22
“Whoa. This is sensory overload even for me.” Emma backed away from Sam’s shed as the door raised.
Today included the routine chore of pricing candles and dropping them off at the school at the end of the day. The big sale began tomorrow, on Friday. She was excited to help the school especially if Sam received a teaching contract. Even if Sam taught elsewhere, Daniel attended preschool, and he was the closest thing she had to a nephew being that she was an only child.
“I haven’t opened the shed since we left for Nashville.” Sam closed the cover on the pad. “There’s more pine scent in your trunk than from all my evergreens combined.”
Emma clapped her gloveless hands. A benefit of Tennessee being fifty-six degrees and not the twenty-nine degrees that Milwaukee cheered. She could get accustomed to warmer winters. A perk of the Volunteer State. Her heart hitched. She didn’t want to remind herself of one handsome perk of staying in Tennessee. She took a deep breath. “It’s a mixture of Conifer Confusion with a hint of Mulberry Moon and Fresh Linens.”
“They have a candle smelling like sheets?”
“They have a candle scent for just about anything you can imagine.” Emma opened the trunk of her Beetle and dropped the key fob in her coat pocket. “Three boxes? I thought I only had two.”
“Lucinda will be thrilled.” Sam inspected the first box and removed a dark green pillar. “I think this is our conifer culprit.”
Emma perused the second box and held up a plastic bag. “Here’s some blueberry voting candles for Daniel.”
Sam laughed. “I’d better be careful, or he’ll like you best.” She hefted a box from the trunk. “This is heavy.”
“Maybe we should ask Jedediah to help. He could carry all three boxes at once with his big arms.” Wade had nice muscular arms. Emma had noticed the definition when he worked by Ms. Johnson’s refrigerator. She chastised herself for going down romantic rabbit trails.
Sam peeked into the third box. “I heard Jedediah’s motorcycle rumble out of here about ten o’clock.”
“That’s too late for coffee.” Emma brushed some dust off of her black leggings. “And too early for lunch.”
The ringtone of Sam’s phone interrupted their task. Sam removed the phone from her jacket pocket. “It’s Gretta. I’d better see what she needs.”
“Yeah, it may be cookies or an invite to dinner.” Emma took over cataloguing what was inside the extra box.
Sam shook her head and backstepped toward the house. “Hey, Gretta.” Sam’s eyes grew wide. “I’ll be right over.”
Wonderful. Her box-toting buddy was leaving, and there was no mention of cookies.
Sam slipped the phone back into her pocket. “Gretta needs me for something personal. I shouldn’t be gone too long.”
“Since you’re going over, why don’t you take her a candle. Here’s a cheery pink one. Last of its kind.” Emma handed the pillar to Sam.
“Thanks. Gretta will love the color.” Sam hurried down the asphalt lane, her hiking boots echoing off the pavement. “Perfect day for a walk.”
“Hurry back. We’ve got to sticker these babies.”
Emma sorted through the third box. She unwrapped tissue paper and found some glass votive holders with a reindeer design. She’d save one of the reindeer holders for Daniel.
Footsteps scuffed behind her. Had Sam returned? Gretta must have solved her problem.
Emma turned to show Sam the cute, leaping reindeer. “Check this out.” Emma jumped and dropped the glass holder. The votive base shattered on the shed floor as a streak of adrenaline shivered through her body.
“Annette!”
The gun pointed at Emma’s nose clicked. “I want my drive.”
The nefarious drive Emma didn’t have anymore. She swallowed, but saliva stuck in her throat nearly choking her. She coughed and wracked her brain. Stall. No don’t. Sam might return, and the thought of what Annette was capable of chilled Emma faster than dry ice.
“You’d better hurry before your friend returns, or she’ll end up like Ron.” Annette, or whoever she was, waved the gun in the direction of Sam’s house. “What Ron saw in you is beyond me.”
Emma only had a professional relationship with Ron, but Annette must have thought otherwise when People Peeps ended up in his possession, and the money ended up in Tennessee. Oh God, help me .
“I’ll get Ron’s drive. It’s inside.” Her heartbeat thudded in her head so loud and ominous, she could barely think. She took a step toward the house on legs as firm as pudding. “I didn’t know I had it.”
“Yeah, get going, princess. I’m tired of this place. It’s duller than when you droned on and on about it after Christmas.” Annette pushed Emma in the back and cursed. Derogatory insults followed Emma across the driveway and up the stairs to the front door.
What was she going to do? She didn’t have the drive, but admitting that to Annette would be a death sentence. Or she’d be kidnapped and held in exchange for the drive. Either way ended badly.
She had to concoct a plan. Oh, Lord. I need You . She almost vomited as she entered the living area. Her backpack was on a chair. Herbie and the flowers from Wade decorated the center of the table. She had always kept a flash drive in her backpack, so Annette wouldn’t think twice about Emma rummaging through the bag. If she could grab Herbie’s base and hurl the cactus at Annette, there would be time to wrestle for the gun. But if the gun fired… Emma shuddered.
“Don’t do anything stupid. I’m in too deep to shed any tears.” Annette slammed the door. She aimed the gun at Emma’s chest. “You have fifteen seconds.” A smug laugh erupted. “Ten, nine…”
Please God, let my plan work.
With every synapse in her body short circuiting, Emma grasped her backpack and threw it on the tabletop. She scrambled and found a spare drive at the bottom of her pack. The cover was red, but it would have to do. She hid the bright color with her thumb.
“Six, five…”
As she turned, the dummy drive clutched in her left hand, she shifted forward, feigning a step. Her other hand gripped the base of the cactus. A single thorn stuck her wrist. The sting was nothing compared to a gunshot.
“Three, two.”
“I’ve got it.” She met Annette’s cold stare and mentally petitioned God for more protection.
Annette’s grin proclaimed that all her words were lies. Her gaze flickered to Emma’s fingers.
Murderer. Liar. Thief! With outrage flowing through her body, Emma harnessed all her animosity and hurled Herbie at Annette’s nose. Score! Herbie stuck to his mark.
Annette screamed.
Emma leapt to seize the gun. A roar, guttural and raw, fled from her lips. This woman had spun Emma’s average life into chaos and heartache. The scam and betrayal ended here.
She clamped onto Annette’s hand and wrist attempting to dislodge the gun. The woman had muscle, but Emma had more. More fury. More indignation. More compassion to right a swindle.
Annette assailed Emma’s hair with her free hand. Tears sizzled in Emma’s eyes. Fair enough. If the woman was going to attack Emma’s head, she could have all of it. Emma whacked the side of her skull into Annette’s face.
“Uh! Let go.” Annette muttered, one eye closed and watering. “I’ll leave.”
Emma wasn’t buying anymore of her lies. She grasped the barrel of the gun and tugged with fervor.
The front door banged open.
“FBI. Don’t move. Hands where I can see them,” a man shouted.
Annette’s arm slackened.
Emma ripped at the gun. The barrel budged. A shot erupted as the gun slipped out of her and Annette’s hands and sailed toward the floor.
Blazing fire seared Emma’s thigh.
The gun clattered until it stopped under Sam’s kitchen table.
People dressed in black raced into the living room from the back bedrooms of Sam’s house. Long guns resembling stiff elephant trunks took aim at Annette. One of the strangers retrieved the handgun.
Something was burning. Emma looked down. Her legging smoldered and the skin below looked like strawberry jam. She collapsed onto the floor. Touching the frayed cloth, her fingers became awash in blood. Tears filled her eyes as intense pain throbbed through her thigh. Leaning against a kitchen chair, she caught a glimpse of the FBI agent who had crashed through the front door.
“Jedediah?” Sam’s neighbor turned his head briefly after securing Annette’s last handcuff. Was she hallucinating? Her brain processed the sight in fuzzy, slow motion.
Annette thrashed against Jedediah’s grip. “She threw a cactus at my face. Look at it. I need a doctor.”
Jedediah pushed Annette outside.
Someone knelt next to Emma.
“Don’t get up,” the nice voice cautioned. “It’ll be okay. An ambulance is coming.”
A familiar voice shrieked her name from outside. Sam. She was at Sam’s house.
Emma rolled her head to the side. Her body was numb except where her skin sizzled. Ron and Annette had ruined her life and left her crumpled on her best friend’s floor, bleeding.
All the hurt of being abandoned by Wade engulfed her heart. She should have been answering phones in Nashville, but instead she was alone, penniless, and in pain. A flood of tears streamed down her cheeks.
Lord, I need You. I need Your refuge right now.