Hannah Alexander - Death Benefits

The surface of the lake, down the hill from the big log house where they lived, reflected lights from the boys’ ranch on the other shore, where Blaze Farmer lived.

Lucy loved Blaze. When she grew up, she was going to marry him.

On any other night, if the lights were on at the ranch, it meant that it wasn’t midnight yet. The boys all had to be in bed by eleven, even Blaze, who helped with the younger boys when he wasn’t working at the clinic or in college. Tonight, all the boys got to stay up late because of New Year’s Eve.

Lucy realized, since she’d heard no footsteps rushing down the hallway, that her cries from the nightmare hadn’t been loud enough to be heard through the house. Sometimes, she screamed loud enough to wake Aunt Ginger or Graham. Then Aunt Ginger would place Brittany in bed with Lucy, and spend the rest of the night in Brittany’s bed. She’d done that a few times since Mama died last spring.

Aunt Ginger said Lucy had never had the chance to be a child, and that she should learn to be one now. Lucy didn’t know what she meant.

Sometimes, when Lucy woke up from a bad dream and couldn’t stop shaking, she’d creep down the dim corridor to Aunt Ginger’s room. She never made any noise, but sat on the floor in the corner, listening to Ginger breathing…sometimes snuggling into the clothes Ginger’d tossed off when she changed into her pajamas. The smell of Aunt Ginger made her feel safe.

Lucy would miss Aunt Ginger when she moved out.

Tonight wasn’t a good night to wake her up, but if someone was already up anyway…

With slow, careful movements, Lucy pushed the covers back and slid to the floor. Had to be quiet. Brittany shouldn’t wake up again. If she did, she might never get back to sleep.

Lucy opened the door, holding her breath. No sound came from the bed. She crept out into the hallway, but the telephone rang in the front room. She stopped, startled, then glanced back at her sister. No movement.

Who could be calling at this time of night?

Ginger Carpenter reached for the cordless phone beside her chair in the great room of her brother’s lodge—that was how she would have to think of it from now on. No longer home. This would be her last night here.

Curious about who might be calling to wish them Happy New Year, she gave one final, longing glance toward the glow of the full winter moon over the lake.

She would miss this place. After the wedding in Hawaii, Ginger would move into Willow’s condo off Lakeshore Drive. It was situated in a nice area, but it wouldn’t have what Graham’s roomy log house had—two little girls who had taken up so much of her time…and her heart…for the past nine months.

She answered the phone, glancing at the caller ID. It was blocked. “Yes.”

“Ginger Carpenter, that you?” came a deep, gravelly voice that she was too tired to recognize.

“That’s right.”

“Larry Bager here.”

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.

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.