Amnesia by Beverly Barton Read Free Book Online Page A

pointed out to him that he was lucky she didn’t have sole custody. “What if you didn’t even have visitation rights?” she had asked him when he’d suggested she let him keep Kevin whenever she had a date. “All things considered, you’re lucky I let you see Kevin as much as I do. After all, if I hadn’t agreed to your getting some visitation rights—”
    He’d just call her again later this morning—or at least try to—to make sure she hadn’t forgotten that he was supposed to pick up Kevin this evening and keep him until Monday morning. He’d made plans for them to spend tomorrow with his sister Susan’s family. Kevin enjoyed spending time with his three cousins, twin boys only a year older than he and a girl two years younger. Jim liked the idea of his son seeingwhat a real family was like. That’s what he’d wanted for Kevin—that all-American, mom-and-apple-pie life he and Susan had had as kids. But both he and Mary Lee had fucked up big time. And now, thanks to them, Kevin would never have what Jim had wanted most for his son.
    He could blame it all on Mary Lee. And sometimes, especially when he’d had too much to drink, he did blame it all on her. But when completely sober and in the cold light of day, he knew he had to accept his share of the blame. Way back when he’d been a young hotshot with great ambition, he had neglected his wife and son. His arrogance and cockiness had gotten his partner killed, had put him in the hospital and had landed him in a heap of trouble with the department. By the time he’d healed physically and emotionally, he’d already lost his wife, even if they didn’t divorce until nearly three years later.
    After pulling into his parking place and releasing his safety belt, Jim removed his cell phone from its holder and hit the button that instantly dialed his ex’s home phone number. Much to his surprise, she answered on the fifth ring.
    “Mary Lee?”
    “Yeah. Who were you expecting, the Queen of Sheba?”
    “I tried calling last night.”
    “I had a date.”
    “Stayed out kind of late didn’t you?”
    She laughed. “I stayed out all night. Just got in.”
    If she thought telling him she’d spent the night with some guy would bother him, she was wrong. He had actually given a damn that she screwed another guy only one time. The time he’d caught her in the act. After that, she could have done it with every guy in Memphis for all he cared. He just hated that Kevin’s mother had gained a reputation as a…as a what? A slut who’d spread her legs for just about any guy?
    Mary Lee had always been a little wild and God knew she hadn’t been a virgin when they got married, but he hadn’tcared. He’d been crazy about her. Hog-wild crazy. And she’d loved him, too. He knew she had.
    “I just wanted to remind you that I’ll be picking Kevin up at six-thirty this evening,” Jim said. Now wasn’t the time to get into it with Mary Lee about Kevin spending too many nights at other people’s houses.
    “He’ll be ready. He’s been looking forward to seeing you.”
    “Yeah, me, too.”
    “Jim?”
    “Huh?”
    “I saw in this morning’s
Commercial Appeal
where you and your partner are working the Lulu Vanderley murder.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Lulu Vanderley was somebody real important, wasn’t she? If you solve this one and bring her killer in, it sure won’t hurt your career, will it?”
    “I don’t worry as much about my career as I used to,” he told her.
    “You don’t worry as much or care as much about a lot of things.”
    “That’s the way life is.” He took a deep breath. “Tell Kevin I’ll see him at six-thirty.”
    Before giving Mary Lee a chance to say anything else, Jim hung up. One of these days he’d be able to have a conversation with his ex and not think about what might have been. “If only” was a game for idiots.
    Annabelle emerged from her white Cadillac, hoisted her leather bag over her shoulder and took a deep, calming breath.