Lily of the Valley in May (10 page)

He cupped her face in his hand, his fingers gently caressing her cheek. “I've really enjoyed the past few days.”

“Being on the run?” She shuddered. “There is no fun in that, whatsoever.”

“I mean being with you.” He leaned closer towards her. “Having three meals a day with you, and going to church with you. Praying and reading the Bible with you.” His lips hovered above hers. “I don't want this to end.”

“Joel, I—”

He gently brushed his lips against hers. Her eyes widened then closed. Her lips were soft against his and parted allowing him to deepen the kiss. Her hands slid down his back as she responded. Before conscious thought left him, he prayed that this meant she felt the same way he did.

~*~

At the next hotel, Joel pulled out his card to check in. Faith stood slightly to one side, letting him deal with this. He handed over the agency card. “The Wallac party.”

The receptionist took it and looked at him. “Good afternoon, Mr. Wallac. If you could sign your party in here please.” She looked down at the computer screen. “Miss Chadwick had a package delivered about an hour ago.” She reached beneath the counter and pulled out a box.

Joel looked at the small brown box, with her name and the address of the hotel written on a printed label, before handing it to Faith. Alarm bells rang in the back of his mind. “Not your birthday, is it?”

“No.” Faith studied the package, her breath catching in her throat. “Who delivered it? Was it a courier?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, OK.” She started to open the box.

Joel's hand covered hers, his brows furrowing. No one knew she'd be here. Unless it was Rick, but he'd said no contact except through text. And why would a parcel come for her when everything was booked in his name? “Wait until I've finished. Open it in the suite, Faith.”

DC Blondell tried to take the box. “Maybe I should open it.”

Faith looked at them. “I don't think so. You two are just jealous because I got mail and you didn't.”

Joel raised an eyebrow. “No one knows we're here, remember.”

Faith looked at the box. “Rick does.”

“He wouldn't send a parcel. He said no contact, didn't he? Let's take it up to the room.” He handed her the keycard. “Come on.”

DC Blondell looked at the receptionist, pulling out his ID. “I'll need a description of the courier who delivered it and details of what company they worked for.”

She looked at the ID. “Of course, officer.”

DC Blondell looked at Joel. “Take her up to the suite. I'll be up shortly.”

Joel finished checking in and then took firm hold of Faith's hand. “Sure.” He led her to the lift.

She hesitated for a moment. “I want to open this first. Can we sit here for a minute?”

Joel shook his head. “You're just like a child at Christmas, but no. If DC Blondell wants us upstairs out of the way, then we do what he wants. I'd rather you didn't open it at all, but it's your parcel and your call.”

“Fine, upstairs it is.”

Joel led her upstairs, finding the suite with relative ease. He unlocked the door and let her go in first. He shut the door and put the cases down. “Do it carefully.”

Faith rolled her eyes and sat on the couch. “It's hardly likely to be a bomb, now is it?” She pulled off the ribbon and opened the box. Color drained from her face as the box fell from her fingers, spilling its contents on her lap. “Joel...” His name came out as a strangled gasp.

For a moment he thought she was going to faint and wrapped an arm around her. “What?” He looked down at her lap. His skin grew cold and clammy. Something crawled over him making him shudder.
Oh, Lord God, protect us. How did he find us?

Three black lily of the valley stems lay there. A white card with a black border lay beside them.

Faith

A lily of the valley for each of you. You, your lover and the cop.

Isaiah 47:3

See you soon, love you to death

Damien.

8

Faith sat on the leather chair, her shaking hands threatening to spill the glass of water into her lap. Joel sat beside her, his arms firmly around her. Her stomach turned and she hoped she wasn't going to be sick again. Once was enough. How had Damien found her? Had he been at the park and followed her from there? Or had someone said something?

Her Bible lay open at Isaiah forty-seven. The verse Damien had quoted reverberating around her mind.
I will take vengeance; I will spare no one
.

DC Blondell was in the bedroom on the phone.

She looked up. “I want to call Grace. I need to speak to her, make sure she's OK. He said he'd spare no one, so maybe Grace is at risk as well.”

“Rick said…”

“Stuff what Rick said.” She took his phone and hit the speed dial button for Elliott's landline number, hoping Grace was in.

Elliott answered on the second ring. “Wallac residence.”

“It's Faith. Is Grace there?”

“No, she's walking Patches. How are things? We weren't expecting you to ring, not after what Rick said.”

Tears filled her eyes and she dropped the phone. “She's not there. It's Elliott.”

Joel snatched it up. “Bro, we got problems. Big problems.”

Faith tuned him out as he spoke rapidly. How could they go from being so safe and happy one minute with him kissing her, to running for her life again the next?

He hung up just as DC Blondell came back into the room. “We need to get out of here,” he said.

“Agreed. DS Chadwick is setting somewhere up.”

Joel shook his head. “I have a better idea. Somewhere no one will think of looking.”

Faith looked up. “Where?”

“Best no one but me knows. I'm abandoning the tour and going off radar for a couple of days.”

“I don't think so—” DC Blondell began.

Joel cut him off, using a tone of voice Faith hadn't heard before. “Look, officer. Damien knows where we are and presumably knows where we'll be every step of the way. He probably got ahold of the itinerary somehow. Best bet is to go somewhere he doesn't expect. We'll go to one of my old writing haunts.”

Faith got up and ran to the bedroom, wanting some privacy. She dropped to her knees beside the bed, praying the same thing over and over and over. The door opened and she looked up as Joel came in. He sat on the floor beside her and she leaned into him.

Joel wrapped his arm around her. “How are you doing? Or is that a silly question?”

“I've felt better. Where are we going or aren't you telling me either?”

“I just don't trust the cop, that's all. He's always on his phone. But we're going to a big town we can get lost in.” He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “I promise no one is going to hurt you again. Not if I have anything to say about it. I—” He sucked in a deep breath, then looked at her. “I love you.”

She stared up at him. Had she heard him right? He sure knew how to pick his moments. “Joel?”

He kissed her gently. “I love you,” he repeated. “I've fought it for a while, scared of being hurt again, but I can't stay scared forever.”

Faith leaned against him, her whole body shaking. Despite the terror rocketing through her, Joel made her feel safe and he loved her. “Joel, I—”

His fingers pressed lightly against her lips. “Don't say anything. Not yet. Not until we've prayed this whole thing through.”

“But…”

DC Blondell knocked on the door.

“We're busy,” Joel told him.

“We need to go.”

“Take the bags down. We'll be there in five minutes.”

“Mr. Wallac—”

“I said give us five minutes.” Joel turned back to Faith. “Now, where were we?”

She patted the floor beside her. “Just about here. You were going to pray for the both of us.” She reached up and touched his face. “And I'm pretty fond of you, too. Just don't want you getting hurt because of me.”

He kissed her cheek. “Darlin', I would die for you.”

“I appreciate the sentiment,” she said, “but I'd prefer you alive. So would the others.”

Joel knelt beside her. “Then I suggest we pray and get out of here.”

~*~

Rain glistened in the car headlights as they cut a path through the darkness. Joel glanced over at Faith as he drove. She'd been sleeping the past forty-five minutes. Hopefully she'd feel better for it when she woke. He was glad he'd told her that he loved her and was fairly sure she loved him even thought she'd only said pretty fond. She hadn't rebuffed his kiss or any of his advances such as they were. In fact she had returned each kiss with equal passion. It felt right, she felt right, but now everything was turned on its head.

Lord, am I doing the right thing here? Or should I just turn around and head to the nearest police station? My agent still hasn't returned my call. Nor has Rick. Surely neither of them would have given her away. It doesn't matter what happens to me, Lord, but keep Faith safe. And please protect El and Grace. Keep them safe and out of this mess.

The darkness deepened and the storm became a downpour. He glanced in the mirror at DC Blondell. “Maybe this isn't such a good idea, after all. I didn't want to stop overnight, but I don't think we have much choice now. I can't drive in this. We're almost at Caergele. I'm going stop there.”

DC Blondell pulled out his phone. “OK. I'll let the boss know.”

“Right.” Joel took the next turning off the main road and headed towards the center of town. The rain wasn't letting up, and he had difficulty seeing where he was going.
A little help, please, Lord.

Just as he was about to pull over to the side of the road and stop, a travel lodge appeared on the left. Gratefully, he pulled into the car park. “This will do.” He jumped out of the car, pulled up his collar against the rain, and ran inside. The girl behind the desk looked up at him.

“Hi, can I help you?”

Joel shook the rain from his hair. “Hi, I need a single and a double room if possible.”

Sara checked. “I'm sorry, but we don't have two rooms. We're pretty full tonight. The weather means we have a lot more guests than normal.”

“Do you have a single or a twin? There are three of us, but I don't mind the floor or a chair. I can't ask the others to sleep in the car. I'll pay extra for the room if there is one.”

She looked at him. “Excuse me for asking, but are you Paul Darrow?”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

“My mum loves your books.”

Joel watched her type rapidly. He wasn't going to hold his breath. Maybe he could scrounge a few blankets on account of her mum being a fan.

Sara looked back up at him. “There is one room. It's a twin, on the ground floor. I won't charge you for the extra person as they'll have to sleep on the floor.”

“I'll take it.” Joel spoke quickly. “Thank you.”

She slid a map over to him, marking it with crosses as she spoke. “This is the main car park. The room's just here. I'm afraid dinner is finished, but room service is available until ten. Breakfast starts at seven thirty in the morning.”

“Thank you.” He paid cash for the night and took the key. He paused. “Do you have a piece of paper, and I'll do an autograph for your mum.”

Three minutes later, he headed back out to the car. To his relief, Faith was still sleeping. He looked at DC Blondell. “They only had the one room. I figured we'd bunk together as its one night.”

DC Blondell nodded. “So long as there's a chair or floor, I'll be fine.”

Joel pulled the cases from the car and set them next to the car. Leaning in, he gently shook Faith's arm. “Hey, Faith. It's time to wake up.”

Faith's eyes snapped open and she gazed at him. “Where are we?”

“Caergele in Wales. It's raining too hard to go any further. We'll have to share a room, though.”

She yawned and stretched. “It's fine. It'll be better than sleeping in the car all night. How long was I asleep?”

“Almost an hour.”

Faith jumped from the car and pulled her coat over her head as she ran towards the building.

Joel picked up the cases and followed her towards the main doors. “The storm just appeared out of nowhere.” He held the door open for her. “Did you want something to eat?”

Faith shook her head. “No. I just want to sleep if that's OK.”

“Course it is.” He consulted the floor plan and headed down the corridor. He unlocked the door and felt for the light switch. “Here you go.” He followed her in, DC Blondell right behind him.

Faith glanced around. “It's umm—”

“Compact.”

She yawned. “Tactfully put. Not the word I'd have used, but that's fine.”

Realizing she was shattered, Joel pointed to one of the beds. “Sleep.” He watched as she dropped her coat to the floor, kicked off her shoes and curled up, not bothering to change. He covered her with the quilt and sat next to her praying aloud. Once her breathing was deep and regular, he sat on the other bed. He could feel the officer's displeasure from here.

Lord, what do I do here? How do I keep her safe?

DC Blondell looked at him from the chair. He'd found a blanket and spare pillow in the closet and looked quite comfortable. “You two take this faith thing seriously, don't you?”

Joel nodded. “We do. What about you?”

The silver haired man shook his head. “It's not for me. I've seen too much bad stuff to believe in a God like you both seem to do.”

“Bad stuff happens, but it isn't God that makes it happen. It's sin.”

DC Blondell shrugged. “He could stop it.”

Joel shifted on the bed. He may only get the one chance to speak to the man about his faith and ought to make it count. “He could, but then what becomes of our free will? We chose our own path—to do otherwise would mean God isn't who He says He is. Jesus did so much for us, it's only right to give something back to Him.”