With Her Last Breath (35 page)

Footsteps sounded on the wooden deck, and Maggie slowly opened the kitchen door.

Brent aimed the automatic at her. “Hello, Brent,” she said, as if she had expected him to be just there, waiting for her.

“Maggie—” Nick struggled against his restraints and was surprised to see her smile glitter coldly, brilliantly at Brent.

She moved to pick up a napkin and blot the wound on Nick’s forehead, the bloody cut on his lip. “Hi, Nick. I told you that I was his. Now see what a mess you’ve made. Brent doesn’t like messes. Do you, Brent? You washed your hands after you did this, didn’t you? Or did you wear gloves?”

“You know me so well,” Brent almost crooned, his eyes burning at her. “I wore gloves, of course.”

“That’s good. I wouldn’t want you to become infected by his blood.”

Brent’s horrified expression was quickly replaced by a sly smile. “You’re so considerate, my dear. She fences well, Nick, trying to undermine me, throw me off balance, and that only makes winning more enjoyable.”

Maggie smelled of wind and rain, her face pale beneath the spray of summer freckles. Nick noted the way she breathed, straining not to show her exertion, belied by the rapid pulse in her throat. Those earth green eyes glittered at him just once, a flash of fear as her smile held in place.

She reached to pet Scout, and Nick noted that she stealthily loosened the choke collar. Then Maggie walked slowly to the kitchen sink and filled a glass of water. On the opposite side of the room, she drew Brent’s attention from Nick as she chatted almost conversationally. Only a man who loved her would know how badly Maggie was frightened, how her hand trembled as it pushed back those thick, reddish brown strands. “You’re not looking so good these days, Brent. What happened?”

His face contorted with rage. “Because of you, I lost everything—that’s what happened. You pushed and shoved and harassed, and none of them wanted to be my friends after you got done smearing my name all over. Just after you disappeared, Evelyn divorced me, cut me off.
You ruined me.
”

Nick noticed the quick flaring of Maggie’s nostrils, the almost imperceptible softness of satisfaction held deep inside. But her lips curved slowly. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll make you sorry,” he snarled. “You ruined my life,” he repeated violently.

His thin body tensed threateningly, and Nick knew that Maggie was baiting Brent, that she was balancing her fitness and agility against his gun. “I’m good at what I do, working with individual health problems. You look like you need a
personal trainer. I’m available. I can have you back in shape in no time.”

She ignored Nick, shifting her body seductively to show the curves beneath her damp T-shirt and shorts, the length of her legs. Brent’s indrawn hiss said he hadn’t missed her open sensuality. “She’s magnificent, isn’t she? Strong, feline, smart…opportunistic. She’s circling me now. Quite the prize. I’ve missed you, Maggie. The little challenges you offer. We’ve been waiting for you. You’re almost too late for the party. Tardiness doesn’t pay. Now, the first thing you must do is call and make everyone feel that you and Nick are safe. If you don’t call them off, he’s done right now. Do it.”

Maggie shrugged lightly. “Suit yourself. I was planning to move on anyway. He doesn’t matter.”

Brent’s cold eyes flared, his tone bitter. “I saw you laughing at him, playing with him. It looked like you cared. You were all over him.”

In a flirtatious gesture, she flipped her hair and studied him coolly. “Get smart, Brent. I used him. I needed a good contact—the Alessandros know everyone. I thought I could go back to playing the little woman, but that’s not me. I know who I am now and fairy tales just don’t exist. I’ve changed. You taught me that.”

Brent considered her statement and then began a crooked, knowing smile.

Despite the bruises and pain of Brent’s rough treatment, a worse pain twisted around his heart.
Maggie didn’t love him…It was all a lie…

His stomach churned, and he felt as if his heart had stopped forever.

She moved seductively again, drawing Brent’s attention, and then Nick understood. Maggie had said that Brent would destroy anyone dear to her, those she loved—

She was protecting him.

She loved him…“With all my heart,” she’d said.

Oh, he had plans for her later, Nick thought grimly. “You are going to get what you deserve, sweetheart.”

Brent gripped Maggie’s hair and tugged, placing his skeletal face next to hers in a pose as they faced Nick. “Her hair is the same rich penny color as her sister’s. I used to like Glenda’s on my skin. If I had time, I’d let you watch. Sort of a parting gift from me to you. I think I’m going to keep her for a time. Maggie,
call off the Alessandros now
.”

Her body arched at an odd angle as Brent held her hair, but she reached for the telephone. She hesitated for just that second and then she dialed the restaurant. “Hi. Dante? Sorry about the slip. Yes, I know Lorenzo is fuming. I am definitely champ of the window escapes, but I couldn’t just sit there. I’m with Nick and we’ve got Scout…Yes, everything is fine. Hmm? Scout found a friend, a little Yorkie, and they’ve been doing the beach thing. We’re going to try to find who owns the Yorkie—cute little thing. Yes, everything is fine. I just didn’t like that Alessandro man-thing you and Nick pulled about protecting the little helpless woman. We’re sorting things out here, so don’t bother us. I’ll apologize to Lorenzo later. See you in the morning.”

“Very nicely done, Maggie,” Brent said when she hung up the telephone. He released her hair and walked to Nick. “She was always independent. In some ways that is good for a woman, but they really need to know who is boss—and that takes me back to this fellow here.”

Brent’s fist crashed against Nick’s face. When Nick surfaced again, he saw Maggie’s pale face, her fingers gripping the counter. He heard Brent say, “You know you belong to me, Maggie. You’re going to work like Glenda worked and get what I need.”

“You’re high,” Maggie observed quietly.

“Just to kill the pain of my knee while we take care of business. I knew you would come tonight because we are locked together, perfect mates, except of course, I am much superior. I knew I would be your master from the time I met you. Cut the ties on Nick’s legs. We’re going for a boat ride. We’ll use Nick’s fishing boat to get out to mine, a little cabin
cruiser that I borrowed. It’s just perfect for our reunion, Maggie.”

“I look forward to it. But first, would you like something to eat? You need me to take care of you, Brent. To do as you say.”

Brent took the suggestion with a nod. “Something to eat would be lovely. One of those delicious instant things you used to do when I came home to dinner with Ryan.”

He turned to Nick. “Ryan didn’t deserve her. He wasn’t man enough. I knew that and so did he. Maggie used to be a perfect wife, a perfect hostess, working so hard to help their business grow. Yes, make me something delicious and just for me. Nothing that takes too much time, because we have work to do. And nothing with a knife, please. I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“An omelet then. Not that tasty without chopping mushrooms and onions, but I’ll throw in some dry herbs. We’ll put you on a vitamin and nutrition program right away, Brent,” Maggie said as she began breaking eggs. Nick recognized Maggie’s stubborn look—that she intended to have answers. If only he could distract Brent long enough for Maggie to escape…

The omelet sizzled into the hot pan and Maggie seemed to concentrate on it. “So here we are. You and I. You killed Celeste, didn’t you? And my sister?”

Brent’s smile was wolfish, sly, predatory, seeking her weaknesses. “The witch woman was dogging me, following me. She was asking Ed questions. Her house is a nightmare. She should have died for that alone.”

She carefully turned the omelet, her voice distracted. “You mean that it wasn’t orderly. I can understand that. And my sister? She was too weak, wasn’t she? And you were done with her? Glenda must have been a real liability. She was to me, too.”

Maggie’s expression changed for just a half of a heartbeat into grief and anger. If she moved against Brent now, he’d
fire…Nick shifted on the chair, enough to make a scraping sound, warning her.

But Maggie hadn’t moved, her silence demanding, heavy and ominous in the kitchen. The wind picked up slightly and the wind chime began its music. Maggie seemed to go too still, her head tilted, as if she were listening to the sound.

Brent shrugged and smiled slyly. “Sure. It was easy. She was already gone, really. I just helped a bit and gave her what she wanted, that last shot. She begged me for it. Your name and her kids’ names were the last words she spoke. After she told me she loved me.”

“Okay. I just like to have everything straight between us. I think I always knew you would come for me,” Maggie said slowly, casually, as she served Brent the omelet. “You’re not done yet, are you? You’re coming back for Nick’s family and for Beth?”

“Of course. Ed might have told the girl something that might have implicated me, and the Alessandros need pay-back for running me off that day. I thought I’d burn their restaurant down, maybe with them in it.” He indicated with a gesture of the gun that she was to sit at the table. While he stood and ate ravenously, Brent watched Nick and Maggie closely.

Maggie seemed at ease, but Nick knew the pain inside her—and the fury. It seemed to radiate from her in hot waves.
Don’t, Maggie. Not now…

When he finished, Brent said, “Now. Come get the knife and cut the ties on his legs. Then put the knife back slowly.”

“He’s too big for us to move. If you want to get him into a boat, he’s going to have to be conscious. Don’t hit him again.” When Maggie bent to cut the ties, she gave Nick a grim warning look that said not to talk or resist—not to infuriate Brent. That brief glance terrified Nick. He understood perfectly. She was playing for time, for opportunity. She’d fought for Glenda, and she would fight for him.

And she could be killed.

“Why don’t you just let Brent and me sort this out, Mag
gie? You could tie her up and leave her here, and come back when you’re finished with me,” he suggested as he stood unsteadily, suddenly dizzy.

“Didn’t you know? He needs me to see everything—how strong and smart he is—don’t you, Brent?” Maggie answered as she shoved him lightly.

Nick faked a stumble, because Maggie’s thrust wasn’t enough to unbalance him. She was taking chances to save his pain and his life. On the path down to the lake, she picked up a stick and prodded Nick’s back. If she managed to look like she was hurting him, Brent would enjoy the spectacle. In her other hand, she held the chain that led to Scout’s choke collar.

Nick understood the scene she was creating—the strong fit woman maneuvering a big man with a stick, prodding his back, and controlling a dog with her other hand. In his need to show that he was all powerful, Brent would become even more obsessive about having her—and perhaps distracted from killing Nick…

“Sweetheart, you are really going to pay for this,” Nick murmured as he stepped into the small aluminum boat with Brent.

She walked into the water, pushing the boat out into the waves that were growing stronger with each moment. She hefted her body up into the boat and at the indication of Brent’s gun, took her position at the motor.

Maggie hadn’t showed Brent her fear of water, but Nick saw it in her tense expression before she closed it away.

Brent preyed on fears, and Maggie wasn’t giving him that edge—she was playing for time—because she planned to protect Nick and the others with her own life.

She intended to finish with Brent tonight, one way or the other.

W
hile Maggie fought Lake Michigan’s massive swells, steering the small fishing boat toward the cruiser, she focused on chipping at Brent’s weakness—his ego. “I think I always knew that we were meant to be together. I knew you would come after me, Brent. Somehow, I knew. You found me through Leo, didn’t you? And you talked him into coming here and destroying the winery.”

“I worked the health spas, because I knew that would lead me to you. You don’t really know how to do anything but play the good wife and be a trainer. Leo recognized your picture right away. He wanted to help and I merely let him. I lost everything because of you. And you’re going to repay me—one way or another. It’s just a matter of time before I’m back on my feet, and you’re going to work for me every minute.”

Maggie fought the fear squeezing her;
she had to save Nick’s life and Scout’s.

She’d almost cried out and ran to Nick when she first saw him tied to that chair. For the first time in her life, her rage
was so great, she wanted to kill Brent. Now, Nick’s face was bruised and swollen, one eye almost closed, a cut along his cheek. From his painful movements, his side was injured. But then, Brent needed to bring others down to his level.

The anger flashing in Nick’s eyes terrified Maggie. If he decided to move too soon…
Don’t, Nick, please don’t…

The waves battered Nick’s small boat against the cabin cruiser. “Cut his hands loose. He’s going into the water. I want him too busy to cause trouble while we board. One wrong move and I shoot—you, the woman, and the dog. Even if you somehow manage to live, I figure it will take you a while, if you can make the swim back to shore, and by that time, I’ll have paid your parents a visit—and maybe your brother’s kids.”

He tossed a pocket knife at Maggie. “Catch. I want that back, and he’ll get it right now, if he tries anything. If he dies now, that’s okay. I’d prefer to take my time, though.”

At Nick’s warning look, Maggie stopped her fearful protest. His hands free, Nick slid over the side of the small boat, the waves washing over him. Brent balanced with one hand and smashed his foot against Nick’s clinging fingers. “Hands off.”

Brent’s gun flashed at Maggie. “Up. He can bring the dog. It will keep his hands busy. If he can’t make it, I’ll finish them both off right now.”

Maggie swung onto the ladder, trying not to look back at Nick in the deadly waves. If Brent sensed how deeply she cared, Nick would die. Waiting for the right moment, she obeyed Brent. If she tried to overpower him now, she might lose, and Nick and Scout would die.

Brent swung onto the deck after her and held the gun to her ribs as they watched Nick struggle out of the cold water and into the small boat. “Keep that chain on her and untie the boat,” Brent yelled against the wind.

“Not a move,” he ordered as Nick managed to place Scout onto the deck. “Go back down and capsize the boat. Make one wrong move and I shoot her.”

“So it’s going to be a drowning, is it?” Nick asked grimly and with a nod set about Brent’s task.

Maggie tried to mask her fear for Nick, but her stomach was in knots.

Brent glanced at her and smiled evilly. He would use any weakness. “Still afraid of water, Maggie? Remember how your father died?”

She pushed away her fear and smiled, because Nick needed her.
Oh, please, let me find a way to distract Brent.
“You’re behind. I told you I’d changed. I swim now.”

When Nick stood on deck again, dripping and shivering with the lake’s cold water, Brent was ready. “Tie his hands again, Maggie…tight. I’m checking them. Then we’re going farther out. With the lake this rough, you’ll die before you reach shore. Drowning is awful, they tell me. I’ll watch you, of course, Nick. It will look as if you drowned while out on the lake with Maggie and Scout. You fell, got battered by the boat a bit, and finally gave up. They won’t be found, just some of Maggie’s clothing and Scout’s collar artfully tied to a life jacket. Because they’ll be with me.”

Maggie instantly swung in to pick at Brent’s plan, upping the pressure on him, because he hated his mistakes served back to him. “Nick’s wrists are scraped and bloody. They’ll know he’s been tied. Maybe—”

Brent blinked as though surprised at a flaw in his plan. Then his anger fired again. “That can’t be helped. They’ll think he got tangled in the rope and tried to fight free. Tie them.”

With a look, Nick warned Maggie not to challenge Brent.

Her look said she wasn’t finished with Brent, even though revenge now could cost her life. “Some things are better let go, Maggie,” he cautioned quietly.

“I heard that,” Brent yelled. “She can’t let go. She’s tied to me, the same as I am tied to her.”

Maggie’s eyes held Nick’s, willing him to understand. “He’s right, Nick. I’m just sorry that you’re in this, too. I
think I always knew it would come to this. That we’d meet someday in different circumstances.”

His anger slashed at her. “Just you and him, right? I’m not in the picture? You take care of things yourself, cutting me out?”

“I’m so sorry you’re involved.” When Maggie was finished, her fingers gripped Nick’s briefly. His frustration and anger throbbed in the stormy air, nipping at her. When Brent checked her work, her eyes locked with Nick’s, telling him of her fear, her sorrow, her love for him. Then her stare turned, purposely directing his to a sliver of broken glass, caught in a crevice at the back of a seat.

When Brent straightened, Maggie shoved Nick’s chest, seating him near the glass, and he went to work. “Quiet,” he ordered Scout, who was growling at Brent.

If Nick could just get his hands free…

Only a few feet from Nick and Scout, Maggie prayed that he could work free, and tried to ignore Brent’s hand squeezing her bottom—an obvious show of ownership. Repulsed by his touch, she followed Brent’s orders, expertly steering the cruiser into the waves. Not even a strong swimmer could make the distance to shore now, even in calm, warmer water.

Nick could drown, just as her father had…

Working to distract and upset Brent, Maggie chipped away at him. “You shouldn’t have killed Ed. You should have kept him, made it look like he did this. You could have used that gun. Then we’d be away free.”

“Shut up.” The rage in Brent’s expression said that he’d lost his temper with Ed and acted sooner than he had planned.

Maggie glanced back and saw that Scout’s choke collar was gone. That she was obeying Nick’s quiet command to stay still.
That meant Nick’s hands were free and he was just waiting for the right moment…He could be killed if she failed to distract Brent…
“Oh, I see. The original plan didn’t work when Ed started—”

“He was a liability. If he got pushed hard enough, he’d tell everything, and they were certain to do a thorough interrogation. I couldn’t have him ruining my plans. He was frantic and he thought I might hurt his little girlfriend, Beth. When he started playing hero, I knew he had to die.”

“That was smart.” She pulled Brent back by the compliment, playing to his confidence, then served him another flaw. “What was the plan the day you went into the Alessandros Restaurant for Scout? Didn’t that expose you too soon? But then, you probably—”

“I said, shut up.”

But Maggie had successfully placed the nudge—the reminder that Brent’s furious temper had erupted and escaped his control.

Then she pushed again, tilting that same confidence. “Celeste knew you were coming. She’s here…on the lake. Can you feel her?”

Brent shivered and looked fearfully into the windy night, the clouds sweeping across the moon. In the distance, Blanchefleur’s lighthouse sent a rhythmic dull beam into the night; it seemed almost like a living pulse, a slight hope to grasp.

Maggie decided to push once more, preying on Brent’s exposed fear, fueling it. “Celeste felt she had bonded with Monique, the Frenchman’s lost fiancée—she went down on a ship, just off that tiny island in the far distance. Oh, you can’t see it now, but they say Monique walks beneath the water, waiting to show a drowning person her home. Do you think that can be true? Or that he waits for her?”

“Shut up. I don’t believe in ghosts.” But she had scored a hit; Brent nervously searched the lake as the wind whistled eerily around them.

Maggie played to the violence of the storm, the sound of the wind. “You can’t see them. You can only feel them. Or hear them.”

“Maggie,” Nick cautioned behind her, the sound soft and dangerous, carried by the wind.

With her hands on the controls, she braced herself; when Brent turned once more, she would pit her weight against him—taking them both over the side.

When Brent looked back at Nick, Maggie feared he planned to kill Nick right then. If she shoved now, the gun could go off, wounding Nick. She played for time, attempting to draw Brent’s attention back to her. “Then believe this. You can’t breed Scout. She’s been spayed. She isn’t going to be your private puppy mill—and that’s what you had planned, wasn’t it? To get back what you’d lost? Get back into your buddies’ good favor? Gee, another plan gone wrong.”

For a moment, Brent’s expression went blank; then with a wild scream, his fist lashed out, catching her jaw. “I need those pups for my friends!”

Maggie staggered backward with the blow, just as she heard Scout’s warning growl. In the night and the rain, Scout leaped toward Brent, his gun flashed, and the dog yelped.

Then Nick was on Brent and Maggie pushed herself to her feet, instantly killing the motor. She plunged at the two struggling men, and Nick’s open hand found her face and thrust her back gently. “Could you trust me, just this once? Get out of the way!”

Balancing against the toss of the waves, Maggie fought leaping back into the battle to protect the man she loved. “I love you! You can’t expect me to not help you!”

“Give me a break, will you?” Nick’s grip on Brent was that of a fit workman against a much frailer man. He tossed the gun into the water and reached for a coil of rope, quickly binding Brent, who was muttering wildly.

Muscling Brent past Maggie, Nick pushed him down on the deck and, placing a knee on Brent, jerked up a cushioned seat. He prowled through the tools and came up with duct tape. In minutes, Brent’s arms and legs were secured and when he didn’t stop raving, Nick applied a strip across his mouth.

He turned to look at Maggie who was leaning over the
side, her flashlight searching for Scout. “Scout? Scout? Nick, she must have gone overboard!”

Terrified for her dog, Maggie called until her throat was hoarse, but the flashlight showed nothing in the water. The wind rose, lightning fingered down from the clouds and rolling thunder followed. After a half hour of searching, Nick said quietly, “Maggie, it’s getting rougher. We have to leave.”

“Just a bit more—”

“Maggie…”

She recognized the warning in Nick’s tone, and defeated by odds she could not control, sat as he steered the cruiser toward shore. Nick eased it onto the sandy beach and cut the tape on Brent’s ankles. “Jump in.”

The force of the waves took Brent under, but Nick jerked him up. “One wrong move and I let you drown. Freezing, isn’t it?”

He turned to Maggie, saw that she was managing and pushed Brent to shore. When Maggie stood on shore, scanning the lake one more time, Nick said, “We’ll hunt for her in the morning. Come on, Maggie. We’ve got to take care of this garbage.”

Cold, wet, and exhausted, they worked their way up the sandy knoll. Maggie’s mind was on Scout, grieving for her, and she moved automatically. “You took the key to the cruiser.”

“I wanted to make certain you didn’t go back out without me. It’s too dangerous.”

“Nick—” She started to cry, unable to control herself any longer.

Nick couldn’t bear to see her grieve, seeming to fold within herself, coming apart before him. There was no way Scout could have been wounded and survived out in the lake. Her body would probably wash up onshore.

Maggie had lived through a real nightmare with her father’s death, and her sister’s, a good friend, and now a pet
that she loved dearly. Her pale, tear streaked face turned to him, but Nick couldn’t give her the answer she wanted.

“You’ll get through this. We’ll look for her tomorrow. Come on,” he said gently, and pushed Brent ahead of them. “Get up on the porch.”

Brent shook his head, the tape over his mouth muffling a terrified, high-pitched protest, and pushed back against Nick’s hand. Nick hauled the slighter man up by the collar and shoved him up the steps to the porch. “Maggie, come on.”

Nick watched her move slowly, painfully up the steps. Brent was twisting now, trying to get away, his eyes wide with fear. Busy holding him and watching Maggie, Nick barely noticed the hooded slight figure moving out from behind the huge, tropical plants that had been Celeste’s.

Maggie grabbed Nick’s arm in warning, and lightning lit the hard face of Shirley within her plastic raincoat. In her hand was an automatic.

“Hello, Shirley,” Nick said quietly and frowned when he noted Maggie edging in front of him.

“You want me, Shirley. I’m the reason Ed got tangled up with this man. Let Nick go.”

“I’ve had enough of your sacrificing-hero stuff for tonight, sweetheart.” Nick reached his free hand out to capture Maggie’s arm, dragging her back.

Brent was fighting furiously now, making terrified noises, and Nick struggled to control him. Terror had given Brent strength and agility.

Nick’s blood stilled as Shirley aimed the gun at Maggie, who now stood a few feet from him.

“Yes, you brought him here. He followed you,” Shirley said slowly. “He killed my Ed. I never told the law, because I wanted to settle his hash myself. I knew he’d be coming out here and I saw you sneak out of the alley.”

She pointed the gun back to Brent. “I knew when I saw how neat everything was—I used to deliberately tilt the picture frames to irritate him. But when Ed died, all the frames and the bottle labels were arranged—just after I had left them
deliberately messed up. Ed wouldn’t have killed himself. That note didn’t even sound like him. He loved me. He just played around to make me jealous. But he always came back. I knew everything about Mr. Brent Templeton. Ed had me following you. Who do you think cooked all that fancy food you had to have, Mr. Glove Man? Did you know I spit in every dish you got? I saw you go into that witch woman’s house, and kill her and that fat slob who tore up the winery. Not much goes by old Shirley. We laughed over how crazy you are, up there pacing and raving about Maggie.”