Tacked to Death (24 page)

She handed Josh to her. "I have an
appointment and I couldn't find anyone to watch him and I knew
you'd probably be here and it's important, and you are his
godmother, so watch him for me for a little bit, okay?"

Michaela nodded. "Sure. Are you okay?
Is everything all right?" Was this for real, Summer asking her to
help with the baby? Never in a million years would she have thought
this would happen. Something had to be wrong. "I'm…well…uh…are you
sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," she snapped. "I don't
have a choice. Are you going to help me out here or
what?"

"Yes, of course, I'll watch Josh.
Everything is okay, right?" she said again.

"Everything is perfect." Summer took a
step back and stood up straight, brushing her hands across her
tight, black satin pencil skirt and lacy white blouse cut down
to…well, pretty low, and the hair—no longer the pretty copper that
Michaela was slightly jealous of. No, it was magenta almost, and
not pulled back, but down, long and wavy. If Michaela didn't know
better, she might think that Summer and Ethan had some kind of hot
date planned, because she looked every bit the seductress. "There's
formula in here." She handed her a blue diaper bag. "And diapers,
wipes, and a jar of food. Actually there's a few jars of food. He
likes the sweet potatoes."

How long did she plan to be gone? Not
that Michaela minded. She loved being able to spend time with her
godson. "What time will you be back?"

"I left a message for Ethan, letting
him know to pick him up here. My appointment could run late, so
Ethan will be by."

"Okay." So they didn't have some
afternoon delight thing planned. Strange, but Michaela was
relieved, which was stupid, because it wasn't as if Summer and
Ethan didn't sleep together. And now she herself seemed to have a
sex life again. Sort of.

"Bye. Thanks." She gave Josh a kiss on
the cheek. The baby smiled at his mom but didn't reach out for her
as he leaned his head against Michaela's chest. Her heart
quickened. She couldn't deny her desire for a baby, especially
while holding Josh.

Summer rushed toward her Mercedes. She
turned around at one point and seemed to hesitate, but then waved
again. Odd. Actually beyond odd, but Michaela wasn't going to fight
it. She was going to spend some time with Josh and she couldn't be
happier to see his cherubic face and big blue eyes. "Hey, little
babe, what are you doing?"

He cooed and smiled at her and she
thought her heart would melt right there. To have a child—amazing.
If she could feel this much love while holding her godson, then
what would it be like to have her own baby? That thought brought
her back to Jude and made her wonder if she should consider taking
their relationship further. She knew that he wanted to. Could she
allow herself to fall for him, completely and totally? He also had
told her that he desired more children and he didn't mind that it
looked as if she couldn't conceive. That if they ever did commit to
each other then adoption might be a good option. They'd only
briefly discussed it when he'd asked her about kids. She'd told him
that she hadn't been able to get pregnant while married to her
ex-husband, Brad. She'd endured a series of fertility treatments,
which her insurance didn't cover, and at the time had caused her to
go deeply in debt—this right after Brad took off with an ex–rodeo
queen.

Michaela laid out Josh's blankie and
some of his toys, then took each stuffed animal and made voices and
faces to go along with it. The baby laughed and it was probably the
sweetest sound Michaela had ever heard. They made silly voices,
endured one diaper change, and then they lay on their backs and
stuck their feet in the air, grabbing their toes—well, Joshy was
able to grab his toes. Michaela wasn't quite so limber and wound up
twisting and falling over to the side, laughing at herself. She
hadn't had this much fun in ages.

Josh started to wind down and fuss. "I
bet you're hungry. Auntie Mickey will fix you a bottle." She got up
and took his bag into the kitchen.

As she started back from the kitchen
she heard a noise. What was that? She came around the corner to see
that Josh had pulled her purse onto the floor, spilling all of its
contents. This quickly reminded her how disorganized she was,
seeing everything from receipts, gum wrappers, and even an empty
raisin box on the floor. She cringed and ran over to where the baby
was putting a business card in his mouth. He'd just started rolling
over and he must've pulled on the purse strap. Dammit, she
should've moved her purse off the chair. "Oh no, no, you
cutie-patootie. What do you have there?" She took the card from his
mouth and shoved it in her back pocket while quickly cleaning up
the mess on the floor so Josh couldn't get into anything else. She
laid him back down on the blanket and handed him his bottle. She
watched him for a minute, then reached into her back pocket to see
if the card he'd had in his mouth was important, like her coffee
card from the Honeybear. She was only one stamp away from a free
cup.

The card was important, but not because
it entitled her to a free cup of java; it was Erin Hornersberg's
card. The card had the makeup artist's name on it with her title,
but it also had the name of the shop—The Sanctuary—and beneath that
it read, OWNER: SHEILA ADDISON. Sheila! The tape. Michaela turned
the card over and her jaw fell. She remembered what Erin had said
to her when she gave her the card. "Sorry, there's an address
written on the back here, but I don't need it anymore."

Michaela had blown it off. No biggie.
But looking at the back side of the card for the first time, she
realized something: She recognized the address. She'd even been
there. It was Sterling Taber's.

Thirty-Five

After Josh sucked down his bottle he
started to fuss, forcing Michaela, for the moment, to forget about
her questions regarding Erin Hornersberg and Sheila. She knew that
she should drop the whole thing. Move on. She was clear of any
wrongdoing. Her life was hers again. Why did she feel the need to
pursue this? Maybe because she knew that there was still a killer
among them. She had to get it off her mind.

Josh started to whine. "All right,
little love, what's the problem? You've been changed, played with,
fed…" He rubbed his eyes. "Ah, but you haven't been cuddled to
sleep." She picked him up and wrapped a thin blanket around him,
deciding to take him out to the back patio, where she had a wooden
rocker next to the pool. Maybe the waterfall that flowed into the
pool would soothe him. Nothing she'd ever experienced before was
more comfortable than rocking and cooing to the baby.

She watched crystalline droplets of
water flow into the black-bottom pool, which Uncle Lou had built to
look like a lagoon. She sure did miss him. Green foliage surrounded
the pool and area, along with an array of tropical flowers that
flourished in the desert heat and dry air.

The beauty surrounding her and the baby
in her lap brought a deep sense of contentment, despite everything
else on her mind. She twirled Josh's fine brown curls in her
fingers. His hair smelled of baby shampoo. He looked so much like
his daddy. Ethan and Summer were lucky to have him. She couldn't
help but nod off.

She didn't know how long they napped
like that, but she was awakened by the touch of a hand on her head.
She blinked several times.

"Hey, sleepyheads," Ethan
said.

"Hi." She looked down at the top of
Josh's head. He was still asleep. "How long have you been
there?"

"Long enough to know this was the most
peaceful that I've ever seen you."

She didn't know how to respond, but she
knew that she didn't want him to lift Josh off her lap. "Summer
call you?"

He nodded. "Left me a message. Did she
say where she was going?"

"No. I thought that maybe she was
meeting you."

"Uh-uh. I had a full day. I've tried
calling her but I keep getting her voice mail."

"I don't know."

Josh stirred and as soon as he realized
his dad was there, his mouth grew into a wide toothless grin. "Hey,
buddy," Ethan said.

Josh reached his arms out for him.
Michaela handed the baby over. "You are such a good
dad."

"Thanks, Mick. I know you'll be a mom
one day. I know it. You'll be awesome."

She didn't reply.

"I better get going. I've got horses to
feed and this guy to take care of."

"Hey, Ethan, everything okay at
home?"

"Sure. Everything is fine."

Something in his voice made her wonder
if he were telling the truth. "Yeah?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I don't know, I guess I found it odd
that Summer would drop Josh off with me and…well, you seem kind of
distant; I don't know."

"I'm tired, that's all. Summer dropping
the baby here…well, you're his godmother and I'm always suggesting
that we have you watch him. Looks like she took my
suggestion."

"Yeah. Okay." She gave Josh a kiss on
the cheek.

Ethan took her hand and squeezed it.
"Thanks, Mick."

"Anytime. I love having him here. Hey,
did you hear? I've been cleared of the murder charges against
me."

He grinned and hugged her with his free
arm. "I knew you would be. No way in hell were you going to jail."
He thought a moment. "Hell, you probably could get away with
murder. Everyone loves you and people know you wouldn't hurt a
soul."

She smiled at him, helped pack up
Josh's bag, and walked them to the door. She was sad to see them
go. Did Summer have a clue as to how good she had it?

Thirty-Six

Evening was settling in as a full moon
started to rise over the mountains and waves of pink and orange
floated through the desert sky. Dwayne would've fed the horses
tonight. Michaela contemplated making a drive over to the shop
where Erin and her girlfriend worked. She wasn't going alone,
though. She gave Joe a ring.

"Oh hey, Mick, Camden give you my
message? Why didn't you call me and tell me that the cops are off
your back? My cousin Anthony got a call from Peters today about it.
That's great. You probably wanted to tell me about it tonight,
right? Do you need any help getting all that stuff over
here?"

Michaela smacked herself upside the
head. How could she have forgotten Gen's birthday? They'd even
talked about it when they'd gone over to break into Sterling's
place. "Of course I'm coming. I told you that I wouldn't miss it.
And, yes, I did plan to tell you about the case, but there are a
few unanswered questions."

"Drop it, Mick."

"I'll tell you about it when I see
you." She looked at her watch. She was supposed to be at Joe's in
less than an hour. "I've got to go by the tack shop and get Gen's
gifts loaded. Sorry for the delay. Nothing is wrapped."

"No, no. You been under a lot of
pressure. I was gonna come by earlier today and grab them, but
Marianne needed my help around the house. I got a few minutes to
spare now; why don't I meet you down there and I'll help you get
everything together. I appreciate you ordering all that stuff on
short notice."

"I can do it, Joe, don't worry about
it."

"I'll see you in, what, a half
hour?"

"Okay." She sighed, knowing that it was
no use arguing with him. She changed her blouse because the other
had wound up streaked with baby spit, ran a brush through her hair,
and darted out the door. She wanted to get to the shop before Joe
did and see if she couldn't get a few things wrapped. Thank
goodness Camden had thought of everything when she stocked the tack
shop—including horse-themed wrapping paper.

When she pulled into the parking lot,
it was obvious Camden had already locked up and gone home for the
day. She stood in front of the double doors and unlocked them. Joe
hadn't arrived yet.

She flipped a light on and punched in
the code on the security alarm. Suddenly she felt anxious about
being there. It was nearly dark. She turned back to lock the front
door and as she did she stopped. Her heart raced and fear coursed
through her as she stared into the eyes of someone in a mask,
dressed in black. Blood rushed through her ears.

"Wh-what…do you want?" she stammered.
"The money is in a safe. It's…it's not much, but you can have
it."

The figure started toward her and she
knew that whoever was behind the ski mask was not there for any
money, but rather for her. She darted toward the door and he lunged
in front of her, reaching out to grab her. She pulled back and
raced in the other direction, toward the rear door. She could hear
steps close behind her. Running between a row of English saddles,
she turned to push a set of them down as hard as she could. The
intruder tripped over them and grunted, then rose and started after
her again. She was at the door, her hands shaking, and turning the
dead bolt, when she felt something hard hit the side of her face.
She screamed as she fell to the ground. Her assailant pulled her by
the arm and dragged her away from the door. Michaela knew that her
life was about to end. She looked up and saw evil in the eyes
behind the mask. Then she saw a polo mallet in the one free hand.
It rose above her. She screamed and twisted away as a voice from
the front called out her name. The intruder turned, dropped the
mallet, and ran out the back door.