Blood and Roses (Holly Jennings Thriller) (26 page)

Holly held up her hand. “I’m on duty.” Jack still poured the wine.

He’d ordered up crab cakes, obviously remembering that the dish was a favorite of hers. He’d also had salads and the specialty for the evening—filet mignon—brought up. She never remembered them eating this well on their two-cop salaries. She thought about his question and then took a sip of wine. Her nerves were on edge. “Chloe?”

He nodded.

“She’s smart, funny, sweet, precocious.”

He laughed. “She gets that from you. I know she’s beautiful like you, too.” He held up his glass.

Holly shook her head. “She has your eyes. She likes to play the piano and read. She’s a little shy, but comes out of her shell when she’s around people she knows. Her best friend is Maddie.” Holly took another sip.

“Brendan’s little one.”

She sat back in the chair and stared at him for several seconds, her heart pounding hard against her chest. “How much do you know about us?” she asked.

“Enough,” he replied. “I needed to know he was a good guy.”

“He is. Very much so. The best.” Again that clenching, tight feeling settled in her throat, making her feel as if she was suffocating.

“Are you happy?” he asked.

She set down the glass. “Yes. I am happy. We have a good life together. He is very good to me. To us. He understands me. He loves me. Brendan is a sweet, honest, funny, hardworking man.” She looked away.

Jack didn’t say anything. He took a sip from his wine.

“Are you happy?” she asked.

“Wow. Uh…” He gazed at her, setting the wineglass down. “No. I’m not. I haven’t been happy since I had to leave you.”

Holly didn’t know what to say. “What about love? What about the woman you were with the other night?”

“She works with me.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“She is. Competent. Dedicated.”

Holly nodded. “There must have been women, or a woman?”

“I’m a man. I am human. I have needs. Yes. I have been with other women. But no one I love. I haven’t loved anyone since you.”

“I don’t know if I should believe you,” she said.

“I never thought I’d see you again, Holly. Not up close. As far as you were concerned, I was dead.”

“You still are,” she replied, hating the hurt she saw in his eyes. “I have someone else now. I have someone who loves me, who would never choose his career over me.” She felt on the verge of tears.

He stood, pulled her up from the chair and nudged her into the wall, holding her arms above her. “I chose your
life
, Holly. I
chose yours and Chloe’s lives! You! I did choose you!” A small cry escaped his lips.

“What are you doing?” she felt the heat rise from her gut into her face, but it wasn’t just angry heat.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered in her ear. He kissed her neck. “I love you, Holly. I’ve never stopped loving you.” He held her gaze for a loaded moment then kissed her hard on her lips. She started to resist. His kiss grew heated. She let herself fall into it.

His hands began to wander over her body. He pulled away and looked at her, his eyes telegraphing his intense arousal. She felt it, too.

His hands grazed her face. He ran a finger over her lips. Her mind screamed,
No! This is wrong!
Her body told her different.

This was her husband. How could it be wrong? Jack was her husband.

Then her conscience kicked in to remind her that he
had been
her husband. To her and to the world, Jack was dead.

But he wasn’t dead. He was right here, running his hands over her skin, brushing his lips against hers, setting her on fire with his touch…his words of love that had never died echoing in her ears. Her heart raced as her body warmed.

His fingers moved down to her blouse as he continued to kiss her with years of pent-up urgency. She let her ache for him drown out all of the voices in her head that were telling her that this would be too complicated and allowed every carnal feeling in her body to take over. She kissed him, unrestrained, holding nothing back. All the years she’d mourned him, all the emotions, everything escaped her as Holly found herself somewhere between hell and nirvana.

God he smelled good, the way he always had. Musk, spice, clean. Jack. “Jack, Jack,” she breathed.

He lifted her up and carried her to the bed, laying her down and quickly unbuttoning her pants. He turned her over and kissed
her down her entire body. She heard the echoes of pleasure escape from her lips, but they sounded distant as if they belonged to someone else. Maybe they did. They belonged to who she was ten years earlier—the woman married to this man.

Jack’s hands all over her were strong but gentle, and again memories flooded her. Memories of what it had been like to be with him—all of the intense, heated passion they had shared.

He caressed, stroked, and kissed her everywhere. In that moment, Holly forgot every other being, thought, feeling she’d ever had. There was only Jack and her and the life they had once known together. As they made love, neither had to tell the other what they felt. Easily moving into a familiar rhythm, it was obvious after ten years of being separated, of lies keeping them apart, of different lives created, that the love they’d once shared had not been lost.

62

“Are you okay?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know,” Holly replied. They had been quiet for several long intense moments after they’d brought one another to sheer ecstasy. The tears she had held back flowed freely now. Guilt crept in and consumed her.
Brendan
.

“Holly, what just happened proves our love is still there. Here.”

She nodded. “But, it isn’t just about you or me…us…any longer.” She stood and started to dress. He reached for her hand and she pulled it away. “I can’t. I can’t hurt him. I can’t do this to Chloe, who only knows Brendan as a father. I can’t do this to Megan and Maddie. There is so much you don’t understand. So much at risk now. I can’t do it.”

“What about you? Can you live a lie?”

“My love for Brendan isn’t a lie. It is not. What this was…” She motioned to the bed and then pointed at him. “What this was for me was closure. That’s all.”

“That didn’t feel like closure, Holly.”

She didn’t know what to say. Before she could form her next thought, she was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. Her stomach plummeted. She grabbed her phone off the table. “Hello.”

“Detective Jennings?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Leann Purdue. I’m sorry. I just got your messages. I just got in. My cell phone needed to be charged. I’m glad you called. I think I need to speak with you. I think you should come to my place.”

Holly clicked off the phone, looked at Jack and said, “Leann Purdue is home. Let’s go. We are done here.” She finished dressing and grabbed her purse without another word. Jack followed her, not speaking either.

63

They were both silent on the drive to Leann’s, until Jack spoke her name.

“No. Don’t talk. Not now. Please,” she said.

He didn’t.

It was nearing ten o’clock, and she was tired and disgusted with herself. A mixture of confusion swept through her brain, her heart, her soul. What had she just done? She hated herself. She had not thought at all. How selfish and stupid. Then she glanced over at Jack, and some of the emotion from only an hour earlier rushed back. He was still her husband, and every moment they had shared in that hotel suite had been passionate, loving, and unencumbered. But now, rationality and reality set in, and yes…she hated herself. Unequivocally.

She had to admit that she was happy to see the lights on in Leann’s house. Leann opened the front door as soon as they walked up, looking surprised to see Holly there with a man. Holly wasn’t sure what to say at first. They hadn’t talked about how they would handle the investigation together.

Jack took over. “Good evening, Ms. Purdue. My name is Mack Twinnings.”

He lied with ease. He didn’t even blink. Holly flinched ever so slightly. He eyed her.

“I’m with the FBI, ma’am, and we are helping Detective Jennings with this case.”

“The FBI?” Leann took a step back, her face paled. “Goodness.”

He smiled and Holly could see Leann warm up a bit. Jack had always had that way with women. “Please come in. Can I get you some tea, coffee?”

They both shook their heads. “You said that you wanted to tell me something,” Holly said. She wanted to see what Leann might have for them before she started the questioning.

She nodded and tears sprang to her eyes. “It’s Dan. My fiancé.”

Holly glanced at Jack. “What about him?”

“I don’t know. I think he’s in some kind of trouble. He’s been lying to me. He said he’d gone down to Colorado to pick up some horses the other day. But he came home with an empty trailer. He said that the people were gone and that there were no horses there. I got a call this morning from a guy out there who asked why he hadn’t come and gotten those animals. I tried getting ahold of Dan, but he isn’t answering. I went to get those horses myself. I just got back, got them all unloaded, and I was in his office looking for some bute, which is an anti-inflammatory, for one of the horses who is badly arthritic. I didn’t mean to pry. I don’t usually go in there. I keep meds in the house but I am out of bute. Dan is…he’s private about his things and his space. He had an abusive mother, and she was always getting into his things. So, when he moved in here with me, I gave him his own office and told him that was his space and I wouldn’t ever bother it.”

“What did you find?” Holly asked.

Leann went to the kitchen counter and brought back a pile of newspaper articles. They were stories about the murders. “I think maybe I can’t get ahold of him because he is seeking justice for these deaths. He was really upset when the jockeys were murdered, and although we knew Marvin Tieg and thought he was a jerk, Dan has a real good side to him. Maybe this is what he’s up to.”

Jack crossed his arms. “Has your fiancé acted strangely before? Is it odd that he would have those clippings?”

Leann’s hand trembled, and the newspaper articles fluttered. “No. He’s a good man.”

“How long have you known Dan?” Holly asked.

“About nine months.”

“Where did you meet?”

She smiled weakly. “He actually came here saying he wanted to volunteer. He wanted to help with the horses. He had some background in working with horses out in Texas, where he’s from, and so I agreed. I need all the help I can get. Especially volunteer.”

“Well, how did he make a living?” Jack asked.

“Danny is a simple guy. Probably why we get along so well. Neither of us needs much. He had some money from his father who passed away a couple of years ago.”

Holly nodded. “Why do you think Dan isn’t answering his phone?”

Leann gave a halfhearted shrug. “As I said. He might be off trying to be a vigilante. Play superhero. He is a just man. But I think he could be in over his head.”

“Is that what you really believe, Ms. Purdue?” Jack asked.

She looked confused and a little frightened. “I don’t understand.”

“Did you call us here because you think your fiancé is on a manhunt for a killer? Or did you call us here because you think that maybe he
is
a killer?”

Holly shot him a dirty look. Leann was a simple woman but she was kind, and she deserved a little more gentleness.

“What are you saying?” Leann asked.

“I think we’d better sit down,” Holly said. “You need to hear what we have to say.”

64

Leann Purdue insisted that Holly and Jack were wrong about Dan, but she began to come around when Holly mentioned Equine Health Systems.

“They donate a lot of product to Golden Hearts. Mr. Christiansen is a wonderful man. He loves the horses. He came out here last year and brought product to us, brought his family. Told us if we were ever in San Diego to stop by and see his place. So when Dan went out there to pick up a couple of former racehorses, I told him he had to go by there. They toured the place and Scott gave him a bunch of product to bring home. He also brought me a dive suit. For our honeymoon. We’re planning to go scuba diving in Fiji. He said there was a shop right next to Equine Health Systems and that he’d gotten a good deal.”

Holly didn’t know how to break this to her. She reached out and touched the woman’s knee. Leann looked at her with a bit of confusion masked on her face. “What’s going on?” Leann asked.

“Listen, this isn’t, uh, easy. But, Leann, you know I’ve been investigating the murders of Tommy Lyons and Katarina Erickson, and now Marvin Tieg.”

Lean nodded. “Yes. I know, but just tell me what is going on here, exactly.”

“We have some information that has come to light about the murders.” Holly shook her head, not wanting to spell it out for
Leann. “And I’m afraid that it’s very possible that your fiancé is involved.”

“No. No! That’s not true.” Leann jumped up. She went to the window and pulled back the drapes. She stood still, her back to Holly, gazing outside.

“Leann, the jockeys Katarina Erickson and Tommy Lyons were found murdered in the back of that dive shop,” Jack said. “I’m sorry, but we think that your fiancé could be connected to those murders.”

“What?”

Holly nodded. “We think that there is a possibility that Dan is lying about who he is.”

“What? This makes no sense! You’re wrong!”

Holly stood and went to the window. “Can you tell me if Dan has any scars? Anything indicating he may have had surgery, or even been burned at one time?”

Tears welled in Leann’s eyes. She crossed her arms and frowned, nodding her head and sucking back a sob. “His hands. He burned them in boiling water as a child, and he has a scar on his face…” She tried to muster a smile as if recalling the story he had told her. “From a barroom fight when he was, you know, only twenty-something.”

Holly placed a hand on Leann’s shoulder. “I’m afraid he has been lying to you. We think he fabricated all of that. A history, stories…lies…he told you whatever he had to so you could provide his cover.”

“I really don’t understand.”