Dead Ringer & Classified Christmas

by B. J Daniels

  Violet looked at Charlotte. “A baby? Oh, I’d love to see it when it’s born.” She looked hopefully at the doctor. “Do you think there’s any chance...”

  “We’ll have to see,” he said noncommittally. “You keep making improvements like you have...”

  Arlene rose. “I’m glad you’re getting well, Violet.”

  “Thank you, Mother,” Violet said, lowering her head again.

  “We should go,” Arlene said.

  “Violet, was there anything else you wanted to say?” the doctor prodded.

  She nodded. “The doctors told me what I did.” She raised her head. Huge tears welled in her eyes and slowly rolled down her cheeks as she looked at her mother. “I can’t believe I would do such a thing. I’m so sorry. I just hope you can forgive me someday.” Violet began to cry softly.

  Arlene nodded and turned to give her two youngest an impatient look. They finally rose to leave.

  “It was good seeing you, Violet,” Charlotte said. “If my baby is a girl maybe I’ll name her after you.”

  As Bo walked by Violet, he knelt down and took both her hands in his. “Take care, Vi.” He rose again and walked out the door.

  Arlene saw Violet palm something in her hand, then secretly slip it into her pocket.

  Bo had given his sister something. A note? What?

  Violet rose as Arlene started to move past her. Standing, she and her mother were about the same height. “Thank you for coming, Mother.”

  Arlene was still shocked by the hatred she’d seen in Violet’s eyes earlier. Now that hatred was watered down with tears, but still shining brightly, leaving little doubt what Violet would do if she was ever released from here.

  “My daughter isn’t well,” Arlene said to the doctor suddenly. “She has no business leaving here. Ever.”

  Violet seemed to crumble as she dropped into her chair and put her face in her hands.

  “Really, Mrs. Evans,” the doctor chided. “Violet was sick but now she is trying so hard to get well.”

  “You don’t know her like I do,” Arlene argued over the quietly weeping Violet curled up in her chair like a child. “All this is for show. She wants you to believe that we’re the problem—not her, but it’s not true. You can’t let her out.”

  “That decision isn’t up to you, Mrs. Evans,” the doctor said sharply. “Violet is an adult. When she’s well, she has a right to make a life for herself outside these walls.”

  “She’s fooled you, but she hasn’t me,” Arlene said. “Look in her pocket. I saw her take something from her brother and put it in her pocket.”

  The doctor started to refuse but Arlene insisted.

  “I’ll show you how deceptive my daughter is, Doctor.”

  With apologies to Violet, he checked one pocket of her loose jumper, then the other.

  “Her pockets are empty, Mrs. Evans,” he said angrily. “Are there any more allegations you’d like to make before you leave?”

  Violet raised her head just enough that Arlene could see the triumph in her eyes.

  What had Violet done with whatever it was her brother had given her?

  “I’m going to have to ask you to leave now, Mrs. Evans,” the doctor said. “I won’t have you upsetting my patient further. You will not be welcome here again.”

  “Don’t worry,” Arlene said. “I won’t be back and I’ll fight to keep Violet in here where she belongs. You can’t let her come back to Whitehorse. Ever.”

  “Goodbye, Mother,” Violet said, teary voice cracking.

  Arlene stopped at the door but she didn’t look back. “Goodbye, Violet.” As she left, she prayed she’d never set eyes on her oldest daughter again.

  Chapter Twelve

  ANDI COULDN’T REMEMBER a time she’d enjoyed more. For a while she forgot about everything and just enjoyed herself. This Cade Jackson was fun. They’d laughed a lot, spending most of their time in the ice-fishing house talking until it was too dark to see the fish any longer.

  They walked back up to the cabin and she was surprised to see that Cade was armed. She hadn’t seen him get the pistol before they’d gone down to the fishing shack. He must have had it hidden under his coat.

  It reassured her. She’d thought he hadn’t been taking any of this seriously. But the gun proved that he had. The man continued to surprise her.

  A sliver of moon peeked out of the clouds and for once it wasn’t snowing. The air was cold but walking next to Cade she felt more than toasty, the snow crunching under their feet. The night was bright enough that they could see for a great distance in this open country.

  Andi realized she wasn’t afraid with Cade. There was a strength about him, a determination that might even match her own. He understood the danger they were in, and she felt safe here with him.

  Without looking at her, he said, “You’ve been through a lot with what happened to your father, the stalker in Texas and now this.”

  “I was in the public eye,” she said, thinking about what Bradley had said. “Sometimes viewers think they know you. They would send presents or cards and letters. One time on the air I mentioned that my favorite flower was the daisy. I got dozens of daisies over the next few weeks. It’s amazing also how much there was about me on the Internet.”

  “But you said the stalker turned out to be someone you worked with?”

  She nodded. “A woman who wanted my job, I guess. She got her boyfriend to help her.”

  “The police didn’t suspect her right away?” he asked.

  “Apparently not.” Andi frowned. “I still have a hard time believing it. I met her boyfriend once when she brought him down to the station to show him around. He seemed nice.”

  “She must have wanted your job awfully bad,” he said. “It doesn’t surprise me that she could talk her boyfriend into helping her. He probably loves her.”

  “Or did. They both deny it, but apparently the police found evidence that ties them both into the stalking.” She sighed. “Anyway, it’s over. Now I feel as if I panicked unnecessarily, leaping, as it is, from the skillet into the fire.”

  “And you’re angry with yourself, right?”

  She looked over. “Yes, how did you—”

  “I’ve been doing a little running myself so I know the feeling.” There was a smile in his voice.

  “At least you were grieving for the death of the woman you loved,” she said.

  He chuckled softly, stopping at the top of the rise to turn to look back at the frozen reservoir. “That’s what I told myself. But I think you and I know it was a little more complicated than that.” He grew silent for a moment. She could hear the sound of the wind in the trees behind the dark outline of the cabin.

  “You asked me the other day if I hadn’t seen something that made me question my relationship with Grace,” he said quietly.

  She held her breath.

  “They were such little things. Little doubts that nagged at me all these years even after she was gone.” He looked over at her. “A part of me knew something was wrong. I could see her struggling sometimes.” He chuckled. “I thought it was a man. The day I met her beside the highway changing her flat tire, I knew she had some past she was escaping from. I just assumed it was from a relationship. When I caught her looking anxious or worried, I told myself she was thinking about him.”

  Her heart went out to Cade. “I’m sorry it was so painful. I guess the truth wouldn’t have been any easier, though.”

  He laughed and they started walking again toward the cabin. “No, the truth I’m afraid is going to get us both killed.”

  * * *

  CADE DIDN’T ADD that being with a desirable woman again was also helping. He felt as if they were in the same boat. Both of their lives on the line. Both of them fighting the ghosts of thei
r pasts.

  It surprised him that he could feel that way about Andi Blake. Oh, desire, that was a given. Same with compassion for what she’d been through.

  But at some point, he’d actually started liking her. A reporter. He never would have expected that in a million years.

  “My car’s on the other side of the lake,” she said when they reached his front porch.

  He nodded and looked back toward the reservoir. He could barely make out the shape of the fishing shack in the blackness of the winter night.

  Across the lake, he could see multicolored Christmas lights glittering. He’d forgotten about Christmas, but in a few days he was expected at a party where his brother would be asking the woman he loved to marry him.

  The clouds parted and a sliver of silver moon appeared, then dozens of tiny sparkling stars. Suddenly Cade felt very small in this huge universe. He looked up. A few more stars popped out of the clouds while tiny ice crystals sifted down from the cold blue of the sky.

  The way he was feeling, he knew the smart thing was not to invite her in but to give her a ride to her car and go on back to his apartment tonight.

  But he’d seldom, if ever, done the smart thing. He’d proved that by falling in love with Grace Browning.

  Earlier he’d been glad to see that Andi had taken his advice and gotten some warm Montana clothing. She was bundled up, a thick knitted cap pulled down over her dark hair. In the faint moonlight, he could see that her cheeks were flushed from the cold, her eyes sparking.

  He reached over and grabbed a handful of the front of her coat and pulled her to him.

  She stumbled into him, her eyes widening.

  “There’s something I’ve wanted to do since the first time I laid eyes on you,” he said.

  He cupped Andi’s face in his gloved hands and pulled her into a kiss.

  He felt her resist for an instant, tears welling in her eyes and then his lips touched hers. He felt a hot tear, tasted the salt. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly, telling himself he was in over his head.

  But this felt right and for the first time in years, he wasn’t afraid to feel. Her lips parted, her breath warm and sweet. He deepened the kiss.

  Desire shot through him, heating his blood. He encircled her in his arms, pulling her as close as possible through all their winter clothing.

  It wasn’t close enough. He drew back from the kiss and realized he’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted this one. Not even Grace. He heard the soft intake of her breath as he pulled her toward him again, dropping his mouth to hers.

  She answered in kind as he reached behind him and opened the door to the cabin.

  In a flurry of clothing and kisses, they stripped off their coats and boots, hats and mittens, peeling off pants and sweaters as they stumbled locked together toward the couch.

  The fire he’d made earlier before dinner had burned down to a few glowing embers, but they didn’t need the heat. They were making their own.

  Her skin felt on fire as he brushed his lips along her throat. He could feel her pulse quicken as he slipped his fingers beneath the thin fabric of her bra. Her nipples were hard and erect. She moaned as his fingers brushed over one then the other. He dropped his mouth to her warm breast, making her moan, and ran his hand over her flat, smooth, warm belly to slip into her panties.

  She was hot and wet and pressing into him with a fierceness that matched his own. He looked into her eyes and saw that there would be no turning back for either of them as his fingers found her center.

  * * *

  ANDI ARCHED AGAINST HIM. From the moment Cade had pulled her to him on the porch, she knew she was a goner. She’d wanted him on a primal level that terrified and excited her. There was no thought, only the feel of him and the fire that shot through her straight to her core.

  His fingers filled her as his mouth came back to hers. She could feel herself rising higher and higher, the pleasure building in intensity until she thought she couldn’t take another instant. His skin was like a flame against hers, stoking the fire inside her. She could feel it building and building and suddenly she was bursting beneath him.

  She gasped and cried out, her head thrown back, pleasure coursing through her veins. She barely felt him remove her bra, then slip her panties down her legs. She lay naked on the leather couch, him above her.

  In his dark eyes, she saw raw need flash like a hot spark ready to catch fire. It fanned her own longing as he stood and dropped his boxers to the floor.

  With an abandon she never knew she possessed, she surrendered to him completely as inside the cabin, they made love through the night completely unaware that outside it had begun to snow again.

  * * *

  THE NEXT MORNING, Cade left Andi sleeping in the cabin and went outside.

  From the cabin he had a good view of the area. He checked the trees behind the cabin and the arena first, looking for fresh tracks in the snow. There were none.

  As far as he could tell no one had been around during the night. The news flooded him with relief.

  Yesterday he’d thrown caution to the wind, feeling as if he’d been playing Russian roulette. He’d gone fishing when he should have been worrying about the Calhouns and his future. And even crazier, he’d curled up with Andi, making love all night, when they both were in danger.

  Not that he regretted either. The memory of their lovemaking warmed him on the cold, snowy morning.

  This morning, though, he couldn’t keep pretending this mess was going to just go away. He knew what he had to do to save himself and Andi. They were in it together now and no matter what she said, he’d gotten her into it. He was the one who’d married Starr Calhoun.

  As he walked down to the ice-fishing shack watching for tracks coming up from the reservoir, he thought of the outlaw books Grace had loved. She’d reveled in this part of Montana’s past. The Curry brothers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and many more had made this area home for a while.

  Some of them were so much a part of the community that area ranchers would hide them from posses and even lie on the stand for them. Not that some didn’t fear them and the repercussions if they hadn’t.

  As he walked, the fresh snow crunched under his boots and his breath in the cold morning air came out in frosty white puffs. It was early enough that he didn’t see any other fishermen down by the lake. He liked the utter silence of winter mornings. It was his favorite time.

  And this morning he really needed the time to get himself together before he saw Andi. They needed a plan. There were decisions to me made. Lubbock, or whoever had attacked her, would be back. Cade didn’t doubt that for a moment.

  How the hell they were going to find the missing money, he had no idea. But they had to at least make the attempt because if he was right, someone had been watching them for several days now.

  He could hear the ice cracking closer to shore, but he wasn’t worried. The ice was thick and would be for months.

  He couldn’t help but think about yesterday with Andi. He’d had fun. That surprised him. She’d let down her defenses and he had, too. Maybe that’s why their lovemaking had been like none he’d ever experienced. He got the impression that she’d been so busy building her career that she hadn’t dated much—let alone gotten close to a man.

  As he neared his ice-fishing shack, he slowed. The wind had blown long into the night, but he could still make out the slight indentations in the snow on the lee side of the shack that had once been footprints.

  The house was covered with frost. The wind had drifted the new snow up one side of the wall and left the surface of the reservoir perfectly smooth and untracked except where someone had stood.

  He pulled the .357 Magnum from under his coat and stepped as quietly as possible to the door. As he cautiously pulled it open, the breeze caught t
he door and threw it back. He jumped back and the door banged against the side of the shack and stayed there. Then everything was deathly silent again.

  No sound came from inside. Cade waited a few more seconds before he carefully peered around the edge of the door.

  The first thing that hit him was the scent. The ice was an aquamarine green—except where he’d cut the large rectangular hole. Yesterday there had been open water in the hole but during the night it had iced over.

  There was something dark smeared along the edge of the thicker ice next to the iced-over hole that made his mouth go dry. He’d smelled enough dead animals as a ranch boy to recognize it as blood.

  His pulse drummed in his ears so loudly he almost didn’t hear the approaching crunch of boot soles on the new snow. The steps were slow, tentative.

  He flattened himself to the side of the shack, the gun ready, but not knowing which side of the shack the person would come around.

  “Cade?” Andi said as she appeared to his right by the open door of the fishing shack. She looked from his face to the gun in his hand.

  “Stay back,” he snapped as he stepped to the doorway to shield her.

  But she’d already looked in and no doubt seen the smear of blood on the ice. Her eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips. As she stumbled back, one gloved hand over her mouth, he turned to see movement beneath the ice.

  Only this time it wasn’t fish.

  A face appeared beneath the ice. The skin was drawn and blue, the mouth open as if gulping for breath, the pale blue eyes staring blankly up from the freezing water.

  * * *

  ANDI COULDN’T GET WARM. She stood in front of the fire Cade had built before his brother had asked him to wait outside in the patrol car.

  She rubbed her hands together and looked down into the flames. The sheriff had taken her statement and now stood next to her, making notations in his notebook.

  “Where were you last night?” he asked.

  “Here. All night.”