He couldn’t fail this kid.

She didn’t deserve that after all she’d been through. But Mason was probably the last person in the world who should be trusted with responsibility for her.

A cold hand seemed to squeeze his heart. What did he know about being a father? His own father hadn’t set much of an example.

He glanced at his watch. He was about to meet the daughter he’d never known existed—for the first time. And his life would change irrevocably. But it already had, hadn’t it? It had started to change months ago, at the class reunion. He just hadn’t recognized it at the time.

REUNION REVELATIONS: Secrets surface when old friends—and foes—get together.

Hidden in the Wall—Valerie Hansen (LIS#84) January 2008

Missing Persons—Shirlee McCoy (LIS#88) February 2008

Don’t Look Back—Margaret Daley (LIS#92) March 2008

In His Sights—Carol Steward (LIS#96) April 2008

A Face in the Shadows—Lenora Worth (LIS#100) May 2008

Final Justice—Marta Perry (LIS#104) June 2008

MILLS & BOON

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MARTA PERRY

has written everything from Sunday school curriculum to travel articles to magazine stories in twenty years of writing, but she feels she’s found her home in the stories she writes for the Love Inspired line. Marta lives in rural Pennsylvania, but she and her husband spend part of each year at their second home in South Carolina. When she’s not writing, she’s probably visiting her children and her five beautiful grandchildren, traveling or relaxing with a good book. Marta loves hearing from readers, and she’ll write back with a signed bookplate or bookmark. Write to her c/o Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, Suite 1001, New York, NY 10279, e-mail her at marta@martaperry.com or visit her on the Web at www.martaperry.com.

Final Justice
Marta Perry

Published by Steeple Hill Books™

If you search for good, you will find favor, but if you search for evil, it will find you.

—Proverbs 11:27

This story is dedicated to my own dear college

friends, including Cynthia, Liz, Ginny, Phyllis,

Babs, Barbara and any others whose names I’ve

missed. And, as always, to Brian, with much love.

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Marta Perry for her contribution to the REUNION REVELATIONS miniseries.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EPILOGUE

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

PROLOGUE

He was about to meet the daughter he’d never known existed. He sat alone on a park bench, watching the spring sunshine filter through veils of Spanish moss and trying to make sense of the changes that had turned his life upside down.

Across the park, a father pushed his child on the rustic swing set. The little girl—four or five, maybe—laughed, her light voice floating toward him on the sultry air.

“Higher, Daddy. Higher.”

A cold hand seemed to squeeze his heart. What did he know about being a father? His own father certainly hadn’t set much of an example. In fact, if his father were alive today, he’d be quick to point out that this was just another opportunity for him to fail someone.

He couldn’t fail this child. She didn’t deserve that after all she’d been through. But he was probably the last person in the world who should be trusted with the responsibility for her.

He glanced at his watch. They’d come soon, and his life would change irrevocably.

But it already had, hadn’t it? It had started to change months ago. He just hadn’t recognized it at the time.

ONE

Magnolia College’s ten-year reunion was in full swing on a warm southern evening. Jennifer Pappas stood alone near the French doors that opened to the terrace, wondering what on earth had made her agree to come.

The Mossy Oak Inn on the edge of the college campus prided itself on elegant service, and the staff had outdone itself tonight. Discreet waiters circulated with trays of hors d’oeuvres, while a string combo played a delicate counterpoint to the reliving of college memories. The scent of roses mingled with that of expensive perfume, almost dizzying in its impact.

She took an automatic step back from the exuberant greetings going on between two women who’d just, apparently, found each other after ten years and were determined to catch up on everything that had happened since.

That was what she feared the most tonight—that seemingly innocuous question: What have you been doing since graduation?

How do I answer that, Father? She sought refuge in prayer, as she always did, focusing inward and shutting out the clamor of insistent voices rising above the chamber music. How could I talk about the day-care center I ran in Syracuse without mentioning how it ended?

A shudder touched her heart, and she steeled herself against the memories, locking them away. She wouldn’t dwell on the past. She’d started a new life. That was what this was all about, wasn’t it?

But she’d been back in Magnolia Falls for over a month now, and she still hadn’t found her balance. She was beginning to wonder if she ever would.

Her gaze fell upon Steff Kessler, a fellow class member who was now the alumni director for Magnolia College. Steff had seemed eager to renew their college friendship, but even with Steff, she’d held back. How did you explain to anyone, let alone a friend, what it was like being arrested, charged, fingerprinted?

No one here knew the truth except for Pastor Rogers and her father. Dad kept insisting her life would be easier once she’d confided in a few friends, but she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t bear the possibility that they’d look at her with contempt.

The French door moved behind her, and someone stepped through. She turned, startled, and found herself face-to-face with Mason Grant.

“Mason.” Her heart twisted. Once she’d considered Mason one of her closest friends. Then, quite suddenly in the middle of their senior year, he’d shut her out, along with everyone else he’d been close to.

According to Steff, that was still the case. Steff hadn’t expected him to show up tonight, even though he still lived in Magnolia Falls.

“Jennifer Pappas.” He looked as startled as she felt. “I haven’t seen you since—well, since graduation.”

“Ten years.” She managed a smile. “How many times do you suppose those words have been said tonight?”

That brought an answering smile to his face. “Too many, I suppose. And they’re still at it.” He glanced at the noisy crowd, seeming to search for familiar faces, giving her a moment to take a quick look at him.

Her first thought was that he hadn’t changed. Tall, lean, he still had the sinewy build of a basketball player, evident even in the perfectly tailored tux he wore. He had regular features, dark blond hair that was always a little tousled despite his best efforts, hazel eyes—

And there she saw the difference.

Guarded. Once they’d been dancing eyes, but now they hid secrets. Maybe others would be fooled by the cheerful facade, but she recognized the expression. It was one she saw daily in her mirror.

What is it, Mason? What’s changed you? What’s put those lines around your eyes and given that wary set to your mouth?

That was not a question she could ask, since it was one she wouldn’t answer herself.

He brought his attention back to her, his lips easing in a smile. “Actually, I heard that you were back in town.”

“Probably at church.” Mason’s family had been long-time members of Magnolia Christian Church, although she hadn’t seen him at services there since she’d been back. “Pastor Rogers has hired me to run the church nursery school. I’ll also be doing the after-school program starting in September.”

His gaze evaded hers. “I must have heard somewhere else. I haven’t been at church lately. The stores keep me too busy for much of anything but work.”

That would be the chain of sporting-goods stores Mason had inherited when his father died during their senior year. Anyone might use that as an excuse. But Mason looked lost and alone somehow, just for an instant, before he veiled the emotion with a bland, cool mask.

Jennifer’s heart twisted. She wanted to reach out to him, to soothe the hurt she sensed in him just as she’d automatically run to comfort a crying child.

“Too busy for your faith? For your friends? What happened, Mason?” The words were out before she could censor them.

He looked startled, as well he might. “What do you mean? Nothing’s happened.”

She touched his sleeve, feeling hard muscle tense at her touch beneath the fine fabric of his tux, knowing it was a mistake to push but unable to resist her engrained need to help.

“We were good friends, before you walked away from all of us. Why did you do that?” She still remembered the pain, even though it had been ten years—the grief she felt at losing her friend and not knowing why.

Mason’s smile seemed frozen on his face. “Things happened, senior year, things none of us could control. Maybe you’ve forgotten I was the college pariah after losing the championship game for the team.”

She made a small sound of distress. “None of your friends blamed you for that, and anyone who did was an idiot. We wanted to help you then, but you shut us out. Can’t you let us make up for it now?”

“There’s no changing what’s done.” He jerked a nod toward the chattering crowd. “You think any of them would really go back, even if they could? No matter how many fond memories they dredge up tonight, at some level they all know the reality. It’s far better for all of us to leave the past alone.”

She was too shocked by the bitterness in his voice to respond. Maybe he read that in her face, because for a moment she saw the old Mason.

He clasped her hand in his, squeezing it gently. “Your heart always was too tender for your own good, Jennifer. But I’m glad you’re back, all the same.” He let her hand go slowly, almost reluctantly. “We both ought to circulate. I’m sure plenty of old friends are eager to greet you.”

And then he turned and slipped away into the crowd.

TWO

“I’m telling you the truth. We found Penny Brighton Kessler. She admitted she killed Josie, and the picture she had of the child she claims is her daughter looked exactly like Josie Skerritt.”

Mason stared at Kate Brooks across the red-and-white checked tablecloth at Burt’s Pizzeria, the food turning to ashes in his mouth. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t.

In the months since the reunion, he’d broken his habit of isolation to meet with a few old classmates occasionally—Kate, Parker Buchanan, Steff Kessler and Trevor Whittaker. And Jennifer Pappas, of course, always Jennifer.

Despite their rocky beginning at the reunion, despite the fact that Jennifer’s desire to reach out to him threatened the secrets that burdened him, he couldn’t seem to stay away from her. It was friendship, he told himself. That was all he felt.

And he’d needed friendship, as long-hidden secrets began to emerge over the past few months. First came the discovery of the body, hidden near the library, when Trevor’s construction company broke ground for the new library wing. Initially, he hadn’t imagined that had anything to do with his class, his friends.

But gradually the circle tightened. The body had been there since the December after their graduation, making a tenuous link to his class. People had been drawn into the mystery, trying to locate any missing class members.

Then the body had been identified as that of Josie Skerritt, one of their close circle of friends from Campus Christian Fellowship. No one could remember having seen her since graduation. His nightmares had started then. It had grown worse with the revelation that Josie had had a baby.

Everyone from their small group of college friends had been questioned. Everyone had, he supposed, been suspected in some way. Each time they were together, no matter how they tried to ignore it, the conversation would go back to Josie. How did she die? Why? What happened to the child she’d apparently had not long before her death?

Jennifer moved slightly, her hands seeming to push something away. Her velvety brown eyes were troubled. “I don’t understand. Are you saying that Penny stole Josie’s child?”

The words echoed in his mind, mocking him, reminding him. Josie’s child. Josie had a child. If Kate’s suspicions were right, a daughter.

Whose child? His stomach churned. Not mine. It couldn’t be mine.

Parker Buchanan, sitting next to Kate at the round table, put his hand over hers in a possessive movement. “You do remember that the police told us to keep quiet about this, don’t you?”

Kate wrinkled her nose at him. “Listen, Jennifer’s the one who figured out where Penny was. The police know she has to be warned about Penny. Anyway, she’s one of my best friends.”

A faint flush touched Jennifer’s smooth olive skin, as if it pleased her to be called that. She looked cool and put together, even in jeans and a simple knit shirt, but he knew that outward appearance masked a sensitive spirit.

“We shouldn’t ask,” she said to Kate. “But if you want to tell us—”

Kate leaned forward, pushing aside the remains of her mushroom pizza. The eager sparkle in her eyes said she was about to be indiscreet.

“Penny admitted she was trying to frame Parker for Josie’s murder.” Indignation filled Kate’s voice. “She’s off her rocker if you ask me. She showed me the photograph, and when I said the little girl looked like Josie, she flew into a rage. She was going to kill me and frame Parker.” She touched the sling in which her arm rested. “If Parker hadn’t gotten there in time, she’d have succeeded.”

“I’m a real hero, I am.” Parker, as always, was faintly self-mocking. “I let her get away.”

“You were taking care of me.” Kate gave him a look that would have shown a blind man how she felt about him.

Well, good for them. They both deserved a little happiness. Unlike him.

He shook his head, trying to get a grip on the situation. “Did Penny admit the child was Josie’s?” Even articulating the words shook him.

“Not exactly.” Kate frowned. “But honestly, if you’d seen the photo, you couldn’t help but notice. Same heart-shaped face, same brown hair and brown eyes—”

“Lots of people have brown hair and brown eyes.” Steff Kessler’s voice was sharp, a reminder to everyone that Penny had been married briefly to her brother, Adam.

“Same wistful expression,” Kate finished. “You know how Josie would look sometimes. Like a little girl lost. That’s how this child looks.”

That shook him. He remembered that look all too well.

“Penny claimed her daughter was Adam’s child.” Steff’s voice tightened. Though it had been ten years, she still felt the loss of her brother, dead in an apparent boating accident soon after his elopement with Penny. “But she wouldn’t agree to a DNA test, and my parents never believed it.”

“You see?” Kate’s voice was triumphant. “She could hardly agree to a DNA test on the child if the baby was really Josie’s.”

“That poor child.” Jennifer’s thoughts went straight to the child, of course. “If this is true, I can’t imagine what it must be like for her. Where is she? Not with Penny, I hope.”

“In a private boarding school in Charleston,” Parker said. “I managed to hear one of the police officers say that, but then they clammed up. Anyway, officially the cops are after Penny for the attack on Kate, but I imagine they’re looking hard at her for Josie’s death.”

Penny, suspected of murder. She’d been wild enough, bragging about having been kicked out of more schools than she could count, driving her elderly Charleston parents to declare Magnolia College her last chance. But murder—

It seemed impossible, but hardly less so than any of the other things that had rocked Magnolia Falls and the college since the body was discovered.

Mason’s cell phone vibrated. He was tempted to ignore it, but he didn’t do that, ever. It could be some crisis at one of the branch stores. Worse, it could be his mother’s assisted-living facility.

He checked the number, found it was one he didn’t recognize and answered, turning slightly away from the table.

“Mason Grant.” He kept his voice low.

For a moment there was nothing. Then a voice, whispering. A child’s, he thought at first. Some kid making prank calls, happening upon his number by accident.

“You think no one knows, don’t you? You think no one knows what you did.”

“Who is this?” He snapped the words, more sharply than he intended, and realized the faces around the table were turning toward him.

He shrugged, mouthing the words. Wrong number.

Then the whisperer spoke again. “You think no one knows about you and Josie. You think no one knows what you did. You’re wrong. I know.”

The connection was broken before he could say a word.

He glanced up. Everyone watched him. For an instant he imagined they’d all heard, that they all knew the truth about him.

Impossible. They watched him with varying degrees of interest, Jennifer with concern.

That look seemed to pierce the chill that had settled into his soul at the whispered words. The best thing that had come out of the reunion had been getting to know Jennifer again, feeling the warmth and caring that was such an integral part of her.

Don’t kid yourself. Not even Jennifer would understand if she knew the truth.

The chill gripped again, harder. The truth—he’d struggled with it since the moment he’d learned that the body was Josie’s. Struggled with what to do, how much to tell.

He’d thought the secret belonged to him alone. The voice seemed to whisper again. He’d been wrong.

Penny Brighton Kessler tossed the cell phone into the motel room’s trash can, satisfied with the impression she’d made. She’d bought several phones this morning, inexpensive models that she could use and discard. No one would trace her that easily.

She crossed the worn carpeting to the window, peering around the edge of the drapery. Nothing suspicious in the ill-lit parking lot, but then, she’d been careful.

Were the police involved already? Probably—for the attack on Kate, at least. They couldn’t have figured anything else out this soon. Unless she’d told Kate…She frowned. What had she told Kate?

Well, that didn’t matter. She could deny everything Kate said. But it had all gone wrong. She’d thought her plan to lay the blame on Parker was perfect, but it had unraveled. And then Kate had taken one look at the photograph of Alexis and known she was Josie’s child.

Anger propelled Penny back across the narrow room. Fine place this was for a Brighton—holed up in a cheap hotel room, on the run from the police, instead of living the life of luxury that was hers by right.

There were so many people to blame that she didn’t know where to start. Her parents. The child she’d thought would guarantee her proper place in the world. All those self-righteous people from school. If they’d never gotten together again at that reunion, would any of this have happened?

Still, she’d known all along that things might turn sour. She’d taken what precautions she could. There was the car no one would trace to Penny Brighton Kessler, the change in her appearance. She ruffled her fingers through short curls. She’d always wondered what she’d look like as a redhead.

Cash was the problem. The amount she’d had hidden away wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t get her out of the country, or set her up properly in the way she ought to live.

The anger burned again—sharper, more focused now. Mason Grant had money. And Mason was as responsible as anyone. Ten years ago he’d ignored her and then had an affair with Josie, as stupid as she was naive.

Well, it was time Mason repaid her for taking care of his kid all these years. And if she could arrange for that, and hurt interfering Jennifer Pappas in the process, so much the better. If Jennifer hadn’t tipped Kate and Parker off to her—

If, if, if. She forced down the fury that threatened to choke her. She couldn’t let it get the better of her. No more acting on impulse. She’d plan this carefully, and this time she’d wind up set for life.

The child was the key. Her parents had cut her off without a cent, but they loved Alexis, and would love her even when they knew she wasn’t really their grandchild. She’d never get her hands on the trust fund they’d talked of setting up for Alexis, not when she was on the run, but if dear old Momma and Daddy thought Alexis was in danger, they’d come up with the cash.

And Mason? Well, she had to admit that he was the unknown factor in all of this. Would he go straight to the police? Or would he try to keep his secret?

If so, he should be willing enough to pay for the privilege. And if not, if he had some bizarre idea of being a father to the child he’d never known about, so much the better. If she controlled Alexis, they’d all dance to her tune.

She wanted to move. Act. Drive to that expensive boarding school where her parents kept the kid and take her away.

Too dangerous. The police could be watching the school, thinking she’d do just that.

She had to be patient. She’d start laying the groundwork—show Mason just how much he had to lose if he didn’t cooperate with her.

He was vulnerable in spite of his wealth, in spite of the chain of sporting-goods stores that bore his name. The child, his precious reputation, the attachment he’d been forming with Jennifer since the reunion, these were his weaknesses.

She’d make him pay. The taste of revenge was sweet in her mouth. She’d make them all pay before she was done.

THREE

Jennifer checked the supplies in the art room for the after-school program in the church education wing, trying to focus on something other than the news about Penny and the child who might be Josie’s. And on Mason’s reaction to that news.

It was no use. She’d just counted the stacks of construction paper four times, and the amount still hadn’t registered. She may as well give in to the temptation to speculate on the news like everyone else.

They’d all been upset. After all, their little group had known Penny and Josie better than most people. Despite the police’s attempt at discretion, rumors were all over town, most of them garbled versions of what they’d heard at the pizzeria.

Everyone was upset. So why did Mason’s reaction bother her?

The classroom door opened, and Pastor Rogers poked his head in. “Am I disturbing you?”

She smiled. “Not unless counting construction paper is more important than I think it is. Come in.”

“I won’t be a minute. Is everything going all right?” Robert Rogers gave her the warm, interested smile that drew people to Magnolia Christian Church and kept them coming back again and again. Showing Christ’s love wasn’t just a credo to Rob Rogers; it was an all-encompassing way of life.

“I’m doing fine, thanks to your willingness to give me a chance.”

Affection for the big, burly minister warmed her heart. He hadn’t changed much in ten years—maybe another gray hair or two, maybe an extra pound or so around the middle, that was all.

He shook his head. “You’re an asset to the staff, Jennifer. I knew you would be. You don’t have to keep thanking me for doing something that was good for all of us.”

She flushed slightly. The praise was welcome, but they both knew that he’d taken a chance in hiring her. Other people might not be as quick to accept her innocence as he had been.

“Well, I just wanted to see—” He started to turn away, then turned back, slapping his head. “Honestly, I’ll have to start putting sticky notes on my sleeve. I came down here to tell you that Mason Grant called. He’s on his way over with some equipment he said he’s donating to the after-school program.”

“That’s great.” She’d see Mason, and she’d realize that there was nothing unusual about his reaction.

“I told him you’d meet him at the gym door. I hope that’s okay.” He beamed. “I’m sure we have you to thank for this donation. Mason hasn’t shown any interest in the program in the past.”

She shrugged. “I asked him, that was all. I’m sure he’d have responded the same way to anyone else from the church.”

Or was she? Mason’s faith, or lack of it, was a mystery to her, like so much else about his life.

“Must go.” Pastor Rob raised his hand in a gesture vaguely reminiscent of a benediction. “I have a worship committee meeting and I’m probably late already.” He hurried out, perpetually late but always forgiven because people knew that when he was there, they had his undivided love and attention.

She gave the room another glance. It wasn’t easy to make the switch from the preschoolers who occupied it in the morning’s nursery school to the elementary and middle school kids who swarmed in for the after-school program, but she and her volunteers had it down to an art by this time.

She hurried out into the hallway, passing the colorful murals she’d added to the cement block walls. Fanciful animals, two by two, marched all the way down one wall, headed for the ark at the end where Noah waited for them. On the opposite side, images of Jesus’s miracles filled in the walls between the classroom doors.

The gym was in the basement of the old education building, which had been replaced in the fifties by the cement block building in which the nursery school was housed. The link between the two, on this level, involved pushing open a heavy fire door, passing through the low-ceilinged janitor’s room with its doors into a maze of even older sections of the church’s underpinnings, and spurting out into the teen lounge and then into the gym.

Mason would come to the door closest to the driveway, no doubt. She went to unlock it, her footfalls echoing hollowly on the bare wooden floor.

Funny. She was usually alone on this basement floor from the time the nursery school ended until the after-school crew came charging in. She’d never before felt this urge to look behind her.

She shrugged, trying to shake off the tension that prickled along the nape of her neck. She’d been thinking too much about Josie, lying in a makeshift grave all those years when people thought she was living happily in Europe.

And about Penny. Kate thought Penny might come after her, the way she had everyone else who’d been involved with the class website. She shrugged that off. Once Josie’s body had been found, everything was bound to come out. Her connecting the dots through the website was a minor part in solving the mystery.

Mason probably felt that empathy for poor Josie, too. That was why he’d reacted with such tension to Kate’s news the previous night. There was nothing else to it.

She stood by the door, staring out the small window at the driveway. The gray stone walls of the sanctuary and the old education wing loomed over the drive on either side, turning it into a shadowed tunnel with the afternoon sunshine a gentle glow at the far end. Somewhere a door fell with a soft thud, and then the silence took over again.

She’d been back in Magnolia Falls for nearly a year now. The job was going well, and she had a sense of accomplishment with what the Lord had allowed her to do here. She’d renewed cherished friendships with people she cared about, including Mason.

Especially Mason if she were being honest with herself. But she still wasn’t sure what he felt, if anything, for her. He seemed to enjoy spending time with her, but she had yet to see behind the pleasant facade he presented to the world.

A white panel truck with the Grant’s Sporting Goods logo on its side pulled into the driveway, turning almost gray in the deep shadows. Mason drew up, made a neat three-point turn and backed up to the gymnasium door. He slid out, walking with easy, athletic grace to the rear of the van.

She pushed open the heavy door and propped it with the wooden wedge that was always left handy. “Hi! I thought you’d come in this way.” She scurried up the four steps to ground level. “I’ll help you carry things in. This is so nice of you.”

He passed her a cardboard carton and then pulled out two more to carry himself, giving her the slightly crooked smile that had a way of melting her heart. “As if I had a choice about it,” he said.

“You did,” she protested, remembering what Pastor Rob had said about it. “All I did was ask if you had any sports equipment you could donate. You could have said no.”

He followed her back down the stairs and into the gym. “Like you’d have taken no for an answer.” His voice was light and teasing, the tension of the previous night vanished. “You’d have pestered me to death if I hadn’t agreed.”

“Well, you belong to the church. Naturally I assume you want to support it.”

“Naturally.” There was a dry note to his voice that she didn’t miss. “As it happens, my check to the church arrives promptly every week.”

“You might bring it instead of mailing it,” she ventured.

“I might,” he said, his tone noncommittal.

What happened to him, Father? He was so devoted back in college, when we were in Campus Christian Fellowship together. Something has gone very wrong for him, and I don’t know what. If I can help him, please show me the way.

She put the carton down on the gym floor and hesitated, longing to rip it open. “Can I see what’s in here?”

Mason’s eyebrows lifted. “There are more in the van. Don’t you want to bring them all in first?”

“I want to see.” She suspected she sounded like one of her four-year-olds.

He planted his hands on his hips, smiling at her. A shaft of sunlight, piercing through one of the high windows, turned his hair to burnished gold. “You were one of those kids who ripped open the birthday present before you looked to see who it was from, weren’t you?”

“Guilty,” she confessed. “Please?”

He shrugged. “Knock yourself out. It’s just some basketballs, that’s all. I have new baskets in one of the boxes, too. Those old things are so bent it’s a wonder a ball can get through them.” He nodded toward the existing baskets, which drooped dispiritedly from their worn backboards.

“They’ve probably been up there for thirty or forty years,” she commented, eagerly ripping the box open. “This is so great. The kids will be thrilled.”

The box held half a dozen basketballs, brand-new. She took one out and tossed it to him.

He caught it automatically, but then threw it back into the box with a quick thrust of his hands.

“Come on,” she said invitingly, picking up the ball again. “Show me that hook shot of yours.”

“Sorry. I don’t play anymore.” He turned and walked toward the door.

She paused, watching his lithe figure. No, she didn’t understand what was going on with Mason. Maybe she never would.

She went to the van after him, helping to carry in another load of boxes, which proved to contain a couple of table-tennis sets.

“I can’t thank you enough for this.” She knew that sounded stilted, but she couldn’t seem to help it. She sat down on the floor beside the boxes. “If you have work to do, I can unpack everything myself.”

He stood for a moment, looking down at her, and then squatted next to her. “Don’t be so polite, Miss Jennifer. Isn’t that what the children call you?”

“It is. How did you know?” Don’t let me make a mistake and drive him away again.

“I have my sources.” He opened a box containing a wooden hockey game and started to put it together, his hands deft. “Look—about the basketball. I’m sorry if I was rude. I just don’t like reminders of my failures, that’s all.”

She’d tell him he was overreacting, but she’d already tried that, and it hadn’t worked. “It must be tough to avoid an entire sport, in your line of work.”

“Yeah, well, when you inherit the family business, you don’t exactly have a lot of choices.”

“I guess not. I just—” She looked at him, troubled.

“You want to make it better.” He gave her a wry smile that twisted her heart. “You always want to make things better, don’t you, Jennifer? Some things about people don’t change.”

“Some things do.” She shivered a little. “Everything that’s been coming out, about Josie, I mean, has me feeling as if the college days I thought I remembered might not have been real.”

His face went still, and she couldn’t tell what lay behind that stillness. “Maybe all our memories are a little skewed,” he said finally. “We see what happened through our own perspective.”

“Some things are simply true,” she protested. “Our viewpoint doesn’t change that. Josie’s pregnancy—”

She stopped. She hadn’t intended to bring that up.

“What about it?” His voice was even, his face bent over his work, a strand of blond hair falling onto his forehead.

“Well, she must have been pregnant in the spring of our senior year. She must have been upset, worried, trying to figure out what to do. I saw her every day. Why didn’t I realize something was wrong?”

“She didn’t want you to,” he said. “You can’t help everyone, Jennifer. Some people won’t let you.” It sounded very final. He lifted the hockey game and propped it against the wall. “There you are, all finished. Anything else I can do for you?”

He rose as he spoke, holding out his hand. She grasped it, and he pulled her effortlessly to her feet. For an instant she felt dizzy. Her eyes met his—met and held. Her breath stopped. Mason didn’t move. Even the dust motes floating in the shaft of sunlight seemed still.

“You—What did you say?” Her voice sounded unnatural to her.

He blinked, as if trying to refocus. “I asked if I could do anything else for you.”

You could open up to me. You could explain what just happened.

“Nothing, unless you’d like to come in and show the children how to use all this equipment. We’re always looking for volunteers.” That was better. Her voice sounded almost normal.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to keep looking. I’m no good with kids.” His face seemed to tense on the words.

“You never know until you try,” she said. Open up to me, Mason. Talk to me.

“I don’t think so. I’ll see you, Jennifer.” He walked out quickly, as if to deny that anything at all had just happened between them.

Mason sat at his desk a couple of days later, trying to concentrate on the latest sales reports from the Macon store. Concentrating was never easy with the massive oil painting of his father mounted on the wall above, staring down at him. It seemed to be reminding him that it was Gerald Grant II who was supposed to be sitting in that chair, not Mason.

Small wonder he preferred to work anywhere but here. He could move the portrait, of course. He toyed with that thought for a moment, even knowing it was impossible. Think how scandalized Eva Morrissey would be if he did such a thing.

He’d inherited Eva, his father’s secretary, when he inherited the business, and their working relationship had been set at a time when he’d been too young and too insecure to take a firm line with her. As a result, she felt free to criticize everything he did, including that donation to the after-school program.

Suspicious, that had been the only word for her attitude. Why would he want to do something like that? He never had before. His father never had.

That was the gold standard for Eva. What would his father have done?

Maybe that was all the more reason to make the donation. He shoved his chair back from the computer, stretching. But that wasn’t why he’d given the equipment. He knew perfectly well why. Because Jennifer had asked him to do it.

Well, so what? It was natural enough. Friends supported each other’s interests.

That sentiment was something that wouldn’t have occurred to him before the reunion. Then, he’d preferred not to move too deeply into friendships or romantic relationships. He’d kept his personal life on the surface. It was much safer that way.

Getting back in touch with the gang from college had begun to change his attitude. It had forced him to remember that guy he used to be. That kid had been naive, maybe. Guilty of a lot of mistakes. But at least he’d had some humanity.

Not entirely comfortable with the direction his thoughts were taking, he shoved his chair back and moved to one of the wide windows that looked down on Main Street. This had been his father’s office, and his father had liked overlooking what he considered his domain.

The warm spring day had brought the college students downtown in force. They sauntered along the sidewalks in groups and couples, underneath the banners mounted on light standards in navy and gold, Magnolia College colors. Where would their downtown be without the college to give it life, to say nothing of business?

He could remember being one of those kids, headed for a quick slice of Burt’s pizza or a serious talk about the nature of the universe over a cup of coffee at the Half Joe. Even now, Burt stood in the doorway of the pizza shop, his white apron pristine, surveying the downtown scene as he’d been doing for years.

A couple walked past Burt, arms linked, heads together, so absorbed in each other that the rest of the world might not exist. Burt watched them tolerantly. He’d seen young love plenty of times before.

Mason drew back from the window slightly, remembering those moments with Jennifer in the church gym. The attraction had been strong. He couldn’t deny that. Jennifer had recognized it, too. He’d seen it in the way her brown eyes widened, the way her generous mouth softened.

It was no good, of course. Jennifer wasn’t remotely like the women he usually dated. She’d want something real in a relationship, and he didn’t have anything real to give.

The door opened behind him, and he swung around, frowning. That was one of Eva’s more annoying traits, bursting in on him as if she hoped she might catch him napping or playing solitaire on the computer instead of working.

Now her eyes, sharp behind her old-fashioned half-glasses, swept the office before coming to rest on him. “Miss Pappas is here to see you. I told her you were working.” She made the words sound accusing.

Ignoring her, he strode across the office and pulled the door wide. Jennifer stood there, looking a little hesitant after hearing Eva’s greeting. Her glossy black hair was pulled back into a single braid, and she wore the khakis and cotton top that seemed to be her working uniform.

“Jennifer, please come in.” He gave Eva a pointed stare. “Thank you, Eva.”

She had no choice but to retreat, but she shot Jennifer a suspicious glance as she closed the door behind her.

“Don’t mind Eva. She’s universally rude.” He guided her to the leather visitor’s chair and perched on the desk. “It’s nice to see you.”

The conventional words were truer than he wanted to admit. He reminded himself of all the reasons why anything other than friendship wouldn’t work between them.

“I hope you don’t mind my stopping by. I didn’t mean to interrupt your work.”

“Believe it or not, and I sometimes have trouble believing it myself, I’m the boss here. I get to take a break whenever I want. How are the kids enjoying the sports gear?”

A smile blossomed on her face. “They’re delighted. Actually, that’s why I came. They sent you something.” She reached into the oversized bag she carried and pulled out a sheet of newsprint. “This is for you.”

He unfolded it to find colorful crayoned images of kids shooting hoops and playing with the hockey set. Slightly crooked cursive letters proclaimed their thanks for his generosity.

The childlike simplicity of the picture touched him more than he’d liked to admit, even though he realized that Jennifer had probably engineered their thanks.

“It’s great. Thanks for bringing it.” She could have mailed it, of course, but she hadn’t.

“I had to come downtown to the print shop anyway.” She seemed to read his thoughts. “And there was something else that belongs to you.” She handed him a business-sized envelope.

“If this is a thank-you from Pastor Rob, you can tell everyone to stop thanking me.” He ripped the envelope open. “It makes me feel as if the world is surprised that I could be generous.”

“No, it’s not that. I mean—”

He flipped open the single page. His obviously shocked expression cut off her words.

It took a couple of seconds to comprehend what he was looking at. The sheet was a copy of one of the store’s print ads—the one with a photo of him that the advertising director had talked him into. An exact duplicate, except that someone had changed the text.

Instead of the usual invitation to visit the store’s semiannual sale, the ad had another message. Come in and meet Josie Skerritt’s secret lover.

The taunt seared his soul. He crumpled the page with an involuntary spasm of his fingers.

“Where did you get this?” His voice was so harsh it didn’t sound like his.

Jennifer drew back at the accusation in his tone, her eyes wide, her hands braced on the arms of the chair as if she wanted to flee. “Mason, what’s wrong? What is it?”

He took a breath, forcing himself back under control. “This letter. Where did it come from?”

“It came to the church office. Look at it. You’ll see.” She nodded toward the envelope, which had fluttered to lie facedown, a white rectangle against the dark blue carpet.

He bent, scooping it up, and flipped it over.

“You see.” Jennifer leaned toward him. “It came in this morning’s mail. It has your name on it, but the church address. We couldn’t imagine why anyone would send it that way, but I said I’d drop it off, since I was coming by anyway.”

He frowned at the envelope. It was addressed exactly as she’d said, in block letters printed in black ink. There was no return address. The postmark read Savannah, Georgia. Nothing to indicate who had sent it, and so many people had undoubtedly handled it that fingerprints would be useless.

Who could it be but the person who’d made that call to his cell phone, taunting him? Penny? That seemed the obvious choice.

But to what end? If she had sent it, what could she possibly hope to gain?

He looked at Jennifer, assessing her. She couldn’t have read the note, but she obviously knew he was upset. He could see nothing in her face but concern.

Still, why had the letter gone to the church? And was the fact that it ended up in Jennifer’s hands merely a coincidence?

FOUR

“Thanks so much, but I couldn’t possibly eat another bite.” Jennifer shook her head at the slice of moist, rich applesauce cake Kate held out temptingly. “I just wanted to talk. You didn’t really have to feed me, but it’s delicious.”

Kate put the slice of cake back on the platter, smiling. “Brandon will eat it. That boy will eat anything. And I have to confess—I didn’t make the cake. Parker did.”

“You and Parker are getting to be quite an item, aren’t you?” She hadn’t come to talk about Kate’s romance, but she just couldn’t resist. The love between the two of them when they were together would make anyone’s heart warm.

Even at the mention of his name, Kate’s eyes grew soft. “You could say that. You know where he is tonight? Taking Brandon to a scout meeting. Can you imagine how rare it is to find a man who cares that much for my son?”

“You’re lucky.” Her voice softened. Was she ever going to be that fortunate?

“Funny.” Kate picked up her coffee cup and held it between her hands, her blue eyes seeming to look off into the distance. “How much we’ve changed since college. I have, anyway. I want completely different things now than I did then.”

“No big career in music now?” She remembered Kate’s dream of making it in Nashville. And really, she’d seemed to have every chance at success, with her beauty, talent and drive.

“I wouldn’t have it on a silver platter.” The answer was emphatic. “I just want my family and my nursing, and I’ll be happy.”

“I’m glad for you, Kate. And for Parker. You’re going to be great together.”

“We are.” Kate took a sip of the coffee, and her expression turned brisk. “But come on, now. You didn’t come out in the rain tonight just to eat Parker’s applesauce cake and hear me being sappy about my love. What’s on your mind?”

Jennifer smiled. She could just see Kate, running a hospital ward with brisk efficiency. The most popular girl on campus had found her place in life.

“You caught me. I wondered if you’d found out any more about what’s happening with Penny. And that poor little girl. Have they proven yet if she’s really Josie’s daughter?”

“I’m not exactly in the police’s confidence.” Kate made a face. “In fact, I think they’d like it if we’d all butt out of official business. But I think they are trying to locate her and get a warrant for DNA testing.”

“But don’t you think it’s odd that none of us guessed Josie was pregnant that spring semester? We were all in Edith Sutton Hall together.”

“Good old Edith Sutton. Long on Southern charm, short on amenities. I’m certainly glad I’m not living there any longer.” Kate glanced with satisfaction around her spotless kitchen, done in subtle earth tones. “But really, is it so surprising? Senior year we had private rooms, so it’s not as if anyone was with her twenty-four hours a day.”

“Even so, you’d think we would have noticed something. All those nights when we sat around the lounge and talked until one in the morning, all those warm evenings when we went up on the roof.” It came back so vividly—the scent of jasmine in the air, the soft sounds of the women’s voices confiding secrets in the dark. “You’d think she’d have said something.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I was totally preoccupied that semester with what I was going to do after graduation. I was probably too self-centered to notice anyone else’s trouble.” Kate sounded almost amused at the girl she’d been.

“Not self-centered,” Jennifer protested. “Just busy.”

“Well, you were, too. As I recall, you went home every weekend to help take care of your mother. I was sorry to hear about her death, by the way. I don’t know that I ever told you that.”

Jennifer nodded, her throat tight. Her mother had made a gallant effort to live a normal life despite her multiple sclerosis. “She insisted I live on campus that semester. She didn’t want to deprive me of that experience, even though they could have used me at home.”

“Mothers have a habit of wanting the best for their children,” Kate said. “I don’t think I really understood that until I was a mother myself.”

“I suppose it’s possible Josie thought she was doing what was best for her child. Maybe she intended to give the baby up for adoption.” She thought about what Mason had said—that Josie hadn’t wanted them to know, hadn’t wanted their help. “Do you think she’d have come to one of us if she’d needed anything?”

Kate tilted her head to one side, considering. “Josie was always a bit of a mouse.”

“She was quiet. So was I.”

“That’s different. You were warmhearted but shy, just like you are now. Josie—I don’t know. She was quiet, as you say, but she could be as stubborn as a mule laying back its ears.”

That startled Jennifer into a laugh. “I guess so. Remember when she was determined to challenge you for the solo at the Christmas choral concert? Everyone knew you were the better singer, but she wouldn’t leave it alone.”

“I remember that I got obsessed about it, too,” Kate said dryly. “Not very becoming for the Christian I professed to be.”

“I guess we were all baby Christians then, for all we thought we knew.” She reached out impulsively to touch Kate’s hand. “I’m sure you’ve thought about it. Do you have any idea who the father could have been?”

Kate shook her head slowly. “I’ve been over it and over it, especially when the police were so sure it was Parker. I just don’t remember Josie even dating anyone that winter. She was friends with Penny, of course, but Penny was never really involved with the rest of us. For the most part, the gang of us from CCF just hung out together instead of pairing off.”

“I wish—” She stopped and shook her head. “It’s foolish to wish to change the past. But I’d like to think I’d been kind to Josie when she was going through all that.”

Kate nodded. “I know what you mean. It gets to me to know that all these years she’s been lying there alone.”

“Same here. But she wasn’t really there. And not really alone.” She blinked back tears. “Would it be awkward if I asked you to pray for her with me?”

“It would be very right.” Kate’s hand clasped hers, and she bowed her head.

Jennifer took a breath, and the words seemed to form in her heart. “Dear Father, we hold up to You our sister, Josie. We know she’s safe in Your hands now, and we ask You to bring her peace.”

“And forgive us, Father, for any chance we missed to show her love and kindness.” Kate’s voice was husky. “Amen.”

Jennifer squeezed her hand before releasing it. “I don’t know that we solved anything tonight, but I have to say I feel better.”

“I do, too.” Kate wiped away an errant tear. “Goodness, I haven’t cried in I don’t know how long. Maybe I’d better eat another piece of cake.”

Jennifer laughed, shoving her chair back. “You do that. Cake is definitely comfort food. I’d better get going or Dad will be worried. He hates it when I drive at night in the rain in that old clunker of mine.”

“Come back anytime.” Kate gave her a quick hug. “I can’t promise it will be this quiet, but I’d love to have you here.”

She nodded, opening the door. A gust of wind blew a spray of rain into her face, and she fought to get her umbrella up. “I’m going to run for it. Good night.”

She raced toward her car, getting soaked but unable to do anything about it, and then fought to get the umbrella down. She’d probably have been better off without it.

Thankfully she slammed the door on the rain and reached for the ignition. A hot shower and a change of clothes would feel good when she got home. Kate’s charming cottage was near the campus, so it was a good five miles to the house in the country Dad had insisted was his perfect retirement place. Her things would be clammy by then.

It didn’t take long to get out of Magnolia Falls, no matter where you were. She was clear of town in a few minutes and onto the narrow county road that led home. Unfortunately the rain showed no sign of lessening. It beat on the windshield relentlessly, with her wipers struggling unsuccessfully to keep up.

She slowed, mindful of the swamp that bordered the road on the right, and squinted. The rain reflected her headlight beams back at her from the black macadam, and she could barely see the edge of the road.

Not much farther, in any event. She’d be home soon, and that hot shower was waiting. She shivered as the damp fabric of her slacks clung to her legs, and she turned the heater on. The windshield fogged up instantly, and she switched it back off again. She’d rather see than be warm. Only a couple more miles—

The engine sputtered, coughed once and died. She glided slowly to a stop, steering to the edge of the road, but not daring to pull off when she couldn’t see what the surface was like.

She pounded her fist lightly on the steering wheel. Dad kept offering to buy her a newer car, but she’d stubbornly stuck to her decision to wait until she could afford it herself.

She’d had a decent savings account once, before the cost of defending herself wiped it out. No one ever mentioned that even the innocent had to pay.

She tried the ignition key again. The electrical system was okay, so what—then she saw the gas gauge, sitting uncompromisingly on empty.

How could she be out of gas? The only thing her little car had going for it was it got good gas mileage. It couldn’t have used a half a tank going from church to home to Kate’s.

A chill crept along the back of her neck. Not unless someone tampered with it.

Shaking off the thought, she grabbed her bag and pulled out the cell phone. She’d worry about how later. Right now she’d call Dad—

A car rounded the bend, coming toward her, and pulled up directly in front of her, its headlights blinding her eyes so that she couldn’t see anything else.

Her heart thudded, deafening her. Think, don’t panic. Check the door locks. Call for help.

Even as she fumbled for the cell phone buttons, it rang. Shaken, she answered.

“Get out of the car.” A woman’s voice commanded in a Southern accent.

“No. What do you want? Who are you?” Please, Lord, protect me. She squinted, trying to make out the color of the car, the shape behind the windshield.

“Why, Jennifer, don’t you recognize your old college friend?” The voice was taunting. “It’s Penny. I just want to talk. Get out of the car, and we’ll reminisce about old times.”

“No.” Penny might be crazy, but she wasn’t. “Leave me alone.”

“Not willing to get out? But I want to be able to see your face. Still, I guess I can manage that.” Another light came on, this one shining full in her face, so bright she put up her hand to shield her eyes. A deer-spotting light, she realized. And she was the deer.

She wasn’t helpless. She might not be able to move, but she could cut the connection, dial 9-1-1—

“Now, don’t be stubborn, Jennifer. You can help my daughter, Alexis. That’s what you’re all about, isn’t it? Helping kids?”

How did she know that? How did Penny know anything about her? She hesitated, pressing the phone close to her ear. “Don’t you mean Josie’s daughter?”

“Now, you don’t want to irritate me.” Penny’s voice went soft with venom. “I just might be tempted to push your little car right off the road and into the swamp if you do.”

Jennifer clenched her teeth. Could she? Would she? She really didn’t want to find out. “Tell me what you want and leave me alone.”

“I suppose I must if you won’t walk down memory lane with me. It’s very simple, really.” Penny sounded satisfied that she was going to get what she wanted. “I want you to carry a message to Alexis’s father. Tell him that for a hundred thousand, I’ll keep quiet about him. No one else needs to know he’s the father. I’ll get in touch with you to tell him how to deliver it.”

She shook her head, trying to make sense of this. “Who? Who are you talking about? I don’t know who the child’s father is.”

For a moment the cell phone was silent. Then Penny laughed softly, and dread pooled in Jennifer’s heart.

“You know, don’t you? You’ve figured it out. Alexis’s father is your good friend. Mason Grant.”

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