Authors: Elle Wylder
Saving Grace (9 page)
Brady
I’m late to the meeting, but some things can’t be helped. I
spent most of the night making sure there isn’t anything at the Manning crime
scene that could connect me to the murder. Now it is time to tie up the loose
ends, namely the only witnesses that could connect me. With the right kind of
pressure everyone rolls over eventually and they would be no different. It is
necessary for another reason too. These particular funerals will bring Walker
running, and the woman with him.
They are waiting for me at a cabin an hour from town that
was seized years ago for back taxes. It is the perfect place. Secluded and
neglected. And I have a weapon that can be traced to any number of crimes, but
not to me--I ditched the gun I used to kill Hugo in the Gulf on a deep water
fishing trip years ago. This one can’t be linked to me, and has no
discernable
connection to the victims either.
In the end it is almost too easy. Turning my lights off
before I enter the driveway, I kill the engine when I hit the slight decline. I
coast to a stop, check the gun one last time, and quietly shut the car door
behind me.
They’re parked behind the cabin as I instructed, and I make
my way through the overgrown weeds in silence. I smile when I reach the car.
Both windows down, driver and passenger asleep, two shots each. I’m in my car
and on the way back to Birmingham in less than ten minutes.
Now for the woman.
Thanks to her phone calls and caller ID, I not only know she
is still investigating Beaumont’s murder, but exactly where to find her. It is
unfortunate Graham has to go too. I’d hoped Graham would take care of this
little problem for me, and in a way he will. Murder-suicide is so common after
all. That’s how it will look to the investigators at least, when I’m done
staging the scene.
In a couple of days, I’ll make an anonymous phone call to
the local cops. Such an obvious gang-related shooting should make all the state
papers. Graham and Grace Monroe will show up soon after. He may claim to have
gone straight--and I can’t find anyone who says otherwise--but he won’t let the
murders of his former two most trusted men go unanswered.
I smile. The final obstacle in my way is about to be
cleared. She’ll be easy enough to take care of. The biggest problem will be
getting the drop on Graham, but I have a plan for that too. The idiot is
obviously in love. I sneer. Men do stupid shit when they’re in love, but it
works to my advantage. Graham has lost his edge.
Walker
Later, we lay next to each other in the big bed, close but
not touching, the only sound that of our heavy breathing. I lingered over her
body for hours, desperate to bring her to a feverish pitch of need. Desperate
to prove she is safe here in my house and not sneaking away in the dead of
night to get away from me. Of course that could come later, but I don’t think
so. She’s regained the confidence I’m used to seeing in her, the fear from
yesterday either conquered or hidden away. But it has only been replaced by her
hesitation about us. About me.
We need to discuss the case, but I flat out don’t want to. I
don’t want to drag it into the here and now, into this sense of peace I’ve
carved out making love to her. Am I really thinking of it along those lines
now? My mind shies away from that too. Time for a new topic.
“So why do you do this?”
She turns her head on the pillow to look at me.
“Do what?”
“The private eye thing.”
She is surprised at the question. Her eyes widen a little
and she frowns. I’m breaking her rules. We never talk about really personal
shit and the job has always been off limits. Most people don’t have any
problems talking about why they chose a particular career and that she doesn’t
tells me a lot. But if she does, it will be her first step forward. I think
maybe she’s ready. She stayed on this damned case to protect me. It burns my
ass she’d take the risk but at least I get it now. I hold my breath waiting to
see what she’ll say.
“I promised my mother,” she whispers.
Huh?
“You promised your mother you’d be a private eye?”
She smiles. “Not exactly.”
When she doesn’t go on, I pick up her hand and lift her
knuckles to my lips. After a quick nibble, I place her palm over my heart and
hold it there.
“Talk to me, Grace.”
She sighs.
“Mom was already sick when I got out of the Army. If she hadn’t
been, I would have reenlisted. Anyway, I got out and came home. My being in the
Army scared her, but the thought of my going into civilian law enforcement
terrified her. She made me promise I wouldn’t do it.
“I could have gone into corporate security. I had a couple
of nice offers that wouldn’t have taken me out of Atlanta, but I’d had enough
of following other people’s orders in the Army. Figured I’d go out on my own.”
I have to side with her mom on this one. I’d seen how Lynn’s
job tore up Trace, how the worry had eaten at him. Not that the current
situation with Grace is any better. And when it is over? What then?
“And when we deal with this problem now? What then?”
She frowns at me.
“I was planning on setting up shop here if I can sell my
condo.” She shrugs. “Hell, maybe I’ll write a book when this over.”
I’m not sure if that is a safe option and she is avoiding
the real question.
“Us, Grace.” I sigh. “I was talking about us.”
“Oh,” she says softly. “I’m not so good at that long term
thing, Walker.”
My heart damned near leaps from my chest. She didn’t say no,
didn’t rush to push me or the conversation off. Progress? I roll to my side and
prop up on my elbow to stare down into her eyes.
“Do I need to remind you again I’m not your ex?”
She laughs. “Believe it or not, I get that. Look, I’m not
making any promises, but I’m not walking away either.”
“Good. ‘Cause I’m not letting you
run
away.”
She grins. “Run, walk, what’s the difference?” Sobering, she
adds, “Can we at least wait until I catch this killer to hash this out?”
We can wait until he is caught but she sure as hell isn’t in
that alone. I am involved whether she likes it or not given my connection to
Hugo Beaumont. I haven’t given up on talking her into letting the case go
either. Before I can bring it up the phone rings, and I lean across her to pick
it up.
“’Lo?”
“Hey. It’s Lynn.” She sounds agitated. “Grace up?”
“Yeah, hang on.”
“You’re gonna want to hear this too, Walker.”
Fuck. That can’t be good.
“Sure.”
I sit up and push the speakerphone button, letting the
handset slide back into the cradle.
“You’re on,” I say.
She exhales a long breath and I hear Trace murmuring in the
background.
“You remember Manning?”
“Detective Manning? Yeah, I think so. He didn’t exactly run
in my crowd,” I say wryly.
She snorts. “Yeah. Grace, Manning’s a real straight shooter,
been in IA for a while. He was killed tonight. I hear it looks like a classic B
and E gone wrong.”
That feeling I’ve carrying around of something bad going
down spikes to new levels.
“You don’t believe that?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I also hear that Brady is being considered
for the Deputy Chief’s job and Manning is, well was, holding it up. Manning’s
been after him for years. Most people think it’s just a serious hate-hate
rivalry, you know? But what if he found something? What if Grace asking
questions piqued his interest and he found something in the Beaumont file?”
“That’s a lot of speculation,” Grace says quietly.
“Yeah.” Lynn sighs. “But Grace, my gut is screaming at me
about Brady. If he killed Beaumont and then Manning to cover it up, he’ll come
after you. You’re a loose end. Walker too, maybe.”
“Shit,” I say. “Let him come. I’d be more than happy to feed
him to the gators.”
Lynn must have switched to speakerphone too, because Trace
throws in his two cents.
“I’m right there with you, brother. Anything you need.”
Grace is looking at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“Gators? I thought there was only one?”
I laugh and she winks, a small saucy grin fleeting across
her face.
“Lynn, how did you get wind of this so soon? Do you know
anyone we can go to with this?”
She sighs.
“I called Manning tonight, so I was on his caller ID. The
homicide investigator called me. And no. Not without any evidence. And if
Brady...Well, Manning was the only one I was sure I could trust.”
“There must be evidence somewhere for him to be going after
people now.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. You’re assuming it was Brady. Maybe it’s
completely unrelated.”
“You don’t believe that anymore than I do,” Grace answers.
“Yeah. You’re right. I don’t and if the speculation about
Hugo’s death was public and pointed in the right direction, it might be enough
to keep that job out of Brady’s reach. And who knows what he’s into now? He
knows you’re investigating the murder. He’s got to assume you’ll find out he’s
dirty and that’s not information he can let out.”
Grace clenches her jaw and refuses to look me in the eye.
“I’m a sitting target here, with no evidence. I need to go
back to Birmingham.”
“No!” we all bark at once.
I
suck
in a deep breath.
“No, Grace. I know this guy. We wait here on our turf. He’ll
come and we’ll be ready.” I say it knowing Trace and our friends will stand by
me one hundred percent. I’d put my money on us any day of the week. There are a
lot of ways to make a body disappear.
“I agree, Grace,” Lynn adds. “We know the lay of the land
here, and any stranger who comes to town and wanders around is going to
generate a lot of attention.”
“So that’s the plan?” Grace asks incredulously. “Wait for
him to come here and try to kill me so someone can arrest him?”
No babe, the plan is he comes here and I bury his ass. I
don’t dare say it out loud. I keep the thought to myself. I’m sure Trace is on
board, but Lynn and Grace will probably object. Hell, they definitely will. If
I’d known my past was going to rear its ugly head and bite me in the ass years
later I might have cleaned house before I left Birmingham.
“We’re not gonna solve anything tonight,” Trace says. “What
say we regroup in the morning? Hell, I’ll even bring the donuts.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Especially the part where I join the
donut run and discuss live gator bait.
I hang up and once again we lay side by side in the dark
lost in our own thoughts. She breaks the silence first.
“Still doesn’t explain Carlos Beaumont’s involvement.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“I think I need to have a little heart to heart with
Beaumont. And I’m not giving up on going back to Birmingham.”
I grit my teeth. The woman is determined to get herself
killed.
“We’ve already talked about why that’s a bad idea.”
“Yeah. And when y’all calm down we’ll talk about why it’s a
good
idea.”
I grunt. When hell freezes over.
“You’re not gonna convince me or Trace of that.”
The mattress shifts as I roll to my side to watch her. She
has that don’t-get-in-my-way look in her eyes again. What I wouldn’t give for a
little submissiveness. Is that too much to ask? I shake my head. I already know
the answer to that one.
“Look, it’s late. Let’s sleep on it and we’ll figure out
what to do tomorrow.”
She frowns.
“I hate to drag y’all into this shit.”
I scoot closer to her, covering her body with mine, and push
her hair off her forehead.
“Baby, I’m in this whether you like it or not. Get used to
it.”
Someone is after my woman. Damned right I’m in it. Maybe she
decides that is one fight she can’t win at least. She sighs and rolls over,
pressing her back against my chest and pulling my arm over her waist. I lie
awake long after she falls asleep trying to figure out what the fuck to do about
Brady.
Walker
Trace picks me up at the ass crack of dawn and we head to
the gym. Five of us own it together. Me, Trace, Hunter Wallace our boss, Ryder
Malone, and Lake Palmer. We’ve known each other since school, all come from the
wrong side of the tracks. These are my people and I breathe a sigh of relief
when I walk in the door. I haven’t been around much because of Grace and Hunter
has let it slide, thank God. But it’s time to get him up to speed. At least
she’s not a cop like Lynn was when she and Trace first hooked up. And she
is
Honor’s twin sister. That might get me some points.
Despite the early hour, Lake is lecturing a couple of
younger guys on fighting techniques while Hunter and Ryder watch. We join them
and Hunter looks me over. I figure I must look as worried as I feel.
“Is this a conversation we should have in private?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
We all trek into the office and I tell the whole story, or
as much of it as I know. Hunter looks pretty pissed.
“First,” he asks. “Are they safe? Grace and Honor?”
“Grace isn’t,” I say. “But Honor probably is. She’s talked
to Grace. If something weird was going on with her she would have said.”
I should have known Hunter would ask. We all know how hung
up he is on Honor. He nods and looks relieved then he pins me with a cold look.
“Did you do it?”
I should probably be insulted. I’m not. My only concern
right now is making this go away and protecting Grace. I shake my head.
“I didn’t. But the police sure liked me for it. Probably
still do.”
“And this guy Brady?”
“Dirty as they come. My money’s on him. Which makes Carlos
Beaumont a wildcard. I have no idea what his game is.”
“Chase know what his little brother is up to?”
I’m not surprised he asks. We do some business with Chase,
selling parts mostly. I’ve never had any issues with him. If he thinks I killed
his father I’d be surprised. I always assumed he knew who did and had already
made him disappear. Now I’m not so sure.
“I don’t know. I doubt it,” I answer.
He’s pretty pissed but he doesn’t vent his anger. I think
he’s probably worried about backlash against Honor. I know Grace is too, and I
know I have to tell him but fuck, that’s gonna bite.
“If you can spare someone, boss,” I say. “It would probably
be a good idea to put someone on Honor until this is settled.”
He gives me the look that made me squirm a few years ago.
I’m used to it now.
“Already done,” he says.
And I wonder how long he’s had someone shadowing her. Does
she know? I’m not suicidal so I don’t ask. I don’t think I’ll mention it to
Grace either. No telling how she would react.
“You can’t get her to give this up?” Hunter asks and I shake
my head. He looks at me like I’m crazy and then at Trace. “What is with you two
and nosy women?”
I’d like to take exception to that but I agree with him on
this one. And knowing she’s staying on the case because of me? To protect me?
Makes it so much worse.
“They aren’t boring,” Trace says with a slow grin. I’m not
sure if I want to punch him or thank him for the smart ass remark because Hunter
snorts and changes the subject. Saving my ass.
“I have a priority job coming up in a few days, Walker. I
need you free for that.”
I look at Trace and he nods. He’ll watch over Grace if I
have to disappear a couple days. “No problem,” I say.
I’ve never let Hunter down and he knows it. He nods. “Good.”
My phones chirps to let me know I have a new text and I look
at it as Trace’s does the same thing.
“Problem?” Hunter asks.
“Only if you count being uninvited to breakfast and
Serenity, Grace, and Honor getting together instead trouble,” Trace says dryly.
“Personally, I’m happy to skip the girl talk.”
I’m not. I figure I might be a big topic of conversation and
I want to know if anyone talks Grace out of this newfound peace we’ve found.
Judging by Hunter’s expression he’d like to be a fly on the wall there too.
“Reach out to Chase. Let him know what his brother is up
to,” Hunter orders me.
“Yeah, all right.”
We all split up then. Trace follows me outside and we go
back to my house.
“This is a fucked up mess,” Trace says when we enter the
kitchen. “You think the cop killed Hugo and this other cop?”
“Yeah I do.”
“What do you want to do?” he asks quietly.
“If he comes after Grace he’s a dead man.”
No doubt in my mind about that. Brady’s won’t let this go.
He’ll consider Grace a threat and a loose end.
“Maybe you should let the
Beaumonts
handle it. Sounds like the kind of thing they can make disappear.”
Yeah. That’s what I’m hoping for. I get my phone out and
dial from memory. I put it on speaker so Trace can hear.
“Hello?”
“I need to talk to him.”
“Who’s this?”
“Walker.”
“It important?”
“It’s about Hugo.”
It’s silent for a few seconds then Chase comes on.
“I know you’re not calling to confess so what else could
possibly be important about Hugo anymore?” Chase drawls.
“Did you know your brother hired someone to investigate his
murder?”
There’s a long pause. “That nut job,” he mutters. “How do
you know about it?”
“The investigator is my woman.”
He laughed. “Bet that’s interesting. I never thought you
killed Dad, but you look guilty as hell.”
I’d be worried if he didn’t sound so amused. I’m curious
though. “Why not?”
“No reason to.” He pauses. “Your girl find out who did it?”
“No proof. I think it was Brady,” I say.
There’s another long pause. “I’ll look into it,” he says
before hanging up.
“Think that’s the end of it?” Trace asks.
I shake my head, because as much as I hope it is I have the
bad feeling it’s not.
Grace
Lynn shanghais me into breakfast and I’m not surprised to
walk into the local diner to find my sister and Faye waiting for us. We get
seated right away, order drinks, and then the inquisition starts.
“
Sooo
,” Honor starts, and I know
this is not gonna be pleasant. “What the fuck are you doing, sister mine?”
Always did have a potty mouth on her. She looks so sweet and
innocent she has most people fooled. I know her better than anyone, though. I’m
not sure if she’s asking about my investigation of my sleeping arrangements.
“I’m not sure,” I answer cautiously. “I have a case. And
Walker is…important to me.”
I know I’ve hurt Honor holding back as much as I have but I
also know she gets it. She has this totally weird thing going on with Hunter.
“You have a case so Hunter
sicced
the goon squad on me,” she mutters.
She turns to glare at two of his men sitting nearby. When
she looks back at me she nods and I know we’re okay. I’m pretty sure she’s
focusing her ire on Hunter. It’s a huge relief.
“This is serious. You and Walker.” It’s Faye who makes the
statement. Our friend is a well known local radio personality. Usually, she is
flamboyant and in your face. Right now, she doesn’t seem so sure of herself. Of
any of us.
“It is,” I say, watching my sister. “I don’t want him to be
that guy. My guy,
ya
know? But he is. He so totally
is. He’s not ever gonna be…a law abiding upstanding citizen, I guess, and no
doubt he can be dangerous. But he’s mine.”
“You sure?” Honor asks.
I shrug. He’s surprisingly funny. And gentle. But his
intentions long term? I have no idea what he wants. Then there’s the over
protectiveness. The bossiness.
“Hell no,” I breathe out softly. “He makes me crazy half the
time. Especially right now since apparently someone is trying to kill me.”
“This sucks,” my not so sweet sister almost snarls. “At
least I know Walker won’t let anything happen to you.”
Great. Just what I need. Honor backing up Walker’s
ridiculous demands.
“Unfortunately it also means he’s trying to stop me from
finishing the job. And this doesn’t end until I have those answers.”
“How are you gonna do that?” Honor asked.
“I have no idea. I’ll think of something.”
But I don’t have a clue what.