He turned around and stared at her. “You never told me that. Or anything about him.”
She shrugged. “You never asked. He’s dead, God rest his soul. That’ll keep until another time. Come on down when you’re ready.”
After Grady left, Millie sat, sipping coffee at the kitchen table and thinking how nice it was to have a man here, and not just one who wanted sex and then just wanted to sleep, sometimes leave soon after. Those were the patterns of that lunatic she’d shot last year when she found out he was responsible for killing moonshiners and kidnapping Carolina.
This man was different. He was caring and compassionate and funny. She smiled as she thought of how they’d even played a game of Clue with an old board set from Emily’s childhood days. She took a sip of coffee. No doubt about it, the guy was up for anything. She chuckled at her pun. He was up for that too. She took a deep breath. Passionate but tender sex she’d never had, not even with her husband.
A sudden rusting in the family room diverted her attention. She sat stone quiet as she listened for the sound again. There it was, just as before, like someone walking on paper. But what paper? She’d tossed out all the news in the recycle bin. A smoky smell filled her nose. Black smoke, wood smoke.
She jolted to her feet. Paper smoke. As she raced from the room, the smell became stronger, and a strange light like that in the fireplace greeted her. She turned the corner, seeing the blaze in the middle of the room. Knowing better than try to fight it, Millie retreated back to the kitchen, grabbed her cell phone and went out the door on the back of the kitchen.
She ran from the house, punching the speed dial as she made her way to the deck. An arm knocked the phone from her hand and jerked her to where the person stood. She felt herself pinned, gripped tightly in the hands of a large man dressed only in black. He talked through what sounded like a smoke mask, the voice garbled. “Ain’t you got no idea how sleeping with a Dazzle guy could get you in a heap of trouble?”
“Let me go,” she said, trying hard to let her voice be well-modulated and controlled. Instead it sounded strained and high-pitched.
“Listen to me, little woman,” the man said. “Tell your buddies to lay off what they don’t know anything about. No nosing around where your nose don’t belong. Stop the grapevine or die.”
She felt the knife slice into her back, a burning pain filling her, and then a blunt instrument knocked her temple. She crumbled to the deck floor.
****
Emily walked down the Danville Memorial Hospital wing, her feet flying on the tiled floor. A throbbing ache of worry twisted her gut. How could they have both been attacked in one night, violated from entirely different angles? As she approached the room number Grady gave her, she saw Justine and Lyle Burton walking back down the hall.
“You got here fast,” she told them. “How did you find out about Aunt Millie?”
“Cindy called me,” Justine said. “Lyle and I were already in Danville. He had a meeting with our investment form, so we made an overnight of it and had a nice dinner. I even got a massage.”
Lyle, tall and dark, a nice-looking man for his age, grinned, and rubbed her back. “It doesn’t take much to make her happy. But we were so shocked and worried about Millie. I told Justine we had to come right over and comfort her.” He placed his arm around Justine’s shoulders. “I knew it would take folks a while since you all would be driving the distance from Climax.”
“But the sun just came up.” Emily nodded toward the window. “You must have gotten up before dawn.”
Justine smiled. “Don’t you worry, dear, we rise early. Cindy knew that or she wouldn’t have called me. I’m afraid though, we didn’t really get to speak to her long. Poor thing went back to sleep halfway through the conversation. And her friend slept all the way through our visit.”
“I’m sure they’re both tired.” She thanked them for coming, and once they’d made it to the far end, she walked on to the room.
Emily stood over her aunt, her hands tightly closed and tears drying on her face. She’d never seen Aunt Millie so white as she lay there, positioned on her side. For now Emily envisioned herself as a sentinel in front of Aunt Millie’s bed, the only one present who was awake in the room. Glancing around, she saw Grady sat in a chair, snoring. What a sweetie. He must be almost as exhausted as Aunt Millie.
Emily sighed. She wished Nick would hurry with coffee and something sweet. Comfort food. She needed it. Now. Aunt Millie was still out. Thank God for pain medication. But she, herself, was ravenous. A mixture of lots of sex and worry.
Carolina rushed through the door. “Oh, Emily, is Millie okay?”
Emily stared at her friend. “What the hell are you doing here? You’re pregnant. You should still be in bed.”
Andy laughed as he came in and caught the last part of her comment. “If that didn’t sound like a chip off the old Millie block I don’t know what did.”
Emily chuckled. “You know how you turn into your mother? Well, since she really was mine most of my formative years, I guess that’s what’s happening. I can’t be more proud of it.”
Carolina rubbed her back. “Em, you told us what happened to her on the phone, but who found her?”
She sighed, biting her lip to keep from crying again. “Quent did. She called the sheriff’s department on speed dial, and the dispatcher radioed out for everybody to converge. Quent was the first one there.” She shook her head. “He’s had a busy night.”
“What do you mean?’ Carolina asked.
Emily frowned. “I had my own incident earlier. A Peeping Tom.”
“Oh, my word!” Carolina said. “This place is falling apart. It has to be the infiltration of the drugs.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Andy walked forward. “Things happen. People react to stimuli. Too much to drink, an argument, even a full moon.”
Emily nodded in Carolina’s direction. “No, she’s right. This didn’t use to happen. I should know. I’ve worked in the sheriff’s department for eight years, ever since I went away for my associate’s degree.”
“What were you doing when he saw you?” Carolina asked. “You weren’t in your bedroom, were you? He’d have needed a ladder.”
“I wasn’t in the bedroom, no ladder needed.” Emily felt her face flame on. “I was in the kitchen, standing in the middle of the floor, and don’t ask what I had on.”
Carolina stared at her and then burst out laughing. “We have to have a private talk, sweetie. Soon.”
Andy stood next to his wife, his eyes full of laughter but his lips closed. “After you two talk, whatever you do, don’t ask her to promise she won’t tell me.”
“Tell you what?” Nick entered the room with a cardboard carton full of three coffees and a sweet roll.
Grady roused in the corner. “Do I smell coffee?”
Emily turned and stared at him, glad for the interruption. “You old fake. You were listening the whole time. No way you could smell coffee from there.”
He had the nerve to look offended. “I have no idea what you mean. Now, I might have pretended to sleep when those two visitors were here, but not for you. It’s just that my smeller is very good.”
Nick nodded and laughed. “He can smell one of my dirty socks within a hundred yards.”
“So can everyone else,” Grady said, all grins. “But the smell of coffee is like a sweet drug to me.”
“Drug,” Millie murmured. “More morphine.” Her eyes flitted half open, and she stared at all of them gathered around her bed. “Am I dying? Do I need to say something forever memorable and throw in some pathos for the newspaper?”
Emily rubbed her shoulder. “You know you’re not dying. I can’t believe you’re joking with us after all that.”
“Either that or suffer.” Millie smiled weakly. “Glad to see Justine and Lyle got the hint and left. Now back to drugs. I was serious about the morphine. Somebody push that little button over there and give me another dose.”
Emi
ly shook her head. “Not me. Buzz the nurse. I have no idea if you can have another surge of that.”
Millie gave her a stern look. “You’re no help. Besides, what does a nurse know? She didn’t just get knifed in the back or knocked unconscious.” She tightened her lips, seemingly struggling with conflicting emotions. “Emily, have you seen my house?”
She shook her head. “Not yet, Aunt Millie. I came straight here. Cal told me the volunteer firemen got there pretty quick, but your family room was basically gutted and there was smoke damage in both floors. You’re not going to be able to stay there for awhile. It’s back to my house for a few months, I think.”
“You simply ought to be glad you’re okay,” Nick told her. “The other stuff can be rebuilt. Grady and I can help some, can’t we, guy?”
“You know I will,” Grady said. “I’m not a construction foreman for nothing. Besides, Taylor will most likely let me pull some people from other jobs in states near here to help. You are his aunt.”
“Hell,” Aunt Millie said, “Taylor doesn’t let stuff, his or anyone else’s, fool with the Dazzle bottom line. Now he may pay out of his own pocket to get some guys to do it.”
“She’s probably right,” Nick said. “But we’ll take the help, no matter how Taylor is willing to supply it.”
“Aunt Millie,” Emily asked. “Did you see the guy who did all this to you?”
Millie struggled to sit up in bed and cried out, closing her eyes and balling her hands. “Get that nurse in here to give me some more pain meds.”
Emily pushed the call button.
“To answer your question I didn’t see him before the knifing. The guy had to be a professional. He knew exactly how to come up behind somebody and take them down. Dressed all in black, he could steal away undetected through the woods next to my house.”
“Did they find any DNA, footprints, anything?” Carolina asked.
“Cal told me there was nothing unusual they could find.” Emily wrung her hands self-consciously. “He said the only prints on the ground appeared to be from them as they arrived. No weapon or apparel left behind. Some fingerprints on the doorknob, but he most likely wore gloves.”
“Maybe he dropped one.” Andy crossed his arms. “You know like in O.J.?”
“Probably wouldn’t fit whoever they caught.” Nick chuckled. “They’d have to acquit.”
Andy hit him in the arm with his elbow. “Smart ass.”
Emily ignored their banter. “No gloves, no knife. I’ll tell you right now, Aunt Millie, even if your house hadn’t been set on fire, I wouldn’t let you stay there after all this went down. I’m going to make sure Sheriff Bingham doesn’t drop it.”
“My fellow Titanium Azaleas won’t either.” She laughed. “I feel like I’m part of a sisterhood.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I’m telling you, Monstruo has to go.” Lieutenant paced back and forth in front of Kingpin. “Caja told me he disappeared again last night. For a very long time. Came back reporting he’d watched Emily Franklin in the middle of her kitchen doing a sexy, all in the nude, dance, which Monstruo called a porn show. Twisted pervert was watching her outside her window and had the nerve to tell Caja he was going to have him ‘some of that’ and he could almost taste her, well, you know.”
Kingpin shook his head. “You’re so backward. Here you are running a local drug ring and you won’t even name the parts of the genitalia. Was Monstruo also responsible for the fire and the knifing?”
Lieutenant’s frown turned to a smile. “No, I orchestrated that. My source took care of it for me.”
“He did it or had it done?”
“Did it himself. Don’t think he liked the idea, but I gotta say he was effective at it. Damned house nearly burned down and Millie’s in the hospital. Too bad she was so quick to the cell phone. I wouldn’t have minded the house going down in flames.”
“Nor I.” Kingpin grinned. “But that might not have stopped them. Darla’s death last year didn’t slow them down one iota. I sure am happy I’m not that close to town to watch them all scurry about. We’ll have to wait and see if that shuts up those damned women. If not, get ready to select a new target.” He leaned back in his chair. “Now, what does that preacher have planned? He’s an industrious asshole.” He frowned. “The guy better have something on tap. I hear the building is still moving ahead despite our best efforts.”
Lieutenant laughed. “My source is working on that too. Ingenious cuss. It seems Luke Lincoln will be introducing the idea of a vigil in his upcoming revival. My source also says he and some others are planting some items on the back of the land. It just might get named a National Historic Site. No desecration to that. Can’t dig up Confederate treasures.”
Kingpin nodded. “Guy’s smart.”
Lieutenant laughed. “Taylor’s Dazzle Distribution Center is a pipe dream.”
****
Emily sat across the table from Carolina, chewing on a ham and cheese sandwich. “Thanks for inviting me over to your place for lunch. Somehow going to the pharmacy didn’t seem right without Aunt Millie there.”
“Yeah.” Carolina sipped on a cola. “I hear you. If she’s not screaming down the counter, it loses its ambiance. But the real reason I wanted to get you over here is to find our exactly what you were doing in the kitchen when that Peeping Tom got a gander.”
Emily looked away as her face burned. “And you said I was the curious one.”
“It’s your reaction about it, very secretive and defensive, that makes me want to know. Give.”
“Well…” Emily paused. “You know there’s foreplay and then there’s foreplay.”
“Wait.” Carolina leaned forward. “You’re going to tell me about foreplay after just having your first real intercourse and whatever you did last night?”
“Just because the cat hasn’t tasted the cream doesn’t mean she can’t see it. I’ve watched movies, read sex books and talked to lots of women.”
Carolina sighed. “Go on.”
“Well, Nick thought I’d be more at ease and playful if I performed for him.”
Carolina crossed her arms. “You didn’t dress up in some stupid French maid getup, did you?”
“That’s just plain ridiculous.” Emily shifted in her chair. “I did a striptease. I have to admit it was liberating.”
“You were stark naked when this sex-craved lunatic was gawking you?”
“He may have been thinking of looting the place. My car was in the garage.”
“Oh, he was interested in stealing your goods, all right, but they weren’t in your silver drawer or your jewelry box. Knowing you, they were on display with occasional focused attention on major jewels.”
Emily slapped down her hand. “Have you ever thought about auditioning for Saturday Night Live?”
“Hmm.” Carolina cocked her head. “If Amy Poehler could do it pregnant, maybe I could too.”
“Right.” Emily sighed. “It didn’t matter. I guess that guy saw me. I mean, what’s he going to try and do, break in and rape me? Too many people in my house, especially after what happened to Aunt Millie.”
“Just don’t let someone like that pull a diversion similar to the one those guys or guy did on Millie.”
“I’ll check it out with HQ first. That’s one good thing about working for the sheriff’s department.”
“Talking about people in your house, when is Carlos coming back?” Carolina leaned forward.
“Tomorrow.” Warmth consumed her. “I’m so glad we can get him out of there. They better not have cut his hair funny like they did that little girl’s in that movie with Jim Belushi.”
“He’ll look the same. It’s been just several days. Although, with everything happening, it seems like an eternity.”
“I wish the good stuff seemed that long.”
Carolina nodded. “That’s one of the tricks the devil plays on us. Makes the pain seem forever. But, in truth, love erases it.”
****
> Emily sat in the crook of Nick’s arm watching a TV movie when the doorbell rang that evening. “Who on earth would be coming here now?”
“Maybe somebody from town wanting to know about Millie?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.” Going to the entrance and opening the door, she started when she saw her dad. “What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you since church two Sundays ago.”
He walked over the threshold and grabbed her shoulders. “I’ve been doing some soul-searching. I needed to talk out some things with you.”
“Hello, Mr. Franklin.”
“Nice to see you again, Nick.”
Emily’s head jerked back, glancing over her shoulder. “When did you two meet?”
“A day ago,” Nick said. “You make it sound like I need to get a ticket.”
“Too long with the sheriff,” Robert walked over to Nick and shook his hand. He placed his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “I really appreciate the chat we had.”
Emily stared from one to the other. “Have I just fallen into an alternate universe?”
Nick winked at her. “I think I’ll go check out the land one more time tonight and I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Won’t be that long,” her dad said. “Half hour’s enough. Don’t want my girl alone after all this hell.”
Emily crossed her arms. “Just what did you two talk about and where?”
Nick grinned with his sexy lopsided smile. “I’ll be back in a half hour.” He slapped her father’s shoulder as he left the room and then the house.
Emily nodded to the sofa and chairs. “Come sit and tell me what this is all about.”
Her dad shook his head. “Do you mind if I stand a minute? What I’m going to say and probably do is best standing here.”
Emily’s breathing got shallow. “Dad, what are you trying to tell me?”
“First,” he said, “I think I want you to start calling me Daddy, like Carolina calls Blue.”
“I’ve called you Dad for twenty-eight years.”
He nodded. “I know. But daughters, always our little girls, should see us as daddies. If you want to call me Daddy Bob, that’s okay too.”
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 141