Last of the O'Rourkes

by Kate Douglas

Kat licked her lips, then shook her head, dislodging the light touch of his fingertips, unobtrusively backing away from Seamus. Her soft hair, longer now, brushed his fingers. He moved his hand away, but not before he felt the contact all the way to his heart.

  She smiled brightly, diffusing the tension with her light laughter.

  “Your imagination must be pretty good if you get an image like that while looking at me in this.” She swept her hand out to draw attention to the loosely flowing tie-dyed dress she practically lived in now her clothes had grown so tight.

  “Do you want the truth, Seamus? I feel like a beached whale in tie-dye. A walrus in heat is more graceful than I am right now and I can’t wait to get my old body back. I hate to think how hard it’s going to be to lose almost forty pounds!”

  She pushed her hair back out of her eyes and laughed again, but she didn’t make eye contact and her laughter was unconvincing. Obviously his comment had made her uncomfortable.

  “I have indigestion after every meal, I have to pee at least twenty times a day and if this baby isn’t a boy born with soccer cleats on, I’ll be absolutely shocked. Pregnancy is not my idea of fun. If you think this body’s beautiful, you are one sick puppy.”

  So much for speaking his mind.

  She patted his hand with almost maternal affection. “But thanks anyway for the compliment. I’m sure you meant well.”

  She flashed him a brief smile then went back to her book. The first thing she did was turn the page, hiding the photo and effectively dismissing Seamus.

  She couldn’t have made her point more clearly. Keep it light. Keep it simple. But most of all, keep it impersonal.

  Sighing, Seamus turned away to finish checking the locks.

  Chapter Eight

  “WE ALL KNOW WE’RE supposed to have April showers, but hasn’t anyone told Mother Nature it’s May?” Tense and edgy after weeks of almost continual rain, Kat felt like crying as she glared out the window.

  Her back hurt, her feet were swollen and she’d progressed from looking like she’d swallowed a basketball to having a belly that would make her competitive in a giant pumpkin contest.

  She’d never felt uglier or more ungainly in her entire life. Or more prone to mildew. She stretched the soft yellow baby blanket she’d finally finished and pulled it a little tighter around her shoulders, more for comfort than for warmth.

  She was not pleased with her life right now, nor was she dealing well with the infernal, eternally falling rain.

  “This is nothing. I recall one Memorial Day weekend we had over five inches.” Seamus looked up from his laptop as he spoke. “The river flooded and they had to rescue a number of stranded people by helicopter.” He smiled brightly then went back to work on whatever he was writing.

  “Thank you so very much for that bit of good cheer.” Kat turned her attention back to the forest beyond, staring blankly at moss covered trees shrouded in heavy rain.

  “You’re welcome.”

  She ignored his snide comment.

  All they’d done was snipe and insult and goad one another for what seemed like forever. Actually, it hadn’t quite been forever...it hadn’t gotten really bad until Seamus had said... Damn!

  Seamus’s comment repeated itself over and over in her mind. “ I assume you’re even more beautiful than the woman in the photo, Kat .”

  Why had he said it? She didn’t think he’d been making fun of her...his sense of humor was never cruel. Could he possibly care for her as something more than a means to an end? He couldn’t possibly be attracted to her, not the way she looked now...could he? He’d stopped mentioning the fact he wanted the baby, but she knew it was only a matter of time.

  If only he hadn’t said anything, hadn’t hinted there might be...no. He’d merely been trying to make her feel better about herself. He couldn’t possibly have meant anything else when he’d said she was beautiful.

  Sometimes, though, she was almost certain she caught him watching her.

  Probably afraid the kid’s gonna fall out on the floor.

  She had a sinking suspicion childbirth wouldn’t be quite that simple.

  Seamus had been studying the baby books as if his life depended on it. Kat hated to admit that, if worse came to worst and the storms continued, both her life and her baby’s actually could depend on whatever knowledge he gained.

  She shuddered, wrapped the blanket even tighter about her, then turned her back on the rain.

  AS UNOBTRUSIVELY AS HE could, Seamus watched Kat turn away from the window and wander across the room to the old rocker by the fire. She’d taken that chair as her own and he’d grown fond of observing her there, imagining her with their child in her arms.

  It was their child, in no uncertain terms. He’d come to the realization he could never separate mother and baby, any more than he could allow Kathleen to step out of his life, but he felt a connection to Riley’s unborn child as if Seamus’s own seed had given it life.

  He had no idea how to convince Kathleen to stay. He’d thought of asking her to marry him but feared she’d see it as a ploy to gain custody. He knew she could never love him. She still saw Riley when she looked at Seamus.

  How can I blame her? Every time I look in the mirror, I see Riley’s image .

  “Did you hear something?”

  Seamus shifted around in his chair so that he could see Kat better. “What?” he asked. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Sounded like something hit the side of the house.” She pointed toward the back of the room where a door led to a small garden beyond the deck.

  “Stay put and I’ll take a look. Probably just a branch.” Seamus glanced through the stained glass window on the door before turning off the alarm and opening the door. Nothing but rain and mud and more rain. One of the potted plants Kathleen had set out on the deck lay on its side. Seamus ran out and righted it. He managed to get thoroughly soaked in the process.

  “Must have been a raccoon.” He turned to race back into the house when he spotted it. A muddy footprint on the redwood deck, a long streak melting away in the rain, as if someone had lost their footing on the slick surface.

  Not his footprint, obviously not Kat’s. Seamus glanced quickly about, but nothing caught his attention in the dusky late afternoon light. He turned and reached for the door. His breath caught.

  A muddy handprint, fingers splayed across the roughhewn wall, met him at eye level. Positioned perfectly for someone trying to catch himself from falling.

  He quickly slipped into the house and carefully locked the door behind him. He reset the alarm. “Someone’s been here.” He kept his voice low, but Kat obviously understood. She stood awkwardly and waddled across the room to pull the drawstring on the drapes. Seamus quickly checked all the doors and locks on the ground floor.

  “Stay put,” he said. “I’m going to double check the windows upstairs and the door to the deck from the master bedroom.”

  Kat slipped into her bedroom as quickly as she could and grabbed the Ruger out from under the mattress. At just over two pounds, the familiar weight of the automatic pistol gave her an instant sense of confidence. No way in hell would the shoulder holster fit over her belly, but she felt safer with the heavy gun in her hand.

  Seamus tapped lightly on her bedroom door, then slipped into the room, shutting the door behind him. He glanced briefly at the weapon and nodded. “I was hoping you’d thought to bring that damned thing,” he said.

  “What did you see?” Kat felt the familiar shiver of excitement, the sense of finally knowing the stalker was close by. Now, maybe, after so many months, the waiting would come to an end.

  “Footprint on the deck, not mine. The sound you heard was someone slipping, catching himself against the wall. There’s a muddy handprint beside the door.” He smiled at Kat and shook his head. “You know, it’s almost a relief to finally know where the guy is.”

  “We don’t really know.” Kat nodded in the direction of the window, now tightly covered wit
h both shades and blinds. She reached behind Seamus and flicked off the light. “He could be anywhere out there, but he knows exactly where we are in here. C’mon. Let’s shut all the lights off and find ourselves a spot where we can wait him out.”

  Seamus didn’t question her and for that alone Kat was thankful. So often her male counterparts on the job had tried to second-guess her decisions. Seamus easily accepted the fact she knew what she was about. He moved ahead of her into the front room and hit the main switch on the wall near the front door.

  The room was plunged into almost total darkness, other than the pale glimmer from a single skylight over the sloped kitchen ceiling. The approaching darkness outside meant even that light would quickly fade. Seamus took Kat’s arm and guided her to the couch near the fireplace. She sat down with the gun still firmly clasped in her right hand, resting on her abdomen.

  The juxtaposition of a deadly automatic pistol atop her growing baby disturbed her. She unobtrusively slid her hand to her side and tucked the pistol against her leg.

  “I already turned off the lights upstairs and called Sandy Wilson. He’s going to contact the local sheriff’s department. We should have someone up here before too long.” Seamus sat next to Kat and pushed her hair back from her eyes. It was the first time he’d really touched her, truly looked at her, for weeks now.

  The contact sent a shiver coursing down her spine, a sense she equated as much with fear as excitement. She turned her head and his hand dropped away. “I feel as if we should be hiding somewhere, just in case...”

  “I know. So do I, but the doors are sturdy and there’s double-paned glass on all the windows. If he breaks in, we’ll hear him. I’m just wondering why we didn’t hear the alarm when he stepped on the deck. I changed the settings after the raccoons tripped it the other night...maybe they’re set too high.” He rubbed Kathleen’s fingers in both his hands. “It shouldn’t be too much longer before the sheriff gets up here.” Seamus nodded in the direction of the hidden pistol. “I trust you know how to shoot that thing?”

  Kat heard the humor in his voice. “Damn straight. Do you?”

  “You’re gonna laugh, but I’ve never even touched a gun. Wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

  “It’s not something worth laughing about.” Kat lifted the heavy weapon and placed it in Seamus’s open palm. He grunted, acknowledging its weight. “Don’t worry, the safety’s on.”

  She glanced up and caught the look of distaste on his face as he stared at the gun in his hand. What’s going through his mind? So much of what Seamus thought remained shuttered behind those dark lashes of his. Did her ease with a firearm make her even more unacceptable as a mother to Riley’s child?

  After a moment’s hesitation, Seamus turned the dull blue pistol over in his hands, exploring it. “How many bullets does it hold?”

  Kat took the weapon back from him, flipped the magazine catch and slipped the full clip out of the gun. “It holds ten cartridges. I’ve never had to empty a clip, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She slipped the clip back into the Ruger. “If you need to use it, you flip this lever here and that takes the safety off. Then it’s just point and shoot.” She demonstrated releasing the safety then holding the gun out in front of her with both hands. “It’s heavy, over two pounds, so even a big tough guy like you would do better to hold it with two hands.”

  Grinning, she reset the safety and handed the weapon to Seamus. He quickly handed it back. “I’ll bow to your expertise,” he said. “Damned thing makes me nervous but, like I said, I’m really glad you brought it.” He frowned. “Where was it anyway? I don’t recall you carrying it in.”

  “That’s because you carried it in. I wrapped it in my nightgown and stuffed it in my carryall.”

  “I’ll never see that nightgown in quite the same light again.”

  They both chuckled, then held their breath. The low rumble of a car coming up the drive crept into the silence.

  FEAR HAD A LIFE of its own—much the same as the power. Keeping them afraid would be easy now. They knew he had discovered their hiding place, knew their secret was no longer safe.

  Would they run again? No. Her time was too close. He felt it much in the manner of the power. She would be his.

  Just a little longer. The bitch was so close to delivery, big and fat and ugly, so ungainly she’d never be able to get away.

  He laughed, imagining completion. Then the laughter stilled.

  When she was gone, when the child lay dead beside her...what then?

  Long seconds passed while he contemplated the finish. What would keep the power alive then?

  A car passed by, slowly, the rumble of the quiet engine reminding him the bitch wasn’t the only one out there.

  Others waited. Others who might feed the power every bit as well.

  Later. He’d worry about that later. Right now there was one more minor success to savor.

  THE POUNDING ON THE front door did more than rattle the windows. It rattled Kat’s nerves as well.

  “Mr. O’Rourke? Sheriff’s department.” Seamus had the alarm off and the door open within seconds. A large uniformed deputy wiped his feet on the mat and stepped quickly into the foyer. He nodded a silent greeting to Kat and spoke quietly. “Before you switch on the lights, ma’am, can you open the back door and let my partner inside?”

  Kat stuck the Ruger between the cushions on the couch and quickly moved to obey the whispered command as the deputy turned to Seamus and introduced himself in a louder voice. She slipped the deadbolt on the door and opened it. The roaring downpour and lashing wind outside muffled the sound of the men’s voices. An attractive female sheriff’s deputy, as tall as Kat and as dark as Kat was light, stepped quickly into the kitchen. She tugged a short leash, drawing a large German Shepherd through the door behind her.

  Water poured off the woman’s cap and puddled on the tile floor. The dog started to shake itself but his master’s quick hand to the back of his neck halted the animal’s instinctive reaction. He sat obediently while Kat quickly flipped on the kitchen light and grabbed a stack of towels. She handed them to the dripping deputy.

  “Let me guess,” she said, laughing in spite of the situation and nodding in the direction of the deputy sheriff talking to Seamus. “He’s the senior partner so you got to hike up the hill in the rain.”

  “You got it. ’Tis the lot of women everywhere.” The woman laughed as she grabbed one of the offered towels, scrubbed her face dry then knelt to towel off the patient dog. “I’m Toni Juárez,” she said, holding her hand out to Kat. “Of course he neglected to tell me there’d be two streams to cross from the point where he dropped me off. That was after instructing me not to use the flashlight.”

  “Typical male. My partner would’ve pulled a similar stunt, I’m sure.”

  “The big guy in there? He’s law enforcement?”

  Kat turned to look at Seamus, still deep in discussion with the deputy sheriff. “His brother was FBI but Seamus is...well, not.” Let’s just leave it at that, she thought. How could anyone categorize Seamus O’Rourke? “I’m Kat Malone. I was referring to my DOT partner. I work...ah...worked investigations out of the San Francisco office.”

  “Yeah, Lieutenant Wilson filled us in on your situation. You’ve really got a nut case after you, haven’t you?” Juárez continued drying the huge dog. He grunted and rolled over on his back, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. She laughed and stood up. “Sorry, Buddy, you’re enjoying it too much.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Kat motioned the deputy ahead of her and the two of them sat at either end of the couch. Buddy padded along behind and settled quietly on the floor at Toni Juárez’s feet.

  “John’s gonna make a cursory check around the place and then make a production out of leaving. Only he’s parking about a quarter mile down the road and waiting to hear from me. Hopefully no one saw me and the beast—” She leaned over to scratch the dog between the ears. “—so we’ll just quietly settle in for
a bit while you and your man go on about your business.”

  “He’s not my man.” Kat wondered why she felt it so important to correct that misconception.

  Toni glanced at Kat’s obvious pregnancy. “Oh.” A thousand questions filled the single word. “I’m sorry. I just...” She glanced toward Seamus again, taking a longer look.

  A very appreciative look as far as Kat could tell. Appreciative, speculative and somewhat predatory. Kat stiffened in her seat, well aware of her ungainly body compared to the sleek deputy sitting beside her. It shouldn’t matter that another woman would obviously find Seamus attractive. He was an attractive man, one any woman might be interested in.

  Unfortunately, she quickly realized it did matter and she didn’t like it.

  Kat must have broadcast her feelings in some unknown manner, because Toni immediately turned back to the matter at hand. “If your stalker makes a move, Buddy’ll know about it before any of us. Won’tcha, big boy?” She scratched his ears again and Buddy moaned in pleasure.

  “Honey, I’m going out with Deputy Rodgers, show him where the footprint was. You stay put and keep the doors locked.”

  Honey? Now where the hell did that come from? “Be careful.” Kat wasn’t sure what was going on, but she made a point of sounding like the dutiful little lady.

  The door clicked solidly behind the men, filling the room with silence punctuated with the sound of Buddy licking at his damp coat. “Can I get some water for your dog?”

  “That would be nice. Thank you. Just a bowl on the kitchen floor would be great.”

  Kat moved awkwardly into the kitchen. Lately, everything she did was done awkwardly. She was more aware than ever of Toni Juárez’s lean strength and sleek, attractive form. A form very much like Kat’s former self.

  She bent uncomfortably to look through a bottom cupboard, wondering if she’d ever see that former self again. After a quick search she grabbed a stainless steel bowl and struggled into an upright position. Lately it seemed as if everything hurt, but her lower back was especially painful today. Just one more thing to bitch about.