Читать книгу High Desert Hideaway - Lisa Phillips, Jenna Night - Страница 13

THREE

Lily’s muscles felt stiff and sore as she walked through the front door of her mom’s house. She’d experienced nearly every emotion possible over the last few hours, as well as the physical reactions that went with each one. No wonder she felt like she’d just gone a couple of rounds with a three-hundred-pound prizefighter.

The chilly fall wind loosened wisps of hair from her ponytail, and brushed the skin around her face like itchy, impatient fingers. She smoothed her disheveled hair as she walked through the small entryway in the house. The kitchen, which was to the left, had a dining area with room for a small round table, two chairs and not much else. The living room was to the right, with its comfy, well-worn and unmatched furniture.

The curtains in the window on the far side of the living room twitched.

A furry snout pushed through the spot where the two pieces of fabric met. Another snout poked through beside it and then wagging tails batted the fabric back and forth. Two miniature dachshunds jumped down from the windowsill. Abby and Beatrice. Their dark eyes shone with light that spilled into the living room from the kitchen.

“Hi, girls!” Lily kneeled to let the little pooches kiss her.

She was finally home. And Deputy Nate Bedford had helped her get here. That was still hard to believe. Her entire experience tonight was hard to believe.

Abby and Beatrice whined joyfully. “I’m happy to see you, too.” Lily picked them up for a squeeze and gave them each a kiss on the head before setting them back down.

Once the dogs were settled, Lily took a minute to take a breath and compose herself before going upstairs to tell her mom what had happened at the Starlight Mart.

Kate Doyle had worked very hard at multiple jobs over the years while Lily was growing up, providing for the two of them and keeping a roof over their heads. The memory had made Lily’s failure and subsequent return home from college all the more bitter.

She was supposed to have made something of herself by finally earning her degree after numerous delays. The plan had been to get a well-paying job and pay her mom back for all her sacrifices over the years. Kick a little extra money her mom’s way so she could take a break and put her feet up now and then. Not that her mom had ever asked for such a thing.

It was Lily’s goal to make her mom’s life easier and she had failed. By moving back home, she’d added to her mom’s burdens. She’d been forced to leave college just a couple of months ago, and now she had to tell her mom she’d been held hostage and nearly killed.

She was tempted not to tell her mom about what had happened to keep her from worrying. But Kate was a social butterfly—definitely not an attribute Lily had inherited—and somehow she would find out. Might as well get it over with.

Lily walked through the shadowy living room and up the narrow stairs. “Come on, girls!”

Abby and Beatrice bolted past her, their ears flapping like proud wiener-dog flags as they led the way.

Her mom had a sitting room next to her bedroom. It was really just a small bedroom, but she’d put in a sofa, a comfy chair and a TV.

Lily hesitated when she reached the top of the stairs, trying to decide if she should ease into the details of what had happened or just blurt it out.

The dogs ran ahead of her down the hall and into the sitting room. Over the sound of the TV, Lily heard her mom say, “What have you two girls been up to?”

“I’m home,” Lily called out, trying to sound upbeat as she walked down the hall.

Her mom was stretched out on the sofa, a hand-crocheted multicolored afghan pulled up to her chin. She had to feel terrible. It took a lot to keep Kate Doyle down. A tissue box sat within reach on an end table. A few foil-wrapped chocolates trailed along the arm of the couch.

“Hi, honey, you’re home late.” Her mom sat up. She started to brush her hair away from her face and then suddenly froze. “What happened?”

Lily caught her reflection in a wall mirror. Tear-smeared mascara had left dark circles around her eyes. Her blouse was rumpled and dirt covered the bottom of her slacks where she’d crawled across the floor. She had a bruise and some small cuts on her face.

How could she not have noticed that earlier?

She walked to a chair and sat down, smoothing her hair and straightening her blouse. In this warm, safe, cozy room where Lily could finally let her guard down, the icy terror that came from having a gun shoved into her neck wormed its way back into her consciousness. Her hands started to tremble.

“The good news is I’m okay,” Lily said, her voice a little shaky.

Kate turned off the TV, swung her legs around so her feet were on the floor and dropped the remote onto the couch cushion beside her. “Why wouldn’t you be okay?”

In a wavering voice Lily told her mom what had happened, everything from overhearing the conversation at work to Nate Bedford seeing her home.

“Well, you’re not going back to work at that trucking company.” Her mom crossed her arms over her chest.

Not exactly the comforting response Lily had hoped for, but Kate typically turned practical when she was upset. Lily stood up, walked over and sat next to her mom on the sofa. Kate put an arm around her and pulled her close.

“So, Nate Bedford, huh?” her mom said after they’d sat together in silence for a couple of minutes. Kate didn’t know Nate personally, but his mother’s drunken antics were well-known throughout town. In the quiet, Lily could hear the wind outside rattle tree branches against the side of the house. “Nate’s really a sheriff’s deputy now?” her mom added. “Good for him.”

“Yeah, I didn’t recognize him at first.” And if he hadn’t shown up when he did, there was no telling what might have happened.

“His poor mom was one tortured soul. And it seemed as if she was determined to drag Nate down with her.” Kate shook her head. “It’s amazing to see what God can turn to good. I’m going to track that boy down and thank him for helping you.”

He might still have been outside watching the house, but more likely he’d headed up to his aunt and uncle’s place, the well-known Blue Spruce Ranch. Bud and Ellen Wells had done a lot of good work in the community over the years, much of it with troubled teens. Nate was eventually one of the teens they helped.

“You might get a chance to see Nate in the morning,” Lily said. “I left my car at the Starlight Mart and my purse and phone are at work. He’s going to take me to get them.”

Kate turned to her daughter with a slight smile.

“What?” Lily shook her head, feeling her cheeks warm. “It’s not like that, Mom. It’s his job to help people. That’s all it is.”

And that was all it was ever going to be.

Nate had been completely professional. He had no personal interest in her other than as the mutual acquaintance of a beloved old friend. And Lily had a life to rebuild after her engagement had come to an abrupt end and her carefully crafted plans crumbled like an imploded high-rise building. She worked lots of hours with no time for a personal life these days and that’s exactly how she wanted it.

After the pain and humiliation she’d been through, mind-numbing work was exactly what she needed.

Her mom hadn’t eaten dinner yet and Lily was hungry, too. “I’m going to heat up some soup.” Lily had made a pot of chicken noodle soup from scratch the night before. “Do you want me to bring you a bowl?”

“After what you’ve been through, I should get it,” her mom said, her breath sounding wheezy.

“I can get it.”

“Thanks, honey.” Kate patted the cushion beside her on the couch. Abby and Beatrice jumped up to cuddle with her. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

Downstairs, Lily got the pot of homemade soup out of the fridge and ladled some into a couple of bowls. A mental image of the men at the Starlight Mart, determined to grab her and most likely kill her, flashed through her mind. Her hands started to shake and she spilled some soup. Everything is okay. It’s over. I’m fine. She took a steadying breath.

Doors and windows. Were they all locked? Probably not.

She put a bowl in the microwave, set it to heat for three minutes and hit the start button. Then she went to check the front door. Yep, it was locked. She turned to face the living room. Through a thin curtain, she saw shadowy black branches wave outside the windows.

Except for one branch that remained still. Something about it didn’t look right.

Lily stared into the darkness for a moment. Slowly she realized she was looking at the outline of a man. Her breath caught in her throat. The man wasn’t outside the window. He was in the house. In the living room. Standing right there in the corner.

Her first attempt to scream came out as a ragged exhalation. Terrified, she felt as if she was caught in a nightmare, unable to make a sound. The man took a step out of the shadows, toward her, and she could see he was one of the men from the Starlight Mart. The one in the hoodie.

He was pointing a pistol at her. He glanced upstairs toward the blare of the TV, then turned back to her. “Don’t make a sound.”

“What do you want?” she asked, finally finding her voice.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

He motioned with his gun toward the back of the house, where the door in the utility room led outside. That was probably how he got in. Lily and her mom often left a window open in that room when they ran the dryer. And they were both bad about remembering to close it.

“Move!” Hoodie shoved her.

“I didn’t hear anything that could get you in trouble,” Lily said, taking a couple of stumbling steps while her heart hammered in her chest. “I just heard voices. Nothing specific.”

“Get moving or we’ll take your mother along, too.”

He wanted to get her outside and into a car. Lily couldn’t let that happen. It would be the end of everything.

He shoved her again. Edging toward panic, she reached for a potted plant on a shelf. If she flung something heavy against the wall and made a loud noise, maybe the dogs would hear it and start barking. Her mom would hear the racket and call the police.

Hoodie twisted her arm, hard, and she dropped the potted plant with a dull thud. So much for that plan.

They reached the utility room and she saw the open window. She also saw a mop propped against the wall. Hoodie loosened his grip slightly as he reached for the handle on the door leading outside. Lily took her chance. She kicked his knee. While he was off balance she grabbed the mop, whirled around and smacked him on the side of the head with it.

He dropped his gun. It clattered to the floor and they both reached for it. He jabbed an elbow toward her face, clipping her cheek, and she was knocked back. She dropped the mop. Then he got the gun.

Lily quickly crawled to a bucket of dry laundry detergent and grabbed a handful. Hoodie turned to her and she flung it into his face.

Cursing, he clawed at his eyes with one hand.

Afraid he might squeeze the trigger if she tried to grab his gun, Lily reached for the mop and struck him again. This time Hoodie slumped to the ground. He was out cold.

Footsteps pounded up the back porch steps. Nate must have been watching the house. Relief washing over her, Lily got to her feet and yanked open the door.

It wasn’t Nate standing there. It was the man who’d held a gun on her at the Starlight Mart. Lily’s heart sank. He had her again.

* * *

Nate crouched down low and crept alongside the house.

Lily’s mom had called 911. She’d reported strange noises in her house and that her dogs were growling. She was afraid someone had come after her daughter.

Nate was afraid of that, too. Dispatch had let him know what was happening and that the responding deputies were a couple minutes out. Nate knew better than to rush in, but he couldn’t just wait in his truck.

Peering around the corner of the house, he saw the gunman from the gas station on the back steps. He was holding Lily by the upper arm and dragging her out of the house. The terrified expression on her face struck Nate like a punch to his chest. Enough. Lily Doyle had been through enough. And that idiot holding her was not going to get away with what he’d done.

Nate had the advantage and he intended to make the most of it. The gunman wasn’t looking around. He probably thought he was home free. He did, however, have that gun. Trying to take a shot at him was too risky. Nate could miss and hit Lily. Or the gunman could shoot her.

Calm, cool, steady. That’s how Nate had to handle this.

At ease working in the shadows, he pressed into the side of the house and took one quiet step and then another. He covered the final short distance in a burst of speed. The gunman turned in surprise just as Nate grabbed his gun hand and landed a cross punch to the side of his head. The gunman dropped like a sack of wet sand.

Eyes wide and filled with fear, Lily swung her fists wildly. Nate had to duck a couple of times before she realized he wasn’t another attacker.

“Are you all right?” Nate asked when she finally stopped swinging. He put his hands on her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length while scanning her body for injuries.

“Someone’s in the house,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “Utility room.”

Nate hesitated, reluctant to turn his back on the man he’d just knocked unconscious.

“My mom’s in the house, too,” Lily said, sounding panicky and tugging on his arm. “Hurry!”

Inside the house he found the man in the hoodie lying unconscious on the utility room floor.

“I hit him with the mop,” Lily said.

Nate felt the corners of his lips tug upward in an admiring grin. “Good work.” He picked up the man’s gun and tucked it into his back pocket. Lily got some twine out of a storage cabinet and Nate tied the man’s hands behind his back.

Two little dogs not much bigger than mosquitoes ran into the utility room from the living room. A uniformed deputy followed them. A woman wrapped in an afghan walked in behind the deputy.

“Honey, are you okay?” the woman asked Lily after a racking coughing fit.

“I’m okay, Mom.” Lily hugged her mom and then introduced her to Nate.

“Thank you for saving my daughter’s life,” Kate Doyle said. “I’d offer to shake your hand, but I’m fighting bronchitis.”

“I think your daughter saved her own life.” He turned to the deputy. “There’s another bad guy out back.”

“No, there isn’t.” A second deputy walked into the utility room through the back door. “Sorry, Nate. If you had somebody out there, he’s long gone. Probably jumped into the ravine and took off. We’ll start looking for him.” He walked off, speaking into his collar mic.

The man who’d held the gun on her at the store had gotten away. Again. Disgusted with himself, Nate shook his head.

One of the little mosquito dogs, the one with a tiny white blaze in the center of her chest, stepped up to sniff the hem of Nate’s jeans. Her bone-shaped metallic tag said her name was Abby. Nate reached down to give her a scratch on the head. When she rolled up her eyes to look at him, he was pretty sure she was disappointed in what she saw. Nate didn’t blame her.

The man in the hoodie started to stir. The uniformed deputy took off the twine and cuffed him, then patted him down. He found a folded switchblade in his back pocket and a keychain in the front pocket. That was it. No wallet. No ID. Not even a phone. He started to regain consciousness. Nate and the deputy pulled him to a sitting position.

“What’s your name?” Nate asked.

The deputy had already tugged back the man’s hood, revealing short curly brown hair, thick eyebrows and a soda can–sized bruise across the side of his face. He was maybe in his early thirties. Powdery white laundry detergent streaked his face and the front of his shirt. He squinted his red, watery eyes and frowned at Nate. “Who are you?” His gaze shifted nervously back and forth between Nate and the deputy. “You’re that guy who hit me with soda cans in the store.”

“Do you recognize this guy from anywhere?” Nate asked Lily. “Maybe you’ve seen him someplace other than work?” He turned to her and she shook her head. When he turned back to the thug, he saw him staring at Lily. The man’s confused scowl had morphed into a bold, predatory stare.

Lily visibly blanched and her eyes grew wide with fear.

“Hey!” Nate snapped at the thug, drawing the man’s attention back to himself. “Who are you? Who are you working for?”

The man cursed at him and then looked away, making it clear he wouldn’t answer any further questions.

The deputy placed him under arrest and read him his rights, then left with plans to take him to the hospital to get checked out before hauling him to the county jail.

Lily sat down in the living room with the second deputy, who’d returned to the house and was ready to take down her statement. Meanwhile Lily’s mom made a call and a few minutes later Kate’s cousin, Penny, showed up to offer the women comfort and support.

While his fellow deputy was wrapping things up, Nate mentally rehashed everything that had happened this evening. If those two thugs could find out where Lily lived that quickly and they were desperate enough to try to grab her at home, she was in even greater danger than he’d thought. She was going to need something more substantial than the hand-holding her mother and cousin could provide.

Lily’s mom had brought out a container of homemade cookies and brewed some coffee. By the time the remaining deputy had taken care of business and gone on his way, there was nothing left but coffee mugs stacked in the kitchen sink and a few butter-pecan cookie crumbs on the kitchen counter.

“Why don’t you two pack some clothes and spend the night at my place?” Penny asked Lily and Kate.

“You should go with your cousin,” Nate said to Lily’s mom. He turned to Lily. “And you should come with me to my aunt and uncle’s ranch. It’s just a few miles north of town.”

“Everybody in the county knows where the Blue Spruce is.” Lily glanced at her mother. “I think my mom and I should stick together.”

“No one’s after your mom,” Nate said. “She’d be safer away from you.”

“Oh.” Lily and her mom looked at each other. Kate was still walking around wrapped in her afghan. She was pale and looked as if she’d rather be lying down.

“The man we arrested might sing like a canary when he gets to booking,” Nate said. “Maybe he’ll tell us his real name and who he works for and everything will be wrapped up tomorrow.”

“That would be great,” Lily muttered.

He wanted to take the frightened look from her eyes. But in all practicality, it was too soon. For tonight, at least, he wanted her worried enough that she’d let him take care of her.

“It’s also possible he’ll keep his mouth shut. And that the gunman who escaped will find you again.”

Lily picked up one of the little mosquito dogs. “I have a couple of other part-time jobs here in town. I can’t stay all the way out there on that ranch.”

Her life was in danger and she was worried about some part-time jobs?

Nate knew she was an intelligent woman. But he could also see she was exhausted and not thinking straight.

“How about you go with me tonight. That way your mom can rest easier at Penny’s house.” He glanced at Kate, hoping she’d back him up. “You can rethink things tomorrow.”

After a slight coughing fit, Lily’s mom voiced her agreement.

Lily pursed her lips and blew out a sad, tired sigh while the dog she was holding sniffed her hair. “All right.”