Five minutes later Troy was in his work truck and headed to the old abandoned baseball field where the six men had plotted a murder scheme that would assure each of them both vengeance and the justice that had been denied.
As he approached his destination, tension bunched his shoulders and he gripped the steering wheel more tightly. He couldn’t come here without thinking of Annie, and thoughts of her always brought forth a deep grief, a hollow emptiness and also a rage tempered only a little bit by the passing of time.
Knee-high weeds greeted him as he stepped out of the truck. Nature was in the process of taking back the land that had once been filled with a ball field and little baseball players.
The wooden bleachers in the distance leaned to one side, broken and bleached almost white from the summer sun. A snack shed was spray-painted with a variety of words in different colors. Even that paint had faded, attesting to the forgotten nature of the property.
He walked toward the thick stand of trees in the distance. It was there next to a fallen tree that a plot for murder had been hatched among six grieving, angry men.
They had met two years ago at a group meeting for survivors. All six of them had a couple of things in common. The first was that the perpetrators who had committed horrendous crimes against their loved ones had walked away free men due to glitches in their cases. The second thing they all had in common was a killing rage and a desperate and hungry need for justice.
They had set up a plan for each of them to kill another man’s perpetrator. They each would be killing a man who had absolutely nothing to do with them, hopefully assuring that they all stayed under law enforcement’s scrutiny.
Troy now headed into the woods. Even in the shade it was hot, and insects buzzed angrily as if to protest Troy’s presence in their domain. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to think about the crime that had brought him here. But it concerned him that one of the six was apparently acting alone, and that hadn’t been the plan.
He sat on the fallen log to wait for Nick and tried to keep his mind empty, but it was impossible. Surprisingly it wasn’t thoughts of murder, but rather thoughts of his neighbor Eliza Burke that intruded in his head.
It had been a long time since Troy had really noticed any woman. After his wife had walked out on him three years before, he’d had no interest in any kind of a relationship.
However, Eliza Burke had stirred him on a level he’d thought was long dead. She’d sparked something inside him he hadn’t felt for a very long time. Not that anything would come of it. He wouldn’t allow anything to come of it even if she was interested in him.
He just wanted to know who in her house might have seen him last night. He’d join her for dinner and see if he got the answer. Once that question was answered, he would be done with her.
Before he had time to really process anything more, Nick appeared. The tall, dark-haired man wore a deep frown. “What’s up?” He leaned against a nearby tree as if not wanting to get too close to Troy.
“I was supposed to kill Winthrop last night, but somebody got to him before me.”
Nick grimaced. “Just like what happened to me.”
“Somebody has gone rogue and it’s got me worried.”
“Look, I don’t want anything to do with this,” Nick protested. “I’ve moved on. I’m in love with a wonderful woman and we’re planning a wedding.”
“I know you don’t want to be involved in this, but you are,” Troy replied evenly. “Doesn’t it bother you that one of us is acting alone? Do you have any idea who it might be?”
Nick frowned again. “Adam is the one who planned all this. Maybe he just decided to take things into his own hands.”
Adam Kincaid was one of the six men who had taken the lead and was in charge of the logistics of the plan. His wife had been murdered at a drive-through ATM where she had just withdrawn two hundred dollars. A drug-addicted man had yanked her out of the car and had stabbed her to death to get the cash. The case had ended in a hung jury and the prosecutor had decided not to retry the case.
“If that’s true, then you know what that makes all of the rest of us? Liabilities,” Troy said.
Nick raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think he’d come after one of us?”
Troy released a deep sigh. “I don’t know what to think. I just wanted you to know that somebody isn’t playing by the rules we all set up, although I have to admit I was kind of relieved to wake up yesterday morning and realize I didn’t have to kill a man.”
“Yeah, I felt the same way when my target was already dead when I went to his house to kill him.” Nick’s frown appeared once again and his eyes darkened. “I’ve got to tell you, man, that was a bad scene. Whoever killed Brian McDowell enjoyed it. His throat was slit, and that takes a special kind of killer. There was also a carving in his forehead. It looked like a V.”
Tension once again tugged at Troy’s shoulders. “V for vengeance? For vigilante?”
“Could be either, or maybe it was just a coincidence that it looked like a V. But who does that? Who carves up a man’s forehead after slitting his throat?”
“Hell if I know. So, what do we do about it?”
“Nothing. I told all of you before that I’m out of it. I feel like I made a pact with the devil when I got involved in this crazy scheme,” Nick replied.
Troy studied him for a long moment. “How did you feel this morning when you woke up and read that the man who raped and killed your wife was dead?”
“Nothing,” Nick replied. “I felt nothing. My wife was still dead and Winthrop’s murder didn’t change that. I’m building a new life for myself and that’s all that matters to me now.” He straightened from the tree trunk. “I hope nothing more comes of this, Troy, but in any case, please lose my number forever.”
Nick turned and left the small clearing. Troy remained on the log, trying to figure out what in the hell he had hoped to accomplish by meeting with Nick. Maybe he’d just needed somebody else to know.
Troy didn’t want to think about the pact anymore. He knew somebody was going to kill Dwight Weatherby. Troy definitely wanted that man dead, and he wasn’t about to do a damned thing to stop that from happening.
And that made him a bad man.
Chapter Two
Nervous energy filled Eliza as she set the table for the evening meal with an extra plate. Would he show up for dinner? On the off chance he would she’d changed into a nicer pair of black skinny jeans and a lavender blouse that she knew complemented her gray eyes. She’d also let her hair down and it now fell around her shoulders in soft waves.
She was a fool to be going to so much trouble, she’d thought as she’d applied a little more mascara and then a dash of pink lip gloss.
It wasn’t like she was looking for romance. When Blake had left her she’d pretty much put that part of herself away forever. Besides, she was hardly an attractive package for any man to take on, considering the fact that she had two young children and one of them was blind.
Tonight wasn’t about romance. It was about learning a little bit about the man who was her neighbor. She didn’t know about him, but she intended to be in this house for a very long time. Building good neighbor relationships couldn’t be a bad thing.
“Mom, come and look what Sammy found,” Katie called from the living room.
Eliza pulled garlic bread out of the oven and then went to check on the children. “What did you find, Sammy?” she asked.
He ran his fingers along the white wainscoting and a panel popped open, revealing a space big enough for the two of them to stand in. “It’s a secret hiding spot,” he said.
“Would you look at that,” Eliza said in amazement, although this wasn’t the first surprise the house had given up. Two weeks after moving in, Sammy had found a hidden stairway that went from Katie’s room down to the kitchen pantry.
“That is a great hiding place,” she said. She stepped inside to make sure there was nothing dangerous in the space. “It could be your very own secret hideaway. But right now I want you two to wash your hands and faces for dinner. It’s possible we might have a visitor.”
“A visitor?” Katie’s face lit up. “Who is it? Ms. Lucy?”
“Not Ms. Lucy. Our neighbor might come to eat with us. Now go get cleaned up. Dinner is going to be on the table in about three minutes.” As the two headed for the bathroom, Eliza returned to the kitchen.
The clock on the oven read seven minutes until five. It was very possible he wouldn’t show up at all and that was okay with her. The whole thing had been rather strange to begin with.
The food was on the table and the children had just been seated when the doorbell rang. “Wait here, I’ll be right back,” she said, and tried to ignore the bolt of anticipation that leaped into the pit of her stomach.
He stood on the front porch with his sexy smile and the sun gleaming on his slightly shaggy dark hair. His jeans hugged his slender hips and emphasized his broad chest beneath a light blue cotton shirt. “I hope I’m not too late. I got held up at work.” He thrust a bottle of red wine toward her.
“Actually, you’re just in time,” she replied, and took the wine from him. “You didn’t have to do that,” she added as she gestured him inside. She led him into the kitchen. “Sammy and Katie, this is our neighbor, Mr. Anderson.”
“I know you. You buried treasure in your backyard in the middle of the night last night,” Katie said with a wide smile. “I love treasure.”
He rocked back on his heels and Eliza could swear his handsome face paled. Then he laughed. “Oh, honey, that was no treasure. Unfortunately I found a dead cat in my yard and I had to bury it.”
“And what were you doing up in the middle of the night, young lady?” Eliza asked her daughter.
“I woked up and went into Sammy’s room ’cause I thought he might have a nightmare,” Katie said. She batted long dark lashes. “You know I don’t want Sammy to ever get scared.”
Eliza turned to her guest. “Please, have a seat, Troy.” She gestured to the chair at the head of the table.
They began to fill their plates. “Why did the cat die?” Katie asked once everyone had been served.
“I don’t know,” Troy replied.
“Chicken at six, bread at three and salad at nine,” Eliza murmured softly to Sammy.
Troy looked at Sammy and then gazed at Eliza. She knew at that moment he’d realized Sammy was blind. He cleared his throat and then cast her a smile that warmed her from head to toe.
“My daddy died,” Katie said. “So my daddy and that cat are both in heaven together.”
“Did your dad like cats?” Troy asked.
Katie looked at Eliza. “Did he, Mom?”
“I’m sure he did,” Eliza replied. She never wanted her children to know how much she’d come to hate their father during the time before he’d walked out on them. He had died less than a year later in a motorcycle accident in Florida.
“So, tell me about your landscaping business,” she said to Troy in an effort to engage him and change the subject.
“It started with just me, a truck and a lawn mower,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed yard work, and I now have ten trucks and a crew of men and women who work for me.”
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
“I’ve been lucky in scoring a lot of big commercial jobs. By the way, this chicken is delicious.”
“Thank you,” she replied.
“Mom is a great cook,” Sammy said.
“And she’s pretty. Don’t you think she’s very pretty, Mr. Anderson?” Katie asked with a winsome smile.
“Katie,” Eliza said with a blush creeping warmth into her cheeks.
Troy laughed. “Yes, Katie, your mother is very pretty.”
The rest of the meal passed with the children chattering about their schools and their favorite playtime activities. Eliza was acutely aware of Troy’s presence, far too aware since he was just a neighbor who had joined them for a meal.
She was also particularly proud of her children, who displayed good manners throughout the meal.
“Is your house as crazy as this one?” Sammy asked.
“What do you mean by crazy?” Troy asked.
“I found a secret hidey-hole in the living room and a secret stairway in Katie’s bedroom that comes down into the kitchen pantry,” he replied.
Troy looked at Eliza. “It’s true,” she said. “The house does appear to have a lot of secrets.”
“I wanna find some buried treasure,” Katie piped up. “I love treasure, ’specially if it sparkles.”
Eliza and Troy laughed. “Is that why you bought the house? To look for buried treasure?”
She laughed again. “Not hardly, and we didn’t buy the house, we inherited it. It was left to us by my late husband’s grandfather when he passed away a couple of months ago. I have to admit it was quite a surprise.”
“I wondered why a for-sale sign didn’t go up when Frank passed away,” Troy replied.
By that time everyone had finished eating and the children asked to be excused to go watch television. “I insist on helping with the cleanup,” Troy said.
“And I insist you don’t,” she replied. “Why don’t I make you a cup of coffee and you can sit and talk to me while I handle the cleanup?”
“Okay, if you insist,” he replied easily.
Minutes later with a cup of coffee before him, Troy told her a little bit more about his business. His father had bought him his first lawn mower when he was ten years old and had encouraged him to become a little entrepreneur.
“I never thought about doing anything else,” he said. “I love working outside and helping people transform their landscaping from something ugly into something beautiful.”
“It’s always nice to love what you do,” she replied.
“I take it you love what you do.” He eyed her over the rim of the coffee cup.
“Most of the time, unless I get a crazy client. I’ve got a man now who is sending me dozens of nasty texts and emails a day over a project.”
His eyes widened. “Why?”
She put the leftover chicken in the refrigerator and then turned to face him. “I agreed to build a web page for him and then realized halfway into it that it was going to be a pornographic site, and so I backed out of the deal. I refunded the initial money he gave to me and thought that would be the end of it, but he’s been harassing me for weeks now.”
“Have you called the police to report him?” Troy asked.
“Oh no, it hasn’t risen to that kind of a level. It’s just a nuisance.”
“I know it’s just you and the kids here. If anything does ever get out of hand with him just remember I’m right next door.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that. You don’t happen to know a good exterminator, do you? I think we might have a mouse problem. The kids and I are hearing some rustling behind the walls at night.”
“Actually, I do. Mike the Mighty Mouseman.”
She grinned. “Is that for real?”
He laughed and shook his head. “It’s for real. He’s a friend of mine. We went to school together and have remained good friends. Do you want me to give you his number?”
“Please.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and punched in the number he rattled off.
“Let me give you my number, too,” he said. He pulled out his cell phone. “And I’d like yours, if that’s okay. It’s always good to have a neighbor’s phone number.”
They exchanged phone numbers and he returned to drinking his coffee. “You should like the neighborhood. It’s a quiet one.”
“After living in a noisy apartment complex, quiet is good,” she replied.
“Most of the people are older and have lived here for years. I haven’t met many, but the ones I have met have been very nice.”
“That’s good to know,” she replied. “I guess the house on the other side of me is empty. I noticed a moving van there last week and then a for-sale sign in front of it the other day.”
He nodded. “The Fosters. They were an older couple. They decided the house was too big for the two of them.”
“They are big houses,” she replied. “I don’t know what to do with half the space I have here.”
“I’m using a couple of rooms upstairs strictly for storage.” He finished the last of his coffee and then rose from the table. “I guess I’d better get out of your hair. This has been very pleasant. Thank you for inviting me.”
“Thank you for coming,” she replied. “It’s always nice to know your neighbors.” Together they walked to the front door. It had been pleasant. It had been a long time since she’d had an evening of adult conversation, and it hadn’t hurt that he was so darned easy to look at.
Two hours later she sat on the edge of Katie’s bed to tuck her in for the night. “No sneaking into your brother’s room in the middle of the night,” she said, and swiped a strand of long dark hair away from Katie’s face.
“But what if I wake up in the middle of the night and I think maybe he’s having a nightmare?” Katie’s gray eyes darkened. “I don’t ever want Sammy to be scared.”
“And I appreciate you looking after Sammy so well. But your brother will call to me if he has a nightmare and gets scared,” Eliza said, “and all princesses need to stay in bed and get their rest through the night.”
“And I am a princess,” Katie replied firmly.
“Absolutely, you’re my little special princess.” Eliza leaned over and kissed her daughter on the cheek. “Good night, sweetheart.”
“Night, Mommy.”
Eliza rose from the bed and turned out the overhead light, then walked across the hall into Sammy’s bedroom. His twin bed was pushed against one wall and his dresser was against another. There was nothing on the floor to impede him in his world of darkness.
Desperate Intentions (HQR Intrigue) Page 2