“What do you mean?”
“You’re wound up like a little kid’s toy top. Something happen at work?”
“I’ve had a difficult couple of days.”
“Yeah.” She snickered and walked away. “For real, I’ve heard all about the incident with Mathias. So, did he really pin you down on the floor and hold you there?”
“For a few minutes.” I followed her out of the barn and toward the house. “Did Mercy tell you?”
“Actually, no, Shamus told me. Apparently his brother is quite taken with you.”
“I haven’t done anything to him.”
“Yeah, sure.” She smirked.
“You suck.” I shrugged off my jacket and tossed it across the back of a kitchen chair. “I’m not really here to talk about Mathias.”
“Okay.” She went to the coffeepot and set a pot on to brew. “So, what are you here to talk about?”
“Charlie’s mother had me investigated.”
Lisa paused as she digested that information and then went to the cabinet to get cups. “Okay, and he dumped you.”
“Well we weren’t in a relationship, and hell no he didn’t dump me. Men don’t dump me.” I glared at her as I sat down at the table. “I’m a freaking amazing woman…he would’ve been an idiot to do that.”
“Then what?”
“She finds my past distasteful. I’m sure she’ll tell everyone she knows how she feels about me too.” I dropped my head onto the table. “Mercy doesn’t think it matters.”
“No, but Mercy, as wonderful as she is, grew up in a very different world from you and me.” Lisa took the cups to the counter and leaned there for a minute in silence. “When I was eight we lived in a trailer in a little city outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. Sometimes it was so cold that I’d be afraid to get out of the bed to go to the bathroom…. I knew the moment my feet hit the floor I’d pee my pants.”
“I spent most of my childhood huddled in my bed trying to figure out what I’d do when my daddy got shot. My mother bailed, and I figured that God just didn’t love me enough to keep my daddy safe.” I focused on the coffee as it dripped into the pot. “Cops don’t make good money, but we got by okay. I never had to worry about food or getting kicked out of our house.”
“Do you think that how you grew up makes you less than anyone else?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m stronger for my past, and anyone who can’t deal with where I come from or what happened to me can just fuck off.”
“Yet you are worried that Katherine Wallace is going to run her mouth about you.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s not stupid, Jane. There are very few people in Boston who’d cross James Brooks, and everyone knows that he values you and your place at Holman Gallery.” She tapped her fingers on the counter. “I’ve read about the shooting, of course, but I’ve never asked because I didn’t want to cause you pain.”
“I don’t remember all of it. I remember the road being hot underneath me…so hot that I had burns on my back. My left leg was numb by the time I went down, and all I could think was that I couldn’t drop my gun.”
“And you didn’t.”
“Not until it was empty.”
She poured the coffee silently and then brought it over to the table. “Cream?”
“What flavors?”
Lisa laughed softly. “Maybe vanilla.”
“Sure.”
“You were in love with your partner, the one who died.”
“We had a great relationship that could’ve extended beyond the job, but it never had the time to get that far. When we were first partnered up he was married, and I don’t mess with married men.” I doctored the coffee with the creamer she’d set in front of me and plucked a plastic spoon from the collection in a glass in the middle of the table. “His divorce had been final about five months when he was shot and killed. His ex-wife blamed me for both.”
“The divorce and the shooting.”
“Yeah.”
“Did he leave his wife for you?”
“I never asked.” I looked up and met her gaze with a shrug. “I guess I didn’t want to know; maybe if I’d known it would’ve made wanting him wrong.”
“If it wasn’t wrong…why didn’t you hook up with him the moment you could?”
Excellent question. One that I’d asked myself plenty of times, and the only answer was so horrible that for a few seconds I considered not answering the question. “Because the moment he became available…the attraction withered on my end. I still had feelings for him, but it wasn’t the same.”
“Well, it’s easy to love someone you don’t have to worry about committing to. Once he was available, having feelings for him became risky.”
“Yeah.” I held my cup in both hands and took a sip of the coffee. “So, about that kid.”
Lisa burst out laughing. “It’s perfectly legal, Brooks finds me amusing, and the kid’s father volunteered to model too.”
“Good lord.” I paused. “How does his daddy look?”
“Like his son…only better and more yummy. I had to tell him no.”
“Why?”
“Because if I had him out here naked for any length of time I’d be fucking him…and that would be a conflict of interest considering how much money he puts into the Holman Foundation on a regular basis. I want to pursue my craft, but I’m not going to do it at the expense of the Holman Foundation. They’ve done too much for me.”
“You were a student at the academy.”
“Yes, until I made the mistake of getting married. Volunteering there was the only thing I had during my marriage that made me happy.”
“And you didn’t meet James until you signed a contract with the gallery?”
“I’d seen him a few times at the academy, but at the time he was far more involved in his father’s law firm.” She sat back in her chair. “Look, I’ve been very polite to the man.”
“Yes. You’ve done very well.”
“Well, the man did cut me a check for five million dollars.” Lisa chuckled. “And carried me over to the bank to make me get a savings account.”
“Well, you needed one. How’d things go with that investment broker we set you up with?”
“I had to spend a few weeks breaking him, but we’re getting along okay. The biggest trick was making him speak English to me on a consistent basis.” She got up from the table and poured herself more coffee. “Still, Brooks and I are getting along as fine as anyone can expect.”
“I’m sure he expects more.”
Lisa chuckled. “Yeah, he does. Actually, I’m beginning to enjoy the whole thing. It’s been a long time since a man has actually put any effort into pursuing me.”
“And are you going to let him catch you?”
“Haven’t decided.” She flushed a little. “I’m not sure what I’d do with him if I did. He isn’t the average man.”
“Not by anyone’s standards.” I laughed and then dropped my gaze to my nearly empty coffee cup. “The thing is this…men suck.”
“They sure do.”
“But there is just so much time I can spend with my vibrator, ya know?” I jumped a little when a high-pitched shriek burst through the house. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s my alarm. I flipped it on as we came inside.” She stood and went to a control panel. “The county will send out a patrol car unless I cancel it. I need to go check the cameras. Would you check the front door?”
“Sure.” Frowning, I hopped up and walked out into the living room. “Who could it be?”
“No clue. You are the only scheduled visitor, and the delivery service knows better than to come out without calling.”
I watched her go down the hall and went to the front door. There was a man on her front porch. For a moment, I stood where I was, frowning at him, and then I reached out to push the door shut. He beat me to it, pushing it open and coming in like he owned the place.
“Where the hell is Lisa?”<
br />
“The real question, asshole, is who the hell are you?”
“He’s my ex-husband.”
I turned and looked at Lisa, who was on the stairs, her face pale with fear I’d never thought her capable of. “Go get your gun.”
Lisa jerked her head in a nod and hurried back up the stairs.
I watched Greg Carlson start toward the stairs and I moved in front of him. “No.”
“Get out of my way, bitch.”
Men should know better than to call a woman they’ve never met a bitch. I mean, for all he knew, I could’ve been a psycho killer and being called a bitch was my “on switch.” Didn’t he watch movies? “Back off and get out of here.”
“Get out of my way or I’ll make you regret it.”
“Get away from him, Jane.” Lisa hurried down the stairs with a rifle in hand. “Greg, get out of here. You aren’t even supposed to be on my land.”
“We need to talk.” He pointed a finger at her, and Lisa actually jerked.
“Dude, don’t make her nervous; she’s got a fucking gun pointed at you.” I pulled at Lisa’s arm and pushed her toward the kitchen. “The cops are on their way.”
“I cut the phone line before I tripped the alarm. The system had no way to call the police.”
“You know that was actually pretty smart, except for one thing. Her security company would’ve been notified the moment her line went dead. They’ll send cops.” I took the gun from Lisa’s shaking hands and leveled it at him. I’d never seen her like that and it worried me. “Here’s the difference between me and your ex-wife, Greg—I never once had an inkling of feeling for you. I could blow your head off without blinking an eye.”
“You’d kill me?” He laughed and took a step toward me.
“You wouldn’t be the first man I put in the ground.” I primed the rifle and his eyes widened. “Get out of here.”
“Lisa.”
“Don’t talk to her.” I pushed Lisa back farther into the kitchen with one hand while keeping an eye on him. “She’s not interested in anything you have to say.”
“Jane, be careful,” Lisa whispered.
Then it occurred to me. It was her paintball gun. The only thing between us and her abusive ex-husband was a couple ounces of paint. The moment he realized that, our situation was going to change drastically.
He came at us. Since the damn gun in my hand wasn’t going to be much of a weapon from a traditional perspective, I shoved it into his gut and then used the butt of the weapon to hit him in the back of the head.
“Holy shit.” Lisa swallowed hard, her gaze glued to the sprawled form of her ex-husband. “Jane, you’re freaking awesome.”
I laughed softly. “Get some rope or something before he wakes up.”
She nodded and went to a drawer by the sink. “You’d better not tell anyone what a pansy I turned out to be.”
I kicked Greg in the head when he started to move and then straddled his back. “The only pansy in the room is this guy. Christ, Lisa, he must outweigh you by a hundred and fifty pounds.”
“Yeah.” She came back with a roll of duct tape. “This is all I got.”
“That works.” I jerked his arms behind him and pressed his wrists together. “Tape them.”
“So, Mr. Carlson entered through the front door.”
“Yes, it wasn’t locked.” I glanced over at Lisa, who was also getting questioned. “I told her to go get her gun, but I guess she was so freaked out she grabbed the paintball gun instead.”
“Okay.”
“So we told him to leave and he wouldn’t. Then he tried to come at me.”
“And you used the paintball gun to subdue him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you threaten to kill him?”
“Is that what he said?” I asked softly. I was trying hard not to be amused. “He’s going to whine the whole way to booking, you know that.”
“Yes, I do know that.” The deputy cleared his throat. “He said that you told him that he wouldn’t be the first man you’d killed.”
“Oh.” I straightened in my chair. “Okay, when you run my name you’ll see that I was on the job in Savannah, Georgia. I was involved in a shooting that lead to the death of a man. He killed my partner and put holes in me.”
“I see.” He stood. “I think we’re done here. The security company is already out here repairing the damage done to her system.”
“Thanks.”
I laid back in the recliner and closed my eyes. I still wish I could have put a few holes in Greg Carlson. The son of a bitch was huge. I don’t know how Lisa survived her marriage, and I doubted I’d ever be able to ask her. Even now, I could see her face—pale and almost lifeless—when she’d realized who was in her house.
“Jane?”
I jerked up in the chair at the sound of Mathias’s voice and relaxed in relief at the sight of him. He pulled me up from the recliner as soon as he reached me. His fingers were gentle but firm on my arm as he pulled me as close as he could without wrapping his arms around me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I glanced toward Lisa. “He didn’t touch us.”
“Good.” He touched my cheek with gentle fingertips and nodded. “I saw Carlson out in one of the squad cars.”
“Yeah, we kicked his ass and hog-tied him with duct tape until the cops showed up.” My hands tightened against his fingers as he took up one of my hands. “We need to fix her security system, Mathias. If I hadn’t been here…” I shook my head. “You need to build her a safe room.”
Mathias looked toward Lisa and nodded. “I’ll discuss it with her as soon as the cops leave.”
“Lisa? Jane?” Mercy came through the door, and Mathias released me immediately.
I frowned briefly at him and then turned to Mercy. “Hey. How’d you get here?”
“We were in a meeting when the security company called me and told me Lisa’s system had been tampered with. I just beat them here.” He rubbed his head in frustration. “After the other night, I contacted her monitoring firm to let them know I was back in town. I’m on her list of contacts.”
Mercy glanced between us and cleared her throat. “James is outside talking with the sheriff. He’ll be in soon.”
I took a step back from Mathias and looked around. “Maybe I should make coffee.” I looked pointedly at Mercy as I turned toward the kitchen and was relieved when she followed.
“How is she?”
“Shaken.” I went to the counter and poured the coffee out to make a fresh pot. “She fell apart the moment she set eyes on him. Did you get a look at him?”
“Yeah.” Mercy nodded and went to the cabinet with the cups. “I wonder what he wanted.”
“He wasn’t too chatty after he woke up.” I pursed my lips. “I should’ve used more duct tape; he didn’t howl nearly enough to suit me when the deputy started removing it.”
“So you really are GI Jane.”
I laughed and shook my head. “It was a strange situation, especially when I realized that she’d brought the paint gun.”
“I was in a hurry.”
We both turned to look at her as she came into the kitchen. She let Mathias put her in a chair at the table and then he sat down across from her.
“Next time I’ll be more specific.”
Lisa laughed sadly and folded her hands in front of her. “Let’s just hope there isn’t a second time.” She focused on Mathias. “A safe room? Like the one in the Jodie Foster movie?”
“Yeah, we can build it on the ground floor or in the basement.”
I watched Mathias dealing with Lisa, drawing on a scrap piece of paper what he could do to make her feel more safe, and I realized that just his arrival had made me feel more safe.
“You’ve had one hell of a day.”
“Yeah.” I nodded as I tossed my keys on the foyer table and pulled off my coat. “I’m gonna get a beer. Want one?”
“Please.”
I pulled two f
rom my fridge and then walked into the living room. Mathias had slipped off his shoes and was staring at the blank screen of my television.
“I can turn it on.”
“Nah, come here.” He took his beer and tugged on my hand.
Deanna Lee Page 14
