Dying to Kill (Angel Delaney Mysteries Book #2) (36 page)

Callen stood at his barbeque, grilling thick T-bones, while Paul and Rachael followed his orders to set the table and bring the food he’d prepared earlier out to the table. Tim and Susan had taken the girls for a walk on the beach and were just coming back. Peter was heading for Portland, where he would catch a plane to the Bahamas to deal with some sort of emergency at the resort there. Nick had picked up Rosie and was on his way over.

“It’s hard to have someone else taking care of dinner.” Anna turned her head in Angel’s direction, sunglasses hiding her eyes.

“Mmm. Enjoy it, Ma. You’ll be back in the kitchen soon enough.” Angel hadn’t really talked with her mother since her father’s death. Truth be told, she’d been avoiding it.

“Angel, move in with me.”

“What?” Angel wasn’t sure what she expected, but not this.

“You heard me. With your father gone, the house is too big and I hate being alone.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Just think about it. The boys say I should sell and move into a condominium, but I don’t want to do that.”

“You shouldn’t have to—sell, I mean. It’s too soon anyway.”

“Angel,”
her father had told her before his open-heart surgery,
“if anything happens to me, take care of your mother.”

Anna nodded and looked back at the water. “I miss him.”

An old familiar lump made its way to Angel’s throat. She didn’t cry this time. She’d done far too much of that already. “I miss him too.” Eventually, she would have to deal with all the unfinished business that had gone on between them. The funeral had helped. So many people had come up to her—especially people he worked with—telling her how proud he’d been of his little girl. She just wished he could have told her—shown her.

“Come get it!” Callen yelled.

Angel set aside her thoughts and helped her mother out of the chair. How ironic that they would both end up with arm injuries. Fortunately, neither was serious enough to keep them out of commission for long.

Dinner provided a perfect opportunity to watch Callen as he interacted with the people she loved most. How could she have thought him abusive? Her heart swelled to twice its size as it filled with love for him. She could hardly wait for dinner to end and for conversations to fade and their guests to leave.

At 8:30 she got her wish. She and Callen were alone. He would be taking her home soon, but she had him to herself for at least another hour or two.

He turned on the dishwasher, hung up his apron, and joined her on the couch. She curled her fingers in his hair. “That was quite a performance. We’ll have to start calling you Emeril.”

He smiled. “Enjoy it while you can. As soon as that arm of yours heals, I plan to recruit you as my chief cook and bottle washer.”

“In your dreams.”

He leaned over and planted a sweet, lingering kiss on her lips, leaving her breathless and wanting more. He tipped his head back and slouched down on the couch, closing his eyes in the process.

Angel brushed his hair from his forehead.

“I suppose you’re itching to know how everything turned out.” He smiled as though he didn’t mind telling her.

Angel hadn’t planned to ask, thinking her curiosity could wait a day or two. “Now that you mention it, I suppose I am. There are still a lot of unanswered questions. Like how you managed to get yourself abducted.”

Callen told her about his talk with Janet. It had been Claire, not Heather, who’d brought the cake, a cake laced with a powerful sedative that had knocked both Callen and Janet out. Claire came back with Debra, thinking they’d find Janet passed out, only to find they had to deal with Callen as well.

“Why would she use a sedative rather than poison?”

“Like her note said, things were happening too quickly. They had to find a way to get rid of their victims. They couldn’t afford to have any more bodies turn up—at least not around Sunset Cove. She and Debra planned to take us out to sea and dump us.”

Angel ran a hand through her hair. “What about Charles? They left his body in the hotel in Lincoln City.”

“Who knows? Her note said things were unraveling. I don’t think either of them were thinking too clearly.”

“It’s hard to believe they would actually devise such a devious plan. They both seemed nice and fairly well adjusted.” She frowned. “So who was Dragonslayer, or did they write the notes together?”

“Debra didn’t know anything about the notes. In fact, she about went ballistic when she found out.”

“Do we know why Claire sent them?”

Callen shook his head. “Not specifically. Serial killers will often leave clues—the murdering becomes a sort of bizarre game to them.”

Angel shivered. “Do you know who shot me?”

“That was Debra. She figured you wouldn’t suspect her with Doug missing. In fact, Debra’s the one who actually killed Kelsey and Jenkins. We recovered the bullet Debra fired at you and it matches the one used to kill Jim Kelsey.”

“But she used Phillip’s own gun to kill him?”

“Right. We don’t really know why. Maybe to throw us off the track.”

Angel frowned. “But what about the receipts that put Debra and Claire at the outlet mall in Lincoln City?”

“Claire was at the mall, but Debra had given her one of her credit cards to use, so they could establish an alibi for both of them.”

“And Charles?”

“Claire admitted to killing him. She thought she was doing it as a favor to Janet and apparently didn’t realize that Janet had gone to see him. Claire, of course, didn’t talk to the manager like Janet had.”

Angel blew out a long breath. “I still don’t get it. Seems like Claire and Debra thought they were helping these women. Claire killed Charles so Janet would be free of him, but then why would they decide to kill Janet?” She thought about the conversation she had with Janet after Charles’s murder. “She knew. Janet was on to her.”

“I’m afraid so,” Callen said. “Janet should have come to us, instead she started asking questions. They didn’t want to kill her but didn’t know what to do. I think they actually believed they could get her over to their side. Janet said they talked to her about coming with them. And of course she refused.”

“Claire told me about her abuse as a kid. It must have been horrendous to mess her up like that.”

“Mmm. I think we’ve just skimmed the surface where she’s concerned.”

“You mean she’s killed before?”

“We’re looking at the possibility. She kept journals, and either she’s one heck of a fiction writer or she’s a serial killer.”

“She seemed so quiet and unassuming.” Angel shifted her shoulder for comfort.

“They’re the most dangerous.” Callen wrapped an arm around her and brought her close.

“What about Debra? I know her husband was abusive—”

“Actually,” Callen interrupted, “he wasn’t.”

Angel twisted around to get a better look at his face. “Are you serious?”

“Turns out that Debra was the abusive one in that relationship. Doug was leaving her. And she wasn’t about to let that happen.”

“So she was going to kill him?” Angel was still having trouble assimilating all of it.

Callen nodded. “I’m afraid so. Better that than have the whole town find out her dirty little secrets.”

They sat in silence for a while. Angel tried to absorb the truth about the women she’d come to know. Her mind traveled from them to Candace and Janet and Michelle, wondering if they’d had any inkling as to what Claire and Debra had done. Had they been protecting them? She asked Callen about it.

“We haven’t seen any evidence to indicate their involvement. I really don’t think they had a clue until Janet began to suspect Claire.”

“If Debra was the abusive one, why would she go to the women’s shelter—why be part of the support group?”

“Oddly enough, Debra saw herself as the victim in the marriage. She’s still claiming that she was being abused—I don’t know—maybe they were abusive toward one another, emotionally, at least.”

Angel was quiet for a moment. “I’ve made a decision,” she said, changing the subject.

“About . . . ?”

“My job.”

Callen smiled. “Good.”

“I want to be a detective.”

He leaned back. “With the PD?”

“I’m not sure about that part. I like working with Rachael.”

Callen didn’t respond; he didn’t have to.

“I know you don’t like private investigators, but I’m hoping you’ll adjust your thinking where I’m concerned.”

“Angel.” He kissed her. “I’ll support you no matter what you decide to do.”

She grinned and snuggled up against him. “I also have an offer to teach law enforcement at the community college.”

“That’s great.”

“And Joe called to ask if I was coming back once my leave ended. I guess Nick decided not to continue the detective classes—he prefers just being a cop. Joe offered to let me go through detective training if I wanted.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Same thing I’m telling you. I have a lot of options and a lot to think about.”

“I have another option for you.” He kissed her nose.

“You want to offer me a job?” Angel met his gaze.

“Not a job, exactly, though if you ever want to work for the state police, you have my vote.” He tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face, lowering his lips to hers for a toe-curling kiss. “I’d like you to think about marrying me.”

“Callen, I . . .”

“Not for a while,” he added quickly. “I’d just like us to see one another exclusively with the idea of marrying in a year if we both agree.”

Angel sighed and linked hands with her favorite detective. She did indeed have a lot of options. Whatever she decided, she would remain in law enforcement. Being a cop was part of who she was, deep down, inside and out. Angel couldn’t imagine anything, not even marriage, changing that.

She wondered what her father would think, and which direction he’d want her to go.

Would he approve of Callen? Definitely.

Would he be proud of what she had done? Of course.

Would he be okay with her being a detective? She smiled. Probably not, but two out of three wasn’t bad.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to my editor, Lonnie Hull Dupont, who has believed in Angel since the beginning. Also to Kristin Kornoelje and other editors and readers at Baker Books.

A special thanks to Travis and Belinda.

To my round robin pals for their prayer and encouragement.

Thanks to my husband, Ron, for his help, encouragement, and support as I exit life and enter my fictional world.

Thank you to God, who makes all things possible.

Patricia H. Rushford is an award-winning author, speaker, and teacher who holds a master’s degree in counseling and is a prolific writer with over forty books to her credit and more than a million copies sold. Patricia was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award for her book
Silent Witness
. She conducts writers workshops for adults and children and has appeared as a featured guest on numerous radio and television shows. Her books include the Angel Delaney Mysteries, the Helen Bradley Mysteries, and the popular Jennie McGrady Mysteries for young readers, as well as the McAllister Files, which she writes with a detective for the Oregon State Police to create CSI-like mysteries.

Books by Patricia H. Rushford

Fiction:

Sins of the Mother

The Angel Delaney Mysteries

Deadly Aim

Dying to Kill

The Jennie McGrady Mysteries

The Helen Bradley Mysteries

The McAllister Files

Secrets, Lies & Alibis

Deadfall

Nonfiction:

Have You Hugged Your Teenager Today?

It Shouldn’t Hurt to Be a Kid

What Kids Need Most in a Mom

For details see Patricia’s website at
www.patriciarushford.com