Royal did. Like trailing moss, clouds moved dreamily across the sky as he told Beau everything. Royal told him about the debts, about throwing away his inheritance, about betting on a low pair and winding up in Blake Scanlon’s debt.
Beau sat upright in one fluid movement. “Hell. That’s big-time trouble, Royal. When you set out to destroy yourself, you don’t do it halfway, man. You blew all the money your folks left you?”
Royal laughed. “Yeah. Except for what I gave Maggie to use for the day-care center. Leesha wasn’t supposed to know about it, though. All the money’s finally gone. And I’m relieved, if you want to know the truth. It felt like a chain dragging me down, Mama and Daddy’s way of controlling me from the grave.”
“Blake Scanlon, though. That man’s got a finger in everything that happens in Florida. Judges. Police departments. His influence runs all the way up to the governor’s office and back down to the smallest county in the state. Damn. And he’s the ex Elly’s running from?”
Nodding, Royal told Beau about Scanlon’s request to bring Elly back to him. For a talk. And he told Scanlon’s version of Elly’s Christmas story.
“Oh, boy, this is really bad.” Beau whistled, a soft, disturbed warble. “You’re in debt to Blake Scanlon. And this is what I’ve let myself in for. Whew. Nasty situation, Royal. Ugly.”
Royal kept his expression blank. He didn’t want to pressure Beau. Having asked Elly to be fair, Royal couldn’t now do less. “You can still back out. There’s time. By tomorrow, though, you won’t have a choice, either. In or out, Beau? And whichever way you call it, we’re still friends.” Picking up the half-full bottle by his side, Royal poured it into the flowerpot on the table. It had gone flat. Or he’d lost his taste for it.
“Shame to waste my good beer like that.” Beau stood up. “I’m in. I’m sure Leesha will be, too, but I can’t speak for her.” He laughed. “Hell, I wouldn’t dare. I’ll fill her in on the details in the morning. But right now, I damned sure need another beer.” The kitchen door slammed behind him.
Leaning back in his chair, Royal stared at the stars shining faintly in the lightening sky. All these people were depending on him not to blow this. They were staking their lives on his skill, his judgment. Beau. Leesha. Elly. Tommy. And Maggie. Maybe Sullivan. They were giving him a second chance.
And he cared.
Oh, God, he hadn’t realized how much he cared. He’d tried so hard not to.
When Beau returned, Royal told him the rest, falling into the old rhythm of reporting. His sentences clipped, his words short, succinct, he recited the details of the attack at Elly’s house after he’d followed her, narrated what he’d found in Elly’s suitcase with its alternate identity.
“No wonder Elly didn’t want to call the police after the attack on you. She knows how much leverage Scanlon has. Anybody could betray her. In her place, I wouldn’t have called the cops, either. She would have expected word of her location would have gotten back to her ex-husband within minutes. I’m impressed she offered. And I think it’s real interesting she had the suitcase ready for a speedy getaway.”
“Right by the bedroom door. She plans, Beau, well and thoroughly. This isn’t her first foray into disappearing. She’s jumpy, she’s sharp and she’s prepared to cut her losses. Most people are trapped because they can’t walk away from the environment they’ve worked so hard to create. Elly’s only weakness is Tommy.” He turned his head to one side, then the other, listening to the cheerful creaks of mortality. “And her own limitations, I guess. She’s wearing down. She’s tired, and she’s not thinking clearly because she’s so tired.”
“Yeah, I saw. But I thought that was because of the attack and the goons. Whew. For such a peanut, she’s tough.”
“But she needs help. I’m it.”
“We’re it,” Beau corrected. He made an impatient motion. “But I don’t understand. Scanlon already knew she and his son were in Palmaflora, right?” Beau paced the porch. “And all he wanted you to do was bring her to him? To talk? Not the boy?”
“That’s it. Said he wanted to be civilized about custody arrangements even though she’d faked her death and kidnapped his son and heir. His words, Beau. Not mine.” Stretching out his arms, Royal twisted his neck. Damn, he was stiff and sore. At eighteen, he could have taken that beating and stayed up for two nights in a row without noticing it. Well, he might have noticed it a little.
“I’ll check the records out of Tallahassee, talk to some folks. See what I can find. I’ll pull the reports from that night.” Perplexed, Beau shook his head. “Crazy. He wanted you to leave Tommy behind when you brought Elly to him?”
“Yeah.” Royal grinned, the thrill of the chase sparkling like champagne through him. “He thinks I’m stupid. A drunk.”
“Well, be reasonable, man. Three hundred thousand dollars would buy a lot of bottles of oblivion. For that kind of money, he should have asked you to snatch the kid. Forget the mother.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“And Elly doesn’t know you’re involved?”
“Nope.”
Again Beau gave a tuneless whistle. “Oh boy, oh boy-o. But you’re going to tell her?”
“When she’s in a safe place. So that she won’t run straight into Scanlon’s trap. Because there’s a trap out there, Beau. I can smell it. I just can’t see it.”
“She doesn’t know you know who her ex is?”
“Not that, either, and she’s being careful to keep it from us. But that part has to come out. She has to know we’re going to look for ways to catch him.”
“Do you know why she went back to her house? Or how she managed to disappear so damned easily? Had she planned to bolt all along?”
“No, no, and my guess is she had. Elly doesn’t like surprises, Beau,” Royal said quietly. “Getting shot in your garage tends to take away the fun of surprise parties.”
“Well, buddy, you’re going to hand her a giant-sized surprise when you tell her you’re in debt to her husband.”
“I know. I’ll handle it. When the time’s right.” Royal would have to figure out how. And when. But not until she and Tommy were safe.
“Good luck. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”
Royal laughed. “I’m not real happy to be standing in these babies myself.” He stuck his beat-up shoes in front of him. “You ever think I’d let myself go like this?”
“Nope. Hell, I never saw you with dust on your shoes, much less cow crap.”
Howling with laughter, they flung their heads back and thumped each other, their feet drumming loudly on the porch floor. Choking, Beau gasped, “All that tobacco-farming money? Gone? Every last dime?”
Royal roared, the situation striking him as enormously funny. “Every last penny. I’m a free man. Nothing tying me down, nothing left except the Mustang and the old house I live in. And it’s about to fall down.”
Gasping for air. Beau doubled over. “You’ve got nothing, man.”
“Hell you say. I’ve got termites.”
Whooping, Beau said, “Think you could hock that fine wardrobe of yours?”
“I may have to do that. To pay the exterminator.” Royal slapped his knee, everything seeming crystal bright. “It’s a hoot, isn’t it?” He laughed, a belly-deep roar, and threw his arms wide open, exhilaration pumping through him. “Free and with Blake Scanlon drawing a bead on me. God, ain’t life fun!”
*
When Elly woke up the next morning, her decision was made. Last night, she’d kept Blake’s identity from Royal and his friends. That was foolish. They were more vulnerable if they were in the dark. She had to give them his name. Did she want to fill in the gaps and explain why she’d gone back to the house? Did they need to know why she’d been ready to run away even before the divorce was final? Out of habit, she’d even lied about when the divorce took place.
For their safety, she would tell them everything except the details of her insurance, because knowledge of it would only
endanger the rest of them. That was why she hadn’t even entrusted it to her parents.
Blake could exert unbelievable pressure.
And as she’d learned, he could kill.
No, she hadn’t risked her family. She wouldn’t risk these new friends.
Ignorance might be bliss. In this case, ignorance of that package definitely offered safety. She hoped. Because Blake would kill anyone who knew its contents.
Cradling a cup of coffee in her hands, she faced Royal and his friends. Sullivan Barnett, a journalist, according to Royal, and his wife, Maggie Webster, Royal’s former fiancée and partner, were seated with Alicia and Beau at the dining-room table, their matching cups of coffee scarlet against the clean pine table, the brew satiny brown and shiny in the cups.
Even if she hadn’t already decided to leave Tommy in the care of these people, one look in Maggie Webster’s eyes would have convinced her. Her dark eyes were serene with an otherworldly peace that said Maggie had been places none of the rest of them ever had, that she’d seen things no one would believe. But then Maggie had died and come back to life when no one expected her to. Maybe that explained it; Elly couldn’t decide, but she knew Tommy would be safe with this woman.
And he’d be safe with Alicia, who’d talked to her during the long night hours and told her about her ex-husband. Alicia’s arm around her shoulders as they both wept hot tears had been a message of hope, of survival. That hug of sisterhood, of shared terror had let her believe that there would be life ⦠after.
Elly lifted her cup and drank. They were all watching her, including Maggie’s husband with the bright blue eyes in a face carved by pain. Like Maggie, he, too, had an air of having touched some far shore unknown to the rest of them.
Elly placed her cup carefully on the table and folded her hands in front of her. Next to her, Royal slid his leg along hers, a warm, solid strength. “I’m astonished that you all, strangers to me and Tommy, are willing to risk your lives for us. You have to believe me when I say that’s a possibility. Blake wants me dead.” She would keep to herself the reason. It was a small protection she could give them, the only one. “I’m not sure why. I wanted the divorce. I didn’t ask for alimony or for anything except child support. I wanted out. That’s all. He agreed. But he tried to kill me. He’ll kill any of you who stand in his way. And he’ll get away with it.”
“We won’t let anything happen to your son,” Maggie said in a low, husky voice thick with sunshine and honey. The others murmured agreement, their shared glances telling Elly they’d already discussed everything that had been said the night before.
“You can trust us.” Sullivan nodded, his movements echoing his wife’s, as if they were two parts of the same being. “I believe you. He won’t get to Tommy through us.”
Alicia and Beau nodded.
Elly bowed her head. She wasn’t alone. Not since she’d married Blake had she felt this kind of closeness to other people, this kind of support. If anything happened to her, Maggie and Alicia would care for Tommy. They wouldn’t let Blake have him.
“As far as I know, the Tallahassee police didn’t investigate the attempt on my life. I don’t know how Blake covered up my disappearance, the blood in the car. Tommy’s absence. But he would have made up a convincing story. People will believe him. Because he’s Blake Scanlon, if for no other reason.”
At the mention of her ex-husband’s name, there was a small silence, and then Royal spoke. A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, as if she’d pleased him somehow. “I know.”
Sullivan’s extraordinary blue eyes shone with interest. “Blake Scanlon. Interesting man. I’ve heard rumors. No facts. He covers his tracks well. His reputation is solid. But there are these rumors, quiet and persistent. In fact, I’ve met him. I interviewed him about a year ago about the water-reclamation bill that was coming up for a vote. He’sâ”
“A bastard.” Royal’s brilliant green gaze met Sullivan’s. “And he’s not going to get away with what he’s done. Not any longer.”
Sullivan’s mouth twitched, and Elly figured it was his version of a smile. “We’re in this together, Royal. We’re on the same side, you know.”
Maggie’s hand covered Sullivan’s, and then she touched Royal’s wrist. “Sullivan agrees, Royal. You don’t have to prickle up like a big old porcupine.”
Royal blinked. “Was I bristling?” He blinked once more. “Old habits die hard. Sorry, Sullivan.” He grinned, and a flash of sunlight blazed in his hair, sidetracking Elly.
His hand brushed over her bare thigh, cupping it, his touch turning her into liquid sunshine.
Impossible, unbelievable, but joy filled her to the brim.
The sunshine and coffee, the presence of people who believed her, who would help her, filled Elly like a blessing. She trusted them.
Believing, hoping, when she’d never expected to feel either of those emotions again, she told them so, haltingly, awkwardly, because it had been a long time since she’d opened up herself to others, since she’d dared to be honest with anyone except her son. And even from him, she’d hidden so much. Tommy didn’t deserve her burdens. He was only a baby.
So, hesitant and tentative, she surrendered him to their care.
She told them about her escape, about the plans she’d made for months. “I got on the bus with the stuff I’d been hiding for a few months in the spare-tire space in the trunk of my car, and we left. I stole another woman’s identity to save my son’s life and mine.”
“What about your family?” Beau asked. “Couldn’t they help you hide? Help you financially?”
“Blake owned the bank where they had their mortgage. If I’d told them anything, given them any clue, he would have destroyed them one way or another. He can do that, you see,” she said, trying to make them understand how powerful her ex-husband was. “He’s so smooth that people would never believe what’s underneath the surface.” She shivered and rubbed her arms. “Someone’s walking over my grave.” Her laugh was halfhearted. “Stupid saying, isn’t it?”
Stepping in back of her, Royal crossed his arms around her, enclosing her in the warmth of his body, his strength. “Yeah, sugar. But no one’s walking over your grave.” His chest vibrated against her in an illusion of security.
She told them about saving up cash for her escape, about working part-time as a waitress in a small café right outside Tallahassee, where no one knew her. She told them everything except why she’d taken the terrible risk of returning to the house in Tallahassee.
And with her words, plans were made.
As the day wore on, slowly and agonizingly, they discussed everything they had to do.
Beau’s brother Michael had a cabin near Lake Okeechobee. Tommy would stay with Maggie and Sullivan at their beach house for three days, not going to the Sunshine Center. If anyone came checking, Alicia would say that Tommy had been absent since the holiday, and that she hadn’t heard from Ms. Malloy. Beau would drive Elly and Royal to Okeechobee in his personal car when twilight fell. Royal would have Sullivan’s cellular phone with its safety lock. That would be their link with each other.
Here in Palmaflora, Beau would investigate the men who’d been following Elly and try to link them to Scanlon. Sullivan’s job was to search public-access records and query his sources to discover anything concrete about Scanlon’s activities and plans. The purpose was to put Elly’s ex out of commission. Behind bars.
Elly thought she heard Royal growl something that sounded like “six feet under.”
That easily, the deed was done.
It was time to leave.
Elly prayed she wouldn’t regret giving her trust this last time. Her track record so far had been lousy.
“Want to go, too,” Tommy complained, clinging to her leg. “Don’t leave me, Mommy. You need me.”
Stooping to Beau’s highly polished floor, Elly wrapped Tommy in her arms. “Honey, I’ve left you overnight before. You’ll have Leesha, Beau, Maggie and Sulli
van. You’ll go to the beach every day. You’re going to be all right.” She knew his fear was that she wouldn’t return. She wanted to promise him she would, that nothing on earth could keep her away from him.
She didn’t.
Promises weren’t meant to be broken.
In surrendering him, she had surrendered control. Surrendered, because Royal was right. Tommy was safer away from her. Surrendered him because she couldn’t flee anymore. The time had come to turn and fight, to face her enemy. To save this child whom she loved more than anything or anyone she’d ever loved in her life.
For Tommy’s sake, she would leave him.
For her own sake, she sent a silent, desperate prayer upward. “Tommy, listen to me, kiddo.” Next to her, Royal squatted and went eye to eye with her son.
“Nope.” Tommy squirmed in her arms.
“I know I hurt your feelings yesterday when I said I didn’t want you to go with me. That you’d be in the way. That was true yesterday because I had a job to do to protect you and your mom. Now, today, it’s your turn. You have a job to do for your mom. You have to take care of her by staying here and being a decoy.”
The heat of Royal’s body flowed to her, enveloped her and made her feel safe. With her son, Elly turned to face Royal, taking Tommy onto her lap as she folded into a sitting position on the floor. Royal was in front of them, his knees angled on either side of her shoulder, his face inches from hers. Stripped of charm, stripped of everything except a blazing intensity focused on Tommy, Royal’s face was resolute, hard.
“You remember the time you saved your mom when she was shot?”
“Oops.” Covering his mouth, Tommy twisted his head toward her.
“I told them, honey. You don’t have to keep secrets anymore.” Elly felt the enormous weight she’d borne lifting from her. If everything went as planned, Tommy could start to live a normal life. She wouldn’t have to worry about him every second she couldn’t actually see him. “We’re not going to move, Tommy. We’re staying in Palmaflora.”
“With Katie?” From within, a light bloomed in his face, and Elly remembered the lighthearted, happy infant and child he’d been. Before. Before his world and hers had exploded in a flash of gunfire and pain and terror.
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