“Go ahead.”
“There’s a fire at Acres and Fields Nursery, and someone slashed my tires out here at the ranch. We need the fire department and a unit out here to investigate my car.”
“Yes, sir.”
Steven returned to the porch knowing that by the time the fire department arrived, Marina’s place would be burned to the ground. All her hard work destroyed. And there was nothing he could do about it. Had Iris or Mack ordered this hit from behind prison walls? Or were Rex’s questionable ranch hands behind this latest attack?
“What do you want to do, man?” Phil asked while wringing his hands. “We can assess the damage at Marina’s or try to catch whoever did this. I’m open to anything.”
“Me too.” Rex added, chewing on the inside of his cheek.
“Steven,” Marina stepped forward leaving the comfort of her friends behind. “Don’t go over there. You’re safer here. There’s nothing you can do to stop the fire.”
“Let’s go inside and wait for the officers to get here.” Cora motioned to the open door and Kathryn agreed.
Steven conceded with a nod and placed his hand on the small of Marina’s back while escorting her inside.
Marina took a few steps and then halted. “What about my rental car? If it burns in the blaze, then that will be two cars I’ve lost in two weeks. My insurance company might cancel my policy.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, her raw nerves exposed.
Steven hadn’t anticipated the laughter which broke out with Marina’s words and wouldn’t have anticipated Marina joining in, but she did. She wiped tears from the outer corners of her eyes Were they tears of sadness, exhaustion, or humor—or all three at the same time?
“You guys, I’m serious. Stop making me laugh.” Marina doubled over and shook her head.
“You needed that bit of comedic relief.” Kathryn patted her shoulder.
Marina straightened while still giggling but hit the foyer floor face down on her belly when glass shattered all around her.
“Shooter! Take cover!” Steven rushed to Marina’s side as everyone scrambled out of the foyer and into the den.
Marina screamed but didn’t move.
“Are you hit? Marina, can you move?”
She didn’t answer, so Steven tucked his hands into her armpits, kicked the door shut, and dragged her into the den.
“Is she hit?” Rex joined him but stayed low.
“I don’t know. I don’t see any blood. I think she’s in shock.” Steven knelt beside Marina and patted her ashen face as more gunshots rang throughout the front of the B&B.
“What’s going on out here?” Ms. Lottie pushed through the swinging door and hobbled into the den from her suite on the other side of the kitchen.
“Get down!” Cora screamed. “Someone’s shooting at us.”
“Shootin’? At y’all? I’m gettin’ my shotgun.” Ms. Lottie pivoted and went back through the swinging door into the kitchen without showing a shred of fear.
Sirens filled the night air, and the gunfire ceased. Rage like Steven hadn’t experienced since Mark’s murder coursed through his veins. This had to end. After tonight, whoever was after Marina would wish they’d never started this war.
Marina shifted on the floor and pulled up to a sitting position causing Steven to cast aside his violent thoughts again. “Is it over?”
“Stay down, Marina. I don’t know if it’s over yet. Are you hit?” He held her shoulders to keep her seated on the floor.
“I’m fine. But I’m furious.”
“You and me both.”
“Let’s go get whoever’s doing this!”
Cora and Kathryn crawled over to Marina. “We’re staying right here, Marina.” Cora brushed Marina’s disheveled hair out of her face.
Kathryn squeezed her hand. “Let the men take care of things.”
Rex stood but kept low. “We can go out the back. Maybe we can catch them before they flee.”
Steven nodded and when Marina tried to protest, he shook his head at her and gave her his gruffest detective stare. When she relented, he said, “Give me the keys to your rental car. I’ll move it away from the building if I have a chance. Not promising anything.”
“Thanks.”
After Marina tossed him the keys from her purse, he exited out the back with Rex and Phil by his side.
Rex fished his keys out of his pocket and pressed the unlock button on his key fob.
“Should we drive? We could alert whoever’s doing this that we’re on our way.”
“If we don’t take the truck, we’ll never get over there in time to…”
“To what? We can’t save Marina’s building. Only the fire department can do that.”
Rex sighed. “You’re right. What do you want to do?”
He wanted to pray and have all this vanish. But God must have a different plan. Was he testing him? Testing Marina? Using him to bring down evil people in their community?
“We’ll go on foot then.” They rounded the corner of the house and headed to Marina’s property in the dark. The mist had dissipated like the confidence he’d held earlier, and the night air held a chill which unnerved Steven.
“Detective?”
Steven pivoted at the sound of a woman’s voice coming from the driveway in front of the house and squinted in the dark. A plain clothes Officer Ginger Steele stood twenty feet from them with a man in custody. The man yanked against Steele’s grip, but she held fast to him. Steven strode over to her, splashing in several puddles on the way. “What are you doing here? Who is this?”
“Ronald Hutchins. I was in the area when your call came through on the radio. I caught him hiding behind the gazebo with a rifle in his hands.” Ginger tightened her grip on his arm.
Steven raised his gaze to meet Ronald’s cold, dark stare. Ronald, dressed in jeans and a tight pullover stood a foot taller than him with broad shoulders and arms like those of a body builder. His stint in prison must have afforded him the convenience of working out often. “You’re behind this fire and the shooting?”
Ronald stiffened his tree trunk of a neck. “I’m behind a lot more than this, Detective.” He chuckled, throwing his head back.
Rex and Phil joined Steven and the other two but remained silent. A fire truck raced down the road toward Acres and Fields. With success, they’d put the blaze out before it destroyed everything.
“If you’re the one who shot through the front entrance of the B&B, you’ve been outside a while. Why aren’t you wet? It’s been drizzling for hours.”
Ronald focused his gaze on Ginger, and she shifted but kept her grip tight on his arm. If Ronald wanted to, he could jerk free from Ginger’s grip. “Answer him.”
Ronald shrugged. “I was wearing a rain poncho, genius. Why would I sit out here in the cold and wet all night? I’m not stupid.”
Something didn’t sit right with Steven. Why had Ronald looked at Ginger as if seeking answers? Where were the other police officers?
Ginger shifted again and the motion-detection light came on at the corner of the house, revealing that she studied his face with animosity.
Steven straightened his shoulders and pushed himself to full height then slid his hand to his gun. “Officer Steele, take Mr. Hutchins to your patrol car and then help me next door at Acres and Fields. I’ll go inside and let the ladies know everything is under control.”
“Yes, sir.” Ginger spun toward her car with her apprehended suspect in tow.
When she was out of hearing range, Steven whispered to Rex and Phil, who still stood behind him guarding him. “Something isn’t right, guys.”
“What do you mean?” Phil stepped up to Steven’s side.
“Ginger—Officer Steele is acting out of character. She looked at me like she could kill me. And Ronald looked at her like he needed her input in answering my question. She almost got Marina killed the day it all came down next door. She neglected to protect her when I told her not to leave her side. She went off
into the woods supposedly chasing a suspect. There’s something in the way she looked at me that unnerves me.”
“You mean you think she’s connected to all of this?”
“I’m afraid she may be. What do you know about Ronald Hutchins? I thought he was still in prison.”
Rex scratched his chin. “I heard the other day at the hardware store he was getting out next month. They must have released him early.”
“What’s he doing shooting at Marina?”
Rex squared his shoulders. “He’s probably mad she bought his land. She practically got it for free.”
“So a vendetta against her for being successful when he wasn’t? Didn’t he know that would land him back in jail?”
Phil shook his head. “He must not care. I’ve known plenty of people like that.”
Marina’s scream pierced through the night air, and Steven drew his weapon and bolted around the side of the house and back into the B&B through the back door. When he entered, his blood froze like ice in his veins.
Ginger held Marina at gunpoint, and Ronald held a gun to Cora and Kathryn. If Ronald had a grudge against Marina for buying his property when in foreclosure, where did Ginger fit into this? Was she angry because Steven had criticized her the day of Iris’s arrest for not watching after Marina?
Steven put his hand behind him and signaled for Rex and Phil to stay put. They didn’t have weapons and didn’t need to risk their lives because of these maniacs.
“Steven!” Marina cried out when he came into the room then screamed when Ginger jerked her to her knees by her hair.
“Ginger, don’t hurt her. Think about what you’re doing.”
“Oh, I don’t have to think. I know what I’m doing. I’m finally taking control and getting what’s due me.”
“What does that mean? What’s due you?”
“Respect. Power. Control.” Ginger’s hand trembled, and she flexed her finger on the trigger. If she pulled it, Marina would die in front of him.
“How did you get mixed up with Ronald?”
“None of your business how she got mixed up with me. I’ve promised to make it worth her while.”
“Drop your weapon and get over there by the fireplace with Ronald.” Ginger motioned with her gun.
She might fire her weapon at any moment if Steven didn’t do what she told him to do. His only hope was that Rex and Phil were working on a rescue plan. At least the O’Reillys were out of town this weekend, or Rex’s parents could be in danger. Thankfully, his daughter was at a friend’s house.
“I’m afraid you’re not going to have any of that today, little missy.” Ms. Lottie cocked her shotgun and pressed it against the back of Ginger’s head.
Steven almost laughed at the expression on Ginger’s face when Ms. Lottie surprised her—and surprised them all. How had she slipped back in undetected?
“Shoot them!” Ginger screamed at Ronald as Ms. Lottie nudged her with the gun until she dropped her weapon and released Marina.
Ronald pushed Kathryn down onto the floor and grabbed Cora into a death grip against him. Cora let out a scream that peeled Steven’s skin back. Kathryn tucked herself into the corner beside the fireplace, and Marina scurried over to where Steven stood and hid behind him. He glanced at her, and rage raced through him when he caught sight of blood trailing down Marina’s face.
“You okay?”
She wiped the blood away like a warrior. “I will be when this is over.”
Steven had to gain control of this situation before someone died. He had to prove to Marina the end was near. How could one of his own have betrayed him and their whole department? “Ronald, what are you doing? You haven’t been out of prison a day. You’re willing to go back?”
“If I can’t have what’s rightfully mine, no one will.”
“That property is rightfully mine! I purchased it fair and square from the bank. It’s not my fault you were doing illegal things and lost it to foreclosure.” Marina stepped out from behind Steven and acted like she were going to march back across the room right to Ronald.
“Shut up or I’ll shoot you!” Ronald squeezed Cora against his chest and inched his way toward the back door.
“No! Tell me what you’ve got against me. And you, Ginger? I thought we were friends.”
Ginger laughed but said nothing.
Ronald banged on the wall with his pistol grabbing everyone’s attention. “If you must know, I’ve been using Rocky and Stu, two of the ranch hands, to run drugs for me out of my old house on the back of your property. The house the narcotics department seized a few weeks ago. I had it all planned out, and you had to go and mess everything up. Your business partner and her husband were processing the money for me, using your income to fund our project. And she got stupid and let it all fall apart when she let you snoop around. She’d already messed up by shooting Jason. I had plans for him, and she ruined everything.” Ronald paused and wiped sweat off his brow with his forearm.
Steven kept his gaze trained on Ronald but darted across the room to where Ms. Lottie held Ginger at gunpoint. Before he reached her, Ginger swung her leg around and knocked Ms. Lottie to the floor sending her shotgun across the room. She might have acted with boldness, but fear veiled her eyes, and Steven would take advantage of her moment of weakness. He wasn’t about to lose this battle with her.
“Drop your weapon and release my wife!” Rex cocked a rifle and shuffled through the door with Phil behind him. Phil pointed a Glock in Ronald’s face when he noticed Kathryn hiding in the corner.
Distracted, Steven had no time to prepare for the blow Ginger directed at his shoulder, the shoulder which hadn’t healed all the way from the gunshot at the park. Against his will, Steven crumpled to the ground in agony. His stomach went sour, and bile rose to the back of his throat and into his nostrils.
When he wrestled to stand, Ginger rushed to the other side of the room and grabbed at Marina, but Marina was too fast for her and bolted out the front door. Steven groaned as he pushed himself up to his feet but was powerless to stop Ginger from pursuing Marina.
“Have you two got Ronald under control?”
“Yes, go!” Rex shouted as Cora and Kathryn scrambled over to assist Ms. Lottie.
“Call 911.” There wasn’t much left in him right now, but Steven had to press into his pain and use it for Marina’s good. He would capture Ginger and keep his girl safe if he never did anything else.
***
Although Marina had missed the 5K Thanksgiving run, her training for it served her well. With a still injured ankle, she sprinted through the woods, crossed underneath Rex’s split-rail fence, and headed into the corn maze, which they hadn’t plowed under yet. The fire lit her way but wouldn’t lead Ginger to her if she hid fast.
Tonight’s events had proven Iris hadn’t been at the core of their troubles. Yes, her deception ripped apart their friendship and their business, but Ronald was the mastermind behind everything. He’d run a drug operation with Jason Burney and used Iris and Mack to do his dirty work. And somehow, Mark had died trying to shut down everything.
Pushing aside cornstalks and making her way deeper into the maze, Marina processed everything that had happened over the last fourteen days while keeping watch for Ginger. So many wrongs, yet so many rights too. If it hadn’t been for these trials, she’d have never forged this new relationship with Steven. She’d have never given a cop a second glance. She’d have never given God Lordship of her life.
Good could come from evil if Marina allowed God to use it for good.
“I know you’re in there, Marina. Come on out and let me kill you. I know a lot of people who will be happy when I do.”
Ginger’s taunting voice bred fear and halted Marina in her tracks. Squatting, she pulled dried cornstalks down around her and hid. She wouldn’t run. Ginger would hear her, and she’d be dead before Steven came.
“Come on, Marina. Make my life easy, will ya? I need to get back in there to Ronald and help his poo
r stupid soul out of this mess.”
Ginger must have been more than a willing crooked cop. She must be Ronald’s lover. There was no way she’d risk her career in law enforcement for a man she didn’t love.
Love made you do crazy things. And killing for someone who wouldn’t kill for you was insane.
Footsteps pounded the earth through the corn maze crushing dried cornstalks to the ground. Ginger must be coming for her. Marina was like a deer in a thicket waiting for its mother. Helpless. Vulnerable. Should she wait or should she run?
“I know you’re in there!” Ginger screamed. “Come out now!”
Marina held her breath and refused to let out so much as a peep, even when the dust from the cornstalks made sneezing and coughing seem inevitable. Doing so would mean her death. She hunkered down lower to the ground and prayed.
God, you are my protector, my healer, my provider, my Father. Please protect me now. Please give me the chance to start over. Don’t let me die tonight. And please protect Steven and the others.
One, two, three shots rang out and then nothing. Nothing but the sound of the firemen at her office and an owl’s hoot filtered through the air. Marina waited.
“Marina!” Steven called to her.
“I’m here!” She scrambled out from under the cornstalks and waved her hands in the air.
“Where?”
She followed the sound of his voice, her heart ready to explode. “Here.” She jumped in the air a few times hoping he’d see her, but the cornstalks were too tall.
“I’m coming. Keep talking.”
“Are you okay? Where’s Ginger? What happened to her? What about Cora and Kathryn? Ms. Lottie?”
Steven burst through the cornstalks and captured her in his arms.
“Steven!”
He took her face into his hands and seized her mouth with his. He kissed her until she couldn’t breathe.
She pulled away and gasped, but with one glance at his face, she initiated a second kiss. The warmth that flowed through her when he held her was incomparable to anything, almost unrecognizable. God had answered her prayers tonight. He’d kept them both safe, and now they could fulfill their purposes in life.
Grafted into Deceit Page 24