Read Online Deception (Southern Comfort) by Lisa Clark O'Neill - Free Book Online
Authors: Lisa Clark O'Neill
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forgotten he had. “He told me about your brother. God, I’m so sorry, Sam.”
She moved away from the door finally, motioning toward the two chairs on either side of the small table. Josh eyed the sofa, but at least sitting together was a step in the right direction, and all things considered it was probably best to avoid that hide-a-bed temptation. Last thing Sam needed right now was a man looking to get in her pants.
He pulled out her chair for her, to which she blinked and offered a surprised “thanks,” and then he moved the whole three feet it took to drop himself into the second chair. The seat creaked ominously, making him thankful that by genetics and lifestyle he kept himself lean. If he lived off super-sized fast food like some of the other guys in the CPD, he probably would have landed on the floor.
SAM lifted weary eyes toward his. “Yeah, it uh… really sucks.” Which was the understatement of the year. “The hardest part is the, you know, limbo I guess you could call it. I feel like we’re both in a state of suspended animation. Waiting. And no matter what I do there’s no way to force an outcome. Donnie’s going to get better, I know it, but until his brain is healed enough to regain control of his body, there’s just nothing to do but… wait.” She rubbed palms which had suddenly grown sweaty across the top of her denim covered thighs. Good Lord. Sitting this close to him was… unnerving.
“I checked on the case status today.” Josh looked across the table, all blue-eyed sympathy and ridiculously thick lashes. When Mother Nature had been doling out the natural beauty she’d hit Josh with a heavy hand. “There have been no new leads, apparently, in the past couple months. It’s basically grown cold. Do you have any idea, any at all, what might have happened? Who could have had motive to shoot him?”
Sam studied him through narrowed eyes. “I’ve been over this a million times with the police already. I know nothing. I was in Columbia, at school, when it happened, and hadn’t even been here to see Donnie in months.” Which was her own little burden of guilt to bear. And because she felt that guilt and also a lingering sense of shame for what had transpired last night, she lashed out a little more angrily than she should have. “Is that why you’re here, Josh? In some kind of official capacity? Because the police think that Donnie was involved in something, and that I’ve just been holding out on them all these months? So they send you here thinking that maybe I’ll spill my guts to an old friend?”
Josh leaned back in his chair, regarded her calmly, though hurt flitted briefly across his handsome face. “I’m here, Samantha, because I care. To be brutally honest, the department is overwhelmed right now with an influx of cases that rate a lot higher priority than your brother’s. Except I know how frustrating it is to be shoved aside and forgotten, to feel like you don’t matter enough to warrant the basic courtesy of some answers.”
And ouch. Sam felt that cut to the bone. Her leaving like she had was obviously still a sore spot.
“I can’t help you with your brother’s medical condition,” he continued. “From what Justin told me, nobody can. But what I can do is try to help you get some answers. Donnie didn’t put that bullet in his own leg, Sam. Wouldn’t you like to know who did?”
Guilt crashing down on her like an anvil, Sam ran trembling fingers through her hair. It still smelled of smoke from her shift at the bar, which made her uncomfortably aware that she needed a shower. “I’m sorry,” she said finally. “It was entirely out of line to come down on you like that. It’s just that… when the police questioned me before, they made me feel like Donnie was some kind of criminal. And he’s been in trouble a time or two, you know that, but it just seemed
She moved away from the door finally, motioning toward the two chairs on either side of the small table. Josh eyed the sofa, but at least sitting together was a step in the right direction, and all things considered it was probably best to avoid that hide-a-bed temptation. Last thing Sam needed right now was a man looking to get in her pants.
He pulled out her chair for her, to which she blinked and offered a surprised “thanks,” and then he moved the whole three feet it took to drop himself into the second chair. The seat creaked ominously, making him thankful that by genetics and lifestyle he kept himself lean. If he lived off super-sized fast food like some of the other guys in the CPD, he probably would have landed on the floor.
SAM lifted weary eyes toward his. “Yeah, it uh… really sucks.” Which was the understatement of the year. “The hardest part is the, you know, limbo I guess you could call it. I feel like we’re both in a state of suspended animation. Waiting. And no matter what I do there’s no way to force an outcome. Donnie’s going to get better, I know it, but until his brain is healed enough to regain control of his body, there’s just nothing to do but… wait.” She rubbed palms which had suddenly grown sweaty across the top of her denim covered thighs. Good Lord. Sitting this close to him was… unnerving.
“I checked on the case status today.” Josh looked across the table, all blue-eyed sympathy and ridiculously thick lashes. When Mother Nature had been doling out the natural beauty she’d hit Josh with a heavy hand. “There have been no new leads, apparently, in the past couple months. It’s basically grown cold. Do you have any idea, any at all, what might have happened? Who could have had motive to shoot him?”
Sam studied him through narrowed eyes. “I’ve been over this a million times with the police already. I know nothing. I was in Columbia, at school, when it happened, and hadn’t even been here to see Donnie in months.” Which was her own little burden of guilt to bear. And because she felt that guilt and also a lingering sense of shame for what had transpired last night, she lashed out a little more angrily than she should have. “Is that why you’re here, Josh? In some kind of official capacity? Because the police think that Donnie was involved in something, and that I’ve just been holding out on them all these months? So they send you here thinking that maybe I’ll spill my guts to an old friend?”
Josh leaned back in his chair, regarded her calmly, though hurt flitted briefly across his handsome face. “I’m here, Samantha, because I care. To be brutally honest, the department is overwhelmed right now with an influx of cases that rate a lot higher priority than your brother’s. Except I know how frustrating it is to be shoved aside and forgotten, to feel like you don’t matter enough to warrant the basic courtesy of some answers.”
And ouch. Sam felt that cut to the bone. Her leaving like she had was obviously still a sore spot.
“I can’t help you with your brother’s medical condition,” he continued. “From what Justin told me, nobody can. But what I can do is try to help you get some answers. Donnie didn’t put that bullet in his own leg, Sam. Wouldn’t you like to know who did?”
Guilt crashing down on her like an anvil, Sam ran trembling fingers through her hair. It still smelled of smoke from her shift at the bar, which made her uncomfortably aware that she needed a shower. “I’m sorry,” she said finally. “It was entirely out of line to come down on you like that. It’s just that… when the police questioned me before, they made me feel like Donnie was some kind of criminal. And he’s been in trouble a time or two, you know that, but it just seemed
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