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“As always, Norman, you’ve missed the point. The warden, as you call my mother, could come back at any time. I don’t want her to find you here.” CJ sounded upset but Oakley could see that he was more scared than angry.
Frankie and Norman. The Lees brothers whom they’d heard about at Dirty Business. So these really were the gas company thugs that had been hired. But what were they doing here?
“Don’t talk to my brother that way,” Frankie said as he advanced on CJ.
To her brother’s credit, he held his ground. “The point is you’re not supposed to be here.”
Frankie grabbed the arms of the wheelchair and leaned down to whisper in CJ’s ear. She watched her brother’s face and, while she couldn’t hear what Frankie was saying, she could tell by CJ’s expression that the man was threatening him.
“I told you,” CJ said, his voice breaking.
“I know what you told us, but we haven’t seen you,” Norman said as if trying to ease the tension that had filled the room.
Frankie shoved the wheelchair back a few feet before turning his back on CJ. “It crossed my mind that you might be thinking of making a deal with the law to save yourself from doing time.” He turned quickly and glared at her brother. “That would be a big mistake on your part. Trust me when I tell you that I can get to you here or in jail. Not even your mother will be able to protect you if you narc on me, let alone double cross me.”
“I’m sure CJ wouldn’t—” Norman started to say.
Frankie cut him off when he moved swiftly to CJ, grabbing his right arm. Oakley heard her brother let out a gasp, then a cry of pain. She took a step, ready to go to his defense before Frankie stepped back again—and she came to her senses.
“Tell me that we understand each other,” Frankie said.
CJ acknowledged with a pained nod.
“Good. I’ll be waiting to hear from you, then. Don’t make me wait too long.” With that, Frankie headed for the door, his brother behind him.
Oakley stood, trying to make sense out of what she’d heard. What were the brothers the gas company had hired to protect their equipment and catch vandals doing here threatening CJ?
Clearly, they knew him, seemed to have dealings with him. It made no sense. She listened as the men left before she came the rest of the way down the stairs.
CJ looked up and tried to hide his surprise and fear at seeing her. He’d been rubbing his arm and the angry bright red spot on it. Now he covered it with his sleeve. “I didn’t know you were home.” He made it sound like an accusation. He looked both angry and at the same time embarrassed, afraid he’d been caught?
“Perhaps you forgot that I live here,” she said.
In answer, he started to turn his wheelchair back toward the hallway to the guest room.
“Before you go, how about you tell me why those two men were threatening you.”
“It’s none of your business.” He wheeled toward the hall.
“Bet Mom would like to hear about it.”
He stopped and turned slowly to face her. She remembered her earlier feeling of fear being in the house alone with him. She told herself that he couldn’t stand, let alone walk. If he could, wouldn’t he have risen from the chair to confront the men? Or was he pretending to be helpless so they wouldn’t hurt him any worse?
“You know what your problem is, Oakley?” he said, wheeling toward her. “You don’t know how to keep your nose out of other people’s business.” She didn’t move, even when his chair stopped dangerously close to her bare feet. “You haven’t figured out that it is bad for your health. I guess being shot and almost dying didn’t teach you anything.”
“You’re wrong,” she said, sounding more confident than she felt with him so close and fury darkening his narrowed eyes. “I’ve learned a whole lot. Especially about you, CJ. I knew this wasn’t about me being on McKenna land. You are up to your neck in whatever it is I saw that day and it’s bad or those two thugs wouldn’t be here threatening you. It sounds a lot more dangerous for you than for me.”
She started to turn when he grabbed her arm, his fingers digging maliciously into her flesh. “Tell Mother or anyone else and you’re dead.” He let go of her arm and turned his chair around to leave again.
“So it does have something to do with why you shot me,” she said to his retreating back. She pulled her phone from the pocket of her pajama bottoms. Rewound for a few seconds and hit Play.
Tell Mother or anyone else and you’re dead.
She snapped it off as he whirled around and started to get out of the chair.
ATTHEMANSION’Sfront door, Pickett rang the bell and waited. He knew he was expected since someone had let the town car in through the gate so quickly. He figured Sarah since she was the one who set everything up as she’d done for years for his father. For that reason, he wasn’t surprised that she was the one who answered the door.
She was dressed much as she’d been when he’d last seen her, this time in a gray suit with a freshly laundered crisp white blouse and low heels as if trapped in a role she’d had to play, one that required hiding her true feelings. That stern, hard look was still in her blue eyes, but he noticed a weakness in her usually rigid frame. She wasn’t as strong as she wanted him to believe.
