A Place to Rest My Heart (21 page)

I took a deep breath and sat down on the bed with the gun still in my hand. I really should stop letting my brain run amok with my mouth. I had been very nosey, as it’s my nature to be, but it was going to get me in trouble. I placed the gun on the small shelf near the bed and laid back.

Sleep took me quicker than I thought and it was well past noon when I woke up. I could hear someone up on deck singing softly and I could smell coffee. Both sounded good to me. I wasn’t as stiff as the previous day and felt better rested than I had in several days. My hand hurt like hell, though. I managed to navigate the shower and grab a cup of coffee. Mason was up on deck reading the paper, her gun on her hip.

“Morning,” I said with a yawn.

“Afternoon. I hope you slept well.”

I nodded, looking around at all the different types of boats tied up along the dock. The gulls were making noise overhead and I could hear seals barking nearby. It had been dark when we arrived last night and I had been too tired to notice anything.

Mason folded up the paper, “You managed to not get into today’s paper. That’s a good thing. Connor called to tell me that they found the reporter and he was singing as well. The DA will probably charge him with aiding and abetting an attempted murder. I doubt the paper will stand behind him on this. I think the reporter had been pushing the envelope too much and has burned his bridges behind him. The DA is looking into the possibility of other girls and women James may have hurt, and James is wanted for questioning in the kidnapping of Sean. There’s no proof though and Sean never actually saw James. The DA would like you to come to their office tomorrow if you’re up to it.”

“Of course. Whatever it takes.”

“Good. Now, the attorney for William’s estate is stopping by today at three o’clock today. You may have to go to LA for some of this.”

“Mason, whatever it takes, I will do it. If I have to tell every sordid detail of what James did to me, or if I have to fly to the ends of the earth to stop William’s family, then so be it. I’ve allowed them to push me around for far too long. I’m done.”

Mason nodded. “Molly dropped by a basket of goodies for you. Something about blueberry pancakes?”

I was up and stumbling down the ladder before she finished the words. Mason was still laughing when she came down the steps. I would almost commit a crime for Molly’s pancakes. “The woman should be sainted,” I said a few minutes later between mouthfuls.

The meeting with the attorney, Eric Weston, went well. He told me that an appearance before a judge was inevitable. I really didn’t mind. I was ready for a fight. I still had no idea what I would do with the money. Besides giving some of it away, I had thought about getting a house. I knew my future with Sean was inevitable as well, but I refused to be rushed into it. I knew with absolute certainty Sean would keep at me until I gave in; and with the same certainty that I would keep him on his toes. I was truly looking forward to it.

I spent the day hanging out on the boat. Mason took me out for a sail. I watched how the tension that usually surrounded Mason lessen with each mile we sailed. This was her way of finding peace of mind. I had loved boating with William and our friends, but I hadn’t been out on the water since he died.

We were sailing near Angel Island when Mason let me take the wheel. “Do you miss him?” she asked.

I knew whom she meant. “For the year after he died I did nothing else but miss him and damn near died for the want of him. I miss him in that he was always so calm about things. I used to tease him that he must not have really been a Marine because he didn’t have a temper. He was the only Marine I knew who didn’t have one. He had a way about him that made you relax no matter what. But I’ve found so much more now, and I’d like to think he would be happy for me. Of course, he would have scolded me too for jumping in like I did without thinking.”

Mason was quiet for most of the return back to the dock before she finally spoke. “I was an assassin for a special division of the government.”

I sat there and waited to see if she would follow that statement up with anything. I was a bit disappointed she didn’t, but I wasn’t going to push it. Hell, I was surprised she had said anything at all.

That night Chase joined us for dinner. It was relaxing and work was never discussed once. When Mason went below to the galley to get dessert, I turned to Chase, “You have made some headway lately.”

I knew he knew what I was talking about.

“You could say that,” he said with a smile.

“You are being given careful consideration.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Playing matchmaker are we?”

“Hell no. But I like evening the playing field.” He laughed as Mason came up. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh nothing. Just talking baseball,” I said. I could tell Mason didn’t buy it but she didn’t say anything. I finished dessert quickly and feigned being tired so they could have a few minutes alone. I was lying in bed pretending to read a book when Mason knocked and came in. She leaned against the doorway. “Subtle, Laney. Subtle like a freight train.”

“What?” I pretended ignorance.

She smiled at me. “Play fair or I will take up arms with Sean and you will be married in no time flat.”

I threw my hands up in fear but we both knew she enjoyed the few minutes she had with Chase. I smiled and bid her good night. My cell phone rang as I turned out the light.

“Hello?”

“Sleep well, Helena.” The line went dead. I knew the voice. I knew now without a doubt that the game was far from over. Mason came back in the room. “I take it by the look on your face that you have been threatened?”

“Um … he just said ‘good night, Helena.’ Only James calls me Helena.”

Mason took my phone and turned it off and then using her cell phone she called the Geek Twins and asked them to see if they could get the number for who last called my cell. “We will see about getting you a new number tomorrow. In the mean time, keep the phone turned off. He didn’t talk long enough to get a fix on your location. Most likely he was only trying to scare you. But I’ll take extra precautions tonight. You try and get some rest. I will not let anything happen to you.”

She closed the door behind her and I lay back on the bed. This had to stop. But where would it end? When one or both of us were dead? Was that the only way? The answers were not forthcoming during the restless hours I had until the gentle rise and fall of the boat finally rocked me to sleep.

Chapter Fourteen

The days dragged on. Each day I came to work, sat at my desk, and updated files for every damn person on the planet. Each night I went back to Mason’s boat. Most nights she was quiet and withdrawn. I knew that she and Chase had had another argument. Everyone knew they’d had one. Their voices had carried down the hall and to the front office. No one except for Dallas knew what was said since they had argued in Russian. Another facet of Mason and Chase; they both spoke Russian. Dallas said he thought Mason spoke at least six languages, if not more. He wasn’t sure. He also wasn’t giving up a damn clue as to what they had argued about. I asked him how he knew Russian and only received a glare. Too many damn secrets going on around here! I had not seen Sean in two weeks and it was driving us both nuts. We had only spoken by phone and email. But this could only go on for so long. Something had to give.

Finally, after three weeks had passed, Sean and I were both free of our chains. Mason and Chase had informed us that since we were both reasonably back to good health we could better protect each other. Sean and I must have spent twenty minutes out in front of the office just kissing. I did manage to note that Mason and Chase had gone off in separate directions, both with forlorn looks on their faces. As Sean drove us to his apartment, I asked him if he knew what was going on. “No. I know that Mike had a talk with Mason on the phone a couple of nights ago. But I didn’t listen. I learned long ago, Elizabeth is a law unto herself.”

“Why do you call her Elizabeth? No one else does.”

“I grew up knowing her as Elizabeth. She’s five years older than me but she practically grew up with us. Her home life was tough, especially after her dad died. She and her mom don’t get along.”

“Mason told me about her being an assassin.”

“She did?” He seemed quite surprised.

“Yes. She did not elaborate on it but, yes, she told me.”

“Wow. I had to find out the hard way — by listening in on a conversation she had with Mom. When she was eighteen she walked away and it was three years before any of us saw her, and then it was only briefly before she was off again. We were always told she was a buyer for some European import company. Heck, what did we know? We believed what we were told. Five years ago she came home and Chase hired her to work for Woo. They’ve been fighting ever since.”

Later that night as we lay in each other’s arms, I thought back to the night I had seen such love in Chase’s eyes.

“He’s madly in love with her, you know.”

“Who?” asked Sean, his voice sleepy.

“Chase. He is head over heels in love with Mason but she fights it.”

“Gee, I wonder what that’s like?” Sean said with great sarcasm.

“Oh, funny. It’s not the same.”

“Isn’t it? You love me, but you fight it every step of the way. I know you don’t trust easily, Laney, but believe it when I say I am determined to marry you and show you just how much I love you.”

I tried to sit up but he held fast to me. “Sean, what is the hurry? Why does it have to go down the aisle?”

“Why not? Can you tell me that?”

I couldn’t. I had no idea on this green earth, why I was terrified to get married. It was enough in my mind to admit that I loved him, even if I had only admitted it to myself. As I drifted off to sleep, a wee small voice in my head asked me how long I was going to hold onto the past I was so desperate to let go of. Something else to think about.

Time passed in its usual pace of highs and lows over the next few weeks, the lows happening with increasing frequency. Sean and I had been arguing for two days and now were not even speaking to one another. He wanted more of a commitment from me and I was not prepared to give it to him. His vast store of patience had already run out. I was perfectly happy with the way things were. I did not understand why a damn piece of legal paper was so important to him.

“It’s important to me. It means we have a commitment to each other.”

“Is it not enough that I’m here with you?” I asked, wanting to pound my head against the wall.

“No, it isn’t. You will not let go of your past. Put it to rest.”

“That’s easy for you to say! You don’t … ” I could not bring myself to talk about it.

“I don’t what? I don’t still jump at unknown noises or freeze every time my cell phone rings? I don’t get up every night to make sure the doors are locked?”

I grabbed my coat and put it on, not looking at him. He turned me around to look at him, “You didn’t think I noticed those things did you? You’re still waiting for James to jump out of the closet aren’t you?”

I stood at the front door.

“Running away is not the answer. He may come back tomorrow or never. You don’t know when or if. I don’t know when or if, either. You don’t think it was hard to go back to the job knowing that I lost a client? That I don’t feel fear run through me when I remember how helpless I was to stop what happened to me! I feel it every day, and every day I tell myself that I can get beyond it — and every day I do. Every damn day, I get beyond it knowing that I am stronger than the fear! Ask for help, Laney. Help is there waiting but you have to want it.”

I didn’t want it. I walked out the door without looking back.

The next day was Halloween and my birthday. Of course no one but Chase knew that. He only knew it because it was on my employment application. I hadn’t celebrated in years. The last birthday I remembered celebrating was my fifth birthday. After that, Aunt Katherine would only say that it was appropriate that I was born on Halloween. I didn’t understand what she meant for the longest time. Then it didn’t matter. I lived up to the “Little Monster” tag they had put on me.

Maybe Sean was right. I would not let go of my past. I used it as a shield to keep people away from me or as a crutch.

Tommy nudged me away from the pint I was pouring. “You going to think about serving that pint? Or just look at it?” He asked with concern.

“Sorry. I was thinking.” Muldoon’s was packed to the gills with costumed revelers. I hadn’t been in the mood to dress up and wore my usual jeans and T-shirt. Tommy and I were busy pouring drinks at the bar and keeping up with the customer’s orders. Even Molly was out on the floor waiting tables. Ryan had come home for the weekend and I had finally met one of their two daughters, Fiona, a lovely spitting image of Molly with just as much fire. She and Ryan were busing tables and doing dishes. Through it all I kept looking for Sean. I figured he’d show up some time, but by two in the morning, he had not shown. After much internal debate with myself, I called his apartment and cell phone. I got voicemail on both, but didn’t leave a message.

It was half past three when I decided to go to his place. I was just putting on my coat when Tommy laid a hand on my arm. “Lass, he isn’t going to be there.”

“What?”

“Sean is not going to be home.”

“Well, where is he?”

Tommy looked at Molly who had come into the bar from the kitchen. “What?” I asked again, anxiety starting to build up in my stomach. “What’s going on?”

“He’s gone to LA,” Molly said.

“LA? Why? For how long?” LA? What the hell did Sean need to go to LA for?

“Laney. The Woo facility in LA is being expanded. Chase offered Sean the job of getting the expansion on track down there two days ago. He left this morning.” Tommy laid his hand on my arm. “I’m sorry, Laney. I thought you knew.”

I stood there stunned. Gone. Just like that, he was gone. No word. Nothing. I shook off Tommy’s hand and shrugged off my jacket.

“Fine.” I pushed past Tommy and went up to my room. “Fine. Just bloody fine!” I yelled and kicked over the chair. I stood there in the middle of my room and wanted to scream. How could he just leave and not say anything? My new cell phone rang and my heart leapt into my throat. I knew who it was so I didn’t even bother answering it. James was still calling. I turned my phone off and the lights as well, got out my new knife, setting it on my bedside table, then lay down on my bed.