Give Him the Slip (17 page)

"What box?"

"That's what I wanted to know. I guess it was something of
his father's, but I don't know what. I got rid of a lot of boxes for Gus. When
I told Jerry that, he hit me." She shut her eyes. Shuddered. "Kept
hitting me. I think he might have broken my rib."

His mouth set in a grim line, Luke looked at her injuries and
tried to keep his voice steady. Visualized what he'd do to Jerry when he found
him. "I'll kill the son of a bitch."

Her chin came up and she attempted to smile. With her complexion
pale, her expression pained, her body bloodied and beaten, she managed to sound
almost Amazonian as she declared, "I hit back. I'm pretty sure I broke his
nose. He never saw it coming."

She sounded damned proud of herself, Luke observed.

"Good girl." Luke fell just a little in love right then.

The sound of a siren intruded on the afternoon and Luke muttered,
"About damned time."

From that point, the situation became a flurry of activity. Two
policemen Luke didn't know entered the house and tried to arrest him until
Maddie told them they had the wrong guy. For the first time since he'd turned
it in, Luke truly missed his badge.

Maddie tried to stand and at that point, fainted. Luke called for
an ambulance himself rather than wait for the Keystone cops to do their job,
and when it arrived, he followed on its tail the entire way to Brazos Bend
General.

Fear was a copper taste in his mouth. He'd seen this happen
before; a guy takes a few whacks to the head, seems to be fine, then keels over
with an aneurism. He wondered whether this podunk town had a doctor worth a
damn and whether the hospital had the kind of equipment it needed. Surely
Branch had seen to that over the years. It'd be in his best interest to make
sure competent doctors were around to take care of him should he need it.

Maddie came to as the paramedics wheeled her into the emergency
entrance, which relieved him greatly. This time, no amount of browbeating got
him access to Maddie once they wheeled her into an examining room.

So Luke spent his time pacing the hospital hallway and making
demands upon any law enforcement official he could connect with in order to
expedite the apprehension of Jerry Grevas. "I've sent a patrol car out to
his place," Luke's old nemesis, Chief Harper, said. "We'll pick him
up and find out what happened. Probably a domestic situation."

A domestic situation! For Christ's sake. Luke about went through
his phone after the stupid old geezer.

"Why was Grevas let out on bond?" he demanded of Sheriff
Drake, a contemporary of his father's.

"Back off, Callahan," the sheriff replied. "I can't
believe that you, of all people, would get your panties in a twist because
somebody bonded out of jail. And aside from that, what the hell are you doing
back in town? Does your father know you're here?"

Luke actually bared his teeth and growled.

A call to the judge in the case, someone new to town since Luke's
departure, elicited a referral to the district attorney's office. When Luke
learned the identity of Brazos Bend's current DA, he wasn't surprised. If the
Callahan brothers had been the Holy Terrors of Brazos Bend, Austin Rawlings had
been the town's Golden Boy. And yet, Luke had always liked the guy. Felt a
little sorry for him, too, since Randolph Rawlings was an über-controlling
father who'd kept him on such a short leash that Austin never had any real fun.

It took three tries for the district attorney to take Luke's call.
Rawlings answered the phone saying, "Did my secretary get your name right?
This is Sin Callahan?"

Focused on the red fire extinguisher hanging on the hospital wall,
Luke grimaced at the name. "Yeah, it's me. Have you heard that Maddie
Kincaid was attacked in her own living room this afternoon by Jerry
Grevas?"

There was a moment's pause before Austin said, "Oh, no. How
bad is it? Will she be all right?"

"She'd damned well better be. Look, I want some answers. Why
was Grevas released on bond?"

Rawlings sighed and sounded more than a little defensive when he
replied, "He only had one prior on his record, Sin. A possession charge
back in high school."

"This was a six-million-dollar seizure. Didn't the feds want
him held?"

The note of friendliness disappeared from Rawlings's tone.
"It's my town, Callahan."

Actually, it was their fathers' town, but Luke wasn't going to
quibble the point.

"Besides," Rawlings continued, "who are you to come
asking questions? And how do you know about Grevas and his mushrooms at
all?" When Luke took a second to formulate his answers, Rawlings launched
into a different direction. "Are you part of this? You're his drug
connection?"

Like Luke would admit that to a district attorney even if it were
true.

However, he wasn't ready to reveal his DEA ties to anyone in
Brazos Bend. "I'm a special friend of Maddie's."

Absently, Rawlings said, "I thought she was dating Mike
McDermott."

"Not exclusively." Luke's hand gripped the receiver hard
and spat out his demands. "Look, Austin, I want Jerry Grevas off the
streets before dark, and I'd appreciate your help in lighting a fire under the
cops to bring him in. I want to know why he went after Maddie, and what he was
looking for when he trashed her house."

"Her home was vandalized?"

"Looks like an angry wildcat went through it. He was looking
for something—a box—and when he didn't find it, he took it out on Maddie."

"The bastard." Austin Rawlings's voice vibrated with
anger. "We're not going to put up with behavior like that in our town.
We'll bring him in, and with an assault charge, we can hold him this time.
Don't you worry."

"We have to know what he was looking for, Austin, if only to
make sure nobody else will come looking for it, too."

"Yes, I see what you mean." The DA thought for a moment,
then said, "We can't have Maddie looking over her shoulder all the time.
Tell you what, Sin, I'll give Chief Harper a call right now. We'll make sure
our citizens are protected. You have my word."

"Thanks, Austin. I'll owe you one."

"And, Sin? I won't take time now under the circumstances, but
I'd sure like to visit with you, catch up on what you've been up to since high
school."

"Sure. We'll get a beer or something."

"One thing I have to ask, though. Does your father know
you're back in town?"

Luke sneered at that and an orderly walking past him in the
hallway gave him a wary look. "I expect Branch has heard the news by
now."

The DA ended the call by repeating the assurances Luke wanted to
hear, and Luke resumed his pacing until a nurse called his name. "You're
with Ms. Kincaid?"

"Yeah." Luke took two long strides toward her.
"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. She's getting dressed. The paperwork is all
done, and she'll be ready to leave in a few minutes. Do you want to bring your
car around?"

"Yeah." Lowering his voice, he said to himself,
"Now I just have to figure out where to take her."

Whoa. If they're not two peas in a pod.

Maddie had recognized it before, but seeing the proof right here
before her eyes drove the point home. Branch was how Luke would look in thirty
years, while Luke was his father thirty years ago.

Except that right now, Luke looked more like that bronze statue of
his great-grandfather than anything. He stood that stiff, that silent. His
expression was as hard as iron.

His father, on the other hand, had a puppy-dog look to him. She'd
never seen Branch's blue eyes look so soft and pleading. She almost expected
him to stick out his tongue and hold up his paws and whimper.

Maddie's head hurt too badly to play referee, so she decided to do
invalid instead. She slumped against the wall and said, "Hi."

"Madeline," Branch said, a catch in his voice as he gave
her a quick once-over. "Look at you, you pitiful thing."

Luke's gaze zeroed in on the Band-Aid on her head. "What's
the verdict?"

"Various cuts and contusions. One on my head I hadn't
noticed. A concussion."

"The ribs?"

"Just bruised. I ache, though, Luke. I want to go home."
She glanced from son to father. "Will you just take me home?"

"Come to Callahan House," Branch stated. "I'm told
your house was ransacked. You can't go back there."

"Not until they pick up Grevas," Luke reluctantly
agreed. "You need someone with you tonight, too. Concussions are nothing
to ignore."

Maddie wasn't about to argue with them. Playing the invalid was
more truth than acting. Branch's home sounded like a real nice refuge at the
moment. "Callahan House will be fine."

"Good. Excellent." A smile bloomed on Branch's face.
"Let me go get my truck and I'll take you home."

Luke looked like he'd swallowed a lemon as he brusquely said,
"I'll take her."

Branch's smile grew even bigger. "I'll meet you there, then,
son."

While Branch shuffled happily down the hall toward the exit, Luke
busied himself looking around for a wheelchair. "Shouldn't you be sitting
down?" he snapped at Maddie. "I thought it was a rule a person had to
leave a hospital in a wheelchair."

"I wasn't admitted, and besides, this is Brazos Bend."

"Tell me about it," he grumbled beneath his breath.

Maddie had a dozen questions she wanted to ask him, a variety of
topics she wanted to cover, but the headache prevented her from giving them
voice. Despite her aching head and ribs, she felt... happy. He'd come. Luke had
come to Brazos Bend.

He wrapped his arm around her to support her, and she felt safe
and secure and protected.
And he said he wasn't anybody's white knight.

"You won't just leave, will you? You'll stay with me? Keep me
safe?"

"At Callahan House?" He shut his eyes and grimaced.
"God, can this day possibly get any worse?"

She might have been offended had she the energy. The adrenaline
that had flowed through her blood in the wake of the attack had dissipated. She
wanted to curl up in Luke Callahan's arms somewhere and sleep. She was just
loopy enough to tell him so, then added, "Maybe you and your father will
use the opportunity to talk."

"Right after hell freezes over."

She started to protest, but then she swayed a little and Luke
muttered another curse. He lifted her gently into his arms and carried her
toward the emergency room entrance and his truck. "No more talking,"
he ordered.

An extended-cab pickup pulled past the circular driveway just as
the automatic doors slicked open and Luke walked through. Branch gave a little
wave from behind the wheel. "Son of a bitch," Luke muttered.
"It's the same model I'm driving. Same color, too."

Maddie smiled softly and rested her head against Luke's chest.

Tension sizzled in the air in the cab of the truck on the short
drive through town to Branch's house. The painkillers had kicked in, and though
Maddie's thoughts grew fuzzy, she still felt sorry for both Luke and his dad.
All her life she'd wanted family, and here was one that simply refused to
repair itself.

The truck turned into the neighborhood of two- and three-story
estates built back in the forties and fifties with money made from ranching and
the oil fields. One of Maddie's clients had told her that Brazos Bend had more
millionaires per capita than did any other town in the United States. She
wasn't sure whether she believed that or not, but there was no denying that
Brazos Bend's Country Club estates would fit right in among any of the
old-money parts of the country.

Branch arrived at Callahan House before them, and as Luke pulled
into the long circular drive, his father made his way up the walk to unlock the
front door. Luke threw the gearshift in park, then, with his mouth set in a
bitter line, strode around the front of the truck to help her from the cab.

Maddie twisted her torso a little too quickly and gasped in pain.
Luke's expression became even more grim.

"Hold on." He carefully scooped her up into his arms and
carried her toward the house. "I can't believe I'm doing this. Swore it
would never happen."

Amidst the aches and pains, Maddie felt a stab of guilt. She
understood personal oaths and promises, even if she didn't agree with this one.
"I can walk on my own."

He ignored that just like he'd ignored his father.

Luke swept into his childhood home and headed straight for the
stairs. On the second floor, rather than turning right toward the guest room,
he went left, carrying her without hesitation to the bedroom that once had been
his.

It still was. Maddie detected a slight hesitation on his part as
they entered the room. Was he surprised that it remained exactly as it had on
the day he'd left all those years ago?