None of that could appeal to Rowena in her current state of mind. Even before she could conjure up a spell to deal with the woman her instinct of self-defense set in. She might not be a supple disciple of the great Master Han. But she knew enough to defend herself.
Her hand swung out shoving Mrs. Norris away, at the same time her fist locked with her jaw and the woman lay sprawled on the ground at her feet shaking and sobbing.
“Don’t harm my Millicent, please. She is all I have. You can have any other cat for your tricks. Just give me my Millicent back.”
“Get up Mrs. Norris. I don’t know where your Millicent is. But I assure you I would never harm an innocent animal for any tricks.
Chapter Five
Rowena was in a dark mood all next week. She had not seen Dom Norris coming from or going to his house, though she had watched out for him often. Twice she had hazarded Mrs. Norris’ baseless squabbles and rung her bell to ask her about him. But each time she was told he was away.
She had come very near to telling Gabe of her encounter with Eli and his suspicious behavior. But she did not want to upset him unnecessarily. She even thought of telling Brad about it, but she was not sure how Brad would take it. She was not sure anymore of how that man, a friend all her life, felt about her now.
She had not seen Eli all week and though the thought had crossed her mind several times she had not gone looking for him, though his strange behavior and his rude dispersal of her rankled in her mind.
Sunday, she finished delivering her products early in the morning. The pharmacy was closed for public, but she had her key. She did not go up for she knew that if Gabe was not in his herb garden, he must be resting.
So, she ambled into the marketplace for no particular reason. As she crossed the sheriff’s house, she went up to the door and knocked. Henrietta was delighted to see her.
“What a pleasant surprise.” She said pulling her best friend into the kitchen where her ten-year-old son, an exact replica of his father sat doing a school project.
“Austin, go out front and play in the sun. James and the other boys have been waiting for you.” As the boy ran off, she put the kettle on for tea, then joined Rowena at the table.
“I got something for you Hen.” Rowena pulled out a bottle of jasmine oil that her friend particularly favored. She had slipped it into her pocket this morning for no apparent reason. Now she wondered if somewhere in her mind she had already decided to come here today.
“Ohh, thank you, Ro. I have meant to walk down to the pharmacy and buy a bottle of this for days.” She placed the bottle on the table then looked down at her lap stopping suddenly.
“Why didn’t you go Hen?”
“Brad…got into an argument with Gabe over those bird killings last week. I heard you were there too. I kind of felt awkward.”
“You know how much Gabe and I have always loved you Hen. And we won’t stop now because Brad is suddenly a jerk.”
“You think so? That Brad is a jerk I mean?” Henrietta asked tentatively stealing a look at her
“Yes. I did not slaughter those birds and nor did Gabe.” Ro said with confidence taking Henrietta’s hand across the table.
“Yes, but what about the cat? Brad says they have found your products on her.” Henrietta said earnestly taking Ro’s hand into both of hers and squeezing.
“What cat?” Ro asked suddenly sitting up straight. Henrietta looked up at her with that scrutiny in her eyes that Ro remembered well from the days they were in high school and would exchange notes on the boys they had been out with.
“You don’t believe me,” Ro said suddenly taking back her hand as if it had been scorched.
The whistle went off before Henrietta could either accept or deny Rowena’s accusation, and she got up to pour the tea.
“What about the cat Hen? Will you please tell me? I really don’t know anything about it.” Rowena said to her back. Henrietta came back with two steaming cups and placed one in front of Ro. It smelled nice; moreover, it smelled right.
Henrietta’s kitchen was spic and span as always. Since it was Sunday, she must have finished her cooking the day before. The place smelled of the pine cleaner she used mixed with the baking and roasting she must have done the eve before.
“One of Brad’s deputies. A young lad called Larry Johnson was out fishing by the lake behind Han’s property. He found a cat in that shack north of the lake. He also found an empty bottle of Gabe’s Pharmacy there. The lab reports have not yet come in, so they don’t know what had been in the bottle.”
At that moment, Brad walked in.
“Ro…” he said suddenly stopping in his stride.
“Brad.” She said looking up at him from her place, unamused, calmly sipping her tea.
“I take it you have already heard about the latest occurrence from my wife.”
“Was it Mrs. Norris’s Millicent?”
“Looks like.”
“Has anyone told her yet?”
“I am just coming from her place, having done it myself.”
“And…?”
“She accuses you of having done it.”
Chapter Six
Rowena inserted the spare key into Han’s kitchen door and turned it. She entered the kitchen and closed the door behind her with a click. The finality of that door closing made her realize the gravity of what she was about to do.
It was nothing less than breaking and entering. But she had to know. She had to look inside that freezer. Eli’s behavior the other day had been odd, to say the least. And that could most probably be due to his guilt.
She had walked from the marketplace to the church with the Boscos only because she hoped Brad would tell her more about the case. She had been convinced that the only reason she was not in jail was that Brad did not have enough evidence against her. It hurt her that he did not believe her, but deep down she understood. He was not happy to do what he did. But he had no choice, it was his job.
“Come with us to service Ro. It will make you feel good.” Hen said just as they were about to turn into the churchyard.
“If I go in there my skin will burn,” Ro said, and Hen smiled lamely at the attempted joke. But Brad suddenly held her upper arm in a firm grip and looked right into her eyes.
“You take care of my best girl now, ok?” He had wanted to say more, but he just left it at that and turned towards the churchyard with his family.
Rowena was about to take the small shaded path that went to Gabe’s pharmacy, where her car was parked when she saw something that made her jump. Quickly she slid behind an old oak and peered out.
He was there. He was right there on the front steps of the church speaking to Gabriel. Since they were children, Gabriel and his family had always attended church, unlike Han’s and hers, for whom the gift had been their religion. She waited as minutes passed by. Finally, Gabriel started walking up the church steps, deep in conversation with Eli Patterson.
Rowena had known then that it was her only chance to confirm what had been troubling her for days. Quickly she jogged back to Gabe’s pharmacy, got into her car and drove as fast as she could to Han’s cottage, stopping at her house for just a few minutes to leave her car and get the extra key Han kept with her.
It had seemed a good plan at the time. But now that she was in, she was not so sure anymore. What she was doing was wrong, and any amount of culpability on the part of Eli could not justify it. Before her bravado would completely desert her, she took a deep breath and walked down the corridor to the giant fridge that Han kept in the dining room for the usage of his tourist tenants.
She had hesitated just a second before she pulled the giant door open. A blast of cold mist puffed out. With her heart thudding in her ribcage, Rowena peered in. What she saw there horrified her.
“Need help?” the voice came from behind her as she straightened slowly and froze in her place. Even before she turned and faced him, Rowena knew whom it belonged to.
Eli was standing in
the doorway leading to the living room, leaning lazily with his hip against the doorframe, one long leg crossed over the other, his hands folded against his chest, looking cool and relaxed. He had once again approached her without letting his aura be detected by her.
The look in his eyes betrayed his cool exterior. He looked at Rowena with accusation and fury.
“Find anything Witch? Slashed birds, severed human heads, heart of wolf…? He asked his voice low and dangerous.
Rowena trembled as she closed the fridge taking one last look inside. It had been filled to the brim with strips of capsules, injection vials, syringes, sterile kits, saline bottles and other paraphernalia.
“Eli…” she said but could not go on. Her tongue felt heavy, and her throat went suddenly dry. He straightened and Rowena had the feeling of seeing a huge python uncurl from a tree trunk. In three long strides, he was near her looking down at her with pure loathing. She took a cautious step back and was trapped between his towering form and the fridge behind, all routes of escape now closed.
He leaned in and put one hand on each side of her and pinned her with his icy gaze. All she could see now was the rise and fall of his broad chest behind the starched white pleated shirt he had worn to church. A thatch of dark curls sat in the V of his neck where he had undone the first few buttons on his shirt. The sleeves were folded carelessly up at the elbow exposing long forearms with a scattering of dark curls and a network of blue veins that stood out from under the skin. He was so near that she could smell a mixture of his cologne, fabric conditioner used at the finest of New York laundries from his shirt and something else that was purely him. The effect made her head swim. So, she turned to look down.
“When I saw you lurking behind that oak tree, I knew you were up to some mischief.” Had she forgotten that he was a top cop from the NYPD?
As she stood there looking down at her feet dying with mortification, something happened. Slowly she could sense his presence. He was letting down his shield gradually. Once again, she was filled with that feeling of foreboding. Warning bells rang in her ears. She kept her head down still not looking up at him but slowly attempted to enter his aura.
This time he did not resist. The first thing that she felt as she tried to gauge his force was that same icy cold she had felt before and a sense of evil. But this time she kept going, she closed her eyes to concentrate as she stood there watching. Out of practiced instinct, she put out a hand to touch him. The minute she placed her hand on the wall of his chest there was an explosion of pain inside her. She saw it clearly now. It was inside him, whatever it was, it was everywhere inside him. It was hot and searing and pulsating in his every tissue, running through his veins.
Slowly she felt him withdraw. He closed his fingers around the wrist of her hand that still lay splashed across his chest. She closed her fingers claw-like to hold on to the folds of his shirt just a bit longer. But he tore it away.
“Let go. It’s hurting you.”
“You are sick.” She said simply finally bringing forth the courage to look him in the eye. He nodded.
“It’s a rare blood disease. If I do not inject myself with the medicine several times in a day, my blood begins to clot.” He said, motioning towards the fridge with his head, Rowena’s wrist still firmly held in his hand.
“That is why I can feel it everywhere in your body because it’s in your blood. It hurts you. It's…it’s…”
“…going to kill me eventually. It has no cure.” He said without emotion. This time he did not look her in the eye. “Got it during a sting operation. We were taking down a criminal doctor working at a research lab at one of the top institutes in New York. While my boys were taking down other illegal activities in that place, I was the one who charged at the mad scientist. But not before he gave me this. Injected the deadly virus directly into me. Before they could get me help my system had collapsed.”
“What happened to the mad scientist?”
Oh, he went in for three consecutive life sentences.”
“Not enough for the bastard.” Eli was embarrassed the way she took his side. He dropped his gaze to her neck where auburn curls fell around her shoulders in waves. He held one between his thumb and two fingers and rubbed it between them. It felt soft, silky and smelled like the basket of herbal products she had left for him the other day.”
“You do have beautiful hair, Rowena.” He whispered. Once again Rowena felt her throat parch, a shudder ran through her body, she felt an overwhelming desire to bury her head in his shirtfront and bawl.
“I am sorry. Please forgive me, Eli.” The words trembled out of her lips. Suddenly the dreamy look that had come into his eyes vanished, and it was replaced by cold disdain. He looked once again at her and said.
“I am sorry to disappoint you Rowena, but I am not the man you are looking for.” Then suddenly he pushed himself away from her, opened the refrigerator and pulled out a vial and a syringe, then turning walked away. As he took the first step up the staircase that went to the first floor, he stopped and said without turning back.
“Get out of here Rowena and don’t ever come back.”
Chapter Seven
Instead of leaving at once Rowena sat down at the kitchen table thinking. She could not believe that the exceptional NYPD captain, the glorious hero, Han always kept talking about was a dying man. Besides, it came to her in a lightning moment that she cared about him very much and could not see him suffer.
She felt helpless and lost and not knowing what to do, she pulled out her cell phone from her pocket and dialed Han’s number.
“Hey…how’s it going?” Han said in his usual jaunty tone.
“Han…” she said in a choked voice but could not go on. The sobs came uncontrollably as she cried into the phone while Han listened to her with quiet endurance.
“Did he tell you?” Han asked her softly once her sobs had receded. He did not have to ask what the matter was or why she was crying.
She told him the whole story right from when she met him on the hillside, the killings, Brad’s attitude, Eli’s evasive behavior and what she had finally done that day.
“Sweetheart, you should have called me before you went barging into his house.”
“I know. It’s just that I was so desperate.”
“Eli is a proud man Rowena. He has always been the strength of those around him. He has always been invincible. Now he finds himself in such a helpless position. And though he has been brave enough to accept his fate, he does not like others seeing him in this vulnerable state.”
“And I stripped him of his dignity today. Oh, Han, is there nothing we could do for him?”
“Believe me, Ro, I have left no stone unturned. I have researched every type of spell, every magic that I could find. But there is nothing anyone can do for him.”
“I am sorry Han. I know how much he means to you. Are you planning on coming to see him?”
“Not just yet. I will come…when its time, to help him along.” Han said, and Rowena could feel the anguish of his words.
“But I am planning on coming down to Raleigh next weekend. Eli has been gone nearly three weeks now, and he needs some blood tests done. So, he will drive down, and I will meet him there. I am bringing Sue along. She is on his team of doctors, and she would like to see him for herself.” He said talking about his fiancé. Rowena had spoken to her over the phone or via email a few times but never met her.
“He has a team of doctors working on him alone?” Ro asked awed.
“Looks like he has not told you about that part of it yet,” Han said chuckling.
“He hasn’t told me anything except for what was obvious when I broke into his house and his fridge.”
“Don’t make yourself so miserable darling. Eli is a sensible man, and eventually, he will understand that you had no choice.”
“From the way, he spoke to me earlier, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“Listen, why don’t you come down to Ralei
gh with him? It’s just a three hour drive. I will be happy to see you; besides you can meet Sue. It will do you good to take a day off.”
“Han he doesn’t even want to see my face, forget about driving for three hours with me.”
“Oh, next weekend is still a week away. You are a resourceful girl Ro. I am sure you will find a way to make yourself more tolerable to him by then.”
“I will see what I can do. In the meanwhile, Han is there anything you would like me to do for you, for him?
“Oh yes, there is something I would want you to do before he wakes up.”
“Tell me.”
“Open the fridge…”
Chapter Eight
When Eli walked into the kitchen several hours later, she was still there. She was standing at the kitchen counter, with her back towards him, doing something with the blender. She was stunningly beautiful, he had to accept that. Her violet top was collared and did not show her neck, at her slender waist it disappeared into the waistband of her snug jeans that went all the way down to her worn tennis shoes.
Not a patch of her skin showed except her slender hands. He suddenly ached for them to be around his neck. He remembered the day he had straightened her skirts out on the lawn behind his house. It had taken all his will not to linger just a little bit more.
But what seemed to captivate him most were the cascading curls of whiskey colored hair. The afternoon light coming from the kitchen window fell on them giving them a magical quality. He wondered if she had used magic to make herself more attractive to him. But he immediately berated himself for that thought. Rowena Clay might be nosey, reckless and wild but she was by no means a hypocrite.
Nor was she selfish. He remembered how she had tried to aspirate the pain from his body earlier. She was a natural healer. But he had not allowed her to go any further. Being close to Han for years, he knew how much the process of healing must hurt the healer. And somehow, he did not want something so ugly as what was inside him to even touch her briefly.
The Campus Jock: A College Bad Boy Romance Page 27