What a grandiose spectacle it would have been.
Lady Luck had struck the night his cousin was killed. He’d forgotten to tell Terri how many pills Matt was supposed to pop. When he’d gone back to her house, he’d spotted the Mounties swarming in. The ambush in progress had been his cue to go home. Vic had retrieved his most valuable drugs and the cash no one knew he stashed in his shed before the Mounties also raided his place.
As far as Vic could tell from his hiding place at the edge of the forest, the officer stalking Matt’s house had left his post shortly after lunch, and no one had replaced him. They probably didn’t expect anyone to be stupid enough to approach in broad daylight.
Pitiful bunch.
Their shortcoming would become their downfall.
Keeping his approach as nonchalant as possible, Vic crossed the street and skimmed along the property adjacent to Matt’s house. That neighbor, whom Vic had met a few times, spent his winter south. There was no one home to spy on Vic as he broke into Matt’s garage.
A spare key to Matt’s old sedan was kept inside the aluminum can marked
one-inch nail
. Victor borrowed it, unlocked the trunk, and threw in his friend’s hockey bag.
An arrest warrant had more than likely been issued against him. Cops would be posted at every exit point on the island. Passing airport security would be impossible, which left Vic with only one safe option. The ferry to the mainland.
For a few thousand bucks, he should be able to find someone to drive Matt’s car while he hid in the trunk. With the number of cars boarding the ferry, the cops shouldn’t have time for extensive searches.
They won’t look for a fugitive behind a smelly hockey bag.
Before he finalized his escape plan, Vic had one last tie to severe.
***
More than half a dozen men in uniform bustled inside the detachment. Amidst the chaos, the man Hannah had come to visit spoke on the phone from behind his desk.
With a motion of his hand, Avery dismissed Constable Weston, Hannah’s present bodyguard, and gestured for her to approach.
“I’ll be in the galley, ma’am.” Weston tipped his head. “Just fetch me when you’re ready to leave.”
Two constables, Weston and another fellow by the name of Beckett, had been assigned to insure her safety while Avery wasn’t around. Both officers exuded the same confidence and dedication. In their presence, Hannah felt at ease they would apprehend Victor Young should he try to attack her.
“—the results. Thanks, Doc.” Avery hung up. With a smile, he patted the corner of his desk, the only section clear of paperwork. “I’d prefer you sat on my lap, but that’d be inappropriate behavior. I’d risk being demoted.”
She dusted the corner with the seat of her new jeans.
“You can’t get demoted twice in the same year,” she teased. “It would look bad on your service record.”
His chest shook, and his colleagues threw curious glances in his direction. To catch Brent’s killers, Avery had played his role of disgraced constable to perfection. Clean-shaven, dressed in a freshly ironed uniform, with his proper rank on display, he projected a different image.
Through their ordeal, she’d glimpsed his true nature and fell in love with him. This afternoon, she was seeing the man he really was.
A respected officer at ease shouldering the responsibility of a daunting investigation.
“You’re smiling.” He placed a strong hand on her knee. “Does that mean you’re feeling better?”
“Yes.” In the last three days, she’d slept a lot, reminisced a lot, and cried even more. Through it all, and with his love and support, she’d come to terms with her past. While nothing could bring back what she lost, she was now free to cherish it. “A part of me loved him, Avery. It was just easier to pretend I didn’t. It didn’t hurt as much that way.”
“I’m glad you loved him, and you’re entitled to keep loving him. That’s something Rory will need to hear when we tell him about his first dad.” The gentle massage he bestowed on her knee sent sweet vibrations through her body. “Brent was a good man caught in a bad situation. What Terri said was true, he wanted a divorce.”
To read these words on Terri’s lips had been surreal, and Hannah hadn’t been sure if she dreamed them. “How do you know?”
“I made discreet inquiries. Brent had contacted a lawyer in St. John’s on how to handle his divorce and paternity issues. He was concerned his wife might be involved in criminal activities. He suspected he wasn’t the father of their daughter. And he wanted to acknowledge a son he had with another woman. The lawyer offered advice and scheduled a meeting for the following month. When Brent didn’t show up, the lawyer crossed him off his list, unaware he’d been murdered.” His hand stilled. She twined her fingers with his. “No official paperwork was ever filed, which is why it didn’t show up during the original investigation.”
So much of the truth had died with Brent’s wife. “You do know Brent isn’t a threat to you, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know, but I’m thinking I would have liked to meet him. It won’t be easy for his parents to hear the truth about their son and granddaughter.” He gently squeezed her fingers. “They might like to know about their grandson.”
“You’re not suggesting…” A wave of panic she couldn’t control washed over her, clouding her objections. “I want a fresh start, Avery, not a chain to my past.”
“It’s your call.” Leaning forward, he placed a tender kiss on her knuckles. “It won’t change how I feel about you or Rory. Just think about it.”
I don’t want to think about this. Not now, not ever.
“When I came in, you said
Thanks Doc
. Were you talking to Freddy?”
“Your brother will soon owe so many favors, he’ll have to go into hiding.” Bursting pride puffed his chest, stretching his shirt. “He got the results of the DNA test. Terri’s unborn baby had a different father than Lyn. Neither child belonged to Matt Russell.”
“Really?” The surprise of learning Terri had been two-months pregnant when she pulled the trigger catching the rifle and killing herself, didn’t compare to the shock of finding out Hannah had misidentified Lyn’s father.
Russell won’t be happy.
The second bullet didn’t put him out of his misery. If they were lucky he might spill the entire story out of spite. “How did you obtain their permission? I thought Russell was still unconscious and that Terri’s father had prohibited any contact with his granddaughter.”
“They didn’t exactly agree to the testing.” A sly smile ran over his lips. “For comparison, Freddy used the blood from Russell’s bullet wound and the paternity test results for Lyn. The two children shared their mother’s DNA, but not their father’s.”
There was some truth behind his rogue reputation after all. “Lyn is just a small child, Avery. She didn’t deserve any of this.”
“I wouldn’t be too worried about her. The grandfather will be granted custody and he’ll protect his granddaughter at all costs. He’s already begun distancing himself from his daughter’s behavior saying drugs caused her meltdown. The tox screen won’t be back until next week, but considering we found a chemical lab in Victor’s basement with an assortment of drug mixtures, it’s not impossible Terri was using.” A pensive expression befell upon his face. “My men also recovered a bloody bullet from a garbage can in the bathroom, same caliber as my gun, and pink hair from the sink. It seems Roxette, the dumpster girl, was somehow involved.”
The poor girl had conveniently ended up dead.
Another strike against Victor Young who’d been too cocky or stupid to dispose of the bullet.
“Any signs of Young?”
The police had posted guards at the ferry terminals, the airport, Young’s house, and his workplace. He couldn’t keep eluding justice, the island wasn’t that big.
At the negative shake of his head, a sigh swept through her chest, accentuating a void no one could fill. With Young roaming free on the island, bringing Rory home was too dangerous.
As much as she loved Avery, she missed her little boy. “What about Reed and Cooper?”
“Reed admitted to giving Terri access to his computer and neglecting to retrieve Brent’s keys. Cooper is facing a string of criminal charges related to your abduction. Both deny involvement in Brent’s death. Either way, their days in uniform are numbered and jail looms in Cooper’s future.” Leaning back in his chair, he let his hand trail down her leg. “I need to wrap up a few things around here. You should go home and start packing. We have a ferry to catch tonight.”
Hope swelled in her heart. “Did you say
ferry
?”
***
A match thrown into a linen closet, and at the first sign of smoke, the officer guarding Matt’s room comes rushing down the hallway.
Mounties were so predictable…and gullible.
Victor entered the previously guarded room. Hooked to an IV and a heart monitor, the last living witness to their murder sprees was unconscious.
His childhood friend had been infatuated with Cousin Terri for as long as Vic remembered. Fortunately for Terri, love and sex had blinded Matt to her devious indiscretions. A lethal concentration of scheming and killing was in Terri’s blood, inherited from her late mother whose true nature accidentally drowned in the ocean. He and Matt had merely fed Terri’s hunger and lent a helping hand.
If only Parker hadn’t discovered her grandfather’s body until after they left the crime scene…
At the time, the old woman living as a hermit had been the one posing an immediate threat to their freedom. She’d fought his assault and seen his face. Matt had been dispatched to finish her off while Terri took him to the hospital for urgent medical attention.
Not getting rid of Parker the moment she trespassed on their crime had been a costly mistake.
By the time they’d learned of her identity, she’d already recounted the encounter to Abbott. Silencing her then would have given credit to her eyewitness account of three suspects. It’d been easier to provide the Mounties with an alternate story.
Vic might not avoid the drug charges, but he’d be damned before he went down for assaulting Stone or murdering Abbott and the other losers.
You’re not giving me much of a choice, Matt.
With Terri dead, his friend might be tempted to protect his skin and her memory by shifting the blame on him.
I can’t let you implicate me.
Vic pulled a syringe from his pocket. With a twinge of regret he injected the clear liquid into the IV line.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Small
didn’t begin to describe the cabin onboard the ferry. Rory’s bed was bigger than the bunk beds stacked on top of each other. Sleeping on a chair in the lounge might have been more comfortable—and cheaper.
Hannah kicked her boots in a corner where they met with Avery’s boots, their coats, and duffel bags. “You want the top or the bottom?”
In the ceiling, the fluorescent light bulb flickered, casting shimmering pulses of light on Avery’s mischievous expression.
“Bottom.” He fiddled with the buttons of her shirt, releasing them in random order. “You can sleep on top of me.”
The shirt slipped down her shoulders, exposing her new magenta bra. “Somehow that sounds like an indecent proposal.”
A warm glow burned in his eyes, strong and steady. “For someone who can’t hear, sweetheart, you’re very perceptive.”
He massaged his way down her belly, igniting a fire under her skin. Any thoughts of sleeping heaped at her feet with her jeans.
“You’re not playing fair.” In the last three nights, she enjoyed the warmth and safety of his arms. She longed for the full loving sensations he’d awoken with his covert touch in her brother’s house. “My turn. Hands up. Now.”
“But—”
She pushed the sweater over his head, ending his objections. A cocky smile emerged in return.
Enthralled by his reaction, she trailed a finger down his muscular chest, stopping at the waistline. With a snap of her thumb, she unfastened his jeans. The zipper gave way. They fell down his hips, revealing formfitting boxers and an old scar on his thigh.
He tipped her chin up with the back of his hand. “Enjoying the view?”
A heat wave moved up her chest, flooding her cheeks. “The scar is very alluring.”
“I promise to tell you all about it…later.”
Empowered by the love reflecting in his eyes, she ran her hand under the waistband. “Did you stop by the drug store?”
The muscles of his stomach tightened under her touch. Pulled into his tight embrace, she arched into him, her body perfectly molding his.
He caressed her back, toying with the clasp of her bra on his way up and edging her panties on his way down. “In my duffle bag. Hannah…”
Delicious shivers coursed down her spine, scrambling her senses. Her bra became unhooked. The straps skimmed down her arms as he stroked the swell of her breasts.
“I was serious about a baby sister for Rory.” His eyes shone a darker, richer shade of fudge. “I…I wouldn’t mind trying.”
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined such a wonderful whirlwind romance and idyllic future. “What if it’s another boy?”
A huge grin cracked his face. “Then it’s called a baby brother.”
Laughter rumbled in her belly. The man was as impossible as he was irresistible. Even if she could, she wouldn’t change a single thing about him.
“Tell me I’m not dreaming all this.”
“This is real, Hannah. I love you.” Every touch and caress further hindered her ability to concentrate on his lips. “I can’t wait to marry you.”
Feathery kisses brushed her lips, teasing her. Her fingers laced behind his neck, she parted for him. A silent invitation to delve deeper—to satisfy their passion. “I love you, Avery.”
He gently laid her on the soft mattress. Swayed by the sea, he loved her—like she’d dreamed of being loved—and she loved him, surrendering her heart.
***
Waves of unrelenting cramps riddled his legs and the smell of the hockey gear assaulted his nostrils. Stuck in the trunk, Vic squirmed in misery.