Lasting Pride (Pride Series Romance Novels) (19 page)

It was a few days after their trip to Cathlamet, that they’d received the call from her commander. They’d caught Jose. He’d broken into Rob’s apartment and started trashing the place. He claimed he was looking for information on her whereabouts and was currently in the holding cell under tight guard.

“Rob, he claims he acted alone. That he’s the one with the vendetta against Ric. He said he thought he could get to him through you. Says he was pissed that Ric wouldn’t sell his daughter’s art at his gallery.”

“What’s his daughter’s name?” Ric asked.

She’d flipped the phone to speaker so he could hear the entire call.

“Sanchez, Carmen Sanchez.”

Ric thought about it and then nodded his head, “Yeah, I saw a few pieces from a Carmen Sanchez a few months back. The girl had talent, just not gallery talent.”

“Well, we found several pieces of the stolen art in a back room at his place. We’re questioning him about the other pieces that are still missing, Dante’s piece is among those. It looks like we can wrap this up nice and tight. If you two want to make it on back here, we can close things out and get some more answers.”

When they had gotten off the phone, Ric looked like he was deep in thought.

“What?” she asked later as they were packing up everything.

“Hmm?”

“What’s that look for?” she stopped and leaned against the side of his car.

“Nothing, it’s nothing.”

Not buying it she continued to look at him and crossed her arms.

“
Well, it’s just that it doesn’t add up. You know, the missing pieces, his daughter’s art. Something just doesn’t feel right. If I remember correctly, Carmen Sanchez was trying to sell her art because her family was broke.”

He turned and started walking around, “I turned her on to another gallery in town that might be interested in her work, I never met her father. Then there’s The Indian, Dante Cardone’s piece. Why go through all the trouble to steal that one and in the manner in which it was taken. Something just doesn’t add up.”

Rob thought about it and knew he was right. Something smelled funny, But, until they got back to Portland and interviewed Jose, she didn’t think they were going to find their answers.

Driving through the small town, they decided to eat before heading back. So they stopped at Iian’s restaurant, The Golden Oar, for lunch.

Rob finally had the chance to look at the quaint little town of Pride for the first time. The houses all sat in rows with well maintained yards. Kids played outside on the lawns or rode bikes on the sidewalks. There were charming little stores on the main street, and they must have passed a half-dozen people, who all stopped and waved at Ric when they recognized him. He drove up to a large building that sat on the waterfront, which appeared to be an old warehouse that had been remodeled into the restaurant. The sign that hung on the front of the building was huge and a detailed carving. “
The Golden Oar”
was etched in vibrant gold letters above a large ship with white sails, which sat in dark blue waters.

The docks were to the left of the building and she could see boats of every variety docked there. Many of the boat slots were empty for the day, no doubt fishing boats out to get their day’s catch.

“That’s Jordan Shipping, Todd’s business across the street.” He pointed to a four story brick building across the way.

When they walked into the restaurant, she was greeted by a rush of warmth and wonderful smells. The entire back wall was a large wall of glass which overlooked the water, giving the guests a sense of romance and elegance.

The lighting was soft and warm, and the walls were covered with elegant oil paintings that hung on almost every wall. A large stone fireplace sat near the back of the room. The tables were set with low candle lights, the mixture of family and romance gave the place even more character.

As they were seated, she noticed the colorful oil paintings that were everywhere and wondered if Ric had sold any of it.

“Most of it’s Iian’s grandmothers work. He’s added quite a few of Allison’s over the last year or so.” Ric smiled at her from across the table.

After placing their orders, she watched as Iian walked out of the back room. He looked at home here, they watched as he stopped and talked to several guests on his way to their table.

“I thought you two were under house arrest?” He sat easily in an empty chair next to hers. She noticed that he signed as he spoke and watched him since she enjoyed trying to expand her own knowledge.

“We’ve been sprung,” Ric said and signed along, “it sounds like they caught the guy behind all our problems. We’re heading back to tie up the loose ends after lunch.”

“We’ll be sad to see you both go. Of course, you’re always welcome to come back anytime.”

The dark man sat in his dark car and watched the couple walk into the large place. He knew that by having Jose turn himself in, by being caught, he’d find the whereabouts of Ric and the beautiful detective, Roberta Stanton. All he had to do was make a few calls to his friend at the phone company to trace the calls placed to Rob’s cell phone. Everything was working according to his new plan.

Ric knew it was going to take him weeks to catch up on his work when he got back into town. He had a charity ball that he was supposed to hold in the next few months. He didn’t mind dressing up and being wined and dined. He knew how to deal with most of the people that attended these kind of events. After all, he’d been raised around them.

He wasn’t looking forward to dealing with his mother and wondered if she was still staying with Dante.

As he drove them out of town and hit the main road back to the highway, he couldn’t help but think about his sister. He was heartbroken over her hurt, more than his mother’s betrayal. But, seeing Rob with her family had given him a little hope that maybe his family could be healed, at least a little.

Rob sat next to him in the car, deep in her own thoughts. He didn’t know what was in store for them when they returned to Portland. He only knew that he wanted to continue seeing her. It had been quite some time since he’d been in a relationship. Now that his case was winding down, he knew she had run out of excuses to not see him officially once they were back in town.

He’d enjoyed his time in Pride with her, being stuck in a small place with her had been no burden at all. She was easy to talk to, easy to be with, and easy on his libido.

They were just a few miles from the turn off when a large semi came out of nowhere, hitting the side of his car. He heard Roberta scream his name, and then everything went black.

“
R
ic, damn it, wake up,” she was shaking him as blood oozed from the large gash above his left eye. His shoulder was twisted at an odd angle. She ran her hands over the rest of him, feeling for broken bones. It seemed his head and shoulder had taken the worst of the impact.

Her knee hurt her, other than that, she’d taken stock of herself and noticed nothing was broken, and there was no major bleeding. She thought she’d bumped her head, but so far her vision was fine and the pain had been minimal.

She looked up and watched as the semi driver jumped out of his mangled truck, into a waiting jeep and then peeled off. Making a mental note of all the details, she turned back to Ric and focused on trying to wake him. She didn’t notice the man approaching the back of the car, not until the gun was pointing at her temple.

“Remove your weapon, detective. Slowly.” She heard him say in a thick middle-eastern accent.

She went to move her head to look, but he pushed the gun against her temple a little harder and said, “Now.”

Moving just her hand, she slowly released the clasp and fingered her weapon. She handed it out the shattered window to him.

“Now, if you would be so kind as to step out of the car,” he reached and opened her door.

Talking one last look at Ric, she did as the man asked. He stood just a few inches shorter than her, his darker skin was covered by a crisp white thawb, which, with his bulk, made him look larger.

“What do you want?” she held herself stiff, ready to spring at any opening she saw. She heard Ric moan behind her, so she positioned her body so the man wouldn’t see him, should the need arise.

“First, I want Ric Derby dead, then you and I are going to take a little ride,” he motioned for her to step aside, she held her ground.

“Why?” upon his blank look she said, “Why do you want Ric dead? What has he done to you?”

“Not to me, my dear. It’s what he’s done to my brother and niece. You see, he’s been filling my niece’s head with ideas. Ideas that she could do something else in life other than what her family has been planning for the girl since her birth.”

“I don’t understand,” Rob could hear Ric moving around and knew that the man was now too far away to hear the slight movements.

“Sannidhi is young and impressionable. She was fooled by Ric into thinking she could actually move to America and become an artist. She’d be Americanized!” the gun wavered in his hands as he screamed.

“My brother has plans for her, she is to be a good wife to someone of great importance. My brother Haidar, has tried to keep her under control, but then a few months back she disappeared. The tickets she used to leave her family was under the name Ric Derby, he helped her escape. We think she is somewhere in Europe alone, thanks to him. The family will find her, they are very close to locating her, but they had to explain her absence, make excuses, to her promised husband, and it’s all thanks to him.” He pointed the gun to the empty car, and she saw his dark eyes go wide with fear.

She saw her opening then, as the man frantically searched around for Ric. She swung low as Ric came from behind, high. She heard the shot, felt the heat, but continued to kick out until she noticed when Ric finally had the man pinned to the pavement. He continued to hit the man until she could tell he was unconscious and Ric kicked the gun away.

She stood there, as if in slow motion and smiled down at Ric. She watched the blood slowly dripping down the left side of his face as he looked at her. She could smell his blood, how funny.
She could see him screaming at her, but couldn’t hear him. Which was even stranger. Then the world tilted and went dark.

Lights flashed as she was wheeled below brighter lights. Ric was screaming at her again. What was he saying? She tried very hard to focus. Why was it important? She had to tell him something. She couldn’t remember what it was. She saw his eyes and focused on them. Why was he crying?

Ric watched as they wheeled Roberta through the double doors at Edgeview Hospital. The nurse had walked him into a different area so an emergency-room doctor could take a look at his shoulder and head. His left arm hung by his side, there was no doubt in his mind that it was dislocated. His knuckles were bloody from where he’d repeatedly hit the man who’d been holding Rob at gun point.

When he had him on the ground unconscious, he’d looked up and had seen the dark stain on her chest. Ric had jumped up and grabbed Rob just before she’d slid to the ground.

The passenger van full of retired golfers, which had been the first car to come down the road, had been a blessing. One of it’s occupants had been a retired doctor and had actually turned out to be Aaron Steven’s grandfather.

He’d stood by and watched as the man and an older woman had worked on Roberta, stopping the blood that had been oozing out of her left shoulder.

When the ambulance had arrived they loaded her into the back and he watched the local Sheriff load the man into the back of his squad car. He’d ridden in the ambulance with Rob, watching, hovering over her.

Ric looked up now and watched Aaron Stevens walk in.

“What happened?” Aaron asked as he rushed to his side.

“Rob, she’s been shot, can you go check on her for me? I’m okay, just please let me know what’s going on with her first,” Ric pleaded.

“I’ll go check and be right back,” Ric watched as Aaron quickly left. Then he placed his head in his hand and prayed.

Less than ten minutes later, when a nurse was finishing cleaning his head, Aaron walked back in. The look on his face said more than his words.

“She’s in surgery, Doctor Kent is the best around, he’s going to take care of her. Her vitals are not good, but they aren’t getting worse.” Aaron walked over and started looking at Ric’s shoulder. “Let’s take care of this shoulder.”

“I didn’t know you were on staff here. I thought you had your own place.”

“I do, my grandfather called, I was in town for a meeting, today just happened to be your lucky day. This is going to hurt.” He said as he popped Ric’s shoulder back into place.

Six hours later, Ric felt like he was going crazy. He was pacing up and down the small private waiting area, his arm in a sling and new stitches on the side of his head. The whole Jordan clan was there except Lacey, who was at home watching all the young children.

Allison and Iian sat quietly huddled together, Megan and Todd had arrived shortly after them. There was even a priest, a Father Michael who was sitting talking quietly to Megan. He seemed like a nice, older gentleman.

Ric had been raised Catholic, but hadn’t been practicing for some time, he’d quietly prayed with the man when he’d arrived. Rob’s partner Tom had arrived two hours after he’d called the PD and told them what had happened. Now there were several cops sitting around the room as well, including her sergeant and commander.

The room was quiet, too quiet, Ric wanted answers. He walked to the door and looked out at the nurse’s station. When he saw Aaron standing there, talking to another doctor., he opened the door and walked towards the men.

Rob knew what was happening, she felt herself drifting away. Everything in her head said that she was leaving, there was no pain.

Her mind flashed to the night so many years ago, when she was back in a hotel room with her dad. He’d passed out drunk on the other bed and she’d stayed up all night watching MTV, eating red licorice vines, Mike and Ike’s, and drinking three Dr. Peppers.

Then, she was whisked away to be with her friends, months before they’d been gunned down. They’d been eating burgers and drinking sodas, laughing. Everyone was there, Billy, Bonnie, Tom, Jenny, and all the others. Their young faces all smiling and happy.

Then, she was eighteen and sitting with Detective Johns in an ice cream parlor, after they’d won their case against the gang members who’d taken her friends away. They’d celebrated and he’d asked her what her plans were for her life. His face hadn’t masked the concern and friendship he’d shown her.

Quickly, she was whisked to the small cabin with Ric. They were making love slowly after taking a walk on the beach in the summer rain. She spent more time here, realizing that it had been the happiest she’d ever been.

She watched as his face hovered above hers, his eyes filled with love. Then his eyes turned sad and tears were falling down on her as she was being wheeled down a long bright hallway. She wanted to go back to the cabin, back to the happy moment.

“Please,” she begged.

“
Shh, shh, it’s okay, everything’s going to be okay, you’re safe. Just relax, rest now, I’ll be here. I’ll be right here,” he said.