CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TIPPY WAS GLAD that Mrs. Jewell was away for the day, so that she wouldn’t be seen crying her eyes out. She put the meat in the refrigerator and sat down in the living room until the tears abated.
She’d just made herself a cup of coffee when Cash drove up in the yard. At the same moment, two women knocked at the back door.
Tippy went to answer it, wishing her eyes weren’t red.
The two women in the grocery store were standing there, looking miserable. One had a basket of cheese and crackers tied with a bow, the other had a small bud vase with a yellow rose in it.
Tippy’s mouth fell open.
“We wanted to say how sorry we were, for the things we said,” the elder of the two said quietly. “You were right. We do believe things when we see them in print, even when they’re not true. But we don’t believe those lies anymore, and we’re making it our business to see that nobody else in Jacobsville believes them, either. Here.” She pushed the basket awkwardly into Tippy’s hands.
“This, too,” the younger woman said with a wan smile. “We won’t keep you. We just wanted to apologize.”
“Thank you,” Tippy said, and she smiled back. “It means more than you know.”
The women glanced over her shoulder at Cash. “We’re pretty proud of you, too, Mr. Grier,” the elder said. “We hope you won’t let that scalawag Ben Brady take away your job, or those policemen’s jobs, either.”
“I won’t,” he promised.
They smiled shyly and left quickly.
When they were in the kitchen with the door closed, Cash looked at the gifts in Tippy’s hands and her red, swollen eyes. “What happened?”
“I went to the store,” she confessed. “They made some comments about the front page of the latest tabloid.”
“I saw it. That’s why I came home.” He took her by both shoulders and looked down at her. “I’ve already taken measures to stop it.”
“You have? What?” she asked worriedly.
“Something public. You do realize that our best bet is to draw that third kidnapper down here and deal with him on our own ground?” he added quietly.
She sighed. “Yes.” She hesitated, though, because it would mean that Cash could get hurt defending her.
He tilted her face up to his. He bent and kissed her with breathless tenderness. “Everything’s going to be all right. Don’t cry anymore.”
She managed a smile. “Okay.”
“Want to go to a political rally with me tonight?” he added with a smile. “It’s for Calhoun Ballenger. You can meet some of the local aristocracy.”
“I don’t look good enough to go out.”
“Nonsense. You’re a heroine. You’ll look great.”
She was thrilled that he wanted people to know she was with him. “Okay, then. I’m making you lasagna for supper,” she added.
He grinned. “My favorite.”
“I noticed. Be careful out there.”
“You know it.” He winked and left her alone with her thoughts.
CALHOUN BALLENGER’S political rally was held at Shea’s out on the Victoria Road. It was a roadhouse and bar, but always well policed and it had been quiet since the recent trouble with the notorious Clark brothers. John Clark was killed in a shootout with Judd Dunn and a bank security guard up in Victoria, while attempting to rob a bank. His brother Jack tried to gun down Judd Dunn in revenge, hit Christabel Gaines instead, and ended up in prison for life for the attempted murder of Christabel as well as the revenge murder of a young woman in Victoria who’d had him sent to prison for rape.
Cash introduced Tippy to the other guests, his pride in her very obvious. She smiled and shook hands and entranced every man under fifty. But, as always, she had eyes only for Cash, and it showed.
When they got out on the dance floor, she melted into his arms. It hadn’t been a long time since Cash had fascinated the populace doing Latin dances with Crissy Dunn. But that was before she married Judd and gave birth to twins. He knew Tippy wasn’t up to fast dancing, so he kept a gentle pace on the floor.
She lifted her green eyes to his dark ones and looked as if she couldn’t bear to look away. He smiled at her. The gossips got busy. Where there was smoke, they assured each other, there was fire.
Cash was still worried about the third kidnapper, who might come after Tippy. He beefed up patrols around his house and cautioned Tippy about locking doors when he wasn’t home. He couldn’t bear to think of anything happening to her.
The week before the hearing of his officers at city hall, Cash came home from work to have lunch one day and found Tippy in the kitchen preparing food. She was barefoot, wearing a long full circle denim skirt and a simple blue checked button-up blouse. Her long glorious hair was in a ponytail secured by a rubber band, and she wasn’t wearing makeup. She looked as fresh as morning itself, and Cash paused in the doorway, just filling his eyes with her as she put a jar back in the refrigerator.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, and her green eyes danced with delight. “You’re early,” she exclaimed. “I’m making a spice bread loaf to go with a tuna salad…it’s almost done.”
“I’ve got time,” he said easily, slipping off his duty belt and looping it over the back of his chair. He stretched largely, displaying formidable muscles in his arms. “I can have an hour for lunch, if I like. I’m the chief,” he added with a grin.
It made her heart lift when he smiled at her like that. She felt young and carefree. Her eyes couldn’t stop looking at him. He was handsome, vital, physically devastating.
He noted the expressive glance and his chest swelled. “Drooling over me again, huh?” he teased softly. “Why don’t you come over here and do something about it?”
She lifted both eyebrows and grinned back. “Wouldn’t you just faint if I did?”
“Let’s see,” he taunted.
She pursed her lips, put down the dishcloth she was holding, and went right up to him, putting both hands flat on his muscular chest. “Okay, buster,” she teased, “let’s see what you can do with a real woman,” she added in her best vampy tone, batting her long eye lashes at him.
His willpower slipped suddenly. She smelled of flour and spices, and close up, it was obvious why she’d been chosen to grace magazine covers. Her bone structure was perfect. Her eyelashes were reddish-gold and very long. Her eyes were wide, a clear green with darker green on the outside rim. Her nose was straight, her mouth a beautiful soft curve that made a man’s lips hungry for it. Her skin was exquisite. He had a hard time when he remembered the silky warm feel of it in the darkness. His heart raced madly.
She noticed the barely visible signs of his excitement with wonder. He always seemed impervious to disturbances, but he was just good at hiding what he felt. Close up, he couldn’t quite hide everything.
Feeling rapt with power, she stepped against him deliberately and felt delight at the immediate reaction of his body.
“Careful,” he said in a deep, husky tone. “Mrs. Jew ell’s hanging out linen in the backyard.” He nodded to ward the open window, through the screen of which she was visible.
“Mrs. Jewell sings to herself,” she said, unperturbed. “We’ll hear her coming.”
He swallowed hard. He wouldn’t hear her. His ears were full of his own furious heartbeat.
She reached up with her hands and tugged his head down. “Live dangerously,” she whispered.
His big hands went to her waist. She flinched, and they moved to her hips instead, avoiding her rib cage. “Sorry,” he murmured. “I forgot the ribs.”
“Me, too,” she whispered back, smiling. “Come on, come on, give it all you’ve got…”
“Pest,” he groaned, bending.
She smiled under the sudden hard, sweet crush of his mouth over her lips. She wasn’t the least intimidated by him these days. The memory of their past encounters only made her hungry for more of them.
The feel and smell of her weakened him as much as her headlong ardor. In the end, he backed her gently into the kitchen wall and lowered himself fully over her in a furious escape of passion that he couldn’t control.
She laughed softly, wickedly, at his hunger for her. She reached up, winced as the movement hurt her ribs, and then forgot even the pain when his mouth opened and his tongue penetrated the line of her lips with forceful intent.
“That’s the spirit,” she murmured.
He kissed her more intensely, feeling his body go rigid with pent-up desire. “It’s suicide,” he bit off. His hands riveted her hips to his as he nudged her legs apart under the skirt. “I don’t even have anything to use…!”
“Mrs. Jewell was in on a robbery bust Monday,” she noted breathlessly. “It included two boxes of prophylactics. I’ll bet she’s got one or two tucked away. Let’s ask her…!”
He burst out laughing. “Tippy, for God’s sake, I only get an hour for lunch!”
She drew back with dancing eyes in a flushed face. “We still have forty-eight minutes…!”
He pushed away from her, struggling to get his breath back. “I can’t do justice to you in forty-eight minutes!” he said huskily.
She gave him an exasperated look. “Here I am offering you everything I’ve got…”
He smiled slowly. “Wonderful things happen when you least expect them. Wait until next week,” he added.
“What’s happening next week?” she asked at once.
“Some surprising things,” he promised. “I won’t tell you. You have to wait and see. But you’ll like at least one of them. I promise.”
She laughed softly. “Okay. If you say so. Sit down and I’ll feed you.”
“How did you know I liked tuna casserole?” he wondered aloud as he sat down at the kitchen table.
“Mrs. Jewell told me,” she replied. “She’s an encyclopedia of information about you. Did you know she was a deputy sheriff? And that she can shoot a gun?”
“Yes.” He gave her a curious look.
She grinned at him. “She didn’t sell you out. I saw the gun in the bathroom and asked her about it. She said you didn’t want me to know about her background. She’s going to protect me in case one of Sam’s guys comes looking for me, right?” she added matter-of-factly.
“That’s about it,” he confessed.
“It’s nice that you worry about me,” she said, putting food on the table and pouring coffee into his cup. “Thanks,” she added huskily.
He drew her mouth down to his and kissed her gently. “While you’re here, I’m responsible for you,” he told her. “I know you can look out for yourself most of the time, you’re a grown woman. But this threat is more than you can handle alone. I’m not going to let anything or anyone hurt you.”
She felt warm all over. She felt a jolt in her heart, and she smiled helplessly at the tenderness in his dark eyes.
He saw that and started getting cold feet. He started easing her away from him, gently but firmly. “Don’t start talking about engagement rings just because I worry about you,” he cautioned when she opened her mouth to speak.
She sighed. “Spoilsport. You’re the one who mentioned surprises.”
He grinned. “Yes. And you won’t read these in my mind,” he told her.
She only smiled. She had some inkling of what was happening at city hall, because Mrs. Jewell told her things. There was a lot of talk about Senator Merrill’s daughter being in big trouble, and even more about the danger two city councilmen and the acting mayor were in. There was more talk about the upcoming state elections and the city’s special election for mayor.
“I hope Mr. Ballenger wins that state senate seat,” she said out of the blue.
“I think he will. You’re coming with me to the disciplinary hearing Monday night, aren’t you?” he asked in voluntarily, because he really wanted her emotional support. He wasn’t going to admit that.
“Of course I am,” she replied without thinking. “I wish Rory could be here, too.”
He didn’t say another word, and he did his best to hide a secretive smile from her.
But she saw it anyway, and she wondered what he was up to.
THE COMMUNITY WAS SHOCKED a day or two later with the news that incumbent Senator Merrill’s daughter Julie Merrill was lodged in the county jail for attempted arson. She was Calhoun Ballenger’s most outspoken critic on her father’s behalf, and she was already in trouble for slandering him in television ads. Now she’d sent one of her family’s hired men to burn down the house of Jordan Powell’s girlfriend, Libby Collins. Her bail hearing was set for the following Monday morning, the same day of the city council meeting and the disciplinary hearing for Cash’s officers. The would-be arsonist was singing like a canary and other charges were pending against Miss Merrill, people said.
Cash had hinted at some political derring-do at the affair. Tippy had been very curious, and he’d been secretive. But Sunday afternoon, he left the house for an hour and came back with Rory.
“I can’t believe it!” Tippy exclaimed, holding her young brother close. “Oh, what a surprise!”
“I can’t believe it, either. Cash said you were sad and needed cheering up, so he talked the commandant into letting me take my exams early. I’m here for as long as I can stay,” he added, wiggling his eyebrows at Cash.
Cash chuckled. “You can stay as long as Tippy does,” he promised, without adding that he had something in the works on that subject, too.
Tippy, though, took the words at face value. She was healing nicely. Soon, she’d be able to go back to work, when she heard from Joel. But she hadn’t yet. She wondered if Cash was getting tired of having her around.
TIPPY AND RORY HAD A GOOD TIME riding around the county with Cash that Sunday afternoon, looking at the scenery. The trees were just putting out green leaves and some wildflowers were already blooming. On a whim, Cash drove by the Dunn ranch so that Tippy could see Christabel and the babies. Judd was out running errands for Christabel, but Christabel and the babies were home.
Tippy felt ill at ease at first, in the house that held so many memories for her during the time she was filming a movie there. It had been an emotional and shameful episode in her life. She hadn’t been good company, and she’d been cruel to Christabel over Judd. But everything had changed in the past few months. She glanced up at Cash with quick, possessive eyes, taking care that he didn’t see the look. But Christabel did, and she grinned at her.
Tippy’s face flushed. Cash saw that, chuckled, and bent to kiss Christabel briefly on the cheek. Tippy had to hide her quick jealousy. Cash didn’t belong to her. She had to try to remember that. Was he telling her so, with that deliberate little kiss on Christabel’s pretty cheek? All her insecurities rose to the surface. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to pretend to be cheerful.
Rory was excited about the babies. “They’re so little!” he exclaimed, letting Jared curl a small hand around his finger. He grinned. “They’re so cute!”
Tippy and Cash laughed at his enthusiasm.
“They’re growing like weeds,” Crissy told them all. But she was smiling at Tippy now with the same warmth she showed to Cash.
Cash had Jessamina up in his strong arms, and he was cooing to her, with his heart in his eyes. It hurt Tippy to see him like that, to have a glimpse of how he would have been with their own children. It was immensely painful.
“They’re beautiful children,” she told Crissy, smiling to hide the pain.
Crissy held out Jared to her. “Would you like to hold him?” she asked gently.
Tippy’s eyes answered the question, filled with hunger and affection. Involuntarily, Tippy took the little boy in her arms and smiled at him. He smiled back. She gasped, her whole face becoming radiant. “Look at that!” she exclaimed.
“They both smile all the time,” Crissy said proudly. “They’re just six months old now.”
“Jared is just precious,” Tippy mused, looking down at the little boy with an expression that hit Cash right in the heart.
He hadn’t let himself think about anything permanent with her. She was a model, an actress, used to bright lights and fame. But in the past few weeks, she’d melted into Jacobsville and become part of his life. She got along well with everyone. Even the tabloid stories hadn’t gotten her down very much. But he had a tabloid story of his own planned for the following week, after a long talk with local physician Lou Coltrain, who’d become his secret accomplice. He was going to clear Tippy’s name in one fell swoop and make the tabloids eat their own insults. He wondered how Tippy was going to react. He had high hopes for the two of them.
She looked right holding a baby in her arms. She looked radiant, but a little sad. She looked up and met his eyes. It was like looking into a mirror.
Crissy wanted to suggest that they have another one, but it was too soon. She and Tippy were still walking warily around each other, despite their friendliness. She knew Tippy thought of her involuntarily as a rival, because of their past. But when Tippy looked up at Cash, Crissy knew at once that their days of rivalry were over. If ever two people shared a passion, it was Cash and Tippy.
“How’s work going on the hearing?” Crissy asked Cash.
He grinned. “Very nicely, indeed.”
“It’s tomorrow night, isn’t it?” Crissy added, taking Jared from Tippy.
“You want to show up,” Cash told her. “It’s going to be a historic occasion. I have some surprises in store.”
“In that case,” Crissy told him with a grin, “I’ll make sure that Judd comes with me!”
THEY DID SHOW UP at City Hall, standing with Tippy and Rory at the doorway of city hall, waiting to enter.
Tippy smiled at Crissy and Judd. She’d taken extra pains with her makeup, and not a single scar or bruise showed on that perfect skin. Tippy’s hair was in a long braid, and she was wearing an emerald-green silk pant suit.
“I can’t wait to see Cash in action,” Rory whispered to them, then he turned to his companion, a boy about his age. “He says it’s going to be a lesson in politics!”
“I think several people are going to get an education to night,” Tippy whispered back, beaming. “Cash has a big surprise for the mayor and the council.”
“I know,” Judd replied, chuckling. “This is the stuff of legends. I wouldn’t have missed it for worlds.”
“Neither would we!” Tippy laughed. She coaxed Rory and his friend into the building ahead of her, pausing to exchange a few words with Jordan Powell and Libby Collins, who’d apparently come together. People had linked Jordan with Senator Merrill’s daughter, but Libby seemed to have the inside track now.
Tippy and Rory managed to get seats, but there were people standing two abreast all around the sides and back of the meeting room.
Cash was sitting at a table in front of the mayor and city council, with his two officers. The city attorney was at a table across from them, looking uneasy and irritable. On the wall was a huge aerial view of Jacobsville, along with photos of the police department and fire department members on calendars. There was a huge coffeemaker and a snack bar, as well as two telephones.
The mayor and two council members were whispering back and forth urgently when the aisle cleared and several visitors filed in. The mayor actually went pale.
Tall and dark Simon Hart, the state attorney general, and his four brothers walked between the rows of chairs, along with the county attorney, two senators, and what looked like a group of journalists, two with television cameras.
Simon shook hands with the city attorney, who whispered to him urgently.
The meeting was reluctantly called to order.
“This is highly irregular,” the mayor protested, standing. “This is a disciplinary hearing…!”
“This is a kangaroo court,” Cash replied, standing. “My officers, in the course of their sworn duty, arrested a politician for driving while under the influence of alcohol. They are being persecuted by you, Mayor, and by two of your councilmen. You are related to the politician in question. The fact that you didn’t disqualify yourself from this hearing due to conflict of interest, makes it of public concern.”
“Exactly,” Simon Hart replied. “I am authorized by the governor to tell you that you are now the subjects of a special investigation by state authorities into your practices. And charges are pending against all of you involved in this subversion of justice.”
The reporters were snapping photographs. The news media were filming. The mayor looked as if he were trying to swallow a watermelon.
“I have protested this hearing since I learned of it,” the city attorney said curtly. “But I could not make the council hear me. Perhaps they will listen to you!”
Calhoun Ballenger stood up. “They will certainly listen to the citizens of Jacobsville,” he said, approaching the table where the city attorney was sitting. He drew out a thick manila envelope and handed it to the city clerk. “The special mayorial election is tomorrow, when Mayor Brady will face his opponent at the polls. But this is a recall petition for councilmen Barry and Culver. It has more than enough signatures.” His dark eyes narrowed on the faces of the embarrassed city fathers. “On the strength of it, I believe the city clerk will have the right to call a special election to replace these men.”
“Indeed I will,” the city clerk agreed coldly. “I have already spoken to the secretary of state.”
Simon Hart nodded. “Justice has been compromised in this city,” he said coldly. “No police officer should ever be penalized for doing his or her duty,” he added, looking straight at Lieutenant Carlos Garcia and Officer Dana Hall, who appeared both worried and proud.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Cash replied.
Another man came forward, a fireman in full uniform. He stood in front of the mayor. “I’m Chief Rand of the Jacobsville Fire Department. I am authorized to speak for Jacobsville’s twenty firefighters and twenty-five police officers, as well as the various municipal employees who work for the city. On their behalf I’m here to tell you that if these two officers are fired, or if Chief Grier is fired, every one of us will walk out on the spot and we won’t come back.”
The council was speechless. The mayor couldn’t find the right words, either. Never in the history of Jacobsville had there been such solidarity among public officials. The news media was eating it up. Cash looked shell-shocked. He turned and looked at Tippy and Rory, who both gave him the thumbs-up sign. He swallowed. Hard.
Simon Hart moved forward and looked the mayor right in the eye. “Your move.”
Ben Brady forced a smile. “Of course these officers, as well as Chief Grier, are welcome to continue their jobs in our town,” he said, almost choking on the words. “We had no intention of firing them for, as you say, doing their duty! In fact, we commend them for their attention to it!”
The officers seemed to relax. So did Cash Grier.
Simon wasn’t through. “There is one other matter. A special investigator from my office has been looking into reports of drug trafficking involving a local citizen, and two local politicians.” He looked straight at councilman Culver and the acting mayor. “Charges will be pending once the case has been turned over to your county’s district attorney.”
“I look forward to prosecuting it,” the district attorney said with a cool smile.
The acting mayor was very pale. He could see his political career waning. The special election to elect a mayor was the following day, and he was facing beloved ex-mayor Eddie Cane for the position. After tonight he didn’t imagine he had much hope of keeping his job. In a town the size of Jacobsville, everyone would know about the charges by midnight. “Very well,” he said weakly. “Will the secretary please read the minutes from the last meeting?”
It didn’t take long. Within thirty minutes, the council had finished its usual business, and the meeting was dismissed. Everyone left.
Judd clapped Chief Grier on the back. “Congratulations.” He looked odd. “I never thought so many people would support us.”
“You underestimate your worth to the city,” Judd replied, and he smiled. “Feel like you belong here, now?”
Cash actually looked sheepish as Tippy came up on one side of him and Rory on the other. “Yeah,” he said huskily. “I feel like I belong,” he added, exchanging a possessive look with Tippy, who was beaming.
Judd shook hands with him and then tugged a smiling Crissy along with him out the door. Cash and Tippy paused to speak to Jordan Powell and Libby Collins be fore Rory tugged them out the door, pleading starvation.
THE FOLLOWING DAY, the acting mayor, Ben Brady, resigned and left town immediately. In the special election for mayor the next day, Eddie Cane got ninety percent of the votes and won by a landslide without a runoff. In the state senate race, Calhoun Ballenger won the Democratic Primary by such a margin that Senator Merrill was actually embarrassed and refused to let him self be interviewed by the news media.
Julie Merrill, on the other hand, was out on bail now and vehemently outspoken about dirty tactics used against her father in the election, and she went on television to make accusations against Calhoun Ballenger.
Another scandal was being felt locally as well. Libby Collins’s stepmother Janet was in jail for the poisoning murder of old Mr. Brady, the father of lawyer Blake Kemp’s secretary, Violet. There were allegations that she’d poisoned other men, but there was nothing that would connect her with other deaths. Not even the exhumation of Libby and Curt Collins’s late father had provided any new evidence against her. The trial promised to be interesting, like Julie Merrill’s trial, when the date was set.
The same week of the elections, Blake Kemp had Julie Merrill served as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed by Calhoun Ballenger. It was a forewarning of things to come. She was already in hot water on an arson charge. Also, Cash had been slowly gathering evidence to link her to a drug syndicate. Her future looked grim. But just as Cash was about to make the arrest, Julie Merrill skipped town and vanished.