Willow slapped a hand over her mouth. “You asked him? Did he punch you in the face?”
“Actually he laughed his ass off. Then he admitted that he bought and sold stocks for a living, which if I remember correctly, he said was probably as bad as being a drug dealer. We still have a laugh about that every now and then.”
“You know I’m picturing Chase in some sort of ‘Miami Vice’ outfit now?” Willow giggled. “A pastel t-shirt under a white jacket rolled up at the sleeves.”
“So this wouldn’t be a good time to tell you that Chase and I dressed up one Halloween as Crockett and Tubbs?”
Her mouth was hanging open and she couldn’t stop it. “Pictures or it never happened.”
“It never happened,” Josh admitted with an eye roll. “But I had you going there for a minute, didn’t I?”
“You did. I would have paid money to see that photo.”
He gave her a wink. “Halloween’s coming up in a few months. I’ll see what I can do. But I don’t come cheap so get your checkbook ready.”
“If you dress up as Tubbs, I will be more than happy to write you a check.”
Josh playfully threw up his hands. “Why would I automatically be Tubbs? I could be Crockett. I could be the star of the show. You know, I always felt sorry for Tubbs. He never got to drive the car.”
Willow’s ribs hurt from laughing. Josh was a serious goofball. “Of course you could be Crockett. You could be Castillo too with the cool, standoffish attitude. I can see that.”
His brow arched. “Are you even old enough to have seen the show?”
“No, and you aren’t either. I watched them on one of the streaming services and I bet you did too.”
Grinning, Josh helped himself to more potatoes from the platter in the middle of the table. There was enough food to feed an army. “I watched re-runs with my dad when I was a kid. He was really into the show. It seemed so glamorous to someone who grew up in the middle of the country, completely landlocked. Beaches and expensive cars. They solved the case and got the girl all in one hour. I couldn’t get enough of it. I think I’ve seen every episode at least half a dozen times.” He pretended to play air drums, his arms flailing. “That’s where I discovered ‘In the Air Tonight’. Coolest song ever.”
She’d never thought of Josh as a musician. “Do you play the drums?”
“I was in a cover band in high school. I can play piano, guitar, and drums. We thought we were going to be famous.”
Willow made a sad face. “I’m sorry. Did any of you go on to be in the music business?”
Josh laughed and shook his head, his cheeks red. “Tony’s a dentist and Bobby owns a sports bar. Steve came the closest though. He runs one of those companies that provide background music for elevators and when businesses put you on hold.”
She wasn’t sure she would call that close.
Hearing his life story was too much fun. She wanted to know more.
“Do you still play at all?”
Scratching his chin, Josh shook his head. “I think Chase or the dogs would kill me if I played the drums. I do have a couple guitars and I get them out every now and then when I want to feel bad about myself. I’m really not that good.”
“I’d like to hear you play sometime. I’ve always wanted to learn to play an instrument.”
“I can teach you,” Josh offered. “A few lessons and you’ll be playing a mean rendition of ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’.”
“I love that song.”
“Everyone loves that song, but if you really listen to the lyrics it’s quite sad.”
She hadn’t thought about it as a child but it was. Growing up. Moving on. Leaving friends behind.
“Will you really teach me?”
Josh gave her that look. The one he’d had on the beach when he said he’d protect her.
“Sure I will. I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t serious.”
She didn’t bother telling him she’d had all sorts of offers from men in her youth but few had truly meant what they’d said. It was all just a ruse to get in her pants.
“I might take you up on that.” She pushed her plate away and gathered a little bit of courage. His words had been niggling in the back of her mind since he’d spoken them. He’d already revealed some of himself so maybe he’d answer. “You said that it’s not pretty when you get mad but that you don’t do it often. When was the last time you lost your temper?”
He’d been reaching for a slice of chocolate cake when she’d asked and he froze, his hands in midair. His expression turned to stone and the smile he’d been wearing only moments ago was wiped away.
“That’s a…touchy subject.”
Clearly. She hadn’t meant to upset him. “Forget I asked. I was just curious because I can’t imagine you mad. You’re so calm.”
He stared out of the window, the sky now purple and the sun below the horizon. “I was home visiting my parents a few years ago.”
Her fingers tightened on her glass and she didn’t move or say a word, too afraid she’d break the spell that had him talking. But then remorse took over and she was sorry she’d ever asked. Nosy. She was a nosy bitch and it was none of her damn business. She’d crossed a line and he didn’t owe her anything, least of all an answer to a personal as hell question.
“You don’t need to answer–”
He turned back abruptly, waving her objection away. “It’s okay. I don’t have many secrets in my life, if any. I’m just not proud of the way I acted, that’s all. I don’t want you to think less of me.”
“Unless you shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, I doubt that would happen. I think you’re a pretty great guy. You’d have to be to put up with me.”
If anything, he was too wonderful. It would be better if he wasn’t quite so good looking too.
The corners of his lips quirked up. “I’ve never even been to Reno. I swear.”
“Listen, just forget I even asked.”
He shrugged, his hand patting her own. “Relax, honey. I once asked someone if he was a drug dealer. That’s much worse than this.”
Relaxing back into her chair, she sipped her wine. “You have a point.”
“Of course I do. Now where was I? I was visiting my family. I have three sisters and two brothers plus my mother and father. I also have aunts, uncles, and cousins in the vicinity. When we all get together it’s a crowd, to say the least. Anyway, I was home visiting a couple of years ago. I’ll make a long story short. My baby sister showed up with a black eye and bruises all over her arms and legs. She gave me some story about falling down stairs but I could see the handprints on her skin. I hightailed it out to her house where her useless piece of skin of a husband was lying on the couch, drinking and doing drugs, and breathing in oxygen that he didn’t deserve. I pulled him onto his feet and gave him some of what he’d given my sister.”
Willow didn’t hesitate. “Good. I’m glad.”
Josh snorted and shook his head. “I don’t regret a moment of it but my family was up in arms when the cops showed up at our house to arrest me. That asshole had called the police on me.”
Willow had known men like that. “Let me guess. He was the innocent victim and you were the bad guy? Asshole. I hope the karma bus found him eventually.”
“It did,” Josh confirmed. “He didn’t pay his dealer and had to work for him. A deal went bad and he ended up dead. I felt badly for Monica. There was a part of her that loved him, I guess, although I can’t imagine why.”
“She went back to him?” Willow asked, already knowing the answer. “After you beat him up?”
He didn’t answer right away. “Yeah, she did. She said she had to because if she didn’t he’d kill himself. That didn’t seem like a bad thing to me but apparently, she disagreed. He had her so turned around and inside out she thought everything was her responsibility. If he got a goddamn hangnail somehow it was her fault and she’d apologize. She was mad at me for putting a hurt on him. Said that I was a bully.”
“And you went to jail?”
“He dropped the charges when the cops threatened to arrest him for beating up Monica and for having drugs in his house. But I did spend a few hours in the lockup. My parents still refer to it as the time I was incarcerated. They were upset, to say the least.”
The question was, were they more upset about him or Monica?
“Did they want her to go back to him?”
“No, but they weren’t willing to go to prison to keep that from happening. As I said, I don’t regret it but they thought there was a better way to deal with the situation. There probably was but at the time I didn’t care. I just wanted to protect my little sister.”
“What about your brothers and sisters?”
Josh chuckled. “My two brothers are split on the issue. One wishes I’d taken him with me and the other thinks I should have used a less violent method.” His smile turned evil. “Both of my sisters think I should have ripped his dick off.”
Willow agreed. “I think I’d like your sisters.”
“You would,” he agreed. “They’re ballsy, just like you.”
Sputtering into her wine, Willow coughed. “Ballsy? Is that how you see me?”
He nodded. “I do. Is that a bad thing?”
She shook her head. No, it wasn’t. It was kind of nice, actually. She liked the sound of it.
“Thank you for telling me. You really didn’t have to but I’m glad you did. Now I know you’re a real badass, Chuck Norris-type.”
“Chuck’s got nothing on me,” Josh bragged, his eyes alight with mischief before turning serious. “I did it to protect Monica. I’m not a guy that goes around punching people. I think the time before that one was back in high school in a locker room brawl. Seriously, I’m mild-mannered.”
“I believe you.” She held up her hands in surrender. “I still think you did the right thing though.”
His eyes narrowed and he took a gulp of his wine. “I wasn’t sure you’d feel that way. I know that your husband…well…he drank quite a bit.”
That was the understatement of the year. Alex had taken alcoholism to a new level.
“He did but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want a wife beater to get what’s coming to him.”
Josh studied his hands, wrapped around the stem of the glass. “Did he ever…?”
At first, she didn’t know what he meant. When she figured it out, she shook her head, her body almost coming out of the chair. She was no fucking victim. “Absolutely not. Not once. Never. He wasn’t the type. He was a happy drunk and he just wanted to have fun. I wouldn’t have stayed with him if he’d done something like that.”
“But you did stay with him. Even though he drank and took drugs.”
He wasn’t asking. He was stating it as fact and it was. She’d stayed for a myriad of reasons. All of them good at the time.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
She hadn’t meant for it to come out so abrupt. He hadn’t even asked her a question and she was already shutting him down. The simple fact was she wasn’t sure why she’d stayed with Alex and thinking about it made her uncomfortable.
“Then we won’t,” he easily agreed. “I just kind of thought we were having a moment here. Getting to know one another. You know…revealing things about ourselves.”
He didn’t know what he was asking. “I want to but I’m not ready.”
“Fair enough. You know I’m not going to press you for your life story, right? I wouldn’t do that.”
He wouldn’t, which made her feel all the more guilty. “Thank you, I appreciate that. You told me your story and it’s only fair that I tell you mine.”
He reached for the wine bottle and refilled her glass. “Honey, that’s not why I told you that story.”
“Then why did you tell it?”
He leaned forward, his blue gaze looking straight into her eyes. “I protected Monica as best as I knew how and I’ll protect you the same way. No one is going to get close to you while I’m here. I’ll do what it takes to keep you alive. I’m a man of my word.”
He might be the first one of those she’d ever met.
Chapter Five
Archer Caldwell was a handsome man who appeared to be in his mid-fifties or so. Short dark hair just touched with silver at the temples gave him a distinguished air, along with an expensive blue suit with subtle pin striping paired with Italian shoes. Everything about him screamed money and power right down to the diamond cufflinks at his wrists.
He stood from behind the desk in his home office, hand held out. “Mrs. Vaughn. Mr. Coleman. Please do come in and have a seat. It’s so nice to meet you. Would you like anything? Water, coffee, tea? A soda perhaps?”
Willow and Josh declined, sitting across from him in two butter-soft leather guest chairs. Archer also sat down again, a welcoming smile on his face.
“How is it, Mrs. Vaughn, that we have never crossed paths before? I think we have many of the same friends.”
“I’m not sure I would characterize most of the citizens of Midnight Blue Beach as my friends, Mr. Caldwell. And please call me Willow.”
“Then you must call me Archer.” A peculiar look crossed his face but went as quickly as it came. “As for friends, I have a feeling after this meeting you will be quite popular in our little hamlet. You’ll be inundated with more invitations than you know what to do with.”
Tipping his hand as to how much power he held? Willow had done her homework on this man and he definitely pulled a few strings, not only here but all over the world. He had his fingers in some interesting pies. Discreetly, of course. She’d been shocked by how few photos of him existed on the net.
“Perhaps,” Willow conceded. “I want to thank you for seeing us, Archer. I’ve found that I knew very little about my late husband’s life and death. I was hoping you could help me.”
He waved away her concern. “I’m just sorry it took so long to get back to you. I’ve been in and out of the country on business for the last several months. I’ve been working with an architect to restore a palazzo in Venice and turn it into a hotel. Tedious. Lots of details but the city is fantastic. Nothing like it to get out of the rat race and relax. Have you ever been?”
As she looked into his blue-gray eyes, her fingers tightened on the arms of her chair. That Guy Eckley wasn’t sounding so crazy after all. Archer Caldwell knew things. All sorts of things.
He knew about her. He knew the answer to every question he planned to ask her today.
“Alex and I went there for our honeymoon,” she finally said, keeping her voice deliberately cool. He wanted to get a reaction from her and she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. She only hoped Josh would stay his calm and collected self through this. He’d agreed to let her do most of the talking but if he thought she was upset he might intervene. “It’s a beautiful city, but I prefer Rome.”
“Lovely city. Now why don’t you tell me specifically what I can do for you?”
Taking a breath to calm her nerves, Willow plunged in, her story carefully planned and rehearsed. “Recently I’ve come to find out that my husband Alex and the husbands of two of my friends all died on exactly the same day. They were also childhood friends and joined your organization together. The date of their death was also the same as Gwen Baxter’s fifteen years before at Keene Hill Summer Camp in Williamsburg.”
Steepling his fingers, Archer nodded, his lips pursed. “I believe Stephen Baxter, her brother, will be charged with her murder. If he survives, of course.”
Was that a threat? Would Caldwell make sure Stephen didn’t live? Geez, she was becoming tinfoil hat paranoid.
“If you know about Stephen, then you probably knew about Alex, Frank, and Greg.”
Plus a bunch of other things she had no clue about.
His brows raised and then fell back into place. “The only reason I’m familiar with Stephen’s issue is because he’s a member of our organization. My board brought it to my attention yest
erday. We make a point to keep up with the lives of our members.”
“He was shot by one of your members – Taylor Richardson.”
He nodded. “And she’ll be dealt with, I can assure you.”
“Isn’t that up to law enforcement and the courts?” Josh asked, leaning forward in his chair.
“We’ll have our own internal investigation,” Archer replied smoothly, an urbane smile on his tanned face. “No matter what happens with the court system, she’ll have to face the consequences of what she’s done to a fellow brother in Evandria. The rules are clear.”
“Just what are the rules?” Josh queried. “Is there a list?”
“There’s an entire book that must be memorized. But they all boil down to one simple lesson – treat others respectfully and with kindness. I think the world could use a little more of that, don’t you? Kindness seems to be in short supply these days. That’s why what we do at Evandria is so important. I know it sounds simple but we strive to make this world a better place. Help those who cannot help themselves. Our charitable donations are spread worldwide and they are sorely needed in our war-torn world. I worry about the world I’m leaving my children and grandchildren.”
Because you don’t control it yet?
“I do indeed think we need more kindness,” Willow agreed, watching Archer closely for any tell. Any sign that he was nervous or tense. “I think we need more honesty as well.”
If he was surprised she’d brought that up, he didn’t show it. He was good. “I have to agree, Willow. We need more honesty in our business dealings, financial transactions, and much more transparency in our elected officials. I think we’ve reached a critical juncture where we need to show the people of the world that those who are in power can or cannot be trusted.”
“Can you?”
He shook his head, his brows pulled together. “I’m sorry. I don’t follow you.”
“Can you be trusted? Are you transparent?”
Caldwell didn’t blink an eye. “I like to think the answer is yes.”
Midnight Of No Return (Midnight Blue Beach Book 2) Page 3
