Madison Westin 02-Deception in Paradise (28 page)

“I saw an exit sign and headed straight for it. Out of nowhere, a man grabbed my arm and pulled me down the long hallway to the door. He kicked the door open, and in the next instant, the building exploded.”

“Who was the guy?” Fab asked.

“I didn’t ask his name.”

Fab narrowed her eyes. “Why do I think there’s more to the story?”

“Do we tell each other everything?” I asked.

“I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”

CHAPTER 40

No one knocked on the front door except my mother and brother. I wasn’t in the mood, but the knocking was incessant.

I opened the front door, and Creole grinned down at me. “I hear you’ve been asking around about me.”

“I, uh, no…” I stammered. His mere presence had me thinking indecent thoughts. His face was bruised and scratched from our dirt roll. Without thinking, I ran my finger across the largest bruise on his cheek.

“I’m here to collect this.” He pushed me up against the wall and kicked the front door closed. Tracing a trail with the tip of his tongue down my chin, down my neck, nibbled lightly, sending shivers through my body. Taking me by surprise, he backed me against the front door, pushing my hands above my head, holding them in place while devouring my lips.

A red light went off in my head that what was happening might not be a good idea. “I can’t do this. I have a boyfriend.”

“Damn. I was looking forward to stripping you naked.”

“I’ve already gone too far.”

He put his arm around me and pulled me into the kitchen. “How about a cup of coffee?”

I knew Zach was mad at me, but I wasn’t ready for us to be over. Making coffee gave me a moment to catch my breath and think before I crossed a line that would change our relationship forever.

Creole sat at the kitchen island with a mug of coffee in front of him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me around in front of him. “I hope this is not where I have to apologize for taking advantage of you.”

I laughed, releasing the tension. “No, no apology.”

“Good. I’m starving. Do you cook?”

“I can put a frozen waffle in the toaster.”

“I’ll stick with the coffee.” He picked up his mug.

“You said I was asking around about you. I didn’t tell anyone you pulled me out of the warehouse. I figured it was the least I could do, since you made sure I didn’t blow up along with everything else.”

“I didn’t find out until late yesterday that you were missing and presumed dead. Then I heard you turned up alive. If I’d known you were missing, I would’ve gone looking for you immediately.”

“Look what I found.” He pulled my Glock and cell phone from his waistband.

“Where did you find them?”

“About a foot away from where we landed. Your gun works fine. I can’t say the same for your cell phone.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you found them. The explanation as to how they were found at the warehouse explosion would have been a huge problem.”

He laughed. “Did you know I used to live here?”

“Here? When was that?” Elizabeth had owned the house a very long time. My guess was that he was around my age, in his early thirties.

“Lived might be misleading. I stayed here on and off during my childhood. The only real home I had. Maybe we should do this like normal people.” He took my hand and kissed it, bringing back great sweaty memories. “I’m Luc Baptiste. I heard you’ve been asking questions.”

I blinked my eyes in surprise. “I’ve been looking for you. And was close to giving up. And Creole is?”

“My street name.”

“Street name?”

“Take a deep breath. I’ll start from the beginning, and you’ll see that you’re safe with me.”

I topped off his coffee. “That would be a good idea.”

“I grew up several houses down with my mean drunk of a father. I learned at an early age if he couldn’t find me when he got home, he’d get bored and pass out. I took to hiding out in your aunt’s garden shed and spent many a night out there. Until Liz caught me.”

“What did she do?” I knew without a doubt she’d have ridden over hot coals for an abused little boy or girl.

“She trapped me in the shed one day and forced me to listen to her. I’d never been that scared before or since. I knew I was headed straight to jail, and my father would find out.”

“I bet neither of those things happened.”

“She surprised me when she told me she’d been watching me for a couple weeks while I used her shed and swam in the pool so I’d be clean for school. She talked me into coming into the house, and she cooked me breakfast. She then informed me that there were rules for staying at her house, and they didn’t include sleeping in the shed. I’ll take one of your home-cooked waffles.”

“Coming right up. I have the best raspberry jam.” I popped the waffles in the toaster. “What about your father?”

“She kept my secret, and he never found out. When I got to be fifteen and could defend myself, he stopped beating on me. After that, I spent all my time here.”

“I wish I’d known all about this from her.”

“Liz protected me. Her finding me was the best day of my life. She hid a key on the back patio, and when I needed to escape, I came here and slept in the guest bedroom. I had a place to sleep, all the food I could eat, and she encouraged me to make something out of my life. She told me I was smart and could be whatever I wanted.”

“She was good that way,” I said, tears in my eyes. “Why didn’t Brad and I ever meet you?”

“I was shipped to Grandma’s every summer. There was work to be done, and I was the family workhorse. The food there sucked. Breakfast was the worst. It consisted of toast swimming in coffee with milk, and do you know why? Because the dog liked it that way.”

I shook my head. “That’s disgusting.”

“After high school, I went into the Army. They paid for my college, and then I went into Special Forces. Your aunt encouraged me to dream big, and I did. When my third tour was up, I didn’t reenlist.”

“How does your living at The Cottages fit in?”

“I don’t actually live there. I use it as cover for my current job. Liz rented it to me when I started working the Byce case. I’m a DEA agent out of the Miami office.”

“Did my aunt know?”

“I didn’t have any secrets from Liz. I loved her like a mother.”

“I was trying to find you. I asked a few people. All of them said they’d never heard of you. I even asked a skip tracer to run a report, but I never heard back.”

“What were you going to tell me?”

“My aunt left several envelopes to be delivered to special people in her life, and yours was the last. I felt guilty that I might never find you.”

“Four days before she died, we had lunch down in Marathon Key at a seafood dive. She looked good to me. I replay that lunch over and over in my mind as though there were something I missed, and if I’d noticed, I could’ve saved her, and I wanted to save her.”

I covered his hand with mine. “I didn’t see you at the funeral.”

“I was there. I watched from the back. No one noticed me because the funeral was such a circus. I thought she deserved better. I was angry at your family for a long time, until I heard Tucker was the one who had planned everything.”

“Why haven’t you introduced yourself?”

He put his mug in the dishwasher. “I’ve been on the Byce drug-running ring for more than a year now. I couldn’t jeopardize my undercover status. In my line of work, you never take the chance that you can trust someone. It took me a while to figure out that you hold a lot of people’s secrets close.”

“Now a few of yours.” I smiled. “After all that, Alexander gets away, and your case blows up.”

“Not quite. Late last night, Alexander was taken into custody. By now, Daddy Byce must know we have his progeny in jail, and that’s where he’ll stay for awhile anyway.”

“That’s great. How did that happen?” I asked.

“We had him under surveillance in the Caribbean, and for whatever reason, he came back on his own. Once he set foot on United States soil, we had him.”

“I didn’t think he was that stupid.”

His eyes turned steely. “The rich think they can write the rules however they want.”

“I heard all the evidence blew up.”

“Right before the building blew, I lifted the surveillance DVD’s from his office. When I came down the stairs, I saw you and your cohort take off in different directions. I tossed the back pack to one of my partners and went after you.” He laughed. “Do you know how many times we showed up in the same place? At first it was funny, and then not so much.”

“I was warned more than once to stay out of everything. People tell me I don’t listen very well.”

“That’s a shock.” He rolled his eyes.

“At first I wanted to clear my ex-husband for selfish reasons and to get rid of him. What about Pavel? No one mentioned his name after the novelty of his dead body being plucked from the water wore off.”

“Byce carries a lot of weight around here and isn’t bashful about working his connections. And he employs a lot of your neighbors.”

“Do you think Sid Byce was totally oblivious?”

“For the most part. We believe he was tipped off that we were hours away from a raid. I’d bet hard cash Sid arranged for the warehouse to be blown up. Proving that is another matter since everyone died and he has an alibi.”

“What about his spawn?”

“We tried to pressure Alexander into talking, but the first words out of his mouth were ‘I want to call my lawyer.’ His five-thousand-dollar-an-hour lawyer told him to keep his mouth shut, and he did.”

“Will there be any charges related to Pavel?” I asked.

“He’s the casualty in all of this. Shooter’s dead and we have nothing that links Alexander to the murder.”

“A disk was mailed to me, and it shows Tony Carlos confessing to Alexander that he killed Pavel. Pavel was peeing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tony didn’t ask any questions, he just shot him. The disk was turned over to local police.”

“I’m going to get that disk. Tighten the screws on that smug punk.”

“That’s a nice thought.”

“I was across the canal the night that bastard Carlos took a swing that sent you into the water. I knew there was no way I could get to you before you drowned. I really felt like I’d let Liz down again, and then you surfaced and took cover until they stopped looking for you. Good job. Just to let you know, that guy would’ve disappeared, never to be found.”

“Worm food?”

He laughed. “Who’ve you been hanging with?”

“I protect my sources. There’s something you should be made aware of.”

He leveled his gaze at me. “What?”

“Elizabeth left me all of her IOUs from you.”

“No, she didn’t.”

“I have it in writing. And…”

“There’s more? I’m going to need to see proof.”

I laughed. “I’m happy that we’ve been officially introduced.”

He stood up and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m leaving before I make another attempt to wiggle you out of your clothes.” He lightly kissed my lips.

“Friends? You’re welcome here anytime. I’d like to introduce you to Brad.” I walked into the living room, lifted the lid on a wood box that a high school boyfriend had carved for Elizabeth and pulled out the envelope, handing it to him.

“One more thing.” He opened the front door. “If you break up with the bf, I’m your first call.”

I laughed. “You’d be just what the doctor would prescribe.”

He leaned in, kissed me, and disappeared down the drive.

* * *

Excerpt from CRAZY IN PARADISE

Chapter 1

There should be a law in South Florida that a person can’t die during the summer. The death of a loved one was hard enough without the added humiliation of sweat. I felt it rolling down my back, like a stream trapped by the belt of my dress with nowhere to go.

My name is Madison Elizabeth Westin, and I’m seated at the funeral of my favorite aunt, people watching, of all things. Most of the mourners looked ready for a pool party, some of them in shorts and bathing suit cover-ups. I was the only one dressed in black; even my brother wore khaki shorts.

The minister began, “We are gathered here today to give thanks for the life of Elizabeth Ruth Hart, who shared herself with us. It is in her memory we come together and, for all she meant to us, we are thankful.”

My mother had named me after her older sister. Elizabeth was like a second mother to my brother Brad and me. We spent summers with her in Florida, running and playing on the beach, building sandcastles, and she was a regular visitor to our home in South Carolina.

After five years of not seeing her, I had packed for a several-month stay and planned to spend the summer with her. That’s when I got a phone call from her lawyer telling me she had died. I still found it difficult to believe it had happened so suddenly.

When I walked into the funeral home earlier, the heat had smothered me; this main room was suffocating. The air conditioning wasn’t working and it felt as though it was more than one hundred degrees. The director, Dickie Vanderbilt, had apologized for that, telling me that the central unit had gone out earlier in the day. He informed me he had all of the ceiling fans on high, which, in my opinion, were only circulating hot air.

Dickie Vanderbilt gave me the creeps. He had a slight build, pasty white skin, and long skinny fingers. When he reached out to touch my arm, I tried hard not to squirm.

I’m not a big fan of shaking hands. I find people only want to shake your hand when they can see you’re not interested. A friend suggested I perfect the dog paw shake for those who insist. I extend my hand like a paw and let it hang loose. Often times, they jerk their hand away and give me an odd stare, which makes me want to laugh every time.

The minister rambled on. I found him to be uninteresting, his speech dry. He talked about Elizabeth as though she were a stranger to him and everyone here. Apparently, Elizabeth’s jerk attorney, Tucker Davis, hadn’t given the minister any information about her. I didn’t understand why my aunt left all of the details of her funeral to Tucker. Why would she exclude the people who loved her and knew her best from having input? I wished I had one more day to walk along the beach to laugh, talk, and collect shells with her.