9. Kat
Yesterday, I woke up to a text from Wylie saying he was following a lead about both the arson and my would-be kidnappers. This morning, I find myself signing for a bouquet sent to the salon.
I’d rather have orgasms. I texted him to thank him but haven’t heard anything back. I had a great time with him, and it sucks that it seems our one night was only payback. I thought having lunch with his friends meant something but it seems I was wrong. It’s too bad. He may have spoiled me for other men until his memory fades.
I look around the dining room and kitchen and I’m filled with a sense of accomplishment. It was a chore, but it’s finally empty. Romy is calling the general contractor she used for the salon to come and give it a once-over so we’ll know what it will take to get it operational. I agreed to meet with him once she has a date; Romy will have her hands full with clients.
I recognize the sound of the motor outside, and it doesn’t belong to a work truck. It’s joined by several more. I go outside to see what’s happening and spy JD and his cousin Bishop heading to the salon while Wylie breaks off and stalks over to me when he sees me.
“Are you here alone?” he barks.
He’s straddling the line between concern and assholishness, but given his reaction to his kidnapping and the fire, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. “I know you’re not calling me an idiot. No, I’m not. Romy and Rhiannon are two buildings over. They are talking to the insurance adjustor. The sheriff is due any time to talk to her, and the deputy has already done a drive-by to show the flag and make sure the arsonist hasn’t come back.”
Stress bleeds off his face with each name I add to the list. “I have some new information. Cross is involved in all kinds of shit. I can prove some of it, but nothing that I can link to the guys who tried to grab you or to the arson,” Wylie admits.
“Can you give me a hint?”
He presses a finger to a nostril, then raises his other fist under his nose and mimes inhaling. “Or something similar. We think.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “I didn’t expect that. Also, well done on not making any accusations in front of a lawyer.”
That earns me a smile. Some tension leeches out of his shoulders. “I’m a quick study.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I gesture to the woods on the other side of the clearing. “I need to think about this. Do you want to walk with me? I think better when I move.”
The leaves that are left on the trees are turning yellow and brown. The evergreens are maintaining their color, and the sunlight that makes it to the ground spotlights thick blankets of leaves.
Wylie throws out his arm, inviting me to lead the way. “This isn’t a trick to get me to follow you to a hidden cabin where you’re going to hold me for ransom, is it?”
“That’s at least a fifth date strategy,” I tease.
We wander down a path that leads to the lake shore, then follow another one further up that heads back into the brush. I start thinking out loud. “He can’t be storing anything in any of the Camp Sunny-Lu buildings. Too many people have been all over them. Real estate agents, insurance agents, us.”
“I was kidding, but are you sure that there aren’t any properties that aren’t in the main grouping?” he asks.
“The Crosses didn’t say anything about there being any more in the listing, but maybe there’s a shed or something they forgot about.”
“Could he have a trailer of some kind set up? The fire was at the southern edge of the clearing. Everybody’s attention is at that end. There is a fire road that marks the northern boundary of the property. He could park it off the road. With a little camouflage, he could get in and out with nobody being the wiser.”
“Like a “Breaking Bad” meth lab? Do you think he’s smart enough for that?”
We keep walking, and the shore disappears. The girls and I have been on Lac Lu all summer, either sitting around the bonfire pit at Violet and Romy’s rental or splashing around in the water when we got overheated doing renovations. We would have spotted a building or trailer from the water. The path gives way to overgrowth, but it looks like there had been one in the past. Wylie and I push on. With the lake on one side, the road on the other, and the fire road in front of us, it’s not like we’re going to get lost.
A gust of wind makes Wylie still beside me. He takes a deep sniff and frowns. I do the same. I don’t know what I’m smelling, but it’s not the scent of trees and leaves. There’s a new note, a deliberate and out of tune one, that I don’t recognize. He pulls out his phone and begins typing. Without looking up, he says to me, “I’m contacting the boys and telling them we need back-up, and to bring the sheriff if he’s arrived. I’m telling them to contact the sheriff’s department and the staties in either case. I wish we could just handle this ourselves, but I think we need to cover your cute ass.”
His phone pings with a notification, and he nods in satisfaction before he slips his cell phone back into his jeans pocket.
I’m lost. “What?”
“We should go.”
“Fuck that noise. Why? What is it?” I ask. I almost died two days ago over whatever realization Wylie just had. I can’t just drop it.
I hear someone rack a shotgun behind me. “You really are a stupid bitch, aren’t you?”
“You know she still doesn’t have a clue, don’t you, Cross? You can let us turn around and walk away and have plenty of time to make a clean getaway,” Wylie says.
“I’m not about to abandon thousands of dollars’ worth of product because my parents got a wild hair to move to Phoenix.”
“Product? You do have a meth lab out here?” I ask.
“No, sweetheart. Cross has a field full of marijuana growing out here in the boonies. Probably over that next rise,” Wylie says as he slowly moves to stand beside me.
Years of practice of listening to outrageous statements is the only reason I keep my temper in check. Evidently Jefferson Cross overuses his own product, or he would have realized that the girls and I have no reason to explore this part of the property. If he hadn’t made himself known, we wouldn’t have ventured out this far until spring. He could have come and gone, and we’d have been none the wiser.
“Keep walking. My truck is on the fire road. Nobody needs to know where you went,” Jefferson says. The barrel of his shotgun points down what could pass for a trail.
“We assumed it was meth,” Wylie comments. His voice is a fraction louder than normal. “We didn’t suspect a thing until two nights ago. If you had kept your sales off the premises, we still wouldn’t. But you got greedy. Still, we thought you were a low-level dealer.”
“Fuck low level, asshole. I supply the entire region.”
I think I hear somebody creeping through the brush beside us, but I keep my gaze focused straight ahead. The path looks a little more worn now. We’re approaching a thick clump of short pine trees on one side, and a huge fallen log on the other. Wylie crowds me, shuffling me along a little faster. I want to protest, but his squeeze on my biceps tells me to keep my mouth shut.
“Jefferson Cross!” A man’s bodiless voice erupts from behind the pines.
Wylie wraps one arm around my waist. The next thing I know, my feet have left the ground, and Wylie is swinging both of us over the fallen log. I hit the ground like a rag doll, and Wylie lands on top of me. His other hand presses down on my head. “Stay down,” he growls in my ear.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Jefferson yells.
“Kat, I’ve fallen in love with you,” Wylie whispers in my ear.
“What?”
“I’m not going to let this fucker kill me without saying the words. I love you.”
“Wylie!”
I hear a boom, and then what sounds like two or three firecrackers. A man grunts. Then there’s a lot of shouting. The pressure on my head eases after I hear somebody ask, “You all okay down there?”
“We’re good,” Wylie answers for both of us. He’s not getting off me.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he whispers. “I know it’s too fast.”
“Things become very clear when the bullets are flying, Kyle Wylie. Now that I know we’re not going to die, I can tell you that I’m falling in love with you too. I’m not sure what’s going to happen between us, but I know we have the trust thing down.”
He grins, then kisses me. Only after that does he climb off me and help me to my feet. We landed in a puddle, and I’m covered in mud and dead leaves. “You are good, right?” he asks.
“I’m fine, but what the fuck just happened?” The question explodes out of my mouth.
“JD and Moritz—he’s a state trooper we know—were already at the campground when I texted,” Wylie explains. “We just needed to buy them a few minutes to catch up.”
I turn to see Jefferson face down in the dirt, with a uniformed officer handcuffing his hands behind his back. “Do you think we have enough to arrest him now?” Wylie asks, snickering at Jefferson Cross’s cursing and threats.
“I think Moritz has it covered, Wylie,” JD says.
“Can we go?” Wylie asks. “She’s soaking wet.”
“We’ll get your statements back at the campground,” Moritz says.
“It’s okay,” I tell Wylie. “We are all keeping an extra set of clothes in the salon these days. Just in case.” My teeth start chattering. I’m not sure if it’s because that asshole almost shot me again or Wylie’s unexpected revelation.
“I thought I was the prepared Boy Scout in this relationship,” Wylie teases.
“I may not be cut out for this level of excitement.” A tear leaks from the corner of my eye. I inhale to calm myself and realize I stink of adrenaline. “I think I need to find myself a nice, boring man. An actuary, or a guy who runs a used bookstore.”
“Too bad, sweetheart. You’ve got me.”
His arm is warm around my shoulder. I let the heat sink into me, and my tremors subside. I wait until we’re out of earshot. “You pulled a gun on me in the van. Why didn’t you just shoot him?” I ask.
“I didn’t have it on me for a visit to my girlfriend. In my defence, I didn’t think Cross was that stupid. I assumed he was long gone.”
“Okay, but you must know there’s a precedent now. Being taken hostage at gunpoint rates expensive wine, a very nice meal, and dessert,” I say shakily.
“You bring the sexy dress. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Are you sure we’ll both survive a fourth date?”
“I don’t think I’ll survive without one.” He stops me in the middle of the woods, takes my face in his hands, and proceeds to kiss the living daylights out of me. “If I’d been better prepared with a blanket, I’d be inside you already. As it is, we’ll have to wait till tonight. I’m not letting you walk away now, sweetheart.” He stares down at me. “You good with that?”
“Hell, yes.” I’ll be good with Wylie for the rest of my life.
THE END