Rock Rhapsody

by Rachel Cross

  Kate covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, no.” She had forgotten all about dropping that ring of keys in the confrontation with Billingsly. She smacked her head. Some of the safe keys were on there, locked up electronic devices, some costume jewelry — which for wealthy people like Mrs. Jonnard — could mean a lot of gold and silver. And she was supposed to be the caretaker.

  Kate searched her pockets for her phone. Damn it. She’d left it in the kitchen.

  “Have you got your phone?”

  “Mine’s in my purse, in the foyer.”

  Taking a deep breath, Kate wrapped Emma up in her arms.

  “Kate, I’m so sorry, the money, everything — ”

  “Shhhh. It’s okay. Listen, we need to keep this on the down low until I can get to my phone or tell Alec. Can you relax a bit?”

  Emma dashed away tears. “I can try.”

  “Let’s get your phone.”

  Emma led the way out to the living room. Kate pasted on a smile.

  “What’s going on?” Matt asked, glancing between the two women.

  “Nothing,” Emma replied, too quickly.

  Matt’s eyes narrowed further. His shrewd gaze bore into Kate.

  He stood unsteadily.

  Alec came in from the kitchen and moved to where the women stood, frozen.

  “What’s going on?” Alec asked. “Emma?”

  Emma burst into noisy sobs. “I want him to leave.”

  “Time to go, Matt,” Alec said.

  Matt smiled. “How ’bout you make me leave? Permanently.”

  Kate’s mouth dropped open.

  “That didn’t take long, Matt. Let me guess, I’m supposed to give you money so you leave the girls alone?” Alec said.

  “I know what you’re worth. You won’t even miss it,” Matt replied.

  Kate gasped, outraged, turning to face Alec. His expression was unchanged.

  He’s been expecting this. Nausea moved through Kate. She put a hand to her stomach. It wasn’t fair. First his family, now hers? She’d be damned if she’d let him.

  Shaking, Kate turned to him. “Alec. If you care for me you will not pay that bastard one red cent. He’s already taken enough from us.”

  Alec gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s not that I’m morally opposed to paying to have trash taken away from my home. The problem I have is that the trash never goes away permanently.”

  Matt tried to interrupt but Alec talked over him, studying his nails.

  “So I’m going to tell you no. Not a dime.”

  Kate hugged Emma to her and held her.

  “Ladies, why don’t you go to the kitchen?” Alec suggested. The two women moved behind Alec.

  “I wish I’d never met you.” Emma sobbed, facing her dad. “You’re nothing but a thief.”

  Matt’s eyes widened and the mask fell away. His face twisted in fury.

  Kate instinctively stepped closer to Alec, pulling Emma behind her and away from their father.

  “A thief?” Alec asked. “Kate?”

  Kate sighed. So much for keeping that on the down low. “He’s been stealing from the Jonnards.”

  “I’m calling the police.” Alec drew his phone from his pocket then herded the two women into the kitchen.

  Kate turned, startled by the thwunk behind her and just in time to see Alec crumple to the ground. Emma screamed. Matt approached his prone body, long, heavy, pewter vase in hand. Yellow tulips and water spread over the hardwood floor.

  “Emma. Get your phone. Call nine-one-one,” Kate instructed softly, giving her a shove toward the direction of the front door, inching toward her father.

  Matt bent and raised the vase in the air, ready to administer another blow.

  Kate dove for him. The impact knocked them both to the hardwood floor, the vase fell to the ground. Grunting, they wrestled near the fireplace. Kate was vaguely aware of someone screaming. Short bursts of hysteria, punctuated by her pants and Matt’s snarling. Matt threw an elbow. The blow connected with her cheek and eye. Her head snapped back and she saw stars for a moment.

  Pain turned to rage in an instant. As he struggled to get purchase on her, she sank her teeth into the nearest part of her father’s anatomy. His bicep. Matt shook her off with a howl, and scrambled away. She crawled after him and he kicked at her, catching her in the shoulder. She flew back with a grunt of pain.

  Matt got to his feet and lurched toward the kitchen. Her father, not completely sober or sane. Heading into the kitchen. Her brain pieced things together with startling awareness, the carving knife on the counter. Every impulse narrowed and focused.

  Kate picked up the heavy, wet vase lying next to Alec’s body. Her left arm was not responding to the commands her brain was sending. Dislocated, she noted dispassionately.

  Alec was moaning now, though it was hard to hear him over Emma’s hysterical sobs. She didn’t give them a thought as she followed Matt, moving deliberately toward the kitchen. Kate could only see out of one eye, the other nearly swollen shut. Holding the heavy vase behind her, she entered the kitchen.

  Chapter 26

  Kate stood in the entryway, watching silently as Matt picked up the carving knife laid out on the island. If he wanted to get to Emma or Alec, he would have to go through her. Sensing her presence, he whirled, knife in hand, raised it as he lunged toward her.

  “Screw you and your rich boyfriend!” he screamed, his face a mottled mask of rage.

  She waited until the last second, hampered by her impaired vision, then swung with every ounce of strength. The heavy vase connected with his arm, releasing a loud crack. Matt howled in pain, dropped the knife and cradled his injured arm to his body, backing up. She kicked the knife away. It skittered across the floor. She advanced on him, vase held high. Her heart raced fury through her veins. He held up his good arm to ward her off, cringing. She moved forward, tightening her grip on the vase, eager to keep swinging.

  “Kate,” Alec’s slurred voice came from behind her. “Kate.”

  She stiffened, but she didn’t dare look at him. She didn’t dare take her good eye off her father.

  Matt heard him. His eyes were wild.

  “I’m gonna sit here — ” Alec said weakly, from behind her. She heard him hit the floor, not gracefully. Her anger abated. The sound of sirens was drawing closer.

  “Emma!”

  “I’m here.” Her voice quavered from the entryway.

  “Make sure Alec stays down. Let the police in when they come.”

  • • •

  Alec heard himself moan.

  Oh no.

  Had he been using again? He had the mother of all hangovers. He didn’t dare open his eyes. The pain in his head was a relentless, piercing agony. He opened one eye carefully, groaning at the fresh wave of pain and nausea. A face loomed over him. Who was that? He couldn’t place the man.

  “God,” he groaned. “What happened?” He was slurring. Was he wasted? Not around Kate. Please, anything but that. Another face and torso with a uniform came into view. This one he didn’t recognize.

  The room was spinning, the pain in his head incapacitating. He closed his eyes and had a very real fear that he would throw up, lying on his back. Was that to be his fate? Kinda cliché for a rock musician.

  “Babe, you going to get sick?” Kate asked him. It was Kate, all right. Her scent, the sound of her voice was unmistakable. She was here? Witnessing this?

  “Nah.” He didn’t have a clue how he came to be lying here on his back, but he’d be damned if he’d get sick in front of her. He was vaguely aware of radios squawking, and lots and lots of male voices.

  “A precaution, Mr. Sawyer.” He tried to open his eyes, but the pain was worse that way. Someone put something stiff and plastic around his neck. An
immobilization device. He felt himself lifted onto something. Even that small amount of movement had him groaning. He felt a hand take his. Kate. Even in his agony, he knew her touch.

  “S’all right, Kate,” he slurred as they moved him again, up in the air, then rolled him gently. “I’ll fix this.”

  “There’s nothing to fix, Alec. Everything’s under control. The medics are taking you to the hospital for evaluation. It’s just a precaution. You might have a concussion.”

  Kate sounded … neutral. He didn’t think he’d ever heard her use that distant, professional voice before.

  Ah. So he hadn’t been drinking. Despite the pain, a wave of relief washed over him. Thank God.

  Alec lay there holding her hand. He gave a squeeze to let her know he’d heard her. More movement, shuffling him around. It hurt to breathe.

  • • •

  Kate let go of Alec as they lifted him from the backboard onto the stretcher near the front door. “How’s he doing?” Emma asked.

  “They’ll put him in the ambulance for transport. They might try to start an IV before heading out,” Kate replied, dully. Her gut churned in earnest and she forced down nausea. Lightheaded, she sat down abruptly on the tile floor. Then the shaking started. She shook so hard her teeth chattered. She put her head in her hand, the other arm hanging useless.

  “Oh God. Oh God.”

  She realized, distantly, that she was on the verge of hysteria.

  Emma knelt next to her, holding her good side.

  “Kate. Calm down. Kate, he’s okay. He’s going to be okay.” Emma kept repeating the words over and over.

  Kate turned to look at her. Emma cast a worried glance at the police officer who was watching their interaction closely. The man waved the ambulance crew over to Kate. They checked her eye, gave her an ice pack, took her vitals and examined her shoulder. She flinched away. They made quick work of immobilizing it in a sling. She couldn’t concentrate on what was being said. Nothing made sense.

  There was a keening noise in the distance. Emma’s hands turned her face roughly. Their eyes met.

  “Kate. Stop it.” Emma’s voice was stern, almost angry. “He’s okay. He’s going to be okay. He’s talking. He probably just got a concussion. Nod if you understand me.”

  Kate nodded and dissolved in sobs.

  “They want to take you in. They’re worried about a possible concussion because of your eye. They also want to check your shoulder.” Emma’s voice was calm and patient.

  Kate nodded. “I’m riding with Alec.” She made a superhuman effort to get her emotions under control and stand up.

  “I don’t think they want … ” Emma’s voice trailed off at the expression in Kate’s good eye. Emma reached to gently aide her sister to her feet.

  “I’ll tell them,” Emma agreed, hastily.

  The medics helped Kate into the back of the ambulance where she buckled herself in on the bench next to Alec. She held his hand all the way to the hospital.

  An hour later, she sat in a chair in the behind the curtain in the empty emergency room cubicle, waiting for Alec to get back from his CAT scan.

  Nothing functioned properly, not her body, numb and spent, not her shoulder — immobilized by a sling — and not her vision, one eye still swollen shut. Her thoughts were stuck in a continuous sluggish loop, reliving what had happened in Alec’s living room, in his kitchen.

  Her father tried to kill Alec. Tried to kill her. She hadn’t thought him capable of it. Underestimating Matt Gibson was a mistake, and one she would never make again. Her first order of business would be to get Alec out of her life. She could not allow him to be drawn in to her messed up family. He’d fought enough of her battles. And look where it had gotten him. Kate and Emma would never be rid of Matt. Her father’s attempt to extort money from Alec rang in her ears. Matt would be incarcerated long enough to keep him away from Emma’s college tuition money, but long term? No.

  The idea of letting Alec go had grief clawing her insides, a howling thing desperate to get out. She buried it.

  Alec’s family had tried to steal from him and hadn’t bothered to step in when he was killing himself with drugs and alcohol. He didn’t need to be involved with a woman whose father was not only a rapist but a murderer. Her dad made his parents look saintly. If he wasn’t in her life, he couldn’t be affected. Simple.

  Alec’s recently revamped image would come under fire when this story got out. And it would. Of that she had no doubt. People were already talking; she could hear them whispering about her and Alec and Matt.

  Matt was currently chained to a gurney in the emergency room with a passel of police guarding him. Doubtless they would get the details of this Thanksgiving fiasco wrong, and Alec would end up the bad guy. She could picture the headlines “Alec Sawyer Hospitalized After Thanksgiving Day Drunken Brawl”.

  This time when nausea threatened, she found herself on her knees in front of the biohazard trash receptacle, retching. When her stomach was empty, she sat back on her heels, sweating and shaking.

  One of the emergency room doctors entered the room. She paused in front of Kate and gently helped her back into the chair. Pulling out her pen light, she checked Kate’s pupils.

  The doctor disappeared only to return with a cola moments later. She opened it and put it in Kate’s palm. Then with a shake of her head, put the ice pack into Kate’s unresisting fingers and moved it to her face.

  “Keep it on your eye.” She stroked Kate’s hair a moment, before she slipped back out through the curtain. Kate looked up; she hadn’t even had the wherewithal to thank her.

  The doctor had repositioned her arm when she first arrived. The sharp pain of the maneuver that put the joint back in had been replaced by a throbbing ache. Good. She could focus on that pain instead of her heartache. Absently, she adjusted the ice pack on her shoulder.

  Emma was out of the way. She hadn’t put up much resistance when Kate insisted that she go with their family friends the Morgans. Roy promised he would run Emma by the police station for a statement. He assured her he would to try to salvage what remained of Thanksgiving. The police had been kind enough to interview Kate during Alec’s examination.

  The loss of consciousness and severity of the concussion meant an overnight stay for Alec. She’d be damned if she’d leave him alone.

  She took Alec’s phone from the bedside tray and called Dave. She filled him in on the day’s events in a monotone. He wanted to come up immediately, but she forestalled him.

  “Enjoy your day with your family. I’ll stay with him tonight. Can you pick him up and take him to Los Angeles tomorrow? He’s going to need a few days of enforced rest.”

  There was silence on the other end.

  “So, I’m the enforcer, am I? Where will you be?” Dave responded, a wealth of kindness in his voice.

  Her teeth clenched as another wave of grief crested, washing over her. She waited for it to pass. It didn’t. “Here,” she managed.

  “I think he’d rather you took care of him,” he said softly. “And I’m thrilled to hand off that responsibility to you.”

  She didn’t trust her voice and tears welled in her eyes.

  “Are you there?” Dave asked.

  “Trust me, Dave; he’s better off without me and my psycho father.”

  “The Alec I know is more than capable of handling someone’s daddy issues. Don’t underestimate him.”

  “I’ve made up my mind.”

  “Kate, please don’t do this. You’re the best thing that ever happened to Alec, and he knows it.”

  “I have all your contact info in my phone. I’ll text you the specifics for tomorrow. The nurse will give you the discharge instructions,” she replied and hung up.

  • • •

  Alec had a private room but try as he
might he couldn’t get Kate to lie down and rest with him. He knew something was wrong; her body was rigid when she embraced him. But between the headache, nausea, and a vague sense of confusion he couldn’t put two thoughts together. Alec had met with the police twice already, but he wasn’t much help. He couldn’t remember anything from Thanksgiving morning and didn’t remember the fight at all. Instead, there were jumbled memories of pumpkin pie making and Christmas music.

  The ride in the ambulance to the hospital was the only memory he had. Normal with a concussion to have some amnesia, he was told. Maybe he’d feel better after sleep. At some point during the night he was restless; Kate woke him gently and crawled into the bed to lie in his arms.

  The next morning he felt a hundred times better, but there was no sign of Kate.

  Alec narrowed his eyes when Dave walked in. “Where is she?”

  Dave lifted his brows. “She didn’t say goodbye?”

  Alec scowled and swore. His head throbbed angrily in response. He relaxed his brow. Better.

  Dave glanced around the room. “This might answer some questions.” He grabbed an envelope off the rolling hospital tray.

  Alec ripped open the letter, scanned it and snorted. Ouch. Damn.

  Dave pursed his lips. “I’ve been talking to the doctors. You need a few quiet days to recover. No theatrics.” He took the note back from Alec and studied it.

  Alec considered his friend. “A few days.” He started to nod, then froze and made a mental note not to move his head. “Yes. That’ll work.”

  “I must say you’re handling this,” Dave shook the note “better than expected.”

  He gave Dave a hard look. “Burn that.”

  • • •

  “Dave?” Kate’s voice was barely audible. She was trying not to wake Emma sleeping in the next room, so she had called from the bathroom.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s Kate. I wanted to be sure you understood the discharge instructions.”

  “What discharge instructions?”