Jarod's Heart (King Brothers Stories #2) (15 page)

“’Lo, Avery,” he ground out.

“Wha’choo doin’ here? You crazy or somethin’?” Avery asked in a panicked whisper, eyes wide with disbelief.

“Watch your mouth, Avery. Or I’ll have someone remove your teeth without anesthetic,” he threatened.

Avery blanched, then scanned the area as if someone might be behind him with rusted dental instruments.

“What happened when you met with Trapp?”

Avery sighed, “I told you. They didn’t have the money.”

“What else?” he commanded, letting Avery know that his life was on the line if he wasn’t forthcoming. Avery began to fidget.

“Mike said he was keepin’ a fee for all the years he’d been helpin’ you out. Said he wasn’t gonna keep launderin’ the money if you didn’t give ’em a bigger percentage.”

He knew this part. Trapp, that jackass, had been on this rant for a while. It was the main reason that the man had run them off the road. He’d shot them before he’d discovered they’d fooled him. And he didn’t like to be made a fool. He’d doused the wreck in gasoline once he’d realized the money wasn’t in the car. There was half a million in cash missing—cash they’d stolen from him. He was going to find that money, even if he had to kill everyone he was associated with, including the dickhole in front of him. Once he found the stash, he’d be set for life and could start over somewhere else.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

But he couldn’t do that if he couldn’t find the money. It was obvious this puke knew more than what he was telling. He’d get it out of Avery before he had him shanked. The fewer people who knew his identity, the better.

“Do you know what happens to assholes who hold out on their employers, Avery? Especially bosses in this business? It’s no skin off my nose if you don’t exist anymore. Do you read me?”

“Loud and clear,” he whispered, but then said more forcefully, “but I ain’t holdin’ out on ya, you know that!” he whined.

“We’ll see.”

He pulled his hat down, hung up the receiver and walked out on ol’ Avery.

T
he next two weeks were a blur of arrests, pediatric appointments, and preschool registrations.

None of the recent arrests had been meth related, and Jarod had heard from Las Vegas that the homicide investigation was at a dead end. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so frustrated with a case.

He and his deputies had tightened up their watches at the high school and community center, apprehending petty thieves and vandals. Some of the suspects had had drugs on them but nothing that was connected to the current murder or elusive meth supplier. He absolutely hated it when a trail ran dry.

Not to mention that the house was in chaos with all of the Halloween prep and parish dinner crafts. The yearly Haunted-Castle-Trick-or-Treat-Extravaganza that his family held on their property was just around the corner.

Jarod was exhausted. But what bothered him the most was that he missed Lauren. She hadn’t stayed overnight at the estate since he’d told her about the homicide investigation.

She hasn’t stayed since I kissed her.

She’d sent the proper documents to Detective Cane in Las Vegas, and he’d been cleared as a suspect, but other than seeing her at work and brief glimpses before she headed to the Room of Doom, he had spent little personal time with her.

His daughter, on the other hand, spent more time with Lauren than she did with him. And then all he heard from her was “Lorn this” and “Lorn that,” making him a little jealous. He wanted to know where she was and what she was thinking. He liked a good mystery, and Lauren Lockwood was definitely mysterious, with her sad eyes and enigmatic smiles. He wanted to solve her riddle so he could be close to her again.

He wanted his friend back.

He hoped to remedy the problem tonight at the church dinner.

Jarod hurried into the house to change out of his uniform and freshen up. The dinner started in forty-five minutes. That would give him enough time for a quick shower and to stuff the bins that were full of paper sack pumpkin crap…er…craft material into his Ford Raptor.

His mother had gone a little overboard; there were more than a hundred paper sacks filled with Jessica’s toilet paper pumpkin supplies. Her reasoning behind this ridiculous amount was that not all of the children in the parish would be attending the dinner, and she didn’t want those who were absent to feel left out.

Jarod rolled his eyes heavenward and prayed for patience. He would have to reign in his mother’s generosity so she would not spoil her granddaughter. She’d already requested that Josh draw up some plans for the guest suite across the hall from his, to remodel it “for the perfect little princess.”

Josh had only smiled and said, “I’m already on it. I just needed to know which set of rooms were hers.”

Jessica had been in his care for less than a month and already she was showing signs of being spoiled.

He smiled to himself and admitted that he couldn’t imagine it being any other way.

HE PULLED INTO
the crowded church parking lot in search of a spot close to the doors, so he could get the bins unloaded as quickly as possible. He’d just decided to pull up alongside the main entrance doors when he spotted Charlie on his way out.

Jarod rolled his window down. “Are you leaving already?”

Charlie walked up to the passenger side window and put his elbows on the rim. “Nah. The craft team needed some more stuff from their van. I guess they couldn’t carry it all in by themselves. I just got here about three minutes ago when they sent me back outside to get it.” He rolled his eyes and grinned.

“Listen, I’ve got all the bins with the pumpkin sacks in the back. I’ll start unloading while you get their stuff, and then you can help me with my stuff when you’re done.”

“No problem, Jarod. I’ll let Lauren know you’re here when I get inside.” Charlie jogged off to the parking lot before Jarod could tell him not to bother her.

He put his truck in park and stepped around to the tailgate. A cool breeze was blowing, typical for Nevada in late October. He hoped the hard frost wouldn’t hit until after the kids trick-or-treated. The days and nights had been pleasant since the last freak snow storm, but now it felt like fall was really here and winter was beckoning at their doorstep.

As he put the tailgate down, Charlie sprinted into the crowded doorway, arms loaded down with more decorations. He heard Charlie’s voice echo through the parish hall, searching out Lauren.

Jarod stacked a couple of bins on top of each other and picked them up as Lauren came out the door with Jessica securely on her hip. It didn’t look like Jessica was going anywhere by the way her knuckles were clenched tight to Lauren’s collar…and that damned blue blanket.

Uh oh.

Lauren covered both of their obvious distress with her patented sunny smile, which he loved more than he wanted to admit.

“Hey, you made it! Need help with the bins?” she asked sunnily, then directed her next question to Jessica. “Want to help Daddy carry in the bins?”

It was then that Jarod noticed the terror in his daughter’s eyes. Jessica looked at him and quietly asked, “Jar’d?” She reached her arms out to him, but his arms were already full with the bins.

He immediately set them back on the tailgate and scooped up his little girl, hugging her tightly to chest. He gave Lauren a questioning look before saying, “Hey, Darlin’. What’s all this about? Daddy’s here.” She clung tightly to him, and he could feel her shaking. She was scared to death, which immediately kicked in his natural instinct to protect.

“What happened?” he demanded in a low voice that only Lauren could hear.

“We’re not sure,” she answered, wringing her hands. “She was fine all afternoon while we were setting up, and she seemed to be fitting in with the few kids who were here helping with their parents. But as soon as all the adults started showing up, she started clinging to either Camille’s legs or mine. Once the DJ started playing music, she wouldn’t let go of me. I’ve been holding her and reassuring her for the better part of thirty minutes.”

Lauren shook her head, her concerned blue eyes focusing on his daughter. “I think she’s seen one too many parties,” she said quietly, using her fingers as quotation marks around the P word.

Jessica squeezed him tighter. Rage boiled inside him at the return of his daughter’s fear.

Lauren quelled his anger when he met her gaze. He immediately relaxed his body, as he did right before a fight. He didn’t want his enemies to read his body language, and, right now, he certainly didn’t want his daughter, or Lauren, to see him lose control. It dawned on him that it had been years since he had let loose on someone other than his brothers.

He managed a half smile for Lauren, who seemed to be able to read him better than anyone else.

She raised an eyebrow and asked, “Shall I grab a bin or send out the cavalry to help?” She cocked her hip to the side and rested a feminine hand on her curvaceous waistline, in her typical sassy-pants fashion.

“You grab a bin while Jessica and I find Nana to see where she wants this stuff.”

Jessica clung more tightly to him as he began to walk toward the entrance. He knew that she was afraid to go back inside, but now that she was in his arms, he wanted her to know that he would never let anything bad happen to her. He needed her to trust him.

“Sure thing, Sheriff.”

He stopped and turned toward Lauren, who was wearing that damned sassy grin of hers.

Lauren winked and grabbed a bin. He followed her inside, loving the way the sparkles on her jeans pockets danced in the light.

“There you are!”

His mother took the bin from Lauren and quickly opened it up. Lauren began setting the craft sacks onto the bales of hay that were sitting in the corner of the hall. It looked like his mom had designating this area as a mock pumpkin patch. There were several children keeping themselves occupied with the crayons and butcher paper that someone had laid out for them to use in the center of the bales.

He really had to hand it to her: His mom was a great event planner.

“Don’t you just love what Lauren has done with the hay bales?” she asked him.

Lauren did this?

“It’s really great,” he said to Lauren, who blushed.

“Jessica, honey, are you feeling better? Can you help Nana put the sacks on the hay?” She was rubbing her back, trying to get her attention. “The other children will be so excited when they get to make their very own pumpkins, don’t you think?”

Jessica lifted her head from Jarod’s shoulders and nodded her head. She went to her grandmother, who stood her on the ground next to her, but Jarod noted that the happy little girl he’d been getting to know the past few weeks was nowhere in sight. He eyed his mother questioningly.

“We’ll be fine, honey,” she assured him. “You go get the rest of the bins, and we will be right here waiting for you, won’t we, Jessica?”

His little girl clung to his mother’s legs and her blanket. She looked up at him with those giant blue eyes and whispered, “Uh huh.”

“I’ll be right back, Darlin’.”

He kissed the top of her head before heading out the front doors. He looked for Charlie for some help, but he’d been commandeered by Julie to work in the kitchen after delivering the rest of the party favors.