All Through the Night (Liar's Web) (15 page)

“
Aurelia.” Darcele looked down, her eyes focusing on the hardwood floor that shined like a new penny despite the many years of use. She moistened her lips and continued, “I wanted to apologize. I had no business repeating a rumor I heard about you and Jake.” Finally, she met Aurelia's gaze, where she saw nothing other than compassion staring back at her. “I'm sorry if I hurt you.”

Aurelia reached out and touched her cheek, her toasty hands feeling like warm apple pie.

“
Yes, the rumors hurt, chile. But, after meeting you, I can't imagine you started ‘em.”

“
I didn't, but I did pass them on a few times. I'm so ashamed,” Darcel admitted.

“
Take it from an old woman. Shame is a good thing. It shows us we're human…and sometimes we fall. We fail to do what's right. But you came here tonight and faced me…faced what you did. I think that's pretty cool as the young kids say.”

Darcel leaned in and kissed Aurelia's wrinkled cheek, then said, “Thank you for being so gracious.”

Aurelia held her in place for a moment, pausing to whisper in her ear, “Don't pay any attention to his foul moods. He's as mushy as a marshmallow on the inside.”

She watched as Jake leaned down and enveloped Aurelia in a tight, loving embrace. It was strange seeing such a big man exert such tenderness. Jake said his goodbyes, promising to come back next Sunday, and made a request for brisket and ham hocks. Aurelia blew kisses as they headed down the driveway, the tires making a crunching sound when drove over pebbled stones.

“
She's lovely,” Darcel said as she covered a yawn with her hand. She bunched her sweater up into a ball and placed it next to her head as a pillow so she could relax on the drive home.

“
Yeah, no doubt about it. I hit the lottery the day Aurelia took me in.”

“
Mmmm…she's like a fairy godmother,” she murmured sleepily as she stole a sideways glance at Jake. He looked so handsome in his white shirt and slacks. He'd shed the tie and jacket a few hours ago, around the same time he'd settled in for another slice of pie.

Jake laughed. “Don't let the smiles fool you. She can be pretty bad-ass when she wants to be. I remember a few times when I didn't clean my room…it wasn't a pretty sight.”

“
That doesn't surprise me.” Darcel chuckled. “Anyone who plays Uno that seriously must have a dark side.”

Jake pushed a button on the dashboard, and the sounds of Harry Connick Jr.'s jazzy beats filled the car. She closed her eyes and began to hum along with the song, one of her favorites from a few years ago. Just as she was on the brink of slumber, he gently shook her awake. “We're almost back at the house.” When Jake pulled his red pickup truck into the driveway a few minutes later, his headlights illuminated a dark, still shape on the lawn.

“
What the hell is that?” Jake asked as he squinted out the window. He moved the car so the light from his headlights brought the object into sharp focus.

Suddenly, it felt as if all the air was being pulled from Darcel’s lungs. She opened her mouth to scream, but not a single sound came out. She felt herself being pulled into another nightmarish scene as she saw Bodine's lifeless body lying face-down in the blood-stained grass.

Chapter Eight

As soon as he saw Bo's tan-colored deputy's uniform, Jake jumped out of the truck and ran toward where his friend lay on the ground. He immediately searched for a pulse, his heart beating a crazy rhythm as a thousand thoughts ran through his mind.
Not Bodine! Please, God, not him. He’s just twenty-seven years old with his whole life stretched wide open in front of him. He's a good man, he prayed. Kind. Diligent. Honest. A world class friend.

He found a thready pulse in Bo's neck and he called out to Darcel, “Call 9-1-1. I've got a pulse here.” She stood for a moment, looking shell-shocked, her eyes wide with fear and concern. “Go, Darcel,” he screamed when she hesitated. He watched her run to the car and scramble in her purse for her cell phone, fingers flying over the keyboard as she made the call. Through a haze, he heard her give the 9-1-1 dispatcher his address and the details of the emergency.

Jake noticed a stream of blood flowing from the back of Bo's head, and he ripped his shirt off, pressing it against the back of his deputy's wound, managing to stem the flow of blood. He turned Bo's head slightly so the deputy could breathe comfortably. Jake knew he wasn't supposed to move him, so he continued to press the tourniquet to Bo's wound, all the while praying for the ambulance to arrive. The fact that Bo had lost a lot of blood and wasn't conscious caused a trickle of fear to run down his back. The situation was critical.

Darcel stood to the side, her arms wrapped around her midsection as tears flowed down her cheeks. If the situation hadn't been so life and death, he would've moved toward her and cradled her in his arms. She looked so weak and fragile. She seemed scared to death. He released a huge sigh of relief as the sound of sirens rang out in the stillness of the night. At the same time, he heard a sound coming from Bo: a low, agonized moan. Bo twisted his body, so he could see Jake, his eyes full of unspoken questions.

“
Hey, buddy,” Jake said. “You're going to have to take it easy.”

Bodine's eyes bulged, and a gurgling sound emanated from his throat. He opened his mouth, but no intelligible words emerged. “The ambulance is here, Bo. The EMTs are going to take over, and we're going to see you in a few at the hospital.” Jake gripped his deputy's hand tightly, choking back emotion as the realization hit him that Bodine was fighting for his life.

Darcel got down on her knees and began to squeeze Bo's hand as she murmured reassuring words to him. The EMTs arrived and quickly assessed the scene as they gently turned his body over and placed him on a gurney. Within a matter of minutes, the EMTS had placed the gurney in the back of the ambulance and Jake was instructing several deputies who'd arrived on scene to check out the house and its perimeter.

 
Out of nowhere came the sound of screeching tires as a squad car roared into view. Seconds later Ella jumped out of the driver's seat and ran straight at him.

“
Sheriff, what happened? Where's Bo?” Ella's eyes were nearly popping out of her head, and her movements were frantic as she looked around in shock at the retreating ambulance and the officers scattered about the scene.

“
Bo's in trouble, Ella,” he answered gruffly. “When we got back from Aurelia's, he was unconscious and barely breathing with a contusion on the back of his head.” Right before his eyes, her expression turned into one of fear and dread.

“
Where the hell were you?”

The minute he uttered the words, he wanted to yank them back. They sounded a lot like blame. He knew it, and he hated himself for having to keep it real with her. The truth was that as a law enforcement officer, he needed Ella to learn this lesson. It would make her a better deputy, a better partner. She'd violated one of the golden rules of law enforcement: always have your partner's back.

“
I went to get donuts,” she said in a choked up voice.

Donuts? For a second he thought his head was going to explode. “You mean to tell me you left a stakeout to get donuts?” he spat out, his raw emotions getting the best of him.

Her voice was flat, almost emotionless. “We did rock, paper, scissors. I lost.”

He curled his lips in disgust. “Well, I don't think you're going to have to worry about getting deputy of the year now, are you?.”

Ella hung her head low, and he saw her struggle to fight back tears. She didn't shed any, but her emotions were stamped all over her face like a tattoo. “I'd like to go to the hospital to check in on Deputy Scott,” she requested in a humbled voice, her eyes filled with an unspoken plea.

Just briefly he considered turning her down flat and then placing her on indefinite leave from the sheriff's office. He felt himself softening a little, mellowing out as it all played out on her face—her utter devastation mingled with mind-numbing fear and the love she felt for Bodine. Darcel had tried to tell him earlier, but he'd dismissed Ella's feelings as a simple crush. He knew better now. It was indelibly imprinted on her ravaged features. It was that simple. She loved Bo.

He tamped down his emotions, somehow managing to choke out the words, “Go to the hospital. I'll expect a full report on my desk by 8:00 a.m.”

Ella jogged over to her squad car and gunned the engine before roaring off with her sirens blaring. He looked over at Darcel, who stood at a discreet distance while he spoke with Ella. His gaze narrowed in on her wide eyes and the scared-out-of-her-wits expression she couldn't hide. Bonkers bounded up to him, her tail wagging furiously as she greeted him. He bent and scooped the dog up in his arms, nuzzling his face in her fur for a few seconds of pure relaxation.

He released the dog and looked on with semi-amusement as she raced toward Darcel and began dancing around her in little circles. He watched as she picked her up and let Bonkers lick her entire face as she patted her on the back. It hadn't taken long, he thought wryly, for Darcel to wrap Bonkers around her little finger.

Stacy Talbot, one of his seasoned officers, yelled at him from the doorway of the house. “Sheriff, you need to come inside and check this out!”

Darcel advanced toward the house with a look of determination on her face, her shapely legs propelling her at a rapid speed. When she moved to go around him, he stepped in front of her, effectively blocking her progress.

He held up his hands to keep her at bay. “You don't need to see this! Stay put while I—”

“
Yes, I do need to see this!” she replied heatedly. “I'm in this, Jake. I'm in it up to my neck. He came here tonight looking for me. And he found Bodine instead.” Her voice trembled as she said Bo's name, and he knew guilt was eating her up inside. “You have no idea how that makes me feel.” She lowered her head and closed her eyes, placing her trembling hands over her mouth.

He pulled her toward him by her elbows, reaching up and grazing his knuckles across her cheek. “Yeah, I do. ‘Cause I feel the same way. I told Bo to keep guard here tonight. That was my call. Whatever happens to Bo, I've got to live with that.”

“
I've got to live with it too,” she said defiantly. “It's not in my nature to run away from things, no matter how scared I may be on the inside.”

He understood what she was saying. In a sense, she was right. She'd lost her innocence the night she witnessed Ronnie's murder at the Sugar Shack. Although it was his job to keep her safe from a killer, he couldn't shield her from the stark, cold truth of what went down tonight. The killer had come looking for her, hell bent on taking her out. She'd already seen the worst of it, having witnessed Ronnie's death and the aftermath of Bo's attack. He had to accept she could handle this, because there really was no other option. With a sigh, he motioned for Darcel to follow him into his house.

Moments after walking through the doorway, he stopped dead in his tracks. He felt a small bump from Darcel's body as she crashed into him. He tossed out a few curse words as he saw the calling card the killer had left behind. In big letters on the living room wall, he'd written in crimson blood:
I'LL FIND YOU.

* * * *

The hooded figure stood a mere fifty feet away from the crime scene, watching from behind a copse of red oak trees as the ambulance roared off into the distance. Fury rose within him as he watched Darcel standing in the front yard with the sheriff, acting as if she didn't have a care in the world.

She was playing with a puppy and chatting up the sheriff. He'd been so close to getting his hands wrapped around her dainty little neck! It had been a breeze to sneak up on the rent-a-cop and bash his brains in with his flashlight. It had been a rush to keep hitting him over and over again until his head looked like a smashed pumpkin.

When he'd broken into the house and realized it was empty, his anger had known no bounds. Wanting her to feel the same fear oozing through him, he'd scribbled a message for her on the wall in the rent-a-cop's blood. He'd also rummaged through the guest bedroom's drawers until he found a silky pair of underwear he'd stuffed into his jacket pocket as a souvenir.

Although it wasn't as satisfying as wrapping his fingers around her neck and squeezing all the life out of her, it would do until they met again. And they would meet again, of that fact he was certain. Three times he'd allowed her to slip through his fingers. After seeing him shoot Ronnie, she'd driven away from the scene with the skill of a Nascar race driver. Then later that night when he'd tried to smother her in the hospital, she'd fought for her life, using her nails to leave scratch marks all along the side of his arms and face.

He'd left the darkened hospital room prior to being discovered, but he hadn't been able to finish his mission. She was still alive. The one thing he had accomplished was finding out from one of the big-mouthed nurses that Darcel was suffering from some sort of short-term memory loss. The only reason he wasn't sitting in a jail cell right now was because the sole witness couldn't remember a damn thing.

He couldn't afford to take any more chances! Darcel Dawkins needed to be snuffed out before she remembered he was the shooter. She needed to be taken care of before she could turn him in to the police for murder.

All his life he'd been smarter than folks had given him credit for being. He'd always been viewed as a pushover and a sissy, not particularly smart or crafty. All the naysayers had been wrong. He was smart enough to know his sole chance of survival was to erase the only person on the face of the earth who could finger him in court. He smiled as he watched Darcel enter the sheriff's house, delight filling his insides at the realization she was seconds away from receiving his message.

He reached into his pocket and roughly fingered the undies, his agitation rising as he dealt with the knowledge his prey was mere feet away, yet untouchable. At least for now, he grimly acknowledged, as he slipped back into the shadows, shielded by the darkness of night.

* * * *

I’ll find you
.
 
The words written in blood were more than a threat, Darcel realized. They sounded like a deadly promise. The killer was giving her a message, one she couldn't seem to shake. Although she felt safe under Jake's protection, it had rattled her tremendously that Bo had come under attack. Thankfully, Ella had called from the hospital with the news that Bo had regained consciousness and his condition was updated from critical to guarded.

Jason had diagnosed him with a concussion and a few broken ribs, but expected him to make a full recovery. The good news had hit Jake hard. She'd seen the relief wash over him like a tidal wave.

When she finally settled in for the night she couldn't close her eyes without seeing Jake's tarnished wall and the mocking words written in blood by a man who'd tried on three occasions to kill her. The fact he'd been in Jake’s house—been in her bedroom perhaps—creeped her out. It made her skin crawl to think of him poring through her things and writing ominous messages on Jake's beautiful wall.

It terrified her to think of Bo's close call and the violence he'd endured at the hands of a maniac. And above all, she couldn't rid her mind of the image of Ronnie—bloody, lifeless, and dead. She found herself pacing the floor, her mind whirling with wild thoughts amid the hush of the early morning hours.

Finally, she couldn't stand the silence any longer. She stood outside his bedroom door for what felt like hours, even though she knew it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes at the most. Her thumb was in her mouth and she was nervously biting her nail down to the nub. Before she lost her nerve, she reached out and rapped her knuckles on the door, feeling a rush of relief as she heard Jake's voice telling her to come in.

She slowly opened the door, just in time to see Jake turning on the Tiffany-style lamp sitting on his night table. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. He was sitting up in bed wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants. His naked torso glistened like an oasis, his perfectly muscled chest giving him the appearance of a male model in an underwear ad.

His long black hair hung around his face like a halo, giving him the appearance of a dark angel.
He is perfect
.
 
She licked her lips as she imagined rubbing oil all over him, starting at his broad shoulders and traveling in a southern path down past his glorious manhood, ending with his size thirteen feet.

“
Can't sleep?” He wiped his hand across tired eyes.

She managed to swallow the huge lump in her throat, the same one that had lodged itself there when she'd spotted Bodine's lifeless body. And even now when she knew he was going to be okay, the fear still lingered. He was out there. The man who'd killed Ronnie and attacked Bodine. The man who wanted to kill her.

“
No, I can't sleep,” she finally answered, her thoughts whirling crazily around her. Fear sliced through her with the sharpness of a knife. Was he out there somewhere in the darkness just waiting for Jake to put down his guard? If she closed her eyes, would he invade her nightmares? Would she cry out again in the middle of the night because of her dark, twisted memories?

“
What do you need? Can I get you something?” His voice sounded husky to her ears, full of sensuality and unspoken meaning.

What would he do if she told him the truth? What would Jake say if she told him that the only thing she needed tonight was him? Yes, he'd told her in no uncertain terms that he wanted to maintain a professional relationship with her. He'd said there couldn't be anything between them because he was duty bound to protect her. But there was no way in hell he could've forgotten the passion that sparked off between them the other night. She felt as if she relived those moments over and over again, basking in the blazing sensuality they'd sparked in one another.

She opened her mouth to tell him, to admit she wanted him and only him. She ached to confess he was the only thing that would ease her troubled mind tonight. To be held in Jake's arms would be the perfect antidote to her fear. Panic crept along her spine, and she turned away from him, her legs moving toward the door and out of his personal space.

By the time she reached the door, he was behind her, grabbing her by the arm and turning her around so they faced each other. When she looked at him, she knew it was all there in her eyes. Everything she wanted in this moment was staring back at him. Want. Desire. A safe place to fall.

“
Darcel,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, “tell me.”

She let out a whimper as she reached out to him, her finger trailing a path from his darkened nipple to his belly button. Jake sucked in a breath, his stomach tightening, the muscles rippling as he did so. She was fascinated by the way his chest was hairless save for the small patch of hair leading to his private parts. Boldly, she pressed herself against him. She lowered her head, allowing her tongue to slither across his chest, grazing against one nipple, then the other.

His skin was hot on her tongue, electric. Flicking her tongue out of her mouth, she continued to explore him. She reached up and tweaked each nipple with her hand, eliciting a groan from him. She cupped him through his sweatpants, feeling his massive erection through the fabric as she slid her tongue s farther and farther down his taut abdomen. Just as she arrived at the band of his sweatpants, he pressed his hands against her shoulders, giving her a gentle push away from him.