Answers For Julie (Book Nine In the Bodyguards of L.A. County Series)

by Cate Beauman

  “No, you did!” She advanced with three quick steps, stopping nearly face-to-face with Julie. “If you would’ve stayed away, she would still be alive. I tried to warn you.”

  “Warn me?”

  “The shove at the ball.”

  “You pushed me.”

  “And you got back up without a second thought. After she died, I knew you needed to as well.”

  “The nuts in the quiche and the EpiPen.”

  “And the ice on the steps. If only your mother was half as resilient as you are.” She glared. “Take off the bracelet.” Elaine gestured to the pearls around Julie’s wrist.

  She looked at the dainty jewelry. “You just confessed to murder. Now you want the bracelet?”

  “Did you really think I was going to hand over something Neve gave to me? Not her precious little Ally, but me.”

  She unfastened the string of pearls.

  Elaine yanked them away. “Get in the barrel.”

  She looked at the bright blue plastic. As soon as she got in, that would be the end of her. “No. Elaine—”

  She pointed the gun at her head. “Get in, Alyson.”

  Elaine had a good four inches on her and probably twenty pounds, but Julie was easily stronger. Swallowing, she darted to the side and slammed into Elaine’s shoulder, trying to dislodge the weapon. A quick flash of light filled the space as the gun exploded and Elaine fell to the floor.

  “You little bitch!” Elaine screamed with rage.

  Julie took advantage of her momentum and dove on top of her, slamming Elaine’s head against the pavement, hoping to knock her out so she could make it to the door.

  Elaine screeched and flailed, her elbow connecting with Julie’s chin.

  She saw stars, momentarily losing her grip on Elaine as bright dots floated in front of her eyes. Before Julie could recover from the shocking blow, the gun was resting against her temple.

  “Get up,” Elaine panted. “Or I’ll splatter your brains everywhere.”

  Julie got to her feet, certain Elaine would make good on her threat.

  “Get in the damn barrel.”

  “You don’t have to do this.” She stood on the chair and stepped in.

  “Oh, yes I do. Now sit down.”

  “Please don’t do this. Please, Elaine.”

  “It’s the best way—for me. You’ll die, and I’ll come back tonight with the acid I’m still waiting on because my supplier’s an idiot. While you’re dissolving, I’ll lay low, then I’m going to dump you into the channel just beyond the fence, head to Europe, and disappear.”

  “Chase will find you.”

  She nodded. “You’re probably right, but with no proof…” She shrugged. “I studied the Acid Bath Murderer very carefully. He only got caught because he was careless. I’m not.” She shoved Julie. “Sit down.”

  She stood rigid, refusing to budge. “Please, Elaine.”

  “Now, dammit!” Elaine pistol-whipped her across the forehead. “I’d rather not get your DNA all over the place, but that’s what bleach is for.”

  The pain blinded her, and she lost her balance as unconsciousness threatened.

  Elaine shoved her down. “Breathe deep while you can, and don’t forget to suffer a little.” The lid came over the top.

  Darkness surrounded her, and she fought, attempting to upend the canister and loosen the lid as Elaine secured it. “Elaine!” Her heart raced and she gasped, trying to slow her breathing, knowing she would suffocate before long.

  ~~~~

  Chase screeched to a stop in front of the first storage facility on his list and ran to the office, yanking open the door. He rushed up to the counter where the attendant sat in his chair with his ankles crossed on the desk, watching television while he ate a sandwich.

  “Hey.” Chase slapped his palm on the scarred laminate, getting the man’s attention. “Have two women come by here in the last hour?” He showed the man a picture of Julie. “Have you seen her?”

  The man shook his head.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’d remember her, man,” he said over a mouthful of pastrami on rye.

  “Thanks.” He booked it back to Tucker’s Jeep and got in as the weight of worry compounded on his shoulders. LAPD was searching for Julie, so were half a dozen of his co-workers, but the number of storage facilities in the area was daunting—and Elaine may not have even taken her to one at all. They were working off of a profile Tucker created from a twenty-five-year-old FBI case. But this was their only hope, their only shot at bringing Julie home alive. She was somewhere in Los Angeles, now he had to find her.

  He backed out of his parking space, glancing at the next address on the list, and stopped, zeroing in on the fourth name out of the six:

  Store A-Lot. The Do It Yourself Center.

  Tucker said Elaine would handle the situation herself this time. The woman who’d planned to have a three-year-old child murdered was cool and calculating. But she also had a humorous side. The irony wouldn’t be lost on her. “Fucking bingo.” That’s where she would be. With a new sense of hope, he accelerated, pulling out into the busy traffic to screeching tires and several honks. He pressed on the gas, weaving around vehicles in a rush to get to the facility a good three miles away. He picked up his phone as he raced through another intersection, hitting redial.

  “Cooke.”

  “I’m heading toward the Store A-Lot on West Centers Street. I think she’s there.”

  “Tucker thought the same thing. There are six in the city. LAPD is checking them all. They’re heading your way.”

  “Good. I’ll let you know what I find when I get there.”

  “Keep in touch.”

  “Will do.” He stopped at the yellow light, knowing he wouldn’t safely make it through, and steamed out a long breath. Gripping the steering wheel and tapping an impatient foot against the floor, he prayed that Elaine would drag out Julie’s demise as Tucker suggested she might. “Come on. Come on!” His phone rang and he yanked it up, hoping Julie had found a way to call. “Hello?”

  “Chase, this is Sally from Bakersfield Realty. I wanted to let you know we just got an offer on your grandmother’s house—full asking price—”

  “I’ll call you back.” Nana’s house was the least of his worries right now. He disconnected as the light turned green, and he accelerated as he spotted the Store A-Lot sign in the distance. He pulled into the turn lane, watching for a break in the traffic when he spotted the navy blue BMW with the slight dent on the right side bumper, getting ready to make an exit. “Son of a bitch.”

  He turned before Elaine could make her escape, cutting off a Honda Civic in the process. Weaving around the other vehicle, he stopped bumper to bumper with Elaine’s rental, making it impossible for her to flee. “Where is she?” he yelled, yanking open his door.

  Elaine got out, her eyes shrouded with confusion and concern. “Chase—”

  “Where the hell is she, Elaine?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He noticed the nervous hesitation in her voice, in her stance, and rushed forward, grabbing her wrist and the Beretta Tomcat 3032 pistol she held behind her purse, spinning her and slamming her up against the driver’s side door as he disarmed her. “Where is she?”

  “I have some stuff I’m keeping here—”

  “Save it.” He pressed her harder to the car. “Let’s go.” He shoved her forward into the building, and the man behind the counter raised his hands. “This isn’t a hold up. Where did she come from,” he pointed at Elaine with the weapon he still held. “What storage unit was she just at?”

  “I’ll—I don’t know.” He shook his head frantically as sweat beaded along his forehead. “I’ll check.”

  Sirens raced closer their way, and the cops stormed in with Reed running behind.

  An officer took Elaine and cuffed her, reading her her rights.

  “Hurry up!” Chase hollered, the agony unbearable knowing Julie was m
ore than likely dead. He walked around to where the footage was being played back, watching Elaine walk into the storage unit with Julie, but only Elaine came out. Three minutes. Elaine put the lock back in place three minutes ago. “Four twenty-nine.”

  “Open the gate!” Reed yelled as Chase grabbed the lock breakers beneath the counter and sprinted outside with a police officer running behind.

  “Four twenty-nine,” Chase said over and over, running to the last building on the property. Breathless, he stopped in front of the lock, trying and failing to get the bolt cutters around the sturdy metal. “Fuck! Fuck! Julie, we’re coming! Hang on!” He yanked at the padlock, growing more frantic as each second ticked by and the space behind the door stayed silent. “Come on!” He wanted to shoot the lock, to obliterate the barrier keeping him from getting to her, but he didn’t dare, not knowing where Julie was inside.

  The man from the storage unit ran toward them with a different set of bolt cutters.

  Chase grabbed them, squeezing at the thick bend of metal, but it didn’t work. “It won’t give.”

  “Let’s do it together.” Reed stepped behind Chase and grabbed the handles as Chase did.

  “Go!” They squeezed, bringing the pieces together with the power in their arms.

  The lock gave, and they rushed inside.

  “Jesus.” He’d tried to prepare himself for a body, but the taped up barrel brought about a new dread. “Jules!” He and Reed rushed ahead with one of the cops and attacked the tape, clawing and pulling at the thick, sticky plastic, finally getting to the lid.

  “Wait outside,” Reed said.

  “No.” Chase pulled off the top and stared down at Julie so quiet and still. “Julie!”

  Reed and the officer tipped the barrel, and Chase reached in, dragging her out as the ambulance pulled up.

  “Julie!” He jostled her in his arms, but she didn’t open her eyes and smile up at him. She didn’t move. “Jules, come on!” he pleaded, rushing with her into the blinding sun. “I don’t think she’s breathing!”

  The EMT took her from his arms, limp like a rag doll, put her on the stretcher still in the back of the vehicle, and closed the door. Within moments, the ambulance raced away, lights blazing, its siren deafening.

  “God.” Chase stumbled to the wall, resting his head against the rough brick, not knowing what to do. “God,” he said again, squeezing the back of his neck.

  “Let’s get to the hospital,” Collin said.

  He looked up, realizing another one of his co-workers had come. He scrubbed at his jaw, looking at his friend. “I can’t—I don’t even know—” his voice broke.

  “Let’s get to the hospital.”

  “I was too late.”

  “Come on.” Collin led him to the police cruiser and took the seat next to him in the back as the officer shut his door.

  “Hurry.” Chase swallowed. “Please hurry.”

  The cruiser ate up the miles between the storage unit and the hospital. Time passed in a fog as Collin spoke his reassurances, but Chase couldn’t concentrate on what he said as Julie’s pale face with the huge bruise on her forehead flashed through his mind.

  The officer pulled up in front of the ER, and Chase got out, hustling through the doors, trying to prepare himself for the worst. “I’m Chase Rider. An ambulance was just brought in—”

  “The ambulance from the storage unit,” the officer said as he hustled up from behind.

  “They just brought her in,” the woman said.

  “Is she—is she alive?” Chase asked, fisting his hands.

  “She regained consciousness, sir.”

  He clutched at the counter top, his shoulders sagging with the rush of relief. “I need—I have to see her.”

  “They’re working with her now, sir.”

  “Please, or I’m going back there anyway and this guy’s going to have to arrest me.” He gestured to the officer. Nothing was going to keep him from Julie.

  “Let me go see.”

  “Thank you.” He paced around, unable to be still. She’d regained consciousness, but what state was she in?

  “Sir.” The woman reappeared through the large wooden doors. “Come on back with me.”

  He hurried behind her, trying not to push her out of the way when he saw Julie lying on the bed with a bandage on her head and several wires attached to her where her vitals were being monitored. “Jules.”

  “Chase.” She sat up.

  “God, Julie.” He pulled her into a hug, squeezing her to him, smelling the disgusting scent of the plastic barrel she’d been stuck in clinging to her hair. “Julie.”

  She held on tight. “I’m okay.” She tried to pull back.

  “Mmhm.” He held her firm against him, savoring the feel of her warm body pressed to his. “Not yet.” He kissed her neck. “Not yet,” he whispered.

  She settled her head on his shoulder, staying where she was.

  “I thought I lost you,” he shuddered out. “I thought you were gone.”

  She ran her hands up and down his back. “I’m right here.”

  “I love you, Jules. I love you so much.”

  “I love you too.” Her voice grew tight with emotion as she burrowed against him.

  “Everything’s going to be okay now.” He wrapped his arms tighter around her, certain he would never be able to let her go. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Julie blinked her eyes open and rolled to her back, realizing she’d fallen asleep again. She glanced toward the windows where the sun was quickly setting in the spectacular evening sky and sat up, doing her best to suppress a wince as her wound throbbed beneath the bandage on her forehead. She’d been in bed for much of the day at Chase’s insistence, and she couldn’t exactly argue his point that she needed to rest, since she kept dozing off on him. But after a solid ten hours tucked under the cozy covers, she was starting to get bored.

  She picked up the remote off the side table and flipped through the bazillion channels in Chase’s cable lineup, hoping to find a Christmas movie. Instead she found Noah Porter addressing the press in this afternoon’s press conference. The media had been brutal since Chase brought her home from the ER last night. Between Neve’s murder, Alyson Porter’s brush with death, and Elaine’s betrayal to the entire Porter family, the press was rabid for the inside scoop—however they could get it. And that’s why Sarah and Ethan’s dogs, Bear and Reece, were her and Chase’s guests for the next few days. Rude reporters had stopped ringing the doorbell when the huge golden Mastiffs started helping Chase answer the door. Grinning at the thought, she turned up the volume, listening to what Noah had to say all over again.

  “I won’t be commenting on that. I can only ask you to respect my sister’s privacy during this difficult time.”

  His sister. Noah had decided they were family after all once word got back to Boston that she’d almost suffocated in a taped up plastic drum. If Chase hadn’t come when he did... If the EMTs hadn’t been at the ready with their oxygen…

  “You’re up.” Chase walked in wearing his typical gray sweat pants and ratty white t-shirt, carrying something behind his back.

  “I am.” Smiling, she tucked away her frightening memories and held out her hand to him.

  He took it and sidled up next to her, kissing her temple. “How’s the head?”

  “Not too bad.”

  “You can take another pill if you want one.”

  She wrinkled her nose, hating that they made her tired and dizzy. “No, thanks.”

  “Tell me you’re not watching this garbage.” He snatched the remote from her lap and shut off the TV.

  “I was flipping through the channels when I found it. I’m going to have to grant an interview, or they’ll never leave us alone.”

  “We’ll handle it.” He wrapped his arms around her, gently tugging her to him.

  She closed her eyes, snuggling against his chest. “I want to clear Mom’s name—make ever
yone see that she saved me from Elaine, and put this behind us.”

  “We’ll talk to someone after the holidays and figure everything out.”

  “Sounds good.” She breathed in the comforting, familiar scent of Chase as her cheek rested against his shirt. “Laying here like this is even better, but I should probably get up and get our appetizer and side dish ready for dinner at the Cookes’ tomorrow night.”

  “I already took care of it.”

  Surprised, she looked at him. “You made crab dip and Nana’s scalloped corn?”

  He nodded. “While you were sleeping.”

  “Did you taste it?”

  He scoffed out a laugh. “Yes. It’s good. I’m actually a pretty good cook.”

  “Yes, you are.” She kissed him. “The beef and broccoli you made the other night was delicious.”

  The humor left his eyes as he touched the edge of her bandage. “I love you.” He held her tight again, pressing his lips the top of her head.

  He’d told her so at least a dozen times since he brought in her lunch at noon. Yesterday traumatized him as much as it had her. “I love you too.” She eased back, resting her palms on his cheeks. “I’m safe now. Right here with you.”

  He nodded. “It’s going to take a little time to shake off our little adventure.”

  “I know.”

  “So, I heard from Jordan Rogerson.”

  “Oh?”

  “Noah’s attorney called Jordan a couple of hours ago. They’re going to have yours and Neve’s DNA retested. Noah found out earlier this morning that Elaine paid someone to tamper with the collection swabs.”

  She frowned. “Noah’s just going to back off?”

  Chase shrugged. “When you’ve been sleeping with the enemy for seven years…”

  “True.”

  “That one’s still got me shaking my head.”

  She wrinkled her nose again, disgusted by the whole thing. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “Let’s not.”

  She rested her head against his shoulder, giving comfort as she took it while her daunting list of to-dos started whirling through her mind. “I’ll have to have my name changed—legally, I guess. And Abby and Sophie said they’ll help me find people to take over the Alyson Porter Foundation. I want to hop on board as a chair, but I can’t run it.”