Distinguishing Marks by Olivia Newport

Author:Olivia Newport
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2014-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

1:14 p.m.

When the phone on his desk rang, Jack kept his eyes on the real estate contract in front of him as he hit the speaker button and answered the call. “Jack Parker.”

“This is Liam Elliott.”

Jack pushed the contract away from the center of his desk and set a fresh legal pad in front of him. “How are you?”

“Better than you might think,” Liam said.

“How so?” Jack put the point of a pen down on the paper, ready to begin writing. Maybe Liam was calling on behalf of Jessica McCarthy—or perhaps he had been mixed up in the financial violations himself. Everybody deserved a strong defense.

“Do you think you could come down to the corner?” Liam asked.

Jack heard a snicker in the background and laid down his pen. He was not in a mood to be the butt of a prank.

“Where are you, Liam?” Jack stood up and tapped his desk.

“About two minutes away.”

“Why don’t you just come up to the office? I’ll be happy to speak to you.”

“Come on, Jack. Loosen up.”

Liam Elliott was telling Jack to loosen up? They weren’t pals. Until the last week or so, they’d barely said more than good morning to each other as they passed on the stairs. Had Liam been drinking in the middle of the day? Jack could think of no reason not to end the call.

“Stop in,” Jack said, his finger poised over the button that would cut off the call. “I’ll see what I can do for you.”

“Oh, I don’t need a lawyer,” Liam said. “Well, at least not today. Tomorrow could be a different story. Just come to the corner. We’ll be there in one minute.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“You’ll see.”

Liam’s voice dropped away, and Jack realized the call had ended. He took his suit jacket off the back of his office door and pushed his arms into the sleeves as he left the suite. By the time he reached the corner at the end of the block, three cars had parked and the doors flew open.

Ethan raced around his black Lexus to get to the passenger door before Nicole emerged unassisted.

Liam and his cousin got out of her muddied Jeep.

The third vehicle was the mayor’s red Ford Taurus. She got out of one side, and a man Jack didn’t recognize got out of the other.

And Ted Quinn unfolded himself from the backseat. What in the world?

Jack buttoned his suit jacket.

“I don’t remember if you’ve met Quinn.” Liam strode toward Jack.

“In passing a couple of times,” Jack said. Though he didn’t know Quinn beyond his reputation in Hidden Falls and the affection his daughters felt toward him, Jack felt as if he’d been racing Quinn toward the goal of unraveling the mystery of the Pease and Tabor babies—and Quinn had a considerable head start.

“He wants to talk to you.”

The sidewalk was uncharacteristically crowded, but then most afternoons did not herald the return of the town’s favorite personality. Quinn raised his head toward Jack and winked one eye, but at least a dozen people filled the space between them with others trailing behind Quinn’s steps.

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