Bluegrass Undercover (16 page)

Her fingers wrapped around the cold, iron rod as she crept quietly to the large figure facing the bed. The girls’ cries masked the sound of her approach. She lifted the pole high and with all her strength brought it down on his head. The sudden silence was deafening. The pounding of her blood running through her body was all she could hear. Stacy and Sarah stared at her with their eyes wide as they watched his body fall to the floor.

“
Grab your thing. We’re getting out of here,” Annie told them. The girls scrambled to grab what little they had. She pushed hard as she lifted the window and boosted the girls through it before he could wake up.

Miss Whitebuckler had found them the next morning huddled under her desk in their night shirts when she had arrived at school. True to Annie’s belief, she had helped and had made sure charges were filed again her foster parents. Annie had been moved to a group home and had never seen Stacy and Sarah again, but she saw them every night in her dreams.

Annie looked down at the casserole dish and saw that she had scraped the whole dinner into the trash can while she had been dragged back in time. It was her first attempt at making dinner for Cade, and it had failed miserably. She had never even tried to make dinner for a man before. Maybe this was a sign that she wasn’t ready for such intimacy yet.

She picked up her phone and hit speed dial. “Blossom Café, what can I do for ya'?”

“
Hi, Miss Violet. I need help.”

“
Oh, bless your heart, you tried to cook, didn’t you?”

“
Yes. It’s burnt to a crisp and Cade is due here any minute. What do I do?”

“
We’ll take care of everything, dearie!” As Miss Violet hung up the phone she heard her yell, “Henry, don’t you move from that seat! I need your help.”

Annie hung up the phone and smiled. This town sure did know how to cheer her up. She set the small table with two mismatched plates she had bought at a St. Francis fundraiser and poured some wine. She wasn’t surprised by the knock on the door. It was either the Roses to the rescue or Cade.

“
Hey there, sexy.” Annie rolled her eyes, but smiled when she saw the takeout bag hanging from his finger. “Prince Charming here to save the day. Now, don’t I deserve a kiss for rescuing the damsel in distress?”

“
Just try it, Rooney,” came the cold voice.

“
Dammit, Cade, you’re ruining a moment here.” Henry winked at her and she laughed.

“
Thank you, Henry, for the rescue.” She leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Now, go before you get into any more trouble.” With a wink of his ice blue eyes, Henry gallantly lifted her hand and placed a kiss right above her knuckle. Something sounding rather similar to a growl reached her ears, and Henry gave her a smile that told her he knew he was tempting fate and enjoying it.

“
Good-night, my dear. If I can ever be of assistance, you have my number.” Henry shot Cade a cocky grin and then slowly walked down the stairs whistling.

“
What was he doing here?” Cade asked a little sharply. Annie felt her eyebrows rise at his tone and turned to head into the kitchen.

“
Oh you know. He brought dinner by, so we had a quickie on the kitchen table. Nothing out of the norm.”

Cade felt his blood pressure shoot through the roof. He knew she was joking, but some primal instinct in him wouldn’t let him laugh it off. He wanted her so happy and pleased that she’d never think of another man again. “Well, I can’t be said to be outdone by Henry.”

Cade swept her into his arms and silenced her protests with a searing kiss. He lowered her to the counter and shoved the bag containing their dinner away from them. He planted his hands beside her and leaned over her, possessing her mouth. He pushed her plum-colored business skirt up her hips and stripped off her panties. If it was the last thing he ever did, he would make sure the only thoughts she had about this kitchen were of him.

Annie stood on the porch and leaned into Cade’s goodnight kiss. Tonight had been as close to perfect as she could ever dream of. Dinner had been great. They had laughed, swapped stories and, well, she couldn’t forget about the kitchen sex that had started on the counter, continued against the refrigerator before ending up with her laid out on the kitchen table and him over her. All in all, it was a spectacular night.

“
It’s getting kind of late, isn’t it, Mr. Davies!” Annie jumped away from Cade at the sound of the authoritative voice.

“
I was just saying good-bye, Father James,” Cade chuckled.

“
Good-bye’s involve words, not tongues, Mr. Davies.” Annie heard the amusement in Father James’ voice as he walked across the parking lot towards them after locking the church doors. She still had the urge to cross herself as she tried to smooth down her rather mussed hair.

“
I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” Cade said as he grinned down at her. “Sleep tight, and if you get cold, just go to the kitchen to warm up.” He winked, turned and bounded down the steps after giving Father James a quick wave.

“
Now, my dear child, how do you feel about September weddings?”

“
Father! I thought priests weren’t supposed to gamble.” Annie couldn’t believe it. That stupid pool the Rose sisters had going was growing by the minute.

“
Gambling on the holy sacrament of marriage is, I’m sure, exempt. Plus, we really need a new roof for the church and winning the pot could help. Now, about September.”

“
Good night, Father.” Annie shook her head and walked back into her house, leaving the little man standing at the base of the stairs by the statue of the Virgin Mary.

* * *

Annie had the files of the boys she thought were using S2 pulled out and was looking over them for common connections. The files contained the school’s file plus the ones she could pull off the federal database. It seemed that everyone in Keeneston had common connections. They all went to school with each other or attended the same church, were in the same Boy Scout troop, and often playing the same sports.

She was having a very hard time finding the type of illegal connections she was used to finding in Miami. There they shared a jail cell, same probation officer, etc. This was infinitely more difficult to connect. She was also getting frustrated. She felt as if she were missing something. She knew the soldiers, Larry, Moe and Curly and then the steroidasaurus triplets. She knew Devon Ross, the personal trainer, had to be the dealer, and Trevor Gaylen was upper management. So, who was the real boss? And why were they targeting high school boys? With Ross’s connection to the NFL, it just didn’t make sense. The pro’s had money and lots of it. High school boys didn’t have money, and they didn’t win Super Bowls, endorsements or anything else drug lords could use as blackmail for extra income.

She leaned back in her chair to take a break and saw the clock on the far wall. It was already six o’clock! She gathered her files and slipped them into her black leather satchel before turning off the lights and locking her door.

Annie looked down the long, dark hallway and decided something was wrong. The lights were normally not turned off until seven when the janitorial service got done with the cleaning. She stopped and listened and heard the faint sound of voices making their way to her. She couldn’t tell if they were male or female. She slipped her hand into her bag and grabbed her mace. She slowly made her way down the hall to the main intersection. The voices had stopped, and she was having trouble deciding which hallway they were coming from.

She slowed her breathing to quiet her body so she could listen better. The hair on her arms stood on edge as the sound of high heels clicked down the hall to the right of her. They were coming towards her. Annie pressed herself against the small space on the wall with the intersection on her right and against the beginning of a row of lockers on her left.

The
click click click
of the heels echoed around her. They grew louder with each step as the person neared her. Was this the boss? Was this a dealer? It just seemed too strange for the lights to be out and the school deserted for anything good to come from this meeting.

Annie relaxed her body and listened in order to time her attack. There was only one person who fit that sound, and she knew she would be able to take her easily. The woman neared and Annie shifted her body slightly toward the hallway. She took in a deep steadying breath and on the exhale made her move.

She rounded the corner, keeping her right shoulder against the wall for protection in case shots were fired and wished she had her gun instead of just the mace.

“
Freeze!” Annie was startled when the woman let out a high-pitched scream and flapped her arms up and down as if she were trying to fly away. “Jesus, Stephanie! It’s me, Annie.”

“
Oh my God! You scared me half to death. I heard someone down here and thought it might be kids getting into trouble. Then you jumped out, and I was sure I was going to die.” Stephanie had her perfectly manicured hand over her heart and managed to still look beautiful even though she was scared out of her mind.

“
I thought the same thing. I’m sorry I scared you.” Annie had slipped the mace up her sleeve as soon as she assessed that there was no threat and reached for her bag. “Are you leaving for the day? You sure are here late.”

“
I just finished grading papers. If I take them home, I get caught up watching television and end up not grading at all. So, I stayed late and finished. Now I can get home and watch
The Bachelor
without worrying about grading.”

Stephanie picked up a very cute Coach bag that matched her dark pink sweater set and slung the strap over her shoulder.

“
Well, I’m just heading home, too. How about we walk out together?” Annie waited for her to agree, and then they headed down the back hallway towards the teachers’ parking near the football field.

“
I would have thought you would be getting ready for a big date or something. There is talk that you are all hot and heavy with Coach Davies.”

Annie wasn’t sure, but it sounded slightly snappish. “No. No plans for tonight. I just thought I would curl up and watch some television too.”

She didn’t address the rumors of her and Cade. If it were up to her, no one would know about her personal life. Not that she was embarrassed about Cade. Really it was quite the opposite. But then it made her have talks like this with people she didn’t really know.

“
So you two aren’t serious?” Stephanie nudged her and gave her a wink.

“
I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it, so I guess not.” Thanks, Father James. For a priest he sure had a big mouth, and she was pretty sure these rumors originated with both him and the Rose sisters.

“ ’
Cause, if you were serious, I could give you all kinds of advice.”

“
That’s nice, but not necessary.”

Oh, this was getting bad. She did not do girl talk. She opened her bag and started scrounging around for her keys so she could get out of this conversation as soon as possible.

“
You know, from when Cade and I dated. So, if you ever want to have some girl time and compare notes just let me know. It would be so much fun!”

Annie paused mid-reach to her car door. She had a feeling this was some sort of power struggle but not one she wanted to be in. She’d ask Cade and see what really happened.

“
Thanks, Steph. That’s real nice of you. But, like I said before, we’re not serious. Have a good night and thanks for walking out to the car with me.” Annie opened the car door and tossed her bag inside.

“Okay, well, the offer is open any time! Bye!” Annie jumped into her car and took off before Stephanie could do more girl talk.

Chapter Thirteen

“
Austin, what the heck are you doing?” Paige screamed from the stands. “Oh, this is not good, not good at all,” Paige said to her as she sat down.

Annie agreed. It wasn’t good. They were playing T.H. Morgan, who happened to be one of their biggest rivals, and were falling apart. Austin wasn’t listening to a thing anyone said and was pointing fingers at his teammates. In return, his teammates were ignoring him.

“
What is going on with them? It’s as if two separate teams are out there. Team Austin and Team Everyone Else.” Paige sat down in frustration and glared at Austin’s back as he threw yet another incomplete pass.

Annie watched as Austin began to yell at Ryan for missing the catch, when in reality the pass was nowhere near Ryan to begin with. Ryan had made some impressive moves just to manage to get in reach of the horribly thrown ball. The team did have athleticism, but they were just not working together.

“
Annie, you may want to go home right after the game and hide.”

“
Why would I do that?” Annie asked, alarmed at what Paige said. Did Cade tell her who she was?