Evil Secrets Trilogy Boxed Set

by Vickie McKeehan

  “This morning I opened the doors around six-forty, had a line out the door waiting. The locals usually get here early, but this morning… the press beat them to the door. But you should have seen it here yesterday. The whole town came out to support their local girl. The media showed up to get the lowdown on Jake and Kit. But what they got instead was how much the townspeople loved and supported her. It was a kick to watch. Every time a reporter asked one of them what they thought about living with a murderer in their midst, each one of them reiterated how Kit would never hurt anyone. The support of the townspeople just blew her away.”

  “I was there last night after Collin and his two thugs grabbed Kit. Jake blamed himself.”

  “Oh, he shouldn’t have. It wasn’t his fault Collin and those horrible men broke in and waited for her inside the house. And they gave her some kind of drug that knocked her out. Fortunately, she doesn’t remember a thing. Well, other than it was Collin who kidnapped her.”

  Dylan watched as she stepped behind the counter and removed the lid from a cake pedestal. With the baby sitting happily on her hip, she worked one-handed to cut him a wide slice of chocolate cake brimming with thick double fudge icing. He watched in wonder as the woman worked single-handedly, holding the baby in place.

  Out of habit, she asked, “Would you like some coffee with this?”

  Exasperated, he couldn’t just stand there and watch her serve him like that no matter how adept at it she was. “Baylee, why don’t I either hold Sarah for you or pour my own damn coffee?”

  Surprised that he’d offer, she arched a brow and looked at the man thoughtfully. “Do you know what you’re doing? Do you know how to handle a baby?”

  He shook his head, rolled his eyes, and reached for Sarah. “Women. What’s to handle? My sister has a kid about this size. First you pick them up by their legs, swing them around a couple of times…” He hooted with laughter when he saw the look of horror come into her face.

  “You are so easy,” he pined as he joined her behind the counter.

  Baylee surrendered Sarah into his waiting arms and watched as the man seemed to know what he was doing.

  By Dylan’s calculation the baby weighed maybe twelve pounds, but that was probably an eighth of what her mother weighed. Small-framed, petite, and long-legged was what she was, thought Dylan as he took a seat at one of the tables. Jostling the baby up against his shoulder, he rubbed her back like he’d seen Baylee do.

  He couldn’t help it. He inhaled the way Sarah smelled in waves of talcum and lotion.

  “She really is a cute thing, isn’t she? How long has she been rolling over?”

  Relishing the opportunity to talk about her daughter, Baylee all but glowed when she told him, “A couple of days now. It’s like she’s trying to swim, flopping her little arms around grabbing for everything.”

  She took out one of the over-sized cups and filled it up with a Hazelnut blend. As she brought his cake and coffee over to the table, she studied his good looks. And sighed audibly. The man had to be a heartbreaker. She might be a single mom, but she still had a healthy libido.

  She’d noticed Dylan that night at the hospital even before he’d gone out of his way to find her a place to feed Sarah. What woman, even a single mother, wouldn’t take notice of a blond-haired, blue-eyed, six-one Adonis who would go out of his way to do something sweet when he didn’t have to?

  Then he’d been just as nice to her when they’d all met up at Gloria’s the night they’d gone over how Alana and Jessica must have murdered the Parkers. The man had gone out of his way yet again to make sure she was comfortable. He’d sat down next to her to ask baby questions about Sarah’s development as if he’d really been interested. Of course, Baylee knew he was just being nice. A single guy like Dylan wouldn’t give a hoot about a baby, or her for that matter.

  But who couldn’t resist the guy’s charm?

  Whoa there, Nellie, thought Baylee. Do NOT go there. Stoplight dead ahead.

  Baylee stretched out her arms and said, “Here, I’ll take her back while you eat.” But just as she started to scoot into a chair and take Sarah out of Dylan’s arms, she went dead still in mid-motion.

  She froze in terror.

  Dylan saw the color drain from her face, saw her hands drop in mid-air, saw her whole body tense as she stood erect, facing into the bookstore, body language on full alert.

  Even as he tried to make some sense of her demeanor, he saw her cool blue eyes fill with stark terror. There was no other way to describe the panicked look that came into those pools of liquid blue or the look of sheer horror on her face.

  The look of fear was so blatant that for an instant Dylan thought that maybe the place was about to be robbed, so he turned to follow her gaze and saw she was looking beyond the coffee shop into the bookstore. With her having the better vantage point, it occurred to Dylan she could very well be staring down the possibility of an armed thief.

  But the words out of her mouth didn’t match that scenario.

  Without looking at Dylan, Baylee whispered so only he could hear, “Don’t ask me any questions. Just do what I tell you. Get up and leave.” She took a step forward as if to block both of them from view. It was an obvious protective gesture.

  “Get up. Now! Take Sarah to Kit, Dylan. Leave right this minute. Go. Get out of the store and take Sarah. Don’t come back in the store with her no matter what you hear or see. Understand?”

  When he didn’t immediately move, Baylee snapped, “Just do it, Dylan. Now!”

  Dutifully, Dylan did as he was told. He got up from the table and made a hasty retreat outside through the front door of the coffee shop, clutching Sarah to his shoulder. Once he hit the sidewalk he kept walking, past the front door of the bookstore. As he ambled by the window, he glanced through the glass and saw a man dressed in a suit and tie, a man he recognized as Connor Boyd, standing to the side of the counter with an intense expression on his face.

  As soon as he was sure he was out of sight, Dylan pulled his cell phone from his back pocket, pushed speed dial one-handed.

  Jake and Kit needed to know Baylee was in trouble.

  And they were only five minutes away.

  As soon as he heard Jake pick up, Dylan didn’t wait for pleasantries or pretense. “I want you to listen to me, get your ass over to the Book & Bean. Now. Don’t ask questions because I don’t have any answers. All I know is that Baylee is in trouble. She went ballistic the minute she saw Connor Boyd set foot in the shop. She wanted me out of sight and she insisted I take Sarah.”

  Sitting in her living room on the sofa, Kit noticed Jake’s demeanor stiffen. Without any explanation, she watched as he began to gather his keys and head for the front door, leaving her to try to grasp the gist of the conversation. But when she heard him say, “I’m on my way. It’ll take me less than five minutes,” she grabbed her handbag and followed.

  Without disconnecting the call, Jake continued to ask questions, pressing to get as many details as he could while Kit trailed at his heels, both of them heading out the front door to his car parked in the driveway.

  “You’re sure Baylee didn’t want Boyd to see Sarah?”

  At the mention of Baylee and the Boyd name, Kit’s attitude changed from merely curious to alert. Her head snapped up as she followed Jake down the steps to the car.

  Before crawling behind the wheel, his first thought was to let her stay home and not drag her into any more drama. But with one look at the stubborn set of her jaw, he realized that wasn’t going to fly. Besides, the memory of what had happened to her last night at the hands of another Boyd had him pushing her through the passenger door of the car, saying, “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

  “Damn straight, you aren’t,” Kit muttered as she jumped in the front seat. All the while Jake held the cell phone pinned to his ear with his shoulder, listening to Dylan’s play by play, as he backed his Mercedes out of the driveway.

  Dylan paced up and down the alleyway behind the Bo
ok & Bean. “Baylee definitely did not want Boyd to see the baby. And I feel like an idiot leaving her in there alone with him. But you should have seen the look on her face, Jake. She was scared for herself, but she was terrified he might see Sarah.”

  Jake gunned the Benz past the harbor, through the four way stop, toward the Book & Bean, all the while relaying what was going on to Kit, who sat eagle-eyed in the passenger seat about to burst open with dread.

  Inside the Book & Bean, the minute Baylee saw Dylan was safely outside with Sarah, she went into slow motion stall. She had known this confrontation was inevitable from the moment Collin had stopped by the store that day looking for Kit. She’d known he’d eventually say something to his older brother about seeing her here. Her dyed-brown hair hadn’t fooled him and now the man she’d feared for the past fourteen months had finally found her.

  She should have run like a rabbit when she’d had the chance.

  But it was too late now.

  Connor hadn’t yet realized she was in the coffee shop. She decided to let him come to her. She started wiping down tables that didn’t need wiping. Her heart raced with a fear that up to now she’d only predicted.

  She held Sarah’s image in her head, determined not to let Connor Boyd get the upper hand ever again. When the man with jet black hair and eyes so dark they looked black finally made his grand entrance, an image popped into her head.

  An evening more than a year ago.

  To put some distance between the two of them, Baylee walked behind the counter, searching underneath for a weapon of any kind. She came up with two things. She could either hit him upside the head with a seriously heavy ceramic coffee cup, or scald him with hot coffee. The second option had more appeal. She reached for the ever-present pot of hot coffee.

  Connor came up behind her, took the pot from her fist. “Did you really think you could hide from me, bitch, and that I wouldn’t eventually find you? You try to run from me, and I’ll find you every time. Don’t you understand that?”

  “Why would you want to…find me, that is? I’ve served your purpose once, why would you want to look my way again? In fact, Connor, why are you even here?” Play it cool, Baylee-girl, play it ice cold, she thought, as she asked, “You must be looking for Kit?”

  But of course, she knew better.

  Towering over her at five foot ten, Connor’s coal-black eyes bored into her as he calmly set the pot back on the burner before grabbing her around the waist. “Don’t lie to me. You’ve been running. I told you more than once to keep what happened between us―private.”

  He tugged hard on a strand of hair behind her ear, pulled, and leaned in to whisper, “Although, remembering how much you enjoyed it the first time, I can always arrange Round Two.” When she continued to struggle, he added, “That’s it, baby, I like that feisty spirit when you fight me. You enjoyed yourself as much as I did that night. I’m here to remind you, Baylee. Not for a minute do I think anyone would take your word over mine, but it won’t hurt if I tell you again what will happen to you and your friends if you don’t keep our little secret―between friends.”

  “Friends?” Baylee struggled again to loosen his grip. “We are not now nor have we ever been friends. And I haven’t been running. I simply went…out of town…to visit a relative. Then my father got sick and I came back to L.A. That’s all there is to it. Once again, your ego is getting in the way of reality. I told you I didn’t want anyone finding out―about what happened. I’ve kept it…to myself just as we agreed. I have no plans to tell anyone. Ever.”

  Connor pushed her back against the counter. One hand wrapped around her throat. “Don’t think you can fuck with me on this, Baylee. There’s no running from me. I’ll track you, wherever you go. Is that understood? You tell anyone, you know what I’ll do, what I’m capable of…”

  Dylan, carrying Sarah, continued his pacing up and down in the alleyway around the corner from the bookstore. And felt like a heel for leaving Baylee in there. Every so often he peeked around the building. Still on the phone with Jake, he bellowed, “I’m standing out here like an idiot while she’s in there alone dealing with Mr. Asshole. Why aren’t you here yet?”

  “We’re just pulling in now.”

  Once again, Dylan stuck his head around the corner of the building and saw the car pull into the slotted street parking in front of the Book & Bean and park beside a huge black Hummer. As soon as the car came to a stop, though, he watched as Kit bolted from the vehicle on the run before Jake even had a chance to put the gear into Park.

  The first thing Kit saw when she tore open the front door of the coffee shop was that Connor was behind the counter with Baylee pressed up against it, his body blocking any chance she had to move.

  But the minute Connor heard the bell jingle over the door he instantly released Baylee, and took a step backward in retreat. Out of what seemed to be a nervous habit, he adjusted his tie. Baylee took the opportunity to step away from him and move toward Kit and the front door.

  Baylee’s eyes met Kit’s.

  A lifetime of being best friends, of knowing each other’s moves and nuances had Kit looking for facial gestures, an expression in the eyes as they stared at each other from twelve feet apart in complete agreement.

  Placate him, Kit. Just get Connor the hell out of the store the quickest way possible.

  “Were you looking for me, Connor?” Kit squeaked out, trying to keep her voice level.

  Connor morphed from enraged bully to puppy in the blink of an eye. “Of course. Baylee here was just telling me about your harrowing ordeal last night when Auslo and Taft kidnapped you—weren’t you, Baylee? Obviously, I heard what happened firsthand from Collin. The news junkies got it wrong, but then that’s nothing new.” He adjusted his tie again, never taking his eyes off Baylee. Then as if coming out of a daze, his eyes slowly left Baylee to hone in on Jake as if he’d just realized he was outnumbered.

  By the time his eyes finally drifted to Kit, he adjusted his tie again and transitioned once more into concerned lifelong pal. “I wanted to stop by, talk to you about that terrible misunderstanding you had with Collin. I shouldn’t have to tell you that he feels just awful about what happened. You know he’d never hurt you on purpose, Kit. It’s absurd to think otherwise. You should be grateful he overpowered Auslo and Taft and called Boston here to come get you.”

  Kit’s eyes widened at hearing him repeat the same bullshit story Collin had told the police last night. Wanting very much to call him on the lie, she breathed in and out, never letting her eyes give anything away.

  “We’re all just glad you weren’t killed. I drove up here to personally see that you were all right. There’s been so much death lately, don’t you think? We need to put this behind us. Be the kind of friends to each other we used to be. This misunderstanding should bring us closer together not farther apart. We’ve both lost our parents, Kit; we’re both dealing with a great deal of loss lately. Obviously, we have a nutcase out there who’s exterminating our families.”

  What a crock, Jake thought as he positioned himself between the man and Kit. He wasn’t sure what to expect as he watched Connor move from behind the counter toward them, toward the front door of the coffee shop. Jake took hold of Baylee’s arm, nudged both her and Kit further behind him, shifting their positions so that he stood planted like a steel rod facing Connor down. The men eyed each other with all the primal instincts of two coiled vipers sizing each other up, waiting to strike.

  But Connor continued moving and talking as he made his way past Jake toward the front door of the coffee shop. “I’m glad to see you’re on the mend, Kit. I wanted to check and see for myself just how you were getting along. I can’t have someone trying to kill my surrogate little sister, now can I?”

  What a performance, Kit wanted to say, as she simply picked up the game in progress. “What was it you wanted, Connor?”

  “I can’t emphasize how important it is for you to sign those papers and get them back to me withou
t interrupting Alana’s real estate business. Remember, I am the attorney of record in your mother’s probate proceedings.” He adjusted his tie yet again.

  After what he’d been about to do to Baylee, Kit wanted to slap Connor upside the head and tell the man what he could do with his papers, instead she went with cool. “I certainly wouldn’t want to disrupt Alana’s business. But if you aren’t already aware, Connor, let me just say, I’m the number one suspect in Alana’s murder.” That wasn’t entirely true, at least not since last night when Holloway, one of the detectives working on Alana’s murder, had stopped by the hospital and finally, officially, cleared Kit. But Connor didn’t need to know that now. “I don’t think the police will let me run her business from a jail cell.”

  Some forced, unexplained emotion flickered across Connor’s face. “If you need a defense lawyer, Kit, don’t hesitate to let us know. Boyd Boyd Geller & Gatz provides the best legal defense money can buy. You remember that.” His eyes narrowed. “No one messes with a Boyd, a Geller, or a Gatz. Surely, you recall that from our childhood. You let me know, though, if you need our services. I’ll be heading out now.”

  He looked directly at Baylee when he said, “You take care.”

  His message crystal clear and delivered with force, the reason for his coming here finished, Connor walked through the door and out to his Humvee.

  The trio watched, holding their collective breath, as he backed the vehicle out of the slotted space and into the street. When the Hummer screeched away, Baylee practically dropped to the floor until Jake reached out and steadied her. She latched on to his arm, but then turned to Kit, all but plunging into her body, wrapping her arms around her friend.

  Kit puffed air into her cheeks, blew it out before telling her, “That was a close one. You want to tell me what that was all about, Baylee-girl? And don’t even think about making something up. That man had you cornered…”