“Just humor me.”
She shrugged. “He never talked much about his family.” She took another sip of beer and recalled a conversation she and Tom had when he first took over the company. “One time he did mention he had a nephew who was more like a son to him. Said he was always in a bind, though. Always needing to borrow money. Tom told me he constantly helped the guy out. Said he’d give him whatever he needed.”
“Did he mention this nephew’s name?”
“No. Not that I recall. He acted a little odd when he talked about the nephew. But, Tom was always a bit strange.”
The thought that this had anything to do with Tom sent a chill over her flesh. Mason’s questions about Tom’s nephew made her wonder...was he perhaps out for revenge? They had, after all, caused his uncle’s death. No matter that his uncle had been trying to kill them, it was her guess the guy wouldn’t be thrilled.
“Hey.” Mason’s husky voice brought her out of her reverie. He reached out and gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “Everything will be okay. You just have to be careful. Let me know if anything at all happens. And, above all, keep your doors locked.”
“I will. I promise.”
Mason smiled. “That’s my girl.”
Exhilaration shot through her at his words. Such a simple phrase, but it made her yearn for what might have been.
They finished their beers, and Mason stood to go. She tried to hide her disappointment, biting back the urge to beg him to stay. She’d told him she could take care of herself, after all. She refused to fall apart now.
Mason left, and she locked up the house, but still didn’t feel all that safe. After fitfully falling asleep, she was jarred awake by the shrill ringing of a phone. She blinked at the clock, squinting until she could read the time. Two a.m. She fumbled for the receiver. “Hello,” she mumbled sleepily into the line. Nothing. Her heart skipped a beat. “Hello, anyone there?” Silence.
Suddenly wide awake, her pulse rate increased at the silence on the other end of the phone. Him, again. “Who is this? What do you want?”
“What did he do with the money? I know he told you.”
“Look, I don’t know who you are, or who you’re talking about. You must have me confused with someone else.” A sob escaped through her lips. “Leave me alone.”
“You’d better watch your back bitch.” The sinister, gravelly voice made her heart stop beating for a few seconds. “Give me what I want, or next time you’ll find more than a dead rat at your door.”
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. The caller hung up, leaving nothing but dead silence on the line.
Dead silence
. She shuddered at her choice of words and pulled the covers up to her chin. No way would she get back to sleep tonight. Mason made her promise to call if anything happened, but she couldn’t disturb him at this hour.
Instead, she lay there all night, wide awake in bed, wondering if this maniac would end up killing her, or just driving her beyond the brink of sanity.
****
He sat in his dark blue pick-up for several minutes after she walked into the mall. Her choice of parking was great. Third level, not much traffic here, and isolated in a corner. Stupid bitch.
The man looked around the lot. No one out walking, no one sitting in their vehicle. Slowly opening the door, his fingers curled around the pipe. The cool metal felt good in his hands, a distinct contrast to the sweltering heat of the afternoon. Hell, he was already beginning to sweat. He spat the chewed toothpick to the cement parking lot, a feral smile curling his lips.
Looking around to make certain he was alone, he lifted the heavy pipe and swung with all his strength, forcefully hitting the hood of the car.
Thud
. A joyful sound to his ears. The first blow was for his uncle. He should’ve never died. Uncle Tom had the answers to all his problems. Uncle Tom would not have left him with nothing.
Once again, he glanced around the enclosed parking lot. The place was empty. All the stupid people were inside the mall, shopping. Spending money. Money he didn’t have. Soon that would change. He would get to Kendall and find out what she and Uncle Tom did with all the money promised to him.
He lifted the metal and plunged it into the rear window of the Rogue. There was a brief hesitation before the glass splintered. Second hit was for the bitch. He knew she had the information he needed. The problem was getting her to give it up. Apparently, she wanted to keep the money all to herself. His calls, threats, and pranks didn’t seem to have much of an effect on her. That meant one thing. He would have to turn up the heat. And he would, soon. Very soon.
Several more swings and the back windshield of her pretty little Rogue was totally smashed. Dropping the pipe in the back of his truck, he reached into the front seat and pulled out a can of paint. One more sign, to let the bitch know her time was running out.
Back in his truck, he wiped the sweat from his brow. His heart beat frantically in his chest. Too bad he couldn’t hang around to see her pained expression when she saw his artwork, but, he had to get cleaned up and switch vehicles. One last glance, and a smile spread across his face. Exhilaration at a job well done.
****
Kendall walked out of the mall, an armful of packages weighing her down as she made her way toward the parking garage. She hummed the tune of a popular country song about riding on a pontoon. A carefree summer beat mixed with a little shopping therapy felt so good. It was just what she needed to rejuvenate after the drama of the past weeks.
Her parents were going to be so surprised with the 52” television Mandy, Bobby, and Kendall purchased for their fortieth wedding anniversary. Now that the TV delivery was set for the day of the party, Kendall could concentrate on finalizing the decorations and food.
The hot late August sun filled the sky and warmed her face. The rain forecasted for today must be close; the air had a distinct heavy, moist smell. That scent always meant rain was not far away. If she hurried, she could make it home and have time to unload her Rogue before the storm hit. She picked up her pace, feeling alive and refreshed, and took the elevator in the parking garage to level three.
Her happiness soon dissipated as she neared her red Rogue. Her insides went ice cold, yet her whole body broke out in a sweat. She trembled. The entire back window of the Rogue was cracked. The window was still intact, although there wasn’t a single spot that didn’t have jagged lines running through it. She dropped her shopping bags at her feet and inched closer. Trembling fingers trailed over the red “X” spray painted on the cracked glass.
Slowly, she pulled her hand away and stared at red fingers. Fresh paint. Nausea rose in her throat, but she managed to swallow past the lump. She was sick and tired of all the incidents. Who could be doing these horrible things to her? And why?
With her hands shaking, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse. She dialed Mason first, then Detective Marks. Less than ten minutes later, two cruisers pulled up beside her. Marks got out of one and walked toward her, brows drawn together and his mouth pulled tight.
Foster unfolded himself from the second cruiser. The moment he made eye contact with Kendall, his face puckered up as if he had been eating a sour candy. He glared at her while he placed his sunglasses in his front shirt pocket. After speaking quietly to Marks, Foster sauntered toward Kendall.
“Well, well. What have we here?” he drawled. “Kendall Reed, you have a way of falling into bad luck.”
“Yeah, looks like I do, Deputy Foster. If you would find the person responsible for this mess, I could get on with my life.” The man totally creeped her out. She scanned the parking lot, wishing for any sign of Mason.
Why hadn’t he answered his phone earlier?
“Rest assured Ms. Reed, we’re doing everything we can. It would be helpful if you could catch this person in the act. However, if you do see him, don’t confront him. Chances are, he’s dangerous. We don’t want you getting hurt, now do we?” His tight smile didn’t quite reach his beady eyes.
She shivered at the frostiness in his voice. “Understood.”
Foster turned his attention to Marks. “Find anything?”
Marks continued dusting for fingerprints while Foster finished taking Kendall’s report. “Nothing useful, unless we get some prints. I’ll send this to the lab as soon as we get back to the office.”
Marks made his way toward her while Foster headed back to his police unit. “You okay?” he asked with genuine concern, unlike Foster’s demeaning words.
“Holding up. I just wish y’all would catch this guy. It’s starting to get scary just going home from an afternoon out. I’m not used to looking over my shoulder at every turn.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to take the chill out of her body. Who ever heard of a chill in the air in New Orleans during the month of August? “What do you think they did this with?”
“Probably used a bat, or something similar. I’m going to look around the garage and see if anything looks out of the ordinary.”
Her attention focused on Foster driving away. When she could no longer see his car, she turned to Marks. “I thought you and Foster rode together.”
He shifted from one foot to the other before answering. “We usually do, but I had something else I needed to tend to this morning, so we took separate vehicles today.”
“I see.”
“Hey, hang in there.”
****
Mason woke early in the morning to the blaring ring of his cell phone and his mother’s attorney insisting he needed to see Mason, right away. Mr. Hernandez claimed this was an urgent matter and could not wait. Somehow, Mason didn’t believe the urgency was all the attorney made it out to be. Regardless, he left New Orleans and passed the hours listening to old country songs.
Just as he suspected, his mother had taken off again. She was nowhere around when needed. She couldn’t even find the time in her schedule to be at this so called “important” meeting. And again, the matter could have waited another day or two. But Mr. Hernandez seemed hell bent on doing whatever he could to please Julia.
“Your mother’s parents were killed in an auto accident around the same time she had her accident. She’s now in Phoenix, settling their estate.”
“I didn’t realize she was out of the hospital.”
“Personally, I think she should’ve stayed another day or two, but she claimed she felt well enough to do this. It appears her parents were well off and left everything to their only daughter. According to Julia, they were never aware she had a son.”
He grunted. He was a little hurt, but not surprised that Julia wouldn’t have mentioned a son. That bit of information explained why he never knew his grandparents. The attorney relayed the rest of Julia’s story. Something she never felt obligated to tell her son herself. Hell, she was never around long enough talk about her past.
Mason was taken aback to find out his mother ran away as a teenager and lost all contact with her parents until two years ago. At that time, she was so ashamed of how she’d lived her life—running away, eloping without telling anyone, even a period of her life when she was too dependent on alcohol—she still didn’t mention having a son to her parents.
Was she that ashamed of me?
“So how does any of this affect me?” His stomach was in knots. This was not what he was prepared to hear when he made the drive from New Orleans to Beaumont.
“Your mother is relinquishing all rights to her parents’ estate. Everything goes to you.”
He sat back in the chair, startled, shaking his head in refusal. “No. I never knew them. I don’t want anything.” He shifted through the legal documents in front of him, realizing for the first time, the size of his grandparents’ assets. They had made smart investments over the years, of which most had paid off very nicely. He didn’t feel right taking this money from people he never knew, even if they were blood relatives. Hell, they weren’t aware they had a grandson. “I can’t accept this.”
“Regardless of what you want, this is the way it plays out. Julia has every right to sign this over to you.”
“Well, just sign my portion back to her.”
The tall, robust man sat back in his big, leather chair. Diplomas lined one wall of his office. Another wall held a massive bookcase filled with books. He exuded an air of confidence and power whenever he spoke, and Mason found himself trusting the older man’s judgment.
“Sorry, but it doesn’t work like that. She’s put a clause in that states nothing can be reassigned back to her.” He regarded Mason from behind his glasses. “In my opinion, if the two of you would make amends, you would have a much easier time convincing her to keep some of this for herself.”
“Mr. Hernandez, I know my mother said she wants to make up for abandoning me as a child, but I don’t know how much truth that holds.”
He sighed, took his glasses off, and laid them next to the phone on his desk. Then he looked Mason directly in the eye. “Look, I believe Julia when she says she wants to make up for things.”
Mason didn’t ask why he believed her, he just nodded for the man to continue.
“I hired Julia to help Linda, my wife, when we found out she had cancer. The two of them became instant best friends. We couldn’t have made it without Julia’s help. She ran errands, got Linda to appointments and sat with her after her treatments. She was there almost more than I was. She was such a natural when it came to helping Linda. And she stuck with her until the end.” He picked up a framed photo of himself and a woman who Mason assumed to be his late wife.
“I’m sorry about your wife, Mr. Hernandez.”
He looked at the picture once more, then set it aside. “Thanks. Anyway, after Linda passed, Julia moved out, but we stayed in touch. Since then, things have begun to develop between us. I know firsthand that she is definitely not the same woman she was all those years ago. She does hurt because of what she did to you and your father.”
It was obvious that Mr. Hernandez’s feelings for Julia went deep. And maybe, just maybe, there was some truth to what he said about her changing.