Butterscotch Dream Killer

by Summer Prescott

  “Oh, sure, yeah. I understand,” Missy backed away, preparing to leave. “Hey, y’all don’t have any kids, do you? I have some hand-me-downs that I don’t know what to do with, and…”

  “No, we don’t have any kids. Have a good day, Betsy, and thanks again for the cookies,” he forced a smile and closed the door.

  Missy had scoped out the property online and knew that if she had to, she could enter his back gate off of an alley, in order to go peek in his back windows. He’d seemed as though he was telling the truth, even though he hadn’t seemed particularly friendly. If she needed to, she could always check into the boyfriend, but at the moment, she switched her focus to his sister Julie, who already had a couple of kids of her own. It was getting dark, so she headed back to her hotel to regroup and plan, hoping that her meeting with Julie tomorrow would be more productive.

  **

  Missy both wanted and didn’t want Kaylee to be at her Aunt Julie’s house. She wanted her to be there because she wanted to find her and take her home, but when she pulled up and saw a dead lawn with broken toys strewn on it, and a broken-down car in the driveway, she realized that it wasn’t an environment that she’d be comfortable having Kaylee staying in, even for a couple of days.

  Grabbing her platter of cookies, she made sure that she locked the rental car before heading to Julie’s front door.

  A frazzled-looking young woman with ripped jeans, an old t-shirt and an untidy bun yanked open the door when Missy rang the bell, and glared at her.

  “Yeah?” she snapped.

  Missy could hear children yelling in the background, as well as a very loud television, but none of the high-pitched voices sounded like Kaylee.

  “Uh, hi. I’m Betsy. I heard that you had a death in the family, so I brought over some cookies. I’m so sorry for your loss,” Missy held out the platter of cookies and Julie looked at it like it was a snake.

  “I don’t know you,” she frowned, folding her arms.

  “I’m just a neighbor. I live over there,” Missy waved vaguely as Julie glared at her.

  “Who are you? I know who my neighbors are and I don’t know you. And just how is it that you know that a sister I haven’t spoken to in years died? That’s a little freaky to me and I don’t appreciate being freaked out,” she stepped outside and Missy backed up.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

  “Maybe I oughta call the cops. You don’t belong here and I don’t like it that you’re messing in my business.”

  “I’m sorry, I’ll just go. I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Missy was panicking inside.

  “I don’t know what you’re up to lady, but you’d better just move along and leave me and my brother alone.”

  Missy stared at her, surprised.

  “You think we don’t talk? He called me last night after you left his place. I may not agree with his lifestyle, and he don’t agree with mine, but we’re still family, and you’re messing with us,” she leaned into Missy’s face.

  “I honestly just wanted to…” Missy began.

  “I. Don’t. Care. What you wanted to do,” Julie yelled in her face, snatching the cookies out of her hands. “Now get outta here and don’t come back,” she hollered.

  Missy’s temper flared, but she knew that if she didn’t want to end up in an Arizona police station, she should probably just get moving, so she did. Sitting at the built-in desk in her hotel room, she sighed, waiting for her pizza to be delivered. She’d gotten nowhere since she’d been here, but tomorrow, she’d try to track down Andrew Philmont, Kevin’s boyfriend. She’d go during the day, to make sure that he wouldn’t be home. She’d peek in his windows and see if she saw any signs of a child being kept there. If not, she might just have to track down Billy Lyndhurst’s third sibling in Australia. She hoped it didn’t come to that. A knock sounded on the door, and she jumped up, surprised.

  “Wow, that’s the fastest pizza delivery I’ve ever seen,” she muttered, going to the door. She got quite the surprise when she opened it.

  “Spencer?” Missy’s mouth fell open in shock.

  “They’ve found Kaylee. Her kidnapper got caught at a police checkpoint. She’s fine,” he informed her.

  Missy threw her arms around him and hugged him hard. “Oh that’s wonderful news!” she gushed, then stepped back, a sheepish look on her face. “How…how did you find me?”

  “Your husband is a Private Investigator…is that really a mystery?” he asked.

  “Oh, poor Chas,” she murmured, color rising in her cheeks. “Is he angry?”

  Spencer stared at her for a moment. “He’s worried about you and looking forward to speaking with you when you return.”

  “He sent you to bring me back?”

  “I volunteered.”

  “He’s pretty upset, isn’t he?”

  “That’s not for me to say,” Spencer said gently, his piercing eyes seeing into her soul and making her feel small.

  “Pizza for room 203,” a teenager called out behind Spencer.

  “Right this way,” Missy opened the door to let Spencer and the pizza guy in, her heart sinking.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Missy’s palms were damp when she came in the front door of the home that she and Chas had lovingly had restored. Spencer dropped her luggage off in the foyer and disappeared, and Missy headed straight for Chas’s study, knowing that’s where he’d most likely be, particularly if he was upset. Sure enough, when she approached the door, he stood at the window, looking at the darkness beyond it, a crystal glass of fine scotch in his hand.

  “Hey,” she said softly, leaning against the doorframe.

  “Good flight?” he asked, without turning around.

  “No.”

  “No?” he turned and raised an eyebrow, his face like stone.

  “Chas…I’m so sorry,” Missy began.

  “You didn’t have to lie to me. You never, ever have to lie to me. I thought that you knew that. All this time I’ve been wondering what I could be doing differently, how I could comfort you…thinking you’d gone to the Poconos because you couldn’t bear to be here for some reason. I thought you might have left me,” he stared down into his drink, swirling the amber liquid.

  “Oh, goodness no. Honey, I would never…” Missy went to him, and he turned back toward the window, muscles in his jaw flexing, his throat working.

  “I don’t understand why…” his voice choked off for a moment and he swallowed hard, recovering. “Why would you lie to me? Why would you ever feel like you couldn’t talk to me? I’ve never been anything but honest with you,” he stared into the darkness.

  The tears started to flow. Missy put a hand over her mouth as sobs ripped from her chest.

  “I’m so sorry, Chas. I never wanted to lie to you. I wasn’t thinking, I was just…feeling. For the first time in my life, I felt like a mom…and when I thought that someone had taken my baby, our baby, away…all I could think about was going to get her.”

  “You never even mentioned it to me. Never gave me a chance to talk about what to do for our daughter,” he paused and turned slowly toward his wife. “I never thought I’d have kids. I never thought I’d meet a woman whom I’d trust enough to have a family with…but I did. I met you, and I trust you with my very life. My heart is in your hands, Missy. It has been since I met you…and I never expected…” his throat worked, cutting off his words, and he quickly gulped down the rest of his drink, wincing at the burn. He raised his head, his icy blue eyes boring into those of his beloved wife. “I never expected that you would betray me. That something…or someone, would become more important to you than what we have together.”

  “Chas,” Missy clutched at the front of her husband’s shirt, drinking in the familiar scent of him, her heart breaking. “I’m so sorry. What can I do? How can I make this right? I love you. I love you more than anything, please forgive me,” she pleaded, her sobs nearly choking her.

  Without moving to return her frantic embrac
e, Chas looked down at her tear-streaked face.

  “Kel is in the hospital. He’s in bad shape and Echo is worried. You should probably go to her,” he said quietly.

  Missy’s hands dropped from her husband’s chest, leaving wrinkled patches in the starched white fabric of his shirt.

  “Oh gosh,” Missy’s hands went to her throat.

  Chas wasn’t speaking to her and Kel might not make it. Life as she knew it had turned upside down, sending her reeling.

  “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered, shaking her head back and forth in horror.

  Chas had turned back to the window again, after setting his glass on the desk blotter.

  “Go see Echo. She needs you,” he dismissed her, too hurt to even look at her.

  “But, what about…?” she began.

  “Just go.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  * * *

  When Missy saw Echo sitting in the hallway outside Kel’s suite at the hospital, her friend looked as though she had lost several pounds and aged quite a few years.

  “Oh honey,” Missy said, going to her with arms outstretched.

  Echo sprang from her seat and hugged her best friend as though her life depended upon it, both of them bursting into tears. They clung together for a moment, each drawing strength from the other, then parted, wiping at their tears.

  “How is he?” Missy asked, her tone hushed.

  “They’re in there checking on him now. He has frostbite on his hands, feet, face and ears, and his right arm is broken in two places. He’s severely dehydrated, and has been in and out of consciousness since Spencer found him.”

  “I should have been here, I’m so sorry,” Missy held Echo’s hand. “Where’s Jazzy?”

  “Beulah has her. That woman is a saint.”

  Missy nodded. “Yes, she is.”

  “Chas caught Belle Fitzhugh’s killer, you know.”

  “Really?” Missy’s eyes went wide. The knowledge that her husband had been out catching bad guys while she went off on a wild goose chase did nothing to ease her conscience. “Who was it?”

  “It was…” Echo began, only to be cut off mid-sentence when alarms began going off in Kel’s room.

  Her face went white and she sprinted toward the door, only to be met by a nurse.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Kellerman, you can’t go in there. They need room to work on the patient,” the nurse said kindly but firmly.

  “Work on him? What do you mean work on him?” Echo demanded. “What’s happening?”

  “Your husband is in cardiac arrest. We’re doing everything we can,” was the gentle reply.

  Echo gasped and staggered backward, reaching for the comfort of Missy’s embrace.

  “No, no, no, no…” she keened, sobbing uncontrollably. “Not my Kel. I haven’t had enough time with him. We just had Jazzy, she needs her daddy,” she cried, as Missy held her close and stroked her hair.

  **

  Chas was sitting up in bed, reading, when Missy got home from the hospital.

  “I’m sure that you heard,” she murmured, finding it difficult to meet his eyes.

  “I did. How is he now?”

  “Stable. They moved him up to ICU, so Echo was forced to go home and get some rest, if that’s possible.”

  “Yeah, it’s hard to sleep when you fear for the life of your loved one,” he looked at her pointedly.

  “I’m so sorry, Chas. I never meant to hurt you,” she murmured, sitting on her side of the bed.

  “I know.”

  “I’d give anything to go back in time and change it.”

  Chas’s eyes were a bit warmer as he gazed at his wife.

  “What would you change?”

  “I’d talk to you, and let you talk some sense into me,” she gave him a rueful smile.

  “I’m surprised that you didn’t.”

  “Me too.”

  “I think that it’s of utmost importance that we have the strongest possible relationship before becoming parents,” Chas said carefully.

  “We do have a strong relationship,” Missy protested.

  “We do,” he nodded. “But the fact that you discounted me and my feelings really bothers me.”

  “I can understand that.”

  Missy stared at him, waiting for a response.

  “Wait, Chas…what are you saying? Are you saying that you don’t want to adopt Kaylee?” Missy’s heart began to thump in her chest.

  “No, of course not. Believe it or not, I love that little girl as much as you do. I just…”

  “You just what?” Missy whispered.

  “I just don’t know if we’re ready,” he shrugged.

  “I’m ready.”

  “Are you?” he challenged gently.

  “Yeah, I am.”

  “We’ll talk more tomorrow,” he sighed, reaching over and switching off his bedside lamp.

  “I love you,” Missy said, tears choking her voice.

  “I love you too,” was the muffled reply.

  Copyright 2017 Summer Prescott

  All Rights Reserved