Unexpected Love (White Oak-Mafia #2) (14 page)

She waited until the helicopter thumping disappeared. “Steel?” she called out.

A shrill whistle from above made her smile. She climbed up the ridge and sure enough, there was her archeologist moving away leaves, exposing rocks that had clearly been stacked in long narrow rows.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Best guess, given the closeness to the fishing grounds, I’d say smoke racks.”

She knelt down beside him. “Then the boys’ stupidity has a bright side.”

He nodded. “The area we need secured just got extended.”

“Just as well. Putting a fence on this decline would be deadly to install and high maintenance. Do you still want to isolate the area we need to fence in today, or would you rather I do that while you examine what you have here?”

He sighed heavily. “My heart wants to play here, but my brain says we need to get the fence up as soon as possible. This is quickly becoming the archeological find of the decade.”

He stood and offered his hand. “If we make it a top priority, any chance we can get it up before winter?”

His question didn’t surprise her because, in truth, she knew they needed to protect this hill. “Let’s assess the terrain first,” she said, not wishing to confront what such a change would mean to her woods.

Traveling was slower since Tess insisted upon marking trees and measuring the footage of fencing that would be required and making note of any impediments, such as large boulders and the need to drill through embedded stone that would make installing the fencing more time consuming.

“I thought these hills were supposed to be all soil.”

“No, the glaciers carried and dropped some pretty big rocks along the way. I think they were what caught and held the dust in place,” Tess said and then laughed. “From Minnesota, no doubt. First rocks, now bears.”

It was dark before they returned home, both exhausted from a long, hard day.

Tess headed straight for the shower. As she scrubbed herself clean, she wondered what Grams was cooking. She didn’t care. She was so hungry she’d eat Grumpy.

Pain swept the strength from her legs, and she collapsed, hitting the bottom of the tub hard.

Both Grams and Grumpy were gone.

No…Grumpy was gone, but Grams was here.

Warmth filled her heart.

Pounding on her bathroom door startled her.

“Tess!”

“I’m okay,” she yelled and pushed out of the tub. She grabbed a robe and tugged it on. Then she opened the door to a terrified Steel.

He pulled her into his arms. “God, I heard a thump…” He pushed her away so he could study her face. “Did you fall?” he asked as he pried opened her eyes.

“What are you doing?” she asked, not appreciating him shining a light in her eyes.

“Checking to see if your pupils can dilate. They do, so I can rule out a concussion.”

Next, he patted her arms, legs and torso, no doubt searching for injuries.

“I’m fine, Steel.”

He pressed his hand to her forehead. “What’s your doctor’s number?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Everyone has a doctor.”

“I don’t get sick,” she explained.

He led her to her bed and sat, pulling her next to him. “Can you tell me what happened to make you fall? Did you get dizzy?”

“No. I was hungry and wondered what Grams was cooking for dinner. Then…” Tears sprouted from her eyes, and she buried her face into his chest.

“Oh, Tess. It’ll get easier,” he promised.

“I’m okay,” she whispered. “I haven’t lost her, but still, when I remembered I’d lost her physical presence, it made me cry.”

“How about if I make you my one and only meal while you rest in your bed?”

Tess nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll wake you when dinner is ready,” he promised and left her to sleep.

Instead of sleeping, Tess felt a great need to handle Grams’ funeral. She called Mr. Dickens in Dubuque.

After introducing herself, the man replied. “Tess, I’m so sorry Helen has died. I had no idea she was even sick.” His voice then lowered. “Your father called me an hour ago telling me he wanted your grandmother’s body sent to Chicago where they would have a proper funeral, and she’d be buried beside her husband.”

“Grams hated that monster,” Tess squeaked. “And Father is not in charge of her funeral. I am. Grams wanted to be cremated, and I’m to spread her ashes in her woods.”

“I really don’t want to get in the middle of this.” The fear in his voice was audible.

“I understand. When is my father expected to pick up Grams’ body?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

She sighed. Now she knew why she felt driven to call about Grams’ cremation. Poor Grams was at risk of being buried next to a monster.

“Can you stay there for a while? I need to make some calls.”

“No, I have to leave,” he whispered. “But if I happen not to lock the back door and Helen’s body disappears, I won’t press charges if it turns out that you took it.”

Tess called Sheriff Cobbs and told him of her father’s plan. “Grams would hate being buried beside the monster. Father has no legal say in her funeral arrangements. Grams put me in charge of them and stated exactly what she wanted.”

“Do you by chance have that in writing?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Could you send it to me?”

She went to Grams office, opened the safe, found the document, and faxed it to the sheriff.

She stayed on the phone as he read it. “Okay, legally it’s your say. Now, do you want to make a confrontation, or just get Helen cremated?”

“The latter.” Fighting with her father had never turned out well.

“Then I’ll need to track down Ed Dickens.”

“He doesn’t want to be in the middle of this so he’s left the back door of the funeral home unlocked and won’t press charges if Grams goes missing.”

A heavy sigh sounded over the phone. “Well, I am a law officer so I cannot go inside and get her. However, I can find someone who will cremate her if you can retrieve Helen from Dickens.”

“I think I can.”

“Give me a call if you have a body you want legally cremated.” He then hung up.

She called the number for Rescue and recognized Kyle’s snarly voice. “I have a big favor.”

“What?”

“There is no chance of being arrested,” she added.

After a slight pause, he said, “Okay…”

“I need to pick up Grams’ body and take her to a new place. I have reason to believe she’ll be shipped off against her wishes in the morning if I don’t.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I need the use of your helicopter to come pick me up, land at the funeral home, wait while I retrieve Grams, and take us to a new funeral home where she can be legally cremated as she wants. And you can’t say anything to anyone.”

He sighed. “Can’t do it.”

Her heart fell.

“The FAA would be all over me for landing at night on an unlit parking lot. However, I can come and get you, bring you here, and loan you my SUV. How’s that?”

She smiled. “That’ll work.”

She called back the sheriff and asked him where she might take Grams to get her cremated. He gave her the location and promised someone would be there to receive the body. He then asked which car she’d be arriving in. She explained her plan.

“Excellent.” He then hung up.

She called Kyle and told him to come get her, then quickly dressed and ran to the kitchen.

“Perfect timing,” Steel stated as he placed both dishes on the counter.

God, the food smelled fabulous. She hurried to the left cabinet and pulled out two Styrofoam food containers.

The moment she moved one plate into the container, Steel stopped her. “What’s going on?”

“Trust me?” she asked.

He removed his hand from her arm and watched as she moved the other plate to the second container. She grabbed real forks and two bottles of water. “Grab the food and let’s go.”

He followed her without any further objections. As they waited outside, he finally spoke. “Any time you want to explain…I won’t complain.”

“I will soon,” she promised. She would tell him now, but she feared her father might have the outside porch bugged as well.

As the thumping of the helicopter came closer, his muscles tensed.

She rubbed her hand over his arm. “Sorry about the helicopter, but it’s necessary.”

He breathed in deep and nodded once.

The helicopter landed on the thousand-foot open clearing in front of the house, kicking up a great deal of dust.

The moment Kyle landed, they both climbed in the back.

Kyle turned in his seat and glared at Steel as he climbed in. She sensed Kyle wasn’t happy about her boss’s presence, but she had no idea why.

“We’re belted and ready to go,” she said.

With soft curses beneath his breath, he turned around and took off.

Having no clue what had riled Kyle, she focused on Steel. She whispered softly the need to rescue Grams before she was interned for eternity next to a monster. Then she devoured her dinner like a starved wolf. When she’d finished every bit of it, Steel handed over his untouched container.

“Do you not want to help me?” she asked softly. That possibility had never crossed her mind.

“Absolutely,” he replied. “I just don’t have an appetite right now.” He smiled. “But you do, so eat.”

By the time Kyle landed the helicopter, she’d finished the second container. Kyle walked them to his SUV and handed the keys to Tess.

“We’re even now,” he grumbled.

Once inside the car, Steel thumped his knuckles on his door. “Was Kyle under the assumption you’d be doing this mission on your own?”

“Maybe. Something has him pissed off.”

When they neared their destination, a police car pulled out of the funeral home, blue lights flashing.

“That doesn’t look good,” Steel stated. “Drive on.”

Tess ignored him and pulled in.

“Tess!”

“I have to get Grams. I have a legal right to her.” She pulled the SUV to a halt and got out.

She headed to the closest policeman, but Steel stopped her. “Sheriff Cobbs is over there.”

“Thank God!” she said with relief and picked up her pace. “Sheriff Cobbs.”

“Miss Campbell. An unauthorized attempt was made to remove your grandmother from the funeral home. Knowing your wish to have Helen cremated, I called Mr. Dickens down here to assist you in legally removing Helen’s body and taking it to a more secure funeral home.”

A nervous and very unhappy man nodded at her. Poor Mr. Dickens didn’t want to be put in the middle, yet here he was. But she couldn’t be mad at Sheriff Cobbs. If not for him, her grams would have been gone when they arrived.

She went inside and signed the documents to receive custody of Grams’ body.

Four policemen helped carry the casket to a funeral car waiting in the parking lot as the sheriff led her back to the SUV. “Who gave you this SUV?”

“The guy who came and got us.”

“Tell anyone else what you were planning?”

“Only Mr. Dickens.”

“Then leave it here, and I’ll drive you over.”

He thinks Kyle is working for my father.

Once they climbed into the sheriff’s old pickup truck, the sheriff looked over to Steel. “Mr. Castile, it appears the Secret Service was unaware you had returned to the States. They are blaming M5 for the slip-up, and when I explained your current situation, I was assured that by tomorrow you will have adequate protection. But I must point out that if you had encountered Benito’s thugs tonight, it wouldn’t have matter. While they would not shoot Miss Campbell, they’d have shot you on sight.”

Tess gasped and gripped his hand. “Steel, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have involved you.”

He squeezed her hand. “You couldn’t have left without me.” He leaned forward and eyed the sheriff. “I think it was Kyle who flipped. We caught his younger brother and three other boys setting fire to the woods today. The boat they claimed to have used to get to the woods had three inches of fish line wrapped around the propeller, and its bottom was so rusted that only a fool would get into it. No way in hell they drove the boat there. I think Kyle dropped them off in the helicopter.”

“But they helped put the fire out,” Tess reminded him.

“You called Rescue and said there was a fire, and two rescuers came out. Kyle wasn’t flying.”

“Oh…Denny was flying so Kyle couldn’t botch the water dump.” Tess sighed. “Well, you can see why I have trouble trusting people,” she grumbled.

He sighed heavily. “Getting there.”

Sheriff Cobbs eyed Steel. “Just so you know, I’m pretty sure the Secret Service plans to move you to safer ground.”

Tess gasped.

Steel gripped her hand. “Not happening. If nothing else, this night proves Tess needs a person she can trust by her side twenty-four-seven. Kyle expected her to arrive alone, and whatever he planned got interrupted because I was there.”

Tess shivered. “He’s right. Kyle was acting weird tonight.”

They pulled into Malloy’s Funeral Home and eased around the back. An Irish funeral home. Tess smiled. Grams would like that. It would be the one place that her father had no influence.

Mac Malloy, a rotund cheery fellow with rosy cheeks, greeted them at the back door and escorted them to a pleasant room.

Once she presented her legal authority to dispose of the body, he gave instructions to a young man who looked a great deal like him…just younger.

Then Malloy sat down beside her and captured her hand with his meaty paws. “You may view your grandmother right before she’s cremated so you know the ashes you receive are hers.”

“I would like that,” she admitted. “Thank you.”

“It’s not an uncommon request. We even have a viewing booth just for that purpose. You may even watch the box go into the furnace…or not. There is a curtain you may close whenever you wish.”

She needed to be sure, but the idea of watching her Grams go into the furnace made her want to toss up her food.

Steel whispered, “How about if you ensure its Helen, and then I ensure the same box goes into the furnace.”

God, how could he understand her so well?
She smiled at him and nodded.

She didn’t want to see the dead body of her grams again, but she had to make sure her father hadn’t switched bodies. She trembled as Mr. Malloy opened the coffin.

She gasped at first glance, certain her father had won, that this wasn’t Grams, but then she realized what was different. They had put makeup on her. “Is it possible to remove the makeup? Grams would hate looking this way.”

“She won’t look like herself,” Mr. Malloy warned.

“I understand.”

He looked at the sheriff, and the man nodded.

He came in with a stinky solution that removed the plaster-like makeup. “Should I remove the wig, too?”

“Yes, please.” She had thought they’d cut Grams’ hair and puffed it out, but once the wig was removed, her beautiful white braid was there.

Once the makeup was gone, the face almost looked like Grams…only dead.

“That’s perfect, thank you.”

“She looks much better now,” the sheriff agreed.

Tess turned and looked at Steel who sat in the booth watching them. Satisfied, she joined him. “She’s met another of her objectives,” Steel softly whispered in her ear.

The sheriff had stepped away to take a call. When he returned, his focus was on Steel. “I’ve been asked by Secret Service to take you to a safe house close by.”

“I’m not leaving Tess.”

Sheriff Cobbs smiled. “I mentioned you probably wouldn’t come without Tess. While they weren’t exactly happy, if it’s the only way you’ll come, then they’ll let you bring her.” He then sobered. “They will try to convince you that she is a danger to your well-being. Honestly, the more I see you two together, the more I realize how futile and poorly conceived their recommendation is. You…” He sighed heavily and pain flickered across his face. “You remind me of me and my wife. We were mismatched as well, but God did I love her. Nothing could part us…not even death. So just be careful.”

Mr. Malloy joined them. “The ashes will be ready by ten tomorrow.”

Tess extended her hand. “Thank you for helping my grams go the way she wanted.”

He took her hand in his and patted it. “My pleasure. Always glad to help out a friend.” He glanced at the sheriff.

“We should get going,” the sheriff stated and rushed them out of the funeral home and into his pickup truck.