A Time to Die. BEVERLY BARTON

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СКАЧАТЬ feel helpless, and helplessness was something she had struggled with for the past ten years. She might have a handicap, but she was strong, independent and perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

      Except when her life was in danger from an unknown assailant.

      Deke stepped in front of Lexie and opened the back door, then held it for her as she emerged from the apartment building into the sunny warmth of a beautiful autumn day. The distant sounds of a small city’s hustle and bustle on a Thursday morning greeted them, as did the bright sunshine and clear blue sky. They were the only ones in the parking lot, although Lexie noticed a couple of people in the adjacent lot used by the tenants of a neighboring building.

      “Stay here, please,” Deke said as he visually scanned the area, taking special note of the four vehicles parked alongside Lexie’s. “I need to check your car.”

      “Check my car for what?” No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she realized what he’d meant. “For a bomb?”

      He nodded. “Keep your back to the door and stay right here, no matter what happens. Understand?”

      She nodded.

      “I need a verbal acknowledgment from you,” he told her.

      “Yes, I understand.”

      Lexie pushed her back and hips up against the closed door and watched while Deke walked toward her Subaru. Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the ground. The Lincoln Navigator parked at the end of the row of four vehicles exploded, shooting fire and smoke, and scattering debris as if it were raining metal and plastic fragments. Deke spun around and ran from the blast, heading straight for Lexie. Reacting instantly, she dropped the sack containing her sausage biscuit and coffee. The bag hit the concrete walkway, but the splattering sound was masked by her startled, frightened scream.

      Trembling, gasping, but no longer screaming, Lexie reached out to Deke, but before he could get to her, a second explosion rocked the parking lot. The sleek, red Mustang parked beside the Navigator went up in flames.

      Oh, God! Why would someone destroy her neighbor’s vehicles?

      Deke barreled straight into Lexie, grabbing her and pushing her toward the back door. Just as Deke grabbed the door handle with one hand and wrapped his arm around Lexie’s shoulders, another explosion erupted. They both glanced back and saw that Lexie’s SUV had died the same violent death as the Navigator and the Mustang.

      When Deke opened the door and shoved her inside, she stumbled and lost her grip on her cane, which caught in the door, holding it partially open. Deke slid his arm around her waist, yanked her to his side and swung her around so that his body protected her, as he simultaneously kicked her cane across the concrete floor of the back hallway. The door slammed shut with a resounding wham.

      Looking through the row of shattered windows across the back wall, Lexie saw the fourth vehicle, a white Mercedes, explode. Scared out of her mind, she clung to Deke. Involuntarily shivering as if half frozen and gasping for air, she realized she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

      Take some deep breaths. Calm down. You’re safe. Deke’s safe. No one was hurt. Cars can be replaced.

      Deke hurried her away from the windows and toward the elevator, which opened to reveal several residents, some in their robes and house slippers.

      Roy and Betsy Morrison, a middle-aged couple who owned the Mercedes, emerged first, followed by Susan McKelvey, whose red Mustang was now smoldering outside in the parking lot.

      “What happened?” Roy Morrison asked. “We were eating breakfast and heard the most godawful explosions.”

      “I looked out the window and saw fire and smoke coming from the Wilsons’ Navigator,” Susan said.

      “Y’all need to go back into the elevator and return to your apartments,” Deke told them. “I’m calling the police.” He leaned down, picked up Lexie’s cane and handed it to her, then yanked his cell phone off his belt and flipped it open. “All four vehicles in the parking lot have exploded.”

      Susan and Betsy gasped.

      “Somebody deliberately bombed our cars?” A perplexed expression flashed across Roy’s round, ruddy face.

      Deke herded everyone into the elevator, then made his call. He spoke quietly, and with the Morrisons and Susan jabbering nonstop, Lexie couldn’t make out everything he said, but she heard enough to know he was talking to Geoff Monday and not the police. The Morrisons departed on the second floor, then Susan on the third. Deke remained on the phone as they ascended to her loft.

      “Yeah, lieutenant, she’s safe. We’re almost back up to her apartment.”

      Undoubtedly Bain was already at the Bedell home, she realized, and after speaking to Geoff Monday, Deke was now talking to Bain.

      The elevator doors slid open. Deke motioned for her to get out, which she did, as he continued his conversation with Bain, mostly listening and occasionally replying in succinct sentences.

      Once inside the apartment, he flipped his phone closed and hung it back on its belt hook, then turned to her. “You might want to sit down. You look pretty shaky.”

      He didn’t need to make the suggestion twice. She went directly into the living room and all but fell into her favorite chair, letting her cane slip from her hand and onto the floor.

      Deke came over and sat down on the sofa, straight across from her. “Are you okay?”

      “Other than being terrified?” she said. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just feel like I might throw up.”

      “You’ll be all right. Your reaction is normal. If you need to throw up, do it. Whatever it takes to settle your nerves.”

      “The cars exploding…” She took a deep breath. “It’s connected to what happened at Helping Hands yesterday, right? It’s the same person, and I’m his target.”

      “Probably.”

      “But why harm innocent people? Why blow up all four cars instead of just mine?”

      “My guess is that he’s making a statement. He wants to put the fear of God into you, Lexie. And I’d say he’s succeeding.”

      She glared at Deke as what he’d said sunk in and she realized he was right.

      “I’d be a fool not to be frightened.”

      “Yes, you would. It’s how you handle your fear that matters. You have to protect yourself without giving in to fear.”

      “Who would do this? As far as I know, I don’t have any real enemies, no one who wants to hurt me.”

      “He may be someone you don’t know,” Deke said. “A stalker or a secret admirer, or someone who, for whatever reason, doesn’t approve of you and your work at Helping Hands. Or he could be someone from your past, someone who, for his own sick reasons, focused his hatred on you.”

      The salty bile that had risen into her throat traveled back down her esophagus, leaving a burning trail that went all the way to her stomach. “I need some water.” She started to get up.

      Deke СКАЧАТЬ