“Yep, that’s your mother,” Sam muttered.
I shot him a look.
He ignored the look, let me go and took Memphis from me, lifting her up so they were eye-to-eye.
“You Memphis?” he asked my dog and Memphis yapped her affirmative while I stared at them thinking that no one, but no one, but no one but Sam could make talking to a King Charles spaniel eye-to-eye cool.
Sam curled Memphis into one of his arms and rubbed her head with his other hand, Memphis panted happily and Sam’s eyes came to me. “She’s cute.”
“Told you that too,” I said softly.
He grinned at me.
“Right!” Mom stated loudly, snapping her phone shut and instantly shoving it in her bag. “Your father says the match has been struck, the grill has been lit. This means I need to get home and man the deep fat fryer. You’ve got half an hour. Bring your camera.” Her eyes went to Sam. “Very nice to meet you, Sam and see you in half an hour.” Her eyes swept through the girls. “Out to the car, Kia has to get ready and iron Sam’s shirt so we need to leave her to it.”
“I’ll iron your shirt,” Teri offered, her eyes on his chest and I could be wrong but it looked like they were glazing over.
“I think I got it, Teri,” I told her.
I watched her body jerk.
“Spoilsport,” she muttered to me on a grin.
“All right! See you guys in half an hour,” Paula stated, hooking Teri with an arm and moving to follow Mom who was already out the door, this because she knew from experience when Dad was at the grill, the whole world began revolving around his grill efforts and she was part of that world so she had to get her ass in gear. “Rudy’s at your Mom and Dad’s. He’s psyched. This is gonna be so fun.”
“Later!” Teri called on a wave.
“Later!” Paula pulled her out of sight.
“Later, guys,” I called as Sam’s arm curved around me again and curled me into him and Memphis.
I tipped my head back to look up at him.
We heard the front door close.
“You don’t have to iron my shirt,” he informed me and I felt my eyes widen in shock at his intimation, not capable of wrapping my head around the thought of Sam standing at an ironing board much less ironing.
“Are you going to do it?”
“Fuck no.”
Well, there you go. I couldn’t wrap my head around it because it wasn’t going to happen.
“Sam, just a reminder, you’re in Indiana,” I told him. “Mom’s hint was not a hint so much as a command. We’re considered a couple. I might be flogged if I allow my man to go out with a wrinkled shirt. I’m jetlagged, feel weird, am about to face a party where everyone is going to not act cool with you so I’m not in the mood to fit being flogged in that schedule.”
He chuckled and through it offered, “How’s this? You get ready but tell me where the ironing board is. I’ll set it up.”
“That’s a plan. The ironing board is in the mudroom off the kitchen.”
“Right,” he muttered, dropped his head, kissed my nose, Memphis yapped and then he let me go and strode from the room, again rubbing Memphis’s head as she panted happily.
My eyes followed.
Then my brain processed through the last ten minutes, the brilliant hour before that and the fuzziness of being in a different time zone and it hit me that he took Memphis with him while giving her head rubs.
Sam liked Memphis.
Awesome.
I smiled then rushed into the bathroom in order to accomplish the formidable task of folding fifty minutes (my mother was not wrong) of getting ready into twenty.
I failed and we were ten minutes late.
They were eating Dad’s brats and Mom’s onion rings, we arrived with Sam carrying bags filled with the gifts, not to mention the fact he was Sam, so no one noticed.
Chapter Fourteen
I Let You Down
Well, if I didn’t already know that the internet was prevalent in our society, not to mention people in a small town talked, the evidence of this would be overwhelming at Mom and Dad’s barbeque considering how many folks “popped by” to welcome me home from vacation like I’d come home from a two year Peace Corps assignment at a location where no communication could be had instead of being in Europe for five weeks.
At first, this upset me. Sam was not a museum display and although a few of the folks who “popped by” were cool, most of them were clearly there for the sole purpose of seeing him, they were star struck and thus acting like big dorks.
Sure, it could be said that just two weeks ago I, too, acted like a big dork when faced with sharing breathing space with Sampson Cooper but just then, I was jetlagged, tired and my mother, father and closest friends were meeting my new boyfriend for the first time and he just happened to be an internationally known and beloved hot guy. Even at the best of times and with a new boyfriend who wasn’t an internationally known and beloved hot guy, this would put me on edge. These weren’t the best of times so I didn’t have the patience for it.
But as time slid by, it penetrated that Sam was a practiced hand at this. He was friendly, accepting and had an ability to make people quickly feel at-ease.
What I didn’t know was if this was taxing for him.
This was because, almost the minute we hit my parents’ deck, after Sam met Dad, Missy, Rudy and our elderly widowed neighbor, Mrs. O’Keefe, Sam deposited me in a chair that was resting against the siding at the back of my parents’ house, bent to me and whispered in my ear, “We gotta be outside, you’re gonna stay right there.”
He lifted his head, looked in my eyes, his were serious so I nodded.
Clearly, if someone was insane enough to shoot at me in my parents’ yard during a barbeque, my position as decreed by Sam gave them a not-so-good shot.
Also clearly, Sam was not taking any chances with someone being insane enough to shoot me at my parents’ barbeque. That said, to actually be a hit man, you had to have some screw loose so obviously caution was a good way to go.
So, holding court in my chair at the back and with Sam called to meet half the town, I hadn’t had a second even to speak with him much less take his pulse.
Luckily, this died down but I still didn’t have a chance to make sure Sam was cool. This was because we got down to the business of a welcome home, everyone looking at the display on the back of my digital camera as they clicked through photos, them asking questions, me telling stories and giving out presents and those who meant the most to me in the world getting used to having me home and becoming comfortable with Sam.
This was until Ozzie, in uniform, popped by. I suspected Ozzie was there to see Sam but I also suspected he was there for other reasons, namely to see if I was still breathing.
What I knew was, the minute Sam saw him in uniform, got his name and shook his hand, Ozzie’s visit was going to take on a whole other meaning as defined by Sam.
Ozzie, being Ozzie, clocked this immediately and as he sat enjoying a Coke, his eyes often strayed to Sam.
Sam, being Sam, didn’t delay in sorting out what he felt like sorting out.
And this was done at three sips into Ozzie’s Coke (I counted) with a, “Ford, Sheriff, let’s have a minute inside with Kia.”
Ozzie sighed, unsurprised.
Dad’s eyebrows shot together and he looked at Sam then me.
“Is everything all right?” Mom asked.
Since it wasn’t, Sam didn’t answer. What he did do was get out of his chair next to mine then gently pull me up.
“All’s well, Essie,” Ozzie muttered, also straightening out of his chair and Dad followed suit, looking slightly bemused and not-so-slightly concerned.
“I’ll come with,” Mom decided and popped up.
Ozzie gave Dad a look, Sam gave Dad a look, Dad took in these looks and looked at Mom.
“Give me a minute with Oz and Sam, hon.”
“I don’t –” Mom started.
“A min
ute, Ess,” Dad stated firmly, Mom’s mouth got tight, her eyes started shooting daggers and I held my breath because I’d had twenty-eight years of this.
Dad was a man’s man, through and through. He poured cement for a living. He had his own business doing this, he did the best job of anyone in three counties and he didn’t employ slackers and that was known throughout town, maybe even statewide, seeing as your ass was fired on the spot if he found you not working to his exacting standards. Also I knew of two bar brawls he’d gotten into in town though I didn’t know the reasons he had them but, to me, bar brawls for any reason screamed man! He hunted (even though Mom, and then me when I was old enough to have and voice my opinion, hated this). Further, interrupting him during the Super Bowl, the World Series or the NBA playoffs was punishable by death; I didn’t know this for a fact mainly because I, like everyone else in my family, never interrupted him. He drank beer, not wine, not cocktails but if he felt like branching out, he might drink bourbon but only neat. You didn’t even look at the grill with the intention of using it because that was his domain. He mowed the lawn, he serviced the cars. And, on occasion, what he said went.
Mom, on the other hand, although they met and married relatively young, was independent and strong-willed. She’d been a Mom and a housewife and still went to night school when I was a kid so she could get her degree then moved on to get her Master’s. It took eleven years but she did it. Through this she worked part-time, finally getting a full-time job in the field she’d studied, Speech/Language Pathology. Yes, she cooked. Yes, she cleaned. Yes, in our household, Dad never did any of this. And yes, she did all this without complaint. But she had a say in her children’s lives and a definite hand in our upbringing. She might have been busy but she was not absent.
No, strike that, she had a say and an opinion about everything and didn’t mind voicing it.
And, on the occasion my Dad had something to say that he thought went, and Mom disagreed, things could get hairy.
Like they appeared to be doing now.
Until Sam stepped in.
“I appreciate you’ve cottoned on, Essie,” he said with quiet understanding. “But there are things I need to share with the Sheriff and Ford that I need to keep confidential for now. It’s about what I do. What Ford can share with you, he’ll share with you later. But I need to be able to be forthcoming and the fewer people who hear this, the better.”
Although this could only make anyone more curious, and from the looks on everyone’s faces, they were, Sam’s rough-like-velvet voice coupled with the quiet understanding could not be denied, not even by my Mom.
She held his eyes for a scary moment though but she must have liked what she saw because she sat back down.
Without delay, Sam led me into the house then stepped aside and when Ozzie and Dad followed, Sam looked at Dad and muttered, “Private.”
Dad held his eyes this time, nodded then led the way through the kitchen, into the dining room and through to the living room. He closed the glass-paned doors to the dining room and the wood door to the foyer.
When we arrived, staying standing, Sam wrapped an arm around my chest and pulled the side of my back into the side of his front and his eyes leveled on Ozzie.
Before he could speak, Ozzie did.
“Know what you’re gonna say, Cooper, and I get you. The Deputy who took the call from your people heard your name associated with Kia’s, got excited, shared too much. I can assure you he did not do this with the reporters that called and I can also assure you he will not do this again.”
“That wasn’t cool but that is also not why we’re standin’ here,” Sam replied and Ozzie’s eyes shot to Dad before they went back to Sam and he didn’t shake his head “no” but his eyes screamed it.
Sam shook his head “no” and then explained it.
“You know he’s gotta know,” Sam said softly.
“It’s in hand,” Ozzie returned.
“It isn’t,” Sam shot back.
“What’s this about?” Dad asked.
“Cooper –” Ozzie started, leaning into Sam but Sam turned to Dad.
“Sorry, Ford, this is going to come as a shock –” he began but Ozzie interrupted him.
“Cooper, I don’t advise –”
Sam looked to Ozzie. “Due respect and understand, Kia has told me about you, she cares about you, she trusts you and she’s explained you’re a friend of the family so when I say due respect, I mean it. But with this, you are not makin’ the right decisions.”
“I got experience, son,” Ozzie retorted. “I know what I’m doin’.”
“Yeah, you do then look me in the eye and tell me since she got on a plane and until you heard Kia hooked up with me that you slept good at night,” Sam volleyed.
Ozzie snapped his mouth shut.
“What is… goin’… on?” Dad bit out, eyes narrowed, body tight.
“Shit,” Ozzie muttered.
Sam looked back at Dad. “Jeff Clementine and Vanessa Cloverfield hired a hit man to take out Kia.”
My body was already tight through the preliminaries but it got tighter at these words.
“Yeah, this isn’t news,” Dad said, again perplexed.
“No, Ford,” Ozzie put in quietly. “They didn’t conspire to do it, they did it.”
Dad took a step back, his face going pale. I made to move away from Sam and go to him but Sam’s arm tensed and I couldn’t get away.
Dad was staring at Ozzie and he whispered, “What?”
“Vanessa pawned a bunch of stuff and talked Milo into gettin’ a second mortgage on their house, sayin’ she wanted a new kitchen or somethin’. They found a broker who hooked them up with a man who could do the job they wanted done. They made contact, they paid and the hit was placed on Kia,” Ozzie explained.
“You are shittin’ me,” Dad was still whispering.
“I wish I was Ford,” Ozzie was now whispering.
Dad shook his head, looked at me, Sam then Ozzie and asked, “Okay, well, so? Clearly Vanessa called it off.”
“Unfortunately, no,” Ozzie replied, Dad blanched and his eyes shot to me while Ozzie kept talking. “The broker took a percentage, gave the contact details to Coot and Vanessa and it was all done electronically. Three e-mails. One to inform. One to confirm wire transfer of the money. One to confirm they wanted him to go through with the hit. They were warned that once they sent that third e-mail, that account would be made invalid, they would not hear from him again and could not call him off.”
Dad’s throat was working, his eyes, locked to me, were working and I tried to pull away from Sam again but his other arm went around me, caging me in.
Ozzie went on.
“We had a man on her, Ford, all the time. We don’t really have the resources to do it but we did it. And we’re doin’ everything in our power to track this guy down.”
“And you went off to Europe,” Dad said to me. “Jesus, God, Kia, what was in your head?” he clipped.
“She didn’t know,” Sam stated and Dad’s eyes sliced to him.
“Say again?” he demanded.
“Kia didn’t know,” Sam kind of repeated.
Dad’s eyes sliced back to me then Ozzie when Ozzie spoke quickly.
“We thought, what Kia’d been through, what you all had been through, what you all were facin’ considerin’ Coot was gone and the time had come to face it, not to mention what he left behind just knowin’ all he was up to with Vanessa, we wouldn’t add to that burden.”
“You wouldn’t add to that burden,” Dad whispered.
“Ford –” Ozzie started.
“Are you out of your ever-lovin’ mind?” Dad thundered at Ozzie and I watched Ozzie clench his teeth and he held Dad’s eyes but he didn’t answer.
Dad tore his gaze from Ozzie’s and shook his head, running his hand through his hair while doing it and muttering, “I don’t… I cannot believe this shit. I cannot believe this shit.”
“Right,” Sam put i
n, Dad’s eyes cut to him and Sam announced, “This is where we’re at now. The Sheriff’s talkative deputy gave me the head’s up three days ago.” Sam looked at Ozzie. “So you need to know there are four men in your town who’ll be visible watching Kia and her home. I’ll get you names and pictures so your men can identify them. They are carrying concealed and three of four of them have a license to do that in this state. I’ll ask you to look the other way with the one who doesn’t. I can assure you he’s trained and he knows what he’s doin’ or I wouldn’t have him on Kia. I’m also carryin’ concealed and I don’t have a license in Indiana either. I’ll have a weapon on me at all times and another one in Kia’s house and, since I couldn’t get home to North Carolina to get my own hardware, I do not hold permits for either. I’ll ask you to look the other way on that too. There are also two men hunting this guy at my request. They’ll need information which means I’ll need a full brief from you and I’ll need to talk to Vanessa Cloverfield. So as not to fuck your case against her, you’ll not have anything to do with that. But, she doesn’t talk to me; I’ll escalate my tactics to get her to talk to me. You’ll need to look the other way on that too.”
“Son, you cannot ask me to do that,” Ozzie replied then finished, “Any of that.”
“I just did and you’ll do it,” Sam returned and Ozzie’s face started to get red.
“Cooper, I understand –” Ozzie started but I felt Sam’s body get taut at my back and I braced because I knew, for whatever reason, he was done.
“No, Sheriff, you don’t understand. If you did, at the very least Ford would have been aware of this situation before Kia’s ass was on a plane. For three weeks, she was wandering Europe alone and unprotected. For a week and a half, she was with me and I had no clue. You do not know who this motherfucker is therefore you do not know what resources he has available to him. She should never have been on that plane. In the months after you learned about this situation, she should have had more than the Sheriff Department’s protection but also the protection of her family and a security system installed in her house or, seein’ Ford’s reaction, her ass moved to this one and a system installed here. None of this happened. And months have passed and you have not found this guy. My experience, you haven’t found him yet means you got nothin’ on him and your leads have gone stone cold. So he’s not in the wind, he is the wind. And when that shit happens, your boys can be brilliant, but unless they’re trained to lock down that kind of target, they got no hope. They also got other shit to do. I do not. The hunters I called in on this do not. And the men at Kia’s back have one focus, Kia. I know you are not unaware of the last seven years of her life and what she’s been livin’ with behind closed doors at the hands of that piece of shit. Now he’s still controlling her life and he’s fuckin’ dead. I got the power and the means to make certain that shit stops and I’m gonna do it. And last, I’ll give you the head’s up that I do not make threats so take that into consideration when I say, I’m doin’ this and you do not wanna stand in my way.”