Page 50 of Tom's Chance
Lorissa turned to look at the animals in question, and wrinkled her nose at them. “Traitors.”
Everyone laughed, easing the mounting tension, then Duane nodded. “Then you have nothing to feel guilty about. You didn’t cause this. Those two women were unhinged to begin with. I’m saying this based on the text messages you showed me from Gallagher, and the background check I did on Warren. I’m not saying they’re better off dead, but I am saying thatthey played stupid tricks and got stupid results. No one is to blame but them.”
“Thank you,” Tom said quietly, and moved his empty bowl away from him. He looked up when Duane cleared his throat.
“I talked with Sheriff Jim today.”
“And?”
“And I also did some deeper investigating. I had Jake help me.” He shook his head and held up his hand. “Free of charge. It turned out it was worse than we thought.”
“How?” Tom looked at everyone and reached out to take Lorissa’s hand in his. He was looking at her and didn’t see the other adults exchange sweet smiles.
“You asked me to look into Leslie Warren. I told you there were roughly seven warrants out for her arrest, all for identity theft. That was a lie. Once Sparrow took her in and they ran her prints, it turns out that you would have been victim number eighteen. Sparrow said there were eleven, but with the deep dive Jake and I did, we found more.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, and I dug into Gallagher’s past. You were the fifth person she pulled that stunt on. The one about wanting you to foot the bill for her personal care, and that fancy restaurant. However, you are the first one that told her no.” He shook his head sadly as he settled back in his chair. “This is where it gets confusing.”
“How?”
“It took some digging, and Jake was the one to find the connection.”
“What connection?”
“Gallagher and Warren were sisters. Or rather, they grew up in the foster care system and had been in the same home for about three years together. They were close to aging out, and when they were on their own, they started the reign of trying to fleece unsuspecting males. We don’t know if this is definitive, but based on the evidence we gathered, they targeted you because you had doctor attached to your name.”
“Thinking I had money. I bet they didn’t see what the title was for.”
“That’s the conclusion we came to. So, Tom, as far as I am concerned, and the Fool’s Gold Police Department, you have nothing to do with what happened to Lorissa, and are not guilty for anything.” Duane refused to look away from him until Tom nodded that he understood. Shortly after that, the meal was cleaned up, dishes done, and the others left, leaving Lorissa and Tom alone.
They got the animals settled for the night, and though it wasn’t quite eight at night, Lorissa looked at him tiredly. “I’m going to head up to bed.”
“I’ll crash here on the couch, but be warned, I’m setting my alarm to wake you every two hours. Just like we did when we fed the babies.”
“Okay, but if you want, you can join me upstairs.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” She turned on her heel, and Tom hurried to where he’d dropped his bag earlier and by the time she was at the top of the stairs, he was already starting up them. An hour later, they were both settled in the bed and he smiled when he felt thumps on the bed. He lifted his head to see that both Rose and Baby had settled in the space below Lorissa’s feet. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, and a beautiful woman wrapped in his arms.
CHAPTER 19
Tom jerkedawake and sat straight up in bed, staring around in confusion when he didn’t recognize the room, or bed he was in. It clicked that he was in Lorissa’s bed, and he remembered waking her several times in the night. He thought the last time was around four in the morning, and he didn’t hear his alarm after that. He flopped back and sighed heavily as he scrubbed his face. He looked toward the door and sat up when he saw Lorissa stick her head in.
“You awake?”
“Yes. What time is it?”
“Around eight. Don’t be mad at me, but the last time you woke me, I was fine, and I shut off your alarm so we could both get some uninterrupted sleep. I’m fine. I’ve only been up long enough to let the kids out and make the coffee.” She opened the door and came in with two steaming mugs. “I don’tnormally drink coffee in the bedroom, but you were sleeping so peacefully, I didn’t want to disturb you.” She started forward with a shake of her head. “I didn’t know what was on your agenda for the day so I thought waking you at eight would be okay.”
“Thank you. I don’t know if I’m that exhausted, or if it’s this bed, but I slept like a rock. I swear after waking you, I would pass out to an unconscious state between each wakeup call.”
“Yeah, it might be the mattress. I bought it brand new when I moved here.” Lorissa smiled at him and sipped her coffee. “I didn’t know if you had to be at the office, or what time the clinic opened, so I didn’t want you to sleep too late. I’m going down to start breakfast. Pru came over yesterday with several dozen eggs, so I thought we could have omelets.”
“That sounds wonderful, do you mind if I shower?”
“Not at all, you can use my bathroom through that door, or there’s one in the hall. I don’t mind which one you use.”
