Saving Shadows

by Kathleen Brooks

  “It means your retrograde amnesia is gone. The only thing you can’t remember is the traumatic incident. It’s called traumatic amnesia. It’s your brain’s way of protecting you from scary memories or because the hit you took bruised the part of your brain housing those memories. However, I believe it’s more likely the case that your brain is trying to protect you.”

  “It was so scary my brain doesn’t want to relive it?” Ellery asked.

  “Basically. I believe you’ll remember it when you’re ready. When you have enough clues to trigger your brain into remembering or when your brain has healed enough.”

  Ellery thought about what Gavin said and tried to remember what happened after she began her drive to the gallery, but nothing came. It was a black pit. A pit she could see the other side of. She remembered Gavin’s lips on hers. She remembered finally feeling warm again. But between leaving her condo and Gavin giving her CPR she felt like the pit would drag her into a darkness she’d never come back from. Her mind simply refused to go near it.

  Ellery rested her head against Gavin as she looked through the pictures again. When she closed in on the last picture the phone rang. Ryan’s number from Keeneston popped up. “Your cousin,” she said, handing the phone to Gavin and not hiding the curiosity she had.

  “Ryan, what’s going on?” Gavin asked, putting the phone to his ear. “Yeah, hold on.”

  “Ryan wants to talk to us and Granger.” Gavin pulled the phone away from his ear, put it on speaker, and conferenced Granger into the call. “Okay, Ryan. We’re all yours.”

  “Sheriff Fox, this is FBI Agent Ryan Parker. I heard you’ve been assisting my cousin,” Ryan said by way of introduction.

  “Well, when you grow up in a small town,” Granger said by way of explanation.

  “You protect your own because they’re all your friends. Yeah, I know,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “You have three old ladies armed with kitchen tools?”

  “No, we have old ladies armed with the Bible and desserts.”

  “Close enough. We could be sister towns,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “Ellery, are you on too?”

  “Yes,” Ellery said, too nervous to say anything else.

  “Good. So, I called Peter Castle, a friend in the Charleston FBI office. He’s from Kansas, but we went through training together at Quantico. He’s moved around as he climbed the ranks. He’s second-in-command and arrived in Charleston eight months ago,” Ryan said as a way of saying this FBI agent wasn’t part of the hometown crowd. Hopefully that truly meant he was impartial.

  “He went to talk to his boss but was told it was a local matter, even though kidnapping and missing persons are FBI matters as well,” Ryan told them, and Ellery felt her heart drop. No one was going to believe she was innocent of murdering Mark.

  “The head of the FBI around here is Randy McCarthy,” Sheriff Fox said, jumping into the conversation. “He’s a born and raised Charlestonian.”

  Ellery felt her hands begin to shake. Even the FBI wouldn’t help her.

  “That makes sense. It’s definitely not protocol and not what Castle was expecting.” Ryan paused, and Ellery could practically hear him grinning. “Which is why he’s on his way to meet with you before going over McCarthy’s head to the Deputy Director.”

  Ellery assumed that was big since Granger let out a low whistle.

  “He has those kinds of connections?” Granger asked.

  Ryan chuckled. “No, we do. We may be a small town, but we’re very well connected.”

  “Wait, what does all of this mean?” Ellery asked, feeling as if she was missing something.

  “It means,” she heard Granger say, “that they’ve been outmaneuvered. Whoever is after you is powerful in this area. They know all the power players in Charleston and know them well enough to have an innocent person framed for murder. But, as much as some people there like to think, Charleston is not the center of the world. Your friends went higher—all the way to Washington.”

  “If the authorities in Charleston can’t be trusted, we’ll bring in new ones. That’s what Castle is doing. He’s going to get permission from Washington to take over not only the missing person case but also to quietly look into a corruption case. If you didn’t kill someone and they’re framing you, this could bring Charleston politics to its knees. The head of the local FBI office, police, and whoever else is trying to cover this up will go down,” Ryan explained.

  “How can one man do that?” Ellery asked.

  “Because he’s now not only one man,” Ryan explained. “I’m involved too, and I have many resources from my family and friends in Keeneston. Once I get a report from Castle that he has any evidence of corruption, I’ll come to visit my cousins and together we’ll take down the officials with our handpicked team of agents, and of course with the aid of the Shadows Landing Sheriff’s Department.”

  “You’d do all of that for me?”

  Ryan made a sound in the affirmative. “We’ve been estranged from the Faulkners through no fault of the families but because of our great-grandmother. We’ve reconnected, yes, but not once has Gavin, or any of my cousins, called asking for a favor. For him to do this means you’re important enough to be considered family, and family looks after its own.”

  Gavin wrapped his arm back around her and pulled her against his side before placing a silent kiss on the top of her head. She wasn’t alone. For the first time she felt hope.

  “What do I need to do?” Ellery asked with a newfound determination for revenge. Revenge on whoever killed Mark. Revenge on whoever tried to kill her. Revenge on whoever was still trying to destroy her career, her name, and her life. It was time to stop being scared. Red hot anger seeped into her being and chased the shadows away. She was going to make them pay for what they did.

  19

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Gavin asked once again. He looked at a very determined Ellery sitting in his kitchen. She had a massive knife clutched in her hand so tightly her knuckles were white.

  “I’m fine.”

  Clearly she was not fine. But having grown up with a sister, Gavin knew when a woman dropped the fine bomb he either needed to retreat or hunker down. Since said fine woman holding a large knife accompanied this fine bomb, retreat sounded like the best option.

  “I have patients until noon,” Gavin said, glancing at the clock. Nine. His first patient would be here already. “You know how to use the intercom and get into my rooms. Don’t hesitate to do so. Okay?”

  “Fine.”

  Damn, this was not good. A second fine. “I can stay,” Gavin said as he reached for the chair.

  “I said I’m fine,” Ellery said. While not quite a snap, her knuckles turned whiter as they squeezed the knife, and retreat was the best course of action. He darted in and kissed her forehead before practically leaping back. “Hey. Yesterday was the best day . . . and night”—he winked—“of my life. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  He made his retreat and saw her hand relax around the knife and the semblance of a smile on her face. The idea of her being worried had his protective instinct flaring to life and burning bright as he walked into his first exam room.

  Sadie was busy counting supplies while his patient sat with a thermometer under her tongue and a blood pressure cuff filling up. “Doc, I can’t find one scalpel,” Sadie whispered. He glanced back as if he could look through the wall to Ellery.

  “Don’t worry about it. I know where it is.” Gavin paused as Sadie wrote down the vitals. “Can you check my medical bag and make sure I have everything? Also, add in a handful of needles, a vial of insulin, and a vial of Haldol.” Gavin had all the drugs running through his mind as he thought about what he might need. “And the Ketamine.”

  Sadie looked curiously at him. “What are you doing? Treating acute psychosis in a diabetic alligator?”

  “Ketamine is helpful if I need to do emergency surgery.” But then he turned to his patient, ending the conversation. “Now, let’s look a
t this rash.”

  Sadie quietly left the room. While Gavin tended his patients, his mind was on ways to protect Ellery if it came to that. He might not be law enforcement, but he knew more ways to kill someone than the average person. Of course, he’d worked his whole life trying to prevent death, but if he had to kill, he would. Haldol, while used to treat psychosis, was also helpful in knocking someone out, although, it would take seven or so minutes to work. Ketamine would knock them out sooner, but Haldol lasted longer. There were pros and cons to both, but both would work if he needed someone out of the way, but not dead. Dead was where the insulin came in, or a simple injection of an air bubble into a vein or artery. There were plenty of ways to kill someone. Gavin just hoped he didn’t need to use his education to do it.

  Ellery had calmed down when the front door opened. This time she wasn’t afraid. She silently set down her cup of coffee and wrapped her fingers tightly around the knife she had taken from the butcher block.

  Without any shoes on, she padded silently toward the sound of the footsteps as they headed her way. Ellery pressed herself against the wall to the right of the entrance to the kitchen and waited. The footfalls echoed in the quiet house as they grew louder. Then she saw the shadow—a big one. A head appeared and then large shoulders as her shaking hands raised the knife to prepare to strike.

  “Gav, you here?”

  Ellery froze. Relief flooded her and she felt like crying as Ryker strode in. Then she lost her breath for an entirely different reason. Ryker must have seen the knife and in one swift move he had her pinned against the wall with his hand around her throat and the knife suddenly in his other hand.

  “What the hell is this?” Ellery shivered as Ryker slowly lifted her so she was standing on the tiptoe of her big toe. Gone was the smirking man who’d winked at her before, and in his place was someone much more deadly.

  “Thought you were them,” Ellery managed to whisper.

  “Gavin?” Ryker asked, not removing his eyes from hers.

  “Office. Patients.”

  Suddenly she was free. She expected to drop to the ground, but Ryker’s hands where surprisingly gentle as he supported her. He was standing close and smelled of man. It was the only way she could describe it. Ryker towered over her, and even though he’d had her pinned against the wall moments ago, Ellery felt safe that he was there. His body was a solid muscle barrier between her and the world as his hands slid slowly down her arms to hold her hands. “Did I hurt you?”

  Ellery swallowed, expecting to find her throat sore, but it wasn’t. “No,” she said, sounding surprised.

  “It was the knife. I didn’t know you were on the other end of it. It’s not the first time I’ve had one pointed at me, and I didn’t appreciate it then. Although, you’re considerably more attractive than the last guy who tried to stab me.”

  “Someone tried to stab you?”

  Ryker shrugged. “It happens in my line of work.”

  “That’s why I’m in art.”

  Ryker raised one eyebrow, and Ellery broke out laughing. “I guess art isn’t as safe as I thought.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever laughed when someone has tried to kill me.”

  “I either laugh or cry,” Ellery told him.

  His face suddenly looked horrified. “Don’t you dare cry.”

  Ellery finally stepped away from Ryker as the front door opened again. “Calm down. It’s Wade,” Ryker said, his voice soothing. “Besides, no one would be able to get through me to get to you.”

  “While that’s incredibly sweet, you do know I love your cousin, right?”

  Ryker grinned, and his whole face softened, causing her to go breathless. “Thought you did.”

  “Do you only flirt with taken women?” Wade asked as he walked into the kitchen.

  Ryker shrugged. “It’s all I have time for.”

  “You owe me,” Wade said as seriously as he could, but he was smiling so Ellery knew it mustn’t be too bad.

  “For what?” Ellery asked as she was finally getting to know the personalities of Gavin’s cousins. Ryker was the protector—the tough guy. But even tough guys fell in love. And Wade, with his clean-cut Coast Guard looks, came off as an easy going, party guy. But she suspected he was all business when he was on the job. She was also beginning to think his happy-go-lucky attitude was how he coped with his stressful job.

  “Mr. High and Mighty got knocked down to earth by the garden committee meeting at the restaurant last night and called in reinforcements.”

  Ellery fought not to smile as Ryker frowned. “Were you cowed by society matrons?”

  “I need to hire them,” Ryker said seriously as he moved in his expensive suit to pour a cup of coffee. “But, I became successful by finding people’s weaknesses and exploiting them.”

  “And Wade was their weakness?” Ellery asked with disbelief as she looked back and forth between the two men.

  “Show her,” was all Ryker said as Wade’s smile grew.

  Wade pulled out his phone and pulled up a photo. Ellery looked down and almost gasped out loud at a society matron’s various social media sites. Wade was wearing his dress blues. His short dark hair, his deep green eyes, the way the uniform hugged his wide shoulders, and then tapered with this narrow waist . . . and don’t get her started on what the pants did. No wonder one of the grandest dames of Charleston society, who had to be eighty if she were a day, was wrapped around Wade like a second skin, grinning into the camera.

  “Is your hand on her ass?” Ellery asked.

  Wade’s smile widened. “Ryker called in the big guns for a reason.”

  “What did you find out?” Ellery inquired without giving a reaction to the comment.

  “What didn’t he find out?” Ryker snorted as he sat at the kitchen table as if it were the head of a conference desk. He commanded power in every move he made. “It was embarrassing. Your friend, Tibbie Cummings, was there. She giggled like a schoolgirl when Wade winked at her. All he had to do was mention seeing her on the news and hoped that pretty woman in the picture showed up soon and those women couldn’t talk fast enough.”

  Ellery reached out and patted his shoulder. “Are you okay? Do you need me to flirt with you to make you feel better?”

  “I’ll feel a lot better about myself if you flash me,” Ryker said dryly as Ellery faked smacking him against the shoulder before turning back to Wade.

  “Tell me everything,” she said, feeling excited. They’d learned something. She knew it. “How is Tibbie? Please tell me she isn’t behind this.”

  Both Wade and Ryker shook their heads. “No way,” Wade said. “She loves you like a granddaughter and is distraught about you missing. However, not everyone is.”

  Ryker nodded and picked the story up. “They forgot all about me when Wade started buying them shots. He took off an article of clothing with each shot the group took.”

  “What?” Ellery practically screamed with her eyes wide. “You stripped?”

  “No. I’m way more subtle than that. First was the hat, second was the jacket, third was the tie, then rolling up the sleeves, then undoing the top couple of buttons. No real skin, but it got them talking. That and the shots of whiskey.”

  “It got them shitfaced,” Ryker clarified.

  “Exactly,” Wade said, grinning again.

  “Anyway, it worked. Hollis’s mother, Sylvia Coldwell, thought you were angling to become the next Mrs. Coldwell,” Wade said, pouring his own cup of coffee.

  “Me? No way. I’ve never had an interest in Hollis, and he’s never expressed any interest in me. Now, as to why Blair got the assistant job—” Ellery rolled her eyes. Hollis was old enough to be her father. “I don’t know anything for sure, but she’s incredibly flirty with everyone.”

  “That’s good to know,” Ryker said dryly.

  Ellery rolled her eyes at him again. “Atherton already found that out. I remembered more this morning. I looked at the pictures again,” she said, pausing to hav
e Ryker pull up the social media pictures on his phone as she quickly filled them in on her memories before scrolling until she found the picture with Atherton’s hand on Blair’s ass. “And this was only a couple minutes after he begged me to get back together with him.”

  “Never liked him. Uses the wrong head to think with. It’s why he’s failed at everything he’s tried to do and why he now works for his daddy on a really short leash,” Ryker said, handing the phone to Wade.

  Wade nodded. “I learned all about you and Atherton from his mother, Louisa Hawthorne, and grandmother, Beatrice Hawthorne.”

  “Do I want to know? I’m beginning to think only Tibbie likes me,” Ellery said with a sigh as she plopped into an empty kitchen chair.

  “They have mixed feelings. Tibbie is friends with Beatrice, who likes you because of all the great things Tibbie says about you. That and I don’t think she likes her daughter-in-law very much. But Louisa despises you. Although, to be fair, I think she’ll despise any woman who is with her son. That is not a healthy relationship. She still sees him as this little boy to be pampered. To her, you are not good enough for him. But then again, no one is.”

  “Yes, she was always very cold to me,” Ellery told them.

  “And we found out why Atherton wants you back,” Wade told her.

  “Money.” Ryker said it so harshly Ellery flinched.

  “Money? I’m comfortable, but I don’t have a lot of money like some of these old families. Oh. I get it. I have the Charleston pedigree, but not the fortune.”

  “Actually, it’s Atherton who doesn’t have money,” Ryker said almost gleefully.

  “His family is incredibly wealthy,” Ellery corrected.

  “And that’s just it,” Wade told her. “His father is incredibly wealthy. Atherton has been cut off. He only gets what he earns from working at the family business. And as Beatrice told me, that’s minimum wage right now.”

  Ellery shook his head. “Bitsy has way more money that I do. Why does he want to get back with me?”