Fate and Destiny (20 page)

Andrew wanted her back. He
wanted her safely with him. He was so frightened, the empty feeling
in him growing every second until Matt showed up a couple of hours
later. When Matt told him the Jeep sat in a ditch just down the
road, the empty feeling grew into confusion. Hearing Matt did a
little scouting around and found the snowplow at another cabin near
the abandoned Jeep, the confusion quickly became rage. He wanted
nothing more than to get down the hill and drag her out by her
hair, demanding answers. Matt spent most of the long night calming
Andrew down. He offered alternative scenarios, but only one made
sense to Andrew. Destiny had played him for a fool since the very
beginning.

The guy in the jail cell in
town, Lenny, wasn’t saying anything. He wanted to make a phone
call, but Matt had not allowed him to yet. Cooling his heels in
jail, the guy was a punk, demanding they release him and throwing
around idle threats. They didn’t know who they were messing with
and they would be sorry when he got released.

Andrew didn’t listen to a
lot Matt said throughout the night. The anger in him surged until
Matt allowed him to come down to this cabin, only after laying down
a few ground rules. First, Matt had to drive him. He would not
allow Andrew to come alone. Second, he could only use the gun in
self-defense. Third, Andrew would give Destiny a chance to explain.
Matt remained calm all night, laying out plans and ideas. None of
which Andrew paid any attention to. Needing to play by the rules,
so far, Andrew had not pulled the trigger and he grudgingly let
Matt drive the Bronco. The third condition was harder to abide by.
He didn’t want to hear anything Destiny had to say.

“
Matt, I want to file a
complaint against this woman for stealing my car. She didn’t have
my permission to take it.”

The grip on his shoulder
tightened.

“
You don’t really want to
do that. If I arrest her, then I have to take her to the jail, then
extradite her to Vegas on murder charges.”

“
I don’t care. I’m
pressing charges, Matt.”

“
Damn it Andrew, stop and
think for a second. You said it yourself. If you press charges, you
will go down with her for harboring a fugitive and I will go down
for aiding and abetting. Is that what you really want? Just shut up
and calm down for a second. We need to talk and figure out what is
going on here.”

Defeated, Andrew lowered
the gun without taking his eyes from the frightened woman. Matt was
right. Andrew could not do that to him. He wasn’t even sure he
could willingly allow Matt to take Destiny to jail, much less
insist on it. Though the rage still gripped him, it abated as the
sight of her torment tugged at his heart and soul.

“
Fine. We can go into the
cabin you broke into and have a nice little chat.”

He spat the words out at
Destiny. Another rip in the fragile thread holding her heart
together. Pivoting on her heel, she opened the door and entered the
cabin, taking a place on the couch. Doug snored away on the floor,
undisturbed by the angry words from the front yard and the
intrusion into the room.

Andrew and Matt entered the
cabin cautiously, unsure of where Doug was. Spotting him on the
floor, both men relaxed, lowering the weapons they each held.
Destiny didn’t miss the flicker of Andrew’s eyes as he noted the
couch where Destiny sat and the man sleeping on the
floor.

She almost smiled, hopeful
the sight destroyed his lover theory. One little crack in his
hardened shell. She would do her best to pick away at it until he
listened and understood what was happening. The anger seethed just
under the surface of his skin. He nearly vibrated with it. Taking
no chances, she wisely kept her mouth shut and let Matt do the
talking.

“
Doug. C’mon, buddy. It’s
time to wake up. You got company.”

Matt nudged him with his
foot; hand on the gun in the holder on his hip.

“
Doug! Wakey wakey, big
guy! Time to get up!”

Doug groaned, then his
mouth closed, sucking up a trickle of drool that escaped down his
chin. Groggily, his hand rubbed his eyes, wiping away sleep.
Bleary, they opened, confusion apparent on his face, replaced
quickly by fear.

“
I didn’t hurt her! I
swear! I want to help her!”

His eyes were enormous as
he stared at the lawman standing over him. Andrew had already sunk
into the comfortable armchair as it was the only place in the room
to sit that was not next to Destiny. Relaxing his threatening
stance, Matt spoke smoothly, reassuring the man on the
floor.

“
I know. She’s okay. She’s
right there.” Matt tipped his head in Destiny’s direction. Doug
turned his eyes to her, relief sweeping through them as he realized
she was there.

With Doug awake, or at
least not comatose, Matt took a place on the couch next to Destiny,
taking control of the situation.

“
Okay, this is how this is
going to work. No one speaks unless I ask them to. That includes
you Andrew.” Andrew scowled, but was obediently quiet.

“
Doug, what are you doing
here? I thought the police would have convinced you to get out of
town.”

Doug wasn’t really awake
yet. A cop and the guy from the cabin invaded his sleep. Maybe
Lenny would walk through the door too. Wouldn’t that be something?
But Destiny was there. So pretty. So nice. She was right there on
the couch and she wouldn’t let them hurt him. And he wouldn’t let
them hurt her. The man from the cabin, no, the cop called him
Andrew. Anyway, he looked really mad. He must not want Doug to help
Destiny. Doug didn’t care. This was his last chance at redemption
after all of the bad things Lenny had gotten him to do over the
years. The cop was looking at him, waiting for an answer. He had
kindly eyes.

“
I came back to warn
Destiny.”

“
Okay. What were you going
to warn her about?”

The air thick with tension,
Destiny kept her eyes on Matt and Doug, completely aware of Andrew
sitting on the edge of her peripheral vision. If Matt had not been
there, exuding his soothing presence, someone would have died by
now.

“
Lenny figured out she was
up here and alive.”

Andrew leaned forward,
elbows on his knees, intent on Doug.

“
How did Lenny figure it
out?”

Matt and Doug both glanced
at Andrew.

“
Speaking out of turn, but
I will allow it as long as things remain civil. That was my next
question anyway. How did he figure it out Doug?”

“
The pretty lady at the
diner. She thanked us for clearing the road. Somebody’s her brother
and somebody’s her cousin, and when Lenny heard that, he said it
meant Destiny was here.”

Eyes shifting to look at
each other, Andrew and Matt said in unison.

“
Doreen.”

Now Destiny spoke out of
turn.

“
Doreen? Your sister
Doreen? She told them I was here? I thought she didn’t
know?”

Panic swelled within
Destiny. She almost stepped right back into Charles’ world using
the assumption he didn’t know where she was, presuming her dead. If
she had succeeded in her escape, she would have been in serious
trouble.

Shrugging, Matt looked to
Destiny.

“
I didn’t tell her. I
haven’t talked to her at all since I left here. A couple of
officers located their truck at the diner and picked Lenny up on a
concealed weapons charge. We can hold him for a little while on it,
but I know as soon as he makes a phone call, he will post bail. We
are trying to stall him by running a background check, seeing if
there are warrants. The storms have been messing with the systems
though.”

Destiny was listening, but
her attention was riveted on Doug. He looked more confused than
normal.

“
Doug? What’s wrong?”“I
was supposed to call Charles DeMont and tell him Lenny’s in jail.
Lenny’s gonna be really mad at me.” Doug chewed on his lower lip,
brows knitted together. “I don’t like to talk to
Charles.”

Matt resumed his position
of control authority.

“
Okay, so here’s what we
know so far. Doug came up here to tell Destiny that Lenny knows
she’s here. I’ll buy that, but it still doesn’t explain why Destiny
took off like a bat out of hell and how she ended up
here.”

20.

All eyes on her, Destiny
avoided looking at any of them.

“
I thought I could get
back to Vegas and get evidence to clear my name. Maybe get some
people I know at the casino to get me evidence off the computer in
my office, or from the papers in my house.”

She wanted to leave her
explanation as simple as possible. Maybe she could blame her lack
of thinking her escape through on her head injuries. Thinking about
it, she absentmindedly rubbed her fingers over the gash on the side
of her head.

The men in the room each
had thoughts running through their minds, mulling over Destiny
escaping them to locate evidence by herself. They all began talking
at once, making it difficult for her to sort through who was saying
what. Matt’s calm authoritative tone, Andrew’s spewing anger and
accusations, Doug mumbling. Matt finally held up his hands and
cleared his throat, silencing the other two.

“
I understand that you
want to clear your name. Don’t you realize how dangerous that plan
is though? You going off alone with no clear thoughts or plans.
DeMont would have you six feet under as soon as he got a whiff you
were back in town. If you even made it that far. Every lawman and
civilian between here and there is looking for you. They’ve got a
$50,000 reward out on you now.”

“
I know now it wasn’t a
good idea, but at the time, I was desperate and scared. Hell, I’m
still desperate and scared, but now I have Doug on my side. He will
tell the police everything. Maybe I should turn myself in and try
to find a good lawyer.”

“
And end up in jail too.
The police will arrest you both until they figure out what is going
on.”

The words came out evenly,
anger underscoring each syllable as Andrew spoke. Destiny looked at
him and he returned her gaze. She finally saw the deep hurt and
fear hidden by the angry surface.

Coherently, as if with
great thought, resigned to his decision, Doug brought his eyes to
Destiny, breaking the spell of her eyes locked on
Andrews.

“
I know. I will go to jail
so she doesn’t have to. She doesn’t deserve it. She didn’t do
anything wrong.”

“
If you help me, I will do
everything I can to help you. I’ll hire you a good attorney. I’ll
stand up for you in court.”

Doug had reverted back to
shaking his head at everything Destiny said.

“
You don’t have any money
anymore. I heard Lenny and Charles talking. Charles put a freeze on
your money. He said you stole it all from the casino. The people
who work there won’t help either. They all think you killed
Marcus.”

Studying the nails in the
floorboards, Destiny grew disheartened. She had thought her
co-workers would help her if she could get to them. Of course, they
would all think she was guilty. No one there would help her. With
Marcus gone, Charles took over running the company. He surely gave
a few speeches to the employees about the great loss of Marcus and
the guilt of Destiny.

“
What about my house? My
laptop has all of my files on it, but I copied some of them to my
computer at home.”

“
Forget the house for
now,” Matt interrupted. “The police will be all over your house,
not to mention the neighbors.”

Destiny shook her head.
There has to be some way out of this mess. Whatever happened to the
concept of innocent until proven guilty? She did the right thing.
She wanted to help Marcus and instead, she got him killed and
herself marked as the murderer. Hope continued to fade fast. She
was running out of options and ideas.

Caught up in her own
despair, Destiny didn’t see the look that passed between Matt and
Andrew. She only wanted to lie down and rest. Despite just waking
up, she was overwhelmingly tired. Closing her eyes, not wanting to
hear anymore, she couldn’t help but listen as Matt’s soothing voice
dispelled her sadness.

“
We need to call
Sammy.”

“
I was thinking the same
thing.”

Destiny looked up to catch
a slight smile warming the corners of Andrew’s mouth as he spoke.
His eyes softening as he caught her gaze.

Destiny grew more confused
by the cheerful attitude of both men. “Since you two aren’t
volunteering enough information, I have to ask, who in the world is
Sammy?”

The edges of Andrew's lips
urged to perk up although he wasn’t quite ready to give up his
anger.

“
My little brother. I
think he will come in handy right about now.”

Andrew was starting to
irritate her. The men in the room, all except Doug, shared in the
conspiracy. Knowing looks passing among them.

“
I still have a gun. I may
accidentally shoot one of you. Again.”