Sex, Lies & Lipstick (A Moonlight and Magnolias Novel Book 2) Page 25

  I turned to get the hell out of there and call Z and Agent Moss for backup when I saw it. It was only the corner of the paper, but I’d seen it before.

  Rage filled my body and I found it hard to breathe. I bit down on my lip as I pulled the crayon drawing out from under the hats on the shelf above the coat rack.

  It was one of Dax’s drawings. In the garden by the gazebo at Lone Oak, he’d drawn himself and Samantha holding Katy. In the background there was a hooded man and next to it was a lipstick stain.

  Hector had found himself in the picture and loved it so much he kissed it. I had no way of knowing if Dax gave him the drawing or if Hector had taken it from our home. It didn’t matter.

  “Damn you!” I screamed. “Damn you! Take a piece of me, you fucking coward. Leave my wife and children alone and come get some of me, you piece of shit!”

  I tore through his clothes and ransacked his every belonging. As I turned around and around in the room looking for more, everything began to spin and I could no longer think. I looked at the room, knowing I’d wrecked any evidence with my own fingerprints, but I was beyond it now.

  A yellow legal pad lay in the floor – a casualty of emptying the drawers in the room. On top of it was a black sharpie pen.

  I grabbed it from the floor and walked to the mirror. I wanted to him to know. I wanted him to know it was me.

  “The tables have turned motherfucker,” I hissed as I wrote furiously on the mirror with the black marker.

  I finished and stepped back to admire my work and closed the cap on the pen and slid it into the top inside pocket of my suit coat.

  They will remember me. The man who ripped you apart with his bare hands. I’m the shadow you can’t see. I haven’t forgotten. I’m waiting.

  I walked out the door, leaving the lights on and the door open. I pulled the pickup around to do just as I’d promised. Wait.

  At seven in the morning, Hector pulled back into the motel parking lot. I watched as he hesitantly looked into his room, pulling a gun from the back of his pants. He searched the room and within a minute, he emerged with his duffle bag stuffed with the things I’d turned out into the floor.

  Throwing the car in reverse, he tore out of the gravel lot, spitting rocks as he roared onto the two-lane highway.

  I followed, not caring if I had enough gas, knowing I had no backup. It didn’t matter. This was between Hector and me and I was settling it once and for all.

  33

  SAMANTHA

  “No,” I said as Tom Moss questioned me. “I didn’t see him before he left. Have you heard from him?”

  “No, but then again, we found his phone in the study. He left everything behind when he went. Samantha, did he say anything out of the ordinary?” he asked putting a finger to his embedded earpiece, straining to listen.

  “You mean like, ‘I’m losing my mind because my mother is dead and a man who’s been stalking my wife and children for a year is on the loose’?”

  “Mrs. Callahan,” Moss continued. “We just got confirmation from the phone tap that Richard Peterson is soliciting a contract killing.”

  “On me?” I gasped. “He’s hired Hector?”

  “He’s already looking for a more reliable source than Hector.”

  “Samantha,” Leo chimed in. “I know this is hard, but we need you to calm down.”

  I nodded, wanting to cry and then quickly recovered as I remembered Nancy’s words to me. I needed to be strong for both Mac and me. “I threatened Richard yesterday after the funeral.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told him I was going to shoot his balls off.”

  “What?” Leo asked, trying to conceal a smile.

  “Agent Moss heard me,” I said as I pointed to him across the room.

  “What did I hear?” Moss asked.

  “You heard me threaten Richard.”

  “I didn’t. I saw you talking to him.”

  “Are you serious? I was shouting at him.”

  “Someone pick up Richard Peterson and get his ass over here. And I mean now,” Leo shouted.

  Finally someone besides me wanted to see more action and less conversation.

  “I’ll send a team over to pick him up, but we’ve got the rest of the agents on the road looking for Mac. I won’t have backup in from Birmingham for another hour,” Moss explained.

  “Go,” Leo shouted. “I’m telling you to go. I’m here and if Mac shows up, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Tom pulled his team together and moved them out of the house and for the first time since before the wedding, Lone Oak fell silent.

  “Where’s Polly?” I asked Leo.

  “She’s in the kitchen with Celia and the children.”

  “Leo, nothing can happen to Mac. Do you understand me? Nothing. I need him back here safe and sound.”

  “I know you do,” Leo consoled me. “It’s gonna be okay. Is there anything I can do for you?”

  “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I really want my grandmother. She’s the one person who can calm me down.”

  “Mimi?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll have someone pick her up.”

  I hit the speed dial on my iPhone and Mimi answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”

  “Mac’s missing. He snuck out of the house yesterday afternoon after the funeral and no one has seen him. Will you please come to Lone Oak? I really need you.”

  “I’d be there in a flash, but you know these bastards won’t let me drive anymore.”

  “No, Agent Xanthis has called your guard there at Autumn Valley. He can bring you to me.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  She hung up without saying goodbye and I watched Leo nod his head to me to confirm Mimi would soon be here.

  Dax ran into the study and fell into my lap. “Mommy, do you want cornflakes for breakfast?”

  “I’m not very hungry, sweetheart.”

  “Why are you so sad?” he asked as touched my face.

  “Daddy stayed out really late last night and I’m just worried. That’s all.”

  “Where’d he go?”

  “I don’t know exactly.”

  “Probably somewhere secret.”

  “Do you think Daddy has secrets?” I smiled.

  Dax said nothing, but shook his head with as much animation as he could.

  “What aren’t you telling me, Dax?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Dax?”

  “The Callahan men have secrets,” he proclaimed as Celia followed him into the study.

  “There you are,” she smiled. “Now c’mon, baby. Let’s get you some breakfast.”

  “What secrets do Callahan men have, Dax?”

  “What are you goin’ on about?” Celia asked him.

  “Nothing.”

  “Dax, do you know about the secret walls that lead in and out of the house?”

  “How do you know about them?” he asked.

  “I just do. Can you show me? Is there one in here?”

  He nodded and Celia smiled.

  “Dax, meet me in the kitchen,” she asked him.

  Without a word, Dax jumped from my lap and ran off.

  Leo’s phone rang and I jumped to his side as he answered.

  “Talk to me,” he announced. “Well, tell him that’s too bad. Get his ass here. And I mean now.”

  As Leo hung up, he answered before I could ask. “Richard’s is giving them some trouble about coming here to answer questions.”

  I nodded and turned to find Celia gone.

  Polly walked into the room looking fresh and rested. It was a sharp contrast to my sweatpants, t-shirt and floppy robe. Her cheeks were rosy and her blonde hair was pulled back tightly in a sleek ponytail.

  I caught my reflection in a mirror in the corner of the study and dropped my shoulders. The dark circles under my eyes were taking over my once fresh face and as I stared at Polly, I knew she was what I wanted to loo
k like – young, happy and in love.

  “Good morning all,” she said as she eyed Leo.

  I turned to him and caught the tail end of a wink.

  “What?” I asked in confusion as Leo’s phone rang yet again.

  “Yeah,” he shouted. “Yeah. Okay. No, bring him here. Right. No, keep me posted. I’m staying put until the next detail arrives. Because I’m it. Call me back!” he shouted.

  “They’ve found Mac. He’s heading south coming into town. Someone spotted the truck. They’re tailing him.”

  “Hector,” I whispered.

  “What?” Polly asked.

  “Nothing,” I replied. “I’m gonna run upstairs and change quickly. I’ll be right back.”

  I climbed the stairs two by two, racing into the bedroom and to the nightstand. As I opened the drawer, I pulled the gun from its holster and locked the magazine into place. Dropping it into the pocket of my robe I walked down the stairs ready to give some orders of my own.

  “Polly, will you please take Katy back upstairs and find Dax and Celia in the kitchen. Tell Dax he can eat his breakfast in his room, okay?”

  “What’s up with you, Sam?” she asked.

  “Just do it!” I shouted.

  The room was silent for a moment and I quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, Polly. It’s just that Richard’s on his way here and I threatened him yesterday. I don’t want Dax to hear anything that might…you know…come out of my mouth that he shouldn’t.”

  “Alright, then,” she cheered me on. “Go Sam.” She gave me a fist pump and shot Leo a smile before kissing Katy on the head and turning for the door.

  “Why don’t you stay with them, Leo?”

  “What?”

  “Really, Leo. I’d feel better if you were with the kids personally. At least until the backup gets here.”

  “I’ll get them settled upstairs. But then I’ll be back down.”

  I nodded. “That’s a great idea.”

  I heard him shout as he gathered Celia and Dax from the kitchen and escorted them to the second floor.

  I pulled the gun from my pocket and steadied my shaking hand as I held the weight of it in my palm.

  I looked out the window and could see dust fly as a car rolled down the lane and to the rear of the house.

  I looked out the window, barely moving the curtain from its rightful place and watched as a young agent held the door open and helped Mimi from the front seat to the safe handlebars of her walker.

  I took a deep breath, thankful it was only her, and then quickly realized I’d invited her to an impending firestorm.

  I walked to the front of the house and watched out the window as another car came roaring down the lane, quickly followed by the pickup truck I knew so well from the garage behind Lone Oak. It was Mac, and if I was right, Hector was coming to pay me a visit.

  I heard Leo rush down the stairs and into the foyer, cocking his gun.

  “Get out of here, Sam,” he shouted to me.

  I walked away as I saw even more cars make their way up to the house. All black, I knew immediately that every agent who’d been in Shadeland was now at Lone Oak.

  I snuck my way into the kitchen and shouted for the agent and Mimi to get inside.

  Tucking Mimi in a powder room off of the hallway, I told her to lock the door and hurried past the young agent who’d joined Leo in the front hallway.

  “I told you to get out of here, Sam!” Leo shouted again.

  I began to walk away as Mac burst through the front door. I ran to him and threw my arms around his neck as he pulled himself away from me. He smelled of sweat and liquor. His suit was rumpled and his shirt was dirty.

  “Mac?” I trembled.

  “He’s gone around back!” Mac shouted to the other agents. “Get to the study, Sam!” he shouted as I backed away and walked calmly to the study, shutting the door. The skeleton key I needed to lock it from the inside was gone.

  I crouched behind the bar table and shook in fear. I wrapped my arms around my knees and began to rock, trying to hold myself together. I began to pray.

  I could see my reflection in the old floor to ceiling mirror. I was watching myself fall apart in the room where I fell in love.

  I could hear shouting throughout the house and again I staved off the fierce emotion that coursed through my body.

  I heard a click and jumped, feeling the gun in my pocket to make sure it was still there. I looked up and saw Micah standing in the doorway of the study. Before I could say anything, she held a single finger to her lips and I watched her quietly move behind Mac’s desk, getting low.

  I waited for Mac to come in next. Surely he wanted to protect me. He wanted to be by my side. Lone Oak was swarming in agents by now. I wanted my husband with me.

  I looked to Micah and shook my head. What now?

  I sank back into the floor and looked back to my reflection. I did a double take as I saw the mirrored wall swing forward and into the room.

  I scrambled on all fours across the floor and hid behind a couch. Peeking around a corner, I saw him. Hector slipped into the room through a secret door.

  Not knowing if Micah saw him, I moved to catch her attention and caused the ancient floorboards to creak.

  I felt the pain as Hector pulled me from the floor by my hair.

  He had me.

  “No!” I screamed.

  “Shut up,” he hissed. “Don’t open your mouth again or I’ll shut it for good.”

  It was too late.

  Mac and Leo burst through the door with guns pulled.

  “Let her go,” Leo shouted.

  “Why?” Hector asked in an eerily calm voice.

  “Don’t make this worse than it already is,” Leo continued.

  Mac stood straight – eyes wide open, intently watching every move Hector made. He jerked my head again and I shouted in pain.

  “We can talk this out, Hector,” Leo offered. “Let’s make a deal. You let her go and we’ll talk about the drug cartel’s plans. If you help us, we can help you.”

  He calmly shook his head and said nothing as he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close to him, holding onto my hair tightly.

  I looked down to my pocket and knew the gun was still there.

  As he slowly reached behind his back to pull the gun from his waist, I slipped my hand into the pocket.

  “Mommy?”

  I froze and looked to the mirrored wall as Dax stood in his pajamas.

  “Coco, what are you doing?”

  “Diego, you shouldn’t be here,” Hector yelled.

  “What are you doing?” he shuddered. “Why are you hurting my mommy?”

  Mac dropped his gun slowly and held his hands open to Hector as he spoke to Dax.

  “Hey, Chief. I need you to go back the way you came. I need you to check on your sister,” Mac said, his voice trembling with each syllable.

  Dax looked to the ground and nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry, Diego,” Hector whimpered.

  “Coco, don’t hurt my mommy,” Dax begged.

  I watched Micah slowly moved from behind the desk to get an angle on Hector.

  “Daddy?”

  “Yeah, Chief?”

  “Don’t hurt my friend.”

  Dax disappeared into the wall just as he’d entered and I felt Hector hesitate as Mac dropped his shoulders in relief.

  In a fluid motion, I elbowed Hector in the ribs, doubling him over as I fell to the floor and his gun fired one round into the air.

  I looked up to him as he pointed the gun in my face. This was it. I knew I couldn’t escape death twice. Hector was going to kill me, and I dropped my shoulders in surrender. If I was going to die, I wanted to be at peace with it.

  “Go ahead, Hector,” I whispered. “Do it.”

  I heard the thirty-eight-caliber pistol cock as I slowly shut my eyes. I didn’t want the last thing I ever saw to be Hector.

  BAM!

  The body fell to the gro
und with a thud as a rush of air swept past my tear-stained face. I sat up and moved away. I was alive. Hector was dead.

  As Mac rushed to my side and pulled me into his body, I screamed aloud, the emotion finally taking its toll. He cradled me in his arms.

  “It’s over. It’s over,” he repeated as he held me tightly and rocked me back and forth.

  “How long have you been hiding behind that desk, Micah?” Leo sighed.

  “Long enough,” she replied.

  “You’re a crafty little bitch, aren’t you?”

  “Suck it, Z.”

  “Get me out of here,” I shouted. “I don’t want to look at him. I don’t want to see.”

  Mac picked me up and carried me in his arms out of the study and into a parlor room. He brushed the hair from my face and put his forehead to mine, breathing in and out. I didn’t know who was more shaken, Mac or me.

  “It’s over,” he said again.

  I dropped my shoulders in relief.

  “Stay away from me, you old bitch!”

  The shouting came from inside the house and Mac pulled away from me in a flash.

  “Hey!” I heard Mimi shout from the kitchen. “Where in the hell do you think you’re goin’?”

  BAM!

  I jumped at the sound of another gun and screamed to Mac, “Where are the children?”

  “Wait here,” he shouted as he rushed up the stairs, running the length of the hallway as he shouted for Polly.

  “Well, I winged him,” I heard Mimi bellow as she slowly rolled into the front hall, inching every step of the way with her walker.

  “Did you hear where the shot came from?” I shouted frantically.

  “Hear it? Hell, I fired it,” she shouted back to me.

  “Mac!” I called up the stairs as he rushed down and past me.

  “The children are with Polly. Everyone is safe.”

  “Mimi?” I asked again.

  “Well, shit. He was trying to get away. I couldn’t let that happen. And the agent just left me. And you shoved me in a bathroom,” she smirked as she pointed. “What’d you think I was gonna do, roll over and play dead?”

  Leo rushed into the foyer. “Who fired the shot?”