by Joanna Wayne
He opened the passenger door for her and leaned in close. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
“Me. Not a chance,” she lied and smiled sweetly.
“I didn’t think so.”
His tone was teasing, but neither the spark of jealousy nor the banter eased Dani’s apprehension as they approached the door to the blue and white trailer. It was old, a bit battered, but one of the larger ones around. The sides had been extended to provide extra living space. There were lights on inside and voices.
Marcus rapped on the metal door. Dani sucked in a ragged breath, and all of a sudden she reeled from an aura of all-encompassing evil. It whirled around the muscular body of the man who’d answered the door.
He looked familiar, but it took a few minutes to place him as one of the jousters. He was barefoot in spite of the cooler nighttime temperatures and wearing a stained gray T-shirt and a pair of denim jeans with frayed holes.
“Kevin Flanders?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah.” Kevin rattled the keys in his pocket and shifted nervously, staring at Dani as if he were seeing Ella’s ghost.
“We’re looking for Ella Somerville,” Marcus said. “Is she here?”
“Who wants to know?”
“My name’s Marcus Abbot.”
“And the woman?”
“She’s with me.” Marcus’s tone and the strain to his muscles made it clear that was all Kevin needed to know. “Now, about Ella?”
Kevin hooked his thumbs through his empty belt loops. “Are you cops?”
“A private investigator.”
Marcus pulled a leather tri-fold from his front pocket and flashed his ID. Dani had forgotten he was official, not carrying any authority, but official.
Kevin barely glanced at the card, but he eyed both her and Marcus suspiciously. “Ella’s not home. She was attacked and stabbed Saturday night, but I’m guessing you already know that.” He scratched the back of his right leg with the big toe of his left foot while he studied them. “Did the hospital send you?”
“The attending doctor is concerned about Ella’s leaving the hospital in her condition,” Marcus said, sidestepping the question. “He feels her health is in jeopardy unless she returns at once.”
“I don’t know what I can do about that. She’s not here. I keep thinking she’ll show up, but she hasn’t even called. I don’t know if she’s scared or what. She gets funny ideas at times. I called the cops and told them she was missing. They said they’ll look into it.”
He opened the door wider. “You wanna come in?”
Dani most definitely did, and she wasn’t leaving until she knew for certain Ella wasn’t inside. She pushed past Kevin. Another man was sitting on the couch, his shirt littered with peanuts that had apparently missed his mouth. He brushed them off and stood when she entered.
“This here’s Billy Germaine,” Kevin said. “He’s a friend, a jouster, same as me.”
Billy extended his hand to Marcus but only stared at Dani. The similarity between her and Ella was apparently freaking him out, too.
“The hospital sent them,” Kevin informed Billy as he picked up a handful of empty beer cans from the coffee table and tossed them into a large white plastic trash can a few steps away. “They’re looking for Ella.”
Billy glared at Marcus. “You look like a cop to me.”
“Would it matter if I was? Kevin here tells me he’d welcome police involvement in locating Ella.”
“The only involvement they want is to try to pin the stabbing on Kevin.”
“Knock it off, Billy,” Kevin ordered. “The deputies questioned me, that’s all.”
“Only reason they didn’t arrest you is because you have an alibi. They always try to pin the crime on the boyfriend. Everybody knows that.”
“I’m not a cop,” Marcus said.
“Does Ella have any friends or family in the area, someone she might have gone to stay with?” Dani asked. She kept her tone even, hoping to break the tension.
“No friends in Texas that I know of,” Kevin said. “No family at all, at least none that she’ll admit to having.”
“I heard you have visited her at the hospital,” Dani said. “Did she tell you anything about her attacker?”
“She wasn’t saying anything to anybody while I was there last night. Then when I went back this afternoon, she was gone.”
“There was an eyewitness to the stabbing,” Billy offered. “The officers who questioned Kev said she told them the perp was wearing full…”
“Wait a minute,” Kevin interrupted. He pointed a finger at Dani. “You’re the eyewitness, aren’t you?”
“Why would you think that?”
“One of the deputies mentioned that she looked a lot like Ella. That has to be you. They said you might have been the intended victim.”
“I don’t know if I was supposed to be the victim or not, but I am the only eyewitness,” Dani admitted. “The important thing right now is finding Ella and getting her back to the hospital.”
Her head started to spin. The force of evil inside the trailer was overpowering.
“Are you okay?” Marcus asked, obviously sensing her distress.
“I’m feeling a bit nauseated. I think it’s that spicy food we had for dinner.” Marcus would know they hadn’t eaten yet and would get the message. Kevin and Billy wouldn’t. She looked to Kevin. “May I use your bathroom?”
“Sure, down the hall. You can’t miss it. Don’t trip over that pile of old newspapers. Trash builds up fast in a small RV like this one.”
She stepped over the newspapers, noting the headlines. “Hurricane Preparedness Costs Rising.” The Pensacola News Journal. She purposely tripped just enough to scatter the stack. At least one more of the newspapers was also the Pensacola News Journal. She didn’t see Kevin as a reader, but maybe Pensacola was home to Ella.
She paused at the bathroom door and glanced behind her. Marcus could see her from where he was standing. The others couldn’t. She walked past the bathroom and opened the only other door inside the trailer. Light from the hallway spilled onto the bed.
She exhaled quickly, releasing the breath she’d been holding in dread. Her fears hadn’t materialized. Ella wasn’t gagged and tied to the bedposts. Her dead body wasn’t sprawled across the sheets.
Closing the door behind her, Dani flicked on the overhead light. The bed was unmade, and a pair of Kevin’s wrinkled jeans and a T-shirt lay on the floor near the closet. Tiptoeing to the built-in chest, she eased open the top drawer, cringing when it squeaked.
Ella’s intimates were stacked neatly—bras, panties and a pair of silk pantaloons. Dana held up the pantaloons and crushed them to her chest. The evil in the house still clogged her lungs, but that was it. Nothing was elicited from Ella’s clothing.
The closet door was open. She walked over and stared at the contents. It was extremely neat with a clear divide. About two thirds of the closet was filled with period dresses, skirts and blouses, most likely from Ella’s shop. The other third was jeans, shirts and two cocktail dresses. One red. One black. Boots and shoes lined the shelf above the hangers. Sandals and tennis shoes stood in a neat row on the floor. A crate holding stuffed manila folders sat in one corner.
Nothing in the closet belonged to Kevin—unless it was the files. Apparently he had his own space somewhere else in the trailer, or maybe all of his things were stuffed into drawers.
Dani searched the rack of Renaissance dresses. Her heart slammed against her chest as her focus settled on an all-too-familiar ball gown. Jade velvet. It was exactly like the one she’d seen in the shop that first day, a replica of the one that Ella had been wearing when she was stabbed.
Apparently, Ella liked it so well that she’d kept two for herself. Not so unusual, she decided, since there were a half-dozen skirts and peasant blouses in the same style.
The knight. The dagger. The dress. All from Ella’s life—not hers.
Dani pulled the dress from the closet and held
it up in front of her, staring at her reflection in the full-length mirror on the closet door. A damp fog crept into the room. Death. It was all around her. She smelled the fear. Tasted the horror.
The stench of the dress became stifling, but she couldn’t put it down. Her knees went weak, and the fog seeped through her skull and took over her mind.
“Put on the dress.”
“No, please.”
“Put on the dress for me. Wear it for me the way you wore it for him.”
“I never…”
The door flew open. Kevin was standing there, his face red and explosive. Vile curses flew from his mouth, and his fingers dug into the flesh of her upper arm as he yanked the gown from her hands.
“Take your hands off her. Now,” Marcus ordered, stepping into the crowded bedroom with Billy following on his heels.
“Don’t order me around,” Kevin snapped. “This is my house, and you’re not a cop.” His grip tightened on her arm.
“Right. I’m not a cop. I don’t have rules. Now take your hands off her, or I’ll tear your arms out of the sockets and hand them to you like kindling.”
Marcus was livid, his muscles hard and flexed, the veins in his neck and face distended. She’d never seen him like this, a missile ready to detonate. She had to do something to diffuse the situation before it got totally out of hand.
“I’m okay, Marcus. Let’s just…”
It was all she got out before Billy grabbed Marcus’s arms from behind and pinned them behind his back. “Teach him a lesson, Kev. Give him what he deserves.”
Marcus’s jaw jutted at a defiant angle. “I wouldn’t advise it, Kev.”
“What are you going to do about it, cowboy?” Kevin released his grip on her and doubled his fist, yanking it back before plowing it into Marcus’s stomach. Not once, but twice. Sweat popped out on Marcus’s brow.
Dani dived for the lamp to break it over Kevin’s head. Kevin pulled off Marcus and wrenched the lamp from her hands. He shoved her against the closet door. Her head banged against the wooden frame.
Marcus erupted into a fighting machine. His right foot connected with Kevin’s chest, sending the man stumbling backward. In a lightning-fast move, the back of Marcus’s head crashed into Billy’s face. Blood from Billy’s nose splattered Marcus’s hair and shoulders.
Billy lost his grip on Marcus, and before he could get in a blow, Marcus threw a punch that sent him careening against the bedpost. He held on to it and slowly slid to the floor.
Kevin came up with a baseball bat he’d grabbed from under the bed. Dani jumped on his back and tried to lock her arms around his neck. He elbowed her in the ribs and shook her off, just as Ella’s attacker had done Saturday night.
He swung the bat at Marcus’s head. Marcus dodged it and planted a succession of blows to Kevin’s upper body and jaw. Kevin slumped to the floor. Marcus clenched the fabric at the neck of Kevin’s T-shirt and pulled him back to a standing position.
Kevin muttered a string of curses and groaned in pain. “You’re nuts, man. Look at Billy. I think you broke his jaw.”
“Want to go two for the price of one?”
“Just get out of my house.”
“Glad to oblige as soon as the lady gets an apology.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Kevin mumbled insincerely, never looking up.
That was more than enough for Dani. “Let’s just go,” she said.
Marcus wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded and Marcus led her to the kitchen, opened the freezer compartment and took out a few cubes of ice. He tore a handful of paper towels from a half-empty roll and wrapped them around the ice. “Put this on that bump on your head.”
“Thanks.” Her head throbbed, but she’d fared a lot better than Billy and Kevin. “You should come with a warning label that classifies you as a deadly weapon.”
“I do.” He fingered the chain around his neck and the SEAL trident pendant he wore like a talisman. “Never mess with a frogman.”
Call her crazy, but at this minute she’d never wanted to tangle with anyone more.
DANI STEPPED INTO the hot bath. Only her third night in Marcus’s rustic cabin and it already had a surprising familiarity about it. A casual late dinner of BLT sandwiches and smooth red wine at his marred wooden table had felt positively cozy, except for the conversation about Kevin’s black aura of evil.
She was convinced now that he was Ella’s attacker. Marcus hadn’t argued with that assessment, nor had he agreed with it. He wanted facts. So would the deputies.
She sank beneath the hot water and the layer of fragrant bubbles. She’d brought the bubble bar from home, as well as her new champagne-colored silk pajamas and a matching robe. Not too sexy or revealing, but feminine, and the color brought out her eyes and the sun-lightened highlights in her hair.
Last night she’d fallen asleep in Marcus’s arms. No real intimacy, no seductive touch, no kiss. That was probably for the best. The nightmare had left her a nervous wreck, and she wasn’t sure passion would have mixed well with that.
Ever since their kiss, she’d struggled to keep the desire he ignited under control. The need was stronger than ever tonight. She’d seen a different side of him in Ella’s trailer. He’d looked and acted like a Greek war god, all muscle and strength and masculinity.
But he hadn’t used excessive force. He didn’t beat them to a pulp, though it was clear he could have. He just took care of business more impressively than any movie superhero she’d ever seen.
The manners of a cowboy. The fighting soul of an American serviceman and protector. She’d never been so turned on.
Call it chemistry. Call it infatuation. Call it lust. Call it anything you wanted. All she knew was that she ached to feel his lips on hers again. Hungered for the taste of him and the thrill when their breaths mingled and her body fit so close to his she could feel his passion swelling between them.
He’d wanted her the other day by the river. She was sure of it. So why was he keeping her at a distance now? Was it something she’d done, or were her psychic lapses such a turnoff for him that it killed his desire for her? Even Todd hadn’t come to detest them this quickly.
Whatever it was, she needed to know. She’d never been one to beat around the bush. When the bubbles melted, she’d go to his bedroom and insist on the truth.
THE LIGHT WAS ON in the kitchen when Dani went to look for Marcus. She found him at the pine table with his laptop and some scribbled notes. His hair was still damp from the shower. His shirt was off, revealing a couple of nasty scratches stretching across his left shoulder and a developing bruise just under his chin.
“How’s your head?” he asked, without looking up.
“The goose egg is still there, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Headache? Nausea?”
“Neither. I’m sure I don’t have a concussion,” she assured him for the second time that night. “You need some antibiotic ointment on those scratches.”
“They’re nothing. I just got some news from the sheriff’s office. A car was reported stolen from the parking lot of the hospital during the same time period that Ella went missing. A woman left her keys in the ignition while she ran in to drop off a payment envelope in the business office.”
“Ella must have taken her car.”
“That’s a distinct possibility.”
“That’s good news, isn’t it? An abductor would have surely brought his own getaway vehicle. And if Ella took the car, all we have to do is find it and we have her.”
“The car hasn’t been located yet.”
“Surely finding it is a top priority.”
Marcus double-clicked, and a new page started loading on his laptop. “Finding stolen cars are never a top priority unless there’s an armed crime involved.”
“Not even when the woman who stole it needs medical attention?”
“Indicators are that Ella left the hospital of her own free wil
l. I’m not saying the authorities aren’t trying to locate her, but don’t expect miracles.”
“Still, how far can she go dressed in a robe?”
“The owner of the car was on her way to Macy’s to return a purchase. She had a bag with a pair of jeans and two sweaters in the backseat. The jeans were a size ten. The sweaters were size small. I’m guessing those would fit Ella.”
“The sweaters would. The jeans might be baggy on her, but she could wear them.” A choking knot formed in Dani’s chest. She went to the sink, filled a glass full of cool water and drank it slowly.
“We’ll find her, Dani—but then what? You can’t force her to go back to the hospital any more than you can force her to accept a bodyguard. I’m not sure how you see this playing out.”
“I see her safe and fully recovered from the stabbing. I see her selling her beautiful Renaissance clothing to countless women in dozens of towns. And I see Kevin Flanders in jail.”
Her words sounded good, but the assumptions were gross exaggerations. She didn’t see anything but the images the spirits from the outer realms allowed her to see. She saw death and evil and blood on a jade velvet gown. But why pull her into Ella’s life at all if the visions weren’t meant to help save her?
One of the scratches on Marcus’s back oozed a few drops of blood. Dani went to his bathroom and rummaged though the cabinets until she found his first-aid supplies. He’d protest, but she’d tend to his wounds anyway. He’d have done the same for her.
He was still poring over the monitor when she returned. “What’s so interesting?” she asked as she unscrewed the cap on the small bottle of peroxide.
“Daggers. I’m checking to see how many sites I can pull up that sell weapons similar to the one used in the attack.”
“The sheriff said you could buy them at the festival, so why would you think the culprit would go online?”
“To keep the seller from recognizing him and reporting the purchase to the police.”
“You mean if the attacker happened to be someone well-known around the festival—like Kevin Flanders.”
“His name comes to mind.”
“What did you find?”