Deadly Reunion (The Taci Andrews Deadly Series) (22 page)

“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! Not that it was really hard to do. I sent Samantha off to my mother’s and had her reported as missing to get the police involved. Having you assigned to the case after your buddy went missing was pure luck. Thanks to all of your digging you uncovered the drug ring and everything pointed oh so nicely to my now deceased husband. Everything turned out pretty nicely in the end, don’t you think?” she said sweetly.

I had to admit I was impressed. Not even I thought Barbie’s dark side ran this deep. “What makes you think I won’t run to the presses and release this story?”

Valerie laughed mockingly. “And what evidence would you have to support the claim? Everything was done in Jason’s name, mine was never a part of the operation from the leases on the law office to the contacts of the drug dealers. So go on ahead, run to your little editor and print the story. I’ll sue you, I’ll sue your editor and I’ll come away with a nice little newspaper to run.”

She was right and I knew it. But I also knew something she hadn’t counted on. Giving a smile I turned on my heel and headed towards the door, the click of her heels telling me she was following close behind. Jerking open the door I turned back to glance at her smug expression.

“You’re right, I don’t have any evidence to run a story. Well, unless you count this anyway,” I said sweetly, pulling a small tape recorder from the side pocket of my purse. Valerie’s mouth dropped open, her face going ashen.

“Have a great day Val. Don’t forget to catch tomorrow’s edition,” I said with a wave, closing the door on Valerie’s shocked face.

Epilogue

Revenge can be sweet but I’ve learned over the past few weeks there are always those who get caught in the crossfire. After my explosive follow up story of the McAllister family Valerie was arrested and put up against drug trafficking charges, which sent her away to the state pen for ten to twenty. I felt the sorriest for Samantha, who ended up being shipped off to her Grandmother’s house in Chicago. While I had high hopes she would have a more stable home life once things began to settle down I wasn’t being too optimistic. It was Valerie’s mother’s house after all.

I stood outside my old high school’s gymnasium, the beating sound of music floating towards me through the closed doors. I’d made it to my reunion after all and I had to say I wasn’t dreading the event as much as I thought I would. Sure the jocks and preppies who’d given me such a hard time those many years ago were probably going to be there and I was sure some of them wouldn’t take too kindly to my involvement in the McAllister story, but if there was anything I’d learned over the past several weeks it was you had to let go of the past and move on.

And so here I was, standing outside the gymnasium doors in a strapless violet dress with matching pumps, my hair styled elegantly in a French twist and my make up having been done to perfection compliments of Melanie. I had to admit I looked pretty kick ass; minus, of course, the sporty white cast that still encased my wrist.

I took a tentative step towards the door, a moment of doubt flooding through me. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. My earlier bravado was quickly fading and I contemplated turning around and getting out of dodge.

“Are you chickening out or are you going in?” an amused voice drawled from behind me. I threw a glance over my shoulder at Parsons, who stood there grinning like a Cheshire cat.

After the barn blowing up incident Tony and I decided to call a quits to our insane attraction to each other. Guess he figured I was too much baggage for him to deal with. That was fine with me though. His macho possessive attitude had been starting to get a little on my nerves. He was sexy as hell, I had to give him that, but it just wasn’t worth it.

Oddly enough his mocking words brought with it the return of my bravado, giving me the courage that I needed.

“Fear isn’t in my vocabulary,” I replied with a grin. Leaning forward I pushed down on the metal bar and opened the bar.

Continue reading for a glimpse at the first chapter of book two in the Deadly Series,
Deadly Science.

DEADLY SCIENCE

CHAPTER ONE

I find it amusing to watch kids in this day and age as they learn the many lessons life throws at us. It draws me back to my own childhood and with it the many childish things that I’d done. Like the time my younger brother Reese and I talked our Dad into buying us skateboards from the new department store downtown.

I couldn’t blame him for being skeptical, I was high into my skirt wearing phase at the time, but I refused to let Reese have one and not get one too. Let’s just say learning how to skateboard while wearing a skirt probably wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had, especially when I ended up with road rash on my rear from trying to sit while riding it down a hill.

My life since that time has been a never ending downhill ride and I’ve got plenty more skid marks on my rear to prove it. Not surprisingly so considering what I do for a living. My name is Taci Andrews and I’m an Investigative Reporter for the Riverdale Times.

For the most part my life is pretty good, save for the solitary status my mother often reminds me of. I pay my bills on time, keep food in the refrigerator and even have enough money left over for that occasional bag of emergency Oreos when needed. Thanks to the genes I inherited from my mother’s side I still have a few good years left before my metabolism will catch up with me.

I live in a respectable two bedroom apartment that is usually only occupied by myself, save for the times when my brother is down on his luck and needing a place to crash. While the building itself isn’t much to look at location is everything in a town like Riverdale, Iowa; I can make it to work in ten minutes give or take a stop over at Starbuck’s.

All in all I’d say I’m a pretty down to earth person. As I wear little make up and my shoulder length blonde hair doesn’t cause me too many issues I can usually get ready and be out the door in less than a half hour. I don’t tend to get overly stressed out over things either; I’ve heard that leads to grey hairs and the less I have of those the better.

I like to keep my life as carefree as possible so needless to say my carefree meter was thrown off track when my best friend, Annie Brown, called in a panic.

Hitting the brakes in the middle of traffic I came to an abrupt stop, ignoring the one fingered gestures I received from the drivers who had to divert around me.

“Annie slow down and start over. What do you mean you have cancer?” I asked tightly, my hand gripping the steering wheel.

Annie inhaled a shaky breath, her distress evident over the phone line. “I had a pap smear taken at my gynecologist last week and it came back with abnormal cells. They said I have to go back for another test to rule out cancer for sure but I really don’t see the point. I have it, I just know it. Oh my God Taci, what am I going to do? How am I going to make it through this? What will happen to the girls?”

Annie recently divorced her cheating husband Bob after catching him pants down in his office with his secretary. It hadn’t come as much of a shock since he’d had a rumored track record a mile long before Annie married him, but I’d somehow managed to keep my tongue in cheek to support her. Bad choice or not us girls need to stick together, which is why I make it my daily routine to drive past the parking lot Bob parks his 2000 steel blue mustang in and do an egg toss. Childish, yes. Fun, definitely.

Amazingly enough Annie’s three daughters, a.k.a. the trio, came out of the ordeal a lot better than I had expected. They were still as well adjusted as they’d been before the divorce only now they actually seemed happier. Guess they hadn’t cared much for their Dad either.

“Take a deep breath Annie and relax, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Did they actually
say
you had cancer?”

“Well…..not exactly. The nurse who called used a lot of big words that I didn’t understand, but what I did hear was loud of clear; abnormal test and having to come back to get rechecked. Come on Tace, even I’m educated enough to know what that means,” Annie wailed into the phone.

The wail of a police siren in the distance made me suddenly aware that I was still sitting in the middle of traffic. Lifting off the break I tossed a glance over my shoulder to make sure there wasn’t anyone coming before pushing down on the accelerator.

“Ok, but they didn’t actually
say
you had cancer, right? I take that to mean it’s a slight possibility but a long shot. Come on Annie, it’s just another re-pap. They’ll bring you back in, toss you up in the stirrups, do a little scraping and send it off to the lab. No big deal,” I said as nonchalantly as I could.

“Easy for you to say, you aren’t the one whose feet will be up in the stirrups,” Annie replied flatly.

I grinned. She had a point.

“My point is you’ll be fine, I wouldn’t stress too much over it. There are a lot worse things in life to worry about,” I replied out.

Annie sighed. “Oh yeah? Like what?”

I opened my mouth just as my car was hit from behind, jerking me forward. Lucky for me it wasn’t a hard enough hit to set off the air bags. Unlucky for me I had
just
gotten my car back from the last accident it was in, which I would like to point out was completely not my fault. Who would have guessed it’d get damaged by sitting too close to a building that suddenly exploded?

“Like getting rear ended. Uh Annie, I need to call you back,” I replied, snapping my phone shut before she could reply. Flinging open my door I slipped out of the front seat, walking around to the back of the car to survey the damage. It was just a guess, but I was pretty sure the back bumper was supposed to be attached to the rear of the car and not hanging in midair. Great. There goes another paycheck to the repair shop.

“Oh man, are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there. One minute the road was clear and then there you were out of nowhere,” a man was apologizing as he approached from the other vehicle. From the looks of his boyish features, character t-shirt and pair of faded jeans I guessed him to be in his early twenties if I was lucky. Then again I was really bad at guessing ages. I glanced at the offending vehicle who was responsible for landing me yet again in the repair shop. A pick up truck, go figure.

“It’s alright, I think I’m fine,” I replied with a shrug, instantly wincing at the pain that shot through my neck.

The man’s face paled and he immediately was at my side, shoving me to the ground next to my car.

“Oh my god you’re hurt. I’m calling 911,” he insisted, whipping out his phone and punching in the numbers.

Geez, were all men this dramatic?

“No really you don’t have to do that, it was just a little fender bender,” I argued but it was too late, the call had already been picked up.

I leaned my back against the side of my car while I listened to his conversation with the emergency service. My ears picked up the words seriously injured and I sighed.

“I’m
not
seriously injured,” I interjected loudly but I could see it was useless; he’d already ended the call with a flip of his cell phone.

“You really didn’t have to do that. It’s just a little neck pain,” I insisted as he kneeled down beside me.

“The lady from 911 said you needed to lie down in case you have a severe neck trauma,” he said, reaching out a hand as if to push me down further on the ground.

Holding up a hand I leaned out of his reach. “Seriously that’s not necessary, I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head, a frown on his face. “But the 911 lady said you have to lie down and I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to do what they tell us.”

I sighed again. “If the 911 lady said we needed to jump off a bridge would you do it?”

The guy rocked back on his heels, contemplating my words.

“It was a joke,” I muttered, my ears picking up the distant sounds of sirens wailing. Within minutes a fire truck along with an ambulance and squad car arrived on the scene. As the EMT’s piled out of the vehicles my stomach dropped to my toes at the familiar face among them; Tony Parsons.

My history with Parsons was rocky, to say the least. While it was clear we were mortal enemies throughout grade school and high school, somehow adulthood brought on an unexpected turn in our relationship; lust.

Parsons was pretty hot by any standards from his finely tuned body, dark brown hair, blue eyes and sexy dimples that appeared when he smiled. Not too long ago I’d had the pleasure of being up close and personal with Parsons but we’d decided it would be best to part our own ways. He thought I was too much baggage for him to carry; I thought he was too full of himself. Ok, not really, but he did have an annoying way of bossing me around and seeming to always be right. That counted for something, right?

As he approached a flutter of something crossed his features before he shuttered them again. I held my breath as I watched to see what he would do, disappointment instantly flooding me when he moved to the back of the group to let the others take the lead. Obviously his way of handling things where I was concerned was to blow me off. His cold demeanor burned a bit but I forced it down. It’s not like I have any claims to Parsons, I guess asking for a little civility was too much for him.

“Hi there miss, what’s your name? What happened and where are you hurt at?” one of the EMT guys asked when he reached my side. He was pretty cute I noted, taking in the light blonde hair and ice blue eyes. Knowing my luck I’d guess he’s either married or gay.

“My name’s Taci and I’m fine, really. It was just a little fender bender,” I insisted, frowning when the twenty something year old kid jumped in.

“I hit her pretty hard from behind and I think she has a traumatic neck injury,” the kid announced proudly. I rolled my eyes.

The cute EMT leaned closer to me, inspecting my neck carefully. The scent of his aftershave wafted past my nose and I breathed in deep. Lord he smelled great.

“Hey Taci, I’m Sean. It doesn’t look like anything’s injured but just in case I’m going to place a collar around your neck before we transport you to the ambulance,” he said softly, giving me a reassuring smile. One of the EMT people standing behind him ran back to the ambulance to get the collar. I gritted my teeth.