“He needed that from the beginning. No wonder his wife divorced him,” she replied. “I was stupid to keep going out with him. Thank goodness I finally got that.”
The room was getting dark at that point, which made Ben realize it was already evening. When Irene reached to turn on the lamp on the side table, Ben almost stopped her since the curtains on the front window were open, but didn’t. If he wasn’t out there when we arrived, he wouldn’t have seen me with her, and we want him to. He knew that was the plan, but every instinct as a sniper said it made them prime targets if Nash had a gun and intended to use it.
“Where are you going?” Irene asked when Ben got up.
“I can’t find my phone.” He patted his pants pockets. “Let me check your car. It may have fallen out when I was getting in.”
She smiled, rubbing his arm. “You really need one of those cases that clip onto your belt.”
“I know, I know.” He bent to kiss her forehead. “If you’ve told me once…”
“Now I know what I’m getting you for your birthday.”
Chuckling, he replied, “I’ll be back in a sec.”
He was almost to the stairs when his phone vibrated. Waiting until he was on them, he checked it and saw, Are you setting yourself up?
Me?
Ben could visualize Zach flipping him off as he replied, It’s almost dark. He could be anywhere out there, waiting. Give me five to get in position.
Can’t. He’ll be expecting me out there any second now.
Pocketing his phone, as ostensibly not having it was the reason he was going to Irene’s car, Ben eased his gun from the holster. Due to its short barrel he could hold it concealed in his hand which he pressed against his leg before he stepped out onto the front porch. Now’s when I could use a damned tac-vest.
He carefully scanned the area around the house. Across the street, a man was walking a dog. Two doors down an SUV was sitting in a driveway, headlights on, as the driver waited for the garage door to open. Those were the only people he saw. Still, Ben was taking no chances. As he walked around Irene’s car to the passenger-side door he searched the shadows surrounding the garage entrance for any sign of movement.
He didn’t see anything, so he shoved his gun into the front of his waistband, unlocked the car door and, with one hand on the roof leaned in, pretending to look for his ‘lost’ phone on the floorboard. He heard a rush of footsteps and before he could straighten up something hard pressed against his back as a man said, “She’s mine, not yours.”
“Killing me won’t make her want you,” Ben replied tightly as he pulled his gun, keeping it hidden from Nash.
“Shut the fuck up,” Nash spat out. He shoved Ben face-forward onto the car seat and pushed the barrel of his gun between Ben’s shoulder blades. “When the cops ask, I caught you breaking into her car and shot you in self-defense.”
“Think they’ll buy that when she tells them about you?” Ben asked scathingly as he managed to ease his pistol free. He couldn’t see Nash, but he figured shooting him anywhere would give him the edge he needed, if he could do it in time. Twisting his wrist so that the pistol was facing Nash’s body, he pulled the trigger at the same moment that Nash said, “She loves me, she just…” His words ended in a cry of pain as he collapsed onto Ben. Another shot rang out at the same moment and what felt like a streak of fire burned across the side of Ben’s neck.
Then the weight of Nash’s body slid off Ben’s, followed by, “I told you to wait for me.”
Easing himself up to sit with his feet on the ground, his hand pressed to his neck, Ben saw Zach bend Nash over the hood of the car so he could cuff his hands behind him with plastic cuffs. “I take it it’s not a fatal wound,” Ben said.
Zach snorted. “Not even close. Best bet, a broken rib.” He ordered Nash to stay where he was or else, and then crouched in front of Ben, saying, “Let me see what shape you’re in.”
“Bloody but unbowed,” Ben replied, moving his hand.
“Barely a scratch,” Zach told him after wiping away the blood with a couple of tissues he found in the glove compartment.
“I called the police,” Irene said as she appeared beside Zach. She glared at Nash, spitting out, “You bastard. How dare you!”
“You’re mine,” Nash replied between gritted teeth.
“When Hell freezes over, and not even then.” She returned her attention to Ben and Zach, asking, “How bad?”
Zach smirked. “He won’t even have a battle scar.”
Sirens and flashing lights announced the arrival of the police and an ambulance. Irene greeted the officers when they approached with, “That…creature—” she pointed at Nash, “—tried to kill my friend.”
“Looks like he got the worst of it,” one of the officers said as the EMTs cut off the cuffs so that they could examine Nash’s wound.
“She’s lying,” Nash retorted, followed by a groan as one of the EMTs eased him onto a mobile stretcher and cut his shirt free to look at the damage to his side. “I saw someone breaking into her car and…”
“You just happened to have a gun?” Ben snarled, knowing the cops might ask him the same thing when the time came.
“For protection when I take the day’s cash to the night depository at my bank.” Nash looked at the officer who was watching the EMTs. “My name is Greg Nash. I own—”
“I recognize you, Mr. Nash,” the officer replied. He glanced at Irene. “Unless I’m mistaken, you’re Irene Leyton. You filed a couple of reports that Mr. Nash was stalking you.”
“Which you ignored,” she replied acerbically.
“We had no grounds to do anything about them until now.”
“Who are you?” the other officer asked Ben.
“Ben Mercer and he’s Zach Turner. We work for Vanguard Security.”
“I hired them to help me prove what Mr. Nash was doing,” Irene told him.
Zach tapped one of the EMTs on the shoulder, saying, “When you have a second, Mr. Mercer could use a Band-Aid.”
The EMT hurried to the car to look at Ben’s wound. “Barely a scratch,” he commented, echoing Zach’s words from a few minutes earlier. “Let me clean and bandage it, then, when you have a chance, stop by the hospital or your doctor to get an antibiotic prescription.”
“While he’s doing that,” the officer said, “Tell me exactly what happened here.”
Ben did, ending by saying, “The best I can figure is, he must have been waiting on the neighbor’s porch. If you check there, you might find whatever he was using to listen in on our conversation in Ms. Leyton’s place.”
“Or in there,” Zach said, pointing to a car with rental plates parked across the street. “He heard Ben say he had to get his phone from Ms. Leyton’s car and made to the porch before Ben got outside.”
“They’re crazy,” Nash said as the EMTs rolled the stretcher to the ambulance.
“That’s for the courts to decide,” the officer said as his partner got into the ambulance after Nash and one of the EMTs. “I’ll need the three of you to come down to the station house to sign your statements,” he told Ben and company.
“In the morning?” Irene asked hopefully. “I’m still trying to recover from what happened.”
“That will be fine,” the officer replied, giving her and Ben his cards before he returned to his squad car.
“We should leave, too,” Zach said. “I’m parked in the next block over.”
“Not until I’ve thanked you properly,” Irene replied.
“If I didn’t know that you know,” Ben said as he got out of her car and closed the door. “I might take that the wrong way.”
Zach lifted an eyebrow. “Why does she know?”
“It came up at the hotel,” Irene told him before Ben could answer, and explained why. “Now come on in. You and I can have a strong drink. Ben…” she shrugged. “I guess you get coffee.”
“That works,” he replied as they went into the townhouse.
“Coffee sounds good,” Zach said when they were in the living room. “I have to drive.”
“Spoilsport.” She shook her head. “All right, coffee it is for all of us.”
“You did a damned good job,” Zach said quietly to Ben after she went into the kitchen.
Ben smirked. “Even without your help?”
“Yeah, well about that. You should have waited. Then there wouldn’t have been the shoot-out at the Okay Coral.”
“I told you why I couldn’t. It worked out and now, with luck and a good prosecuting attorney, Nash will end up in jail for at least a few years.”
“He’d better,” Irene said from the kitchen doorway. “Black, or do you all need cream and sugar?”
“Black,” Ben and Zach replied in unison.
A few moments later she came out carrying a tray with three cups of coffee and a plate of cheese and crackers, setting it on the coffee table. Since the men were on the sofa, she settled in the chair opposite them.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” she said. “I know it’s your job, but damn.” She shivered, looking at Ben. “He could have killed you.”
“I’m hard to kill,” he told her with a smile. “Better men than him have tried.”
“Make that worse ones,” Zach said, patting Ben’s thigh. “He was an amateur, albeit a crazy one.”
Irene’s gaze dropped to Zach’s hand and then she winked at Ben.
Zach obviously caught her reaction because he said, “It’s not what you think,” although he didn’t move his hand.
She smiled wickedly. “Maybe not yet, but soon I bet.”
“Irene,” Ben cautioned, even though he hoped she was right.
“Just calling it as I see it,” she replied before changing the subject, saying, “Will you guys eat some of cheese? If you don’t, I’ll have to, then I’ll put on ten pounds and no self-respecting male will want anything to do with me, meaning I’ll have to convince the cops to release Greg and we’ll be back to square one. Sorry. I’m…” She sighed. “That’s my way of releasing tension.”
“Don’t apologize,” Ben told her. “You’ve been under a lot of stress. If joking around helps you relax now that it’s over, go for it.”
“Thanks.”
“I have a question for you,” Zach said. “You majored in interior design. How did you end up being one of Nash’s secretaries?”
“When I applied at his store it was for a position as a salesperson. He carried high quality furniture and had quite a few well-to-do customers. I hoped if I got to know some of them I could offer my services as a decorator. That didn’t happen. He hired a man and then offered me a job as a secretary with the promise I could step in if one of his salespeople quit. That also didn’t happen. If I’d been smart, I’d have gone somewhere else but the pay was good so I stuck around.”
“Now you can.”
“I have. I’m working for a start-up decorating company as an assistant to one of the owners. A woman,” she added with a smile. “I’ve learned my lesson.”
“Misogynist,” Zach muttered.
“Misandrist,” she replied. “Although I’m not. I like men, I just don’t want to end up the way I did with Greg, which was mostly my fault. If I’d had said ‘no’ the first time he asked me out, none of this would have happened.”
“I’m not sure I agree,” Ben said. “It might not have happened to you, but I’d be willing to bet he’d have treated whoever took him up on his offer the way he did you, and if she’d broken up with him he’d have stalked her. It’s the kind of man he is.”
“Then why not stalk his ex?” Irene asked.
“I’m no psychiatrist, so I couldn’t say. Maybe he knew the marriage was failing before she asked for a divorce. Maybe he was glad to get her out of his life but he still wanted a woman he could control. His ego couldn’t accept being rejected again and he went off the deep end.” Ben smiled wryly. “I’m sure the ‘why’ of it will be debated by psychiatrists on both sides when he goes to trial.”
“Unless he gets a good lawyer who convinces him to plead temporary insanity,” Zach said.
“He’s got the money to make that happen,” Irene replied, shaking her head.
“Then he probably will,” Zach agreed. “Whether he’s certifiably insane or smart enough to pull it off to escape jail time by ending up in a high-class psychiatric hospital.”
“Honestly,” Ben said, “I’m selfish enough to hope things go that route so I don’t have to come back here for his trial.”
“You don’t love me,” Irene replied in mock dismay, pressing one hand to her chest.
“Of course he does,” Zach said, laughing. “It’s the drive out here that’s a stopper. Speaking of which, I think it’s time for us to leave. Getting some sleep is sort of a necessity before we leave tomorrow, at least as far as I’m concerned.”
She sighed. “I suppose, if you insist. Believe it or not, I’m going to miss you guys even though I’ve only known you for a few hours.”
“You’ll see us tomorrow, if you show up at the police station early enough to sign your statement.”
“As if. I plan on getting in a good night’s sleep for the first time in forever, now that I don’t have to worry that he’s out there somewhere, watching me.”
They all got up and she walked with Ben and Zach to the front porch. “Thank you again,” she said, kissing their cheeks. “Stay safe, and out of trouble, if possible.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Zach replied in his best western drawl. “We’ll sure enough try.”
“Smartass.” She smacked his arm. “I mean it. And keep in touch, if you can? I really do want to know that both of you are all right.”
“We will, I promise,” Ben told her.
Chapter 10
Ben managed to get some halfway decent rest before Zach called to tell him it was time they got moving. Once he was up and dressed, he packed what little he had with him and went down to Zach’s room. It was barely seven when they took off, stopping at the police station first to sign their statements, and then at a breakfast restaurant where they filled up on eggs, pancakes, and as Zach put it, “A gallon of coffee for energy.” As a result, Ben had the feeling they’d be making a few rest stops on their way back home, and he was right.
They got into the city soon after five that evening. Zach called Durand to let him know they were back, which resulted in their boss telling them to come by his office so that he could debrief them.
“It couldn’t wait until morning?” Ben grumbled, massaging his knee.
“Get it over and done with, then we can have a few day off to recuperate,” Zach replied.
“I swear, the second I’m home I’m turning my phone off for at least forty-eight hours.”
Zach laughed. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
The debriefing went as expected, with Durand drawing out even the smallest details from them about what had occurred in their efforts to stop Irene Leyton’s stalker. When it was over he told they had done an excellent job, and promised to let them know as soon as he heard anything about the disposition of Greg Nash’s case.
“Take the next few days off,” he said in conclusion. “I’ll do my best not to pull either of you in unless something critical comes up.”
“The way things have been going,” Ben replied sourly, “that’ll happen the second we walk out of the building.”
Durand chuckled. “If so, I’ll wait until morning to let you know. Now get out of here.”
They did. When they got to the jeep, Zach asked, “Do you want to stop for something to eat before I drop you off at home?”
“Sure. Where?” Ben asked.
“I was thinking we could pick up a couple of steaks and then head to my place. I’ve got everything else we need for a decent dinner. That way we don’t have to deal with people and a noisy, crowded restaurant.”
Ben wondered if there was more to his suggestion than Zach had said. However, he wasn’t about to ask, or to say ‘no�
� to the offer. “No people would be good,” he replied.
Zach smiled as he started the jeep. “Thought you might feel that way.”
They stopped at a grocery store, bought a couple of T-bones, and went on to Zach’s house. Zach told Ben to make himself comfortable, dropped the package of steaks on the kitchen counter, and took his bag and the weapons’ case into his bedroom.
Suddenly too restless to take Zach literally, Ben went into the kitchen to see what Zach had on hand to go with the steaks. He found the makings for a tossed salad in the fridge, and two large potatoes in a bin in one of the cupboards below the counter.
He laid everything out on the island in the center of the kitchen and was scrubbing the potatoes when Zach reappeared.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Zach told him. “You’re my guest.”
“No, I’m part of the team,” Ben replied. “We work together to get things done, even if it’s just two of us.”
“If you say so. Are we baking or mashing those?”
“Does your oven have a grill?”
“Yep.”
“Are we hungry?”
Zach grinned. “I’m starving, so we zap the potatoes then make home-fries while the steaks cook.”
“You do that. I’ll put together a salad.”
While they worked, Ben glanced at Zach when he thought he wasn’t looking. Each time he did, he wondered if he had the nerve to broach the subject that was on the top of his mind—and, he suspected, on Zach’s as well. If he was being honest with himself, and he generally was, he was scared.
It took everything I had in me to deny what I am for all those years. Now that I’ve accepted it, am I capable of acting on it? What if the sex isn’t what I expect? What if the first time isn’t some defining moment that proves…Proves what? God, I wish I knew. That there’s not a damned thing wrong with being the way I am? Until my marriage was over, I lived my life as if it was wrong, and I believed it because it was the way I’d been brought up.
“Those tomatoes aren’t going to cut themselves.”
“Huh? Oh.” Ben looked down at the knife and the tomato, still whole, on the cutting board. “Yeah, I guess not.”
A Second Chance Page 12
