Deadly Influence

by Lakes, Lynde

  “I doubt that anyone even thinks about it,” he said. “Grandma put it up for sale after Grandpa died. Everyone probably thought she sold it. That’s what I believed until she told me she still owned it.”

  Jay lifted a bottle of red wine out of one of the paper bags and opened it. He got two glasses out of the cupboard, poured a little wine in each, and handed one to Lisa.

  “Grandma recently listed the property again,” Jay said, “but she hasn’t had any offers. She suspects that the real estate company isn’t pushing it very hard.”

  “If everyone thinks this place was sold, it’s the perfect hideaway,” she said, pacing a few steps and munching on another onion ring. “We could bring Meta up here.” Lisa spun around. “I can see now you’re way ahead of me on the decoy plan.”

  “You’ve got it all wrong.” He drained his glass and refilled it. “I brought you here to talk you out of it.”

  “You can’t.”

  “We’ll see,” he said, looking smug.

  “So we eat, talk, and then what?” she asked in her most reasonable tone.

  “We come up with an idea that doesn’t involve putting you in danger.”

  Lisa studied his expression. How could she resent the concern she saw there? The answer was clear. “Then you don’t think I’m up to my job?”

  “You, of all people, should know when to bow out and let the police take over.”

  “And when do you bow out, Jay? How long are you going to be in Meta’s life this time before you run off to play soldier for another five years?”

  His dark eyes flashed. “You have a sharp tongue, Lisa.”

  Hurt flickered in his expression. She’d rubbed salt in his wound, but she wasn’t enjoying using his guilt. He wasn’t the enemy. “I’m sorry, that was unkind.” She moved closer, but resisted touching him.

  He shrugged. Dim lighting glinted in his eyes. He was looking at her lips. He swallowed and cleared his throat. “There’s nothing personal in my refusal to go along with your insanity—Grandma asked me to watch over you.”

  “Nothing personal” echoed in her head, and she felt liked he’d slapped her. “Insanity? Are kidding me? Keeping your grandmother safe is my job. That’s what I’ve been hired to do—what I will do.”

  “Have you ever been outmatched, Lisa? Where death hung in the balance?” He picked up the poker and stirred the fire. The flickering firelight turned his face into sinister angles and planes. With swift predatory movements, he stepped between her and her purse with the gun. Not a hint of softness was in his dark eyes. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her face.

  But she was on to his game. He was trying to frighten her to prove his point. He just finished telling her he had promised his grandmother he would watch over her. Besides, Jay wasn’t the kind of man who would hurt anyone except in self-defense or in protecting his loved ones. But could she really be sure of that, only knowing him less than forty-eight hours?

  She moved closer to the fireplace. His dark eyes held hers. “Do I frighten you, Lisa?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Maybe now you admit how helpless you really are,” he said.

  He doubted her. Well, he needed to be brought down a peg or two. An image of this dark, dangerous male on his knees made her smile. Then she was aghast at her thoughts. Jay was changing her into a woman she didn’t understand and wasn’t at all sure she liked. Well, whether she liked herself or not, she had to prove him wrong. When she’d laid down her purse with the gun inside, she’d never dreamed she would need it with Jay. His game of scaring her made Lisa realize that giving him her trust had given him power—and a very dangerous edge.

  She was too aware of Jay, too aware of being alone with him, and too aware of the current that sizzled between them like snaking live wires.

  “Admit it, Lisa,” he said. “You’re outmatched against a man my size. I could do anything I wanted, and you couldn’t stop me.”

  His dark eyes were hypnotizing her, melting her. Right now she didn’t want to stop him from doing anything. If he wanted to kiss her, great. She swallowed. “Don’t bet on it.” She backed up and, without looking, slid her fingers down the side of the fireplace until they closed over the loose nail.

  “We’re alone, Lisa.” He came toward her and stopped a hair’s breadth away. “Like you would be with the killer.”

  “I know.” She yanked the nail from the wall and touched the tip to his belly. “But a hard thrust with this should disable a man your size, don’t you think? At least long enough to get away.”

  Shock froze the hard planes of his face. Then he laughed. “I forgot rule one: Never underestimate your opponent.”

  He drew the nail from her fingers and then he kissed her, pressing her into the fireplace bricks. They were rough and uneven, but she barely noticed. She sought the taste of him, the feel of his body hard against hers, wanting more of him. Chemistry and passion was all there was between them, she told herself. But an unfamiliar emotion brought tears. She was lying to herself. Moreover, it was the most dangerous lie she had ever told.

  With all the strength she could gather, she pushed him away. She was immediately devastated by the loss of his warmth and the denial of her rising desire. “I hope that kiss means you won’t fight me on this anymore.” Her tone was tough, but her heart was mush.

  Then he just looked at her. When she couldn’t stand the searing silence a second longer, she dug into the bags and put out the containers of food, slamming things unnecessarily. She sat down, aware that his gaze had been on her the whole time. “You must be hungry, too,” she said. Jay stared at her with a question in his eyes. She didn’t dare guess what it was. Probably the answer would require some deception, and it was enough that she was fooling herself about her feelings for him.

  Shaking his head, he pulled his chair close to hers. The crackling fire consumed part of a log and it split, sending sparks out into the room. He turned her chin so she had to meet his eyes. “If you insist on taking Grandma’s place,” he said finally, “you have to let me be there.”

  His touch sent shivers through her. “But who will stay with Meta?”

  “We’ll work that out. But there have to be ground rules.”

  “No way.” She fought to regain her tough ex-cop facade. “I don’t operate that way.”

  “You will this time. Here’s how it will go down. We bring in the police, you wear a wire, and I stay close at all times.”

  While Jay’s right brain was already planning a defense to keep her safe, his left brain was still suffering the loss of his usual heart-protecting armor. He narrowed his eyes. “No arguing. The rules are set in stone. You need someone to watch your back, and I’m the one to do it.”

  “I’ll accept one policeman, my friend Dave Martin,” Lisa said. “And the wire. But you can’t stay too close. We have to give the killer some space, or he won’t act.”

  Jay considered it. The sooner this was over, the quicker he could return to duty. With luck, he’d be back in time to save his promotion and overseas assignment. So why did he feel rotten—and scared—for the first time in his adult life? “I promise neither you nor the killer will know I’m around. Satisfied?” She nodded, looking pleased with herself. None of it pleased him, but he had little choice in the matter.

  “So there was never anything between you and Bud?” Why the hell had he asked that? His brain seemed to have no control over his mouth.

  She gave him a sideways look. “Absolutely nothing. I told you that.”

  “I know. It’s just that I’m trying to put all this together.” He shook his head. “Tom had most of it wrong. Grandma was in danger, but not from you and Bud.”

  “Right. But he got you here. That made Meta happy. She’s missed you.”

  “I missed her, too. It’s hard to explain. I had these goals for myself, and the time never seemed right.”

  “Sorry for what I said before,” Lisa said. “About you playing soldier. I know you
had your reasons for staying away so long.”

  Suddenly Jay heard himself telling Lisa about his messed-up family, about the constant fights at school to defend parents who didn’t deserve defending, aunts, uncles, and cousins who had turned against him, and newspapers that wouldn’t let the story about his bank-robber parents die.

  “I ran away and joined the Air Force at seventeen. I seemed to fit it for the first time in my life.”

  Lisa touched his hand, her soft green eyes reaching out to him. “Belonging is so important to a young man,” she said with empathy in her voice. It’s apparent that you did the best you could.”

  “I wanted Grandma to be proud of me so I went to college nights, and with hard, unrelenting work, I became an officer.” He was telling too much. But a dam inside had broken and he had a driving need to get it all out. “Then, when the opportunity came, I went into intelligence and did some pretty close-call rescues. But even that wasn’t enough.”

  “Sometimes we have to go through things to grow,” she said.

  He nodded, grateful for her understanding. “I thought I could outrun my past. And I believed I’d done just that—until I returned.” Jay rubbed a hand across his face. What am I doing? He felt like he’d been in a trance. “I’m sorry I unloaded all of this on you, Lisa. I’ve never told anyone that stuff before. I guess all the worry over Grandma, and now this worry about you, has unnerved me and given me motor-mouth.”

  Lisa squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you told me, Jay.”

  Jay only shrugged, his expression closed. Lisa felt her emotions tangle and entwine with his. His wound was an echo of an all too common pain—physical and emotional separation from one’s parents at a vulnerable time.

  What he had told her and the way he told her was revealing. His parents were a disappointment to him and he was deeply affected by it. He was determined not to disappoint himself, or let others disappoint him. He had built a tough exterior around himself to keep from feeling too deeply, from getting too involved. She empathized with him because she wore her own armor and knew well the deep wounds it concealed.

  She yearned to hold Jay, to comfort him, but she didn’t dare. She was already in too deep, and allowing herself to completely fall for him would be a mistake.

  “The important thing is,” he said finally, “I’d like my Grandmother’s golden years to be happy and worry-free. And for you to live to be a grandmother yourself.”

  She’d never thought about being a grandmother. But she would like that, if she could be like Meta. But thinking that far ahead was putting the cart before the horse. She would have to fall in love, marry, and have children before she could be a grandmother. Which wouldn’t be possible if she didn’t live through the next hours of waiting like prey for the killer to strike.

  Chapter Nine

  Lisa drew her sweater tighter to ward off the predawn chill. She, Jay, and Alice, the nurse who Dr. Hendricks had recommended, hurried silently across the medical center’s parking lot. They entered the building through a rear door.

  “Thanks for coming on such short notice, Alice,” Lisa whispered as they climbed the spiraled stairs. The stairwell was cold and smelled of disinfectant.

  “No problem. I wasn’t sleeping anyway.”

  “Dr. Hendricks told me about your husband. I’m sorry.”

  “After thirty years,” Alice said, “it’s hard to get used to the empty house.”

  The sorrow and loneliness in Alice’s voice struck a chord in Lisa. It must have affected Jay, too, because he gently touched the woman’s shoulder. His eyes were sympathetic.

  “I’m okay, Mr. Corning,” Alice said. “Really.”

  “Call me Jay,” he said in a low, hoarse voice.

  Lisa studied him. Those powerful shoulders weren’t as squared as they had been that morning, and now stubble darkened his jaw. Her heart warmed. He pretended to be a tough guy, but he had a tender side. He was more complex than she’d first believed, and a man capable of deep emotions. It would be rough to love such a man for thirty years, as Alice had done, then lose him.

  Lisa bit her lip. Dwelling on love and loss would only weaken her. She forced herself back into her hard shell and analyzed Alice’s situation objectively. Maybe taking care of Meta would fill some of the gnawing emptiness in the woman’s life. Dr. Hendricks seemed to have a way of putting people together who needed each other. She wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he was an earthbound angel.

  The hospital corridor was silent and empty except for the guard at Meta’s door. Lisa introduced Barney to Alice. Lisa had hired the bodyguard and nurse to care for and protect Meta for the next few days. She explained where they were to take Meta. Jay gave Barney the key and directions to the cabin.

  “I’m counting on both of you, Lisa said. “Don’t leave Meta for a second.”

  Barney and Alice, resembling aging peasants, looked well-fed, square, and muscular, and both had proven themselves capable and trustworthy.

  “Don’t worry,” Barney said. “Dr. Hendricks already sedated Mrs. Corning, and I have an ambulance waiting in the alley behind the emergency entrance. She’ll sleep like a baby the rest of the night and wake up to crisp, piney mountain air, and two funny, smiling faces.”

  He winked at Alice as though they were already friends. A half smile curved Alice’s lips, and some of the sorrow disappeared from her eyes. Lisa felt some of the tension leave her body. Meta was in good hands.

  Lisa sat with her pillow propped against the headboard of the bed and checked her gun for the second time, then tucked it back into her purse. Everything had gone as planned, yet she felt like a caged tiger. The walls of Meta’s bedroom closed in on her, heightening the claustrophobic feeling. The tension could also be partly due to the depressing, gray morning she had spent in a mortuary surrounded by dead people.

  She glanced at her hands and then into her compact mirror. The wrinkles looked real. Unnervingly real. She hadn’t expected the mortuary’s makeup artist, who Dr. Hendricks recommended, to do such a remarkable job. In the semidarkness, with the silver wig and dressed in Meta’s gown, she resembled her enough to fool anyone who came into the room.

  She chuckled to herself, remembering how Jay had purposely announced her return by hitting the ambulance siren as they entered the driveway. She had been surprised, expecting an intelligence officer to be more subtle. Two of the things that fascinated her about him were his unpredictability and the undercurrent of restlessness that lay just beneath his facade of discipline. He reminded her of a captured hero struggling against his restraints, about to break free. Imagining Jay without any constraints, devilish and full of passion, lying bare-chested beside her, she fled from the bed.

  At the window, she pulled the blinds aside, determined to keep her mind on the job. Cornel Drake had parked his fancy white pickup truck down the street. Although he had reasons to want Meta out of the way, it definitely wasn’t him or his son who had tried to smother her.

  Across the street, Perry Roberson, shirtless and wearing cutoff jeans, was washing his car. His shoulder-length sandy hair flipped about as he worked. He would have heard the siren and would believe that Meta had returned home. Maybe he was planning his next move against her right now. Would he wait until dark? She wished she knew who else was in cahoots with him.

  Howard was in the front yard weeding his rose bed. He looked up. She stepped back. Howard could be her biggest challenge. Jay had told Howard that Meta was sedated, but Lisa had no idea how long he would be satisfied with that before coming around to check for himself. She and Jay had considered telling him what was going on, but too many people already knew, and the more people who knew, the greater the chance the attacker would learn about the switch.

  The morning and afternoon passed without incident. She aimlessly changed the television channels and finally settled on Oprah. With the sound muted, it was difficult to get the gist of the program. Some guy was knocking on doors, and when the people let him in, he dug through th
eir things, throwing stuff in piles.

  Hearing footsteps in the hallway, Lisa flicked off the television and faced the wall. The door opened. “Who’s there?” she croaked in a shaky voice. The door closed—the lock engaged. She tensed, ready for anything.

  “Hey, you do Grandma rather well,” Jay murmured in a low tone. “Except I’ve never known her voice to be so wobbly.”

  Lisa eyed the bag of food in his hand. “She’s half starved. What do you expect?”

  “Very funny. But I had to wait for your police buddy, Martin, to get here before I left.”

  Lisa hiked up Meta’s gown to the hem of her jogging shorts and sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, reaching eagerly for the food. “Why? It has been boring and uneventful here. I didn’t need either of you. What I need is food.”

  Jay held it just out of reach. “Look, I told you. We’re following procedures. I don’t want any slipups.”

  “Whatever you say.” She grabbed for the bag, but he was too quick. Jay opened it, and the aroma of fries and burgers flooded the room. She lunged, grabbed one of the burgers from the bag, and bit into it hungrily. “Where’s Bud?” she asked after she washed the bites down with a sip of the milkshake he handed to her.

  “Bud and the staff are gone,” Jay said. “Bud said he didn’t know Grandma was coming home today, so he let everyone leave. Then he left in a big hurry, like hounds were on his heels.”

  Jay climbed onto the bed and rested his back against the headboard. His shoulder crowded hers, its warmth seeping through her clothes, into her pores. She tried to stifle a shiver of excitement. In spite of her effort, it rippled over her, but the icy sensation didn’t cool her. Heat rushed to her face, and then lowered, and blood coursed through her veins like an out-of-control fire.

  She watched the way Jay bit into his burger, devouring a fourth of it. It was easy to imagine he did everything with that kind of appetite. She had to distance herself from such a dangerous and passionate line of thinking. “How did you explain to Bud that I wasn’t here to take care of Meta?” she asked.