Shade's Lady

Andrews looked back to me, holding my eyes as he lowered his gun. He set it on the floor slowly and steadily, then took a step backward.

“I’m all in,” he said, his voice steady.

“We burn the trailer, the girls lose everything,” Dopey said in a low voice, coming up behind me. I studied Heath, considering. I hated to give up on the place, but he was right. Burning it really would be the best solution. The trailer was contaminated as hell—not just with meth, but blood and hair and a thousand other tiny pieces of evidence. People would be suspicious when Randy disappeared, but if he disappeared because he’d accidentally torched his own trailer, leaving his kids homeless…

Hannah and Mandy would have airtight alibis if they were with a cop, and it wasn’t like he didn’t have plenty of enemies.

“We’re losing everything anyway,” Hannah said slowly. “I don’t even want to live here anymore. The place is contaminated—meth is poisonous and I was already prepared to leave with the kids. I don’t see how it burning would be much different. I’d like to grab a couple photos and keepsakes. Anything else can be replaced.”

“We’ll need to do it right,” I said, thinking out loud. “Get out clean. This will draw a hell of a lot of attention. We’re good but nobody’s perfect—how professional is your fire inspector? He know what he’s doing?”

“He’s the best,” Andrews said coolly. “He’s also my brother. You do what you have to and I can guarantee you he’ll draw the right conclusions. Nobody will second-guess him.”

Damn. Hadn’t seen that coming. I lowered my gun, studying him. “You’re surprising the hell out of me, Andrews. I thought you were the real deal. Straight cop.”

“I am a straight cop,” he replied, dead serious. “Don’t ever try to pay me off—I’m not interested. But this isn’t about money, it’s about family. My brother will back me up.”

“Why?” Hannah asked, her voice almost a whisper. “You hardly know me.”

“I’ve known you for years,” he said simply. “You think I need to buy groceries every damned day? I stop by the store to see you. I watched that piece of shit cheat on you and use you, but you never lost your smile. When it finally ended, I waited. I gave you time to heal before I asked you out, but there was never any question in my mind. This is serious, Hannah. We’ve only been on four dates, but I’ve known you were for me from the first time I saw you. Six years ago. You were at the park, laughing. You had on a red sundress and you smiled at me and I thought, ‘That’s the girl I’m going to marry.’ Then I learned you were with him, and for a while I gave up on that dream. Now it’s real again, and I won’t let him take you away from me. He had his chance.”

Hannah melted, wrapping her arms around him. Mandy watched them thoughtfully, crossing her arms. She wasn’t convinced—not so much a romantic, I decided. Neither was I…but here I was, committing a series of felonies for a woman I hardly knew.

Fuckin’ moron.

Then Randy the cockwad moaned through his gag, reminding me we still had serious business to handle.

“Very nice,” I said, because we needed to get this shit moving. “You kids are adorable in love and all that shit, but you need to get out of here if this is going to work. You sure your brother has our asses covered on the fire?”

Heath looked up from Hannah. “Yeah. Make it look good, though. Just because we have my brother doesn’t mean we want to use him. Not if we don’t have to.”

“Got it,” I told him. “Girls, grab whatever shit you can fit in your purses and then get out of here.”

 

 

Chapter Seventeen

 

Mandy

 

Heath took us to Cranston to see the latest Pixar film. It was good. Really good. So good that I cried, although some of that might’ve been pent-up emotion over the situation. Afterward, Heath took us all out to Applebee’s. I watched him with the kids, wondering if he could actually be the real deal.

He laughed with them, teasing and playing, all the while treating Hannah like a queen.

The whole thing was so sweet I could have vomited. Hannah ate it up. Good for them. Maybe Heath wanted a big family, and Hannah sure as hell loved being a mom. No way you’d catch me bringing any spawn into the world, but whatever made her happy was fine by me.

Ignoring them, I focused on my food, plowing through a burger the size of a house. Then the little girls begged and pleaded for ice cream, and there was a long debate over exactly what sundae to order. We’d made a decision and had just gotten our order when my phone started blowing up.

 

Sara: I got a call from my sister. There’s a fire on the flat. I don’t want to freak you out but sounds like it could be your place

 

Hannah’s phone went off a moment later, followed by Heath’s. Then more messages started arriving. Heath made a tense phone call to dispatch, then looked up at us and nodded.

Show time.

“There’s a fire at your trailer,” he told Hannah, and Callie’s eyes went wide. Hannah and I had talked about this—we hated putting the girls through trauma, but it was better than being ripped out of their beds and taken to a whole new town.

“Mommy, what’s happening?” she asked. At least the twins were too busy with the ice cream to pay any attention.

“It’s okay, baby,” Hannah said, wrapping an arm around the little girl. “If there’s a fire, we’ll deal with it.”

“But where will we live?”

Hannah and I stared at each other—that was a detail we hadn’t had time to figure out just yet.

“Don’t worry,” I told Callie. “Your mama and I used to move a lot when we were your age. I know you never met your grandma, but she was real good at figuring stuff like this out. She taught us everything she knew. We’ll always take care of you, honey, okay?”

“Okay,” she said, shrinking into Hannah’s side.

“I have a nice, big house,” Heath said. “You guys can stay there tonight if there’s really a fire.”

Hannah’s eyes flew to his.

“What about tomorrow?” Callie asked, her voice small as my phone buzzed again.

“You can stay as long as you need to,” Heath told her. “All of you.”