“Doesn't mean it's better.”
He grinned. “Doesn't mean it's not. Women like the freedom they have these days.”
“Humph. I had plenty of freedom. Along with that freedom comes responsibility. And as far as I'm concerned, too much responsibility. I liked it just fine and dandy staying home and raising the young'uns while your daddy went out and slew the dragons.”
“And that was fine and dandy unless you were a woman who wanted to go out and slay her own dragons.”
“Humph.” She held up her hand. “As the young people today say, whatever!”
He laughed. “I see you aren't completely behind the times, Mama.”
Elizabeth walked in. “Your mother is not behind the times at all, Lucas. How dare you insinuate such a thing?”
“Thank you, Elizabeth.” His mother turned to Lucas with a haughty stare. “I'm glad someone appreciates me.”
“Oh my, Mrs. McMann. The tables are beautiful, simply beautiful. Wherever did you get those gorgeous flowers?”
“From my gardens.”
“Just lovely.”
“If you want, after the other ladies leave, I'll take you on a tour. The gardener does most of the work these days, but I still get my hands dirty every now and then. Nothing like a little warm dirt on my hands to remind me where I came from.”
“That would be lovely.”
As far as Lucas knew, the only dirt Elizabeth ever put her hands in was political. But flower gardening? He didn't think so. Nikki was the one who loved growing flowers.
The doorbell rang.
“They're heeeere.” Lucas smiled. “I better get going while the going's good.”
“You aren't staying?” Elizabeth looked disappointed.
“No way. This is ladies' day.” Besides, he wanted to visit Nikki for a while. Baby steps.
“The last time I looked, women had the right to vote,” Mama said.
Elizabeth smiled. “Your mother's absolutely right. Every one of these women is a voter. Along with their husbands, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.”
“That may be so, but I'm not in the mood to politic today.” He waved as he walked through the door. “Have a wonderful time, ladies. Enjoy your tea.”
****
Nikki drove towards the McMann mansion.
The police cruiser in front of her held two officers. After Cassie's discovery, Nikki had visited the police station and shown them the evidence. A call to the FBI agent assigned to Lucas's case had developed the strategy for arrest. The police weren't too pleased that she insisted upon being there, but conceded in light of her involvement and injuries, with strict warnings for her to stay out of the way unless they specifically asked her for help. An emergency warrant was issued within a half-hour.
The woman had hired trained assassins to kill Lucas, and after some careful research, the police had determined right where she happened to be.
Attending a tea party at Isabella McMann's home.
They waited outside the gates until given the all clear that almost all the women had left the party. Although women in the cars coming out gave the cruiser a cursory glance, no one looked at Nikki's car parked right behind it.
Nikki followed the cruiser into the long circular drive. Her gaze landed on the white-pillared monster, and suddenly she was sixteen again. Her heart pitter-pattered as she remembered the dinner where she met his parents. What a nightmare that had been. Lucas had insisted she come to Thanksgiving dinner at his house. She'd never attended a formal dinner before. When she sat down and saw all those forks, spoons, and knives, she hadn't known what to do.
His mother had been kind to her and shown her what piece to use at the right time.
Even as young as she was, she could tell they weren't pleased with their son's choice. And she understood whyâshe wasn't good enough for Lucasâor for them. Her address was on the wrong side of town.
Shaking away the bad memories, Nikki took a deep breath. No longer a child, she was finally beginning to know who she was. A child of God. And that made her worthy. Her income or her address didn't matter to God.
Nikki walked towards the mansion. She wouldn't let the house or the people intimidate herâthis time. She wasn't sixteen anymore.
A man in a suit stood in front of the door, talking with the officers. Must be one of the FBI agents guarding Lucas. One cop gestured to her as she got out of her car.
“I'm the one who took the bullet for the congressman.” Nikki walked up to the men.
An officer rang the doorbell.
A minute or so later, the door opened and a dignified white-haired man in a suit stood there. His smile disappeared at all the badges being held up for him to see. “Can I help you?”
“We need to see Mrs. McMann and her son.”
“This is not a good time. Perhaps you could contact them later.”
“This is a warrant for the arrest of one of the guests, and we will accompany you inside.”
“I will get Mrs. McMann for you.” The butler opened a door, revealing a room with only a few women standing around Mrs. McMann. From their body language, they were saying their goodbyes.
The aroma of flowers battled with the scent of tea. The tables were filled with nearly demolished trays of small sandwiches, cookies, and petit fours along with several different teapots.
The chatter came to an abrupt stop as the policemen, the agents, and Nikki followed the butler in.
The white-haired man made a small motion. “Madam, these officers wish to speak with you and Mr. Lucas. I told them to wait at the door, but they refused.”
“Thank you, Butler.” Isabella McMann moved towards the officers and Nikki with a friendly smile and an outreached hand. “Gentlemen and Ms. Kent, it's very nice to see you again. Is there a problem?”
Nikki stared at the woman who wanted Lucas dead. The woman responsible for her getting shot. The woman looked at her for a moment and then quickly looked away.
“We're here with a warrant to arrest one of your guests.” The officer was gracious. “We waited until nearly everyone had left, thinking we'd cause less commotion that way.”
“What hasâ¦she done?” Mrs. McMann asked, looking at the few remaining women behind her.
“She's responsible for attempting to kill Lucas and shot me instead,” Nikki said.
The knot of women gawked at them with frank curiosity.
At Nikki's bold statement, one woman sank into a nearby chair, hands fluttering.
“Ma'am, is your son here? We know he may be able to shed some light on this issue too.”
“He is, but he refused to come to my tea party.” Her blue eyes twinkled for a moment before turning sober again. “I can't imagine why.”
“You can fill Lucas in later.” Nikki kept her gaze focused on one specific woman. “Let's get started, shall we?” Nikki walked around the room and reached Elizabeth.
The officers moved to the target too.
Lucas came in with the other FBI agent. “Nikki, what's going on? Butler said there might be a problem.”
“Butler? Can't you at least call him by his name?”
“That is his name. Butler Davis.”
“Oh.” How did she manage to always make herself look foolish? “Well, good. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I've found out a few interesting facts. I know who's responsible for me getting shot.” She looked at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth jumped up. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing?”
20
There was no way Elizabeth could be responsible for the stalking or the shooting. He trusted her with his life. Nikki had it wrong.
Nikki put a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. “Relax. I didn't accuse you of anything. It's not youâit's her.” She pointed at the woman sitting on the other side of Elizabeth.
“You must be mistaken. That's Victoria's sister. She would neverâ” Mrs. McMann actually sputtered.
“Kathryn Rites, you have the right to remain silent⦔ The officer recited the rest of the official Miranda statement.
“I don't know what you think you know, but maybe we should go somewhere to discuss this.” Kathryn's mouth trembled, her face pale. “Not here.”
Mama's face was just as pale, her mouth twisted in shock. But it was the look in her eyes that gave Lucas a pause. Lucas recognized that expression on her face. He'd only seen it a few times in his life, and none of them had been pleasant.
“Kathryn, if you tried to hurt one little hair on my son's head, you deserve jail time. And you had the nerve to come to my house. To my tea party.”
Lucas put a hand on his mother's shoulder. “Mama, let's just hear what Kathryn has to say.”
“I don't have anything to say.”
The officers circled Kathryn.
Nikki set the laptop on the table. After pushing several buttons, a picture popped up. She turned to Lucas. “Here's the website where she offered to pay for every photo people could take of you. I'm sure as the FBI digs a little deeper, they'll connect her with the credit-card fraud as well as the assassination attempt.”
“Kathryn, how could you do that to Lucas?” His mother swayed.
He helped her to a chair. “It's OK, Mama. It's over now. Why would you do this to me, Kathryn? We're family.” Lucas was bewildered.
Kathryn stood up and lifted her chin in defiance. “My sister's dead. Why should you have a life when she doesn't?”
“I tried to save her.”
“You didn't try hard enough. She wasted her life married to a man who didn't love her.”
“I loved Victoria.”
Her laugh was brittle. “You ruined her life.”
“How can you say that?”
“She wanted children. But all you cared about was your career. You made her a trophy wife instead of the mother she wanted to be.”
“We loved each other.”
“She loved you. I'll give you that. But you? You don't love anyone but yourself and your career. The great Lucas McMann.”
“Kathryn, it wasn't likeâ”
“Whatever. So what if I paid some people to take pictures of you? It's not illegal. The paparazzi do it all the time.”
The FBI agent moved between Lucas and Kathryn. “True, but conspiracy to murder is against the law.”
“Murder. I didn't try to murder anyone. I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Sure you did.” Nikki was angry. “He didn't die in the robbery, so you went after him again to make sure he died. Your assassin missed and shot me instead.”
“Assassin? I don't knowâ”
“How could you come here and pretend to be a part of my family?” His mother stood, her blue eyes blazing.
“Isabella, I didn't do any such thing. She's lying. All I did was pay for some stupid pictures. I wanted someone to knock that smug smile off his face, not kill him.”
“Ma'am, you'll need to come with us.” The policeman was still polite.
Kathryn backed away. “Why? I didn't do anything illegal. I paid for some photos. That's all.”
“Well, somehow the harassment went from photos to someone shooting.” Nikki glared.
“Don't you understand? He ruined my sister's life.”
“We had a good life together.” Lucas stepped forward, puzzlement in his expression.
“A good life.” Kathryn sounded disgusted. “Don't you understand? All she wanted was to be a mother. You stole that from her.”
“You're wrong, Kathryn. That was her decision, not mine. I wanted children. Always did. She's the one who refused.”
Uncertainty flickered in Kathryn's eyes. “It's still your fault. Why would she bring a child into a loveless marriage?”
“Our marriage wasn't loveless. It might not have been the breathless love of romance novels, but it was love. Strong and true. And when she died, I mourned her.”
“Mourned her?” A tear trickled down Kathryn's cheek. “I hardly think so. You went back to work without skipping a beat.”
His mother stepped to his side. “Each of us mourns in our own way, Kathryn. Because he went to work didn't mean he wasn't grieving.”
Both policemen moved to Kathryn. “Please put your hands behind your back.”
“No.” She jerked away from them. “I haven't done anything to be arrested for. What's the charge?”
“Conspiracy to murder.” The officer waited a beat and then reached for her arm. “Please comply and put yourâ”
“Get away from me.” She jerked away. “You can't arrest me. I have rights.”
Each of them grabbed one of Kathryn's arms.
She struggled against them to no avail. Within seconds, she was handcuffed. “Lucas, I didn't try to kill you. I don't know what they're talking about. You have to believe me.”
He looked into Kathryn's eyes and he did believe her. Yet Nikki had the proof. Something was wrong here. “Let's find out all the facts before we become her judge, jury, and executioner. I'm going to Charlotte.”
Elizabeth stepped closer and put a hand on his arm. “I think your mother needs you.”
“Lucas, you go do what you need to do. I'm fine.” His mother motioned at the room. “Besides, I have to clean up my tea party. Thank you, officers, for waiting until the end of it to come. I assume that's what you did.”
“Yes, we did.” The officer smiled at her. “We didn't want you to deal with a ruckus here, Mrs. McMann.”
****
“Nikki, you've got this wrong.” Lucas sat across from Nikki at a conference table in the FBI office. They were waiting for the agent.
“I've shown you the proof. I understand it's difficult to believe your sister-in-law is responsible for all of this, but that doesn't change the facts.”
“I agree she's responsible for the photo stalking or whatever you want to call it, but there's no way she hired someone to kill me. This is a woman who goes to tea parties and PTA meetings. She wouldn't even know how to hire a killer.”