“Not on his—on yours. How can you let a man die without doing something to help him?”
“Not just any man, Donna Dee. A man who raped me. If Hutch were on fire, I would throw water on him, but you’re asking a lot more than that. I wouldn’t even put Graham through the necessary testing.” She shook her head adamantly. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Even if Hutch is Graham’s father?”
“Shh! He’ll hear you. Lower your voice.”
“What are you going to tell your son when he wants to know about his father? Are you going to say that you let his daddy die because you’re out for revenge?”
“Be quiet, for heaven’s sake.”
“For your sake, don’t you mean? You don’t want Graham to know that you’re as good as a killer. Do you think he’ll love you if he ever finds out that you let his father die without lifting a hand to help him?”
“What the hell is all the shouting about?”
Jade spun around. Dillon was looking at them through the screen door. “Where’s Graham?” she asked, fearful that he, too, had overheard Donna Dee’s vituperative words.
“Cathy hustled him upstairs.” He stepped through the screen door and joined them on the porch. “What’s going on?”
“I came to plead for my husband’s life,” Donna Dee said to him. “Jade can save him if only she w
ould.”
“That’s not true, Donna Dee. You don’t know anything for certain.”
“This very minute, Hutch is lying in an ICU,” Donna Dee explained to Dillon. “He’s going to die unless Jade lets their son donate a kidney to him. She refuses because she doesn’t want the boy to know his father.”
Dillon’s eyes swung to Jade. They were inquisitive and penetrating. Mutely, she shook her head. “Okay,” he said, his gaze moving back to Donna Dee. “You’ve said what you came to say. Goodbye.”
Haughtily, Donna Dee looked up at him. His expression remained intractable. Her bravado faltered. To Jade she said, “If your son finds out about this, he’ll never forgive you. I hope he winds up hating you.” She left the veranda, hastened down the sidewalk, and got into her car. Just as she pulled away from the curb, Graham came barreling through the door with Cathy close on his heels. “Mom, what were y’all yelling about?”
“Nothing, Graham. It doesn’t concern you,” she replied, avoiding the hard stare Dillon had fixed on her.
“This is the second time she’s come here, so it must be important. Tell me what she wants with you.”
“It’s a private matter, Graham.”
“You can tell me.”
“No, I can’t, and I don’t want to argue about it! Now drop it!”
Her raised, chastening voice embarrassed him in front of his hero, Dillon. “You never tell me anything,” he shouted. “You treat me like a damn kid.” He rushed back into the house and ran upstairs.
Cathy appeared ready to intervene, but wisely refrained. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
Once she had gone back inside, Dillon spoke. “Want me to talk to Graham?”
Jade turned abruptly and glared up at him, channeling her anger toward him because he was a convenient scapegoat. “No, thank you,” she said crisply. “You got quite an earful tonight, didn’t you? I’m ordering you to forget everything you heard.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her forward against him. “Fat chance.” After that succinct statement, he released her as swiftly as he had taken hold of her. Over his retreating shoulder he said, “You know where to find me if I can do anything for Graham. Good night.”
* * *
He didn’t need this crap.
Such was Dillon’s mood as he wheeled his own battered pickup to the door of the trailer and turned off the engine. Apparently Loner was on another canine excursion. He wasn’t there to greet him. It was just as well, Dillon acknowledged as he let himself in. He wasn’t fit company, even for a dog.
Inside, the trailer was as hot and steamy as a pressure cooker. He switched on the air-conditioning unit and stood in front of the icy blast of air as he peeled off his shirt and unfastened his jeans. He lay his forearms flat against the wall above the air conditioner and rested his forehead on them. The air blew against his damp skin and stirred the pelt of hair on his torso.