Logan thought Adam’s instructions were confusing as hell, but by the way Damion Quest grinned, clearly, he didn’t.
“I’ve got to meet some of these women.” Quest shouldered the weapon.
Uncle Jon chuckled. “That can be arranged, but son? They’re all taken.”
“Figures.” Quest clapped Logan on the shoulder and then followed Jonathan Benedict back along the road and then across to the back door of the barn.
“What do you want us to do?” Logan asked.
Adam met his gaze then looked at Joe. “You three hang tough and pray. There’re going to be enough players on the field, as it were. But I can get you close to the action. That’s going to have to do. But hear me.” He pointed to Logan and Chance. “You do not, under any circumstances, come into the great room until you hear me give the all-clear.”
Adam left his hat on the front seat of his car and removed his holster from his belt. He handed his side arm to Joe. Grant nodded as he took it.
Logan was pretty sure he understood that. If the only weapon their intruder—likely Everett Forrest—had was a knife, Adam wasn’t going to make his service gun available to the bastard by going in there armed.
Logan, Chance, and Grant followed Adam as he walked past the porch and around the far side of the house. The sheriff walked quietly across the back deck and then pulled on the kitchen door, which opened soundlessly. He held it open, waiting, signaling for them to follow and to be quiet.
Once they were all inside the kitchen, Adam signaled for them to hang back. Then he inhaled deeply and looked toward the front of the house.
Adam took a couple of steps, not being stealthy, and when he actually spoke out loud, Logan nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Hey, Grandma Kate! I’ve come to look at that clogged drain for you just like I promised I would. I sure hope you have a cream puff left for me.”
Chapter Nineteen
“There’s no need to be so rude, young man. You’re hurting our Bailey.”
Bailey blinked. Grandma Kate had spoken in a tone Bailey had never heard before. She didn’t think she imagined the quaver in the woman’s voice. Why, she sounded…old!
“Ease your grip on her, please. Just tell us what it is you want. You can have the silver, though I’m not sure how much money you can get for it. It’s been in the family forever. It’s not like some of those new shiny sets you can get at those specialty stores in the mall. But it might be worth something.” Samantha Kendall sounded almost…vacuous. Bailey wondered if her brain was suffering from some kind of trauma.
“I suppose we could give him our jewelry, like they do in the movies. Remember that film we went to see a couple of months ago, Bernice? When the villains burst into the party, masks on, bags in hand. Well, except this gentleman here is alone, no mask, no bag.” That had been Aunt Anna’s voice. “Do you think that makes a difference?”
Bailey licked her lips, wondering why Anna Jessop sounded…doddering. She tried to inhale deeply, but the attempt came out as a gasp.
“Oh dear. There goes Bailey’s asthma again.” Bernice Benedict sounded exasperated.
Grandma Kate sighed. “You really need to ease your hold of her, young man. If you don’t, I’m warning you, she’ll faint, dead away, at any minute now. And it won’t be the first time, either.”
Bailey was scared out of her wits, but she knew a cue when she heard one. She’d come here today hoping to learn how to be kick ass, and now she had to faint?
In a flash, she recalled all the adventures Kate had related to her, all the times the women in this town—the women in this room—had faced situations seemingly beyond their control. It all came down to trust. They’d done what they’d done because they’d trusted each other. Now, they’d made her one of them, but did she trust these women to truly have her back?
Yes, she did. Terrified, yet determined, Bailey gasped a second time then closed her eyes and went limp against the chair. Well, she didn’t exactly close her eyes all the way, but she figured the man with the knife wasn’t standing where he could see that.
“Hey, Grandma Kate! I’ve come to look at that clogged drain for you, just like I promised I would. I sure hope you have a cream puff left for me!” That had been Adam’s voice!
“Bloody hell! Damned infuriating skirts!” The grip on her hair and the pressure of the knife disappeared. She’d made herself go limp so well that she began to slide off the chair. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done, not stopping that slide, keeping her body totally limp. She fell onto the floor, letting her body roll slightly so she was partly on her back. Ouch, fuck that hurt! She kept her eyes opened a slit, able to see the women closest to her as well as her assailant—a man she’d never seen before.
Bailey couldn’t believe what happened next.
Adam stepped into the room, a goofy, happy-go-lucky smile on his face. Then he stopped, only raising his hands in the air in a sign of surrender when her assailant took up a half-crouching position, his knife inches from Adam’s body. The villain’s intent was clear. He was going to attack. Bailey feared Adam would be stabbed at any moment.
But in that moment, when knife-boy turned his back to the room full of Lusty’s women, the women, as one, made their move.
A loud click—or, rather, several loud clicks—fairly exploded into the near silence of the great room.
It was a moment Bailey would never forget. As her gaze was drawn by the sound, she saw sunlight streamed through the big bay window, glinting off the guns held firmly in female hands. Knife-boy stiffened, and Bailey guessed what she’d read in a novel once was true. There was nothing like the sound of a bullet being chambered to make a man clench his nether regions.
“If I were you, young man, I’d slowly, very slowly, hand Adam that knife,” Kate’s voice rang with authority. “Otherwise, we’re all going to indulge in a little target practice. And guess who our target is going be?”
Bailey fully opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She used her hands to move on her butt, putting more distance between herself and her assailant, a man whose attention had been caught by the sight that greeted him when he’d turned his head to look at Grandma Kate.
Every woman in the room was focused on their intruder—and every woman in the room was pointing a handgun in his direction.
Bailey had no doubt whatsoever these women would do exactly what Kate had said they would do. Bailey had no gun, but she had two index fingers. She plugged her ears, anticipating one hell of a blast when her family opened fire.
It didn’t take the man long to make his decision. He slowly straightened up and turned the knife, hilt first, toward Adam.
“Drop it.” There was no hesitation in Adam’s command, and the man let his weapon fall. Then Adam moved, and it was lightning fast, the way he grabbed hold of the villain and body slammed him onto the floor, pinning him down, forcing his arms behind his back, in mere seconds.
“Clear!”
“Well done, Adam.” Grandma Kate sounded very pleased.
Bailey was pleased, too, because the next thing she knew, she was being lifted off the floor and into very familiar arms.
“Are you hurt? Where are you hurt?” Chance and Logan enveloped her, quickly scanning every inch of her. Logan cupped her face and lifted, examining her neck.
“I’m fine.” Bailey looked over at the man who was being handcuffed.
Joe Grant stood back, a gun pointed at the criminal, as Adam lifted him to his feet.
“I’ve got information. Important information!” The villain looked at Adam. “I don’t expect a hick sheriff like you to understand…”
Samantha Kendall stepped forward, and she looked ready to tear a strip off the handcuffed man. “Watch your mouth. That’s my son, and he’s nobody’s hick.”
A point, which, in Bailey’s opinion, Adam proved in the next instant. “Everett Forrest, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Bailey James. You’re also being held for warrants sworn against you
in the state of New York for the murders of Dirk Townsend and Gary Sharp, for breaking and entering charges leveled against you in the state of New Jersey with regard to a house owned by Ms. James, as well as a storage unit rented by her, and for various and other warrants to be issued by the NSA and the FBI.” Then Adam cast his glance around the room. “Ladies, if y’all will stay here, please, I’ll see our guest situated in a jail cell under guard—after I’ve read him his Miranda rights, of course—and then I’ll be back to take your statements.” Adam and Joe left the room just as Jonathan Benedict and Damion Quest entered. Quest said a couple of words to Adam while Jon made a bee-line to Bernice, scooped his wife into his arms, and looked to be hugging the stuffing out of her.
Bernice gently stroked her husband’s face and grinned. “Caleb is going to be ticked he missed all the action.”
Jonathan chuckled. “He will, but he’ll enjoy hearing all about it when he gets back from Dallas.”
“Well, if we all have to stay here until Adam returns, I guess I’ll go make some more tea,” Bernice Benedict said.
“I’ll help you, Bernie,” Jonathan said. “We’ll need more than a few pots for this group.”
“And I’ll go get us some nice brandy to go with it.” Abigail Benedict nodded.
Grandma Kate came up to Bailey and took her hands in hers. “Bailey James, I am so proud of you!” She leaned in and kissed both her cheeks.
Anna Jessop pushed her way through the crowd to join them. She reached out and gave Bailey a very enthusiastic hug. “We’re all proud of you! How very clever, and how brave, to understand our directions and then follow them! Why, you didn’t even hesitate. That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen! Your faint was so believable!”
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Damion Quest’s soft epithet grabbed Bailey’s attention. She looked at the man, but his attention was completely focused on Grandma Kate.
“It’s a small world, isn’t it, Mr. Quest?” Kate asked him.
“Yes, ma’am, it certainly is. I never made the connection.” He pointed to Chance and Logan and then her. “I knew their last name was Benedict…” He stopped and frowned. Bailey wondered what idea had caught his attention because he looked like he was trying to figure something out. He shook his head. “I’d told Jonathan a few minutes ago that I wanted to meet the women that would come to a tea party fully loaded for bear. I guess I should have known, then.”
“You’re actually familiar with quite a few of my grandsons, Damion. Not all of them my grandsons by blood, of course. I think I’ll give Morgan and Henry Kendall a call since their Tamara is here.”
“That…that would good. I meant to look him up, but I never imagined anyone would know that. You surprise me, Mrs. Benedict.”
“Why, thank you. What would life be without these little surprises along the way? I’m so glad I could help give you some.”
Bailey had no idea what any of that meant. She felt a little shaky, and that shocked her. The drama was over, the bad guy soon to be behind bars, and she—and everyone else here—was safe. Chance and Logan both tightened their hold on her while Kate put a hand on Logan’s arm.
“Adrenaline crash,” Kate said. “Why don’t you take her over to that sofa, settle her between the two of you. Tea and brandy are on their way. She’ll be fine in a moment or two.”
“I guess we’re all in for tea, brandy…and maybe some explanations?” Quest asked.
Kate grinned. “Yes, I think all of those things are likely on the menu for this afternoon.” Then she pointed to a tray sitting out of the way, against the wall. “Cream puff?”
* * * *
Unlike earlier in the afternoon, Bailey wasn’t the actual center of attention. It was Adam Kendall, Lusty’s sheriff. He sat on an office chair that had been brought into the great room for him so that he could swivel around as he spoke to each person, regarding the events of the day.
Bailey didn’t exactly find it reassuring that Adam appeared uninterested in the “tea party” portion of their program or what was discussed during that event. Joe Grant and Damion Quest were also in the room, but they were both sitting in the back, out of the way, clearly listening and watching everything but letting Adam conduct the interviews.
Several husbands had also arrived, so the room was quite full of people. She’d wondered about the way one of Samantha’s sons, Morgan, had greeted Damion, as if the man was a long-lost friend. That must have been what that conversation earlier between Quest and Grandma Kate had been about. Somehow Damion Quest knew a lot of people here in Lusty. That just reinforced Bailey’s epiphany of earlier.
She clung to Logan, listening as Adam conducted his interviews. The sheriff took his time, asking for a complete report of everything that had happened from the moment Everett Forrest had made his presence in the house known until the instant the criminal had surrendered to him.
The process took a while. Even though he was recording everything, it must have been monotonous for him because, basically, everyone told the same story.
“Well, I guess that’s about everything.” Adam Kendall’s smile appeared…smug. Bailey recalled what Kate had told her about the time the men of Lusty—the sheriff as well as two federal agents and other citizens who had military or law enforcement backgrounds—had learned that a drug dealer was headed their way. They’d sequestered the women here in this very same room and then gone off to stake out the place they’d reasoned the man would appear.
Kate had also explained how the women, discussing the situation, had come to an entirely different conclusion as to the criminal’s likely destination…and the women had been right.
Bailey understood the basic instincts the men possessed, their need to protect their women and, in the case of this town, when so many of the men had been trained either in law enforcement or the military, why they would seek to handle situations the way they did.
Today, she’d been a participant in a brainstorming session, right here in this same room, with many of those same women, and they’d made progress. And Bailey realized—it actually pained her to realize—that she knew something that she didn’t think anyone else in this room knew. With the possible exception of Kat, who had probably guessed what she knew. She looked over at that woman now. Kat grinned and winked, and that gesture gave Bailey the little bit of self-assurance she needed.
“Adam? May I ask you something? Actually, a couple of somethings?”
“Of course, Bailey. What do you want to know?”
“Why didn’t you ask us about our discussion here today? About why we were here in the first place? And why didn’t you ask why all these women were armed?” Bailey understood they’d armed themselves to let her know they were with her, one hundred percent.
“Oh. Well. I guess…because I was focused on the crime that was committed here today and documenting that.”
“You’ve concluded that conversation. The bad guy is in jail. So, can’t you…can’t the three of you”—she nodded to Joe and Damion—“can’t you stay a moment longer and hear our…conclusions as to what this entire case has really been all about?”
Did Adam, Joe, and Damion think she was suffering some sort of PTSD? That was the look on their faces, for certain. The same look that had been on Chance’s face about fifteen minutes before when she’d quietly asked him to do a favor for her.
Chance had quickly agreed to do that favor anyway and had left to do her bidding. She looked up as he entered the room, a towel in his hands that was wrapped around what she’d asked him to bring to her. She guessed it was time to bring the “case,” as it were, to a satisfying conclusion.
Chance sat down beside her and handed her the object she’d requested. She clutched Rufus close and began, mentally, to say good-bye to the little guy.
Chapter Twenty
Adam tossed a quick glance over at Joe and Damion. The three of them were in possession of information they hadn’t shared with Bailey. For that matter, so were those two bean
counters sitting on either side of her. That brief look was enough for him to read the expression on Damion Quest’s face. A couple of years ago, that would have been his expression, reflecting the same thoughts. Damion was likely thinking, “Here’s a woman who, aside from the fact she is what we would all classify as a ‘civilian,’ has very recently been traumatized.” Yes, Bailey appeared to be holding everything together, but the truth was she’d likely be in for some nightmares over the short-term.
Anyone who’d looked death in the face discovered those vile night terrors. I should know. If it hadn’t been for the actions of another “civilian,” Adam would be dead. He took a moment to look over at Chloe Jessop. That woman’s easy smile softened him, as it always did.
Add onto his personal experience that he was a married man, and a man married to a woman of Lusty, and Adam Kendall knew better than to assume that just because he thought that he had all the facts that he actually did.
The solid fact supporting the decision he’d just made was that Everett Forrest had sought out Bailey James and had been desperate enough to make his move in front of so many witnesses. Forrest had likely done the latter because he had no basic respect for women and what they were capable of—and the former because he believed Bailey knew something.
Adam liked to think he was a better man than one who would disrespect any woman or one who would treat an intelligent woman as if she were a simpleton.
He fixed his attention back on Bailey. He wondered what she held in her hands, but he was willing to give her the time she needed to say what she needed to say.
“All right, Bailey. Please tell us the conclusions you’ve come to.”
Love Under Two Accountants [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 16
