“Millie Franklin,” Grady said, “I’ll have you know I haven’t been with a woman since my wife died.”
“You’re kidding.” Millie scooted up to prop her self up on one elbow.
He watched, admiringly, as her ample breasts were exposed. Not sagging too badly for a fifty-plus-year-old woman. “I’m dead serious.” He reached out and tweaked a nipple, licking his lips, as he saw it tighten under his fingers. “Well, maybe not dead.” He stared at her rack. “But, now I know why. Look at that response. Jeeze, do you have nice boobies.”
“Grady, I do hope you like me better than just for sex,” Millie said, smiling. “Not that just for that would be bad.”
“Aw, no, honey.” He rolled on his back and put his arms behind his head. “I like your cooking, too.”
She threw a pillow over his head.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“So spill.” Carolina said. “How was it?”
Emily sighed. “It was great. Until it was over. Then afterwards, it was like Nick got stabbed by a huge sword of self-doubt or, more likely, buyer’s regret.”
Carolina shook her head. “He didn’t buy you.”
Emily flopped on the sofa in Carolina’s family room. “Beforehand he kept talking about sampling the merchandise. I even said it wasn’t for sale.”
Carolina handed her the potato chip bag and pushed the dip across the coffee table. “Okay, so I don’t follow.”
“Well,” Emily said, “Before he was like a little boy waiting for the opening day of baseball season. And afterwards he was glum, like his team didn’t go to the playoffs.”
“That’s just men,” Carolina said. “For a minute you had me worried. See, men are like windup toys. You wind them up all the way, and they keep going until the spring goes off and then they just sit there until they’re rewound again.”
Emily laughed. “We both sound like Blue. He’s had an effect on us. So what are you saying? He just needs time to gather up lustful wicked thoughts again?”
Carolina dipped a chip. “Something like that. But my money’s on the fact he really likes you and maybe he’s a bit worried he likes you too much.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Emily said. “I mean, I went into this knowing he was the guy I had the hots for and I’d get laid. I wasn’t planning for a white picket fence forever after.”
“Shit!” Carolina said. “You’ve wanted to get married since you were seven. Don’t give me that. Think of this from Nick’s perspective. He comes here and all of a sudden finds a little boy he’s crazy about he can mentor, and then he finds a woman, who, from everything you heard from Taylor, may be the only woman he’s been with in maybe eight to ten years? That’s huge!”
“I don’t think so,” Emily said. “He wasn’t out of practice. I think I was a conquest. If anything, he’s just worried because I’m Taylor’s sister and I told him he was my first.”
“Hold the presses.” Carolina held up her palm like a children’s crossing guard. “Did you bleed? Was there a mess and you were embarrassed?”
Emily shook her head. “Not at all. I was so ready for him, it was, it was… Oh shit, it was more than I thought it could be.”
“Then why did you have to queer it by telling him you’d never been with a man?”
“I was in the…whatever it is. For lack of a better term, let’s say afterglow. Anyway, it just came out. Like the non-red badge of courage.”
“Well, it was hell of a time to be courageous.” Carolina stuffed another chip in her mouth. “My best suggestion is to just let everything chill for a while and see if he brings it up. Who knows? Maybe he’ll suggest a friendly game of catch.”
****
“Have you seen those signs up for the Heaven’s Gate Revival?” Grady asked. “I’m thinking maybe we ought to go to get a firsthand look at this Luke Lincoln guy.”
“Get off it, Grady.” Nick walked around the parameter of the excavation site, checking the markers. “The last time I went to a church service was my dad’s funeral. I don’t plan on going in another one again until I’m getting ready to be buried myself. Come to think of it, maybe I’ll just be cremated and skip the step.”
“But think about it, Nick, all this stuff that seems to be happening seems to occur based on stuff centering around that preacher. I say we take a good look and see if we can get a handle on his angle.”
“I don’t think they did this right,” Nick said. “It doesn’t look square to me. Get somebody out here to check the measurements.”
Grady put his hand on his shoulder. “Will you stop for a minute and listen to me?”
“Okay.” Nick turned. “What are we going to do with him if he gives off evil vibes? I can tell over a TV screen he’s a sham. What will going in person do?”
“Can’t you feel a person’s aura, his intent, just by being there close to him?” Grady nodded his head up and down. “I know you can. I’ve watched you in business negotiations. Call me nuts. Call me crazy, but I tell you, that guy’s messed up in this whole thing. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s linked to the drugs they’ve been finding.”
“Not now. If we need to later, fine. But something tells me the town folk can handle them, at least the ones we associate with.” Nick slapped Grady on the back. “Now, can we get back to checking on this before the sun goes down?” He turned back around and made a notation on his Blackberry.
Grady tapped him on his shoulder. “Buddy, one more thing.”
Nick turned around. “Yeah, man? Hurry up. We only have maybe another half hour of daylight.”
“Whatever’s bugging you about your hookup with Emily, I wish you’d talk about it, ’cause it’s no fun to feel like you’re eating frozen dinners when the food’s hot and homemade.”
Nick turned slowly on his heel. “Does it show?”
Grady nodded. “Hell, yeah. Even little Carlos is halfway afraid to laugh. You look like someone threw a brick into your face and it stayed there.”
Nick exhaled sharply and sat down on a corner post. “Look, something Emily said has been eating into my insides like battery acid. I can’t get it out of my mind, and what’s worse, I went down on my boss and best friend’s sister.”
“Taylor would probably thank you,” Grady told him. “To hear Millie tell it, Taylor’s been worried sick that girl hasn’t met someone she wanted to be with who also wanted to be with her.”
“Back up Jack,” Nick said. “I’m not declaring my undying love. I wanted to have sex. She wanted to have sex. We had sex. End of story.”
“Okay, whatever you say.” Grady turned back to the site and checked his notes. “I’ll call the surveyor and tell him we think the measurements are off.”
“Grady?” Nick said. “She told me she’d never had intercourse until two days ago.”
Grady turned in slow motion, dropping his pen. “You’re kidding! It can’t be. Millie said she didn’t have a lot of experience but… “
“Emily said she was embarrassed because she hadn’t, and so she lied.”
“Was there any sign that she…”
He shook his head. “No. But I don’t think she’d lie.”
“You did use a condom, didn’t you?”
He shook his head. “Nope. We both got carried away and didn’t even think about it until we were lying there. She said it wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell she could get pregnant right after her period.”
Grady smirked. “I’ll take snowball and two.”
****
“We’re going to that revival,” Millie said. “That preacher has to face us again if he likes it or not.”
“Well,” Emily told her, “I’ll go, but I will not make a run on the guy again and land in jail. You know good and well he’s going to have news people there again. They smell blood and viewers.”
“Viewers can be a good thing,” Cindy said. “We just need to get them on our side instead of the side of that lousy insane excuse for a holy man.”
“So,” Maggie p
iped up, “how do you suggest we do that and not lose our credibility? Last time we were portrayed as being loose uneducated cannons.”
“I may not have college teaching,” Cindy said, “but I’m well read like everybody in this room. I dare say each and every woman here has read all the major classics and a bunch of those books on the New York Times list too.”
“I’m a member of the mystery-of-the-month club,” Millie said. “Does that count?”
Maggie patted her hand. “Reading is reading. That’s a lot better than most people these days.”
“I think,” Carolina said, “it’s time we start checking on people. We did it when we didn’t know about Mancini and all those folks when the serial murders before. Why we haven’t started checking this time, when people are already dead and Emily’s been close to permanently injured, I don’t know.”
“Do you think our prejudice is showing?” Carolina asked. “I mean, all the people who have been killed are Mexicans here on visas. Does that make a difference that’s keeping us from action?”
“Hell, no.” Maggie threw her fist down. “There’s not a prejudiced bone in anyone’s body in this room. Every one of you welcomed me with open arms when I came here. Let’s face it, even today, a Northerner might as well be a Union soldier in the true South. We’ve just been too caught up in the fact we were targeted by the media and Dazzle was front and center.”
“Okay,” Carolina said. “If someone doesn’t object, I’m getting my PI buddy on this.” She turned to Cindy. “I suggest we also ask Chris to check with his friend Wesley, who lives up in New York, because I have a sneaking suspicion that the two of them have a lot of connections we can use.”
Cindy grinned. “You got that right. But I’m not asking too many questions.”
****
Emily, Carolina, and Maggie filed into the Moons’ cabin and collapsed in seats.
Blue looked up from whittling. “How did the Women Strike Back group go tonight? No one got arrested did they? No one’s in jail? How about Millie? Did she restrain from going over to the church and beating on the preacher?”
“Enough already,” Carolina said, throwing him a glare. “We were just making sure we had a game plan.”
“That’s right, Blue,” Emily said. “Carolina’s got us all organized.”
She watched as he sat up straighter in his chair. “I see.” He put down his figure and propped his glasses back up on top of his head. “You decided to take the initiative, did you, Daughter?”
She nodded. “I did. We haven’t been thinking like we should. We need to be checking on these characters. I’m going to get my buddy who’s a PI to check them out, and we asked Cindy to go and see if Chris can start digging and maybe get with Wesley, who helped out when Clarence kidnapped me. I figure they both have connections. Just don’t want to know what they are.”
“Nor do I,” Blue said. “I expect Chris and Wesley can do a helluva lot more good than your PI can on a brilliant day.”
Carolina nodded. “That’s true.”
He chuckled. “That’s why I already talked to him a half week ago and asked him to start seeing what he could find.”
“You, shit!” Maggie said. “Why didn’t you at least tell your wife you were doing something proactive?”
He grinned. “Because it’s a lot more fun to watch all you hens squawk around the pen trying to figure out where the corn is.”
****
As Emily entered her kitchen and put her purse on a chair back, she stared up, seeing Nick enter with an empty glass of ice. Overcome by embarrassment and confusion, she tried valiantly to act nonchalant. “Hi, back from the meeting.” Stepping forward, she tripped over her own feet. Reaching out for support and finding nothing to grab, she fell on her hands and knees. So much for grace.
She heard him coming and closed her eyes. Okay, Kathy Klutz, once again you’ve shown your worst ass-ets. She stared at his feet and groaned.
“Let me help you.” A hand cupped her elbow. “Lean your weight on me.”
She jumped up with his help, her pride hurt more than her body. “I don’t know what happened.”
“I might have spilled a little tea when I was in here a few minutes ago. Sorry if I did.”
Emily looked up into his concerned blue eyes. “It…it’s okay. I’m fine.” She stared behind him. “Where’s everybody else? In the family room?”
His eyes widened, forehead wrinkled. “Grady’s upstairs, but isn’t Carlos with you?”
She shook her head. “No, was he supposed to be? When I was getting ready to go out, you three were all in the family room, and I thought you let him tag along.”
Nick shook his head. “No. Carlos said he’d asked if he could go over to Blue’s and play with the dogs.”
Panic hit her. Her skin burned, and gut clenched, she crossed to her purse and grabbed the phone out of it. “He wasn’t with me and he wasn’t over at Blue’s a few minutes ago. I just came from there.” She called quickly and talked to Maggie, then hung up. “They haven’t seen him since the last time he went over there and spent the night.”
“Shit.” Nick had turned beet red and his face had taken on a stern edge, jaw set, eyes hooded. “Why would he lie to me?”
“Maybe he went find his parents?” she asked.
“I’m going to go look for him.” He strode toward the front entrance.
“I’ll go with you,” Emily screamed after him.
“You need to stay here in case someone calls or he shows up,” he called down the hall.
She heard the front door open and a child crying. All the maternal instincts she’d never possessed flooded into her, gushing like an open fire hydrant. Provision, shelter, protection. Love. There it was, the must important one of all. Pure, unadulterated, unconditional love. Emily rushed forward. “Carlos, Carlos? Nick, is it him?”
As she rounded the corner and rushed up the hall, she saw Carlos clinging to Nick’s waist, sobbing uncontrollably. “They took Roscoe. They killed a bunny!”
“Whoa, boy, shh, shh.” Nick patiently pulled the boy from his waist, tenderly crouched down in from him and grabbed his shoulders. He placed one hand under the child’s chin and looked into his red and tear-stained eyes, wiping the streams of moisture away with his other hand. “Who’re they and who’s Roscoe?”
“Roscoe’s my bear,” Carlos sniffled. “I know I’m too big, but Roscoe doesn’t know any better. I forgot him where I was sleeping when you brought me here.”
“You went back to get him?” Nick asked, his anger obvious in his tone.
Emily watched him as he struggled with squelching his anger, not directed at Carlos, she knew, but out of fear for what could have happened to him, alone, after dark, in the wilderness possessed by druggies and crooks.
Carlos nodded, his lower lip quivering. “I didn’t want anything to happen to him. Now he’s been kidnapped. And they killed a bunny.”
“They, who?” Nick asked, grabbed the little boy’s arms and stared fervently into his eyes.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I just know there was a dead bunny under my blanket. A shot dead bunny with a note next to him.”
“Did you bring the note with you?” Nick asked, his voice escaping more like a growl this time.
Carlos nodded again and fished in his jeans pocket. “I can’t read all the words.”
Nick unfolded the note and looked at it. He stood up and patted Carlos’s shoulder. “We’ll try to find Roscoe okay? Carlos, where is the place you slept?”
He gave Nick directions.
Nick nodded. “Promise me, don’t go out anywhere again without making sure we know and say it’s okay. Right now, there are some bad people out there.”
He nodded. “I know, Mama told me. But I had to check on Roscoe.”
“Promise never again?”
Carlos stared up at Nick with wide brown eyes. “Yes, Nick. I promise, amigo.”
Nick glanced back at Emily. “Can you take care o
f him? I’m going to get some folks together so we can look for Roscoe.” He winked, but his mouth was still a grim line.
“Will do,” Emily said. “Come on, Carlos. I bet you’re hungry. I’ll get you something that’s good for you and then you can have a treat. Your choice.”
“Okay, Emily.” The kid tore toward the kitchen.
“Children rebound quickly,” she said.
“I wish I did,” he said. “I’m going to get Blue and see if we can do our own investigation.” He walked out the front door and closed it swiftly behind him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nick stood on the side of the road as Blue parked and got out of the truck.
A man about Blue’s age, lean and well-built, got out of the passenger side. They both walked over to him carrying large flashlights.
“Where’s the house?” Blue asked.
Nick pointed with his own light. “Straight back there according to Carlos. Just one or two hundred feet back behind that stand of trees.”
“That sounds suspicious to begin with,” the stranger said. “If anyone ever lived in the house, why was it hidden?”
“Nick,” Blue patted the man on his shoulder. “This is my friend Chris Carroll. He’s retired, but he has a whole lot of knowledge and experience.”
“Nice to meet you, Chris.” Nick held out his hand. “Where did you retire from?”
Chris smiled. “Don’t ask.” He sized Nick up. “Do you have any fire power on you?”
Nick jolted. “What?”
“A gun, boy,” Blue said.
“Oh, no, actually. I don’t carry one.”
Chris handed him a pistol. “I brought one for you to use tonight. Ever shot one?”
Nick nodded. “I used to target practice with my dad.” He looked at the gun in his hand. “A Sig Sauer?”
Chris nodded. “P238-SAS.” He pulled another gun out of a harness under his jacket.
“Another P238?” Nick asked.
Chris grinned. “This one has a tactical laser. Great at night.”
“Better go if we’re going to get there before dawn,” Blue said, jokingly.
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 137