Death Benefits

Oh. Of course. How could she have forgotten that extremely masculine voice? Larry. Mr. Tough Guy himself. “Why is an undercover investigator calling here at this time of night?”

“I have to clue you and Graham in on some things.”

“What things?” she asked. What was her brother up to this time? When he’d first hired Larry last year, it was to shadow Willow Traynor without her knowledge—for her own protection, of course, but she hadn’t been happy about it. It had taken some hard convincing for Willow to trust Graham Vaughn again.

“Is the boss around?” Larry asked. “He needs to hear this, too.”

Any other time, Ginger would have rolled her eyes at the man’s standard reference to her brother, but something in his voice alerted her. “Larry,” she said, “what’s going on? Just tell me, okay? Graham’s already asleep. I was getting ready to turn in, myself. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Hawaii, right?”

She paused. How did he know about that? “That’s right. Please don’t tell me Graham’s contacted you about something and hasn’t told us.”

“Not yet he hasn’t. That’s what I called about. I saw the wedding announcement in the paper, and I made a few inquiries. If I could find out so easily, I’m afraid somebody else could’ve seen it, too.”

“Someone like who?”

“Sandi Jameson’s killer.”

Ginger frowned, confused. “So? That man’s in prison. Why should it matter?”

There was silence, and Ginger felt a knot of tension tighten in her stomach. “Larry? Please tell me that monster is in prison.”

A tired sigh. “I didn’t figure you’d get a call from the police in Kansas. State line and all that. Nobody wants to step on anyone else’s toes. But I’d’ve thought somebody’d at least give you guys the heads-up.”

“Are you trying to tell me Rick Fenrow has been let out of prison?”

“Nobody let him out, that’s for sure. He broke out.”

The fingers of Ginger’s left hand tingled. She realized her grip on the receiver might crack the hard plastic, and she shifted to the other hand.

“Ginger? You there?”

This couldn’t be happening. “When?”

“Two days ago. He was in the infirmary—”

“Why did they allow a convicted killer to work in the infirmary? Are they crazy?” And why hadn’t someone called them sooner? This was unconscionable.

“I didn’t say he was working there, I said he was there.” Larry sounded tense, himself. “He purportedly injured his leg. From there he coaxed a medical supply delivery lady to slip him out underneath her truck.”

“How did he convince her to do that?”

“What can I say? Bad boys do seem to have their charm for some women. I’ve seen it happen too many times. She’s been arrested.”

“Shouldn’t someone have checked the truck before they allowed it to leave the prison grounds?”

“Yep. The guard who neglected that part of his job has been fired.”

Somehow, that failed to comfort Ginger. “But they haven’t found Fenrow?” The tingle of alarm spread over her shoulders and down her back.

“Not a clue where he went,” Larry said gently. “Look, the boss is going to need to know about this, that crazy loon could be headed toward Hideaway with revenge on his mind.”

Ginger shot a sudden glance out into the darkness beyond the bay window and the deck. “Let me talk to Graham. I’ll have him call you back.”

“You do that. I have a feeling I’m going to need to pack for a trip to Hawaii for some protective surveillance.”

Ginger hung up. Had it been anyone else, she’d be tempted to suspect he was making it all up to con them into taking him with them to Hawaii. Larry Bager had the chutzpah to pull it off, too, but he wasn’t the type. She knew for a fact he didn’t like flying, and he didn’t like water.

She decided to check into Rick Fenrow’s whereabouts before waking Graham, but she had an awful tightening in her gut that told her Larry Bager knew exactly what he was talking about. Last year’s horror was paying another visit.

TWO

Lucy inched along the broad hallway as Aunt Ginger talked to somebody on the telephone, then Lucy crouched behind the coats on the hall stand when Aunt Ginger hung up and hurried in Lucy’s direction.

Aunt Ginger wouldn’t be mad at Lucy for being up, because she knew Lucy often couldn’t sleep. But Lucy realized from the tone of Aunt Ginger’s voice that something was going on. She knew from past experience that no one would tell her what it was.

Nobody ever told Lucy anything around here. They thought they were protecting her, when really they were killing her. Curiosity was an awful thing to die from.

Aunt Ginger knocked on Graham’s door.

There was no answer. Aunt Ginger always joked about how easy Graham could wake up if he received an emergency call from a patient, but try to wake him up any other time, and it was like waking the dead.

Lucy thought of her dream about Mama. It would be horrible to wake the dead. But Graham wasn’t anything like Mama. And he was really alive.

Lucy’d never had a father before. She didn’t know what she was going to call Graham after the adoption was final. “Daddy” sounded too childish, but Aunt Ginger reminded her that she was a child, and that “Daddy” was a good name for a real father who loved his little girls.

If Graham wanted her to call him Daddy, that was what she’d do. It was what Brittany already called him, but Lucy had decided she was going to do this right. When Graham and Willow were married, when they came back and signed the adoption papers, then they’d all be a family, and then Lucy would call Graham and Willow what they should be called.

Sure, Lucy already called Aunt Ginger “Aunt.” And she called Willow’s brother, Preston, “Uncle.” But a mother and father were different from other relatives.

Graham finally muttered something from his bedroom that Lucy didn’t quite hear, and Aunt Ginger opened the door and stuck her head through. “Graham, something’s come up. You need to call your pee eye.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose. Eeww!

Graham muttered something she couldn’t hear.

Aunt Ginger went inside, and Lucy crept closer to the door. She hadn’t been able to hear what the call was about earlier, but she could tell Aunt Ginger was upset. Her words were clipped, her voice higher and her speech faster than usual.

“Fenrow’s out of prison,” she said. “He broke out.”

“What do you mean, broke out?” Graham nearly shouted.

“Shhh! You’ll wake the girls.”

“Did Larry say how it happened? Are you sure this isn’t some practical New Year’s Eve joke? He’s not drunk, is he?”

“He didn’t sound like it. He told me someone sneaked the man past the guards. He’s thinking about joining us in Hawaii for protective surveillance.”