Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 05 - Monroe Beach (9 page)

“What I thought we could do is to sleep in shifts.
I don’t want more than three or four of us asleep at the same time.”

I looked around at the others to see if they were as confused as I was and saw that no one else seemed to be.

decided to voice my doubts anyway. “Robert, how do you know he’s going to stop just because the FBI takes him to Atlanta?”

“Well, I don’t
, but I was hoping maybe we would be out of range.”

“He reached Julia in New Orleans last night,” I said and then went on to explain what had happened.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again,” Delilah said. “You got to kill him. That’s the only way we’ll be safe. And you got to kill the one behind him.”

“The one behind him,
Delilah?” Simon asked.

She shrugged.
“I don’t know what I mean. Dave gets so mad at me when I do that. He thinks that just because some things come to me, I have all the answers.”

# # #

We all moved into the big house. Julia, the professor, and Wade flew in around the same time and shared a rental car. Delilah insisted on cooking suppe,r saying she had missed cooking and was getting tired of eating out. As always the food was delicious.

After we cleaned up the kitchen, Julia and I went to the room I was to share with
Delilah. Julia had gained a tiny baby bump and she looked adorable. We sat on the bed and talked and giggled like we always did when we were together.

“I got a call last night from Mimi,
” Julia said. “I understand that Dr. Anna was there spending some time with her.”

“Yeah, I think she will retire for real this time.
She’s having a rough time. She told us about a son whom she hasn’t seen since he was twenty six. He’s now fifty two.

“She’s spending time with Mimi and is seeing Dr. Alvarez.
I think she was mostly burnt out. I talked to her on the phone the other night and she sounded more relaxed than she was in Jacksonville. I think this is doing her some good.”

Julia was telling
me that she was seriously thinking about marrying Walt, when Delilah knocked on the doorframe. She stood awkwardly like she was trying to find the words to tell us something and I guessed what it was.

“It’s all right,
Delilah,” I said. “Go ahead and stay in Simon’s room tonight.”

She winked at us and started gathering up her things.

“Well, I’m going to find Walt and hit the sack myself. This baby makes me tired and I’ll be up puking bright and early in the morning.” Julia said.

I kissed her goodnight and went to find Wade.
He was sitting on the porch with Robert and Sarah. I noticed that Sarah had a pen and pad of paper.

“Hi, Judith,” Robert said.
We’re making up the watch schedule. Sarah and I are taking the first watch. You and Wade want to take the second? That will be from one to three a.m.”

I looked at Wade.
“It’s okay with me if it’s okay with you, Wade.”

He agreed and said, “I guess we’d better turn in then.”
He stood and took my hand. “You want to walk around the grounds before we turn in, Judith? I hear they have beautiful gardens here.”

I snickered as we headed off on a wi
nding path away from the others. “You sound like some kind of Southern gentleman.”

“I am some kind of
Southern gentleman,” he said, laughing.

The gardens were beautiful.
The path winded through huge oak trees with moss and wisteria hanging down from the limbs. There were azalea bushes with pink, white and purple blooms and dogwoods everywhere.

We silently enjoyed the blooms and the smells of the beautiful May night in Georgia and didn’t feel the need for words.
When we came upon a gazebo, Wade took my hand and pulled me inside.

Without a word we fell into each other’s arms.
I had been holding back for awhile and I realized I didn’t want to keep him at arm’s length anymore. Life was too short. I had wasted so much time putting Ben off and we ended up with so little time together.

I was so ready for this and I started unbuttoning his shirt.
It was dark green silk. As his shirt fell to the floor of the gazebo, I ran my hands over his chest. His chest was muscular with blond hair covering him in all the right places and making a line that disappeared inside his pants.

He wore a pair of fawn colored pants made of some sort of soft material and his belt was soft leather.
I unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants and put my hand inside his briefs, but he pulled my hand back.

“Slow down,” He said, “
We have plenty of time and I don’t want a quickie after waiting for you so long. God, how I’ve wanted you, Judith.

“Let’s go up to your room where we have some privacy.
I want to see you naked and I want to taste every inch of you.”

He started pulling himself together and I started feeling ashamed.
I had been acting just like I had with Bill Wheeler, the dirty cop I was involved with when Ben and I had broken up. Bill was working for Jupiter, the sociopath that had headed up the pedophile ring I had helped the FBI solve.

Bill had been like an addiction for me and I had wanted him all the time.
I had been afraid when Ben and I got back together, that I wouldn’t be satisfied with him. I needn’t have worried. His sweet, caring, and considerate ways were wonderful. I fell in love with him all over again and we had gotten married. We had only had two years together before Jupiter killed him.

“You’re mighty
quiet, all of a sudden, Judith. What are you thinking about? Are you having second thoughts?

I had been so deep in thought I hadn’t realized that we were almost back to the house.
Robert and Sarah were sitting on the porch and greeted us when we walked up.

“Figured y’all were going to spend the night in the gazebo,” Robert kidded us.

Sarah gave me a thumbs-up when no one else was looking. They offered us coffee but we declined.

When Wade and I got to my room
, he closed the door, leaned up against it and grinned at me. “Alone at last. Come here.”

I forced myself to walk slowly
to him but my mind and body were in a hurry. I felt like I was on fire and didn’t trust myself not to attack him. This also scared me.

It seemed like a long trip to his arms and when I got there he put his hands on each side of my face and gazed into my eyes.
I felt my eyes tearing because of the tenderness I felt toward him and all of a sudden, my worries were over. I no longer feared being like I was with Bill Wheeler. This was a caring man.

He ti
lted my head and kissed me. His lips were so soft, I felt like melting. I never thought I could get so turned on from just a kiss, but I did. I was no longer in a hurry.

“Don’t try to undress me, Judith.
Let me undress you first.”He slowly unbuttoned my blouse and slid it down my arms while kissing me on the neck.

He then picked me up like I weighed nothing and took me to bed.
The lovemaking was slow and easy and felt so right. We made love until it was time to take our turn on watch.

I was afraid
that Sarah and Robert would kid us, but they looked up when we stepped out on the porch and Sarah said, “Oh great you’re here. Come on Robert, let’s go get some rest.”

CHAPTER 19

It was almost three a.m., the end of our shift when Simon came o
ut on the porch shirtless, shoeless, and zipping up his pants.

“Have y’all seen
Delilah?” he asked.

We searc
hed the whole house and she wasn’t there. We woke up the others and we all gathered in the kitchen while Robert called one of his deputies, Freddy, who I remembered from when I was here before. Sarah and I made coffee. Julia was busy vomiting.

“Freddy’s getting together a search party,” Robert said when he hung up.

“I had just dozed off at the computer when I was jerked back awake to find Delilah missing,” Simon said. “I found something interesting about a condition called Leukoderma Meand Deficiency. Rather than being born an albino, people with leukoderma begin losing pigmentation when they reach puberty. It starts with white spots that get larger until they all run together. Their eyes turn pink, their hair turns white and fine hair starts growing all over the body.”

“How is that going to help us, Simon?” Robert asked while he accepted a cup of coffee from Sarah.

“Well, I was going to ask Judith about the psychological effect this condition would have on someone already going through puberty.”

We had served everyone their coffee and I poured a cup for myself and added milk and sugar.
I felt their eyes on me as I sat down while at the same time trying to think about the answer to Simon’s question.

Julia came in and everyone was asking her how she was feeling and that gave me a little extra time to think
. I found that I didn’t really have any answers because I couldn’t think straight. I had had no sleep and I was worried about Delilah. I didn’t understand why we were concentrating on something else besides finding her.

“I’m sorry, Simon.
I can’t think about this right now. I’ve had no sleep and I’m worried about Delilah.”

“You’re right, Judith.
I just thought it would get our minds off her. I know we are all worried. I apologize.”

“No, that’s okay.
I will think about it though.”

We sat silently drinking o
ur coffee until we heard a car drive up. It was Freddy and another deputy and they had Delilah in handcuffs. They escorted her up the steps and onto the porch.

“What do you want us to do with her, sheriff?” Freddy asked.
“She snuck into the jail and had a gun pointed right at the prisoner. We got it away from her before she did any harm and I noticed it’s a service revolver. Is it yours, Simon?” He asked as he handed the gun to Simon.

“It sure as hell is,” Simon said
. He looked madder than a wet hen. “What were you thinking, Delilah? You can’t take the law into your own hands like this.”

“It don’t matter none for myself, but he trying to hurt two of my most favorite people in the whole world,
Judith and Julia. I no longer care what happens to me. But I have to protect them.”

“So, is this why you shared my bed, to get my gun?”

I put my hand over my mouth as I watched Delilah. She didn’t answer Simon and I knew what he asked was the way it was. He walked off shaking his head. I felt so bad for him. He thought Delilah cared about him and I’m sure he was hurt.

Robert turned to the two deputies, “Y’all can go on home now.
And thanks for the help.”

The
y jumped off the porch, got in the squad car, and left. Robert’s cell phone rang and he shook his head at Delilah while he answered it.

“Yeah, Boots, what is it?
You’re kidding.” He pulled back his cuff and looked at his watch. “Has Shirley come in yet? Okay, when she gets there you and one of the deputies take him to the diner and get him some breakfast. We’ll be there in about forty five minutes.”

He hung up shaking his head, “Y’all aren’t going to believe this.
There’s a psychiatrist who’s showed up from just over in Savannah. He knows our prisoner. He claims Randy is a patient of his.”

He quit talking and looked around like he was looking for someone, “Hey, Simon!
Come on out here,” He said.

CHAPTER 20

By the time we all got showers a
nd got ready to go, it was close to an hour later. We left Sarah, Delilah, Walter, and Julia at the house and rode downtown with Robert. Wade seemed to like the fact that we had to sit so close together in the backseat. Simon sat up front with Robert.

The morning dispatcher, Shirley pointed
toward the back when we came in. “Dr. Pullen is waiting for you in your office, Sheriff.”

He was a short overweight man with
thin brown hair and thick glasses. His left eye had a tic and his head jerked to the left. It was very distracting.

We all went into the interrogation room because it was the largest room available.
“Randy Zandy is not his real name,” Dr. Pullen began.

“His name is Randolph Edwards the third.
He comes from a wealthy family in Savannah. Both of his parents are from old money and come from Atlanta. They moved here when they got married.

“Randolph is their only child.
When he reached puberty, his skin started losing pigmentation, his hair started turning white, his eyes became pink, and fine white hair started growing all over his body. It’s a condition called leukoderma meand deficiency.”

I looked at Simon and smiled.