Deadly Rivalry (Hardy Brothers Security Book 17) (17 page)

Mandy didn’t ask any questions or make a move to open her mouth. Instead she watched James gauge the situation. She had complete faith in his abilities. When James turned back to her, he offered a wan smile and small kiss before returning to their trek.

The woods behind the Hardy home could hardly be considered thick. Mandy and James fell in love with the Harrison Township location because the trees gave the house an air of isolation despite being close to neighbors. In most areas the trees were only ten deep, but the area behind the house was much larger. If James could get Mandy through those trees there was a busy road on the other side. They could hike to it and flag down a car, or better yet, meet Rodrigo as he made his move to help.

James squeezed Mandy’s hand as he tugged her toward the thickest part of the trees. He could almost taste safety when his inner danger alert pinged. He pulled up short, jerking Mandy behind him as a dark figure detached from a tree about ten paces in front of them.

“That’s was pretty good,” Mason said, his tone grim. “I would’ve had her if you hadn’t figured it out.”

“You’re not going to touch her,” James said, using his body to shield Mandy. “I’ll kill you if you try.”

“That’s hilarious given the fact that your wife is the murderer,” Mason said, laughing hollowly. “I might be worried about that threat if I was alone, though. You have a sterling reputation. We both know I’m not dumb enough to come after you alone, though.”

“You look pretty dumb to me,” Mandy grumbled.

“I’ve got them,” Mason yelled. “You can come out now.”

“It’s about time.”

Mandy tilted her head as a second figure moved away from a tree closer to the guesthouse. His approach was slower because he was thinner and less muscular than Mason. The lighting behind the house was dim, but the halogen lamp in the pool area offered enough illumination for Mandy to make out Russ Thorpe’s features when he was almost upon them.

“I told you!”

“
W
hat did she tell you
?” Thorpe asked, genuinely curious.

“She told me that you were Mason’s partner and you were going to be here, too,” James answered, not missing a beat. “She’s smarter than all of us combined. That goes double for you, Thorpe.”

“I would watch what you say to me,” Thorpe cautioned, taking another step closer as James fought to keep Mandy behind him. “I’m the one in control this evening.”

“How do you figure that?” James asked, his outward appearance strong and calm as his heart hammered.

“I’m the one with a gun,” Thorpe said, gesturing toward Mason. “He’s armed and he’s angry. It seems you ruined the good thing he had going at the sheriff’s department. That wasn’t a great move on your part.”

“From where I’m standing, it wasn’t a great move to frame my wife for a murder she didn’t commit,” James countered. “I’m not sure what you expected me to do given the circumstances.”

“I have to give you credit,” Thorpe said. “You turned out to be a better opponent than I initially envisioned. The day I met you in the courtroom I thought you were all testosterone and impulse control problems. You’ve proven to be something else.”

“Is that when you decided to frame me?” Mandy asked.

“Not exactly,” Thorpe replied. “I knew I wanted someone on my side in that courtroom. Keats is not known for being a good sport when things go wrong for him. Judge MacIntosh is known for being a stickler and I was sure Keats would be convicted.

“That meant I needed another way to get Keats off,” Thorpe continued. “I needed someone I could control in that clerk’s seat. I was hopeful that would be you, Mrs. Hardy. Five minutes of conversation told me that wasn’t going to be the case. I had to maneuver someone more … malleable … into the spot, even if only temporarily.”

“Do you spend a lot of time getting Keats off?” Mandy asked, causing James to widen his eyes and Thorpe to growl.

“You’ve got a mouth on you, young lady,” he said. “I’m looking forward to shutting it … permanently.”

“How did you know you could control which temporary clerk took Mandy’s position?” James asked. He was bargaining for time, but he was also interested in Thorpe’s answer. He would need all the information when it came time to clear his wife’s name.

“I bought a copy of the rotation list years ago,” Thorpe answered. “Gina Kincaid was next up, and she has a mortgage that’s about to go under. It wasn’t as hard as you might imagine. Not everyone wants to follow the letter of the law like your wife.”

“That’s because my wife is the best person in the world,” James said. “How did you get involved with Madeline?”

“I knew Madeline from years ago,” Thorpe explained. “My ex-partner and I split ways about ten years ago. It was an amicable move. He wanted to focus on tax law and I found criminal law much more exciting.

“He started up his own office in Warren and I had mine in Sterling Heights,” he continued. “Madeline was his secretary not long after he opened the office.”

“He slept with Madeline and she stalked him,” James surmised. “She had a habit of doing that.”

“I know,” Thorpe said. “She was a troubled creature. Anyway, I helped him out of his predicament by threatening Madeline and making sure she wouldn’t tell my friend’s wife about the dalliance. She was … hard to wrangle, but ultimately gave in when I paid her off.

“I’d been watching the courthouse for some time,” he continued. “I was trying to get a handle on MacIntosh’s staff. Initially I was going to go after the fat stenographer, but she didn’t seem bright enough to keep her mouth shut should things get hairy.”

“Heidi is not fat,” Mandy spat. “You’re obviously a dick, though.”

“Calm down, baby,” James chided. “He’s just trying to get under your skin.”

“I watched your wife for days,” Thorpe said. “She seemed happy when people were watching and sad when she thought she was alone. She was haunted. I did a little research, and that’s when I found out she was the clerk who killed Lance Pritchard.

“Now, I want to give you props for that, Mrs. Hardy,” he continued. “That man was a disgusting piece of filth and even I wouldn’t have represented him. You did this world a favor when you gutted him.”

“Thanks for your support,” Mandy said dryly.

“Even though Mrs. Hardy killed Pritchard in self-defense, I figured the easiest way to get her excused from her position for the duration of the case was a scandal,” Thorpe said. “I was hoping she was some sort of deviant … or perhaps having an affair … or skimming money from the office coffers.

“Sadly, she was pretty boring,” he said. “She did her job, had lunch with her fat friend, and returned to you every evening like clockwork. The two of you would watch movies – seriously, though, try something besides schlocky shark movies or something – and then you would retire and have sex.

“You have a lot of sex,” Thorpe said. “I know because I was watching and listening. I used a sound amplifier and you two are like rabbits with all the sex you have. I knew the affair option was out of the realm of possibility until I saw Madeline approach you at the benefit.”

“That figures,” James said. “You went to the charity event to feel everyone out and when you saw Madeline talking to us, you realized you could use her past against her. Did you force her to go after me, or did you just get lucky?”

“I wish I could take credit for that,” Thorpe said. “She did it all on her own, though. She was infatuated with you. I don’t think all that intensive therapy she had in the loony bin did her any good. She was convinced she was going to get you … right up until the end.”

James and Mandy exchanged a brief look and he pressed his hand to her hip to reassure her.

“You were watching our house the night Madeline was in our yard, weren’t you?” Mandy asked. “You saw her watching us … heck, you watched us, too … and then you approached her. You killed her and put her in my trunk. Did you do it in the driveway or wait until the next day to do it in the courthouse?”

“Madeline was upset when she saw the two of you fornicating,” Thorpe said. “Personally, I admired your stamina, Mr. Hardy. You seemed to have a good time and each time you finished I thought for sure you would finally turn and notice Madeline. Your attention is singular when your wife is around, though.”

“That’s because she’s always the most interesting person in the room,” James said.

“Perhaps,” Thorpe said. “Anyway, after your third go at it … the nozzle game was very illuminating, by the way … you retired to the guesthouse. I thought you would go upstairs, but instead you climbed on the couch and watched that weird shark program.

“Then you started going at it again,” he continued. “Madeline was close to pitching a fit at that point – and a large rock through your window – so I had to quiet her. At first I tried to appeal to her logical side. It didn’t take me long to realize she no longer had a logical side.

“Then I tried to get her to agree to join forces with me to take you down,” Thorpe said. “She thought that Mr. Hardy was putting on a performance for her benefit and that he wanted to make her jealous because he still wanted her. I made the mistake of pointing out how ludicrous that was and she smacked me across the face.

“Of course, I couldn’t stand for that so I smacked her back,” he said. “She was going to scream, and even though I knew you were rutting around like animals inside, there was no doubt you would’ve checked the noise if you heard it. I had to silence her.”

“You strangled her on the sidewalk in front of the guesthouse, didn’t you?” Mandy looked horrified.

“No.” Thorpe shook his head. “I wrapped my hand around her mouth and dragged her to that field on the other side of the guesthouse. I wanted her to work with me instead of against me so I needed to talk – and maybe slap – a little sense into her. She refused, so I had to silence her.

“I thought that was a mistake at first and I was about to call Keats so he could help with the body removal when I had an idea,” Thorpe said. “At first I was going to put Madeline in your trunk while you slept, but I had no idea if you put a briefcase or anything in your trunk before leaving for work. I could’ve kicked myself for not making note of that.

“Instead we had to move the body in the garage,” he continued. “I was worried about that until you picked the garage level without a camera. Opening your trunk was a breeze and we dumped Madeline in your car in less than three minutes.”

“Then you called your buddy Mason to tell him what was up and he showed up at the garage to find the body and harass my wife,” James finished. “Very clever.”

“We thought so,” Mason said. “That was until your lawyer dug up a bunch of private information on me and made it public.”

“That’s what happens when you break the law,” Mandy said, wagging a finger.

Under different circumstances James would’ve laughed. The last thing he wanted her doing now was taunting two armed men. To be fair, he wasn’t sure if Thorpe was actually armed. He didn’t see a weapon. That didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous.

“You should’ve picked a different scapegoat and stayed away from my wife,” James said. “Finding your ties to Keats wasn’t difficult.”

“That’s because you had Peter Marconi helping you,” Mason spat.

“He’s still helping us,” James said. “In fact, we spent the better part of the day talking about things. We figured out why Thorpe wanted Mandy out of the picture. We called the judge earlier today and he’s removing the temporary clerk before the trial even starts.”

“Well, that’s just … dandy,” Thorpe spat.

“She’s being threatened with prosecution if she doesn’t sign an affidavit regarding your offer to her,” James said. “Marconi is also pulling your record to see what else he can find out about you, Mr. Thorpe. You’d better hope you don’t have any other skeletons in your closet.”

“Marconi cannot take information to the police,” Thorpe said. “It’s against the code.”

“Peter has his own code,” Mandy interjected. “He doesn’t live by anyone else’s rules. If you kill us, Peter will kill you. He’ll also make sure Keats is taken out.”

“You sound pretty convinced that you’re important to Peter Marconi,” Thorpe said. “He might have you snowed, but at his heart he’s still a mobster and mobsters only care about themselves.”

“He’s not that type of mobster,” James said. “It doesn’t matter, though. You’re not touching my wife. I’ll kill you myself if you try. Your best option is to turn and run. You still have a shot to get out of town. You’re running out of time, though.”

“Oh, really?” Thorpe didn’t look convinced. “How do you figure that?”

“Because when I noticed that the front lock had been jimmied I had my wife call Peter Marconi,” James answered. “He’s not happy.”

Thorpe’s bravado slipped as he exchanged a worried look with Mason. “You said he wouldn’t be able to make a call.”

“I thought he would walk through the front door and into our trap,” Mason shot back. “They were in such a hurry when they left this morning they forgot to set the alarm and I thought it was going to be a breeze. He didn’t do what he was supposed to do. Instead he stayed outside.”

“You watched from the second-floor window, didn’t you?” James asked. “I sensed you there. You had a gun.”

“I was going to shoot you if you tried to run,” Mason confirmed. “Then we were going to steal a few things and take off. It would’ve just been another robbery gone bad. Instead, you did the moronic thing and walked into the woods. Why would you do that?”

“Because I wasn’t in the mood to be shot in the back,” James answered. “You left the house through the door by the garage instead of the sliding glass door. Did you see us go into the woods?”

“We didn’t see you, but we knew that’s what you had to do because there was no other way for you to escape,” Mason said. “What was your plan? Did you think you were going to run to the road and flag someone down?”

James shook his head. “We thought it was best to head in the direction of Peter’s men so we could join forces to kill you.”

Mason’s mouth dropped open. He was either surprised by James’ honesty or convinced he was lying. Mandy couldn’t quite tell which. “Do you think that’s going to scare me off?” Mason asked, waving his gun around and making James uncomfortable. “I don’t believe you. You’re lying to save your own skin.”

“I’m not lying,” James said.

“Oh, yeah?” Mason lifted his head to the sky and barked like a dog. “Hey! If you’re out there, come and get me! I’m waiting for you!”

“Stop screeching like an imbecile,” Thorpe ordered. “Shoot these two and get it over with. I’m sick to death of hanging out in these woods and I want some hot tea and a scone before bed.”

“You’re such a … douche,” Mason said, making a face. He glanced over his shoulder one more time and then shrugged. “I guess your help isn’t coming.” He lifted the gun and James stepped completely in front of Mandy to shield her. Mason didn’t get a chance to pull the trigger, though, because Rodrigo took him by surprise when he entered the area from the opposite side and grabbed the barrel of the gun and pointed it toward the stars before it could go off.

Mason’s eyes widened, fear flitting across his face, and then Rodrigo slammed his fist into the man’s mouth and watched impassively as he slid to the ground. “Speaking of douches,” Rodrigo said, turning to face Thorpe. “Who are you?”

“That’s Russ Thorpe,” Mandy supplied. “He’s Toby Keats’ lawyer and he killed Madeline Stokes.”

“You don’t look like much of a threat,” Rodrigo said, looking Thorpe up and down. “That probably means you’re a complete and total psycho and you’re going to stab me when I’m not looking. Take your clothes off.”

Thorpe’s mouth dropped open and James couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. He moved to check on Mason, intent on making sure he was really out and not faking it, but Rodrigo waved him off.

“I’m not alone,” Rodrigo said. “Sebastian! Come over here and collect the dirty cop. Try not to drop him thirty times between here and the car. The cops aren’t going to be happy if we bring him in broken.”

“We can make a deal,” Thorpe said, holding up his hands. “I’ll double whatever Marconi is giving you.”