Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (43 page)

“You can impose on me a lot! Fire away!” Abby grinned at her.

“Do you think you could help my ragamuffin daughter get cleaned up? Maybe make sure she doesn’t poke an eye out getting into bed?” Shevaun smiled.

“Momma!” Lou protested. “I am not a child!” Dillon snorted, making Lou turn and give him a scowl. “Shut up you!”

“I told you it was debatable!” He struggled not to laugh.

“I’ll take care of her, I promise.” Abby winked.

“Thank you so much.” Shevaun gave her another kiss on the forehead then tossed her daughter a disapproving glance before she was gone.

“Real nice.” Lou mumbled.

“You can’t blame her, Lou.” Dillon came to Shevaun’s defense. “With everything she’s been through, that you’ve been through, then you don’t check in for over ten hours?” Dillon shrugged. “I would be pissed too.”

“I know!” Lou did and she felt terrible about it.

“Let’s go get you cleaned up.” Abby got up and helped Lou off her stool. “I’m sure we have plenty of time before Max gets back. I got a brace for your knee too so we can get that on you after a shower.”

“Should I stay or should I get out of here?” Dillon had no idea what he was supposed to do.

“I’m pretty sure Max is going to want to talk to you. Come on out to the guest house.” Frank told him then got up and headed for the back door. “You can grab a shower there and I’m sure I have some sweats you can pull on.”

“Wow, I totally forgot I had blood all over my clothes.” Dillon snorted as he took a look down at himself. “I’m sure that went over well with the crowd at the taco joint.”

Lou laughed. “What, are you kidding? You fit right in with that group.” They all went their separate ways to get cleaned up before their Dominor returned.

Lou struggled through the pain and exhaustion to make it up the stairs and when she finally made it into her bathroom she caught sight of herself for the first time since that morning. Once again, she was a disaster area walking. People probably never even bothered to look at Dillon because they were so mesmerized by the disheveled and contorted mess that was Lou. Her hair was matted and defying gravity in various places. Her clothes were filthy and misshapen and the back of her jeans, just below her left butt cheek, had been ripped open from seam to seam without her ever realizing it. A small consolation was that the right side of her face had gotten a break for a change and it was the left side that had taken the hit. Lou leaned in closer to the mirror to get a better look and she came to the conclusion that her face must have nailed a few of those stairs by the way the mottled bruises were overlapping from her temple to her chin. She was more than lucky that she hadn’t shattered her cheekbone or her jaw, or both. As she gently ran her fingers over the early blush of blue that was blooming across her face she suddenly wondered if she had enough concealer to even attempt covering up the damage. Lou never cared much before. Before meaning before she met Max. Lou’s beauty routine consisted of scrubbing her face, brushing her teeth, some moisturizer, a swipe of mascara and a swipe of whatever lip gloss was handy. She had been blessed with good genes and naturally good looks. Emerald green eyes, thick lashes and glossy straight auburn hair. Lou wasn’t a fussy girlie-girl by any means but since Max had come into the picture she found herself taking an extra minute or two to be semi-presentable. She had even stolen a bronzer from Caroline’s make-up bag and picked up a couple new shades of lip stain when she was stocking up on bandages and aspirin. Lou wasn’t as reluctant to wear the more feminine sweaters and shirts her mother picked up for her from time to time and she was finding herself spritzing the perfume Caroline had given her more frequently, just in case. Now, staring at herself in the mirror yet again, Lou blew out a breath, disgusted with herself. Once again she was injured and that infuriated her. In the time that Max had known her, easily seventy-five percent of that time, Lou had been wounded one way or another and on an epic scale. She was petite at only five feet, four inches, but she was strong as an ox and could almost keep up with Niko in training sessions. Lou hated that she seemed so fragile in Max’s eyes and now it was just going to be worse with the events of the day. Irritated and angry, she made her way to the shower and started the water so it was warm enough when she finally managed to hobble into it.

“So what’s the modesty level here?” Abby asked as she skipped into the bathroom, arms loaded with towels and a fluffy pink robe. “Shall I close my eyes or are we grown ups?”

Lou snorted. “I took my top off for the medic in front of Dillon and a dozen Sanguinostri agents that I had never met before today. What do you think?” Lou attempted to shimmy out of her jeans but the pain knocked the wind out of her.

“That answers that.” Abby grinned and got straight to it, helping Lou out of her clothes and guiding her into the shower. “I’ll just be out here so yell if you need help.”

Abby left Lou leaning against the shower wall to fetch her clean clothes. Lou breathed in the warm steamy air and let the hot water roll over her aching body. She knew it was only going to hurt worse before it got any better so she buckled down and bit through the pain to shampoo her hair and scrub the sweat and grime off of her tender skin. Everything hurt. She slathered conditioner into her hair and let the steam and heat roll over her for a little while longer before she rinsed off and tried to get out without further injury. When she finally emerged from the shower, Abby was waiting with eyes squeezed shut, holding her robe open for her. Lou couldn’t help but smile. She was lucky to have a friend like Abby. Actually, she was lucky that Abby and her had become friends given Lou had no choice as to whether the woman was in her life or not. Abby could have hated her and they could have had to pretend to get along, much like Lou did with Deputy Rochelle. Yes, Lou was lucky Abby was her friend and she would somehow repay the sassy, flame haired woman for all her care and kindness.

“Feel better?” Abby asked as Lou tied her robe up.

Lou scooted to the edge of the bathtub and took a seat. “Yeah, thanks Abby. I really appreciate your help.” Abby snooped through the cupboards, finally finding some lotion while Lou attempted to towel her hair dry without incurring too much pain. Her head throbbed fiercely and she wondered when the hell those pain killers were going to kick in.

“Lou, you have to know by now that I think of you as my sister.” Abby took a seat on the floor and scooted up to Lou’s feet. She squirted a few pumps of the lotion into her hands then proceeded to rub Lou’s feet with the warmed liquid. “We are family now. You would do the same for me and you know it.”

Lou almost moaned at how good Abby’s foot rub felt. She hadn’t realized how much they hurt in contrast to the rest of her body. “You are my favorite sister in the whole wide world.” She croaked. “Thank you Abby. And you bet your ass I would do the same for you.”

“Reflexology.” Abby grinned. “I’m a huge believer in it. I’ll take you to my guy when this case is over. I get a foot massage once a week.”

“Seriously?” Lou really wasn’t too surprised. “You get regular manicures and pedicures too, don’t you?”

“Oh yeah.” Abby confirmed. “They are my tools so I take good care of them. You should too! I’m gonna start dragging you with me, once a month at least. You need some pampering.”

Lou looked around her huge bathroom and all of it’s amenities. “I’m not exactly un-pampered Abby. I have a pretty plush life.”

“That’s different and you know what I mean.” She gave Lou a scolding look. “Yeah, you live in a very nice house and have very nice things but you work your ass off. Your idea of splurging is buying a new gun or actually getting your hair done as opposed to cutting it yourself with dull scissors!”

“Geez!” Lou frowned. “You make me sound like a guy!”

“Well you’re practical like a guy!” Abby qualified her statement. “I know your mom is a girly-girl but I have no idea what happened to you!”

Lou laughed out loud forgetting her ribs. “Owe, stop! You sound like my mom and Caroline.”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be insulting.” Abby felt bad for offending her. “I just find it fascinating is all.”

“I don’t know why I am not more girlie.” Lou had thought about it a lot recently. “I guess I was just always busy with a project or with school or digging in the sand with the sea turtles in Texas. My mom would have a fit if I ruined one of my pretty dresses playing in the dirt or climbing trees so I guess I just stopped wearing them to avoid a problem. If I didn’t wear something nice or have my face and hair all done up then I didn’t have to worry about wrecking it. I guess I got too practical.”

“And that’s perfect!” Abby smiled at her. “It’s you! But now you’re a big girl so you can mess yourself up if you want and your momma can’t ground you for it!” She giggled.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that!” Lou teased. “I guess I got a little lazy too. I’m going to try harder.”

“You don’t have to do anything for me! I love you no matter what!” Abby made an exaggerated wink that made Lou laugh again. “I just wish you would recharge your batteries more. Girlie stuff is great for that.”

Once Lou’s ribs settled down and she could take a breath she nodded. “As soon as this case is over I’m going to take some time and we are going to do another spa day. I really enjoyed that.” Lou was referring to the day Caroline, Abby, Lou and her mother all spent a luxurious day at the spa getting ready for the Gala that Lou was abducted from.

“This time we will just go have a nice dinner afterward.” Abby added. “No more kidnappings.”

“Agreed.” Lou grinned.

“OK, let me dry your hair for you. I promise to be very gentle.” Abby carefully placed socks over Lou’s feet then pulled the chair out from under the under the vanity for Lou to sit properly.

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll just let it air dry.” Lou felt bad that Abby was fussing over her.

“I don’t want you catching a cold on top of everything. Now come and sit.” Abby fished the hair dryer and a brush out of one of the drawers while Lou moved to the chair. “After I’m done you can get changed then we can go down and get some ice cream.” She waggled her eyebrows at Lou.

“Oh! We have ice cream?” Lou’s mouth started to water.

“Yup! I stopped at my favorite creamery on my way over.” She beamed a bright smile.

“Will you marry me?” Lou joked, making Abby snort.

“Sorry sweets, I’m saving myself for Gerard Butler.” She gave her a cheeky grin.

“Nice choice!” Lou approved.

Abby laughed and turned on the dryer, carefully blowing Lou’s hair to it’s glossy and practical perfection. Once Abby was satisfied with her handiwork, she put all the tools away and gave Lou some privacy to finish up on her own. Lou managed to brush her teeth and dress herself without incident. She even managed to slather lotion on herself, making her feel more girlie than she had felt in a while with the powdery lavender scent soothing her spirits and calming her mind. She emerged from the bathroom to find that Abby had changed into eye scorching bright green long-john pajamas and matching fuzzy flip-flops. She was bent forward, brushing out her impossibly long, flame red hair. When Abby straightened up, her hair went flying everywhere, static electricity making it stick up on end which by the expression on Abby’s face, was the desired result.

“Woohoo! I’m a troll doll!” She did a little dance and Lou nearly doubled over in pain, laughing so hard. Abby rushed to Lou’s side, helping her to the chair so she could sit. “Oh gosh Lou, I am so sorry! It’s going to be so hard staying serious so I don’t make you laugh!”

When Lou was finally able to take a breath she looked up at Abby and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Don’t you dare stop being you! That was just the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

Abby giggled. “For some reason my hair is super effected by static electricity. Instead of getting annoyed I just run with it and have fun.”

“That is so funny!” Lou was in agony but she couldn’t stop laughing. “I double dog dare you to walk downstairs like that and freak Dillon out.”

“Oh! Too fun! You ready to go back down now?” Abby wasn’t sure Lou’s ribs had settled enough for her to try and take the stairs again.

“Give me just one more minute.” Lou finally stopped laughing and took a few breaths, as deep as she could without causing her ribs to expand too much.

“Did you put on the brace I left you?” Abby couldn’t tell if Lou had it on her knee under the hot pink sweatpants.”

“Yeah, thanks again.” Lou reached for her crutch and prepared herself for the pain that was going to come once she stood but paused a moment. “I don’t remember these sweats at all. Where did you find them?” She looked down at herself and wondered if her lack of memory of the garments had anything to do with her head injuries. It made her worry a little.

“I got those for you.” Abby beamed another impish smile. “I got your mom some too as kind of a thank you for letting me stay here. See, we match!”

Lou inspected herself and realized the flamingo hot pink sweatpants had the letter L embroidered on the front hip and was the same eye-piercing green as Abby’s pajamas. There was also a small L on her chest, to the right with the numbers 01 right below it, similar to a football jersey number. As Lou shifted the sweatshirt to get a better look at it, Abby fetched a pair of fuzzy flip-flops out of a bag next to her chair that were a combination of the hot pink and nuclear green. She slipped off Lou’s socks for her and replaced them with the slippers.

“You are too cute.” Was all Lou could come up with.

“The back says Lou and has the numbers real big. I’m surprised you missed that putting it on.” Abby stood proudly in front of Lou, waiting for her signal of approval. “Your mom’s are purple with yellow embroidery.”

Now that Lou was paying attention, she saw that Abby’s long-johns were very similar in that they had a Yellow A at her hip and another A at the chest also with the numbers 01. “Turn around!” Lou wanted to see if the back of her shirt was the same. Sure enough, just like a sports jersey, Abby’s name was embroidered in the sunny yellow with the numbers 01 done up huge on the back. “We are all number one?” Lou wondered aloud.