Lethal (34 page)

“ ‘He’ being
him
?” Tori was watching Coburn as he came toward them. When her gaze moved back to Honor, her perfectly waxed eyebrows were raised. Speaking in an undertone, she said, “Kidnapper? I should be so lucky.”

Ignoring the remark, Honor made the introductions. “Tori Shirah. Lee Coburn.”

Tori gave him the inviting smile that men couldn’t resist. “Charmed.”

He didn’t acknowledge either the greeting or the smile. Instead he was looking toward the far side of the bridge that Tori had crossed in order to reach them. “Is your cell phone on?”

She was taken aback by the question and the abrupt manner in which he’d asked it, but answered immediately, “Yes.”

“Get it.” She looked at Honor, and when Honor nodded, she dropped her coquetry, retrieved her cell phone from her handbag in the car, and handed it to him.

Coburn asked, “Were you followed?”

“No.” Then, “Hey!” when he took the battery out of her phone.

“You’re sure?”

“I made sure.” She told them about the panel truck she’d seen parked on her street that morning. “I didn’t like the looks of it, so I went out the back way and borrowed the Mini from my neighbors. No one followed me.”

“What made you suspicious of the panel truck?” he asked.

“I thought someone might be watching the house. Doral Hawkins came to see me yesterday.” She went on to relate what had happened. “He’s more than a little pissed that you shot his brother. At least it’s said that you shot and killed Fred.”

To her implied question, Coburn merely nodded.

She eyed him speculatively, but when no explanation was forthcoming, she continued. “Doral told me that if I heard from Honor, I had better notify him first, or else.”

“He threatened you?” Honor asked.

Tori shrugged. “Let’s just say that he made himself understood. But screw him. Stan, too.”

“When did you talk to Stan?”

She recounted their conversation. “It vexes me to give him any credit at all, but I must admit that he was less obnoxious than usual. I guess fear has taken the shine off his brass.”

“What’s he afraid of?” Coburn asked.

Tori sputtered a laugh. “You left a trail of dead bodies, then you disappeared, taking Honor and Emily with you. Stan has a right to be more than a little concerned, don’t you think?”

“Coburn didn’t murder those men in the warehouse,” Honor said. “And he didn’t take Emily and me by force.”

Tori shifted her gaze from one to the other and said drolly, “I sorta gathered that.” Then, placing her hands on her hips and glancing down at her disassembled phone, she asked, “So, what gives?”

“The fact is that he’s—”

“No.” He put his hand on Honor’s arm to stop her from revealing his identity. “The only thing she needs to know is that you and Emily must stay underground until all this shakes out.”

“She deserves an explanation,” Honor argued.

“You said she would help with no questions asked.”

“I know that’s what I said. But it’s unfair to let her go on thinking that you—”

“I don’t give a damn what she thinks.”

“Well, I do. She thinks you’re a killer.”

“I am.”

“Yes, but—”

“Excuse me.” Tori held her raised hand palm out to stop Honor from continuing, but it was Coburn she addressed. “Keep your secrets. I’ve already volunteered my services.” Then she said to Honor, “Emily isn’t afraid of him, and kids are supposed to be good gauges of someone’s character. Like dogs.”

“Emily is four. She’s infatuated because he’s a novelty.”

“Yeah, well, I trust her instincts. Possibly even more than I do yours. In any case, you summoned me, and I’m here. Tell me what you want me to do.”

“Get them away from Tambour,” Coburn said before Honor could speak. “Right now. Don’t stop for anything, don’t return home, don’t tell anybody that you’re going. Can you do that?”

“Of course. Where do you have in mind?”

“I don’t.” He looked at Honor, who shook her head.

“My dad’s shrimp boat was my only ace.”

Tori said, “I own a house on the far side of Lake Pontchartrain. Across the bridge. Would that do?”

“Who knows about it?” Coburn asked.

“Husband number two. I got it from him in the divorce settlement. The house in exchange for me keeping quiet about his… Never mind. It turned ugly. Anyway, the only reason I wanted the house was to spite the jerk. I don’t use it on a regular basis, I don’t even like it that much. It’s been months since I was there.”

Honor was listening to them, but she was watching Emily, who was still wearing the clothes in which Honor had hastily dressed her yesterday morning before fleeing their house. Her hair was unbrushed. There was a patch of dirt on her knee and a tear in the armhole of her top. Meals had been irregular and not very tasty. She’d slept in an uncomfortable, smelly bunk.

Yet she seemed perfectly content and carefree, heartbreakingly innocent of the seriousness of their situation. She’d found a stick and was humming happily as she used the tip of it to etch patterns in the mud.

“She’ll need some things,” Honor remarked.

“We’ll get whatever she needs.” Tori gave Honor’s arm a reassuring pat. “No one is looking for me. I’ll take care of everything.” To Coburn, she added, “But I’ll wait until we’re almost there before I stop to shop.”

“As of now, you can’t use credit cards. Do you have plenty of cash?”

“I have some,” Honor reminded him.

“Money is one thing we don’t have to worry about,” Tori said. “I can get what I need. All I have to do is ask.”

“Ask who?” Coburn wanted to know.

“My current beau.”

“No. Nobody can know where you are.”

“He wouldn’t tell.”

“Yeah, he would. If the right people got to him, he’d tell.”

He said it with such conviction that even Tori was daunted by what he implied. “We’ll pool our resources and make do.”

He appeared satisfied with that, but stressed that Honor and Emily must get into hiding before being spotted.

“Gotcha,” Tori said. “No one would know to look for me
in this car.” Then her expression clouded. “The only person I worry about is Stan. If he tries to contact me again, and I don’t respond, he’ll smell a rat. I would be the logical person that Honor would come to for help.”

“He may figure out that she’s with you, but he can’t know where,” Coburn said.

Tori turned to Honor. “That’s okay with you? There’s no love lost between him and me, but the man is beside himself with worry over you and Em.”

“I know it seems cruel to keep him in the dark.” Honor glanced over at Coburn, but saw no softening of his resolve. “But that’s how it’s got to be. For a little while longer at least.”

“You have your reasons,” Tori said. “But I dread the showdown when Stan finds out that I provided the wheels when you ran away from home.”

“I’m not going with you.”

Honor’s declaration startled Tori speechless. Coburn was more outspoken. “The fuck you’re not.”

She had been silently debating this with herself and had come to the conclusion that she couldn’t just dust her hands of this, which would be the safe and practical thing to do. It had occurred to her, not in one blinding instant of enlightenment but gradually over the past couple of days, that she was done with being safe and practical.

Since Eddie’s death, she often had resented Stan’s interference in her life, but she’d done nothing to discourage it. She had allowed him and others to protect her, to shepherd her through rough times, and to oversee her decisions as though she was a child who needed constant guidance.

She’d had much more independence when she was married. Eddie had regarded her as an equal, a woman who was allowed and, indeed, encouraged to form her own opinions and to act on her decisions.

Widowhood had fettered her. It had made her insecure and cautious, afraid to relocate, or explore employment options, or to do anything other than remain in a rut comfortably lined with memories of her happy past. Stan’s supervision had fostered her timidity. She didn’t like this woman she was now. She missed the more confident Honor Gillette that she had been.

Squaring off against Coburn, she said, “I’m not going to let you just brush me off.”

“Not going to
let me
? Watch, lady.”

“You’re the one who dragged me into this.”

“I didn’t have a choice then. Now I do.”

“So do I.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. My choice is the only one that counts, and I choose for you to go with your friend here.”

“I’m going to see this through, Coburn.”

“You could get killed.” He pointed toward Emily where she was still playing with her stick. “You want to leave her an orphan?”

“You know better than to ask that,” she shot back angrily. “But this time I won’t be cowed or coerced. I want answers to the questions about Eddie.”

“I’ll get them for you.”

“That’s just it.
I
need to get them.”

“Not your job.”

“But it is!”

“Yeah? How’s that?”

“Because I didn’t do it before.”

His chin went back.

She hadn’t expected to blurt out that admission of guilt, but now that she had, she pressed on. “I should have insisted on a more thorough investigation of Eddie’s car
wreck. I didn’t. I was told it was an accident, and I took the explanation at face value. I never posed a single question about it, not even after the officer who found Eddie was murdered so soon after.

“I let everyone hover around me and start taking over my decision-making.” She dug her index finger into her chest. “I’m making this decision. I’m staying on until I know what really happened to my husband.”

Tori placed her hand on Honor’s arm. Softly, she said, “That’s honorable and all, honey, but—”

“I’m not doing it just for me. He needs me.” She nodded toward Coburn even though they had maintained eye contact. “You do. You said so yourself.”

He muttered an expletive. “That’s what I said, but I was—”

“Manipulating me, I know. But you’ve convinced me that I’m indispensable. You can’t find what you’re looking for without my help. Not in time. You’re on a deadline. Without me, you won’t know where to search. You don’t even know your way around the area. You had to ask me for directions this morning, remember?”

He clamped his jaw shut.

Honor said, “You know I’m right.”

He stewed for a few moments, but Honor knew she’d won the argument even before he returned Tori’s phone to her and began reiterating his instructions.

When asked, she gave him the general location of her house on the lakeshore. “It’s about a two-hour drive, depending on freeway and bridge traffic. Shall I call you when we get there?”

“Is there a landline at the house?”

She recited the number, which Honor memorized, as she knew Coburn did. He said, “Let us call you. Don’t
answer the phone unless it rings once, and then again two minutes later. And leave your cell phone off. No battery.”

Honor protested. “What if there’s an emergency at her fitness center? No one would know how to reach her.”

Tori waved off that concern. “It’s a building, you and Em are my family. Besides, it’s insured to the hilt.”

Finally, all the details that they could think of had been discussed, and it came time for Honor to part with Emily.

Struggling to keep her tears in check, Honor hugged her close, reminding herself that as heartwrenching as it was to let her go, it was the best thing she could do for her child. The risk of Emily’s becoming collateral damage if she stayed with her and Coburn was simply too great.

Honor was laying her own life on the line, but it was something she had to do for Eddie’s sake. And even more for her own.

Emily was too excited over the prospect of having time with her Aunt Tori to notice Honor’s emotion. “Are you and Coburn coming to the lake, too?”

“Maybe later. Right now, you’re going with Aunt Tori all by yourself. Just you! Like a big girl. Won’t that be fun?”

“Is this part of the ’venture?”

Honor tried to keep a brave face. “It’s the best part.”

“Sleeping on the boat was the best part,” Emily countered. “Can we sleep there again sometime? And maybe I could drive it.”

“We’ll see.”

“That’s what Coburn said, too, but I think he’ll let me.”

Leaning down to her, Honor said, “You need to be on your way. Give Mommy a kiss.”

Emily bussed Honor’s cheek enthusiastically, then held her arms up to Coburn. “Coburn. Kiss.”

He’d been acting as though on sentry, obviously ill at
ease with being so exposed and impatient with the protracted farewell scene. Now his head snapped around and his gaze dropped to Emily.

“Kiss,” she repeated.

After a long, expectant moment, he bent down. Emily looped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Bye, Coburn.”