The Grayce Walters Romantic Suspense Series

by Jacki Delecki

  James took Grayce’s arm since she would have trouble walking on the uneven grass in her Louboutins.

  James opened his aunt’s car door. “Aunt Sonja, I’m to be your escort.” He bowed formally as if in an English ballroom to the small, round lady.

  “You sweet boy. Come and give me a kiss.”

  James leaned into the car, giving the woman a brief peck before helping his aunt step out.

  Aunt Sonja had brown, rheumy eyes with a mischievous light.

  “Brought yourself a beautiful beard?” Aunt Sonja inspected Grayce from her Louboutins to Helene’s dress and little black sweater.

  James and Grayce laughed together.

  “How do you know about beards?” James asked.

  “You gotta keep up if you want to be an interesting old lady.”

  “Aunt Sonja, this is my dear friend, Grayce Walters.”

  “Give me your arm, young lady. You’re going to need my help to walk in those high heels.”

  Grayce wanted to laugh aloud again but restrained herself. She knew exactly where James got his chutzpah.

  “You don’t need to pretend you’re something you’re not in order to be with family, James.”

  “Then you don’t know my father very well.”

  “Of course I know your father. He’s my brother. Men can be so silly. Poor Bertie, he could never do right in our father’s eyes.”

  “Poor Bertie? You’ve got to be kidding?” James’ voice had taken on an edge.

  “Your father treated you exactly how he was treated. I’m sorry, but you’ve got to forgive your father. Anger will eat you up.”

  Kip walked up to their group, interrupting the tense moment. “Aunt Sonja, I’ve a chair for you.”

  People walked toward the casket resting in a deep hole in the ground. “Amazing Grace” played from a CD player on a table with a white tablecloth and a bouquet of red roses. The quiet talking stopped at the sight of the casket.

  Kip stood near the grave and signaled for the music to be turned down. He dabbed at his eyes with a white handkerchief. “Your presence helps my loss…” His voice quavered and he cleared his throat. “I’ve asked my sister Dorothy to do a reading you’ll find printed in your program.”

  Dorothy, a lean woman with metal gray hair, walked and stood next to Kip. Her hand shook as she read in a quiet voice, “Friend, please don’t mourn for me, I’m still here, though you don’t see. I’m right by your side each night and day and within your heart I long to stay. My body is gone but I’m always near. I’m everything you feel, see or hear. My spirit is free, but I’ll never depart as long as you keep me alive in your heart. I’ll never wander out of your sight—I’m the brightest star on a summer night.”

  The words of loss hit Grayce. Tears welled in her eyes. She dug in her purse for a Kleenex as the tears dripped down her face. She cried for the memory of the young girl who lost her sister and best friend and the many beloved pets she helped cross the rainbow.

  Aunt Sonja wept into her handkerchief, too. Grayce understood that this funeral must be very difficult for James’ aunt after the recent loss of her husband. She felt like a sham, being upset that she and Davis would be separated for six months, watching the older woman grieve.

  James hid behind his Ray Ban sunglasses, but Grayce didn’t believe he was unaffected by the grief.

  A short man with a balding head and glasses spoke next. “Can you join hands as we recite St. Francis’ prayer? St. Francis was the gentle patron saint of animals.”

  Grayce took James’ hand. James voice was steady as he recited the prayer and Grayce wondered if his aunt’s advice had affected him during the part of prayer—in forgiving there is forgiveness.

  Kip tossed his rose on the top of the casket. His sister Dorothy was next, followed by Aunt Sonja. Everyone tossed their roses on the shiny wood casket, making a glorious bed of flowers out of grief and loss. Celine Dion’s haunting song “Because You Loved Me” played.

  The bald man spoke, breaking the painful sobs in the quiet. “Kip would like all of you to join him at Ray’s Boathouse after the service. A light luncheon will be served.”

  James cursed under his breath. “I can’t do this. Let’s go.”

  Grayce took his arm. “Don’t you want to say good-bye?”

  James shook his head and started to walk toward the car. “I’ll call them next week.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Grayce came out of the veterinarian clinic and walked down Upper Queen Anne Avenue, glad to have finished the acupuncture demonstration—her second this week. She found it challenging to limit her teaching to the clinical aspect of acupuncture and not the art of energy healing. Treating energy was a personal and spiritual journey that a practitioner had to embrace.

  Exhausted from the sleepless nights, she needed caffeine before heading back to the stacked charts on her desk. There were coffee shops on every block on both upper and lower Queen Anne. The day had clouded over. There was an eminent feeling of sudden rain with the dark sky hovering overhead.

  Grayce buttoned her sweater against the quickening cool breeze. An anxious dog yelped behind her. She turned to the distressed animal’s sound.

  A Cattle Dog squealed in excitement as his owner came out of the grocery store. A tall, dark man walking behind her suddenly turned and bent over the newspaper. The man looked like Hunter Hines. He was dressed in the same blue shirt and pants that Hunter always wore.

  Grayce’s stomach churned in apprehension. She turned and walked a few steps to peer into the next shop window. She feigned interest in hair salon products as she watched the man through the window’s reflection. He remained bent over with his head turned away, as if he knew she watched him. He stood and walked in the other direction.

  He resembled Hunter Hines in both size and coloring. The only difference was this man slouched. It couldn’t be Hunter Hines, could it? Why would Hunter Hines be following her? The memory of Aunt Aideen’s prediction caused anxious dread to move through her.

  Lost in thought, she had been standing in front of the window for several minutes. She looked back into the window to make sure Hunter Hines was gone and caught the reflection of a young guy in a gray hoodie, leaning over a car. His face was angled down away from her, but he had multiple facial piercings like the kid Gator at Teen Feed.

  She was losing it. Without sleep and without Davis, she was imagining men following her on Queen Anne. If she didn’t get some sleep soon, she was going to become as dramatic as James.

  She decided to skip the tea and head to her office. The sooner she got the work done, the sooner she could go home. She wanted to go to bed and sleep through the night without dreaming, not awaken alone in the dark.

  Mitzi waited for her in the car. The poodle had caused such a scene howling and hurdling herself at the door with Grayce’s departure that Grayce had relented and brought Mitzi. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who was having trouble adjusting to Davis’ absence. And he was gone for only ten days. What was it going to be like for her and Mitzi after he’d been gone for six months?

  Grayce walked toward her car. She turned back to see if the Gator look-alike was still at the car, but he was gone. She couldn’t shake the sensation of approaching danger. And then it struck her, it was the same perception that she had felt at the house on 65th Street. She was becoming paranoid.

  Instead of her usual exuberant greeting, Mitzi was agitated, barking forcefully when Grayce got to the car. She unlocked the car.

  “What’s the matter, Mitzi? Do you need to go for a walk?”

  Grayce reached in the back seat for the leash. Mitzi howled. “I was only gone for two hours and you wanted to come, remember?”

  Mitzi jumped out of the car, but instead of waiting for her leash, she ran circles around the car, growling insistently.

  “What is the matter?”

  People were staring as Mitzi circled the car for the third time. Exhausted, Grayce had little patience for the dog’s er
ratic behavior.

  “Mitzi, it’s okay. I’ll take you for a long walk along the canal when we get back to my office. Okay?”

  Mitzi paced around the car and snarled. Was Mitzi trying to warn her? Suddenly Grayce felt her senses overwhelmed, as if her nerve ending were exploding.

  “Okay, girl. I get it. Let’s go.”

  Grayce searched down the street. She had the same sensation of a malevolent presence as when she had walked in the jungle on Beacon Hill.

  Grayce pointed to the passenger door. Mitzi didn’t do her usual leap into the car, but whimpered when she took her place next to Grayce on the passenger side.

  Grayce turned around, looking one last time behind her before she got in her car. She was spooked. First Hunter, then Gator and now Mitzi’s agitation. She exhaled deeply and got in the Outback.

  She drove north on Queen Anne, debating if she should follow her expected pattern of returning to her office or drive to James’ office. She’d head to her office to decide whether she was being followed, and if so, then she’d drive to James’ downtown office. She didn’t want to be trapped alone in her upstairs office… Like last time.

  Grayce checked her rear view mirror frequently to see if anyone followed her. She had only seen in the movies where people could tell they were being followed and wasn’t sure how she’d know. A silver-haired woman in a SUV drove behind her. The large vehicle prevented Grayce from seeing the cars behind her.

  Mitzi kept a low keening whimper.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be cross with you. You were trying to warn me. Someone is following us.”

  Mitzi turned and looked to the side and behind her. The dog’s instincts were on high alert.

  Grayce drove to the intersection of McGraw and Third Street. She might be able see around the SUV at the four-way stop.

  There was little resistance on the brake pedal when she hit the brake. She noted the change, but was focused on whether Gator or Hunter followed her.

  She made the right turn down the north side of Queen Anne hill. The hill was a half mile long and ended at busy Nickerson Street. After a few blocks, she’d be in Fremont and then at her office.

  Mitzi started a low snarl when Grayce turned the corner. The unnerving sound hit Grayce straight in the back of her neck at the top of her spine.

  “What is it Mitzi? Did you see someone? Gator?” Grayce checked her rear view mirror again. Nothing.

  She braked as she started the sharp descent. Her brakes didn’t respond. The car didn’t slow. Her foot went to the floor as she pushed on the pedal, but nothing happened. She pumped the brakes. Shit, she didn’t remember if she was supposed to pump or not. The car was gaining momentum. There was a minivan in front of her, and if she didn’t slow down, she and Mitzi would ram the car.

  Grayce frantically pumped the brakes again. Nothing happened. Her heart raced as did the car.

  Her brakes were failing on one of Seattle’s longest and steepest hills.

  Details came into sharp focus as the adrenaline pumped through her. She could see a blond head in a car seat in the back of the van. She’d have to pass the car ahead of her on the congested two way street.

  She swerved into the other lane and passed the slow minivan.

  She missed the oncoming Volvo by a mere five feet. The Volvo driver honked and screamed at her.

  Her hands shook. Sweat was pooling under her arms.

  She slowly pulled on the parking brake. It took all her self-control not to jerk the parking brake hard. She remembered something about the back wheels locking if she pulled too fast.

  The hand brake didn’t slow them as they gained momentum on the vertical incline. She pulled on the parking break again then shifted down into second gear. The car jerked, sending Mitzi forward off the seat. The smell of the burning brake filled the car.

  The Subaru careened downhill. Residential houses whizzed by. Fortunately there wasn’t another car in front of her for a hundred feet. She’d soon be at the campus of SPU, the scene of a school shooting. They definitely didn’t need another tragedy.

  They were going too fast for her and Mitzi to jump out of the car, but she couldn’t let them rocket into the heavy thoroughfare of Nickerson Street. She had to find a place to slow the car down before she hurt someone.

  Fifty feet ahead was a crosswalk filled with students from the college campus. She didn’t have anywhere to slow the car without crashing into a tree or building. Her options flashed fast. She could hit the curb, but at this speed, there was a chance of losing control and hitting an oncoming car.

  She pulled again on the hand brake and shifted to first simultaneously. The car jerked violently, but this time Mitzi remained seated.

  “Mitzi get in the back seat and lie down.”

  Mitzi’s ears went up at the sharp command, but the poodle didn’t budge from her seat. She defied Grayce for the first time ever.

  Shifting into first had slowed the car so that she was going approximately the same speed as the Lexus in front of her. She could possibly make it to the small park on the corner near Nickerson. She could use the evergreen shrubs to stop the car. And hopefully not hit any pedestrians on the way.

  She pumped the brake again to see if there was any friction. Nothing.

  “Oh, no.”

  The Lexus in front of her had put on the left-hand signal. The traffic heading up the hill was bumper to bumper. The Lexus and she would need to stop. Her heart beat frantically.

  She pulled on the hand brake. At forty miles an hour, she was going to have to drive up on the right-side curb. The Lexus stopped in front of her. She swerved to avoid smashing the Lexus and then hit the curb.

  Grayce veered sharply to the left, missing the Lexus by mere inches. Grayce overcorrected and tried to ride against the curb. She was approaching the crosswalk filled with pedestrians. She had to make a choice in the next fifteen seconds—hit the trees along the curb to stop the car or hurtle into the congested traffic or the college students.

  Some observant student had cried out a warning, the crosswalk had cleared and Grayce and Mitzi sailed through.

  Grayce sent up a prayer of gratitude, regardless of the irate shouts and fearful screams behind her. Having survived one disaster, Grayce looked at busy Nickerson Street looming.

  By some miracle, there were no cars waiting at the light ahead. Grayce now prayed that the light would change so she and Mitzi could turn into the park. And she prayed that there were no people walking on the sidewalk.

  The light changed as Grayce and Mitzi came to the intersection and made the right turn to the park. The car’s wheels squealed as they took the turn, and the driver’s side lifted off the pavement. Grayce took a deep breath and aimed the car at the curb and a clump of small, beautifully pruned and shaped dwarf holly bushes.

  She consciously tried to relax. The car hit the curb and Grayce lost control as it careened to the right and slammed into a small tree.

  Grayce absorbed the impact in slow motion. Her neck and spine rolled forward and then backward before her head slammed into the steering wheel. Her last thought was to ask the universe for one last favor—tolet Mitzi be safe.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Grayce heard her name in the distance. The sound was distorted, as if she were swimming underwater. Sirens roared around her. “Dr. Walters. Dr. Walters. Can you open your eyes?”

  She didn’t want to open her eyes. It would hurt too much. She drifted back into the darkness.

  The voice was relentless. She wanted to sleep. She was so tired.

  “I’m a friend of Davis’.”

  Davis. He was going to go ballistic when he heard about the crash.

  A cool tongue licked her hand. Grayce opened her eyes. “Mitzi?” A sharp pain cut between her eyes. A sea of blue shirts surrounded her. She recognized the fire department uniform.

  A blond man kneeling next to her held her hand. “I’m Davis’ climbing buddy, Chris Crosby. You’ve had a car accident.”


  “No accident.” Her voice came out raspy as if she had gone without water.

  “Is Mitzi hurt?” She turned her head to look at the poodle, but the small movement blasted violent pain into her head, as if her head might explode.

  “Except for a few bruises and cuts she got with the impact, Mitzi is fine. But you hit your head on the steering wheel and the windshield.”

  She had a vague memory of hurdling through space before everything went black. “Yes, when my car hit the tree.”

  “We’re going to transport you to Harborview. You’re going to need to be checked out. Do you want me to call Davis, have him meet you at the hospital?”

  Grayce couldn’t concentrate because of the pain, but she knew she didn’t want to alarm Davis. There was nothing he could do three thousand miles away. “Davis is out of town. I’ll call my friend James to pick me up once they run the tests. I’m sure I’m fine.”

  “But Davis will want to know. He won’t be happy that we treated you and then didn’t call him.”

  “Chris, please don’t call Davis.” She touched Chris’ hand. “He can’t do anything in DC, and the call will only upset him. I’ll call him once I’m checked out, okay? But can you take Mitzi with you until someone can pick her up?”

  “Don’t worry about Mitzi. I’ll take care of her, but Davis is going to be rip roaring mad if I don’t call him.”

  “He won’t be. I promise to tell him you wanted to call, okay?”

  Chris rubbed his chin. “What did you mean earlier when you said that this crash wasn’t an accident?”

  “My brakes were tampered with. They failed coming down Third Street. I had to hit the tree to avoid injuring anyone.”

  “How do you know your brakes were tampered with?”

  “Two men were following me, and the brake failure is too much of a coincidence.”

  “Crosby, that’s enough, man.” Another blue uniform put his hand on Chris’ arm. “I need to get her to Harborview. The police can talk to her later.”