Chapter 28 #2
“You have to hurry,” Nichols urged, leaning across the table toward Adeline. “They don’t want to go into the water! Help them!” She peered deep into Adeline’s eyes, panic in her voice. “You the only one who can. You’re daddy’s little angel.”
Womack pulled the woman off.
Adeline stood there, shaking like a leaf.
What the hell?
“Go, Cooper,” Womack urged. “I’ll take care of this.”
“You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”
The words followed Adeline out the door.
She scrubbed the back of her hand over her face. Her cheeks were damp.
She had to get out of here.
Adeline stopped in Wyatt’s office and picked up her jacket and his keys. Her Bronco was at his house. She didn’t give a shit what she drove. She just wanted out of here.
Sullenger called after her, but Adeline ignored her.
She couldn’t breathe until she’d hit the street. Her heart thundered in her chest. This was insane. Absolutely over the top.
Tires squealing, she roared away from the curb.
She didn’t know where the hell she was going. Somewhere to think.
Five minutes later she parked at the Greenwood Cemetery. The massive live oaks surrounding it were laden with Spanish moss. The cemetery was at least a century old. More of her Cooper ancestors than she cared to own were buried here.
She paused at Gage Cooper’s grave and stared at the lavish granite headstone. “You piece of shit. Why the hell couldn’t you stay that silly kid you were when we played together? Why’d you have to turn into such a scumbag?”
Adeline shook off the suffocating feeling of regret. He was dead because he’d made bad choices. It wasn’t her fault. She glanced back down at the dates on the marker. Twenty-three damned years old.
“Idiot.”
She trudged through the rows of tombstones jutting up from the ground, some leaning from age, others damaged after Katrina’s ugly lashing.
She reached the marker she was looking for and sat down on the cold, damp ground.
The tree canopy in this section of the cemetery was so heavy that the ground had been protected to some degree from last night’s rain.
Not saturated or muddy, just a little damp.
Carlton Riley Cooper
Beloved husband and father
“I miss you, Daddy.”
The whispered words curled around her, strengthened the emotions pressing against her heart.
When her daddy had died, her life had turned upside down.
Wyatt had accused her of having a death wish.
She’d taken far too many risks on the job.
Had her mother worried sick. Had Wyatt ready to kick her ass. And Womack looking over her shoulder.
Then Sheriff Scumbag Grider had assigned her to work with the DEA to carry out a big sting.
She’d been thrilled beyond words. That had felt like her chance to do something big and to get back at her asshole cousin and uncle for getting away with breaking the law for so many years.
Mainly, though, it had felt like a way to prove she was worthy of the high praise her daddy had always heaped on her.
“Why did you just ignore Cyrus?” she asked aloud. Her father had been a fine man. An upstanding citizen. A volunteer firefighter. He’d sacrificed his life to save others.
Yet he’d looked the other way when it came to Cyrus.
“I know he was your brother and all,” she relented, “but you pretended not to know. That drove me nuts.”
Adeline closed her eyes and let the fond memories flow. Her daddy had loved her so. And her mother. There was not a more devoted husband to be found. He’d been a good man, despite the genetic connection to the biggest asshole in the county.
She opened her eyes. What the hell difference did it make if he chose to love his brother in spite of his shortcomings? As big a hero as her father had been, he’d still been only human.
Adeline smiled. “Love you, Daddy.” She kissed her fingers and pressed them to his headstone.
And really, that was all that mattered.
She pushed to her feet.
And went stone-still.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
She palmed her weapon, scanned the gloomy cemetery.
Someone was watching her. She visually searched the tree line of the woods that backed up to the cemetery.
Let that son of a bitch come. She would blow his damned head off. She was definitely in the mood.
Her cell vibrated.
Circling cautiously to ensure no one sneaked up on her as she made her way back to the SUV, she gripped the weapon with both hands, ready to shoot anything that moved.
By the time she reached the SUV, she’d broken a sweat despite the cool temp.
Moving more quickly now, she checked the interior of the SUV, climbed in, and pressed the lock button. She started the vehicle, took one last look around, and pulled back out onto the road.
A glance in the rearview mirror confirmed that no one was behind her. Her hand landed on the gearshift to move into drive.
She stalled.
Slowly, her mind spinning, she pushed the gearshift back into park. The words written in the road film on the rear windshield blistered across her brain, automatically reversing their order from what her eyes saw in the mirror.
Adeline drew her weapon and shoved the door open. She stormed to the back of the SUV, scanning the street . . . the woods . . . the cemetery as she went.
She stared at the words, fury exploding inside her.
Are you ready, princess?
Son of a bitch!
She stepped away from the vehicle, both hands on the weapon, ready to fire if she caught sight of the bastard.
“Who the hell are you?” she screamed as she turned all the way around.
The wind shifted the moss in the trees.
“Show yourself!”
She clenched her jaw against a glimmer of fear, stomped toward the cemetery entrance. “Afraid this princess will kick your ass?”
The furious words echoed around her, shattering the silence.
Dammit!
How the hell had he gotten that close?
Ready to tear through those woods after the bastard, she grabbed back some semblance of control. There was stupid and then there was stupid. Going after him alone would be stupid.
She marched back to the driver’s side door and climbed behind the wheel. Shifted into drive and spun away.
Her cell vibrated again, snapping her out of the raging thoughts of decapitating the bastard. She took a breath and checked her cell. Wyatt.
Damn. He was going to be pissed.
Before she could call him back her cell vibrated. She hit the accept button and struggled for calm. “Cooper.”
“Where in the hell are you?”
Don’t tell him yet. He would hunt her down and bring her in. There was one more thing she needed to do.
Just be calm. He was worried. And she, well, she had just done another of those stupid things she did when life got out of control. She knew better than to take this kind of risk.
Another deep breath and she could talk. “I came to the cemetery to visit my father.”
Until he’d finished yelling, she held the phone away from her ear. When he was done, she dared to put it back. “I have something I have to do before I come back to the office.”
“Addy! You don’t need to—”
“I’m going to see my mother,” she said, shutting him up. “If you need me that’s where I’ll be.”
She closed her phone and shoved it back into its holster. He wanted to protect her. It was his job. Not just his job. He still had feelings for her. She couldn’t deny that any longer.
Memories from that morning rushed into her head, making her weak. Making her wish things were different.
Stop. This bastard was getting closer all the time. Escalating. No matter how hard Wyatt tried to protect her, this was going down.
There were things she had to do first.
Adeline needed to talk to her mother about the past. She couldn’t do that with Wyatt anywhere near her.
It was time she and her mother cleared the air.
If this bastard got to her, Adeline didn’t want any unfinished business between her and anyone she cared about.
That included having the talk with Wyatt.
Eventually.