Thorns of the Past

by Gun Brooke

  Darcy had woken with her heart pounding so hard and fast, she was sure she would be sick. She sipped from the water bottle she had placed on the nightstand, but her throat was still dry, which meant she had most likely been gasping for air. Whenever she stayed over at Meghan’s place, her cousin would come to soothe her if the nightmares caused her agony.

  A muted thump made Darcy go rigid. Raising her head from the pillow, she sharpened her hearing even more. Was it one of the boys needing the bathroom? Or Dan or Lorna getting something in the middle of the night? She wasn’t sure why she doubted the most likely causes, but she did. Was she perhaps becoming paranoid after hearing about everything that had happened to Sabrina? And worse, had they brought danger to Mattley and Sabrina’s brother’s family by visiting? Darcy began to fear they had made a mistake.

  Carefully she slid out of bed, pulling her Glock from the top shelf in the open closet. She’d placed it there, together with a small Maglite, between some of her T-shirts to keep it away from curious kids and still be within reach. Now she flipped the safety switch and held it along her side, her index finger straight, next to the trigger. She held the Maglite in her left hand but kept it switched off for now.

  The hallway on the second floor was faintly lit by night lights along the perimeter. Darcy tiptoed, not wanting to disturb anyone while she made sure everything was all right. The staircase located at the center of the house led down into the foyer, where two wall lamps spread a muted glow. Leaning over the banister, Darcy listened intently. She couldn’t hear anything but her own breathing and her slightly elevated heart rate. Pulling back, she had begun walking back to the guest room when a new sound reached her. She stopped and held her breath. As far as she knew, the Hawks didn’t have any pets. During the barbecue the boys had been talking about wanting a dog or a cat, but apparently Lorna was allergic to anything furry.

  A hand on her shoulder made Darcy jump, and she slid her index finger onto the trigger as she turned around, raising the weapon.

  “Darcy, it’s me!” Sabrina whispered, her eyes huge in her oval face. “What’s going on?”

  “Shh.” Slipping her finger into the safety position, Darcy drew a deep breath and let it out between her lips in a controlled, soundless way. “I heard something.”

  “Downstairs?” Sabrina mouthed and pointed toward the stairs.

  “Yes. At least the last noise came from there.”

  “Oh, God.” Swallowing visibly, Sabrina pulled her silk robe closer around her, as if that would keep her safe. “It can be Lorna or Dan. Or even one of the twins.”

  “I know.” Darcy placed her free hand briefly on Sabrina’s arm. “Go back to the guest room and lock the door. Make sure you have your cell phone. If it is intruders, they will have cut the landlines and it won’t—” The house went completely dark and eerily quiet as the air conditioner grew silent.

  “Oh, no.” Sabrina gripped Darcy’s arm with both hands.

  “Go get your cell phone. Wake up Dan and Lorna. Get the boys. Barricade yourselves in their bathroom,” Darcy whispered in a staccato voice.

  “What about you?” Sabrina kept her voice barely audible and tightened her grip of Darcy’s arm. Her hands were ice-cold and she was trembling.

  “Do as I say. Then call the police. Don’t let your dislike for the force cloud your judgement. Call Karimi. He has a unit close by.” Darcy freed herself. “Go on. Hurry.” To her relief, Sabrina nodded and ran on bare feet back to the guest room.

  With no time to lose, Darcy was glad she wore a long, dark-gray T-shirt, as it made her part of the shadows cast by the moon into the dark rooms. Having memorized the layout of the house, she moved to the stairs and began a cautious descent. Above her, she heard muted voices, first just the adults, but then sleepy children, which meant Sabrina had followed Darcy’s order.

  A cold gush of air ran along Darcy’s naked feet. She kept a balanced grip on her Glock, readying herself to raise it again in the practiced maneuver that was part of her weapons’ training.

  The foyer was quiet, and the door was closed and locked. Darcy moved stealthily toward the family room to the left of the foyer, judging that the cool night air came from that end. Cursing inwardly at how the porch outside the windows restricted the amount of moonlight seeping in through the windows, she slipped into the family room, keeping to the inner, darker part of the room as she kept sweeping soundlessly. Even if the moonlight wasn’t as bright in here, she didn’t want any possible intruders to see her silhouette against the windows. Darcy crouched slightly and kept her Glock at eye level. The draft came from the kitchen area, which was entirely possible, as it had a door toward the west side of the garden. If someone had sneaked in, that would be a good strategic entry point.

  Darcy kept moving toward the kitchen, growing colder with each passing moment, which made her think the door must be wide open for it to be so cold. Why had the Hawks’ alarm system failed them? The power had still been on when Darcy got up to investigate the first sound. Had the invaders managed to get inside and then cut the power to the system before any of it gave so much as a peep? From the briefing Karimi had provided, she’d learned his company wasn’t responsible for Dan and Lorna’s alarm system. It was a solid product, not silent, which meant someone had disabled it instantly. Definitely a pro.

  The door to the garden was open. Someone had placed a kitchen chair in the entrance to keep it from closing, and mud and grass stuck to Darcy’s bare feet as she searched the room. Biting her lower lip, she pulled open the pantry door. It was empty, and she sighed quietly in relief.

  A hard hand shoved her forward and sent her farther into the pantry, and she slammed hard into a shelf loaded with canned goods. Training kept her holding onto her weapon as she pushed herself up with her other hand. She raised her gun and squinted into the kitchen, where shadows seemed to move as the moon shone through the branches of the trees outside and confused her.

  “Damn it,” she whispered to herself. Angry now, she shot out of the pantry, ready to fight any intruder, but the kitchen was empty. Hurrying to the door, Darcy moved on quick feet down the four steps to the flagstone path. An engine roared, and she saw a shadow move with incredible speed down the road away from the house and then across a field farther down. Astonished, it took her a while to realize the intruder must have access to an off-road bike.

  Darcy was quite certain it had been one single intruder but still began searching throughout the house, having covered the entire first floor when flickering blue lights and sirens approached. Hurrying upstairs, Darcy knocked on Dan and Lorna’s bedroom door and let them know everything was all right and that the police were coming up the driveway.

  The door opened and Dan poked his head out. “What the fu—what the hell’s going on?” He held a sleeping twin against his shoulder and was dressed in a dark-blue terry-cloth robe. “You okay, Darcy?”

  “I’m fine.” She was, but she was also cold to the bone. “I’m going to grab some more clothes. The kitchen is pretty cold since the guy left the kitchen door open.” She hurried toward the guest room and was in the process of pulling on some socks when Sabrina came in.

  “Thank God you’re all right. Are they gone?”

  “I think it was only the one. Drove away on an off-road bike. I have to talk to the police and point them in the right direction.”

  “You’re shivering. Here.” Sabrina pulled a cardigan from the closet. “This’ll keep you warm.”

  “No, I’m…” Darcy was about to decline, but the soft warmth of the sweater was too tempting. She pulled it on, and Sabrina’s scent immediately engulfed her, sweet and fresh at the same time. Why this felt so comforting and added to the actual warmth of the material she would have to figure out later.

  * * *

  Sabrina stood between her brother and Darcy as the officers responding to the 911 call took notes of what had happened. Lorna was upstairs trying to put the boys back to sleep, and in the meantime, Dan had managed to get
the power back on. Sabrina could sense her brother’s confusion and knew she’d made a huge mistake by not telling him and Lorna of the threat against her. Now the police also would know about the home-invasion attempt at the beach house—as would Dan—and she could only guess how that would all play out.

  “And your role in this, Ms. Flynn?” the older of the two police officers, Powers, asked and moved his focus to Darcy.

  “I heard several noises and went out into the hallway to investigate. I brought my gun, which I have a permit for, and that’s when I noticed cold air coming from below. Sabrina woke up and came after me, but I needed her to keep the rest of her family safe. I also told her to dial 911 and for them to barricade themselves in.” Darcy gave her report rapidly.

  “And you, alone, went downstairs to take on a potentially dangerous individual?” Powers sounded doubtful, and who could blame him? Darcy looked pale and cold where she stood with the sleeves of Sabrina’s cardigan pulled over her hands.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “You could’ve been harmed.” The younger police officer shook his head. “Civilians shouldn’t meddle in police business—”

  “I used to be a cop.” The words hung in the air, and at first, Sabrina chalked it up to Darcy misspeaking. Then a lot of little things fell into place, and Sabrina knew it was true. Darcy was an ex-cop and had for some reason not bothered to let that little tidbit slip.

  “Really?” Powers regarded Darcy with skepticism. “Where?”

  “East Quay. First precinct.” Darcy spoke with pale lips.

  “And your last name is Flynn?” Powers looked at his younger colleague. “Darcy Flynn. Remember that, Ryder?” He pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side as he scrutinized Darcy. “You left a few years ago, didn’t you? After that shooting?”

  “Yes. I did.” Darcy didn’t take her eyes off the officers. “Please. This has nothing to do with what’s going on here.” She pointed toward the kitchen. “After I searched the ground floor, I opened the pantry…he must’ve been right behind me. He pushed me into the shelves and ran out the open kitchen door. I heard him gun his engine, and he disappeared down the road leading up to the house and across the fields toward the main road due southeast.” Sounding out of breath, Darcy still stood straight, her chin raised as if she dared someone to take a swing at her.

  “I see. All right. Did you get a good look at his face?” Powers scratched his hairline on his forehead with the back of his pen.

  “No. It was dark, and I think he might have worn a black baseball cap. I can’t say for sure whether he had on a mask.” Darcy glanced at Sabrina, who was still reeling from the shock that Darcy had lied to her. Lied by omission, but just the same…Darcy now personified everything Sabrina already knew about law-enforcement officers. She couldn’t trust any of them.

  “Sabrina?” Dan turned to her, his face tense. “What the hell…What the hell’s going on? Does this break-in really have something to do with you, sis?” Paling further, he pushed both hands through his hair, which was already disheveled.

  Of course. Here it was again. It was her fault. Bile threatened to rise through Sabrina’s throat. Back in college, she had heard similar words so many times, though admittedly never from Dan. He was normally always on her side. But he had no reason to side with her now. She had brought danger to his house, to his wife and kids. Unforgivable. She wound her arms around herself, torn between the past and the present. Back then, she’d been innocent, but very few had cared. Now, she wasn’t, not when it came to jeopardizing her brother’s safety.

  “Sabrina has a stalker,” Darcy said, her voice clear. “Karimi Security and the private-investigation firm I work for are working to help solve the problem from our end.”

  “Have you reported this to the police, Ms. Hawk?” Powers asked.

  “A break-in at the office, yes. The men that showed up at my beach house, no. They didn’t manage to enter—”

  “Because your house is a freaking fortress compared to mine,” Dan said, raising his voice. “You come here, knowing some guy’s after you, and you don’t tell me? What were you thinking? And who the hell is this guy coming after you? Are you doing taxes for the goddamn mob or something?” Flinging his hands in the air and then pushing his fingers through his hair, Dan literally growled.

  “No. No, of course not.” Furious at how weak her voice sounded, Sabrina tried to swallow the lump that made her sound like the twenty-year-old girl she used to be trying to explain to the campus police and the dean what had taken place among the dunes.

  “Sabrina has done nothing to bring this on herself, Daniel.” Darcy appeared between them, staring at Dan and sounding in equal parts understanding and warning. “She brought me along to keep herself safe, and you too, of course. Sabrina was so glad to finally visit, and she needed to get away from both of her two homes. It seemed like a good idea, but you’re right. You should have been informed.”

  “Fuck.” Dan tugged at his hair again.

  “We will be reporting this to our commanding officer and sending a copy of the report to your old precinct, Ms. Flynn. You, if anyone, should’ve known better than to hide anything from the police that can help them solve a case.”

  “I hired her. I forbade it.” Sabrina wasn’t sure why she tried to set the record straight. Perhaps because Darcy had just stood up for her against her own brother.

  More cars came up the driveway, making Sabrina jump, and Dan ran to the window.

  “Who the hell is that?” Dan asked nobody in particular. “Wait. It’s that guy you use. Karimi.”

  Powers looked out the window. “Yeah, and our crime-scene investigator. We’ll secure whatever tracks the dirt bike left behind and potential prints and trace evidence from the kitchen area in particular.”

  Sabrina tuned him out as he went into more detail about what was going to happen next. She couldn’t deal with it and was getting desperate for some privacy—if only for a moment.

  “Sabrina,” Lorna said from behind. “You’re about to fall down. Come with me. You too, Darcy.” She took them both with her to the formal dining room. “Sit here, and I’ll check with the cops to see if I can give you some juice from the kitchen. Can’t have you faint on me.”

  “The boys?” Sabrina had to clear her throat twice to get the two words out.

  “They’re asleep again. I dug out the old electronic baby monitor and put it between their beds. I’ll hear if they wake up.” Lorna smiled faintly and patted the device she had hooked to her belt. She then left, and Sabrina had no idea what to say to Darcy. She felt like such a fool for being so trusting, which went against the grain. Normally she would have Googled Darcy on day one, but she had felt a connection and had trusted the woman.

  A small internal voice pointed out she was throwing rocks inside glass houses. She hadn’t told her brother what had been going on for the last three weeks, and she had put him and his family in danger by coming here.

  “I know you hate that I didn’t tell you I was a cop for five years.” Darcy sounded calm, but she didn’t sound okay. Sabrina glanced over at her and saw that Darcy looked ashen. Her lips were pale, and her normally sparkling eyes now appeared to be a dull brown. “I’m really sorry. I should have leveled with you.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Sabrina winced at how harsh her words came out.

  “You really needed someone to help you, and since it was rather clear that you dislike cops, I was afraid to tell you. I figured I could at least help you until someone else showed up. I should have referred you back to Karimi—especially when you asked me to come to your condo. You were so traumatized after the home-invasion attempt, even if you would never admit it, and perhaps this is conceited on my end, but I felt I could truly do some good. Also, while I’m confessing my sins here, I might as well tell you there was a personal component in it for me. I really like you.”

  “I wish you’d told me to go with one of Karimi’s people instead.” Unable to remain sitting down, Sabri
na stood and walked over to the window. It was still dark outside, and all she could see was her own reflection. “I don’t see any of your reasons to lie as legitimate.”

  “You shouldn’t stand by the window with the curtains open like that,” Darcy said, her voice thick.

  “Oh, please. You don’t have to do this “oh, but you needed help” act.” Refusing to turn around, Sabrina pressed her palms against the cool surface.

  “Actually, Sabrina. Darcy is correct. You’re a sitting duck doing that,” a familiar male voice said.

  “Karimi!” Sabrina pivoted, watching the handsome, dark-haired man standing just behind Darcy, who was still sitting. “How the hell did you get here so fast?”

  “You’re not the only one with relatives in Mattley.” Karimi motioned for Sabrina to retake her seat, and then he sat down next to Darcy. “My brother has a house on the other side of the village, by the golf course. I came for a friendly tournament between brothers. Actually, I decided to be nearby when Darcy called to have me brief her. I’m as much at fault for not assessing the threat properly as she is.”

  “I see.” Sabrina’s nerves weren’t cooperating. She kept opening and closing the button on her shirt sleeve over and over. “Sorry to interrupt your sleep.”

  “Sabrina…” Karimi stopped her frantic actions by placing a hand on hers. “I’ve spoken to the police. They don’t need anything more from you tonight. I’m going to hand over what you’ve shared with me, with your blessing, so they can update their information.”

  “Meghan is working on some stuff that can be of interest too,” Darcy said, sounding less stricken now.

  “Have her forward her findings to me, please.” Karimi flashed a smile toward Darcy.