Page 20 of Calling His Bluff
“What are you waiting for?” he whispered to Josephine. She had looked back at the table as if interested in Darin’s fish tale. More than likely, she was watching Nels.
“He’s not alone,” she said and made herself a drink along with him.
Jack frowned. “Hank?”
She shook her head. “He’s waiting for someone else to arrive.” With that, she returned to her chair.
Jack swore.Nels was waiting for someone else?He studied the remaining players. Hank didn’t look ready to tap out. Hewas a better player than expected, so he’d done well. That just left Nels and the Armstrongs. He couldn’t imagine Josephine worrying about the twins’ safety.
He looked across the table at her and thought of the engagement ring in his pocket. He was a gambler at heart, but he had no idea how to win this woman’s heart. That’s if he could keep her alive long enough to ask her, he thought an instant before he heard a familiar sound that made his heart fall.
-#-
Josephine heard it too—the sound was of a key opening the front door of Seaside Vows. Her already jacked-up pulse leapt into overdrive. How had she missed this? If Nels had worked on remodeling the apartment upstairs, he might have made a copy of the key.
She hadn’t even thought about changing the locks. But she saw now what a mistake that had been. Not even Jack had thought of a deadbolt on the front door. It was large carved wood, thick and strong—unlike the flimsy door to the alley.
Before she could move, the door swung open. The rain, wind, and cold swept in before the door slammed shut. In that instant, the room fell silent as all heads turned to look at the large, bulky figure in a dark hooded parka holding a gun and dripping raindrops on the floor.
* * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER 11
Momentarily distracted by the bulky man in the doorway and his weapon, Josephine swung her gaze to Jack. To her horror, Nels had pulled his gun. It was now pointed at Jack’s head.
“This is a private matter,” Nels said calmly. “Everyone but Josephine and Jack might want to leave now.”
Hank nodded, collected his money and got to his feet as if he didn’t have to be asked twice. He gave Josephine a nod in thanks and left by the backdoor. She doubted he’d left to call the cops.
Wayne scraped up his money, stuffed it into his pockets and finished his drink as he rose. He was eyeing Jack’s poker winnings and seemed leery about taking them, but after only a moment’s hesitation, scooped them up. Darwin didn’t hesitate at all as he took Josephine’s winnings, adding them to his own as he rose.
The twins left in more of a hurry than Hank had. Josephine didn’t think she’d be seeing either of them again, which she thought might turn out to be the high point of the night.
“What’s this about?” Jack asked, his gaze on her.
She considered the man who’d used the key to enter the shop. He’d thrown back his hood to expose a full, round face that was either flushed from exertion or anger. He’d aged, but the moment he looked at her, she felt a shudder of recognition.
“This is Ernie Lockwood,” she said to Jack. “The man holding the gun on you is his son. Turns out you were right, Jack. I do have someone from my past who might be after me.”
“Because this bitch sent me to prison for twenty years,” Ernie bellowed as he moved deeper into the room.
“Ernie was our middle school janitor. I discovered the drilled holes in the girls’ bathroom wall from the supply closet and recognized his eyes looking through at me.”
“It’s a lie.” Nels shot to his feet, grabbing Jack around the neck and jabbing the barrel of the handgun into his temple. “He didn’t drill those holes. He didn’t even know they were there, let alone look through them until that day. You ruined his life and mine and my mother’s with your lie.”
“I lost everything because of you,” Ernie said.
“Not everything, you got your son back,” Josephine said. “You trying to ruin his life too?”
“You think this is funny?” Ernie demanded with a curse as he lunged at her aggressively.
“I’m not finding it amusing,” Jack said, drawing the man’s attention away from Josephine. She could feel his heated gaze on her. Not that she could blame him for being furious with a gun pointed at his head. Earlier he’d been waiting for a signal and now wished she’d have given him one so this wouldn’t be happening.
“Like you said,” Josephine reminded Ernie. “This is personal business between you and me. Jack has nothing to do with this. Let him leave.”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “My son has been looking for you for years. I almost couldn’t believe it when he told me about seeing some story on the internet about you and your aunt and this place she’d left you.”
She knew Ernie had always blamed her instead of himself. But now she saw that his hatred had only festered over his years in prison. Josephine feared she wasn’t going to be able to talk either man down.
