My Deadly Valentine (16 page)

When it came, the cell phone flew out of her hand to land on the passenger floorboard.

Fingers gripped the steering wheel in a white-knuckle grip. All she could do now was hang on and get to the bottom of the hill.

Or should she try to outrun him? Slow down? Find a turnoff?

Whispered prayers fluttered from her lips.
Please, God.

He came at her again, this time hitting her hard enough to make her swerve to the edge of the mountain. She hit the guardrail and slid along it for a few feet. Sparks flew as metal screeched on metal.

Gritting her teeth to keep from screaming, she forced herself to keep a clear head, keep the fear and trembling under control.

Finally, Main Street came into sight. The car behind her made an abrupt turn and sped out of sight.

Holly braked to a halt in the middle of road. She sucked in gulps of oxygen and refused to cry. Her heart pounded in her throat and her head felt like it might explode.

The diner was right in front of her. Pressing the gas, she pulled forward into a parking spot.

Eli stepped out to meet her and got a glimpse of her truck. Eyes wide, he loped over to the driver’s door. “What happened?”

“Someone just tried to run me off the road.”

A vein in his forehead started pulsing. “What? Who?”

“I don’t know who.” She paused as she climbed out. “But I think it was the same one as the car that scared me in the parking lot of the church.”

“What kind was it?”

“I got a glimpse of it in the streetlights this time. It was a large four-door car. Some type of sedan. A luxury car.”

“Well, then,” he said slowly, “my information might come in handy.”

“What information?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve been doing a little digging.”

Seated at a booth across from him, Holly blinked at him. “What kind of digging?”

Eli pulled out a piece of paper where he’d written some things down. “I saw a car like the one you just described sitting outside your store the other day. I tried to approach them, but when they realized I was coming toward them, they drove away.”

“Someone was watching my store?”

“Yeah. But I got the plate and called a buddy in New York to run it for me.”

“Oh. And?”

“It’s registered to a guy named Patrick Zimmerman.”

“Zimmerman?” she nearly squeaked.

“Yeah, you recognize the name?”

“He works for Transcross.”

Eli nodded. That was the information he had, too. “They’re trying to force you off your land. If they destroy your business, they ruin your livelihood. If enough scary things happen, maybe you’ll get scared and sell out.”

“But that’s ridiculous, I’m not selling no matter what they do.”

He admired her spunk. Just one of the many things he admired about her. “I know that and you know that, but I’m wondering if their tactics haven’t worked before on someone else.”

Holly shuddered. “So how do we stop them?”

“I’ve made a few calls and managed to get an investigation started.” He leaned forward. “But until we get whoever’s after you, you’ve got to take care, watch your back.”

“I’ve been doing that. It’s not working out so good for me.” Her weak, yet brave, smile nearly did him in.

He grasped her hand. “I’m here for you, Holly, all right?”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “Thank you, Eli.”

“Which brings me to another thing.”

“What?”

“You never responded to my letter.”

A light pink dusted her cheeks. “Oh, that.”

“Uh-huh.”

She studied him. He could almost see her thoughts. Take the leap? Or continue to be wary? A deep breath later, she smiled up at him. “I’d be honored to be your date tomorrow.”

Relief, joy, gladness, all of those emotions and more flooded him. “I’m the one who’s honored.”

She gave a little laugh without a bit of humor in it. “That is if you don’t mind dating someone who’s a trouble magnet.”

He tightened his fingers around hers. “I don’t mind a bit. We’re going to solve this together, all right?”

A small nod. He wasn’t sure if that meant she believed him or not, but as far as he was concerned, he was back on cop duty until he was a hundred percent sure she was safe.

Holly stared into the mirror. Leigh-Ann and her mother stood behind her. “Well?”

“You’re stunning.”

“Thanks for the loan of the dress, Leigh-Ann. I waited until the last minute to even say I’d go to dinner with him so shopping wasn’t even a possibility.”

Black and red, the shin-length velvet hugged her trim form. A high neck and long sleeves would ensure warmth. The matching black leggings and boots completed the ensemble.

“Not a problem.” Her brown-eyed friend leaned over and hugged her. “Thanks for calling, I’ve missed you.”

Holly smiled and stood. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“I’m sorry I can’t make the auction tonight. I forgot to ask for the night off and my supervisor put me on the schedule, so…” She shrugged. Leigh-Ann worked as a nurse in the Bryson City hospital.

“It’s all right. Joel has to work tonight, too, doesn’t he?”

“Yes, that’s why I don’t really mind going in. But I expect to hear all about it when we have lunch next week.”

Holly hugged her. “You bet.”

Thankfully, her mother seemed to be feeling better, although she said she didn’t feel up to the chaos of the auction.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right all by yourself?” Holly hated to leave her alone for too long. Mr. Ryan had volunteered to make a last minute pickup and deliver it to the auction so even he wouldn’t be around.

“I’ll be fine, Holly. I have a number of people I can call if I need to. Now get going.”

A knock on the door sounded from downstairs and Holly’s stomach did a nosedive. Then bounced back up. Rubbing her hands together, she said, “That’s Eli.”

The three women scurried from the room. Holly peeked out the window and gulped. He sent her blood pressure soaring and her heart into overdrive. However would she make it through dinner with him without babbling like an idiot?

“Holly, open the door.” Her mother giggled like a schoolgirl. Holly’s heart warmed at the sight.

She opened the door to see Eli decked out in dress pants and a collared shirt. A black wool blazer barely contained his shoulders. It was a good thing she’d taken a peek before opening the door. She wouldn’t have been able to find her tongue.

“Hi there.” He gave her a slow smile that set the butterflies in her stomach free.

She ignored them and grinned. “Hi.”

He greeted Leigh-Ann and her mother, but never took his eyes off her. “You look stunning.”

Giggles and laughter ruptured from behind her. She rolled her eyes then smiled. “Thanks, I’m glad everyone’s in agreement tonight.”

He offered his arm; her mother handed Holly her purse and practically shoved them out the door. The only thing that marred the leaving was the cop car sitting in her drive to keep an eye on her mother. A painful reminder that all was not right with her world.

But at least her mother would be safe.

Eli opened the door of his truck and helped her up and into the seat.

Once they were on the way, Holly said, “I hate to bring this up, but have you heard any more from your friend in New York?”

“Nothing yet. I’m sure he’ll get back to me soon.”

Twisting the strap of her purse, she watched the trees zip by. “I reported what happened last night on my way down the mountain.”

“Good, at least it’ll be on record.”

“That’s what I thought, too.”

The conversation was stilted, her nerves tight. But she reveled in his presence. Could she really believe he was home for good?

“Are you really…”

“Holly, I promise…”

They’d spoken simultaneously. And just like that the ice was broken. He reached over to grasp her hand as they both laughed. “I don’t want this to be awkward.”

She took a deep breath. “I don’t, either. We used to laugh so much, remember?”

“Yeah, I do. I want that back.”

“Then let’s get it back.”

He grinned. “Deal.”

The Steak House was located on the outskirts of town off a little road that looked like it went nowhere. However, the restaurant was well visited by locals and tourists alike.

Eli parked and Holly waited for Eli to come around and open the door for her. He did and took her hand to help her down from the truck. “You really do look beautiful.”

His husky voice sent shivers along her nerve endings. “Thanks, Eli.” She grinned. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

They laughed and headed for the restaurant.

Two steps later, she stumbled to a stop. If Eli hadn’t had a grip on her hand, she might have tripped and fallen.

Alex stood on the porch, drink in hand, staring at them as they approached. Taking a deep breath she said, “Hello, Alex.”

NINE

“H
olly, Eli.”

Eli fingers had tightened almost painfully on hers. She wiggled them and he loosened his grip. “Alex.”

Holly ignored Alex’s unwavering stare as his eyes followed them into the restaurant. Eli leaned over next to her ear. “Do you want to go somewhere else?”

Anger spurred her. She thought Alex had moved on. Only now here he stood, watching her. “Absolutely not. Unfortunately, this is a small town and Alex Harwood lives in it. I’m bound to wind up at the same restaurant as he is upon occasion. Let’s just go in and forget about him, okay?”

Admiration glinted. “Good for you.”

Ten minutes later, they were seated in a booth. She said, “It’s a good thing you made reservations. I think the whole town turned out here.”

“I figured it would be like this.”

Conversation flowed and Holly managed to relax and enjoy it in spite of the meeting with Alex. He must have decided to leave because she never saw him enter the place.

The steak had never tasted better and Holly didn’t want the evening to end.

She took a sip of tea and leaned back to sigh. “I’m stuffed.”

Eli set his fork on his plate. “I know the feeling.” He nodded in the direction of Buckeye and his daughter. “They came in a little while ago.”

Holly smiled at the man who waved back. Then his brow furrowed and he said something to his daughter who nodded. Buckeye rose and approached their table.

“Eli, I forgot to tell you, you had a phone call today from a Captain Longworth.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, said to tell you congratulations.”

A sick look came over Eli’s face and Holly wondered who this captain was.

Buckeye rubbed his chin. “Asked me to tell you that the decision about the position you interviewed for had been made and you got the job. Said he’d call you back with details, but wanted you to know.”

Holly’s heart splintered into a million tiny pieces. Eli would leave again. This time she knew she’d never be able to put her heart back together again.

Eli’s eyes met hers and he opened his mouth to speak, but the shattering pain coursing through her didn’t want to hear it. She shoved her chair back and grabbed her purse.

Without a word, she walked from the restaurant, eyes straight ahead refusing to let the tears fall. She heard him call her name, but knew she could be well on the way down the road and out of sight by the time he paid the bill and got in his truck.

Five minutes later, a car pulled up beside her and at first, fear flooded her, then she saw who it was.

“Holly?” her lawyer asked through the open window. “You need a ride?”

“Hi, Mr. Parker. Yes, that would be great. Thanks.” Now let Eli find her and try to schmooze her with his numerous excuses. No, thanks. The tears threatened to rival the waterfall at the top of the mountain. Sheer willpower kept them at bay.

“Where are you headed?”

“Home.”

“Are you okay?”

“Not really, but I don’t want to talk about it if that’s all right.”

“Sure.”

He fell silent and Holly watched the scenery roll by. How could she have been so stupid? But he’d seemed sincere. Had even talked about God like he knew Him.

Doubt hit her. Had she jumped to conclusions? Had it been fair to just leave without giving him a chance to explain? But memories of his past actions had assailed her in vivid detail. And the pain. Wow, had anything ever hurt that much? Very few things in her life had caused her that much pain. The death of her dad and her mother’s cancer.

Eli’s betrayal.

They passed the turnoff to her house. “Hey, Mr. Parker, you missed the turn.”

“Oh, sorry.”

He kept driving. Finally, she demanded, “What are you doing?”

The man sighed. “I’m taking you to meet someone.”

“What?” she cried. “I don’t want to meet with anyone. I want to go home!”

“Sorry, Holly, but some very important business needs to be taken care of and you have to be there.”

Eli couldn’t believe she’d just walked out him. He gunned the truck and searched the darkness. She couldn’t have gone far. His cell phone rang and Eli snatched it, hoping it was Holly.

It was Ken, his buddy in New York. “Hey, thanks for getting back to me. What have you got for me?”

“Sorry it took so long. As soon as I sat down to run your plate, Captain came in and sent me off on a case. Anyway, I’ve got a company. The car is registered to Patrick Zimmerman.”

“Right, I knew that. Got anything else?”

“He works for Transcross Realty. Real skinny kind of guy.”

A thought struck him. “Who’s the owner of Transcross Realty, anyway?”

“I thought you might want that information. Transcross is owned by two men. Alexander Harwood, Sr. and Patrick Zimmerman. They’ve gotten into the resort business and are busy buying up property all over the place. They really seem to be focusing on North Carolina.”

“Harwood?”

“Yeah, why? You know the name?”

“I sure do.”

Eli thanked Ken and hung up, his mind churning the information even as his eyes scanned the road for Holly. Worry hit him. Where could she be?

He tried her cell phone. It went straight to voice mail. Had she known he’d call and turned her phone off? Or had something else happened?

He called her house, hoping to get her mother. Voice mail picked up.

Now he really was concerned.

Alexander Harwood, Sr. was Alex’s father. And the man was a co-owner with Transcross Realty. Transcross Realty wanted Holly’s property.

His worry mounting by the minute, he called the sheriff’s office and asked for Alex.

“He’s not here, Eli,” Alice said.

“Do you know how I can reach him? It’s kind of an emergency.”

“I can try him on his cell phone.”

“Great.”

“Hold on a minute. If he answers, I’ll patch you through.”

Within a minute Alice was back on the line. “He’s not answering, which is really strange. He almost always answers his cell.”

“Give me Joel, would you?”

“Sure, hold on again.”

This time the next voice Eli heard was Joel’s. “What can I do for you, Eli?”

“I think Holly may be in trouble.”

“Holly? Again? What is it this time?”

“Can you track the sheriff’s car? He’s not answering his cell phone and I’m thinking he may be in trouble, too.” No sense in explaining he thought Alex might actually be the cause of Holly’s problems.

“What? Well, sure, we’ve got GPS systems in all of the cars. Just because we’re not big-city New York doesn’t mean we’re small-time technology.”

“Good. I’m heading out to Holly’s place just to check, but I need to know where Alex is. It’s very important. Might even be life and death important.”

A pause, then, “All right, if it’s that crucial, give me a minute and I’ll tell you where the car is.”

“Thanks.” Eli hung on and listened to dead air as he drove to Holly’s house.

The cop car was gone.

Not good. He ran to the door and knocked. “Mrs. Maddox? Are you in there?”

No answer.

He peered in the nearest window. Nothing.

A nudge on his leg nearly made him jump out of his skin.

“Duster.”

Absently, Eli gave the canine’s head a pat and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. Except the police cruiser was gone. Foreboding chilled him.

Then Joel was back on the line. “I’m getting a signal from Alex’s car. It looks like it’s up near that cabin of his. I tried to raise him on the radio and his cell and got nothing. I’m going to call Harley and the two of us will head up that way, too.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

When the lawyer pulled in front of the cabin owned by Alex Harwood, Holly’s foreboding tripled. “What are you doing, Mr. Parker? Why does Alex want to meet with me?”

Through the leafless trees, she could see down into her sweeping backyard. She thought she could see Duster chasing something.

The man waved a hand. “Just go inside, will you?”

Holly sat back and crossed her arms. “No, I won’t. Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

A frustrated groan escaped him. “Get out, now.”

Her door opened. “Welcome to the party, Holly.”

She swung her gaze around and up to see Alex leaning on the door. The faint sound of the waterfall rushed in the background. “Alex? Do you have some answers to all this craziness? I’ve practically been kidnapped. Now, what’s going on?” she asked once again.

“Get inside.”

“Look, I’m getting really tired of…” Alex grabbed her arm in a bruising grip. Holly cried out and stumbled in the direction he pushed her.

Holly grabbed the offended area on her arm and stared at Alex. Cold chips of ice stared back at her. Real fear hit her. He was deadly serious.

Behind him, she saw Duster stop and stare up the mountain. The he took off toward her. He’d heard her cry.

Swinging her gaze back to Alex, she stuffed down her fear. So, it had been him all along. “You were the one who was scaring me to death?”

He snorted. “Apparently I wasn’t doing a very good job. You were supposed to come running to me for protection. You didn’t, so I had to come up with a plan B.”

Holly just stared at him. “What do you want from me?”

“Your land. Pure and simple. Developed right, it’s worth millions.” His eyes narrowed and she shivered. “If you had just agreed to keep dating, we could have been married by now and all this would never have had to happen.”

“You’re not my type,” she spat.

His hand shot out and caught her across the jaw. So shocked, she couldn’t even scream as the pain raced up the back of her neck and radiated from her cheek and jaw.

Oh, God, do something!

“Get her in here,” he ordered the lawyer. Mr. Parker looked stunned at Alex’s physical violence.

She decided she’d have to appeal to him for help. “Mr. Parker, come on, you’ve known me all my life. My mother trusts you….”

“Shut up.” Alex grabbed her arm and shoved her once more. This time, she made it through the door. Duster burst in right after her to plant himself against her left leg.

She heard Alex mutter, but he didn’t do anything to the dog. Then the sight of her mother lying on the sofa brought her to a screeching halt. All thought of her own pain left her. “Mom!”

She rushed to the woman’s side and grabbed her hand.

“She’s just resting comfortably.”

Holly whirled, rage and terror battling it out inside her. “What did you do to her?” she demanded.

“She’ll be fine. She was so nice when I stopped by to inquire about all of the strange things going on with you. Seems she didn’t have a clue about them. When she invited me in for a cup of coffee to discuss the danger you were in, I told the officer on duty to take a break and sat down to chat with your mother.”

“What drug did you use?”

“A couple of sleeping pills. I thought I might have to force them down her throat, but like I said, she was very obliging. Dropped them in her coffee when she turned to get the cream.” Holly didn’t think it was possible, but his eyes turned even colder. “She’ll be fine as long as you follow directions.”

Fury bubbled up inside her and she stared at his gun, wondering if she even had a chance to get it.

Then he laughed, obviously reading her thoughts. “Don’t even think about it.”

Turning back to her mother, Holly saw that she did indeed look like she was just in a peaceful deep sleep. Her chest rose and fell with each breath.

So, her mother would sleep through this and hopefully be back in her bed when she awoke, attributing her nap to recovering from chemo.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked in a low voice, even as her mind scrambled for a plan.

Alex snapped his fingers at the lawyer who stood cowering in the corner. “Give her the papers.”

With a trembling hand, Jarrod Parker reached inside his coat and pulled out a handful of papers. He shoved them at Alex, then stepped back, eyes darting between Holly and Alex.

The sheriff slapped the papers and a pen down in front of her. “You did me a real favor running out on ole Eli tonight. I told Jarrod to get over there to that restaurant, get you alone and tell you your mother needed you ASAP. Now, sign them.”

Sign away her land? Her home?

She looked at her mother and took a deep breath. If that’s what it took to get her mom home safe, then…

Holly picked up the pen.

Duster settled at her feet, lifted his head and whined. She shushed him. “Am I at least getting paid for the land?”

“As soon as you sign, the money will be wired to your account.” He grinned, a feral splitting of his lips. “All nice and legal-like.”

Her mind clicked along. Did he really think she was that dumb? “And then you kill me and my mother, make it look like an accident that you’ll investigate and get off scot-free. Not to mention get your money back somehow.”

His chin jerked like she’d punched him and she saw the truth stamped on his face before he wiped it clean.

Alex took a deep breath and pulled his gun. “Sign the papers, Holly, or I’ll blow her away right now.”

Holly jumped up, pointed at Alex, and yelled, “Dust it up, boy!”

Duster bolted to his feet and planted himself on top of Alex, his big body knocking the man backward. She heard the gun land with a thump and Mr. Parker holler.

Holly scrambled for the gun, elbowing the lawyer in his chest. He fell back and she tripped when he grabbed her ankle, her fingers skimming the barrel of the weapon. Kicking out with her other foot, she caught the wrist of the hand that held her and with a cry of pain, he released her. Holly rolled to her feet and flew out the door while Duster still had Alex distracted.

She was hedging her bets that Alex wouldn’t kill her mother until he had Holly back under his control. He needed the woman as leverage. Which meant she had to get away and stay out of his hands. Sheer terror shot through her, adrenaline pumping her legs toward the waterfall.

A gunshot rang out and she flinched, expecting to feel the piercing pain of a bullet entering her flesh.

She felt nothing so kept running, sending up desperate prayers for everyone’s safety.