Panic threatened to paralyze me until I heard Grammie Dupree’s voice in my head.
What are you waiting for, girl? Christmas?
Riley would be annoyed if I didn’t use her training.
Push the heel of your hand against the barrel. If you control the head, you control the body. Do whatever it takes to disarm and contain your opponent. Say no. Say it loud. Take back your power. Don’t hold back.
It was now or never. I could do this.
“I’ll shoot you right here.” Reva’s sneer lit the fuse, and I went off.
My mind emptied out of everything except for the need to survive. Even Amber’s voice faded to silence. Adrenaline fired my blood, washed away all pain and fear, leaving my head crystal clear. I rose up on the balls of my feet, and let the motion carry me forward.
“No!” I shouted and rammed the heel of my hand into the barrel of the gun. Just like Riley had shown us, the pistol slid back, wrecked Reva’s grasp, and flew out of her hand.
“Nice one.” Amber zipped back and forth through the hallway.
I had a split second to enjoy the surprised look on her face before I grabbed her head and bore her body to the hardwood floor.
“Get off me!” She thrashed her legs around until the hotel keycard fell out of her pocket. I grabbed it, leaned over, and secured her arm against her side like Drew had taught in class. In that position, she couldn’t get enough purchase to dislodge me. But then, I couldn’t get to my phone to see if my call had gone through, so we were in a stand-off.
“Bite me, Reva.” Just because it felt good, I put a little more weight on the knee pinning her head to the floor than was strictly necessary and looked for the gun. With the adrenaline ebbing, Ernie’s siren blaring its way toward me was the most welcome sound I’d heard in a long time.
That he banged the door against Reva’s head when he rushed in was just icing on the cupcake of my day.
“You came.” Ernie and I might have had a bump or two in the past, but I’d never been so glad to see his stolid face before. “How much did you hear?”
“Enough to know she murdered that lawyer fellow. After that, I lost the call.” Motioning me back, Ernie placed Reva under arrest. Once he had her hands secured behind her back, he looked me over. “You’re bleeding.” Moving closer, he assessed the lump on my head. “Probably ought to get that looked at.”
“She’s crazy,” Reva sounded completely earnest, but I knew her well enough to see the crazy behind her eyes. “She held me at gunpoint and made me say all those things. You have no proof of anything.”
For a split second, Ernie looked like he might be experiencing a bit of doubt.
“The gun is over there,” I pointed to where it had landed. “You heard her say it was the one she used to kill Winston?”
Ernie nodded, and he didn’t look doubtful anymore.
“You’ll find her fingerprints on the trigger and my palm print—if there is such a thing—on the end of the barrel. It got there when I shoved it out of her hand. Go talk to Riley Parker if you want to know how that worked. In the meantime, there’s an envelope on top of the cabinet in my kitchen with all the proof you need that she and Winston were behind the misappropriation of funds that she tried to frame me for.”
That nugget of information made Reva flinch.
“That’s right,” I called her a name that would have made my Grammie Dupree stand up and cheer. “Albert did more than recognize your face.” I turned to Ernie. “You’ll want to call the feds, but I’m surprised they didn’t show up when you did. They’re probably watching the house right now.”
“No, they aren’t. They’d have to tell me if they were. Interdepartmental cooperation and all.”
“The white van in the parking lot of the church. It’s been there just about every night and morning for a week.”
“Belongs to one of Bess Tate’s brood of grandkids. He’s been painting the church on nights and weekends.”
I directed a look at Amber.
“Sorry,” she said. “My mistake.”
“Fine. Call them then. But right now, there’s something I need to do.” I had to go find Paul.
Felt convicted to, for some stupid reason.
I grabbed my purse off the table and didn’t even bother with a coat. My head still pounded, but I could dry swallow a couple of painkillers along the way.
“You can’t leave. You have to make a statement.”
Halfway out the door, I turned back. “I’ll come to the station and do that as soon as I'm done. Just let my dog in and lock up after you take out the trash.”
“I’m coming with you,” Amber said.
Great. Just what I needed.
“Where did you learn that move? I didn’t know you could do that.” For the first time since I’d met her, Amber wasn’t giving me crap about being stodgy or boring. “The look on her face … I’ll never forget it.”
“Self-defense courses,” I muttered and fished two foil packets of painkillers out of my purse. Because I was driving and needed at least one hand, I used my teeth to rip off the top and then turned my head to spit it out. The movement proved how much I needed the pills.
I had the headache down to a dull roar by the time I hit the off-ramp, but I still winced when I got out of the car.
“Why didn’t you just send the cops?” Amber followed me into the elevator.
“I don’t know.” I gave her total honesty as I fingered the keycard in my pocket. The hotel name wasn’t printed on the card, but I’d recognized it by the deep blue with a white stripe across the front. Was it irony or just plain karma for Paul to be held captive in his favorite suite?
Or maybe not. The door remained stubbornly locked.
“I’m glad you’re here.” Those were words I never thought I’d say to Amber. “Can you poke your head in and see if he’s in there?”
She took me at my word and literally poked her head in, then withdrew it quickly.
“Uh, nope. Not unless he’s suddenly aged about forty years and has taken an interest in cosplay.”
I so did not want to know.
“Okay, what do I do now? The numbers aren’t marked on the room keys. Some sort of anti-theft thing, I’m sure, but I can’t try it in multiple doors for the same reason. Too many tries in the wrong door triggers security measures.”
“Aren’t you glad I came along? And that I didn’t go into the light?” Amber preened. “I’ll just zip through and find him for you. Maybe you should spend that time thinking about what kind of reward you’d like to give me.”
“I still can’t afford to take you to Paris.”
“You’re no fun.”
“Just do it, please.”
With a cheeky grin, Amber zipped to the end of the hall and stepped through the door while I tried to ignore the invasion of privacy I’d just initiated.
She wasn’t gone for more than a minute.
“He’s not on this floor. Are you sure we’re in the right hotel?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay, wait here.”
She was gone longer this time. Long enough that I felt like a creeper hanging out in the hallway, so I found the alcove with the vending machines and waited there until she called my name.
“He’s two floors up. Third room on the left.”
“Alive?”
Amber nodded, her eyes dancing, but refused to elaborate. I didn’t push her as I readied myself to face Paul after all this time. The elevator ride seemed to take forever and was over all too quickly. Stopping in front of the third door on the left, I sucked in a deep breath, winced when my ribs hurt, and let the pain remind me of everything I’d been put through either directly or indirectly by this man.
“I’ll just stay out here,” Amber said.
My fingers trembled, but I slid the card into the slot and watched the light turn green.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
PAUL WASN’T DEAD. He wasn’t drugged and sleeping, either. What he wa
s, was naked.
Naked, gagged, and chained to the bed.
I’m proud of myself for not succumbing to the temptation to make this a Kodak moment.
His eyes went wide when he saw me, then went frantic when he realized I’d come to set him free.
Keeping my eyes averted, I threw a blanket over him.
“Can you tip your head forward a little so I can unhook this?” She’d used a ball gag that buckled in the back.
“Everly. Thank God,” he rasped. “Reva—”
“Don’t. I already know.” I left him long enough to fill a glass with water, tipped it up so he could drink. “The police have her in custody for the murder of Winston Durham, the attempted murder of Albert Runyon, and a host of other charges to do with the theft of funds from your family’s foundation.”
“I’m sorry.”
“As well you should be.” Looking at the man I’d stood in front of friends and family and vowed to love forever, I felt…surprisingly little. Pity for him being so easily duped. A touch of nostalgia, maybe, but nothing of anger or longing or even pain. There was something else, though, but before I had time to explore my emotions more deeply, he spoke again.
“I messed everything up.” His voice sounded stronger now. “It was all Reva’s fault. She got into my head. Convinced me you were a gold digger who only married me for the money.”
“Is that so?” I kept my voice light as I looked at the system of chains Reva had used to keep Paul trapped. “Well, you’re free of me now, aren’t you? No more worries on that score.”
Padlocks secured shackles to his wrists and ankles.
“Is the key here? I hope she didn’t have it with her, or we’ll have to call in someone to cut these chains. Or maybe a locksmith. I’m not sure.”
“Look at me,” Paul pleaded.
“I am looking at you. And I know you’ve been through a lot. Help me help you. Tell me where to find the key.”
“I’m trying to tell you I still love you.”
At that moment, I figured out the other emotion I’d been feeling. I tipped back my head and laughed even though it made my ribs ache. Paul, however, was not amused.
“Saying I love you should mean something. I don’t understand why that’s so funny.”
“I agree.” Since he wasn't helpful, I scanned the room for the most likely place Reva would put the key, and found it hanging in plain sight on the back of the door. “Ah, there we are.”
Snagging the ring off the hook on the door, I went back to him, unlocking his ankles first, then his wrists. When he reached for me, I threw the key on the bed and stepped back.
“No, Paul. I said I agreed that saying I love you should mean something, and to me, it does. So when I tell you that I don’t love you, you should know that means something, too.”
He rubbed at the red places on his wrists then reached for me again. “I know I hurt you, and I don’t blame you for wanting to hurt me back, but we can move past this, right? You’ll come home where you belong, and we’ll be us again.”
“There is no us. I’m not sure there ever was. I came here to set you free, and I’ve done that in more ways than you could ever imagine. If I were a different type of woman, I could have used this situation to get something from you, or for revenge. Just think how it would have played on the news. You in all your glory trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey. I’ve spared you that embarrassment, and now I’ll spare you more.”
Looking his straight in the eye, I spoke from my heart.
“I am over you, but here’s a piece of advice. Do better, Paul. Try harder. If you want to be with someone who wants you for more than what’s in your pockets, then you need to be more than what’s in your pockets. Do you understand?”
He nodded, and I walked away.
Free.
It felt amazing.
Thanks for reading about Everly Dupree’s latest adventure. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Next up is a short story that takes up shortly after the events of Ghost Haste. It’s called Teen Spirit.
Also, If you liked Christmas Presence, you’ll probably want to check out the next book, Fortune Haunter which comes out in October of 2020
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Ghost Haste Page 17
