He stared at her, uncertain if he"d understood her correctly.
"Don"t you get it?" she asked him. "You were always the third one in my bed, the man in my heart and on my mind every time my husband touched me."
"G.o.d in heaven," Jack growled. Then right there in his yard, exposing them to any pa.s.sersby, he kissed her with a brutal hunger that he couldn"t suppress.
He swung her up into his arms, carried her across the yard and to the back door, not giving a d.a.m.n who saw them. They barely made it into the kitchen before he set her on her feet, unzipped her dress and shoved it off her shoulders and down her hips. Seeing that she wore only a bra and panties-no slip and no pantyhose-he shrugged off his jeans and kicked them aside. Then he lifted her up and onto the kitchen table. While he unhooked her bra, she caressed his damp chest and belly before diving her fingers below the waistband of his briefs. When she curled her hand around his p.e.n.i.s, he thought he"d die.
Where the h.e.l.l had he put that extra box of condoms he"d bought at the drug store yesterday? He hadn"t taken them upstairs, had he? No, he"d left them, along with the shaving cream and razors he"d purchased, in the plastic shopping bag that he"d put on the kitchen counter.
He leaned over her, kissed and then suckled each breast. d.a.m.n, he felt on the verge of exploding.
"Give me a second, honey."
"Jack." She held out her arms to him.
"I"m not quite ready," he told her as he backed away and hurried to the far end of the kitchen, where he"d left the Dunmore Drugstore bag lying on the counter. He raked through the contents, tore open the box of condoms and retrieved a gold foil wrapper. Within seconds, he had ripped it apart, taken out the condom and put it on.
When he returned to Cathy, he saw that she had taken off her panties and sat there in a partially reclined position, her legs spread wide, revealing the lush, dark bush covering her mound. After slipping between her thighs, he slid his hands under her hips and brought her to the edge of the table. She lifted her arms up and around his neck. He hoisted her hips and thrust inside her.
Moaning with pleasure, she hung on for dear life, undulating to the rhythm of his lunges. He eased his hands out from under her and moved them smoothly up her back. As if sensing that his embrace held her safely in place, she leaned back, tossing her long brown hair behind her as she went wild in his arms.
Within minutes they both came, first she and then he a second later. Panting and trembling, they clung to each other while their bodies enjoyed the aftershocks of their o.r.g.a.s.ms.
Cathy and Jack spent the afternoon alternating between making love and exploring the three stories and partial bas.e.m.e.nt of Jack"s house. Instead of going out to eat, they grilled steaks and prepared corn on the cob and veggie kabobs on the grill. Seth called on her cell phone around six, and she a.s.sured him that she was okay.
"You didn"t go home, did you?" Seth had asked. "I called earlier and didn"t get an answer."
"No, I didn"t go home. I didn"t want to be alone."
"Are you with Jack Perdue?"
"Yes."
"That"s good, Mom. I"m glad you"re not alone."
"Are you okay?" she"d asked him, wishing he didn"t feel obligated to comfort his still-grieving grandparents.
"Yeah, I guess so. It"s been a rough day for Nana and Granddad. Nana"s been crying a lot. They need me, Mom. You understand, don"t you?"
"I understand."
For now, she would not interfere. J.B. had shown he was willing to compromise when he agreed to allow Seth to spend weekends with her. But eventually, she would have to take Seth away from them, out of their home and away from the daily influence of J.B."s narrow-minded beliefs. Just not yet. During her hours with Jack, she had forgotten about the Fire and Brimstone Killer and had forgotten about Mark and how he"d died. Sweet relief, even if only temporary.
Her time with Jack seemed surreal, almost as if she were having an out-of-body experience. She was happy, truly happy, for the first time in a long, long time. And it wasn"t just the great s.e.x, which alone was enough to make her ecstatic. No, it was the sense of being accepted for herself, for who she was, flaws and all. And not just accepted, but appreciated. Jack had always had a way of making her feel special.
They had ended their day doing yard work, then showering together and making love again before falling into deep, manual-labor-tired sleep.
When the phone rang late that night, Jack uncurled his arm from around her naked body, reached across her and grabbed his cell phone lying on the bedside table.
"Yeah, Perdue here."
Because their bodies were so intimately aligned and he was lying halfway across her, she felt it when he instantly tensed.
"Son of a b.i.t.c.h!" He moved away from Cathy and swung his long legs off the opposite side of the bed. "I"m on my way." Pause. "No, no, I can find it."
Cathy sat up, reached out and grabbed Jack"s arm. "What is it? What"s happened?"
"Get up, honey, and put on some clothes," Jack told her as he flipped on the overhead light. "You can go with me, but you"ll have to stay in the car. Understand? There"s been another murder."
She slid to the edge of the bed and stood. "Who?" Her voice trembled.
He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Donnie Hovater."
"Merciful G.o.d!"
Fifteen minutes later, Jack parked in front of the house where Cathy had lived with Mark during the last years of their marriage. A row of emergency vehicles lined both sides of the quiet street located less than half a mile outside the city limits. One of the things she had always loved about this place was the two-acre lot that provided a huge front- and backyard. Residing here had combined the best of both town and country living.
When Jack opened the driver"s side door, he turned back and told Cathy, "Stay here."
"If I promise not to get in the way...?"
"As it is, Mike is going to chew my a.s.s out for bringing you with me." When she looked at him pleadingly, tears in her eyes, he heaved a heavy sigh. "Just keep your distance and don"t say or do anything. Understand?"
"Yes." She got out and followed him.
At the edge of the driveway, he paused when he saw Mike, who from the looks of him had also come straight out of his bed. It was only then that Cathy checked the time. She glanced down at her wrist.w.a.tch and noted that it was 1:48.
Mike threw up his hand and motioned to Jack. Then, when he saw Cathy, he frowned. While Jack walked toward his boss, she stayed at the end of the driveway but scanned the yard and the front of the house. Suddenly her heart leapt into her throat. Missy Hovater sat on the porch steps, her eyes glazed over as if she were in shock. A slender redheaded paramedic stood over her, talking to her. Cathy eased back out into the street and went around several vehicles, doing her best not to get in the way as she circled around and entered the yard from the other side. Everything maternal within her wanted to reach out to Missy, but what could she possibly do that the medic couldn"t?
She managed to get close enough to hear what the young man was saying to Missy and yet was still far enough away not to be intrusive.
"Miss Hovater, please let us help you. You"re in shock, and unless-"
"Don"t touch me," Missy cried. "I"m contaminated!"
"Please, miss, just let me put this blanket around your shoulders to keep you warm." He held the blanket out to show her.
"Get away from me!"
Another medic, a little older, approached and pulled the young man aside. "We"ll have to sedate her and take her to the hospital. Trying to talk to her isn"t working."
"Wait!" Cathy called out to them before she realized what she was doing.
Both men turned to her. "Who are you?" the older guy asked.
"I"m Cathy Cantrell. I"m a friend of the family. Missy knows me. Please let me talk to her."
The two men exchanged concerned glances. Then the older medic said, "Go ahead, ma"am. See what you can do."
Cathy took the blanket from the young medic, walked over to Missy and sat down beside her. "Missy, may I put this blanket around your shoulders?"
Missy looked at her, a blank expression in her eyes. She nodded. "All right, Mrs. Cantrell."
Cathy draped the lightweight blanket around the girl, then curved her arm over her shoulders and held her. "You"re not alone, Missy. I"m here. I"ll help you get through this."
Missy turned and looked directly at Cathy. "He"s dead."
Cathy took a deep breath and glanced at the older medic, who nodded his head. "Yes, darling, he"s dead." She gently stroked Missy"s back, ma.s.saging her soothingly.
"I"m glad he"s dead." Missy trembled uncontrollably. "I"ve thought about killing him so many times, but I just couldn"t work up the courage to do it."
Cathy"s breath tightened in her throat. My G.o.d! Had Missy just confessed to killing her father?
Chapter Twenty-seven
Cathy rode in the ambulance with Missy, holding her hand all the way to the hospital. Dunmore General was a county facility with an excellent emergency room and a small psychiatric unit. From her home to the hospital, Missy clung to Cathy"s hand as if it were a lifeline. She kept talking, often incoherently, about her father. Some of her ramblings made sense, some didn"t. But from what Cathy could make out, Donnie Hovater had not been the man everyone believed him to be. His daughter"s accusations painted a very ugly picture of the minister.
"I begged him not to," Missy kept saying over and over again. "He wouldn"t stop. I hated it. I hated him. I"m glad he"s dead."
"Hush, sweetie, hush." Cathy had known that with every word she spoke, Missy cast suspicion on herself, not just as her father"s murderer but as the Fire and Brimstone Killer. She didn"t believe this battered little girl was capable of such brutality, but when pushed beyond the limits of endurance, everyone was capable of just about anything.
The doctor admitted Missy to the psychiatric unit of Dunmore General after an initial examination and a brief questioning by Mike and Jack. But when the nurse started to wheel Missy away, she screamed for Cathy not to leave her. With the attending physician"s permission, Cathy was allowed to go with Missy.
Jack accompanied them, but once Missy was settled, he left the room after giving Cathy a quick good-bye kiss.
"How much trouble are you in for taking me to the murder scene with you tonight?" she asked as he started to close the door.
"Nothing I can"t handle."
"I"m sorry. I know I promised to stay out of the way, but when I saw Missy and realized what bad shape she was in, I knew I had to do something."
"It"s okay, honey. Mike didn"t take more than a couple of inches off my hide. And you did what you had to do, what"s your nature to do. You comforted a young girl in pain."
"Do you have to go?"
"Yeah, I need to get back to the scene of the crime," Jack explained. "Mike"s called in the task force, so the ABI unit could arrive at any time."
"Missy did not kill her father."
"Let"s hope not," Jack said. "I hate to leave you here, but I"ll be back as soon as I can."
Jack had left several hours ago, and Cathy had been sitting at Missy"s bedside ever since. She stood up and slipped out of the room while Missy slept. For nearly an hour after Missy fell asleep, she had continued to clasp Cathy"s hand, and whenever Cathy moved, Missy"s eyelids fluttered in a fretful manner.
Cathy went straight to the nurse"s station and asked where she could go to use her cell phone.
"There"s a small waiting room down the hall on your right. You can use your phone there or use the hospital phone that"s provided for visitors."
The waiting area was a room approximately twelve by twelve with one vinyl sofa and half a dozen chairs. Cathy slumped down on the sofa, opened her shoulder bag and retrieved her phone. She dialed Jack"s number. He answered on the fourth ring.
"Hey, honey, how"s it going?" he asked.
"Missy is finally sleeping. They had to give her another injection about an hour ago," Cathy said. "Are you still at the crime scene?"
"No, we finished up there about half an hour ago and left it to the CSI team from the state. Morgan is calling a task-force meeting for eight o"clock, so we"re going over the preliminary evidence on the Hovater case right now."
"Can you tell me if there is any evidence against Missy?"
"Honey, you know I can"t-"
"I know. Sorry I asked. I"m just so worried about her. If half of what she"s been saying is true, Donnie raped her repeatedly for years." Cathy drew in a shaky breath, doing her best not to cry.
"Cathy?"
"Hmm?"
"Call Elliott Floyd and either have him or someone he recommends handle the legal stuff for Missy," Jack said.
"You think she"ll need a lawyer?"
"Do it as a precaution. After all, she practically confessed in front of witnesses. Even if it turns out that there is no physical evidence against her, she"ll be questioned, and for that alone, a good lawyer at her side won"t hurt."
"I"ll call Elliott at six," Cathy said as she checked her watch. Ten till five. But first she had to make another phone call.
"As soon as the task-force meeting ends, I"ll try to get away and come by the hospital to pick you up. If you"re ready to leave before I get there, call Lorie."
"Yes, sir."
"Sorry, honey. I"m used to giving orders. I know you"re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself."