by L. A. Fiore
Avery was walking back and forth, studying the garden from every angle. “It’s perfect.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“God, I’m good. I can’t wait to get started on the other beds.”
“Let’s give ourselves some time to enjoy this one.”
She turned to me, a knowing smile on her face. “Backbreaking isn’t it?”
And yet she didn’t seem affected at all. “How are you not hurting right now?”
“I’m made of stronger stuff apparently.”
In response my dad roared with laughter. “I can admit, I hurt like a mother, so I’m going to grab a shower and then a cold beer. Maybe we should call for pizza.”
“Yeah, with avocado and bacon.”
My dad and I both looked at Avery like she sprouted up from the ground. “On your pizza? That’s sacrilege.”
“It’s delicious.”
“Pepperoni, sausage and mushrooms.”
“And onion.” Dad added.
“Yeah and onion.”
“Maybe I’ll let you have some of mine after you taste it and realize what you’ve been missing your whole life.”
She started for the carriage house and her ass in those overalls; I may have to rethink my feelings on them. “Avery.”
“Yeah,” she called from over her shoulder.
“Thank you. You’re right, it is perfect.”
She stopped walking, her head twisting around; the expression on her face rocked me. She looked a lot like how I felt. Her voice was soft, tenderness laced through the words. “You’re welcome.”
If my dad weren’t here, she’d be naked, flat on her back and writhing under me. The idea was so appealing, I had to change the subject or else my dad would be getting a show. “Your choice of pizza toppings though is just fucking wrong.”
I had the joy of watching her narrow her eyes, she even stuck her tongue out at me, before she turned on her heel and disappeared into the carriage house.
I was still grinning when the pizza arrived an hour later.
In my truck, after delivering a coffee table to a client, I kept seeing Avery in her overalls, the memory making me hard. Shifting my thoughts before I threw caution to the wind and kidnapped her from work, I pondered the shit with Melody. The cops hadn’t laughed us out of the precinct, but just barely. They took down the little information Melody could provide and assured us the matter would be given the attention it deserved. I couldn’t help thinking about that final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark and how the ark was stored in that vast warehouse. I suspected her report would receive similar attention.
Melody had taken my advice and left town. The more I thought on the situation, the less sense it made. Someone thought I had something and attempted to break in. Not cool, definitely something that concerned me. But on the other hand, they had asked for Melody’s help and were almost lazy in the way they were going about looking for whatever it was they wanted. I wasn’t sure if the person behind this now was the same person who had sought the disc years before because they didn’t seem like a threat, just a nuisance. I needed a sounding board. Hitting the Bluetooth button on the steering wheel, I heard Lucien’s voice over my truck’s speakers.
“Rafe, what’s up?”
“Are you busy now?”
“No why?”
“You’re not going to believe what I’ve learned. Can you call Josh and Trace? I’ll get my dad so I can tell you all at once.”
“It doesn’t sound good.”
“I don’t know what the fuck it is.”
“We’ll be here.” The line went dead.
The garage where Dad worked wasn’t too far from my house and when I arrived, he was out front with a customer. He saw me and jerked his head in acknowledgment. I looked around as I climbed from my truck. The place did well, based on the number of cars in the parking lot.
Dad approached. “Hey, Rafe. What’s up?”
“Have you had your lunch break yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Will you come with me? You’re going to meet my friends.”
“Sure.”
A half an hour later we were stepping into Allegro; Lucien and Josh were already there as was Trace.
Trace stepped up to Dad as soon as we entered. “Mr. McKenzie, Trace Montgomery.”
“Trace, nice to meet you.”
Lucien offered Dad his hand. “Lucien Black and this is Josh O’Donnell.”
“So why are we here?” Trace asked without preamble.
I wondered if speaking the words out loud would make them any easier to believe, because honest to God the whole situation was fucked up. “After Melody and I split, she was approached by someone who wanted to know Avery’s and my schedule so they could search my house. Feeling jilted, she shared.”
Dad went rigid. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Shaking my head, I continued, “After I changed the alarm codes, they got desperate and attempted to break in. They’re looking for a disc of some kind. Melody doesn’t know who’s behind it and I convinced her to go to the cops, not that that did any good, but at least there’s a report on file.”
It was Dad who said what everyone else was thinking. “How much do you want to bet that’s what Lucas had been looking for in Paddington’s box?”
“I wouldn’t take that bet.” Trace said.
“Paddington worked for Morton Shipping, shines a light on them. Don’t you think?” Josh said.
“Yeah, more so since Brynn Morton is my grandfather.”
Josh was the only one not surprised by that news, but then he was looking into my mom so he already knew of the connection.
Dad answered. “Yeah, Lexie and I were getting married, her dad had a problem with that. I don’t doubt for a minute that I had been targeted for the bank job and learning where Jeremy worked, I’d bet money Brynn was behind it. Especially knowing Lucas’s MO was to rat out his recruit. Sending me to jail, yeah, Brynn would’ve arranged that without blinking.”
“But why would he come after you? He’d already won, had gotten his daughter away from you.” Josh asked.
“His pregnant daughter. That didn’t work into his plans, I’m sure. Why wait ten years before exacting revenge? I don’t know. The man’s a ruthless prick, I don’t put anything past him.”
Josh started to pace. “So outside of being a dick and setting you up, why now? Why are they searching now for this disc and not when you were in jail?”
“My guess, because I’m not in jail. Lucas and Jackson were likely killed because they didn’t have the disc. The only other person on the job was me. Whoever killed them thought I had it. But I was doing twenty-five years. They probably thought I’d handed the disc over as part of my surrender, likely waited on eggshells for the cops to show up at their door. When that didn’t happen, the next logical place for me to hide it would be with my kid’s stuff, but at nine, it’d be highly unlikely I’d share with him what I hid and where. Which meant it was just as secure in my hiding spot as it was in that deposit box. They got a reprieve for twenty-five years. Now that I’m out, they think I’m going to cash in. Searching Rafe’s place makes sense, especially if they think they’re running out of time.”
“But why wait until you’re out? Why not a year before you were released or two?” Josh asked.
It bothered me too; the timing didn’t make sense, which was why I wasn’t convinced it was the same person now as it had been to take out Lucas and Jackson. “I agree. And if they are keeping tabs, why did they wait until after I had the alarm system installed? I’ve been in that house for five years and up until a few months ago the place would have been easy pickings, so why’d they wait until it was like Fort Knox to break in?”
“Unless they only recently learned that what they wanted was at your place.” Trace said.
That was a good point. “So who told them?” I asked.
“Good question.” Josh added.
“And what’s on that disc?” Lucien as
ked.
“And how real a threat is this? It seems like whoever is looking is only stirring the water lightly. They asked for Melody’s help, so how serious can they possibly be in both finding the disc and wanting to keep what they find a secret? But on the other hand, the man Avery saw with Melody had not been gentle. A fact confirmed when I spoke to Melody, she was spooked, enough that she’s left town for a while. The whole situation is very contradictory.”
“If Avery saw the man, maybe she could sit with a sketch artist friend of mine. We get his name we’ll understand better what we’re dealing with.” Josh said.
Case in point on how the cops hadn’t taken Melody’s report seriously. They never even suggested that. “I’ll talk to her.”
Looking at my watch, I stood. “Dad has to get back to work. I want that disc. I want to know what the hell this is all about, but I’ve torn that house apart in the remodel, I’m not sure it’s there. If they were given a tip that I had it, I think the tipster is fucking with them.”
Returning home, I was greeted to the sight of Avery attempting to hang a bird feeder from a tree using a chair. What was it with the woman and her staunch objection to ladders? She had pulled over one of the pair of chairs she had setup in front of the carriage house not too long after she moved in. I didn’t really understand why she had them, since they faced the house and not the yard, but she often sat there with Loki. She had one foot up against the tree as she leaned dangerously far from where the chair sat to reach the branch she wanted. And though she was likely going to fall and break something, I had to say the view was fucking fantastic.
I waited until I was right behind her, so I could catch her if I startled her, before saying, “I need to buy you one of those helping hands.”
“Funny.”
“Seriously. There’s a ladder behind the barn, I showed you.”
“It’s heavy.”
“So you’d rather risk broken bones?”
“I do this all the time. The curse of being short.”
“Would you like some help?”
“I got it.”
And she did, though I wasn’t sure why she was hanging a bird feeder when winter was coming. And thinking about birds had that conversation about eagles, when she first arrived, popping into my head. Fucking hilarious.
“Isn’t it a bit late to be hanging a bird feeder? I think the eagles have migrated south already.”
Her head twisted, her green eyes spearing me and though there was humor, I saw understanding too.
“You knew?”
“That you were lying your ass off? That the only birds you were viewing through those binoculars were Lucien and me? Hell yeah.”
“I should be embarrassed, but I’m not.”
“It was flattering.”
“It was ridiculous and silly, but the view was lovely.”
“Speaking of views, don’t move I need a picture of this.”
“Stop it.”
Nimble the way she moved, climbing down from her perch effortlessly. She smiled up at me and my chest tightened at the sight, but I needed to fill her in. She needed to be careful and smart so I’d have the treat of that smile for a long time to come.
“I want to tell you about Melody.”
Her smile instantly faded and I hated seeing concern clouding her expression, but at least she knew enough to be worried.
“That man you saw, he wanted her to tell him when we weren’t home so he could have my house searched.”
Worried shifted to anger. “Are you kidding me?”
“No.”
“Why would she…” Understanding dawned, “She willingly shared that information with a stranger because she felt jilted?”
“Yeah.”
“What a bitch.”
Understatement.
“What were they looking for?”
“A disc, I’m guessing a CD-ROM.”
She made the connection immediately. “This is related to your dad.”
“Yeah.”
“It was them, the night the alarm tripped.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a bit unsettling.”
She looked vulnerable, scared, and the instinct to protect her by pushing her away was strong, instead I wrapped her in my arms. “I’m telling you this because I want you to be careful and aware of your surroundings. I’m not convinced we’re in any danger, but it can’t hurt to be cautious. Okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Josh is looking into it, Melody filed a police report, not that I think that’ll do anything, but you live here, you could become a target. And I’m not going to lie to you, Avery, I don’t fucking like you anywhere near trouble, but I’d send you away if I thought it was serious.”
Defiance entered her expression. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I agree, for now.” She wanted to object, I didn’t let her. “You saw the man. Would you sit with a sketch artist Josh knows? If we can figure out who’s behind it, we’ll figure out what the hell they’re after.”
“Absolutely.”
As I worked, whisking the eggs for the mousse, I thought about what Rafe had shared regarding Melody and the mystery man. I had to agree, the situation was irritating but not necessarily concerning. Still you had to wonder what could possibly still be of interest so many years later that someone would go to the trouble they had to find it.
Nat was coming for another visit, my irrational, crazy and brilliant sister and her boyfriend, Tyler. They’d be staying in the carriage house since I spent most nights at Rafe’s; it seemed silly to let that space go unused. And as an added bonus, the place was like Fort Knox, so if there really was a threat, they’d be safe with us.
Rafe didn’t want my rent money now that we were sleeping together. Just another reason for why I’d fallen for him and as sweet as that gesture was, the added income pushed up his timeline for the completion of his house. He didn’t know, but I intended to stockpile the rent to give to him.
“Avery.”
Looking up I was surprised to see Kyle and more the strain that twisted his expression.
“Kyle, what’s wrong?”
“I just got a call from the hospital, Mount Sinai. They were trying to reach Rafe but his phone is going right into voicemail, so they called the other number programmed into the phone.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. Liam. I had Clover's number as part of my voice mail message in case someone needed to get in touch with me while I worked. “Is he okay?”
“They didn’t say only that there was some accident at work and he was being treated.”
Trace walked in at the moment. “I’ll take you. Kyle, you keep trying to get in touch with Rafe. Maybe he’s with Lucien or Josh. Tina and Lee, this is all you tonight.”
“Okay. Don’t worry, Avery, we’ve got this.” Lee assured me and I knew they did.
Pulling off my apron, my hands were shaking because the idea that Liam could be taken away from Rafe when they were finally finding their way back to each other was too horrible to contemplate.
Trace grabbed my purse and seeing that I was a bit out of it, touched my elbow and led me to the parking lot. Once we settled in his car, I called Rafe.
“Trace and I are on our way to Mount Sinai. Your dad had an accident at the garage. I don’t know the details. As soon as I do, I’ll call you.”
I dropped my phone in my lap and looked out the window as tears burned my eyes. “I hate leaving him a message like that.”
“He needs to know and it’s better for him to hear it from you.”
Entering the emergency room, we headed right for the front desk. Trace asked, “Liam McKenzie was just brought in. Can you tell us how he’s doing?”
“Are you family?”
I answered. “No.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t share patient information with you. If you have a seat, maybe the doctor will share more with you.” That particular hospital policy sucked in my opinion.
; Trace and I weren’t seated for long when the doors opened and a woman entered. It took me a minute to place her, but she was the same woman who had called me out from the kitchen at Clover. Like then, she was dressed to the nines in some designer and she had an air about her that bespoke not only money but also power. Her eyes landed on me, recognition immediate, before she moved to the nurses’ station. The conversation she had with the nurse was heated but after a few minutes the nurse called Trace and me over and shared what she wouldn’t earlier.
“Mr. McKenzie was brought in for lacerations on his arms. Several were deep enough that he required stitches. The plastic surgeon was also called. The doctor will have more to share with you.”
“But the wounds are not life threatening?”
“No.”
“Thank God.” Reaching for my phone, I left Rafe a message before turning my attention to the woman from Clover. “Thank you.”
She nodded and at first I didn’t know what to make of that. She had walked into the ER and cut through the bullshit and now she appeared almost aloof, until I saw the brightness of her eyes. She was holding back tears.
Suspicion replaced gratefulness because it wasn’t a coincidence, her coming into Clover. Not with her being here now.
“Who are you?”
“Alexandra Titus, but my maiden name is Morton.”
Trace knew what I didn’t when he said, “You’re Rafe’s mom.”
Shock hit first, Rafe’s mom? But looking into her familiar hazel eyes, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it.
“Yes, I’m his mother.”
The fury came then, quick and fierce. Where the hell had she been? Rafe’s father was taken from him at nine, he’d suffered through the foster system and all this time his mother had been close. What kind of woman treated her own flesh and blood that way? Before I could rip her a new one, she beat me to it.
“I know what you’re thinking and you’ve every right to think it. I failed Rafe and his father.”
“Why did you stay away? Rafe was in foster care, alone, young not understanding what was happening. He needed his mother then, why didn’t you go to him, spare him all that unnecessary pain?”