Chapter 14
Ricky stepped off of the plane and looked around. He noticed the time and the outside temperature on a nearby sign and grumbled, “Freaking metric system!” as he carried his overnight bag over his shoulder. “Celsius! Why can’t they just tell me what the temp is outside in normal language?”
Ricky ignored the rolled eyes of the person next to him. Obviously they had overheard his comments. Other than the United States, the entire world used the metric system, which meant Heathrow Airport displayed the outside temperature in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. “Freaking waste!” he grumbled.
Standing off to the side, Ricky pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Yeah, I just landed,” he said, watching with envy as a sleek jet pulled up to one of the other gates. “Is the woman still out in the country?” He listened, then turned around, searching the overhead signs for directions to the airport’s exit. “Fine. I need to pick up a rental car, then it’s going to take me a while to get out there.” He glanced at his watch. “I should be on a flight back to Philadelphia in about five hours. So, if the client needs more work done, I will be out of reach for a while.”
He listened for another moment, but wasn’t really listening to the person on the other end of the line. He’d been on a plane for the last six hours and needed to use the bathroom in the worst way. Looking around, he searched for the signs indicating a restroom and, finding one, headed towards it. He had to dodge around a group of obnoxious kids that were running around. And that caused him to bump into two other people.
Irritated, he had to smother his temper. No way could he pull out the weapon hidden in his bag and start shooting. Besides, they were just little kids. Ricky figured that they’d eventually grow up to be obnoxious adults and he might have an opportunity to kill them off then.
It took him fifteen minutes to find his way through the busy airport. But finally, he ducked into the back of a cab. “I need a rental car,” he told the cab driver.
The man looked in his rear view mirror, hesitated, then shrugged. Five minutes later, the taxi driver pulled up to the rental car area of Heathrow airport. Ricky didn’t care about the obnoxiously short cab ride that probably had a shuttle bus that would have been free. It wasn’t his money. He swiped his credit card through the machine, added a big tip for the driver, then got out and headed into the nearest car rental counter.
An hour later, he sped out of the parking lot in a non-descript car, following the directions that he’d received from the guy who had hired him. Henry. He was a putz and too nervous, but whatever. The guy wanted a woman dead, Ricky would make her dead. As long as the nervous nelly paid, Ricky didn’t care who transferred the money into his account.
London traffic was just as bad as what he’d endured in Philadelphia and he tapped his finger against the steering wheel. His patience was strained, but he managed to make it out of the city. Once the traffic eased on the more rural roads, Ricky relaxed a bit. It was a two hour drive from London to Bristol.
“What do we know?” Edward asked, sitting around the conference room table with Antonio and Sean.
Sean handed a file folder to each of them. “It’s Henry,” he announced. “And the agents investigating the shipments think that Gilly Cultain has been killed by someone named Ricky Palmero. There are several doorbell videos of him strolling up to Cultain’s house and leaving with a large bag several hours later.
Edward flipped through the pictures. “This isn’t good.”
Antonio leaned over his shoulder, peering at the pictures as well. When he saw the short guy in the picture, something triggered in his mind. “I know this man!” he growled.
Edward and Sean looked at him. “How do you know him? Where would you have seen him?”
Antonio closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on the memories. “I want to say it was recent. But…” Suddenly, his eyes popped open and he stared at Edward. “It was at the airport,” he announced, his voice grim. “He knocked into me at Heathrow. I was heading towards the exit and he was making a beeline for the bathrooms. He didn’t even apologize after nearly knocking me over.”
Sean stood up and looked over at Edward. “I don’t like this,” he muttered, his voice filled with worry.
Edward stared at his two friends and something deep down inside of him snapped. “Macie!” he roared, then rushed out of the conference room, sprinting to the elevator.
Macie lifted Kyle into her arms, battling the sadness that threatened to overwhelm her. “Your daddy is gone, but he’s going to come back soon. I promise!”
Kyle’s hands batted at her hair, his tiny fingers tangling in the tresses.
“Why don’t ye take him out to see the horses, Miss?” Ms. Kealy suggested.
Macie blinked back the tears as she turned to face the kind-hearted woman. She looked out the window, noting the watery sunshine. “I think that’s a good idea,” she replied, then looked down at Kyle. “Would you like to go visit your friends?”
Kyle bounced with excitement. Macie picked him up and snuggled him. “I know. You love the big, scary horses. You’re the only man who can tame them! They are such ferocious animals and you are there to save them!” She laughed at her silly story as she wrapped Kyle into the new winter clothes that Ms. Kealy had brought this morning. “But it’s chilly outside. So, you’re going to have to bundle up, okay?”
Wrestling Kyle’s squirmy limbs into the jacket was a challenge, but Macie didn’t mind. She’d been away from the little guy a lot over the past few days. “You had some good bonding time with your daddy, didn’t you?”
She scooped Kyle into her arms instead of wrapping him up in the baby carrier, needing to be a more active holder today.
“Let’s go get some sunshine,” she announced and walked into the kitchen. “Ms. Kealy, are there any carrots or apples that Kyle could give to the horses?”
Ms. Kealy immediately stopped her dinner preparations, wiping her hands on the apron tied around her waist. “Absolutely!” the kind housekeeper replied. “How about one for each of the horses?”
“That would be fun!”
“I’ll get a bag so that it’s easier to carry them.” A moment later, she came back with a fabric bag filled with apples and carrots. “Here you go. Have fun!” And she tweaked Kyle’s flannel covered foot playfully.
Macie left the kitchen through the back door, heading to the pasture area where she could see the horses grazing. The whole time, she talked to Kyle, letting him listen to her voice as she discussed the sunshine and the horses, the clouds, and whatever else caught her attention. In the distance, she heard the vague rumbling of a helicopter, but the sound didn’t register on her conscious mind.
“I can see the horses running towards us! Are they hurrying to come say hi to you?” she cooed to Kyle, noticing that his arms and legs were bouncing harder and faster as her little darling saw the horses in the distance. He let out a shrill sound, one she’d never heard him make before, and every horse in the pasture turned to race towards him. One particularly huge brown horse was in the lead.
As soon as they were close enough, the horses slowed and lined up along the fence, one whinnying as the biggest horse reached out to snuffle at Kyle’s tummy. Kyle giggled, his little hands reaching out to touch the horse’s muzzle.
“Lady, I need you to come away from the fence.”
Macie heard the voice, but the words didn’t make sense. Turning, she squinted at the short man who…had a gun pointed at her.
“What’s going on?”
The man chuckled and waved his gun, indicating that Macie should move away. “Like I said, move away from the fence. I like horses and I don’t want to risk missing you and hitting one.”
Macie’s arms tightened around Kyle, but she wasn’t sure how to protect her son. “Why?”
“Because you wouldn’t leave things alone, from what I understand. You didn’t heed my last warning about snooping through the Linx stuff.” With an impatient huff, he shook his head. “I slashed your tires, bitch!” he exclaimed with a disgusted shake of his head. “When you didn’t stop, I burned your freaking house down! That was your final warning!”
“You…you’re the one that burned my house?” she demanded, anger overwhelming her fear of this putrid excuse for a human. “You destroyed everything in my life? Why? Because I was digging into company data? I didn’t even know what was going on until you forced me to leave my house and come here!” She was really angry now. “If you’d just left me alone, I never would have had the time to figure out what your cohorts were doing!”
There was a moment’s stunned surprise, but the man rallied quickly and shrugged. “Shut up, stupid cow! I told you, I warned you!”
Macie’s eyes narrowed, her anger at a full boil now. “And I’m telling you that you’re a stupid idiot!” The man stepped closer, flipping off the safety on the back of the pistol. That froze out all of the anger, shifting to terror at the sound.
“Are you seriously insulting me?”
Macie’s heart thudded now. “No. Not insulting you,” she replied, her voice barely a whisper as fear for Kyle threatened to choke her. “Just…can we talk about this?” It was such a stupid line, something that every actor in every movie used. Why did it sound just as trite now?
Carefully, Macie set Kyle down on the soft grass, thinking to step away from him, to lure the man away from her son. With Kyle on the ground, maybe the man with the gun would shoot her and leave Kyle here. If she were killed, Macie guessed that Ms. Kealy would eventually look outside and would see Kyle in the grass. Kyle would be fine. Kyle would be found and he’d be safe.
“What the hell are you doing?” he growled, looking at Kyle on the grass, then at Macie.
There were strange noises coming at her from all sides, but her focus remained on the gun. Kyle had to survive. That was the only thought that kept thrumming through her head. Get the man away from Kyle.
If she’d been less panicked, she might have realized the helicopter sounds were growing louder. Or maybe she’d have noticed someone driving hell bent up the driveway. But there was no chance she could have missed seeing the massive horse that came out of nowhere from behind her. Macie gasped with shock as Sanford, the giant brown gelding, leapt over the fence and reared, kicking the short man in the face. The man squealed with pain, then dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Macie stared at the man for a long time, then turned to look at the horse. He was standing protectively over Kyle, snorting at the man lying on the wet grass.
Sanford had kicked the killer to protect Kyle? Dear heaven!
Quickly, Macie rushed over and kicked the pistol out of the man’s reach. Then, she grabbed her phone and started to dial nine-nine-nine. The horse nuzzled her hand and, because she was shaking so badly, the phone fell to the ground.
Macie burst into tears, leaning her forehead against the soft muzzle of the giant horse. Kyle was happy to watch the show, but the horse, obviously understanding Macie’s terror, didn’t move. He supported Macie’s weight, and kept his large body between Kyle and the bad guy.
That’s when she heard shouting. Macie didn’t have the strength to lift her head up, so she simply turned, still leaning against Sanford. That’s when she watched Edward racing towards her, a panicked look in his eyes. Behind him were two other men that looked vaguely familiar, but Macie only had eyes for Edward as he pulled her into his arms.
“Damn it, Macie!You’re safe!You’re safe!”
“Kyle!” she sobbed, burying her face against Edward’s neck. “Sanford protected Kyle!”
Edward looked around and spotted Kyle, his eyes huge as he watched the tableau from the ground. Edward laughed softly, shaking his head. “You, my little man, are beyond adorable!” he exclaimed as he walked over to pick Kyle up. Then Edward leaned his forehead against Sanford. The big horse snuffled Kyle and the tickling began all over again.
“I thought I’d lost you,” Edward whispered to Macie, holding his family close. “Antonio recognized the hired killer from the airport. We weren’t sure we’d get here in time.”
Macie laughed, kissing Sanford’s nose. “Apparently, you didn’t need to. We have a hero right here at the house!”
Sanford lifted his head, shaking out his mane. That’s when he realized that the other horses, still behind the fence, had discovered the bag of apples and carrots. They were working together to tear open the bag.
Macie laughed. Edward groaned. Sanford bellowed his outrage. And Kyle wiggled. It was a perfect ending to an absolutely miserable scene.
The police were called and they took custody of Ricky Palmero. After a hearty meal, Antonio and Sean settled into their rooms for the night.
“Are you really okay?” Edward asked, holding her in the darkness of their bedroom.
She snuggled closer, glad that she hadn’t bothered with a nightgown. There was no point anyway since Macie knew that Edward would immediately take it off. Or she’d strip it off of herself to get more skin to skin contact.
“I’m really okay,” she promised him, kissing his neck in an effort to distract him from the events earlier today.
“And you’re going to marry me?”
She smiled, sliding her hand down over his flat stomach. “Yes. I’m going to marry you.”
He pulled her closer, sighing heavily. Macie looked at him. “I won’t investigate any more bad guys, Edward,” she promised. “We’re going to have a long, boring life together. We’re going to learn to be an old, boring married couple that doesn’t fight, and if we do, we’ll just have to make up like this.” And she rolled over, his lips teasing that ticklish spot on her neck that never failed to make her laugh.