On His Watch (Vengeance Is Mine Book 1)

by Susanne Matthews

  Carlotta’s voice became angrier.

  “No one mentioned my face and the rest of my body until much later. I mourned for years, and since my father’s safe had been opened, a briefcase full of money and documents stolen, I assumed we’d been robbed and thieves were responsible for my agonizing losses. A few years later, my father came to see me in the nunnery. Imagine how I felt when I learned the man I mourned wasn’t as dead as we thought he was. Ten million dollars was missing from the secret account, an account known only to Leo and my father. The money had been withdrawn over time and transferred to another account in the Cayman Islands. My father blamed me, but I knew who was behind it all—you. Father got sick, and no longer cared about anything, but I was determined to get my revenge. I hired investigators, but eventually, it was I myself who found you.”

  Nikki was stunned. “You think Sam was this Leo? You think he did this to you?”

  Carlotta didn’t respond, too wrapped up in her own fury.

  “I had The Butcher cut off your finger to get back a ring I can’t wear, yet I see even that has been repaired for you.” Carlotta stared at Nikki’s hand, and she felt compelled to hide it behind her back.

  “I went to a clinic in Mexico City where the doctors claimed they could ease my pain. Imagine my surprise when I saw a picture in a San Francisco newspaper of Dr. Samuel Hart at a charity function to mark his retirement from the hospital. I recognized you. You made it so easy. You stood beside him, your left hand on his arm, flaunting my ring, and I knew I’d found you both.”

  Nikki felt the color leave her face as she took in the implication of Carlotta’s words. Before Carlotta could stop her, she ran to the bathroom, where she lost what was left of her lunch. The shadowy dark figure from her nightmares hadn’t been The Butcher. It had been Sam! Sam had been Leo, a man who had apparently tried to rape her.

  Carlotta stood in the bathroom doorway, laughing.

  “I think you remember a little more now, si? You understand why you have to die. You should have seen the surprise on his face when he recognized me. He tried to beg for your lives, but I had The Butcher tape his mouth shut. I snipped off the fingers of Leo’s left hand one by one using your cooking shears. The left hand was for my father, for stealing from the family. I cut off the right hand for me. What kind of man does that to his wife and unborn child? But love is blind, and I blame you. Before he met you, he loved me. As I cut off the last finger, I forgave him. Now, it’s your turn to pay.”

  The sound of the school bus stopping was loud in the silence outside. Mandy! She needed to protect her baby from this monster. She stood, wiped her mouth, and walked out of the bathroom. She doubted she could rush the woman who was a good six inches taller than her and probably double her weight. She had to buy time and pray that Jason would come.

  “Ah, here’s the little darling now.”

  Danny raced down the stairs as he did each day when he heard the bus. He barked viciously at Carlotta who kicked him into the closet and shut the door. The dog yelped once and then fell silent.

  “Why did you do that?” Nikki cried, tears running down her cheeks. “The poor little thing couldn’t have hurt you.”

  Carlotta ignored her.

  “Come, we’ll go out and meet your daughter, and then go down to the boat house. I’ve prepared a surprise for you there. If the child had resembled Leo, I would’ve let her live, and raised her as my own, but she looks like you. You and your daughter will suffer the fate he intended for me.”

  * * *

  Annoyed with the delay and worried about Nikki, Jason pulled over to the side of the road. He was exactly where Molly had told him to go, but there was nothing here. He banged his fist on the dash and checked the GPS coordinates he’d been given. He got out of the car, checked the drainage ditches. It hadn’t rained, although it might at any moment, but it didn’t look as if anyone had gone off the road here. Maybe Molly had the location wrong. He climbed back into his SUV and continued along the road. He’d gone another ten miles when he saw the California Highway Patrol officer coming toward him. He stopped and flagged down the motorcycle.

  “Did you see anything?” he asked, his gut twisting. He had a bad feeling about this.

  “Nope. I thought the accident was farther down the road.”

  “I’ve come all the way from Larosa, and the road’s clear.” He fought to keep his voice even.

  The CHP officer raised his visor and shook his head.

  “Damn kids. That’s the third false call this month. I’ll bet if they check the 9 1 1 log, they’ll find it’s a burner phone. One of these days, we’ll be chasing a false call, and someone’s going to die because we aren’t there.”

  Fear stabbed Jason. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. First the call from Brad and now this.

  “I’ve got to go.”

  He reversed the vehicle and sped off without even saying goodbye. In the rearview mirror, he saw the CHP officer do the same. The man might think it was a joke played by a teenager, but Jason was afraid it was a far deadlier game.

  He picked up the radio and contacted Molly.

  “Molly, it’s me. Did you reach Nikki?” He was abrupt, but the dispatcher didn’t seem to notice.

  “I called, Jason, but she didn’t answer. I left a message. How bad’s the accident?”

  “There isn’t one. It’s a hoax. Call Buck and have him meet me at Nikki’s house.” He ended the radio call. He used his Bluetooth to call Nikki’s cellphone. It rang until it went to voice mail.

  “Nikki, listen to me. I’m sorry about everything I did and not owning up to it. Carlotta’s in the area. You’re in danger. Call me, Nikki, please. I love you.”

  The acid in his stomach churned as he raced along the highway back to Larosa. He turned on the sirens and stepped heavily on the gas. He couldn’t afford to be late this time. The fear that he might already be burned in his gut.

  He turned off the lights and the siren a quarter mile from the house, but didn’t decrease his speed. He parked the car on the edge of the property, pulled out his gun, and ran toward the house and up the steps. It was all wrong. Terror filled him. There was no way Nikki would have left the door open like that if she were inside. He hurried into the house and called loudly, hoping someone would answer.

  “Nikki, Mandy, where are you?” His heart raced. His body was covered in perspiration that had nothing to do with the temperature.

  Excited barking greeted him, and he hurried toward the bathroom door. The sound was coming from the utility closet where Danny’s litter was kept. That door usually was open, but someone had closed it. He opened the door and bent down. The young dog stood on three legs. He’d been injured. Fury filled him. What kind of monster hurt a small dog like that? The same kind who had Nikki and Mandy. His blood turned to ice water.

  “Where are they, boy?” he asked, knowing the dog would lead him straight to Mandy and Nikki, praying he would be in time to save them.

  The dog barked and ran toward the door, his three-legged gait almost as fast as his four-legged one. The little dog raced across the lawn to the boat house and stood there. He didn’t bark. He seemed to understand the need for stealth.

  Jason, his heart in his mouth, fear pulsing through his veins, crept along the side of the boathouse until he could look through the window. The pane was dirty, masking him from those inside, but he could see Mandy and Nikki at the far end of the structure, near the water doors.

  Nikki held Mandy slightly behind her, shielding her from a woman tossing gasoline at them from the jerry can kept there to refuel the lawnmower. Nikki kept moving closer and closer to the locked door. He saw the board across it. Why was she doing that? They’d be trapped against the solid wall.

  He watched her sidle a few steps, and it became clear. His beautiful, brave woman was preparing to sacrifice herself to save her daughter. There wasn’t enough room for both of them to jump into the water beside the fishing boat, but if she could get to the end of the
slip, she’d be able to push Mandy in so the child could slide under the door.

  “Please, Carlotta, let Mandy go. She’s just a baby,” Nikki implored the deranged woman.

  “No. My baby died in the fire, so she has to die, too. None of Leo’s children can survive. It’s my curse and my revenge—the price you have to pay for your crime.”

  “I didn’t steal him from you. How could I? Look at your wedding picture. He was devoted to you, remember? You have this all wrong. He never would’ve left you on purpose.”

  Smart girl. She was buying time for him to act. There was no way he could fire the gun from here. As it had been in Colorado, he didn’t have a clear shot. With the window, the bullet would be deflected. He had another idea.

  The slip was secured not from inside the boathouse, but from outside. Whoever had hung the boathouse door had hung it backwards and Sam hadn’t bothered to get it fixed. He’d meant to do it after the holidays, but with the breakup, he’d forgotten. Thank God he had.

  Carlotta laughed and he took the opportunity to pull the restraining board away from the first metal bracket holding it in place. If Nikki was close enough, she might have heard it. He realized she had when she raised her voice to speak louder. She would mask any other sounds he might make.

  “Carlotta, we can fix this. I have money. I’ll pay for the doctors and the reconstructive surgery. You can be beautiful again. You can find a new husband, a man who’ll love you for who and what you are. One who won’t be tempted by anyone or anything.”

  Carlotta laughed loudly, and he could hear the insanity in her voice. “You fool! Do you think I need your money? I don’t. I’m a wealthy woman now. I have all the money Leo took from my father to impress you. Once you’re dead, I’ll be beautiful again. Leo was most obliging about giving me the necessary information. He really believed I was going to let you and your children live. No. You need to die. You have to suffer in hell like I did. You must burn.”

  Jason pulled the last of the board through the bracket and felt the tension on the door ease. Had Nikki noticed it? If he could get under the door and raise it enough, she and Mandy could escape before Carlotta started the fire.

  He slipped into the icy water and slowly lifted the door away from the wall enough to see in. Nikki and Mandy were on the very edge of the floor. There was probably enough room to push Mandy into the water, but unless he raised the door higher, Nikki wouldn’t be able to escape.

  He shifted his gaze to Carlotta. He still didn’t have a clear shot, but it didn’t matter. He’d left his weapon on the dock when he got into the water. He’d seen pictures of the woman before she’d been burned, and he’d seen the sketches Nikki had drawn. It was the mania in her eyes that drew him. She dropped the jerry can and picked up the Luger. She aimed it at Mandy.

  “I can shoot the child first and save her some of the pain. This isn’t her fault. It’s yours.”

  Mandy cried softly, her face buried in her mother’s jeans, and Nikki moved her more completely behind her.

  “Suit yourself.” He recognized the object in Carlotta’s left hand. It was the barbecue lighter he found on a nail just inside the boathouse door. He’d meant to get rid of it. The last time he’d used it, the flame had stayed on. The safety switch was defective. Fluid continued to seep out of the gasoline can at her feet. The fumes must be strong inside. He could smell them from where he was. She began to click the lighter off and on.

  “How long do you think it will take for the fire to burn through your clothes and start nipping at your skin? Have you ever smelled the aroma of burned flesh? For months in the hospital, it was all I could smell.” Her interest seemed captivated by the lighter’s small flame.

  He was almost in position. He watched as Carlotta started to walk toward Nikki, the lighter, flame on, held out in front of her. Jason edged to the center of the door, bent down, clasped the wood in his hand, and stood up, pulling the door up and away as he did, hoping Carlotta wouldn’t fire the pistol in her right hand. She would definitely hit him—he would be hard to miss—but she might also hit Nikki or Mandy and that was the last thing he wanted.

  “Now!” he yelled.

  Nikki shoved Mandy into the water and jumped in right behind her, pushing the startled child under the door.

  Thunderstruck, Carlotta moved toward them, tripped over the jerry can at her feet, and fell with the lighter in her hand in the on position. The gasoline on the floor ignited in a whoosh of flame. She tried to stand and began to scream as her own clothing, soaked in gasoline where it had splashed back on her, caught fire. He pushed Mandy and Nikki away, prepared to go after the woman, but the heat of the flames forced him to drop the door.

  Carlotta’s agonized cries pierced the air, but there was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone could do to save her now. The roar of the flames muted any other sounds the woman must’ve made.

  He pulled Nikki and Mandy into his arms.

  Relief flooded him. They were safe. Both of his girls were crying, and his tears joined theirs. He wished he could’ve rescued Carlotta. No one deserved to die that way, but the thought that it could’ve been Nikki and Mandy inside the flaming boathouse chilled him.

  He carried Mandy over to the dock, Nikki clinging to his arm. He deposited his shivering bundle on the pier. Nikki, quaking as badly as Mandy was, climbed up onto the dock and clutched the trembling child in her arms. He joined them, picking up his weapon and leading them farther away from the burning structure.

  Sirens died as Buck pulled up in front of the house. Within seconds the deputy was racing across the lawn toward him.

  Danny hopped up and down on three legs. Nikki bent down and picked him up.

  “Take Mandy and the dog inside. Get changed and we’ll take him to the vet,” he said, hoping the dog wasn’t permanently injured.

  They needed no more reminders of that monster in their lives.

  “What the hell happened, Jason?” Buck asked. “Molly said to get my ass over here. I was on the other side of the county. Is the fire department on its way?”

  He shook his head. “No. Call it in, will you? And get the CHP and the coroner here, too.”

  “Someone’s in there?” Buck asked, horror growing on his tense face.

  Jason pushed his wet hair off his face and nodded.

  “Carlotta Scarletti’s inside.” He indicated the burning boathouse. “She’s responsible for all of it. Now, she’s dead in a hellfire of her own making. It’s over. It’s finally over.”

  The adrenaline that had kept him going vanished and he reached for Buck before his knees buckled. Maybe Nikki could someday forgive him now.

  * * *

  Assured that Jason wouldn’t be leaving the house tonight, Mandy had fallen asleep with Benji and Danny tucked in beside her. The little dog sported a cast on his broken paw, but Jarrett, the veterinarian, had insisted the dog would recover nicely.

  No doubt both her daughter and the pup would have nightmares in the weeks to come, but all she could talk about was how Jason had saved her once more.

  Trudy had told Nikki that Jason had been the first to reach her when that tree had fallen months ago. Strange to realize that he really had been her angel all along.

  She stripped off her grubby clothes, garments she’d throw in the garbage as soon as she went downstairs, and stepped under the shower, careful to keep the bandage on her forehead dry. The paramedic had attended to the cut, checked the bruising on her cheek—she’d have a shiner tomorrow—and pronounced them both fine. They were cold and wet, but alive thanks to Jason. If Mandy thought he hung the moon, Nikki gave him credit for the sun and stars, too. He was her guardian angel hero, but more than that, he was the man she loved.

  There were things she needed to say, but she hoped when she finished, they could give themselves another chance at a future together. Life was too short to worry about the past. It was the present that counted, and the future you looked toward.

  Jason had spent the last hour on the
phone with Brad and Ivan. Forensic investigators were on site waiting for the fire department’s permission to enter the boathouse and recover what was left of the body. There probably wouldn’t be much.

  It would take days to collect all the evidence. At Rick’s suggestion, Jason would take her and Mandy to Colorado in the morning. She hoped to persuade him to stay with them.

  Nikki turned off the shower, dried herself, and put on her robe. When she went into the bedroom, the bed had been turned down and Jason stood by the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He turned at the sound she’d made.

  There were tears in his eyes that matched those she felt slipping down her cheeks. Her heart went out to this imperfect man she loved.

  “When I got here and saw the open door, I thought I was too late again. I wanted to die. I know I can’t make up for what happened...”

  She hurried over to him and lifted her hand to touch his face.

  “Please stop, Jason. I was wrong. I’m so sorry I said the things I did. If you’d hurried that night, you would’ve faced four killers. Carlotta was still there. You would’ve been killed, and we would all be dead. It was the sound of your siren that saved Mandy, that stopped them from searching the house again. They were convinced I was almost dead. It’s the only reason they left. When you came to my rescue back in March when that tree fell across the road, I said you were an angel, an answer to prayer, and that’s exactly what you were then and are now. You’ve saved my life and Mandy’s three times, Jason. I can never thank you enough for that.”

  “I love you, Nikki. You’re strong and brave and everything I’ve ever wanted. You make me a better person. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Mandy.”

  “I love you,” she whispered. “You’re the reason I’m alive, and my reason for living.”

  “Marry me. Let me be the man you share your life with, the new daddy Mandy wants.”

  Tears of joy trickled down her cheeks. “Yes.”

  He pulled her into his arms. His lips met hers, mindful of the swelling Carlotta had caused, but she pulled him tightly to her, pouring all of the love she had into her response. This was her man, her hero, her guardian angel. On his watch, they would always be safe.