by L. L. Muir
She was even gladder she hadn’t let him kiss her behind the trees. But what about that bruising kiss just before she’d left him in the trailer? If he hadn’t meant that one either, her heart might actually shatter—like an old plate with a lot of sentimental value, impossible to repair, impossible to replace.
She faced the window in case Maribelle was good at reading expressions. She wanted to turn down the volume just as much as she wanted to hear what he would say next, even though it might be painful.
“And how do you feel about her now?”
The pause that followed Elmer’s question was long enough to sting.
“When I first laid eyes on the lass, it was through a small window. In spite of her being friendly with my enemy, she stole my breath as if God himself had whispered in my ear, This lass was made for ye alone, Brodrick Shaw. And I’ve been trying to catch my breath back ever since. It seems… It seems I can only breathe easy when I’m kissing her. Though I must sound quite daft…”
“Not at all. Not at all. My Maribelle affects me the same way.”
Hundreds of brake lights flared up ahead. The pickup slowed.
Maribelle picked up the phone. “Elmer? Are you there? Can you hear me?” She gave Larkin a sly wink.
“Yes, Maribelle. I can hear you.”
“I think we’re coming up on the roadblock.”
“All right. We’ll be ready.”
~
Maribelle was a brilliant actress. If anyone in the world had a gift for lying, it was that sweet, quiet woman from North Dakota.
When they got up to the front of the line, an officer motioned for her to pull over to the side. But instead of complying, she rolled down the window and motioned for him to come to her. He shook his head and motioned to the side of the road. Maribelle waved again for him to come to her. Finally, he gave up and came to the window.
“Have I done something wrong?” she asked innocently.
“No ma’am. We just have to check every vehicle that comes through. We’ve got some fugitives on the loose and—”
“I keep my trailer locked up tight. I promise I do. But I also keep Abigail locked in there so other drivers don’t see her and get upset.”
The officer frowned and pointed again. “I’m gonna need you to pull over—”
“Abigail is our pit bull, ya know.”
“You have a pit bull in your trailer, ma’am?”
“Yes, sir. But don’t worry. She won’t get hurt. She usually lays on the bed, ya know, to avoid her motion sickness. And I’ll tell ya, if some fugitive tried to break into the trailer, he would changed his mind real quick. Especially if the dog’s been sick—”
The officer looked back at the trailer for ten long seconds, then tugged on the front of his hat. “Don’t worry about it, ma’am. You just go on ahead.”
“All right. I appreciate that. And good luck catching your fugitive.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
They were a good two miles away before Larkin felt safe to celebrate. She and Maribelle started laughing and soon heard the men whooping and hollering through the phone.
“Maribelle, you were brilliant,” she said.
“Why thank you. I thought the dog getting sick was a nice touch.”
“Did you see his face turn green? I didn’t think the pit bull was going to dissuade him, but you pushed him over the edge.” Larkin sobered. “And maybe, what I need to do is push someone else over the edge.” She picked up the phone. “Brodrick? I have an idea.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Three hours later, Larkin and Brodrick stood in the far north corner of Leisureland RV, a trailer dealership in East Grand Forks, Minnesota on the border with North Dakota. They had just said their goodbyes to the kind-hearted couple with whom they’d become good friends simply because a dog had deemed Brodrick and her harmless.
“Wait a minute!” She waved her hand and Elmer stopped the truck. “You never told us what your real names are.”
Elmer laughed. “MacIntyre.” Then he winked. “Elmer and Maribelle MacIntyre!”
They pulled through the lot, into the road, and out of their lives.
Brodrick stepped behind her and pulled her back against him. It was probably better that she couldn’t look at him, now that he’d changed back into his kilt. She might forget what she was supposed to do.
“Before this begins, lass, I wish to say something.” He didn’t let her turn around. “I dinna ken when I will be called away. I only hope I am able to see this through before Soni gives up on me. But I wish to be clear about how I feel about ye.”
Thankfully, she had reason to believe she would like what he had to say. But her heart ached at the reminder that he would be leaving her soon if, in fact, it wasn’t just a crazy dream. But a crazy dream would mean that a handsome Highlander had never really swept her off her hospital socks in the first place. And that would be sadder still.
“Lift yer face, lass. I would like verra much for ye to feel the rain, aye?”
She nodded and obeyed. Miniscule drops that evaporated as soon as they hit her skin felt like tiny kisses on her eyelids, her cheeks, her mouth.
“Now, imagine,” he continued, “that after this day, ye shall never again feel the rain. Ye might stand in it for nigh on three hundred years and only watch it fall, watch it fall through ye, but never feel its kiss.” He stood silent for a minute, letting her imagine the unending torture he would have gone through, and not just because of the rain. “Know, then, that this is how bereft I will feel without ye, to never feel yer hand wrapped in my own, never feel the press of yer lips. No matter where I am bound, be it Heaven or Hell, it will be no better than haunting Culloden Moor for another three centuries.”
Larkin laid her arms on top of his where they rested around her waist and squeezed his hands to let him know she’d heard every word. But she was speechless. And though his words made her feel like Cinderella, her prince wouldn’t be coming to look for her. It wouldn’t matter if she tucked a glass slipper in the pouch that now hung at the front of his kilt, it wouldn’t lead him back to her door.
Tears dripped silently down her face—warm streams that contrasted starkly with the coolness of the rain. Eventually, he turned her. His thumbs smeared the warmth across her cheeks. They both tried to smile. They both failed. Their bodies slammed together in a hopeless, frantic embrace.
Headlights flashed as a car pulled into the lot and reluctantly, the stepped apart again. The storm clouds made it seem like late evening and Larkin thought it reflected her mood perfectly. What she wouldn’t give for some strategically aimed lightning.
She faced the squad car, sure it was Justice sitting behind the wheel even though the rain-spattered windshield made it difficult to see. Brodrick stood beside her and held her hand.
“Well, isn’t this cozy,” Justice said and shut his car door. He stared at their hands, then at Brodrick. “You work fast, don’t you?” Finally, he faced her, expressionless. It was like a punch in the stomach. “Rent said you’d turn the Scotsman in, but only to me.” The smirk that blossomed on his face told her all she needed to know, that he was completely aware she intended to lure a confession out of him.
She was glad Brodrick held her hand. She worried she might have run away otherwise. Justice made her skin crawl, and in that moment, she realized that it wasn’t the first time. What an idiot she’d been to be so flattered by his attention that she never stopped to ask herself if she liked him, never wondered if the butterflies in her gut were trying to tell her something was wrong.
“When I got the call last night,” she said, “the nurse said a sheriff was waiting for an evaluation. I prayed it wasn’t you, do you know why?”
Justice shrugged, like he really didn’t care to know, but he’d play along. “No. Why?”
“Because I knew our relationship wouldn’t hold up if we had to work together. That you would never be able to give me the respect I deserved.”
Brodrick gave her h
and a squeeze that Justice couldn’t have noticed. But it was enough to let her know he was pleased.
Justice rolled his eyes. “We didn’t have a relationship, Larkin. I just needed to keep you close to see if you would play ball when the time came.”
“When the time came?”
Justice leaned on the hood of his car and crossed his legs, then pulled out his taser and aimed it at Brodrick. “Yeah. We’ve got a nice little side business going at the mental hospital—drug testing, organs and whatnot. Rent wanted you brought in as soon as you had your doctorate. But we had to make sure you would play ball, first.”
She gasped.
Justice snorted in disgust. “I knew you weren’t ready. I tried to get you to just sign an evaluation and go home, but you wouldn’t listen. You just had to do an honest evaluation, so you could give an honest recommendation. That’s when I knew you would be worthless.”
“Rent?” She brought her free hand to her throat. “Rent is in on this?”
“Hell, honey. Rent started it.”
“Then…”
“That’s right. Backup’s not coming.” To Brodrick, he said, “He’s the guy who was trying to dig the bullet out of Reiser’s neck when you wandered into the alley that night.”
Larkin shook her head. “I thought it was Tommy!”
“Tommy?” He snorted. “Are you kidding me? You can’t trust Tommy with secrets. I don’t really trust him with a loaded gun. You’d have been better off to trust him though.”
Her head shook in frantic denial. “Why? Why would you kill Robert?”
“Robert wanted a bigger share. Said he would expose me to you if I didn’t raise his allowance. All those kids of his made him a little greedy.”
She pointed out the obvious. “And now his kids and Anna have nothing at all.”
He widened his eyes in mock surprise. “You haven’t been watching the news. I’ve set up a trust fund for those brats out of the goodness of my heart.” He laughed. “And it’s costing me a fraction of what Robert was getting from me before.” He sobered and pushed his hat to the back of his head. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking it doesn’t matter that you called the wrong guy because you’ve been streaming our little conversation live to the internet, with some webcam. But you’re wrong.”
She bit her lips together.
“I don’t need to know where your camera is, baby. I’ve got a little contraption that jams all signals for a hundred square feet. Oh!” He clicked his fingers. “Another thing.”
The back door of the squad car opened and the familiar, and once beloved, form of Felix Rentmeister got out. He looked a little ill, like he regretted betraying her, but how remorseful could he be if he was carrying a long Scottish sword that shimmered along the sharp edge.
“I can’t believe this,” she whispered, then choked on very real tears. “We’ve been the best of friends—”
“The best? Come on, Larkin. If you knew me so well, you wouldn’t be so surprised now. You know all I care about is the money.”
“That’s not true!”
“Oh, believe me, it is. I just got blessed with an innocent, sincere face, that’s all.” He walked in a wide circle around her, his attention on Brodrick. “You know, the way you talked about having real money someday, I thought you’d be the perfect addition to the team. You might have brought a fresh stream of income from your clinic. And Reiser’s position was about to open up…”
Justice pushed off the hood, moved the taser to his left hand, then pulled out his gun and aimed it at her. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Since bullets don’t seem to be effective on you, sir, we’re going to shoot Larkin—unless you get down on your knees and take your medicine.”
Rent laughed and swung the sword around his left side, then his right, like a high school baton twirler.
Justice aimed at her heart. “Do it!”
Brodrick held his hands out to his sides, fingers spread. “And what happens to the lass after?”
“Well, I suppose we take her back to the mental hospital, under an assumed name of course, and give her some time to come around.”
Brodrick shook his head. “Not nearly good enough.”
“Oh?” Rent moved behind them. “What do you suggest?”
“We confess, the pair of us, into a recording of yer choosing. Ye let her go, to run away and hide for the rest of her days. But ye still get to chop off my head.” He carefully got down on his knees.
“No!” Larkin sidestepped, but the tip of the sword came down to prevent her from reaching Brodrick.
“Uh uh uh,” Rent taunted. “And I don’t like the idea of Little Miss Honorable lying in wait, coming out of the woodwork someday. I think we’ll just end it here. Please leave all other suggestions with the front desk.”
The doors to three trailers burst open and a stream of FBI agents stumbled out. Amidst the shouting, she saw the swirl of light as the blade swung up and around. She jumped in front of Brodrick and tried to block the blow with her shoulder. His big hand shot up and grabbed the blade itself. Blood oozed out between his thumb and forefinger, then disappeared again.
A shot rang out. Rent’s back arched and he let go of the hilt. A red dot appeared on his white shirt before he hit the ground.
Two more shots were fired from behind her, from Justice, and she waited for the pain to register.
And she waited.
The FBI agents froze in their tracks and reminded her of the incident in the parking garage when she caught her shoe on a mat and ended in an awkward pose. It was like that, only the agents held their poses…and held them.
She looked around, confused. Justice’s gun was still pointed at her, but a little puff of smoke hovered above the tip like a cloud. A girl wearing a long black robe stood beside him, smiling. The dark fabric wavered in the breeze. It was the only thing moving, really.
Brodrick shifted his weight. She gave him room and he stood. He frowned at something and Larkin followed his gaze. She hadn’t noticed the two bullets hovering in the air two feet away.
Hovering. Bullets.
Her brain seemed to wobble like a poorly inflated bouncy ball and she sensed another faint coming on. But she refused to excuse herself from whatever might be happening. Hovering bullets? No problem.
This is magic, that’s all. We like magic. Magic is what keeps Brodrick alive.
“Larkin, my love, this wee lass is Soncerae.”
The girl waved a few fingers. “Excuse me a moment,” she said. Then she stepped close to the hovering bullets, blew on them, then moved next to Larkin.
Larkin, however, was looking at the bullets. The points had turned 180 degrees and now pointed at Justice, who never moved a muscle.
“Don’t worry about the bullets. I had to move quickly, as ye can imagine. Lucky for you I arrived in time.” She gave Brodrick a pointed look. He nodded sheepishly, like he understood what she was talking about.
“Thank ye, lass, for allowing me enough time to clear her name,” he said. “And for arriving in time to spare her life, of course.”
The girl chuckled. “The lass saved ye both, ye silly man. Threw herself in front of a blade to save ye. Earned the right to keep ye if she cares to.”
Larkin swallowed carefully, to make sure her ears worked. “I’m sorry. What? Keep him?”
“Aye.”
Brodrick looked too scared to move. His eyebrows were frozen high on his forehead, and if it wasn’t for the visible heartbeat throbbing in his neck, she would have thought he’d been frozen like the rest.
She folded her arms. “As a man or a ghost?”
It was Soncerae’s turn to look surprised. “Pardon?”
“If I keep him, will he stay alive, or will he be a ghost again?”
Brodrick frowned at her. “Would it matter?”
She couldn’t help teasing. It helped her deal. “The rain, remember? I don’t want you to spend another three hundred years missing the rain.”
; Soni nudged her. “His days of haunting are over. His freedom from those chains have been bought and paid for.” She bit her lip for a second and gave Larkin a sly wink. “If ye don’t want him, though, he can move on—”
“I want him!” Her voice didn’t carry like she expected it too. It was like they were standing in a little closet. Nothing echoed. They couldn’t even hear the rain, even though it seemed to be falling all around them. Her own insecurity wasn’t an easy thing to overcome, however, so she had to ask. “But does he want me?”
The Highlander in question swept her knees out from under her, and she threw her arms around his neck out of instinct. “Do I want ye?” He shook his head, unbelieving. “I’ve wanted ye from the first moment, Doctor Larkin Nash. You were meant to be mine all along. I should have had faith that it would be so.”
They kissed, they laughed, then kissed again. The girl waited patiently for them to remember her.
Brodrick put her back on her feet. “Pardon me, Soni.”
“Your joy is my joy, Brodrick Shaw. I have awaited this moment, hoping it would come for you as it has for others. Ye’re free now.” She wiped tears from her face with both hands. “But it is time to say farewell. Give us a kiss, Number 62. Your brothers in arms await their own rewards.”
He kissed her once on each cheek, then sobered. “But Soni, I failed.”
“Ye’re a daft man. Look around ye. I required a noble deed. Never did I say ye couldn’t have help.” She waved him back. “Return to yer knees, if you would. And Larkin, back where ye were. Like I said, don’t mind the bullets.”
With Brodrick’s head nice and low where she could reach it, Larkin couldn’t resist a hasty kiss. She straightened quickly, however, when the air around them erupted in noise again. The echo of those two gunshots made her cover her ears. She turned quickly to see the hovering bullets were gone, but Justice was lying back against the hood, sliding to the ground. Two red circles bloomed on his chest.
“Are you hit?” Agent Romani asked, and was confused when she shook her head. He looked at Justice. “Must have misfired or something. I could have sworn he shot you. I’m sorry we were late. The doors on all three trailers jammed or we would have stopped this much earlier. It could have been a disaster if they hadn’t popped open. I’m so glad you’re both okay.”