“You don’t feel dizzy?”
She shook her head. “Angry. Frightened. Shaky. But not dizzy.”
“Let’s get into my car.”
She allowed him to guide her toward his vehicle with no attempt to release herself from his arm around her shoulder. Good thing. He’d come too close to losing her to let go lightly. Now, his task was to convince her to feel the same way about him. He settled her in the passenger side of his car, then got in behind the wheel.
Color had returned to her face, and her eyes held a steely glint. “What a mess people make of their lives, and for the dumbest reasons. Somebody said something mean about them.”
“More battles are fought over words than any other reason.”
“Tell me about it. I’ve come to realize ‘idle chatter’ like the Simms sisters’ isn’t very harmless.”
A knock sounded on Matt’s window, and he powered it down to look into Art’s grim face.
“Backup is on the way to secure this accident scene and check on the Milton residence, but I have to leave. They’ve found the van.”
“Where?” The question chorused from Matt and Kelly in unison.
Art heaved a sigh. “Buried in the front of the veterinary clinic.”
Tingles, as if she were recovering from numbness, passed across Kelly’s skin. Matt’s hand found hers and squeezed. She met his concerned gaze.
“Someone rammed my business?” Her words came out breathless, then her spine stiffened. “Tim! He’s in there.” She looked around, and Art was screeching a U-turn out of his parking spot, lights whirling. She stared at Matt. Why was he sitting there? “Let’s go!”
He squinted at her. “Aren’t we supposed to remain at the scene of an accident? And when we go anywhere, it should be to the clinic to have that head bump checked out.”
“There’s been a disaster at my business, and someone I care about may be hurt or…” She couldn’t finish the sentence over the lump in her throat. “Go!” she croaked.
“Yes, ma’am.” He shook his head but performed a smooth turn and soon had them on the tail of Art’s police cruiser.
On the way, they passed a unit headed toward the Miltons’ neighborhood. Her gaze followed the black-and-white as it whizzed by, and she prayed for whoever remained in that home. What would the officer find when he gained entrance?
“Hang in there, Kelly.” Matt’s words were strong and calm. “Tim may be a mope-head, but he’s a survivor. He’s proven that much.”
She sent him a tight smile. This was a good guy to have around in a crisis.
Minutes later, they arrived at the veterinary clinic. Matt pulled the car to the curb across the street, but that was as close as they could get with squad cars and a fire truck filling the clinic parking lot.
Kelly gaped. She had no words. The rear half of the Miltons’ van stuck out from her building. The front half was swallowed in what remained of her front door and picture window. The roof had collapsed onto the forward portion of the van, rendering it inaccessible to rescue workers. Power lines that had been attached to the roof corner dangled, sparking, on the ground. Personnel were assessing the scene.
Kelly climbed out of the car.
“Where are you going?” Matt called.
She didn’t answer as she headed across the street. Art intercepted her.
“Have they found Tim?” She bounced on the balls of her feet, straining for any view of what was going on, but the fire truck blocked her view.
“If you’ll open the rear door, we’ll send a crew in to look for him.”
The warmth of Matt’s presence appeared at Kelly’s side. Solid. Comforting. Some of the gelatin in the pit of her stomach ceased quivering.
Another officer and a fireman, bearing flashlights, joined them on their route around the building. Her hand shook as she unlocked the door. She swallowed an impulse to race inside, calling Tim’s name. What if she found him, and he wasn’t all right? She swallowed a bitter taste. Better to let the professionals handle this part. She stepped back into Matt’s waiting arms.
A whine of power tools began out front. Rescue workers must be cutting away debris from around the van. The noise killed conversation. Just as well. If Matt wasn’t here holding her up, she’d be a puddle on the ground.
Under other circumstances, holding Kelly Granger would be a dream come true. This felt more like a nightmare. Her frame shuddered in his arms. This woman had absorbed blow after blow in her young life…and now this. Insurance could fix her building, but it couldn’t fix her heart if she loved Tim Hallock and lost him. For her sake, Matt prayed with all his heart that Tim would be found alive and well.
Long seconds ticked past. At last, Art and the search party emerged, and Kelly pulled away from Matt. The hungry hope on her face twisted his heart.
The police chief shook his head. “No sign of him.”
“But his car is here.” She waved toward the compact vehicle.
Art’s flat gaze locked with Matt’s. Unless Tim had stepped out for something, they both knew that under the wreckage was the likely place to find him—along with the driver of the van. Was that driver also the person responsible for putting the mistletoe in the tea? The conclusion didn’t require a leap of genius. Matt lifted his chin, and Art returned a tiny nod.
The chief’s attention went to Kelly. “We took a peek into the front room, but the only safe way to approach clearing the debris is from the outside. More of the roof could collapse at any time. If you two want to be of help, lock this door and then go find a warm place to pray.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Matt said.
Art and his men hustled off. Kelly stood frozen, gazing after them.
“Let me take you somewhere for a hot coffee. From there, we can call Brenda as well as people from your church, if you’d like, to enlist more prayers.” He offered a gentle smile.
A long breath escaped her lips. “Thank you. You’re a good man.”
Matt’s heart sank further, if that were possible, but he held his smile in place. Those were the words a woman said to a man she regarded as nothing more than a friend. He held out his hand, but she turned away and opened the clinic door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He stepped into her path. “Didn’t you hear the chief? It’s dangerous in there.”
She glared up at him, hands on hips. An impossible jolt of attraction shot through him—a reaction he was going to have to learn to overcome. Or move to another town—again.
“Matthew Bennett, I have patients in there. About now, they’re scared out of their wits, and if more of the roof is about to fall, I need to get them out.”
“Correction. We need to get them out.”
He propped the door open with a sliver of wood that looked as if that were its function. With the power cut to the building, they’d need any daylight they could get.
“Like I said. You’re a good man.” She tapped his shoulder as she breezed past him and led the way to the convalescent room.
Plaintive mewing and whining carried above the cacophony from the rescue workers outside, but the animal cages were a dim outline in this windowless room.
“There’s a flashlight in a drawer,” Kelly said.
She headed for a bank of cabinets on one wall, and Matt stayed close behind. Suddenly an out-of-place sound arrested him. Did he hear what he thought he heard? A human groan? He started to turn, but pain exploded in his head.
Once. Then again. Then blackness.
“Matt?” The sudden loss of his presence was tangible.
Kelly turned. He wasn’t standing behind her. She gazed around, eyes adjusting to the dimness, and found his form sprawled headlong on the floor. What had happened?
A beam of light speared the darkness, and Kelly shaded her eyes with her forearm. A dark silhouette held the flashlight she’d been looking for. The person’s other hand pointed a much different object in her direction.
Kelly’s mouth went dry. Did this creep’s rep
ertoire never end? Poison, a knife and now a gun.
“Couldn’t you this once have played the helpless bystander?” Tones of disgust came from behind the light. “Now my plans need to change drastically again.”
Kelly’s heart did a somersault. She knew that voice, but couldn’t believe her ears.
EIGHT
“Tim! You’re all right. I was afraid they’d find you under the wreckage. What are you doing with a gun? I’m no threat to you.”
“You’ve always been a threat.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Always looking out for poor Tim. Championing me to the public.” A sneer tainted his voice. “Don’t you know that was the last straw with Hayley that proved the Simms sisters’ whispers to the community grapevine that I was stepping out on her? With you!”
Kelly’s lungs constricted. “That’s nonsense! I never heard such a rumor.”
“Typical for the object of gossip to be the last to hear. Don’t worry. I don’t blame you. I never did. You were being your usual, decent self. Someone else putting a sick spin on your actions never occurred to you. Frankly, I don’t think many people took stock in us as a twosome except Hayley, but it gave her one more excuse to leave me.”
Thoughts tumbled through Kelly’s brain, and a few bits clicked together. “You put the Iscador in the sweet tea to get back at the Simms sisters!”
“Partially accurate. The sisters were prime targets, but so were any of the coffee-klatch clan at Brenda’s Kitchen. That bunch of vicious gossips had a bellyache coming.”
A rock weighted the pit of Kelly’s stomach. She’d trusted this man. Admired his faithfulness. Defended him when no one else would. And now, she saw with 20/20 hindsight that his chronic depression formed the outer layer around more sinister mental problems.
“Did Mr. Clemson have an early grave coming?”
Tim’s hiss of indrawn breath indicated her words had scored a hit. “How was I to know somebody’s ticker would give out over a touch of illness not much worse than the stomach flu? And you’re wrong on an important point. I did not put the Iscador in the tea.”
“But you stole it from my sister’s house during the Christmas party. I should have guessed the culprit was someone with medical training.” Kelly paused, then gasped. “The drug used to knock me out when I came to the clinic! You knew what it was and what it would do. Did you supply it to whoever grabbed me? But if you were involved in the vandalism at the clinic, why were you unconscious on the floor? Did you stage that as part of the cover-up for the theft of the biological samples? Did you poison the pets, too?”
“Shut! Up!” The gun’s aim zeroed in on her heart. “I would never, ever hurt a defenseless animal, but when you work with an idiot bad things happen.”
Kelly’s pulse raced. “Idiot?”
A groan from the darkness followed on the heels of her question.
Tim darted the flashlight beam toward the open utility closet. A bulky form hunched on the floor against the wall. His head hung, and dark stains on his clothing suggested blood.
“Nick Milton,” Kelly breathed. “He put the poison in the tea.”
The man had a bad habit of barging into the kitchen when his wife was working. No one would have remarked the occurrence as unusual, any more than the oft-repeated kerfuffle of Brenda tossing him out.
“Bingo!” Tim said. “No persuasion was necessary to enlist his help in doing this community a little dirt…except the fool got carried away. He went on a spree of feeding poisoned hamburger to people’s pets.”
“But why did he almost run me down in his van this afternoon? And why ram the clinic?”
“Cross-eyed drunk. He probably had no idea you were in his way. I was his target after I informed him on the phone that the bail money for his son was the only payment for the tea caper he was going to get from me. When he hurt the animals, he forfeited the rest of the money I promised for the job.”
“So nobody is under the wreckage out front that our firefighters and police force are risking themselves to search?”
“The project keeps them out of our way, doesn’t it?” Tim laughed. “It took a minute or so for the roof to fall in. The old sot got out of his vehicle just in time. I hauled him into the closet, and we both waited out the official search for good old Tim. I knew they’d never check the closet during a scour of the premises designed to locate someone they assumed wanted to be found. It would be easy for me to claim later that Nick held me quiet at gunpoint. When everyone cleared out, Nick and I were going to have a fight for survival, and he was going to take a bullet while I emerged the town hero for single-handedly taking down the murderer. But then you and Mr. Noble had to bust in on the party.” He nudged Matt’s inert form with his foot.
The beam of the flashlight returned to Kelly’s face. She winced at the brightness but refused to look away. “Don’t do this, Tim. There’s help for you. We’ll get some. I promise.”
Click!
The cocking of the gun resounded in her ears, even over the noise the rescuers were making outside. The breath stalled in her throat.
“Quit patronizing me! There was a time after Hayley left me that I considered making a play for you—turning those rumors into truth. But I could see there was no use in it. You regarded me as another wounded creature to fix. Did it ever occur to your self-righteous mind that I don’t want to be fixed?”
Kelly’s hands fisted. There was no chance she could reach Tim before he shot her, but she wasn’t going down easy. How horrible that Matt should lose his life because of her. The man had made himself precious to her in a short period of time.
“I’m afraid my simple scenario will have to become more complicated,” Tim went on. “Nick is going to shoot you and Matt, and then he and I will wrestle for control of the gun. I’ll win, of course, and still emerge the town hero—a tragic one, which is even more sympathetic—because I will have lost my beloved boss in the dramatic scuffle. And a state employee will be dead. The whole thing will make the news! Hayley’s going to hear what kind of man her ex has turned out to be and wish she’d never left.”
Tim’s too-bright cackle raised the hairs on the nape of Kelly’s neck.
“It’s been nice knowing you,” he said. “I mean that. But now it’s bye-bye.”
Kelly steeled herself to leap. Sudden movement halted her. Matt’s arm swept Tim’s feet from under him. The gun exploded, and a mosquito whine zipped past Kelly’s ear. A ceiling tile burst in a puff of debris that rained on her head and stung her eyes. She screamed and scrubbed frantically at her face, but her blurred vision offered a skewed picture of the men wrestling on the linoleum. Through the tangle of arms and legs, she could barely tell which dark figure was Matt and which was Tim. Matt was bigger and stronger, but he’d taken a blow to the head. Tim was wiry and fueled by madness. Grunts and yelps punctuated their struggle.
Where was the gun?
A second shot chilled her bones and shattered glass somewhere in the room. The men were fighting for possession of it.
The flashlight had rolled away and rested by the wall. Kelly scurried to retrieve it. She could use it to clobber Tim—if the men held still long enough. She whirled and pointed the light at the combatants as the gun discharged again. The explosion sent tremors to her core.
Both men went limp and lay still, Tim sprawled on top. Matt’s eyes were closed, his face slack. A thread of blood began to creep across the linoleum toward Kelly.
Horror constricted her throat. “Matt?”
One man stirred. The other did not respond.
All strength left Kelly’s knees. She buckled to the floor, tears hot on her cheeks.
NINE
Matt accepted the cup of cocoa Kelly held toward him and relaxed into the comfort of an easy chair in her living room. Ben snoozed on the floor at his feet.
Kelly hovered over him. “Can I get you anything else? A sandwich, maybe?”
“Thank you, but a sandwich is the last thin
g on my wish list.” He smiled up at her. How did this woman grow more beautiful every time he saw her?
A furrow appeared between her brows. “Are you all right? Does your head bother you?”
“I’m fine. Really.” He touched the bandage that covered the spot where Tim had clobbered him.
For a scrawny fellow, the guy had a batter’s arm. If Matt’s head had been a baseball, it would have been out of the park. Kelly had just brought him home after three days in the hospital, recuperating from a concussion. It was by the pure grace of God that he’d roused that day at the clinic and found the strength to stop Tim from putting bullets into them both, before passing out again. But he’d repeat the agony, and lots worse, to hang on to that special glow in Kelly’s eyes when she gazed at him. Did he dare hope that look was telling him things he longed to hear?
“Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced. “The way you were staring at me, I wasn’t sure.”
“Frankly, looking at you is my best therapy right now.”
Her cheeks went pink. “I’m so thankful you’re all right. I don’t know what I would have done if…” Her words trailed off, and she bit her bottom lip.
Matt set his cocoa on the side table and rose. The room did a little wobble—residual effects from his head blow—but he couldn’t bear to delay this moment any longer.
“Kelly.” He cupped her shoulders in his hands. “We’ve been through a lot in the past couple of weeks. Our emotions have been all over the place. But I know one thing. From that first meeting, when you looked at me with gorgeous fire in your eyes, I started falling hard and fast. I don’t want to be your friend…or even the guy who saved your life. I was saving my own, too, by the way, so you don’t owe me sandwiches or cocoa or hand-and-foot service. I don’t want your gratitude. I want to win your heart. Do I stand a chance?”
Her emerald gaze sparked. “Matthew Bennett, do you honestly expect me to fall in love with you?”
Season of Danger: Silent Night, Deadly NightMistletoe Mayhem Page 19
