“I think she’s already here,” Ruby said, glancing around the room. “I haven’t seen her yet, but I’m sure she is. She warned me that it will all be over by tonight.”
“What will? What did she find out?” I asked.
“Come take a walk with me,” Ruby said, rising from her seat.
I stood and caught Harlon’s eye across the room. He pushed through the crowds, heading in our direction. When he reached me, he stopped me with a single touch and met my gaze. “You know those guests you were expecting? They’re at my house waiting on me.”
That was fast. I’d guessed it was coming but surely thought it wouldn’t be during this event. Or had that been exactly why it had been during this event? Was there something more going on here?
“Let me get my—”
“No,” he cut me off. “I don’t want you anywhere near this. I’ll take a cab home and leave Dean to drive you, but only after I give him the all clear. If it takes all night, then he’ll put you up in a hotel.”
“But, Harlon—”
He cut me off this time with a kiss. “Everything will be fine.”
My heart clenched as I watched him leave.
“What guests?” Ruby asked, leading me around the room.
“Guests we’ve been expecting,” I answered, and my words slurred. When my foot caught on a chair, Ruby caught my arm.
“You must not be a drinker. It looks like the champagne has gone to your head. Come on. Let’s get some air.”
She guided me to the patio doors, but I pulled to a stop. Riley Wilcox was across the room, slipping out a side door. “What is he doing here?”
“Who?” Ruby asked.
I pointed to where Riley had disappeared. “Riley. He was right over there.”
Ruby threaded her arm around mine. “I didn’t see him, but he still comes to these things from time to time. His latest invention was a flop. A dog whistle that…get this...doesn’t call the dog but drives them insane, making ready to attack whoever blew it.”
She tried to pull me again, but I dug my feet in. “How do you know that his latest invention was a failure?”
Ruby looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you guys no longer work together, right? So how do you know it failed? Was it in the paper? Did you overhear people talking about it? Or are you and he still talking?”
Ruby lifted her shoulders. “I don’t remember, but why does it matter where I heard it?” Ruby leaned in. “Suzie said this was all about drugs.”
I stepped out onto the patio, and this time, it was Ruby who fell, and I caught her. Sweat beaded her brow, and her breaths turned shallow and her face white.
“Ruby, how much did you have to drink?” I asked as I eased her down into a chair. Her eyes started rolling as if she were trying to focus.
“Ruby, how many?” I asked louder, tapping her face. Her gaze focused for a mere minute.
“I only had those two. I drank one, and I gave you one.” She held up her finger before it fell on her lap.
If someone knew about Suzie and Ruby and was trying to hurt the family, they’d go after Ruby too. I was sure of it.
I stuffed my purse in the shrubs and wrapped Ruby’s arm around my shoulder, practically carrying her around the hotel to where the limos were parked. Dean saw me coming.
“What is wrong with her?”
“I don’t know. Call EMS, or if it’s quicker, get her to a hospital. I think she might have been drugged,” I said, handing her off to him. I opened the back door.
“And you?” he asked. “You aren’t looking too well.”
I wiped the sweat beading on my brow. “I only had a few sips of her champagne. Let me go back and grab my purse, and you can take me too.”
“Why don’t you stay in the limo with her, and I’ll go get it. Just tell me where you left it,” Dean offered.
“I’ll get it. It won’t take just a minute.” I kicked off my heels to jog around the house.
I searched the patio for it, where I’d hidden it in the shrubs so I could use both hands to carry Ruby. I grabbed the purse and lifted my gaze. My breath caught in my throat. Off in the distance was the horse stables I’d seen in my premonition, and if that weren’t bad enough, I watched Suzie sneaking inside.
Chapter 23
“Crap,” I muttered, digging in my purse. I wrapped my fingers around the bear spray. Stepping inside, I caught the waitress again and handed her fifty dollars. “Black limo, the driver’s name is Dean. Tell him I found what I’m looking. I’m heading into the stables. Tell him to call the police.”
The waitress’s brows dipped. “Are you, a cop?”
“Nope. Just a good Samaritan,” I said, hiding the purse back in the shrubs. The picture I’d drawn of this moment depicted Suzie being held at gunpoint in one of the stalls.
The grass tickled my bare feet as I jogged down the embankment. I hiked up my dress to climb through the gate where Suzie had crossed. Music and lights faded behind me with each step I took, taking me farther and farther away from anyone who would hear me yell for help.
Cursing beneath my breath and clutching the canister of bear spray, I rounded the stables to the opposite entrance from where Suzie had snuck in. I grabbed a cattle prod as I strolled past a work bench, adding to my arsenal. One of my meager weapons was bound to work.
I crept into a stall. The sound of voices drifted to my ears. I paused in the shadows. A man stood in darkness with his back to me. I could see the outline of a gun in his hand.
“You just had to be a control freak, and now I’ve got to get rid of you.”
I knew that voice. Only it didn’t belong to the person I thought it would. It wasn’t Riley’s voice; it was Milton’s.
“You’re the one who’s using our crates and dogs to import the drugs? How could you, Milton? We’re family, and it’s our business too.”
“This quit being a family business when you fucking dumped me six months ago, or have you forgotten?” Milton growled.
“Is that what this is about? You’re trying to get back at me?” Suzie asked.
The hard metal barrel of a gun pressed into my head.
“Drop the cattle prod, Nina,” Quinton said from behind me.
I closed my eyes and dropped it. “I should have guessed.”
I slid the bear spray into my bra then held up my hands.
Milton glanced over his shoulder seconds before cocking his trigger. “Don’t move, Suzie.”
“Nina, so good of you to join us.” Milton slid out of the way while Quinton shoved me inside.
There were no horses inside. Only a dog crate and a table with three boxes on it. The boxes were empty. The dog toys were discarded at the end of the table with the drugs and money on the other.
“You’re smuggling drugs?” I asked. “Harlon is your friend. Why would you set him up?”
“Harlon?” Suzie asked. “What did you two assholes do?”
“Tried to frame him,” I answered as Quinton shoved me deeper into the stall from behind. I tripped on my skirt and fell to the ground into the hay and came face to face with a bulldog baring his teeth at me. I slid the bear mace out from between my boobs and clutched it in my hand.
Suzie helped me to stand, and I held the bear spray behind my back.
Quinton began packing up the drugs and the money.
“Why would you ruin your company?”
“Drugs pay more,” Milton said.
“Shut up, Mil. They don’t deserve an answer,” Quinton said, glancing over his shoulder at his brother, who had his back to us.
“So, you’ve sunk to the likes of Riley’s family?” I asked.
They both started laughing.
“It wasn’t Riley’s family involved with the mob. It was ours,” Milton said.
“Shut up, Milton,” Quinton demanded.
“It doesn’t matter, brother. They’re going to both die together, and it’ll kill Harlon that he couldn’t stop it. Both his siste
r and his future wife. Soon we won’t have to worry about him either, after the cops find the drugs.”
“Wife?” Suzie asked.
“Long story,” I whispered. I moved to the other side of Suzie and slipped my hand into hers.
“How about we have a little bit of fun with them first, Quinton?” Milton stepped forward with the gun in hand. His gaze set on Suzie. “I bet you’re still a fucking wildcat in bed.”
He stepped closer, and that was his first mistake. I tilted my head. “The drugs are gone.”
My words didn’t elicit a response.
“Even the ones in the potted plant and ventilation system. You two are idiots, and it’s only a matter of time before they link the drugs back to you two. Let me ask, did you guys wear gloves when you planted it?”
They exchanged a knowing look.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” I laughed. They both turned their glares on me.
“How did you find it?”
“Actually, you can thank Ruby for that. She took me shopping, and I needed luggage for after we found Suzie. I’d say it’s just a matter of time before you two are caught.”
“Let me kill this bitch, Quinton,” Milton growled.
“You don’t want to do that,” I said. “My sisters will come looking for me, and they’ll shoot before asking questions.”
Quinton’s lips twitched. “You think we’re afraid of your hillbilly sisters?”
“If FDG doesn’t scare you, then you’re more stupid than I thought.”
“You’re FDG?” Suzie asked.
“Not me, but my sister is, and she’s freakin’ crazy,” I answered. “Doesn’t matter where you try to hide, she’ll find you.”
“Well, then I guess we have time to get ready for them to show up. You’ll be dead and buried by then.”
Suzie slid her fingers between her teeth and whistled.
Within seconds, Mittens jumped onto the wall of the stall, as if sensing the danger of Milton and the gun, she jumped and lunged straight at Milton, grabbing him by the throat. He dropped the gun in his attempt to dislodge Mittens’ jaws.
Quinton and I dove for the gun at the same time, only he came up with it, and I didn’t. He held it pointed at Suzie. “Call off that bitch, or I’m going to shoot her, too, and feed her to my dog.”
“You shoot her and her jaws are staying locked on Milton’s neck,” Suzie said, holding out her hand and moving in front of Mittens. “If you shoot, she might bite instinctively. Right now, no one has to die.”
“That’s where you're wrong,” Quinton said.
I lifted the bottle of bear spray and pressed the button. A heavy stream shot right into his eyes.
He screamed like a girl, and I yanked the gun away, pointing it at both of them.
“What was that?” Suzie asked.
“Bear spray. I didn’t have a cat, so I improvised.”
“Do you always carry bear spray with you?” Suzie asked.
Quinton was rubbing his palms into his eyes, his face the color of a tomato.
“I wouldn’t do that. The more you touch it, the worse it gets.”
“I’m going to kill you,” he sputtered, and I could only imagine that some of the spray was in his mouth.
We held them at gunpoint for only three minutes before security guards, and police officers who’d been invited to the party took over. They’d confiscated the drugs. Suzie had called off Mittens, who chomped a little before releasing Milton. She’d put the bull dog in the kennel with a single word, and we were being escorted out when commotion sounded behind us.
We both spun to the noise to find Milton had knocked out the cop who had been escorting him and grabbed his gun. He pointed the muzzle at me and pulled the trigger.
The shot took me down to my knees as blood soaked through my gown.
Suzie screamed.
Milton got off only one shot before gunfire rang out, directed at him.
“Hang on. Stay with me. Harlon will kill me if I let you die,” Suzie said. Her words were the last I heard.
As a chill covered my body from head to toe, my eyes slid closed.
Chapter 24
I didn’t know what was worse, the pain in my chest from the pulling stitches or my sisters arguing with Harlon on the tarmac in front of his plane on the private runway.
“Maybe I should send my physician with you for the flight,” Harlon said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Gwen rolled her carry-on bag to the plane. “Nope, sorry, you know the rules. He would make number five, and I’m not in the mood to die today in a plane crash.”
I was sitting on the stairs, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, tossing prescription pain pills into my mouth and downing them with water. Hopefully, they worked on headaches too.
“You’ll take care of her?” Harlon asked, crossing his arms over his flannel shirt.
“A lot better than you have.” Gwen smirked. “Next time one of my sisters gets kidnapped, I’m not giving them days. I’m going in shooting, thanks to you.”
I moved on the stairs so Gwen and Cassie could squeeze by.
“Come on, Gimpy, let’s get a move on,” Gwen called over her shoulder.
I rose to my feet on the steps and was almost as tall as Harlon. He still had me by three inches.
“This isn’t goodbye,” he said. That sexy grin had my heart speeding up.
“I know,” I lied while running my fingers through his hair. “You’ve got one hell of a mess to clean up and things to make right.”
Harlon rested his head against mine. “Riley was right all along, and I was too blind to see that it wasn’t his family breaking the law. It was the Fields.”
“Yeah, have fun with that, and give Riley my regards,” I said and pressed a quick tender kiss to his lips.
“I read your sisters’ minds.”
“Oh, now I bet that can of worms will leave you with nightmares,” I teased.
“They don’t think you’ll see me again.”
They were probably right. “I hope you prove them wrong.”
He covered my mouth with his and sent me spiraling in a kiss that sparked all kinds of goosebumps down my arms. A kiss of pleasure, a kiss of…goodbye.
When he broke the kiss, I stared hard into his eyes, trying to figure out the truth. With a squeeze of his hand, I released his fingers and walked up the airplane steps backward. I stared at him as the stairs slowly closed between us.
“Ms. Bennett, if you’ll take your seat,” the pilot requested with his hand on the button.
“Thanks.” I cleared my throat and did what I was told. As I climbed into the seat, I stared out the window. One last visual caress to try to sear the picture of Harlon into my mind.
He and Suzie waved by the SUV. Mittens was by Suzie’s side as the plane taxied away from the hanger.
It was only then that I let a single tear slide down my cheek. I believed Harlon was the person I was meant to love. The man I’d probably never see again.
The plane ride was smooth, as if only to add insult to injury. Leaving Harlon was harder than the trip home, but it was obvious that, no matter the chemistry, we were from two different worlds.
My sisters dropped me off at my house and stayed to mother me until I kicked them out. My other sisters and Grams called to check in, too. The story of my kidnapping and potential love life made me more interesting.
Two weeks went by, with only a single phone call on the day I’d arrived to make sure I’d made it okay. Two weeks of waking up and drawing pictures of Harlon in various situations. None like the one that never came to pass with men holding guns pointed at Harlon. I could only guess the drawings represented us thwarting the police.
Then one day the picture I’d been drawing wasn’t him but a woman in the same woods where I’d found the kid. This woman was lying beneath a tree, her foot broken.
I picked up the phone and called Jimbo, the only cop I knew. He answered on the second ring.
“I don’t sup
pose you’ve drawn a missing woman?”
“You know me too well.”
“We’re setting up a search crew now, but your sister Faith told me that you’re pretty banged up.”
“I’ll take it easy this time. No fighting bears,” I offered.
“I’ll partner with you and even bring you another can of bear spray, just in case,” he suggested.
“It has saved my life twice now. I think I should buy some stock in that stuff.”
Jimbo chuckled. “Can you drive, or do I need to come get you?”
“I’m walking out the door,” I lied.
My doctor had told me to take it easy even though my stitches had been removed. He hadn’t said I couldn’t help the police. It was the right thing to do.
I drove to the park entrance to find Jimbo talking to some game wardens. He was folding up a map and packing it up as I walked up.
“There she is,” Jimbo said, holding out a can of bear spray for me to take. “Did you bring the picture?”
I unfolded my sketch and handed it over. Jimbo and the rangers studied it, trying to decipher a few of the structures in the scene. I pointed out the things I remembered. The mountains in the distance, the clump of trees, along with an opening in a field.
“What are these?” Jimbo asked.
“Apples,” I answered. “Those were all apple trees.” I pointed to the woman who was beneath the tree. “She’s eating one too.”
“Groves Row,” one of the rangers announced. “That’s a ten-mile hike from here in the middle of nothing but forest. It’s a freak outcrop of apple trees that are out of place.”
“I think you should start there,” I said and watched as they called in the information and everyone disbursed through the trees.
“It’s a long hike,” Jimbo said, handing me a walkie-talkie. “We need someone to stay at base camp in case there are any other reports.”
“You’re benching me?” I gawked.
He handed me the bear mace and was jogging backward, as if knowing the longer he stayed, the better his chances were of getting yelled at. “You’re still helping. Only you’re helping to coordinate. Have some coffee and get yourself something to eat.”
Hard to Hold (Bennett Dynasty Book 4) Page 10