Lazar's Intrigue (The Jack Lazar Series) (28 page)

“Well,
Lieutenant,” Powell responded, shrugging. “It kinda looked like self-defense to
me.”

“Self-defense?
Self-defense?” Grubbs pointed at Rex’s body and waved his finger around as if
emphasizing all of the arrows. “This is not self-defense. This is the work of a
deranged maniac! Who shoots a guy with a million arrows? Who? Wasn’t one arrow
enough?”

“The
guy was charging after me,” Jack explained, “and I didn’t hit him in the eye
until the very last shot. I’m not an experienced archer, okay?”

Grubbs
rubbed his hand all over his face and mumbled to himself as if the situation
were beyond belief. “Jesus. What next? I’ve got a body here that looks like it
was attacked by a band of renegade Comanches, and this guy expects me to
pretend like nothing happened?”

“He
was trying to kill me!” Jack was tired and irritated and couldn’t care less
what happened to him at this point.

“The
assailant was hiding in the back of Mr. Lazar’s car,” Powell offered.

“Oh,
don’t you help!” Grubbs barked. “Please!”

“Well,
he seems to be lucid and reasonable. And to be honest, I kinda feel sorry for
him.”

“Is
everybody around here blind except for me?” Grubbs exclaimed, stopping for a
moment to take a breath. “Okay. How did this would-be assassin get into the
back of your car?”

“His
name is Rex,” Jack explained, a little more calmly now. “In fact, he’s such a
bad ass that people call him T-Rex.”

“T-Rex?
Now that’s rich. Is that supposed to be threatening? What, is he a pro wrestler
or something?”

“He
works for Antonucci. Or, I guess he used to work for him.”

“Yeah,
considering they’re both dead now,” Grubbs interjected. “No thanks to you.”

“May
I finish the story?”

“Please.”

“Anyway,
best I can figure is Rex was waiting in Antonucci’s limousine during the dinner
party at the Benson house. After the police showed up, he must have found out
his boss had been killed, so he just hopped into the back of my car and waited
for the right opportunity to attack me…to get me back, I suppose. Not that I
had anything to do with it, of course.”

“Of
course,” Grubbs said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Then,”
Jack continued, pretending not to notice Grubbs attitude, “after the DEA guys
dropped me off, which was around two this morning, Rex got his chance. He
actually tried to choke me to death while I was driving. Talk about maniacs.
There’s your man, Lieutenant.”

Grubbs
stared at Rex’s body again and shook his head despondently. “I don’t know why
I’m doing this, Mr. Lazar. Maybe I’m just tired. But I’m going to let you go
home. However, I want you back in my office first thing Monday morning to
provide an official statement about what happened here. And it better be a good
one. I don’t want to look like an idiot for letting you go.”

“All
I have is the truth, Lieutenant.”

Grubbs
laughed. “No. You’ll have to do better than that.” Then he looked down again.
“Yes, sir. You’ll have to do
a lot
better than that.”

“I’ll
see what I can do,” Jack smirked.

“I
suppose you need a ride home now?” Grubbs leered at him as if he had better not
accept the offer, but what else was Jack going to do?

“Yes.
Thanks.”

“Powell!”
he grunted. “Give Mr. Lazar a ride home. Better not be far, either.”

“San
Juan Capistrano,” Jack said with a hint of gratification.

“Oh,
for crying out loud,” Grubbs lamented as he wandered back toward the front of
the store, continuing to ramble as if no one were listening. “Thinks we’re
running a goddamn limo service. Ungrateful bastard…”

“It’s
really not a problem,” Powell said politely, looking over to ensure Grubbs
hadn’t heard him. “I’ll be glad to take you.”

“Thanks.”

“You
know something,” Powell continued as Jack gingerly slipped into his shirt and
the two of them started toward the door. “I think Grubbs is enjoying all of
this.”

“That’s
ridiculous. He hates my guts.”

“No,
I’m serious. If he hated you, he’d just throw you in jail. But when he rants
and raves like that, it usually means he’s having a good time.”

“Well,
I’m glad
somebody
is.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Had
it not been for the doorbell ringing, Jack probably would have slept until the
middle of the afternoon. He finally arrived home at four o’clock in the morning,
and after that it was difficult to get to sleep at all.

Groggy,
he rose to a seated position on the edge of the bed and looked over to his
alarm clock.

Ten
twenty-two.

He
winced from the pain at his side, his mind having momentarily forgotten about
last night’s injury, and he placed his hand over the bandage as he stood up. The
blood rushed from his head, and he felt for a moment like he would black out,
but everything drifted back into place.

The
doorbell chimed again, reminding Jack of why he had awakened in the first
place, and he fetched his robe from the bathroom door. He slipped it on as he
descended the staircase and used the peep hole to identify his guest when he
reached the door. It could be just about anyone these days from a Girl Scout
selling cookies to a highly paid assassin with a personal grudge.

Pleasantly
surprised, he reached for the knob and opened the door.

Lisa
Benson edged her way inside and scaled over the pile of mail that had yet to be
gathered up. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a beret, and her face was clean
and beautiful. To look at her, no one would have guessed the horror she had
witnessed the night before.

“What
are you doing here?” Jack asked curiously.

“I
came to check on you.” She forced a smile. “I know you’ve been through a lot,
and I was worried.” An oversized French blue sweater draped over her trim
little body, and she wore a pair of black tights underneath, the curves of her
legs nicely revealed.

“What
about your father?”

“Oh,
he doesn’t need me right now. Mom’s taking care of him.”

“No.
I mean, does Harry know you’re here?”

“I
told him I was going to a friend’s house.” She stared directly into his eyes as
her lips began to quiver, and she threw herself into his arms, crying freely
into his chest. “Oh God, Jack!”

He
held her for a while and gently rocked her. It felt soul-enriching to hold a
woman in his arms again, despite the discomfort from his injury. The warmth of
her body energized him, and Lisa’s endless devotion to Chanel No. 5 brought
back pleasant memories of her company. Still, he forced himself to push her
back so he could talk to her.

“What’s
going on with you?”

She
spoke to him frantically through her tears. “Well, I was so upset because I
thought you had become this awful person. And I just couldn’t understand how
that could have happened! The man I had grown to love? Then you showed up last
night, and you told the police that outrageous story about Colombian drug
dealers and people getting killed and the company being involved somehow! And then
Gerry Hesterling admitted to killing Sean, and he killed that Antonucci guy,
and then Daddy killed Gerry, and then…”

Jack
shook her gently. “You’re rambling, Lisa. Besides, I was there. Just relax.”

She
buried her face into his chest again and continued to cry. “I just don’t know
what’s going on. I need you to tell me everything’s okay. I need you to hold
me, Jack. There’s just no one to hold me!”

“It’s
okay,” Jack said, flinching with pain as her hand traveled down his side.

“What’s
this?” she asked, struggling to stifle her tears, and she opened Jack’s robe,
apparently without considering what he may or may not be wearing underneath it.
“What happened to you? Oh, Jack.”

“Some
guy tried to kill me with a knife last night. It’s not important.”

“What?”
She was appalled. “After you left our house? How?”

“The
guy was hiding in the back of my car when I returned to your house for it. It’s
really not a big deal.”

“Of
course it’s a big deal.”

“Not
in comparison to everything else I’ve been through lately. Let’s just
concentrate on you right now.” He knew that’s why she was really there anyway.

She
studied his face skeptically. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,
I’m sure.”

“You’ll
be okay?”

“I’ll
be fine. Now come here.” He pulled her back into his arms and held her as the
tears began to flow again.

Jack
thought about how his vow of silence regarding Ben and the DEA was essential to
protect the woman he held in his arms, and it just seemed ludicrous. This
innocent young girl had nothing to do with those awful people, and it wasn’t
right for them to threaten her. But all he could now was cooperate.

Jack
shook his head and tried to focus on the matter at hand. “I guess you really
didn’t come here on my account, did you?”

She
pulled back and wiped her eyes as she gave him a guilty smile. “Oh, like it
took a rocket scientist to figure that out.” She slapped his chest playfully.

“C’mon,”
Jack suggested. “Let’s go make some coffee.”

“Okay.”

Jack
kept his arm around her as they walked toward the kitchen, her head resting
against his shoulder as she continued to wipe her tears away. He sat her down
at the table and kissed her forehead before tending to the coffee machine, and
he realized at that moment how much he still cared for her.

“Did
you have a relationship with that woman?” Lisa asked, apparently exercising
better control over her emotions.

“Woman?”

She
narrowed her eyes, making it obvious she would not dignify the question with a
response.

“Oh,”
he replied sheepishly. “I guess you mean Sarina.”

“Yeah…
So?”

He
sighed as he poured water into the coffee machine’s reservoir. “Yes I did.”

“I
see.” Lisa was clearly disappointed, but not surprised.

“If
I thought there was any chance of saving what we had…”

“I
know,” she interrupted. “I’m being silly.”

Jack
stared at her silently for a moment. “No you’re not. I mean, we really didn’t
settle things between us. We just stopped seeing each other.”

“Really,
Jack. Does anybody do it differently?”

“Sure.
Lots of people.”

“Like
who?”

“I
don't know. Just…lots of people. They get closure.” He pushed the button to start
the first cup, and the Jura-Capresso machine immediately started the bean-grinding
process before pressure brewing the coffee and setting up for the next shot. “I
guess I’m just trying to say I’m sorry.”

“For
what?”

“For
not working harder to keep things together.”

“I
wasn’t exactly cooperating, you know.”

“Still…”

“I
was worried about my father finding out,” she continued. “And I didn’t exactly
make it easy for you. I mean, I just wasn’t a fun person to be around after
Sean died.”

“And
you had every right to be suffering,” Jack pulled out the first cup and started
another. “But that’s ancient history now.”

He
returned to the table and held her in silence while the machine brewed the
second cup, and he rose again as it finished.

“Let’s
take this outside,” he suggested. “I think we could both use some fresh air.”

She
smiled at him and tilted her head as if recognizing his commitment to spending
a nice morning with her. “Okay. That would be great.”

They
stepped through the French doors onto the patio and sat in a place where the
morning sun could shine directly upon them. The cool breeze carried the
tranquil scent of wisteria, which the landscape service had planted generously
along the trellises near the fence, and the color added to the morning’s
evolving charm.

“So
what did those DEA agents do with you last night?” she asked.

“They
just wanted to debrief me about Colombia. To see what I found out. That sort of
thing.” Jack didn’t want to lie or keep anything from her, but he found it very
easy considering the risks of telling her the whole truth. Just knowing her
life hung in the balance would make it easy for him to lie to anyone, anywhere,
anytime.

“So,
are they going after the rest of Antonucci’s people?”

“Could
be. I have no idea. I’m out of it now. I really just want to put it behind me
and move on.”

“I’m
sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Please.
You didn’t say anything wrong. I’m just talking.”

They
remained there in silence, sipping on their coffee while enjoying the fresh air
and sunlight. And for the first time in weeks, Jack felt like a real person
again. His very existence felt like it had meaning, as if he had been awakened
from a long, awful dream, and it was great. In fact, it seemed absolutely
normal.

“What
are you going to do now?” Lisa asked.

“I
have no idea,” Jack answered with a chuckle. “No idea at all.”

“Okay,
then what are you going to do about me?” She smiled at him coyly.

A
flash of energy charged through his body as if she had flipped on a switch with
her sparkling blue eyes. She practically glowed in the sunshine, making her
look like an angel. Jack was absolutely captivated.

“What
do you
want
me to do?” he asked, throwing the ball back in her court.

“Anything
you feel like,” she whispered in return, leaning toward him and gently brushing
his hair back with her hand.

“What
about your father?”

“He
knows about us.” She opened her eyes wide, as if playfully participating in his
surprise.

“How?
When?”

“I
told him last night.”

“Oh,
the poor man.” He closed his eyes and shook his head.

“It
was a good time, Jack. I figured the night couldn’t get any worse. And I was
right. Daddy was a little surprised, but in a way he seemed happy about it.”

“So
what does that mean?”

“It
means there’s nothing to get in our way now,” she whispered before kissing him
gently on the lips. “It means we’re free, Jack.” She pulled away from him, her
eyes beseeching him. “So what do you say? Can we start over?”

“Yes,”
he answered, smiling. “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”