Familiar Vows

“So if Robert Maxim finds Lorry and kills her, we can just mark it down as an accidental death.”

Her head was throbbing so hard, she thought she might throw up. Preferably on his boots. She hated to have her nose rubbed in a mistake. Her parents were masters at this behavior and had shoved every tiny misstep back in her face. Until she’d found the grit to move to New York and follow her dream.

“That’s not what I meant,” she said through clenched teeth. “All I’m saying is that this didn’t happen because I didn’t care.” She held up her hands. Why was she trying to explain this to a cowboy?

“Pack a bag. I’ve got to get you out of here. If I can find you, so can the Maxims.”

“I’m not going anywhere, and you aren’t going to panic me into doing something insane, like get on a plane with a man I don’t know at all and who may himself be a psycho killer.”

Lucas laughed, but it wasn’t from amusement. “That scar on Lorry’s neck?”

He watched her like a hawk, waiting for the moment to pounce. She wanted to squirm, but she wouldn’t allow herself. “I saw the scar.”

“Antonio Maxim ordered his men to cut her throat and throw her in the river so she couldn’t testify against him. He’ll do worse to you, because he’ll want information.”

His words were having an effect, though she would die before she let him see it. “And what did this Antonio Maxim do that was so awful?”

Lucas glanced down, but only for a split second. When he locked eyes with Michelle again, he looked madder than ever. “He killed my brother, an undercover cop, and he’s responsible for hundreds of young girls ending up as prostitutes and drug addicts. Is that bad enough for you?”

She found a chair with her hand and slowly lowered her body into it. Murder, forced prostitution, drugs. She wasn’t an innocent. She knew the city had a million layers, and at the bottom there was a lot of pain and suffering.

Never had she expected to find it on her doorstep, though.

“Is Lorry okay?”

“My friend has been trying to find her since that newscast aired last night. As of this morning, both she and Charles have vanished.”

Michelle felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut. “Vanished as in left by their own choice, or vanished as in someone took them?”

“I won’t be able to tell until I look. That’s why you’re packing a bag and we’re going to Mobile, Alabama. As much as I’d like to put you in a safe house, I can’t. I’m Lorry’s best chance at survival, and you’re going with me.”

Michelle was about to protest when she heard the strangest sound.

“What’s that?” She rose slowly. It sounded as if someone was scratching wood.

She started toward the door, but Lucas pulled her back and stepped in front of her. He moved with grace and authority.

His hand went to his side, and she knew instinctively that he was reaching for a weapon. Whatever he’d done in his past, he was used to carrying a firearm. But his hand came back empty. For once, she would have been glad to see some kind of gun in someone’s hand.

The scratching came again.

When Lucas looked out the peephole of her door, he muttered under his breath.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“There’s no one there.”

Yet the scratching came once more.

Lucas opened the door slowly. They both looked down at the black cat, which stared back up at them.

“Is that the cat from the wedding and from the gallery?” Michelle asked. Along with her pounding head, she was now suffering from hallucinations.

“I’ll be…a five-toed Texas longhorn.” Lucas stepped back, and the cat entered the room with an air of royalty.

“How does he get around town?” Michelle asked.

“Danged if I know,” Lucas answered. “But he does. Eleanor swears he’s a private investigator. He gets calls from all around the world.”

Pressing her hands to her temples, Michelle headed to the small kitchen. She put on the pot for coffee. The man ordering her around her own apartment could just wait until she got a jolt of caffeine in her system. She couldn’t deal with murderers, dead brothers, witness protection and cats who solved mysteries without some coffee. Something much stronger might even be better.

INSTEAD OF ARGUING, LUCAS yielded on the coffee. Time was short, but it would do no good to bully Michelle. He’d seen her distress, and he knew it was real. She’d never intended for any of the events that had taken place to occur. He sure knew what that felt like.

While Michelle brewed the coffee, he called Eleanor and told her Familiar had shown up.

“I told you,” Eleanor said. “Let him help you, Lucas. He has a gift.”

“I’m finding this a bit hard to swallow.”

She laughed. “It’s tough on the U.S. marshal ego to rely on a cat, but he will help, if you let him. He’s fond of Lorry, and he’s got a thing for that photographer. Familiar has excellent taste in women. He picked me out to be his owner.”

Lucas couldn’t help but smile. It was an intrguing concept—that the cat had an interest in Michelle. But he had shown up at the gallery and now at her apartment. No. It was too crazy to concede.

“When we leave, I’ll call you, and you can come and pick him up.”

“Okay.”

He hung up and went to the kitchen, where he laid out the travel plans for Michelle. Her color was better as she sipped the strong black coffee. His cup remained untouched. He was already jittery. Too much adrenaline and too little sleep.

“We’ll take the eleven o’clock flight south. I’ve already booked us seats.”

“I’m not going.” Michelle’s hazel eyes dared him to contradict her.

He was happy to oblige. “You are. I’ve already told you that it’s dangerous to stay here. They know you saw Lorry. They’re going to be looking for you, and when they catch you, it won’t do any good to say you don’t know her. You photographed her wedding. They will hurt you.”

“I’m not going.”

His temper jumped so high, he felt the pulse in his jaw. Why was Michelle being so ornery when he was trying to save her from being hurt?

“You’re going, and you’re going to behave.” He could see that his authoritative manner was only antagonizing her more.

“I’m going to shower and dress.” She downed the last of the coffee and stood.

“Now that’s a sensible way to act.”

She didn’t comment as she left the room and went to what he presumed was her bathroom, to get ready. He drummed his fingers on the table and watched the black cat, who was snooping around the apartment.

A cat detective. Even in Texas, where the tales were tall, he’d never heard of such a thing.

The cat sashayed out of the kitchen, and he was left alone with his thoughts. Lorry would be careful. She knew what was at stake, and she’d take precautions. Once he found her place, he’d search it and figure out where she might have gone. But he had to get there first, before Robert Maxim sent some of his goons.

He paced the kitchen, and as he moved toward the narrow hallway, he heard the shower running. He checked his watch. Ten minutes. How long did it take a woman to shower?

Moving back to the table, he sat and drummed his fingers more. Patience was not one of his virtues, and the years of working as a law officer hadn’t helped any. That was one of the things he loved about the job. Action and more action.

Harry had loved his work, too. He thought about his brother, how he’d been so excited about going to New York undercover. Harry had been caught up in the case of a young Austin girl who’d disappeared. Her trail had led straight to New York and Antonio Maxim.

The NYPD had found her body in a Dumpster outside a fleabag hotel. She’d been loaded with drugs and then stabbed. It had deeply disturbed Harry, and his investigation of Antonio Maxim had become personal. Very personal.

A loud cry came from the living room. It sounded like a cat in distress. He jumped to his feet just as the door slammed.

Dang it all to hell and back! He was across the living room and into the hall just in time to see Michelle disappear down the stairs. The crazy woman was running away from him. The black cat was right on her heels.

He was a flight of stairs behind her, and once she got to the street, she might disappear into the crowds of pedestrians that streamed down the city sidewalks.

“Michelle!” He called her name, but she didn’t slow. “Michelle! Don’t do this!”

He was on the sidewalk when he saw her at the bus stop, moving fast. To his utter amazement, the black cat darted between her feet.

In another moment, she was sprawling on the sidewalk, cursing the cat like a whorehouse hussy. Lucas jogged to her side.

He offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet. “That’s some impressive language.”

She gave him a look that would curdle goat milk. “That cat tripped me on purpose.”

“So it would seem.” Lucas bent down to stroke Familiar’s back. The cat purred and rubbed against his legs. “Glad to see at least he has good sense. I guess I owe Eleanor an apology.”

“He could have broken my neck.”

“Which would be a lot less painful than what the Maxims will do to you if they catch you.” Lucas surveyed the area. Except for a black car with heavily tinted windows parked halfway down the block, motor running, nothing looked suspicious. The car was expensive and could easily be a hired car or ride for a corporate type. Then again, Antonio Maxim didn’t hire thugs who looked like thugs. His men maintained the appearance of white-collar professionals. The car made him nervous. “Let’s go,” he said to Michelle.

She dusted her hands on her jeans and started back toward the apartment. Lucas walked beside her, the cat right in step with them both.

“We’re taking the cat to Mobile,” he said.

When he didn’t get an argument from Michelle, he hid the grin that touched his mouth and made his eyes crinkle. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Now all they had to do was get to the airport and board their flight—without being followed.

Chapter Five

By the time the plane touched down in Mobile, Michelle had gone from seething to worried. Her actions, though innocent, had created a landslide of possible tragedy. No matter how she thought it through, she’d put a woman at risk. Not to mention herself, provided Lucas wasn’t exaggerating.

He’d been a gentleman for the entire trip, making sure she had food and coffee and something to read, but she could tell he viewed her as the cause of trouble. The accusation was there in his intense gray gaze.

The cat, on the other hand, had curled up in her lap and gone to sleep, waking only to charm the flight attendant out of some heavy whipping cream. He was certainly a special creature.

As they walked through the small Mobile airport, she glanced at Lucas. He was a handsome man, even when he was displeased—which seemed to be most of the time. And he was as edgy as a cat on a fence. He kept looking behind him, and then left and right, as if he expected the bad guys to jump out from behind a potted shrub. Or that she was going to make a break for freedom. She bit her lip at the memory of her failed escape.

Lucas had good reason to be annoyed with her, but she wasn’t going to apologize again. Apologies wouldn’t change a blasted thing, and she’d done it once and meant it. If he couldn’t accept it, that was his issue, not hers.

Lucas rented a car, and they drove through the old downtown of the port city that had served under seven flags of occupation. In the older parts of town, where developers hadn’t run rampant, oak trees canopied the street.

The antebellum homes, set back from the road, on lawns filled with the floral frills of a subtropical climate, spoke to Michelle of another time, when chivalry and honor were supposed to be important. How in the world had she ended up in such a mess as this? She’d only wanted to do her job, to take photographs.

They entered a tunnel that went beneath the Mobile River, and when they reemerged, she looked out the window on glittering Mobile Bay, which she remembered from her previous trip. Lucas ignored the beauty of the scene, focusing entirely on his driving and on watching the rearview mirror. Even the cat kept looking behind them. She glanced back, wondering if she’d be able to detect a tail if there was one behind them. The idea made her distinctly uncomfortable, so she focused on the road ahead of them.

They were close now. She could only hope that they’d find Lorry and Charles safely at home, honeymooning and not answering the phone. Once Lucas had Lorry safely in his care, maybe he’d let her return to New York and her life.

“What happens when we find her?” Michelle asked.

“I’ll get her back to Austin. The marshals will help her get a new identity.” He gave Michelle a hard look. “And you, too.”

“Me, too, what?” Michelle asked. The bottom had dropped out of her stomach.

“A new identity. The Maxim family won’t give up, Michelle. You’ve stepped into this now, and if you’ll pardon the Texas slang, you’ve got it all over your boots. You’re tracking it behind you, and there’s no way around it.”

“I will not give up my identity.” The very idea of it made her want to open the car door and risk bodily harm in an attempt to escape Lucas. “Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to build a name and reputation? The years of—”

“Is it worth your life?”

“That’s not a fair question.”

“Do you think what happened to Lorry is fair? She stumbled on a murder. She lost her family, everything. And now she’s going to have to lose it a second time, because of you. Talk to me about what’s fair now.”

Michelle couldn’t answer. The lump in her throat was too big, too painful. Everything Lucas said was true. Had she never printed the photograph, none of this would have happened. Her moment of vanity had brought this down on the heads of everyone involved.

They crossed the bay and turned left at the intersection.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas said softly. “That was cruel, and I shouldn’t have said it that way.”

“It’s true. How else is there to say it?” She stared straight ahead, fighting to control her emotions and the rising panic.

“You didn’t mean for this to happen, but it has. Now the easiest thing for all of us is to deal with it. To figure out the safest thing for you and Lorry and make sure that happens.”

“My name is everything. If I have to change it, I won’t have a career or a way to make a living.”

Lucas sighed. “People adapt, Michelle. A different life is better than being tortured to death. That’s what will happen if the Maxims get their hands on you.”

“What if we can’t find Lorry?” As soon as the question was out of her mouth, the black cat sat up and put a paw on her lips.

“Listen to the cat,” Lucas said. “Don’t go there. Don’t even think that.”

“Shouldn’t you call in the feds?” she asked.

She knew it was the wrong question by the way his hands clenched the steering wheel. The truth was, it seemed that no question she asked was the right one. He’d made her feel like crap, and now he was acting like she was a nitwit.

“What? Did I say something wrong? Isn’t it normal to call in the FBI when a person is presumed to have been kidnapped and possibly tortured because she’s a witness in a murder case?”

“You can’t let it go, can you?” Lucas responded, his hands tightening on the wheel.

“No, I can’t. You’re telling me I have to reinvent myself, but you won’t answer a single question.”

“Here’s your answer then. Someone blew my brother’s cover. I can’t prove anything, but I don’t trust the FBI, the marshals or anyone else. Lorry is my responsibility, and like it or not, so are you. Lorry is in this because she wanted to help me achieve justice for my brother’s murder. She could have run away or ‘forgotten’ what she saw.” But she stood her ground and told the truth. Now, because of your photo, she could be killed. So I’ll find Lorry, and I’ll protect her. Once Antonio’s appeal is over, maybe we can put this behind us. Until then, I can’t risk putting my trust in anyone. Not the feds, not the marshals, not even my partner, who was like a brother to me.”

She remembered the way his hand had gone for a gun. “You’re a cop, too, aren’t you?”

“Not anymore.”

She could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, but so what? She didn’t want to be in the car with him. “What kind of cop?”

“A federal one. Not FBI.”

“So your brother worked for the Dallas police and you were with the U.S. marshals?”

He gave her a look that told her to shut up and back off.

“Is your dad in law enforcement?”

His sigh was long and loud. “My past is my business, Michelle. Drop it, okay?”

“So you’re the only one who can ask questions?”

“Ask questions about something else.”

“Like what? The weather? It isn’t as if we share a whole bunch of interests. What about golf? Is that a good topic?” She was deviling him now, and it was satisfying.

She felt the cat’s sharp claws dig into her thigh. “Ouch!”

Lucas laughed, and she saw what he might look like if he didn’t carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was a striking man.

“Are you married?” she asked.

“Man, you just go from bad to worse, don’t you?”

“Divorced, eh?” She felt a moment of strange kinship. “Must have been bad, too, from the way you’re acting.”

He drove in silence, and she looked out the window. They’d circled around and cut through the woods, so that they were cresting a high bluff that gave frequent glimpses of the bay flashing by. She was struck by a memory, and she spoke before she thought. “You know, when I was a kid, I came to Alabama to camp. A photography camp. That was the best summer of my life.”

She felt his gaze on her, but she kept her eyes focused out the window. The water was beautiful in the afternoon light. How was it possible that only a few weeks earlier, she’d crossed the same body of water on her way to photograph a wedding? Her world had been in order. She’d been dreaming of her gallery opening, something that she’d walked away from without even a phone call to Marco. Lucas hadn’t allowed her to contact anyone.

Her cell phone was in her purse, and she could call the gallery owner as soon as she got a moment alone, but Lucas had warned her that anyone she drew into her web of trouble could be hurt.

She wouldn’t put Marco or Kevin at risk. They would worry for her, but worry was better than being tortured or killed. And for whatever strange reason, she believed Lucas. He wasn’t the kind of man who exaggerated the danger that now surrounded her and Lorry.

“I know you didn’t mean for this to happen,” Lucas said.

She wanted to pretend to clean her ears, as if she hadn’t heard properly. Sarcasm had always been her best defense. Instead, she asked, “What if Lorry is hurt?”

“Think positive, but be on the alert for negative.”

“Is that the lawman’s code?” Her emotions shifted yet again, and she found tears welling in her eyes. She didn’t like to cry in front of people. Had never liked it. She’d been taught it was a weakness, and her parents detested weakness in any form.

“It’s my code. Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you and accused you of things.”

“It was the truth.”

Familiar stretched and licked her chin, giving her comfort she hadn’t realized she craved. He used his head to butt her cheek, and she felt her spirits lift a little.

“Truth is a strange thing, Michelle. You could never have known why I didn’t want Lorry’s picture taken. I couldn’t tell you. After I saw the photograph, I understood why you wanted a print for yourself.”

“It was meant only for me. It may be the best work I’ve ever done, but I would never deliberately have shown it without permission.”

He took a single-track lane deep into the beautiful woods.

“Let’s make a deal,” Lucas said. “We put the past behind us. We forget how all this began and simply do our best to bring it to the right conclusion.”

She wanted to nod, but something held her back. Guilt? Remorse? Stubbornness? She wasn’t certain. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this. You’ve had enough loss.”

“This was part of my job. I’m not a lawman anymore, so this time I’m not bound by the conduct that governs law officers.”

His voice was so cold and deadly that a chill slid over her. “What does that mean?”

“It means that as an officer of the law, I was sworn to bring Antonio in alive. Or at least to try to.”

“And now?”

“If Robert or any of his goons have harmed Lorry, I’ll do whatever I have to do.”

She swallowed. A question stuck in her throat. Sometimes it was best not to know. As they turned down a tree-shaded lane toward a lovely cottage, she realized that she’d just learned her first valuable lesson from Lucas.

EVER SINCE LUCAS GOT LORRY and Charles’s address from Eleanor, he’s been focused on getting to Spanish Fort. I didn’t see anything suspicious in the Mobile airport, but I had the sense that we were being followed at Kennedy. There were men outside Michelle’s apartment this morning. Lucas saw them. He did his best to give them the slip, getting the cab driver to head toward Brooklyn and then veer off to the airport. I’m not certain he was successful, though. This Maxim organization has a long reach.

Michelle is wallowing in guilt. Both of them have forgotten that a cat needs sustenance. The cream on the plane was a nice surprise, but let’s just say I’m not the type of cat who likes a liquid diet. The bipeds don’t understand that I need small, frequent meals. It’s part of my diet plan to maintain my svelte figure.

So here’s Lorry’s cottage. Cute as a button, and just exactly what I would have imagined. Big screened porch to watch the sunset over the bay, shady lawn with that lush green grass that folks around here call Centipede. It’s heavenly.

And a kitchen stocked with food. Let’s see. Once I find something edible, my brain will work better. Hmm, a small tin of sardines. Well, it isn’t up to my normal standards, but if I can get Miss Shutterbug’s attention, she can open it for me.

Ah, she’s not as self-absorbed as she acts. She has it open and has dumped it in a saucer for me. A tasty little snack to tide me over until mealtime. Fish oil is vital to the health of my coat, after all.

Now let’s see. Lucas is searching the living room. And Michelle has the bedroom, though she doesn’t even have a grasp of what she might be looking for. I’ll take the bathroom. Always a few good clues there.

The medicine cabinet is empty. Now that’s a big clue. Most people take only what they need for a trip. This bathroom has been stripped down. And I hear Michelle.

“LUCAS, SOME OF THE DRAWERS in here are empty. It looks like all of Lorry’s personal items are all gone.”

UH-OH. A PERSON doesn’t pack everything for a honeymoon. Not even a long one. This doesn’t look good.

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