Just a Little White Lie(41)
But he apparently didn’t have the sense he’d been born with, because he patted her leg. Actually patted her leg. Deadly anger flowed through her.
Determined there’d be no more snit-fits or shows of anger in front of Donald, though, she tamped it down, faked a calm she was far from feeling. “Why are you here, Donald? I told you to go back to Florida. We’re done.”
“Hardly.” He laid his napkin over his lap and smoothed it. “I don’t believe Jake and I are, either. I handled some problems for Darling Enterprises in Mississippi that he was involved in.”
“Problems?” Jake sputtered. “Oh, that’s rich.”
Jake’s mother leaned in to the center of the table. “All of you. Stop.” Her voice carried the authority of a teacher who brooked no excuses, and the table fell silent. “Donald Kimball?” She cocked her head. “Lucinda, is this the same—”
“Yes, Trudy, one and the same. My ex-fiancé. Fortunately, his heart wasn’t broken when I fell in love with your son. He already had a replacement lined up, as you’ve no doubt read in the tabloids. It made things easier all around.” She spoke quietly, without emotion, not wanting the words to carry past their table.
“This is your idea of a business meeting, Dad?” Jake shot his father an icy stare.
“Darned tootin’. Donald and I met about the development this afternoon. He’s gonna help us out on that. In return, I’m helping him track down a missing person. His fiancée.” He looked pointedly at Lucinda. “He asked me, as police chief, for help finding you.”
“And you conveniently skipped over all that today when you talked to me?” Jake’s voice rose.
“Just doing my job.”
“Bull!”
“I don’t understand, Lucy,” Grandma Hattie chimed in. “I thought you and Jake were engaged.”
“We are,” Jake bit out.
“Then why is this man saying—”
Jake ignored her, his eyes hard as steel, his voice sharp. “You need to leave, Kimball.”
Donald’s face tightened with anger. “When I’m good and ready. I’m here to speak with my fiancée.”
“We have nothing to discuss,” Lucinda said. Heads all over the room had turned to them, putting an end to any hopes of keeping this conversation private.
“Ask them how they met,” Donald said to Grandma Hattie.
Hattie looked at her.
“We, ah…” Lucinda stuttered. She rubbed her ice-cold hands together, wishing she was anywhere but here.
Jake met Donald’s gaze straight-on. “We met in Mississippi, Gram. When I was in Bay Saint Louis.”
“What a bunch of crap,” Donald said.
“A bunch of crap?” Jake fired back. “No, that’s what you’re handin’ out. What you and Darling Enterprises pulled there, Kimball, was unconscionable.”
Jake’s eyes moved to hers, watched her as though he was looking for something. But what? Lucinda wondered.
“The shrimpers along the coast are having one hell of a time trying to stay on their feet,” Jake continued. “First Katrina knocked them down, then a monster oil spill, followed by more bad weather.”
Lucinda couldn’t keep up. Jake and Donald knew each other? Had met before this morning? Had, in fact, had business dealings? Why hadn’t Jake said something before this?
“They’re desperate,” Jake continued. “So you rode in on your white horse, claiming to be their savior, makin’ loans, extremely high-interest loans, and tying their houses into the mix. And now you’re collecting. Not only are they losing their shrimp boats, their livelihoods, you’re takin’ their homes too. Families are being tossed out on the street so you can make another nickel.”
Jake came up for a breath, looking toward his grandmother. “I thought someone should know, so I called Lucy. Asked her to meet me there.”
His stormy-eyed gaze flicked to her. Lucinda felt like she’d been punched. He was telling the truth, she was certain. She wished she’d known before. She’d have blown the whistle on her father and Donald herself.
Jake turned back to Donald. “I figured she had no idea what you and her father were pullin’.”
“They—they hid it well,” she managed.
Donald’s face flushed. “That was my project. Lucinda had no business sticking her nose in it. There was nothing illegal about what we did.”
Undeterred, Jake steamrollered through Donald’s objections. “I’d say that’s debatable. We’ll find out. But legal or not, it’s certainly immoral.”