Caught in the Storm (21 page)

“He did.” Evie jutted out her chin.

“Evie,” Jackson said quietly, “You didn’t see what was done to him up close. Hell, we couldn’t even tell everything that was done because of all the blood. I don’t think he was dead that long. If we had been earlier, we might have caught the person who did this to him.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing you weren’t any earlier,” Evie said and continued before Jackson could interrupt her, “If you had been here you might have stopped it. You might also be dead. The person who did this doesn’t want to be caught. Hello! And then what, Jeremy goes to jail? What if there’s some bleeding heart jury and he gets off, or doesn’t get as much time and he’s set free? No thank you, I’ll take him cold, dead and buried.” She folded her arms across her chest.

Kat wasn’t sure how she felt. She was numb. Looking over at Anthony, she wondered how he was feeling. He was the one who had lost so much because of Jeremy. Killing him wouldn’t bring his parents back, his best friend or even the other women who’d had the misfortune to have Jeremy find interest in them.

Needing to get away from Lexi, Evie and Jackson arguing about what everyone should be feeling, she walked down the stairs and over to the big oak tree. Leaning up against it, she looked up at the sky through the naked branches just in time to see a rainbow appear. She laughed without humor, thinking of the pain she had been through during and after the attack, both mental and physical, and how it still affected her. And now, there was Jeremy lying dead, tortured in the barn. Maybe worse than anything he had ever done to any woman. And it was over. No more looking back over her shoulder. No more thoughts of revenge running through her mind. It was over.

“I can’t wrap my head around it either,” Anthony said. When she jumped, he continued, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He nodded in the direction of the porch where they were still arguing, “I needed to get away, just like you.”

Kat looked up at him, behind him she could see the barn, and what was left of Jeremy. It was surreal to see both of them so close. She knew she had clung to her anger toward him for far too long. Now she knew every time she saw him, she would know instantly it was Anthony and not Jeremy, there would no longer be any wonder when he walked into the room. “He’s gone. It’s just you now.” She looked at him like she had never seen him before.

A small smile reached the corners of his mouth. “Just me. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

She shook her head. “After everything I’ve said and done, you’re apologizing to me? No, Anthony, it’s me who is sorry. I’ve spent so many years wanting revenge that it clouded my judgment. Everything you’ve been through … and yet here you stand trying to make me feel better.” She didn’t notice when the tears started falling from her eyes. “I’m so sorry.” She rubbed her hand across her heart as if to ease the pain. “I was so wrong.”

As the tears fell harder and faster, she was gathered up in his arms, the arms of the man she had hated for so long. The arms of the man she thought had attacked her and left her for dead. The man she would have killed if she’d had the chance, before knowing that Jeremy was responsible. She couldn’t get a hold of herself and continued to break down, letting everything go. Everything she had kept bottled inside for years finally came pouring out.

“We are done collecting all the evidence. We’ll be putting the body in the van now,” the detective told them a short time later.

“Do you have any clues as to who did this to him?” Noah asked.

“Not at this stage. We’ll know more after we run tests.”

“Come on. You’ve got to be able to tell us something. Like, did you find something that stood out to you as different?” Jackson said.

After a moment, the detective finally said, “No, we did not. At first look, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”

Anthony put his arm around Evie. “Should we be worried?”

“No. It seems all of the rage and anger was directed at Mr. Ellison. He hadn’t been dead long before he was discovered. I’d almost bet whoever killed him was still around. They would have seen the two of you walking around and if they wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

“Once again, thanks for the info. Now, would you mind if we saw the body?” Evie asked with sarcasm dripping from each word.

“Why would you want to do that?” he asked.

Lexi put her hand on Evie’s arm to stop her from talking. “He has taken so much from some of us. We need to see him, this time on our terms. We need to have this visual in our heads to know it’s finally over. We need to know that it’s him and he is dead. We need to be able to move on.”

The detective only nodded and moved out of the way so they could pass.

Kat, Lexi and Evie stood there holding hands, not saying a word as they looked into the face of the man who had hunted them. After a moment, they turned and walked back toward their men.

Lastly, it was Anthony’s turn. He only stood there for the briefest of moments before turning around and not looking back.

March 3
^rd

“Come on! Push it! Push it real good!” Evie coached from the side of the hospital bed and shook her booty.

“Stop it,” Lexi screamed as the pain clenched her belly.

Noah’s face was white as Lexi held his hand in a death grip. “That’s it, love, come on, breathe, it’s almost over.”

Lexi opened one eye and glared at him. Once the contraction was over, she fell back on the bed. “I hate you all.”

“Oh now, honey, you don’t mean that. Look here, we’ve brought you some visuals. They say it will help if you have something to focus on. Here.” Evelyne, Leigh and Marie finished taping the poster to the wall right in Lexi’s line of sight. They moved away and everyone gasped.

Oh, my God,” Evie said, clapping her hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe …”

With the exception of the beeps from the machine, the room was quiet.

“You … you … you can’t put that up there,” Kat said from the corner of the room.

Leigh put her hand on her hip. “Just why the hell not? I think it’s a fine piece of art.”

“
That
is not art. That is … huge … Wrong! I meant to say wrong. It’s wrong. It’s got to be photo shopped,” Evie said as she shook her head.

“Nope. Trust me, we did our research. This here is the real deal.” Leigh bobbed her head up and down. “We went through hundreds of pictures of him, and it always looks the same, no matter what angle or lighting.”

“Besides, I don’t see what’s wrong with it.” Evelyne tilted her head to the side. “I think it’s perfect.”

“Speaking as the only man in the room, I think you need to take it down. Really, you can fight over which of you gets to take it home, but it shouldn’t be here,” Noah said as he tried to look anywhere but at the poster.

“I’m sorry, ladies, but the first thing my daughter sees when she comes into this world will not be a very large poster of a naked man. Besides, something like that,” she waved a hand toward the poster, “is what got me into this situation in the first place.”

“Really?” Evelyne said and looked Noah up and down. “So you’re saying Mr. Rock Star here is hung like a horse? Well, I’ll be …”

Noah cleared his throat and covered his dick with his hands. “Really ladies, why don’t you go keep Anthony and Jackson company? They’re out there all by themselves.”

“Oh, and look, it’s almost shift change. Maybe some new hot doctors will be around.” Kat said as she walked over to take down the poster. “And you might want to take this with you.”

“Fine, but I don’t know what we are going to do with the extra copy. We already have one for each of us,” Marie grumbled as she took the poster from Kat’s hand.

“Oh, I know, let’s put it in the ladies room at the senior center. Maybe some of those old bags will loosen up a bit,” Leigh enthused.

“Excellent idea! Plus that way we get to see it too! I don’t ever want to be too far from Mr. Stallion anyway,” Evelyne said as they walked out of the room.

Six Months Later

Stephanie Bailey Matthews cried her little heart out as her mother and father tried to soothe her, with Aunt Evie and Uncle Anthony making faces at her while Aunt Kat and Uncle Jackson tried to get her food ready.

Everything was perfect. Aunt Evie and Uncle Anthony were married soon after she was born and she was going to have a cousin soon. Aunt Kat and Uncle Jackson were going to be married the following month. She didn’t know about the dark cloud that had hung over all of them for so long and brought them all together. All she knew was how happy they were and how much they loved her.

Thank you to Suzanne for allowing me to bounce ideas off of you and shooting me down when they aren't good enough. This series would be nothing without you.

My beta readers, Heather, Jennifer, Dana, Ellen, Chelle, Heidi, Carey and Kristina thank you so much for taking my very rough mess and seeing the good in it and pointing out where I needed more. Thank you for enjoying my words so much.