NICK. AND TUCKER.
Claire could think of nothing else.
If Derek Joiner killed her, Nick would be alone again. And Tucker would never know how she felt about him. He’d never know that she loved him.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Derek said. He raised his eyebrows. “Quite the cool one, aren’t you?”
“I’m just making all the connections, Derek.”
“Is that right?” He looked pleased. “Do you want to tell me how brilliant I was?”
“You’re the one who set the fire in our backyard, aren’t you?”
He frowned. “You were supposed to think it was the kid. You were supposed to worry about him. I thought it would take your mind off Janice.”
“Is that why you told Roger Vernon about the man who claimed to be Nick’s father?”
He gave her a startled look. “Vernon told you I was his client?”
“You’re not going to deny it, are you? When I realized there wasn’t any man who claimed to be Nick’s father, I figured the mysterious ‘go-between’ had to be whoever killed Janice. It was just another effort to distract us.”
“You shouldn’t have given Vernon that ultimatum. When he called me in a panic, I knew I couldn’t wait to stage my next little accident for you.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “You have to admit, I had you going for a while.”
“You’re despicable, Joiner.”
He shrugged. “I’m just protecting my interests.”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“This whole mess is your own fault, Claire,” he said. “You shouldn’t have meddled in my business.”
“Janice didn’t go over the edge of the road on her own, did she?” Claire looked at him. “You pushed her.”
“You’re a smart woman,” Derek said with a smile. “Almost as smart as your sister. Now you’re going to have to die, just like Janice did.”
“Why did you kill her?”
Joiner’s mouth tightened. “She was a nosy bitch.” His handsome features twisted, grew ugly. “Just like you. Sticking her nose in my business, trying to make trouble.”
He smiled, a cold upturn of his lips that chilled her heart. “She ran to Fred Denton, told him there was a problem with one of the zoning requests in front of the council.” His face contorted with anger. “She figured out that there was a sales tax break included with the zoning change. If she hadn’t said anything, it would have gone through with no questions. But after she went to Fred, I had to do something about it.”
“Fred? Is Fred Denton part of this?”
“Fred and I are partners in a small real estate venture,” he said, his voice smug. “We purchased a block of land outside of Monroe, and we have several developers interested. It would be a perfect place for a mall.”
“That’s what this is about? A shady real estate deal?” Her voice shook. “You killed my sister to make a few lousy dollars?”
“More than a few dollars, Claire. Denton and I both stood to make several million dollars on the deal.” He scowled. “As long as we could get the sales tax break through city council.”
“And Janice found out.”
“She told Fred she was going to go to the local paper. She seemed quite indignant about the whole situation.” He shrugged. “It was her own fault that she died. She didn’t give me a choice. I had to get rid of her. If the developers found out there was a public uproar, they would have pulled out of the deal. They didn’t want their good name dragged through the mud.”
Claire looked down at her hands, clenched into fists in her lap, and deliberately relaxed her fingers. Anger wouldn’t help her. She had to think.
“I know you called her at home that night,” she said, trying to keep her voice conversational. “You used the phone on her desk. How did you get her out of the house?”
“Janice always wanted to work overtime.” His mouth curled in a sneer. “Said she was saving for college for her kid. I told her I had papers that had to be picked up in Clinton that night.” He flashed Claire a condescending smile. “I promised her double time and she agreed.”
“Then you knocked her off the road.”
He glanced at her, resentment in his eyes. “It was a tragic accident until you started sniffing around. So now you’re going to have an accident, too.”
He steered the car onto the shoulder of the road, and Claire saw with a spasm of fear that they were at the place where Janice had died. Where she’d almost died just two weeks earlier.
“You were the one who almost ran into me that night,” she said, watching him.
“I didn’t think you’d be strong enough to climb back up the embankment,” Derek answered. He gave her a cold smile. “This time, I’ll make sure you’re not.”
“You can’t possibly think you’re going to get away with this,” Claire said, her heart slamming against her ribs. “Andrea Vernon saw you take me away.”
“Andrea will do what she’s told.” He gave her an ugly, triumphant smile as he yanked her out of the car. “She knows if she doesn’t, I’ll tell Roger all about her visits with you.”
“You’re wrong,” Claire said, holding onto the car door as Derek pulled on her other arm. “Andrea will tell Seth Broderick exactly what you did. She’ll stand up to Roger.”
“I doubt it. But thanks for the warning,” Derek said, pulling the gun out of the pocket of his overcoat. “I’ll arrange for her to have an accident, too.” He gave another vicious pull and ripped her hand away from the car door.
“But first things first, Claire. You’re going to take another tumble off the road.”
Claire dug her heels into the dirt and gravel on the shoulder of the road as Derek tried to drag her toward the guardrail. His face turned red and he began to swear, ugly words spat out between wheezing breaths. Abruptly he stopped pulling, and she landed on her rear end in the gravel. Derek towered over her, his face twisted with rage. Holding the barrel of his gun, he raised it over his head like a club.
“Say hi to Janice for me,” he snarled as he swung it toward her head.
Claire threw herself to the side and the gun smashed onto her forearm. Pain exploded from her arm and dimmed her vision. Her stomach heaved.
The force of his swing made Derek lose his balance and stumble. His gun waved wildly in the air as he flailed his arms, trying to remain upright.
Cradling her injured arm with her other hand, Claire scooted toward him and aimed a kick at his groin. There wasn’t a lot of force behind it, but it was enough to make Derek double over.
Claire struggled to her feet and used her good arm to shove Derek. He stumbled backward and she kicked out at him. The guardrail caught him in the back of the legs.
It felt as if she watched in slow motion as Derek tumbled backward over the guardrail and disappeared down the side of the cliff.
Claire staggered over to the guardrail. Derek clung to a ledge below, just above the boulders scattered on the edge of the lake.
As she stared down at him, she heard the sound of a car roaring up the road. Moments later, it stopped and Seth Broderick ran toward her.
“Are you all right?” he called, stopping in front of her and searching her face. When he saw her cradling her right arm in her left hand, his eyes became cold and hard. “Did he hurt you?”
“My arm,” she said. “I think it might be broken.” She nodded toward the cliff. “It’s Derek Joiner. He’s down there.”
“I saw what happened.” His eyes flashed as he stepped over to the guardrail and looked down at Derek. “He’s not going anywhere. Let me call an ambulance, then I’ll worry about getting him up here.”
“I don’t need an ambulance,” Claire said, her teeth chattering. When had she gotten so cold? “I’m fine except for my arm.”
Before Seth could answer, she heard doors slam on another vehicle. “Aunt Claire! Aunt Claire!”
Nick ran toward her at full speed. He skidded to a stop a foot away from her. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said, managing a shaky smile.
“We could see what was happening,” Nick said, his voice wavering and his mouth trembling. “We knew we couldn’t get here in time. I was so scared.”
“Oh, Nick.” Claire dropped her injured arm and pulled Nick to her with her good arm. “I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for coming to rescue me.”
Nick wrapped his arms around her and held on tightly. Her arm screamed with pain, but she gritted her teeth. When Nick buried his face in her neck, she felt the hot burn of tears against her skin.
Clutching him to her, she held on fiercely, both comforting him and drawing comfort for herself.
After a moment Nick wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket. “You were awesome, Aunt Claire,” he said in a shaky voice. “We saw you kick that guy over the edge.”
“We?” Her nephew’s presence so far out of town registered. “How did you get here, Nick?”
She looked behind him and saw Tucker standing several feet away, his gaze devouring her. “Tucker?”
“Yeah, Coach brought me,” Nick said.
She hardly heard her nephew as she ran toward Tucker. He folded her into his embrace, being careful not to jostle her injured arm. “My God, Claire,” he whispered into her ear. “My God.”
When he fastened his mouth to hers, she tasted his fear, his panic, his desperation. She closed her eyes and murmured his name, clinging to him.
Finally, he stepped back and tore his mouth away from hers. “Did he hurt you?” Cold rage chilled his eyes. “Besides your arm?”
“No,” she said. “He didn’t do anything else to me.”
He looked down at her arm, hanging at her side, and ripped off his shirt. He used it to form a makeshift sling. The soft flannel cradled her arm and enfolded her in his scent.
“Let’s get an ambulance out here.”
“I don’t need an ambulance,” she said, her teeth chattering. “It’s just my arm.”
“Like hell you don’t need an ambulance.” He scowled at her. “Once, just once, let someone take care of you.”
“You can take care of me,” she said. Her voice broke. “I just want you and Nick. Please.” She turned around and used her good arm to pull Nick close.
She felt Tucker behind her, smoothing his hand over her hair. “Nick is the one who realized you were missing,” he said. “He’s the one who went to the police.” He bent and pressed a kiss into her hair. “Nick and I will take you to the hospital.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “You and Nick.”
“In just a moment,” he said, moving away from her. “I have one more thing to do here.”
She wanted to grab him, to hold him and never let him go. But he was already gone.
He waited until the chief pulled Derek over the guardrail and cuffed his hands behind his back. Then Tucker curled his hand into a fist and drew it back. But instead of punching Joiner, he let his hand drop.
“I want to hit you, Joiner,” he said, his voice soft. “I want it real bad. But it might upset Claire,” he said as Derek cowered away from him. “You can thank her for saving your ass.” He spit on the ground, then turned and walked away.
Tucker hurried back to where Claire stood with her good arm around Nick. He held on to her tightly, clinging to her like a frightened child.
“Let’s get going, Nick,” Tucker said, urging them toward his truck. “We need to get your aunt to a hospital.”
IT WAS EXACTLY twenty-seven steps from one end of the emergency room waiting area to the other. Tucker stopped for a glass of water, then started back in the other direction. Nick sat in a chair with a copy of an old newsmagazine, but Tucker noticed he’d been reading the same page for a long time.
The doctor had let them stay with Claire while he examined her arm and gave her a shot of medication for the pain. When they brought in the mobile X-ray machine and diagnosed a fracture, Nick and Tucker were banished to the waiting room.
Tucker was ready to tear down a wall to get to Claire, but he looked at Nick and forced himself to calm down. The kid was upset enough already. He didn’t need Tucker making a scene in the hospital.
After what seemed like years the door swung open and a nurse wheeled Claire out in a wheelchair. Her face was pasty white and her eyes were hollow. Her arm, enclosed in a bright green cast, rested in a sling. She clutched his shirt, the one he’d used for a temporary sling, in her other hand.
Nick jumped off the chair and ran over to his aunt. He reached out and touched her cast with a tentative finger. “Cool cast, Aunt Claire.”
“You like it?” She managed a smile. “I wanted to go with the fluorescent pink, but the nurse convinced me it would clash with my hair.”
Nick shoved his hands into his pockets. “You okay?”
“I’m a little sore, but otherwise I’m fine,” she said, squeezing his arm with her good hand. She looked past Nick, found Tucker. She gave him a shaky smile. “Thanks for bringing me here, and waiting for me.”
“Try keeping me away,” he said quietly. He never wanted her out of his sight again. His throat tightened as he thought about what could have happened, how he might have lost the chance to tell her how he felt.
“Come on,” he said, his voice gruff. “Let’s get you home.”
As they pulled into Claire’s driveway, he saw a crowd of people on her front porch.
Claire straightened. “What’s going on?”
Before he could get her out of the truck, the people poured off the porch and headed for the truck. Judy Johnson opened the door.
“Claire! How are you feeling?”
Claire stared at Judy, then looked past her at the crowd of people behind her. “I’m okay,” she said, staring at the faces. “What are you doing here?”
“We heard what happened. Everyone wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Tucker saw that most of the parents from the football team were there, as well as Molly Burns and her daughter and the neighbors from the houses around Claire’s. Most of them held a dish in their hands.
“We heard you broke your arm.” Judy gestured to the people behind her. “It’s going to be hard to cook for a while, so we figured you could use some help.”
Claire stared at the crowd, apparently speechless. Finally she slid out of the truck and awkwardly embraced Judy. “Thank you,” she whispered. She stepped away from Judy and looked from one face to another.
“How can I thank you all?” she asked. “This is…this is overwhelming.”
“No thanks necessary,” one of the mothers said. “You’ll bring a dish next time someone is sick.”
Molly Burns embraced her. “We’re all neighbors,” she said. “Neighbors take care of each other.”
Claire sniffled as she clung to Molly. “Thank you.” She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You’ll be saying plenty when you’re eating lasagna for the tenth time in the next two weeks,” someone joked.
Tucker came around the truck and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. When she leaned into him, his arm tightened and he drew her closer.
Judy stepped forward and addressed the crowd. “Why don’t you bring your dishes in the house, and Molly and I will make sure they get put away. Claire looks like she needs to sit down.”
Tucker glanced down at her face. It was pinched and white, and she had dark circles under her eyes. He scooped her up into his arms and headed toward the front door.
“She’s a little wobbly,” he told the crowd as he wove through them. Fear clutched at him when she closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder. “I think it’s the pain medication.” He hoped it was nothing more than the pain medication. He wanted his feisty Claire back.
He set her down on the couch, then crouched in front of her as a stream of people walked through into the kitchen. “What can I get you?” he asked in a low voice.
“Nothing,” she said, groping for his hand without opening her eyes. “Can you stay for a while?”
“You couldn’t blast me out of here with a stick of dynamite,” he told her.
“Thanks, Tucker,” she said, leaning her head against the back of the couch.
He wanted to snatch her close, to hold her so tightly that she’d become part of him. Instead he eased himself onto the couch and gently pulled her close. She nestled into his side as people began to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Nick standing off to the side, talking to Caitlyn Burns. The kid’s face was bright red, but his eyes were shining. Tucker relaxed a little. Some things, at least, were back to normal.
After everyone had left, including Molly Burns and a reluctant Caitlyn, Judy Johnson came out of the kitchen. “Hey, guys, how about if I pick you up a pizza?”
Nick looked up from where he was talking to Booger. “That would be awesome.” He gave Claire a guilty look. “If that’s okay with you, Aunt Claire?”
“That’s fine,” she said without opening her eyes.
“Nick, why don’t you come with me and Booger to get the pizza?” She shot Tucker a significant look. “Your aunt could probably use a few minutes to herself.”
“Sure,” Nick said. Moments later, Nick and the Johnsons left and silence settled on the house.
Claire opened her eyes. “I need to talk to you, Tucker.”
His gut clenched. “Yeah, I need to talk to you, too.” He jumped off the couch. “Let me get you a glass of water first. You’re supposed to take a pain pill.”
When he came back into the living room a few minutes later, Claire was asleep. Tucker stared down at her. He wanted to talk to her, needed to tell her how he felt. Apologies, pleas for forgiveness, explanations crowded his throat. But he wouldn’t wake her up to satisfy his need for confession.
Gently lifting her into his arms, he carried her up the stairs and into the bedroom. When he’d removed enough of her clothing so she’d be comfortable, he sat down in the chair next to her bed and watched her sleep.
He wouldn’t wake her up. But he wouldn’t leave her alone, either.