His Captive Lover (The Thorpe Brothers Series) (10 page)

Her entire front yard was torn up.  All her carefully planted hydrangeas, which had been lovely earlier in the summer, some pink, some blue and some with a creamy white, were just a wilted, scattered mess on the ground.  Her roses and hostas, all were reduced to clumps of brown on top of the sidewalk.  Even her grass had been torn up.  There wasn’t anything that wasn’t destroyed.  She could even see through her back gate that the backyard was worse than the front, if that was even possible. 

She’d spent so many happy hours working on her garden, researching the plants that would grow easily in this area, making sure that they were well fertilized with organic compost, going around to the various coffee shops and getting extra coffee grounds, asking all of her neighbors to save their egg shells and banana peels just so her hostas were a deep, dark green and her roses could make it through the harsh winters and tough summers.  And now everything was destroyed!  It wasn’t just that the yard had been dug up, it had been destroyed.  She had no idea how to save these plants.  If holes had been dug around them, she could help the plants survive.  But these guys had been out of the soil for several days now.  They hadn’t had any water or food and their roots had dried up from the heat and no protection. 

She just stood there, her heart breaking as the pain of her little house sunk in. 

She didn’t even hear the car skid to a halt behind her.  But she felt Ash’s presence as soon as he was next to her.  She could feel his heat and that odd sense of security and sexual tension that she always felt when he was around her. 

“Mia…” he started to say, not sure how to explain the disaster her home had become.  He wasn’t even looking at the house, only at her devastated expression and he ached to fix it somehow for her. 

She didn’t say anything, just looked up into his eyes.  A moment later, she threw herself towards him and Ash closed his arms around her, holding her close and whispering in her ear how sorry he was for what the investigators had done to her house.  It was the worst he’d ever seen.  Never in his career had any search warrant gone this far but he suppressed his anger in order to help Mia through this devastation. 

Mia had no idea how long she cried but when the sobbing slowed to an ebb, she remained in Ash’s arms, drawing strength from him.  With him holding her like this, she knew she could get through just about anything. 

She pulled back slightly, noticing the wet area on his chest where her tears had dampened his shirt.  He looked down at her, the kindness and anger obvious in his eyes.  That anger was on her behalf and not directed at her and even that made her feel better, comforted somehow.  “Come on, Mia.  Let me get you out of here.  I’m sorry you had to see this,” he said gently. 

Mia smiled up at him.  “Is that why you were trying to order me around earlier?”

He chuckled softly despite his frustration over her stubbornness.  “Yes.  I knew what they’d done.”

She felt better now.  So he wasn’t just trying to be a jerk.  He was trying to be a sweet, kind man.  “Thank you,” she replied sincerely, taking a deep breath and turning back to her cottage.  “Well, I guess I have a lot of work to do.”  She put her hands on her hips and looked around, mentally taking an inventory of all that needed to be done.

“I guess it’s probably worse inside, isn’t it?” she asked, not bothering to turn around and look up at him.  She knew the answer.  If they’d thought she’d buried him and torn up the yard, she suspected that they might have even considered that she’d chopped up the body and hid it inside her walls somehow.  That was a gruesome thought so she pushed it aside, deciding not to borrow trouble until she knew the extent of the interior damage.  Don’t borrow trouble, she told herself firmly. 

She walked up the path, bending down to examine some of the plants that were littered along the way.  “They could have been a bit kinder on the roots,” she said, almost to herself.  

Ash walked behind her, not exactly sure what to do or how to help her through this.  He was also confused as to what might be going through her mind.  Only moments ago, she’d been sobbing out her anguish over her devastated home and now she was walking through the war-like zone as if this were just another chore. 

“Mia?” he called out, reaching down to touch her shoulder.

Mia stood, looking up at him with a wilted hosta plant in each hand.  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Ash didn’t know what to say.  “What’s wrong?” he repeated, stunned that she would even ask.  “Your house is destroyed, your plants all killed and you’re still facing murder charges.  That’s what’s wrong.”  He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to determine how upset she really was.  If he were in her shoes, he’d be furious and launching a full out law suit against the city for the way they’d handled this search warrant. 

Mia sighed, glanced around one more time, then smiled up at him.  “Yes, that’s all true.  I can’t do anything about the murder charges.  I have to leave that up to you and just answer any questions that come up.  You’re the brilliant lawyer who has kept me out of jail so you’re on top of that, as far as I’m concerned.”  She sighed as she continued.  “I can’t figure out what happened to Jeff.  Something inside of me is telling me that he’s fine, possibly on a warm, lush Caribbean island somewhere hanging out, not even aware that people are looking for him, but I can’t believe that even he is that self-centered.  Besides, I don’t have my passport, so it isn’t like I can fly off and search for him, can I?”  She looked around at her yard, determination brightening her cheeks and stiffening her spine.  “But I can do something about my yard.  And you’re going to get rid of the murder charges for me.  Everything else is just noise.”

It struck him how sensible her attitude was.  And yes, he was definitely going to get her out of these ridiculous murder charges.  The district attorney’s office couldn’t even find the body, but that didn’t eliminate the possibility of a conviction, it just made it harder for the prosecution to prove their case.  But circumstantial evidence could prove the case for them.  It was dangerous to rely on reasonable thinking in these kinds of situations.  Not everyone on a jury was reasonable. 

“Mark and the rest of my team are slowly breaking down the prosecution’s case, Mia.  We’ll get rid of these charges and figure out what really happened.”  He looked around the yard again, “But you can’t stay here.  Come on back to my place and I’ll get someone out here to fix this for you.”

Mia shook her head.  “Goodness, I can’t afford anyone to come clean up this mess for me,” she replied.

After everything else, he couldn’t let her deal with this.  It was just too much.  “Let me do this for you,” he countered, determined to protect her however possible.

She smiled, grateful for the offer but shook her head.  “I can’t let you do that.  You already feel bad enough.”  She sighed and looked around.  “Besides, I enjoy gardening.”  She grimaced slightly and looked up at him. “Just make sure my freezer is stocked with ice cream tonight because I’m going to be pretty sore.”

Ash wanted to curse but refrained, knowing that it would offend Mia.  “I want to do this,” he argued.  “And you don’t need this extra burden.”

“Actually,” she smiled and looked around, “fixing up all of this will give me something to do rather than worry about Jeff and the upcoming trial.  I don’t mind the work.  Since I can’t go to school until this is figured out, I might as well do something productive.”  She smiled up at him. “It will be just like your house renovations.  You mentioned how easy it was to work through problems while you’re working with wood or staining something.  Well, I feel the same way about gardening.  It makes me feel strong and powerful, somehow giving back to the earth a little bit.”  She shrugged her shoulders as she said, “Gardening is good for the soul.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Ash caught a movement coming down the sidewalk.  His first instinct was to shove her back into his car, not wanting her to have to deal with whatever some mean-spirited neighbor wanted to say to her. 

They both turned at the same time to find an elderly couple approaching.  Ash was just about to push Mia behind him, protecting her from what he expected would be a brutal verbal assault.  Neighbors usually trusted the police, so when they arrested someone, the community automatically assumed that the person was guilty. 

Ash was again stunned.  The couple stopped right in front of her, their eyes gentle and concerned without even a hint of malice.  “Mia, tell us where we can help,” the man who looked to be about sixty or sixty-five, said while his wife nodded next to him.  “We’re here to fix up all this mess and get you back on your feet.”

The woman reached out and gently touched Mia’s hand, showing her support with the tender touch.  “We couldn’t believe what the police did to your beautiful yard, dear.  We told them over and over again that you didn’t kill that horrible man.  We know you didn’t do it.  So just tell us what you need and we’re here for you, honey.”

Mia smiled warmly to the couple, reaching out to shake their hands.  Instead, the couple reached out and gave her a bone crushing hug.  “That’s so generous of you,” she said and Ash could hear the wobble in her tone again. 

When she pulled back, she introduced Ash to the couple.  “Arnie, Beth, this is my attorney, Ash Thorpe.  Ash, these are the Corrinders.  They live about three houses down and have four kids and ten grandkids.”

Arnie Corrinder squinted at Ash and came a bit closer.  “You’re going to get our girl out of this mess, right?  There’s absolutely no way she could have murdered that slime, but if he ever turns up, you’d better believe I’m going to kill him for what he’s put our girl through!”

Ash was so surprised that the man was confessing to murderous thoughts that he grinned.  “I have a whole team of people who are working long hours to figure out who actually killed Mr. Meyers.”

Beth shook her head.  “I can’t believe Jeff just disappeared, but I really don’t like that new fiancée of his,” she explained, latching onto Mia’s arm protectively.  “I’m sure she’s up to something.  When Jeff finally turns up, dead or alive, I’m putting my money on him being in her basement somehow.”  The woman tsked, shaking her head before she said, “Probably chained up and gagged just to keep his mouth shut,” she said to her husband with a completely serious expression.  “He tried to kick the Jameson’s dog,” she said as if that explained everything.  “And when the Jameson’s stopped him, that stupid man actually yelled at them.  As if he had every right to stand out here and wake us up on a Saturday morning with his ridiculous wrath.”

Mia nodded, remembering that day. “That was one of the times he’d shown up, unannounced, trying to get me to reconsider our engagement.  It happened about two months ago.”

Ash heard something behind him and spun around.  There were about five more people coming from different directions, some had shovels and other gardening tools in their hands and all of them looked ready to either attack Mia as a mob or attack the dirt, he wasn’t sure which. 

“We saw ya coming!” one man said as he rounded the corner, pushing a wheelbarrow filled with gardening tools. “We’re here to help!  Just tell us what you need.”

Mia’s eyes turned misty and she bowed her head.  Ash thought he might have spied her shoulders shake slightly, but she shook it off and lifted her head.  He almost gasped at the glow of happiness that surrounded her at that moment.  He was stunned by the beauty both inside of her and around her as her friends and neighbors surrounded her, dropping what they were doing so they could show up and help replant her devastated yard. 

“They tore up the inside, too, Mia.  Don’t you dare go inside,” a female voice said.  Ash turned around and there were five women, all who had buckets, brooms and mops.  “You just give us your house key and stay out here to direct the work.  We’ll be inside, cleaning up what those bastards did to your house.”

Ash shook his head, never having witnessed anything so astonishing.  One and all just took a corner of the yard and started raking or digging, ready to try and plant the wilted shrubs and rose bushes.  One man even swore he could revive the hostas and piled all of them up into his arms as if they were his babies. 

By the end of the day, the yard was back in order.  He suspected it wasn’t up to its previous glory, but it looked pretty good.  He’d secretly called a gardening center and had several new bushes delivered.  He had no idea what to order, but told them to bring stuff that was hardy as well as a load of mulch.  He also ordered fifty pizzas to be delivered.  The pizzas arrived at noon and someone brought out pitchers of lemonade and even some beer.  No one stopped working though.  The gardening center’s truck pulled up after the pizza had been devoured and everyone simply took a bush or a bag of mulch and planted the bush, surrounding the roots with the mulch for protection from the upcoming winter.  The nights were already cooler with cold starting to seep into the air.  The fall was a strange time when one day could be hot, everyone walking around in short sleeves, while the next one everyone needed a coat. 

No matter how many times her neighbors told her to stand back, Mia was right there in the thick of the repairs.  She was covered in sweat and dirt, smiling at anyone who approached her to ask her where she wanted one plant or another.  Even Ash drove home and changed into jeans and a tee-shirt.  It took him less than an hour, but he was right back there, doing all the heavy lifting so the elderly people wouldn’t hurt themselves.  Anything that had to be moved or lifted, he tried to insert himself.  Several times throughout the day, he looked over at her and winked or just absorbed her happiness.  There wasn’t much he could do, but the more he looked at her, the more he wanted her in his bed.  He wanted to be the one to give her that contentment or excited expression. 

If she would just stop this assertion that he was only trying to comfort her, they could curl up together, just the two of them tonight, and find bliss in each other’s arms.  And if he could just get this murder charge out of the way, he could show her how much he was starting to care for her.  In just a few days, she’d gotten under his skin like no other woman ever had.