by Sharon Wray
“Then don’t let him go.” Zack took her hand and squeezed. “Please, Kate. We’re desperate. If you care at all for us, reconsider your decision to divorce Kells.”
* * *
“Allie! I painted my treasure box.” Danny tossed his metal lunch box into her tree house and scrambled in. His blond hair stuck up everywhere. “Want to know why?”
She glanced at the white and green broken daisies he’d painted along the sides of the lunch box, in between the superheroes. Then she turned the page of Wuthering Heights and ate another handful of popcorn. “No.”
“Mercy Chastain used her broken daisy to protect herself from her accusers. It was her tally man.”
“Talisman.”
“Right!” His green eyes shone with excitement. “I read it in the witch’s examination before it went missing. I’m doing the same thing to protect us from Fenwick.”
Allison threw popcorn at him. “Don’t let Mama hear you say that.”
He sat crisscross-applesauce and held the treasure box on his lap. “I also overheard Mama talking to Fenwick about the dread pirate Henry Avery. He killed Mercy, and in return she cursed anyone who looked for Henry’s treasure.”
Allison rolled her eyes. “That means the daisy didn’t work for her.”
“Or she didn’t use it properly.”
“If you spent more time on schoolwork and less time reading about pirates, Mom and Fenwick wouldn’t yell at you so much.”
Danny’s lips trembled. “I hate them.”
She closed her book. “No, you don’t.”
Mama and Fenwick weren’t kind, but they didn’t beat their kids. At least, not Danny.
“I do!” Danny fisted his hands. “I think Fenwick killed Dad. If Dad had used the broken daisy, he might still be alive.”
She sighed. They’d been having this conversation a lot lately. “It was an accident while Dad was looking for me in the woods.” Which was all her fault because she’d had a fight with her mother and had run away. “Dad tripped and his gun went off. Even the police said so.”
“Then why did Mama marry Fenwick so quickly?”
She scooted back until she rested against the tree house wall, dragging Danny and his box with her. She blinked away tears. She missed her father horribly and wished she could go back and change things. “I don’t know.”
“I can prove it, Allie,” Danny whispered against her shoulder. “I mean, I can almost prove it. You should keep the treasure box. You need protection more than I do. They’re meaner to you.”
She breathed in his scent of puppies and pine. “If you keep fighting them, things will get worse.”
“Some things are worth fighting for, Allie.” Danny sniffled. “We’re worth fighting for.”
She rested her chin on his head and closed her eyes. “You’re worth fighting for, Danny. Me, not so much.”
“You can’t believe what Mama says about you.” His voice deepened, startling her with its sudden maturity. “She’s changed since she married Fenwick. He’s changed her.”
“It doesn’t matter. Remember, we have a plan.”
His voice hitched. “Are we still running away to live with Nana in New Orleans?”
“Shh.” She opened her eyes and touched his lips with her finger. “You can’t tell anyone. You have to pretend like everything is still the same. Go to school and have your friends over. But, yes, once we have enough money, we’re leaving here. Forever.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged hard. “I love you, Allie!”
“I love you too, Danny. I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
* * *
Allison was drowning. She opened her eyes and couldn’t move. Her arms and legs were frozen. She couldn’t even blink. Worse, every gasp for breath left her choking.
The memories of the day before Danny died kept her paralyzed. Those moments replayed in her mind over and over again. She’d promised to protect him and yet he’d drowned.
Find a path back.
Zack’s words called to her. She was strong enough to fight this half-waking nightmare, to reclaim her life. She focused on one finger at a time.
I can do this.
She closed her eyes, the only function she could actually control, and went back to her fingers. This time she imagined her fingers tracing Zack’s tattoos. Along one arm, around his back, and down the other arm. Every one of the dragon’s scales, his green eyes, the golden hilt of the lance striking its heart.
One finger moved.
She changed her mental image to one of his hard chest. The cuts and indentations of muscles so unlike her soft stomach. The feel of hair covering warm skin. The dark line that led from his belly button down to… Her toe moved.
As her visual exercise became more erotic, she swallowed. Remembering his powerful body deep inside hers, filling and stretching and claiming, made her lower abdomen clench. Remembering the moment he climaxed, the way his eyes darkened, allowed her to fist her hands. Remembering the way he said I love you loosened her chest and brought a rush of air into her lungs.
With every memory of their lovemaking, she reclaimed more of her own body. A few minutes later, she was able to sit up in bed and wonder why her entire body ached.
Of course. Everything rushed back in vivid color. She glanced around the room, realizing she was alone.
Once she’d put herself back together, Allison went downstairs, following the lanterns. She’d showered and put her clothes on. Thank goodness the bathroom was stocked with toiletries. It was amazing what a difference a toothbrush and a comb made in a girl’s life.
She followed the voices to the back of the house. Despite her sleep paralysis, she’d only slept for twenty minutes.
“Kells is pissed at me because I won’t follow his orders, and your pending divorce is making him even angrier.” Zack’s voice came out of the kitchen.
Allison paused in the shadowed hallway, one palm against the wall. She didn’t want to interrupt the heated conversation.
“My divorce isn’t about you,” Kate responded. “I have to do this.”
“No, you don’t. There are things going on that you don’t know. Those of us still free may end up going to prison after all.”
Allison heard a loud clanging, like a porcelain mug hitting a steel sink.
“That’s not possible,” Kate said. “Your discharges were approved—”
“Kate, when will you understand that the rule of law doesn’t apply here? It has never applied. Our teams were set up, our men imprisoned without due process, there was no real defense, and our futures were negotiated by Kells’s contact without our input. That means Kells’s contact can do whatever he wants to us.”
“You’re worrying about nothing, Zack.”
“Really? Kells is freaked.”
“Once Kells signs the divorce paperwork and realizes we both need to get on with our lives, he’ll feel better.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong.” Zack’s laugh was short and harsh. “Kells loves you. He will never get over losing you. That’s the truth of it.”
“Loves me like you love Allison?”
“My feelings for Allison have nothing to do with this.”
“Zack, they have everything to do with this.”
“Am I interrupting?” Allison entered the room lit with lanterns and flashlights. If she was going to reclaim her life, she needed to do it with honesty and dignity.
Zack smiled when he saw her. “Are you hungry?”
She pressed a hand against her rumbly stomach. Despite eating her way through the French Quarter, she was hungry. “Yes.”
Kate brought a tray of sandwiches to the table and then went to the two-burner camping stove on the counter. A saucepan sat over one of the propane-fueled flames; a coffeepot sat on the other. From the saucepan,
she ladled out a bowl of soup. “I hope you like tomato.”
“I do.” Allison sat in the chair Zack pulled out for her. “Thank you.”
Kate came over with the bowl and a smile.
Allison took a sip. “It’s wonderful.”
Zack brought her a glass of water. “You didn’t sleep for very long.”
“I slept a bit.”
Zack met Allison’s gaze, but his was unreadable. “I explained the situation to Kate. She’s married to Kells, my boss.”
Allison nodded. “Thank you for taking us in, Kate.”
“Not at all.” Kate graced her with another one of those killer smiles. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, please. With cream and sugar.”
Zack glanced at his watch. “Kate, I’m going to try your emergency radio again.”
“Here.” Kate handed him a cup of coffee.
When Zack left, Allison wasn’t sure what to say so she started with, “This is a beautiful house.”
“Thank you.” Kate came over with two more mugs of coffee, both with cream and sugar. “It belonged to my mother. When she married my father, she moved to Boston. After her death, she left it to me.”
“You didn’t grow up here?”
“No. My father hates New Orleans. Too hot and buggy.”
Allison started on the sandwich. Eating was good because it helped quell the awkward pauses.
“I know this sounds weird”—Kate stared into her mug—“but I know a lot about you.”
“Me?” Allison wiped her lips with a napkin. “How?”
“I’ve known Zack since he joined the Seventh Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. The unit was close.”
“Your husband, Kells, was in charge?” Allison took another bite of her sandwich.
“Yes. And I made it my mission to get to know all the men.” Kate stared out the dark window, as if remembering something. “I’m not sure if I should tell you this, but Zack has been in love with you since I’ve known him.”
“He also had a fiancée.”
“Not for long.” Kate sat across from Allison. “You were the only one he ever talked about. You have always been everything to him.”
The bread suddenly tasted dry, like sandpaper. She had no business being anyone’s everything. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted that job. Although she and Zack were intimate and he loved her, she knew in her heart that she couldn’t love him the same way. She’d never loved anyone that way. And when she’d tried, her husband ended up having an affair with a murderess.
And having wild sex every night with Zack? That wasn’t love. It was solace.
“Allison?” Kate touched her hand. “I’m sorry about your husband.”
She met Kate’s gaze, and it took everything inside her to act normal despite the fact that she’d just realized: if she didn’t want to break Zack’s heart, she had to tell him they didn’t have a future. Not a long-term one, anyway. “Zack told you?”
“Yes. It’s awful what happened. Zack also told me what you two are trying to do.” Kate got up, turned off the burners, and shut the valve on the small propane tank. “With any luck, you’ll never meet Remiel Marigny.”
“We can’t find the appendix. And we may not be able to save Emilie.”
Kate gripped the counter, her back toward Allison. “I know. I hate what’s been happening to my…Kells and his men.”
Allison finished her soup and sandwich and brought her dishes to the sink. She hated what this was doing to Zack and would give anything to be able to fix it. Especially since his career might be the only thing he had left. “We have one remaining clue.”
Kate looked at Allison. “What’s that?”
“The man we met tonight mentioned Stuart may have hidden the appendix to protect me and that he’d had help from someone named Danny.”
“Do you know who this Danny is?”
“He’s my brother who drowned when I was eleven.”
Kate took Allison’s hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry.”
Allison nodded and noticed her tote bag on a chair. “Danny believed my uncle killed our father to marry our mother. Danny was so obsessed by the possibility that our uncle would hurt me, he reread Hamlet daily. The irony is that he’s the one who drowned.” She took out Stuart’s planner and flipped through the pages again until she came to the quote. “‘When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.’”
“That’s from Hamlet?”
“Yes. It’s engraved on Danny’s tombstone.” She wiped her eyes. “I guilted my mother into having that quote put on his tombstone. She wanted something else, but I insisted. The interesting thing is that earlier today I noticed something new—a crude engraving of a broken daisy on the back of Danny’s tomb. Someone had also planted flowers and herbs.”
“Why a broken daisy?”
“It was Mercy Chastain’s talisman.”
“Zack told me about your ancestor, the unnamed accused witch from 1703.”
“Danny believed the broken daisy was supposed to keep Mercy safe.” Allison flipped through the calendar pages. “Three months ago, I planted violets on Danny’s tomb. Whoever carved that broken daisy and planted rosemary, thistle, and lilies of the valley had to have done it since then.”
“Any idea who?”
Allison spun the planner around and pointed to a particular calendar block. It was marked St. Philip’s Churchyard. “In a box of Stuart’s things, I found a receipt for a garden center dated the same day—the same day he’d borrowed a hammer and a chisel. I think Stuart bought those flowers and planted them behind Danny’s grave after he carved that broken daisy.”
Kate read the planner. “Do you think that broken daisy is a message?”
“Maybe. Although I don’t know what the plants mean.”
“They’re plants found in Marian gardens.” Kate glanced at Allison and shrugged. “I’m a historical horticulturalist. My company restores historical gardens. Here in New Orleans, there are a number of abandoned churches with attached gardens that were once dedicated to the Virgin Mary. They were called Marian gardens, designed with specific plants symbolizing different moments in her life.
“Rosemary, thistle, and white lilies of the valley represent three of Mary’s dolors, also known as sorrows. Rosemary represents the flight from Egypt, thistle represents her son’s passion, and the lilies of the valley represent her tears at the crucifixion. All three flowers are also powerful symbols of protection: physical, emotional, and spiritual.”
“That’s interesting, but why would Stuart plant them? Why carve a broken daisy on Danny’s tomb?” Allison stared out the dark window. She didn’t even react when the lights turned back on. “Danny believed Mercy’s broken daisy was a symbol to ward off her accusers. Kind of like apotropaic marks are symbols to protect from curses.”
Kate touched Allison’s shoulder. “Did Danny ever use an image of a broken daisy to protect himself?”
Allison pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes. “I think I know where Stuart hid the appendix.”
* * *
Zack found the women in the kitchen, hovering over Stuart’s planner. Instead of checking the emergency radio, he’d rescued the car. Isabel’s men had disappeared, and since it was dark out, he’d been able to run with his weapon ready without anyone noticing. “What’s wrong?”
Allison smiled but didn’t meet his gaze. “I think I found the appendix. It’s in Charleston.”
Zack picked her up and spun her around. “Now that the power is on, our plane can leave. You can tell me in the car how you figured it out.”
Allison left his embrace and picked up her tote bag. “Thank you for helping us, Kate.”
“Of course.” Kate gave Allison a hug. “Safe travels. I hope you find Emilie soon.”
So did he. “
Turn on the house alarm after we leave, Kate. And make sure that shotgun Nate gave you is loaded.”
“I will.” She followed them toward the foyer, turning the lanterns off along the way. “I keep the knife Pete gave me, along with Luke’s whistle and Ty’s pepper spray, in my purse. And tell Cain while I appreciate his gift of brass knuckles, I’m not sure how to use them.”
Zack chuckled. “Please reconsider the divorce, Kate. It’s killing Kells.”
Kate opened the door. “I’ve already filed the paperwork and am waiting for a court date.”
Zack paused near the open entrance. A breeze blew through, and he could smell ozone in the air. It was about to rain again. “Is there anything I can say to change your mind?”
“No.”
Zack kissed her cheek and walked Allison to the car. For the first few minutes after they drove away, Allison told him why she believed the appendix was in Charleston. While he wasn’t sure about her logic, it was possible.
The other thing he wasn’t sure about? She seemed…distant. Or maybe she was just tired.
Once they hit I-10, his phone buzzed with a text and he dug it out of his pocket. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?”
He held the phone so she could read Kells’s text.
Don’t come back to Savannah. Ever.
“What does this mean?” she asked.
“I’ve just been fired.”
Chapter 37
Nate paced the back room of Iron Rack’s gym.
Over the past two months, he’d been turning this storeroom into their unit’s command post. So far he’d scored folding tables, six chairs, and a metal filing cabinet they used as their armory. The room reeked of chemical fumes from their desperate attempt to get rid of mold.
The gym was still undergoing renovations, so their real issue was power. Until they redid the wiring and got better internet service, it was impossible to use the equipment and put up the kinds of firewalls a computer geek like Luke required.
Luke, Ty, and Cain came in with sullen faces and coffee mugs and sat at the table. They’d had a long day dealing with gym members and Kells’s mood. Being down two men had been harder than Nate had expected.