by Nancy Bush
“Damn, damn, and double damn.” She leaned back in her chair and her thoughts turned back to Grace. The older woman’s recollections couldn’t be trusted, but there were kernels of information there that came out that were almost easier to decipher than the roadblocks the other Myleses seemed to want to erect.
And Maple Grove Assisted Living wasn’t all that far away.
What would it hurt to try to talk to the old woman again?
Grabbing her coat from the back of her chair, she headed out. This time she’d just flash her badge and bully her way in to see Grace, even if it brought the staff and all the other Myleses down on her. To hell with it. She was sick of pussyfooting around. She wanted answers.
* * *
Andi hit the remote on her single-car garage and drove inside. The trembling had stopped, but the disbelief and horror remained. She sat for a moment behind the wheel and watched in the rearview mirror as Luke’s truck pulled to the side of the drive behind her.
Climbing out of the car was difficult; she felt like she’d aged a year in the last few hours. It didn’t seem strange when Luke joined her in the garage and walked her to the front door. He inserted the key and pushed the door open, holding it so she could enter first.
Once they were inside she walked into the kitchen and then stared around, completely forgetting what she’d gone there for.
“You want to sit down?” Luke suggested, following after her. He stood by the table, clearly concerned. He’d tried to drive her home, but she hadn’t wanted to be stuck without her car. She could tell he was worried that she was going to fall apart completely.
“I have antidepressants,” she said. “I should take them regularly, but . . .”
“Are they in the bathroom? Medicine cabinet?” At her nod, he went to get them without her asking.
He returned with the two vials of pills. “They look the same.”
“They are the same. Dr. Knapp prescribed them of both, but some were prescribed earlier and then the others after my miscarriage. Dr. Knapp wanted me to keep taking them, and I should. I don’t know why I don’t, except . . . I’m drug sensitive.” She gave him a quick look. “I’ve lost time . . . had blackouts . . . so I don’t always want to take them.”
“You’ve had blackouts from the pills?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want one now?” he asked dubiously.
She shrugged. She wanted something. She just didn’t know what it was.
He held up the two bottles and extended one to her. “These pills look a little bigger.”
“Are they? They were both prescribed by Dr. Knapp.” Andi’s head hurt. She didn’t want to have this conversation. She just wanted to lie down and pretend nothing had happened.
Luke took off the caps of both vials and shook a few tablets into his palm. It was true. The white tablets all looked like aspirin, but the ones from the first vial were slightly larger than the ones from the second one. He squinted at both of the labels.
“Same prescription. Same pharmacy,” Luke said.
She shook her head.
He gave it up and put the tablets and vials on the table, then came over to her. Resting his hands lightly on her shoulders, he steered her to a chair. “You want water? Coffee? Tea?”
“Tea would be great, actually. I’ve got some for the Keurig.”
He made her a cup and brought it to her. Her cell phone rang, muffled inside her purse, which she’d dropped on the table. She looked at it without much interest, then sighed and reached for it. When she plucked out her phone and saw it was Carter, she grimaced. “I haven’t had a chance to tell him about Mimi and Scott yet. God. It seems so unimportant now.”
“Want me to talk to him?”
She nodded and Luke answered the phone. “This is Luke Denton.”
“Where’s Andi?” Carter demanded. She could hear his tinny voice clearly.
“She’s right here. She’s had a shock. Her friend Trini was found dead in her apartment this morning.”
There was a moment of silence, then “Dead! What do you mean dead? You don’t mean . . . dead-dead . . . ?” he asked in shock.
“That’s exactly what I mean.” Luke spent a few moments bringing Carter up to speed.
Carter responded, sounding poleaxed, “Okay . . . okay. Well . . . I still need to talk to her.”
Andi reached out a hand when it looked like Luke was going to fob him off. She knew Carter. It would be easiest to just find out what he wanted. “Hi, Carter,” she answered.
“Andi, I’m sorry. It’s unbelievable. I hardly know what to say.... Do the police know anything? Was it foul play?”
“We don’t know anything yet. Just tell me what you need.”
He cleared his throat. “You’re not going to like to hear this. The Carreras are meeting with our lawyer on Monday. They’re bringing a five-million-dollar check.”
“Five mil—” She couldn’t finish. “Goddamn it, Carter. It’s not going to happen! They can bring us a hundred million. I don’t care! Do you get that? Do you? I’m so sick of this!”
Luke was on the balls of his feet. “What?”
“I’ve talked to Emma and—” Carter began calmly.
“No. No, you haven’t. She would never agree,” Andi practically shouted into the phone.
“I was going to say, she feels like you do. But she at least said she’d come to the meeting. I didn’t know about your friend, but you and I need to be there, too.”
“No. No.”
“If Greg were alive, he would be there.”
“Greg didn’t trust the Carreras either. You know that.”
“Listen to me, Andi. Greg would want to make sure the company wasn’t in financial trouble. This is our grandfather’s company. One my dad continued, and now it’s up to us.” His voice had taken on an edge. “I don’t want to fight you, but Andi, this is important Wren business, and let’s face it, you’re really not a Wren.”
“Tell that to the Carreras,” she choked out. “They’re the ones sending me ‘little bird’ notes.”
“I don’t know what that’s about, but it’s not the Carreras.”
“I gotta go,” she said.
“Andi—”
“Oh, wait. There’s something you need to know. Luke saw that Mimi’s baby bump is a fake. So you were right about that. But you’re not right about the Carreras!”
She clicked off and dropped the phone on the table, then put her head in her hands, fighting off sobs.
Luke dropped down in front of her and said soberly, “I’m going to connect with Detective Thompkins, but it’s also high time I confronted the brothers.”
She lifted a tear-streaked face to him. “Please don’t. I appreciate it. But not now.”
“You came to me because of them.”
“I don’t want you to go anywhere.”
“I don’t have to leave right this minute,” he said, though he looked like that was exactly what he wanted to do.
“I don’t know if you heard. I have a meeting on Monday with Carter, Emma, and the Carreras.”
“I heard enough.”
“Come to the meeting with me on Monday,” she said abruptly. “You can confront them there. I told Carter I wouldn’t go, but I have to. Be there with me.”
“I feel like the momentum’s now,” he tried to argue, rising to his full height.
She shook her head, gazing up at him, mutely pleading.
“I want to find the Carreras and lay our cards on the table,” he explained.
“What cards?”
“That we know about their coercion, that they’re responsible for Ted Bellows’s death, that they’re not going to take the lodge away from the Wrens.”
Andi got to her feet, facing him. She grabbed his left hand. “Don’t go.”
Luke’s jaw worked. “I can’t stand the way they’re forcing themselves on you and your sister- and brother-in-law. I want to know if they had anything to do with your friend’s dea
th. I want to stop them.”
“Yes . . . but wait.”
“Why?”
They looked at each other for a long, tense moment. Slowly, Andi placed her hands on either side of his face. Then she leaned in and kissed him, feeling the warmth of his lips against hers.
She pulled back slowly. She could see how his eyes had darkened.
“I’m pretty sure this is a bad idea,” he said.
“I just want to feel something good.”
“I stay away from clients.”
“I stay away from everyone,” she admitted. “Greg was the anomaly, and now he’s gone.”
“My last relationship ended ugly. Still ending.”
She finally heard that. “You’re still getting over it?” She closed her eyes and exhaled. “Oh God. I’m sorry.”
“I’m over it. Was never really in it,” he admitted. “I’m just . . .”
“I’m going to be embarrassed tomorrow.” She took a step backward, needing space, when his arm reached for her and he dragged her back to him. Her breasts were a hairbreadth from his chest. She had to angle her face upward to meet his hungry gaze.
His hands ran up her arms to her shoulders, his grip tight. She could feel he was struggling, but then, with a sigh, his lips captured hers again. Her hands were limp at her sides as his mouth ravaged hers. She sighed in complete abandonment, her knees trembling. She wanted to make love to him until they were both exhausted.
He suddenly swept her up and carried her to the bedroom, standing her on her feet beside the bed, silently looking at her, questioning her. She could practically see the words are you sure? hanging in the air between them.
“Yes,” she said.
Then she was unbuttoning her blouse, her fingers uncoordinated with emotion, and he swept them away and took care of the duty himself. She was out of her blouse and bra before she could think, and then he was taking off his own shirt, pulling it over his head, and she was running her hands over his hard chest, her fingers drifting to the waistband of his pants.
He unbuttoned her pants and drew down the zipper, sliding the fabric smoothly down her legs. She unsnapped his fly and did the same, hungry for his body atop her, inside her.
He drew a strangled breath as he looked at her and she could tell he was going to say something, maybe another warning or denial.
She shook her head and slipped off the wisp of her underwear and, after the briefest hesitation, he drew down his boxers. They took a moment looking at each other’s bodies, and Andi could feel desire sweep through her, awakening her deadened nerves.
“If—” he started to say. She put a finger to his lips.
“Make love to me.”
That’s all it took. With a muscular twist, he drove them both onto the bed and she was on her back and he was atop her, his mouth everywhere. Andi clutched the bedcovers, closed her eyes, and groaned. She couldn’t wait. Couldn’t wait. “Please,” she whispered, then Luke was stretched out above her, his knee wedging between her legs. She drew her legs apart and he slid between them easily, like they’d rehearsed their movements a thousand times before.
And then he was inside her and they were rocking in rhythm together. She had a moment of thinking of Trini and a sob collected in her throat, but the friction against her skin, the hardness inside her that probed her core, the desire firing her blood smashed those thoughts until there was only this, only him, only a reaching for pleasure. She heard herself, the breathy “Oh, oh, oh!” that accompanied the rising feeling of pure need. When she burst into climax, she cried out, and his answering groan of release followed almost immediately.
Afterward they lay in silence for several moments, except for the rapid beatings of their hearts, their twin raspy breathing.
When he lifted his head and looked at her, his blue eyes were sated but also filled with questions.
“Don’t spoil this moment,” she whispered. “I swear to God, Luke. Don’t.”
He half smiled and shook his head. “I have to. I didn’t use a condom. I didn’t even think about it. Maybe for the first time in my life.”
She closed her eyes, feeling tears well out of nowhere. “It’s all right. Nothing will happen.” I can’t get pregnant. What happened with Greg was most likely a one-time thing. And then I miscarried.
Whether he believed her she didn’t know. But he didn’t pursue the subject and instead began kissing the line of her jaw, and soon enough they were making love again, this time excruciatingly slowly, in a way that drove all coherent thoughts out of her head.
Chapter Nineteen
It was five p.m. by the time September entered Maple Grove Assisted Living. She practically had her hand on her badge, ready to flash it at anyone she met, but the reception room and dining hall were empty, as were the halls. Saturday, she realized. Probably a skeleton crew on staff.
She made it to Grace’s room undisturbed and knocked on her door. “Grace?” she called. The television was blaring loudly, so September tried the handle, which turned beneath her palm. She eased the door open. “Grace?” she called again, louder, though the woman was seated on the sofa. She realized then that she was fast asleep.
Shutting the door behind her, September stepped across the room and switched off the television. The sudden silence practically screamed, yet Grace slept on. Worried, September walked over to her and checked her breathing. In that moment Grace woke up and yelped in fear.
September immediately stepped back, holding up her hands. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Grace. I’m September. Do you remember me? I came to see you a few days ago.”
She squinted at her. “Sure, I know you.”
September wondered. “I’m the detective who was asking you about Aurora Lane. I had a couple more questions. There was a family who drove an RV? Maybe had horses.”
Grace harrumphed. “Lots of ’em had horses. Hoity-toity, puttin’ on airs. But those ones—they didn’t have horses. White trash. That’s what they were.”
“Um . . . the RV people?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you remember their names?”
“Kim and Shithead.” She made a burbling sound that September took as a laugh. “That’s what I called him ’cause he was so mean. Got expelled by that other shithead, the landlord . . .”
“Mr. Mamet?”
“Sure enough.”
“He evicted them?” September asked.
“Yeah, they didn’t pay. Shame, shame, shame. So Elias kicked their butts right out of there.”
“Did they have a son?”
She screwed up her face, thinking hard, then said brightly, “My grandson!”
“You’re not talking about Caleb?”
She flapped a hand at September. “’Course not. Okay. He had money and he was a flirt.” She slid a sly look September’s way. “I just called him my grandson.”
“Was he Kim’s son?”
“Wha’cha talkin’ about?” She glared at September. “He was the horsey one!”
“The family that had horses?” September asked, trying to follow.
“No! You don’t listen! He came from over there.” She waved an arm out the window, and September wondered if she was thinking she was at Aurora Lane again.
Grace proved her right when she said, “By the lake. Hoity-toity. Y’know?”
“Your grandson—you called him your grandson—came from the Schultz Lake area?”
“He rode horses there.” She closed her eyes and heaved a deep sigh. “There were horses around and they rode them across the fields.”
“Was there someone whose name sounded like shoe?”
“No.”
“Or Laser?”
She blinked, clearly lost. “Who are you again?”
“Detective Rafferty. September Rafferty.”
“You ask too many questions.”
September smiled. “You might be right.”
“You ask too many questions! That’s what you did before!” Her face started to
turn red. “Get out. Get out of my room!”
September debated asking her a few more, but an explosion was imminent, if it wasn’t already happening. Badge or no badge, she wanted to sidestep dealing with the staff or the Myleses if she could.
“Thank you, Grace,” she said.
“Get out!”
She hurriedly did as she was told, practically racewalking back down the hall. At least she had enough to ask Elias Mamet some further questions about his tenants. And she wasn’t going to let him put her off.
* * *
Andi turned over in bed and into Luke’s arms. She felt sad and needy and deeply scared but undeniably safer with Luke around . . . and well, better now.
“Do you know what time it is?” he asked.
He was leaning on one elbow, watching her face. She smiled faintly. “Seven?”
“Five-thirty.”
“You sound like you’re getting ready to leave.” She couldn’t keep the disappointment from her voice. She hoped it sounded like disappointment rather than fear.
“I want to catch up with Thompkins, if I can. Maybe I can call Marjorie. Get some more information.”
“But you plan to come back tonight.”
“I’d like you to go with me. I don’t want you here alone.”
“I can certainly lock the doors.”
“It’s too isolated. It might be better if I tackle Thompkins alone, but I can take you to my office or my apartment, but my office is closer to Laurelton PD.”
“As much as I’d like to see your apartment, I’ll opt for the office.” Feeling his gaze following her as she climbed out of bed, she turned back. “Do I have time for a shower?”
“I need one, too. Maybe we could—”
“Share water? Save the environment?”
He flashed a grin at her and threw back the covers with gusto.
* * *
September was talking fast into her cell phone. “Mr. Mamet, if you could just take a moment to search your records. I would like the name of the people who owned an RV but leased your rental house from you. Or they purchased the RV before they left your rental. I understand you may have evicted them?”
She held her breath as she pulled into the station. Mamet had answered her call, but he never stayed on the line long. He was retired and she’d been to his home once, but it was about two hours south of Laurelton, and that time he’d practically thrust the list of renters at her and slammed the door in her face.