Eight
Sarah Trevor stirred languidly in the night. In all
of his personal existence, the cat-like stirring of that supple body was
Richard Welk’s favorite thing. Her gentle movement brought him awake.
Just enough light filtered through the blinds from
the Boston skyline to illuminate unidentifiable contours of her body. He
drew his tongue along a section of soft skin, relying upon the quivers and
undulations of her body to determine exactly what flat area of her anatomy
he was dealing with.
Sarah gasped in reaction and looked down between her
breasts. Richard had to look up to meet her astonished gaze. “Richard,
you are a truly wicked man.”
“I dare say, the lady doth protest too feebly.”
“Just don’t you dare get perverted right now. I want
to speak with you professionally.”
Richard lay his face back down against her stomach.
“Shoot.”
“I’m worried about Billy. We should have done
something. I wanted to bring him back with us.”
“We had no means,” Richard reminded the women. “If
the boy is mad, his insanity is more devious than any sanity you and I can
bring to bear against it. Your husband foiled you, Sarah, by putting so
much money at his disposal.”
“It was a conditional fund, Richard. I had no idea
Billy would be so ungodly resourceful in using it.”
“He’s legally an adult.”
“I know that.”
“Is he self-destructive?”
“No, of course not, just unpredictable. And
eccentric. He has no social skills, Richard. He’s not good with people.
I hired an agency to investigate Billy’s accident. I know the kind of
people he involved himself with, that Evelyn Darker and those horrible
brothers of hers. Richard, they’re animals.”
“Except that the girl was hurt, too, and it seems
unlikely that her brothers would have tried to kill their own flesh and
blood. It could have been an accident, just like Billy claims.”
“Billy isn’t telling the whole truth. At least his
story never met with my satisfaction.”
Richard smiled. “From what I’ve read of his story,
Billy and little Evie were doing things that mothers don’t get told
about.”
“Regardless, I’m afraid he may be in danger.”
Richard respected her concern. “He’s safe enough if
he stays put in that house.”
“How can you assume that?”
“Read your own security reports. Silver Ridge is
practically deserted, except for the people working in the die-casting
plant and their families, and the specs for Billy’s bunker read like a
military debriefing. The Darker brothers may be animals, but it would
take a technician to get into that house undetected.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Richard crawled up into her warm arms and held her
gently. “I know I’m right.”
“He’s not a violent boy.”
“I agree, but he’s smart. I’ve seen a receipt for a
pharmaceutical shipment that went to Silver Ridge a week ago. It included
a few cubic centimeters of a venom extract of the Portuguese Man of War.”
Sarah tensed. “A jelly fish?”
“A jelly fish that can kill.”
Sarah pushed him away and sat up abruptly.
“People have drowned getting stung away from shore,”
Richard said. “I don’t know how lethal the venom is otherwise, but I know
it’s incredibly painful.”
“Billy has ordered poison? What on earth for?”
“Darts for his drones would be my best guess.
Remember what he said? Some of the drones were for his self-defense,
darts and stun guns.”
She shook her head nervously. “I don’t like the
sound of that.”
Richard tapped the surface of the nightstand
alongside the bed. “You take for granted your nine millimeter pistol
tucked away for your own self-defense.”
“Of course I do.”
“But Billy’s avoiding the use of deadly force to
defend himself. Minor considerations of that nature put me at ease. I’m
flatly in awe of that son of yours, maybe a bit uneasy, but not because of
a gang of badasses living in Silver Ridge.”
Sarah sighed and lay back down. Richard stretched
out alongside her, absorbing the unconscious movements of her breathing
and restless stirrings.
“Richard?”
“Hmmm?”
She scooted back down into his arms. “Maybe you’re
right, but I can’t help worrying about him. I’m too nervous to sleep
now. You know how I am when I’m nervous.”
“A nag?”
She cuffed him lightly.
“Horny, then.”
“You’re so crude!”
He nipped at her throat below the ear, feeling her
body come alive beneath him. “Want anything in particular?”
Her warm breath washed against his ear. “What were
you doing down there when I woke you up?”
“We apparently got all tangled up, Sarah. I was just
trying to reorient myself.”
Her body leaned against him, a certain sign of
growing urgency. “Let’s get all tangled up again.” She put her lips to
his ears. “Do something perverse.”
“If your husband’s ghost is watching...”
She cuffed him again, harder. “He wouldn’t. My
husband, rest his soul, was a gentlemen.”
“And me?”
“You’re just my lawyer.” Her laughter was like music
in the night. “This is what I pay lawyers to do, to screw people on
command.”
Minutes later, from the depth of her passion:
“Please check on him soon. Don’t let them hurt Billy again.”
