“Fuck,” Jonas swore.
“There’s more,” Nash went on. “His wife seems to have disappeared. I called her place of employment and her boss said her husband called about six weeks ago to report that she was quitting out of the blue.”
Jonas and Degas glanced at each other.
“What’s his address?” Jonas asked.
“281 Mariposa.”
“I know where that’s at,” Degas said.
“I can’t get there in time, Jonas,” Nash told him over the phone, his tone suddenly lowering and taking on an urgent quality. “Please hurry.”
Jonas clicked off the speakers and brought the phone to his ear. “What happened between you two?”
There was a slight pause. “I wasn’t ready for a woman like her when we were together. And now that I am, it seems like she found you.”
“You care about her?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do. So treat her right or I might have to change her mind about you.”
“Will do. Thanks…Nash.”
The line went dead.
“Step on it,” he told Degas.
The car shot forward. “Already on it.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Back, back, back, back,” Charlotte furiously chanted, pushing Linsey back into the house just about the time she caught Dr. Roozie’s gaze through his windshield.
Charlotte slammed the door and relocked it but knew he had a key so it would only be a matter of minutes until he found his way inside.
“We’ll have to go out the kitchen doors,” she said frantically.
“No, he’s got the doors dead-bolted, and it’s Plexiglas. You’ll never break it,” Linsey told her.
“Then we need to incapacitate him. Get back. I don’t want anything happening to you or that baby.” A bookend on the built-in bookcase caught her eye. “Go around the corner until I tell you to come out.”
“What are you going to do?”
Charlotte picked up the heavy ornamental bookend. At that moment, the door rattled as it was tested, and then a key could be heard sliding into the lock.
“Go,” Charlotte ordered.
As Linsey disappeared around the corner, Charlotte slipped behind the door and waited. A second later, Dr. Roozie stepped through the open door, and when she saw the back of his head, she swung the bookend hard.
Dr. Roozie grunted and fell. Charlotte took his keys.
“Linsey!” she called out. “Come on!”
Linsey appeared and recoiled when she saw her husband lying on the floor. She placed a protective hand over her burgeoning belly and skirted around him, grabbing the hand that Charlotte held out to her.
But as the two women were about to head out the door, Dr. Roozie opened his eyes. He made a halfhearted lunge forward, and Linsey screamed, dancing forward. Charlotte yanked her and out the door they went, but Dr. Roozie had pushed himself to his feet and started after them. Charlotte happened to look behind her and saw him pull out a gun from his pocket.
She hadn’t hit him hard enough. Fear sliced though her, hot and sharp. She thrust the keys at Linsey.
“Go,” she urged. “Get out of here. Get help.”
And though everything inside of her screamed to run, to hide, and to save herself, she went against her natural inclination and slowed down to let the wobbly doctor catch up. He spun her around, and they stood facing each other.
“How did you find him?” he demanded.
“I think you know how.”
“What, that you’re psychic?” he sneered. “I’m a man of science, not paranormal bullshit. I took your license to look you up on the internet, and all I got was your name on a few of those ghost-buster websites.”
She didn’t answer. While her mind screamed at her to run, the knowledge that she had to give Linsey time to get away stayed her feet. Where this act of bravery came from she had no idea, and she was shaking way down deep in her fake Gucci boots.
The only thing she could think to do was stall with a question. “How long did it take you to plan Zach’s murder?”
“Don’t mention that asshole’s name to me!” he raged.
“Why? Because he fell in love with your wife?”
He took a step toward her and got right into her face. “I treated him like a friend and he goes behind my back and fucks my wife! She’s mine! Mine! When I found out she was pregnant with his brat, I knew that I had to take care of him.”
“Take care? You killed him!”
“And I would do it all over again,” he snapped. “I had the perfect setup to hide his body. So how did you find him?”
“He told me!” she yelled back. “His ghost is here, and he told me! Zach showed me where his body was, and I told the cops. They know everything!”
He lifted the hand that held the gun and smacked her with it across the side of her face. Pain exploded through her skull as she fell back. Charlotte fell hard on her side. Dimly, she heard a car and hoped it was Linsey escaping.
“Stop, Mark!” Jonas called out.
Her body sagged with relief. Help was there. All would be okay. By this time, people had started to come out their houses to see what was going on. Charlotte wanted to scream at them to go back inside. Didn’t they see the big frickin’ guns waving around?
“Hands up, Mark!” Degas ordered as he stepped from his car. He kept his gun trained on the doctor. “Drop the gun! Drop it!”
“You!” Mark practically screamed as he saw Jonas, who also had his gun drawn. “This is your family’s fault! The all mighty Braddock-Masters name, Alecia Falls royalty!”
“Listen,” Jonas said, and then he did something Charlotte thought incredibly stupid. He put his gun back in his holster. He raised his hands and walked slowly forward. “Just put the gun down. We’re friends, Mark. Let’s talk about this.”
“Talk about what? How your cousin was fucking my wife?”
“That wasn’t right of Zach.”
“Damn straight. What was I supposed to do? Let my wife leave me for him? She’s mine! My life was perfect before Zach Braddock-Masters got his hands on her,” Dr. Roozie finally said. “Before he impregnated her. Do you know how that makes me look as a doctor? As a man?”
“So you decided to murder Zach?” Jonas demanded.
“They needed to be punished, both of them,” Dr. Roozie told him.
“You have the right to remain silent, Mark, so please, remain silent,” Degas said, moving closer to the still-armed doctor. “I’m arresting you for the murder of Zachary Braddock-Masters.”
Jonas glanced over and met Charlotte’s eyes. She tried to convey everything she felt through her eyes, warning him to be careful around the madman. He gave her a slight nod with his head, and as he turned back to face Mark Roozie, a small movement to his right had everyone glancing over. Linsey sat in the driver’s seat, tears coursing down her face. She’d put her hand up at the window, and her wedding band clunked against the glass.
Mark got a funny look on his face as he stared at his wife.
“Mine,” he whispered, and swung the gun at her.
Jonas moved his body between the barrel and Linsey in the car just as the doctor fired. A shot rang out. Charlotte screamed, and Jonas fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder.
“Jonas!” she cried.
Degas retaliated by shooting the doctor in the leg. With a harsh cry, Mark Roozie fell. But he managed to hold onto his gun. Everything happened in a matter of seconds, a blur before her eyes. She saw Degas move forward, his gun held firmly in his hands. She saw the doctor focus on Jonas. He seemed like his couldn’t quite believe what had happened. He stared wide-eyed at Jonas for a moment, and then looked around and saw all his neighbors watching from their hiding spots. The sound of police sirens could be heard, growing louder by the second.
And then, before anyone could do a thing, Mark Roozie put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. The unexpected sound of a second gunshot had Charlotte and the spectators screaming. She cr
awled over to Jonas and carefully embraced him. Tears began to leak down her cheeks as she watched Degas approach the doctor’s body. He kicked the gun away and then leaned down to feel for a pulse. His body sagged, and a second later he slid his own gun back in its holster.
As the yard and street filled with cop cars and ambulances, Charlotte was only thankful that the nightmare was over.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Of course, it was all over the news that night. Charlotte sat in the hospital room next to a dozing Jonas, flipping back and forth between channels, trying to figure out who was better at sensationalizing what had happened.
While Jonas had gone through surgery to remove the bullet in his shoulder, she’d spent an hour being interrogated, although it was just a mere formality to closing the case. When they had asked Charlotte why she had gone to Dr. Roozie’s house, she said he had told her something strange, something that had her calling her brother-in-law, Alastair Hawke. The chief seemed pretty impressed by her credentials, and she got a backstage pass to sit next to the deeply dreaming stud muffin.
Of course, with the testimony Linsey had given, retelling in detail of her six weeks in captivity, the case was quickly closed. Since she was almost five months pregnant, the first thing she had wanted to do was make sure her baby was fine. The hospital admitted her for overnight observation.
Feeling a stare on her, Charlotte looked at the doorway and saw Nash McKnight standing there, watching her with solemn eyes. He motioned for her to step out in the hallway, and she rose, clicking off the television.
“I didn’t know what flowers he liked, so I didn’t bring any,” Nash said.
“He’ll be crushed, but I’ll explain,” she replied. “You didn’t have to come back to Alecia Falls to sit at his bedside.”
“I didn’t come for him, Charlotte. Do you know you’ve killed about ten years of my life?”
“Please don’t say the K-word,” she said with a shiver.
“Sorry. I had to come to make sure you were okay.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what are you saying? Wait! Are you trying to say you care?” She put the back of her hand against his forehead. “Do you have a fever?”
“Very funny,” he said and took her hand. He held it, rubbing the back of it with his thumb. “I deserve that, I suppose. I wasn’t the nicest person during our two weeks of dating.”
She pulled her hand back. “All right, you’re scaring me.”
He flashed a wry grin. “I’ll get out of your hair for now. If you need anything, give me a call. And tell him I said thanks.”
“Thanks?”
“He said he would protect you, and he did.”
Nash ran a tender finger over her cheek. The unexpected caress made her heart thump heavily in her chest and sent a bevy of chill bumps over her arms. She frowned, not liking the sensation at all. Or perhaps liking the sensation too much.
“Take care, Charlotte,” Nash told her. “Be happy.”
And then he turned and walked away, not once looking back. Charlotte raised her hand and touched the spot where his finger had rubbed her skin, staring after him. She was filled with a mixture of regret and longing, neither of which she appreciated.
* * * *
Alice Braddock-Masters walked regally through the hospital, ignoring the stares as the people parted before her. Her trusty butler walked behind her, holding her coat. She walked into Linsey Roozie’s room and saw Detective Villarosa, several uniformed officers, and the chief of police all crammed into the small, sterile room.
“Gentlemen,” she greeted.
“Good evening, Mrs. Braddock-Masters,” greed the chief. “Is there something I can do for you?”
Alice glanced over and met Linsey’s eye. “If you don’t mind, I would like to talk to Mrs. Roozie privately. I’m sure your questions can hold until tomorrow.”
The men looked at each other. “Of course,” the chief finally said. “Good night, Mrs. Roozie.”
As the last man filed out of the room, she closed the door behind him. Her butler waited outside the door, as if protecting it. Alice took the only chair in the room and brought it closer to the bed. She sat down and placed her purse in her lap.
The two women studied each other. Linsey had been able to shower, and her hair had dried in soft brown waves that flowed to her shoulders. Her dark-brown eyes held a hint of caution in them, and Alice smiled to try to alleviate her wariness.
“I would like to say that I’m sorry for your loss, but I can’t,” Alice finally said.
“Me, too. I’m only sorry for the man Mark became,” Linsey said softly, sadly. “I…I want you to know that I loved Zach so very much.”
“How did you two meet?”
Linsey looked down at her clasped hands. “We’d seen each other once or twice through Mark’s work, but we began innocently talking when we met at the grocery store one day.” She smiled sadly. “I grew up with a father who was drunk and liked to punish excessively with his fists. Mark was completely the opposite, and that was what drew me to him. I thought his composure and his orderly lifestyle revealed a gentle man. But after our marriage he started to show his true colors. His possessiveness. His rigidness. I was slowly drowning. Until I met Zach. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him.” Her voice became thick with emotion. “He showed me what true love really is.”
Alice opened her purse and took a pack of Kleenex. She handed one to Linsey and took one for herself to wipe the corner of her eyes. She tried desperately to hold onto her regal bearing.
“What, ah, what are your plans now?” she asked the younger woman. “Do you plan on living in your house again?”
Linsey shivered and shook her head vehemently. “Absolutely not. I haven’t quite thought about what I’m going to do.”
“And the baby?”
Linsey rubbed her belly lovingly. “Perhaps I was wrong to do to Mark what I did. When I told him I was leaving him, and that I was going to Zach because I was having his baby, Mark went crazy. Whatever was in his twisted mind, he didn’t hurt Zach’s baby, and for that, I thank god every day. This baby is all I have left of Zach. I love him more than my own breath.”
“It’s a boy?”
Linsey nodded. “They told me at the ultrasound, but I always knew I carried Zach’s son.”
Alice was quiet for a moment as she watched Linsey caress her tummy. Her heart hurt so much that at times she thought she’d die from the ache. When she’d heard that Linsey carried Zach’s baby, she’d felt as if god was giving her a second lease on life.
“May I propose something?” she asked softly.
Linsey looked questioningly at her.
“I’m an old woman,” Alice said. “I live in a rambling mausoleum of a home with a cranky butler and a kitchen staff as old as I.”
Linsey gave a small smile at the description.
“The Braddock-Masters clan started here in Alecia Falls with nothing more than determination and a love of life. Over the years our numbers have shrunk. Cousins have scattered until it’s just me and Jonas now, without Zach. That baby should bear the name Braddock-Masters.”
“I would be honored if I could give him that name,” Linsey told her.
Alice nodded. “And may I ask you to consider moving permanently to my big, empty house? It would fill my heart with joy to hear the cry of a baby inside its walls. It was always meant for children, but sadly, god never granted me the gift of being a mother.”
Tears began to leak out of Linsey’s eyes again, but this time, Alice could see they were tears of happiness.
“Yes,” Linsey said through her wobbly voice, holding out her hand.
Alice smiled and took it, feeling content for the first time in months.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
He was going to have to let her go tomorrow morning. Was he ready for that? And if he answered no to that question, then what exactly was he ready for?
Jonas lay in his bed staring at his dar
k bedroom ceiling. He’d had one hell of a week, starting with being discharged from the hospital. He’d had to give a statement to IA, had to go for counseling as mandatory for his return to duty after he healed, and then, finally, he had to attend Zach’s funeral. He was going to miss his cousin like hell.
Charlotte had stayed with him, being there, comforting him, and making him occasionally forget the sadness. Now she was leaving, too, and he didn’t know how to feel about that.
He had several pillows propping his upper body up because the damn sling was a fucking nuisance, but he did have Charlotte’s luscious little body curled around his good side for compensation. He liked how she felt draped over him, liked how right it felt to have her in his arms.
Zach had always been the one to get the girls. He’d had a natural charm that attracted the fairer sex like bees to honey. He’d been the athletic one, while Jonas had been the academic student. Zach had always known what to say and how to say it, and Jonas had envied his cousin’s ease with women. They had been on complete opposite ends of the spectrum but had been the best of friends.
It wasn’t that Jonas didn’t date. He’d had plenty of girlfriends over the years, but there’d always been something that held him back from feeling exactly right. That something, or someone, was missing.
Yet with Charlotte, that missing piece had suddenly clicked into place, and he’d felt whole. And that made him realize the answer to his question was no. He wasn’t ready to let her go. He knew he was teetering on a very slick slope, one that possibly held the answers to his heart, and he’d be damned if he let her walk away before fully realizing what made him need her so much.
She lay half draped over his waist, which allowed his one good hand to run down her back. She’d worn a tank top and tiny, frilly panties to sleep in. His fingers were just able to stroke the soft skin where her ass cheeks played peek-a-boo with the elastic, and her body shivered against him, and it wasn’t because she was cold. Knowing she was awake and knowing he had the power to make her shiver sent his libido into overdrive. Heat flooded through him, causing his dick to spring to life. He wanted her. Holy Christ, he wanted her. Would there ever be a time when he didn’t want her?
Otherworldly [McKnight, Perth & Daire 1] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 15