Deadly Proposal (Hardy Brothers Security Book 4) (19 page)

“Who is Anna Shepherd?” Sophie was curious.

“She was Grady’s prom date when he was a senior,” Rose said. “Oh, don’t worry, dear. She’s put on a few pounds and popped out a few kids since then. She’s no match for you.”

“Oh,” Sophie said, unsure how she should respond.

“It wouldn’t matter anyway, sugar,” Grady said, patting her hand. “I’ll be too tired from tonight to even think about rekindling prom-night passions.”

Where was that hole when she really needed it?

“I said no!”

James was standing next to the pool table, cue in hand, waiting for Jake to make a shot. It was Saturday, and Jake had stopped by for an update, which had led to a few beers and a few games.

Ally had joined the party twenty minutes before, and she hadn’t stopped irritating James since. He was at the end of his rope.

“It’s right on the corner,” Ally said. “It’s literally like fifty feet away. What could possibly happen?”

“Ally, you’re driving me crazy,” James said. “We’re close to getting somewhere on this case.
Really
close. Grady is up north right now. He’s probably at the bank even as we speak. This is all going to be over soon.”

“So, why can’t we go over to the beauty parlor?” Ally pressed. “I want a manicure, and Mandy’s hair looks like it hasn’t been cut in months. Rats could be living in there for all we know.”

Mandy ran a hand down her hair self-consciously.

“Baby, don’t listen to her. You look beautiful,” James said. “Ally, get out.”

“No.”

James pointed to the door with his cue. “Get. Out.”

“Nu-uh,” Ally said, contorting her face for emphasis.

James shook his head, moving around the table so he could line up a shot. Just as he drew back his elbow, Ally grabbed the stick so his shot was flubbed. James’ face was furious when he straightened up. “Do you want me to kill you?”

“Just think, if we were at the beauty parlor, you would have made that shot,” Ally said.

James glanced over at Jake for backup. “Tell her it’s a bad idea. Maybe she’ll listen to you.”

“It’s not really my place,” Jake said. “Although, honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is. We could walk them over there and then they can text us when they’re done and we’ll pick them up.”

James sighed, glancing over at Mandy, who was sitting on the couch gnawing on her fingernails. She
did
look a little crazy. “What do you want?”

Mandy looked surprised by the question. “Are you really asking me?”

“I’m really asking you,” James said. “You’ve been cooped up here for days, and you’ve only complained about it a hundred times. That must be some sort of new record.”

“A haircut, maybe a pedicure, and a wax sounds good,” Mandy said.

“Wax?” James wrinkled his nose, confused.

Mandy shifted uncomfortably. Ally leaned in, whispering something in James’ ear, causing him to blush.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Ally said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Men, I swear.”

James blew out a sigh. “Fine. But we’re walking you down there, and you’re not taking a step outside of that place until we pick you up. Deal?”

Ally squealed excitedly. “Yay!”

“Get your coats,” James said, rolling his eyes in Jake’s direction. “Women.”

“Oh, we’re going to need your credit card,” Ally said, pausing at the door. “The wax is for you, after all.”

James raised his eyebrows but nodded. “Of course you do.”

GRADY
hadn’t been inside of Barker Creek’s small community bank in almost eight years. It still looked exactly the same.

“This place is … .” Sophie glanced around, her face expressionless.

“It’s a blast from the past,” Grady said. “There’s no doubt. The modern world fights coming here.”

“Wow. This town is stuck in a time loop or something.”

“It’s just small,” Grady said, putting his hand at the small of her back as he searched the bank. His eyes fell on a blonde woman, one he vaguely recognized, in the small office to the right of the lobby. “There’s Anna.”

Sophie followed his gaze. “She was your prom date?”

“She looked different,” Grady said. “She was a cheerleader.”

“Of course she was.”

“If I had to do it over again, I would troll for dates in newspaper office,” Grady said, kissing her cheek. “I had no idea what a goldmine that place could be. Let’s get this over with.”

Grady knocked on the open door, waiting for Anna to look up. When she did, her face broke into a wide smile. “Oh my gawd! Grady Hardy!”

Grady accepted her exuberant hug, even though he was uncomfortable when she crushed her ample bosom into his chest. “You look great, Anna.”

“I just had a baby,” she said. “I’m still trying to shed the baby weight.”

“That’s got to be tough,” Sophie said, trying to ignore the way Anna was pawing at her boyfriend. “How old is the baby?”

“He’s four.”

“Oh.”

Grady exchanged a small smile with Sophie, closing the office door behind them before settling into one of the two open chairs.

“I can’t believe you’re back in town,” Anna said. “How long has it been?”

“I come back from time to time,” Grady replied. “I haven’t lived here since graduation, though.”

“Yeah, all of you Hardys picked up and left town the minute you graduated,” Anna said. “How is Ally?”

“She’s still causing trouble.”

“And your brothers?”

“They’re still causing trouble, too.”

“Well, that’s good.”

The room lapsed into silence.

“So, what can I do for you?” Anna asked, finally breaking the silence. “Are you looking for a mortgage? Maybe moving back to the area with your … wife?” She searched Sophie’s hand for a ring.

Grady’s smile was easy and relaxed. “Girlfriend,” he corrected. “This is Sophie.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Anna said. “Grady and I used to date.”

“I heard,” Sophie said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. The woman was married with a kid, and yet she was still trying to mark her territory from almost a decade before.

“So, are you looking for a mortgage?”

“Actually, I need some information,” Grady said. He launched into a story, one that was mostly true, glossing over a few unnecessary details, and then waited for Anna to respond.

“Wait, Amanda Avery is with James? Your brother, James?”

“Um, yeah,” Grady said. “They live together.”

“No way.”

“Yes, way.”

Anna’s face was flushed with disbelief. “Amanda Avery? The mousy blonde who used to wear hoodies that were too big for her and walk around with that sketchpad all the time?”

“She looks a little different now,” Grady said. “There’s nothing mousy about her.”

“And they’re really together?”

Sophie didn’t like the woman’s attitude. She was clearly still stuck in high school, and Sophie hated women like that. The way she was looking Grady up and down like a porterhouse steak was also adding to her overt dislike.

“They’re together,” Grady said. “About the account … .”

“That’s really against the rules,” Anna said, biting her lower lip.

“I would consider it a personal favor.”

Anna glanced around, like she was worried someone was eavesdropping. Finally, she shrugged. “Okay. Let me see what I can find.”

MANDY
and Ally were sitting in side-by-side chairs, their feet soaking in hot basins of water, as they gossiped. They’d gone for the waxes first, just to get them out of the way, and now they were relaxing.

“Have you seen his eyes? I just love them,” Ally said.

“Jake is very attractive,” Mandy agreed. “Your mom thinks so, too.”

“My mom? How would she know?”

“I emailed her a picture.”

Ally was scandalized. “Why would you do that?”

“I thought she’d want to see him,” Mandy said, selecting a bright shade of blue nail polish from the rack next to her. “Plus, I figured I owed you for the whole misunderstanding thing.”

Ally scowled. “I said I was sorry.”

“I know.”

“Are you going to keep holding that against me?”

“No,” Mandy said. “I was really just bored. That apartment is really small when you can’t go anywhere else.”

“Well, the good news is, you guys will have a house soon,” Ally said. “Hopefully even that one you already saw. It sounds amazing.”

“I want it,” Mandy admitted. “There’s just something about it. It was like I could picture us there. It just … fit.”

“I’m sure it will work out.”

“I hope so.”

Ally held up two bottles of nail polish. “Which one do you think Jake will like better?”

Mandy looked at them, considering. “Go with the black. He’s got that black leather jacket, and he wears black boots. I think he’s just a black kind of guy.”

Ally nodded, pushing the red bottle back onto the rack. “I bet he likes black lingerie, too. What kind of lingerie does James like?”

“He doesn’t really care about the color,” Mandy replied. “He loves my garters, though. They really get him going.”

“Are they comfortable to wear?”

“It’s kind of like wearing a thong,” Mandy said. “The first time you do it, you think that nothing could be more uncomfortable. Then, by the fifth time, you don’t even notice it.”

“Good to know,” Ally said. “We should go lingerie shopping this week. We haven’t been in forever.”

“That sounds good,” Mandy said. “Maybe we can bring Sophie and Emma with us. And maybe even Heidi. She’s been feeling neglected.”

“Heidi?”

“I want to see if I can pair her up with Clint.”

“The security guard with a crush on you? Why?”

“Because Heidi has a thing for bad boys who treat her terribly, and Clint needs to find someone else to fixate on,” Mandy explained. “They’re both lonely. I’m hoping they can distract each other.”

“That’s a really good idea,” Ally said. “Now that all of my brothers are spoken for, she’s been kind of depressed.”

“It doesn’t help that the only time I’ve spent with her over the past month has been at work or raving like a madwoman in her car,” Mandy said.

“We’re almost there,” Ally said. “It could even be over today, if we’re lucky.”

“God, I hope so,” Mandy said. “I love your brother, but there have been a few times over the past few days where I’ve imagined being able to pop his head like a zit.”

Ally giggled. “He’s overbearing on a normal day. When he goes into protection mode, he’s just unbearable.”

“I’m trying really hard not to snap at him,” Mandy said. “And, you know, I like sex as much as the next person. I don’t know how long I can distract him with it, though. Every once in a while, it would be nice to shower alone.”

Ally tilted her head, snorting. “Sex in the shower is fun sometimes, but other times you just want people to stop touching you so you can wash your own hair, for crying out loud.”

“That’s it exactly,” Mandy said, glancing up when the bell over the front door of the salon jangled. A woman entered, and even though she couldn’t see her clearly, there was something familiar about her.

“Just tell him,” Ally said. “He’ll understand.”

“Yeah … I … Ally.”

“He might pout a little,” Ally said. “He’ll get over it.”

Ally glanced up, her body going still when she saw all of the color drain out of Mandy’s face. “What is it?” She shifted so she could look over her shoulder, her heart filling with dread when she saw the gun in the woman’s hand. “Who is that?”

IT TOOK
Anna longer to get the information than Grady was comfortable with. He was worried she was going to try and weasel out of it, but when she finally returned to the office, she had a puzzled look on her face.

“Did you find it?”

Anna closed the door, making sure to give them privacy. “I did, but this doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t?” Sophie asked.

“You said that whoever wired that money tried to kill Amanda Avery,” Anna said. “That’s what you said, right?”

“Yeah,” Grady replied, getting to his feet. “Why? Who wired the money?”

“Sheryl Avery,” Anna replied. “Isn’t she Amanda’s stepmother?”

All of the air whooshed out of Grady, realization washing over him. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Grady exchanged a worried look with Sophie. “Get James on the phone. Now!”

“Sheryl.”

Shock wasn’t the right word for what Mandy was feeling. Never, not during the entire time she was recovering, did her stepmother being responsible for the explosion enter her mind. It hadn’t even been a curious consideration. Now, with the woman standing in front of her, gun in hand, she felt like an idiot for not seeing the obvious answer to the question.

“Sheryl? Your stepmother, Sheryl?” Ally furrowed her brow. “Oh, well, this can’t be good. James is going to kill me.”

Sheryl looked different from the last time she’d seen her. Her face was haggard and drawn. Her dark hair, which was usually dyed and coiffed to perfection, had gone completely gray.

She looked … unhinged.

“Hello, Mandy.”

The other women in the beauty parlor were suddenly screaming and rushing to the back of the salon. Sheryl didn’t even glance in their direction. She was focused on Mandy and Ally, who stayed in their seats.

“What’s going on?” Mandy asked.

“What? You don’t know?”

“Well, I have an idea,” Mandy said, swallowing hard. She forced her attention from the gun, focusing on Sheryl’s face. She didn’t know which one was scarier. “I’m guessing you tried to have me blown up, and now you’ve decided to just do it yourself.”

“I don’t have a lot of options,” Sheryl said. “Thanks to your boyfriend and his meddlesome family, it’s only a matter of time until I’m discovered. I guess I should have taken that into consideration.”

“Then you should probably run,” Ally said. “Why waste your time here?”

Sheryl ignored Ally. “You can’t be surprised to see me,” Sheryl said. “You had to know I wouldn’t let the murder of my son just go. Of course, you never bothered to check in with me after your boyfriend killed him, so I shouldn’t be surprised that you’ve been so caught up in yourself that my misery wasn’t even on your radar.”

“Troy wasn’t murdered,” Mandy said, slipping her feet out of the basin and leaning forward. “Troy tried to kill me, and James did what he had to do to stop him. It wasn’t murder. And, as for the other stuff, I wasn’t sure what I should say to you. It wasn’t exactly a normal situation.”

“Yes, well, James is going to get what’s coming to him, too,” Sheryl said, her evil tone causing Mandy’s blood to run cold. “I figure I’ll let him mourn you for a few days, really feel your loss, and then I’ll let him join you in the hereafter. Then maybe I’ll check in on him, see how he is doing, and finish him off.”

“Do you think you’re going to get close enough to him to try?”

“I think that grief does funny things to people,” Sheryl said. “Look at me. He’ll be too distracted to even see me coming.”

“The cops will catch you,” Mandy said. “The wire transfer into Cole’s bank account is being tracked right now.”

Sheryl scrunched her face up. “That information is private.”

“Not if you know the right people,” Mandy said. “Grady is at the bank right now, and he just happens to know the right people.”

“It will still be too late for you,” Sheryl said. “At least I can watch you die.”

Mandy wasn’t sure what she should do. Talking to Sheryl seemed like the best option, but the woman standing in front of her seemed lost to the world. Mandy didn’t want to press the wrong buttons.

“Are you sure you really want to do this? I mean, you told me that you didn’t agree with the things your family did to survive when you were younger, that’s why you changed your name and escaped from them,” Mandy said, trying to appeal to Sheryl’s sense of humanity. “Why would you embrace this lifestyle now? I mean, this is so much worse.”

“You killed my son!”

“He was trying to kill me,” Mandy argued. “Should I have just stood there and let him kill me? Should James have?”

“You didn’t have to kill him,” Sheryl said. “What Troy did was wrong … but what you did, well, that was just cold.”

“Mandy didn’t kill him,” Ally interjected. “James did.”

“Yes, James is the one who killed him,” Sheryl agreed. “He did it to protect her. I want James to feel what it’s like to lose the woman he loves. He killed my son to protect you, and now I’m going to kill you. He’ll see it all was in vain.”

“That’s not going to bring Troy back,” Mandy said. “He’s gone. He’s never coming back.”

“And your father is gone, too,” Sheryl said. “They’ve left me alone, so I have nothing to live for.”

“You can find something to live for,” Mandy pressed. “You’ve done it before. You donated your time, you helped people. Why not do that again?”

“Do you really think that’s going to be an option for me after all of this?”

“I don’t know,” Mandy said. “You could run. You could try to get away.”

“While that does hold a certain appeal, the idea of you looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life could be fun, I don’t have the money or the inclination to spend the latter years of my life on the run,” Sheryl replied. “I don’t want to live in this world anymore.”

“Then just kill yourself,” Ally said. “Why try to make Mandy pay because your son was an idiot heathen?”

Mandy wanted to smack Ally – or at least gag her – but sudden moves were out of the question.

“My son was a troubled boy,” Sheryl said. “He had some issues. He did not deserve to be shot down like a dog.”

“Neither did Mandy,” Ally said. “Troy gave my brother no choice. James offered to let him surrender. He chose to try and kill Mandy anyway.”

“Your brother didn’t give Troy a choice,” Sheryl said. “That’s a lie he told the police to get away with murder. How dumb do you think I am?”

“I don’t know,” Ally said. “How dumb was Troy? I think you can give him a run for his money.”

Sheryl frowned, scalding Ally with an angry look. “Apparently you want to die, too.”

JAMES
and Jake were at the back of the beauty parlor listening. They both had guns, but they had to get inside if they wanted to use them. All of the patrons of the establishment had fled out the back door, leaving it open in their wake, and the police were on their way. James couldn’t wait, though.

“I don’t like this,” Jake said. “Your sister is purposely baiting her.”

“My sister doesn’t know when to shut up,” Jake agreed. “I think she’s baiting her so she’ll keep her focus on her instead of Mandy. She’s trying to protect her.”

“Will Mandy let her?”

“Not for a second. They’ll both bait her to death trying to protect the other. We’ll lose them both.”

Jake shook his head. “We won’t lose them. We need to think.”

“No, we need to split up,” James said. “I’m going to go in through the back door and try to draw her attention to me. When it’s time, you need to go in through the front and try to get them out.”

“She’ll shoot you,” Jake said. “I’m not familiar with the situation, but it sounds to me like she blames you for the death of her son.”

“I did kill her son. I’d rather her take out her wrath on me than one of them,” James said. “Plus, if I can just get in there, I might be able to take her out first.”

Jake bit his lower lip. “Maybe we should wait for the police.”

“I’m not trusting the lives of my sister and my … Mandy to the police,” James said. “I can’t wait. Are you with me?”

“I’m with you,” Jake said, his tone grim and his eyes set. “Give me three minutes.”

“Go.”

“ALLY
is just nervous,” Mandy said, trying to draw Sheryl’s attention back to her. “She doesn’t mean what she says.”

“Oh, I totally mean it,” Ally said. “Your son was a crazy loon, and you’re even crazier. He stalked and terrorized Mandy. He stabbed a security guard. He tried to run her over. And here you are making excuses for him. It’s pathetic.”

“You shut your mouth,” Sheryl said. “You just shut your filthy mouth.”

“Sheryl,” Mandy said, her tone desperate. “I’m the one you want revenge on. This is all my fault.”

“This is all Troy’s fault,” Ally countered. “You’re trying to blame everyone else for his mistakes, instead of just admitting he was a coward.”

“Troy was not a coward.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Ally said. “He was a stupid coward. He was also greedy and narcissistic. In other words, he was a total ass.”

Sheryl shifted the gun, leveling it at Ally. “You obviously want to die first. This actually works. Mandy can see you die, feel a little bit of what I felt when I heard about my son, and then I’ll finish her off. It’s almost … poetic.”

“No,” Mandy said. “Ally doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” Ally said. “I actually feel sorry for you. You lost your husband. You lost your son. You’ve obviously lost your sanity. The real tragedy in all of this, though, is that you’ve also lost your soul.

“From everything Mandy has told me, you fought tooth and nail to be a good person despite the losers who raised you,” Ally continued. “You threw all of that out the window for revenge – and it’s revenge that’s not even warranted.”

Mandy’s eyes were trained on Sheryl’s trigger finger. She was focused on Ally right now, and that wasn’t likely to change. Ally wouldn’t let it.

“They killed my son,” Sheryl raged. “He has to be avenged.”

“Your son killed himself,” Ally said. “He had every opportunity to do the right thing, and he did the wrong thing at every turn. He must have learned that from you. I mean, you killed a mentally ill vet to cover your tracks. What kind of person does that? A crazy person, that’s who.”

Mandy saw Sheryl’s finger flex, and she knew she was out of options. She launched herself out of the chair, tackling Sheryl to the ground, knocking her arm up into the air at the same time.

They hit the blue linoleum in tandem. Hard. Thankfully, since she was on the bottom, Sheryl’s body absorbed most of the blow. Sheryl squeezed the trigger reflexively but, since she wasn’t aiming, the bullet went wild and lodged into the ceiling.

Mandy reached over, grappling for the gun. Sheryl was clawing at her face with one hand, and trying to aim the gun at her with the other. Mandy slammed her shoulder into Sheryl’s chest, purposely trying to knock the wind out of her.

When that didn’t work, Mandy used both of her hands to try and control the gun. Sheryl managed to draw it into the space between them, causing Mandy to suck in a breath when she felt the cold, hard metal against her ribs.

“Ally, run!”

In the split-second after the gun went off, Mandy expected to feel pain. She was familiar with the sensation, the hours and days after the explosion filling her with nothing but agony.

It didn’t come.

Instead, Sheryl slumped beneath her, ceding the fight. Mandy reared back, running her hands over her chest and abdomen to see if she could find a hole. There was so much blood, Mandy couldn’t be sure what was happening. She heard the front door of the salon open, but she didn’t look up. Her mind was a muffled mess, everything dull and out of focus.

I must be in shock.

JAMES
raced into the salon from the back room, cursing himself for waiting for Jake to get into position. Either his sister or the love of his life had just been shot, and losing either one of them would kill him.

He saw Mandy first. She was on the ground, Sheryl’s lifeless body prone beneath her. He couldn’t tell if she was hurt, but the blood coating the front of her T-shirt terrified him.

Jake was in the room, too, immediately moving to Ally’s side. “Are you okay?”

Ally shook her head, her feet still planted in the water basin and tears coursing down her face. “I don’t know.”

Jake pulled her to him in an attempt to anchor her to reality. “It’s all right,” he said. “It’s okay. Just … it’s okay.”

James moved toward Mandy, worried she was going to keel over before he got to her. The dreams bombarded him. He was going to get to her, he was going to be able to touch her, and then she was going to collapse. She was going to die in his arms this time.

James knelt down next to his blonde, his hand shaking as he reached for her. “Baby.”

Mandy turned to him, her lower lip trembling. “I don’t think this is my blood.”

James glanced down at Sheryl, an open wood spreading red liquid across the front of her shirt. “Were you hit?”

“I don’t … I don’t think so.”

“Let me check,” James said, placing his gun on the floor and running his hands over Mandy’s torso. When he couldn’t find a wound, he practically cried out in relief. “You weren’t hit. You’re okay.”

“I am?”

James pulled her into his arms, tugging her off of Sheryl’s lifeless body. “You’re okay, baby. God, you’re okay.”

Mandy sank into his arms, her sobs overtaking her, wracking her small body with tiny convulsions as he wrapped his love around her. “It was Sheryl.”

“Something we should have considered from the beginning,” James said, tangling his hand in her blonde tresses. “This is my fault.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ally said, Jake’s arm still wrapped around your shoulder. “It’s that crazy woman’s fault.”