Hearts On Fire by Penny Childs

had two
cents to rub together.”
         “No. But he sure knew how
to take it from someone else. Maybe they teamed up together and he decided he
didn’t want to do the split with her.”
         Her heart tripped in her
chest. Could she? Would she? “No. Katy would never hook back up with Grady. Not
after what happened before. Not after what he did to her and my mother.” And
me, she thought.
         “Money makes people do
the damnedest things, Lizzie. You’d tell me if you knew who, if anyone, she
partnered with, right?”
         “Of course I would.”
         “And you don’t know who
she swindled the money out of?”
         “No. I don’t have a clue.
We didn’t discuss her dealings. She knows how I feel about it.”
         “And yet you stay close
to her.”
         She wasn’t going down
that road again. “I want to know who did this to her Matt. If it was Grady… if
it was him, you have to catch him. He’s…” Dangerous, she wanted to say. And not
just dangerous to Katy. Dangerous to Lizzie as well. He’d proven that. “He’s
the reason she does what she does.”
         “She does what she does
because she likes it, Lizzie.” He put up a hand to stop her protest. “I’ve put
out a watch for Grady and I’ll keep a deputy on Katy’s door. I’m worried about
you too though. He threatened you before he went to prison.”
         “I’ll be okay.” She
lifted a corner of her mouth. “He threatened a lot of people before he went to
prison.”
         “I don’t want you staying
up on the hill alone anymore. Not until this is over.”
         She probably shouldn’t.
“If it was Grady and he did this to get the money then he’ll be long gone with
it.”
         “We don’t know that.”
         “I do. He’s a coward. He
won’t risk himself by sticking around here.”

 
    Chapter 13
     
     
     
        
        
              Conflicted, JD
placed his face in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. What, if
anything, should he tell Matt about his sister’s attempted suicide? The lawyer,
who believed in the law, knew he needed to tell Matt everything he knew. The
big brother in him needed to protect his sister. She’d been having an affair.
She’d been blackmailed. And now her blackmailer lay somewhere in this same
hospital fighting for her own life. It was not a coincidence and he could not
let himself believe it was. But how involved was Julie in what had happened to
Katy? And would the police jump right to the conclusion that Julie had harmed
her? Probably, given the circumstances. Her attempt at suicide was as good as a
confession, or would be, to some.
         “JD, your mother says you
were the last one who talked to Julie this morning.”
         He looked back to Matt,
who was seated next to him on a loveseat in the hallway waiting room. So far
his sister was stable. His mother and Josh were with her now. “Yeah, I talked
to her this morning. She’d been looking for me.”
         “Did she seem… upset?”
         “She seemed off,” JD told
him, sealing his fate then and there. For now he would keep what Julie had told
him to himself.
         “Did you ask her what was
up?”
         “Of course I did. But you
know how she is. She just told me it was because of Ken’s death.”
         “And you believed her?”
         JD stood suddenly and
glared at his friend through narrowed eyes. “Of course I fucking believed her.
Ken died ten days ago. She’s not over it yet, Matt.”
         Matt didn’t even flinch. “I’m
just trying to get a feel for why she might have done this.”
         “This is not a police
matter, Matthew. This is a private matter.”
         Matt looked up to Arlene,
who had come out of Julie’s room. “I just have to file a report Mrs.
MacGreggor. It’s standard procedure. And it’s personal for me too. I feel like
Julie is family. She used to chase after JD and I