Sweet Tea and Secrets (39 page)

“You’re a manipulator. You used me.”

“And it was my pleasure, babe.”

Disgust surged through her. “Screw you.”

“And that was my pleasure, too. Believe me. So anyway, that
was when I hooked up with you. You and that goody two shoes Malloy were easy enough to manipulate, you righteous do-gooders. You think everyone is as honest as you are.” Bradley tipped his head back with a smirk. “You southerners are so gullible.”

“We’re trusting. Besides, look who’s talking. You’re from further south than me.”

“No. Actually. I’m from Maine.”

“Good lord.” She gestured in a sweeping motion with her arm. “Where does it end?”

“You were so easy. A digital camera and a little Photoshop touch-up and you swallowed that bait like a hungry catfish,” he said in a mocking southern tone.

“You’re despicable,” she spewed. “Garrett swore he’d never seen that blonde. You made me believe there was something going on.”

“I didn’t make you believe anything. I simply made some artful suggestions.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“You don’t really appeal to me anymore, either.” He stood and approached her.

She prayed Scott would show up soon.

He pushed her toward the kitchen. “Walk.”

She stumbled. “Stop it. That hurts.” She turned and met his cold stare without a flinch.

He looked surprised by her resolve. “Go on. Move.”

She stepped into the kitchen and turned to face him. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to give you one more chance. Hand over the Pacini Pearls.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll burn down the house.”

“You won’t do that. You want your treasure.”

“You said you don’t have it,” Bradley reminded her. “Either you give them to me and go on with your small-town life, or you and the pearls go up in smoke.”

Her thoughts flashed to the fire in the woods. He’d do it.
Where are you Scott?
She wished she’d called Garrett instead. She glanced at the clock on the stove. Garrett would be here to pick her up in just fifteen minutes.
I can stall that long.

Bradley’s voice was calm. His gaze steady. “I’m not going to let you have my treasure. I’d rather let you die with it than to lose it to you. I’ve waited too long. Those pearls are mine.”

She spoke with quiet, yet definite firmness. “I don’t know what or where it is.”

“Don’t play games with me.” He tapped the face of his gold and diamond watch. “Time’s a wasting. I’ve been patient, but I’m over that now.” As he admired his expensive timepiece, she mustered all the strength she had and landed her bent knee in his groin.

He doubled over, then stumbled backwards.

Jill shoved him as hard as she could and ran.

He recovered quickly and ran after her, grabbing her by her hair and twisting it in his fist, stopping her in her tracks.

Pain ripped through her, clear down her spine. She screamed, and lunged toward him to relieve the pressure of his grip.

Bradley forced her against him. “Don’t want to play nice?” he choked out, his face red and sweating from the pain. “There are a couple good things about the country, babe. No one is going to hear you way the hell out here. You go right on and scream until your lungs bleed. It just turns me on anyway.”

Bradley shoved her into one of the wooden kitchen chairs.

The woven bottom scraped the back of her thighs as she landed hard. She kicked toward him, trying to land another blow, but her angle was wrong.

He had a tight grip around both of her wrists in one of his large hands. “Quit kicking, damn it,” Bradley yelled.

Jill wasn’t going to give in. She finally knew what she wanted and she had every intention of fighting for it. “Leave me alone, you freak,” she screamed.

He knocked her to the ground.

The wind knocked from her chest when her back hit the floor.

In one quick move, he knelt on her arms to keep her from moving.

She heard his belt clear loops in three loud snaps.

She continued to kick and thrash against him, landing a few good kicks.

He wrapped the belt around her arms and tightened it to immobilize them. The leather bit into her soft flesh.

Bradley dragged her to the chair and buckled her belted arms through the chair rails at her back.

She squirmed and kicked her heels against the ground, hopping in the chair, frantic to get loose.

Bradley loosened his tie with one hand and pulled it over his head. “Do you remember buying this neck tie?” He pushed her hands through the loop of the silk tie and tugged hard worried the belt wouldn’t hold her tight enough.

She continued to kick and caught him in the back of the knee as he moved in front of her.

“Bet you didn’t know at the time that you’d be dying with it tied around your wrists.” He opened a drawer and rummaged through the contents then slammed it shut. In the next drawer he came up with a roll of duct tape. He caught one of her ankles mid-kick then wrapped the tape in a quick figure eight around it and the second rung of the chair.

“You’re pissin’ me off.” The force of his seething reply caused her to tense, as he grabbed her other ankle and did the same.

She glared at him. ”You think I care?”

He backhanded her.

She flinched against the power of the blow that made her eye feel like it had exploded. Warm blood trickled down to her lip.

He’d mastered that move, landing the blow right on top of the already bruised knot he put on her cheek before. She took a big gulp of air, fighting to stay conscious, but unsure if she still was. She blinked against the pain.

She heard his laugh as he moved through the living room.

Thank, God
, she thought. Maybe he would leave now. She heard him moving through the house, his steps echoing loud on the wooden plank floors. Books crashed and glass broke as something hit the floor in the other room.

She caught his reflection in the dining room mirror.

He paced like a wild animal, back and forth through the rooms.

“Where are they? Damn it.” He climbed the stairs, clomping from room to room, then back down the stairs, growling out obscenities the whole way.

She heard a familiar sound. The flick of his pipe lighter. “Brad-ley,” she screamed.

“I’m busy,” he yelled back.

“Stop this.” Fear sliced through her. “Bradley, what are you doing?” Her voice rose in panic as she realized his intentions.

“Smoking. Want one?” He leaned back, and gave Jill one last glance. Their gazes held for what seemed like a long time.

“Please,” she mouthed to him. Her eyes pleaded. “Don’t do this to me.”

He moved out of her line of sight.

She heard the unmistakable flick of the lighter again.

Silence.

But only for a moment.

Then, a flash of orange followed a loud whoosh as the first flame lit. The heavy drapes that covered the long row of windows in the front room went up quick. Yellow and gold danced in the mirror, and dusty smoke snaked through the air.

Bradley stepped back to the doorway between the living and dining rooms. “I might just miss you a little after all, babe. What a shame.”

“Please, let me go,” she begged. “Don’t do this to me.” She struggled against the binds that held her tight to the chair. She tried to hop but with her feet up on the rungs, she wasn’t able to get any leverage.

“I won’t tell,” she pleaded, exhausted from the struggle, and trying to catch her breath. She gulped smoke and coughed uncontrollably. “I won’t tell. I promise.”

If she could just scoot the chair to the cabinets, she might be able to get her hands lose with the metal of the handles. She felt a thread of hope as she heaved herself forward and finally the chair bumped. But it landed crooked and toppled over to the right, throwing her hard against the floor on her shoulder.

Pain splintered through her body.

She fought to reconnect with the breath that had been knocked out of her in the fall.

I’m okay. I’m okay.
She prayed she wouldn’t pass out. Her hands wiggled and tugged against the spindles of the chair until one finally gave way.

She heard Bradley snicker.

“You’re not going to leave me like this,” she said. “Help me.”

He knelt on one knee, only feet away.

She didn’t let go of his gaze. She wouldn’t let him off that easy.

“You lose,” he said.

A loud pop came from the living room.

“Don’t. Please help me,” she said, but she wasn’t sure the words were even audible. There was a lethal calmness in his eyes. “It was all you. How could you?”

He jumped to his feet and ran. The door slammed behind him.

She cried as the heavy black smoke rolled into the kitchen.

Trapped.

She tried to scream even though she knew it was pointless wasted breath. There were no neighbors to hear her.

As the smoke thickened, sweat dripped from her hair into her eyes. The fire in the next room popped and crackled hot.

Chapter Twenty-One

The road ahead clouded with dust. Garrett swerved his truck onto the soft shoulder as a car zoomed by from the other direction. The car’s speed was reckless, even for locals who were comfortable on these back roads. Garrett’s tires spit dust and gravel as they spun, trying to get traction back onto the pavement. Clyde barked from the passenger seat.

An uneasy feeling came over Garrett. He was about a mile from Pearl’s house. Jill was there waiting on him, but that car looked an awful lot like Kase’s Lexus.
Would that jerk have the balls to come
back around here again
?

Garrett jammed on the brakes and turned his truck around to follow Kase, dialing the sheriff as he did.

“Calvin? Malloy here. I think I just passed Kase on Old Pond Road.” Garrett mashed the gas pedal, accelerating quickly.

“We’re on our way.” Sheriff Calvin committed to get help to intercept him.

Garrett glanced in his rear view mirror out of habit.

The dusty road blurred dark gray.

His eyes narrowed as he tried to gain perspective on the image behind him and then he slammed on his brakes.

“God. No,” he said, forgetting he still had the cell phone to his ear.

“I’ve got someone only about four miles out. If it’s him, we’ve got him this time. Do you still have the vehicle in sight?” Sheriff Calvin asked.

 
“Yeah.” Garrett glanced in his rear view mirror. He slammed on the brakes sending papers and tools sliding across the floor of the truck. “Shit. That’s smoke. I’ve got to check on Jill.”

“What’s going on?” Voices on the radio crackled in the background. “Garrett. That was dispatch. Jill called. Kase was there.”

“Damn him.” Garrett leaned his body forward, willing the truck to go even faster.

“We’re on our way,” Scott said. “Be careful. He’s out of control.”

“Yeah. Well I know where he isn’t.” Garrett grabbed the wheel with both hands as he pushed his truck to new limits. “I’m heading for Jill. Get that bastard this time, would ya’?” He tossed the phone in the seat.

Black smoke billowed over the trees. He prayed that it was only the woods on fire again.

His pulse raced. Sweat beaded on his upper lip. He frowned with cold fury.

Garrett gasped as he cleared the trees and saw the house in flames.

“Jill!”

Ash showered like tiny blistering snowflakes on his windshield.

He jumped from the truck, leaving Clyde barking in alert, safe in the truck. The smoke stung his nose and eyes. He imposed an iron control over himself, trying to keep a clear head.

As he neared the house, the press of the heat was almost unbearable. His skin tightened against it. A gold flame spiked high into the sky and another pushed through the front wall of the house. He raised his forearm against the blinding inferno.