“I’m supposed to be an adult. Here I am whining about my troubles.”
“You’re scared. Angry, too. But you did what you had to do. You got the kids and your mom out of harm’s way. You called the cops.”
His conciliatory tone aggravated her. She wanted an emotional response from him. Needed to push him and see if he pushed back. “Why aren’t you married?”
“What?”
She felt out of control. But now that she’d voiced the question she’d wondered about since they’d met, his answer mattered to her. “You’re good looking, you cook, and you’re calm in a crisis. What am I missing?”
He didn’t answer, and she regretted her impulse. Should she apologize? No. Her mother always said “start out as you mean to go on.” So what if she had rough edges? Who didn’t?
“I came close once, but the couple thing didn’t work,” he finally said. “Then my mom got sick, and I had other priorities. After that, I put my energy into starting up my charter business.”
Heat flooded her face. He was a good son and a hard worker. She was on edge, looking for fault when there was none. She managed a few steadying breaths before inclining her head to him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
About a mile past the city limits, he pulled into her driveway. Two sheriff’s vehicles and a city squad car gave her house an otherworldly hue with their blue lights.
Maybe aliens had invaded Mossy Bog.
Chapter 22
If a man wanted a companion for Armageddon, Rock thought as he parked his truck, he’d find none better than Jeanie Munroe. Her courage in the face of danger impressed him. She’d done what had to be done. The meltdown on the way here was to be expected.
He’d seen men in combat do far worse.
His anger simmered at a slow boil.
Two property crimes against Jeanie indicated a pattern.
Rock trailed Jeanie over to her cop friend’s car. Calucci from the city force talked with a burly county cop Rock didn’t recognize. Their grim expressions sent chills down his spine. This was serious.
“The burglar tossed your place,” Laurie Ann North said. “It’s a mess. They slashed the throw pillows and emptied out the drawers.”
Jeanie sagged and Rock caught her to him, hooking an arm around her shoulder. “The cushions? Why?”
“Pillow stuffing is everywhere,” Laurie Ann said. “They sliced your grandmother’s down comforter open.”
“Granny’s comforter?”
Jeanie wobbled. Rock pulled her closer. “I gotcha.”
She shook her head as if to clear it and gazed up at him. “What’s going on?”
“Good question.” He studied the cop, noted the shrewd, appraising glance Laurie Ann shot him. “Who did this? Kids? Dopers? Burglars?”
“We haven’t seen anything like this before in Tidewater County.” Laurie Ann propped a hip against her vehicle and crossed her arms. “The only different element here is you, Mr. Mackenzie.”
“Rock didn’t do anything,” Jeanie blurted in his defense, strangely warming his insides. “We ate dinner at his house. All of us, me, Mom, the kids. We came home to find the door open. Rock has a whatchamacallit.”
“An alibi,” he said, then wished he’d kept his mouth shut.
“I’m aware of your dinner party,” the cop said. “But I’m open to other possibilities.” Laurie Ann looked at Jeanie and jerked her thumb. “May I speak to you for a minute?”
Jeanie didn’t move. Instead she looked up at him and seemed to make a decision. “Rock can hear whatever you have to say.”
The cop shot him a pointed look. Rock took the hint, disentangling himself from Jeanie. “I need to check something in my truck.”
He walked away, jammed his hands in his pockets, and leaned against the warm truck grill. He’d left his sling off for his evening with Jeanie, and he didn’t think he’d bother with it again. A man needed both arms with a woman like Jeanie around. Bits of Laurie Ann’s conversation drifted over to him. From what he gathered, Jeanie’s friend was grilling her about their relationship.
He suppressed a snort. Relationship? His heart thudded against his ribs. Was he dating Jeanie? He’d invited her over for dinner. They’d kissed. He wanted to sleep with her. That didn’t mean they were in any kind of relationship. He liked the florist. A lot. But he hadn’t come south searching for a girlfriend. Best if he didn’t act on the attraction and stuck to business.
Except something about Jeanie wouldn’t let him be.
She liked old houses, history, family, flounder gigging, and volunteering in the community. She’d been beaten down by life and rebounded. Like him. Add in curves that wouldn’t quit and a smile that durn-near melted his knees, and she was a perfect fit for him.
Be a shame if he messed that up, but once she learned he hadn’t been open with her, his chance to be with her would be gone. He’d come to Mossy Bog with an agenda. He’d come because he believed her ex was guilty of stealing his coins, and by association, he’d assumed Jeanie might have knowledge of the theft.
Now he didn’t know what to think. He didn’t like the way Jeanie was being targeted. Would the violence escalate? That was unacceptable.
Perversely, the situation encouraged him. With this second break-in regarding Jeanie, he must be on the right track. He’d been wise to heed his instinct to come south.
Someone else thought Jeanie had a connection to the coins.
Who?
Shandy, Avery’s girlfriend, had been seen in town. Vince Palamiri, Rock’s fishing charter rival, was vacationing twenty minutes from Mossy Bog.
A fresh wave of guilt stabbed him as he considered his backer. Would Lyle hire someone to make Rock’s life miserable? No. Much as he wanted to blame someone, it wasn’t Lyle. His investor was direct and dollars and cents oriented. He’d tack a financial penalty onto the loan, not terrorize Jeanie and her family.
“Mackenzie!”
His head bobbed as he startled back to the present. Jeanie’s cop friend waved him over. Where’d Jeanie go? He scanned the area and saw her entering her home with Calucci.
Rock hurried over to Laurie Ann. “Yes?”
“I don’t trust you,” she said, “but Jeanie does. Trouble is Jeanie trusted Avery. That rat-bastard left her high and dry, and we almost couldn’t glue her back together. If you do anything to harm her, and I mean anything, I’m coming after you with everything I’ve got. Count on it.”
He nodded. “Understood.”
“I checked you out,” the cop continued. “You served in Afghanistan and had an honorable discharge. Wondered about that.”
“The Navy released me early to care for my mother, who was terminal with cancer.” She didn’t need to know about his squad being ambushed or all the other places he’d been while with the SEALs. The information was classified, anyway.
“I see.”
Her narrowed gaze put him on notice. She wasn’t going to cut him any slack, not even for the truth. Tidewater County was lucky to have someone of North’s caliber on their small force.
“My instinct says you’re holding back,” Laurie Ann said. “Why the police dogs?”
He considered several explanations, settling on another truth. “Protection.”
“In Mossy Bog?”
He needed an ally, and Jeanie trusted this cop. “My charter boat exploded in North Carolina. Someone strapped a bomb to a damn good rig and murdered my best friend. Nearly killed me.”
“The investigation is ongoing?”
“Yeah. No one took credit for the bombing. Imagine that.”
“Who did it?”
“I wish I could tell you. Nothing panned out. The cops have zero leads and zero evidence. I moved here to start over.”
“With Jeanie?”
“We hit it off. Something might come of it. Who knows?”
“Jeanie didn’t have any trouble before you hit town.”
“I can’t explain the burglaries.”
/>
“Tell me you’ll get her and the kids out of town until this is over. I shudder to think what would have happened if they’d been home when the burglar arrived.”
Rock agreed with Laurie Ann. Jeanie’s family was in danger.
Something had to be done, but Jeanie was a wild card. She wasn’t the type to hunker down in a foxhole. She’d be in the middle of the action. She seemed to have a streak of adrenaline junkie like he did.
Protecting her wouldn’t be easy. “If she doesn’t want to go, neither of us will be able to persuade her. I asked her to stay at my place just now, and she refused.”
“Those kids need their mom. They got a dud for a dad.” She glared at him. “I’m trusting you with my best friend. Don’t mess this up.”
“She’ll be safe with me.”
He’d never spoken truer. He wanted to keep Jeanie and her kids safe.
But how could he do that with someone gunning for her and no resources to work with?
He was only one man, a civilian now.
And Jeanie had a target on her back.
Chapter 23
Jeanie gripped the insoles of her sneakers with her toes while her fingernails dug into her palms. This no-good night kept getting worse. Why did bad things happen after dark? Avery had left in the night. The kids’ fevers spiked at night. Her shop had been broken into at night.
And now this.
All of her things, ruined.
“You want me to what?” she asked, the night closing in around her after Calucci guided her back to Laurie Ann and Rock.
“Get out of town,” her friend said. “Take a vacation.”
She studied their faces. Their tight lips set off all kinds of alarms. “I have a business to run. I can’t afford to inconvenience my customers.”
“You’re not safe here,” Rock said. “The kids aren’t safe.”
“I’ll get the kids to safety, but I’m staying put.”
“Talk some sense into her,” Laurie Ann said.
Rock took her hand. “A few days off won’t matter.”
“The bridge luncheon is in three days, and Miss Beulah’s birthday is coming up. Plus, I have another festival meeting next week. This isn’t a good time.”
Laurie Ann nearly snarled. “We’re talking a few flower arrangements and a tourism meeting here. Isn’t your life worth more than that?”
Jeanie’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Someone is searching for something,” Laurie Ann said. “They think you have it, whatever it is. They have no regard for locked doors or your property. Who’s to say they value your life?”
Jeanie’s insides iced. “No one is after me.”
“My gut says yes. Your whole family is in jeopardy right now.”
Her brain whirred. Her mom had mentioned visiting her friend in St. Augustine. The kids could go with her. Tonight. “I can get mom and the kids out of here, but I need to get back in my house and pack up their things.”
“I will allow that as soon as I dust for fingerprints.” Her friend’s expression softened. “Please, go to Florida with them. I can’t keep you safe here.”
Jeanie shook her head, determined to make a stand. “After Avery left, I vowed never to be weak again. He left me high and dry. I was an emotional wreck, and if it wasn’t for the kids, I wouldn’t have pushed myself to stand on my own two feet. I won’t let anyone take that away from me, so long as I live.”
“Which won’t be long if you don’t protect yourself. The destruction in your house is worse than the flower shop. I’m worried about you.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“If you’re going to be pigheaded, I want you to stay at the Busbee Place with me and Wyatt. At least then I’ll know you’re safe at night.”
Laurie Ann and her new husband were living in a rental while they rebuilt her torched house. “Thanks, but I’d be intruding.” A wild idea popped into her head and out of her mouth. “What about Rock’s place? He’s got guard dogs.”
The thunderstruck expression on Laurie Ann’s face was priceless. What Jeanie wouldn’t give for a camera to capture that bug-eyed, swallowed-a-live-goldfish look.
But before Laurie Ann found her voice, Rock spoke up. “Great idea. Pack your stuff while you’re inside.”
His easy acceptance of her proposal caught her off guard, now that she realized what she’d suggested. Be honest. You suggested it because he makes you feel safe. She chewed her lip and caught his gaze. “Are you sure? I invited myself. My whole family.”
He patted her arm with his good hand. “I’m sure. I’ll keep a close eye on you.” He glanced at Laurie Ann. “How long will it take you to collect prints?”
Laurie Ann squinted her eyes. “Jeanie?”
Jeanie knew what that look meant. She had one minute to explain herself or Laurie Ann would make a safe decision for her. “I know it sounds like I’m being impulsive. But it isn’t a bad decision. Mom and the kids are already at Lytham House, and they’re safe. The dogs are a plus.”
“With apologies to you, Mr. Mackenzie, because you may be a perfectly fine person,” Laurie Ann began, “Jeanie, you barely know this man.”
Jeanie had one last card to play, one that Laurie Ann couldn’t question. “It feels right, Laurie Ann. Sure, I said it in the heat of the moment, but that was me being me. I haven’t been me for a long time. I lost my nerve and my confidence when Avery left, but I’m a different person now. I’m going to make sure my family is safe, and I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”
“This is a police matter.”
“This is my life, and this is personal. Someone invaded my privacy. Twice.”
“Jeanie….” Laurie Ann’s voice trailed off.
“My mind’s made up,” Jeanie said. “I’d like to pack some things for the kids. As soon as you’ll let us in.”
“Give us a few minutes.” Laurie Ann and Calucci strode into the house.
Jeanie shuddered at the chill in the air. The air temperature wasn’t any cooler than earlier in the day, but her nerves were going haywire. Only one person had ever jerked her around this much.
She whipped out her cell phone and called Avery. He didn’t pick up. Of course. She left a scathing message. “If you’re behind these break-ins, you’re dead. You hear me? This is over the line, even for an S.O.B. like you. Stop messing with me.”
An awkward silence swirled between her and Rock after she ended the call. She dabbed at the moisture on her cheeks. Damn if she’d cry. She was tough. Armadillo tough. Extremely tough.
Rock patted her back as a sob burst forth. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got you.”
She bawled all over him and when she thought she was done, a fresh wave of sorrow overtook her. He cradled her close, warming her. All she’d ever wanted was to have someone of her own to soothe her like this. Such a fantasy, unlike the reality she faced.
She pushed against his chest, but his arms only yielded a smidge. “All better,” she said.
“I’m not.” He tipped her chin up. “If you want my help, we do things my way.”
Uh-oh. “How so?”
“We stay together. You go to work. I go with you. You go to the grocery store. I go to the grocery store. Get the picture?”
Blue lights strobed relentlessly around her. “I want to change the channel. I don’t like this picture.”
“This is serious, as serious as it gets. Until we know what we’re up against, we have to be very cautious.”
“Jeanie!” Laurie Ann motioned them from the front porch. “We’ve cleared the bedrooms. Y’all come on.”
“We’ll talk later,” Jeanie said, pushing away from him and heading toward her place. She braced herself for the sight of her broken rocker, of feathers everywhere, of her beautiful china plates smashed into bits. “Let’s get my kids to safety, then we can hash out the details of who goes where.”
Rock caught her hand, dragged her to a stop. “No discussion. We stick together, or you go home with
the cop.”
She gave a choked laugh. “You think you can tell me what to do?” Hurt filled his blue eyes, and she felt a twinge of remorse. She liked this man and he was trying to help. “I’m sorry. You’re right to be concerned. I’m worried and mad and scared, which is why I need to focus on getting the kids out of town. Thank you for your help. I agree that sticking together is the fastest way to get to the bottom of this.”
She searched his face for acceptance. Finally, he nodded. “Together.”
“For better or for worse,” she quipped.
“In sickness and in health,” he shot back.
She couldn’t bring herself to say the rest of the paraphrased wedding vows, but they reverberated in her mind. Until death do us part.
Chapter 24
The miles to St. Augustine rolled by in a firefly-like glow from vehicle lights and exit signs. Just enough light to see what he was doing, but the rest was shrouded in dark. In the delivery van ahead of Rock, Terry Sue drove Jeanie and her sleeping kids. He followed in Terry Sue’s sturdy sedan. Empty kid-sized car seats loomed in the back seat, reminding him of the necessity of this side trip.
A family was at risk.
Jeanie’s family.
The way Sable had hugged his neck earlier this evening had awakened protective feelings inside of him, and Nathaniel’s freewheeling spirit reminded him of Jeanie. How did it happen that he’d come to care for them so quickly? He didn’t know the first thing about being a father, but he’d do everything in his power to make sure these children stayed safe. They deserved more than a father who had abandoned them, and quite possibly abandoned them to a danger he himself had created.
Nathaniel hadn’t wanted to get in the van wearing pajamas. Sable hadn’t balked, so the women had handed the toddler to him to hold as they convinced the four-year-old the world wouldn’t end without big boy pants. Rock had cradled the little girl in his arms, drowning in her big brown eyes. They were the same shape as Jeanie’s intriguing hazel eyes, but mysterious in their own right.
She’d soon have guys falling at her feet, just like her mom.
For now, little Sable and Nathaniel were sleeping safely in the vehicle right in front of him.
Rough Waters Page 8