Low Country Christmas

by Lee Tobin McClain

  Finally he lifted his head and looked at Liam, who’d been close enough to hear their exchange. “Can she go?” he asked, and Holly knew what he was asking: Could Liam protect her?

  Liam glanced over at Yasmin and then back at Cash, and nodded.

  “Okay, honey,” he said into Holly’s hair. “You can go.”

  She rested her head against his chest, just for a moment. “Thank you.”

  “Look, I have to run down to the bank,” Cash said to Holly, “but I’ll pick you up here, in an hour.”

  She nodded solemnly, eyes still wet.

  “We’ll save her, Holly,” he said. “I promise, we will.”

  It was a promise Holly fervently hoped he could keep.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CASH DROVE HOLLY toward the diner Orin had chosen. They didn’t talk.

  There were no words to convey how he was feeling. How they were both feeling. He couldn’t stop thinking about Penny, so tiny, so vulnerable, in the hands of a man who had no morals or scruples.

  “Look, is that it?” Holly pointed up ahead, and sure enough, there was a big sign: Diner.

  This place was generic, and not crowded. Cash had been here once and found that the food wasn’t especially good. But today, there were several cars pulling in just ahead of them.

  “Those are both people from the parenting class,” Holly said. “Is that good or bad? Won’t he get suspicious?”

  “It’s too many people,” he said. “He’s going to know something’s up.” But he pulled into the parking lot, anyway, on the side Orin had told him to, then scanned the other side of the lot for a car that might be Orin’s, might have Penny in it.

  “We shouldn’t have let anyone come,” Holly said, her voice fretful.

  His phone buzzed and they both froze.

  “Should I pick up?” she asked.

  “Give it to me,” he said, and glanced down at it, and then at Holly. “Orin.”

  “Talk to him.”

  He clicked into the call. “Cash here.”

  “I changed my mind about this,” Orin said.

  In the background he could hear Penny crying, and his heart twisted sharply in his chest. Twisted in a way he knew instinctively that his father’s had never done for him. His father had wanted to murder their mother, not sparing a thought for the sons he’d devastate.

  He wasn’t like his father. Not in any real, essential way; the way he loved Penny and wanted to protect her from anything and everything proved it. A huge burden seemed to lift off his shoulders.

  But there was no time for that. He had to be smart in order to get Penny back. “What’s wrong?” he asked Orin, trying to sound relaxed.

  “Let’s go on into Safe Haven and do this in the grocery-store parking lot.” Orin paused, then added, “Come alone.”

  “I have Holly with me,” Cash said. “She wouldn’t stay back. She’s Penny’s mom, for all intents and purposes.”

  Orin hung up without answering, which could mean he didn’t care or could mean he was furious.

  “Text Liam,” he told her. “Tell him about the change. And that we can’t have all these people come along.”

  She agreed and started punching numbers into her phone as Cash did a U-turn.

  “I’m texting Rita, too,” she said. “And Sean.”

  “Good.” Cash drove rapidly now. Orin hadn’t sounded right. He was tense, upset. And Penny had been crying in the background, loudly. That was good, it was what they’d wanted, but he hoped it didn’t backfire and truly infuriate Orin.

  They pulled into the grocery’s parking lot, empty save for a single pickup with two men inside. This little grocery store closed down early, which was probably why Orin had chosen it. In all likelihood, he’d never gone out to the diner. He’d always intended to change the locale. That figured. Orin was no stranger to this sort of activity.

  Cash pulled into a spot on the other side of the lot and slammed the car into Park. “Stay in the car. I’ll take it from here.”

  Holly was breathing hard, chewing on her lip. “Can I watch at least?”

  “He’s already seen you, and I told him you’d ridden along, so I guess it can’t hurt.”

  He got out of the car. Sweat dripped down his back and slicked his hands. He’d never handled anything like this before, and the fact that he’d done so many business deals, the fact that he was a millionaire many times over, didn’t mean one thing. He was just a dad now, a dad who wanted his baby back safe, wanted to keep his family together.

  He straightened his spine and walked like he knew what he was doing because that was what a father did.

  Orin got out of the car and stood, arms crossed, legs apart, waiting.

  “I have the money,” Cash said as he reached the man, holding out his briefcase. The odd thought came to him that he should have grabbed a cheaper briefcase, not his favorite alligator one.

  Orin looked past Cash toward the car. “You did bring Holly.” He grimaced in obvious distaste.

  “She wants the baby back. She can comfort her.”

  “Shut her up, you mean.”

  Cash shrugged, trying to stay calm although every muscle screamed with the desire to plow down this scumbag and get to Penny. “Yeah.”

  “No contact with the baby until I count the money,” Orin said.

  “Okay.” He didn’t like how antsy Orin sounded. “Here’s the money. Go ahead and count it.”

  He could hear Penny crying and it tore at his heart. He didn’t want her to cry. He didn’t want her to ever be unhappy. He wanted to keep her safe, wanted to care for her and play with her and spoil her, to protect her with everything he had.

  He wanted to care for her as his own father had never cared for him and his brothers.

  Which proved again that he was nothing like the sleazy man in front of him.

  Orin seized the money and took it over to the truck. He opened the door, set the briefcase on the seat and started counting.

  In the driver’s seat of the truck, he could see a younger man, thin, with dark hair, holding Penny and frowning.

  Cash didn’t like it. Didn’t like the look on Orin’s face or on the other guy’s.

  Then everything seemed to happen at once.

  Orin glanced back at Cash, shoved the briefcase onto the floor of the truck and started to climb in. “Go, go,” he yelled to the other man.

  “Take the baby, then!” The other man seemed to be tangled up in Penny’s diaper bag, to where he couldn’t shift the baby over to Orin.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Holly running across the parking lot. She yanked open the truck’s driver-side door and grabbed for Penny.

  The two men were shouting, Holly was screaming and Penny wailed.

  Instinctively Cash started toward Holly and Penny, but then his brain kicked in. Orin was trying to get a grip on Penny. He had to distract him, disable him if possible. He shifted course, going for the passenger side of the truck. He reached in and tried to pull Orin out, but the man was strong despite his age and he gripped the inside of the truck’s door.

  There was one thing that would get Orin’s attention off Holly and Penny. Cash reached down, grabbed the briefcase of money and ripped it out from under Orin’s feet, flinging it behind him. In his peripheral vision he saw bills flying in swirls of wind. Orin made an inhuman sound, somewhere between a curse and a scream. He leaped from the truck, saw that the money was blowing away and went for Cash’s throat.

  But Cash was faster than the old man, and he dodged away and ran around the truck to where Holly struggled to get past the other man in order to grab Penny. Ridiculous. Holly was much smaller and a woman.

  And then... He’d never seen anything like it. Tiny Holly grabbed the man’s hair and pulled him screaming out of the truck, then kicked and shoved him to the gr
ound. Now there was nothing between her and Penny, propped on the bench seat, and she dove back toward the truck. But Orin’s accomplice was outraged. Just as she grabbed Penny and backed out of the truck, he pulled out a gun.

  Cash’s life flashed before his eyes and he was running, yelling, diving to protect the woman and child he loved, to cover them with his body, whatever it took, whatever happened to him.

  Behind him, a shot rang out.

  Guess this is it. But at least he’d die with Holly and Penny in his arms.

  Only he didn’t. Instead, when he looked back over his shoulder, he saw the accomplice lying on the ground, dead or at least unconscious, bleeding from the head. Liam was running toward them, weapon in his hand.

  “Get them out of here,” Liam yelled. He bent toward the accomplice, knocked the gun from his hands and kicked it away, and then took off toward the other side of the truck, where Orin had been.

  But Orin had climbed into the truck and was now behind the wheel. He jammed it into Reverse and gunned it backward.

  “Look out!” Cash yelled to Liam just as the truck winged him, knocking him to the ground.

  “Go help them get Orin,” Holly said, panting. She was bleeding from a gash on her face and another on her arm, but she was cradling Penny in her arms, examining her. And from Penny’s lusty cries, she didn’t seem to be hurt too badly.

  Orin U-turned the truck, still going backward. He reached the briefcase where Cash had flung it, jumped out and threw it into the truck. It was probably still half-full of money.

  Then he gunned it and the truck raced toward the exit of the parking lot.

  * * *

  RITA WAS RIDING shotgun in Norma’s enormous vintage Cadillac, leaning forward, clenching the edge of the leather seats. “I can’t believe I’m this close to the man who ruined my kids’ childhoods and nearly killed me. And I don’t even remember what he looks like.”

  “Process of elimination.” Norma steered onto the street that led to the grocery store. “We should see Cash, Holly, Penny and Liam. Any other shady-looking guy, about our age, has to be Orin.”

  From the back seat, Taffy yelped agreement. Then she went back to sticking her head out the window.

  “Can’t believe you made me bring that dog along.” Norma rolled her eyes.

  “She’s protection.” Something had told Rita to give in when Taffy had begged to come with them.

  As they approached the grocery-store parking lot, sirens sounded in the distance.

  “There they are!” Rita could see Cash running after a pickup while Holly hunched over something, probably—hopefully—Penny. Liam was on the ground, as was another man.

  “That’s got to be Orin in the pickup,” Rita said. “He’s getting away.”

  “You want I should stop him?” Norma asked.

  Rita sucked in a breath, took in the pickup’s size, twice as big and heavy as Norma’s Cadillac. “Yeah,” she said.

  “Hang on.” Norma floored it, and the Cadillac leaped forward, neatly blocking the pickup’s exit route.

  It was coming toward them, not slowing down. Behind the wheel was a man who looked like every monster that had ever haunted Rita’s nightmares.

  “We’re gonna die!” Rita assumed the crash position.

  “This thing’s a tank,” Norma said, but her voice was shaky.

  At the last second, Orin slammed on the brakes, missing them by inches. He backed up like he was going to go to the other exit.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” Norma said grimly. She spun the wheel and hit the gas pedal hard, and the Cadillac surged forward, crashing into the front of the pickup and spinning it around.

  Orin gunned the engine again and again, but the truck didn’t move. Something was broken.

  Liam was sitting up. Cash ran toward them, but then turned back at a cry from Penny.

  Orin climbed out of the truck and took off, carrying a briefcase, trying to hold it closed.

  “No way,” Rita said with determination. She flung open the door of the Cadillac and went after him on foot.

  He was surprisingly fast for a man of his age. He dodged into an alley too narrow for Norma, who was following in the car, to pursue him.

  It was dark between the two tall buildings, and Rita tripped over a box of trash and went sprawling, scraping the palms of her hands, pounding her knees hard to the ground.

  This was ridiculous. She should leave him to the police to catch. Speaking of, where was her police-officer kid when she needed him?

  She looked up just in time to see Orin dodge into a service garage. She was pretty sure Shorty had closed for the day, but that wouldn’t stop Orin from stealing a car. He knew how to hot-wire them.

  How did she know that?

  No time. She was the only one who’d seen where he’d gone. If she waited for help to arrive, it might be too late.

  He’d destroyed her family and come close to destroying her son’s family as well. She wasn’t leaving him free to do it again, to some other victim. She scrambled to her feet and ran after Orin into the dark building.

  Inside, in the dimness, she could see three vehicles in the service area. Sure enough, Orin was going from car to car, opening the doors. Of course, he wouldn’t need to hot-wire a car if he could find one with keys in the ignition or nearby.

  On the last car, he let out a triumphant exclamation, got in and started it up. Then he got back out and looked around the service bay, probably for the switch that would open the big garage door.

  If he found that, he’d be out of here.

  She ran for the car he’d found, yanked open the door, turned it off and grabbed the keys. He roared his displeasure and came running back. She flung the keys hard, heard them land on the far side of the shop.

  Don’t let him trap you in a car.

  Again, wisdom from deep inside, a fragment of a memory too horrible to let in. She flung herself across the seat and out the passenger door as he grabbed for her from the driver’s side.

  Her heart pounded and it was hard to catch her breath as she scrabbled across the floor toward the door she’d come in, trying to stay low. She’d succeeded in slowing him down. It would be enough to tell the police where she’d last seen him. What had she been thinking, trying to stop him herself?

  She saw the door and made for it, but suddenly he was there, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her head back, smacking her across the face.

  Shock and pain and more fragments of memories crashed in.

  “You were supposed to die,” he growled into her face, and she smelled the same sickening cologne he’d worn so many years ago. Her muscles gave out and she went limp, as limp as if she was that young mom, cowed by an abuser.

  “Please, don’t hurt me. I won’t tell anyone where you are. You can get away.”

  “Gimme those keys.”

  “I...I threw them over there.” She tried to get her arms free to gesture.

  At her words, he drew an arm back and she cowered, trying to shield her face with her now-free arm.

  Behind her, by the door, there was barking and the scratch of claws she heard at home every day. Taffy must have followed their scent. The sound distracted Orin.

  If Taffy came in, Orin would hurt her. “Taffy, no! Stay!” she called and hoped the limited amount of training she’d been able to do would be enough to keep Taffy safe.

  Orin called Rita a foul name and got up. He reached out as if to help her to her feet.

  Out of character. She scrambled to a crouch on her own, her eyes never leaving him.

  “Get over there and find those keys.” He gave her a shove to get her going, making her fall forward onto her scraped hands, and she couldn’t restrain a little cry.

  The door opened and she looked up, hoping for rescue, but it was only Taffy. Taffy, running to her, mouth open in her usu
al delighted grin.

  Orin delivered a kick that sent Taffy flying.

  Rita’s mental screen seemed to fill with the image of a very similar dog, flying through the air, landing hard, its neck oddly twisted.

  She looked at Orin and felt some kind of click in her head, enough that she put her hand to it. She blinked, rubbed her eyes. She felt like she was waking up.

  Just like that, she remembered everything.

  “Not again!” she yelled and ran at Orin, knocking him to the ground in a tackle worthy of an NFL linebacker.

  But he rolled her off him easily and then he was on top of her, nearly crushing her.

  Outrage filled her, overcoming her fear. That was new. She shifted until she could knee him in the groin, not as hard as she’d have liked but enough to make him grunt and flinch. She drove the heel of her hand into his chin, knocking his head back, and wiggled and squirmed as hard as she could.

  She’d sidled out from under him when Taffy staggered back over. She reached out a hand to stop the dog, but Orin grabbed her arm and started to twist.

  Her wrist exploded with pain and she screamed.

  Taffy snarled and jumped at Orin, going for his face, and he fell back, eyes big and terrified. She kept growling and snarling, fierce in a way Rita had never seen the affable pup.

  And then the door opened again and Cash was there, punching Orin in the chin. “You leave my mother alone!”

  Orin crashed back to the ground, seemingly dazed, and Cash clicked his phone. “Found him. We’re at Shorty’s.”

  Norma was right behind, sinking onto the ground beside Rita, looking at the wrist she was cradling, patting and reassuring her while Taffy licked her face. Then Holly rushed into the garage, holding Penny.

  Liam burst in and started toward Rita, but Norma pointed at Orin, still on the ground but starting to stir.

  Liam spoke to Cash in a low voice, and a few minutes later, began to read Orin his rights.

  But Rita just sat savoring what Cash had said.

  He’d called her “my mother.”

  * * *