Page 70 of Hold a Candle

“Pauley, what in the devil are ye doing calling me at 3:00 in the morning?” Mica grumbled.”

“Were ye sleeping?”

Silence for a moment, then sarcasm. “Since I’m talking to ye, obviously I wasn’t. What do ye want?”

“Where’s Florence?”

“In the hospital, of course. Where else would she be after getting hit by lightning?” he asked testily. “They are keeping her overnight for observation. She’ll be interviewed at the station in the morning.”

“And how is Brodie?”

“Pauley, what are ye getting at? Brodie is stable. He made it through the surgery and he should be fine, although he’s still in critical condition. What’s with the 20 questions?” Mica was starting to sound pissed.

“I just talked to Angel. Theonlysets of fingerprints on Florence’s rifle belonged to Florence.”

There was silence again as Mica absorbed the possibilities and then he swore. “Cripes. Have we been played, Pauley?”

“What if Florence is in this up to her neck?” Pauley suggested. “Wouldn’t Brodie be a loose end if he wasn’t in it with her? Mayhap she is the one tying up loose ends. Mayhap she wasn’t forced to be here tonight, but was simply accompanied by Juice. And remember, she said her son was with his father? Does that sound like a professional hitman, making idle threats? Fortune favored her by Juice getting fried and presenting her with an alibi and someone to blame for her being here.”

“I’m on it, Pauley. I’m heading over to the hospital now. There should be a guard on Brodie’s room, but they won’t keepherfrom going in. It’s the perfect opportunity to finish him off.”

“I’m coming into town. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

Mica practically shouted into the phone. “Nay, Pauley. Ye stay there with Luca and Belton. If ye came into town and someone else tried to get Luca and Belton, ye’d never forgive yerself. I can handle it from here, and I’ll call Quinn and let him know.”

Pauley knew Mica was right, but she itched to get into the action. “Yer right,” she said grudgingly. “Let me know what happens.”

“Side lined again?” Jamie teased.

“Aye,” she said glumly, tugging at her jeans and panties. “Cripes,” she hissed as she stood up to slide them over her tender buttocks.

Jamie stood up with her and chuckled. “A bit sore, are we?” He ran his palms lovingly over her toasted globes and helped her get her clothes back in place.

“Wearen’t sore,” she retorted, shooting him a fierce glare.

“Ye asked for it,” he replied simply, “and I was more than willing to deliver.”

“It sounds like ye enjoyed it,” she accused, her eyes narrowing at him.

His arms embraced her slender body. “I enjoyed giving ye pleasure and taking yer mind off the situation for a while. I think ye needed that. I also enjoy giving ye what ye need, what makes ye happy and relaxed. So, aye, I did enjoy it in that regard. Causing ye pain isn’t an enjoyment, but sometimes the best pleasures in life are coupled with a little pain.”

Pauley arched an eyebrow. “I’ll let that pass for the moment, but I think I’ll need some samples of what yer talking about to truly believe that.”

“The ying and yang of pleasure and pain is well documented,” he assured her.

Pauley knew he was right but didn’t want to expand on the point, so she let it pass.

“Come on,” she said, picking up the blanket. “If we are going to spy on the back pastures until morning, let’s open one of the doors. That way we can keep an eye on the barracks where the boys are as well.”

When they had the door open, Jamie spread the blanket out and they lay on their stomachs and took turns with the binoculars. The landscape spread out before them, awesome and silent beneath a watchful moon.

Pauley adjusted the binoculars and leaned out the door and swept the base of Kelly Woods, looking for Juice’s figure in the tree. Was he still out there? Or had he fallen off the limb by now? There was no wind at all, a deathly stillness permeating everything. When his face suddenly filled the view, she almost dropped the binoculars. “I can see Juice from here,” she told Jamie, her body shuddering.

“Can ye see his hands?” Jamie asked. “Can we even be sure it’s Juice? If Florence is lying, she could be lying about that too. It might be someone else out there.”

Pauley’s gaze flickered down the body, looking for his right hand. It was there, along with his left hand, burned forever into the clothing of his body as if he’d grabbed his heart in fright. There was little doubt he died in fear, his mouth was gaping open as if he’d screamed in his last breath of life. The ring was there as well, the same one she’d seen on his hand at the bar. DNA would provide the rest of the proof.

“It’s him,” she whispered to Jamie, feeling half sick to her stomach. “At least the ring I saw is on his hand. What’s left of it anyway.” She turned to Jamie. “Do ye think it was lightning? Or could it really have been the Ghillie Dhu?”

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