Beside him, Sammy stood frozen. Chase couldn’t imagine the sense of betrayal she must be feeling now.
Bringing her close, he tucked her head under his chin while he gently rubbed her back. She began to shake like someone in shock after an accident. He’d give her time for reality to sink in before they tackled the next hurdle, which was a doozey.
“It’s true, isn’t it?” she said. “My sister stole the ring. She took the insurance money and, two years later, sold it on.” A dry breath hitched in her throat before her chest gave a sound that reminded him of an injured animal. “All those years she lied to me. She wanted me to drop it all now because she didn’t want to be caught.”
She stiffened and then broke away. Her eyes were wide, filled with ghosts and torment. She would have been better off never knowing.
“This is fraud,” she told him as if he didn’t already know. “If anyone found out, she’d go to jail.”
“Let’s not think about that yet. You need to speak to her first. And Rick.”
She doubled over, holding her stomach like she’d gotten a sudden cramp. “You think he put her up to it.” She looked around. “They operated this shop together. I had no idea. None. She had a cafe that sold low-fat pastries.”
“So, she had this on the side.”
He reached out but she jerked away. Screwing her eyes shut, she tried to straighten while holding up her hands.
“I just...can’t believe…” She crouched down and put her chin to her chest. Her words were muffled. “Nothing feels real.”
He knelt beside her. “I’m sorry, Sammy. There’s no way around it. This sucks. I’ll come with you when you speak to her.”
“I don’t need you to do that,” she ground out.
“I think you might. You can’t know what criminals are capable of when they’re cornered.”
He knew, only too well.
She looked as if she wanted to laugh. Wanted to cry. “Are you suggesting my own sister would physically harm me?”
“She’s married to a man who, it would appear, has at least some measure of control over her. Remember they were arguing outside of your old apartment after the robbery. If this went down the way I think it did, she didn’t know that he’d lifted it until after she’d told the authorities.”
A tear trailed down Sammy’s cheek.
“Take me home,” she said, sounding choked. “Tomorrow we’ll get some answers.”
On the drive back, Chase suggested she stay the night at his place. Given the bombshell that had landed in her front yard, he didn’t think she ought to be alone. People were known to do silly things when bad things happened and they didn’t have anyone to talk with or hold on to.
Still, he’d half expected her to say no. Sammy was a determined woman, which was one reason he liked her so much. But she was so distracted and down, she shrugged at his suggestion and then gave a nod. Later, at his place, he went to pour her a stiff drink. When he turned around from the bar near the kitchen, she’d disappeared.
He found her in the living room, studying his stained glass piece. She’d flicked on a single lamp, which recreated her as a misty silhouette. Crossing over, he handed her a glass. She sipped, frowned at the taste and then set the drink down.
“You’re almost finished,” she said in a monotone voice.
Studying the patterns of glass soldered together, he ran a finger over the two pieces he was yet to fit in. One said Chase’s, the other said Place.
“You did a good job,” she said. “You really did.”
Was she talking about the glass or discovering the truth about her ring?
“I tried,” he said. Did my best.
She glanced around the naked beams and hanging electrical wiring. “When do you think you’ll be finished?”
“Maybe six months.”
“Do you think you’ll find another place to fix up?”
“No.”
She nodded. “Sometimes moving on is best.”
“Sometimes…sure.”
“Why did you move on?” She pinned him with a look. “Why did you give up on that part of your life?”
Private investigating?
She’d dug around that subject before: why he’d given up chasing down leads to find answers for people who needed closure. He’d always clammed up when she’d asked. Firstly because he hadn’t known her well enough. And then because it still hurt to remember, let alone talk about.
And yet now, as he recalled how much his life had changed this past year–the club, this house, meeting Sammy and getting the chance to sharpen those old skills again–he knew it was time to unload.
He doubted that confession would make a difference to the depth of anger and guilt he kept bottled up inside. But maybe it would help Sammy give her own dilemma some perspective.
Her sister had betrayed her.
No one had been killed.
“You and I share a link in our pasts,” he began. “You were once friends with David Green. I met his older brother a year ago.”
“You asked about David, whether I knew his brother.”
“Hurly Green. He’s been in trouble his whole life. By the time he reached adulthood, he was not only using, he was cooking. Pushing. Ruining lives. A boy overdosed on a batch of Hurly’s meth. Fourteen years old. A good kid, his parents had thought, destined for a good life.”
Setting his jaw, he picked up the piece of “Place” glass and slotted it into its spot in the almost completed window while Sammy stood silent beside him.
“The boy’s father came to me. Hurly had slipped through the authorities’ radar a few times already. They couldn’t establish a direct link between the dealer and the death. The father wanted me to obtain evidence that would help put that creep away.”
Chase picked up the other piece of glass, balancing it on two fingers.
“In that line of business, whether you’re trying to locate a missing cat or this kind of sick shit, you must always be aware. Be careful. My partner knew that, too.”
“I didn’t know you had a partner.”
“Will and I…” A lump swelled in his throat. “We liked the same sports, shared the same political views. Drank the same beer.”
She held his arm.
“Will liked to work hard, too,” he went on. “We’d put in the hours. Kicked back when it was done. And he was a mean shot. Hit the bull’s eye at practice every damn time. The guy was a freak that way.”
“Where’s Will now?” Sammy asked, but he could tell by the slight tremor in her voice that she knew what was coming.
“This one night, Will wanted to grab a burger at Woody’s,” he went on. “Same place me and the boys like to catch up sometimes. Best burgers in town. Lots of fried onion and homemade sauce. We were both hungry as hell, but I’d got this lead on Hurly. I said we needed to check it out before he got wind of it and cleared out. Will said we ought to wait. I insisted that we move. We had words and I won. I felt responsible to that boy’s parents in a way I’d never felt toward any client before. I couldn’t wait to nail that other son-of-a-bitch.”
He crossed to a dining chair–the only one in the room.
“We’d parked a block away,” he said as he sat and she moved over, too. “We were careful like always, creeping around the back to see what was what. Will rounded the corner first. A shot rang out. I pulled Will back as another shot popped. Then I saw his face...blood leaking from his mouth...” He swallowed against a familiar sour taste. “Will had cried out “Green” before he fell. I’m sure of it.”
She gripped his shoulder. “Oh, Chase. I’m so sorry.”
Chase wiped the damp from his brow. “I didn’t get a clear visual. I thought hard about saying in my deposition that I did. They couldn’t link the bullet to a gun, or Green to the location. He got away with it. Again. When you mentioned his brother’s name in connection to the ring, I saw a chance–a legitimate excuse–to find him and–” He closed his eyes and, groaning, fought against the sp
ike of pure hate. “And I honestly don’t know what.”
Ten minutes later, she and Chase were upstairs, lying on his bed. As she stroked his shoulder and laid soft kisses on his brow, she rehashed in her mind everything she’d learned. Previously she’d wondered why he had never opened up about that part of his life. Feeling responsible for your partner’s death would do it. He was still haunted by the decisions he’d made that night...to go ahead with a plan when it would have been better, would have been safer, to hold off.
Sammy identified a million times over.
No words could describe how she felt about losing her mom. She’d been haunted over losing that ring. And now?
She felt as if she’d lost her sister, too.
That Ann had most likely been “an accomplice after the fact” didn’t make a difference in her mind. Ultimately Ann had stolen from her own flesh and blood and had kept the truth a secret.
Amazingly, Sammy fell asleep quickly. One minute, she was lying pressed against the strong, comforting length of Chase’s body, her cheek resting on a bicep while she imagined Ann’s reaction to being caught out. The next, she was blinking open her eyes; fingers of light were reaching in through the blinds.
For a few blissful seconds, she was only aware of the spectacular heat surrounding her. She felt safe and protected, like having her own private bodyguard could. Then her stomach muscles wrenched and that other awareness seeped back in.
Chase was already awake. When she rolled over to face him, he smiled softly and swept a wave of hair off her cheek.
“You slept like a rock.”
Before she had time to reply, he kissed her–a tender, lingering caress that made the backs of her eyes prickle with emotion. When the kiss slowly broke, he studied her with those sexy, lidded eyes and asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Okay.” She stroked his scratchy jaw. “How about you?”
A line formed between his brows. “I’m okay.” He cupped her cheek and the pad of his thumb drew a line around her chin. “Maybe I should have purged about that night a long time ago.” His smile changed. “Thanks for listening.”
Her throat ached as she smiled. “Thanks for trusting me.”
The light through the blinds seemed to reach his eyes as his expression opened up and he drew her closer. “What do you want to do today?”
Easy. “Lie here with you.”
His throat rumbled as his lips circled over hers. “That can be arranged. Maybe you can help with some renovation work.”
She loved him for trying to distract her. She pretended to judge the room. “Maybe we could slap some paint on these walls. Notch it up on the brightness scale.”
“If you think it needs to be brighter,” he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, “we’ll be brighter.”
The area beneath her ribs constricted and a bigger lump formed in her throat. He was being so sweet. So loving and considerate, she truly didn’t want to get out from under these sheets. She only wanted to stay here like this and pretend nothing else existed.
But she couldn’t.
“I need to see Ann.”
“I know,” he said, looking resigned. “I’m coming with you.”
“You don’t need to do that. Solving the case is enough.”
“This isn’t about the case. It’s about you.”
She felt moisture leak to the corners of her eyes. When her vision blurred and that lump in her throat swelled to the size of a pit, she buried her face in his chest. She hated being fragile, and yet now she couldn’t help but lean in.
Chapter 15
Sammy gave her sister fair warning.
After she and Chase had fortified themselves with coffee and his speciality breakfast–fluffy eggs with sides of crispy bacon–she phoned to let Ann know that she was driving up to see her. They were going to talk.
She wasn’t certain if Ann knew something was up. Sammy heard the difference in her own voice, too. Ann in turn was hesitant in her reply. No invitation for lunch. No offer to stay over for the night. If Ann didn’t know, she at least suspected.
How must it feel to be caught out in such a big lie after all this time?
All the drive up, she and Chase listened to heavy-metal rock. The volume was on the loud side, and that kind of music wasn’t usually her thing. But she liked watching Chase get into it–the way his thumbs played the drums on the wheel, and his teeth held his lower lip at the same time his head punched forward whenever a gutsy guitar solo screamed through the speakers.
She was thankful that he was occupied and she could be left to her thoughts. Maybe that’s why he kept it playing. He knew she needed this time to convince herself that she had no option. She needed to hear the truth. She wouldn’t have to tell her sister how much the discovery had hurt her. She wouldn’t need too many words, period. Ann would see it in her face. In her eyes.
Sammy had no idea how Ann would respond. What would she say? What bothered Sammy even more was not knowing how they could ever get past this.
Around noon, Chase pulled the vehicle into the familiar circular driveway. When they found the door wide open, a chill chased up Sammy’s spine. Urging her to stand behind him, Chase entered the foyer and scanned the scene.
He called out, “Anyone home? Mrs. Hallows? I’m here with your sister, Samantha.”
Sammy stayed close. Was it possible that a gun was peeping around some corner today? She had a feeling that, under his jacket, Chase was packing.
Sammy touched his arm. “I know where she might be.”
He took a hold of her hand as she showed him the way through the showcase house and out onto the back veranda. Sure enough, with a relaxed air, Ann was pruning her prize pomegranates. When her sister turned to her visitors, however, Sammy saw the glint of apprehension in her eyes.
Barely missing a beat, Ann came forward. “You’ve brought a guest.”
“This is Chase Wild.” Sammy said. “The man who’s been helping me.”
“With your investigation into the disappearance of the ring.” Ann offered a thin smile and offered her hand. “Sammy says you’re good.”
“We seem to have got to the heart of it,” he replied.
When he withdrew his hand, Ann’s hovered mid-air before her smile tacked up and she brushed a kiss on Sammy’s cheek. “Anyone care for something to drink? Coffee? I have a new machine. You preset your favorite with a fingerprint. With your background, that might interest you, Mr. Wild.”
Chase grinned at the joke but knocked back the offer while Sammy willed the nerves to stop jitterbugging in her stomach. Best to spit it out.
“Why did you do it, Ann? How could you lie to me all these years?”
Ann’s head went back before a perfectly manicured eyebrow lifted and that thin smile returned. She looked Chase up and down. “You are good.”
“You stole the ring,” Sammy went on, struggling to keep her voice steady. “You stole it from me. And then you took the insurance money. That’s fraud, Ann. And all those lectures about needing to keep on the straight and narrow.” She felt her lip curl. “I looked up to you.”
Ann’s face was tight. A pulse was popping at the side of her neck. Sammy saw her sister’s throat convulse twice before she managed a reply.
“I didn’t mean for it to turn out like that.”
When Chase turned around, Sammy realized that someone had joined them.
Rick was edging out onto the veranda, his expression guarded, thinning hair lifting on a valley breeze. His eyes shifted between the three. “Everyone looks so serious.”
Ann stepped in. “She knows.”
Rick’s complexion paled. He pulled out a chair and plonked down.
“We tracked down your shop,” Chase said to Ann. “The drawers weren’t cleaned out properly.”
“It was a legitimate business,” Rick said.
“Which you used to palm off the ring,” Chase added.
“I hadn’t planned it that way,” Ann said.
“Then te
ll us,” Sammy ground out. “How exactly did you plan it?”
Her sister withered into a chair, too. “You didn’t know, but after Mom died I got behind on rent. I borrowed to pay the funeral expenses. You were so distant and angry. I was worried you might drop out of school.”
“So, you set up the fraud,” Chase supplied.
“I began packing,” Ann said, “and searching for affordable accommodation.”
“I told Ann,” Rick cut in, “that she could move in with me. Sammy, too, of course. It wasn’t a palace but I couldn’t see another way.”
Sammy snapped. “Bullshit you couldn’t see another way.”
Ann’s arm shot out, trying to calm her. “This isn’t Rick’s fault,” she said. “At the beginning, it wasn’t anybody’s fault.”
“Stop lying,” Sammy groaned, holding her roiling stomach. “It’s too late for that.”
“I packed up my stuff,” Ann went on. “I was trying to find a way to tell you that we needed to move. I knew you didn’t like Rick.” Ann’s eyes glistened. “I’d just wished that Mom was still around. I was twenty-one but it was hard, Sammy. So very hard for me to know what to do.”
“It was hard on me too.” When Sammy’s voice cracked, she swallowed and toned it down. Yelling wouldn’t do any good. “Mom would never have wanted us to break the law.”
Ann took a deep breath. “Sammy, I lost the ring. When I was packing, I thought I’d put it in a safe place, hidden among some books. But when I took those boxes to Rick’s, I couldn’t find it. I searched and searched. I couldn’t believe it.”
“She told me,” Rick said, sitting back, still looking white. “We searched together. Everywhere. At my place and hers.”
“I went to the authorities,” Ann said. “I told them it must have been stolen. I told them everything. I honestly believed it was taken from our apartment. The insurance company believed that, too, because they paid out.”
Sammy wanted to shake her. “But it wasn’t stolen. You sold it two years later.”
Ann nodded. “You’re right. It wasn’t stolen. I found it at the apartment a week later. Suddenly it appeared in a nook in my bedroom. I remember thinking Mom had brought it back. That she might have taken it in the first place...”
Wild About The Bodyguard Page 11
