He groaned as he rubbed harder and when her pussy radiated heat, he knew it was time. In one swift motion he lifted Nicole until her ass rested against the kitchen table and he managed to undo his jeans. His stiff dick escaped the denim and headed for her slit like a pigeon to its homing. Before she had time to gasp, Jude entered and filled the space. He thrust his hips hard and rocked, each movement sending a rush of intense delight through his body. Each one came stronger and sweeter but his cock ached for release.
As he nailed her on the wooden table where at least three generations of Rykers had dined, Nicole moaned. Her cries fueled his intense need and as he hammered her, he groaned out loud. Each wave of sensual pleasure brought him closer and when it came, the release consumed him with blinding heat and incredible sensations. As he spewed into her, his body bucking in spasms with the force of his orgasm, his legs wobbled, and when he finished, Jude lowered her from the table with his last reserve. Then he collapsed onto the floor, legs spread out, spent but happy.
After he recovered his awareness, he glanced up at Nicole, seated in a chair with her head in her hands. “Honey, was I too rough?” he asked. Worried he might have hurt her, Jude hauled himself up and touched her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Nicole lifted her face and flashed him a radiant smile. “I’m way beyond okay,” she said. “Dear Lord, Jude, I thought you were gonna kill me but I loved it. I’ve never had it so intense or so hard but I’m not complaining.”
Laughter convulsed him, tempered with a flood of emotion. “I’m glad,” he said. “I needed that, honey, so much. Call it stress relief or whatever but it was damn fine for me, too.”
“After that scene at the inn, I needed something myself.”
Jude nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t expect them to be so worked up about you checking out.”
Mary had been at the desk when they entered and she had greeted them with a warm smile. It faded, though, when Nicole told her she would be checking out now. “I’m going to stay with Tania and Elijah to help out,” she had lied. Mary hadn’t believed it and had shouted for Rick, who glowered. By the time Jude helped Nicole tote her suitcases and bags down the stairs, both Cockrells stared with hostile, stone faces, and refused to speak.
Nicole groped for her jeans on the floor. “I know. It went way worse than I thought it would. Mary was really upset.”
He’d thought so, too, but now when he reviewed the experience, Jude changed his opinion. Mary’s flushed cheeks and the glint in her eyes hadn’t been concern, he realized, or moral outrage but open anger. “It made her mad and I’d like to know why. They have plenty of guests so losing one wasn’t going to ruin their profits. I can see why Rick looked so pissed—he’s afraid of getting caught—but not Mary.”
“She must know what he’s doing.”
“Yeah,” he said. There had to be more, he thought, and he’d figure it out. Soon. “I need a shower, then some food. Come with me?”
A slow smile crept across her lips. “If I do, we’ll starve to death,” Nicole told him. “How about you shower, I cook, and then I get a long soak in your big old-fashioned bathtub later?”
The idea appealed. “Sure, honey—if I get to watch.”
Nicole grinned. “You can wash my back.”
Despite the incredible sex, his mind refused to relax in tandem with his body. In the shower, Jude had a revelation somewhere between soaping his torso and shampooing his hair. How did Nicole hear about the inn in the first place? Why did she pick it out of all the places in the Ozarks she might have gone? If she ever mentioned it, he had forgotten. He had no notion why but it seemed important. Jude came close to bolting from the shower naked and wet to ask but decided he could wait.
His kitchen smelled of melting butter and frying beef. The strip steaks proved to be delectable, tender as any he’d had in the finest restaurants. Nicole had tossed together a salad with romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, a purple onion, and fresh mushrooms. The simple vinaigrette dressing complemented the vegetables, and the baked potatoes, laden with butter, filled his empty stomach.
Conversation remained muted and although preoccupied, Jude thought they were in harmony. The quiet spaces between them were easy and comfortable. After he finished his last bite of steak, he asked the question he’d been holding. “Honey, why did you pick Cockrell’s Country Inn? I’m glad you did or I might never have met you, but I wondered what brought you to it instead of someplace else. Most people from far away coming to the Ozarks are drawn to Branson or Eureka Springs or someplace, but you ended up off the beaten path.”
An odd frown darkened her features. “Why, Jude? Does it matter?”
A weird dread crawled along his spine. “It might. I don’t know yet.”
Maybe she saw a website online somewhere. Or her best friend or cousin or neighbor recommended it. I know the inn’s been written up in a lot of places. She could have seen an article about it in the Memphis paper. Jude hoped but he doubted.
Nicole swallowed a bite of steak as if it almost choked her. She laid down her silverware and cleared her throat. “Simon used to come here,” she said. Her voice came out cracked and reedy. “He would have sales reward weekends for his insurance once or twice a year or training sessions. Sometimes he came with friends, supposedly to go fishing, but Simon was no sportsman. I never came but it always sounded like such a beautiful place. I always wished I could but I wasn’t invited. So after the divorce and the hell of the last few years, I decided to come. Since I use my maiden name now, I knew no one would connect me with my ex-husband or Norris Consolidated Insurance Providers.”
His mind began to drop facts in place, one at a time. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
Color faded from her face. “I didn’t know it mattered, Jude. What’s the deal? I don’t understand.”
“I’m wondering if your former husband might have been involved somehow,” he told her. “I know you’re not, honey, so don’t look at me like I’m the big bad wolf. I’ve already figured whoever’s behind this moonshine and meth operation has to be from somewhere else and have money. From what you told me, Simon was all about illegal shit, running scams.”
She nodded. “Yes, he was. He screwed the parent insurance company and did almost everything anyone could imagine. Jude, I swear if he was any part of this, I had no idea. I kept away from his business as much as possible.”
Her agitation concerned him but he took her hands in his. “I believe you, darlin’. I think I’m about to make the breakthrough I’ve been looking for but I need your help. If he was involved, he wouldn’t be the key person behind it. For one, with him in prison, he wouldn’t still be running the show. Some cons do, sure, but he’s not in that kind of league. It would be someone he knows, worked with, ran around with.”
Nicole bit her lip. “He socialized with half of Memphis, Jude. I don’t know.”
His mind raced at breakneck speed. God, he wished he had a profiler around to expedite things. Exhilaration that he might be close to cracking the case warred with distaste that he had to use the woman he loved to gain the information. “It would have to be someone high-profile, a wealthy individual but crooked too. They would live a lavish lifestyle and network everywhere. He or she would probably be the kind of phony person you’d hate, Nicole, because you would see through their bullshit.”
“Simon’s friends were all like that.”
He hated to hammer her but he did. “Who’s the richest? The baddest? The one you hated most?”
When she shut her eyes, he thought she might cry and his guts twisted at the idea. Nicole shed no tears, though. After a few moments, she opened them and met his gaze. “Senator Conrad Bell. He’s a state senator from Tennessee and lives in Memphis. Simon kissed his ass whenever he could and went to parties at his house. He would come home reeking of pot and booze and some cheap perfume. If it’s anyone in Simon’s circle, Jude, it would be him.”
“Do you know if he came to the inn?”
She lif
ted her hands, palms up. “I really don’t know. He might have. I was always so glad to see Simon pack a bag and leave, I didn’t ask many questions.”
“Try to remember, honey. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t so damned important. Think!”
“I’m trying!”
One minute passed, then two, then three. “Jude, I think so,” Nicole said. “He would brag about his trips sometimes. I remember how he talked about the food at the inn, how good it was. He brought home brochures—that’s how I knew it was so pretty here. And I looked up the website after that but never told Simon. But I remember he said something about Conrad getting so drunk he busted an antique table or something, had to pay for it. I’m sure Rick and Mary would remember.”
They would. And if he asked about it now, he might as well pull out his badge and tell them his purpose in coming home. “Now wouldn’t be the best time to ask,” he said. “It might give the whole thing away. I need to see if I can find a connection between this senator and the moonshine.”
Her restless hands fiddled with her almost empty plate and rattled her fork against the knife. “How?”
Jude grunted. “That’s the question and I don’t know yet. I need to go over to Granite Springs Caverns and check it out. That’d be a start.”
“When would you go, Jude?”
“Now,” he told her. “I need to go tonight. If I see any evidence of a liquor or meth-making operation, I can get a warrant. It would be handy if I could find something to link the senator but I don’t know if it’s possible. Maybe I can make Junior sing like a cardinal. If he knows anything, I can make him tell me.”
As he spoke, Jude rose from the table. He reached into a drawer for his gun and shoulder holster. He snapped the holster into place and Nicole gasped. “Jude, don’t go tonight!”
“Why not?”
“It’s dangerous,” she said. “It’s dark. You won’t be able to see anything. Can’t you go tomorrow?”
“No. I gotta do this, honey. It’s my job.”
“I’m afraid,” she said.
“You’ll stay here behind locked doors or I can drop you off at Adam or Noah’s place. Or leave you at the hospital. Someone will be there, I imagine.”
“Jude, you don’t get it.” Nicole crossed the kitchen floor to him and clutched his arms. “I’m scared for you, worried sick out of my mind. Don’t go without some kind of backup.”
His lips stretched into what he hoped might be a smile. “I need evidence for that and I don’t have any yet. Get your shoes so I can drop you somewhere.”
She shook her head. “I’d rather wait here, Jude.”
“Baby, I don’t know.”
Nicole cupped her hand against his cheek. “You’re forgetting I can do more than fry chicken. My Pop taught me how to shoot, too. Give me a gun and I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t get my Glock,” he said. “All I have to leave you with is a single shot .22 that belonged to my granddad.”
“It’ll do.” Her voice never wavered.
“Nicole…”
“If you have to do this, go do it,” she told him. “Then get home in one piece so I can hold you tight.”
Jude’s heart came near bursting. “You’re one hell of a woman, honey,” he said. “I’ll do my best.”
He only hoped his best would be good enough. There was a lot to live for, now.
Five minutes later, dressed in camouflage from head to foot, heavy boots on his feet, and armed, he headed out to the truck. On the way, he called Adam and told him where he was heading and what he meant to do.
“Jesus, kid, you’re taking a risk,” his brother said.
“Don’t start. You sound like Nicole.”
“She’s a smart gal. I hope you have sense not to waltz right up to the front door and barge in. Do you remember the back way?”
“What?”
Adam laughed. “Don’t you remember how we used to sneak along the bluff above the caves there for kicks? And how we found a back door into the place?”
“No.”
“We must have left you home because you were too little, then,” Adam said. “I know Noah and me were there. I think Elijah was, too. I’m going with you.”
“Adam, it’s not a good idea.” The last thing he needed would be to have his brother hurt, or worse.
“I’m coming along to show you the way or I’ll follow. Your call, kid.”
He had him. Adam could track him anywhere, any time. “All right. Meet me at the Sugar Creek Bridge.”
“I’ll be there.”
“And bring a gun, for Christ sake.”
“I always do, little brother.”
The call ended as Jude hurtled the old truck over the winding roads toward his destiny.
Chapter Eighteen
Somewhere during the evening, he had lost track of time. Jude hadn’t bothered to check a clock when he headed out so it could be eight o’clock or midnight. Clouds hung low and heavy in the sky, blocking the stars, so he had no way to judge. If he turned on the radio, he could probably find out but Jude embraced the solitude. As the steel-belted radial tires whined against the pavement and a north wind buffeted the vehicle with strong gusts, he tried to clear his mind. He had to go in with an empty mind and his emotions in check.
Driving too fast, he almost missed the turnoff to the bridge and wheeled down the graveled entrance road with speed. For a moment, he thought Adam hadn’t come but then he saw him, standing against his truck dressed in dark hunting clothes. He blended with the night so much, Jude probably wouldn’t have spotted him if he hadn’t been trained to observe minute details. He parked and walked over, his tread so light he made little sound.
“Adam,” he said.
“Let’s go.” His brother turned and Jude thrust out a hand to stop him.
“We’re walking?”
“Hell, yeah,” Adam replied. “Or did you want to drive up so they know you’re coming?”
Damn, if he’d missed such an obvious detail maybe he wasn’t up for this tonight. “No. How damn far is it?”
“Less than two miles across the country, but it’s a rough walk. Are you in shape, city boy?”
Back in D.C., Jude prided himself on maintaining prime physical condition, but running three miles over urban pavement or using the gym didn’t compare to a night trek over the rugged country. “I hope so.”
“We’ll find out. Follow me.”
His brother set out with swift stealth and Jude followed. The chill wind blasted over them and he shivered, despite the layers he had added beneath the camo. Clouds scudded overhead with the force of it and for one brief moment, the moon emerged with glorious light. It faded fast as they moved through the brush and brambles. There was a narrow path and they kept on it, climbing as they walked. At least, Jude thought, they hadn’t had to cross the river.
Neither man spoke as they moved. A strange sense of past and present blanketed Jude. In following Adam, he hearkened back to the little boy he’d been, one who trailed his older brothers with perfect trust and without question. As Special Agent Ryker, he had become more leader than follower but tonight he didn’t quibble. Adam knew the way and he didn’t.
As they trudged over the hills, Jude inhaled the familiar scent of wood smoke carried on the wind. Although he had steeled himself not to, he thought of Nicole. It comforted him to imagine her sitting near the fire in his mother’s old rocker, reading or staring into the flames. He hadn’t prayed much in years but he did now, a silent plea to the God he no longer knew. Let her be safe, keep her safe and let her be there when I get home, in one piece, if it’s not too much to ask.
They passed along a high ridge overlooking the creek valley spread out below. Yard lights and illuminated windows marked living spaces, but they reminded Jude of the fireflies he once caught on summer evenings. The path narrowed and he noticed one misstep would take him down over the rocks to the forest floor below. He slowed his step but kept up with Adam.
His brother pau
sed and tossed his head. “This way,” he mouthed. Frost formed when he spoke.
They headed downhill on a sharp incline, the trail narrowing until Jude had to turn sideways to pass through. Sheer granite walls rose higher than his head. Adam waited for him, then pointed to a slit in the rock ahead. Jude nodded and when Adam disappeared into it, he followed. Outside he could see a little, but once inside he was blind. Jude ran his hands along the granite and hoped he wouldn’t make a wrong step, then plummet to his death. A pinprick of light appeared ahead.
“Follow me.” Adam’s voice reached him, lower than a whisper.
After a series of narrow corridors and several sharp turns, they came out into a wider space. Jude could see little but he sensed the open air around him. Adam might be a mind reader because he swept the small flashlight around the cavern so Jude could see. When his brother beckoned, he followed again but he wished he could have left behind a trail of pebbles to mark his way. Alone, Jude knew he would never find his way out.
Adam led him toward a larger hallway, the walls solid stone. Somewhere, he caught the sound of voices and inhaled a whiff of tobacco smoke. Another odor rankled, something pungent. It reminded him of ether or harsh ammonia. Meth. The corridor traveled toward a much larger room and if Jude remembered correctly, it had been the work floor when the place had been a leather works. They didn’t enter it, though, but skirted around to a narrower space. Adam ducked into it and Jude followed.
“Look through there,” Adam said.
Jude glanced at the natural opening in the wall, more of a slit than a window. He hunkered down and watched. On one side of the room, he spied what appeared to be a large-scale meth operation and across from it, he noticed multiple stills, all in operation. The combined smell of the cooking brew and the methamphetamine created a nasty stench and he had seen enough. One call to Mark March, and another to Sheriff Cole would shut it down, but first Jude wanted the head honcho’s name. And I think Aunt Tillie’s neighbor is running a meth lab but it’s not part of this mess.
Ryker’s Justice Page 13
