The Seacroft: a love story (Paines Creek Beach Book 2) (23 page)

She stopped at the top of the landing, staring into the dusty dark air and fighting a nauseous feeling of déjà vu. She’d just been in an attic, where she’d almost lost her mother, and the damned building had dragged her down into the water where she’d almost died. If it hadn’t been for Cody… “The widow’s walk,” she said, pointing to the next set of stairs at the far end of the giant room. “There.”

Vivian stumbled around a dusty roll top desk, a seamstress’s mannequin, sealed cardboard boxes, and an old horsehair sofa covered with a yellowed sheet. “Over here.” She pointed to the narrow door at the bottom of the tiny staircase. It was open.

Warren flew up the stairs. Vivian followed, and Cody caught up with her halfway to the top.  

“Viv, stop,” he said, pulling on her arm. “She’s dangerous.”

Vivian turned to him, breathing hard. “I know. But what if she… ”

The detective’s shout at the top of the stairway stopped her in her tracks.

“Stop right there! Don’t jump!”

They burst into the widow’s walk, met by a wild-eyed Uvi who crept backwards toward the edge. “Stay away!” she screamed. “Don’t come any closer.”

“Mrs. Polansky,” Warren began, slowly heading in her direction and trying to sound calm. “Please. Come back inside. It’s dangerous out here. Let’s have a nice cup of coffee and a chat. How’s that sound?”

Uvi sought Vivian’s eyes. “Vivian? Dear? I want to be buried in my cream dress. You know which one I mean?”

She stepped back, almost to the edge now.

Vivian slowly approached, her hands held low. “Do you mean the one with the cranberry jacket?”

Uvi cranked her head sideways again. “No! The one with the lacey collar.”

Vivian wrinkled her brow, still moving forward with Warren watching her like a hawk. “I think it’s at the cleaners, Uvi.”

Uvi shook her head. “No. It’s hanging in my clos—” Her eyes narrowed and she shot Vivian a grim smile. “I get it. You’re trying to stop—” She shrieked and slipped, tumbling beyond their view.



Cody and Warren crept forward on their stomachs. A faint cry came from below.

“Help!”

Vivian cried, “Where is she?”

Cody slithered back and pushed past her. “She’s on the first floor roof, two stories down. Hanging onto the gutter. I don’t know how long it’ll hold.”

They pounded down the staircase to the attic, then down again to the second floor, where Cody shoved open a window and stepped outside with the detective.

With his two officers still busy in the bedroom down the hall—one unconscious and the other helping the doctor—the detective assessed the situation with a grave expression. “Crap. Look at that roofline. It’s ready to crack.”

Cody’s blood ran cold. A six-foot section of the roof overhang flopped and swayed under Uvi’s weight, ready to break off any second.

Warren motioned to him. “Somebody light needs to climb out there.”

Cody glanced at the heavy-set detective. “Right. I’ll go. But we need a line.”

“Help me. Please!”

Cody looked wildly around him. “I need something to tie around me.”

Vivian caught up with them and motioned to the long, sheer drapes that hung above the window. “What about these? Could they work?”

“Good idea!” Cody ripped them down and tied them end-to-end. “Not long enough.” He ran to a matching window and repeated his actions. “This might work.” Circling his waist with the fabric, he handed the other end to Warren. “Secure this. And pull us up when I tell you I’ve got her.”

Warren commanded Vivian to tie one end of the line to the old-fashioned radiator bolted to the floor. “Stand here,” he said when she’d done so. “Hold on tight. Okay, Cody. Go for it.”

Vivian cried out the window. “Cody. Please be careful.”

He crept forward toward the edge. “I’m almost there,” he shouted, sliding on his stomach. “Uvi. Hold on.”

Uvi’s face was a mask of terror. Her mouth moved, but no words escaped her lips. Her fingers—white with pressure—clenched the edge of the gutter, which had separated from the roof by a foot and waved dangerously over the ground below. She struggled and pumped her legs in the air.

“Stop moving,” he cautioned. “You’ll make it worse. Try to hold still.”

She whimpered. “I can’t hold on.”

“Yes. You can. Uvi.” He caught her eyes with his. “Don’t let go. I’ve got you.”

With a fast swoop he reached down and latched his fingers around her wrist. “I’ve got you. Now let go with your other hand and grab me.” Sweat trickled down his face, plopping on the roof tiles beneath him. “Come on.”

He couldn’t reach her other hand, and she seemed frozen in place. He watched her eyes change, as if she were giving up, as if she’d let go.

“No! You stay with me. You take my other hand. Now.”

Tears welled in her eyes. She hesitated, still swinging beneath him. “Cody. I love you.” Her voice trembled.

He grunted, sliding forward a few more inches. The roof groaned and bounced with his movement. “Everybody loves me, Uvi. It’s just a curse I have to bear.” For a long minute, he didn’t know if his little joke would break the spell and bring her around, or if it would work against him.

Uvi’s eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a smile. She let go of the gutter, reaching for his other hand. “You’re one big, gorgeous tomcat, you know that.”

Cody strained to hold her, yelling over his shoulder to Warren and Viv. “Now! Pull me back, now.”

The sound of the tearing structure came before he felt the tremor, the jerk, and the free fall into air.

Chapter 43

“Cody!” Vivian hung on to the taut line of drapery, bracing herself behind Warren, who had been catapulted halfway into the window frame. The tie shivered and shook, but it didn’t come unbolted from the radiator on the floor. “Cody!” She screamed again, trying to see past the detective. “Oh my God. Is he okay?”

“Pull!” Warren said fiercely. “Just shut up and pull.”

She did as he said, leaning hard against the strain, lowering herself to a crouch, then dragging herself to the nearby doorframe and holding on. It wasn’t working. She was being hauled with Warren toward the roof. Warren tipped forward, legs almost leaving the ground. He grunted, holding onto the windowsill.

“Monroe!” he shouted, frantic now. “Get in here.”

The blond youth careened around the corner, eyes wide. “Cripes!” He grabbed Warren’s legs and pulled him back. Slowly, the three of them drew in the line. Finally, sweating and groaning, they pulled Cody and Uvi into the safety of the hallway.

They both lay in a tumble on the floor. Unceremoniously, Uvi climbed up Cody’s body and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her legs encircled him, and she laid her head on his shoulder. “My hero,” she murmured, now kissing his ear and neck. One hand slid lower and she purred. She actually purred. “You saved my life. My darling boy.”

Vivian watched him scramble away from her, figuring he didn’t want her to grab his cock in front of all these people. She’d done that way too many times in the last day. With the way her mind was working today, she might have tried to have sex with him right in front of all the people who sat recovering in the hallway.

No way was that happening. Viv got up and launched herself into his arms. “Oh, Cody. You’re okay. I was so worried.”

Uvi scowled at her and tried to kick her foot.

Cody kissed Vivian hard, as if the adrenaline he’d just called upon needed an outlet. With a ridiculous thought, she wondered how he’d make love to her if they did it right now, in the next room. Would it be hard and fast, like the kiss? She told her mind to stop its musings, and kissed him back, pulling him into the nearby sunroom. No need to present an open target to Uvi anymore.

“You’re okay?” She checked his arms and legs, feeling him as if that would answer her question.

“I think so,” he said. “Except for having to flirt with Uvi out there to save her life.”

She leaned against him. “You did just fine, honey.”

“I hope this doesn’t raise her expectations,” he laughed.

“Hell no. She’ll have me to deal with if she even
thinks
about touching you again.”

He laughed and kissed her again.

The doctor poked his head into the room. “Uh. Sorry to interrupt folks. You all right in here?” He chuckled. “Silly question. I see you are just fine.” He turned and added, “We’re going to take Mrs. Polansky and Officer Pierce to the temporary clinic set up in the elementary school. I was on my way there to volunteer anyway.”

They separated quickly and faced him with arms around each other. “We’re fine,” Cody said. “And if you need a car, I have one outside.”

The doctor smiled. “Thanks, but I’m good. I brought my trusty old station wagon. A tree fell and crushed my new SUV. But this old beauty still runs like a champ. Plus I’ve got room to lay them down in the back.”

“You’d better bring an officer with you, in case Mrs. P gets wild again,” Cody said.

“Well, that young officer is coming along for the ride, but it’s not necessary. I just gave her a strong sedative. She’ll soon be quiet as a mouse.”

Vivian shuddered. “That’s what she called me, ‘a pitiful little mouse’ and ‘a good little toad.’ She was so gifted in the field of hurling insults. Ugh.”

Cody squeezed her to him. “That’s because she was so jealous of your beauty. Your youth. Your flawless skin and body.”

“Flawless?” Viv laughed. “Oh, Cody. I do love you.”

They followed the group out to the driveway. Officer Pierce had stirred and spoken a few words, which provided a sense of relief. To be safe, they carried her down the stairs on a makeshift stretcher made from a closet door taken off its hinges. Uvi sat huddled under a blanket in the back of the station wagon, glaring at them with hooded eyes. Once Officer Pierce was settled beside her, the doctor drove them away.

Cody pulled her toward his rental car. “Come on. We’ve gotta get back to Blueberry Hill. There’s a ton of work to do.”

“I think you guys will be cutting up trees for the next month,” Viv said, sliding into the car beside him. She slumped against the passenger seat, watching Cody make his way around the obstacles in the road. “My gosh. What a day.”

“And we still didn’t tell Uvi we quit. Or that we’re together.”

Vivian spluttered a laugh. “Geez, you’re right. But something tells me she might’ve seen you kissing me. She shot me daggers after that. Even tried to kick me.”

He chuffed a laugh. “You’re probably right. Must’ve pissed her off real good.” He turned into the Blueberry Hill driveway and rolled up the hill. “Here we are. Alive. And well.” He hesitated on the last word. “Aren’t we?”

She sighed, unbuckled her seatbelt, and slid over to lean against him. “We could have died today. And you might’ve died twice. Once in the boat, once on that blasted roof.”

He kissed her lips, holding her close. “But I didn’t. And we’re safe at home. We have our whole lives ahead of us.”

She giggled. “Somehow I feel like we’re reliving the final scene in
The Wizard of Oz
.”

Cody pulled her closer. “Yeah. It is kind of like that, isn’t it? We survived a horrible ordeal, but we’re okay now. Maybe back to reality? Away from the nightmare?”

“I sure hope so. Do you think Uvi was the wicked witch?” Viv asked.

“Maybe. But she’s beautiful, not ugly. So maybe she’s an amalgam of the good witch and the wicked witch.”

“Beautiful?” Vivian said, pulling back and punching his arm. “Really?”

Cody grinned. “Sorry. But you know she is.”

Vivian trilled a laugh. “I do. She’s gorgeous. I just hate that you noticed.”

“Hard not to when she was tugging my clothes off and kissing me at every opportunity.”

“Was she good… I mean… in bed?”

Cody pursed his lips and frowned. “If I answer you honestly, you’ll leave me. If I don’t, I’ll be lying.”

“Lie.”

“Okay. She sucked.”

“Wait a minute. Is that a double entendre?” Viv asked, barely able to control her laughter.

His face went blank for a minute, and then a smile crept onto his lips. “Oh. I didn’t mean it that way. But now that you mention it—”

Another jab to his arm made him grab her and kiss her, pinning her arms to her side. She pretended to struggle, then gave in and kissed him back. 

Chapter 44

They found Finn in the blueberry fields, driving his tractor with its cart rolling along behind him. Three little curly topped heads bobbed from the wagon, amidst a volley of delighted squeals. When Cody waved him down, Finn drove up the hill and pulled up beside them. “Glad you’re back. Everything go okay?”

Cody shrugged. “A bit of a mess. But we’re back.”

Finn raised one eyebrow. “Really. What kind of a mess?”

Cody kissed Vivian and headed for the cart. “I’ll explain later.” The girls tumbled around him, simultaneously asking for piggyback rides and playtime.

Vivian waved to the girls and headed into the house. Once inside, she heard crying coming from the living room. “Libby?”

Libby looked up from the phone, tears streaming down her face. “Please hold on.” She turned to Vivian with a frozen expression. “I don’t know what to order for the casket spray. Help me.
Please
.”

In a flash, Vivian realized the woman was at the end of her rope. She couldn’t make another decision, even if it was just about flowers. Gently, she took the phone and sat close to Libby on the couch, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “Can I help you? I’m Libby’s um... I’m her children’s nanny.”

Libby leaned her head against Vivian.

“We need to choose one more arrangement, Miss. For the casket. It’s going to have a gold ribbon that says, ‘from Libby and Finn.’”

“Okay. Well, how about a mixture of white snapdragons, white carnations, and yellow roses?” Vivian said.

Libby nodded beside her, looking relieved. She mouthed a
thank you
.

Vivian finished up with the call and turned to Libby. “What else can I do? How can I help you?”

“We have to figure out the reception. So far, I have no idea what’s needed.”

“I can do that. It’s not a problem.”