Xavier and I were talking, and if all his parents want is his sperm, why don't you have it...” She waved her hand, looking for the right word. “Harvested?” She wrinkled her nose and cleared her throat. “Not to give in or anything, but so you can take Jasper off the machines. The hospital will freeze it, and then if his parents do win or the court case drags on for longer than three weeks, you're not visiting the hospital to sit with your husband's dead body for hours on end.”
Danica looked at her, considering her idea. She had stayed with his body for visiting hours on Saturday and Sunday, feeling an odd sense of guilt that he was just lying there alone. “You know what? I think I'll pass that on to my lawyer and see if he can talk to the judge about that.”
“Who is that?” Emilia asked, her tone of voice a little suggestive. “God, he's cute.” Danica turned and saw Maverick had arrived and was carrying a small flower arrangement.
“That's my private investigator,” she responded quietly, elbowing her. “You have a husband.” Maverick was cute, though, so she had to agree with her.
“Married, not blind,” Emilia murmured as Maverick spotted them and walked over, smiling. “Dimples, too. God damn.”
“He has a girlfriend,” Danica muttered as he reached them. “Emilia, this is Maverick, Maverick, this is Emilia, my best friend who's married to Jasper's cousin. She knows who you are.” Seeing Emilia's confused look, she explained they were telling people he worked at the hotel with her.
“These are for you, I guess.” Maverick handed her the flowers. “I wasn't really sure what to bring.”
“These are perfect.” Danica smiled at him and turned to set them up on the table next to the picture of Jasper. “You didn't have to bring anything.”
“Felt like I should.” Maverick was looking around the backyard curiously. “I have Watson in my car; do you mind if I bring him out? He helps break the ice and is amazing with kids.”
“Oh, yeah, bring him out.” Danica nodded, and Emilia looked between them curiously. Maverick turned to go back to his car, and she raised her eyebrow at Danica.
“Watson?”
“His dog,” Danica explained briefly, and Maverick returned, this time with the Basset Hound on his leash.
“Oh, my goodness!” Emilia cooed and immediately knelt down, holding out her hand for Watson to sniff. “Aren't you adorable?” Danica watched in amusement as Watson immediately nudged her hand and wagged his tail furiously.
