Telling Tales

Chapter Eight

Kellan parked at the station, drumming his fist on the steering wheel.

His cell phone rang and he tugged it off his belt, recognizing Grady’s number and frowning. Kim was stable. He’d made sure of that.

“This is Grant.”

“You need to get down here,” Grady said shortly. “Peggy Ralley just walked in and she’s got blood all over her.”

“She’s been attacked?”

“Ahhh…boss, I don’t think it’s her blood.”

Understanding dawned in his mind and he threw the car into drive. Peeling out of the parking lot, he said, “I’m coming, but County is about twenty minutes from me. She got a weapon?”

“Can’t tell. The nurses are talking to her…she looks kind of weird in the eyes.”

Shit. “Keep her out of that room, Grady. Do not let her in there,” he snapped.

“Well, gee, I kind of figured that out,” Grady drawled and Kellan could almost see the sarcastic roll of his deputy’s eyes.

“Son of a bitch.” Not Tricia. Peggy. The quiet, colorless woman who faded into the background, except for her art. He punched the gas and shot through the red light, hitting the lights and sirens, swerving to go around the pickup in front of him. The two-lane highway opened up ahead of him as he sped for the hospital.

“Boss. I think I should get off the phone. She’s heading my way.”

The cell phone went silent and Kellan threw it down, swearing viciously. Blood… A snarl escaped his lips and he grabbed the phone again, punching in Darci’s number. Three rings…four rings…five… A sick fear bloomed in his gut, duty warring with the need to make sure Darci was safe.

The relief that flooded him when Darci answered the phone on the seventh ring was unlike anything he had ever felt.

“Damn it, what in the hell took you so long to answer the phone?” he demanded. “Are you okay? Where is Hank?”

Her voice, low and amused, came over the line. “Nice to talk to you, too. I was in the studio, developing some negatives. I’m fine and Hank is sitting in his car, singing along with some cry in your beer music.”

“Thank God.” Damn it, he wanted to see her, touch her. Kellan hadn’t ever been that afraid before and he suspected his heart wouldn’t start beating normally until he had touched her, held her close against him and felt her heart beating against his, the way it did when he had her naked and wrapped around him.

“Listen to me. Do not let anybody in your house other than me or Hank. Nobody, you understand me?” he said intensely. “Stay away from the door, stay inside. Got it?”

She was silent for a long moment and then she said, “What’s going on, Kellan?”

“No time. I’ve got to go.” His hand clenched around the phone and he bit back the words that were dancing on his tongue. “Do what I said, okay?”

“Sure. Are you-”

He took the turn into the hospital at fifty miles an hour, tires squealing. “I’ve got to go… Darci, I think I’m in love with you.”

Then he hit the end button and tossed the phone down, slamming on the brakes in front of the emergency room. He ran through the automatic doors, down the hall that led to ICU, fear and anger a metallic taste in his throat. Whose blood?

Grady’s voice rang out down the hall. “I will not tell you again, Miz Ralley. Step back or I will shoot.”

The laughter that came from her was unlike any he had heard before. High, maniacal, and wild. He slowed to a stop as he veered around the corner, staring at Peggy’s back. No blood… But then she turned around and he saw the chilling smile on her face. Bright red blossoms stained the front of her paint-splattered shirt.

“Peggy.”

She smiled at him, a brittle smile. “Things are all messed up. I should have killed Darci that night, and then maybe Bryce would have stopped thinking about her all the time. I wasn’t going to kill him. Not until he called me Darci again. The bastard.”

He flicked Grady a glance, but then looked back at Peggy when he saw that the deputy was slowly moving closer to the woman’s back.

“Bryce?”

Peggy laughed. “I thought you were smarter than this,” she said, shaking her head. “Took you long enough to figure it out. I thought you might put it together after Beth, but you were too busy fucking Darci. Della was going to be next. But then Tricia started to freak out…” her voice trailed off and she wiped a hand down the front of her shirt, lovingly caressing the blood splotches. “Well, she made me mad.”

“Mind if I ask why you did all this?”

Grady was just a few feet away now, gun raised. “Well, not for money. I know that’s why Tricia did it. All the great artists died tragically,” she said with a wide smile. She started to reach inside her shirt.

“Keep your hands where I can see them!” Kellan barked out.

But she didn’t stop and when he found himself staring down the business end of a Beretta, he finally figured it out. All of it. She wanted them to kill her. She wasn’t here to kill them, but to force them to kill her.

Suicide by cop, the coolest way to kill yourself… He drew his gun because he sure as hell wasn’t going to let some crazy-ass self-important artist kill him.

“Put the gun down, Peggy.”

She laughed, but whatever she was going to say died as her eyes went wide and then fluttered shut. There was a thud as Grady’s gun came down on her skull, a soft thump as her body crumpled to the floor, and then all fell silent.

Kellan sucked in air, blood roaring in his ears as he lowered the gun, watching as Grady kicked her Beretta away and knelt down, tugging out his cuffs and securing her hands before touching his fingers to her throat. He rose and blew out a breath, his mahogany skin gleaming under a thin coat of sweat, his eyes wide.

“Son of a bitch. This woman is nuts,” Grady whispered, shaking his head.

Tricia’s body was already cool by the time Kellan and two of the deputies broke down the door to the gallery. Peggy Ralley had had some fun before she left. None of the art in the gallery that wasn’t done by her hand had survived her rampage intact. Sculptures lay smashed on the floor. Canvases sliced by a knife, and a few, the two closest to Tricia’s body, had bloody splotches.

“She used the knife she killed Tricia with,” Kellan murmured quietly.

Grady knelt by the door, studying the shattered pieces of a rich purple vase. “Why didn’t we see it before now?”

“No rhyme or reason. We were looking for something that made sense.” Kellan shook his head, straightening over Tricia’s still body. He met the coroner’s gaze as Drake Stillman stepped inside, looking around the gallery with vague surprise in his eyes.

Things like this didn’t happen in their county.

Kellan suspected that this past month had been the busiest of the county coroner’s life. He gestured to the bagged knife lying on the table.

“I’m fairly certain that’s the murder weapon,” he said. “I think she used it to slice up the paintings. We found it on the floor by Tricia’s body, like she’d tossed it away before she walked out. Then she showed up at the hospital with blood on her clothes.”

Drake’s question was cut off by the ringing of Kellan’s phone. He checked out the number and said, “It’s the hospital,” as he thumbed the talk button. “This is Grant,” he said, turning away from the curious gazes.

He listened to the low murmur of the nurse on the other end of the line and then hung up the phone, turning back to meet Grady’s eyes. “She’s awake. I’ve got to get back there.”

Darci paced the floor, shooting evil looks at the silent phone. Four hours had passed since Kellan had called and she hadn’t heard another thing from him.

She stood at the window in the dining room, staring out at the silvery moonlight reflecting off the river. I think I’m in love with you…

“Jerk. How in the hell can you say that and hang up, and not call back?” she muttered, running a hand through her already tumbled hair. It stood up in messy spikes and curls from a hundred nervous passes of her hand. She rested her forehead against the cool pane of glass, closing her eyes and murmuring, “Where in the hell are you?”

Worry was a gnawing thing in her belly, making her gut churn, tightening her shoulders, aching in her head. Her fingers itched to pick up the phone and call, but she forced herself not to. Calling him, interrupting him…what if he was finding out who the killer was?

What if…if…what if the killer had gotten to him?

Panic blossomed in her mind and she turned around, bypassing the phone and heading out the front door, jogging down the steps. She heard Hank’s door slam and he met her on the sidewalk.

“What’s going on, Miss Law? What’s wrong?”

“Where’s Kellan?” she demanded.

“Darci, he wants you to stay inside,” Hank said flatly, taking her arm and trying to guide her back up the walk.

She jerked her arm away and planted herself in Hank’s face, poking him in the chest as she demanded, “Tell me where Kellan is. What in the hell is going on?”

His face softened and she felt a flush rise in her cheeks as the sympathy darkened his faded gray eyes. “He’s probably back at the hospital. Talking to Peggy Ralley.”

Darci’s jaw dropped and she felt her shoulders slump. “Not another one. Damn it, what is going on?”

Hank patted her shoulder. “Maybe I didn’t make that clear, Miss Law. He’s questioning Peggy Ralley. She showed up at the hospital this afternoon, blood splattering her shirt. Pulled a gun on the Sheriff. Turns out the gun wasn’t loaded. Possible that she wanted him to shoot her. They disarmed her somehow-I don’t know the details. But I’d say it’s over.”

The phone finally rang. Five and half hours after he’d told her that he thought he was in love with her, and then hung up on her. Oh, it had rung a few times before, just shortly after Hank told her about Peggy.

But it had been everybody but Kellan. Becka, Clive, Brittany…each time, she’d gotten off the phone with a curtness that bordered on outright rudeness, not wanting to talk to anybody but Kellan.

The phone rang again and she grabbed it, the strength leaving her knees as Kellan’s low voice murmured in her ear, “Wasn’t sure if you’d still be awake.”

She laughed shakily and said, “Well, I could have tried to go to bed. But I doubt I would have gotten any sleep, considering what you said right before you hung up on me.”

“Well, everything kind of went down pretty fast,” Kellan said softly. “I need to talk to you…but I know it’s late.”

She stared at the clock as the hour hand finally ticked to midnight and she shook her head. “I don’t care how late it is. I want to talk to you, too.”

Moments later, she lowered the phone, the dial tone sounding. Softly, she whispered, “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, too.”

Spinning around, she went to the bathroom, and stared at her reflection. Her hair stood up in wild spikes and she winced, grabbing some hair goop and slicking it through her hair, taming the wild tresses, smoothing the sides, fluffing the top a little.

Darci licked her lips nervously. Maybe I should go put on something…well, something more than a tank top and boxer shorts. But lingerie was so predictable. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to wait for him naked.

Makeup?

No. Not when it was past midnight. She turned away from her reflection and stomped out of the bathroom. Food. Food was good. Chances are, he hadn’t eaten, and come to think of it, she was kind of hungry.

There was stuff for lasagna, but that took so long. Spaghetti? No, not in the middle of the night.

Sandwiches. That would work. She grabbed the bread and tossed it on the counter. Roast beef, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, mayo, spicy mustard. Did he like spicy mustard?

She stared at the ingredients spread out in front of her for a long moment and then buried her face in her hands.

“I’m in love with a guy and I don’t even know what he likes on his sandwiches.”

Blowing out a breath, she washed her hands and then grabbed a couple of plates and a butter knife. If he liked spicy mustard, then he could add it to the sandwich himself. Right?

Right.

Her stomach screamed noisily at her as she finished the sandwiches and stood at the counter, eating hers. Maybe her belly would stop jumping if it wasn’t so empty.

She hoped.

But then the knock came on the door and she pressed a hand to her belly, the butterflies still raging. Nope. Didn’t work. But at least she wouldn’t pass out from hunger, right?

Nerves, embarrassment, panic…but not hunger.

Dropping her half-eaten sandwich on the plate, she left the kitchen, muttering to herself, “Why am I so nervous?”

Because she hadn’t once thought about what would happen beyond today. Hell, with all the insane things happening right now, and the nocturnal visits from nameless people, she had thought a time or two that maybe she wouldn’t have a tomorrow.

And this was much more nerve-racking than the memory of that pale face in her window. After all, she knew what that person had basically wanted. To scare her to death.

But Kellan…what did he want?

She opened the door slowly, staring at his face with wide eyes, catching her lip between her teeth. He looked exhausted. Stepping aside, she asked quietly, “Have you eaten anything?”

He grimaced. “No. Haven’t had time to think about it,” he said, shrugging.

Catching his hand, she led him into the kitchen and took the second sandwich, pushing the plate into his hand. A surprised look entered his eyes, a smile slowly edging up the corners of his mouth. “Thanks,” he murmured. He dropped into the chair and for a moment, just rested his elbows on the table, weariness in every line of his body.

Her heart clenched when he lifted his head, meeting her eyes as she stared at him from across the room. Something dark and hungry entered his gaze and then he looked away, reaching down to pick up the sandwich.

She spun away, that look striking her to the core, heating her belly, tightening her nipples. Flipping open the fridge, she grabbed a bottle of wine. “I’m going to have some wine. You want a glass? Or a soft drink?”

Kellan studied her bent head, his eyes running over her and settling on the fine tremor of her hands. “You seem a little nervous,” he murmured, lowering his half-eaten sandwich to the table and leaning back in the chair, watching as she pressed her hands to the counter, her shoulders rising and falling as she took a deep breath.

“Ummm…maybe a little.” She tugged the cork out of the half-empty bottle of wine and he was silent as she poured herself a glass and upended it, drinking half of it and then topping her glass off before she poured a second glass and turned around.

Kellan rose from the table and met her halfway across the room, taking it from her, lifting it to his lips, holding her stare all the while. He could see the pulse in her neck fluttering wildly. The wine slid down his throat, warm and smooth as liquid gold, and he took one more sip before setting it down and taking hers away, putting it on the table as well.

“Why?”

She blinked, staring at him owlishly, licking her lips. “Why what?” she whispered huskily.

“Why are you nervous?” he murmured, lowering his head to brush his lips against the pulse in her throat.

“I-” her voice squeaked and then a shaky sigh slipped out of her.

“Because of what I said on the phone?”

“A little.”

He trailed a gentle line of kisses up her neck, nuzzling the sweet-smelling hair just behind her ear before he asked, “Good nervous? Or bad nervous?”

“I haven’t decided yet… I’ve never done this before.”

“Done what?” he asked before he brushed his lips over her mouth. The scent of her skin flooded his head, making it hard to think beyond the scent and the feel of her.

“Been in love with anybody.”

His heart beat a rapid tattoo in his chest but he kept his voice level. “Are you in love now?”

“I think so…and I’m scared to death,” she said shakily.

Lifting his head, he smiled slightly, cupping her face in his hands as he stared into her emerald green eyes. “Me, too. I tried pretty damn hard to stay away from you, Darci. You are more than I’m prepared to handle,” he said quietly. “I knew this would happen.”

She scowled at him, a frown drawing her brows low over her eyes. “Well, I didn’t exactly force you into anything,” she muttered.

Kellan laughed. “No…and I was losing anyway. You sneak into my dreams, haunt my thoughts,” he whispered. “This was inevitable.”

Her body melted against his as he added, “I feel you with me even when you’re not around. And I ache…I want you with me all the time.” Slanting his mouth across her, he pushed his tongue into her mouth gently, sipping at her lips until she opened for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and arching against him with a soft moan.

Trailing his fingers down her spine, he caught the hem of her shirt, raising it slowly, flattening his palms against her sides, stroking them upward, letting the movement of his hands draw the shirt up.

He stepped back just a little, pulling his mouth from hers just long enough to slide the shirt off completely. He felt the soft mounds of her breasts flatten against his chest, her nipples tight little beads, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her mouth pressing eagerly, hungrily to his.

“Shhh…this is going to be slow. I want to take my time with you right now,” he said. Taking her mouth again, he slowly danced her over to the table. He slid his hands inside the waistband of her boxers and slowly stroked down her hips, letting the silk fall to her ankles in a puddle of blue. Then he boosted her hips onto the table, stepping back to stare down at her body.

Skimming his hands up her sides, he cupped the pert little mounds of her breasts, bending low to catch one between his teeth, smiling against her flesh as she arched up against him with a rough moan. Her hands moved restlessly over his shoulders, dipping into his hair to pull him against her, roaming down his arms. Her nails dug into his biceps and he grunted at the sharp little pain.

Lifting his head, Kellan stared down into her dazed eyes, smiling as she stared blindly back at him, licking her lips. Her breasts rose and fell unsteadily as she gasped for air. He trailed one finger down the center of her torso, circling around her navel, skimming lower to trail between the dew-slicked folds of her pussy.

He watched her face as he circled the tender opening, pushing just a little inside that tight passage. Her lids drooped low and her upper body went boneless as she collapsed back against the table, hands curled into loose fists at her sides. The satiny tissues resisted his slow caress and he gritted his teeth, remembering how hot and tight she had closed around his cock.

The organ in question jerked demandingly, trapped in the tight confines of his jeans and underwear. Throttling down the urge to tear his clothes away and drive his dick deep inside her, Kellan leaned over her, bracing his hand by her head, staring into her eyes as he slowly pushed his finger inside her pussy, withdrawing as she arched against his hand. He added a second finger, watching as her eyes flew wide open, harsh pants falling from her lips.

“Come for me,” he whispered gruffly, shuddering as the creamy heat tightened around his fingers.

She sobbed aloud and he circled the tight little bud of her clit with his thumb and repeated, “Come for me. Come on, Darci, let me feel it.”

Her entire body bucked under the touch of his hand, pearly white teeth sinking into the full lower curve of her lip. The scent of her arousal was heavy in the air and he couldn’t breathe without it flooding his head, couldn’t close his eyes without her image flashing behind his lids. She climaxed into his hand with a rush, the hot cream wetting his palm.

Catching her hips, he dragged her to the edge of the table, sinking to his knees before her and pushing her thighs wide. As he pressed his mouth against her, she screamed and he plunged his tongue inside her folds, using his thumbs to spread the lips of her pussy wide. Her sheath was still convulsing and he groaned against her, his entire body hardening, clamoring with the urge to fuck her hard, fast, deep.

She tried to draw her knees up, but he shifted his grip, keeping her thighs pressed flat against the table as he fucked his tongue in and out of her pussy, drinking down the hot, musky cream, nuzzling his nose against her clit. Darci screamed out his name and at the sound of it, his control started to snap. Slowly, he rose, staring down at her hungrily. He reached up, removing his jacket and shoulder holster, tossing it on the floor, and laying the holster and gun on the table.

Her eyes locked on his hands as he unbuttoned his shirt. A hot, hungry look entered her eyes as he shrugged the shirt off. Pride rippled through him as she stared at his torso and arms with an almost drugged fascination. He unbuckled his belt and freed the buttons at his fly as he kicked off his shoes.

His cock sprang out as he shoved his jeans and shorts down to just past his hips. Her eyes dropped to linger on his sex and Kellan shuddered as her tongue appeared, slicking across her swollen lips.

Her heart slammed against her ribs as she stared at his cock, the ruddy head jerking under her gaze. It curved up thick and straight, nestled in a bed of dark, springy curls. Her mouth watered but before she could shift position and slide off the table, he bent over her. She pouted, poking her lip out as she reached down and trailed her fingers across the iron-hard length of his cock. A pearly bead of fluid dampened her fingers and she lifted them to her lips, sucking the pre-come with a satisfied smile.

“Witch,” he growled, nudging her thighs wider and stepping between them.

Darci chuckled huskily but the sound died away as he pumped his hips, dragging his cock across her wet folds, burrowing against her. Her clit throbbed as he rubbed against it. Bringing her knees up, she gripped his hips and arched into him.

The blunt head nudged against her entrance. Digging her nails into his arms, she shifted the angle of her hips, groaning as he slipped just the merest fraction of his cock inside her. Hunger pulsed in her belly. Tipping her hips higher, she tried to draw more of his length inside her.

His hands, hot and hard, cupped her hips, stilling the frantic movement easily as he slowly pushed deeper.

“Slowly,” he teased her.

“Damn it, Kellan,” she cried out, clenching her muscles around him. A smile spread across her face as he stiffened over her, dark flags of color appearing high on his cheekbones, his lids drooping low over his eyes.

She did it again, clenching and then releasing the muscles in her pussy until he growled and plunged deep, burying his cock completely inside of her. She screamed out his name, staring blindly up at the sky as he pulled out and pushed back inside with one long, hard plunge. Her womb throbbed. Her clit burned.

His weight crushed against her, pressing her into the table as he moved higher on her body, one hand cupping her ass and lifting her. Now each stroke of his cock had his pelvis rasping across her clit. Desire, need, and hunger built inside her with every thrust of his cock into her pussy.

“Look at me,” he growled.

She met his gaze, staring into his eyes, the stark burning hunger in his face adding to the hot, burning hunger in her gut. He moved lower down on her body, so that his mouth was only a breath away from hers. Caught in the hot, hungry depths of his hazel gaze, she sobbed out his name as he started to shaft her slowly, with short, powerful digs of his hips.

“I love you, Darci,” he rasped just before his mouth caught hers. The words I love you were trapped in her throat, smothered by his mouth as he plunged his tongue into her mouth, mimicking the rhythm of his hips.

The driving hunger in her body finally exploded and she shuddered as the muscles in her pussy seized around his cock, clenching at his flesh as he pulled out and worked his cock back inside. She screamed into his mouth as he started to pound harder against her, his cock swelling within her pussy. A roar rumbled out of his chest, the sound of it mingling with the short, staccato sounds of her cries as she worked her hips against him. Her skin felt too hot, too tight to contain everything that was exploding inside of her.

Bright pinwheels of light exploded in front of her eyes, and her breath felt trapped in her lungs. The hot splash of his seed spurted within her pussy and she whimpered as the convulsions in her sheath finally started to slow. Her body went limp under his and her hands smacked into the table as her muscles went lax.

His body collapsed against her, his weight crushing her into the table. Kellan’s chest rose and fell like a bellows, his breath moving the hair just behind her ear. Stroking one hand up his side, she whispered, “I love you, Kellan.”

His head lifted and he stared sleepily down at her face, a slow, hesitant smile creeping across his face. “You do, huh?”

She grinned at him. “Well, why else would I be nervous? If I was just using you for sex, this would be easy. I can handle easy. Don’t handle more complicated stuff very well.”

A cold chill raced across her flesh as he pushed himself up, straightening over her body and tugging his jeans back up. He stroked his finger down her cheek, his eyes soft and gentle. “I guess we’re going to have to fumble our way through it together, then.”