Deadly Obsession (A Brown and de Luca Novel Book 4) (21 page)

“I have to get him something, too, Uncle Mace.”

“You need me to take you shopping?” he asked.

“No, I just need your credit card. I’m ordering it online. The newest edition of “Call of Duty,” with the rumble pack. It comes out tomorrow, so if I order it tonight—”

Mason pulled the card from his wallet and handed it over. Joshua ran toward my desk, then skidded to a stop. “Is it okay if I use your computer, Aunt Rache?”

Aunt Rache.
Well, that was a first. It warmed my cockles, and I wondered if cockles on the body were located anywhere near where hackles resided.
Crying hackles and cockles, alive, alive-o.

“Sure, kid. Go ahead.”

He hit the chair and slid up to the desk, clicking keys like a pro, and pretty soon he had the item placed in his cart.

Jeremy called from upstairs, “Josh, let’s finish this level already. We’ve gotta get up for school in the morning.”

Josh looked at Mason, who said, “Go on, we’ll finish up the order for you. Leave the plastic.”

“Thanks. Night, Uncle Mace. Night, Aunt Rachel.”

“Night,” we said together as the kid ran up the stairs. Mason went to my iMac, picked up his card and completed the transaction. Then he said, “Normally their phones serve as their computers. If they start pestering you to use yours all the time, let me know and we’ll start looking for one.”

“Don’t be silly. I don’t mind if they—”

“No, really, Rache, in this case you have to draw some boundaries. That computer isn’t your hobby, it’s your work. If they want a computer for play, I’ll get one.”

“Okay.” I crossed the room to where he sat in my desk chair. “However, can I just remind you that I have three? This one, the desktop upstairs, my laptop. And then there’s a tablet, too.”

“You like your gadgets.”

I nodded. “I might be a closet geek.”

“You don’t play WoW, do you?”

I spun the chair around and grabbed a handful of his T-shirt. “I’ll play just as wow as you want me to, mister.”

“Damn, woman...”

Before I let myself get too carried away, I said, “What’re you gonna do about school tomorrow? You heard Jeremy. He thinks he’s going.”

“I don’t know. Go sit outside the building all day?”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll bring the laptop.”

17

T
he graduation party was on. I didn’t think there had ever really been a question. Mason didn’t have it in him to deny Jeremy something that meant so much to him. Even if his lunatic mother and Gretchen Young were still on the loose. Half the cops in the state were looking for them. Both of them.

We sat together in the bleachers, Mason and me, with Joshua in between us and Mason’s mother, Angela, sitting on his other side. She was dabbing her eyes with tissues even before the first speaker wrapped up. My sister was on my left, with her two girls and Jim nearby. The twins would graduate in a year, and I’m sure Sandra had that on her mind as she watched, because she was weepy, too. Or maybe she’d become as attached to Mason’s boys as I had.

Probably a little bit of both.

“I wish your brother could be here to see this,” Angela muttered during the applause. “He would have been so proud.”

“Dad
is
proud, Grandma,” Josh told her. “He’s watching, somehow. Mom, too, I bet.” He craned his neck to look around the auditorium as Mason and I exchanged a look.

“Have you seen your mother here, Joshua?” Mason asked

“No, not yet. I promise I’ll tell you when I do.”

“Joshua, you must know your mother isn’t going to risk being caught to attend,” Angela said.

“She wouldn’t miss this, though,” Josh replied. He slid a little closer to Mason and took hold of his hand. The poor kid was as afraid of his mom as he was certain she’d show up.

I looked at Mason, wondering if maybe Josh knew his mother better than either of us did. There were cops at both entrances and a unit outside. Still...

“And now, this year’s graduates,” said the school principal.

I elbowed Mason, who was still scanning the crowd. “Don’t miss it. They’re alphabetical, and he’s a B.”

“He’s next,” Angela whispered, crying even harder now than before. The poor woman had returned from her cruise only yesterday and learned about the house fire, Marie’s escape and the boys’ abduction all at once. She was probably still reeling. But she hadn’t once complained that Mason hadn’t phoned her to let her know what was going on. Not once.

And then Jeremy’s name was called, and he rose from his seat at the back of the stage, and walked to the front to accept his diploma and shake the principal’s hand. He was smiling from ear to ear, and when he found us the smile grew even wider. I snapped pics like a mad paparazzo.

We were applauding madly when I noticed Jeremy’s gaze straying over the spectators. He was searching the faces, probably looking for his mother, just like his kid brother was doing. It broke my heart. If she’d tried to show up here, she would have been arrested on the spot. And rightly so, but still...

We sat through the remainder of the ceremony, right up until the entire senior class threw their hats into the air.

I squeezed Mason’s hand. “You’re so proud your chest is practically swelling.”

He smiled. “I am. He’s a good kid.”

“He’s a great young man. He’ll make a great cop, too, someday.”

“Yeah, unless I can talk him out of it.”

I didn’t think there was much hope of that. Jeremy hadn’t backed down since he’d mentioned it to us a few weeks ago. But maybe college would change his mind.

People were rising, filing out, merging into one flow of traffic toward the graduates, who were now standing in a receiving line. I congratulated every one I came to, and then we made it to Jere and I hugged his neck.

“You did it, Jeremy. You are
awesome.
”

“Thanks, Rache. So where’s my present?” he asked with a wink.

“I made your uncle let me get some things to go with what he got you. If I give mine to you first, it’ll blow the surprise. But rest assured, they’re both at the house. You can unwrap them with all the others.” I was such a great liar, that he didn’t even pick up on it. Mason’s present wasn’t wrapped. You couldn’t wrap a car. But I desperately wanted him to be surprised.

The crowd was starting to dissipate. “Come on, guys. Our party awaits,” I said, and I clasped Joshua’s hand automatically as we wound our way through the people.

Halfway to the exit a shiver of awareness moved over my spine like an icy finger. I came to a stop and turned my head slowly, by instinct. For the briefest instant I thought I saw Marie in the crowd, but then everyone closed in, and when they parted again there was a woman I didn’t know in the spot where I thought she’d been.

Still, that chill didn’t leave me, and my feelings were never wrong. I pulled Josh closer and nudged nearer to Jeremy. Mason noticed. What didn’t he notice? And he went on alert; I saw it in his eyes. But he did it without alarming anyone else as we continued to make our way out of the auditorium and into the parking lot. He nodded at the cop guarding the door, and he came along with us.

But nothing happened. No long-lost crazy mothers or killer arsonist nurses came springing out from between parked cars. Nothing. We were fine.

And then we were stopping at the closed gate across my driveway. Mason got out to unlock and open it, and Joshua said, “Hey! Someone’s already here.”

Mason glanced my way as he got behind the wheel again to drive inside, smiling with his eyes but fighting it.

“Nice wheels, whoever it is,” Jeremy said.

I shrugged. “It’s kind of old.”

“Classic. It could use a paint job, but—” Jeremy got out of the car and wandered over to the green Camaro.

We all got out, too, and Mason took the Camaro IROC-Z key ring out of his pocket. He just stood there holding it up, waiting, while Jeremy walked around the car, admiring it, cupping his face to peek through the glass, his back to Mason the whole time.

Joshua got it. His gaze met mine. I gave him a nod, and his eyes went wide. I giggled, and finally Jeremy turned.

Mason remained where he was, holding the key.

Jeremy looked at him. “What are you... Wait a minute. No! Really?”

“It’s yours, kid. Happy graduation.”

“Oh, my God. Oh, my
God
!” Jere hugged Mason’s neck so hard I figured he’d need a massage later, and when he pulled away he came over and hugged me.

My sister’s minivan came through the still-open gate with a happy beep-beep, and a second later Jim joined the other males in admiring the car, while Sandra and the twins started unloading covered dishes and boxes of decorations from the back of the van.

Misty paused near Jeremy. “Do you love it?”

“Yeah.” He turned to Mason. “Uncle Mace, can I take it for a spin? Just a short one?”

“I wanna go!” Joshua shouted.

“Not without me. Just for now,” Mason told him. “The situation—”

I elbowed him. “Go on, Mason. Do a ride-along with your nephew. We can get things under way. We still have an hour.”

“An hour?” Sandra asked. “Come on, girls, move it! We only have an hour!”

Misty kissed Jeremy on the cheek and ran to the van to help with the unloading. Mason and Jeremy got into the Camaro. Jeremy started the engine, which actually roared. I smiled as I watched him shift, then give it too little gas. The engine lugged, almost stalled, until he finally caught first gear.

Sandra stood beside me. “You look for all the world like a proud mother today, sis.”

“Don’t tell anyone, but I feel like one, too. Go figure.” I grabbed a box from the back of the van and headed for the house.

It took us every bit of that hour—even with our menfolk back to help us for the second half of it—to get the party set up. We’d rented a huge canopy tent, which the guys took charge of erecting. We set folding picnic tables and chairs under it, and we unboxed the cake I’d picked up from the bakery before the ceremony. It was a full sheet done in maroon and gold with the Whitney Point High School Eagle in the center. Gorgeous cake. Jeremy parked the Camaro where his friends could easily admire it. By the time people started arriving, a lot of them cops who knew they were there as protection as well as guests, the tent was decked in crepe paper. And the pièce de résistance was the rented pontoon boat bobbing serenely by our dock across the dirt road.

I barely sat still for the next hour as food was uncovered and unwrapped, and people, many of whom I didn’t even know, mingled. Jeremy’s family connections were wide and many. His grandmother seemed to know almost everyone there, and she surprised me by dragging me around to introduce me to most of them as “Mason’s significant other.” Myrtle and Hugo made the rounds, too, snarfing up every dropped crumb and begging for more. (And mostly, getting it, because no one with a heart can say no to a bulldog, and no one alive can say no to a bulldog puppy.)

Jeremy came over to me, smiling. He’d opened his card from me, which had his insurance ID cards, with a sticky note that said he was paid up till December. “This is the best, Aunt Rachel. And so is the party. Thank you
so
much.”

“It was fun, stretching my long-dormant domestic muscles for a change,” I told him. “And you know I’m a closet motorhead, right? I expect my own ride-along in that Camaro once things calm down around here.”

“You’ve got it. Anytime you—”

There was a sharp crack that had me frowning and looking around. Then there was another, and one of the guests dropped his knees, a blood stain spreading across his chest. A third crack shattered the punch bowl. People started screaming and stampeding toward the house. Mason hit Jeremy and me from behind, taking us down and flipping a table sideways in front of us. Food flew everywhere. I crouched with his big arms encircling me, realized the sounds had been gunshots and screamed, “Joshua!”

“Right here, Aunt Rache, right here.” I should’ve known Mason had him, too. He was crouching on Mason’s far side.

“Mason, your mother—the twins. My sister!”

“Stay put,” he said. “I’ve got this. I’ll find them, figure out the safest place and come back for you.” Then he got up and raced away.

I heard more shots, then peered around the table to see Myrtle and Hugo snarfing up the spilled food. I clapped my hands. “Myrtle! Myrtle, come!”

She lifted her head.

“Myrtle, come!
Now!
”

She apparently picked up on the urgency in my voice and came trotting toward us, the pup, as always, so close she was almost tripping over him. I pulled them into our little huddle and then dared to peek up over the edge of the table. The cops were heading into the woods to the right of the house, weapons drawn. Vanessa was with them, barefoot, having kicked off the gorgeous pumps I’d complimented her on earlier.

Where was her partner, Sally?

Mason’s mom was behind a table nearby. I saw her crouching there, trembling, and she met my eyes across the gulf of space between us. I held up a hand, telling her to stay there. She nodded.

Looking out again, I saw people hurrying in through the front door of the house. Sandra, the girls, Jim.

Do not let them go into the house. Stop them. Now.

The feeling shocked me, but I’d been through too much not to trust it. “Jeremy, there’s something wrong in the house. I have to stop them.”

He nodded, pulled out his phone and texted at the speed of light, not even questioning me. I saw Misty tense up. She was with her family, crouching between the lilac bush and the front door, which was crowded with people.

She pulled out her phone and stared at it, then looked up and all around the yard.

Jeremy popped up before I could stop him and waved at her. A shot rang out, and the table in front of him splintered. I screamed and yanked him back down so hard I probably dislocated his shoulder.

Misty showed the phone to her parents, and they looked our way, too.

“What did you tell her?” I asked.

“Get away from the house.”

His phone chirped and I read over his shoulder.

Where shd we go?

Jere looked at me, and I looked around helplessly and spotted the pontoon boat still moored near the dock, half of it shielded from view by the woods along the shoreline. “All right, here’s what we’re going to do. Tell Misty to take the family through the woods on left-hand side of the house. Then they need to get to the shore from there, using the woods for cover along the road, then crossing it as fast as possible.”

He texted while I talked, then nodded. “Okay, then what?”

“Take Josh and your grandmother, and make a run for the boat.”

“She’ll pick us off as soon as we’re out in the open,” he said.

“You leave that to me. As soon as you’re on board, get that boat around the trees, out of sight, and head toward the village. But stay close to shore. The trees will hide you. If she’s got a rifle, heading out to the middle won’t help. She can reach you there.”

“You think it’s her? Gretchen?” Jeremy asked.

“Has to be.”

I watched as Jim, Sandra and Misty darted out of hiding and into the woods on the opposite side of the house from where the shots had come from. I kicked off my shoes.

Another shot rang out, and I saw a puff of dirt explode near their feet. “I have to go. Get to the boat.”

“Aunt Rache—”

“Do it.” I sprang from behind the table and ran across my front lawn, waving my arms. “Hey, you crazy fucking bitch! Gretchen! I’m talking to you.”

She shot at me, but I was moving at a dead run and changing directions at random. “Come out of the trees, you lunatic. Face me, if you’re not too scared.”

More shots, one after another. I zigged and zagged, and looked back in time to see Jeremy getting onto the boat. He was carrying Myrtle, for the love of God. Josh was already on board, Hugo in his arms, and so was Angela. I glimpsed them just before they ducked out of sight. Then I yelled some more to keep Gretchen from figuring out what we’d done. “Hey, bitch face, come on. You missed me!”

Something hit me like a ton of bricks then.

Not a bullet. A man.
My
man.

He tackled me like a wrecking ball, then lay on top of me, wrapped both arms around me and rolled until we were at the lilac bush by the front door, where my sister had been. “What the fuck are you doing?” he finally asked.

I nodded toward the lake, and he looked just in time to see what I saw. The tail end of the pontoon boat vanishing around the bend, out of sight beyond the tree-lined shore. “Getting our family out of harm’s way,” I said.