Chapter Eighteen
EIGHTEEN
Ginny excused herself to the bathroom, which left Shepherd all alone with her father. This was a less terrifying prospect than being alone with her grandfather, but he was still unhappy at this turn of events.
“Listen, Preston,” Mr. Kent said, moving towards him.
As Shepherd was still seated on Ginny’s bed, this meant the older man towered above him in weirdly intimate manner.
“You’ve been doing a good job keeping our girl safe.
And I know that I can count on you to keep looking after her. Isn’t that right?”
The words weren’t in themselves threatening, but the man who said them definitely was. The implication was as clear as a bell. If Shepherd didn’t keep Ginny alive and well, Mr. Kent would be telling the police exactly where to look regarding the dead and exploded biker.
Shepherd nodded. “Yes, sir. I plan on keeping her safe.”
The plan in question was flawless: Pick Her Up, Throw Her in the Car, and Haul Her Back to the Restaurant, this Cardello connection be damned.
Step Two was: Let the Police Handle It. That was Step Two in a lot of his plans, come to think of it.
They shook hands just as Ginny emerged from her ensuite bathroom. She combed her fingers through her hair, and the noise inside of his head quieted. “Shepherd? You ready?”
“Yeah,” Shepherd stood. He was going to keep her safe or die trying. In his case, probably literally.
Bradley’s wife was waiting for them, standing in the hallway with her arms crossed and her toe tapping against the ground. She was still dressed for tennis, but she’d refreshed her lipstick since he’d seen her last, and brushed her thick ponytail to hang even higher on her head.
“I was looking for you,” she said. “I tried texting. When that didn’t work, I called your phone and you didn’t answer. You know I hate calling on phones.”
“Sorry, Brandy,” he replied, kissing her perfect face. “Did the police find something? Is that why you were looking for me? What did they say?”
A flicker of hurt crossed her features. She schooled it into indifference with a shake of her ponytail.
“No, nothing like that. I’m just worried about you.
” She touched Bradley’s chest with the flat of her palm, looking up at him with fluttering eyelashes.
“I’m worried about all of you,” she said, as though it cost her something, reaching out for Ginny’s hand.
Ginny gave her a single finger.
“As long as we stick together”—Brandy made eye contact with Shepherd, her lips moving into a smile that never made its ways to her eyes—“we’re going to get through this. Isn’t that right, baby?”
Shepherd opened his mouth to answer, for half a wild moment thinking he was the baby to which she was referring.
But Bradley said, “Thank you.” With a gentle hand on her arm, he started leading her further down the hallway. “Yes, we’ll get through this together. Come on, maybe we can find something in Deandra’s old room.”
“Oh, you mean like that Tiffany necklace?” Brandy asked.
Over her shoulder, Bradley dismissed them with the same two fingers he had used earlier to beckon them hither.
Shepherd didn’t need to be told twice. “Quickly,” he urged Ginny, taking her by the hand. “Before they change their minds.”
The inside of his car, after sitting outside in the sun for the hour or so he’d been in the Kent house, not only looked like hell incarnate but felt like it, too. He cranked the A/C and rolled down all of the windows, sweat instantly pooling between his legs.
Ginny willingly got in his car—he hadn’t told her of his plans. He was smart enough to wait until she was buckled in and they were on the turnpike heading south before clueing her in on his intentions.
The GPS told him to be in the two right lanes. He ignored it, stayed firmly on the left-hand side of the road.
“Shepherd, we need the next exit to go to Charlie’s house. You should start merging.”
“We aren’t going to Charlie’s house,” Shepherd said, his hands at eleven and two.
“We went to a house this morning, and bad, very bad, things happened. No, my bad, two houses! And two bad things! And now we are going to the restaurant, where you and I both work, and I pay you well. Somewhat well. Not well at all, but you make up for it in tips.”
The exit sped by. The GPS recalibrated.
Ginny bristled. “Excuse me?”
“I’m saying you’re my best waitress so you get good tips!”
“No! I meant about Charlie!”
The GPS indicated he get into the next two lanes.
Ginny nodded and pointed, as if the GPS had taken her side in the argument. Which, OK, it kind of had.
“Listen to me, Ginny,” Shepherd said, the way he sometimes tried to talk to Lex, “you are involved in something bigger than us. You need to let it go and allow the police to handle it. The worst thing you could do right now is get in the way and get hurt.”
“I am not a child, so don’t you talk to me like one!
” Ginny responded, in the same way Lex often did, which is why he didn’t use that tone of voice very often.
“And because I’m not a child, you can take me to the restaurant if you want, but the moment I’m out of this car, I’ll head to Charlie’s house by myself! ”
The exit flew by. The GPS recalibrated.
Shepherd merged even further left. “Oh, don’t think for a second I’m above locking you in the basement!”
“Are you threatening me right now? Really, Shepherd?” She was leaning over the armrest, her finger hovering above and around his ear.
“My mom is kidnapped, right now, and you are threatening to kidnap me to keep me from looking for her? How long do you think you can keep me locked in the basement, when all those police and feds saw me leave with you from my family’s home? Huh?”
“The police are the point!” Shepherd wiped spit from the corners of his mouth. “C’mon, Ginny! The police are looking for your mom right now. They brought in people wearing suits and holding laptops. Let them do their jobs!”
Ginny collapsed back against her seat as yet another exit flew by. “The police think Cardello is dead!”
“So remind them! Show them the address your dad gave us!”
Ginny raked both hands through her hair and grabbed onto the red strands by the root.
“Don’t you think they might find it odd that the people who reminded them that ‘Cardello’ was Mr. Martin’s last word and gave them Cardello’s new address were at the location of his last known address at the exact time it exploded?
Turn off your phone when committing crimes, Shepherd—that’s like the first thing they teach you at law school! ”
Shepherd gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Ignoring the comment about his phone, he decided to change tactic. “Why are you taking this on? Why are you making this your responsibility? Ginny, there are professionals working on your mother’s case right now.”
“I am a lawyer, Shepherd, I know all about the efficacy of professional police work!” With a powerful exhale, Ginny let go of her hair.
“My family has voted for the bare minimum. My grandfather won’t pay the full amount of the ransom.
My father won’t stand up to his wife. The police refuse to follow their biggest clue.
Someone has to do something, Shepherd, and if it isn’t going to be any of them, it has to be me!
She’s my mother, Shepherd! My mother! I can’t leave her out there alone, not when there is a lead that no one else will follow.
Now, you can come with me if you want. But I am going. No matter what.”
He clenched his jaw, his back teeth grinding together. This was madness. He had promised he’d keep her safe, and he really didn’t want to go to jail. Not for blowing up a meth lab, or hitting a biker on the back of the head with a baseball bat, or locking his employee in his basement.
The GPS wanted him to move into the right lanes, so he could make the next exit.
Without a word, Shepherd turned on his indicator and moved into the furthest right lane.
God help him. This woman was going to be the death of him.