by JB Lynn
I chuckled. “I meant thank you for getting her to ask me and for the hug and everything.” I choked up at the end and barely wheezed out the last few words.
“My pleasure.” Bending down, he lightly kissed my cheek. “I heard you had a tough day. My uncle was concerned about your well-being. What were you thinking offering yourself as a hostage?”
I shrugged. “That I wanted the whole thing to end peacefully.” The memory of Adam’s crumpling body brought tears to my eyes.
I tried to blink them away, but a couple escaped and slowly began to slide down my cheeks. I raised my free hand to dash them away, but Angel beat me to it, carefully wiping one cheek then the other with his thumb.
I forgot to breathe as I drowned in his dark gaze. He cupped my chin in his hand and slowly lowered his mouth toward mine.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Zeke said, not sounding the least bit sorry. He looked displeased to have found me in such an intimate position.
Jerking free of Angel’s grip, I found Zeke watching us from the top of the stairs.
“We’ve got that appointment,” he said.
“Appointment?”
“Taking Katie to see Doctor Donna,” he reminded me, arching his eyebrows.
“Oh yeah,” I muttered. “I forgot that was today.”
“That’s why I’m reminding you,” Zeke replied smoothly, but I had the distinct impression that wasn’t why he’d interrupted my almost-kiss with Angel.
For his part, Angel remained stoically silent through the exchange. He stood unnaturally still, only his eyes moving as his gaze flicked from me to Zeke.
I smiled up at Angel apologetically. “I’ve got to take her.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“We leave in five minutes,” Zeke announced. “Brush your hair or something before you get yourself committed.” He disappeared back into the kitchen, but left the door open.
I raised a hand self-consciously to my head. “Does it look that bad?”
Angel shrugged. “It’s not your best look, but I still think you’re pretty cute.”
I couldn’t help but grin when he said I was cute.
He winked at me. “But considering your family history, Zeke’s right. You should probably do something.”
He jogged up the stairs.
“There’s advice that should go on a t-shirt,” God mocked from his terrarium on the floor. “Always look your best when dealing with a mental health professional.”
“And here I thought, ‘Never carry a lizard to a session with a shrink’ was the motto to live by,” I sniped back.
“I’d second that,” Zeke said, once again appearing at the top of the stairs.
“Will you stop doing that?” I practically screamed at him.
“Doing what?”
“Popping up unexpectedly.” Exasperation made my voice deeper than usual.
“I thought that was part of my charm.” He winked at me.
“Not showing up uninvited is charming,” I countered.
He shrugged. “Sorry about that.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“I was just going to tell you that,” he glanced behind him as though to make sure the coast was clear and continued on a whisper, “Darlene wants to see you.”
Before I could argue that I didn’t have time, he added, “We’ll drop Katie back here after her appointment and then go, okay?”
I shrugged.
“Not okay?” he asked worriedly.
“Sure. It’s fine. Not like I have any control over my own life anyway,” I muttered, turning toward the bathroom to go brush my hair before I got myself into more trouble.
Chapter 3
Thankfully, Katie’s visit with her shrink went better than my visit with mine had. My first, and only, session had ended with the poor doctor huddled on the floor, trembling at the sight of God.
We’d barely gotten out of the car at the B&B to bring Katie inside when Aunt Susan descended with our marching orders.
“Angel’s getting the balloons, I’m getting the booze, and you’re getting the food,” she declared.
“We are?” I asked weakly.
“Here’s the list.” She pressed a piece of paper into my hand, before sweeping Katie into her arms and pressing a kiss to the little girl’s cheek. “Make sure you’re back within the hour,” she demanded as she headed into the house with her great-niece.
“So much for meeting with Darlene.” I waved the white sheet of paper like a flag of surrender. “I’ve got a shopping list.”
He plucked it out of my fingers. “You’ll meet, I’ll shop. I’ll drive.”
I didn’t see how that would work, but I went along for the ride.
When we arrived at the supermarket he said, “Stay here,” as he jumped out of the car, clutching the list.
A moment later, my sister Darlene slid into the driver’s seat. “Thanks for coming, Maggie.”
“It wasn’t like Zeke gave me much choice.”
I stared at her. After all those years thinking she was dead, it was still a bit of a shock to find her sitting beside me.
“He’s under pretty strict orders. Cut the poor guy a break.”
“To do what?”
“Keep you out of trouble. Get you where we need you.” She put the car into gear.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m not the only one who wanted to see you.”
I frowned, thinking it would have been preferable to wander around the grocery store than attending this mysterious meeting.
“How’d your visit with Mom go?” Darlene asked.
I didn’t answer, wondering how much she already knew. Did she know about the hostage situation? Did she know why I’d gone to see our mother? Did she even know that we have a brother?
She glanced over at me with a mischievous smile. “Apparently I’m not the only one in the family who can keep a secret.”
“If you’re referring to the hostage situation,” I began loftily.
“I bought the house next door.” She pulled into the rear parking lot of a rundown convenience store.
I looked around. The house next door looked like it should have been condemned and then burned to the ground. “Are you sure this is where you want to raise your kids?”
Darlene chuckled as she followed my gaze. “Not here, silly. I bought the house next door to the B&B.”
“Oh.”
“Just oh?”
“Well, it’s obviously better than here, but are you sure that’s what you want to do? Move back into the family fold full-time like that?”
She nodded vigorously. “More than anything. How’d everyone take the news that I’m alive?”
“You mean Gypsy’s bombshell?”
“Yes.”
“Marlene’s excited about the possibility. Susan is in full-on denial. I haven’t seen Loretta since Templeton told her.”
“Is she serious about him?”
“Loretta? As serious as she ever gets about anyone.”
“And yet she hasn’t married him yet. Strange, don’t you think?”
“Maybe she’s finally maturing,” I joked.
“What about Leslie?”
I frowned. “I don’t know. She’s sort of disappeared.”
“It’ll all work out,” Darlene declared. I couldn’t tell if her confidence was false bravado or if she was delusional.
“I hope so,” I murmured, and I really did, because if it didn’t I knew I’d be the one left cleaning up the mess and I already had enough on my plate.
“You need to go in there,” she said, pointing to the ramshackle house.
“I’m not fully vaccinated for that particular petri dish of putridity.”
Darlene frowned. “Since when do you talk like that?”
“I think I’ve been hanging out with a certain know-it-all too much. Regardless, I’m not going in there.”
Darlene looked alarmed. “But she’s waiting for you.”
; I didn’t have to ask who she was, but I took some perverse pleasure in knowing I wasn’t the only one afraid of Ms. Whitehat.
Frowning, I slowly got out of the car. Against my better judgment I trudged across the lot strewn with broken glass and garbage.
As I approached the house, the front door swung open, a silent, albeit creepy, invitation to enter.
I swallowed hard, wishing I wasn’t going in there alone, but I’d left God at home.
The floorboards creaked, cobwebs were everywhere, and strange shadows filled the entry hall.
“Hello?” I called tentatively, hoping Whitehat missed the nervous squeak at the end.
“Come in, Ms. Lee,” she invited.
Stepping farther inside, I saw the beam of a flashlight that had been placed on the floor. It backlit the woman who’d blackmailed me into working for her secret organization. As usual, she was dressed in a power suit.
“How are you?” she asked.
I cocked my head to the side, surprised by her attempt at polite conversation, usually she was all business. “Fine.”
“I heard about the,” she paused for a moment searching for the correct word, “excitement with your hostage taker.”
“Hasn’t everyone?” I quipped drily.
Her lips flattened into a straight line. “You shouldn’t put yourself in unnecessary danger. Your sister is counting on you.”
“To do what?”
Whitehat lifted her chin and when she spoke her tone was icy. “Kill Cyril Redcoat.”
“I thought…” I snapped my mouth shut, not wanting to reveal too much.
“Thought what?”
“I thought that once I return the cipher, Redcoat would leave Darlene alone.”
Whitehat sighed. “If only it were that easy. No, Redcoat is out to avenge his brother’s death. No bargaining chip or threat will stop him.”
A heavy weight settled in my stomach. “So it’s up to me.”
“Believe me,” Whitehat said, sounding sympathetic, “if there was another way…” She cleared her throat. “Or if I thought I could keep your sister under control, away from your family, I’d do that, but she’s got this idea in her head…” She trailed off leaving her frustration and sense of failure hanging in the air.
“I understand. When she gets an idea in her head, there can be no reasoning with her.”
The other woman nodded. “I want to be clear here. Redcoat is not just a threat to Darlene, but to your entire family, to your other sister, to your aunts, to your niece. He’s a ruthless man who will do whatever it takes to exact his revenge.”
“I understand.”
“There’s something you should know.” Whitehat’s voice held a warning.
“What’s that?”
“Two professional killers have already attempted to dispatch Cyril. They failed.”
“And they’re dead?” I guessed.
“Yes.”
Closing my eyes, I shook my head, trying to tamp down the wave of hysterical panic rising within me. “Third time will be the charm,” I joked weakly.
“You do have the most to lose,” Whitehat reminded me.
Like I needed her to tell me that.
“I’ll be in touch to give you everything you’ll need,” Whitehat said. She scooped up the flashlight, turned on her heel, and walked toward the back of the house.
Without the beam, the room was darker and creepier. I hightailed it out of there and back to the car.
When I got back to the car, Darlene was gone and Zeke was back in the driver’s seat.
“Party time!” he yelled excitedly.
“Yippee,” I drawled drily. The last thing I wanted to do was party.
“You’ll only make things worse with that attitude,” he lectured as we headed back to the B&B.
“I’m not sure they could get much worse,” I said.
But what did I know?
Chapter 4
Zeke was talking about the party menu and we were less than a mile from home when we were almost run off the road.
The yellow car that sideswiped us came out of nowhere and then slammed into the passenger side of our vehicle. The impact made us bounce and skid.
“What the hell?” Zeke yelled, white-knuckling the steering wheel and fighting for control of the vehicle.
My stomach lurched and I may have screamed as I grabbed the handle over the door, hanging on for dear life.
Metal crunched and screeched as we were rammed again, pushing us over the double yellow line into the path of a gigantic semi-trailer.
“Stop!” I yelled. The command was meant for Zeke, the driver of the truck that was about to pancake us, and the lunatic behind the wheel of the other car.
Zeke slammed on his brakes and we fishtailed wildly as the tires fought for traction.
I knew two things in that moment: I was never going to kill Cyril Redcoat because his man was going to kill us in this car accident, and I was glad that I hadn’t brought God along. Even being annoyed with him, I’d never want him to crash and burn the way I was going to.
But somehow we didn’t flip over and Zeke managed to bring the car to a shuddering stop.
“Thank God,” he murmured.
But we weren’t out of the woods yet. Both the truck and the yellow car were bearing down on us from opposite directions.
“Go! Go! Go!” I yelled.
Zeke gunned the motor, which roared and then spluttered as it stalled out.
I punched the dashboard. “Piece of shit!”
He turned the key, but the engine just whined in protest.
The yellow car was hurtling straight toward us, picking up speed.
“Out!” Zeke yelled. “Out now!”
Fumbling with my seat belt, I barely got it unbuckled and my door unlocked. I half-fell out of the car, one knee hitting the pavement. Struggling to my feet, I limped a few steps away as the yellow car changed course and zoomed away.
Looking over, I got my first look at the driver’s face. He grinned at me maniacally. He wasn’t one of Cyril Redcoat’s men. He was a familiar face, Vinny, Delveccio’s bodyguard.
As he roared away, I slumped against the car. “You okay?” I called out to Zeke.
“I’m a dead man,” he said.
The driver of the truck that had almost flattened us pulled over to the side of the road and jumped out of his rig. “You okay? That guy was nuts!”
I nodded my agreement.
A moment later another car stopped beside us. Another familiar face climbed out, but this one was holding up a badge. “What the hell happened?”
“I saw the whole thing,” the trucker announced. “This crazy s.o.b. in a yellow sedan hit them on purpose.”
“You okay, Maggie?” the man with the badge asked.
I nodded at Detective Brian Griswald, not trusting myself to speak. Had he been tailing me? Had he seen me meet with Ms. Whitehat? Or Darlene? I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and it had nothing to do with the automobile collision.
Another man climbed out of the car, his uncle U.S. Marshal Lawrence Griswald, the man who wanted to marry my Aunt Susan.
“Zeke, you okay?” the older man called out.
“She’s going to kill me,” Zeke groaned.
“Driver was a woman?” Brian asked me.
I shook my head and answered carefully, knowing I didn’t want to reveal that I knew who the driver was. “I don’t think so.”
“Who’s going to kill you?” the older Griswald asked Zeke, hurrying to his side.
“Susan. The cake’s ruined.”
The five of us, including the truck driver, looked in the backseat of my crumpled car, it was coated with icing and cake crumbs.
“I’ll explain it wasn’t your fault,” Aunt Susan’s boyfriend offered.
Zeke nodded gratefully. “I’d really appreciate that.”
While Zeke and I gave our statements to the first patrol officer who arrived on the scene, the Griswalds transferred the food, minus
the cake, from my car to Brian’s.
