Convicted Read online

  Lisa sighed and forced her attention away from the computer screen. "I'm not sure."

  Allegra pouted. "Why not?"

  Stay calm. It wasn't worth getting into a fight. "Al, please don't start."

  "But you'll be back before it gets dark, right?" Allegra's voice came dangerously close to a whine. She leaned against the filing cabinet, her fingers restlessly playing with the coffee maker on top of it. The glass carafe clattered.

  "The lights come on automatically at dusk," Lisa said patiently. "Al, I have to get these proposals done by the end of the week. That means I might have to stay late."

  Allegra muttered something under her breath, but didn't explode as Lisa had feared she might. "Okay."

  It was as good a time as any to tell Allegra about her other plans. "And when I'm done here, I'm going to the movies."

  Allegra sighed heavily and thumped the top of the cabinet. "With him, I suppose?"

  "With Terry, yes."

  Her sister stalked out of the office without another word, slamming the door behind her. Lisa bent back to the keyboard, trying to concentrate, but it was all too much. First Deacon Campbell had returned to town, and now Allegra was getting worse.

  Every family had its own craziness, Lisa's father was fond of saying. In the Shadd family, the craziness was Al. She was dramatic, moody, flamboyant. She could be intensely loyal and incredibly self-centered.

  Lisa didn't resent that her sister managed to get away with everything she herself had not. She didn't even mind that Al was tall, thin, and gorgeous whether she spent hours in front of the mirror or just rolled out of bed. What bothered her was Allegra's increasingly irrational behavior.

  The sisters had been roommates for four years, since Al had turned eighteen. Back then, it had seemed like a good idea. Neither of them could afford to live on her own and living with family was better than finding a stranger to share space with. Now, however, Lisa's salary was ample enough to pay for her living expenses. The problem was, Al refused to break up the arrangement.

  Since childhood, Allegra had been plagued with fears. Fear of the dark, fear of large dogs, fear of open water. Doctors had assured Lisa's parents that Al's fears were normal, and they would go away in time. They had not, and though to the outside world, she functioned as normally as any other young woman, her family knew that Al was...special.

  Thanksgiving dinner had to be set on the table at precisely noon or Allegra refused to eat it. Laundry had to be sorted according to a strange, elaborate system that included clipping matching socks together with plastic tags. No room could be entirely dark until she went to bed.

  These were the things Lisa had to live with. Now she had to contend with Allegra's jealousy as well. Her sister didn't want her dating. Dates were time away from the house, from Al, who enjoyed dragging Lisa out to bars and clubs, but went into dark rages if more men happened to pay attention to Lisa than to Al.

  It hadn't been anything more than annoying until about three months ago when Officer Terrence Hewitt had asked Lisa out to the movies. Though they'd known each other since high school, Lisa hadn't seen much of Terry since the night he'd arrested Deacon in the Circle K parking lot. The night her entire life had changed.

  She accepted the date, if only to prove to herself that she could. They'd had a surprisingly nice time. One nice night had led to another, and Lisa suddenly discovered herself with the first boyfriend she'd had in three years...since she'd dated Deacon Campbell.

  Lisa shook herself, focusing again on the words she was typing. Reminiscing about Deacon and her bad luck to get mixed up with him wasn't going to get the marketing plan finished by this afternoon. She curved her fingers back over the keyboard and blinked the blurred screen back into clarity. She'd completely lost her train of thought.

  Sighing, she pushed away from the desk, forgetting she'd locked the chair to keep it from twisting. Instead of turning around, she sailed across the room backwards and ran into the row of metal filing cabinets lining the back wall. Luckily, the crash was loud enough to cover her cursing.

  "And the new world record for clumsiest dismount goes to...Lisa Shadd!"

  "Not funny, Kevin." Lisa got out of the chair and walked it back to the desk. "I was just getting some coffee. Want some?"

  Her older brother patted his trim stomach and shook his head. "Nope. Gives me gas."

  Despite herself, Lisa began to laugh. Kevin could always make her smile, no matter her mood. "What doesn't?"

  He shrugged and stood aside to give her access to the coffeepot perched unsteadily on the filing cabinet. "Not much."

  "That's what I thought." She held out a mug to him anyway, and he took it. "Just leave before that gas catches up with you."

  Kevin looked around the windowless closet that masqueraded as her office. "C'mon, Lisa. Even I wouldn't do that to you."

  Lisa grimaced at the foul brew in her cup, but drank it anyway. "Did you see Allegra?"

  Her brother downed his coffee and handed her the empty cup. "Yep. What bug crawled up her--"

  "Kevin!" Lisa rolled her eyes. "The usual. She's upset because I have to work late."

  "And because you and Terry have a date."

  "She told you?" Still wincing at the bitter coffee, Lisa looked for the sugar, but it was gone.

  "She muttered something to that affect." Kevin didn't seem concerned.

  "Do you think she can go over to your place tonight? Maybe just until I can get home?" She asked the question casually, but Kevin wasn't fooled.

  "She's a big girl, Lisa."

  Lisa sighed. "You don't have to live with her."

  "Thank God!" Kevin laughed.

  Her brother's humorous response quelled Lisa from pursuing the subject. Nobody else in the family seemed to see Allegra's problems were escalating, not retreating. It was easy to ignore if they didn't have to witness it first hand, easy to explain away as just more of "Al's silliness." When, Lisa thought, did it stop being silly and become sad?

  "Did you know Campbell's back in town?"

  "Yes." Lisa sipped the bitter coffee, grimacing. "We saw him yesterday at the Evergreen. He...he's a waiter."

  Kevin let out a laugh that ended up in a snort. "Bucky Sherman over at the plant said Campbell's put in an application there. They'll never hire a loser like that."

  "He's not a loser," Lisa said and bit down on her tongue. Hard.

  Kevin chucked her under the chin, something she loathed, and ducked out of the office. "Face it, Lis. The guy is a loser, he's a waste of space, and you made sure he got what he deserved. Besides, that was a long time ago."

  If what she did was so admirable, Lisa thought morosely, then why couldn't she stop feeling so guilty about it?

  Chapter 2

  * * *

  Deacon turned the water on the hose to a fine mist and gently sprayed his Harley clean of the muck and dirt it had accumulated, along with a generous bunch of soapsuds. Taking a soft cloth, he wiped the now-gleaming paint. Cleaning the bike soothed him. Mindless work.

  "You touch that bike like it's a woman."

  The voice startled him, and when he looked up, Deacon cursed under his breath. Lisa's sister Allegra tossed her dark hair over her shoulder and smiled at him. The slow, sultry grin left Deacon completely cold. He wiped his hands on the cloth and tossed it into the bucket of soapy water.

  "What do you want?"

  She pouted and took her hands out of the pockets in her black leather jacket. She wore black from head to toe, and the dark color enhanced her beauty. She looked a lot like Lisa, but without the warmth. Deacon pushed away the thought. He didn't want to think about Lisa.

  "Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

  "What do you want?" He repeated, bending to gather up his cleaning supplies. "It can't be good."

  "Deacon," Allegra said in the I'm-a-naughty-little-girl voice that he hated. "You hurt my feelings."

  He paused to raise his eyebrow at her. "Too bad."

&nbs