Lucky Charm

by Carly Phillips

  She wouldn’t let Sharon backpedal. “You can press charges again,” she said, urging her friend to do the right thing.

  “It’s different now. I don’t have just me to think about. I have Richard.”

  “Exactly, and he loves you for who you are.”

  Richard had grown up in Perkins, rivals to Stewart in football, basketball and other sports. Gabrielle and Sharon had seen Richard around a lot, considering he was Perkins’s star basketball player. And they’d made sure he had seen them. So Richard knew the woman Sharon had been. And he seemed to love everything about her.

  When Sharon remained silent, Gabrielle continued. “It’s not like you haven’t confided in Richard about what Tony did. He’ll support you.”

  “He knows about my past, but he’s also very traditional. He doesn’t blame me, but he’s never been interested in the sordid details.” Sharon shivered as she spoke.

  Gabrielle considered herself a decent judge of character, and Richard seemed like one of the good guys. “I’m sure he just doesn’t want to put you through the pain of reliving it,” Gabrielle assured her friend.

  “Or maybe the thought of it just disgusts him.” Sharon ran her hands up and down her arms. “So far we’ve been lucky that nobody’s dug up that old dirt on me. But if these photos get out, his political dreams will be ruined and I’ll be to blame.”

  “Honey…”

  Sharon’s eyes filled with tears. “As much as it goes against what I believe in, I’ll just have to pay whoever it is to keep this quiet.”

  “No!” Gabrielle slammed her hand against the steering wheel. “You can’t give in to blackmail.”

  “Unless you have a solution that doesn’t involve this photo and God knows how many more becoming public, I have no choice.” Sharon smoothed out the paper with the note. “It says here that I should go to the Wave, a nightclub in Stewart, tomorrow night at eight. I’m to bring the money with me.”

  “How much does he want?”

  “Five thousand dollars.” She swallowed hard. “If it’s Tony, he’s raised his price.”

  Gabrielle narrowed her gaze. “That doesn’t seem like all that much money these days, even with inflation,” she said, trying for levity.

  It worked. Sharon smiled. “I know, but that’s his MO. Last time Tony only asked for a thousand. He’d planned on stringing it out, asking for more each time. I’m sure he’s got the same plan now. He’ll keep me on edge by making me wonder if and when those photos will show up in the next day’s paper.” Her face had grown pale at the notion.

  Something wasn’t sitting right in Gabrielle’s mind, but she couldn’t put her finger on what was bothering her. “When did Tony get out of prison?”

  Sharon shrugged. “I don’t know that he did, but it has to be him, right? Nobody else would have the pictures but him.”

  “I don’t know.” She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “It seems odd that your old pictures would resurface around the same time I’m not so politely being asked to leave town,” Gabrielle mused.

  “You think the two things are related?” Sharon shifted in her seat, curling her knee beneath her so she faced Gabrielle.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know. It’s just weird to have two separate threats against each of us going on at the same time.” She paused. “What if Tony sold the pictures to someone?”

  “Anything’s possible.”

  “This stinks. Even if you pay, you can never be certain that you have all the pictures. This could drag on forever.” Gabrielle turned and stared out the window, trying to come up with some way to help her friend.

  They needed to track down Tony, but Gabrielle didn’t think her friend was up for that conversation just yet. Maybe after the shock wore off. In the meantime, she’d do some digging herself. Research was what she was good at, after all.

  “Do you have the money?” Gabrielle asked.

  “For this payment and maybe one more. I obviously can’t afford to keep this up indefinitely. I just wish I hadn’t been so stupid.”

  “Hey!” Gabrielle whipped around in her seat. “Do not blame yourself. You were drugged. It’s not like you were a willing participant,” she reminded Sharon.

  With that, Gabrielle realized what had been bothering her. “You were a victim. Surely nobody will hold that against you or Richard. I say you call his bluff. Refuse to pay and ride out the scandal. Richard loves you. He’ll stand by you and so will I.” Gabrielle reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand. “It’s the least I can do for the woman who went toe to toe with Hank Corwin for me.”

  Sharon glanced out the window. “I think you’re forgetting who Richard’s opponent is. Mary Perkins won’t hesitate to use this as ammunition to hurt Richard and convince people to vote for her.”

  Mary Perkins and that damned curse she wielded like a magic wand with the power to bend people to her will. Gabrielle decided the incumbent mayor would be high on her list of people to interview, if for no other reason than to dig into the psyche of someone willing to use other people’s weaknesses against them.

  “At least tell Richard what’s going on so he won’t be caught off guard if this leaks,” Gabrielle suggested.

  “No.” Sharon swung back around. “Not yet. I need to go to the Wave tomorrow night and see what and whom I’m dealing with first.” Sharon’s voice shook at the idea, but with her decision made, she drew her shoulders up straighter.

  “Merde. You are stubborn.” Like Gabrielle herself, once Sharon set her mind on a course of action, like pressing charges against Tony years ago, nothing would deter her. At least some of her spunk remained, despite the fear.

  Gabrielle cleared her throat. “Fine. If you insist on going to the Wave tomorrow with five thousand dollars, you aren’t going alone. But we still need to go to Boston today because I don’t have any clubbing clothes with me here.” Gabrielle restarted the car.

  Sharon blew out a relieved breath of air. “Thank you. You’re the best. Now, just promise me you won’t tell Richard about any of this.”

  Gabrielle frowned. She wasn’t a fan of keeping secrets, but it wasn’t her choice. “I won’t tell him if you insist, but—”

  “I do. So you promise?”

  “Fine.” She put both hands on the wheel. “I don’t like it, but I promise not to tell Richard.”

  But that didn’t mean she had to keep it to herself. Just like in the old days, when something serious happened, there was just one person Gabrielle wanted to turn to. One person she trusted with anything, one who she knew in her heart would help her with any problem.

  Derek.

  And not just because he’d been back in town long enough to know someone who could quietly help her find Tony. If she and Sharon were meeting a crazy man who’d drugged a number of women, taken nude photos of them and gone to prison for his actions, they weren’t going alone.

  She wanted a man by her side that she trusted.

  She wanted Derek.

  CHAPTER SIX

  DEREK BURNED THE PANCAKES he’d made Holly for breakfast. He really couldn’t cook and should have known better than to try. Back in the city, he’d lived on takeout.

  Scraping the destroyed remains into Fred’s dish, he glanced at his daughter. “Want me to try again?”

  She shook her head and made a disgusted face. “Can I have cold cereal, Dad?”

  He laughed. “Smart move.”

  “Yeah, I know. Even you can’t ruin corn flakes.” She climbed onto the counter and pulled out a cereal bowl. “Dad?”

  “Hmm?” He poured the flakes from the box, then added milk and handed her a spoon.

  “You promised to tell me about you and Gabrielle. That man said you dumped her. You said you didn’t. So what’s the real story?” she asked between slurping cereal and milk from a spoon.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how to explain adult behavior to a preteen. “We dated in high school and broke up before going away to college,” he said, proud of his
concise summary.

  “Who broke up with who?”

  “I broke up with her.”

  “Why?”

  “I had my reasons. Finish your cereal. Grandpa’s coming by to take you to feed the ducks at the pond. You want to be ready.”

  She glanced down and focused on eating what was left. “There. I finished my cereal. I’m just working on the milk.” She picked up the bowl, clearly intending to drink it down in one gulp.

  He shot her a warning look.

  “Okay, okay.” She retrieved the spoon and slowly sipped at the milk.

  “That’s better.”

  “Can Fred come with us to feed the ducks?” she asked.

  “I don’t see why not. Just talk to your grandfather.”

  She finished two more spoonfuls, then asked, “So what are you doing today?”

  Boy, was she talkative this morning. “I’m going to get some work done here.” He had clients in the city who had left messages he needed to return. He didn’t need to go to the office he rented in town, though.

  She finished her cereal with a last, loud slurp and walked the bowl over to the sink. “Do you still like Gabrielle? ’Cause I really like her a lot.”

  He swallowed a groan. “Of course I like her.”

  “Will you marry her the way Mom married John?”

  Derek’s palms began to sweat. Suddenly, without warning, the front door creaked opened and Hank’s voice bellowed throughout the house.

  “Who wants to go feed the ducks?” he called out to announce his presence.

  “I do!” Holly swiveled around and ran into the other room.

  Derek followed her out.

  “Can we bring Fred? Please?” Holly asked her grandfather, questions of marriage and Gabrielle temporarily forgotten.

  Bullet dodged, at least for the moment, Derek was grateful for his father’s interruption. “Hey, Dad,” he said, joining them by the front door.

  “Grandpa said Fred can come because he’s a lazy old bastard who’d chase his tail before he’d worry about running after a duck,” Holly said, pleased both with her grandfather’s answer and herself for getting to repeat the curse word without reprimand.

  Derek scowled. “Can you both watch your language?” He turned to his daughter. “Holly, go put on some sunscreen and make sure you take your oldest sneakers. Duck poop and dog poop are hard to get out.”

  “Will do!” She ran upstairs to the loft, giving Derek some time with his father.

  “I need to talk to you before she comes back down,” he said immediately.

  “Yeah, yeah. I already apologized to you for my behavior last night. Isn’t that enough?” Hank didn’t meet Derek’s gaze, looking down at his feet instead.

  At least the older man was contrite, even if he hid it behind his bluster.

  “An apology to Gabrielle next time you see her would be even better. But I have an important question for you right now. When you walked out in the middle of her speech, where did you go?” Derek watched his father carefully for signs of dishonesty.

  His father raised both eyebrows, clearly surprised at the question. “I told you when you got home last night. I went to the john. Why are you asking?”

  Derek walked to the sofa in the family room and Hank followed.

  “Someone deliberately keyed Gabrielle’s car during her talk. Someone also put a threatening letter under her windshield yesterday afternoon. It sure looks as if somebody didn’t want her to speak about curses,” he said, pointedly looking at his father.

  “Hey, I resent the implication. I’ve got a temper but I’d never threaten a lady.”

  Derek didn’t bring up the shotgun Hank had planned to take to the library. He wanted to believe his father. Besides, he couldn’t see Hank deliberately destroying someone’s property or threatening anyone.

  “Just watch yourself,” Derek warned him. “If anyone but me had seen you with that gun, you’d be answering to someone other than me—someone with a badge.”

  “You need to show some faith in your own family. Holly, are you coming?” Hank called upstairs.

  She ran down the stairs and rounded the corner, a baseball cap on her head and another in her hand.

  “Is that for me?” Hank asked.

  “No, it’s for Fred.” She walked over to the oversize sausage roll they called a dog and plopped the cap down on his head.

  Derek laughed. “How do you expect him to see where he’s going?”

  “He has me, silly! Ready, Grandpa!” She clipped Fred’s leash on just like Derek had taught her and grabbed Hank’s hand.

  Together they walked out, Fred lumbering along with them.

  Alone, Derek let out a sigh and turned back toward the kitchen. He’d left the burned pan soaking and he needed to try to clean it, but the telephone rang, interrupting him.

  “Hello?”

  “Derek?” Gabrielle asked in that breathless way she had.

  Just hearing her voice sent tremors of awareness rocketing through him. “Hey there.” He tightened his grip on the receiver.

  “I only have a minute,” she said, talking low. “I came home to pick up a few things and Sharon’s in the other room. I need to see you tonight. It’s important.”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Sure. Do you want to come here?”

  “I don’t want Holly to hear what I have to say. Could you come by my room? Say around seven?”

  “Sure thing. Can you give me a clue what it’s about?”

  She laughed. “Wish I could, but you’ll have to wait until tonight. It’s serious, though.”

  His body tensed immediately. “Did you receive another threat?”

  “Not exactly. I promise I’ll explain everything when I see you, okay? Hang on.”

  He heard her say something to Sharon in the other room.

  “I’m back. Oh, one more thing. Can we get dinner? There’s nothing to eat at Mrs. Rhodes’s inn and I’ll be starving,” she said, drawing out the word.

  “Not a problem.”

  “Thanks!” She disconnected the line.

  Dinner with Gabrielle tonight.

  He’d heard the urgency in her voice, so he knew she had something big on her mind. But he’d also been intimately acquainted with the seductress side of Gabrielle and he was certain dinner had nothing to do with her needing to speak to him—and everything to do with a need of another kind.

  DEREK ARRIVED AT GABRIELLE’S room to find her waiting with a picnic basket in hand. He decided not to question her intentions and drove them in his SUV to the public beach as she’d asked. Although there were still people enjoying the end of the day, they managed to find a quiet spot.

  From the minute he’d picked her up, he couldn’t tear his eyes off the strapless sundress she wore—or rather the bare skin she revealed. She was more tanned than he’d realized, and her shoulders glistened beneath the setting sun. Despite all his good intentions, he was all wrapped up in her again. He was finding it damned hard to say he minded.

  They ate the chicken-salad sandwiches she’d picked up at the café in town and made small talk.

  Once they’d finished, he asked, “So what did you need to talk to me about?”

  At the same time, she said, “I really need to talk to you.”

  They both laughed.

  “Great minds think alike.” She wiped her mouth and helped him put the remnants of the food and garbage back into the basket. “There was a time we used to finish each other’s sentences.” She met his gaze as if daring him to remember.

  He did.

  “Anyway, I thought you should finish eating first because this situation isn’t pretty. I didn’t want you to lose your appetite.” Then Gabrielle launched into a description of Sharon’s past, her unsavory ex-boyfriend, the pornographic pictures and how Sharon had thought it was all behind her. Then Gabrielle finished by explaining that the photographs had resurfaced and Sharon was being blackmailed.

  He clenched his jaw, his blood boiling. “What kin
d of scumbag does that to a woman?”

  “Beats the hell out of me,” she muttered. “But not only does Sharon refuse to tell her fiancé about the blackmail but she’s insisting on dealing with this guy herself.” Gabrielle’s voice rose in pitch. “She’s going to the Wave tomorrow night to exchange money for photos, if you can believe that!”

  “I can’t.”

  “Well, I said I’d go with her.” She spoke softly, probably hoping he’d miss that last part.

  His hearing was better than she’d hoped. “The hell you are. You two have no business handling a blackmailing bastard by yourselves.”

  Gabrielle drew a deep breath. “Listen, friends don’t let friends get blackmailed alone. But you’re right. We shouldn’t go by ourselves. That’s why I’d like you to come for backup.” She patted his cheek with her palm.

  “You’re just trying to stroke my ego so I’ll forget I’m upset with this whole situation.”

  “Maybe I am.” She grinned. “And you’re much more astute than I gave you credit for. You have to know I can’t let her handle this alone.” She paused and arched her brows at him. “But I have another idea, though.”

  He kicked at the sand with his heel. “I’m listening.”

  “I thought you and I could do some investigating tomorrow, look up her old boyfriend. Maybe we can head this off. What do you say?” Her eyes were wide and imploring, yet excited at the prospect of doing some digging.

  “My cousin Mike’s a cop in Boston. I’ll ask him to see what he can find out about Tony DeCarlo.”

  “Excellent idea!” She wrapped him in her arms. “Thank you!” She tipped her head back and met his gaze.

  Her eyes darkened immediately.

  His thoughts turned to long hot kisses. But now he was preoccupied with her safety, as well. The fact that Sharon was being blackmailed was bad enough. But Derek hadn’t forgotten about Gabrielle’s two threatening incidents, either. He wanted to get to the bottom of everything going on, but since Sharon’s threat was more imminent, he’d start there.

  “I really appreciate your help.” Gabrielle released her hold and settled back onto the blanket.