“It’s a public place, and broad daylight. Even if he wants to get up to mischief, there’s not too much he can do.”
Avery hoped she was right. “Thank you, Ellie. What a relief that you had already arrived in Virginia! You may just have saved the day.”
Twenty-Six
T he events of the past ten days had been so extraordinary that Ellie almost wasn’t surprised to find herself sitting behind the wheel of her rented Pontiac, waiting for her returned-from-the-dead husband to put in an appearance in the parking lot of Focus Health in Loudon County, Virginia.
The news that Ron wasn’t dead had been huge, of course. But the fact that Harry Ford had asked her to marry him—and she’d accepted!—struck her as even more important in her personal scheme of things. Harry was her future, and she was looking forward to their life together with an enthusiasm that she’d once assumed was gone from her life forever. Her heart raced like a teenager’s when she thought about them setting up house together and working to turn the Flying W into one of Wyoming’s premier vacation resorts. By contrast, being here today to confront Ron was no more than a necessary chore, something that needed to be done to tidy up the loose ends of her past.
She’d originally planned to ask Harry to come with her to Virginia. Then she’d realized what a big mistake that would be. Through thirty-five years of marriage to Ron, she’d basically allowed him to make all the decisions except those connected to the running of the ranch. She’d never really taken responsibility for her own life: she signed their tax returns without even flicking through the pages; she managed her own bank account, but never questioned the larger financial picture. On an emotional level, she’d never demanded that Ron step up to the plate and either commit fully to their marriage or end it. She’d been too cowardly to risk the consequences of forcing a confrontation. Now, finally, she understood that she had to stand on her own two feet. Ron was her past and she needed to deal with him by herself. Only then would she be strong enough, and independent enough, to make Harry the equal partner he deserved to be. In a strange way, it felt good to be sitting behind the wheel of her rental car, knowing that Avery Fairfax and a bunch of other people were all depending on her to hold down the fort until they could get here.
Focus Health turned out to be located in a strip mall, lined up alongside a dentist’s office, a dog-grooming parlor, an insurance broker and a store selling hot tubs. It was eleven-thirty, and she’d been waiting here for more than two hours now. Unfortunately, that meant at least another half hour would have to pass by before there was even a slight chance of Avery, Kate and Luke arriving from the airport. She really hoped the three of them would get here before Ron put in an appearance.
The strip mall wasn’t exactly a hive of activity, although there were enough cars, minivans and trucks around that her rented Pontiac wasn’t conspicuous. So far, the most exciting thing to have happened was the brief escape from its leash of a bad-tempered poodle en route to the groomer. The little swirl of activity as the owner and various other people chased the poodle around a cluster of parked vehicles was the closest to high drama that the strip mall had managed to generate this morning. That was fine with Ellie, who suspected she wasn’t the stuff heroines were made of and didn’t need a scrap more drama in her life than she’d already had.
Time to move to a new parking spot in front of a different business, Ellie decided. She rolled down her side window both for fresh air and to give herself a clear view of her surroundings. Then she drove for a second time around the perimeter of the lot, carefully scrutinizing all the cars to make certain she hadn’t slipped up and overlooked one that was occupied. Unless Paul was hiding beneath a blanket, or on the floor, the cars were empty. Somehow, Ellie just couldn’t picture snooty Paul Fairfax squashed onto the floor of a car, ruining his two-thousand-dollar suit. He might loathe Ron Raven, but judging by her brief acquaintance with him, she’d guess he would loathe getting dust on his clothes even more.
Once she reached the service alley, she stopped and got out of the car so that she could stretch her legs. She didn’t want to risk sitting behind the wheel for so long that she ended up with a cramp when she most needed to be quick and agile.
Jogging in place for a minute, she stretched her arms over her head and did a couple of quick knee bends. She smothered a giggle, aware of what a sight she would look if anyone bothered to notice her: a middle-aged woman in her best new Ultrasuede travel suit, doing knee bends behind the Dumpster.
She did a final big stretch, closing her eyes and tilting her head up to the sun. It was a beautiful fall day, sunny enough to make the temperature comfortable, with plenty of colorful leaves still clinging to the branches of the trees. If you had to hang around a parking lot waiting to tell your bigamous husband that he was a loser, you despised him and you were getting a divorce, it was a pretty day for the job.
Ellie got back into the car and chose a new parking spot with a clear view both of the road and the entrance to Focus Health. Her rental car still hadn’t attracted a lick of attention. She’d thought at first that anyone parked for too long would create suspicion for sure since the various businesses all had beveled glass doors and windows facing out to the lot. Now she realized the glass was frosted, so that it let in light, but the people inside had only a blurred view of the parking lot.
It was good that she hadn’t been told to move on. Still, that was only the first of the hurdles she needed to overcome this morning. Ever since Avery’s phone call, she’d been worrying about how she was going to prevent Ron running away if and when he finally turned up. He’d made a dash for it the moment Kate Fairfax’s friend spotted him in his cousin’s restaurant. Why wouldn’t he do the same as soon as he noticed her? Based on his past behavior, Ron sure wasn’t going to feel he owed her the courtesy of an explanation for his years of deception and betrayal.
Two hours of mulling over the problem hadn’t yet provided any answers. Avery Fairfax had trusted her to do this right, and Ellie didn’t want to mess up. Some of that was due to pride and some of it was due to an odd feeling of kinship. She had grown up on a ranch in rural Wyoming and Avery Fairfax was an aristocrat of the old South; on the surface they couldn’t be more different, but Ellie really liked the woman, despite all the obvious reasons why she shouldn’t.
As far as she could tell, she only enjoyed one advantage over Ron this morning: she was expecting to see him, whereas he had no reason to pay special attention to a white Pontiac parked between a Ford pickup and a Toyota minivan. But even the element of surprise wasn’t as big an advantage as it might have been. After so many years of anticipating the unexpected, Ron must have developed a sixth sense for danger. To a regular person, she would be invisible. Ron, on the other hand, was quite likely to turn and look the moment he heard the car door open.
Ellie allowed herself the luxury of a sigh. Truth was, she couldn’t prevent Ron running away, at least while she was on her own and the two of them were out here in the open. Even catching the fleeing poodle had required a posse of four women. She wouldn’t have a hope of corralling six-foot, one-hundred-and-ninety-pound Ron while he had the entire parking lot to run around in. He’d be back in his car and driving off, Lord knew where, the first glimpse he got of her. For a moment, she wished that Harry was with her. His strong muscles and rock-solid common sense would sure have been welcome right about now.
She gave herself a shake, squaring her shoulders. No falling back into bad old habits, Ellie my girl. She wasn’t going to free herself from Ron only to start clinging to Harry. It was her job to find a way to keep Ron pinned down until Avery, Kate and Luke could arrive.
Think positive, she commanded herself. Concentrate on how you’re going to do it, not how difficult it’s going to be.
It would be a whole different story once Ron was inside Focus Health, Ellie mused. There was no exit from the lobby except through the front entrance, and she could block that easily enough, just by standing right there and closing t
he door behind her.
Wait, that was it! She smiled triumphantly. She’d finally hit on a solution, and a simple one at that. All she needed to do was to remain out of sight until Ron stepped into the Focus Health lobby. The second he was inside, she would have him cornered. He surely wouldn’t manhandle her in front of witnesses, so the disparity in their sizes wouldn’t matter once he was safely inside. If need be, she’d tell the folks at Focus Health the truth: that Ron was her missing husband, supposedly dead, and wanted by the police on charges of bigamy. It would be embarrassing to involve the Focus Health employees in her problems, but the circumstances were out of the ordinary and she couldn’t worry about social rules at this point. Etiquette would have to surrender to justice.
More relaxed now that she’d come up with something that almost deserved the name of a plan, Ellie leaned back in her seat and took a small sip from the bottle of water she’d brought from the hotel. She couldn’t drink too much or she’d be searching for a restroom before she knew it. Who could have guessed that surveillance was so darn complicated? she thought, sneaking another look at her watch. Only fifteen minutes had passed, drat it. Still not a chance in the world that Avery Fairfax would be arriving from the airport for another little while.
A small panel van drove up and parked a couple of spaces down from the entrance to Focus Health. The logo on the side announced Snow White Linen and Uniform at Your Service. Ellie waited for the driver to get out and make a delivery, but ten minutes ticked by and nothing happened.
A deliveryman who didn’t make deliveries warranted a second look, but it was difficult to get a clear view of him behind the tinted glass of his window. She could see nothing more than that he was a middle-aged man of medium build, wearing a cap. He wasn’t eating or drinking, so he hadn’t parked to enjoy his lunch. He wasn’t checking a clipboard, leastways she couldn’t see one. He was just sitting there, looking around the parking lot. Could this possibly be Paul Fairfax?
It seemed to her that the man’s gaze came to rest on her a couple of times, but he apparently wasn’t curious enough to get out of his van and check on her. If the driver was Paul Fairfax, she had the same advantage with him that she had with Ron: neither man was expecting to see her. It was a pity that she couldn’t just walk over and introduce herself, since cooperating with Paul would surely double their chances of success. Still, Avery had clearly warned her to stay away from Paul, and she could only assume Avery knew what she was talking about. The man was her brother, after all.
Ellie picked up the magazine she’d put on the front seat and pretended to read. She tipped the water bottle against her mouth, although she didn’t actually drink. Hopefully, she looked like an office worker taking a break and eating lunch in her car. From behind the cover of her magazine, she kept a close eye on the van.
The driver finally turned his face so that she could see him almost full on and she studied him intently. She had always been lucky enough to have good eyesight, and although she needed glasses for close work these days, her distance vision remained twenty/twenty. She couldn’t say for sure that she was looking at Paul Fairfax, but she was ninety-five percent positive.
Her cell phone rang and the caller ID displayed the name Avery Fairfax. Ellie flipped the phone open so fast she almost dropped it. Please God, let Avery say she would be here within the next two minutes. “Yes, Avery, I’m so glad you called. Where are you?”
“We’re about to pick up the rental car and we hope to be heading out of the airport in the next five minutes. Are you at Focus Health, Ellie? What’s going on?”
“I’m at Focus Health,” she confirmed. “Well, in the parking lot outside, actually. Not much is going on, although I think your brother is here. I can’t be sure because he drove up in a delivery truck and he hasn’t gotten out. Just before you called I was wondering if I should maybe walk over and let him know I’m here. Otherwise, it seems to me, there’s a risk whatever he’s intending to do when Ron arrives might interfere with my plans. Plus if the two of us cooperated, there’s less chance Ron could make a dash for it—”
“Ellie, listen to me.” Avery’s normally musical voice was harsh with strain. “Whatever you do, don’t let Paul know that you’re there. Don’t approach him. Try to keep out of his line of sight. Above all, don’t trust him!”
Ellie was taken aback by Avery’s vehemence. “All right—”
“Luke says we’ll be at Focus Health in thirty minutes or less.” Avery must be really stressed to cut in while somebody was speaking, Ellie thought. “Hang in there, Ellie, and with luck we’ll be able to tackle Ron and my brother together.”
Another car turned into the parking lot. It was a dark blue Mercedes, and as it drew closer, Ellie saw that the man behind the wheel looked to be about fifty, with black, straight hair and a solid, muscular build. “I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky,” she said. “I think Ron just drove into the parking lot right now.”
“Ellie, take care! Remember, the most important thing is that you avoid getting hurt.”
“Yes, I understand. I have to go.” Ellie’s palms turned sweaty and her breath came twice as fast as normal. She closed the phone and watched as Ron parked the Mercedes directly outside the entrance to Focus Health. She was quite sure it was Ron, even though he was wearing a wig. After he disappeared and all his lies were exposed, she’d wasted a lot of time wondering if she’d ever really known him at all. Seeing the man at the wheel of the Mercedes, she realized that she might not know Ron Raven the man, but she could recognize his outward appearance, even when he was disguised. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she was looking at the man who’d lived with her for thirty-five years, telling her he loved her for each and every one of them.
The deliveryman had finally gotten out of his van and was standing by the rear doors, just waiting. From where she was parked, she could see him quite clearly, and she was more than ever convinced she was looking at Paul Fairfax. Height, body build, stance—everything fit. From where Ron was parked, Paul would be invisible until he started walking into Focus Health. She supposed that was a good thing, but the fact that she had no idea what Paul planned to do bothered Ellie. She could only hope that his plan for confronting Ron wouldn’t interfere with hers.
She was surprised at how hard it was to stay quietly in her car and bide her time, even though she knew full well that lying low offered her the best chance of successfully cornering Ron. Adrenaline was rushing through her, urging her to jump out of the car and shout insults at Ron until she could rid herself of all the hurt and anger piled up inside. Taking deep breaths, she forced herself to be sensible and not let pent-up anger ruin her chance of success.
Ron got out of the car, slipping his sunglasses into the breast pocket of his jacket in a gesture so familiar that for a moment Ellie’s heart stopped. He reached into the back for his briefcase. At the same instant, she saw Paul Fairfax emerge at a fast run from behind the shelter of his van and raise his hand to take aim—
“Oh my God, no! Ron, look out! He’s going to shoot you!” She hurtled out of her car just in time to see Ron swing toward her, his face displaying an expression of utter astonishment.
Paul was running, as well, but there had been no sound of a shot and Ron was still on his feet. Hadn’t Paul been aiming a gun, after all? Had he missed? She was still a couple of yards away when Ron seemed to freeze. The next minute he doubled over and fell to his knees.
Paul was already there when she arrived at Ron’s side. She doubled over to cut a stitch. “Oh God, you shot him!”
Ron’s face was contorted with pain, and he seemed to be struggling to speak, moving Ellie to an unexpected tenderness. She discovered that imagining vengeance and actually seeing the injured body of a man you had once cared about were two very different things. She knelt beside Ron, searching for a wound, but there was no blood that she could find, no gaping bullet wound.
“Of course I didn’t shoot him,” Paul Fairfax said. “I used a
Taser, that’s all.” As he spoke, Ron started to get up, but he fell back to his knees when Paul pushed the Taser against his chest and once again pulled the trigger. Ron collapsed onto the ground, literally stunned, his body freezing in a rictus of pain.
“What did you just do, for heaven’s sake? There was no need to Taser him again.”
“It’s set on low.” Paul sounded disdainful rather than apologetic. “Help me get Ron to the van before we attract a crowd.”
“He can’t walk!”
“Then help me! There’s someone coming out of the Hot Tub Emporium. We need to get Ron on his feet and out of sight.” Paul looped Ron’s arm around his neck and started walking, dragging Ron at his side. Ellie draped Ron’s other arm over her shoulders, wondering if she ought to be calling to the passerby for help instead of concealing what Paul had done.
“Ron will be fine in a few minutes. You look disapproving, Mrs. Raven, but you should know your own husband by now. I had to think of some method to prevent him running away and this was the best I could come up with.”
Using a Taser struck Ellie as a brutal way to achieve that goal, but she had to admit it was effective. There had been no noise to attract attention, Ron was unable to flee the scene, and the long-term effects on his health would hopefully be nil. She realized she was paying scant heed to Avery’s warning to keep away from Paul, but in the circumstances she didn’t see what choice she had. It was a little late to walk away and pretend she wasn’t there.
They covered the short distance to the van without mishap and Ellie helped Paul lift Ron’s limp body into the spacious rear compartment. “He’s not a young man,” she said, worried that Ron showed no signs of recovery. “He’s going to need medical attention.”
Payback Page 30