Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
S tanding with Deke once Bones had finished, Suzi took in the scene. If Breezy’s father had tried to kidnap and kill Suzi the day before, it might have worked. So, maybe she shouldn’t be quite so angry with Carly.
Two hours after being hanged, the rope burns on Suzi’s neck were raw and inflamed under the bandages Bones had put there. Every time she shifted her head, the bruises left on a body part never designed to bear weight sent shafts of pain down her arms and back.
Alexander Boucher stood next to a squad car while Ezra Harper read him his rights. He was a little worse for wear. The punch Gage had delivered created an angry red mark on his left cheek that was beginning to fade. The marks Deke had left on him, not so much.
As soon as Deke knew Suzi was going to be all right, he charged the DA like a bull. She would never forget the roar of primal fury that came from somewhere deep inside him.
Deke had grabbed him around the throat with one large hand and forced him all the way to the back of the garage. He slammed Breezy’s father into the wall so hard the sheetrock cracked, then lifted him off his feet and pinned him to the wall by his throat.
The general tried to pull Deke’s hand away, but it didn’t work. It was laughable the General thought it would. Deke squeezed the man’s throat harder and kept squeezing until his face was a mottled red, and his eyes bulged. His frantic movement became more like spasms and twitches.
Reid, Sawyer, and Law all tried to pull Deke away from the General, but they were like ants trying to move a cut marble statue. Deke never even looked at them. He stared Breezy’s father straight in the eye. Suzi didn’t even see her Daddy blink.
She knew at that point Deke was going to kill the man if she didn’t do something. She ran to him, working around his arms she placed her between Deke and Boucher. Pushing up on tiptoe, she said, “Daddy, I need you to take care of me. If you kill this man, they’ll take you away from me.”
Her voice resembled the croak of a frog, but it somehow penetrated the rage-induced fog filling Deke’s brain. His gaze turned to her, and reason returned to his eyes.
Deke’s grip no longer holding him, Bouchet slid to the floor, gasping for breath. Gage and Reid grabbed Bouchet and pulled him out of Deke’s reach. Securing him for the police.
Deke placed a gentle hand on the side of Suzi’s face while he studied her. Sliding his fingers to the back of her head, he pulled her to him, holding her there against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him the time he needed to calm his mind.
Before the Police had arrived, Suzi had sat down and got a through examination by Bones and had explained everything that had happened, answering every question Reid had so he could present the “correct” version of events to the police.
Now, they watched as Ezra arrested the District Attorney for kidnapping and attempted murder. More charges were sure to follow.
Deke turned to Suzi, “I could have lost you,” he said.
Emotion graveled his voice almost as much as hers. It pierced her heart. She’d never doubt how important she was to him again.
“But you didn’t, Daddy.” She turned her face up to his. “You saved me.”
“You are never to get kidnapped again, do you hear me?” he drew her into a hug.
She smiled into his chest. “I hear you, Daddy. I promise.”
“You do realize how much trouble you’re in, right, Little girl?”
That made her look at him. What in the world? “Me?” she asked, forcing all the innocence she could gather into her voice. “Why?”
“What was the rule about using your phone at the cabin?”
Oh. That. Yeah, she’d had a feeling that would come back to bite her in the butt. It had seemed so important at the time. Hindsight proved it hadn’t mattered at all.
“I was only supposed to use it on Tuesdays and Fridays. But, Daddy, it was important. I wanted to make sure Carly knew not to publish the article about the General. I told her that in my message. But she did it anyway. I thought I knew her better than that.”
“Come here, Rosebud.” Deke led her into the house, all the way to the lanai. “Sit in my lap, babygirl.”
“You’re gonna spank me now?”
“No, Rosebud. I would never spank you when you were unwell, either physically or emotionally. Today, you’re both. I want to talk to you.”
Whew! That was a relief. “What about, Daddy?”
“About Carly. I know you told her not to publish the article.”
That didn’t make any sense. How could he know if she didn’t tell him? “What do you mean, you know that? Did you talk to her?”
“Actually, I did, but that’s another part of the story. I knew you called her and what you said because Sabre records your phone activity as part of their security.”
“That sounds creepy. Why do you need to listen to my conversations? Oh my god! Did you listen when Gabi and I were talking about how bad my cramps were a few weeks ago? I’ll never be able to look at any of the guys again.” She buried her face in her hands.
“Rosebud, no one has listened to your personal conversations. They also don’t listen to the conversations you have with Daddy or anyone else at Sabre. The only reason it’s there is for your protection. They listen to threats made against you and keywords. You triggered the recording when you used the name Alex Boucher.”
She peeked at him through her fingers and asked, “Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
“Do you cross your heart, pinky promise?”
Deke drew an X over his heart and crooked his pinky around hers. “I cross my heart, pinky promise.”
Well, she guessed she believed him if he pinky promised.
But that meant he didn’t think she was like her mother. He knew she wasn’t because he’d heard her say it.”
“Do you want to know what Carly told me?”
“Yes, please,” she said.
“Sweetie, she didn’t publish your article.”
“Well, somebody published it.”
His grouchy face came back just like that. “Oh, yes. Somebody did, but it wasn’t Carly.”
That couldn’t be right. No one else knew about her article except Deke. The likelihood he leaked it would have happened right after frogs grew wings to keep their hineys from bumping the ground and hell started selling snow cones.
“Then who was it?”
He hesitated. That meant bad news. She did her best to brace for whatever he didn’t want to tell her.
But he didn’t answer her. Instead, he asked her a question. “You didn’t actually read the article in The Gazette , did you?”
She couldn’t stop the shudder that crawled over her entire body. “I couldn’t. The headline was bad enough. You should have seen Breezy’s face. She was horrified. None of the Musketiaras will ever speak to me again. They hate me.”
Deke shook his head. “Rosebud, that’s not going to happen. First of all, Breezy was the one who called me to make sure I knew her dad had brought you to my house. She was home, and it was all I could do to keep her from storming over here to snatch you from her father’s clutches and give him a piece of her mind. Does that sound like someone who hates you?”
That couldn’t be right. She hadn’t imagined the look on Breezy’s face or the contempt of everyone else. They sure looked like they hated her at that moment.
She shook her head. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see them. It was the worst moment of my whole life. Well, up until that point. I have to say hanging from a rope by your neck is no?—”
“Do not joke about that. Not now. Not ever. I’m going to have nightmares about seeing you like that forever.”
Yikes. She burrowed deeper into his arms. Hugging him as hard as she could. “Sorry, Daddy. I’m okay now. All because you saved me.”
He grunted, but he returned her hug, nuzzling her neck.
She’d probably ask him to stop that at some point. Maybe in a year or two. But probably not.
To her dismay, he pulled back. “There’s something I have to tell you. It isn’t going to feel good, but you have to know.”
Even the blood in her veins chilled at his words. But he looked so upset she put that aside. He needed her to comfort him. Whatever it was couldn’t be that bad.
“It’s okay, Daddy. I can take it. I can take anything as long as you aren’t telling me you don’t want to be my Daddy anymore.” She stared up at him, trying to be brave, just in case, and asked, “That isn’t it, right?” She’d wanted to sound strong and confident. Instead, she sounded needy and weak.
“What?” he shouted. “Of course not, Rosebud. You’re stuck with me. We said forever, and that’s what it’s going to be.”
Relief swept over her like a cool wind on a warm day.
“You and me, babygirl. forever.”
“Yeah,” she repeated. “So, what is it you wanted to tell me?”
He looked so worried. It must be really, really bad.
“The reason your girls were upset was because of who put out the story. How it happened is complicated, and it doesn’t matter, but you need to know. The person who broke the story was?—”
“The person who broke the story was me,” a voice Suzi knew as well as her own called from Deke’s doorway.
Terri Daily strode into the room.