Love Under Two Benedicts (25 page)

Isn’t that a wonderful feeling?

Kelsey couldn’t remember ever being in a place where everyone would want to come out to make sure she was all right. As she began the soup and set out some beef to go in the roaster, she thought about how it seemed the entire town came together to help one small boy who wasn’t even one of their own and how they’d come out for her, too.

One aspect of her future she had absolutely no doubts about was where she was going to spend the rest of her life. Nothing would ever lure her away from Lusty, Texas.

Chatter from the dining room told her that Michelle and Carla had arrived for work.

“Hey, boss. Good to have you back! Are you all right? I hear you found Benny’s mom!”

Kelsey smiled and let Tracy fill them in. The waitresses stashed their purses and washed up, then grabbed aprons to give a hand with some of the minor kitchen duties.

“I helped Morgan with the canvass yesterday,” Michelle said. “We found out that several people saw the same car in town just before the shooting. We don’t think much, usually, about strange cars in town. But there was only one, a dark blue Pontiac. No one got a license number, but the man behind the wheel was a big bruiser. That’s what Aunt Anna said.”

“Maybe it’s enough information that Adam can get a lead.” At least Kelsey hoped it was enough information. Matthew hadn’t pressed her this morning, but there was still the matter of her making a decision about seeing a hypnotist.

If she could avoid it, she would. She really didn’t understand all that would be involved, but she knew one thing for certain. She didn’t really want to remember anything more about that horrible day.

The memories she already had would be with her for the rest of her life.

“Anyway,” Michelle continued, “I was kind of nervous at first because I was afraid that people would have said they’d seen a silver Prius, but no one reported seeing one of those. And that Austin hottie who comes here a couple times a week certainly couldn’t ever be called a bruiser.”

“The Austin hottie?” Kelsey asked.

“Yeah, you know the one I pointed out to you? He has a crush on you.”

Kelsey vaguely recalled the man. Dark hair, moustache, and carrying a few extra pounds, though not in his face. He’d come to try the cuisine, he’d told her, because of that write-up in the Waco paper.

Note to self, avoid being the subject of any future newspaper interviews
.

So far that one had netted her more business but also seemed to be the catalyst for some not-so-pleasant experiences.

Although, in all honesty, since that article had been the impetus for getting Ginny Rose out of a dangerous situation, she guessed it wasn’t all bad.

Still, she wouldn’t call that new customer a hottie. In fact, when he looked at her, she kind of got the creeps.

“Did you get his name yet?” Tracy asked.

“I was going to ask him on Sunday. Then we had all that excitement about little Benny, and the next thing I knew, he was gone. If he shows up today, you can be sure I’ll worm it out of him. I mean, he does have a crush on Kelsey, but I think he likes me, too. Once he figures out Kelsey doesn’t even see him, the field will be all mine.”

Tracy and Carla laughed. Kelsey just shook her head.

“What makes you think he has a crush on me?” Kelsey asked.

“Well, for one thing, he’s asked a ton of questions about you. And then, every time you come into the dining room, he can’t take his eyes off you. His face gets all serious, you know, like he doesn’t want to miss a single moment of your presence.”

Kelsey felt her face heat, but at the same time a sense of discomfort washed through her. “Well, you’re right, of course. I don’t see him.” Then, because they were all looking at her avidly, she added, “I’ve got my hands full with the brothers Benedict.”

Since her staff was all present, she told them a little about Ginny and suggested that she might find employment with them at Lusty Appetites.

“That’s perfect! I was worried about leaving you short in the fall,” Michelle said. “Now I don’t have to worry.”

“Great. I’ll wait a couple of days to ask her if she’d be interested. She needs a bit of time to get her wind back.”

“I knew a woman when I lived in Philadelphia,” Carla said. “She didn’t get knocked around physically, but emotionally. Takes time to feel whole again.”

“I hope she decides to stay here in Lusty,” Kelsey said. “She’ll be able to feel whole again here.”

They all got busy, the waitresses checking to make sure the dining room was ready, and she and Tracy getting down to the serious business of getting ready to feed the town.

Before she knew it, the doors were open and people started flowing in for lunch. Mindful of good PR, but mostly because she loved this town and its people, Kelsey made certain to take several tours of the dining room.

By one, when the lunch crowd began to taper, she had healthy receipts and an overflow of flowers and well wishes to show for the day.

“I’m going to take a break,” she announced to her staff. “I should be back in an hour. If you need me—”

“We’ll just call down to the sheriff’s office,” Tracy said.

Kelsey shook her head at the silly grins facing her. She guessed there were no secrets in a small town, especially in a small town like Lusty.

Her men had asked her not to go anywhere alone, but it was a short walk to the sheriff’s office, which was right in the middle of downtown Lusty. The late summer sun burned down without the relief of a single cloud.

As she waited for the traffic light, the sound of a car’s engine caught her attention. The glint of sun on silver flashed in the corner of her eye and made her turn and look.

The late model Prius gleamed brightly, looking chic and expensive. Which made the sight of the driver, holding a handgun pointed at her, seem totally out of place.

“Get into the car, Ms. Madison. You and I have some unfinished business.”

Chapter 22

“How’d it go with Ginny?” Matthew asked the moment Adam came into the office.
 
He’d felt too involved to handle the interview in his official capacity as deputy. Adam hadn’t minded doing it instead. Matthew knew his own emotions had become involved because he loved Benny. He also loved their woman, and she’d made her feelings on the subject of Ginny Rose very clear.

Matthew thought their Kelsey was one hell of a generous woman.

“I have Ginny talked into pressing charges against Deke. She’s scared, and I find I really can’t blame her. She knows she has to do something or else everything she went through these last few days will have been for nothing.”

Matthew stayed quiet then because he knew his best friend well. Adam was coldly furious and dealing with it in his own way. He’d only seen him this angry once before, but the memory hadn’t diminished in all the years since that incident. He hadn’t been sheriff then, but a college junior who’d come across some men who’d been forcing themselves on a young woman. There’d been three of them, and Adam had lit into them all before Matt had a chance to join him.

Adam reached the corner of his desk and just stood there, looking down at it. In the next instant, he grabbed his coffee cup, spun around, and hurled it against the far wall.

The china mug shattered into a thousand pieces, the crash of pottery against brick an eloquent scream of rage.

“She let me stay with her while Uncle James examined her at the clinic. We had taken pictures to document the evidence. Deke had used his belt on her the night she left Benny. She’s covered in welts.”

“Jesus Christ.” Matthew had suspected something because the woman had moved stiffly, and she hadn’t wanted to let him near her. He was rather surprised she’d allowed Adam that close. Then again, most women recognized the caretaker in Adam.

“Kelsey’s going to try and talk her into staying in Lusty,” Matthew said. “She’s going to offer her a job. We’ll get her a place to live, too. We’ll all take care of her from now on.”

Adam inhaled deeply, then let it out. “Good. Your instincts were right about Ginny. I should have listened to you. I’m sorry.”

“You did listen. That’s why you were at the diner, out of uniform.”

The phone rang and Matthew answered it. “Lusty Sheriff’s Department. Hi, Burgess. Any luck with those tapes? Oh yeah? Great. I don’t suppose you got the license plate?” Matthew listened for a moment then frowned. “Yeah, a bit too much to hope for. Still, I’m glad we’ve got the guy going
and
coming. Send it to my e-mail. Thanks.”

He hung up the phone and looked over at Adam.

“That was Burgess with the Waco P. D. They’ve finished scanning the surveillance tapes taken at the mall the day Kelsey was attacked. They show the Taurus arriving at the mall, a female driver getting out, and just a few minutes later, a man getting out of a silver Prius and boosting the Taurus. No clear image of the man and none of the Prius’ plates at that point. And then, several hours later, they show our perp getting out of the Taurus where he dumped it at the commercial unloading area. This one gives us a clear shot of him.
 
Burgess is sending the footage as an e-mail attachment.”

“Good. Maybe I can take my frustration out on that s.o.b. when we catch him.”

The door to the office burst open, and Michelle rushed in. Nearly hysterical, she grabbed Matthew by his shirt. “Oh, God. Oh, God. He has her. Do something. He has her!”
 

* * * *

“Who are you? What do you want?” Kelsey had never been so terrified. The sight of the gun had momentarily overwhelmed everything and she’d gotten into his car, unable to do anything else.

Slowly, Kelsey’s mind cleared. The man drove and kept the gun pointed at her as he followed the route out of town, the route that would take them past where he’d rammed her off the road last Sunday.

“You can call me Con. You really don’t know, do you? That’s a shame. I couldn’t take the chance that you’d remember me. You might have. Yeah, you probably would have as soon as my mug started getting flashed all over television screens across the state.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“I was there that day. The day Jimmy whacked your old man and your kid. He was just supposed to rush in, grab the cash, and get out. Clean and fast. Nobody was supposed to die. Little prick. It wasn’t my fault he was all hopped up on drugs.
 
I was glad when I heard he’d been killed by the cops resisting arrest. No trial and no dropping a dime on me.”

Kelsey looked at the man, the one Michelle had dubbed Mr. Hottie. He looked different without that extra weight he’d been carrying. She studied him but didn’t find anything else familiar about him.

Apparently, he didn’t care for her scrutiny. He waved his gun at her and screamed, “You sat in your fucking car and stared right at me, bitch. Don’t tell me you didn’t see me!”

But she hadn’t. A dam broke in her mind, and images came flooding back.

They’d fought that morning. Kelsey had found a note in one of Philip’s pockets the week before, a woman’s name and a phone number. She’d believed him when he’d told her it was a business acquaintance, just someone he had to call to set up a meeting with. Except the doubts had been there, fed by small clues and changes in his behavior, and the doubts wouldn’t go away. He’d come home late the night before, very late, and while she’d waited for him, while she’d worried that maybe he’d been in an accident, she’d used her computer to check out the name and the number.

Doing a reverse phone number search, she’d learned the number connected not to a business address, but a private one. Marissa Lane. Paying the fee the website charged for extra information, she discovered his business contact worked as a waitress at a bar near his office.

So they’d fought, and he’d told her the truth. And he’d excused his behavior by saying it had only happened a couple of times. That it was only physical. That it never would have happened in the first place if Kelsey would just try to be a little sexier. That it was all Kelsey’s fault he wasn’t fulfilled as a man.

They were expected at a friend’s for the day. She didn’t want to go, but Philip insisted they keep their word and go. When he stopped at the convenience store, she’d been so mad, she could barely see straight. She’d been so mad, she’d been thinking about asking for a divorce. Until a man’s shout had pulled her out of fury and gunshots had thrown her into terror and grief.

Kelsey came back to the present, the flashback so fast, so sharp, it felt surreal. This man, Con, had been nowhere in that flashback. She’d been lost in her thoughts and her anger, her gaze on her husband when those gun shots had exploded. Philip had died, and in the aftermath, she’d forgotten that the last words between them had been angry words. Her subconscious had buried that, until now.

“I’ve straightened out my life since then. I’ve done everything right. I even got married. ” Con continued on his rant, his voice rising, sounding more manic with each word. “I’m going to get into politics. And then there was that picture of you in the paper. Seriously, I’d thought they’d sent you to the nut house. You fucking lost it. I thought you were tucked away in crazy land. Then I see you aren’t. If you hadn’t let them do that article on you, this wouldn’t be happening. I’m entitled to live my life. It’s all your fault that I have to do this.”