The Truth About Jane Doe. Linda Warren

of feeling for another human being. Victoria Townsend had felt differently. Why? Why was she so generous to C.J.? But it wasn’t his job to solve the mystery between the Townsends and C. J. Doe, he told himself. He was here only to do this job as a courtesy to his dad, then he’d go back to New York and his own world. But the more involved he became with the case, the more it intrigued him.

      Clearing his throat, he said, “I’ll get back to you on the place and time.”

      “You do that,” Rob said with a curt nod.

      Matthew hurried from the room. When he reached the hall, he took a deep breath, trying to dispel the stifling oppressive feeling he’d felt in the Townsend family’s presence.

      “DAD, WHY ARE YOU DOING this?” Rob asked a moment after the door closed on Matthew.

      “Son, haven’t I taught you anything? When things get rough, play into your opponent’s hand, but always keep an ace up your sleeve.”

      Rob shook his head. “What the hell does that mean?”

      A wicked smile curved John’s thin lips. “It means we take the tests, but we make sure they come out negative.”

      Realization dawned, and a smile spread across Rob’s face.

      “Being in high places pays off. You meet people who can help you out in a situation like this,” John told him, a gleam in his old eyes.

      Rob watched his father. “Then you’re not sure she’s not yours?”

      “Just like you’re not sure she’s not yours.”

      The silence grew heavy with tension. John cleared his throat. “You take your love of women after me, son, but we’re not going to let it cost you this election. Understand?”

      “Understand.” Rob smiled a secret smile.

      John nodded his approval, but he wasn’t through.

      “Don’t you think it’s time you got your kids home?”

      The smile vanished from Rob’s face. “Don’t start,” he warned.

      “Your wife’s falling apart.”

      “She’ll adjust.”

      “The kids have been gone since the fall. She’s not adjusting. She dresses shabbily, uses foul language and spends all her time with those dogs. She’s not the lady you married.”

      “Stay out of this,” Rob warned again. “This doesn’t concern you. Besides, you sent me away to school.”

      “It didn’t help your rebellious streak, did it?”

      “No,” Rob admitted.

      “Then learn from my mistakes, son,” he said. “It took Francine so long to get pregnant. Those kids are extra-special to her.”

      “That’s the damn problem,” Rob snapped. “She spoils them. No, they’re staying in school.”

      John raised his eyebrows. “Do you want to win this election?” he asked in a low voice.

      “Of course I do!”

      “Then use your damn head. We need her and her family’s support. The minute the semester is over, get the kids home and spend some time together. Go places—and make sure there’s a photographer along. Plaster those pictures all over Texas. Let everyone see y’all as a loving family.”

      At Rob’s hesitation John pointed a shaking finger at him. “If you lose this election, I’ll never forgive you.”

      Rob gritted his teeth, then said, “I’ve never done anything to please the great John Townsend. But I’ll win the election and I’ll win in a big way.”

      “You’d better,” John told him. “And you’d better get your kids home first.”

      Rob inhaled audibly. “I’ll give it some thought,” he promised.

      “Good,” John replied, victory in his tone. “Now hand me the phone. It’s time to get rid of the Doe problem.” He laughed harshly. “Never thought the little idiot would make it so easy.”

      MATTHEW WALKED QUICKLY down the hall to the foyer and the front door, eager to get back to the office. With any luck this case could be wrapped up in a couple of weeks and he could resume his life in New York. He worried about his mom, though. He couldn’t leave until she was better.

      Quietly closing the door, he started down the steps.

      “Hello, Matthew.” A silky smooth voice stopped him.

      He swung around to find the nurse smiling at him. The white uniform clung to her shapely body, and a ready smile indicated she’d been waiting for him.

      “You don’t remember me, do you?” she asked, moving closer to him.

      His eyes swept over the blond hair, brown eyes and red red lips. Something about her was familiar but he still couldn’t place her. “Sorry. No, I don’t.”

      “Stephanie Cox, the frumpy brown-haired girl you used to let copy your homework.”

      “Stephanie Cox,” he echoed in disbelief. Suddenly he recalled the shy overweight girl he’d always felt sorry for. The memory didn’t jibe with the woman standing before him.

      “Isn’t it amazing what diet, exercise and makeup can do for a girl?”

      He studied her new appearance again. “Yes, it is,” he replied slowly, thinking that peroxide and plastic surgery also had something to do with the changed look. He couldn’t help feeling that he liked the shy plain young girl much better. There was a hardness in this one’s eyes that made him instinctively draw back.

      She stepped even closer. Long artificial red nails fingered the lapel of his jacket. Expensive perfume filled his nostrils. “You were always so nice,” she whispered, and batted her long fake eyelashes at him. “Are you still a nice man, Matthew Sloan?”

      “I try to be.”

      She batted the eyelashes again. “Why don’t we meet for dinner and discuss old times…and our mutual employer?”

      So that was it. She was after information. “Sorry, Stephanie, but I’m really busy. I’m trying to wrap up my dad’s cases before I go back to New York. Besides, I don’t discuss my clients with anyone.”

      She was so close now he could feel the heat emanating from her body. “Was that a put-down?” she asked.

      “Just the truth,” he answered with a decided effort not to move away from her. Did she really think that cheap look and act appealed to a man? he wondered. Well, maybe a desperate man, he conceded. But it didn’t do a thing for him.

      One fingernail traced a blue triangle in his tie, then she smiled suggestively. “I could turn your very busy day into a night you won’t forget.”

      “I’ll bet you could, and believe me, I’ll keep it in mind.” He removed her hand from his lapel, returned her smile with a careful one of his own, then headed down the steps.

      “Goodbye, Matthew Sloan,” she called after him.

      As he climbed into his truck, the air whooshed from his lungs and he realized he’d been holding his breath. What was that all about? Stephanie Cox sure wanted something from him, and it was more than his body. How did she fit into the puzzle of C. J. Doe and the Townsends?

      CHAPTER SIX

      WHEN MATTHEW GOT BACK to the office, he dialed C.J.’s number, but there was no answer.

      Miss Emma poked her head around the door. “You’re due at the courthouse at one o’clock.”

      He looked at his watch. “No time for lunch.”

      “I’ll get Frank to send over a sandwich from