Summer Rental (51 page)

“Thank God,” Ellis murmured.

Everything happened at once then. Cops with dogs swarmed out of the cruisers, weapons drawn. Connor Terry pulled up in his Jeep a moment later, and rushed to Dorie’s side. The EMTs strapped Shackleford to a gurney and shoved him into the ambulance.

“Come on, buddy,” said another technician, trying to herd Ty towards the same ambulance.

“Nothin’ doin’,” Ty said through gritted teeth. “I’m not getting in the same buggy as the asshole who just tried to kill us all.”

Madison, despite her own vehement protests, was told that her head injury, and a shoulder that was likely dislocated, meant a direct ticket to the emergency room. Red lights flashing, the ambulance left, bearing both Madison and her unconscious husband to the emergency room.

Ty was still arguing with the EMTs when the pretty black paramedic who’d just finished applying a butterfly bandage to Madison’s forehead came walking up. “Aw, Bazemore, don’t be such a hardhead,” she called.

“Kalilah, you know this guy?”

“Sure,” she replied. “You know him too. He works the bar at Caddie’s.”

“Hey, Kalilah,” Ty said. “I’m was just trying to tell your friend here it’s no big thing.”

“Lemme see,” Kalilah said, pushing him gently onto the bumper of the nearest cruiser. Donning a fresh pair of latex gloves, and illuminated by the headlights of another cruiser, she gently probed the wound. “You are one charmed sumbitch,” she told him, swabbing the wound with disinfectant. “
Looks like that bullet only grazed you. Couple inches to the right, and it would’ve hit your femoral artery. You would’ve bled out before we got here.”

“Yeah,” added the first EMT, “and another inch to the right of that and you’d be singing soprano.”

“My lucky day,” Ty said, wincing.

Kalilah was an efficient worker, and a moment later she had his thigh cleaned and dressed. “Now,” she ordered with a grin. “I need you to drop those pants so I can hit you with some antibiotics. Which one of those cheeks is the prettiest?”

Ty shrugged, and unflinchingly dropped his rain-sodden shorts to offer up his left buttock. Before he could stop her, she jabbed him with a second needle. “A lil’ something for the pain,” she said. “You’re gonna sleep good tonight, my friend.”

Thunder growled in the distance, and a streak of lightning tore through the night. But the rain had slacked off to a gentle drizzle, and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, after all the witnesses had been questioned and statements taken, the police cruisers made their bumpy exit down the Ebbtide driveway. The group stood, huddled under a green-and-white striped golf umbrella, watching them go.

“Hey,” Ellis said suddenly. “It just struck me. That first siren we heard. Right when Don Shackleford was going to shoot Ty. Where the hell did that come from?”

Dorie laughed. “My bad.” She reached in the pocket of Connor Terry’s borrowed, bright yellow Dare County Sheriff rain slicker and brandished her weapon of choice. “You ever try to slash a steel-belted radial Michelin with the equivalent of a butter knife?” She gave Ty a reproachful head shake. “Dude, you gotta get some decent equipment in that kitchen of yours. I was still sawing away on that first tire when the Escalade’s car alarm went off. I thought for sure he’d kill all of y’all.”

“Actually, that car alarm probably saved my life,” Ty told her. “Shackleford had a dead bead drawn on me. He’d have shot me for sure. So it looks like you’re the real hero here.”

“She did great,” Ellis said, looking around at all
their haggard, mud-splattered faces. “But I think we all did pretty good. We make a decent team, don’t you think?”

“Awesome,” Julia said. “But I’d just as soon not ever go through anything like that again. Ever.”

Ty nodded his agreement, but his eyelids were drooping, and it was clear he was in pain. “Come on,” Ellis said finally, draping Ty’s arm around her shoulder. “I’m taking you home.”

He looked off at the spot where his garage and apartment had been, and yawned. “Got no home anymore,” he said drowsily.

“Sure you do,” Ellis told him, nudging him gently towards the weatherbeaten gray house. “Ebbtide’s still here. It’s not going anywhere. And neither am I.”

Epilogue

Julia burst through the kitchen door. “Ellis,” she exclaimed. “I just got back from my run and noticed that Madison’s car is gone! I called the hospital and they told me she got herself discharged early this morning, AMA—that means ‘against medical advice.’”

Ellis finished wrapping the last pink-and-green-flowered dinner plate with a sheet of newspaper and nestled it tenderly in a box with the other dishes from the now-empty cupboard. “Madison’s gone,” she said calmly.

Julia opened the refrigerator door and stood there, letting the chill spread over her sweat-soaked body. “You don’t sound too surprised.”

Ellis gestured towards the kitchen table, where the high-heeled Christian Louboutin sandals rested atop a scap of paper. “I was originally. But I guess it’s not really all that shocking that she would leave like this. Not when you think about it.”

“Okay if I read it?” Julia asked, craning her neck to look over at the note.

“Of course,” Ellis said. “It’s addressed to all of us.”

Dorie came wandering into the kitchen then, barefoot and dressed in a navy blue Dare County Police Academy T-shirt over her shorty-pajama bottoms.
She yawned and ran her fingers through her tousled strawberry blond locks. “What’s addressed to us?”

“This,” Julia said, holding the note. “It’s from Madison.”

“Madison?” Dorie scrunched up her face in confusion. “Isn’t Madison in the hospital?”

“Not anymore,” Ellis said. “Read the note, Julia.”

Dear Ellis, Dorie, and Julia: I’m no good at good-byes, so this will have to do. The ER docs say I don’t have a concussion, and they managed to stitch up my head and pop my shoulder back in place, so aside from some cuts and bruises, I’m good as new. Which means it’s time to hit the road. I want to thank the three of you for giving me something I’ve never had before—friends. Real, true girlfriends. I know I’m not easy to warm up to—hah!—understatement, right, Julia? The three of you—and Ty—saved my life this summer, not to mention last night, literally. Now it’s time for me to start over
. Not sure where I’ll end up, or what I’ll do next, but I do know I’ll try hard not to screw up this time around. You guys take care. Your friend, Madison.

P.S. The nurses at the hospital tell me Don has a fractured skull—and something they call “blunt force trauma” to the testicles. Bravo, Ellis! P.P.S. Dorie, your friend Connor is a nice guy. He called the police in Jersey and found out that the cops in Camden discovered Adam’s body Friday morning. It was stuffed in the trunk of his car, parked in a mall. I would have been in that trunk too, if it hadn’t been for you guys. So, thanks again. -M-

“Aww,” Dorie said, sniffing and blotting her eyes with the tail of her T-shirt. “Where’d you find this, Ellis?”

“On the front porch,” Ellis said. “I woke up around six thirty, because I thought I heard a car door. After everything else that happened last night, I guess I was still on edge. I ran downstairs and looked out the living room window, just in time to see a taxi pulling away. Madison’s Volvo was right behind it. She left the note and those shoes.”

“Wow,” Dorie said, sinking down into a chair. “Poor Madison. First she finds out the only person she trusted betrayed her, and then she finds out he’s dead. That’s a lot to handle.”

Julia plucked a peach from a bowl on the kitchen counter, and sank her teeth into it. For a moment, she chewed busily, letting the pink juice dribble down her chin. “I know it’s awful, but I’m not gonna waste any time feeling bad for that guy. I’m guessing Adam’s the one who told Don where he could find Madison. He sold her out!”

“I don’t guess we’ll ever know the truth about that,” Ellis said. “I suppose there’ll be a trial, either here or up in New Jersey. Wonder if Madison will show up to testify? Or if she’ll just disappear all over again.”

“I bet she’ll testify,” Dorie said loyally. “She cared about Adam, even after she was pretty sure he’d turned on her. She’s a good person at heart. I mean, she could have taken off with all that money, if she’d been a crook. But she didn’t, did she?”

“About that money,” Julia said slowly. “What happens with that? A hundred thousand dollars is nothing to sneeze at.”

“I saw one of the cops putting the laptop bag in the back of his cruiser,” Dorie volunteered. “Maybe they’ll give it back to the company Shackleford stole it from? I’ll ask Connor.”

“And when are you seeing your new
boyfriend
again?” Julia teased.

“He’s coming over this morning to pick up the rain slicker I borrowed last night, and to help me pack the van,” Dorie admitted. “But you’ve got to stop calling him my boyfriend. He’s just a friend.…”

“Who happens to be a boy, who has a major crush on you,” Ellis pointed out. “What’s he think about you heading home to Savannah today?”

Dorie sighed. “He wanted to help me drive home, since Julia’s not coming back with me, but I told him I didn’t think that was a good idea. I’ve got so much to do when I get home, getting the house packed up, meetings at school, and classes start next week. Not to mention, I’ve got to have a long talk with my mother. Oh yeah, and meet with my divorce lawyer! Connor’s got a week of vacation in October, and he wants to visit then.”

“Have you decided where you’re going to live?” Ellis asked.

Dorie’s face brightened. “Willa—bless her interfering heart—managed to work that out for me. I think she must have laid a major guilt trip on Phyllis. Can you believe it? Mama called this morning and told me she wants me to move into my nana’s house in Ardsley Park! Rent-free! She says my brother is fine with it.”

“Of course Nash is fine with it,” Julia said. “He’s probably thrilled at the idea of you living there and cooking and cleaning for him.”

Dorie shook her head. “Nuh-uh. Nash will have another think coming if he thinks I’m gonna be his personal housekeeper. I am done being Dorie the Doormat,” she declared.

“What do you hear from Stephen?” Julia asked.

“He wants to see me as soon as I get home,” Dorie said. “And he asked if he can come to my next OB appointment. He wants to be there for the ultrasound I’ve got scheduled.”

“So, give him a printout,” Julia snapped.

“I told him I’m fine with him coming,” Dorie said. “He’s the baby’s father. I’ve seen Phyllis struggle with being a single mom. And I’ve been the kid whose dad never came to back-to-school night. I don’t want that for this baby. No matter how I feel about the decisions Stephen’s made, he’s not a monster. He’s a good man. And I want him in my child’s life.”

“You are such an adult,” Julia said, shaking her head in admiration. “Really, Dorie. You amaze me.”

Dorie dipped a curtsy. “Thanks. Sometimes I amaze me too. We’ll see. How ’bout you, Julia? What time are you expecting Booker?”

“With Booker, you never know,” Julia laughed. “He’s driving down in the new car he bought me. I haven’t owned my own car in years, but Book insists I’ll need one, working here and living part-time in Atlanta. Thank God I kept up my Georgia driver’s license.” Julia glanced at her watch. “Which reminds me, I’ve got a production meeting at Joe’s hotel in fifteen minutes. I know you need to get your car loaded, Ellis, but do you think Ty would mind loaning me his Bronco? Just for an hour or so?”

“What’s this about taking my car?” The three women turned their heads in unison as Ty walked, stiff legged, into the kitchen. He
was unshaven, and dressed in a threadbare blue terry cloth bathrobe, but otherwise looked remarkably fit for a man who’d been shot only hours before.

“Well,” Julia started, “I just need to run up to Kitty Hawk for our production meeting, and I know Ellis probably wants to get on the road, so I thought maybe…”

Ellis and Ty’s eyes met. Ty raised one eyebrow, and Ellis gave a barely perceptible nod. “Ellis,” he said succinctly, “isn’t going anywhere.” He wound an arm around Ellis’s waist, and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Right? You wanna tell them, or should I?”

Ellis rubbed her face against Ty’s day-old beard, reveling in the casual intimacy.

“That’s not exactly accurate,” she corrected. She turned to Julia and said apologetically, “Actually, I do need to get my car loaded this morning. But I’m sure you can borrow Ty’s Bronco.”

“What?” Ty looked taken aback. “We agreed. You said last night…”

Ellis shrugged. “I changed my mind.”

Ty’s eyes darkened. “Ellis, don’t do this…”

She caught him by the belt of his robe and drew him back towards her, as though she were reeling in a particularly cooperative fish. “You,” she pointed out, “took a bullet in your thigh last night. You can hardly walk. You don’t need to be going up and down these stairs all morning. I can easily load my stuff myself, and move it down to Pelican Cottage. I loaded it in here by myself, and I can load it out by myself.”

“Now wait,” Ty started.

“You mean it?” Dorie squealed. “You’re not going back to Philly? At all? You’re gonna stay here? With Ty?”

“Well, not here at Ebbtide,” Ellis said, trying hard to suppress a smile. “We’ll be shacked up in that little hovel he rented just down the beach. For at least the next three months. Give or take.”

“Give or take?” Julia said with a hoot. “Who are you, Ellis Sullivan? And what about that cushy job in Seattle? I thought you couldn’t live without a job and a 401(k) and a parking pass. And a Kaper chart. What’s the plan, Ellis?”

“There is no plan,” Ellis said blissfully. “I guess I finally figu
red that out … last night. There’s nothing I need or want in Seattle.” She glanced at Ty, whose arm was around her shoulder. “I’ve got what I want. Right here.”

“Happy ever after, that’s the plan,” Ty said. “I’m going to teach her how to surf.”

“And I’m going to teach him how to read a spreadsheet.”

“If you need us, we’ll be at Pelican Cottage,” Ty broke in. “And it’s not a hovel. It’s oceanfront, and it’s quaint.…”

“It’s a dump,” Ellis said, shushing him. “Just like Ebbtide is. Was. But we can fix that. Fortunately for you,
Mister Culpepper
, I happen to have a weird fondness for dumps. And their landlords.”