The Jilting: Summer (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 1)

by Catherine Lloyd

  A green Ford pickup pulled out of the street ahead of them. Terry whistled softly. If he were a religious man, he would have said a little prayer of thanks. Instead, Terry punched Roy awake. “Look alive, sleeping beauty. It’s show time.”

  SCOUT HAD planned to wait for the right moment to confront Noel but seeing his foot raised, ready to inflict damage on the desk that Ryder had given her—she lost it.

  Noel whipped around to face her, his eyes darting to the door. “Scout! Thank God. You scared the hell out of me. Is anyone with you?”

  “No. We’re alone.”

  Noel visibly relaxed. “I didn’t break and enter. I used the back door key you gave me. Oh baby, am I ever glad to see you! I’m sorry I had to drag you into this mess, if I could have accessed the money without involving you, I would have. But this thing is solid oak and the panel sits flush. There was no way to pry it open. I need that little key of yours.”

  She watched him stonily. “You lied to me from the beginning.”

  “It wasn’t personal, baby. Your computer isn’t linked to my employers and I needed access to a legitimate bank account that O’Hara couldn’t track back to me. I was desperate. You were so willing to trust me, I was grateful for that. You’re a good person, Louise.”

  “Shut up. You used me.”

  Noel’s eyes hardened. “All right have it your way. Let’s get this over with. You know what I want. Give me the key, Scout.”

  She held up a key. It was the smallest one on the ring. “This key?”

  Noel lunged for it and Scout popped it in her mouth.

  “Take one more step and I swallow it,” she said with difficulty.

  “You’re such a child,” Noel said with disgust. “Spit it out before you choke.”

  Scout shook her head. “I’ve gone over that desk a dozen times. This key doesn’t fit any of the compartments.”

  “Some historian,” Noel sneered. “I found it in one afternoon. From the beginning I knew I was going to need a safe place to stow the money until the time was right. A million dollars is bulky, hard to hide. I remembered what you said about Revolutionary War furniture having secret compartments. This desk is so big and yet there isn’t a lot of drawer space. I examined it and discovered a slight depression in the side panel. Here, I’ll show you.”

  Noel squatted. Scout knelt beside him, unable to contain her curiosity. Using a letter opener, he pried loose a glob of wood filler. Underneath was a small brown keyhole.

  “Wow,” Scout breathed.

  “None of the keys on the ring in the cloak cupboard fit. By sheer chance, I noticed the key you wore around your neck. At the time, I thought you knew about the compartment but after asking a couple of questions, I realized you never discovered the keyhole.”

  “You took my key to open the compartment.”

  “I made sure you got it back. The money was safer with the key around your neck.”

  “Noel, they think I was in on this plan of yours. You’ve as good as killed me.”

  “I didn’t intend that to happen. I tried to protect you as much as possible.”

  “Protect me? You led them right to me! I’m dead and so are you. Why did you drag me into this? You didn’t have to ask me to marry you. I needed an accountant, you could have just hung out your shingle and I would have hired you.”

  “But you wouldn’t have given me unlimited access your computer. There were other businesses, other women, but they were married or involved. You were the only single woman who was—”

  “Don’t say it! Don’t you dare say that to me! I trusted you. That doesn’t make me weak or stupid or desperate or needy—!”

  “I was going to say available. You were the only available single woman in town. I’m sorry, honey, but there is always collateral damage when I play the long game on a mark. Innocent people get hurt. I said I tried to protect you and I did. I wouldn’t sleep with you. I couldn’t hurt you that way. I developed real feelings for you, Louise. I was looking forward to our wedding, especially the wedding night.” Noel took a step toward her. “Baby, I think I love you.”

  Scout blinked in disbelief and then slapped him as hard as she could.

  Noel stared at her in wide-eyed shock, his hand to his cheek. “You bitch.”

  It’s funny, Scout thought, gazing at Noel, how a person could change before your very eyes once you knew what they really were. His scent filled her nostrils, cologne which had seemed sophisticated a week ago now struck her as cloying. Fine lines creased hard blue eyes. His mouth was thin and cruel, a mouth that spit lies. Everything about him looked false; the graying at his temples, the tan to his skin. A fake man from his bleached smile to his expensive shoes.

  Scout spit the key into her hand. “I can’t tell which memory will be the worst I have of you,” she said tightly. “Cheating on me the night before our wedding or the humiliation I suffered in front of the whole town. Maybe it’ll be the terror of being chased by killers on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life.” Scout stepped toward him until they were almost nose to nose. “Those experiences were horrible but they don’t hold a candle to this moment right now. You’ll say anything to get this key and you think I’m so stupid that I’ll fall for your lies even now. You were never in love with me.”

  Noel hooted. “It didn’t matter whether I loved you or not. I was male, healthy and employed. That was all you needed to know. You were never interested in me.”

  “That’s not true. I came running to your rescue. I cared about you.”

  “You cared about me.” Noel eyes were flat. “That’s a laugh.”

  His words echoed Ryder’s. She was no better than Noel. Marrying was as much as means to an end for her as it was for him. Was running to his rescue more about saving face and showing Ryder up than helping her groom in his time of need?

  Scout shook herself roughly. No, that was not true. However wrong her reasons were for walking down the aisle, when Scout read Noel’s note in the church, she only wanted to help him.

  “This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Noel took a step toward her. “Give me the key and I’ll be out of your life forever.”

  Scout stumbled back, popping the key in her mouth and swallowed.

  Noel stared at her stricken. “Scout, open your mouth.”

  Scout obeyed. Her mouth was empty. The key was gone.

  “No!” Noel shrieked and lunged for her throat.

  Chapter Twelve: Leaving Ryder

  RYDER WRESTLED his arm free of Roy’s grip. “The door is locked. I can’t get in even if I wanted to. I don’t have a key to the place, the girl does, and she’s not here. I don’t know where she is. She got out of the truck before we reached town and I haven’t seen her since.”

  They were huddled in the mews behind Antique Scout. Terry and Roy looked miserable. When the two men grabbed Ryder in the alley, demanding to know where Scout was, Ryder had to struggle to keep a straight face. The men were covered in poison ivy and showing signs of exhaustion. A night spent in the Vermont forest had taken its toll.

  Terry pressed his gun to Ryder’s chest. “We know she’s here because you’re here. You led us right to her. She’s here all right. Noel told us this is where she stowed the money.”

  “Noel has been lying to you from the beginning. Scout doesn’t know anything about his business. There’s no money here. She would have gone to the police if there were. Think about it. If she knew what Noel was doing—would she have been walking down the aisle to marry him yesterday? He’d be in jail by now.”

  “Not if she was in on it! I am thinking and I’m thinking you’ve proved my point. The accountant wasn’t lying after all; this girl was about to marry the dude! She had to know what he was up to. She was in on it all right and the money is here just like Trace said it was. Now open the goddamn door before I blow your brains out. Or maybe I’ll blow your brains out and then shoot the lock. Either way, I get inside.”

  Ryder shrugged off Roy. He knew for certain the
door wasn’t locked. Scout said she’d meet him here—she would have left it unlocked for him. She was probably inside trying to locate the money in her computer files. Ryder put his hand on the latch and pushed down. The door swung wide.

  Scout whirled around. Roy and Terry came crashing through the door, shoving Ryder in front of them. Terry had a gun aimed at the back of Ryder’s head.

  Noel’s eyes followed Scout’s. “Shit.” His face was ashen. “They’re here. See what you’ve done? Now we’re both dead.”

  She threw her arms around Noel and pulled him to her in a vise-like grip. “Do exactly as I say. I have a plan to get us out of this.”

  “Oh ho!” Terry wagged the gun from Scout to Noel, locked in an embrace. “What have we here—the happy couple reunited? What did I tell you,” Terry asked Ryder with a satisfied smile. “Can I read people or what? I was right on the money about the bride-to-be. She knew all along what her sweetie was up to and she wasn’t opposed. A million dollars is a million dollars, am I right darling? Noel, you lying coward, where is the money?”

  Scout dared a swift look in Ryder’s direction. His eyes had gone green-black, the color of deep forest. He was frowning.

  “It’s in a file on my computer,” she said quickly. “Roy said you were willing to negotiate. So let’s negotiate. I have the password to access the files, but there’s more than one and the trail is complicated.” She gazed at her ex-fiancé with adoration. “Noel is a genius with numbers. I’m willing to help you get your money back, every penny—but on one condition.”

  “And that would be...?”

  “This guy—he’s a forest ranger—he doesn’t know anything. See for yourself. You can tell by the look on his face, he hasn’t got a clue. We were friends when we were kids. I haven’t seen him in six months. He was at the wedding when I got Noel’s note and he insisted on driving me to the cabin. A real hero. What could I do? I had to play along. I told him I didn’t know what Noel was up to.” Scout took a breath. “Leave him out of this and I’ll give you want you want.”

  Roy shook his head, gazing at Scout with deep disappointment. “No morals, just like Terry said. You spend the night with the man and you don’t tell him what you’re up to? That’s cold, girl. Noel, you buying all this? This guy know anything about our business?”

  Noel stared at Ryder and then at Scout. “I’ve never seen him before this. He wasn’t on the wedding guest list. Like my bride said, he was playing hero and got caught where he shouldn’t have been.” Noel put his arm around Scout and pulled her close. “I hope that’s all it was between you, baby. I’m a jealous man where you’re concerned.”

  Scout fixed her eyes on Terry’s face, swallowing her repulsion. “The deal is you leave the ranger out of this or you get nothing.”

  Terry grinned, blinking his eyes rapidly. “Is that the deal? Give me what I want or we get nothing, she says. Sweetheart, you have nothing to negotiate with! We know where the money is, thank you very much. We got our own guys who’ll crack your password and access the files.”

  Noel shrugged. “You could try. It’s a science, moving money. It’ll take you awhile to do the trace and the longer a sum that size is out there, the more red flags go up. The feds have guys trained in computer forensics; it’ll be a race to see who finds the money first.”

  Terry’s eyes flicked from one face to another. “Where’s the other one, what’s her name—Delores?”

  “We hitched a ride from a trucker on the highway,” said Noel. “She stayed on with him after they let me off outside of town. I told you she wasn’t involved. She beat it as soon as she could. She’s probably out of the state by now.”

  “Another loose end,” Roy said, grumpily. “O’Hara won’t like this, Terry. Let’s get out of here. Grab the computer and go.”

  “O’Hara will like it even less if it takes weeks to get his money back.” He eyed Scout, considering.”We’ll bring all three with us. Let O’Hara decide what to do with them.”

  “No!” Scout pushed free of Noel. The room went silent. Scout smoothed her face to a mask. “He’s a State forest ranger—we’ll have big trouble if you abduct him. The State police, the forestry service and the Sheriff’s office will be hunting us in less than an hour. I’m telling you this for my sake, not yours. I can’t get risk getting captured. Noel and I are in this up to our necks and I am not going to prison.”

  Terry squinted and scratched his chin with the barrel of the gun. “He’ll call the cops the minute we’re gone.”

  “There’s some rope in the storage cupboard and duct tape. We’ll tie him up. I’m supposed to be on my honeymoon; no one expects the shop to open; he won’t be found for days. That’ll give us a head start. And when he’s found, what’s he going to tell them? He’s never seen O’Hara. He doesn’t know where the money is or how to trace it. He can’t testify—”

  “He’ll make trouble if we take him, Terry. Just look at him. He’s kind of guy who’ll put up a fight and we don’t need that.”

  Terry nodded and waved the gun at Scout. “You—tie him up and gag him. Trace, you pack up the hard drive. Let’s go! Get the ranger’s keys. We’ll take his truck. C’mon! Move!”

  Scout fetched the rope and tape. Ryder sat down, docile, and held out his arms to be bound. She met his eyes. His face was fixed, unsmiling and hard to read. She had to do it, she wanted to tell him. She didn’t care what how it hurt him, as long as they believed her and left him behind. Scout knew O’Hara would have Ryder killed immediately. He was a ranger—he couldn’t be bought, bribed, threatened or coerced into cooperating. And he had nothing they needed. She sensed his eyes on her as she tightened his bonds. He hadn’t said a word from the moment he saw her with her arms around Noel. She lifted her gaze to his. His eyes were green, solemn, her breath caught, thinking this would be the last time she saw him.

  Ryder’s voice was low she had to lean in to hear him. Terry and Roy were occupied with disconnecting the computer. “Look in the left-hand pocket of my shirt.”

  Revealing nothing, Scout slipped her hand in his pocket and her fingers folded over a small metal key. Her eyes widened.

  “What the hell is taking you so long?” Terry barked in her direction. Scout almost jumped out of her skin. “Finish tying him up! Noel’s already got the hard drive. Roy, give her a hand. Slap some tape over his mouth and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  Scout slipped the key in the pocket of her shorts. “He’s secure,” she said. Her mind was racing. Did Ryder know about the desk? What was he trying to tell her? The key. A thing of beauty with no practical purpose. Like their friendship.

  A look flashed between them.

  Roy fastened duct tape over Ryder’s mouth. “Sorry, bro. It’s nothing personal.” The big man grabbed Scout’s arm and jerked her to the backdoor. “Come on, Terry’s waiting.”

  The door flew open, blinding them all for a moment in the sudden rush of morning sun. A breathy excited voice pushed through the doorway before the girl did. “I got here as fast as I could. Noel, honey, I only grabbed enough for a couple of days so you’ll have to take me shopping. Won’t it be fun to go shopping in New York? Don’t you think that would be fun, Noel?”

  Scout blinked, her eyes adjusting. Delores stood in the doorway, clutching a suitcase in front of her. Her bosom heaved. “Noelly?”

  “Oh shit.” Noel groaned. “Delores, baby. I’m in the middle of a situation here.”

  Terry grabbed the redhead’s arm and pulled her into the store. “You said she was long gone. You lied to us. Again!”

  “Hey!” Delores complained, rubbing her arm. “Noelly, what’s going on here? Were you running out on me? What are you doing with the computer?”

  Scout jumped in, yelling: “What is she doing here? Noel! I thought you broke it off with this slut.” Delores knew where the money was stashed and that Scout had the key. She had to shut her up before she said the wrong thing and Terry and Roy had no use for any of them anymore.

 
“Who are you calling a slut?” She set her suitcase on the floor. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on? Why is he tied up?” Delores pointed to Ryder.

  “He is none of your business,” Terry said coolly. “I don’t know what promises Mr. Trace made you, but it turns he and his bride-to-be were working together all this time. They were about to blow town with the money, leaving you in the dust.”

  “If that’s true, then where is the money? Noel wouldn’t go without the money.”

  “Right here, sweetheart.” Terry patted the side of the hard drive. “Now shut up and walk. You’re coming with.” He pressed the gun to her temple.

  “Calm down, everybody just calm down.” Noel looked pasty under his fake tan. “Delores, honey, do as they say; we’ve got it settled. Terry and Roy have the computer files and once I help them access the money and Scout gives them the password, this will all be over.”

  “I’m not stupid, Noel. You couldn’t get all that money into that little tiny computer.” Delores blinked. Her mouth parted softly and her bosom lifted. “It’s in the desk. There’s a secret compartment and this bitch has the key. Call me a slut, will you?” She glared at Scout.

  The room went still, like the calm before the storm, and then Scout felt Terry and Roy tense up, a roar in their throats before she heard the sound. There was no time to think. She whirled around to Ryder who was tied to the office chair. The message that flew between them was too swift for anyone else to understand. But Scout did.

  She picked up the flat iron from the side board where it had served as a paperweight, and swung hard. The heavy cast iron connected to the side of Terry’s head. He stared in surprise and then crumpled to the floor. A curl of blood trickled down his forehead.

  Roy screamed and lunged for Scout. “You bitch!”