“I’m worried.”
“I know you are,” James said, kissing her cheek. “Out of curiosity, what’s the most frightened you’ve ever been?”
“That’s an interesting question,” Mandy murmured. “I guess it was when the hospital called and told me you’d been shot before our wedding. That was the longest ride of my life.”
James chuckled, amazed at his wife’s resilience. “After all the things you’ve gone through, my piddly shoulder wound that barely kept me in the hospital for two hours is the thing that frightened you most? I have no idea what to say to that.”
“What frightened you the most?”
James rubbed the back of her neck, marveling at her soft skin. “It wasn’t long after I was shot,” he said. “We got in that huge fight and I slept on the couch. Do you remember?”
Mandy nodded.
“When I came up the next morning to make up with you, I found your engagement ring on the kitchen table,” James said. “I thought you were done with me. I’ve never been more terrified.”
Mandy snickered. “You do realize that we both just admitted to things that turned out to be no big deal, right?”
“I do,” James said, tightening his arms around Mandy’s back and rolling so she was pinned underneath him. “You’ve scared me so many times I’ve lost count. The idea of losing your love is the one thing I can’t handle, though.”
Mandy tugged on a handful of James’ dark hair and forced his chin up. “You could never lose my love.”
“Right back at you, baby,” James said, lowering his mouth to an inch above hers. “Now, I answered your question and we talked about serious chick things for a full five minutes. Are you ready to reward me?”
Mandy couldn’t help but grin. “I think we should reward each other.”
“Sold,” James said, slamming his mouth into Mandy’s. They gave into their emotions, happy to bask in each other for the rest of the night. There was nothing they could do but love each other while they waited for Lance Pritchard to make a move. So that’s exactly what they did.
Five
“How was Sophie last night?” James asked, glancing up from the file of information Peter sent over the following morning.
“Mean,” Grady replied, dejectedly throwing himself in the chair across from his brother’s desk. “I’ve never seen her like that.”
“She’s loyal,” James pointed out. “She wants to be Emma’s savior.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s Finn’s job,” Grady said. “I finally suckered her into sex and knocked her out after three rounds. Once I got her started she needed a way to get her aggression out. My back is sore.”
James snickered. “Your night sounds like it ended up okay,” he said. “How was she this morning?”
“Well, I cooked her breakfast and that made her happy,” Grady said. “Then she took one look outside the house and saw Rodrigo sitting in the driveway waiting for her to leave and she dragged me right back into the bedroom. Seriously, I think I’m chafed.”
“It’s hard to believe you’re complaining about your girlfriend demanding sex.”
“I know,” Grady said. “I never thought I would see the day. How is Mandy?”
“Oh, my wife didn’t wake me up for sex four times,” James said. “She did wake me up once. It was after I had to have a philosophical discussion with her on the nature of true love and whether or not Finn and Emma will be okay.”
“She’s weird about that stuff sometimes,” Grady said.
“She is,” James acknowledged.
“Who is weird about what stuff?” Jake asked, walking into the office with a weary expression on his face. After spending the night on a small cot in the storage room, he needed a few hours to recharge. He took Ally home, showered, made sure her tail was in place, and then returned to the office. “I think I’m too old to sleep on a cot with a woman on top of me, by the way. That’s a sad thought.”
James scowled. “Please tell me you didn’t have sex with my sister in our storage room.”
“I thought you didn’t want me to lie to you?” Jake asked, his eyes brightening.
“Ugh,” Grady said. “You sicken me.”
“It was the only way to shut her up,” Jake protested, sitting on the couch and rubbing his forehead. “It was hours of questions … and theories … and life according to soap operas talk. I needed her to shut up, and that was the only way I could think to do it.”
Even though he wasn’t fond of hearing about Jake and Ally’s sexcapades, James couldn’t help but laugh. “Your night sounds kind of like my night.”
“Did you have to shut Mandy up, too?”
“She’s big on the questions sometimes,” James answered. “Do you know how many times that woman has asked me if I would marry her again if I had it to do all over knowing what I know now?”
Grady clucked sympathetically. “What do you tell her?”
“I tell her that I would’ve dragged her out of the office that first day and married her right there,” James replied. “She still incessantly asks the question. I want to gag her sometimes.”
“That’s a woman thing,” Jake said. “Ally asks me if I wish I’d never driven her home that day we first … um … kissed.”
James narrowed his eyes. “What do you tell her?”
“I tell her the only thing I would change is you walking in on us the next morning.”
“I would change that, too,” James said. “Women are nuts. There’s no other explanation.”
“At least your woman isn’t actively plotting how to murder someone and get away with it,” Grady said.
“Yeah, you’ve got your hands full there,” James conceded. “I was impressed with the way Peter put her in her place, though. That was masterful.”
“Yeah, well I had to hear about him treating her like a child for an hour when we got home,” Grady said. “That’s when I had the bright idea to distract her with sex. Now I feel like an old man. Lesson learned.”
Jake chuckled. “I’m sure she’ll calm down,” he said. “What happened to Emma riles everyone up.”
“It does,” James agreed. “I … .” He broke off when he heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. He studied the entryway, exhaling heavily when he caught sight of Finn instead of Emma. Being caught talking about Emma behind her back would not be a good thing given her emotionally fragile state. “How is she?”
“She’s less panicky today, but she kept me up all night and made me promise to do certain things if she died and the baby lived,” Finn said, his face anguished. “I love her so much, but I can’t even entertain that conversation. Finally, she made me agree to get her a notebook so she can write it all down.
“That’s just what I want, right?” Finn asked. “I want a notebook full of instructions to raise a baby in case the love of my life dies. I just … I want to shake her.”
“Don’t do that,” Grady cautioned. “That baby might fall out.”
“You’re really starting to bug me,” Finn grumbled.
“I’m surprised you left her,” James admitted. “I thought you would want to stick close.”
“I do,” Finn said. “Part of me wants to tie her to me. The other part needs a breather. That’s why I want one of you to go with me out to Washington Township.”
James knit his eyebrows together. “What’s in Washington Township?”
“According to the news, Pritchard was spotted out there sometime in the overnight hours,” Finn replied. “I want to see if I can find the woman he spoke to. Reportedly he said some things to her and she’s been all over the news telling her story.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” James asked, conflicted. “What about Emma?”
“I told her I was going out for a bit and she’s fine as long as someone is down here,” Finn said.
“I can go with you to Washington Township,” Jake said. “I could use a break from this office after sleeping in the storeroom.”
“
And having sex with our sister in there,” Grady reminded him.
“If you can think of a better way to shut her up, I’m all ears,” Jake shot back. “Until then, don’t argue with my methods. I needed some sleep and that was the only way to get it.”
“I’ll go up and sit with Emma if you want,” Grady said, his expression softening. “If you don’t want her to be alone … .”
“She wants to be alone right now,” Finn said, cutting his brother off. “She’s tired of me staring at her. She wants a good cry, and she doesn’t feel like she can do it when I’m watching. As long as she doesn’t leave, I think you should let her be.
“I’m going to stop at Nino Salvaggio’s on my way back and stock up on her favorite things,” he continued. “I’m hoping that time apart will do us some good. She needs to cry, and she won’t do it in front of me. I think this is best for both of us.”
“We’re not leaving,” James said. “She’ll be safe. If you find something, call us. Peter wants to be kept in the loop.”
“Tell him how thankful I am for the men he supplied,” Finn said. “I’ll thank him myself, too, but he’s going above and beyond.”
“Peter wants to get his hands on Pritchard as much as we do,” James said. “I think he’s happy to be a part of our mess for a change.”
“WHAT do you think?” Jake asked an hour later, leaning over the steering wheel of his truck and staring at the woman standing in front of the small bungalow. “Is that the woman you saw on the news?”
“That’s her,” Finn replied, shaking his head. “She’s enjoying her place in the spotlight, isn’t she?”
The woman the television news reports identified as Sheila Cantor stood in front of a group of reporters and repeated her story time and again. She didn’t tire of telling it, and as Jake and Finn approached they grew leery of the coverage.
“We should wait over here,” Jake suggested, pointing toward a tree. “These guys will leave in the next ten minutes. Let’s wait them out.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s the noon news cycle,” Jake explained. “They’re all going live. They’ll move onto something else pretty quickly. This situation is fluid.”
Jake and Finn watched Sheila regale another reporter, smirking when her face fell after realizing she was completely alone and she’d been discarded until the next news cycle. That’s when they approached.
Sheila glanced up, her eyes welcoming. “Are you here for an interview?”
“Kind of,” Finn hedged. “My name is Finn Hardy. This is my associate Jake Harrison. We work for a security company in Sterling Heights. We’re looking for information on Lance Pritchard. I understand you saw him last evening.”
Sheila wrinkled her nose, disappointed. “No cameras?”
“Not today,” Finn said, tugging on his limited patience. This woman wanted to be a star while he was desperately trying to hold his family together. It was beyond irksome. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Well, it was about two in the morning,” Sheila replied, launching into her story again. She didn’t appear to be losing gusto. “I heard something rattling outside in the garbage cans and I assumed it was a raccoon. We get a lot of those out here because it’s the country.”
Finn forced a smile for Sheila’s benefit. “What was Pritchard doing rummaging through your trash cans?”
“He said he was homeless and looking for food, but I recognized him from the television reports,” Sheila replied.
“How did he look?”
“He looked like he did on television.” Sheila was confused.
“Not that,” Jake clarified. “Was he still in his prison jumper?”
“Oh, no,” Sheila said, shaking her head. “He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He didn’t really stand out. I would’ve believed his story, but we’d been watching the news all night. It was a big deal when he got arrested.”
“Did he see you?” Finn asked.
“He did,” Sheila acknowledged. “I started to go back inside the house because I was going to call the police, but he raced after me and grabbed me by my hair.” She yanked on a hank of her gray tresses for emphasis. “I kind of screamed out, but he put his hand over my mouth after that.”
“Did he have a weapon?” Jake asked.
“Not that I saw,” Sheila answered. “He kind of slammed me into the side of he house and told me if I made another sound he was going to kill me. Then he took his hand off my mouth and asked if anyone was inside.”
“Was anyone?”
“Just my son,” Sheila said. “He’s been staying here while he looks for a job. Anyway, he asked me if I had a car and I lied and said I didn’t because I didn’t want him to steal it from me. He cursed a blue streak and said he didn’t believe me.
“I asked him why he needed a car because … well, I was nervous and I needed something to say,” she continued. “He said he had to go and see his daughter because he’d been missing her something fierce.”
Finn cringed. “Did he say anything else about his daughter?”
“Only that he had a surprise for her,” Sheila replied. “I almost felt sorry for him there for a second because he was acting as if he genuinely missed her. Then I remembered who I was dealing with and told him she probably didn’t want to see him.”
“That’s an understatement,” Finn muttered.
“He said she would be thrilled to see him because they had a lot to catch up on,” Sheila said. “Then he tried to force me into the house again, but I purposely kicked the garbage cans to make a racket. I think that’s what saved me.”
“The news report said your son came out with a gun,” Finn prodded. “Did he get a shot off?”
“He fired into the sky to scare him,” Sheila said. “Pritchard seemed so surprised he let go of my hair and just … booked … into those woods over there.”
Finn followed her pointed finger with his eyes. “Did the police search the woods?”
“They brought dogs and everything,” Sheila said. “They didn’t find him. They said they lost him when he got close to the highway down over there.”
“That must mean he got in a vehicle,” Jake mused. “Either someone voluntarily picked him up or he managed to force someone to do it.”
“Can you think of anything else he might have said?” Finn asked.
“Just that he was looking forward to finding his daughter and going right back to how things used to be,” Sheila answered.
Finn’s stomach twisted. “Thank you for your time.”
Jake and Finn were almost back to the truck before Finn found his voice. “He’s going to try and rape her again,” he said, his voice small and ragged. “That’s his endgame. He’s going to rape her again.”
“I don’t think that’s all he wants to do,” Jake said, his heart going out to his friend. “I think he does want to rape her. I also think he wants to terrorize her as long as he can before killing her. I don’t think he wants to leave her alive.
“Pritchard is a man who gets off on power,” he continued. “To control Emma – really control her – he needs to kill her.”
“I can’t let that animal lay a finger on her again,” Finn said, tears filling his eyes. “Even if he doesn’t kill her, if he touches her, she’ll never get over it. Not this time.”
“We won’t let him get to her,” Jake said. “We’re all in this together.”
“I need to find him and kill him before he can get to Emma,” Finn said, mostly talking to himself. “That’s the only way she’ll truly be safe.”
“We’ll handle him,” Jake said. “Just … get in the truck. Let’s go back to town. Pritchard isn’t out here. Wherever he is, it’s not here. Hopefully the others will have something when we get back.”
“I need to see Emma,” Finn said. “We need to stop at Nino Salvaggio’s first, though. I want to take her some of her favorite things. I know it won’t fix anything, but if she would smile – even for one brief moment
– I would feel so much better.”
“We’ll get her everything she could possibly want,” Jake said. “It’s going to be okay.”
Neither man believed that. Things were only going to get worse before they got better. They couldn’t delude themselves otherwise, no matter how much they wanted to do just that.
Six
“What do you think you’re doing?”
James pressed his hand to the front door and stopped Mandy from opening it later that afternoon, his expression serious.
Mandy frowned and glanced up at him. “Opening the door for our guests. Peter is outside. I saw him pull up through the window.”
James ran his tongue over his teeth, debating if he wanted to pick a fight while an audience walked up the driveway. “Did you look out the peephole to make sure Peter was actually at the door?”
“No.”
“How do you know someone else isn’t out there?” James pressed.
“Do you ever want to have sex again?” Mandy asked, narrowing her eyes.
“I’m having sex tonight, baby,” James replied, unruffled. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m stressed and I’m going to need some relief.”
“Are you insinuating you’re going to have sex with someone else if I don’t have sex with you?” Mandy asked.
James knew a trap when he saw one. Still, the idea of even touching another woman made him sick to his stomach. “No. I’m insinuating that I will find a way to make sure you have sex with me. I’m not above bribing you.” His grin was charming as he ran his finger over Mandy’s soft cheek.
Mandy wanted to be angry, but she couldn’t muster the energy. “I saw Peter through the window,” she said. “Do you really think Lance Pritchard is going to grab me with Peter out there?”
James growled. “I need you to be careful, wife,” he said, kissing her forehead and drawing her to him as he opened the door and ushered Peter inside. “Thanks for coming to our impromptu barbecue,” he said, smiling. “I need to yell at my wife for a second, though. I apologize in advance for whatever she’s about to say.”
“Oh, no,” Peter said, offering Mandy a wide smile. He was incessantly fond of her due to the friendship she offered Sophie when his foster daughter was struggling with her own problems. “I can’t believe she would ever do anything deserving of being yelled at. She looks like a blond angel.”
Deadly Arrival (Hardy Brothers Security Book 16) Page 4
