Lasting Shadows: Shadows Landing #3

by Kathleen Brooks

  She shoved off the sheets and followed the smells into the kitchen. Ridge was in an old college shirt and athletic shorts as he cut the biscuits in half and placed them in a shallow bowl.

  “Good morning,” he said to her as he looked up from the bowls. He leaned across the island and placed a quick kiss on her lips. “I hope you like biscuits and sausage gravy.”

  Who didn’t? “I love it. It’s actually my favorite.” Savannah got two napkins and poured two cups of coffee. “How do you like your coffee?” she asked, suddenly realizing there were so many things about him she didn’t know. She wanted to know his favorite things and what he liked to do for fun. Then maybe she could plan some dates for them in the future. Her happy thoughts faded as she realized they wouldn’t have fun dates until this mess was over. Last night someone had tried to kill her and put Ridge in jail for it.

  For the first time in Savannah’s life, she stopped behaving as she thought she should behave. She was angry. Furiously angry. And she took another step toward expressing her real feelings. She said it. Out loud. Just how angry she was and with lots of cursing. Creative cursing, at that.

  Ridge looked up from where he was smothering the biscuits with thick sausage gravy. “What did the poor duckbilled platypus ever do to you?”

  Savannah stopped her rant and began to laugh. “I’m just angry,” she admitted. And it felt good to say it out loud. “I know I’m supposed to take everything with good grace, but I’m angry that someone torched my kitchen. I’m angry that someone caused my wreck. I’m angry that someone tried to kill me. And I’m angry that someone tried to hurt you.” She slammed the silverware onto the table and took a deep breath.

  “Feel better?”

  “Actually I do,” Savannah said as she sat down at the table and primly put the napkin across her lap. “Coffee?” she asked, handing Ridge the cup she had poured.

  “I think I might have something that will make you feel better. You mentioned that you didn’t like the wall dividing the kitchen from the living room. Well, my guys just called and it’s not a weight-bearing wall. It can easily come down. And I might have a present for you. Give me one second.”

  Savannah sipped her coffee as Ridge disappeared into the garage. She heard the banging of drawers and then some grunts of approval. The door opened and in came Ridge holding a sledgehammer with the handle covered in red duct tape. “To match your pretty hair,” he said with a grin.

  Savannah’s eyes went as wide as her smile. “This is for me?”

  “Your very own sledgehammer. I have it on good authority when you’re angry it feels really good to smash something with it.”

  Savannah jumped up and hugged him before taking the heavy sledgehammer into her hands. “Let’s do it.”

  17

  Savannah’s arms ached. Her back hurt. Her hands were probably raw under the gloves. But she felt good. Damn good. She stepped back and looked through the kitchen and into her living room. The wall was gone and she’d helped destroy it.

  “You have a future home improvement reality show in store for you,” Ridge joked as he took her sledgehammer from her.

  “I can’t believe how big this looks!”

  “With some minor changes throughout the rest of the house, you could turn the inside into a contemporary home,” Ridge told her.

  “Cottage on the outside, contemporary on the inside. I like it,” Savannah declared.

  Ridge looked at his watch. “It’s lunchtime. Want to go into town and get something?”

  “Sure. I can pick up some pies from the diner for the guys to thank them for their hard work.”

  Cheers went up on the side porch where they were eating and Savannah knew this was what real happiness felt like. She was making friends, had a supportive man in her life, and had gone out of her comfort zone and demolished a wall. She felt great.

  Ridge’s phone rang and he grimaced. “I have to take this. It’s a really big potential client.”

  “Go ahead. I’m going to run up to my room and clean up a little.”

  “Hello,” Ridge said into the phone as Savannah walked through the now nonexistent wall space and into her living room before going upstairs.

  It was strange, Savannah thought as she looked around. The house she was so proud to finally have didn’t feel as if it were hers anymore. Not that it ever had been. It was still Penn’s. She was excited to paint it and to update it but when she thought of going home, she thought of being curled up on the couch in Ridge’s house with his arm around her. It clearly wasn’t her house, but she felt more at home there than she did here. Probably because Ridge had welcomed her into his home. Here she still felt like the intruder since she wrestled it away from Penn in the divorce.

  Reality home improvement show . . . she could just go ahead and flip this house. She wanted to be an interior designer and she could show that off. Then she would sell it for a profit and buy a house in Shadows Landing that was her own. Savannah took a deep breath. Yes. It felt so right. Giving a little squeal of delight, Savannah hurried down the hall and into her bedroom.

  She looked out the window and saw Ridge pulling out papers from his truck. With a smile and a renewed sense of determination, she opened up her closet and grabbed an old sundress. She’d put her dirty clothes back on after she ate.

  Savannah stepped into her en suite bathroom and pulled off her sweaty, dusty T-shirt. She tossed it over the edge of the bathtub and her shorts quickly followed. She wet a hand towel and did a quick once-over on her body before pulling on her dress.

  When she looked in the mirror she felt cleaner, but goodness gracious, her hair was a mess! How Ridge found her attractive she didn’t know, but she knew he did. And the feeling of being desired no matter what you looked like was freeing. She opened the mirrored medicine cabinet over the sink and pulled out her brush and some hairspray.

  She flipped her head over and began brushing the underside of her hair. Chunks of drywall went tumbling to ground along with a white cloud of dust. Booted feet entered her line of vision and she laughed as she used one hand to ruffle her hair, sending more dust flying.

  “Can you believe this? No wonder so many of your guys have shaved heads.”

  Savannah flipped her hair up ready to tackle the outside of it when she realized the boots weren’t Ridge’s. Fear shot through her as she froze with the brush still in her hair. She swallowed hard and turned to face the man in a black ski mask holding a gun right at her head.

  “You are quite the problem,” he said. His voice was as steady as the gun he was holding—completely still.

  Savannah grasped the sink with one hand to steady herself as the brush fell to the floor. She was going to die. She felt the blood drain from her body as it rushed straight for her big toe. She wavered and leaned against the sink for stability, turning her head to the left to see the man.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked as tears ran down her face. Her body was shaking so hard her teeth were chattering.

  “It’s just a job, lady. But you’ve been a real pain in my ass. No more accidents. I’m getting this over with.”

  Savannah’s shaking stopped. The blood rushed from her toe back up to her face as anger overcame her. “A job! Killing me is a fucking job?”

  “It’s a good job, and almost always easy,” he told her, keeping the gun aimed at her. “Make it look like an accident, they said. It’ll be easy, they said. Well, I’m afraid it won’t look like an accident, but I’ll still get my twenty grand.”

  “Twenty thousand dollars is all my life is worth?” Savannah gasped.

  “I know, I would have charged double if I knew you had nine freaking lives.”

  The man rolled his eyes and Savannah moved. Her thumb flicked the top off the hairspray as she raised it and sprayed it right into his eyes.

  “You were right, I’m worth way more!” Savannah shouted as the man’s arms flailed, trying to wipe the pain from his eyes.

  Savannah charged him as she scr
eamed at the top of her lungs. They went down hard, and he hit his head on the door, slamming it shut. Shit. Now they were trapped in the bathroom as she let out two years of anger on him. At least the gun had fallen somewhere out of reach.

  Savannah breathed hard as her blood boiled. Normally her flight-or-fight response told her to run, but not today. He’d pissed her off something fierce. Savannah fisted her hands and let loose.

  “Yes, sir,” Ridge said into the phone yet again. This was a high-profile client and would be a massive deal for Ridge, but the man enjoyed talking to “normal” people. If only Ridge’s client knew there was nothing normal about him or his family.

  “I’m so glad you liked the plans. I can meet with you as soon as I finish my current job. That will give you time to see if there’s anything else you’d like changed or added to your beach house,” Ridge said patiently.

  Ridge was ready to be with Savannah. They’d had so much fun together through the day. They were connecting on a level he never knew existed before. Ridge was beginning to understand what his married cousins were all talking about when they discussed their wives. They lived their own lives, had their own interests, but each said there was nothing better than learning something new about his wife or coming home to her.

  “Great, I’ll call you in a couple of weeks and set up a time to meet,” Ridge said as his client finally got off the phone.

  Ridge turned to walk back inside when he heard a bloodcurdling scream filled with rage. He and his men raced for the house. No no no was all that was going through his mind. It couldn’t be Savannah. She had to be safe. She just had to be.

  “Take your twenty grand and choke on it!” Savannah screamed as she slammed her fists one after the other into the man’s face over and over again. He’d tried to fight her off but Savannah was too lost in the blood thirst to notice the punches he’d gotten in as she straddled his chest, letting all her anger out on him. She truly understood the phrase “seeing red” now.

  “Damn mask,” she muttered ripping it off and looking at a man she’d never seen before. His eyes were wide with shock. His nose and lip were bleeding as he wrestled with her. He looked to be in his late thirties. His hair was a dirty blond, and he looked like a surfer dude. A murderous asshole surfer dude.

  He tried to reach for her, but Savannah leaned back out of his reach. The man tried to dislodge her by kicking his legs, but she caged his arms to his side with her knees, and she wasn’t letting go. “Sorry, dude, but society life is a bitch. To survive I’ve had over six years of daily Pilates. I can make your little head explode with these thighs.”

  “You’re crazy!” he yelled at her as he struggled to free himself.

  “Wrong thing to say,” she said as she stuffed the mask into his mouth. “Choke on this. Twenty grand my ass,” she muttered when she felt the house shake as booted feet stomped up the stairs.

  “Savannah!”

  Ridge heard Savannah screaming about twenty grand and her ass. The bathroom door was closed and there were muffled screams coming from inside. Ridge’s heart beat hard against his chest and there was no way he’d been able to take a deep breath since he heard her scream.

  Not bothering to knock he turned the knob and opened the door. Only it wouldn’t open more than a fraction of an inch. “Savannah! Are you okay? Open the door!”

  Savannah shook her head as the man screamed for help, but it sounded more like hmmmmmmpf! The red faded and Savannah was now stuck. If she let go of him, he’d be able to attack her.

  “I can’t move or he’ll be free,” Savannah called out as she heard Ridge ordering his men to break down the door.

  In seconds, the whole door was suddenly gone as it was lifted off the hinges and tossed into the bedroom.

  “What the hell?” Ridge muttered as the man beneath her looked pleadingly up at Ridge. “Brady, get in there and grab him as soon as Savannah gets up.”

  Ridge’s foreman squeezed into the small bathroom, and Savannah could finally let go of the man. As she shoved herself back toward the tub, Brady hauled the man up to his feet. The man yanked the mask from his mouth. “Thank you,” he said to Brady before turning to see Ridge.

  Savannah saw the look of recognition on the man’s face in the mirror. “You bastard!” Savannah jumped up, her legs shaking, as she lunged at the man who tried to hide behind Brady.

  “Savannah, what are you doing?” Ridge asked as he tried to keep her away from him. “Look at his arms. Roll up his sleeves. I bet this is the man who attacked us.”

  Ridge went stiff next to her as he ordered Brady to hold him still. The man tried to hide his arms, but Ridge was able to pull one sleeve up. There was the evidence she knew would be there. Long nail marks down his forearm.

  “Take him outside and tie him up. I’m calling Granger,” Ridge said with barely contained anger. He should let it go. Savannah felt remarkably better after beating the crap out of her assailant.

  “Granger, that man tried to attack Savannah again. He’s the same guy who attacked both of us,” Ridge was explaining as Brady shoved the man through the tunnel of workers and into the bedroom.

  Suddenly the man twisted. Brady hollered and his crew blocked the door. The man’s eyes were wild and Savannah saw red again. She screamed at the top of her lungs and charged. The man turned and ran straight through the closed window.

  Glass shattered and some of the crew took off down the stairs to give chase. Ridge, Savannah, and Brady hurried to the window and looked out. “Asshole. He squashed my rhododendron,” Savannah said in a huff. “Where is he? I’m going to kill him.”

  Men burst out the front door as Brady stepped onto the porch roof and looked over. “I don’t think you’ll need to kill him, ma’am.”

  All of Savannah’s bravado fled as her shaky legs carried her downstairs so fast she jumped the bottom three stairs. Ridge and the rest of his men were right behind her. She went out the front door and down the steps and over to where her window was. Three crewmen stood staring at her rhododendron bush. Through their legs she saw the man’s legs, and they weren’t moving.

  Savannah skidded to a stop and looked down at her attacker. “Oh my god, I killed him!”

  18

  Ridge stared down at the body of the man who had attempted to murder both him and Savannah. His neck was at a bad angle and a rhododendron branch stuck partially up his pant leg.

  “Looks like he hit the bush and it messed up his jump. Basically tripped him in the air and sent him diving headfirst for the ground,” Granger said with his hands on his hips.

  “Do we need to call Olivia?” Ridge wondered out loud. Savannah was on the porch swing and his crew had turned into a group of mother hens when the first tear fell. Not that Ridge didn’t feel the same way, but he could better help Savannah by dealing with the fallout of this man’s death.

  “No.”

  “Yes,” Kord called out at the same time Granger answered.

  Granger probably rolled his eyes behind the mirrored glasses. “There’re so many witnesses who will say he jumped on his own that we don’t need Olivia. But if you feel better about it, by all means call her,” Granger said, turning to find the coroner from Charleston arriving. He talked to Granger for a moment before beginning to process the body.

  “What I can’t figure out is if someone is after you or her or both?” Granger told Ridge as he joined him again.

  Ridge watched the coroner begin to work as Kord answered any questions that came up. “It has to be her. The man said he was paid to make her death look like an accident.”

  “Then where is Bunny and why is she missing?” Granger asked.

  “You haven’t had any luck with the credit cards?” Ridge knew the answer was no. Granger would have told him if there’d been a hit.

  “No. Took forever to get the request in and she hasn’t used them since the morning after the auction. She’d stayed at Bell Plantation, paid for her room, had breakfast at Stomping Grounds, got gas at Gil’s, a
nd hasn’t been heard from since.”

  “Let me ask for some help. If we can find her and determine she’s not responsible, then we can cross her off the list of suspects,” Ridge said as he was already sending a text to Ryan.

  How legal do you want this search? Ryan texted back.

  Faster would be better than legal, Ridge told his cousin.

  I’ll have our friend Kale do it then. You just won’t be able to use it for evidence. Or tell anyone how you got it.

  “Ryan is having a friend look for Bunny. He said it’ll be fast but not necessarily court-friendly.” Ridge saw Granger’s lips tighten. Granger liked everything to be legal, but he knew when it was better not to ask, and this was one of those times.

  A text from a number Ridge didn’t know with an 859 area code popped up after two minutes. It must be Kale.

  She’s on a yacht with this guy. They’re currently in the Bahamas. Do you need the exact coordinates? – Kale Mueez

  “Ask him how long she’s been there,” Granger asked, having read the text over Ridge’s shoulder. Ridge tapped on the picture of a topless Bunny on a yacht with a man. “Isn’t he that creep on that Southern reality show?”

  Ridge nodded and then asked Kale how long they’d been on the yacht.

  They left Charleston at three in the afternoon the day after the bachelor auction. There’s been no suspicious financial activity. And attached was a time-stamped photo from the Charleston marina.

  Granger shook his head. “I don’t want to know how he got that.”

  I hacked it, duh.

  Ridge and Granger stared at the text message from Kale that popped up.

  “You’re listening to us?” Ridge asked even as he felt stupid for doing so. Kale was in Kentucky. He couldn’t be listening to them.

  Makes it easy to know what you want. Besides, everyone is listening to you. Social media, the government, even companies who want to data mine all your conversations to sell you that television you mentioned you wanted. It’s not like it’s hard to do. By the way, the girl’s cute. Is she the one Walker was telling us about?