“I am going to fight,” Mandy said. “I’m just kind of … weak. I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing,” James said. “You’ll feel better when you eat.”
“And take a nap,” Sophie said. “Those circles under your eyes are frightening.”
“Thank you, Sophie,” James said, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry. She doesn’t look like she’s slept in days.”
“I already told you we had a long night,” James said. “We’re going straight to bed when we get home.”
“To sleep, right?” Grady asked.
“Of course.”
“Yeah, well, I know what you did in the shower while I was downstairs making breakfast for you, so don’t act scandalized when I question your story.”
“Young people make me feel old sometimes,” Peter said, snickering. “Go back to Madeline. Did any of these men she stalked have wives they were trying to keep affairs from?”
“Three of them were married and we’re checking the dates to see what kind of overlap we’re dealing with,” Grady said. “My guess is her enemy list was long and varied.”
“That means the key is finding the overlap with you,” Peter said, turning to James. “Whoever did this knows that Madeline was fixated on you. They were either following her or paying someone else to do it.
“They knew about the argument in the restaurant, and I’m sure that’s going to come up when the detective questions Mandy again,” he continued. “John has been instructed to drop everything should you call. Mandy will be dragged in again for questioning. Don’t let her say a word. The sheriff’s department has nothing but a body and the tip itself is enough for reasonable doubt.”
“If they take me in for questioning, will they arrest me right away?” Mandy asked.
“I don’t know,” Peter said. “We’ll have to keep our ears to the ground. I have … friends … in the sheriff’s department. If an arrest is forthcoming, we should hear about it in plenty of time to get you out of the area. James, I will have the paperwork you requested ready tomorrow morning for immediate departure should it become necessary.”
“Thank you,” James said. “I’m really hoping it doesn’t become necessary, but if it does I’m not risking Mandy being taken into custody. If that happens, I’m going to have to figure out a way to nab her between the jail and the courthouse and that’s going to get messy because I’m going to have to take out armed guards to get to her.”
Mandy’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“That’s right, wife,” James said. “Even if you somehow think you’re doing the brave thing and let the police take you, I will find a way to get you and then I’m going to be a bigger fugitive than you are. No funny business.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I will do whatever it takes to keep you,” James shot back. “I’m not joking. You loved that house on the beach we stayed at during our honeymoon. I’ve already got feelers out for something similar should we have to run.”
“I’m ruining everyone’s lives,” Mandy said, her eyes clouding.
“You’ve made all of our lives better,” James said. “I won’t let anyone railroad you and while this is our home, we can make a new one if it comes down to it. I can’t get a new you.”
“Okay, you’re officially sweet again,” Sophie said, smiling as James hugged Mandy. “I’ve always thought it would be cool to live on an island. This could be fun.”
MANDY found James sitting on the couch in the living room shortly before ten. They’d napped most of the afternoon away and then ordered takeout. She hadn’t seen him in almost an hour when she went looking for him.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding a movie for us to watch,” James replied, patting his lap. “Grab the blanket from the end of the couch and come over here.”
Mandy did as instructed, sliding into the open spot next to James and yelping when he slipped his arm under her legs and tugged her onto his lap.
“I need to touch you,” James said. “Before your mind runs away with you, I don’t need to touch you because I think I’m going to run out of chances. I need to touch you to make up for last night – and I’m still sorry about what I said and did, so if you want a present now would be the time to put a request in for something big.”
“I just want you.”
“Oh, baby, you will always have me,” James said, snuggling Mandy close. They were almost settled when James pushed her up. “Take your shirt off.”
“Again?”
James chuckled. “No. I like to feel your skin against mine. You’re warm and snuggly and I prefer to feel your skin instead of a T-shirt.”
Mandy shrugged and did as she was told, settling back against James and resting her head on his chest as he tucked the blanket around them. “What are we watching?”
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
“That’s a new viewing choice,” Mandy said. “I love that movie.”
“I thought it would be a nice change of pace,” James said, rubbing Mandy’s back. “How are you feeling? You ate three bowls of that soup Peter sent back with us and a lot of bread for dinner. I was worried you might get sick, but you seem okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“How are you really?”
“I had a voicemail message on my phone,” Mandy said, the words seemingly difficult for her to utter. “It was Judge MacIntosh. He said I can’t come back to work until I’ve been cleared. He tried to pretend it was a good thing, but I could tell he was upset.”
“Do you want to go back to work?”
“No. I don’t like the option being taken away from me, though.”
“I understand that,” James said. “I don’t blame you. We’re going to get through this. In a few days we’re going to have a naked Sunday, and in addition to all the sex you’ve gotten used to – and addicted to, I might add – we’re also going to paint your mural. The bad things will be behind us and you’ll be able to paint scenes of … well … a shark eating people, but that’s beside the point. We’re going to make an entire day of it.”
“We are?”
“We are,” James confirmed. “We have miles of memories ahead of us, baby. Please don’t let what’s happening get you down.”
“I’ll do my best,” Mandy said. “Now turn the movie on. If you’re lucky I’ll let you play with my coconuts once it’s over with.”
“That’s my baby,” James said, kissing her cheek. “If you’re good I’ll play a rabid bunny instead of shark tonight.”
“And people worry we’re not adventurous.”
“No one worries about that, baby,” James argued. “I’m a sex god.”
“Oh, good grief. Start the movie.”
18
Eighteen
“Okay, we’ve got a lot of background here so everyone needs to get comfortable,” Grady said the next morning, tossing a heap of files onto the dining room table and glancing at the assembled faces. “Mandy and James should not get comfortable because I cannot watch them pet each other for three hours straight.”
“Mind your own business,” James ordered, refusing to remove his hand from the back of Mandy’s head. “We’re not doing anything.”
“Yet,” Grady said. “You’re not doing anything yet. We all know that will change when your hands decide to wander and Mandy does that breathy whispering thing she thinks no one notices.”
“I don’t get breathy,” Mandy shot back, offended. “That’s like a stripper thing or something, isn’t it?”
“Don’t look at me,” James said, trying to hide his smirk and failing miserably. “I’ve never been around a stripper so I have no idea what one would sound like.”
Finn barked out a laugh as Jake rolled his eyes.
“That is the biggest pile of crap I’ve heard in my entire life,” Grady said. “Mandy doesn’t care if you’ve hung around with strippers.”
“James was a virgin when we met the second time,�
�� Mandy supplied, her eyes twinkling. “He told me so and I believe him.”
James wasn’t thrilled with the “virgin” reference, but she was so perky this morning he was willing to put up with an endless stream of ribbing to keep her happy. “I was a virgin at that point in time. There’s no doubt about that.”
“So … what … he was a virgin the second time you met him but not the first?” Grady challenged. “You know he slept with at least three girls in high school, right? Do you want to know how I know that? We shared a room in the old house.”
James scowled. “Why? Why do you have to bring things like that up?”
“Because you two need shaking up occasionally,” Grady replied, unperturbed. “Mandy knows darned well you weren’t a virgin. For the record, Mandy wasn’t a virgin when you got together either.”
“Now I’m going to have to beat you,” James said. “I’d start running now.”
“We’ll play that game during our lunch break,” Grady said. “We have a lot of information to go through and I think Jake should start.”
“What does Jake have?” James asked, intrigued.
“I have the first eighteen years of her life, and there’s some interesting stuff here,” Jake said. “First off, Madeline Stokes lied about her age. She was actually thirty-three, not thirty.”
“You were dating an older woman,” Finn said, making a face. “Gross.”
“Yes, we all know I do better when they’re younger,” James said, tweaking Mandy’s nose. “Not that I don’t find that tidbit fascinating – and I’m actually sad I didn’t know about it because it would’ve made it easier messing with Madeline on that last day – but what does that have to do with the bigger picture?”
“I’m getting to it,” Jake said. “Don’t ruin my moment.”
“I’m sorry,” James said, holding his hands up. “I would hate to ruin your moment.”
“You’ve been spending way too much time with Ally,” Grady said. “She did that ‘don’t ruin my moment’ thing all the time when she was a teenager. In fact, Mandy picked it up there for a few months, too.”
“Somehow Ally could always pull it off and I couldn’t,” Mandy lamented. “Ah, well. Jake is kind of cute. He’s starting to look more and more like Ally. He’s like one of those dogs who starts resembling his owner that people post photos of on Facebook.”
“Are you guys finished messing with me?” Jake asked, his eyes flashing.
“We are,” James said. “What do you have?”
“Madeline Stokes is not a real person,” Jake said. “She goes back fifteen years and that’s why she didn’t trip any immediate alarms, but she was born Marilyn Sennet. She lived with her parents in Pleasant Ridge – and they were quite affluent – until the mother emptied out the family bank accounts and took off with a local contractor when Marilyn was fourteen.”
“Nice,” Finn said. “I love it when the rich prove they can do something white trashy like the rest of us.”
“The mother cleaned the father out and he lost the Pleasant Ridge home and moved Marilyn to Royal Oak Township,” Jake said.
“That’s quite the drop in status,” Mandy said. “I’ll bet that was hard on Marilyn because she hung around with affluent white kids and then suddenly found herself living with poor black kids. She probably had issues fitting in with both groups.”
“Right you are, Miss Mandy,” Jake said, causing Mandy and James to exchange an amused look. That was something Ally would’ve said, too. “Marilyn got in quite a few fights and graduated by the skin of her teeth. With no money in the family coffers she had to get a job as a waitress and work her way through community college.”
“She said she went to school to get a business degree,” James interjected.
“Yeah, she went to school to be an actress,” Jake said. “She took every acting class Oakland Community College offered and then dropped out after two years.”
“I’m guessing she took the acting classes because she already knew she wanted to play a part,” Finn said.
“She started the paperwork to change her name the second she turned eighteen,” Jake said. “She became Madeline Stokes right around the time she started attending college. Marilyn was never heard from again. Well, kind of.
“After leaving college Madeline got a job in a law office answering phones,” Jake continued. “There’s not a lot of information to go on during that time period, but a police report was filed against her three months after she started because apparently she slept with her boss and then refused to leave him alone. The reason we didn’t find the restraining order right away is because the court clerk made an error and filed it under Marilyn’s name.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” James said.
“After that Marilyn bounced around in various secretarial jobs,” Jake said. “She lasted about three months in each one … sometimes four if she was lucky … and then moved on to the next one.”
“She slept with someone in the office at every job and then lost it at her three-month mark and had to find another place to hunt for a man,” Grady surmised. “What a whackjob. You sure know how to pick them, James.”
James frowned as Mandy lowered her gaze. “Really?”
“I was talking about your choices before Mandy,” Grady soothed. “Calm down. We all know Mandy is the cream of the James Hardy love crop.”
“I’m seriously going to beat you,” James muttered.
Mandy reached over and squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. I like being the cream of the James Hardy love crop.”
“You’re going to be the cream of … huh. That was going to go to a filthy place even I was uncomfortable with.” James rubbed the back of his neck while everyone else laughed. “Go back to your story while I think of something sexy to say, Jake.”
“Oh, good, they’re already getting to the sexy talk,” Grady muttered.
“I’m going to get to the brother beating if you’re not careful.”
“Promises, promises,” Grady teased, enjoying his role as group entertainer for the afternoon. “Please continue, Jake.”
“Madeline managed to have eight restraining orders put on her by the time she met James,” Jake said. “He lasted the longest of any of her relationships.”
“Congratulations, man,” Grady deadpanned. “You’re an idiot.”
“Now I’m going to thump you, Grady,” Mandy warned.
“When James broke up with Madeline she seriously flipped her lid,” Jake said. “She stalked him to the point where he filed a restraining order. I pulled the order because I was curious, and you’ve been holding out on us, my friend.”
Mandy shifted her eyes to James as he blushed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to worry or get territorial,” James said, brushing Mandy’s hair away from her face. “Well, to be fair, the territorial thing probably would’ve turned me on. I didn’t want you to worry, though. I honestly thought she was over being psychotic.”
“For those who are curious, Madeline slashed James’ tires, broke the mirror off his truck, and showed up at his neighbor’s front door – naked, I might add – and smacked him across the face when he told her she had the wrong apartment.”
“Holy crap,” Mandy said, dumbfounded. “I can’t believe you dated her.”
“Yes, well, that was during a dark time of my life,” James said. “I had no light. Then you came along and all I had was light.”
“Oh.” Mandy leaned over and kissed him.
“Nice save, man,” Jake said.
“I do my best.” James’ grin was sly. “What did she do after I filed the restraining order?”
“I’m not done recounting all the crazy things she did to you yet,” Jake answered. “She also poured fake blood on the cement close to his truck and called the police to report a hit-and-run and she interrupted a date James was on in an Italian restaurant and dumped a dish all over James’ date. This was after she announced she was pregnant and James was
shirking his responsibilities as a father.”
“Seriously?” Mandy arched an eyebrow. “What were you thinking?”
“I didn’t remember a lot of this stuff until Jake reminded me,” James admitted. “When you string it all together like this, it really does sound bad.”
“It sounds crazy,” Grady corrected. “She sounds crazy.”
“She also put an ad in the newspaper – Sophie’s newspaper, for those who like details – announcing the birth of her son with James,” Jake added. “She then used the birth announcement to file a claim for child support, but since she couldn’t produce an actual kid that suit was thrown out of court on the first day.”
Mandy widened her eyes and made an exaggerated face. “Are you kidding me?”
“See, your little meltdowns don’t look so bad now, do they?” James teased, although he was mildly embarrassed. “Seriously. I’m relieved Mandy found me and took dating decisions out of my hands. I think I might’ve been stupid or something.”
“Or something,” Grady said.
“After James, Madeline fell off the map for a year,” Jake said. “I can’t find any record of her and that disturbs me. Maverick claims he has a program that can check private mental health care records and he’s running it against both names this afternoon.”
“Do you think she checked into a crazy house?” Grady asked.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to call it that,” Mandy chided.
“You know what I mean,” Grady said.
“I think it’s an option,” Jake said. “If she wasn’t locked up, where was she for a year?”
“What did she do when she showed back up?” James asked.
“She took a job as a secretary.”
“That makes absolutely no sense,” Finn said. “How does a secretary afford to start a day spa?”
“Oh, yes, I forgot that part of the story,” Jake said, flipping backward in his file. “Two months after Madeline Stokes showed back up so did the mother who took the family fortune and abandoned her when she was a teenager.”
“That’s where she got the money,” James said. “Where is the mother now?”
Deadly Rivalry (Hardy Brothers Security Book 17) Page 14
