The Maverick

by Jan Hudson

  Wrong.

  With her hands on her hips, Cass’s twin glared at him. “You are reprehensible, Griff Mitchell. You’ve broken her heart, and what you’ve done to my sister, you’ve done to me. You’re not welcome in Chili Witches ever again, and I have friends to enforce that request.” She nodded toward a table of cops. “Leave.”

  Griff walked out of Chili Witches, but he couldn’t go yet. He went back upstairs and knocked softly on Cass’s door. “Cass, please talk to me. Just give me five minutes. Please.”

  Nothing.

  He sat down on the steps and tried to think of a way to get to her, short of battering the door down—which would only set off the alarm and cause havoc.

  Griff called a florist and offer them a bonus if they would deliver a huge arrangement ASAP.

  In twenty minutes, a florist van stopped and a kid got out carrying a big vase of mixed flowers, pretty ones. The kid nodded to Griff as he passed him sitting on the stairs. The delivery boy knocked and waited. Knocked and waited. Nothing.

  “Mister,” the kid said. “Do you know the lady who lives here?

  Griff nodded.

  “Would you give these to her, please?”

  “Just leave them by the door,” Griff said.

  “I don’t know…” the kid looked at the sky. “It might rain.”

  “Leave them.”

  He shrugged, set them by the door and hurried down the stairs to his van. Griff watched and waited. The door didn’t open, and the flowers seemed to mock him.

  For the next five hours, two of them in the rain, he sat on the stairs, alternately phoning and knocking until his battery ran out of juice and his shoes were full of water. Temporarily conceding defeat, he sloshed to his car and went home.

  He gave the Marcia Ball tickets to the valet, went upstairs and took a hot shower, and tried to think of a better strategy.

  THE ENTIRE TIME GRIFF pounded on her door, Cass had been sitting on her couch eating Cheerios from a box and watching old movies. And crying. Initially, her anger had fueled her, but in the end, grief overtook her and drained her dry.

  She’d heard him go, listened as he plodded down the stairs in the rain, watched out the window as his car left the lot. Only when she was sure he’d gone did she open the door and peek out. The poor flowers were getting pounded by the rain. She took them in and set them in the kitchen sink to perk back up.

  The bouquet might recover, but she wondered if she ever would.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Cass didn’t sleep much, and she dreamed awful things she couldn’t remember, but kept waking her up when she dozed off. She finally got up, took a couple of aspirin and put cold compresses on her swollen eyes. Nothing had ever hurt her so deeply as this. Daniel’s betrayal was nothing compared to Griff’s.

  Mostly, she realized, because she hadn’t loved Daniel so much.

  Well, she refused to waste any more tears over Griff and his devious ways. She was determined to gut up and go on. Today was a workday for her.

  Her phone rang. He was starting early. She removed the compress to look at the caller ID. Sunny.

  “Good morning, sis,” Cass said in her cheeriest voice. “How are you today?”

  “The question is, Cass, how are you?”

  “I’m fine. Just fine.”

  “You don’t sound fine. You’re croaking like a frog.”

  “Must have been all the yelling I did yesterday.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Sunny said. “I know you must feel like crap. How about I work for you today?”

  “No. Absolutely not. You’re not going to cancel your plans. Mom and Aunt Min have been excited out of their minds about meeting with your wedding planner and getting started on the details today.”

  “They’re excited. I’m not. This is my second marriage. Ben and I want a simple ceremony in the backyard and a lemon cake from the bakery down the street.”

  “I know. Keep reminding them.”

  “Have you heard any more from Griff?”

  “Not a peep. I think he finally got the message.”

  “I hope so. If he gives you any trouble, call me and I’ll send somebody to toss him out.”

  Cass laughed for the first time in nearly twenty-four hours. “You forget I have a baseball bat under my bed.”

  “Seriously, Cass, call me if you need me. Should I tell Mom and Aunt Min about this?”

  “No. I feel like enough of a fool without everybody knowing about it. Just play dumb, and later I’ll tell them things didn’t work out for us. Mom will be thrilled.”

  After she hung up, Cass wandered into the bathroom and stared at her reflection. Talk about being “rode hard and put away wet.” She looked worse than terrible, but her eyes didn’t seem quite so puffy after the compress, and her headache had eased some. After showering and dressing, she took half an hour to skillfully apply a ton of makeup without it looking troweled on. Not bad.

  She pasted a grin on her face. “It’s showtime.”

  Downstairs, she unlocked the back door for arriving employees and began her usual routine. Her phone rang and she jumped three feet. Pulling her cell from her pocket, she saw the POAC secretary’s name and answered. After they ended the call, Cass checked her voice mail and noted twenty-seven messages from Griff. She should have deleted them immediately, but some masochistic perversion had kept her from it. She might even listen to them someday when she needed reminding what an idiot she’d been.

  Lunchtime came and went without incident. They had a moderate crowd. With the nearby government offices closed, Saturdays usually weren’t extremely busy.

  About three-thirty, Griff walked in the front door. He hadn’t shaved, his blue eyes were bloodshot and he generally looked like hell.

  She met him before he got too far inside. “Griff, please leave. We have nothing more to say.”

  “Will you give me at least five minutes, Cass? I need to talk to you.”

  “Not today.”

  “When? If I call you tomorrow or come by, will you talk to me?” His eyes seemed to plead, and she almost caved.

  “I don’t know. There is one question I’d like to ask you, and I’d like a truthful answer.”

  “Anything,” he said. “Ask it.”

  “Was ZASM responsible for the break-in and flooding here?”

  “I swear to God, Cass, I knew nothing about it and was in no way responsible.” He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. He had the most woebegone expression she’d ever seen as he looked her straight in the eye and sucked in a deep breath. “However, I’ve had my suspicions about Walt. I can’t be sure, but he might have done it. The man is crazy.”

  Cass thought she might faint, and her voice quavered as she said, “And this man is your partner? What the hell kind of business are you involved in? Where are your ethics? I’ve heard enough. Please leave. Now.”

  “Cass—”

  “I don’t want to hear another word. If you don’t leave quietly, I’ll have you thrown out, and if you persist in bothering me, I’ll get a restraining order.” She turned and walked away before she had a total meltdown.

  Hiding out in the office, she sat behind the desk and buried her face in her hands. What was wrong with her? As she’d stood talking to Griff, a terrible longing had come over her, and she’d wanted to throw herself into his arms and have him hold her and comfort her. Was she stark raving mad? He was the cause of her pain.

  She clenched her teeth and laced her fingers tightly together until her shaking stopped. She would get through this, she told herself over and over like a mantra. She was a survivor.

  BUSINESS PICKED UP FOR dinner, and she was pleased to see several old friends. Ben McKee’s sister and brother-in-law, Tracy and Rick, stopped in with their two little girls.

  “We’ve come for the bestest chili in the world,” the younger one said.

  “And some larrupin’ peach cobbler,” the other one added. “Uncle Ben says larrupin’ means delicious.”


  Cass smiled, really smiled, showed them to a table and chatted for a short while. A few minutes later, she was surprised to see Greg Gonzales come in with two women, one older, one younger.

  She hurried to the door to meet them. “Hi, Greg. Good to see you.”

  He introduced his mother and younger sister, Donna, who appeared to have Down syndrome. Cass greeted them warmly and seated them near the window. “Greg, life has been pretty hectic for me, but I plan to spend tomorrow afternoon making the rest of my selections, and I’ll have my choices ready for you by Monday.”

  “Sounds good. I’ve been telling Donna and my mother about the chili here, and Mama’s been itching to come and steal your recipe.”

  “Oh, Greg!” his mother said, chuckling.

  “I don’t like chili,” Donna said, screwing up her face. “But I like hamburgers.”

  “I’m glad to hear that, Donna,” Cass said. “Our hamburgers are really, really good. Some say the best in Texas.”

  Donna beamed.

  “Let me take your drink orders, and I’ll send over a waiter right away.”

  Martin Sevier from the POAC board brought his family for dinner, as did Sunny’s former partner in Homicide. It seemed to be old home night with the number of friends and regulars who showed up.

  Cass stood with her hand on the bar and smiled as she looked out over the diners, listened to the buzz of conversation punctuated by laughter. The smells of chili and onions and sizzling meat were as familiar to her as her own reflection, as were the kitschy decorations on the walls. These sights and sounds and smells were woven into the fabric of her life, and they comforted her. She rubbed her fingers over the bar’s smooth wood, where so many fingers had touched before.

  Dear God, she loved this place.

  CASS FELT CONSIDERABLY BETTER when she said goodbye to the last of the staff and made her final walk through Chili Witches. She glanced toward a corner, catching a movement there, and froze when she saw the Senator sitting at the table, a coffee cup in front of him. No matter how many times she encountered him, she would never get used to seeing a ghost.

  “Good evening, Senator. What brings you here?”

  “Do I need a reason to drop in?” He looked a bit sad.

  “Things are off between Griff and me.”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. I like him.”

  “Mom doesn’t. She’ll be delighted.”

  “He truly loves you, you know. If I had to guess, I’d say Griffin is your soul mate, your destiny. You’ve been very good for each other. Listen to your heart, Cass.”

  “But he lied and came here to use me for his own ends.”

  “Did he? Are you sure?”

  The Senator was gone.

  And she was confused.

  Suddenly weary to the bone, she set the security alarm, locked up and went upstairs. She gathered all her house samples together and put them in her tote bag by her laptop. After she undressed and pulled on her boxers and a tank top, Cass fixed herself a bowl of strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce and pecans, and curled up in bed to eat it.

  What exactly was the Senator trying to say to her? Soul mates? Destiny? Sounded like so much hokum. Griff was a warty toad. Sure, he had her going for a while, and he was hell on wheels in bed, but great sex wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It couldn’t replace respect.

  She yawned. Setting her bowl aside, she turned out the light and pulled the covers over her head.

  SOMETIME DURING THE night Cass was jolted awake by a pounding on her door. “Dammit, Griff!” she yelled. “Go away!” She covered her head with a pillow to drown out the noise, and slapped at her alarm clock, which was going like crazy.

  Her phone began to ring, joining the other raucous ringing and clanging and beeping going on.

  What was that smell?

  She jolted upright and grabbed her phone. Hank Wisda.

  When she answered, he yelled, “Get out, Cass! Get out! Hurry! The place is on fire!”

  She began to cough as smoke seeped into the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Cass ran for the exit, grabbing whatever she could on her way. The smoke grew thicker, and she heard Hank still pounding on her door. Yanking it open, she fell outside. Flames shot up behind her.

  Hank yelled, “Quick! Get as far away as you can!”

  “Call 9-1-1!”

  “Trucks are on their way. Go! Go!”

  She ran out to the parking lot. Thankfully, her purse was one of the things she’d grabbed, and she fished out her keys as she ran. Quickly unlocking her car, she tossed her armload of stuff inside, drove two blocks away and parked. Fire trucks and police cars screamed by her, and as she looked back over her shoulder, fire had completely engulfed the lower floor and flames were shooting up fifty feet or more over the roof. She could hear the whoosh and crackle from where she sat, watching as a window of her apartment blew out.

  She had her cell phone as well, and she immediately dialed Sunny. Weeping hysterically now, Cass said, “Come quick. Chili Witches is on fire! Hank and I are okay.”

  Holding her steering wheel in a death grip, Cass fought to calm herself. What else? What else bad could happen? Her nerves were stretched to breaking.

  More police cars and fire trucks screamed by, and great streams of water poured over the fire, but the inferno raged on. Cass pawed through the items she’d been able to save, hoping for clothes to put on. The closest thing she found was the blue chenille throw from the couch. She’d saved her laptop, her tote of color samples, a painting her mom had done that had hung near the door, and one left shoe. A red high heeled sandal.

  The sum total of her belongings was what she had in her car. The little stuffed cat, all her clothes, the box of medals and memorabilia from high school and college, her furniture, her jewelry—everything was gone. Everything.

  But she was alive. Hank was alive. Stuff could be replaced.

  But Chili Witches… She choked on a sob.

  Cass got out of her car and locked it, carrying with her only her phone, her keys and the chenille throw, and walked back toward the conflagration, where flames and glowing embers licked the sky and drank the gushing streams of water.

  SUNNY PASSED HER ON the way and screeched to a stop at the curb. Jumping from her car, she ran to her sister. “Oh my God, Cass. Oh my God.”

  They hugged each other and sobbed.

  “What happened?” Sunny asked.

  “I don’t know. The downstairs was already burning and my apartment was getting smoky when Hank managed to wake me. Did you call Mom and Aunt Min?”

  “Yes. I told them not to come, but they’re already on their way.” She looked down at Cass’s feet. “Where are your shoes?”

  Cass shrugged.

  “Wait a minute. I think I have something in the trunk.” Sunny ran to her car and popped the back. She returned in a minute with her gardening boots. “This is the best I can do.”

  “Sold,” Cass said. She brushed off her feet and stuck them into the boots. Pulling the chenille throw around her shoulders, she trudged with her twin toward the fire.

  Police had blocked off the area, so they couldn’t get too close, but they saw their mother and aunt, disheveled and distraught, running toward them.

  “Are you okay?” Gloria asked. “What happened?”

  Cass shrugged. “I don’t know. It obviously started somewhere downstairs—either at Hooks or Chili Witches.”

  Holding each other, the four of them watched the building burn.

  “My stars and garters,” Gloria moaned, shoving her fist against her mouth. “I can’t believe it.”

  Tears trickled down Aunt Min’s face. “Oh my, at the memories burning with that place! It’s gone, isn’t it?”

  Sunny nodded. “No way to save anything. They can only keep it from spreading to surrounding buildings.”

  GRIFF COULDN’T SLEEP. He hadn’t been able to since Cass left. He stood at the window, staring at a spot to the west
of the capitol grounds where he knew Chili Witches stood. Because of buildings in the way, he couldn’t see the actual structure or Cass’s apartment, but he knew exactly where it was.

  He frowned. A bright glow lit the sky where he looked. Was that a fire? His pulse kicked into overdrive. Could it be Chili Witches? Cass!

  He had to find out if she was okay. It was three o’clock in the morning, and there wasn’t a chance in hell she would answer if he called.

  In record time he laced on his running shoes, stuck his keys and wallet in his pocket and hurried downstairs. As soon as he hit the street he could hear the sirens and smell the fire.

  Panicked, he ran toward the activity, his long strides eating up the pavement. The closer he got, the more his panic grew. Oh, hell! It was Chili Witches! He prayed and ran faster.

  The area was blocked off and hoses poured water onto the roaring, raging flames. He tried to get through but was stopped at every turn.

  “Cass!” he yelled, running around the perimeter of the barricade. “Cass!” Terror clawed at his insides. “Cass!”

  At last he saw four women standing beside a sawhorse. One wore rubber boots and a blanket.

  “Cass!”

  She turned.

  He ran toward her, grabbed her and held her tight. He held her and swung her around and kissed her face all over. “I’ve never been so scared in all my life.”

  She struggled in his arms. “Let me go! Dammit! Let me go.”

  He set her down, but held her at arm’s length and scanned her from head to toe. “Thank God you’re okay. You are, aren’t you?”

  “I’m okay, but Chili Witches isn’t. It’s gone. Nothing but ashes will be left. Are you happy now?”

  Griff felt the blood drain from his face. “You can’t believe I had anything to do with this! Cass, I swear by all that’s holy, I would never do anything to hurt or endanger you. You have to believe me.”

  “Go away, Griff. Just go away. I want to be with my family now.”

  He didn’t want to go. He wanted to hold her in his arms and wash the soot from her face. But in the end he left. She was safe. That’s what was important now.