Kill and Run (A Thorny Rose Mystery Book 1) (33 page)
Read Kill and Run (A Thorny Rose Mystery Book 1) Online
Authors: Lauren Carr
Tags: #military, #cozy, #police procedural, #murder, #mystery, #crime
Joshua Thornton was manning his famous ice cream bar, which he had set up along the kitchen counter. Waving his ice cream scooper like a flag, he called out, “Okay, who wants what?”
In response, Donny yelled up the stairs at the top of his voice, “Izzy! Get down here! You’re missing Dad’s ice cream sundae bar!”
With Admiral and Irving racing down the stairs with her, Izzy resembled a leaf being bounced down a river rapid. “Dibs on Murphy’s share!”
“You had two slices of cheesecake,” Murphy objected from where he was sitting at the table with Jessica in his lap.
“That was close to two hours ago.”
Looking around the kitchen, Joshua marveled at the full house he now had. In a flash, he recalled when he had first moved back home with his five motherless children. He thought the three story stone house was full then.
Back then, J.J and Murphy were about to enter their junior year in high school. Now, Murphy was a distinguished navy officer and married to a stunning and clever young woman. J.J. was only a year away from graduating law school. They weren’t exactly identical anymore. J.J. had let his hair grow out to long waves that stopped at his shoulders. Next to him was his live-in girlfriend—a quiet, plain young college student named Destiny.
On the other side of the table, Jessica’s brother Tristan appeared to have made himself at home with Joshua’s younger daughter, Sarah. The young man had invested in a car—a Jaguar—which he let Sarah drive to Chester for the wedding. From what Joshua had learned, Murphy and Jessica’s new home—a six bedroom house tucked behind a security gate, located on four acres in Great Falls, Virginia—had a guest cottage, which Tristan had offered to rent from them. The only downside was that the mansion in the quiet wooded neighborhood did not have metro.
Tristan claimed that was why he was forced to invest in a car. Murphy suspected it was so that he could make regular trips to Annapolis to visit Sarah.
Tracy’s fiancé, Hunter, and Donny were showing the newest Thornton family member how to play yet another new game on Donny’s cell phone. So far, Donny embraced the idea of having a younger sister. Joshua was proud of how he had gone out of his way to make her feel welcome. Even Tracy, a month before the wedding, added another bridesmaid and groomsman to the wedding party in order to include Izzy.
Then, there was Joshua’s little girl, Tracy, who was warming up the hot fudge at the stove. In her apron, with her blonde hair, she reminded him so much of his late wife in her caring and compassion.
“She’s not coming, is she?” Tracy jarred Joshua out of his thoughts by whispering into his ear.
“Who’s not coming?” Joshua replied.
At the kitchen table, Murphy looked over his shoulder at the two of them.
“Cameron,” Tracy hissed. “She wasn’t at the rehearsal dinner. She’s not here now. She’s not coming to the wedding, is she?”
Keeping his voice low, Joshua replied, “She’s—we’ve both been through a lot this last month. Cut her a break.”
“I’ve been cutting her a break.” She set the dish of hot fudge on the counter. “I think it’s time she cuts me a break.” She took off her apron and hung it on the coatrack near the door.
“Tracy …”
After kissing him on the cheek, she murmured, “I’m going to go check the weather for tomorrow.”
Seeing his sister going down the hall, Murphy eased Jessica off his lap. Whispering in her ear that he’d be back, he followed Tracy into the study.
“What do we do?” Izzy asked.
“You call out what you want on your sundae and Dad will build it for you,” Donny ordered.
“I want everything,” Izzy shouted to him.
“I like her,” Sarah said.
“Tristan, what do you want?” Joshua asked in a sharp tone.
Tristan dropped the lock of Sarah’s hair which he had been sniffing. It smelled like the ocean. “Whatever you want me to have, sir,” he replied.
Donny, Hunter, and J.J. covered their mouths to conceal their smirks at Tristan’s nervous response.
“Do you like hot fudge, Tristan?” Joshua asked.
“Do you want me to like hot fudge?” Tristan replied.
Narrowing his eyes at Sarah’s young man, Joshua wondered if Mac Faraday had ever requested a paternity test for his son.
In the study, Murphy found Tracy on the family computer set up behind their father’s desk. After closing the door, he went over to see that she was checking on the weather for the next day—her wedding day.
“It’s supposed to be clear tomorrow,” he said.
Startled to realize she was not alone, Tracy jumped in her seat and turned around. “Why can’t you make noise when you sneak up on a person?”
“If I made noise when I sneaked up on people, then I wouldn’t be sneaking up on them.”
With a growl in her throat, she turned back to the computer.
“Nervous?” Murphy slipped up onto the corner of the desk.
“Of course,” she said. “But I love Hunter. I’ve been in love with him for years. It’s just—I want tomorrow to be perfect.”
“Sometimes, less than perfect, if you go into it with the right attitude, can be more fun,” Murphy said. “Look at Jessie’s and my wedding. I know you heard about it.”
“You mean the wedding you and Jessica hijacked?” she said with a laugh.
“Yeah, that one,” Murphy said. “Still, five months later, people who were there are saying our wedding was the most fun they ever had. Because we knew that since we were throwing things together things would go wrong. So what? Jessie was there and that was all I cared about. And all she cared about was that I was there. Hell! She didn’t even wear a real wedding dress.”
“So I heard,” Tracy said.
Murphy sucked in a deep breath before saying in a soft voice. “I almost lost Jessie last month.”
“I know. Cameron was in that cruiser, too. So was Izzy.”
Murphy swallowed. “And all I could do was pray and watch those rescuers work to save them. If Jessie had gone off that overpass in that cruiser and been killed—do you know what?”
“What?”
“We would have been married only four months at that point—like Cameron and Nick had been when he was killed.”
Tracy lifted her eyes to gaze up at him.
“If that had happened,” Murphy said, “I doubt if I would have been able to be here for your wedding. It would have just been too painful.”
“This is about Cameron,” Tracy said.
“Until you walk a mile in her shoes, cut her a break.” Murphy bent over to kiss her on the forehead before whispering, “Take some advice from your old married brother—forget about all the details and just have fun tomorrow.”
He stood up and left Tracy alone with her thoughts.
The ice cream sundae party was in full swing when Cameron came down the stairs. Upon seeing her, the brood of grown children and their friends and mates cheered and clapped their hands.
“Oh, Cameron, sorry to tell you this, but Izzy ate your sundae.” With an exaggerated shrug, Donny said, “You snooze, you lose.”
“He’s lying,” Izzy said with a loud laugh.
Cameron turned back to the kitchen counter to find Joshua in the process of making their own special sundae—made for two—in their personal oversized bowl. She went up behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and kissed his shoulder. “I heard I missed a great rehearsal and dinner,” she said in a low voice.
Dipping his finger in the fudge, Joshua shrugged. “Everyone understands why you weren’t there.” He turned around to allow her to lick off the gooey treat.
Murphy came in and pulled up a chair to squeeze in at the table next to Jessica. When Tracy came in, many heads turned in her direction. Was there going to be a showdown between the bride and mother of the bride over her not appearing at the rehearsal dinner? Was Tracy going to demand a commitment from her stepmother about the wedding?
Tracy walked up to her. “Hi, Cameron.”
“Hello, Tracy.” Cameron took in the soft blue dress that Tracy had worn for the rehearsal dinner. “You look lovely.”
“Thank you,” Tracy said in a brisk tone. “I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow.”
There was a collective gasp throughout the kitchen.
Joshua moved in closer. “Tracy …”
“No, Dad,” Tracy said. “I need to say this. I’ve been selfish. I’ve been thinking of this whole wedding thing as my day, when really, it is meant to be a celebration for our whole family—both of our families—to celebrate love and everyone coming together to become one family. And part of being a family is to consider the feelings of those you love.”
She glanced over at Murphy who had his arm draped across Jessica’s shoulders. “It was learning about what happened last month—almost losing you and Jessie and Izzy, too, that made me realize how stupid and selfish I’ve been.” She turned back to Cameron. “So, if you can’t come to the wedding tomorrow, I understand completely.” She leaned in to kiss Cameron on the cheek. “I love you and I’m glad you’re part of our family.”
There was a stunned silence in the kitchen while everyone waited for Cameron’s response to the olive branch that Tracy had extended to her.
“So let me get this straight,” Cameron said, “you’ve been nagging me for months to come to this wedding and now you’re
disinviting
me? Seriously?”
“No,” Tracy sputtered. “I mean, if you
want
to come—” She stopped when she saw corners of Cameron’s lips curl. “You’re bad.”
“Of course, I am.” Taking in the mob that filled her kitchen, she announced, “I’ll be there tomorrow.” Turning back to Tracy, she added, “But I’m not wearing teal.”
With a laugh, Tracy hugged her. “You can wear whatever you want, Cameron!” Hunter got up from his seat at the table to join in the hug. When the hug was over, Tracy let out a squeal of delight. “She’s coming!”
Grasping Cameron by the shoulders, Joshua asked her, “Really? Are you sure you want to do this?”
“This time will be different,” she said while hugging him. “I won’t be going alone. I’ll be with my family.” Over his shoulder, she shot Izzy a thumbs up sign, which the girl returned.
The family responded with a cheer that seemed to vibrate the windows in the old house.
Resting her head on Joshua’s shoulder, Cameron took note of the brood. “May your home always be too small for all your friends—and family.”
Twenty-Nine Hours Later
The ring of the phone brought Murphy straight up out of the bed. Next to him, Jessica was snoring softly. She always snored after drinking too much champagne, which flowed freely at the wedding. They had dropped right into bed in their guest room at the Thornton home only a couple of hours before the phone’s ring woke Murphy up from a sound sleep.
The phone rang a second time before Murphy realized it wasn’t a dream. It was the secure cell phone that the CO of his SEAL team had given to him.
Seriously? But I haven’t reported for duty with them yet.
He remembered that he had used his go-to bag to pack his electronics for the trip. The cell phone had to be in the pocket. He was tearing through the bag when the phone rang a third and fourth time.
Cursing, Murphy turned over the bag and emptied everything to the floor. Still ringing, the phone clattered out of the bag and bounced off a book to slide across the hardwood floor. Like a skater chasing a puck on ice, Murphy grappled for the phone to answer it before whoever it was hung up.
“Hello …” he asked with a gasp.
“Lieutenant Thornton,” came the sultry voice of his CO—the leader of the Phantoms.
“Yes.”
“You are to report to the seventh floor of the Pentagon in eight hours for a mission. A plane will be waiting at Pittsburgh airport to fly you into Washington. You are to be there by six o’clock.”
“But the Phantoms have been disbanded,” Murphy objected.
“Not anymore.”
The End
About the Author
Lauren Carr
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday and Lovers in Crime Mysteries. Lauren introduced the key detectives in the Thorny Rose Mysteries in
Three Days to Forever
, which was released in January 2015.
The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. Visit Acorn Book Services website for more information.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learnt in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.
She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Visit Lauren Carr’s website at
www.mysterylady.net
to learn more about Lauren and her upcoming mysteries.
Check Out Lauren Carr’s Mysteries!
Order! Order!
All of Lauren Carr’s books are stand alone. However for those readers wanting to start at the beginning, here is the list of Lauren Carr’s mysteries. The number next to the book title is the actual order in which the book was released.
Joshua Thornton Mysteries
Fans of the
Lovers in Crime Mysteries
may wish to read these two books which feature Joshua Thornton years before meeting Detective Cameron Gates. Also in these mysteries, readers will meet Joshua Thornton’s five children before they have flown the nest.
Mac Faraday Mysteries
5)
Shades of Murder
(introduces the Lovers in Crime: Joshua Thornton & Cameron Gates)
8)
The Murders at Astaire Castle
9)
The Lady Who Cried Murder
(The Lovers in Crime make a guest appearance in this Mac Faraday Mystery)
16) Cancelled Vows (Winter 2015)
Lovers in Crime Mysteries
11)
Real Murder
Thorny Rose Mystery
15)
Kill and Run
(Featuring the Lovers in Crime in Lauren Carr’s latest series)
