He gestured to the overturned ladder and a box lying on the floor, its contents scattered. ‘I lifted the box to put it on the shelf and lost my balance. The next thing I knew I was going down, ladder and all.’
‘Are you hurt?’ She looked him over. ‘You really shouldn’t be up on ladders like that.’
Lori started gathering the scattered items. Old sewing patterns and dozens of spools of thread. Squares of fabric.
‘I’m fine. Really.’ He dusted himself off. ‘I feel a little foolish, that’s all.’
Good Lord. The man was as bad as Frances overdoing it like this. Jess crouched down to help Lori. Then again, she suspected she would be doing the same thing at their age.
‘You’re not hurt. That’s all that matters,’ Jess assured him.
‘My sister’s things.’ He shrugged. ‘I should have cleaned out her room years ago.’
‘Next time let me know and I’ll help.’ He’d been so kind to her that was the least she could do.
Lori righted the ladder and climbed up to reach the shelf Louis had been aiming for. Jess lifted the box to her. It really wasn’t that heavy. Louis, being on the short side, must have overreached. A hazard of working on a ladder.
‘Thank you, ladies. I feel quite foolish.’
‘Happy to help, Mr Louis.’ Lori smiled at him and Jess could swear he blushed.
Jess waved a goodbye. As she and Lori made their way to the door, the empty space under the breaker box caught her eye.
The old wooden box she’d stubbed her toe on was gone. Maybe he’d just moved it. She figured that George Louis was a doer. Always piddling at something.
As they drove away, Jess decided she should get an alarm system for her old Audi as well. If she’d had one last week, she would have known if it was Ted Allen who’d tried tampering with her car.
Or if it was Spears.
Spears had caught her off guard last night. She wouldn’t kid herself. He’d scared the hell out of her. But she was okay now.
Let him come.
Dunbrooke Drive, 6.30
P.M.
The smells coming from that commercial-grade stovetop were making her mouth water. Maybe she’d been wrong when on her first visit to his home she’d taken one look at this fancy kitchen and laughed. What did a man who ate out all the time need with all this? Maybe the guy did cook occasionally.
Jess leaned against the island counter, her arms crossed over her chest and prepared for whatever Dan opted to throw her way after he heard what she had to say to his suggestion she would be safer here.
‘I’m not staying here again tonight.’ He froze mid-stir. ‘The security system is installed and online. There’s no way anyone’s coming in without me knowing it. I sleep with the Glock under my pillow. I’m good to go.’
As unsettling as all these events were – the break-ins, the vehicle tampering, someone aiming a weapon at her – she had to do this the right way. She didn’t have to remind him that he wouldn’t be inviting Black or Hogan to spend the night with him. Protecting the integrity of their positions in the department was critical.
He continued stirring the array of fresh vegetables he had dumped into the wok along with the chicken. The rice had already boiled and the tempting smell of whatever sauce he’d prepared was driving her wild and she hadn’t even tasted it yet.
‘Apparently you’ve made up your mind. I guess there’s nothing left for me to say on the subject.’
That sounded good but she knew the man better than that. He would not let the subject go without a fight. Though they had spent the past twenty years about a thousand miles apart, it had only taken her just over a month to see that he was even more hardheaded than before. He was ridiculously overprotective of her, and nothing she said or did appeared to sway him one iota.
He cared about her. He wanted her to be safe.
‘If we’re done discussing my living arrangements, I’ll get the plates and open the wine.’
Since he opted not to answer, she took her time arranging place settings before opening the bottle of pinot grigio he had taken out of the fridge twenty or so minutes ago.
Silence still choking the air out of the room, she gathered two stemmed glasses and poured a generous serving for them both. She had a feeling they were going to need it to get through this meal.
As if he’d taken lessons from Guy Fieri himself, Burnett placed a bed of rice on each plate, then spread the chicken and veggies like juicy, colorful icing.
Mercy, it looked as good as it smelled.
He grabbed his glass of wine, gestured for her to take her seat at the island, and then chugged the pinot.
Oh yeah. His feathers were ruffled.
Whatever
. She intended to eat.
The first bite had her moaning in spite of her best efforts to eat quietly. Until she’d started taking on so, you could’ve heard a pin drop in the room.
‘Good?’ he asked.
‘Amazing,’ she confessed.
‘Gina taught me this recipe. She takes cooking classes over at the Cook and Bake Company as a way to relax. She says it helps her achieve her Zen goals.’
The deliciousness exploding in her mouth fizzled like a flat soda. ‘That’s interesting.’ At least Gina taught him something useful. It took every ounce of restraint Jess possessed not to say exactly that. She had no right to be jealous of the woman. No right at all. But it was hard not to be. Gina Coleman was gorgeous and smart and a good cook who took lessons for her Zen whatever. La
-
tee
-
da.
Jess would bet a hundred dollars that the woman couldn’t change a tire if her life depended on it. She probably couldn’t qualify with a weapon either. Or take down a bad guy with a few precisely placed moves.
‘Do you remember my cousin Ronald?’
Jess about suffered whiplash from the abrupt subject change. ‘Vaguely.’
‘He graduated high school two years after us,’ Dan went on. ‘Anyway, he and his wife had their first child. A baby girl named Serena. They’ve asked me to be her godfather. The christening is at two on Sunday. If you don’t have plans, would you like to come?’
‘I’d love to.’ Who wouldn’t want to sit on a hard church pew and listen to a baby scream while everyone in the room oohed and aahed about how beautiful it was?
Stop being mean, Jess
. For those who didn’t have children, a christening wasn’t exactly a fun time. It was hard to relate to people who had decided their entire lives should now be focused on this tiny human who had only higher taxes and fewer job opportunities to look forward to.
‘I’ll pick you up about one-thirty, then.’
‘Sure.’ If she had said no, would he have invited gorgeous Gina?
Then it hit her. The whole reason he had told her about Gina teaching him to make this lovely meal was so she would jump at his invitation. The sneaky—
‘I don’t want you to go back to your place tonight, Jess.’
In spite of her very best efforts to stay strong, the worry in his voice tugged at her heart. She laid her fork down and turned to him. ‘We can’t keep skating into dangerous territory, Dan. We already have enough trouble keeping our professional relationship professional. Black and the others aren’t blind.’
She needed more wine. She reached for the bottle but he beat her to it. He refilled her glass.
‘I know we’re supposed to be taking this slowly but I’m almost forty-three. I don’t want to take it slowly anymore.’ He poured himself some more wine before putting the bottle down. ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Jess. I want to love and protect you for as long as I live. If something happened to you . . .’ He shook his head. ‘I couldn’t bear it.’
The whirlwind of emotions his words launched had her head spinning. ‘What’re you saying?’ Had he just proposed? And told her straight up that he loved her too.
Oh my God!
‘I’m saying that I love you. I want us to take it to the next level. I want a commitment.’
‘Boy, that was a mouthful.’ Reeling, she didn’t know what else to say to his revelation.
‘If you don’t want the same thing, for God’s sake say so and put me out of my misery.’
Take it slow and careful, Jess
. ‘I can’t say that I don’t want the same thing.’ Okay, that wasn’t so hard.
‘Then why the hesitation? Is it about having children?’
That she wasn’t sure about. ‘There was a time when I was certain I’d be spending the rest of my life with you.’ She smiled but her lips wouldn’t quite hold the gesture. ‘Being back here. Being with you feels right. It feels like it was meant to be but . . .’
As if Frances had abruptly walked into the room, her voice rang in Jess’s ears.
It can also leave you lonely and needy when there’s no one around to lean on because they’ve all been trained to stay out of your way.
‘But . . .’ he prompted, hurt in his voice and on his face.
‘I’m terrified, Dan.’ Just tell him the truth. ‘It feels like we have this incredible and unexpected second chance. A
gift
. A do
-
over opportunity that most people don’t have the privilege of stumbling upon. And I don’t want to screw it up. We have to be careful. Take it slow and be patient. We have to, Dan. We just have to. This is too important to rush or jump the gun.’ She drew in a big breath. ‘I have to learn to lean on someone besides myself sometimes. You have to learn not to smother me.’
‘I just want you safe.’
‘I know you do but we have a job to do and at work you can’t treat me different. We have to learn to separate those aspects of our lives. We talked about this last night. Otherwise your position as chief of police could be damaged. We have to be smart about how we do this. We have to do it right.’
He took her hand in his. ‘You make a number of valid points. I shouldn’t be rushing things but when I think of Spears getting close to you, I’m the one who’s terrified.’
Jess kissed him on the lips. ‘I love you, Dan.’ The happiness that lit in those blue eyes of his tightened her chest. If he could say it, she damn sure could too. ‘Thank you for admitting you’re afraid too. I don’t like being terrified alone.’
He kissed her firmly, then drew back. ‘Eat.’ He winked at her. ‘Then you can tell Gina how much you appreciate all she taught me.’
Jess narrowed her gaze. ‘That will cost you, mister.’
He leaned down and kissed her again. His lips lingered until she melted against him and kissed him the way he wanted to be kissed. The way they both wanted to be kissed.
When they were gasping for breath, he whispered against her cheek, ‘I want to make love to you.’
She looked up at him and smiled. ‘I hope this shirt didn’t cost too much.’ Before he could say a word, she ripped it open. Buttons flew over the granite counter and the wood floor. Her hands were on his skin and she didn’t care about anything else.
They made it as far as the sofa. She wasn’t sure whose fingers fumbled the most; she only knew that it took them working as a team to get his trousers open. She wrapped her legs around his and somehow he got her panties aside and pushed into her.
He did exactly what he’d said he wanted to do . . . he made love to her. Fast and hard the first time and then slow and softly the second.
Jess didn’t know why she had bothered to fight it . . . this was where she wanted to be.
At least until daylight . . . when duty called.
But she would always come back . . . because this was where she belonged.
Chapter Twenty
Cahava Valley Road, 11.01
P.M.
A
aron sat by the pool. The lights deep beneath the water were the only ones illuminating this sultry summer night. Even the stars were hiding from the devil that had been let loose. He almost laughed. Oh yes, he had always possessed a flair for drama. An uncanny ability to size up the situation and tell it like it was.
Like the fact that he and the survivors of their tight little group were royally fucked. ‘Is that descriptive enough, old chap?’ He raised his tumbler of bourbon and toasted the air. Who knew if Lenny Porter was in heaven? But one thing was abundantly clear. He wasn’t in hell because that was right here. On earth. In this city.
Aaron had lost count of the number of times he’d filled his glass. Didn’t matter. He was royally fucked, right? Who cared? Not his pretty wife, that was for sure. She was out getting fucked by someone else because he couldn’t bear to do the job himself.
There had been a time when he could rise to the occasion and make that woman scream with pleasure. But he just didn’t have it in him to pretend any longer. The love of his life – the man he would give anything and everything he owned to be with tonight – had finally had his own fill. He could not live in secrecy any longer. He wanted a real life with a real partner.
Aaron could not give him that. Not if he hoped to achieve Alabama Supreme Court justice one day as his grandfather had. As his father now served. The Taylor men were bred for greatness. He certainly could not fail his heritage even if that duty meant failing his own heart.
So he waited out here, alone and in the open, to face what Fate would bring him. Scott and Elliott were dead. They had paid for their sins.
‘Hallelujah, brother!’ he shouted. Everyone knew the wages of sin was death.
They had sinned.
They had all sinned.
Now they would pay.
He really had intended to go to the lake with or without his wife, but as he’d sat here alone contemplating the best course of action, he’d decided it would be best to face this head
-
on. To negotiate a mutually beneficial resolution. That’s what he had been born to do. Why fall down on the job at this important juncture? Of course, he had consumed a healthy portion of bourbon by then.
To hell with it. If O’Reilly was man enough to stand his ground without the cops backing him up, Aaron sure as hell was too.
Then he’d found the envelope someone had shoved under his front door. His eyes had trouble focusing on the words at this point but he already knew them by heart. He’d read them over and over.
May 15
I want to kill Aaron Taylor.
Why stop with him? They had all tortured us. Why not kill them all? School pretty much sucked but they had made senior year the worst of them all.
Just because they could.
Selfish bastards.
They’d taken him to the rock quarry with them and gotten him drunk. He didn’t even like beer. But he’d done it to please her. Then he’d gotten sick and he called me to come get him. By the time I got there he was passed out. He’d puked all over himself. That wasn’t the worst of it. When I drove up that faggot Aaron was pissing on him.
They just laughed as I picked him up and walked away.
I hate them. I hope before they die they know how it feels to be in the kind of pain my friend has suffered.
Only a few more days until graduation and then we can get out of this shit hole.
Aaron dropped the page as he stood on shaky legs and walked toward the lighted pool. ‘Come out of the shadows, sir,’ Aaron demanded. He had sensed someone was watching him a while ago. At first he’d thought it was only the bourbon but then he’d felt the subtle shift in the air around him.
Penney was here . . . to have his revenge. And Aaron had no one to blame for his ill preparedness but himself.
‘You’ve made your point.’ He turned slowly around, swaying a bit. ‘Rather than take another life, why not enjoy the fruits of your labor. I have one million dollars with your name on it. Money offers a great deal of healing power.’ Aaron sighed. ‘I know this well. I have healed myself over and over.’
He shook his head. Tossed back the last of the bourbon. He grimaced at the burn. ‘What we did was wrong. So fucking wrong.’ He shook his head again, the movement stilted. ‘We allowed a young man to be buried with the world believing he had killed himself. We tarnished both your reputations and never looked back.’
Aaron staggered over to the table next to his favorite chaise lounge and filled his tumbler yet again. ‘There’s no need to hurt anyone else,’ he promised. ‘I’ll call the police right now and tell them the truth.’ He probed his trouser pocket for his cell phone. He stumbled back a few steps but recaptured his balance. He waved his phone. ‘See, I have my phone. I’m going to make the call just as I said. We’ll pay for what we did. Isn’t that what you want? Our public humiliation and downfall?’
He promptly dropped the phone. ‘Shit,’ he muttered as he reached down for the blasted thing.
When he rose, something slammed into the back of his head. Aaron plunged forward into the pool. Something splashed into the water with him. He watched the small cast statue of a child – the symbol of what his wife would never have as long as she was married to him – sink to the bottom of the pool.
His vision was blurred and he felt oddly heavy.
For a moment he just sort of lingered beneath the surface but then adrenaline must have kicked in because he started to kick and flail his arms in an effort to reach the surface.
Don’t breathe . . . don’t breathe
.
He had to get out of the water!
Why wasn’t he going up? As drunk as he was, he knew that with the air still in his lungs he should float to the surface. All he had to do was hold his breath and stroke upward until he reached the surface.
Above him was a blurry image. A man standing at poolside . . . with the skimmer pole.
A sharp jab at his shoulder and Aaron understood. He was being held beneath the water with that damned skimmer.
Fear roared through his veins.
He had to get away . . . had to get to the air . . .
He didn’t want to die like this. He tried to keep fighting but his arms and legs just wouldn’t work anymore.
Aaron watched the bubbles going up around him and he knew the air had just seeped from his lungs. Water rushed in to take its place . . .