Sophia’s jaw hardened. “I can’t believe she helped him.” Having Lynda, a woman who worked for the police department, be the variable no one had expected, had been a smart move. She knew the case’s progress and where Sophia had been at all times. Not to mention, no one had suspected her.
“After Nathanial took Amanda out, Lynda finally showed herself. She told me that it was nothing personal—Nathanial had just given her a lot of money. He promised her that no one would ever know she had helped him.”
“Then why did she let us see that she was in on it? Didn’t she know that you and Cara would tell everyone about her?”
“She probably thought you were as good as dead.” Lisa paused, not liking those words. “And apparently Nathanial promised that he had left me dead in the upstairs room at Richard’s and also would finish off any other loose ends, which I assume meant Cara. Lynda woke up an hour ago in handcuffs.” Sophia couldn’t deny that seeing Lynda in handcuffs would make her happy.
“I still can’t believe any of this happened,” Sophia breathed. Lisa had gone missing a week ago but it felt like years.
“I can’t believe you shot Nathanial at Richard’s,” she admonished. “What if he had gotten a hold of the gun and killed you right then and there?”
“We both know he wouldn’t have done that. He wanted Braydon to see me die for his big finale or, at the very least, kill me on the stage of his choice.”
Lisa frowned. “I’m just glad Braydon showed up in time.”
“Me, too.”
Silence filled the room again. This time it was loaded. Lisa’s eyes began to water again.
“Sophia...” she began, looking down at their clasped hands. “Richard told me what you did at the hospital, taking the syringe when you could have run. Then volunteering to turn yourself over to him...” She met Sophia’s gaze. Her eyes were shining green orbs. “You saved me, Sophia. No one else did. It was you. I—I just don’t know how to repay you for what you did.” Sophia smiled at her sister’s emotional gush.
“It isn’t a debt, Lisa,” she said. “You don’t owe me anything because I’m your sister and I love you. So, don’t cry because you know it makes me uncomfortable.” Lisa laughed but nodded, wiping under her eyes. “Now, is there anything else I missed?”
“Actually, there is.” Lisa composed herself enough to smile wide. She held up her left hand. A beautiful diamond graced her ring finger. Sophia copied the smile. “He said he’s been holding on to it for a while, waiting for the perfect moment. After everything that happened, he said he didn’t want to wait anymore. Plus, I heard someone gave him their blessing.”
“It’s beautiful,” Sophia said honestly.
“I could care less about the actual ring. It’s the man who makes me happy. There’s only one problem, though.”
Sophia raised her eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Since I practically live at Richard’s anyway, it only makes sense to sell my house. But that can be such a lengthy, unpleasant process, especially when dealing with strangers. If there was someone who I knew was interested it would make everything easier. Someone who, perhaps, wouldn’t mind taking care of all of my pillows.” Lisa winked. “I’d even consider renting it out if that fit the person’s needs better.” Sophia understood the meaning her sister was pushing. Although she had an apartment and job back in the city, she couldn’t deny that Culpepper and one very handsome detective had changed what she thought of as “home.”
* * *
“ARE YOU SURE she’ll like this?” Braydon looked around his living room, skeptical of the brightly colored streamers that hung from each corner. The contrast between the purples, blues and pinks of the party decorations and the oak wood and leather was an odd combination to see. Cara stood with her hands on her hips and did a 360-degree turn. She nodded her approval.
“I think she’ll love it, especially considering she spent her actual birthday thinking her sister didn’t care enough to show up. What with her being kidnapped and all,” Cara said. “That woman deserves a little party.”
Braydon nodded, he couldn’t have agreed more.
A week had passed since Braydon had killed Nathanial Williams, ending the sick cycle of a terrible, violent past. In a way he felt as if he had finally found justice for Amelia, killing “Terrance” before he had a chance to hurt anyone else. Though, he knew he couldn’t take all of the credit.
Nathanial hadn’t bet on Sophia fighting back. She had thrown everything at the man, wounding him and giving Braydon enough time to get to the dock and finish the job. In a way, Sophia had saved her own life. Culpepper had since returned to normal while those affected slowly started to heal.
Cara had woken up from Nathanial’s drug, groggy but unharmed and had personally handcuffed Lynda to her hospital bed before the receptionist had awoken. Lynda was facing charges that would put her away for a long, long time. The money that had been deposited in her bank account by Nathanial had been extracted and used to pay for Trixie Martin’s and James Murphy’s funerals. Instead of finally getting rid of the Dolphin Lot and moving far away, Marina Alcaster had turned the rights over to her daughter who had decided she wanted to build and run a small bed-and-breakfast on the land nearest the water. She had then sold two acres of the land to Lisa, who had paid for it with her own money. Lisa had told him that before Sophia had been discharged from the hospital, Amanda had stopped by her room and relieved the guilt that had been clouding her mind.
“You didn’t physically do this to me, so I expect you to not feel bad about it,” she had said after showing the puckered marks that spelled out Sophia’s name across her stomach. Amanda even went as far as to joke, “I’m just glad you don’t have a longer name.”
Lisa also let it slip that Sophia had finally called their mother and the three of them were slowly trying to repair their relationship. It reminded Braydon that he needed to give his own parents a call. At the end of the long story they promised to visit him soon.
Richard had also made a town-wide announcement that the annual Culpepper Fund-raiser would make another visit within the next three months since it had been shut down before any of the auctions started. There would also be an addition of a new program that promoted mental health awareness and was aimed at working with those with issues to help get them the attention they needed. He also announced his engagement, inviting everyone in town to the wedding at the end of the year. Braydon had no doubt in his mind that it would be one of the most extravagant ceremonies he would ever see.
Braydon and Tom had spent the majority of the week completing paperwork and building an airtight case against Lynda. Braydon had, despite everything, made sure that Nathanial was buried next to his brother. In the end, he’d been the sole attendant at the funeral.
During all of this, Sophia had been discharged from the hospital and had holed up with her sister in Pebblebrook. The detective had seen her twice but they hadn’t been alone. Once the paperwork was finished and the case was officially closed, Braydon had decided to throw a surprise party for the beautiful, maddening, stubborn woman because, like Cara had said, she deserved it. Just like the pillows.
“Lisa just called. They’re on their way,” Richard said, coming in from the back porch. Braydon nodded to the man he’d come to respect and started to usher the partygoers into the living room. It wasn’t a big crowd—Cara, Tom, Richard, Jordan, Captain Westin and John the Ticketer—but he hoped she would be pleased. Everyone in attendance may not have known the woman all that well, but there was no denying each person’s affection for her.
Minutes later there was a knock on the door and everyone quieted.
“I guess I’ll just come right in!” Lisa called, feigning ignorance. She opened the door wide, hurried through and turned to her sister as everyone yelled, “Surprise!”
“Happy birthday!”
Sophia’s face instantly turned red, but a smile reached ear to ear. The next half hour was spent talking, drinking and eating. Not once was Nathanial’s name mentioned. Braydon watched as the younger Hardwick sister continued to smile. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
“Why don’t you just ask her to dance already?” Lisa teased, coming out of the kitchen with a slice of cake. “I’m sure she’ll say yes.”
Braydon laughed, the sound drawing Sophia’s attention. She excused herself from the conversation she was having with Cara and walked over.
“I have something for you, by the way,” she began, earning an eyebrow raise from the detective. He followed her into the kitchen where she handed him the bag she’d been carrying when she first came in. “It’s to say thank-you for everything.”
Perplexed, Braydon opened the bag. There was a brand-new pan and spatula inside.
“I noticed that your pan was a little too small for making two grilled cheeses at once,” she explained, not stopping for him to question it. “I just figured, since I’ll be living in Culpepper now, it might be handy to have.”
“Living in Culpepper?” It was the first time they’d talked about her future. Braydon hadn’t wanted to have the conversation about Sophia returning to the city. It was one he’d been hoping to avoid.
“I’ve decided to stay,” she said proudly. “Lisa is letting me rent out her house.” There was no stopping the smile that attached to Braydon’s face.
“What about your job?”
“It wasn’t actually as hard to leave it as I thought it would be. Lisa asked me to become a partner in Details and I said yes. I have a better knack for numbers and, I have to admit, it would be fun to be around her again.” She paused. “So, I thought if you wanted to—”
Braydon interrupted Sophia by closing the space between them. He kissed her long and hard. It said everything the two of them couldn’t form into words. It promised a hopeful future and happiness that Braydon had never felt before. It promised him a life with Sophia.
It promised a life filled with grilled cheese sandwiches.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from REINING IN JUSTICE by Delores Fossen.
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Chapter One
There was blood on the porch.
That kicked up Deputy Reed Caldwell’s pulse a significant notch. He’d already drawn his Colt .45, but he called for backup because this wasn’t looking good.
He walked to the end of the porch, his breath mixing with the early morning air and causing a filmy haze around him. Reed peered into the window of the dining room and saw that the table and chairs had been toppled over. There’d been some kind of struggle.
Mercy. What was going on?
No sign of any intruders or the owner—his ex-wife, Addison.
But Reed was pretty sure she was inside somewhere. Alive. Or at least she had been a few minutes earlier when she’d made a frantic nine-one-one call to the Sweetwater Springs Sheriff’s Office. Reed had intercepted the call because he’d been on his way home after pulling a night shift and was driving right by her place.
“Someone’s trying to break in.”
That was the only thing Addison had managed to say before the line went dead. There was no bad weather to cause a dead phone line. No maintenance that he’d heard about. Just the frantic one-line message.
Reed hadn’t been sure what to expect when he arrived at the small country house Addison had recently inherited, but he’d parked by her mailbox, twenty yards or so from the house so that the sound of his truck engine wouldn’t alert anyone. Even with the extra precaution, Reed had figured this would turn out to be a false alarm. Or else he’d find Addison cowering inside while some would-be burglars were making their escape.
But he definitely hadn’t expected blood. Or the toppled furniture.
Maneuvering around the drops of blood, he turned the doorknob. It was unlocked. And he eased open the front door. Reed wasn’t a blood expert, but there were more drops in the foyer, and it looked like high-velocity spatter as if someone had been hit hard.
It didn’t take him long to see that more stuff had been knocked down in the entry. A small table. The landline phone that’d been ripped from the wall.
Most noticeable, though—an empty infant car seat.
Since Addison had recently adopted a baby, the seat wasn’t unexpected, but it put a knot in Reed’s gut to see it tossed on its side like that.
Where was the baby?
And where the heck was Addison?
If it was her blood, then she’d clearly been hurt. Maybe hurt badly enough that she couldn’t even call out to him.
That didn’t help the knot in his stomach.
His backup wouldn’t be there for at least fifteen minutes, but Reed didn’t want to waste any more time in case she was bleeding out. Listening, he quietly stepped inside, pivoted, checking every visible corner of the house. No one was in his line of sight, but he heard some movement in the adjacent living room. He peered around the edge of the wall, and his heart walloped against his chest.
Addison.
There was blood on her forehead and smeared in the side of her light brown hair. Her eyes were wide, and there was a large swatch of silver duct tape covering her mouth. The same tape had been used to tie her hands and feet, but despite the restraints, she was frantically trying to crawl toward him.
Still keeping watch around them, Reed hurried to her and eased back the tape from her mouth.
“They’re upstairs,” she whispered, the words rushing out with her breath. She tried to crawl again while fighting to get her hands and ankles free.
“Who’s up there?” Reed asked, looking in that direction.
“I think they’re kidnappers.”
Hell. Sweetwater Springs wasn’t a perfect town, but he hadn’t expected kidnappers to break into someone’s house.
“Get me out of this,” Addison insisted, still fighting the tape.
Reed pulled out his pocketknife, sliced through the layers, but the moment that Addison was free, she sprang to her feet. Or rather she tried. She stumbled and probably would have fallen if Reed hadn’t caught onto her. She smacked right against him and into his arms.
Despite the nightmare of the moment, that gave him a jolt of memories. Of when they’d been married and she’d been in his arms for a totally different reason. However, Reed shoved those memories aside and instead focused on trying to hold back an injured woman who was hell-bent on barreling up the stairs where she could be killed.
Reed took her by the shoulder and forced eye contact. How many are up there? he mouthed.
She shook her head. “Two, maybe three.” Her breath broke. “I saw them on the porch, then called for help, but one of them hit me.”
That explained the blood. But not why they’d broken in.
“I heard them say something about the baby,” she added in a hoarse whisper. “Emily’s upstairs sleeping.”
Reed figured that was her adopted baby’s name. And if there were indeed two to three kidnappers trying to take the child
, then he needed to get to the baby now. The only problem was, he didn’t hear any movement upstairs, and he hadn’t seen any extra vehicles when he’d driven up.
Of course, this could be just a simple burglary, and the men could have mentioned the baby to threaten Addison, to make sure she cooperated and didn’t fight back.
Addison wasn’t rich, but the house she’d inherited from her aunt might have something burglars would want, and it was off the beaten path. The men might be looking for quick cash or jewelry. Or maybe they didn’t even know that anyone would be there because the place had been empty for months. Addison had returned only a few days earlier.
Or so Reed had heard from the gossip mill.
After their bitter split, Reed had done his best to avoid any and all info and gossip about his ex.
He fired off a text to his backup and fellow deputy, Colt McKinnon, who would no doubt be arriving soon. Reed didn’t want Colt walking in on this without some kind of heads-up.
“Stay here,” Reed warned Addison when he finished the text.
She didn’t, of course. Even on good days Addison could be hardheaded, but he doubted anything short of duct-taping her again would get her to stop. Not with her baby in possible danger.
“At least stay quiet and behind me,” Reed amended.
This time she listened, but she grabbed an umbrella from a basket next to the overturned table. She was still shaky, her breathing was way too fast, but she kept up with him as he eased up the stairs. Reed had made it just a few steps from the top when the sounds stopped him cold.
Footsteps and whispers.
“They’re in my aunt’s old bedroom,” she muttered. “I’m using it as a temporary office.”
Better there than the nursery, but that didn’t make things safer. Burglars could still do all sorts of bodily harm—Addison’s head was proof of that—but maybe they’d leave the baby out of this.
Manhunt Page 19
