Chapter 18
B y 2:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon, the hearing was over. No charges were brought against Luca and he was feeling exhilarated as he stepped out of the door of the courthouse and paused with Pauley, Jamie and Darro. He lifted his face to the sun, fully relieved that he was standing where he was instead of sitting in jail. He shivered at his close calls with both death and prison. Belton was the one waiting on a court date now for his hearing. He was actually charged with selling drugs though, but his mother had bailed him out, even when she couldn’t afford it. They didn’t expect he would serve any time, though.
Brushing thoughts of Belton aside, he turned to Darro. Darro MacCandish had been at the hearing and had stated his intention of keeping Luca on as a hand at Neamh until he started college. That had worked in his favor with the judge, and Luca was grateful. Besides, he liked Neamh and already had plans formulating in his mind. For the first time in a long time, he was actually excited to be planning for the future.
“Thank ye for keeping me on at Neamh, sir,” he said, turning to Darro and sticking out his hand to shake.
“It’s my pleasure,” Darro responded to the handshake and then clapped Luca on the shoulder. “Dal said ye did a fine job helping with the birthing of the kittens. He thinks ye might be a natural.”
Luca flushed with pleasure at the praise, but glanced furtively around. Disappointment had flooded him when he realized his dad wasn’t going to get to the hearing before it was over, but he still hoped he might come. He’d sent Luca a text that he would, but the opportunity to see him was fading fast.
Jamie stepped forward. “There is a bedroom at my place whenever ye need it,” he said with a nod.
Luca eyed him. He still wasn’t sure how to feel about the new man in his mother’s life. He knew she dated occasionally, but the few he had met never came more than once to the house to pick her up for a date. Jamie MacNamara was different. They’d been practically glued at the hip since last week. Elliott liked him, though. Even his sister, Natalie, had grudgingly changed her tune about the man. He’d never seen his mum so comfortable with someone besides his dad. And she was living at his house. Were they getting serious?
He nodded back at Jamie. “Uh...thank ye, sir, but I’ll be staying at Neamh.”
“Ye won’t be there all the time,” Pauley said with a smile. “On the week-ends ye can come into town can’t ye? I’ll be staying with Jamie until our house is repaired, which may take a while. Apparently, there was some structural damage that may take longer to fix.”
Luca took his mother’s hand when she reached up to cup his cheek. “Of course, I’ll come and see ye, Mum,” he replied warmly.
The sudden screech of tires caught their attention as a white car turned sharply and rammed into a parking space nearby. When Peter MacBride jumped out and hurried towards them, Luca was relieved to see his father looking neat and clean, his hair combed, and... sober .
“It’s Dad,” he exclaimed.
“Glad to see he finally made it,” Pauley drawled.
“How did it go?” Peter asked as soon as he reached them. He stared anxiously at Luca. “Did they charge ye, son?”
Luca shook his head. “Nay, Dad. I’m free to go. It was ruled self-defense.”
Peter slumped in relief. “Thank the lord for his mercies,” he exclaimed. “Where are ye going to stay now with the house in such a mess? Do ye want to come home with me?” He eyed Darro with a respectful nod and threw Jamie a stony glance. He ignored Pauley.
Luca shook his head. “Nay. I’ll be going back to Neamh with Mr. MacCandish. I have a job there until I start college. I just have to decide where I want to go.”
“That’s one thing I wanted to talk to ye and yer mother about,” he said, throwing Pauley a side eye. “I want ye to know that ye can go wherever ye choose. Even if it’s in the states. My retirement was very healthy, and I have the money for yer education. I want to pay fer it.”
Luca was shocked. “Are ye sure ye can afford that, Dad?”
“I’ll help of course,” Pauley added, a surprised look on her face.
“I can afford it,” Peter replied. Then he turned to Pauley. “When the house is repaired, I’d like to buy ye out of yer half.”
“What makes ye think I want to sell?” she asked curiously.
Peter glanced at Jamie again, a flush creeping up his neck. “I’m getting married soon and I want to buy a house,” he blustered. “Can ye afford to buy me out of my half if ye don’t want to sell? I want to get this settled, I’m tired of living in an apartment.”
“Married?” Pauley asked in disbelief, her eyes narrowing. “To Ella?”
Luca echoed his mother’s sentiment but didn’t say anything. How could his father suddenly be engaged? Then the lightbulb went on. If his dad had received his retirement, had he suddenly become more interesting to Ella? He’d been seeing the woman for the last year.
Peter’s voice suddenly dropped to a rueful tone as he shuffled from one foot to the other. “Aye, Ella. She’s finally ready to take a chance on me.”
Pauley’s eyebrow shot up in a skeptical arch. “Well...congratulations then. Ella’s a nice woman. I’ll let ye know about the house, one way or the other.”
“Thanks,” he replied, shooting Jamie another withering glance before shifting his gaze back to Luca. “Son, would ye like to get some dinner with me and Ella before ye return to Neamh? That is, if Mr. MacCandish can spare ye for a few hours? I’ll run ye back up there when we’re finished.”
“I can spare him” Darro replied, “if it’s agreeable to Luca.”
“Sure,” Luca replied. “But ye don’t have to take me up there, just drop me off at the house and I’ll grab my truck.”
Jamie cleared his throat. “Luca, ye might have Mica check out yer vehicle before ye drive it since it’s been sitting at yer house for several days...if ye ken my drift.”
Pauley started, her eyes widening. “Thank ye for the reminder, Jamie. Sometimes things aren’t really over until they are over.”
“Better to be safe than sorry,” Jamie murmured.
Peter actually looked at Jamie for the first time. “Aye, yer suggestion is much appreciated. I hadn’t thought of that, but ye are right. Criminals never give up, do they? Mayhap if he goes to America to school, he’ll live longer.” He shot Pauley a bitter look and turned away. “Come on, son. Ella’s in the car.”
Luca gave his mother a sympathetic glance and followed his father. The fact that Peter MacBride had never liked his mother’s job was nothing new. They’d had many bitter fights when they thought he and his siblings weren’t listening, but they’d known.
Seeing things from a more adult perspective than when he was15, he could understand better as to why his parents’ marriage hadn’t worked out. Jamie didn’t seem to mind her being a constable. Maybe that’s why she liked him. He sure seemed protective of her too, which was a good thing. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. He glanced back at Jamie and gave him a thumbs up sign. He grinned when the man nodded back.
***
“I T WOULD SEEM YE HAVE my son’s approval,” Pauley remarked, looping her arm through Jamie’s.
“I see that,” he replied. “I don’t know what changed his mind, but I’ll take it.”
“Maybe the thought of his truck with a bomb in it had something to do with it,” Darro added with a chuckle. “That was a good call, Jamie.”
“Just a precaution. As I recall, things are pretty liquid in law enforcement, especially with gangs. A surplus of hot heads and quick tempers. Ye can never be sure of what someone will do.”
“Well, I’m headed back to Neamh, I don’t like to leave Lucerne too long. Her due date is getting closer every day,” Darro said briskly. “When are ye coming back to work with Sunshine, Pauley?”
“Soon,” Pauley replied. “It’s pretty important to Delilah. She’s really afraid ye are going to put him down.”
Darro stretched his arm behind his head and scratched his neck with a sigh. “Aye...about that. I had a talk with her and we came to an agreement. She drops the attitude and goes back to her usual sweet self, or I’ll rehome Sunshine. Then it will be someone else’s decision as to what happens to him. And ye can continue to work with him, but if all else fails and we can’t trust him, then we’ll find a wildlife reserve where we can turn him loose. Dartmoor National Park of Devon might put him over on Eriskay isle in the Outer Hebrides. He doesn’t like fences anyway, and some horses just want to be free. They will want a donation, of course, but it would be worth it,” he added.
Jamie nodded in surprise. “That’s quite a compromise, Darro. Did she take to the idea of him being free?”
“Aye, she did, actually. If she can’t ever ride him, the idea of him being free and running wild was appealing to her.”
“It’s appealing to me,” Pauley agreed with a huge grin. “I wouldn’t want to see him put down either. He’s a real sweetheart.”
“That remains to be seen,” Darro snorted, “but ye can try.” He glanced at his watch. “Let me know when ye are coming out, ye two. Ye are always welcome.”
They watched his tall figure eat up the ground as he strode off.
“And here I thought Darro was a real hard arse,” Pauley murmured. “If he has a daughter, he’s going to be putty in her little hands.”
Jamie chuckled. “I have to agree with ye. I like that side of him, although the hard business side isn’t to be messed with. He has no problem taking ye to task if necessary.”
“Aye, I’ve heard that too.”
Jamie turned to Pauley and slipped his arms around her waist. “Now that the urgency of the situation is over, how about coming away with me this weekend?” he asked, smiling down at her. “Take the rest of the week off and let’s have some play time.”
She leaned back in his arms and smirked. “Playtime sounds very interesting, but I’m doubting Quinn will let me take any more time right now. Not with the station being down two constables. Can I have a raincheck on that proposition?”
Jamie cocked his head sideways, considering. “On one condition,” he said at last.
“And what might that be?”
“That ye consider taking yer retirement as soon as it’s available and traveling with me. There are many places I’d like to make love to ye all around this world, and we’re going to need time to do that while we still can,” he replied with a grin, brushing one side of her hair behind a delicate ear.
She eyed him suspiciously through half-lids. “Are ye having troubles in that department?” She tried to hide her smirk. “After all, I might have to trade ye in for new stud if ye are.”
Jamie reached down with one long arm and firmly squeezed one of her cheeks, effectively wiping the smirk off her face. Then he smacked the abused buttock. “Ye have no need to worry about me, lass, it’s ye that will need to keep up.”
“Stop that,” she hissed, the red creeping up her face as she glanced furtively around to see who might be watching. Her panties were getting damp and she couldn’t help the desire that was rising already from her stinging cheek.
His eyebrows went due north and that evil grinchy grin lifted his lips. “Taunt me in public at yer own peril, firebrand.”
“We need to talk—about a lot of things.” Her blood pressure slowly returned to normal as he slid his arm around her waist and steered her towards his car.
“We can talk over dinner. I’ve made reservations at The Castle Kitchen.”
“That is a pricey place for having to eat off trenchers with yer fingers,” Pauley purred, as he opened her car door. “I’ll need to go home and change. I did bring a dress with me to yer place that I think will work.”
Jamie nodded, his eyes gleaming. “Aye, me too.”
Neither one noticed the black sedan with the tinted windows that slid past them on the other side of the parking lot, they were too engrossed with each other.
***
B RODIE STARED UP AT the ceiling of the hospital room, trying to bring his eyes into focus. He’d been in enough of them to recognize the plain white tiles, not to mention the nagging ache in his shoulder. They were keeping him drugged up since his surgery Saturday night, and giving him very little information. There was something nagging at the edge of his consciousness, but he couldn’t place just what it was.
Mica had been in his room early Sunday morning when he’d drifted awake saying something about Florence trying to kill him. Had Florence shot him in the warehouse? He couldn’t see why she would, she was helping him with information. Sort of like a CI in uniform as unorthodox as that might sound. And it enabled him to keep an eye on her at the same time. Besides, the dark hooded figure he’d seen didn’t look like her shape.
Suddenly, Quinn’s face loomed above his, the frown on his craggy features not boding well for receiving good news.
“Are ye awake enough to answer some questions?” Quinn snapped.
“If they stop shooting me up with knockout meds,” Brodie rasped in return, his voice barely a whisper. As his eyes focused for a longer distance, he looked around the room. “Where is Florence?”
Quinns eyes narrowed. “Why would ye be looking for Florence?”
Brodie squinted, his tongue clinging to the roof of his mouth. “Can I have some water? “I’m dryer than a popcorn fart.”
Quinn picked up a plastic cup on the bedside that had been filled with ice chips. “Here, ye can have one of these ice chips. Just don’t swallow the bloody thing, let it melt on yer tongue,” he instructed impatiently.
He dropped one of the ice chips into Brodie’s open mouth and Brodie clamped down on it gratefully, swishing it around with his tongue. Then he glanced back up at the tall man standing beside his bed. He’d never much liked Quinn, he always seemed to go for the side of the underdog. He wasn’t the letter of the law boss that Brodie preferred, he ruled more with his emotions. That made him soft as far as he was concerned. One of those constables who was more concerned with criminals’ rights than meting out the justice they really deserved. He grimaced.
“Florence was supposed to be meeting me at the warehouse,” he finally replied to Quinn’s original question. “She said she had some information for me.”
Quinn stiffened and his eyes blazed. “Why would Florence be included in yer drug bust? Is that what got her killed?” he accused.
Shock and bewilderment raced through Brodie. “Killed? Florence is dead?” His eyes practically bugged out on stalks. “How? Do ye know who killed her?”
“I was hoping ye might have some answers.”
“Just tell me what happened,” Brodie growled. “Tell me everything ye know.”
When he finished, Brodie spat out, “That was no heart attack. Florence was silenced because I was getting too close.”
Quinn leaned in eagerly. “Too close to who? What do ye know, Brodie?”
Brodie studied him as he thought. If Kelpie had wanted him dead, he’d be dead by now, he was sure of it. Brodie couldn’t prove it, but he’d been highly suspicious of Florence all along. She was smart, capable, and willing to do what needed to be done, but she was also an ace at disguising her emotions. She would have made a topnotch card shark. It also made her hard to read. Had he misread her?
Juice had been a player he didn’t know about, but he should have, he realized. Stupid booze-guzzling Juice hadn’t been a suspect, but it seemed it had all been an act. Florence had been forced to be Juice’s partner when Quinn had hired him, and she hated having a partner. That should have been a clue to him, but he’d missed it. He’d been too engrossed in having Florence keep an eye on Eva and report back to him.
Coupled with his undercover work and everything Quinn had just told him, Brodie was reasonably sure that Florence and Eva were actually partners. Both could be “ Kelpie ”, and Eva had decided to silence Florence after what happened in Kelly Woods. It all made perfect sense.
One thing was for sure though, shooting his mouth off to Quinn would be a huge mistake. He had some things to check out before he said anything to anyone if he valued his life. Still, he needed to give Quinn something.
“Find the truck,” he said finally. Then he motioned to Quinn as if he wanted to write something down. No way was he giving him any verbal information while he lay helpless in this hospital bed. Bugs could be planted in all sorts of places.
“That’s it?” Quinn asked in disbelief, playing along with Brodie and handing him a pen and a small piece of paper from a notebook pad. “The truck has completely disappeared.”
“That’s all I know,” Brodie grunted. “The only lead I had was a compartment built into the truck where drugs were supposed to have been transported. If ye can find the truck, ye might get a lead from that.” He held up the little paper and showed it to Quinn. He’d written follow Eva on it. Then he tore it into little pieces and dumped it into the ice chip water to dissolve.
“Can ye get me a fresh drink,” he said wearily. “There’s no ice left in this cup.”
“Aye, I’ll check with the nurse,” Quinn replied, his eyes boring into Brodies. He took the cup of water and flushed it, then returned it to the bedside. “Get some rest. I’ll work on that truck. If it’s in Inverness, I’ll find it.”
Brodie watched Quinn stride out of the room and then sank back into his pillow with a sigh. His chest and shoulder felt like someone was beating on them with a sledgehammer. Those knockout drugs would come in handy about now.
Thoughts of Pauley slithered along the edge of his mind. Luca and Belton had come out unharmed and he was glad of that. He might be a bastert to the deserving, but those boys weren’t on his radar. He’d checked out Jamie MacNamara. Now that Pauley had taken up with MacNamara, maybe she’d get out of law enforcement altogether, then he wouldn’t have to compete with her for Quinn’s job. The only reason women were boosted into leadership positions were because they were women anyway.
Dismissing Pauley from his mind, his thoughts went to the drug bust. He was going to have to start over now that it had gone down without him, and with major disappointing results.
Another thought jolted through him. Had Juice been the one to shoot him? If so, he should have been dead instantly. Hitmen don’t miss. If they didn’t get you the first time, they followed up with a second round and made sure you were gone. This produced a whole new line of thought. Maybe they had just wanted him out of the way?
Yawning widely, his eyes flooded with tired tears and he felt rather than saw the nurse come into the room. When they cleared, she was standing at his bedside with a wide smile on her face. Except it was Eva’s face that was watching him.
Trying not to panic, he stammered, “W-What are ye doing here?” He watched her take a hypodermic out of her pocket and reach for his picc line. “Is this how ye killed Florence,” he accused. “Ye don’t have to kill me, we can make a deal. I know ye are Kelpie, but I haven’t told anyone...and I won’t.”
“No time for deals,” Eva purred. “I’m leaving town and I just wanted to give ye a goodbye present.”
“I-I can meet ye later,” he rasped desperately, “we can do business together.” He tried to ward her off with his left hand but he just didn’t have any strength. His head was pounding in fear and the light seemed to be fading.
“And I don’t do business with undercover detectives, Leonard, ” she shot back at him. “If Juice had done his job, ye wouldn’t be here to speak with the likes of Quinn Tannock. Filthy traitors get what they deserve,” she hissed, holding up the needle to the picc line.
“And so do criminals. Hold it right there!” Mica Peterson’s voice boomed into the fading light of the room.
Brodie couldn’t fight the darkness, it smothered him like a blanket, dragging him into a world of nothingness. Had he really heard Mica’s voice? Or was the grim reaper going to collect him this time?