Lucky Charm (25 page)

When Richard Stern had approached him off the record and asked to be notified if any photographs of his future wife passed Donald's desk, he'd agreed. Hell, he'd have endorsed Stern if he wasn't afraid of Mary Perkins's wrath.

The favor might be off the record, but Donald was a newspaperman and unable to contain his curiosity. He'd done his research. Donald glanced at the photo and shook his head. Poor woman. To be so violated at such a young age. At least she'd had the guts to send the guy who'd drugged and photographed her to jail.

But, then, who'd sent the photograph in an unmarked envelope to the newspaper? And how had they gotten their hands on police evidence?

Donald had earned the editor-in-chief position the old-fashioned way. He'd started sweeping floors during high school and worked his way up, earning the trust of the editor-in-chief before him. Along the way, he'd built up some good friends in important places. Even small-town papers had to get their scoops.

Another glance at the photograph, and he decided to call his “friend” who worked the evidence room at the police station. “Hey, Rob, I'm calling in that favor.” Two months ago, he'd covered for Rob with his wife, claiming Rob had been at their weekly poker game when, in fact, he'd been with his mistress.

He asked Rob if anything was missing from the Evidence Room and Rob began to stutter before saying no. Since that was his poker tell, Donald knew the man was lying.

“What kind of trouble are you in, buddy?” Rob wasn't just a cheater, he was a gambler, and he often owed more than he had on hand.

Five minutes later, Donald had his answer. He also had, thanks to Rob, the evidence Richard Stern needed to take down his mayoral opponent.

 

A
FTER
J
ULIETTE'S INTERVIEW
, Hank Corwin was granted his turn. Kayla sat across from him at the Wave and waited as they did a sound check on Derek's father.

Derek couldn't help but laugh. Hank's tune about discussing the curse in public had certainly changed. Not his views on the curse, those he expressed in detail, reminding the world—and Derek—how tragedy had befallen every Corwin man who fell in love.

How tragedy always would follow.

Derek couldn't shake the foreboding that settled over him. Without Holly and her cheerful voice bouncing around him, Derek felt the loss keenly. He could live with the temporary custody arrangement because he could look forward to the next time he could be with his daughter.

But what if there wasn't a next time?

What if Marlene's threat became reality?

He shivered and forced his attention back to his father's interview, trying without success not to internalize the older man's words.

As he listened to Hank, his gaze was drawn over and over to Gabrielle. His beautiful Gabrielle, perched on a bar stool in her emerald sundress that offset her hair, watching the crew work. He couldn't let himself think about his feelings or anything else about her, for fear his father's prophetic words would kick in at any time.

Kayla wrapped up Hank's interview and Hank headed outside, preening and proud of himself and his time in front of the camera.

“Derek, do you have a minute?”

Derek turned to see Richard Stern. “Hey, Richard.” Derek shook the other man's hand. “What's up?”

“I think I have the information we've been waiting for,” he said quietly.

“Hello, boys.” Gabrielle joined them. “Why are your two heads together?” she asked, clearly not intending to be left out.

“Richard was just saying he had information for us.”

Richard leaned in closer. “The photograph of Sharon was stolen from the Evidence Room at the police precinct. The guy who works the day shift has skeletons in his closet, which left him vulnerable to blackmail. But he wasn't stupid. He refused to deal with a middleman. He wanted to know who he was stealing for.”

Derek had no doubt what was coming next. “Mary Perkins?”

Richard nodded.

“Why in the world would she have told him? She could have just used whatever leverage she had against the cop to make him cooperate,” Derek said. “It doesn't make sense that she'd leave herself open and vulnerable after years of being so careful.”

“Richard is the first viable candidate running against her in years. She got scared,” Gabrielle mused.

“And scared people get sloppy,” Richard confirmed. “According to my source who spoke directly with the cop in question, she wanted that photograph desperately.”

“Enough to show up herself to get the information?” Derek asked.

“Apparently, she was beyond reason,” Richard said. “She wanted insurance and that photograph was it.”

Gabrielle let out a low whistle. “Wow. What do you plan to do with the information?” she asked Richard.

Suddenly, people came screaming toward the front of the bar.

“Fire!” someone yelled, barreling past them and rushing out the front door.

Chaos ensued.

Derek thought only to grab Gabrielle's hand as he jerked his head toward the back of the restaurant and saw flames licking around the curtains and traveling toward them.

“Oh, my God!” Gabrielle screamed.

“Let's go,” Derek said.

“Follow me.” Richard headed out first.

Derek pulled Gabrielle, and along with the rest of the crowd, they bolted outside. The Wave had been more crowded than Derek had realized and someone pushed between him and Gabrielle, breaking their hands apart. He turned to call her, but the people behind him shoved him forward in their rush to escape.

Once they were outside, the firemen had already arrived and began directing people far from the burning building. Derek turned to look for Gabrielle, but he didn't see her in the crush of the crowd directly behind him.

He was forced onto the far grass by a fireman. Others began cordoning off the area and prohibiting people getting anywhere near the Wave.

“Derek!”

He heard his name being called and he whipped around at the sound of his father's voice. “Dad! Over here!” Derek waved so his father could see him.

“Thank God!” Hank said, hugging him until he couldn't breathe.

“You weren't inside, were you?” Derek asked. He'd thought his father had left once his interview ended.

Hank shook his head. “I was outside when I heard someone screaming about the fire. I looked up and saw the flames. I just wanted to find you.” Hank wiped the sweat from his brow. “I couldn't bear to lose my son,” he said, his voice cracking.

“I'm fine,” Derek assured him, emotion and so much more clogging his throat. “Have you seen Gabrielle? We got separated trying to get out of the building.”

Hank shook his head.

Derek glanced back again, but there were too many people crowding around to see everyone.

It had been too long since he'd made it out and he still hadn't seen her. Panic nearly suffocated him. “I've got to find her.”

He started for the building, only to be stopped by his one-hundred-ninety-pound father jumping onto his back.

“You aren't going near that fire,” Hank said in Derek's ear.

“At least let me tell the fireman she's missing.”

Hank released himself and rushed with Derek toward the nearest firefighter. His father never released his grip on Derek's collar. Derek was choking on the material pulling against his neck but figured it was his father's way of keeping him safe.

“I'm looking for a woman. Reddish hair, about five foot five. Last time I saw her was inside the building,” Derek said to the fireman.

“I'll relay the information,” the man in uniform promised.

As he waited, Derek clenched his hands into fists, his nails digging into his skin.

“She'll be fine,” Hank said, placing an arm around Derek's shoulders.

“Because our good luck says so?” Derek asked his father.

The older man looked at him with wise eyes but said nothing. How could he, Derek thought, when he'd lived through his share of pain and tragedy, too?

“Don't hold it against me for not letting you run back into that building, son. You wouldn't want Holly to be fatherless, now, would you?”

Derek shook his head, unable to speak as he waited for news on Gabrielle.

D
EREK COULD BARELY BREATHE
as he watched the burning building. Finally, he caught sight of Gabrielle along with Kayla being helped out of the bar by a fireman.

Coughing, she made her way toward him, throwing her arms around his neck. “Oh, my God! You're okay, too.”

He shut his eyes and squeezed her to him, all the while, thanking God that she was safe. Everyone he loved was safe. Now he just had to keep them that way.

“What happened?” he asked.

She dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged on the grass.

He and Hank knelt beside her.

“After we got separated, I was heading out when I heard Kayla scream. I turned and saw a beam had hit her. The fire wasn't surrounding her, so I ran to get her. It just got harder to get out.” She shook her head, obviously still overwhelmed. “I have to check on Kayla.”

Derek glanced over at the waiting ambulance. “She's with the paramedics. She's awake and talking, so you can relax here for a few minutes first.” He stroked her hair as she breathed in and out, pulling herself together.

“My bar!”

They turned at the sound.

George was pacing right beside them, clearly distraught.

Gabrielle eased herself to her feet, her legs trembling as she stood. Derek kept his arm around her shoulder as she walked up to the older man.

“George? It'll be okay.” She offered lame words of support. There was nothing else she could do for him.

He turned to her, looking older than he had just half an hour before as his beloved bar burned behind him.

“You mean, my
family
bar.” Elizabeth Perkins appeared, as if out of the blue. She had a dazed look in her eyes and a red gasoline can in her hands.

Gabrielle blinked, certain she was imagining the image, but the woman and the red can in her hands remained.

George narrowed his gaze. “What are you talking about?” he asked, staring at the mayor's granddaughter in disbelief.

“You mean, Seth never told you he couldn't get the financing to turn your old bar into a nightclub?” Elizabeth asked.

George shook his head.

“He told me. In bed. I knew Seth would come in handy one day. He knows everyone and everything that's going on. I didn't think his pillow talk would be so helpful, but it was. Of course, I suggested to my grandmother that we lend him the money. Owning this bar was an important step in cementing power in this town.”

Elizabeth's tone indicated her plan had been long-standing and well-thought-out even if the blank expression in her eyes showed everyone that something inside her had snapped.

“My son wouldn't touch your family's dirty money,” George spat.

“Why not? He touched me.” Elizabeth laughed. She'd obviously intended her words to be sultry, but the sound came out high-pitched and deranged.

Gabrielle winced while George glanced around, desperately looking for his son. Gabrielle caught sight of Seth beneath a tree, staring at the burning building with utter shock and pain on his face.

Gabrielle had no doubt Elizabeth was telling the truth.

George turned back to face her. “Let's say he did borrow money from you. That would explain all the times he defended your grandmother and let her hold her holiday party at the Wave. That doesn't make it your bar.”

A satisfied expression eased her lips upward in a nasty smile. Gone were all vestiges of amiability covering her true personality. Gone was any trace of sanity. “It does if the payments haven't been made. And they haven't.”

“He wouldn't let me see the books.” Tears filled George's eyes.

Gabrielle couldn't watch his pain. She strode closer to George, intending to walk him away.

Derek, meanwhile, walked up to Elizabeth. “What is that in your hands?” he asked, although with the woman reeking of gasoline and waving the can around as she spoke, the answer was obvious.

“It's her new perfume. Eau de Gasoline,” Hank said in disgust.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Do you people think you can stop me?” She gestured wildly, poking herself in the chest. “My family founded this town. My grandmother owns you all. I'm her successor. My name gives me power. Just look at all the generations of Mary Perkins there have been, and the things that they have done. I dare you to defy me.”

“That's enough!” The mayor stepped through the crowd and approached her granddaughter. “Not another word,” she said to the young woman, obviously looking to protect her from her own insanity.

But it was equally obvious it was too late.

The police edged closer. “Elizabeth Perkins?”

“Mary Elizabeth,” she shrieked back at them.

A uniformed officer stepped forward. “Mary Elizabeth Perkins, you are under arrest for arson,” he said, and then read the woman her rights.

“That's okay, darling, Grandma's right here. I'll take care of everything.”

Roger, the only officer Gabrielle knew, wedged himself between Elizabeth and the mayor. “I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're under arrest, as well,” he said, gently grasping the mayor's arm.

“For what?” Mary asked, assuming a haughty “I own you” tone Gabrielle hadn't heard from her before now.

“Bribery. Theft from the police Evidence Room. And whatever else the district attorney comes up with,” he said, then read the mayor her rights, as well.

“Nonsense,” Mary spat. “I'm the mayor!”

“Which doesn't make you exempt from the law,” Derek said, facing the woman who had been the bane of his family's existence, at least in this generation. “Apparently you feared Richard Stern so much you must have panicked.” And Richard had managed to inform the police.

“We have proof you paid someone to steal evidence. We have an eyewitness,” Richard said.

As people surrounded her, the other woman began to shrivel into the old, frail woman she really was. “There was no bribery involved. I had no intention of exposing the photograph,” Mary said. “I only wanted to scare Richard into not running in order to protect his fiancée, but I never got the chance.”

“Then who sent me the note asking for money?” Sharon asked, stepping out of the shadows.

Gabrielle wanted to applaud her friend's bravery. She didn't have to. Richard was beaming enough for them both.

“Did you really think I was going to let the fact that age was softening you prevent you from winning, Grandmother?” Elizabeth tried to shrug off the police, but they held on tight. “I found the photo. I discovered the history behind it. I put the blackmail into motion. I thought the mousy librarian would go crying to her fiancé and beg him to drop out of the race. When she didn't make the first drop, I realized maybe she was cockier than I thought and I stepped up the game. This is my town,” she said, hysterically. “Mine!”

“Grandma, Beth, come on.” Lauren Perkins, Mary's other granddaughter whom Gabrielle had met in the mayor's office, stepped forward and put a hand on her grandmother's shoulder. “Let's just go with the police. We'll sort things out when we're alone.” Her voice shook as she spoke, but she took control, instructing the police to take her family to the station and end the public spectacle.

The officers complied, but before they reached the police cars, George came running forward.

“Why?” he asked. “Why burn down my building? I have to know.”

“You're as foolish as your son!” Elizabeth, her hands cuffed behind her back, said. “Isn't it obvious? I burned down the building for the money. I'll call in the loan for lack of payment and it'll be mine.”

“You're pathetic,” George spat.

“You all thought you could ignore my grandmother. Making that documentary and treating her as if she didn't exist. But that film needs to include my grandmother, the mayor. Mary Perkins. That name means everything in this town. Instead you interviewed that sniveling man who thought he could take the job that belongs to my family. Mine.” Her eyes were wide, bulging, her insanity clear.

“Take her away,” Lauren insisted, her eyes filled with tears.

“Not yet. I have one more thing to say,” Elizabeth said. “You!” She turned her glare on Gabrielle.

The blood drained from Gabrielle's head as she met the other woman's icy stare. Maintaining her composure, Gabrielle wrapped her hands around her arms to stop the shivering and refused to show fear. Derek stepped up from behind and eased her against him, supporting her with his strength.

“Do not think you can undo the curse with one of your pathetic books. Everyone in this town knows the curse exists. And you'll know it again when your life falls apart.” Elizabeth laughed again, the sound slicing through Gabrielle's heart.

Derek squeezed her tighter.

“Not a chance.” Gabrielle stood up to the other woman. “Your family's days of spreading fear are over. Whatever you wanted in life, you destroyed other people to get it.
That's
your power, not some old, unproven curse. It's over now. You've been exposed.”

Elizabeth shrieked, but before she could act, the police pushed her into the car. Her grandmother had already been taken away.

Lauren shot Gabrielle and the rest of the crowd an apologetic, sick look before following the police into the last remaining vehicle.

Gabrielle squeezed Derek's hand. She couldn't help feeling sorry for the young woman who, until now, had no idea what her own sister and grandmother were capable of.

As things calmed down, Gabrielle tried to remind herself both Mary Perkins and her granddaughter were insane, yet Elizabeth's words chilled Gabrielle despite the summer heat. Elizabeth obviously meant to scare Gabrielle into not writing her book, but her words, if dissected, could go much deeper, to include her relationship with Derek. Her entire future was at stake.

She looked back at the Wave. The firemen had finally begun to get the blaze under control. The bar was basically destroyed. The ownership and insurance issues would have to be sorted out later. But the harm done by Mary Perkins and her granddaughter would be much harder to contain.

Gabrielle glanced at Derek, the man she loved, and prayed they wouldn't become part of the other woman's collateral damage.

 

“H
ELLUVA DAY
,” G
ABRIELLE
said as they walked into Derek's house at last.

Exhaustion pummeled at Derek, settling in his bones.

They'd dropped Hank off at his house after stopping by to assure Uncle Thomas everyone was in one piece. The fire and Elizabeth Perkins's breakdown and the mayor's arrest was the talk of the town.

For Derek, coming off the argument with Marlene, and the idea of losing Holly fresh in his mind, today had been draining in ways he still couldn't come to terms with.

“Who could have guessed that Elizabeth Perkins was determined to carry on her grandmother's evil legacy?” he said.

“More like family insanity.” Gabrielle shivered. “Although Lauren seemed refreshingly normal. I hope she's okay.”

Derek nodded. “I hope so, too. Thank God nobody was badly hurt in the fire.”

“The paramedics said Kayla didn't have a concussion, just a nasty bruise.”

Derek was still struck by how close he'd come to losing Gabrielle. The minutes he'd waited for her to come out of that building had been the longest of his life.

She tossed her bag onto the couch.

The
couch, Derek thought, where they'd made love. He didn't think he'd ever forget. The memory would live with him forever.

Even if she couldn't.

“Derek?”

“Hmm?”

Gabrielle walked over to him. She had no makeup on, her hair was a mess and her face was streaked from tears. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on.

“We need to talk,” she said.

Everything inside him rebelled at the notion. As long as things between them remained unspoken, they could go on as they were. But the moment they
talked,
this life they'd created, the illusion, came to an end.

But she was right.

It was time.

“Mary Perkins's reign of terror is over. The police will sort through what she caused and what damage Elizabeth did, but it's over. She can no longer claim her family's curse over the Corwins gives her power. She's been exposed as a fraud.” Gabrielle's eyes flashed with the fire he so admired.

Despite the day she'd had, she maintained the spunk and determination that was a part of her.

“Hopefully people will feel freed,” he said, because he did agree with her. People who'd been blackmailed, bribed and hurt in Mary Perkins's quest for power would feel vindicated.

“Do you?” She perched her hands on her hips, clearly challenging him. “Do you feel freed?”