Some Like It Deadly (16 page)

“And you were going to mention the lack of security when?” Worry tipped through her. She let him walk her up the driveway, better to be far away from the street. The quiet residential area didn’t hold any elements of menace, but that sure as hell didn’t mean they weren’t there.

How many cars had been on the street?
She hadn’t been paying attention, not when Richard had been driving and she’d been trying to reconcile her own guilt and anger.

“It’s fine.” He nudged open the gate. “They’ve been everywhere the last month or so and it’s been quiet. I think we really were caught in a random crapstorm that day. Don’t worry.” He dropped a kiss on her lips. “I’ll text them when we’re ready to go.”

Trusting that they wouldn’t go far was about the best she could do. Peterson’s guys knew Richard’s habits.

They also knew the threat against the Andraste family better than anyone.

No one could get close to the family—Richard made an easier and far more attractive target considering his close personal ties to the prince. A man they’d dined with three times in as many weeks.

And there was nothing uncomfortable about that...

Blowing out a breath, she calmed her erratic heart. Fortunately, her research into his cases at the firm hadn’t flagged any threats—but then she hadn’t had access to his cases for the Center. Kate grimaced, glad for the darkness that hid her expression. Richard wasn’t alone, not when she had his back.

Inside, she identified three benefits to the building. First, the location behind the main house meant no direct line of sight existed to the street. Second, the room Richard took his meetings in was located in the back of the building with a single window that faced a brick wall. Third, and best of all, the four women sitting in a group waiting for him weren’t armed and cheered up immensely at his arrival.

They were wary of her, but Kate didn’t mind. She tried to relax her shoulders and appear as nonthreatening as possible, but they didn’t know her and they weren’t prepared to trust her. She accepted that judgment without comment.

Richard introduced her to the first client, Valerie Manning—she and her four sons were all residents at Christine’s Center. She’d lost her job as a high school teacher after filing for an injunction against her abusive ex-husband. Richard handled a pair of cases for her—the first against the state for wrongful termination and the second against her ex-husband to terminate his parental rights.

By the time that meeting ended, Valerie was in tears and gave him a hug. Kate stared at the closed door, then at him. He’d never raised his voice or been anything more than solicitous, yet she could feel the quiet rage behind his professional veneer.

“What’s going to happen to the douche ex-husband?” She had the unreasonable urge to deliver a cease and desist order with a baseball bat and she didn’t know Valerie.

“He’s cooling his heels in jail right now. He violated the restraining order last month and trespassed.” Despite his matter-of-fact tone, he smiled tightly. “He might have had an open container in his vehicle and taken a swing at the officer who came to arrest him too. We have another thirty days and I’ll have Mrs. Manning relocated by then.” Richard filled out the last of the paperwork and handed it over to her. “We’ll need to file those first thing in the morning. Exigent orders for emergency temporary custody so she can move across a state line. Did she sign the power of attorney so I can handle the rest of it?”

She nodded. Valerie hadn’t hesitated when Richard told her about the job waiting for her in Arizona and the rental house that had been “donated” for her use for a few months. If Kate hadn’t already been falling in love with him, his care and dedication to these women would have sealed the deal. Clearing her throat, she paused next to him and brushed the hair away from his forehead. “Ready for the next one?”

“Yes.” He shot her a quick smile and tucked the first file away into his bag and pulled out the next. “Kathy Sanderson.”

Each case seemed to be bad on its own merits. One woman had lost everything to a house fire and the insurance company refused to pay. They had to go over her deposition preparation for the following week. Another had been arrested for using marijuana and her three year-old daughter was in CPS custody. Richard held her when she cried because he’d gotten the mother a visitation order and a judge would hear her case within the month about restoring her custodianship if she promised to complete drug rehabilitation offered by the center.

The last case got to Kate.

Really got her.

Side-swiped by a drunk driver, Melissa Kent had suffered a traumatic brain injury. According to the files, prior to the accident Kent had been a successful attorney with a promising career. After it, she struggled to remember where her office was located much less the legal code. Her husband had left her and taken custody of the children. She couldn’t hold down a job longer than a few days before she began to forget what she was supposed to do.

The accident left her with a seven-day window of time to start again and again and again. Richard took the time to reintroduce himself, explained the case, their progress, and that the other driver’s insurance company and hers had agreed to mediation. Melissa would not only receive the medical care she needed, the money would be available to see to her care for years to come and help her children.

It had to be hell.
Kate’s eyes were damp as the woman shuffled out. One of the others had waited for her and escorted her back up to the main house.

“Hey...” Richard wrapped an arm around her middle and pulled her back against him. “Are you crying?”

“No,” she lied and blinked the tears. “How do you do that?”

“One case a time, Kate.” Comfort. God, he offered her comfort and he did this all the time. “One case at a time. I’m helping them the only way I can.” He nuzzled the side of her head. “And you helped them too.”

“How?” She turned to look at him. “I handed you files and called names.”

“You didn’t judge them.” The intensity in his gaze held her captive. “You stood there, quiet, composed and strong. Did you watch them watching you? They’d talk about their case or listen to me when I did but they’d glance at you. When Valerie asked me what she should do about that emergency order and her ex-husband, you lifted your chin and you looked fierce. I could see it in your body language—you wanted to kick his ass.”

Heat flushed her face. “I don’t like jerks who beat their wives and she got a raw deal.”

“Yes, she did. But she was afraid of you when she came in. She wasn’t when she left because you were on her side.” Was that pride in his voice? “Maybe it’s only a little thing, but those women saw another strong woman in here, a woman who is helping them face the crap life threw at them, and that tells them that maybe they can do it too. So, yeah, you helped. A lot.” He pressed his lips to hers and she savored the sweetness in his kiss.

“You’re amazing.” She licked her lips and shook her head as she stepped back.

He winked. “In a totally adequate way, right?”

“Oh, I think you passed adequate and moved right on to better than expected.” His laughter washed over her and she double-checked the files to make sure he had his and she had the right ones to carry to the courthouse. “Hungry?”

“Starving.” He checked behind the table before pushing all the chairs in. “I say we stop at some all-night fast food place and grab some burgers, take them home, and eat them naked.”

The salacious offer stroked over the raw edges left from their series of meetings and she led the way out into the waiting area and opened the exterior door. True night had fallen and it was pitch black outside save for the pools of light cast from the front house. “I don’t think I’m in the mood for burgers. What do you think of Chinese or—ooh, how about some Thai?”

“So we pick up some Thai and take it home and eat it naked.” He didn’t miss a beat. Kate was still laughing as she pivoted to face him.

It gave her a front row view to all the blood draining from his face.

The gun pressed against the back of her head froze her in place and all traces of humor vanished. Richard’s gaze locked with hers and she could see the fear a heartbeat before it calmed and his attention went to the person with the gun. “Let her leave. She’s not a part of this.”

“But she’s important to you, Mr. Prentiss.”
A
man.
His voice was rough, a little nasal and a hell of a lot angry. With the steel barrel flush against her scalp, she didn’t dare move.

Security car is on the street...
And the panic button was in her pocket attached to her keys. She’d transferred them from her purse to her jacket pocket when they were setting up for their meetings. If she could reach them, she might be able to set the button off without getting a bullet in the head for her trouble.

“She’s my assistant.” Richard’s tone turned chill. “They’re hard to find.”

“That you just want to eat food with naked, sure. You like expensive things, living in your expensive house and, hell, this is a pretty lady. I’m sure she’s pretty pricey too.” Something was off about the man’s voice—the taunts. It didn’t fit the profile of one of the fanatics trying to off the royal family.

They were after political capital and big, splashy statements.

A man with a gun in the dark? That said personal.

Too personal.

Time to redirect his attention. “What do you want?”

Richard’s gaze lasered on her. She saw the order in them and ignored it. He wanted her to be quiet, to let him handle it. No. Being quiet allowed the gunman to focus on Richard. That could get him shot.

Unacceptable.

“Do you know who he is?” The gunman eased closer to her. A miasma of tobacco, smoke and astringent surrounded her. Based on body heat, he had to be within inches of her body, but only the gun touched her head and it didn’t move.

“Clearly she knows who I am.” Richard attempted to regain his attention. “She works for me.”

“No, she works for hotshot attorney Richard Prentiss, pretty boy front man for big name corporations and royal families, but does she know you’re a fraud? That’s what I want to know.” A whine interjected into the nasal snarl of his voice, a break in his speech patterns suggesting that his education hadn’t continued much past high school. He pressed the gun into her head and she looked down.

She dropped the files in her left hand and reached for her right pocket at the same time. His feet were visible behind her. He couldn’t be more than three or four inches behind her. Easily in jabbing range.

“Do. You. Know. Who. He. Is? Did he tell you about how he got his money? How his Daddy took it? How he rubs elbows with the rich and the famous and my family got nothing?” Anger coated in desperation. Definitely personal. He didn’t want to make a statement.

He wanted revenge.

Richard let out a long breath because he’d gotten it too. She spared him a look. The shadows around his eyes hid his emotions well, but she knew it had to hurt. He hated what his father had done. “Look, what’s your name?” He’d gone from deal making to placating—a guy like this wouldn’t respond to either. He wanted to hurt someone and he’d picked Richard to hurt.

Fingering her pocket, she found the panic button and pressed it.

“Yeah, you don’t know my name. Why should you? I’m just some chump whose family your father screwed.” Rage made his tone nastier. “You like getting where you have by walking on other people? You think it makes you untouchable?” A hard hand locked on her neck, but the palm was slippery with sweat and the pain only sharpened her focus and gave her a window because he’d moved his gun. The man holding her couldn’t be quite six feet and he had strength in his grip, but he was nervous and the hand with the gun trembled. “You make all the right noises and send checks off to charity, all the while keeping your pockets lined with the money of other hard up people. Just like your father.”

“He’s nothing like his father,” Kate interjected.
Pay attention to me.
Pay attention to me.

“Kate, shush,” Richard ordered, then switched rolls to negotiator. “My father is a son of a bitch who stole from people. He took their money and he buried it. I have no idea what he did with it or where it went. I never saw a penny, but if you want a check today for the full amount, I’ll write you one. Just let her go. No one has to get hurt. Too many people have already been hurt.”

“Yeah, well, if you’d just died in your car, this would have been over and the pretty lady wouldn’t be in the middle of it.” Spittle flew out with the words and his hand trembled more.

Where the hell are they?
It had only been seconds—some rational part of her mind recognized that fact. But when a man had a gun, seconds counted.

“Fine, you want to shoot me?” Richard spread his arms wide. “I’m right here. Shoot me. But you let her go first. She had nothing to do with this or with my father. This is you and me.”

Kate’s heart stopped again. Was he insane?

He just told the crazy man with the gun to shoot him.

The fingers biting into her neck jerked her back one step and she took it, slamming her heel down on the man’s foot and driving her arm up hard to knock his aim toward the ceiling.

The world slowed down. Kate kept moving. All she had to do was lock the guy’s arm up. A pressure point in his elbow would make him release the gun. But Richard lunged forward and the man’s rage bounced off the walls around them. A glancing punch caught her in the ear and he brought the gun down, pointed directly at Richard.

At this distance, he couldn’t miss. She wrenched back from the struggle and stepped right into the path. The bullet slammed into her chest, then a second one burned a path through her abdomen. The force struck like two sledgehammer blows and she exhaled hard.

Another shot cracked through the silence and fear clawed at her. She didn’t feel that bullet.
Richard!
But it was the gunman who dropped and Kate shuddered, staring across the floor at the man’s bloodied forehead.

A single bullet hole marred the side of his temple—the other side of his head was gone.