Keeping Her Safe

by Myrna Mackenzie

  “I don’t know what needs to be done, what the legal procedure should be,” Blake said quietly. “But I know what I’m going to do.”

  Patrick and Ryan turned to him and waited.

  “I’m going to go find my son. Emmett. Whoever sent this note has declared himself your enemy, which makes him my enemy now. I’ve grown to know you, and I can’t just sit by and let someone threaten you if there’s any chance I can stop it. No one seems to have a clue where Jason is. Emmett might be able to help.”

  “And you know where Emmett is?” Patrick asked.

  Blake blew out a long, audible breath. “Wish I did. I do have a few ideas, though. Emmett’s a loner, but he’s a good man. At least, he was the last time I saw him. I don’t know his state of mind. I definitely don’t know if he’ll agree to try to track down his brother, but it’s the only thing I can think of to do.”

  Blake’s shoulders sagged as he spoke, and Ryan knew what this was costing him. He had lost two sons, one to murder and one to madness. Now he was pinning his hopes on Emmett, and he was afraid that he might lose him, too.

  “You’re a good man, Blake,” Ryan said, his voice rough. “I wish we’d had more years to know each other.”

  “So do I,” Blake said in a croaking voice. “As for the good-man part, thank you, but I don’t buy that. I’m a man who neglected a son and let him become a murderer, but I intend to do my best to stop him from killing again. It’s all I can do.”

  Patrick walked over and shook his hand. “I hope you find Emmett.”

  “I’ll find him,” Blake promised, but as Ryan took his hand and the two men stared into each other’s eyes, Ryan knew that he might be gone before Blake fulfilled his mission.

  “See you around,” Ryan promised.

  “Absolutely,” Blake agreed, but Ryan saw the regret in Blake’s expression. This very well might be a final goodbye.

  He hoped that he was wrong, but who knew? For the first time in his life, events were simply spinning out of control.

  Another day had passed, and Natalie was getting antsy. The holiday season only served to emphasize what her friends had lost. She needed more information on what Brad had been up to. She’d done plenty of research on the Internet and knew what the possibilities for corruption in this case might be, but that wasn’t good enough. There had to be concrete evidence, proof. When she remembered Henry Dallford’s face, the face of a man who had been beaten up by life, or, more specifically, by a corrupt broker, she knew she had to do something. The thought that one of Brad’s victims might die of old age or heartache before justice was done ate at her. Pacing the floor, she dredged up ideas, then tossed them aside.

  “I wish…” she whispered to herself, and automatically she realized that she had been using that phrase a lot lately, not just in relationship to this case, either. Vincent brought out the most inappropriate of her wishes. The memory of his lips on hers crept in no matter how hard she tried to ignore them. The taste of him was still with her even though it had been a full day since he had kissed her.

  “You’re an idiot, Natalie,” she told herself. Here she was lusting after Vincent when she had serious work to do.

  But where to start? There were gaps in her information. What was she going to do in order to fill in those gaps?

  The most obvious solution was to go to the source, to see Brad one more time. But Brad would just try to grab her again, and right now she didn’t think she could take Brad’s wandering hands when the only person whose hands she wanted on her were Vincent’s.

  She would have to talk to Neil. He didn’t seem to like Brad very much. Maybe he would be willing to tell her something. Visiting The Ladder again wasn’t a prospect she was looking forward to, but there didn’t seem to be any alternative.

  “Can’t go without protection, though,” she said. And that was where she stalled. Vincent was in the spare bedroom doing paperwork for his business. She was pretty sure he didn’t usually spend this many hours on one client, and even though she knew he would consider it his duty and responsibility to escort her around the clock, she didn’t want to disturb him.

  Besides, there was the “Vincent” factor. When he was sitting near, observing her and Neil, she just knew she wouldn’t be able to keep one hundred percent of her attention on her subject. But she needed protection. Vincent wouldn’t let her leave alone.

  “Okay, okay,” she muttered, and making a quick decision, she dialed a number. “Marty?” she said when her brother picked up. “I need a big favor and I don’t want to do a lot of explaining. Let’s just say that I need you to give me a ride, and it has to do with work.”

  As if she wasn’t going to have to offer a thousand explanations later.

  Nevertheless, Marty promised to be there in ten minutes. When she heard the car pull up in the drive, she was ready. Quickly, she moved to the spare bedroom doorway.

  “I’m sorry, Vincent, but I have to go to The Ladder. Don’t worry, though. My brother Marty is giving me a lift. I guarantee that he won’t let anything happen to me. I’ll call when I’m ready to come home.”

  Vincent gave her a startled look. He got to his feet.

  She turned and moved toward the door.

  “It’s not going to happen that way, Natalie.”

  “Vincent, you have work to do,” she said, and she kept walking.

  “I most certainly do. You’re it.” His voice was like steel. She turned and looked at him and saw that his eyes were just as cold.

  She glared at him. “All right, follow me if you have to, but I’m still going with Marty. He’s already here, and I don’t want to have to explain who you are. He doesn’t know that I have any reason to have a bodyguard. I don’t want him to know.”

  Hustling outside, with Vincent right behind her, she climbed into Marty’s car. Vincent got into his own vehicle.

  “Who’s that guy, Nat?” Marty asked.

  “A friend,” she said, fastening her seat belt.

  Marty raised his brows as she told him where she was going. “Looks like one pretty pissed-off friend. He your boyfriend? You guys have a fight?”

  What was she supposed to say? His guess was the easiest thing to explain.

  “Something like that,” she said.

  “Looks big. Looks mad. Not that I don’t understand that. You have a way of ticking guys off. Still, you’re my sister. I’m allowed to be mad at you. He’s not. I can beat him up for you if you like.”

  Natalie gave him a get-real look, which he missed since he was driving pretty fast. Marty had always liked to drive fast.

  “Don’t touch him,” she commanded, because even though she was sure Vincent could best Marty in a fight, she wasn’t sure he could handle all three of her brothers at once. She didn’t want him hurt. She just wanted to stop lusting over him when she was supposed to be working. And Neil was so shy, she was afraid Vincent would scare him away if he got too close and Neil suspected they were together. She just needed a few minutes alone with Neil.

  “I could lose him for you,” Marty added.

  Just a few minutes, she thought. Was that such an impossible thing? She had once had a normal life where she came and went as she pleased, where there wasn’t a man like Vincent who was in her thoughts all the time, making her want things that just couldn’t be. She couldn’t be near him anymore today.

  “Do that. Lose him,” she said.

  He did. Marty twisted and turned. He veered and took side streets and drove through alleys Natalie had never seen. It took them an hour to get to The Ladder when it normally only took minutes. By now, she was beginning to get worried and re-think her position. She felt perfectly safe with Marty, but she knew that Vincent wouldn’t feel that way. He considered her his personal responsibility. No doubt he was going crazy wondering where she was. Probably he had already left The Ladder and had had the police issue an APB on her.

  She had better get this interview with Neil over with quickly. “I’ll call you when I’m ready to
go home,” she told Marty as she got out of the car.

  “You do that, and when your work here is done, I’m going to want some answers.”

  As if she hadn’t expected that. Weakly, she promised to give him a full rundown on what was going on in her life. Then she stepped into The Ladder.

  Vincent tried to still the thudding of his heart. Where was she? And how had that guy lost him? Was he really her brother?

  “Yeah, looked like her,” he muttered, which made him feel only slightly better. The guy would try to take care of her, but then big brother didn’t know what he was up against. He didn’t understand the real danger Natalie was in. Did she?

  Vincent rounded another corner. Might as well go back to The Ladder. Sooner or later, she would show up there. And yes, he was pretty sure Natalie understood what she was up against in Jason Jamison. No one understood better than her, considering the fact that she had been there right when he’d killed Melissa, when he’d looked her straight in the eyes. She had read the notes.

  Pretending she was too tough to care, trying to go on as if life had not changed wouldn’t minimize the danger, but that was what she was doing. He understood why. It was how strong people went on.

  Natalie wasn’t the kind to give up and give in when adversity stared her in the face. He knew that, had thought about that part of her a lot. Hell, he’d just thought of her a lot. She was always on his mind. The taste and feel of her were always with him. And the concern, the thought that someone might someday slip past him and get to her or that she might walk into danger without realizing it…

  Like tonight, for instance.

  Fear slammed into him. Where the hell was she, damn it?

  He rounded a corner, his tires squealing and protesting the speed and his reckless maneuver.

  Reckless? Reckless didn’t even begin to describe how he felt right now.

  And when he found Natalie? If he found Natalie?

  “Don’t even think that,” he whispered. He would find her, and when he did, there would be hell to pay.

  Fifteen

  The Ladder was just as it had been the last time she had been here, Natalie thought. Same white holiday lights, almost the same people seated at the bar. The billiard tables were busy. Neil was getting ready to toss a few darts. There was no hint of Brad, but she was sure he would show up sooner or later.

  Natalie took a deep breath and plunged into the room. She made a beeline toward Neil. The time for being coy was over.

  “Hey there,” she said when he turned to look at her. “Good to see you.”

  He gave her a strange, angry look. “You haven’t been here for a while.”

  She shrugged. “Life got a bit busy. You know?”

  He didn’t smile, but he nodded. “That happens.”

  “Besides, I was getting tired of bars.”

  He frowned. “But you’re here.”

  “Yes, well…” She looked at him.

  “Would you like some dinner?” he asked suddenly. “There’s a restaurant two doors down that I go to sometimes.”

  Good. They could talk there without her having to worry about Brad showing up and interrupting. Natalie was glad that she hadn’t been forced to waste too much time. She wanted to get this information, but she also wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

  “That sounds fine,” she agreed. She followed Neil out the door of The Ladder and down the street two doors to a restaurant with a big plate glass window.

  “Josie, a seat near the window, all right?” Neil asked when they went inside.

  “Like always, Mr. Gerard,” the waitress said. She sat them in a green plaid booth looking out on the dark street.

  “I like to be able to see what’s going on,” he said, even though Natalie hadn’t asked about his preference.

  “It’s a nice view,” she agreed, even though it wasn’t.

  Neil drummed his fingers on the table. He looked distinctly uncomfortable. “I suppose you really came looking for Brad,” he finally said.

  Uh-oh. “No,” she said uneasily. “I didn’t. Brad’s a little forward for me.”

  Neil leaned across the table as if he was suddenly much more interested in the conversation and in her. Natalie fought the urge to lean back and away from him. She glanced out the window and her heart dropped to her shoes.

  Vincent’s car was driving past. No doubt he was on the way to The Ladder, but his headlights caught her in its glare. He stopped the car right there and suddenly swerved into a parking space. When he exited the car, there was murder in his eyes.

  She almost got up to go meet him, to try to explain what couldn’t possibly be explained. At least not to his liking. She had essentially slipped out on him again, followed her story, changed the rules. It didn’t matter that she felt bad about it. And she did feel bad, and yet…

  Natalie turned back to Neil. Surely the man knew something that would help people like Mrs. Morgensen, even if he didn’t know all the details of how Brad handled his clients.

  “Natalie?” Neil asked, and she realized that she hadn’t even been looking at Neil.

  She turned back to him just as Vincent came in the door, looking like a giant storm cloud. He didn’t look her way but instead asked the waitress to seat him in a booth not six feet away from her and Neil.

  Natalie practically squirmed in her seat. She stared at Neil, hoping to get her information and get out of here quickly. “Yes?” she said.

  “How come you were hanging around with Brad if you didn’t really like him?” Neil was asking, a frown between his eyes. “What was that about?”

  Natalie tried to concentrate on Neil even though she wanted very badly to turn and look at Vincent, to explain what she was doing. “It’s hard to know a person until you’ve spoken with them several times,” she said to Neil, spinning what she hoped was a credible rationale. “Sometimes men pretend to be players when they’re really unsure of themselves. I thought maybe Brad was someone like that. Do you think that’s possible?”

  Neil leaned forward even farther, and Natalie almost thought she heard a growl emanating from Vincent. Of course, she was wrong. She could see him from the corner of her eye, and he hadn’t moved. He was drinking coffee and appeared to be reading a newspaper.

  She wished she could forget that he was sitting there, and that he was probably fuming, but no matter what his mood or how invisible he was to everyone else, she just could never be unaware of Vincent. Her heart was pounding ridiculously hard.

  “I think Brad is just what he seems,” Neil said.

  Natalie struggled to tune Vincent out and pay more attention to Neil. She nodded at Neil encouragingly. “So you’ve worked with him long enough to know him pretty well.”

  Neil’s expression darkened. “We don’t talk all that much. I’m not much of a talker.”

  “But you’re an account manager.” She looked at him as if being an account manager was something she deeply admired. For a second, she thought she heard Vincent’s paper rustle.

  “Yes, I am.” Neil gave her a tight smile. “An account manager doesn’t always have to be a talker. As long as the job gets done, that’s all that matters.”

  “And I take it you get the job done.” She smiled at him even though she could practically feel heat radiating off Vincent.

  Neil smiled but didn’t say anything.

  “So Brad is the one who visits the clients?” she prodded.

  “Mostly, yes.” He handed her a menu. “You like a man who can talk to people?” His voice sounded somewhat resentful.

  Natalie looked up. “I’m not sure that’s always an asset. Someone like Brad could hurt people if they believed everything he said. I mean, how would you feel if Brad took advantage of one of your clients the way he takes advantage of women?”

  Instantly, Neil was alert. Concern warmed his usual shy demeanor. He slid one hand across the table even though he didn’t touch her. “Are we talking about Brad and you?”

  She shook h
er head, almost more aware of Vincent’s charged silence than Neil’s apparent concern.

  “No, it’s just that he seems to be in a position where he could hurt people if he wanted to. That bothers me.”

  “You’re talking about women.” Neil’s normally soft voice turned hard. He frowned. “Brad forgets himself at times. He says things he shouldn’t, goes too far, does dumb things.”

  “I’m not talking about women, really. I don’t think that most of the women Brad dates are the kind looking for forever,” she said, trying to smile and keep things light. But it was difficult to feign lightheartedness when she was so concerned about what was happening between herself and Vincent. Vincent was upset with her, but he hadn’t said a word. He was waiting things out, even though she wouldn’t have blamed him if he had made a fuss. His job wasn’t to make sure she got her story but to make sure she stayed alive, and she had crossed him at every turn. The guilt of causing him a moment’s worry ate at her. She realized that she cherished his good opinion and she didn’t want to be a person like Brad, a liar who hurt people.

  “Are you different from Brad’s women? Are you looking for forever?”

  Natalie blinked and stared at Neil. She felt as if both men were completely focused on her. She never had been looking for forever, but lately, with Vincent, she wanted—

  “No,” she said more forcefully than she had intended. She was supposed to be working, to be paying complete attention to Neil, not wishing she were at a table with Vincent who could never offer forever and who was so very wrong for her.

  Natalie sighed. “I’m sorry I brought you out tonight to talk about Brad,” she said to Neil and realized that she was telling the truth. “It’s just that I know people he may have hurt. Senior citizens he may have lied to. I thought you might be concerned since Starson is also your company.”

  Neil was frowning. “You’re right. This is bad. I am concerned. So you think Brad might be scamming people?”