He rocked on his heels, his eyes bloodshot.“I tried to warn you.”He looked over his shoulder to the quiet street.When he turned back to her, his mouth was twisted.
With a shove, he pushed her into the house and closed the door behind him.“You should have listened; you should have been scared after the dead cat.You came to see me again; you kept stirring.I trashed your house, but you keep stirring.I’m not going to jail, and you would have put me there.”
He was wearing gloves, she saw.Gloves in December?Dana stared at the man in astonishment, a chill running up and down her spine.He was going to hurt her.She could see it in the way he moved; she could see it in his eyes.
Her phone rang from inside her room.
He advanced, and she moved backward, her hands behind her, trying to find something, anything she could use as a weapon.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”She kept her gaze on him while she slowly moved in the direction of the bookcase.The cement flower pot was on one of the shelves.It was big and heavy.
He smiled while still coming closer.“You know.Or, if you don’t know yet, you’ll figure it out sooner or later.And I’d much rather you didn’t.You see, the client your father phoned me about was someone I had approached with Hastings’s product.By that time, I knew things were going south, and I knew I had to look after myself.So I duped this guy into believing he should make a payment directly to me, told him that was how things were done, and that I’d make the payments to the company.”
Dana kept her gaze on Johnson while her hands found the heavy pot behind her back.Johnson kept talking.Was that sirens she was hearing?
“This guy talked to your dad about it, and of course your dad told him that no money should be paid to an advisor.I knew that if your dad told the financial services board about this on top of the whole Hastings thing, I’d never see the light of day again.So, I called in some favors, got your dad arrested, and had someone help him to leave this earth forever.”
Dana caught her breath.He was confessing to organizing her dad’s death!From far away, she could hear sirens.
Johnson put his hands around her throat.“So you see, Ms.Roux, I can’t let you tell people what you are bound to find out.Surely, you understand that?”he asked, as if he was making perfect sense.
She couldn’t hear any sirens now; she’d probably only imagined it.There was no help on the way as she’d hoped.It was up to her now whether she was going to live or die.
Dana got hold of the pot behind her with both hands.The front door burst open.Johnson turned, his hands dropped from around her neck, and she lifted the pot high above her head, ready to bring it down on his head as hard as she could.
*
David would neverforget the sight in front of him when he crashed through Dana’s front door.The big man in front of his beloved had his hands around her throat.Her eyes were wild, her hair flying around her, and she stood like an avenging angel holding a big flower pot above her head.If she were afraid, he’d never have guessed it from the determined expression on her face.
The police were right behind him, guns at the ready, yelling loudly at the man who, now deathly pale, stumbled backward.He obviously hadn’t been expecting anyone to come to Dana’s rescue.
David reached Dana in two strides, and he gently took the flower pot from her hands where she was still holding it above her head.He pulled her shivering body close to his and fell in love with her all over again.
“It’s over, sweetheart.Your window was open again, and we could hear everything he said.Grant Simpson, from what I could gather tonight, had his suspicions about Johnson being involved in your dad’s death, but he didn’t have any evidence.Now we have.”
Dana pressed her face into his chest while the shivering slowly subsided.He held on tightly.Some of the policemen escorted Johnson from the house, while the detective hovered behind.But David didn’t want to talk to anyone else just yet.
What had nearly happened to Dana tonight was only dawning on David now.He could have lost her.Never seen her again, never held her in his arms again.
“David, I’m okay,” she whispered, wiggling in his arms.
He slackened his hold somewhat, realizing he’d had her in a death grip.“I’m sorry,” he breathed into her hair.“He could have hurt you and I—”
He couldn’t get another word past his throat.Instead, he caressed her back, trying to tell her with his hands how glad he was she wasn’t hurt, how much he loved her.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the detective waving, trying to get his attention, but he wasn’t quite ready to let go of Dana.
“What about Sam Jordan?”she asked.
The detective cleared his throat behind them.“That’s what I’d like to talk to you about,” he said.
*
“So let meget this straight.”Darryn frowned.“Johnson has been in jail for selling Hastings’s Ponzi scheme, but nobody knew of his involvement in Dana’s dad’s death?”
The whole Cavallo clan had arrived early that morning at Don’s house in Hermanus, and Caitlin’s mother had hastened over.
It was a week later, but Dana still woke up at night, gasping for air.David had been a wonderful pillar over the past week and had waited until he had all the facts about Jordan and Johnson before he phoned his family.
