“Christina,” Hatch said in a warning tone.
“That sounds good, Cricket. Thanks.” I focused on Hatch and smiled. “You want to swear right now, don’t you?”
“More than you can imagine,” he admitted. “But I do like to see you smilin’, baby.”
“I’m going to freshen up and then we’ll go, okay?”
“Sounds good,” he said, kissing me quickly, and I headed to my bedroom.
Hatch drove us to the restaurant, finding street parking right outside. “Don’t move, Sunshine,” he ordered.
“Where am I going to go?”
He grinned and climbed out of the truck, coming to my side and pulling open the door. “I’m gonna lift you down.”
“You are not.”
“Babe, just let me do this so you don’t fall.”
“I can climb out of a bloody car on my own, Hatch,” I argued.
I released my belt and turned my legs, but he stopped me, leaning in, eyebrows drawn together. “Don’t move.”
“Hatch—oh!” His left arm slid around my waist and he tugged me gently forward, lifting me out and setting me on my feet. “Bloody hell, love, you could have thrown your back out.”
He frowned. “Don’t say shit like that, Maisie.”
“Well it’s true.”
“It’s not true, baby.” He softened his expression and went into an Eastern European accent as he continued, “I’m strong like bull,”
I chuckled. “Sorry if I made it sound like you’re not a big strong man.”
“Not about that,” he corrected.
My stomach did a few flip-flops and I smiled. “Is that your round-about way of telling me to stop calling myself fat?”
He winked. “You’re learnin’, Sunshine.”
“You’re a cheeky buggar, aren’t you?”
Kissing me gently, he led me into the restaurant and we commenced our first “official” date. It rocked.
Hatch
SATURDAY MORNING, HATCH was at the shop catching up on a few things when his phone buzzed in in his pocket. He saw “private number” on the screen and ignored the call, but it buzzed again, so picked it up. “Hatch.”
“Hey, man, it’s Jaxon Quinn.”
“Hey.”
“We pulled a print off the car that didn’t belong to Maisie or her daughter,” he said. “Nothing hit in the criminal database, so I had a hunch to check places like volunteer databases.”
“And?”
“And, we got a hit.”
“Yeah? Who does it belong to?”
“Alison Lundy.”
“That’s Maisie’s best friend. She’s cool.”
“The print was on the inside of the tire and a partial on the brake line at the cut. Also found a palm print on the steering wheel, which I have a feeling will match hers. She removed the airbag completely.”
“Are you sure? What about that Jeremy asshole?”
“Jeremy Marville’s got an airtight alibi and he’s totally in love with Maisie, Hatch, and not in a weird way. He genuinely respects her. Record’s clean. Not a pushover. Ex-wife’s a psychopath and he’s protectin’ his kids. Good guy, Hatch.”
“Shit,” he breathed out. Ice infused his veins. This fuckin’ crazy bitch could have killed Maisie and Poppy. Could have taken them away from him. He dragged a hand down his face. “How the hell would Alison know how to do that?”
“The internet’s flooded with how-to videos on this kind of thing. It wouldn’t be hard.”
“Damn it. How do you have her prints?”
“She signed up to be a volunteer at her kids’ schools.”
“Makes sense. Maisie probably did too.” Hatch rubbed his forehead. “You can’t get to Alison right now. She had a breakdown yesterday, so her husband put her on psychiatric lockdown.”
“We know Ryan Lundy. He’s a good cop.”
“Have to take your word on that,” Hatch said. “I don’t know what the fuck this is gonna do to Maisie.”
“We’re gathering evidence, Hatch, but this is a pretty clear case of attempted murder, we just gotta figure out if she was in her right mind when she did it.”
“Right. Thanks, man.”
He hung up and took a deep breath, then dialed Knight. “Hey, man.”
“Hey. You talk to your brother?”
“Yeah.”
Hatch filled Knight in on what he didn’t know and they made a game plan going forward of who would watch Poppy, who would watch Maisie when Hatch wasn’t around (which would be never), and who would watch Alison. No one was to lose sight of the psychopath. She was to be monitored at all times. Hatch hung up with Knight and called Maisie.
“Hey,” she said, on the first ring.
“Hey, Sunshine. You cool if I come over in a bit?”
“Of course. Everything okay?” she asked.
“Gotta talk to you about something.”
“Okay. I’ll let the lobby know.”
“See you soon.”
She hung up and Hatch locked up the shop, holstered his gun, and jumped on his bike.
* * *
Maisie
I was trying not to panic. Hard to do when I had no idea why Hatch suddenly needed to come over. I was enjoying a blissful day alone today since Cricket had taken Poppy out to Kim’s place to ride. They wouldn’t be home for a few more hours, so even though I had to eat with one hand and couldn’t really do much, it was quiet and I had no one to answer to. I hadn’t had that in a while. A drunk and unstable Alison I could handle… Hatch maybe wanting to break up with me… not so much.
My doorbell rang and I checked the peephole, then pulled the door open and stepped back to let Hatch in. “Hey.”
He leaned down and kissed me gently. Well, this was a good start. At least he wasn’t dumping me… well, I hoped he wasn’t. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Let’s get you somewhere comfortable.” He wrapped an arm around me and led me into the family room. “I have to tell you somethin’ and I think it’s gonna fuckin’ kill you.”
I frowned. “Are you serious right now, or are you taking the Mickey?”
“Takin’ the Mickey?”
“Joking around,” I explained.
“Not jokin’.” He sat in Niall’s chair and pulled me gently onto his lap.
My side hit something hard and I leaned away from him. “What’s that?” I gasped. “Are you carrying a gun?”
“I usually do, Maisie.”
I tried to scramble off his lap, but he held me still. “Why do you have a gun?”
“I’ve always had a gun, Sunshine, I’ve just been leavin’ it in my truck so Poppy doesn’t freak out. But I think it’s time to have a conversation with her, because I’m not good with doin’ that anymore.”
“Hatch, you’re scaring me,” I rasped.
“I know. I’m sorry. Just got a call from the forensics guy lookin’ over the car. He found something.”
“Okay,” I said, slowly.
He dragged his hand through his hair. “Shit!”
“Just tell me, Hatch.”
“It’s Alison.”
“What’s Alison?”
“The person the FBI believes cut your brake line and removed your airbags.”
It took a minute, but I snorted as I burst out laughing. “Alison would never do this.”
“I’m just tellin’ you what they found.”
“Well, they’re wrong.” I shook my head. “There’s got to be some other kind of explanation.”
My phone rang on the coffee table and Hatch kept hold of me as he reached for it and handed it to me. “Hey, Ryan.”
“Hey, Maisie. I’m at the hospital. Alison wants to see you. We’re discussing options, trying to sort out if the hold is necessary, but she’d really like to see you if you can come by.”
“Of course I can. Twenty minutes okay?”
“Sure. See you then.”
I hung up. “Alison’s—”
“I heard.”
“Now we can find out once and for all,” I said.
“I really want Jax to be wrong, baby.”
“He is,” I assured Hatch as I climbed off his lap, and headed to brush my teeth. “Can you just let your sister know what we’re doing? I don’t want to worry Poppy.”
“Sure,” he said.
Once I freshened up, Hatch drove me to the hospital. We made our way to the mental health ward and Hatch stayed in the hallway while I walked into Alison’s room. “Hey honey.”
She gave me a sad smile as I approached. She was in a hospital gown, but she looked as though she’d just come from the spa. Her hair was perfectly styled, her make-up freshly applied, and she didn’t have restraints on. All-in-all, she looked perfectly normal. Maybe the doctors felt she didn’t require the seventy-two hour hold.
“We really need to stop meeting this way,” I said as I hugged her.
“I know, right?”
“Are you okay?”
Tears slid down her face. “No. I don’t think I am, Maisie. My brain is all jumbled again.”
“I’m sorry, love.”
She grabbed for my hand. “I’m doing bad things.”
“Are you?”
She nodded.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Bad bad things,” she whispered. “You know, you’ve lost your English accent.”
Whoa, where did that come from?
“What, love?”
“Niall never lost his Scottish one,” she continued.
“You don’t think?”
Alison shook her head. “And he always wore my favorite shirt.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The blue one with the paisley collar.”
God, I hated that shirt. He wore it the sum total of twice. Once out to a double date with Ryan and Alison and once to their house, but only because it was ugly shirt night and that was the ugliest shirt he owned. It was put in the donate bin after that.
She sighed. “He wore it just for me. I know he did.”
“I don’t understand Alison.”
“You had to have it all,” she whispered. “Why didn’t you just die?”
“The police said they found your fingerprints, Alison.” My heart raced; fear flooding me that Jaxon might be right.
“If he’d just left you!” Alison ranted.
“Who?” I asked.
“You should have died, Maisie.”
“Honey, did you cut my brake lines?”
I moved to stand, but she grabbed my healing arm and twisted. I cried out in pain.
“Niall was mine!” she screamed.
Hatch stormed into the room, the door slamming against the wall. Ryan was close behind.
“I will snap her arm in two,” Alison threatened.
Hatch drew his gun, but despite the fact I was in agonizing pain, I snapped, “No! She’s sick. You can’t hurt her.”
“Lower your gun,” Ryan ordered, aiming his own at Hatch.
“Both of you, put your guns away!” I begged. “Hatch, please, love.”
He scowled, but holstered his and then Ryan did as well.
I focused back on Alison. Her pupils were pinned, but otherwise she seemed normal. This actually scared me more than anything. “Ali, love. Please. Will you tell me what’s going on? You’re really hurting my arm.” This was a total understatement and I was desperately trying not to cry out every time she squeezed my bad arm.
“Get a fuckin’ hold on your woman, or I will end her,” Hatch snapped.
Ryan rushed over to the bed, but every time he got close Alison wrenched my arm again. “Ryan, just back off,” I ordered. “You’re making it worse.”
“You were supposed to die. Poppy wasn’t supposed to be with you. I tried to stop you from taking her! I followed you all the way to the accident site, but forgot to disable your LexusLink.” She shook her head. “Rookie mistake. Poppy is supposed to live with us! We’re supposed to raise her. She’s mine.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I want her. Niall said I could have her.”
I highly doubted Niall would have told her that, considering we’d always agreed either my siblings or his sister would raise our kids should anything happen to us. “Ali, you know that Niall and I always said Beckett or Kenna… or even Aileen would raise any kids we had until they grew up if anything happened to us.”
Her eyebrows dropped and she stared at me in confusion. “I wanted him.”
“Who?”
“Niall.”
“Lovey, you have Ryan.”
“I don’t want Ryan!” she screamed, throwing her hands up in frustration.
The second she released my arm, Hatch sprang forward and pulled me away from her. Ryan grabbed Alison from behind and handcuffed her to the bed.
I fell against Hatch, crying out as my arm connected with his chest.
“Fuck, baby, hold on. I got you.”
Hatch bellowed orders to nurses, got me in a wheelchair and into emergency where he apparently knew one of the doctors, and made sure I was number one priority to anyone within shouting distance. I was whisked off to X-ray, administered morphine, and ushered into a private room, all within thirty minutes.
As we waited for the X-rays to come back, I melted down and found myself gently guided against Hatch’s chest as he climbed onto the bed with me.
“It’s okay, Sunshine,” he whispered as I sobbed against him.
“I don’t understand any of this. Ali’s been my best friend for fifteen years. She’s had some issues over the years, but she’s never indicated any desire to take Poppy… or any desire for Niall. God, we had our babies together.” I gasped. “Poor Ryan! Do you think she’s always felt like that? Imagine standing there in the middle of a hospital having your wife yell that she didn’t want you. What’s he going to do?” Renewed sobbing began and I took the comfort Hatch offered.
“We’re gonna figure this out, Sunshine. I promise.” He kissed my temple and held me until my sobbing calmed.
“I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here,” I whispered.
“I’m not goin’ anywhere, baby.”
“Thank you.” I closed my eyes and we sat quietly for several minutes.
The doctor who’d helped me walked in a few minutes later and pulled up a chair. “I’m Dr. Stone.”
“The FBI agent working this case for us works with the doc’s brother,” Hatch explained.
That explained why I got the star treatment. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said.
“You too, Maisie. Looks like your arm’s in pretty good condition, considering. Your pins and staples stayed put, so that’s good. You do have a little more bruising and you’ll have some soreness, but I’ll give you some more painkillers and that should clear up in a few days. Overall, you were really lucky.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. “Is Alison okay?”
“I don’t know. I can try to find out for you, but honestly, with confidentiality rules, I doubt I’ll be able to tell you anything.”
“I understand.”
“I’ll get you your paperwork and get you out of here,” he said.
“Thanks, Doc,” Hatch said.
“No problem, Hatch.”
The doctor left and, once I was cleared, we headed home. I called Ryan’s cell to check up on Alison and found out she was forcibly put on a seventy-two hour hold. As hard as it was to hear my best friend had cut my brake lines and tried to kill me, it was twice as hard telling Poppy.
“Why would she do that?” Poppy asked, sobbing. “Does she hate us?”
“No, Poppet. She’s sick. Sometimes people have something chemically wrong in their brains and they can’t control things they do. She was having some trouble with her medication, so she tried to compensate with alcohol which made things worse.”
“What do you think will happen to Auntie Alison?”
“I’m hoping that now that she’s in the hospital they’ll be able to get her medica
tion levels right.”
“Can I call Gracie?”
“Not tonight,” I said. “Let’s figure out what’s happening with Alison first, okay? We need to let things settle a bit.”
Hatch got a call while Poppy and I were talking so he took it in my office and went to find him when he was finished. He was still talking.
“Yeah, man. Yeah. I’ll let her know. She’s not gonna be happy. I get it, but regardless, I don’t think she wants—” He cut himself off when he met my eyes. “I’m gonna call you back, brother.”
“What’s going on?” I asked when he slid his phone into his pocket.
“They’ve arrested Alison.”
“Who’s arrested Alison?” I crossed my arms, regretting that move immediately and grimacing at the action.
“FBI.”
“How?” I snapped. “She’s on psychiatric hold.”
“I know. Now she’s on psychiatric hold, currently under arrest.”
I scowled. “Well, they can’t. I’m not pressing charges.”
“Babe, you don’t really have any say in it. People can’t just go around trying to commit murder, then drinking and driving, and stealing cars.”
“She stole a car?”
“Yeah. That’s what she used to get to your place.”
“Bloody hell. What a mess.”
He closed the distance between us and I leaned against him.
“Is she okay?”
“After the shit she pulled, you’re askin’ that?” he challenged.
“Honey, she’s not in her right mind.”
“I know.” Kissing my temple, he lifted my chin. “If you hear from either Ryan or Alison, I want to know about it, yeah?”
“They’re my best friends—”
“Immediately.”
“They’re not going to do—”
“Fuck me, Maisie, she tried to kill you!” he snapped. “If you minimize this one more time, I’m gonna fuckin’ lose my mind.”
I burst into tears and he pulled me against him again.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “You’re right. I just… I don’t know why she’d do this.”
“I know, baby.”
“Will you stay tonight?”
Road to Peace Page 11