Dangerous Therapy: O'Connor Brothers (Volume 1) (26 page)

Monday mornings were the worst. Stephanie was running behind and John was trying to help by making breakfast. He was so amazing. Always knowing what she was thinking before she said it. Even though it had been a week since his romantic dinner, she still felt like she was floating on air. Which was the reason she was running behind. Her head was in the clouds.

The great thing was, Marc pled guilty to the charges and requested to go to rehab. The judge agreed. As long as Marc stuck to this, he’d receive probation. He was also not allowed to contact any of her family and would have to go through family court to see Danny.

“I should be home around six,” Stephanie called to John as she hurried out the door. “Love you.”

“Love you too. Have a good day.” He blew her a kiss as she closed the door. Stephanie ran down the steps and turned when she heard her name.

“Stephanie.” Sandy was walking toward the fence.

“Hey!” Stephanie glanced at her watch. She still had a couple of minutes to chat with her friend.

“I hate to ask, but my car won’t start and I’ve got to be in town in forty minutes,” Sandy said. “It’s the hotel downtown. Would you be able to drop me off?”

“Sure! My first client is down that way.”

Sandy sighed with relief. “I’ll even buy coffee. I just need to get my things out of the car.”

Stephanie walked toward the end of the driveway where her car was parked. A strange smell made her wrinkle her nose. The closer she got to the end of the driveway the stronger it was. She was almost at her car when she heard John.

“Steph.” John stood in the door waving her cell phone in front of him.

“Shit!” She dropped her bags and ran back up the driveway. Stephanie was on the bottom step when she was hurled forward. An explosion erupted behind her making her ears ring. When she looked up, John was crouched down on the step pulling her inside.

“Get in the house. Now!” John yelled, but his eyes were looking over her head. When she turned her heart stopped. Her car was completely engulfed in flames.

“Oh my God!” She screamed. “Sandy!” John stared down at her.

“What?” His voice was so muffled.

“I was going to drive her to work. Where is she, John?” Stephanie sat on the step frozen. John was yelling out to Sandy. Stephanie held her breath when John jumped over the fence into Sandy’s yard. When she saw him walking with his arm around Sandy, she let out a ragged breath. Stephanie ran to the fence and helped John lift Sandy over it.

“Are you okay?” Stephanie yelled and hugged her. John’s arm wrapped around her pushing her toward the house. Her ears were still ringing, and she couldn’t hear John speaking to her. He grabbed her face and spoke slowly.

“Get in the house.” John put the phone to his ear.

Stephanie didn’t let go of Sandy as they entered the house. Sandy looked dazed, but she didn’t seem to be hurt. Stephanie checked her from head to toe.

“I’m fine. I got knocked down by the force of the blast.” Stephanie could barely hear her.

“Sit down.” Stephanie needed to sit because her legs were like jelly.

“What the hell happened?” Sandy asked. That’s what Stephanie would like to know. Her car exploded.
What the fuck
? How the hell did her car explode? She was trembling.

“I don’t give a fuck, Uncle Kurt. Someone just blew up her fucking car.” Stephanie had no trouble hearing John yell into the phone. Someone blew up her car? Tears started running down her cheeks before she even realized she was crying.

“Steph, what the hell is going on?” Sandy wrapped her arm around Stephanie’s shoulder.

They could have killed her and Sandy. “I wish I knew. I’ve got to call Cora and let her know what happened.” She pulled out her phone. Her hands were shaking so hard she couldn’t even unlock it. She looked up when Sandy took the phone from her hand.

“I’ll call her for you.” Sandy opened her phone and found Cora’s number. Everything around her started to fade into a haze. All she knew was someone was trying to kill her. But why? She never did anything to anyone. She didn’t even notice John when he knelt in front of her. His lips were moving, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. The only thing she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears.

“Stephanie!” It sounded hollow, but she knew it was John.

“I think she’s going into shock.” She recognized the voice, but for the life of her she didn’t know who it was.

“I’ll get a blanket.” Another voice.

“She feels really clammy.” Was that John’s voice?

“Get her to lay down on her side and cover her up with this until the ambulance gets here.” That sounded like James. Someone laid her down. Her eyes went to John standing above her. Why did he look so worried?
So cold
. Oh God, where was Sandy?

“Sandy?” Was that her voice?

“I’m here Stephanie, I’m fine.” Sandy knelt next to her and held her hand. “You just rest.” Yes, rest sounded good. Sandy was fine. She could rest now.

Stephanie opened her eyes and sat up in terror. Where was she? The hospital. Why was she in the hospital? Where was John? She glanced around the room. It was dark with only a faint light coming from the hallway. John sat in a chair, his eyes closed. She tried hard to remember what happened. Then it all came rushing back. The explosion. Her car. She covered her face and tears flowed down her cheeks.

“Shh…. honey, you’re okay.” John’s strong arms wrapped around her and she clung to him.

“I smelled gas.” She sobbed.

“What?”

“I smelled gas. When I was going to the car. I didn’t know what it was at first, but it just hit me. It was gas.” She sobbed.

“Honey, there was a hole punctured into your tank and stuffed with a piece of cloth. There was a trail of gas that went to the road. We found a couple of matches on the road where the gas trail ended.” John said. “Someone saw you heading to the car, dropped the matches and took off.”

“John, why.... w....w....would someone want to k....k....kill me?” She asked between broken sobs.

“I don’t know, baby, but we’re going to find out.” He held her tightly against his chest. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

A day later John brought her home from the hospital and she saw the scorch marks still at the end of the driveway. Stephanie shuddered and closed her eyes. John’s hand found hers and squeezed it gently. Stephanie opened her eyes. John’s front door was open. His whole family and her parents came pouring out of the door. Before John could get out of the car, her father opened the door and helped her out. Doug wrapped his big arms around her and guided her into the house. Inside, she was swallowed up in hugs. Then she heard the demanding voice of Nanny Betty ordering everyone to get out of her way.

“Now me ducky, ya come in here and sit down.” Nanny Betty took Stephanie’s arm and pulled her into the living room. “We’re all here for ya.” She watched with a smile as Nanny Betty ordered everyone around. She sent Aaron and Mike into the kitchen to get tea. James was sent to get a blanket. Janet was ordered to sit down next to Stephanie. Then she turned to Kurt.

“Now my sonny boy, I don’t know what kind of police department yur running out there in town, but ya damn well better find this son of a gun who’s trying to hurt our girl.” Doug stifled a laugh as Nanny Betty stood with her finger in Kurt’s face.

“Mudder, we’re doing everything we can.” Kurt sounded like a little boy trying to get out of trouble.

“Well ya can’t be doing everything now can ya, or ya’d have them in jail.” She snapped. “Now catch them.” She walked around Kurt and disappeared to the kitchen.

“I swear, I should hire that woman for interrogation.” Kurt chuckled.

“You really should,” Janet said.

“Do you think you could answer a few questions, Stephanie?” Kurt was looking at her. Stephanie nodded.

“Is this really necessary now, Uncle Kurt?” John sat on the arm of the chair next to her.

“John, you know the answer to that.” Kurt gave him a warning look. “John said you smelled gas as you were walking to the car. What made you go back to the house?”

“She left her phone on the counter and she came back to get it,” John answered for her.

“Stephanie, have you talked to Brad King recently?” Kurt asked.

“The last time I talked to him was at the fundraiser,” Stephanie said.

“I see.” Kurt glanced at John.

“Wait…. what…. You think Brad is doing this?” She looked from Kurt to John. There’s something they weren’t telling her. “What’s going on?”

“He hasn’t shown up to work since the fundraiser, and we’ve been trying to contact him at home to question him, but he’s not answering. One of our officers went to his apartment, but his girlfriend said he was out of town.” Kurt explained. “Do you know her?”

“I just know she’s the one he was cheating on me with, but I don’t know her.”

“Her name’s Erica Reid,” Kurt said.

“I only knew her first name,” Stephanie said.

“Stop harassing the poor girl, Kurt.” Nanny Betty pushed past him and placed a tray on the table in front of Stephanie. “Now ducky, ya have some of this pea soup and dumplings.” Stephanie wasn’t going to argue. When Nanny Betty told you to do something you just did it. She had learned that pretty quickly. Stephanie picked up the tray and began to eat, but her mind was going in circles. Where was Brad? Was he hiding out because he was responsible or was he really just out of town? 

She was tired of answering the same questions over and over. There were too many emotions at the same time. She was getting a headache from it all. John, James, Keith, Aaron, her father, and Kurt were huddled in the hallway talking in hushed tones. No doubt about her and Brad. Nanny Betty was hovering over her feeding her more food than she could possibly eat. Her mother and Kathleen were in the kitchen, and Sandy was sat at her side.

Sandy could have been killed, but she was sat at her side trying to comfort her. What if she hadn’t forgotten her phone? Stephanie glanced around the room. She was trying to distract herself. Sean, Ian, Mike, and Nick sat on the other side of the living room also talking in hushed tones. Even her friend Donna was constantly calling or texting to check on her. It was driving her to the brink of insanity. The beep of a cell phone distracted her. She glanced at Sandy. She was staring at her phone.

“Stephanie, I hate to do this, but I need to go. It’s something with work, but I’ll drop in to see you when I get home.” Sandy hugged her and stood.

“You really should be resting too, Sandy,” Stephanie complained. “You could’ve been hurt badly.”

“I don’t have the luxury of resting, but I’ll be fine.”

Stephanie followed her with her eyes. Sandy spoke with John, Keith and Kurt before she left. Then disappeared through the door. A few seconds later she jumped when her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello!” Stephanie was nervous to answer it.

“Is this Stephanie Kelly?” A female voice asked.

“Yes!”

“Oh good! This is Kim Newman.” Stephanie froze. Why would John’s ex be calling her? “Before you say anything please just listen to me.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been told someone has been trying to hurt you.” Stephanie didn’t speak. “I can’t tell you who, but believe me when I tell you this person is crazy.”

“You know who it is.” Stephanie gasped.

“I found out at the fundraiser, and I thought it was just this person trying to sound tough, but I just found out what happened this morning. I’d really like to talk to you about it.” She was rambling but sincere.

“You should talk to the police,” Stephanie said.

“I will, but I wanted to talk to you first and John.” Was this a ploy just to see John? “I’ll text you the address. Please meet me, and tell John it has nothing to do with our relationship. It’s to keep you safe.” Stephanie heard the click and a few seconds later she got the text with an address.

“Who was that?” John asked. Stephanie told him what Kim said. John was skeptical. Kurt said they should meet her, but they weren’t going alone.

“You don’t think Kim could be the one doing this?” Mike asked.

“Until we know for sure, we’ve got to be careful,” Kurt said. Stephanie read the address. Why did it seem so familiar?

“Well let’s go.” Stephanie stood up and headed to the door.

“Hold on there, sweetheart. We need to make a plan just in case Kim is our culprit.” John turned to Kurt. “What do we do?” Stephanie listened. She was getting more impatient by the minute. This had to end. If it was Kim, then they needed to know for sure.

The plan was for John and Stephanie to go to the apartment. James, Kurt and two of the other officers to follow them. John made her wear a Kevlar vest. Stephanie argued, but she didn’t win that argument. This was ridiculous. Once they were ready to go, John and Kurt had to stop Doug from following them. He wasn’t pleased, but Janet convinced him Stephanie would be safe. He hugged her tight before she left.

The entire drive John held her hand. It was almost painful, but she wasn’t complaining. They pulled in front of an apartment building and it hit her why the address was familiar. A chill ran down her spine.