License to Love (51 page)

Adam glanced at Nick. She could tell they communicated
entire conversations through those looks.

“Cora, you probably know that’s not safe,” Nick said.

She knew, but it sounded nice to soak in her own bath tub
and sleep in clean pajamas in her own bed.

Adam added, “We’ll keep you safe here.”

She shuddered. It wasn’t over yet. She needed to keep her
guard up. That’s why Adam was keeping watch while they waited in the car.

Herald tapped on the window. Nick and Adam hurried out and
she followed their lead. It was hard to imagine Alexander being able to track
them down, but he’d shot Jerry. Keith still didn’t have his million dollars
back. She wondered if he ever figured out that Alexander stole it.

Upstairs in the bathroom, Cora turned the water on hot. Her
entire body felt numb, disconnected from her. She closed her eyes and lost
herself in the soothing water running down her and almost forgot she was in the
shower. When the water started to grow cold, she snapped awake and remembered
that she needed to wash. She had to force herself to forget what she was
washing off.

Pictures flashed in her mind, one after another, of her
father, Nick, and the other men that had been at Keith’s home. She could hardly
believe Nick had shown up and helped her after she ran from him. She couldn’t
fathom what might have happened if he hadn’t stepped in.

She wrapped herself in the small hotel towel. There was no
way she could put her clothes back on, not with…

Someone knocked. “Cora, I have a change of clothes for you.”

Nick had known. She opened the door to see him holding her
bag. “How did you…oh, this was in your car from before.”

She’d packed a skirt, but at least it was something
different and semi clean. Nick was waiting for her outside the door and when
she emerged he pulled her into a much needed tight embrace. She ran her hands
over him and breathed in his scent. After hanging onto him for a minute, she
remembered Herald and Adam. Herald was gone and Adam was playing solitaire on a
small table by the door. His handgun sat on the table.

The TV was turned on without anyone watching it, maybe for
the noise.

“Come over here with me.” He pulled her onto the couch with
him. She gladly curled up against him and laid her head on his chest.

There was a lot to talk about, but maybe Nick was trying to
wrap his head around it too. She wasn’t sure where to start or where they would
go. She wasn’t even sure how she felt. Was she running through fire or drowning
in a freezing ocean? She felt Nick’s arms around her, holding her together, and
she felt his steady heartbeat beckoning hers to continue.

With new clarity, Cora realized she had been thinking with
her head, which had always been her saving attribute, but this last week she
had ignored her heart. Her heart had been right.

Nick rested his face on her hair. “Are you doing okay? Do
you want something for dinner yet?”

“I’m only twenty five and I’ve lost both my parents.” She
angrily wiped at the tears that flooded her eyes.

“You don’t know that.” He took her chin and gently turned
her face toward his. “Jerry’s tough. He’s fighting for you.”

That was true. Her dad would fight the world for her. She
almost smiled.

“I’m here for you. I’ll do whatever you need.” He watched
her eyes like he was watching a beautiful sunrise. Now she could finally follow
her heart and believe him.

“I’m sorry, Nick.”

“For what?”

“Alexander. He completely fooled me.” Tears sprang up in her
eyes. A tear escaped and ran down one cheek. She had listened to Alexander and
it almost got her dad, and Nick, killed. She had been so focused that she
didn’t see thing clearly.

Nick kissed her tears. “He fooled everyone from my father to
Jerry. That’s how the guy operates.”

“All I could think about was finding my father. I didn’t consider
his motives at all.”

He shook his head. “You did what you had to. I was trying to
protect you, but I should have told you more. When Adam first told me what was
going on, he said Alexander watched the news every night just to see you.
Alexander
‘exposed’
Jerry for skimming money, and he suggested right off
the bat that you were the perfect tool for coercing Jerry into repaying the
money. He had a master plan all along and you were a big part of it.”

Cora leaned back to look at him, sighing in irritation and
frustration. She felt invaded. “So everything happened as he planned it, but
why did he want to trick me like that? I was walking around town, tired, hot
and hungry. I was trying to figure out where to look first, and then there was
Alexander with lemonade and a plan. Why did he pretend to help me?”

 “I think he planned to take the money, and you, and run.”

It chilled her to see inside his mind, and scared her even
more that she had spent two days with him. Laying her head back on Nick’s
chest, she whispered, “Thank you for what you did.”

 He started to say something when his cell vibrated in his
pocket. 

“It’s Keith.”

 “See what he says.” The reporter in her couldn’t let the
opportunity pass.

Nick answered it with a cold, “Hello.”

“Is that woman with you?” His voice was loud enough for Cora
to hear.

“Why does that matter now?” Nick asked. “The police know
Alexander shot Jerry, and that you’re involved.”

Adam moved over to hear as well.

“I think it’s in your best interest to bring her back here.”

“Hardly.” Nick shook his head at Cora and Adam as if to say,
Can you believe this guy?

“Don’t think the police will protect you. You’ll be their
first suspect.”

Nick glanced at Cora, and she saw the doubt in his eyes. The
police had questioned them and let them go. Keith would have to be one hell of
a liar to convince them of another story, unless he could by them.

“We can take care of ourselves.”

“Believe whatever you want to. I just want that key. The
police are looking for you now, and the only place they won’t look is with me.
Actually, you’ll be very lucky if the police find you before Alexander does.
I’ve got you cornered. Come talk to me, and this can be over.” Keith hung up.

Cora rubbed her forehead and sat back, wrapping an arm
through one of Nick’s. That had sounded like several threats. It sounded like
Keith had his men and the police both looking for them, and that Alexander was
hunting them down with his own agenda.

“How is that possible?” Adam quickly stood. “The police
talked to each of us, and we told them what really happened.”

“I don’t know. Together we provide three witnesses,” Nick
said. “And it’s our word against Keith’s. I have a feeling Alexander split.”

Her father could clear this up if they would believe him.
They had to after Keith had him beat within an inch of his life. 

“But,” Adam said, pacing. “This is Keith Holloway. He could
have a few dirty cops working for him. Do the police know we’re staying here?”

Nick nodded. His phone, still in his hand, vibrated again.
“Herald this time,” he told them before answering.

“Nick, you need to move.”

“Adam thinks so too…but did something else happen?”

“That missing money was in a trust fund set up in Cora’s
name.” Nick looked at her like he wanted to get up and out of her ear shot.
However, he saw that she heard.

The possible explanations rolled through her head and sent
her stomach into a tumble. A jackhammer headache started in her temple.

“Alexander could have set up the account,” Nick told Herald.

“Yes, possible. However, Keith claims that Cora shot Jerry
because he wouldn’t release the money to her. I’m on my way over. Meet me
outside.”

They made a b-line to the parking garage, crammed into
Herald’s Lincoln, and took off. She guessed they were headed out of town. 

Nick watched out the back window for a few minutes but he
didn’t see any cars keeping up with them. She grilled Herald about who was
watching her father at the hospital.

“Nick,” Herald said. “Is there anything else about this
case? It’s getting ugly and complicated fast.” Herald turned to Cora and
continued, “Somehow, this seems personal to your father. I need to know
everything.”

It
was
his money, but was it more than that? Cora
noticed Nick hesitated so she looked at him, finding him looking down at his
hands thoughtfully.

Adam turned around for a second and they shared one of those
looks.

“It’s drug money,” he said. “They contract out to people who
grow marijuana and others who make harder drugs. They traffic it up and down
I-5. It could be bigger than that, involving Mexico possibly. I’ve tried to
stay clear of all of it and don’t know everything about the operation.”

No one said anything for a minute. She hoped Herald wasn’t
angry at Nick for not sharing that information sooner, but who could blame him?
Nick was still looking at his hands.

“So he has a lot at stake,” Herald said. “This is about
controlling everyone that works for him or knows about this.”

“It also means he knows how to cover things up and get to
the police,” Adam said.

Jerry must have known. What had her father gotten himself
involved in?

“You’re right,” Nick said. “It is personal. He’s a control
freak. Keith thinks he’s built his little kingdom and Alexander convinced him
that Jerry has been stealing from him for the last few years. Money is
everything to Keith and Alexander. I think Keith is so enraged by the thought
that Jerry stole from him that he won’t look at facts or logic.”

 “I wonder,” Herald said, “Why hasn’t Alexander just grabbed
the money and run?”

“Apparently he can’t get to the money.” Nick’s soft words
caught everyone’s attention and silence filled the car again.

Where did this mess end? Jerry had told her he knew where
the money was. They knew that part now, unless… “Herald, is that money still in
the trust fund?”

“No. Maybe Jerry took the money out of the account to
protect you, since the account is in your name. It’s definitely gone.”

She knew Jerry didn’t have it. He would have given it back
to keep her safe.

“Do we have anywhere to go?” Cora asked as they drove on.
She wondered if they were simply running, or running with a purpose.

“I’m headed to an address Nick gave me,” Herald responded.
“He rented a house out this way.”

Adam’s head swung around to look at Nick in the back seat.
“You rented a house out here and didn’t tell me?”

“I rented it right after you told me what was going on. I
figured it might be helpful to have something out of the way, out of town. It’s
about twenty minutes off a country highway.”

“Is it safe?” Adam asked.

“I used an assumed name, and I haven’t told anyone about it
except Herald until now.”

The setting sun put on a spectacular show of blazing reds
and oranges on the horizon that faded into a darker and darker blue. They
neared the cabin an hour after nightfall. In the car’s headlights, she could
see the road ahead of them carved out of the forest. A towering wall of
evergreens grew on both sides of the gravel road.

The house was only a few years old and was a good size for
one person. Nick let them in, set the alarm, and checked all the locks. Seeing
the television, Cora asked Nick, “Is the cable hooked up?”

“I didn’t set it up, but I think it’s still on from the last
renter,” he said. “Are you looking for the news?”

She nodded, it was ten o’clock and the news must have picked
up their story by now. Yup. The top story was the attempted murder of a local
man and the disappearance of his daughter, “our own Cora Evans.”

Sheila Conery, one of Cora’s coworkers rehashed the details
the police had released about the incident.

“The police are currently seeking several people for
questioning in connection to the shooting. They found it mysterious that not
only did his own daughter bring him to the hospital, but she was accompanied by
Nick Holloway, son of Keith Holloway. Neither Cora Evans nor Nick Holloway have
been seen since the initial questioning.”

As Sheila Spoke, pictures of both of them appeared on
screen, as well as the appropriate number to call with information.

“The police didn’t comment on whether Cora Evans is in any
danger, but of course we’re anxious to find her. Cora, if you can to see this
broadcast, our thoughts and prayers are with you.”

Wow, Sheila usually had only wisecracks for Cora. The
station went on to cover another story and then Cora changed the channel. She
wanted to see if their competitor station had picked it up too. She loved her
job, and her news station, but she wondered if they had remained completely
unbiased in a story about her.

A story about them started as Adam commented, “We’re on this
station too.”

“And now Brent MaCathy is on the scene to tell us about
today’s press release from Keith Holloway.”

“Thank you, Tim. I’m here with Keith Holloway, who today
revealed that the shooting occurred here at his home. Mr. Holloway, please tell
us what happened, and why you think your son and Cora Evans are missing.”

“To be curt, they’re running because Cora Evans tried to
kill her own father.”

“She shot her own father?”

“Jerry Evans was my accountant for over five years. I
believed him to be a good, honest worker, but recently I discovered he was
stealing money right under my nose. His daughter knew what he was doing and
demanded her share. I brought him here to my own home to protect him after she
threatened him. Then she broke in and shot him.”

At this point, Nick had to hold Cora because she looked so
fuming mad.

“Why weren’t the police brought into the situation sooner,
Mr. Holloway?”