Playing With You (23 page)

Deena raised the knife as she whipped around, her eyes narrowed. “I’ll just take your finger
after
I kill you.”

She raised the knife and started to bring it down on Ricki’s throat.

Heart thundering, Ricki bent her knees and kicked up hard, hitting Deena in her arm, hard enough that it knocked the knife from her grip.

Deena shrieked and grabbed for the knife. It was close enough that she could reach it and she grasped the handle. Ricki tried to roll away but Deena grabbed Ricki’s braid and jerked her head back, exposing her throat.

Ricki kicked and thrashed, fighting for her life, but Deena raised the knife and started to bring the blade down. Even as certain death was coming toward her, Ricki couldn’t believe she was about to die.

In a blur, something huge and furry flung itself at Deena, bowling her over.

Xena.

Deena rolled back but regained her balance. She lunged for Xena and swiped at her with the knife.

The retriever clamped her jaws over the wrist of Deena’s knife hand. Xena snarled and shook Deena’s wrist as if she were trying to kill a small animal.

Deena screamed and she dropped the knife. As Xena shook Deena’s wrist, the woman picked up the knife with her free hand and swung it at the retriever’s side.

“No!” Ricki kicked out at Deena, trying to hit her arm, but missed.

The knife sank into Xena’s side. The dog yelped and let go of Deena’s wrist.

Xena stumbled and fell.

“You bitch!” Ricki screamed as Deena jerked the knife from Xena’s side.

The retriever snarled and tried to get up.

Ricki started to roll away from Deena but knew she was too late as Deena raised the knife and plunged it toward Ricki.

Another scream lodged in Ricki’s throat.

A man jammed his boot on Deena’s arm, knocking the knife away.

The crack of bone was loud and Deena shrieked in pain and fell back.

In the next moment, Garrett was standing over Deena, a furious expression on his face. Deena tried to get up but Garrett stepped on her good arm, pinning her to the ground. Despite the fact she had a broken arm, Deena fought like a crazy woman, trying to get up and get away from Garrett.

“Duct tape is behind you,” Ricki shouted even as she spotted the tape while trying to inch her way over to Xena, tears filling her eyes.

Garrett straddled Deena, pinning her down with one leg on her good arm and his weight on her body.

Deena still fought him but he was able to reach for the tape with one hand while holding her down. The woman tried to bite his thigh through his jeans. He put a strip of tape over her mouth.

She kept trying to free her arm and hit him, so he had no choice but to bind her wrists together even though her arm was broken. He managed to bind them in front of her. Even as tears flowed down her face from the pain, she kept trying to kick free.

It was like Deena was on drugs and couldn’t feel as much pain as she should as she fought him and fought him. After her wrists were secured, he turned and bound her ankles together.

Ricki didn’t have time to feel any relief when Deena was subdued. The bitch had stabbed Xena.

“We’ve got to get Xena to a vet.” Tears rolled down Ricki’s cheeks as she saw the labored breathing of her dog. “Now!”

“Hold on, honey.” Garrett was already on his phone, telling the dispatcher where they were. The police were, of course, simply on the other side of the house from where Ricki, Garrett, Xena, and Deena were.

Garrett pulled out a pocketknife and cut the tape at Ricki’s wrists and ankles. The second she was free, she scrambled to Xena’s side.

Ricki sobbed as she touched Xena’s golden hair that was now black and sticky with blood. “She’s bleeding, badly.”

Garrett shrugged off his shirt and handed it to Ricki. She immediately did her best to stop the blood flow, pressing the shirt to the wound.

“I’m calling Doc Tanner, our family vet,” Garrett said even as police officers rounded the copse of trees.

Garrett apparently had the vet’s home phone number in his contacts because he was speaking to the vet almost immediately. “He’s going to meet us at his clinic,” Garrett said as he stuffed the cell phone into the holster on his belt and he knelt beside Ricki and Xena.

He wrapped his arm around Ricki’s shoulders. “She’s going to be all right, honey.” He kissed the top of Ricki’s head. “Thank God you’re all right.” He squeezed her tighter. “Thank God.”

She looked up at him, her face wet with tears. “I’m so glad you’re all right, too.” She looked back at the retriever. “But Xena…”

Paramedics rushed in behind the officers. Ricki refused their attention, telling them to take care of Xena.

John McBride, Garrett’s stepbrother, had been one of the first officers to arrive and Garrett was giving him the details of what had happened.

Soon the paramedics had Xena on a stretcher, hurrying her to the front of the house. Ricki left with them, staying close to the golden retriever’s side. Garrett caught up to them not a minute later.

The stench of smoke was strong and Ricki was vaguely aware that the house fire was just about out and she had a fleeting thought that everything she owned was gone.

But none of that mattered. What was important was for Xena to be all right. No one else had been injured and Ricki was happy to be alive, but right now that wasn’t her focus.

Being that it was a small town and Garrett was a McBride, as was Eric, who was a fire lieutenant, Xena was allowed to be loaded into an ambulance for the short ride to the vet’s clinic. Ricki climbed into the ambulance to be with Xena, her heart continuing to pound, her head throbbing with pain. Before the ambulance doors were shut, Garrett shouted that he’d be following in his truck.

Even as a paramedic attended to Xena, another one started examining Ricki. She wanted to push the paramedic away, but she was too exhausted, too overwhelmed, too fearful.

Doc Tanner’s clinic wasn’t very far and the entrance was open, lights on, the vet and an assistant waiting at the door. The paramedics carried Xena in on a stretcher and directly toward surgery.

Ricki insisted she was all right, but the paramedics stayed to check her over. She had a moderate concussion and a huge bruise on the back of her head, as well as scrapes and bruises from being dragged from the house by Deena, but that was about it.

Someone found scrubs for her to wear, since all she’d had was the robe, but she didn’t remember who.

Garrett sat by Ricki in the waiting room while she was being examined. Soon it was just the two of them waiting and praying for Xena to pull through.

He held her close, his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her to him. “All I can think is how grateful I am that you’re all right.”

She met his gaze. “I love you, Garrett.”

“I love you.” He kissed her and drew back. “I can’t imagine ever loving anyone more than I do you.”

Ricki felt a tightness in her chest and a sinking feeling in her belly as she picked her way through the charred remains of her home. The fire marshal had determined that it was safe enough for Ricki to return to look over everything and see if there was anything salvageable. So far she’d found nothing. She was fortunate that the firefighters had saved her car—it was all she had left.

The day was balmy and would have been beautiful if it wasn’t for the house, or what remained of it. The air was thick with the harsh stench that pervaded everything even after the smoke was gone. Most of the house lay in complete ruins with very little standing.

The harsh reality was setting in. Everything she’d owned or treasured had been destroyed in the fire and she’d been left with nothing. And Xena…

She swallowed hard and thought about the woman Deena had kidnapped and stuffed in the trunk of the woman’s car. She was traumatized but she’d be all right. At least Deena hadn’t killed yet another person.

“I heard from a contact at the District Attorney’s office this morning.” Garrett interrupted her thoughts as he moved beside her. “Not sure how this will pan out, but Diane Donatello will likely be sent to prison for life or face the death penalty for the murders of those two women in Tucson. She has the punishment coming to her,” Garrett added. “She could plead insanity but that rarely works.” He settled his hand on Ricki’s upper arm. “You’re safe now.”

Ricki nodded. She still couldn’t get used to the idea that Deena was really a murderer named Diane Donatello. “I’m glad she’ll be put away and that she can never hurt anyone else.” Ricki heard the hardness in her own voice. Not only had the woman tried to murder Ricki, but Xena might not make it.

“All we can do now is pray that Xena will pull through,” Garrett said, echoing her thoughts.

Ricki swallowed down the lump in her throat at the thought that Xena could still die. “The stab wound is serious. Doc Tanner only gives her a fifty-fifty chance.”

“She’s a special dog,” Garrett said and Ricki looked up at him to see his face darken with anger. “If it wasn’t for Xena, Diane might have killed you.”

“Deena probably would have killed me.” She swallowed hard. “You and Xena both saved my life.”

“I couldn’t have handled anything happening to you.” Garrett pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tightly. “I couldn’t bear losing you.”

He kissed her long and hard before releasing her. For a long moment they looked at each other.

Ricki turned and stepped over a beam and worked her way through the area that had once been her living room. “I should have seen the signs that something wasn’t right with Deena.”

“You believe in the best of people, Ricki.” Garrett took her hand and brought her to a stop again. “It’s not in your nature to think the worst of anyone.”

“Maybe that needs to change.” Anger over all that had happened made Ricki’s muscles ache. “Maybe I need to be more cynical and definitely less trusting.”

“You shouldn’t stop being you.” Garrett took both of her hands in his. “The world needs more people like you, Ricki. You should be more cautious, but don’t stop believing that there’s good in people.” He squeezed her hands and offered her a little smile. “Leave the cynicism up to me.”

“I don’t know, Garrett.” She drew her hands from his and took in her surroundings with her gaze. “Just look at this.”

Near her feet, she spotted the porcelain picture frame that had held the most recent picture of her family. She crouched to pick up the formerly white frame that was now black with soot and ash. With her thumb she rubbed away some of the blackness on the glass and saw that the picture that had been inside of it was curled and blackened.

The ache at the back of her eyes grew stronger and a tear rolled down her cheek as she stood. She dropped the frame back onto the same spot where she had picked it up.

A strong, comforting arm settled around her shoulders and she tilted her head to meet Garrett’s eyes. He squeezed her to let her know he was there for her.

“I have nothing left.” Ricki let her gaze drift over the ruins again and another tear stole down her opposite cheek. “She took it all from me.”

“You’re alive.” He kissed the top of her head. “That’s all that matters.”

She turned to him and found herself in the circle of his arms again. “You’re right. As long as Xena makes it, too, that’s all that matters. The rest of this is just material.”

Still, after all the love and work she’d put into this house, it hurt like hell that it was gone along with things she had treasured since she was a child.

She leaned her head against Garrett’s chest as he held her and breathed in his scent, for one moment drinking it in before the stench of charred wood and smoke filled her senses again.

Since the fire, she’d had moments where she’d been overwhelmed and she’d felt the depression creeping in on her. But then she’d come to the conclusion that she had her life and hopefully she had Garrett and Xena. She had to move beyond the depression and rebuild.

As he held her, she felt a kind of comfort that no one else could give her.

When she drew away from him, he rested his hands on her shoulders. “Are you ready to go home?”

Despite her resolve, another tear rolled its way down her cheek and Garrett rubbed it away with his thumb.

“I don’t have a home anymore.” She managed to choke the words out even though her throat was tight. “I have to start out from scratch.”

The most she’d done was buy some clothing. All she’d had on was a robe the night of the fire. Her friend, Megan, who was about the same size, had given Ricki some things to wear so that she could go shopping. Megan had offered more, but Ricki had said Megan had done enough. Ricki appreciated it more than her friend could know.

Every one of her friends had offered a place to stay until she had her own home again, but Ricki had refused. She hadn’t wanted to impose on anyone.

“Don’t go back to the hotel.” He hooked his finger under her chin. “Come stay with me. Don’t say no this time.”

She paused for a moment, thinking about the lonely hotel suite. Garrett had stayed with her at night, but when she was alone she couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened. “Okay.” She nodded. “Thank you.”

“Good.” He kissed her, his lips firm and warm, and a little of the tension in her body dissipated. “Come on.” He raised his head and their gazes locked. “Let’s go make some new memories.”

The day was gorgeous as they hiked West Fork Oak Creek Trail outside Sedona. Garrett wore a backpack with the lunch they’d put together while Ricki’s backpack contained a blanket and bottles of water, along with a few other things. What was intriguing, though, was that Garrett was carrying a covered basket and he wouldn’t tell her what was inside.

Xena trotted along the creek, followed by Hercules, an eight-month-old chocolate lab that had been the golden retriever’s best buddy since she recovered from the stab wound.

“Stay close, girl,” Ricki called out and Xena came to a stop beside the creek and gave a short bark of agreement. Hercules paused beside Xena then ran to Ricki and Garrett and bounded around them with enthusiasm.