Tearing Down Walls (Love Under Construction Series Book 2) (16 page)

“Hey, girlfriend! Howya doin’?” Kelly was thrilled when she saw Nikki’s name and number pop up on her screen. She didn’t care that it was late – she was glad to hear from Nikki.

“I’m good.” Nikki stopped. “Sorry. I’m not. That’s a lie. I’ve – we’ve – got something going on and I need some help.” Nikki and Kelly Markham met at the same gym where Nikki and Tony met. After not seeing each other during the disaster that Nikki’s life became the latter part of the previous year, Nikki had called her and reconnected just after Christmas. She and Kelly had been getting together a couple of times a week ever since for lunch, and they’d become pretty good friends. Kelly was the first friend Nikki had made since she’d moved to the area almost six years earlier, and the only one who wasn’t a member of Tony’s family; Nikki was the first real friend Kelly had made in the almost nine years she’d lived there since moving up from Nashville. Now Kelly was concerned for her friend.

“Is something wrong with you? With Tony? God, please tell me there’s nothing wrong,” Kelly whispered.

“No! No-no-no, we’re good. No, it’s a friend of ours. She’s in a bad situation and I’m looking for a safe place for her to stay. I knew you said you’d like to have a roommate, and it would pay very well, and . . .”

“If she’s your friend, I don’t want any money. But what’s going on?” Kelly wanted to help Nikki if she could because that’s what friends were supposed to do. Nikki explained what was going on as simply as she could. It took Kelly about a second and a half to say, “She works for that hot attorney, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Nikki replied.
I’ll use Steve to get her safe if I have to,
she thought.

“Bring her over. No way can that guy find her here. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

“Kelly, you’ll be in danger too. Are you sure you . . .”

“Bring her here. No discussion. I’ll clean up the extra bedroom.”

And that was that.

They stood on the lawn and watched the helicopter lift off. Tony had called a friend, Frank Simpson, who had offered to let Tony use it any time he needed to, and this was one of those times. It was the only way they could think of to make sure Wagner couldn’t follow her. Steve made arrangements for one of the club regulars who lived in Louisville to pick Laura up at the private airstrip there and take her to Kelly’s place. After twenty minutes of arguing with Laura, Vic had glared at her and growled, “Get in the damn chopper or I’ll pick you up and throw you in.” She’d swallowed, blinked twice, and climbed aboard.

“Now, let’s get down to business,” Steve said, leading the way back into the big house.

“W
hat do we know about this guy?” By the time Steve asked the question, the sun had come up and José, Jared, and Doug had joined everyone else at Tony and Nikki’s house in Shelbyville. Everyone who was already there had managed to catch a few hours of sleep in the clothes they were wearing, but they were exhausted. And things weren’t going too well.

Peyton shrugged. “Well, we know he’s former military. Retired. And I’m guessing he retired so he could chase witnesses down. I have to wonder what the military knows about his activities, both before retirement and now.”

“Laura seemed to think they covered for him.” Steve looked around at the little group. “Peyton, can you use your contacts?”

“Most of them are still in the field. But I’ll poll them, see if they’ve heard anything.”

“About the list of names of the guys involved in her assault; I’ve only got contact info for one of them – Brewster. He’d called Laura, so she had his number. If he can’t give us information, one of us needs to try to get it. We need to see if we can find them, talk to them, see if they know anything.”

Peyton looked about as down as any of them had ever seen him. “I just don’t get it. How did he find her? Out here?”

“I don’t know, but we’ve got to figure that out. Until we do, she’ll never be safe,” Tony said, and Vic nodded.

“So right now, while everyone’s here, I’ll call this Brewster guy, put him on speakerphone, and we can ask him some questions. Come up with anything you think might help.” Steve pulled out his cell, brought up the contact info, and hit CALL, then set it to speaker. It rang twice, and a soft female voice said, “Hello?”

“Good morning. This is Steve McCoy of Citadel Security Louisville and Lexington. May I speak with,” he looked down at the list, “Greg Brewster?” The woman began to cry. “Ma’am, is something wrong? I need to speak with Mr. Brewster, if I may.”

“Greg . . .” she began, then sobbed harder. “Greg passed yesterday.”

They all looked at each other, then Steve asked, “Mrs. Brewster, may I ask what happened to Greg?”

She sobbed harder. “It was a freak car accident. They’re not sure what happened. He was only a couple of blocks from the house!” She started getting hysterical, and there was the sound of the phone falling and her crying. Then they heard the sobbing get closer as she picked up the phone and tried again. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know . . .”

Vic’s head snapped up. “Ma’am, my name is Vic Cabrizzi. I’m a friend of Laura Butler; I’m sorry, Laura Billings.”

“Oh, god!” she wailed. “Greg wanted so badly to make that right and he never got the chance!”

“I understand, hon,” Vic said, his voice going dark and hot. They heard the woman cough, and she started to calm. “I’m so sorry for your loss. We need contact information for the other men on Greg’s list if you’ve got it.”
Good thinking,
Steve mouthed.

“Well, I have it here.” There was the sound of paper rustling, and she said, “Here it is.” Steve whipped out the list as she read off the numbers for Larry Taylor and Pete Arnold. “Of course, Chad Bosworth’s and Mark Fellows’ numbers won’t do you any good.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Steve asked.

“Because they’re dead.” Everyone in the kitchen of the big house straightened.

“Is this a recent development?” Steve asked.

“Yes. Chad died last week. He had a heart attack, but he’d never had any heart problems. And Mark had a motorcycle accident two weeks ago.” She stopped for a few seconds, then said, “That seems odd, three of them in two weeks.”

“Ma’am,” Vic broke in, “if you have family you and your children can stay with, I would recommend that you do that as soon as we hang up. Don’t wait. We have reason to believe that those deaths weren’t accidental.” He wondered how much to divulge, and Steve and Tony nodded. “Cletus Wagner tried to kill Miss Billings last night.”

“Oh my god,” she whispered. “Do you think we’re in danger?”

“It’s a very real possibility,” Vic told her. “If you think I’m trying to scare you, I am, if it will get you to go immediately. Is there anything you can tell us that might be useful, even if you think it’s small or insignificant?”

There was silence for a few seconds, then she said, “No. Greg talked about what they’d done to Miss Billings, but that was about all.”

They all looked at each other, then Vic said, “Mrs. Brewster, thank you so much for your time, and we’re very sorry for your loss. You now have Mr. McCoy’s number in Greg’s phone; please call him if you think of anything, or if we can help you in any way.”

“Sir, please keep Miss Billings safe. And let me know if you find out anything. I’ll take this phone with me. We’ll be going to my sister’s house in Oregon.”

“Take care, Mrs. Brewster. We’ll be in touch.” Vic nodded at Steve, and Steve hit END.

“I think I’d better call the other two.” Steve punched in Larry Taylor’s number. It rang about fifteen times and went to voicemail, but the voicemail inbox was full. Then he dialed Peter Arnold’s number.

“Hello?” a hesitant male voice answered.

“Mr. Arnold? My name is Steve McCoy with Citadel Security Louisville and Lexington. I’m calling you because I know Laura Billings and I just spoke with Greg’s . . .”

“Oh, god, is Laura okay?” Peter asked.

“For right now. Mr. Arnold, we . . .”

“He’s going to kill her. He’s on my tail, just days from finding me. I can’t seem to get away from him. I’ve tried everything.”

“Mr. Arnold, who are you talking about?” Steve asked as everyone else in the room bristled. The air almost crackled with nervous tension.

“Wagner. He’s all over the place,” he moaned.

Vic leaned over and whispered something to Steve. “Mr. Arnold, are you aware that Miss Billings’ ordnance incident was intentional?” Steve asked. “That Wagner admitted it to her when they were airlifting her out?”

“Not surprising. And I want to make all of that right, but I doubt I’ll live to do it. I need to go; I’ve got to find somewhere safe for my wife and kids before he kills me. I don’t want him getting to them. I wish I could be of more help, but I don’t know anything.”

“Are you aware that Greg Brewster died yesterday?”

“No.” There was a silence, then he said, “I’m as good as dead too. I wish Laura all of the luck I can, but I think mine’s run out.”

“Best of luck anyway, Mr. Arnold. I pray you’ll survive this. You now have my number; please stay in touch. If you think of anything that would help Laura, please call me.”

“Yeah. Dead men don’t tell tales,” Arnold said. The phone went silent.

Before anyone could say anything, José said, “
Madre de dios!
This just got a whole lot worse.” He’d been working on his laptop and listening to the phone conversation. When they turned to look, he spun the laptop around toward them, and every one of them felt like the floor was falling away from under them.

On the screen, complete with photo, was Larry Taylor’s obituary.

“Do we tell Laura?” Steve asked.

“No, ‘we’ don’t tell her anything,” Vic said. “I’ll tell her myself.” He strode out of the room, Tony on his heels.

“Cousin, please don’t do anything stupid,” Tony said when he caught up to Vic.

“Won’t,” Vic growled.

“Are you okay?” Tony asked Vic as the big man turned to face him.

“No, I’m not. That woman is terrified, and I promised her that I’d make sure she’s safe. I can’t do that. And I don’t usually break my word.” There was something dark and scary in Vic’s eyes, and Tony was afraid for him.

“Come back inside, please, bud. We need to map out some kind of strategy for keeping her safe that won’t bring him with us. If you go running off, he’ll find you and follow you straight to her.”

“Yeah, and that’ll give me an opportunity to kill the bastard.” Vic’s face was getting darker by the minute, and Tony knew he had to get him back inside or they’d lose him.

“Come on, be smart. Let’s go.” Tony turned back toward the house and motioned for Vic to follow. When he turned in the doorway to look back, Vic was dragging himself back to the house.

They walked back into the kitchen, and Tony looked at Nikki. “Baby, do you realize what you’re wearing, or not wearing?”

Nikki looked down – she was still wearing the outfit she’d worn to the club the night before. “Shit, guys, I’m so sorry! I’m going upstairs to shower and change. Be back shortly,” she said, running up the stairs.

Steve watched her go. “Shame. I was enjoying the scenery.” Tony shot him a look. “What? I’m a guy,” Steve grinned.

“What’s next?” Peyton asked.

“We need to head to Louisville so I can go and tell her what’s going on. Everybody needs to come. Tony,” Vic said, looking at his cousin, “do you have something she can drive? Because she needs to have something he won’t recognize in case she has to get away.”

“Yeah. I’ll give her my pickup. I don’t think he’d expect that.”

“Good. We need to take Shelbyville Road into town; it’ll give us a better chance to spot someone following us. Then we need to split up and meet back at the security office. Tony and I will take different routes, meet at Kelly’s and drop off the truck, then come to your office. Everybody in?”

Steve nodded. “Sounds good. By the way, tell her I’m going to continue to pay her. This isn’t her fault, and she’s going to need that money, I’m afraid.”

“Will do.” Vic strode out the door and everyone else followed.

When they got to the cars, Tony stopped. “I’ll be right back! I think I’d better tell my wife where I’m going.” He took the stairs two at a time and ran into the bedroom. Nikki was standing dressed and ready at the door, and it almost hit her when he threw it open.