River Road

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  PATIENT

  I’m okay.

  No one pays any attention. They haven’t heard him.

  LUCY

  What’s AMS?

  DOCTOR

  Altered mental status. You’re sure there’s no history of drug use?

  DEKE

  She’s right. A couple of beers or some wine in the evening. That’s it.

  DOCTOR

  Speaking to other members of

  the medical staff.

  Take him to X-ray. I want a CT scan of his head.

  PATIENT

  Louder this time.

  I’m okay, damn it.

  Everyone looks at patient. Lucy smiles, relieved.

  LUCY

  He’s okay.

  PATIENT

  Right. I’m okay. I want to go home.

  DOCTOR

  Gives patient a stern look.

  Do you remember what you ate or drank before your wife and uncle brought you in here?

  PATIENT

  Looks at Lucy, winks and smiles.

  Hi, wife.

  Lucy frowns in warning. Patient gets the message. She and Deke lied about Lucy’s relationship to the patient in order to get Lucy into the exam room.

  DOCTOR

  Speaking firmly to patient.

  Mr. Fletcher, do you remember what you ingested before you got here?

  PATIENT

  Concentrates hard.

  Coffee. I think.

  DOCTOR

  Do you remember the hallucinations?

  PATIENT

  I think I was in a movie.

  DOCTOR

  Are you still in a movie?

  PATIENT

  Realizes there probably is a right answer and

  a wrong answer. Takes a chance.

  Nope. Movie’s over.

  DOCTOR

  Looking like he doesn’t believe patient.

  Glad to hear it. But just to make sure the film has a happy ending, you’re going

  to spend the night with us, Mr. Fletcher.

  If your vitals remain stable and your neurological signs look good, you can

  go home in the morning.

  PATIENT

  Shit.

  39

  Stop looking at me like that,” Mason said.

  “Like what?” Lucy asked.

  “Like you’re wondering if I’m going to keel over at any minute.” Mason drank some of the lemonade in his glass. “I feel fine. The overnight in the hospital was the worst part.”

  They were on the front porch of Deke’s cabin. Lucy and Mason were on the swing. She had one leg tucked under her thigh and one foot on the wooden floor. Mason lounged next to her. Deke was braced against the porch railing. Joe was sprawled at the top of the steps, dozing.

  It had been a very long night for Deke and herself, Lucy thought. They had spent it at Mason’s bedside, watching closely as he slipped in and out of a restless sleep. But by morning, the effects of the hallucinogen had fully dissipated. A social worker had stopped in long enough to suggest counseling for any self-medication problems he might be having. Mason, Lucy and Deke had glared at her. The social worker had gotten an odd look on her face and had hurried out of the room. The ER doctor, no longer worrying about being sued for malpractice due to having discharged a patient too soon, cleared Mason to go home. He had been released with two pages of instructions that he had wadded up and tossed into a trash can on the way out the door.

  “Last night was bad,” Lucy said. “But the worst part was not the hospital. The worst part is that Quinn Colfax tried to kill you.”

  “Yeah, that wasn’t so good,” Mason admitted. He swirled the lemonade in his glass and looked thoughtful. “Assuming it was Quinn.”

  “He drugged the coffee,” Deke said. “That’s the only reasonable explanation. Good thing you didn’t finish it.”

  Lucy shuddered. “I find it hard to believe that Quinn Colfax cold-bloodedly tried to poison you right there in his own office.”

  “Well, it wasn’t like there was a more convenient place,” Mason said. “Got to hand it to him. He worked it like a pro. I never saw it coming. Hell, we almost bonded over our mutual gratitude to Sara.”

  Deke snorted. “Well, one thing for sure, the poisoning wasn’t premeditated. It had to be a spur-of-the-moment action. Quinn didn’t know you were going to confront him at the winery. That means he had to have the drug somewhere real handy.”

  “What a horrible thought,” Lucy said. “I’ll never drink any more wine from the Colfax Vineyards.”

  “You might want to skip the coffee they pour there, too,” Mason said.

  “Probably organic,” Deke said. “Got to watch that stuff.”

  “What the hell is going on here?” Mason said.

  “Quinn Colfax tried to kill you, damn it.” Deke gripped the porch railing, his eyes going very dark and cold. “He drugged you and then tried to force you into the river at the most dangerous place on River Road. You might have survived the crash, but you would have been sliding into unconsciousness because of the drug, so you would have drowned. That’s cold-blooded attempted murder. The only reason I didn’t call the police was that we don’t have a shred of proof. So what are we going to do about this situation?”

  Mason took another swig of lemonade and set the glass aside. “We are going to figure out what the hell is going on and then find some proof.”

  He got up from the swing. Lucy watched uneasily, but Mason was steady on his feet as he went down the steps and examined the front fender of his car. She rose and followed him. Deke pushed himself away from the railing and joined them. Joe padded after them.

  They all contemplated the damage to the front fender.

  Lucy folded her arms. “All I can tell you is that I didn’t do it when I drove the car back here.”

  “I have some memory of the impact,” Mason said. “I braked hard to let the driver of the SUV get past me.”

  “That’s probably what saved you,” Deke said. He took a closer look at the deep scratches in the fender. “Black paint. Remember anything about the vehicle that sideswiped you?”

  “Not much,” Mason said. “I was hallucinating wildly at the time—the movie thing. I remember wondering if I was in the middle of a car-chase scene. A big vehicle was coming up fast behind me, an SUV, I think. Black. Tinted windows. There was a lot of glare off the windshield. Couldn’t see the driver.”

  “Big black SUV with tinted windows describes about half the vehicles on the road in this part of the state,” Deke said. “One of them just happens to belong to Quinn Colfax. Be interesting to find out if there’s any damage to his fender. I could drive up to the winery and see if I can spot his car.”

  Mason considered that briefly and then nodded once. “If it was his vehicle in that car-chase scene, I doubt he’ll leave it parked out in the open, not if it was damaged. But you never know.”

  “I’ll take a look,” Deke said.

  “Use Lucy’s compact,” Mason said. “Everyone in town knows your truck and my car.”

  “Good plan.” Deke glanced at Lucy. “Is that all right with you?”

  “Sure,” Lucy said.

  She walked across the graveled drive to the compact and retrieved her tote from the front seat. She tossed the keys to Deke, who snagged them neatly out of midair with the same effortless coordination that characterized Mason’s catches.

  Deke started to get behind the wheel. Joe leaped to his feet and looked hopeful.

  “Okay if I take Joe with me?” Deke said.

  “No problem,” Lucy said.

  Deke opened the rear door of the car. “Joe. Car.”

  Joe raced down the steps and vaulted int
o the compact.

  Lucy and Mason watched the car pull out of the driveway.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say your uncle was enjoying himself,” Lucy said.

  “Yeah, I got the same impression.”

  “What if he gets caught checking out the winery vehicles?”

  “He won’t get caught. Uncle Deke knows what he’s doing. What do you say we take a walk along the river? I need to clear my head and think.”

  Alarmed, she peered at his eyes. “What do you mean? Are you feeling woozy again? Are you seeing things?”

  “No, I’m fine. Stop checking out my pupil size. I just want to walk and think for a while.”

  He caught her hand, threaded her fingers through his, and started down the sloping hillside into the trees that bordered the river.

  Lucy felt the strength in his hand and told herself to relax. Mason was back to normal.

  “What almost happened to you today is probably what happened to Aunt Sara and Mary, isn’t it?” she said after a while.

  Mason gave that some thought.

  “Maybe,” he said. “But if they were drugged, it means someone not only had to know that they were going to the coast that day but also had access to the contents of their picnic basket. Can you figure out how that could have happened?”

  Lucy thought about it. “They always picked up the baskets at Becky’s Garden. But I can’t imagine that Becky would have any reason to hurt either Sara or Mary.”

  “No, and I’m sure she has no financial interest in Colfax Inc. But it’s possible that someone else got to the picnic basket that day.”

  “The killer would have had to follow them the whole way, waiting for the opportunity,” Lucy said.

  “Maybe there was no drug. Maybe the killer simply forced Sara and Mary off the road. It happens. Usually in the movies, but it happens in real life, too.” Mason paused. “But in real life it requires a very good driver behind the wheel of the assault car. And like I said, results are not guaranteed. It’s a sloppy way to get rid of a target. I still think we’re dealing with a desperate amateur.”

  “Doesn’t make him or her any less dangerous.”

  “Makes him or her more dangerous in some ways. Less predictable. We’ve identified two fault lines in this thing—money and drugs. We’ve been focusing on the drugs. I think we need to pay closer attention to the money.”

  Mason stopped and released her hand. She sensed the energy in the atmosphere around him. He took his phone out of his pocket and hit a coded number.

  “Aaron—yes, I’m fine. Deke called you? Yeah, well, he overacted. Yes, there were drugs involved, but we’re not dealing with a drug gang or a cartel here. There’s money in this thing, though. I want you to use Alice to follow it. I need to know everything you can find out about the status of a company named Colfax Inc.”

  Lucy went closer to the water.

  Behind her, Mason continued to talk to his brother. He rattled off the location of the Colfax company.

  “. . . Yes, I know it’s a privately held corporation. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of rumors about the merger. Go ask Alice. Plug in all the data you can find and see what she says. I’m looking for signs of financial problems that may have been covered up at Colfax. Right. Call me as soon as you get anything solid. Thanks.”

  Mason ended the connection and dropped the phone back into his pocket. He came to stand directly behind Lucy. His hands closed over her shoulders. She smiled and reached up to cover one of his hands with one of her own. She sensed his chained anticipation. The part of him that had been born to hunt the bad guys was aroused and ready.

  “Go ask Alice?” she asked.

  “Aaron loves that line,” Mason said.

  “You’re onto something, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “Maybe. I can envision a scenario in which Cecil Dillon, the second Mrs. Colfax, Quinn and Jillian aren’t just anxious to make the merger happen because they want to take the profits and run. Maybe they’re desperate to make it happen because they know something about Colfax Inc. that Warner doesn’t know, something that could bring down the company. They want to get out while the getting is good. If they don’t, they might lose everything.”

  “That would explain their united front. But why wouldn’t they tell Warner?”

  “Because it’s his company, his empire.”

  “His legacy,” Lucy said.

  “If he finds out that there’s something rotten at the core, he’ll want to try to save Colfax Inc. and rebuild—not sell it to an unsuspecting buyer.”

  “But the others wouldn’t want that, because it would put the whole company at risk. There’s a good chance they would end up with nothing.”

  “Plenty of motive to go around in that family.”

  “But it was Quinn who poisoned you,” Lucy said. “That makes him the most likely suspect in the murder of Sara and Mary. Same setup in both cases—drugs and a car accident.”

  “It’s looking like Quinn, but something doesn’t feel right,” Mason said. He tightened his fingers on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. “Yesterday, when I was in the middle of that damn movie—”

  “You mean when you were hallucinating.”

  “When I was hallucinating, I pulled over into the lay-by and took out my phone. I was aware enough of what was happening to know that I should call nine-one-one, but I also knew that whoever had tried to force me off the road might come back to finish the job. Just in case, I wanted to say good-bye to you.”

  She cupped his face in her hands. “You scared the daylights out of me.”

  His mouth crooked at the corner. “Yeah, sorry about that. I was too messed up to realize how you would react.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. “Lucy, the night together over on the coast was the most important night of my life. The best thing that ever happened to me.”

  She knew that the declaration was fueled, at least in part, by the charged emotions generated by his near-death experience. But in that moment she did not care. She, too, was dealing with some strong emotions, mostly the aftershocks caused by the forces of fear and anxiety followed by overwhelming relief at the knowledge that Mason had not died.

  “That night on the coast was the most important night of my life, too,” she said. “I will never forget it.”

  He did not look satisfied with her answer, but he did not push for more.

  “Lucy,” he said. He drew her closer. “Little Lucy. Now that you have come back into my life, I don’t want to let you go.”

  He kissed her before she could demand a clarification of that enigmatic sentence. She reminded herself that he had been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours. He might be saying things—feeling things—that he might not say and feel when reality had once again fully asserted itself. Maybe the same went for her.

  But in the meantime she could not think of any sane reason not to abandon herself to the hot rush of desire and the intense intimacy that she experienced when she was in Mason’s arms.

  She returned the kiss with all of the passion that he ignited in her. His mouth was hot, fierce and exciting. He held her close and tight against him, making her aware of his own arousal.

  He finally raised his head and did a quick scan of their surroundings. She knew they were alone. No one was likely to come hiking along that stretch of the river, but Mason shook his head.

  “Not here,” he said. “Not safe.”

  The realization that he had just nixed making love out in the open not because he was afraid someone might happen along but rather because he did not think it was safe made her catch her breath.

  “Do you really think someone might be watching us?” she asked, glancing around.

  “I can’t imagine Quinn sneaking up on us with a loaded
gun, but I’d rather not take any chances. When I make love to you, I prefer to concentrate on the sex, not listening for footsteps.”

  “When you put it like that—”

  “And there’s always the potential problem of poison oak,” he added.

  She laughed. “I never thought of that. You’re right. We definitely don’t want to do this kind of thing in the woods.”

  He laughed, too, his masculine anticipation and triumph ringing in the clear, sun-warmed air. He caught her hand and ran with her through the trees to the cabin.

  40

  The exhilaration he felt knowing that in a few minutes he was going to be making love to Lucy set fire to his blood. They dashed up the stairs to his old room together. Lucy was a little breathless. Her eyes were brilliant with feminine mystery and desire.

  He tumbled her onto her back on the bed and came down on top of her, bracing himself on his hands. He looked down at her, savoring the knowledge that, for now, at least, she was his. She wanted him, and that was the most intoxicating drug of all.

  He used one hand to open the front of her shirt. Her bra was a sexy little scrap of black lace. He unsnapped the front clasp and freed her dainty breasts.

  “You are so lovely,” he marveled.

  She smiled. “I don’t know about lovely, but when you look at me like that, I definitely feel hot.”

  “That, too.” He kissed one pink nipple. “Very, very hot.”

  “It’s your fault,” she said. She started to unfasten the buttons of his denim shirt. “Do you think that we might accidentally set fire to the sheets?”

  “Who cares?” He opened the front of her trousers. “There are more where those came from.”

  He got her out of her clothes and impatiently shed his own. He lowered himself back down onto her, inserting his leg between hers, separating her thighs. The scent of her arousal hardened every muscle in his body. He moved his hand down her hip and then to her hot, warm core.

  He groaned, pulling on all of his willpower to keep himself from coming then and there.

  He put his mouth on the soft skin of her shoulder and bit gently. “I love how you get so wet so fast for me.”