“What are you going to do with them?” Ian asked.
“I’m going to dispose of them the way I’ve disposed of every other piece of trash that got in the way.”
Ian paled, raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to be part of it. Damn it, this wasn’t part of the deal. My own sister…”
“If you don’t have the stomach for it, Officer McAllister, I suggest you leave.”
Jack watched the two men closely, interested in the dynamics of their relationship. He knew Ian was the weak link. Just as he knew Landis was the key to breaking that link. The only questions that remained was whether or not he was willing to take the risk.
She stood a few feet away, staring out the window, her eyes unseeing, her face as pale as death. He hated seeing her like that. Hurt and betrayed and facing a violent death at the hands of a ruthless scumbag like Duke. Jack couldn’t bear the thought of her life ending this way. With so many things left unfinished. He hadn’t even told her he loved her. But he did. He loved her more than life itself, would gladly give up his own life to save hers.
They only had a few minutes before Duke’s thug returned to drug them and haul them away. While Jack had watched Duke and Ian, a plan had formed. It was dangerous as hell with an outcome that was unpredictable at best. Worse, in order for it to work, he would have to use Landis.
Cyrus Duke sat at his desk, the gun in his hand. Ian stood at the door, looking shaken and angry. Never taking his eyes from Duke, Jack eased closer to Landis and whispered, “cry.”
“Shut up.” Duke pointed the gun at Jack, motioned him back. “Get away from her.”
Lowering her face into her hands, Landis made a keening sound. Her shoulders began to shake. “Jack…” Never raising her head, she walked over to him.
Duke stood, his gun shifting to Landis. “Tell her to shut up.”
She went into Jack’s arms. He could feel her heart pounding in time with his own, the fear pumping through him with every beat. He put his arms around her, turned so that his back was to Duke in case the drug kingpin decided to pull the trigger…
“I’m going to get us out of this,” he whispered to her. “I want you to talk to Ian. Talk him down. He’s our only hope.”
She jerked her head in agreement.
Praying he wasn’t making a mistake, Jack let go of her, pushed her toward the window. “Stay away from him,” he said loud enough for Duke to hear.
She glared at him. “He’s my brother.”
Jack glared back, praying Duke bought it. “I don’t care.”
Eyes ravaged, she turned to Ian. “It’s not too late for me to fix this for you. There’s still time. I could help you with a plea bargain.”
Cursing, Duke snatched the cuffs from the desk and approached Jack. A few feet away, he stopped, trained the pistol at his chest. “Turn around and give me your wrists.”
Heart racing with pure adrenaline, Jack turned and offered his wrists. A few feet away, he could hear Landis speaking to her brother. Behind him he heard Duke open the cuffs.
“Don’t try anything stupid,” he said.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“You’ve got a smart mouth. I’m going to enjoy making you hurt. Or maybe I’ll kill her while you watch. How would you like that?”
Jack shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Duke grasped his right wrist, snapped the cold steel in place tightly enough to cut off his circulation. “What are you going to do with us?” he asked.
“Shut up and give me your other—”
Jack spun, slammed the dangling handcuff against Duke’s forehead. The other man grunted, raised the gun, fired once. Jack went in low and rammed his shoulder into his solar plexus. Duke reeled backward. Using his body weight, Jack shoved him against the desk. He heard Landis scream, prayed he was right, that Ian wouldn’t shoot his own sister in cold blood.
Grasping Duke’s wrist, he squeezed hard, but the other man didn’t relinquish the weapon. Jack muscled him across the room to the window, slammed him against it. Glass shattered. Duke cursed, tried to twist away. Jack smashed his wrist against the wall. Once. Twice. Bone cracked and the gun flew from his hand, clattered to the floor. Duke raised his knee, tried to ram it into his groin, but Jack was prepared and danced sideways.
“Shoot him!” Duke bellowed to Ian. “Kill the woman!”
Terrified Ian would do it, Jack glanced over his shoulder to make sure Landis was safe. In the instant he was distracted, Duke grabbed Jack by his collar and forced him toward the window. Displaying incredible strength, Duke shoved him hard. “I’ll see you in hell!” he snarled.
“Jack!”
Landis’s voice penetrated the haze of rage and fear, gave Jack the focus he needed to save himself. Using every bit of strength he possessed, he lunged back, freeing himself from Duke’s grip.
Screaming profanities, face contorted in fury, Duke charged. Jack stepped aside. The momentum took Duke out the window. He twisted, made a wild grab for the sill, made contact with one hand.
“No!” Jack lunged toward him, reached for his hand, but wasn’t fast enough. The other man’s eyes met Jack’s an instant before he fell backward and plummeted to the paving stones twenty-five feet below.
Jack turned to see Ian run out the door. A few feet away, Landis had picked up Duke’s pistol, had it aimed at her brother. She stood in the center of the room, vacillating, blinking back tears. She looked at Jack when he approached. “I couldn’t shoot him.”
He crossed to her. “Nobody expected you to.”
He tried to take the gun from her, but she held it so tightly he had to peel her fingers from the grip. “Easy, honey. It’s over.”
“I can’t believe Ian was involved.”
Setting the gun on the desk, he ran his hands over her, checked her for blood. “Are you all right?”
“I’m okay. Just shaken and…shocked.” Her gaze met his. In her eyes, he saw the depth of her pain, the betrayal, felt the familiar slash of it in his own soul. “You knew he wouldn’t hurt me.”
Jack nodded. “I knew.”
“I begged him to turn himself in, but…he wouldn’t listen.”
“The police will get him.” The need to hold her was alive and eating at him, as urgent as the need to take his next breath. “I’m going to call the police.”
She jerked her head.
Only when he’d reached the desk did Jack realize his entire body was shaking. He picked up the phone and punched in 9-1-1. “This is Jack LaCroix,” he said. “I want to speak with Lieutenant Fulton.”
Holding the phone in the crook of his neck, he walked over to the broken window. Duke’s body lay sprawled on the paving stones below, motionless.
Only then did it hit him that the nightmare was over. Duke was dead. Ian’s illicit dealings would soon be uncovered. Jack would be exonerated. If all went well, he would be a free man in a matter of days.
He kept his emotions in check as he explained to his former lieutenant everything that had happened. He knew he would still be arrested, that he would spend the next few days in lockdown while the case was being investigated. But at least now he knew he had a future. The only question that remained was whether or not he would be spending that future with Landis.
He was still pondering the question when he hung up the phone and turned to Landis. Her eyes were already on him, shimmering with unshed tears and all the same emotions boiling inside him.
“Come here,” he said.
She crossed to him. He didn’t remember reaching for her, pulling her to him. He wrapped his arms around her, and the emotions he’d been holding at bay fractured. Closing his eyes, he buried his face in her hair and simply held her.
“It’s over,” he said. “I can’t believe it.”
She trembled against him. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
He hadn’t shed a tear for more than thirty years. After spending the past year in hell, he hadn’t believed he was capable of showing su
ch a basic human emotion. But holding the woman he loved, seeing that love returned to him in her eyes, undid him as nothing else could have.
Pulling away slightly, he brushed the hair from her face. “When the police arrive, they’re going to take me into custody.”
“I’m sorry you have to go through that.”
“Knowing it’s temporary makes a hell of a difference.”
“I’ll make some calls. I’ll be with you when I can.”
“I know.” He set his hand against her face, marveling at the softness of her skin. She covered his hand with hers. A tear slipped down her cheek, but he stopped it with his thumb.
“I got my life back,” he whispered.
“And your future.”
More than anything he wanted to know if that future included her, but he was so shaken by the emotions churning inside him, he didn’t trust his voice.
She started to speak, but he quieted her with a kiss. “There will be time for talk later,” he said.
“Plenty of time,” she echoed.
“All the time in the world,” he said as he covered her mouth with his.
Chapter 16
L andis parked her Jeep in the driveway and hefted the grocery bag in one arm, her briefcase in the other and started for the cabin. Around her, snow whispered down from a starless sky to catch in the pine boughs and twinkle against the frozen ground. As she stepped on to the porch, she wondered fleetingly if the sight of snowfall would always remind her of Jack….
Shoving the thoughts of him aside, she unlocked the cabin door and stepped inside. The familiar smells of home embraced her like an old friend. Vanilla from the candles she’d burned the night before. Old pine from the rustic paneling that would one day need replacing. Hazelnut from the coffee she’d brewed just that morning. BJ, her cat, sat regally on the sofa back, licking his paws and eyeing her with the cool indifference of royalty. Landis took it all in with a sort of heightened appreciation, knowing she would never take anything for granted ever again.
It had been two weeks since the terrible ordeal at Cyrus Duke’s mansion. After the police had arrived, Jack had been arrested and processed in to the Salt Lake City jail pending a full investigation by myriad law enforcement agencies ranging from the Department of Corrections to the Provo County Sheriff’s Department. Duke was pronounced dead at the scene by the county coroner. An autopsy later revealed the drug kingpin had broken his neck in the fall from the second-story window.
Ian had gone on the run. After taking Landis’s statement, the police had launched a massive manhunt. Two days later, he’d called Landis from Denver. Convincing him to turn himself in to the police had been difficult, but in the end he’d acquiesced. She’d helped him make arrangements with the Salt Lake City police. He was arrested upon his arrival at the department and charged with racketeering, accepting bribes, perjury and interfering with an official investigation. The trial wasn’t scheduled until spring, but she knew he would do prison time for his crimes. Landis only hoped the time behind bars would rehabilitate him. Call her a hopeless idealist, but she knew that deep down inside her brother was a decent man.
All in all, life was good, she thought. Just because she cried a lot didn’t mean she was unhappy. It didn’t mean her heart was broken. Or that she was so lonely she’d taken to sleeping with her cat. Just because she hadn’t seen Jack in over a week didn’t mean she was coming apart at the seams.
Setting her briefcase next to the coffee table, she scooped BJ into her arms and hugged him against her. “How about a fire and a tall glass of merlot, big guy?” she asked.
She set the cat on the sofa and started toward the French door to gather some wood from the woodpile in the backyard. She would build a fire. Pour herself a glass of wine. Heat the casserole she’d made over the weekend. And spend the rest of the evening working on her opening argument for a trial that was scheduled to begin next week. It was the way she’d spent every evening for the past two weeks. She worked until she was too tired to think. A good theory in concept, but no matter how exhausted she was, her mind invariably found its way to Jack.
She was nearly to the kitchen when the doorbell rang. Puzzled that someone would be visiting so late, she changed directions and started toward the foyer. At the door, she stood on her tiptoes and peeked through the peephole. Her heart spun into a wild freefall when she saw Jack LaCroix standing on her porch, looking calm and in control and so handsome that for several seconds she couldn’t catch her breath. He wore a blue parka over snug jeans, a faded flannel shirt, and lace-up hiking boots. He’d gotten a haircut at some point, though she could see the shadow of a goatee. The sight of him standing on her front porch with snow in his hair and a small wrapped gift in his hand unnerved her as much as it thrilled.
Stepping away from the door, Landis put her hand to her wildly pounding heart and tried hard to calm down. He could be here for any number of reasons, she reminded herself. But she could feel herself shaking inside as her nerves began to sizzle and snap.
Refusing to let herself read too much into the visit—or the present in his hands—she tugged open the door. She barely felt the cold air that wrapped around her legs. Barely noticed that the snow was coming down hard. All she was aware of was the man standing on her porch, holding a gift wrapped in red foil, contemplating her with dark, enigmatic eyes she couldn’t begin to read.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
A hundred things needed to be said, but she couldn’t think of a single one. The words tumbled around in her brain, but she was so taken aback by the sight of him, the fact that he’d come to see her, that she couldn’t come up with a coherent sentence. She settled for, “Hi back.”
He looked good, she thought. His color was back. The cut on his temple had healed to nothing more than a small pink line. He even looked as if he’d gained a couple of pounds since she’d last seen him. His cheeks no longer had that hollowed quality that had made him look so harsh and dangerous. She didn’t let her eyes drop to his mouth. She didn’t want to know if it was exactly as she pictured it in her dreams.
“You look really good,” he said after an awkward silence. “A little thin.”
“So do you. Good, I mean.” She couldn’t stop looking at him, couldn’t slow the pace of her heart or catch her breath. “I like the goatee.”
Smiling, he scrubbed his hand over his chin. “I thought maybe while I’m between jobs…”
“When were you released?”
“Last week.”
Why didn’t you come to see me? The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak them. He didn’t owe her an explanation. If he’d wanted to see her upon his release, he would have. “How are you feeling?”
He shrugged. “I feel good. I went to see my foster mom. Played a little hockey. Did some skiing. Got back in touch with some of my cop friends at the department.” His gaze turned heady. “Most of all, I did a lot of thinking, Landis.”
A twinge of alarm rippled through her. Suddenly, she felt incredibly vulnerable and utterly certain that he’d come here to say goodbye. To tell her that too many things had happened. Things that could never be fixed and it would be better for both of them if they moved on…
“Yeah, me too,” she said. “Thinking, I mean.”
He grimaced. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Oh. Well, no.” Because she was flustered and didn’t know what to do next, she stepped back. “Would you like to come in?”
Jack stepped into the foyer. He passed so close to her she smelled the mix of soap and a piney aftershave that titillated her senses.
Trying to get a handle on nerves that were close to skittering out of control, Landis started for the living room. “I can make some coff—”
Every nerve in her body jumped when he gently grasped her arm. “I don’t want coffee.”
Landis stared at him, but his gaze was so intense, she had to look away. She could feel her pulse pounding off the scale. Re
aching out, he put his fingers beneath her chin and forced her gaze to his. “I’ve missed you, Red.”
The words rang in her ears like the final chords of a sad, sweet love song. Her heart tumbled end over end in her chest. It was as if all her hopes and fears and the tumultuous feelings inside her had been tossed into a furiously spinning vortex, and she couldn’t get a handle on any of them.
“God knows I tried, but I couldn’t stay away from you,” he growled. “I didn’t know if you wanted me to stay away.”
She hated it that he was so damn calm while she was about to go to pieces. “You’ve been a free man for a week, Jack. You didn’t come to see me.”
“I had some things to take care of. I had some thinking to do. Some decisions to make.”
“I don’t know why you’re here,” she blurted.
“I’m not sure, either.” A smile touched the corners of his mouth. “I thought maybe we could figure it out together.”
Landis closed her eyes, struggling for composure, hating it that she was on the verge of tears. “I know you’ve had a lot to deal with in the last twelve months. It’s not unreasonable for you to want to get on with your life. I mean, I walked out on you a year ago. I didn’t believe in you when I should have.” She knew she was blubbering, and it appalled her because she never blubbered. But the words kept tangling on her tongue and pouring out and she was getting every one of them wrong. “What I’m trying to say is that I’ll respect your decision, Jack. It doesn’t matter that I’m—”
He went still, his eyes narrowing. “You’re what, Landis?”
In love with you. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t say them. She couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth because she was afraid that truth would hurt her more than any lie.
Never taking his eyes from hers, he reached out and put his fingers beneath her chin, forcing her gaze to his. “How can you possibly not know that I’m crazy about you?” he asked.
The words reverberated in her brain, the repercussions zinging like a ricochet. She stared at him, torn between pouring out what was in her heart and preserving what little dignity she had left.