Under His Protection

by Amy J. Fetzer

  LISA’S EYES widened, and panic drained the blood from her face. “What did you do?”

  Kate said nothing, pushing Lisa toward the front door.

  “What did you do!” she demanded, turning on Kate.

  “I killed him.”

  Lisa’s knees went soft and she gripped the door frame. No, she thought. Nash wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. Anger crushed her and Lisa wanted to tear Kate in two. And her expression said as much. Kate took a step back, aiming the gun.

  Suddenly the phone rang. Lisa looked at it, then Kate. “They will know something’s wrong if I don’t answer it.”

  Kate walked over to the phone, lifted the receiver. The instant she did, Lisa screamed for help, but just as quickly, Kate set it back down again.

  “Nice try.” She shoved Lisa out the front door and onto the porch.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’re going to hell. I’m going to the Cayman Islands and live the life of Reilly with Peter’s money.”

  “You can’t imagine you’ll get out of the country after all you’ve done.”

  Kate snickered, thinking that Lisa didn’t know what Peter had really been like. “I’m a whiz with computers, just like Peter. And he had more cash than God. A lot more. He stashed it in off shore banks. He and Forsythe had been double-dealing in the stock market.”

  “The police know about that. The accounts will be seized if they haven’t been already,” Lisa said.

  The news didn’t change Kate’s expression. “Not in Grand Cayman, they won’t.”

  “So you think you’ll get out of the country to enjoy it?”

  Smiling thinly, Kate looked over at Lisa, and Lisa understood that Kate could somehow use her as a hostage or shield to get away.

  “Chartres saw you, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he found the basket. I’d stashed it that day in the linen closet. The idiot never went up there, but that night he did. He saw me on the back balcony, too, so he said. When the police learned he’d lied, he said if I didn’t pay him to keep quiet, he’d turn me in. He didn’t get the chance.”

  “They found your hair in the inn, Kate. They can make a match. DNA is a powerful tool. Killing me will get you nothing.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “Forensics is too good—they’ll know it was murder. Blood patterns, residue on the hands. They’ll know. Just like they know Chartres was murdered.”

  Kate waved, her expression sour. “Shut up. At least you’ll be dead.”

  “You were stupid. The last thing you should have used was herbs and flowers. The trail came to me, but it was too tidy. And I’m not that dumb,” Lisa said.

  “Oh, yeah? That’s not what Peter said.”

  Kate shoved Lisa down the front steps, using the gun to nudge her toward Logan’s car. Lisa noticed that MaryGrace’s car was still in the carriage house. “You won’t get the insurance, either.”

  “I would have if I’d been married to him at the time.” Kate opened Logan’s car door and tossed Lisa the keys she must have taken off the desk. “Get in.”

  Lisa refused to move. Kate grabbed Lisa’s blouse and pushed her into the car.

  Lisa kicked Kate in the knee and pushed herself out of the car. “I’m not leaving here with you. And what did you do to MaryGrace? Where is she?”

  Kate rolled to the side, cocking the pistol hammer and pointing. “Give it up, Lisa, and worry about what I’ll do to the old woman…” Kate swung the weapon to the right—where Olivia was strolling in their direction, periodically stopping to take a rose cutting.

  Renewed fury filled Lisa. “Leave her out of this.”

  “Then you come with me now.”

  Lisa knew if she left this house with Kate, there would be no hope for her. “No.”

  Kate aimed at Olivia, who was blissfully unaware of the danger a short distance away.

  Lisa dove for the gun. Kate pulled the trigger, the shot deafening. Olivia screamed and Kate backhanded Lisa, cutting her lip and sending her stumbling back against the car. Then Kate grabbed her hair and dragged her over to the old woman. She pushed Lisa to the ground.

  Olivia stared blankly between the two women. Lisa wanted Olivia to run, but knew Kate would shoot the woman in the back. She’d already killed two people. One more wouldn’t make a difference to her.

  “This will be better,” Kate said. “She’s crazy—the whole town talks about her. She was the witness to a murder and who’s to say she didn’t kill her husband?”

  Kate pointed the gun at Lisa.

  Olivia blinked between the two. “You’re Temple’s new girlfriend?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Why, darlin’, come in and have some lemonade while we wait for him. He’s still at his classes.”

  Lisa’s gaze shot to Olivia and she wondered if the woman was lucid or still in her own world. Lisa tried to stand.

  Kate shoved her back down. “Stay there. I like you in the dirt. Every time I saw those clothes in your closet, the jewelry Peter never gave me—”

  “Peter was a user, Kate. He didn’t know how to love anyone.” Lisa caught movement in the corner of her eye. Olivia was reaching into her apron pocket.

  “You really should come in out of this heat, dear.” Olivia said to Kate. “It’s not good for your complexion.”

  “Shut up!” Kate kept her eyes on Lisa. “No, don’t move. I like that frightened-deer look. You wear it well. Stay down!”

  “But then, you could wear a hat. Yes, you should wear a hat. You have freckles,” Olivia said.

  Kate’s gaze jerked briefly to the old woman. “Shut up, you crazy old bat!”

  Olivia moved toward a bush and nearer to Lisa. “Would you like some roses? I have the best in the county. There isn’t another garden that has this rose.”

  “Lady, I swear,” Kate said.

  Olivia’s gaze snapped to the gun as if seeing it for the first time, and she dropped the garden shears, stepping back. “No, no, don’t! I’ll give them to you! All of them!”

  While Kate was distracted by Olivia, Lisa grabbed the sheers and plunged them into Kate’s thigh.

  Her scream pierced the damp air, and Lisa jumped to her feet, pushing Olivia out of the way. Kate yanked at the shears buried in her thigh, the gun faltering. Lisa’s fist connected with Kate’s jaw and pain rang up her arm. A second later Lisa went for the gun.

  But Kate lifted her arm and a shot rang out.

  Lisa lurched back, looking down at herself, then at Kate. Blood fountained from Kate’s shoulder. Her finger was still on the trigger. The hammer was still cocked. She hadn’t fired.

  Nash rushed up, knocking the gun from Kate’s hand and pushing Lisa behind him. Then with his foot he clipped Kate behind the knees and she dropped to the ground with a howl of pain. In seconds Nash had Kate cuffed and facedown in the dirt. He turned to Lisa.

  She stared at him, her vision blurring.

  “You going to faint?” he asked. She looked pale.

  She latched on to him, holding tightly. “Don’t be ridiculous. A case of the vapors is so passé.” He closed his arms around her and she began to cry, tension releasing with each tear. “Thank you.”

  He rubbed her spine. “It’s okay, baby, you’re safe. We’re all safe.” She clung tighter, her face buried in his shirtfront. “Now you have to marry me, Lisa. You owe me.”

  She chuckled, then tipped her head back and met his gaze. He kissed her deeply, his own fears seeping from him with each touch of her mouth. He’d been terrified on his way here, terrified he’d find her gone or, worse, dead. Nash had never before driven so fast and recklessly. Because his entire life was at the end of this road.

  Suddenly Lisa broke the kiss. “Your mother!” Lisa tore from his arms and they rushed to where Olivia lay on the ground.

  The old woman brushed off their helping hands and sat up. “I’m fine. I really must keep my eye out for tree roots,” she said, then smiled at Lisa and Nash. “I’m always tripping
on them.” She looked at her son. “I see you put a ring on her finger. Smartened up a bit, didn’t you, Nash?”

  Nash chuckled and looked at Lisa as Indigo Run Plantation filled with sirens and police cars.

  “Took me a while, but yes, ma’am, I did.”

  Olivia stood, patted his arm, then trotted off, muttering, “Good, good.”

  “I think she approves,” Nash said. “But it wouldn’t matter, anyway.”

  Lisa arched a brow, smiling. “Save a life and you go and get all defiant.” She tisked softly. “And to your mama, no less.”

  Nash hugged her, pressing his lips to her temple and acknowledging how close he’d come to losing her. And how lucky he was to have her in his arms, making wisecracks.

  When Kate muttered something about wanting Lisa to still pay, Nash led Lisa away. The uniformed officers took charge.

  APART FROM a bruised shoulder, from being pushed into the pantry by Kate, MaryGrace was unharmed. She complained to Logan that there should be a light-switch inside the pantry and maybe air-conditioning. She was suffering from the heat when Nash found her. Logan was treated for his head injury and refused, in typical Couviyon fashion, Lisa thought, to go to the hospital.

  “You yelled at me and insisted I go. Why not him?” Lisa asked.

  “He’s stubborn and I love you more.”

  As the EMT put a stitch in Logan’s head, Logan glanced up and smiled.

  “How did you know, Nash? I didn’t,” Lisa said. Since Kate had confessed to Lisa, Lisa gave a statement and would have to testify later.

  “Aside from the fact that the hair matched—brown hair bleached to blond but didn’t match Delan’s—and that Catherine Delan was free on bail, I had to think, who could get close to you and do that to your doors, get the lock out of the wood. And to know when and where you were all the time. The scent on Peter’s clothes, well, Quinn and I both recognized it from somewhere other than Winfield’s clothing. Quinn had taken Kate out and had been that close to her. Then there was the marriage license.”

  “Peter was actually going to marry Kate? She’s so not his type.”

  “Was anyone? There was a license issued to her with Peter’s name on it. I don’t think he ever intended to marry her. She did the paperwork.”

  “How did you think to look for it?”

  “I was thinking about you, the look on your face when I proposed and…well, things just multiplied in my mind.”

  Her look encouraged him to explain. “I want to marry you, soon, and I thought the first thing we need is a license.” She smiled softly. “So checking licenses issued in the last few months was a hunch. I figured if Winfield used one woman, he’d used more to get what he wanted. I had to understand why Winfield was killed, and it was for love. It had to be enough to orchestrate this murder. Framing you was paying back the one person she blamed for not getting what she wanted. The killer had to get close enough to you to have access to your house, the shop and herbs. Catherine Delan didn’t love Peter, plus she was out on bail, but didn’t leave New York. Her hair didn’t match the strands found in the apartment or the bedding. The only person who could get close enough to you was Kate. I had Hope check out the list of people Kate gave me who’d seen Kate at the club the night of Peter’s murder. She was missing at the time when you were in that hotel room. She had to have been on the back balcony listening and waiting until you left to leave the basket behind. I’d bet she came back to put the scarf on Winfield’s neck and make certain he was dead or near dead. Her hair was bleached, too. We’ll get a match, I’m sure. But when I asked Temple to put up a closed sign at your shop after the attack, I’d realized she lived only a couple streets from your house, and ran right home after attacking you. That’s when I started making the connections to her.”

  “She said she had someone buy the basket from me months before she came for a job. And that Chartres saw her put the basket in the storage closet and also saw her on the back balcony. He blackmailed her.”

  That’s why he looked so smug that day in the hotel, Nash realized. He’d been hiding a killer so he could recoup his loses. It got him killed. “Her hair and prints will probably show up in Chartres’s place. She knew we were close. She’d rigged her house with a bomb to destroy any evidence.”

  Lisa shivered, knowing how close she came to losing Nash.

  She hugged him, his strength and warmth seeping into her and erasing any remnant of the terror Kate had instilled in her. “Your mother, how is she?”

  “In the cottage as if nothing happened.”

  “She saved my life, Nash.” Lisa gripped his arms. “She knew we were in danger. She knew to drop those shears near enough for me to reach.”

  “Lisa, I don’t think that’s the case,” Logan said. “She was just doing what she wanted.”

  Lisa shook her head, her gaze pinning him. “You’re wrong, Logan. You all are,” she said, her gaze stopping on each member of the family. “Olivia isn’t lost. She knows. She just doesn’t want to let anyone else know.”

  “Not even us?” Logan said, resentment in his tone.

  Lisa’s shoulders lifted and fell. “Did you ever think that maybe, locked in that world of hers, she’s protecting all of you?”

  “Finally,” MaryGrace said, pushing herself off the living-room chair and moving to Lisa. She hugged her quickly and fiercely, then looked at the men. “Haven’t I been telling you boys that? Haven’t I?”

  “Yes, MaryGrace,” Temple, Nash and Logan said together.

  MaryGrace pushed a lock of hair off Lisa’s forehead, then kissed her there. “Thank you, honey, thank you.” When she leaned back, Lisa felt a tear roll down her cheek. She and MaryGrace had their own idea about reaching Olivia, even if the brothers were too stubborn to see it.

  “Lisa, come on upstairs and have a bath. Wash off that evil woman’s—”

  “Cooties?” Nash said.

  MaryGrace hid her smile, but Lisa laughed out loud. She could do that now. She wasn’t in danger. Kate was behind bars, and she was about to start her life with Nash. Ascending the stairs with MaryGrace, Lisa stopped at the landing to look down at Nash.

  He stood at the base watching her, one hand on the handcarved newel-post, his brothers flanking him as they looked up at her. The police, forensic team and EMTs moved about doing their jobs.

  “I love you, Lisa Bracket,” Nash said and his voice held the tender need she’d longed to hear for years.

  She smiled, her heart skipping a beat, then drumming hard. “And I love you, Nash Couviyon.”

  “You’re going to marry me.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “And we’re going to fill this house with babies and laughter.”

  Her expression brightened. “Won’t your brothers be jealous?”

  Nash didn’t look at his siblings. “We’ll just have to help them find what we have.”

  MaryGrace rushed back to the railing and shouted down, “If anyone’s doing the matchmaking around here, Nash Couviyon, it’s going to be me. I diapered your behinds. It’s my right.”

  Temple groaned, Logan smirked as if he’d never worn a diaper and Nash simply grinned and winked at the housekeeper.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  After a second the Couviyons burst with laughter.

  Nash looked around at his family, then at the woman he loved. Lisa brought more than happiness to Nash. She gave hope to his family. Hope that the doors of Indigo Run were opening again, just waiting for more love and laughter to sweep inside and save their souls.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-4097-1

  UNDER HIS PROTECTION

  Copyright © 2003 by Amy J. Fetzer

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