Convicted Read online

  Her foot twitched on the gas, making the car buck, as she remembered the kick. Even though she'd connected with force, her assailant had been too easy to shove away. Too light, not heavy as she knew Deacon's weight to be.

  Her cheeks flushed hot as she thought of exactly how well she knew the weight of Deacon against her. Lisa's fingers tapped nervously on the wheel as she waited for the light to turn green. Checking the videotape would only take a few minutes. One way or another, it would set her mind at ease.

  Her mind whirled as she thought back over the past few months. While she had been falling back in love with Deacon, could it be possible that he'd been the one behind all the strange things? He had a motive as her family and Terry kept reminding her. But could he really have done those things?

  "I don't want to believe that," she said aloud.

  The group of kids out joyriding in the car beside her looked over and started laughing. They'd been singing along with the radio, but apparently talking to oneself wasn't the same thing. Lisa shot a glare their way, not in the mood for teenage games. One of them flipped her the finger as the light changed and they revved their engine to beat her.

  She rolled her window up and punched the air conditioner button. Her earlier chill had been replaced with an almost feverish heat. She forced herself to maintain the proper speed limit, though she was dying to race through town. She didn't want to get into an accident or get a speeding ticket on her way to The Garden Shadd.

  "I don't want to believe it," she said again, not caring who saw her lips moving.

  She had not made the decision to go to bed with Deacon lightly. Despite their past, the last few months had proven him to be a man of talent, integrity and kindness. Had she been wrong about all that? Was Deacon the liar she'd accused him of being, and such a good one he had fooled her into falling in love with him?

  The brakes squealed as Lisa jammed her foot down. Thank God there was nobody behind her. She eased up on the brake and took deep breaths to steady herself as she pulled off to the side of the road. She was suddenly shaking too much to drive.

  Love. She loved him. All at once it seemed so clear. The way his touch made her tremble was more than just chemistry, more than hormones rushing through her body and urging her toward sex.

  Lisa thought back over the past several weeks and one thing stood out startlingly clear. Deacon's face was the first thing she thought of in the morning when she woke, and the last thing she thought of before she slept at night. She loved him.

  She let out a small groan, letting her head rest against the steering wheel. Her entire body ached, and now, so did her heart. She'd fallen in love with a man, who at the minimum, was a thief. At worst, he was the man who'd just attacked her.

  She had gone her entire life without encountering danger until Deacon moved back to town. Everything had started with the kids in the parking lot who tried to steal her underwear. If so much had not happened since then, she might now be able to look back on that and laugh. As it was, that night had been only the beginning.

  He had come to her rescue--a dark knight on his rumbling metal steed. Why would he have saved her only to continue harassing her? Only someone mentally unsound would do something like that... Lisa gasped.

  Allegra.

  Lisa had come to believe Deacon when he declared he had not robbed The Circle K. If she believed that, she could not believe he'd been behind the phone calls, the thievery, the subtle but frightening harassments she been subjected to. If she did not believe it to be Deacon, she had to believe it was her sister.

  "Allegra is special," she whispered, feeling tears stinging at her eyes. "Oh, no. No."

  What would be worse? The man she loved or her only sister? She didn't always like Allegra, but blood would always be thicker than water.

  Lisa checked traffic and eased back out onto the street. The office was only a few minutes away. She kept her attention fixed firmly on the road, but she couldn't force her mind to stop its whirling.

  The pantry, with its eerie arrangement of cans, was a sign she should not have ignored. It had been too easy to go along with the doctors who'd said Allegra was fine. Admitting her sister was not just special, that perhaps she was sick, was something Lisa had not been prepared to do. Until now.

  Now, when her love for Deacon was the one bright and shining thing in her life. He might be a thief and might not love her as she loved him. He might even have only been wooing her to seek revenge for the past three years he's spent incarcerated because of her.

  Lisa discovered it didn't matter. Because she loved him, she had to find the answers. She'd risk a broken heart to face the truth.

  Just ahead The Garden Shadd sign beckoned. Though the sign was lit, the building was dark but for the pair of lights on each side of the front door. Lisa pulled her car into the parking lot, then around back to the employee's spaces. It was even darker back here.

  She parked the car and sat in the dark, her breath coming fast in her chest. She was scared. The air-conditioned air which had been a welcome breeze against her face now sent chills capering over her spine. She shivered and switched it off.

  Silence filled her car making her thoughts seem too loud. Lisa yanked the keys from the ignition, tucking one between each knuckle until her hand bristled with metal. With her other hand, she opened the car door, then got out.

  She squared her shoulders, breathing in the scent of mulch and flowers that permeated the air. She had been here a thousand times, even after hours, even in the dark. Tonight should be no different, but it was. She felt it on her skin and the way her eyes leaped to search out the faintest of noises. Something was different here tonight, and maybe it was only her imagination. Or maybe it was not.

  She crossed the short, sloped ramp and unlocked the gate leading into the outdoor nursery. Inside, even the faint glow from the street light was masked by the multitude of lush, growing things. The plants seemed to whisper as Lisa stood among them, and in their familiar presence, she had a moment of comfort. Surely no harm could come to her here.

  The feeling of unease returned, however, as she stepped out of the friendly rows and unlocked the door into the back offices. The key jittered coldly in the lock, betraying the trembling of her fingers, and Lisa paused a moment to get control. Then she tucked the keys back between her fingers and stepped into the dark hallway.

  A glowing exit sign lit her way to Deacon's office. Even from this distance, she could see the door stood open. What she needed to find, though, was not in Deacon's office, but her father's. That was where Doug kept the surveillance equipment that was part of The Garden Shadd's minor security system.

  Instead of turning left, though, Lisa went to her right toward Deacon's work space. She had no idea exactly what she was looking for. It wasn't until she actually reached the doorway that she realized she had not yet turned on any lights.

  Her hand instinctively went to the switch on the wall before she stopped herself. Her decision to stay in the dark had been unconscious, but it made sense. The dark was her ally as well as her enemy.

  Lisa closed her eyes, envisioning the layout in Deacon's small and cluttered office. To her right, just inside the doorway, would be a battered chair. To her left along the wall was a workspace with computer equipment. Behind that and along the back wall, the rows of shelves were filled with supplies and the video camera.

  When she opened her eyes, the room wasn't any brighter. With no window to let in the outside light, it wasn't going to be any brighter unless she turned on the lights. Lisa nudged her foot carefully in front of her until it connected with the chair's edge. She had her bearings.

  With her hands out in front of her, she took one hesitant step forward. Immediately, she felt something beneath her fingers that had not been in there in her imagined perusal of the room.

  It was a face.

  * * * *

  "I don't give a rat's ass about your excuses," Hewitt spat into Deacon's face. "Save it for the judge."