The Wife Stalker(3)
“Of course. He’ll be in this afternoon. I’ll have him call you as soon as he gets here. In the meantime, if you’d like, I can take you on a tour of the facility so you can see what services Fred participated in.” She stood, annoyed with herself for her gym clothes and messy ponytail. If she’d known how attractive Leo Drakos was, she’d have taken more care with her appearance today.
He glanced at his watch. “I’m pressed for time. I’ll take a rain check.”
Though unsettled by how disappointed she was to see him leave, she nodded. “I understand, I’ll walk you out.”
When they reached the door, he stopped and handed her a business card. “If you think of anything else that would help, you have both my cell and office number here. And again, thanks for passing it along to Mr. Timmons.”
After Piper returned to her office, she leaned back in her chair and took several deep breaths. She was sorry that she couldn’t testify—it would certainly have given her an excuse to get to know him better. She was a little surprised by how strongly attracted to him she was, but she couldn’t deny it felt good. There was something strong and powerful about the way he carried himself and how he spoke. She’d read that he could mesmerize a jury, and she could see why. She pictured him now, as he’d sat across from her, handsome and debonair. Piper had taken in everything about him—especially the gold ring on his left hand. That was the one detail that troubled her.
4
Joanna
Sometimes life has a way of taking care of things for you. It was serendipitous that Leo’s case had led him to the Phoenix Recovery Center right here in Westport. With this trial imminent, Leo needed to be able to focus and not dwell on things he couldn’t change. He’d always been the one to light up a room, his infectious laugh and passionate way of speaking drawing everyone in, but the spark in his eyes had dulled, and he barely looked at any of us when he got home at the end of the day. Even Stelli’s antics failed to perk him up lately.
Keeping one eye on the kids, who were bouncing on their trampoline, I checked the time on my phone. Almost six. Leo would be home from the office any minute now.
“Time to get off. Daddy will be home soon.”
Stelli kept jumping, ignoring me, but Evie scooted off and came toward me.
“Can we have ice cream for dessert tonight?” she asked.
I smiled at her. “Sure.”
Stelli yelled and continued bouncing. “Can I do one more flip? Please.”
I pushed away my frustration at Stelli’s pushing the boundaries, reminding myself that boys needed to work off their energy. “Okay, one more. Should we rate you?”
He bounced up and down, his face scrunched up in concentration. He bounced higher, put his hands up in the air, and executed a perfect somersault. When he landed, I applauded, and Evie joined in.
“Fantastic! An eleven,” I pronounced.
He jumped off and ran to me. “It only goes up to ten, silly.”
“Well, it was so super-duper that a ten wasn’t enough.”
I let them watch a show while I finished making dinner. There was a roast in the oven, and I opened the door to check it. Leo was a meat-and-potatoes man, and though I’d tried to get him to eat a little more adventurously, in the end it was easier to cater to his tastes.
I’d just uncorked a bottle of Stags’ Leap cabernet when I heard the door chime.
“Daddy’s home!” Stelli jumped up from the sofa and went to greet him. I always loved to see their special bond. No one could make Stelli’s face light up the way his father could. Of course, lately, it’d been a little more difficult, but I knew Leo was doing his best.
“Hi, buddy,” he said to Stelli before looking to me and Evie. “Good evening, ladies,” he called, sounding a little like his old self. Evie ran up and hugged him. I was encouraged by the enthusiasm in his voice, but when he smiled at me, it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Smells good in here.”
I poured a glass of wine and handed it to him. “Your favorite.”
“Thanks.” He took a sip. “Ah, nice.”
I put out a small platter of olives and cheese. “To tide you over until dinner.” I knew he would have skipped lunch—he always did when he was close to the start of a trial—but I also knew that he needed time to unwind when he got home. The kids went back to their show, and Leo took a long swallow.
I decided to plunge in. “I noticed that there’s a meditation workshop at that recovery center this Saturday. Maybe it would help with the Grainger case if you spent a little time there to better understand what they do and how it helped him.”
He looked at me, his brow wrinkling. “What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing weird. Just a day to try to focus on what’s good in your life. You know, taking a look at the positive.”
He took another long swallow of wine and set the glass down. “You know I don’t go in for that kind of New Age thing. And weren’t we planning to take the kids to the beach?”
I shrugged. It was more important to me that he get better, and I could handle them on my own. “It’s only one day. I’ll take them to the beach, and we can all go back on Sunday.”
“I don’t know. Sounds like a waste of time. I already spoke with Fred’s counselor and got everything I needed from him. No need for me to waste more time going back there.”