Firefly Run (6 page)

She knew everyone cared, but she was so used to doing things on her own now that the sudden protective circle took some getting used to.

Chris’s tall, lanky form headed out to mow the lawn. Would she have sons like him one day? If Troy had lived, they might have already started their family. A heavy sense of loss swamped her, and unexpected tears pooled in her eyes. She wiped them away, blaming them on too much stress and too little sleep.

She called the hospital to check on her father only to find there still hadn’t been any change. At least he hadn’t worsened or had another heart attack. Shelly latched onto that, trying to focus on the positive. "If you need me, Mom, don’t hesitate to call. I’ll get there as fast as I can."

"We’re okay, dear. You can’t do anything here but sit around watching the minutes tick by. You’re helping by taking care of things there. I’m sorry you’re having to do it alone."

"I’m not alone. Chris is here. And Anna stops by when she’s not working." She almost mentioned Reed, but she didn’t want to answer any resulting questions that might end up causing her mother more worry.

When she ended the call, her heart weighed heavy. Her mother was right, but it didn’t stop Shelly from wanting to be there to comfort her and make sure she ate and slept so she didn’t get sick, too.

Shelly’s hand was still on the phone when it rang.

With a deep breath to try to rid herself of the lump in her throat, she answered. "Firefly Run River Rentals. Can I help you?"

No one replied. All she heard was a few seconds of what sounded like country music in the background before the caller hung up. Wrong number, she guessed.

She hung up and began work on the new brochure she was designing. But after a few minutes, the drone of the lawnmower made her eyelids droop. Giving up on the brochure, she retrieved the newest of the magazines she subscribed to and headed toward the empty guest cabins.

She tried not to stare at Reed’s as she passed by. Quite frankly, she was surprised he wasn’t up and glued to her side warning her about safety hazards. It wasn’t that she didn’t think about her safety. She just didn’t want to dwell on it every waking hour. If she did, she’d go crazy.

Maybe the quiet of the setting and the comfort of the bed had finally allowed Reed to get some rest, and she fully intended to let him sleep as long as he wanted to. If Eddie did show up, they both needed to be rested and aware.

She walked to the end of the unoccupied cabins, trying to focus on her to-do list instead of what-ifs. As she entered each cabin, she exchanged old magazines for new ones and lifted the windows to let fresh air in. When she stepped out of the cabin next to Reed’s, she found him sitting on his front steps. Though he was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt and his hair was still wet from his shower, he looked rougher than she did. The circles under his eyes were darker, the fatigue on his face even more pronounced than the day before.

"I think you need to go back to bed," she said.

"No use."

"You didn’t sleep well?"

"Probably about as well as you did."

"Is that a comment on how I look this morning?"

"You look a hell of a lot better than me. I saw myself in the mirror."

"Go back to sleep, Reed. Chris is here. I’ll call if I need you."

Reed looked up at her, and she realized she was wasting her breath. They both knew how capable Eddie was of taking out a target with no warning. She hoped this situation resolved itself soon or both she and Reed were going to collapse from exhaustion and stress.

"How’s your dad?"

"The same. He’s scheduled for some more tests today." She watched Chris mow the outskirts of the clearing. "You want some breakfast?"

"I’m not hungry."

To be honest, she hadn’t had much of an appetite either since the news of Eddie’s release had come.

"Well then, we’ve got work to do."

"We?"

"I figure if you’re going to be hanging around, you might as well make yourself useful."

He lifted his brows.

"Don’t be surprised. With Mom and Dad gone, we could use the extra help."

"I’m supposed to be guarding you."

"It’s not like I’m sending you to town. At most, you will be across the clearing. You’ll be able to see all the cabins, the office, the parking lot, everything."

Reed looked around the clearing, probably calculating distances. He ran his fingers through his damp hair, and Shelly fought the urge to straighten the mess he’d made of it.

"Okay, I’m game," he said. "But I don’t know anything about tubing."

"Doesn’t matter because I’m putting you to work with a hammer."

He followed her to the tool shed on the opposite side of the office. Here, she dug out a hammer and a can of nails and handed them to him. She pointed toward a pile of wooden shingles.

"The cabin you’re staying in and the one next to it have several rotten shingles that have to be replaced. If you need anything, I’ll be in the office."

Shelly headed that direction, intent on finishing her new brochure so she could send it to the printer. She stopped short when she realized she hadn’t shown Reed where the ladder was stored and retraced her steps. But as she rounded the corner of the shed, she ran into Reed so hard he had to drop the hammer and nails and grab her arms to prevent her from falling.

She gasped, then forgot how to breathe when she looked up at him. A strange look filled his eyes, perhaps confusion or disbelief, but for such a short moment she wondered whether she’d seen it at all. Seconds stretched as they stood only a couple of inches apart. Her heart thumped like that of a doe that had just had a brush with a car. She too felt as if she’d been grazed by something much larger than herself. For one terrifying moment, her gaze locked on Reed’s lips and she wondered what they’d feel like on hers.

As if he’d seen her thoughts and deemed them inappropriate, he steadied her then stepped back. "You okay?" His voice was strained, and his eyes didn’t quite meet hers.

"Yeah." She cursed herself for her breathless response. What was wrong with her? You’d think she’d never been near a handsome man before.

She glanced down, saw the nails scattered across the ground, and immediately crouched to gather them.

"I’ll get those," he said.

"No, I’ve got it. I’m the one who caused them to go flying."

Though he kept his distance, he lowered himself to help her retrieve the wayward nails.

"You sure you’re okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

He stared at her, more seconds in which she forgot to breathe. "Nothing," he said. "Never mind."

When she plopped the last nail back in the can, she sprang to her feet, giving herself a head rush. "I was just coming to tell you where the ladder is."

"I found it, but thanks."

"Oh, okay." Her nerves jumped as if they were Irish step dancing beneath her skin. She had to pull herself under control. "Well, be careful. I don’t want you falling off the roof and sending my insurance rates sky high."

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked toward the office with a ton more cool than she felt.

Once inside and seated at her computer again, she forced herself to breathe slowly. Her senses were super heightened because of Eddie, that’s why she was seeing things that weren’t there. She shook her head and got to work. She began to hum, and it took her a few minutes to recognize the name of the song. "The Yellow Rose of Texas." The song that had been playing in the background when she’d answered the phone earlier.

A chill skittered down her spine.

****

Eddie savored the taste of the giant shrimp almost as much as he had that of the shapely beauty he’d just left in a cushy room upstairs. All around him, the sounds of freedom and sin mingled and intoxicated him. Las Vegas. If there was any place more different than his hellhole of a prison cell, he couldn’t imagine it. If he could shoot all this delicious excess into his veins, he would.

Slipping back into the real world had been even easier than he’d imagined. After a huge steak dinner that would make any Texas native proud, he’d headed for Vegas. His pockets filled with money that had been kept by family since his imprisonment, he’d arrived with pleasure on his mind. Sex, cool drinks, fine food and a few games to get his blood to pumping.

The most entertaining game of all—pretending he had no idea that he was being tailed. He smiled and almost felt sorry for the poor schmuck whose sole purpose in life now was to watch his every move and report back to Tanner. And he had no doubt it was Tanner who’d ordered the tail. After all, Tanner had reason to hate him and look for the least little mistake that could send him back to prison.

Fools, all of them.

He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called the travel agent again. "Yes, Mindy, I’m enjoying Las Vegas immensely. I think I’ll stay another day here, but then I’d like someplace nice and relaxing along the California coast. Can you set that up and get back to me with the details?

Mindy, a pretty young thing who evidently never watched the news because she hadn’t recognized his face or his name, said she knew just the place.

"Wonderful. I’ll send you a little something extra for all your excellent work."

He snapped the phone shut and tried not to smile with too much satisfaction. Even now, his latest itinerary change was most likely being conveyed back to Tanner. Just like he’d planned. While Texas’s finest were trailing him to California, he’d actually be headed the opposite direction to complete unfinished business.

He’d never killed a woman before, never met one who’d been worth the effort. But the cop’s wife, the one who’d sent him to the concrete hell, was definitely worth it. And he wouldn’t just pop her like he had her husband. No, he’d make her suffer first, suffer like he had during all those endless months of being caged up. Stupid guards telling him when to sleep, when to eat, when to go to the bathroom. Well, she’d take orders from him for a while. She’d feel the powerlessness as he drove into her.

He smiled, thinking about how she’d cry and beg until her little pale face turned blue. Then he’d kill her, and enjoy doing it. A surge of excitement sped through his veins, but he reined it in. She’d get hers, but he had other things to do before he headed her direction.

Number one was taking out Tanner, the cop he hated even more than the one he’d killed. Failing to kill Tanner was the one thing that had gone wrong that day. Tanner was Myers’ best man. He should have been close by as Myers exited the church. But by the time Eddie realized he wasn’t, it was too late. One cop was better than none.

He wouldn’t miss this time. And with Mindy booking him a little cottage by the California sea, Tanner wouldn’t expect him to appear in Dallas to finish the job he’d started two years before. He couldn’t get to the two stinking cops who’d planted the evidence that got him arrested, but from what he was hearing their asses were toast anyway. No, it was Tanner and the Myers witch who demanded his attention.

Eddie leaned back, satisfaction making his smile grow wider. He was smarter than Tanner, smarter than his own brother whose inability to do his job right had led to the whole mess to begin with.

Eddie sighed and closed his eyes, letting his senses soak up the atmosphere. In a moment, he’d go enjoy his plaything upstairs yet again before nightfall. When the lights came on in Vegas tonight, Eddie wouldn’t be there to see them. He’d be headed for the Lone Star State, inching ever closer to his prey.

****

An hour after Shelly turned him into an impromptu carpenter, Reed found himself atop a cabin roof with a hammer that seemed to have a mind of its own. He cursed at the unfortunate moment that one of Shelly’s half dozen guests walked by. The woman looked up at him with a disapproving scowl on her face.

"Sorry, ma’am," he bit out past the pain pounding in his forefinger. He held it and the hammer up for her to see. "Hammer versus finger, and the hammer won."

That brought a hint of a smile to her mouth. "Be careful," she said, then moved toward the cabin she and her family were renting.

Once she was out of earshot, he cursed again, using words that would have scorched her eardrums. Since climbing up the ladder, he’d managed to smash his fingers three times, once for each time he’d allowed himself to remember how close he’d been to pulling Shelly into his arms and kissing her.

He tossed the hammer to the side and lay back on the roof. A nasal cherring sound from the trees above caught his attention. He searched the thick branches and finally spotted a flash of pale yellow on the underside of a bird that looked like some sort of woodpecker.

Reed closed his eyes and, though it was insane to do so, replayed the scene by the tool shed. As a red-blooded male, he’d not been blind to Shelly’s beauty even when she’d been in a serious relationship with his best friend. Her wavy, strawberry blond hair and mesmerizing blue eyes turned the heads of every man she passed. He’d even teased Troy about taking her off his hands if he ever got tired of her.

Of course, he hadn’t meant it. But today, when he’d held her close enough to smell her fruity shampoo again, that jest had taken on new meaning. And it felt wrong, like he was moving in on forbidden territory.

But Troy’s dead and she’s alone, beautiful, and maybe just as interested...

Reed covered his eyes with his arm. Stop it. She’s not interested in that way. She’s your friend. It’s your imagination and perhaps a bit of wishful thinking. She’s familiar, and you’re lonely. Once you get some sleep, everything will go back to normal.

The bird up in the tree issued another of its distinctive sounds. He watched it hop from limb to limb.

"It’s a yellow-bellied sapsucker," Shelly said, surprising him by her nearness and sending his heart galloping. How had she gotten from the office to her current spot without him noticing? That lack of attention angered him. It was inexcusable and potentially deadly.

He lifted his head to find her standing at the top of the ladder watching him. How long had she been there?