Bart had texted her when he left the house, so RayAnn knew only a short time had passed between the time he had left and when she arrived. Unless Bart had relocated the plants himself, which she thought unlikely, someone had to have gotten in and out with the violets in a hurry. At least it wasn’t her fault. Bart had only hired her to stay nights, so she wasn’t responsible for what happened the rest of the time.
RayAnn stood, staring at the empty shelves, wondering if she should call and give Bart a heads-up before he came home, when it occurred to her—the intruder might still be in the house. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled. She drew her gun from its holster, but before she could turn around, a heavy hand grasped her wrist so hard that the gun fell to the floor with a loud crash.
A figure in dark clothes and a black ski mask shoved her to the floor and snatched her gun. RayAnn grabbed his ankle, and bit him on the shin. He screamed, then managed to swing the gun and crack her on the head with its full weight.
The room went black.
Before leaving Jen’s apartment, Bart assured Detective Conlin that RayAnn would be at his house when he and Jen got back, so they would be safe for the night. Armed with the news of this latest development, the break-in at Jen’s, he would be putting out another sequence of the blog on Headliner. Conlin warned him not to antagonize the man, but Bart declared he was no longer taking editorial suggestions. He’d followed the psycho’s directions, but the animal had still invaded Jen’s apartment. So all bets were off—Bart would write what he damn well pleased.
The lights were on in the living room and the kitchen when they walked into the house carrying Jen’s suitcases. She had offered to stay in a hotel, but when Bart said she might as well stay where she had protection, she had quickly acquiesced .
They walked into the living room to greet RayAnn, whose car was parked behind the house. The TV was on, tuned to a crazy-family reality show, and a bag of chips and a soda were on the coffee table, but he didn’t see RayAnn.
Bart set down the suitcases. “She must be in the bathroom.” He noticed the empty ledge by the window. “Damn! They’re gone.”
“What’s gone?”
He pointed at the ledge. “I had some pots on the ledge—four of them, with some rare species of white violets. This asshole is messing with me again.”
“How did he get in?”
“Doesn’t matter. We have to get out of here, fast.”
They ran out to Jen’s car, jumped in and locked the doors.
He dialed Conlin. “He did it again. Headliner broke into my house.”
“Where’s your security guard?” Conlin asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see her, but her car is here. We only got as far as the living room and ran out as soon as I noticed more of my plants were missing.”
Conlin said, “Good. We’ll be there in ten minutes. Where are you?”
“We’re in the driveway, in Jen’s car.”
“Leave the area, and don’t come back until I get there.”
They circled a couple blocks and parked down the street where they could watch for the detectives. As promised, Conlin and his partner pulled into the driveway in just under ten minutes. Bart and Jen drove down to meet him.
“You two stay here,” Conlin ordered. “I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come in.”
37
Donna Denison was in the living room with a sleeping JR when TJ and Lisa got there after their meeting with Rina and Kelsey. JR was asleep in the playpen next to the Christmas tree. TJ and Richard had finally given up the fight and resolved not to worry about the boy’s Christmas-tree addiction until the holiday was over.
“There’s a rigatoni casserole and a salad in the refrigerator if you’re hungry,” Donna said. “Richard hasn’t been home yet, but he called to ask if you were here.”
“Musta forgot to turn my phone back on.” She looked at the screen and saw three calls from Richard. “I’ll call him back. Thanks for supper.”
“Would you like me to heat it up for you?”
“No thanks.
We’ll handle it.”
Donna left them alone and went down to her apartment on the first floor.
“I’m glad having Donna here is working out so well,” Lisa said.
“Yeah, and she seems pretty happy with it. Loves bein’ with her grandson.”
Lisa walked over and looked at the sleeping child. “He’s so adorable. Are you going to transfer him to bed soon?”
TJ chuckled. “We tried fightin’ it, but now that’s his bed as long as there’s a Christmas tree in the room. Gonna be hell to pay when it goes down. Let me get us some wine and I’ll call Richard back.”
Richard picked up before the second ring. “I’ve been trying to get through to you.”
“Had the phone off while we were at Rina’s. Lisa came back with me. You’ll be able to see her if you’re comin’ home.”
“I’m at Bart’s place. I’m afraid I have some bad news about RayAnn. Kosik’s stalker somehow got in without disturbing the alarm before she got to Bart’s house and she has a nasty bump on her head. The EMTs took her to the hospital.”
“She see who it did it?”
“No, he was wearing a ski mask.”
“No surprise there. What’re you gonna do with Bart?”
“He and his friend decided to stay at a hotel for a while. I’ll make sure they aren’t followed and be home in about an hour.”
“I better go and check on RayAnn. We should be back by the time you get here.”
When TJ and Lisa got to the hospital, they were informed that RayAnn was having x-rays and would be in the hospital overnight for observation. In the waiting room, her mother and sister confronted TJ, griping about the dangers of RayAnn’s job. As soon as she could, TJ steered Lisa out of the room. “Let’s get outta here. I don’t need to listen to that shit. RayAnn’s an adult. If her folks don’t like what she’s doin’ with her life, that ain’t my problem. I’ll come here tomorrow an’ talk to her.”
Back at TJ’s, seated in the kitchen eating the casserole and drinking wine, TJ and Lisa discussed the case.
“That meetin’ with Rina and Kelsey was a waste of time, don’t you think?” TJ asked.
“I wouldn’t say that. I think we learned something important.”
“What’s that?”
Lisa set down her fork. “Kelsey isn’t telling us everything.”
“What’s to learn? Thought you knew the whole story.”
“I doubt it. You probably know as much as I do. Have you ever thought that Kelsey may have been a willing victim?”
“Crossed my mind at first. Since then, thought she was a little too upset for that.”
“She’s been upset since day one, but there could be another reason, just like there was another reason for the change in her temperament that her aunt noticed.”
“Wait a minute. You sayin’ she agreed to let this bastard do that surgery on her?”
“I’m just saying it’s a possibility. She’s angry with him, but you saw how reluctant she was to even consider that he might have killed Whitney. There’s still something there, something she can’t let go.”
“If you’re right, and she did it voluntarily, then why’d she show up at Mayfair on Black Friday all zoned out?”
“We won’t know that until Kelsey decides to open up.”
TJ huffed. “She’s not tellin’ us the whole story, but don’t think she knew about it. I need to talk to Rina. She hired me to find out what happened to her niece. I found out, right? Have to ask her if she wants me to nail the guy.”
“If you think about it logically, we’ve both done what she asked. She wanted me to find out why Kelsey had changed and get her back to normal. We know why she changed, but I don’t think the girl will ever be the same person she was before she met Felhaber. A relationship that bad leaves scars. I can only hope she’ll come out better for it in the end. Continued therapy could help her do that, but
it won’t unless she can be honest with me.”
“Don’t know if you can get that into her head now. Gonna take a while. She has to give up on the “happily-ever-after” dream, don’t you think?”
Lisa sighed. “Exactly. It’s a hard dream to give up, especially when it’s your first real love.”
They were interrupted when Richard came into the room. TJ got up to hug him, noticing the worry in his eyes. “You made it. Get Kosik and his girlfriend situated?”
“Yeah. They should be safe where they are for now. I’m trying to get someone assigned to them, but you know what that’s like.”
“Right. Like gettin’ our son away from the Christmas tree.” He took a seat at the table with them while TJ heated him some dinner in the microwave and poured him a glass of wine.
“Nice to see you, Lisa,” he said. “I’m glad you’re still here. I have a favor to ask you.”
“Of course,” Lisa said. “Whatever you need.”
TJ sat down across from her husband, curious.
“Let me preface this,” Richard said, “by saying I’ve had my reservations about TJ’s business for a long time now. My original concern was about JR getting enough parenting, but we worked that out by having Donna stay with us. Now, I’m worried about the safety of our family.”
TJ couldn’t hold back. “If you’re talkin’ about what happened to RayAnn, that wasn’t anywhere near here!”
“She works for you, TJ. We can’t be sure this killer won’t target you next.”
“I can take care of myself,” she insisted.
“I know you can, but you aren’t always home. Donna and JR are alone here a lot of the time, and this Headliner guy knows his way around security systems.”
“What am I supposed to do? I can’t stay home all the time.”
“I don’t expect you to. I think if it’s okay with Lisa and Eric, I’d feel a lot better if you, Donna, and JR stay with them until we get this guy.”
TJ opened her mouth to protest.
“Babe, I don’t like it any more than you do, but if we’re both going to have careers dealing with criminals, we’re going to have to do whatever it takes to keep our son safe. And his grandmother.”
Lisa said quickly, “Eric and I would love to have you—you know that—but maybe you two should discuss this alone.”
“Stay,” TJ said. “I don’t like running away because of this mope, but Richard’s right. We can’t take a chance. I’ll talk to Donna tomorrow and get some stuff ready. As long as you’re sure Eric won’t mind, I’ll bring ’em out there tomorrow.”
“Eric will love to have JR around. You know he adores the boy.”
“Yeah, right. But can JR bring his Christmas tree?”
38
It was one in the morning by the time Bart and Jen got settled in at a Holiday Inn north of the city near the Brookfield Square shopping center. Jen was quiet as they drove to the hotel and even quieter when he told her he’d booked a suite. Their quarters had a spacious bedroom, which Bart offered to Jen and she accepted without argument. Bart would sleep on a couch in the living room, one that opened into a bed.
He watched as Jen bustled about the suite, moving her things into the bedroom and bathroom. Even tense and angry, she looked good to him. Her cinnamon-brown hair just grazed her shoulders and perfectly matched the smattering of freckles across her nose. Her feet a pair of ballet flats, she wasn’t as tall as she was in her heels, and maybe that gave him the courage to face her and say, “Jen, I’m sorry I got you into all this. If there was something I could do to change things back, believe me, I would.”
Jen stopped what she was doing and plopped down on the couch. “I know none of this is your fault, Bart. I’m just scared, I guess. And all this,” she gestured around the room, “is going to put me way behind on my work.”
“Well, I have a lot more free time than you do. Especially now that this Headliner story will practically write the blog for me. So let me help. Put me to work. Whatever you need, I’m your guy.”
She laughed, her nose wrinkling adorably. “You’re so sweet. I’ve been taking out my frustration on you; I don’t mean to.” She grinned. “I can just see you in a bridal store, carrying wedding dresses to a client.”
“I could do that.” He sat next to her on the sofa.
“Right. You’d just like an opportunity to peek into the dressing rooms.”
“That may be, but I’d be a great at zipping up the dresses for them.”
Her next bout of giggles was interrupted by a ping from Bart’s computer announcing a new email. They looked over at the laptop, open on the dresser across from the sofa.
Jen stiffened. “You don’t think that’s him already, do you?”
Bart gave her hand a squeeze as he rose to check the message.
Hey, douche bag,
I’m waiting for your next report about me and I’m vary disappointed. You seen what happens when I get disappointed. Get it done by nine tomorrow or there’ll be another surprise. You won’t like it.
Headliner
PS I know where you are.
Bart picked up his cell phone to call Conlin, then noticed Jen’s face was drained of all color. He went back and sat next to her. “I won’t let him hurt you. I promise.”
39
Kelsey turned off the security alarm and hoisted herself out through the egress window in the lower level of the house. The escape route was one she had used once before when she was sixteen and Rina wouldn’t let her visit her mother in jail. The meeting that night, with Rina, TJ, and Lisa had been ridiculous. She’d felt like a little kid being ganged up on by both parents.
When she had finally been alone—not really alone, with Jake hovering, but away from the three women—she faked interest in an old Bruce Willis movie Jake was watching. When he left the room to get them popcorn, she slipped a sleeping tablet into his beer, and then had crept out of the room when he fell asleep.
After she started the car and drove away, Kelsey smiled to herself, remembering the evening again. Obviously, all three of them believed she still had feelings for Felhaber. She hadn’t planned it that way, but their suspicions, like the slug asleep on the couch inside, suited her purpose. She knew they meant well, but she had to take care of this herself. Lyle Felhaber wasn’t going to get away with what he’d done.
The Felhaber house in Fox Point sat on the shore of Lake Michigan north of downtown Milwaukee. A massive single-story ranch, the exterior of the lannon stone and cedar home had white icicle lights dangling from all the gutters and encircling a tall white pine in the front yard.
The house was dark except for a light in one of the back rooms. Based on something Felhaber had said during one of their late-night phone calls, Kelsey surmised the room must be his study. She knew his security code for the house. Unless he’d lied about that too, it was the last five digits of his cell-phone number. He had once mentioned using the number in a conversation about home safety and said that because his cell phone was private, no one would ever figure it out. He would have had no reason to be concerned about Kelsey knowing the number, since he’d never even given her his real name, much less told her exactly where he lived.
After pulling on a pair of thin leather gloves, she punched in the number on the pad beside the door to the garage and once in, quickly reset the system behind her. The dead weight of a gun in the pocket of her dark jacket knocked against her ribs, reminding her what she had to do.
Kelsey’s days with her mother had jaded her much more than she’d ever admitted to Rina. Guns held no mystique for her. She’d seen them around often enough, carried by her mother’s boyfriends and associates. Rina kept guns and had even taken Kelsey to a shooting range a few times to acclimate her to their use. No, the gun wasn’t the problem. Kelsey had the means and the knowledge to get hold of one that could never be traced back to her. The problem was putting a bullet in Lyle’s handsome, smarmy face, the face that had kissed her, made promises to her, told her
he loved her, and then betrayed her. To carry out what she’d come for, Kelsey had to override all the good memories and stay focused on his treachery.
She entered the house through a mudroom and moved into the kitchen. Eerie light from a full moon glowed through the windows, guiding her path through the house. A hallway off the kitchen opened to doors apparently for bedrooms. The only door off the hallway with light under it had to be Lyle’s study. The thought of him behind that door, vulnerable to her, set a current of electricity pulsing through her nerve endings. Kelsey took the gun out of her pocket, released its safety, then snapped on a silencer.
Holding the gun in front of her, she took a deep breath and entered the room.
“Guess what, my love?”
The sight in front of her cut off her next words. Lyle sat behind the desk in a white shirt, its sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The front of his shirt had a huge red stain and his head lolled to one side, his blue eyes open, staring blankly. A mullioned window above the credenza next to the desk stood open, the night air turning the room frigid. For a second, Kelsey nearly lost control, almost puked right there in front of his desk.
Someone had robbed her of the satisfaction of putting a bullet in his lying face.
She took a moment to calm herself, then detached the silencer and put the gun back in her pocket. She eased quietly out of the room, taking long, deep breaths. The shocking tableau had snapped her back to reality. She needed to get out of there as quickly as possible or be blamed for his death. She had to focus.
Back in the garage, she snuck out, resetting the alarm behind her. Recalling the open window in his study, she wondered why the system was even working. Whoever shot him had somehow gotten into the study, disabling only that window. But trying to figure out that mystery wasn’t important—the only thing that mattered now was getting away from the house without being seen.
Girl Undone (TJ Peacock & Lisa Rayburn Mysteries Book 3) Page 12