Peppermint Creek Inn (44 page)

Matthew’s eyes flew wide open. He winced as the sound of breaking glass still echoed viciously in his ears. His heart cracked like a jackhammer against his chest, his body primed for action. He swore beneath his breath and bolted up in bed.

He scratched his bristly chin, looked around the semi-dark room and tried to figure out where the hell he was.

—

In a desperate attempt to alert Tom, Sara had purposely knocked a pile of mugs off the kitchen counter. The crash reverberated throughout the house so loud it made Whitey cringe. When he recovered from the shock of the noise Whitey took a threatening step toward her.

“He won’t get away. Not this time,” Whitey growled angrily.

“Stay there! I’m warning you! I will shoot,” Sara shouted.

But Whitey still came toward her.

She had to shoot him. She had to protect Tom.

Oh, please, God, forgive me.

Closing her eyes, she pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

She pulled it again. Still nothing. When she opened her eyes Whitey was hurtling toward her.

She wanted to run. To scream a warning. But it was too late!

“Next time make sure the safety catch is off,” he snickered wickedly as he reached out to grab her.

Sara cringed in horror, as she awaited his wicked touch. But then Whitey froze as a man’s fierce shout echoed through her kitchen.

“Hold it right there or I’ll blow sunshine right through your brains!”

Sara almost laughed with relief as she spotted Tom standing in the hallway. Clad only in jeans, his hair was all messed from sleep. But his green eyes shone with bright alertness. An old musket clamped firmly in his hands.

Sara stifled a helpless cry. He held the same musket she’d hung over her fireplace as decoration. And it was totally useless. Did Tom know? Would Whitey guess?

Tom glared at the white-haired man. If looks could kill, then Whitey surely would be a dead man.

“You’re history, Whitey. Place your gun gently on the table.”

The white-haired man chuckled lightly. “I’m history? Have you taken a look at your gun?”

Oh, dear God, he knows. Sara’s heart picked up the battering beat.

“Do it! Now!” Tom commanded. The icy authority in his voice jolted her. She peered through the early morning darkness at him.

Something had changed about him.

He seemed different. In the way he held himself. In the cold, no-nonsense authority of his voice. Then realization slammed into her stomach as if she’d just been sucker punched.

That endearing little lost boy look she’d fallen in love with had vanished from his face, the sadness veiling his eyes drawn away to reveal a searing masculine confidence.

She found herself drawn to this new emotional transformation.

“Maybe you don’t hear so good, Whitey.” Tom leveled the antique musket at Whitey’s head. “Consider this a hearing aid.”

Whitey’s smooth smile slid into a frown. He hesitated a moment. His fierce gaze studied Tom. Sara could hear the wheels turning in the man’s head. Was Tom bluffing? Did the musket work?

“As you wish, as you wish. I’m putting down my gun.” Slowly, with a great deal of care, Whitey moved toward the kitchen table. Toward her.

“Lady! Get away from him!” It took her a moment before Sara realized Tom was talking to her. A cold shiver of unease slid down her back as she did as he asked. Why had he called her “lady”?

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Tom warned Whitey. And then he swung his cold gaze on her.

“You too, lady.” Sara blinked in surprise as he shouted at her. “I said stay clear away from him, lady. I don’t want any trouble from either of you. Just follow my instructions and neither of you will get hurt,
comprendez
?”

Why was he acting so strangely? So cold toward her? As if he didn’t trust her. Sara’s mind immediately supplied the answer. Smokey had said it might happen.

Tom had reassured her only hours ago it wouldn’t. But it had. The cold realization made her head swim. Tom had forgotten her.

“You won’t get away with this, Matt.” Whitey spat as he placed the gun gently upon the table and glared angrily at Tom.

“
Au contrar
, Whitey. I’ve got the evidence you want. Your fate is sealed. As are the fates of so many of your crooked cops.”

“Better think twice what you’re saying, Matt. I can merely snap my fingers from prison and everyone you love will be dead including her.” Whitey pointed at Sara.

“Her?” Tom’s eyes narrowed as he threw a quick glance at Sara. She jolted at the cold hardness in his green eyes and Sara felt the prick of tears blur her eyes as his next words cut a deep gash, straight into her very soul.

“She means nothing to me. What the hell are you talking about? I’ve never seen this woman in my life.”

Sara was too stunned at the cold harshness of his words to fully comprehend the movement she saw in the dark hallway behind Tom until it was too late. Before she could issue a warning, the blonde woman had stepped up behind Tom and jabbed the gun into his back.

“Hi, Loverboy,” she drawled.

Tom’s face washed to a ghastly white and he winced. If it was due to the gun in his back or the word she’d called him, Sara couldn’t be sure. But the icy curve lifting his lips assured Sara he wasn’t happy to see the blonde.

“Pauline,” Tom sneered. “Should have known you’d crash the party.”

“You know the drill, Matt,” Whitey said as he grabbed the musket from Tom’s hands and threw it onto the kitchen table. With lightning speed, he retrieved his own gun and Sara’s.

She watched helplessly as Tom placed his hands against the wall and spread his legs.

“Pauline,” Whitey said. “I’ll cover them. I’m sure you’d like to do the honors.”

“You bet,” Pauline drawled seductively as she placed her gun on a nearby chair.

Sara noticed Tom move uncomfortably as Pauline’s hands roved slower than necessary over Tom’s hips, across his back and belly and then down his legs.

“The only thing he’s packing is a nice cock and juicy set of balls,” Pauline chuckled as she finished frisking Tom and with the quick swiftness of a scorpion, pulled his arms behind his back and snapped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists.

Pauline swept her gun off the nearby chair and Sara jumped as the blonde swung the weapon on her.

“And you! I should kill you. No one gets away with sleeping with my husband.”

“Don’t do it, Pauline,” Tom warned. “It’ll be too messy. I know how you hate to clean up after yourself.”

Pauline lunged at Tom. But Whitey’s sharp shout stopped her dead.

“He’s baiting you. Cuff the girl. Then go outside. Cool off. And keep an eye out for any unwelcome guests.”

Sara winced as the blonde cruelly forced her hands forward and snapped the ice-cold cuffs around her wrists. She noticed the satisfied smile on Pauline’s face and wished she could punch the woman in the nose.

“I’ll deal with you later!” the blonde hissed as she pointed her menacing gun at Sara.

“Looking forward to it,” Sara replied coolly as the woman stepped outside.

“Now that I have your full attention,” Whitey said to Matt, “you can tell me what I want to know.”

“Go to hell!” Sara spat. “He’s not telling you a damn thing.”

“I guess I can see whose side you’re on, lady,” Tom drawled coldly. “But I don’t need your help. Just shut your pretty little mouth. This conversation is between the big cheese and me.”

Sara blinked in surprise as Tom casually returned his attention to Whitey. There had been something in his eyes.

A glint of mischievousness?

“So, let’s deal, Whitey. What are you willing to trade to get your hands on the tape I shot?”

“I’ll kill both of you quick. How’s that?”

Tom lifted his handcuffed hands and scratched his nose thoughtfully before saying, “Someone once told me something. Only the good die young. So, I figure my time isn’t up for awhile.”

Sara blinked in surprise and tried to clamp down on her soaring hopes. She’d used the same line on him when he was recuperating from the gunshot wound in her bed. He was sending her a message. To let her know he was all right. That he still remembered her.

But why was he pretending not to know her? Was it so Whitey wouldn’t use her as leverage against him? Did he want Whitey to believe she meant nothing to him, so he’d let her go? But she wouldn’t leave. Not without Tom.

Whitey muttered a foul oath then said angrily, “What makes you think I can even deal with you, Matt? What you did sickens me. Worming your way into my trust, into my business. I allowed you to marry my daughter.”

“Your daughter drugged me. It was the only way she could get herself a man. Besides the marriage isn’t legal. I haven’t used my real name.”

“You bastard,” the blonde hissed from the other side of the screen door.

“Shut up, Pauline,” Tom snarled at the blonde. His cold gaze flew back to Whitey. “I’ll hand over the tape, on one condition.”

Whitey inhaled slowly. Then let out a deep breath. “All right. Name it.”

“You let the lady go.”

Sara’s wrists tightened against her restraints. Tom was offering his life for hers. She wouldn’t allow it.

It was up to her now. She had to figure out how to get out of these handcuffs. She’d done it once with Tom’s cuffs on the first night he’d arrived. It should be easier the second time around. When she got free then she’d be able to help him.

Whitey was regarding Tom with genuine interest when she said, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Where is it?”

“Just down the hall. I can leave the door open if you’re so afraid I might escape,” Sara taunted. “And I need the cuffs off.”

Whitey shook his head. “No. You keep them on. Figure out a way. I’ll give you three minutes. You’re not back by then I’ll shoot Matt in the leg. And I’ll enjoy it.”

An icy shiver rippled across her shoulders at Whitey’s evil grin. Shakily, she headed down the hallway. Leaving the door open, she darted through the adjoining doorway into her bedroom. Breathing a silent thanks, she picked up the item she needed then headed back into the bathroom, flushing the toilet to make it look official.

—

“C’mon, Matthew. How do you propose I let a witness go?” Whitey smirked.

“She looks to be a smart lady. I’m sure she’d know how to keep her mouth shut. You set her free and I’ll hand over everything Robin accumulated over the years.”

Whitey looked doubtful. Matt was losing the man and fast. He had to keep him interested.

“How’d you know I was at Robin’s house that night?”

“You give me too much credit.” Whitey sat down on a nearby chair, the gun trained on Sara as she walked back into the room.

“We didn’t know you were a rat. You had us all snowed y’know. Never would have figured you for Internal Affairs.”

The chief shook his head slightly. “After the meeting was finished that night and we left you, we came back almost right away. Pauline wanted to tell you to pick her up in two hours instead of one hour. Imagine our surprise when we saw you back in the alley with something in your hand. A camcorder, no doubt. We followed you down the alley, Matt. Saw you hop on your bike with that smug smile on your face. I called my driver on the cell phone. Told him which street you were heading down. He’s an expert tracker. Maneuvers like a chameleon in heavy traffic. That’s why I hired him. The driver followed you into Robin’s neighborhood. Right to Robin’s back door.” The chief smiled and an icy shiver went up Matt’s naked back. “That’s the beauty of being a police chief, Matt. I know lots of people. I have something on everyone. I had Robin in my hip pocket, or so I thought.”

“So you had something on Robin, did you?” Tom smiled ruefully. “You talking about those bribes he took from you years back?”

Whitey visibly stiffened.

Matt tried hard to contain the raw hurt that still burned inside him from Robin’s confession that he was working with a bunch of government people, using him, stringing him along all these years instead of just the two of them working together as he’d been told by his partner.

Now that he looked back on everything that had happened over the past few years, he’d been naïve.

Stupid in blindly trusting Robin just because he’d kept dangling Chief Jeffries over his head as having something to do with his brother Steve’s death.

Robin had probably lied to him about that, too.

“Are you talking about Robin accepting a weekly fee of one thousand dollars in return for keeping the heat off Scout McMaster and all his arms dealings? Oh, don’t worry, I know all about it. Robin told me everything he did for you. He was your right-hand man. Right up until he got cancer and had to bring in someone new to replace him. Or he would have had you earlier. I worked on you for a long time before you trusted me. You were a tough nut to crack.”

Whitey cursed.

“You’re a low-life, Whitey,” Matt continued. “You’ve caused too much pain and suffering to people with your crooked dealings. Not to mention the officers you corrupted by waving big bills and flashy cars under their noses. If I had been another type of man, I’d have killed you a long time ago.”

“Just like you killed Robin?” Whitey chuckled softly. Matt heard Sara’s sharp intake of breath.

“You know the truth, Whitey.”

“You were stupid to try and save him, Matt. He was a talking dead man. He stiffed me and you stiffed me. No one crosses me. You see what happens when they do, don’t you?”

“So how about it. Let the woman go, and I’ll give you the evidence.”

“Tom!” Sara pleaded.

“Dammit! Don’t call me that!” Matthew snapped back. He hated yelling at her like this, but he needed to make Whitey believe he couldn’t use her as leverage against him.

“All right,” Whitey soothed. “Take it easy, Matt. I’ll let her go after you give me the evidence.”

Matt knew he didn’t have a choice. Reluctantly he gave in.

“Jackfish. The evidence is in Jackfish. I’ll take you there. But you leave the woman here unharmed.”

“We’ll take Sara with us. Then we’ll let her go.”

Suddenly Sara interrupted. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m awfully thirsty. Do you mind?” She gestured toward her refrigerator, a tight smile on her lips.