Page 54 of Roark
“She got blown up, that’s what happened,” Aunt Birdie snapped. “We were both almost killed.”
Aunt Birdie dropped down into the chair Tamika’s mother had previously sat in and put her case on the floor beside her. When she sat back in the chair, Tamika could see how tired the older woman really was. Tired and afraid. Her eyes closed as she released a heavy sigh. She didn’t fold her hands together and let them fall into her lap the way Tamika thought she would; instead she clamped her hands on the arms of the chair as if that action was somehow steadying her.
“There was an explosion,” Suri said, her tone much calmer than Aunt Birdie’s had been. “I came home from a date, and there was someone standing across the street. A guy I believe, dressed in all black and wearing a hood over his head. I went inside to make sure Aunt Birdie was okay. She was, but when I looked out the window, the guy was still there. That’s when I grabbed my gun—”
“Whoa, wait a minute. You have a gun?” Roark was clearly surprised by that revelation.
Suri gave him a look as if that were old news. Tamika found the exchange endearing, even though the circumstances were dire. “Yes, I have a gun, Roark. I’m a thirty-year-old woman who knows how to protect herself.”
Roark looked as if he wanted to say something else, but thankfully thought better of it and just waited for her to continue.
“I grabbed my gun and ran back downstairs. I was just going to point it at him and tell him to get lost. I never planned on shooting anybody, even though I’m a damn good shot.” The last was said with an edge of pride. “But before I could even get to the door, it literally blew up in my face.”
“He planted a bomb at your house.” Tamika spoke slowly, letting the words and the weight of that comment settle in.
Roark jerked his head in her direction. “She’s not his target. He doesn’t even know her.”
Tamika swallowed, trying to wrap her mind around all the things that were happening, and dread settled in the pit of her stomach. “But you don’t believe in coincidences. Don’t you remember telling me that?”
“Will somebody tell me what’s going on?” Suri asked.
“How’d you get here, Suri? Didn’t the police come? Who in the hell let you walk away from an explosion without calling for an ambulance and sending you both straight to the hospital?”
“Police and ambulances arrived. Firefighters too. They say it was a car bomb, in one of the cars across the street. Right where I saw the man standing.” She gave a shaky sigh. “The blast wasn’t close enough to the house to cause more than broken windows to the front. Or the bomb wasn’t big enough. I forget which one they said.”
“They?” Roark pressed. “The cops or the firefighters?”
“Detective Gibbons. The one we spoke to at the solicitor’s office that day. He was there and he said that if this were meant to kill us, it would’ve. He had so many questions. He wanted to know where you were and whose name the flat was in, and when was the last time I saw you. Aunt Birdie yelled at him to get a warrant and arrest us if he thought we were guilty of a crime. I told him to contact Mr. Burrows, and then we packed up some stuff, got in the car and came straight here. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Roark pulled his sister gingerly to him for a hug then. “You did the right thing,” he whispered.
“Paramedics are here.” Jack came in with two men on his heels, both wearing medical jackets and carrying duffel bags.
Tamika watched for a few seconds as Roark stayed close to his sister while the medics began examining her. Then she turned her attention back to Aunt Birdie, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet in the past few moments. Not that she knew the woman all that well to know it wasn’t usual for her to be quiet, but since their impromptu meeting, the woman had much to say, so to be silent now was a little alarming.
Moving closer to the chair where the older woman still sat, Tamika took a chance and put her hand on top of hers before clearing her throat. “Miss…um, Bird…uh, ma’am? Are you alright? Is there something I can get you, or do you need to be seen by the paramedics as well?”
The woman cracked an eye open slowly, peering at Tamika as if she suspected she might be trying to steal something from her. “I take my coffee with lots of cream and sugar. And while you’re getting it, tell that woman to hurry with my room. I need to lay down.”
There was no sarcasm or edginess to her words, just simple statements spoken in a tone that said she’d been through a lot. For the second time today, or night, Tamika felt a pang of sorrow for the suffering people around her were going through. She’d known Aunt Birdie for about fifteen minutes, and yet that didn’t stop her from hurting for the woman who’d probably never experienced anything like this before.
Well, that made two of them, because as she left the parlor and headed to the kitchen, Tamika thought about the chaotic turn things had taken in her life. She didn’t know how it was all going to end and that frightened her, so much that she stood in the doorway of the kitchen and once again considered praying. Realizing the right words still wouldn’t come to her, she repeated what she’d said before, “Please. Please.” She hoped they’d be enough.
Chapter 17
In the week since Roark had been at the clubhouse, there’d never been as much activity as there was right now.
It was a little after ten in the morning, and breakfast was being served in the main dining room. This announcement from Dorianne had brought everyone downstairs to sit at the massive glossed oak table with its matching high-backed chairs. In the center of the table was an enormous fresh flower arrangement, and table settings had been arranged for each of the guests in the house.
“Like I said yesterday, fancy,” Sandra said when she made her way to the table and was about to take a seat in one of the chairs closest to the door.
Tuppence was right behind Sandra and immediately touched her arm. “It’s a beautiful day, Sandra; let’s sit closer to the window. And maybe later we can take a walk in the gardens. Roark told me all about them while he was helping me yesterday. He said his mother had a beautiful garden in London, but this one was bigger and better.”
Roark watched the two women walk and talk. There was a friendship there, not just an employee/employer relationship. He’d often seen that with the way his mother had always dealt with the staff at their home in Hyde Park and the way his father had taught him to work alongside his staff at the oilwell. This line of thought steered him back to Aunt Birdie’s comment about him sleeping with the staff last night. Tamika hadn’t seemed too bothered by it, but it hadn’t sat right with Roark, and he wondered belatedly if he should’ve said something more to set his aunt straight.
There’d been so much going on last night that he hadn’t really had time to think everything through. Even now, after they all had finally been able to go to bed and get some rest, Roark still didn’t know what to expect next. This big “family” breakfast, for one, wasn’t anything he’d ever thought would be taking place. Not here, not with these particular people and especially not now.
“Good morning,” Suri said when she entered the room. “I was told to come down for breakfast.”
