Point of Attraction

by Margaret Van Der Wolf

  “You didn’t actually think I was inside and didn’t want to come out?”

  “I have to confess, the thought did cross my mind,” he said, and this time it was more than a hint of a smile. “But I nixed it. It isn’t something you’d do.”

  Georgie didn’t reach for his hand, but took a pinch of his jacket sleeve to guide him to the garage as she flicked the remote door opener. “A sainted one, I’m not,” she said, “But I’d like to think it’s something I wouldn’t do.”

  “Your hair’s all wet.”

  “Yeah, I know. Come on in,” Georgie said, pulling at the damp strands. “We have lots to tell you.”

  “Okay, guys,” she called to Cassie and April, and motioned them to come in. They had been subtly busying themselves with some thing on the hood of the BMW. As the wide door raised up into the rafters, Georgie saw Mason take notice Nick’s motorcycle was gone. He offered her only a quick glance, but said nothing and she grasped his arm.

  “Before he left, Nick called Cassie,” she murmured. “He didn’t leave until they got here. That’s the only reason I didn’t call you.” She unlocked the kitchen entry to let them in then activated the garage door. With a soft rattle, it began its slide down.

  Mason’s brow furrowed.

  “What?” she asked.

  He looked to Cassie, April and the door clanking into place. “Where’s Daisy? Isn’t she with you?”

  “What?”

  “I’ve been here a while and she never came to the gate.”

  Georgie had been so elated to see him, she gave no thought to Daisy not greeting her at the fence, and she literally shoved her way into the house. “Daisy! Max!” She couldn’t get the laundry room door opened fast enough. “Daisy! Max!”

  Mason grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the outside door. She found herself being placed in April’s firm grasp.

  “Damn!” Mason’s voice came through, and Georgie fought her way free.

  Near the patio, lay Daisy. Max was sitting beside the Schnauzer, looked up at them, then down, but did not move from Daisy’s side.

  “Daisy!” Georgie screamed, running to her.

  Mason had been kneeling, but quickly stood to stop her. “She’s not dead, George. She’s breathing. Cassie.”

  “I’m on it,” Cassie said, rushing past them. “April, get my bag. It’s in the back of the car.” She dropped to the grass and began touching, probing. She opened Daisy’s mouth.

  “Please, I have to go to her,” Georgie told Mason.

  “Okay, but let Cassie do what needs to be done.”

  She and Mason inched closer making sure they kept out of Cassie’s way. Georgie could hear a tiny wheeze in Daisy’s shallow breathing. April came running carrying Cassie’s dark satchel. With plastic gloves on and stethoscope in place, Cassie listened. Georgie watched as she opened Daisy’s mouth again, pulling back the soft skin to expose the teeth and gums. When Cassie withdrew her fingers, Georgie saw they held small chunks of something half chewed.

  “Georgie, I need to put this in a plastic bag. Where’s your vet? We need to get Daisy there.”

  Running into the house, guilt tormented Georgie; that she had been so into herself and this growing feeling for Mason, she hadn’t noticed Daisy’s absence. She grabbed the box containing the poop-baggies, yanked the vet’s magnetic business card from the side of the dryer, and ran back out. Her hands trembled as she tried to pull out a single bag.

  “Here,” Mason said, taking hold of her hands, and managed to get out one bag.

  With great care, Cassie placed the specimen into the bag. Mason closed it, put it in his pocket. Georgie hadn’t realized April had taken the Vet’s card from her until she heard the beep, beep of her punching the number into her cell phone.

  “Mason, we need Daisy in the car,” Cassie said.

  Seeing Daisy hang limply in Mason’s arms, Georgie tasted bile and swallowed hard to settle her stomach; anger rising to the surface.

  “What do you want from me!” she shouted into the slope of trees. “What the hell do you want from me, goddamn it?”

  When arms wrapped around her, Georgie fought until she heard a quiet, “Come on, Kiddo. Daisy will need you. Come on. Get Max. He needs to be inside. He won’t go with anyone but you.”

  Reason returned and Georgie nodded sharply. “Max,” she called, but he was already following the group into the house. “Max!” She barely reached him in time to keep him from going out the kitchen door behind Cassie and Mason.

  “I’m going with Mason,” Cassie called back from the garage. “You guys make sure you lock up.”

  “Leave the lights on,” Mason said, panting through the words while carrying Daisy. “No motion detectors. Leave them all on.”

  While Georgie punched in her code on the security panel and put it on manual, April went about the house turning on every light there was. Georgie locked the back door, turned the dead bolt, and latched the doggie door. She opened the cabinet above the washer and dryer and pulled out Max’s carrier.

  “Come on, Max. I’m not leaving you.”

  “Good idea,” April said, reaching back to the holster at her waist.

  Their eyes met.

  Chapter twenty-four

  Georgie’s mouth dropped open. It was still a jolt to see and associate quiet April with a gun.

  After a second, April smiled and adjusted the holster. “Just checking,” she said, then quickly sobered with a hand out to stay Georgie’s objection. “Just cause I have it doesn’t mean I’m going to use it. I could have fired some wild shots at that Durango, but didn’t. So don’t freak out on me. Okay?” Her mouth tugged at the corner. “Though I should have fired at least once to mark it.”

  “Right now, I’d be glad to shoot the bastard that’s doing this!” Georgie bit down hard. The words and anger behind them were a caustic acid eating at her insides. Before April could say anything, Georgie motioned her out the door while Max complained about the sharp jostling. “Let’s take my car. I know where we’re going.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.” Georgie forced a smile and nodded. “I’m okay. Not completely down... and okay.”

  ~0~

  The instant Georgie and April entered the Healthy Pet Stop, Mason stood and said, “Cassie’s in with the vet.”

  Georgie let herself be led to the wooden bench in the reception area. She set Max’s carrier at her feet, his meowing very low, and April sat next to her with a shoulder nudge of support.

  “It’ll be okay,” April said.

  Georgie forced a weak smile in answer, then leaned into Mason’s shoulder. He pressed his cheek to the top of her head. The three sat, letting the quiet settle in.

  “What were you going to tell me back at the house?” Mason asked after long endless minutes of waiting.

  Georgie looked to the door marked: EMPLOYEES ONLY, and retold the incident at Shady Oaks Cemetery. Mason slipped his arm free of her hold and wrapped it around her.

  “It was a fool thing to do,” he told April. “But I’m very glad you were there.”

  “Just wish I had gotten some information for the police.”

  Georgie felt Mason loosen his hold to grasp April’s shoulder in gratitude. Georgie too reached for April’s hand and squeezed it just as the EMPLOYEE door swung open. Georgie shot to her feet and rushed to Cassie. “How’s Daisy? Is she okay?”

  “It’s good and not good.”

  Georgie stifled a cry, her stomach tightening with such a jolt she was afraid it would spew its contents.

  “Was it poison?” Mason asked.

  “No, but just as bad. Tranquilizer. Massive dose. Doctor Kane pumped out her stomach. He’s sure they got most of the tainted meat she ate. It was a good thing we found her when we did.”

  “I should have known something was wrong when she didn’t come out like she normally does,” Mason said.

  Georgie went to Mason and wrapped her arms around him.

  “We could still
lose her,” Cassie said, her voice low and heavy with caution. “We have to wait and see if the vet’s magic potion works and if Daisy will fight. But for now, we should all go home.”

  “No,” Georgie murmured. “I can’t go home.”

  “George.”

  “I need to be here,” she said, giving Mason a squeeze for him to understand.

  “Okay,” he murmured.

  “Georgie?” Cassie said, reaching for Max.

  Georgie pulled free of Mason’s arms and grabbed Max’s carrier. There was no complaint from Max.

  “Oh, God,” Cassie said, and Georgie looked inside the cage.

  “Max!” she shouted and shook the carrier. There was no reaction. His eyes were closed, but not normally so, and his tongue was hanging out.

  “He must have gotten some of that meat,” Cassie said, opening the wire door, and pulled out a very limp bundle of fur. She disappeared behind the door, leaving Georgie once more outside, wondering and afraid.

  What would have happened had she not brought him, she thought, letting herself drop onto the hard bench?

  “Mason, we need to talk,” April said, getting up.

  But when Mason tried to rise, Georgie latched on to his arm. “What could you possibly say that could make me feel any worse than I feel right now? You want to talk, talk here.”

  “You’re right,” April said, sat back down, smoothed a hand over her short hair as she took in a long, hard and determined breath. “Things are escalating here and we have zilch to go on.”

  “Yeah, I’d say so,” Mason agreed, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped under his chin.

  Georgie listened to the tone in their voices, heard their deep sighs, and saw the concern in the tight facial muscles as they focused a blank stare at nothing. She re-ran the events in her head, then found she needed to verbalize them, have the words work their way in her ears. “First it was Raggs... then the rose. I know those two things are connected. But doesn’t a rose usually mean love?”

  “Remind me never to send you a rose,” Mason said softly, making a small steeple with his index fingers.

  “What happened?” Georgie asked, offering the question to no one in particular. “What could have caused that... that leap from so called love to lethal?”

  She looked into Mason’s gray eyes, and wanted very much to believe the tenderness she saw there was for her and not a memory. She noticed beard stubble and smoothed her fingertips the length of his jaw line, enjoying the bristly sensation beneath her nails.

  “I guess I forgot to shave,” he said, taking those fingertips and pressed them to his lips.

  When he kissed them, a smile came easily to her, without battle, but said nothing, afraid of what she’d say. Instead, Georgie looked to the EMPLOYEES ONLY door. That was a mistake. She had to think of something else or she’d break down.

  She turned to April. “Okay, back to things speeding up here. You’re right. They are... but I think it’s because this wacko must have made a mistake. We just haven’t found it.”

  “What do you mean?” April asked.

  What do I mean? Come on. The thought was there. Don’t lose it, Georgie told herself. Talk it out. “He must have left a clue somewhere that could lead the police to him. So whatever he wants or is going to do, he needs to do it soon, or be caught. Daisy wasn’t about to let him in the yard. That’s why she was poisoned.” With a solid slap to her thighs, she got to her feet and began pacing, then stopped. “But what does he want? That’s what I don’t understand. Had it been Jeffrey, I could have understood, but I just don’t think it would have come to this. Why murder him? What did he do? Did he somehow find out who it was and was going to tell? What?”

  “He dated you,” Mason said.

  “What?” Georgie searched his face to see if he was kidding. Every shadow and line was sincere.

  April too nodded. “You’re the connecting factor.”

  When Georgie gave no response, Mason cleared his throat and started in. “You loved Raggs, and she was very important to you.” He shook his head and made a wiping motion. “Gone. Taken. Then there’s Jeffrey...”

  “No. I never loved Jeffrey. Never encouraged him in any way. No.”

  “But he did have a thing for you,” April said. At Georgie’s obvious surprise, April smiled. “Cassie met and saw him. Remember? You didn’t think she wouldn’t see it, or keep it to herself, now did you?”

  “Ah, dear Cassie,” Georgie murmured, sighed deeply, and began to pace, letting their words take root and seeing if the pieces had a place in this puzzle. “Okay,” she finally said. “If you’re right...”

  “George.”

  She half bowed with a nodding resignation to their theory. “So you think it’s me. Let’s work with that. But taking Raggs is certainly no show of love.”

  “First off, Holmes,” Mason said. “Forget logic when it comes to the wacko mind.”

  “Point,” April agreed. “But what he did to Jeffrey and Raggs is undeniably going over the edge.”

  “Okay. So what sent him over the edge?” Georgie asked them. “What did I do to the little fucker?”

  “That sounded like Nick talking,” April smiled.

  “Well, there are times when Nick has the perfect word,” Georgie told April.

  “Have you heard from him?” Mason asked.

  “No. Has he called you?”

  When Mason shook his head, Georgie sat back down and leaned into him, to which he responded with a hug.

  “I’m getting worried,” she murmured. “I know I shouldn’t be. He disappears for long periods all the time and I’ve never worried before, but after all this, and what happened at Shady Oaks, I don’t know. I’m worried.”

  “He’s okay,” April said. “You know what Paula always says. Bad pennies always seem to turn up, and you can’t get a hardier copperhead than that man.”

  The door opened and Georgie rushed to Cassie. “How are they?”

  “Right now, they’re both sleeping.”

  Georgie could smell antiseptic soap off Cassie’s hands and her fingers were cold around hers. The sterile cool air sneaking through the closing door took her breath away.

  “I want to tell you they’ll be fine, but you know me. I don’t believe in little white lies.” The firm squeeze was assurance that what she was about to say would be truth unsweetened. “Doctor Kane says it’s all up to them now. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like Daisy shared a lot of that meat with Max. His size couldn’t have taken it. He’s responding and almost awake, but he needs to stay the night. Just in case, Georgie.”

  Georgie glanced out the two small round windows above the bench then at the clock on the wall. It was 4:30 and it was already getting dark outside. The day had left them. She thought about asking if she could stay with Daisy and Max, then decided against it. She needed to get home and think. If the kids called and didn’t find her home...

  She hit her pockets. “My cell phone! Damn it. I must have left it at home.”

  “Or in my car,” April said.

  “You’re right. It slipped out of my pocket and I shoved it back in. It must have fallen out again. All I need is one of the kids to call home, not get an answer, and call my cell.”

  “But I, on the other hand, have mine,” Cassie said, holding it up. She punched in the call. “Hey, Ryan,” she said, after a few seconds. “This is Cassie. Can I talk to Paula?”

  When Georgie saw Cassie’s eyes shoot up, meet hers, and turn away sharply, her stomach churned with dread.

  “What?” Cassie asked, her voice rising. “No. Go out and stop her. Georgie’s with us. Go get her. I’ll stay on the line.”

  When Georgie reached for the phone Cassie didn’t even try to keep it from her.

  “He’s taking the phone with him out to the garage,” Cassie said.

  “What happened?” Georgie asked Cassie.

  “Paula received a text message from you asking that she come to the house,” Cassie went on, her
breathing labored as though she’d been running.

  Georgie leaned on the wall for support while listening to Ryan’s feet hitting the floor as he ran through the house. “Paula!” she heard him shout, then a little clicking noise. The silence dragged on. Not my Paula, please, God. Mason backed away from them and began punching in numbers on his cell phone.

  “I didn’t even know I had text messaging,” Georgie murmured, more to herself than anyone else. “Wouldn’t even know how to use it.”

  “Mom?”

  “Paula! Oh, Baby.” Georgie nearly dropped with relief. “Thank God, Ryan caught you.”

  “He flicked the outside lights,” Paula said. “I was nearly out the driveway when I saw them flashing in my rear view mirror.”

  That was the clicking sound, Georgie thought. Bless him. Smart. Very smart.

  “Are you okay?” Paula asked. “Why did you send me the Text Message?”

  “Paula. Listen to me.”

  “Mom, it was your phone on caller ID.”

  “My cell phone fell out of my pocket. I don’t know how to use Text Message. Didn’t even know I had it.”

  “Oh, crap,” April said, once again running a hand over her hair. “Well, good thing I have car insurance, cause I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “Oh, no,” Cassie said, her hand on April’s shoulder.

  Georgie couldn’t bring herself to meet April’s eyes. She could only imagine how her cell phone had gotten from the back seat of April’s BMW into the hands of this maniac.

  “Mom, what’s going on?”

  “I’ll explain later. But under no circumstances are you to go to the house or accept any messages from me as truth unless you hear my voice.”

  “Oh, my God. It wasn’t that Jeffrey Sanders, was it? There’s still some crazy person out there. Mom, we’re coming over.”

  “No! Put Ryan on.”

  “Mom,” Paula pleaded.

  “Please, Paula, put Ryan on.”

  She looked to Mason. Was he talking to Roberts? Tonie maybe? She could hear him giving her home address and what had happened. Then, “Thanks, man. I owe you. No. No need to mention it to her. I don’t want her calling every hour to see where I’m at.” There was a pause, then, “I’m where I want to be. Yeah. The Review Board said tomorrow morning at ten.” Georgie saw Mason’s chest expand and relax as he rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “But I’ll tell you... honestly. I’d just as soon not go back on duty until this is taken care of.” His mouth pulled up at one corner. “Thanks for working with me on this. I owe you big.” He flipped shut his cell.