Kicking the Habit (16 page)

“I know of it. Go on.”

“So, I show up, but he doesn’t. I can’t
figure out why, so I think maybe he’s out in the barn. Maybe the farmhouse
isn’t enough for him, and he wants to make things interesting. So I go out to
the barn, but he’s not there. Except, someone has definitely been there.”

“What do you mean?”

“The barn was full of illegal stolen weapons
and ammo. I’m not saying the senator was perfect, but I do know he was a man of
conviction. His stance for stricter gun control laws and cleaning up the
streets was real. He wanted nothing more than to get the illegal guns off the
streets.”

“Then why on earth would he be storing them
in his barn? That could ruin him if it got out.”

“Sound like you’re finally asking the right
questions,” Creamy said, and then the line went dead.

“You’re shitting me, right?” Ace said to
Cece after she got off the phone and returned to the town scrapbook at the end
of City Hall.

“Detective …” Her angelic, heart-shaped face
puckered into a frown.

“Sorry. I’m trying,” he responded
sheepishly, and her almond-shaped brown eyes softened. He tore his gaze away
and started to pace so he could concentrate on his thoughts. “That’s crazy,
right? It doesn’t make sense that the senator would knowingly be involved in
the buying and selling of illegal firearms. And one of his best friends is the
man who hired Walker to kill him? That doesn’t make sense either.”

“That’s what my source says—and could you
please stop pacing? You’re making me dizzy.” She wobbled a bit.

Ace stopped walking and faced her. “You mean
the stripper from Woody’s? How credible can she be?”

Cece squared her slight shoulders, hoisting
her chin in the air, and Ace had to admit she looked bigger than she was,
impressive and confident. “As credible as Li Wang, his campaign manager. At
this point, I say any leads we get are worth checking into. And by the way, it
would be nice if you would do something in return for her coming forward, like
get the security increased at Woody’s. You know what they say about karma.”

Ace parted his sport coat, dropping his
hands to his hips as he nodded. “Fine. I’ll make some calls. In the meantime let’s
go see if we can find Allen Rutherford.”

“You read my mind.”

Ace drove to the only hotel in New Hope,
Massachusetts—The Newhopian. They went inside, and after Ace flashed his badge,
they found out what room Allen was staying in. They knocked on the door, and
Allen opened it.

He was fiddling with the handle on his
luggage, not really paying attention as he said, “You can take my bags down—”

“To your car?” Ace asked, cutting the businessman
off. “I think not. You’re not going anywhere.”

Allen’s gaze whipped up, his lacquered gray
hair not moving an inch. “Detective Jackson.” He looked floored, stumbling back
several steps and grabbing his heart, seeming much older and more tired than
when they’d first met him. “Miss Monroe? What on earth are you doing here?”

“Cut the crap, Rutherford. We know
everything.” Ace stiffened in a ready position, going into ultimate cop mode.

Allen’s face paled. “I don’t know what you
mean.”

“The hell you don’t,” Ace spat.

“Mr. Rutherford, I know the senator was a
good friend of yours.” Cece stepped inside, defusing the situation like she
always did. “We just want to help get to the bottom of who killed him. It’s only
right, and God would want justice served.”

Allen turned downright ashen now.

“Speak now, Rutherford, or forever hold your
peace and go down with the ship,” Ace growled. “The Sister is a lot more
forgiving than I am. And the Senior Scrappers are relentless. We’ve got the
proof we need to convict you, and Mumfry is singing like a jailbird. You might
as well tell us all what you know, and maybe things will go easier for you.”

Rutherford looked at them both with
resignation, great sadness, and admittedly a bit of relief. “I don’t need
things to go easier for me. Lord knows Stanley didn’t have that luxury. Please,
come in and shut the door,” Allen said, and he led the way into the living room
part of his suite. Once they were seated, he began speaking.

“I truly don’t know how things got so out of
control, but I can tell you Stanley was my best friend. I adored him, but we
all have our demons. Mine just happened to be gambling.”

Ace’s eyes cut to Cece’s, but she was
listening intently with that look on her face that invited the world to unload
their problems on her. She was so honest and genuine and forgiving, that in her
presence people felt like they could tell her their deepest darkest secrets and
not be judged. She truly was an angel in every sense of the word.

That’s why she was so goddamned dangerous to
his soul.

“Anyway, the senator was up for reelection
and in need of campaign funds, especially after his father found out about his
affair with his campaign manager, Li Wang. He threatened to cut him off, so
Stanley was desperate. I knew that.” Allen’s face filled with anger, disgust,
and condemnation toward himself. “I knew Stanley better than anyone, so I
exploited that.” His gaze shot to Cece’s. “Please don’t judge me. Addictions
make the best of us do things we’d never dream of doing in other
circumstances.”

“I don’t judge anyone, Allen. You can talk
to me. I’ll listen and help you in any way that I can,” she said with complete
sincerity and without hesitation. Damned if Ace didn’t believe every word of
it. His admiration for her grew tenfold, and he hadn’t thought that possible.

“Stanley and I go way back. We met in an upper-crust
all boys’ school when we were young. His father had always been hard on him. I
knew how he felt. Mine was the same way. It was part of their generation and
upbringing. We bonded instantly. After all these years, that had never changed.
The thing that did change was Stanley became a man of conviction. He had strong
values and core beliefs on what he felt was right and wrong. I became a wealthy
businessman of a certain degree of power in my own right. I moved to Boston
while Stanley moved to his wife Mary’s hometown of New Hope, Massachusetts, but
we’d never lost touch.”

“And then what happened?” Cece asked with
such genuine interest that even Ace fell under her spell.

“My warehouse burned down. Stanley knew
about it. My business involves international import and export of goods. I
needed a place to store a particular load until I built a new warehouse.
Stanley didn’t even bat an eye. He was a good man and a true friend. I knew
that, and I took advantage. He offered his old abandoned barn, no questions
asked. I was so grateful that I contributed to his campaign with a cut of my
profits, thinking I was helping him. I’d always been a big supporter of his,
both personally and financially. If I had only realized the damage I was
doing.”

“That’s when Creamy tipped him off, isn’t
it?” Cece asked.

Allen nodded. “Stanley freaked out. I’ve
never seen him so distraught. I really thought I’d have it all worked out by
then, and he’d never even know the details of my cargo. You see I’m addicted to
gambling. I was in major debt, but on this particular night, I won the
high-stakes poker game I was involved in. My opponent couldn’t pay the
exorbitant amount, so he offered a load of illegal firearms as payment. I knew
I could find a buyer and sell them for big money. Even more than I owed. To be
in the black for the first time in decades was just too tempting to pass up.”

“So you took the deal,” Ace said, “and the
senator couldn’t go to the police because if the truth leaked out, he would be
ruined. A senator whose campaign stance involved anti-guns and stricter gun
control laws to keep illegal firearms off the street can’t be caught with a
load of said illegal firearms on his property. It would not only ruin him but
also put him behind bars for a long time.”

“Precisely,” Allen concurred. “When Stanley
found out and confessed in the church, he became a liability. A price was put
on his head, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I have to live
with that for the rest of my life. Why do you think I’ve been trying to make it
up to Mary and his kids every damn day? But I can’t take it anymore. It’s all
too much.”

“You’re the one who tried to frame the
mayor, aren’t you?” Ace asked, trying to piece together everything he knew.

“I knew the hit man smoked Clove cigarettes,
so I planted the Clove cigarettes in the mayor’s office. I also knew he was
blackmailing Stanley’s father, so I didn’t exactly feel guilty for that. Like I
said, Stanley and I were best friends. There wasn’t much I didn’t know about
Stanley’s life.”

“But the mayor was never arrested,” Cece
said. “He doesn’t smoke, and he had an alibi.”

“I know. I didn’t think things through
clearly because I got a little desperate, I must admit. There was pressure on
me to make the whole thing go away, so that’s when I approached Mumfry Walker.”

“Pressure?” Cece asked. “Who pressured you?
You’re not working alone, are you?”

Allen looked between them, his forehead
beading with dots of perspiration, but he didn’t say a word.

“You paid Walker to confess to the senator’s
murder, knowing it would take suspicion off the real killer, didn’t you?” Ace
asked. “It was your poker buddy, wasn’t it? He didn’t want the gun deal traced
back to him.”

“I knew Mumfry fit the bill when it came to
likely candidates, and he needed the money,” Allen answered, avoiding the real
question. “Like I said, money is a powerful motivator.”

“Motivation enough to kill?” Ace asked.

“It was the worst mistake of my life. I
thought I could fix it before anyone found out. I never dreamed they would kill
Stanley,” Allen said sadly.

“Who ordered the hit on the Senator?” Cece
asked. “It wasn’t you or Mumfry, was it?”

“I’ve said too much,” Allen responded. “Just
arrest me. I’ll take the fall. I deserve it.” He held up his hands in front of
him.

“It’s not going to be that easy, Allen,” Ace
interjected. “If you truly want to atone for your sins, you need to help us
catch the real bad guy.”

“I can’t do that. I’m weak, not brave, and I
don’t want to die,” Allen pleaded. “I have family too. They will be in danger
if I say anything more, but I
can
tell you where the shipment of guns
was moved. Getting them off the streets is the least I can do for Stanley.”

“Well, that’s a start,” Ace said, and for
the first time, he felt like he could finally see the light at the end of the
tunnel.

“How much farther, Rutherford?” Ace asked, as he drove to
the outskirts of town. Allen sat beside him, and Cece sat in the back, as dusk
began to settle. The sky had darkened and storm clouds rolled in. Not quite
cold enough to snow, the heavens looked ready to burst open with a
thunderstorm.

“We’re almost there. Turn right at the fork
in this road, and you’ll come to a construction lot.

They took the fork in the road, and, sure
enough, they came upon an abandoned construction lot. It sat on acres of old
farmland, with a bunch of empty equipment and several projects in various
stages of construction.

“Isn’t this the spot where they planned to
build that new mall?” Cece asked.

“It sure is,” Ace answered, adding, “but
they had to halt construction for the time being while they work out a glitch
in the financing.”

They parked the car and climbed out,
following Allen through various pieces of equipment as he spoke. “Every day
that construction is delayed, they go over their deadline and their budget, so
we knew we were on borrowed time. But for someone wanting to hide a shipment of
illegal guns temporarily, it’s the perfect place. No one is due back for
another week, and there are all sorts of vehicles to help camouflage ours.”

They came to a stop at the back of a big truck, and Allen
pointed. “I had the load stored in this tractor trailer scheduled to ship out
tonight at midnight. I would have been long gone if you hadn’t arrived when you
did. The guns were to be shipped abroad and sold overseas, with the profit
being wired to an offshore account. I would have finally found peace on some
tropical island and never looked back.”

Allen opened the back of the truck, and Ace stood in shock
over the truckload of weapons and ammo before him. The person responsible had
to have some serious connections.

“You might have found peace,” Cece said from
behind Ace and Allen, “but I fear your soul never would have.” A streak of
lightning lit up the sky.

“And neither will yours,” said a gravelly
male voice from behind her, followed by the loudest boom of thunder Ace had
ever heard. If he didn’t know better, he’d have sworn it was a warning.

Ace whipped around, drawing his gun all in
one motion. His stomach hit the ground and his heart jumped into his throat at
the sight before him.

Three-star US Army General Bruce Montgomery
had his arm wrapped around Cece, securing her tightly in front of him, with a
gun held to her head.

“Drop your weapon, Detective, unless you
want another murder to solve,” Montgomery said, looking way too at ease and
comfortable with the role of assassin. Even at fifty, he was still in great
shape and knew exactly what to do with a gun. He towered over Cece as she
trembled before him.

Anger and a healthy dose of fear surged
through Ace as his mind whirled with possible scenarios.

“I would do what he says,” Allen said,
raising his hands before him, his voice filled with resignation and acceptance
like the fight had gone out of him. “He killed his own hit man when he couldn’t
finish the job of getting rid of you two. Half the reason I was running was to
get away from him. He means it when he says no loose ends.”

Ace had never felt so helpless. He’d
promised to keep Cece safe at all costs, yet he’d been stupid enough to turn
his back on her. And now he was supposed to sit there and watch her die. He
couldn’t let that happen. He had to find some way to stall the man.

“General?” Ace dropped his gun in disbelief
and held his hands up before him. “That’s why you said yes to speaking at the
senator’s tribute. So you could come into town and finish the job. You’re a war
hero. Your job is to serve and protect, the same as mine. So many people look
up to you and respect you. Why would you do something like this?”

The general shrugged. “I’ve seen and done
things you three can only imagine, all in the name of serving this great
country we live in, but I can tell you it’s not appreciated by most. The
American people just go about their days, having no clue what we go through for
them and not really caring one way or the other. The way I figure it is, I’m
owed at least something in return. You come across all kinds of shady people in
my line of work, and all those pretty weapons and ammo were just sitting there,
ripe for the taking. I lost big to Rutherford and didn’t have the money to pay
him. I figured no one would miss a few guns, and I had the connections to where
he could sell them for a big profit. He took the deal.”

“I took the deal because I had no choice. I
was desperate. You knew that, but that should have been the end of your involvement,”
Allen said.

“You’re right, it should have been, you
imbecile,” the general roared, and Cece flinched, closing her eyes; but her
lips moved as she prayed.

Ace wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and
tell her it would be okay. And then kill the son of a bitch for touching a
single hair on her glorious head.

“It was
your
stupid mistake to involve the senator by
storing the weapons on his property,” the general continued. “You involved me
by forcing my hand and making me clean up your mess. You incompetent piece of
shit. Those people died because of your stupidity, not because of me.”

“You didn’t have to have Stanley killed,”
Allen said sadly, his voice hitching on a sob.

“Like hell I didn’t. You’re weak. It’s not
like
you
would have. You knew the deal: No loose ends. No liabilities. Sloan
was about to confess to being involved in an illegal arms deal. He couldn’t
handle the pressure. You and I both know the confessional was just the
beginning. It was only a matter of time before he went to the police. I won’t
let you or anyone else ruin my chance at the CIA. I’ve earned that job.
Casualties are a part of any war.”

“The only war going on is the war with your
conscience,” Cece said bravely. “You must know this isn’t the right thing to do,
General. There’s still time for you to do the right thing. Time to save your
soul.”

“I sleep like a baby at night, Sister, and
my soul’s at peace.” He tightened his hold, his face turning hard as he growled
into her ear, “I took an oath to fight the enemy. The enemy is anyone who tries
to take away your rights, your freedoms, your happiness. Anyone who stands in
your way. And enemies are meant to be defeated. Unfortunately, you have all
become the enemy, so now you must be disposed of. Starting with you. You should
have listened to Mumfry when he warned you to keep your nose out of places it didn’t
belong.”

The general lifted his gun to cock the
trigger, and Ace’s intense gaze met Cece’s. Only she didn’t look desperate or
panicked or afraid. She looked calm and in control and resolved.

She said, “Let us raise our elbows and pray for you.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Don’t
you mean ‘bow our heads’?” the general asked, and it was just enough of a
distraction for Cece to act.

Ace couldn’t have been more proud of her.
She’d communicated exactly what she planned to do. The self-defense move Patty
had taught her: Rising Elbows.

Cece didn’t hesitate. She grabbed onto the
general’s arm and lunged with her right foot into a sumo step, then slipped her
left foot behind the general’s leg in a C-step so she would be in control.
Twisting her body at the hips, she used her left elbow to force the general
backward. He was off balance and tumbled to the ground, looking stunned.

She ran hard in a zigzag line as fast and far away from him
as she could, with Allen hot on her heels. Meanwhile, Ace dropped to the ground
and picked up his gun just in time. The general had recovered quickly, rolling
over onto his stomach, and they both fired off a shot at each other. Ace’s shot
hit the general in the leg, and the general’s shot grazed Ace’s shoulder,
knocking his gun from his hand.

Ace grunted and rolled away, still completely exposed as he
scrambled after his gun.

“Not so fast there, Detective,” the general said, up on his
knees and in a firing position.

Ace froze, his hand mere inches away from his gun. There was
nothing more he could do. The general had him in his sights, and he wasn’t the
sort of man who missed. Ace kept his breathing slow and steady as thoughts of
Cece raced through his head. He’d wanted to tell her so many things like how he
felt about her; to show her what she really meant to him; to hold her in his
arms and make passionate love to her all night long. But he’d been too afraid.

Afraid of whom she was—
what
she was.

And now he’d never get the chance. At least he could die
knowing he’d protected her. She was long gone by now. She was safe. She was …

“Ow, shit, what the hell?” the general said.
Thud!
He
jerked back as a second rock hit him in the head, followed quickly by a third
rock that hit him in the chest.

Christ almighty, she
wasn’t
long gone. The crazy
lunatic was throwing rocks by the edge of the tractor trailer. She would be in
a shitload of trouble when Ace got his hands on her—that’s what he was thinking.
The general moved his gun to bring Cece into his sights. Ace cursed and reached
his gun, firing off a shot at the general a second before the man pulled the
trigger.

The general fell back with a bullet in his chest and hit the
ground hard.

Ace scrambled to his feet to see Cece lying face down on the
ground.

“Cece!” Ace yelled and bolted over to her. He fell to his
knees and rolled her over, inspecting every inch of her body. He couldn’t see
that she was hit anywhere.

She blinked open her eyes and stared up at him with fear and
confusion. “Stop, drop, and roll, right?”

“If you’re on fire, then yes. Not if you’re being shot at.
You were supposed to keep running and not look back.”

“Oops,” she said quietly, the reality of her situation
looking as though it had finally sunk in as she began to shake. “Is it over?”

“Goddamn, woman!” Ace yelled in her face, unable to get the
images of what could have happened to her out of his head.

She frowned. “God doesn’t damn women, Detective.”

“Well, I sure as hell will if you ever scare me like that
again.” He scooped her into his arms, pulled her up to him, and locked his lips
to hers, kissing the sense right out of her.

When he finally let her up for air, she stared up at him
with eyes misty and so full of an emotion he didn’t dare name and wasn’t ready
to deal with. “I’m okay, Alistair,” she said softly.

“You were supposed to be long gone. If anything had happened
to you, I would never have forgiven myself—whether in this world or the next.
Why did you come back?”

“Watson never abandons Sherlock. I came back for the same
reason. I couldn’t let anything happen to you either. We’re a team.” She
touched his cheek. “What about you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.” He glanced at his shoulder
that had bled a lot more than he realized, and it hit him that he wasn’t
exactly fine. He felt slightly light-headed.

She must have finally noticed the deep purple blood that had
seeped through his shirt and the hole in his sport coat. She gasped, her eyes
springing wide. “Oh, my gosh, you’re hit!” She pushed him back onto the ground
and reached for his cell phone. “Hand it over. It’s not just a scratch, and you
need help.”

Ace didn’t fight her. “Hit number two on speed dial. Rocco
will know what to do,” he said, and that was the last thing he remembered
before he passed out.

“Come on, Detective. You’ve earned a little R&R,” Cece
said to Ace on Sunday morning, as she drove his brand new truck to her
grandmother’s house. She’d offered to take him home, but he’d shied away from
bringing her back to his place. He wouldn’t say why, but she suspected it had
to do with his issues, so she didn’t push it. She’d agreed to take him to her
place so she could take care of him, but she needed to make a pit stop at
Granny’s first.

“How can I possibly rest and relax with you driving my new
baby?” he said from beside her. His arm was in a sling.

He’d explained to her that his new truck had come in while
he was in the hospital, getting stitches in his shoulder for his gunshot wound.
They’d made him spend the night because he had lost more blood than he had
realized. He’d authorized Rocco to pick up his “new baby,” so Ace could drive
it home when he got out the next morning, but the hospital refused to release
him if he drove himself. Rocco was mysteriously indisposed, insisting he
couldn’t leave because he was in the middle of another extremely urgent matter.
Ace had no choice but to let Cece drive his truck, much to his obvious dismay.
She sighed to herself.
Silly men and their toys
.

“Hey, you were the one who said Rocco would know what to
do,” she said to Ace.

“I can tell you one thing. I’m gonna kill the ass—butt-wipe
when I see him again,” he grumbled back like a pouting child.

“Come on, I’m not that bad of a driver,” she said, as she
jerked the truck to a stop at the traffic light. She bit her bottom lip and
peeked over at him.

His lips parted, but then he clamped them together, finally
responding, “I plead the fifth. Just hurry up. I need a couch, a beer, and a
ball game.”

“I don’t have a TV, remember?”

He moaned. “I’m seriously being punished somehow,” he said.

“I’m sure I can find a way to entertain you, Detective. I
mean, honestly, I …” Her voice trailed off at the look in his eyes. His gaze
was trained on her mouth. She swallowed hard and licked her lips, then said,
“Oh, look. We’re here. I just have to drop off these supplies for Granny. I’ll
be right back out. You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to.”

“I’m a grown man,” he muttered at the mention of her
grandmother. “I think I can handle going in with you. Besides, you said no one
was home.”