Authors: Adrianne Byrd
J
ulia had helped clean up after the breakfast crowd and then had retired to her room to finish packing her things when a light rap sounded at the door. She drew in a deep breath, already suspecting who was at the door.
“Come in.”
“Miss Julia?”
She turned, surprised and concerned to see Pierce Taylor standing at her door.
“Hello, Pierce. What brings you here?” His smile appeared nervous and his gaze eluded hers. “I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to take you down to Columbus today. I’m afraid something has come up.”
Dread and disappointment sank like a rock in the pit of her stomach. She should have seen this coming. “Pierce, did Carson ask you not to take me to Columbus?”
“No, ma’am. It’s just like I said. Something has come up and I won’t be able to take you,” he lied miserably.
Julia drew in a deep, patient breath and strode over to him by the door. “Look, I know that you and Carson are good friends, but I really need this favor from you. If it’s money, I have a little saved up—”
“I don’t want your money.” Pierce perked up and for the first time met her gaze.
“Then what?”
Pierce smiled awkwardly. “Well, to be honest with you, Julia, I don’t want to see you go. Since you came into town, it’s the first time that my buddy Carson has been able to talk of anything other than Karen, and, of course, Bobbi.”
She stared at him incredulously. “So you’re going to force me to stay here?”
“Now, don’t look at it like that. Why, half the townfolk are itching for you two to hook up. You guys are perfect for each other.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“Come on. You and Robin love it here. You told me yourself just last week. So why do you want to leave now?”
Before Julia could answer, Lilly joined Pierce at her door.
“I need to talk you,” she said with a slight sniffle.
Pierce took this as his cue. “Well, I apologize again, and I hope this doesn’t cause any bad feelings.”
Julia opened her mouth to stop him, but he bolted from her door with another awkward smile.
Now Lilly smiled nervously.
“Did I come at a bad time?”
Is there any other time
? she wanted to say, but instead she sighed and felt as if she’d shrunk a full two inches. “No, no. Please come in,” she said, moving away from the door.
Lilly entered and closed the door behind her. “I want to apologize for last night. It was never my intention to chase
you out of Moreland. I guess I was just concerned for your well-being, but I’m sure it didn’t come across that way.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Then let’s just pretend that last night never happened and you don’t have to leave.”
Julia wished she
could
pretend that last night had never happened. She wished a lot of things had never happened. She attempted to meet Lilly’s gaze, but felt the overpowering sting of tears. Why did this have to be so hard?
“It’s time for us to go,” she said simply.
For the first time since Julia had met her, Lilly was speechless.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed my time here with the people of Moreland, and especially your family.”
“I’ll never forgive myself for this,” Lilly admitted in a trembling voice.
“Lilly, please.” Julia moved over to her and chanced meeting her gaze. “This is not your fault. We were just passing through, remember?”
“You can’t tell me that you weren’t planning to stay here. What about you and Carson? I thought you two were really hitting it off?”
“Carson and I are not a couple. We never were.”
Lilly started to say something, but apparently thought better of it.
“I care for your brother,” Julia went on to say. “And who knows—maybe in another time or place we might have been able to mean more to each other.”
Lilly wiped her tears. “Your leaving is going to destroy him. I just know it.”
Julia opened her mouth, but Lilly raised a silencing finger. “Please hear me out. Since you’ve been here, you’ve been able
to draw him out of his memories of the past. He’s discovered he can love again without guilt or feeling that loving someone new is some type of betrayal to Karen’s memory. If you leave now, I don’t know what he’ll do. I don’t think he’ll try again.”
“I’m no martyr for love.” Julia shared a sad laugh with her. “I’m not too sure if I put much stock in the emotion myself. I’ve loved and lost. I’ve loved and have been betrayed. The mere thought of trying again is also overwhelming for me.”
“So is that the real reason you’re leaving?” Lilly asked.
A denial crested Julia’s tongue, but her voice failed to say it. Her hesitation gave Lilly courage to say more.
“Maybe your visit here was no accident. Have you ever thought about that? I mean, really thought about it?”
Julia had, but it was hard to believe that fate had anything to do with the mess that had brought her here. “I think you’re trying to see too much in this.”
“I know I sound like some romantic lunatic and all, but really, Julia. What is love if not fate? I mean, what is the likelihood of two people finding the perfect person in a world of millions without fate or destiny?”
“You’re right,” Julia readily agreed.
Lilly flashed a brilliant smile. “I am?”
“Yes. You do sound like a romantic lunatic.”
“Make fun of me if you want to, but I’m right and you know it. Fate brought you to Moreland, and you’re running not because whatever you fear is chasing you, but because you’re afraid to let destiny take its course.”
Before Julia could think of a quick retort, there was yet another knock at the door.
“Goodness, are we having the town meeting here today and no one told me?” Julia asked, moving toward the door.
When she jerked it open, her heart skipped a beat when she saw Carson monopolizing the door frame.
“Hello,” he said, locking her gaze with his midnight eyes.
There was no question in Julia’s mind that she was in the middle of a town’s intervention. The problem was that she didn’t know how to handle it.
“I’m mad at you,” she announced when she managed to pull out of her trance.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Lilly said, easing between them and disappearing down the hall.
“Can I at least come in?” he asked.
“No.” She crossed her arms and held her ground. “You told Pierce not to take me to Columbus.”
“Is that what he said?”
“He didn’t have to say anything. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Carson failed to suppress his smile, and Julia felt her anger ignite.
“Let me ask you this—is there anything wrong with my car? Or was that also a ploy or yours to keep me in town?”
“What are you asking me exactly?”
Carson covered his heart with his hand as if he were hurt by the question, but for some reason, this time Julia wasn’t buying it.
“You tricked me,” she accused him.
“Hey, it’s not as though I hustled you out of repairs by sharking you at a pool game. I have my morals, you know.”
“I don’t believe this.” She jumped away from him. Though stunned by his level of deception, she couldn’t help the small smile that lifted the corners of her mouth.
Carson moved into the room and shut the door behind him. “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. And you left me with little choice in the matter. You seemed in such a rush to get out of Moreland, and I wanted to get to know you better, so I did the only thing I could think of—I stalled.”
“You lied.”
“You say tomato and I say—”
“I would have never thought you were capable of such deception.”
“To be completely honest with you, until today I thought that all your car needed was a simple alternator. But there seems to be something else wrong with it.”
“Yeah, right. Now I’m supposed to believe you?”
“No, really. I can’t seem to get your car started.”
There was a loud knock at the door.
“Who is it now?” Julia asked, jerking the door open.
“Julia, Carson. You both need to come downstairs,” Lilly said in a rush.
“Why, what’s wrong?” Julia asked, her stomach muscles tightening at Lilly’s horrified expression.
“It’s Bobbi and Robin. The kids downstairs say two strangers snatched them kicking and screaming right outside of Nick’s Drug Emporium. You’d better hurry. The sheriff is downstairs.”
J
ulia raced down the stairs with her mind in a whirl. Someone had her daughter and it was all her fault. What had she been thinking, allowing her to roam around a strange town with little or no supervision? Had she been so confident as to believe that no one would penetrate Moreland’s protective shell and find them?
Suddenly her line of thinking from the past month seemed immature and idiotic.
By the time she reached the landing and stood beneath Sheriff Benton’s concerned gaze, her body shook in violent tremors.
“Miss Julia.” The sheriff tipped his head toward her. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to meet under more pleasant circumstances.”
She nodded, but felt as if all of this were some bad dream. Any minute now someone would wake her, and everything would be all right.
“Someone please start from the beginning and tell us who
in the hell has our daughters.” Carson interrupted their niceties with barely controlled rage.
“That’s what I’m here to try to find out.” The sheriff turned to the group of children standing behind him. “Seems these kids witnessed the men trying to get Robin into a blue car when your daughter, Bobbi, interfered and was then also taken. Do I have that right, kids?”
The small group eagerly bobbed their heads.
“Bobbi was screaming at the top of her lungs,” Stanley added with wide eyes.
Julia couldn’t stop the room from spinning and was vaguely aware when her knees gave out. She heard a collective gasp; then a strong arm caught her and drew her close to firm muscle.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” Carson assured her.
She found little comfort in his words and no security in his embrace. Her carelessness had now placed his daughter in harm’s way as well.
“Miss Julia, can you think of any reason why someone would want to take your daughter?”
All eyes focused on Julia.
Tears slid from Julia’s eyes as she continued to wage war with her emotions. Her long hesitation caused Carson’s concerned gaze to turn suspicious.
“Julia?” His voice held a note of uncertainty.
Mustering strength she didn’t feel, she pushed out of his arms and stood on her own fragile legs.
The sheriff turned to the children and thanked them for being such good citizens in reporting this matter to the authorities; then he asked them to go on home.
Reluctantly, and with a big show of disappointment, they did as the sheriff asked.
When they were gone, Carson turned his attention back to Julia. “If you know something, tell us,” he urged gently.
She had to tell them the truth, but she feared they wouldn’t believe her story. She wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t. A part of her still couldn’t wrap her brain around all that had happened.
“I’m not sure,” she answered honestly.
Disappointment crept into Carson’s disbelieving features, and a pang of remorse filled her.
“Julia, please,” Lilly said in a trembling whisper.
“I swear it’s the truth. I don’t know. I wish that I did.” She heaved a weary breath and continued. “I will tell you what I do know. My full name is Julia Kelley. I’m an internist at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. About two months ago I stumbled over a picture of my late husband and my brother-in-law while standing in line at the post office.” A sad smile quivered at the corners of her lips at the memory.
“It was actually a poster for felons on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Actually, I wasn’t sure it was him, but I felt like it was, so I did a little investigating, and when I was sure I contacted the FBI and told them what I suspected.” She glanced up and saw that she had everyone’s undivided attention, so she went on.
“A plan was devised that I was to lead David to a mall, where the agents would then be able to get a good look at him. But I never made it to the mall. As it turned out, David overheard part of my conversation with the agent and deduced that I was planning to meet a lover or boyfriend for an afternoon tryst.” She shook her head at the absurdity of it. “He hadn’t exactly gotten used to our being divorced.”
“Anyway, he wouldn’t allow me to leave. Luckily, Robin was over at a friend’s house and was spared seeing his jealous rage. He suspected the man I was seeing was a colleague of mine from the hospital, so he asked his brother to go to the mall and see if he showed up there. But while they talked over the phone, something happened. I don’t know what, but it spooked David and he refused to let me out of the house.
“I hid in the bedroom, praying that the night would end. Then there was someone at the door. At first I thought it was Eric, my brother-in-law, but it wasn’t. I heard the man identifying himself as FBI, then there was a loud ruckus downstairs, and then they were upstairs. But it became clear to me that the man wasn’t interested in arresting David. He wanted something from him—something he’d stolen from a man named Vinny.
“When it was clear they were headed toward the bedroom, I hid in the walk-in closet, but I watched what happened through a crack in the door. My gun was hidden at the top of the closet, and it never occurred to me to get it.”
She swallowed hard and her vision swam in a pool of tears. “I watched this man murder David in cold blood.”
The room’s silence was deafening. She blinked back her tears and forced herself to meet Carson’s gaze. “The agent left soon after that, and I got the hell out of there. I packed whatever my hands landed on.” She glanced over at Lilly. “That time I remembered to grab my gun for protection. My regular car was in the shop, so I took my old Impala and raced over to get Robin from her friend’s house, and we hit the road.”
Carson stepped forward and started to reach out toward her, but his hand fell back to his side before he’d made contact.
“How awful,” Lilly finally said. Astonishment distorted her face.
Sheriff Benton cleared his throat. “Ma’am, am I to understand that you are a witness to a homicide—by a federal agent?”
Julia drew in another deep breath, then nodded.
He blinked, then glanced at the others in the room as if he didn’t know what to make of such a story. “In Atlanta?”
She nodded.
This time he sucked a long breath and expelled it slowly. “There is a chance that you’re mistaken. I mean, you said that
you were upstairs, right? Or maybe he was impersonating an FBI agent. That’s possible, right?”
He wasn’t asking her any questions that she hadn’t asked herself a million times. “Yes, to both questions. I’ve been mostly running scared, because if he wasn’t FBI, then who was he? Not to mention that it’s just too coincidental that an FBI agent would show up at my door, don’t you think?”
“Good point, but what you’re saying isn’t possible,” he argued.
Julia watched the young officer struggle with the concept of a crooked agent. “All I can tell you is what happened. And it’s the truth.” She centered her gaze back on Carson. “I wanted to tell you sooner, but I was afraid.”
Their gazes locked for what seemed like an eternity. “Your secret may have cost my daughter’s life,” he said finally, stepping away from her.
A dull ache throbbed where her heart should have been. “I know.”
Frankie wanted to throw something—anything. This was the very reason why he’d always preferred to work alone. All he wanted to do was question the girl—not take her. A man had to have his principles. Yes, he worked in a violent business, and yes, sometimes he had to whack someone, but he drew a line when it came to harming children.
And Nicholas knew that.
He swore under his breath. This entire project was being snatched from beneath him, and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Will you just chill out?” Nicholas marched back into their hotel room wearing a wide smile. “It’s not like we hurt those girls or anything.”
Frankie glared at him.
“What?”
“Do you ever think before you act?” Frankie couldn’t help but ask. He glanced around the rundown dump of a motel they’d found out in another small town called Shiloh, which was less than fifteen minutes from Moreland.
“This isn’t smart. This is unfamiliar territory to us. What if someone here knows either of those girls? What if someone here knows their parents? We aren’t safe here.”
“You worry too much. Besides, we’re not going to be here long enough for someone to rat us out. What we need to do now is call that little Georgia Inn and talk to Dr. Kelley. Since we have something she wants, we should have no trouble getting Vinny’s diamonds back.”
“Then what?”
“Then we knock off the doctor,” Nicholas answered casually.
“And the two little girls?”
Nicholas’s smile widened. “Then I guess we’ll just have to ask Vinny what he’d have us do.”
Frankie’s anger rose to a dangerous pitch. Both knew full well what Vinny would order; their boss had never liked the idea of loose ends.