Out for Justice

by Susan Kearney

  “How do I know he’s still alive?” she asked, making her tone careless and hard, hoping to counter her trembling from scalp to toes. Despite her fear, she had to stay calm. Stalling for time, she wondered what she should do and how she could best help Wade.

  “You just heard Wade talking to you, didn’t you?” the man growled with a biting sarcasm that told her to be very careful what she said and how she said it. As much as she wanted to sob, she suspected this man would only respect strength.

  “I also heard you hitting him,” she countered as she slipped on a shirt and a pair of jeans.

  “Well, Wade wanted to play hero. He didn’t want to sweet-talk you into coming to rescue him. And I don’t have time to change his mind.”

  She suddenly recognized the voice. Niles! She was almost positive. And her recognition triggered other thoughts. What was Niles doing with Wade and why was he beating him?

  Desperately trying not to think of Wade lying somewhere unconscious and injured and vulnerable, her thoughts raced to the conclusion that Niles must have been not just backing the mayor’s reelection campaign but working with Daniels. Niles wouldn’t want public scrutiny of his business dealings with the mayor, and with his empire on the verge of collapse, he, too, might be willing to commit murder to protect his secrets. The paint on that dented car probably matched Johnny Dixon’s. And if Niles would attempt to kill Dixon, there was no reason he would spare Wade.

  In the background Wade yelled, “Don’t listen to him.”

  She heard another nauseating smack, then gagging, and Niles returned to the phone, breathing heavily. “We haven’t the time for ridiculous heroics. You get your pretty little ass over to your boyfriend’s house, right now.”

  So he could kill both of them? As much as she feared for Wade’s safety she had to make the right decision. Getting herself killed by foolishly running to his side wouldn’t help either of them.

  She should wake her folks. Call the sheriff. She made her voice sound much younger and girlish. “I’m scared, and besides I don’t have a car. Mine was wrecked.”

  “Don’t play games with me, woman. Look out your window.”

  “What?”

  “Just do it.”

  She peeked through the miniblinds and spied a man smoking a cigarette in the front seat of a dark van parked across the neighborhood street. In the first light of dawn she could see him stare directly at her as he tipped his cap.

  Niles, not the mayor, was having her watched, and a shiver crawled down her spine. Clearly the two of them had been working together, since both of them had used the man in the van to spy on her. And since she could tie the mayor to attempted murder, even if Niles had been innocent, just his business dealing with a killer could put the nail in the coffin of his crumbling empire. He couldn’t afford to let her live.

  “My boy will report back to me if you don’t follow my instructions exactly.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Take your daddy’s car and meet us at Wade’s house. If you try to call anyone or make an extra stop along the way, I’ll know, and your boyfriend will be history. You’ve got ten minutes.”

  “Make it twenty. I’m not dressed,” she lied, but a plan was beginning to form in her mind, a plan that would take a few precious minutes to implement.

  Niles chuckled. “Fifteen and not a minute more, or I shoot your friend. Got it?”

  “I’m scared.” Kelly unzipped her jeans and slipped them off. She went to her closet and thumbed through her choices, looking for one particular denim jumper with huge wide-angled pockets. “Can’t we work this out like adults? My daddy’s a wealthy man, he’d be willing to pay—”

  Niles hung up the phone. Apparently, he wasn’t interested in a deal—which could only mean one thing. He intended to kill both Wade and her, no matter what.

  Kelly didn’t dare use her phone, and tossed it on the bed to free her hand up to dress quickly. Niles might have planted some kind of listening device in her room, or on her clothing, or in her purse. She couldn’t risk his man overhearing her—but that didn’t prevent her from scribbling a fast and furious note to her folks. She slipped the jumper that she normally wore belted at the waist over her head and glanced at herself in the mirror. Not the effect she needed.

  Perhaps a blouse under the jumper would portray the helpless little-girl effect she was going for. Much better. At least she needn’t bother with makeup to pull off her deception. Then she parted her hair down the middle, braided each side and tied the braids off with pink ribbons. She slipped white socks on her feet, folded them down to the ankles and tied on an old pair of sneakers. On the way out the door she grabbed her gun and made sure it was loaded.

  Not the place to hurry.

  She made herself turn back and check her image again in the mirror. Without the belt, the jumper hung loosely and eclipsed her curves. The huge pocket, which now held her loaded gun that she’d grabbed from the floor of the Jag before the tow truck had hauled it off didn’t give her much security.

  Last but not least, she slipped a note under her parents’ door on her way down the hall and banged on their door. She checked her watch, her heart beating so fast that she felt as if she’d just run a mile.

  Breathe.

  She needed to remain sharp, not tire herself out by tensing every muscle. In retrospect she should have told Niles that she wouldn’t come into the house until he proved to her that Wade was still alive. And that mistake might cost her.

  She had no time to second-guess herself. No time for regrets. But her biggest fear was that Niles might not keep Wade alive until she got there.

  When she pulled her dad’s Mercedes out of the driveway and headed out of the subdivision, the van followed her all the way out of town. She did nothing to attract attention to herself, driving the speed limit on the mostly deserted streets. She didn’t want to risk doing anything that would cause the van’s driver to report to Niles that she wasn’t exactly following his instructions.

  She parked the car in the driveway. Now what?

  Slowly she exited the car, unobtrusively checking the pocket, then deciding to put her hand into the pocket so she could clutch the gun’s handle.

  “Come right in through the front door.” The door opened, but she couldn’t see Niles, just his arm.

  She hesitated. “I’m not coming inside until I hear Wade’s voice.”

  “Get out of here,” Wade shouted, clearly furious that she hadn’t listened to him earlier and that she had no intention of listening to him now.

  “Satisfied?” Niles asked through the propped-open door.

  She wished she could see past the front door so she had some idea of Wade’s condition and what kind of situation she was about to walk into. She recalled a Shotgun Sally pillow that her mother had embroidered that said, “Sometimes one must trust oneself.”

  This was one of those times. She took a deep breath, hoping the added oxygen would not just give her courage but make her wise. Slowly, her heart tiptoeing up her throat, she walked into a certain trap.

  WADE CURSED THE BONDS that tied him to the chair, cursed at fate that had let Niles surprise him, cursed at Kelly for stubbornly putting herself in danger. Though his right eye was swollen shut, he could still see out of the left, and Kelly walking through that door almost gave him a heart attack.

  How could she be stupid enough to put herself in danger? Was she so naive that she believed Niles wouldn’t kill them both? Was she so trusting that she thought she could talk Niles out of his plan?

  The bonds that kept his hands firmly tied behind his back and to a chair only served to increase the rage and fear for Kelly that swept through him. She didn’t belong in his house, putting herself in danger. And she most certainly didn’t belong…in those clothes.

  And what the hell had she done to her hair? He tried to blink the blood from his good eye. She’d braided her hair and had dressed herself like a little girl.

  Damn. Damn. Damn.

&n
bsp; She had dressed herself to pander to Niles’s twisted tastes of young flesh, and at the moment of realization, the hot rage inside him froze icy cold. He licked at the cut of his swollen lip, trying to put moisture back into his mouth.

  Kelly walked into his living room with the mincing steps of a child, yet just for a moment he caught her vivid blue eyes that glinted with the ferocity of a tigress protecting her mate. Obviously, she had a plan. And no way was Wade going to talk her out of it now, especially after she’d seen the gun Niles had pointed at his head.

  The fact that the gun was pointed at Wade and not her didn’t make him feel one whit better. Niles would kill him, then Kelly, and the only good thing was that Wade wouldn’t have to watch her die. He would never see the life flow out of her or see her drop lifeless to the floor.

  What was her plan? Even if she had somehow managed to bring help, she shouldn’t have placed herself in danger.

  But she was here, and he’d do his best to help, although what that would be, with his hands and feet tied, he had no idea. All of these thoughts had raced with warp speed, and Kelly had yet to come fully inside the living area.

  “Shut the door behind you,” Niles ordered.

  “Okay.” She did as he asked, and then Niles flipped on the light.

  When Kelly turned back and saw Wade’s battered face, she gasped. Her face whitened, and a muscle ticked at her throat. “I thought we could come to some kind of agreement.”

  “Don’t do this,” Wade pleaded, earning himself a slap across the face that opened the cut above his good eye.

  “What kind of agreement do you plan to make after taking paint samples of my car?” Niles asked her, the gun still pointed at Wade’s head.

  “Whatever kind you’d like,” Kelly responded in a frightened-little-girl voice that should have made Niles suspicious.

  What was she doing? Surely she didn’t think that Niles would accept her instead of Debbie?

  Niles chuckled. “I can get what you’re offering anywhere.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I thought what you wanted was to shut me up. Forever. Well, even if you kill both of us, that’s not possible. However, if you let us live, perhaps we could make a deal.”

  Wade shook his head, as much out of frustration as to clear the blood from his eye. “You can’t bargain with a man who won’t keep his word.”

  Niles kicked his leg.

  “Stop that.” Kelly walked toward Niles, but she’d changed her angle slightly, making it impossible for the oil man to keep the gun directly on Wade and watch her at the same time.

  Wade fought to keep the blood from blocking his vision, and his gaze dropped to Kelly’s hand, which had slipped inside the roomy denim pocket of her dress. Did that pocket bulge more than it should have from just her hand?

  Wade didn’t know. Fear for her made him lunge against the chair, tipping it over, slamming him onto the floor. He almost blacked out, fought against the stars exploding in his head.

  A shot ricocheted nearby, landed on the floor, shooting splinters into his neck. That shot was followed by two more.

  Wade tensed, expecting pain, but none came.

  He heard a body thud to the floor.

  “Kelly?”

  “I’m right here.” Her hands tugged on the ropes to untie his hands, and she was sobbing. “I shot the son of a bitch right between the eyes.”

  Suddenly he was free and gathering her into his arms. “Are you all right?”

  “I had to come.” Her chest heaved and tears rained down her cheeks. He cuddled her against his chest, turning her away from Niles’ very dead body. “I had no choice. I couldn’t let him kill you.”

  He rocked her as she cried. “You almost scared me to death coming here when I told you not to.”

  “I’m not very good at…taking orders. You’ll have to let me make it up to you.”

  She wanted to make it up to him? She’d risked her life to save him and she wanted his forgiveness? He would never understand her. Never.

  But so what? He didn’t have to understand her. He only had to love her.

  He loved her.

  Of course he loved her. How could he not have the courage to admit that to himself after the bravery she’d exhibited today.

  He loved her.

  But the way he saw it, that meant it was going to be harder to let her go. Kelly McGovern had big things to do with her life and important places to go. He would not be the one responsible for holding her back, for saddling her with a brood of kids that would prevent her from attaining her goals.

  He loved her.

  And that meant that no matter how much pain it caused him, he had to set her free.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Wade hasn’t even called me in a week,” Kelly complained to Cara and Lindsey over lunch at Dot’s sandwich shop.

  Cara held up a sour dill pickle and pointed it at Kelly. “Phones work both ways, you know.”

  Kelly sighed. “I always get his machine.”

  “Why don’t you go over to the Hit ’Em Again Saloon?” Lindsey suggested. “The bar might be his turf, but he won’t want to run out the door to avoid you in front of his employees.”

  “I’ve considered that plan.” Kelly bit into her BLT on toasted rye, chewed and swallowed. “The Hit ’Em Again is not the place to have a private conversation.”

  “You know what your problem is?” Cara said.

  Kelly dabbed a smudge of mayonnaise from her lip. “That I’ve fallen in love with a man so stubborn he won’t admit that he’s wrong?”

  Cara shook her head.

  Kelly tried again. “That I’m not willing to let go of the best thing that’s ever happened to me?”

  Cara rolled her eyes at the ceiling, and Lindsey laughed, then tried to smother her reaction with a cough. She ended up almost choking, and Kelly had to pound her on the back. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Cara stole the pickle off of Kelly’s plate. “Your problem is that you are just as stubborn as he is.”

  Kelly frowned at the pickle. “Hey, I was going to eat that.”

  Cara grinned and crunched happily. “Too late.”

  “And I’m not stubborn.”

  Lindsey chuckled again. “Yes, you are. You won’t give up and he won’t give in. You’re a perfect match.”

  “Wade doesn’t see it that way.” Kelly shoved the second half of her sandwich at Cara. “Here, you might as well have this, too. I’ve lost my appetite.”

  “Thanks.” Cara tugged Kelly’s plate closer. “Your problem is that you want Wade to talk to you.”

  “Well, duh.”

  “You’re thinking like a woman,” Cara added between bites of the BLT.

  “I am a woman.”

  “What’s your point?” Lindsey asked with a frown.

  “Tell us, what’s your ultimate goal?” Cara prodded.

  Kelly had had more than enough time to think about her answer in the past few days. “A life with Wade. Marriage.”

  “Now you’re talking,” Cara said.

  “Excuse me? Have you forgotten the man won’t even speak to me?”

  “Talk isn’t what’s important here.”

  “It’s not?” Bewildered, Kelly looked at her friend, wondering if she’d put in too many hours of overtime lately, because Cara certainly wasn’t making sense. Cara had interviewed Johnny Dixon in his hospital bed and written a page-two story in the Mustang Gazette about how Niles Deagen had run him off the road because he’d overheard an incriminating conversation between Niles and the former mayor. Page one had been about the mayor’s and Niles’s deaths.

  “You need to take action,” Cara insisted.

  “And what, pray tell, would you have me do?”

  “I don’t know.” Cara polished off the last of Kelly’s sandwich and washed it down with a glass of sweet tea. “Trying to talk to the man isn’t getting you anywhere, so you need to change tactics. Act. Do something.”

  “Sneak int
o his bed and seduce him?” Lindsey suggested.

  “She already did that. She needs to do something more drastic,” Cara prodded.

  Kelly had the feeling that Cara was leading her down a twisting, narrow road with a steep cliff that she could easily fall off. Cara had a plan. She clearly just wanted Kelly to think that it was her own idea.

  “Think of a Shotgun Sally legend,” Cara hinted.

  “Which one? There are so many of them, we have no idea which ones are fiction.”

  “Who cares about the truth? Pick one that will work for you.”

  “Well, you know that I’m partial to one particular legend about my illustrious ancestor, but do you want me to point a rifle at Wade and force him to say his wedding vows?”

  Cara signaled her with a thumbs-up. “Now, there’s a bold idea worthy of page one.”

  Cara was still smarting that she hadn’t been assigned to write about the mayor’s death. But that didn’t mean she had to help create the news before she reported it. And urging Kelly to kidnap Wade at gunpoint and force him in front of a justice of the peace might have worked two centuries ago, but not in this day and age.

  “Uh-hem.” Lindsey went into attorney mode. “May I remind you ladies that holding a gun on a man except in self-defense is not legal?”

  “At least I have one sane friend,” Kelly muttered, because Cara’s suggestion had kicked her pulse up a notch. Her thoughts raced at the appealing and oh-so-outrageous idea. “Suppose I don’t point the gun at him? Just carry it.”

  “That would be an implied threat,” Lindsey stated, “and the law starts getting sticky there.”

  “The gun needn’t be loaded, either,” Cara pointed out with a twinkle in her eyes.

  Kelly glanced from Cara to Lindsey and shook her head. “I don’t know. This is insane.”

  “Do you think Wade is going to let you threaten him into marriage if it’s really against his will?” Lindsey asked pointedly.

  No, he would not.