Forbidden Fruit

“My name’s Lily Pierron. You may call me Miss Lily. Or, for the next few minutes, Aunt Lily.”

“I won’t be around long enough to call you anything.” He started to stand, making a sound of pain as he put his weight on his right leg. He swore and sat back down. The front bell pealed, announcing the doctor’s arrival.

“Don’t answer that.” He caught her hand. “Please…Lily.”

She squeezed his fingers, then stood. “I’m really sorry. But, you’ll thank me for this, I promise you.”

He swore again. “And we both know how much your promises are worth, don’t we?”

She ignored both his sarcasm and the way it made her feel. “I need to know your name.”

He folded his arms across his chest and glared at her. “Go to hell.”

The bell pealed again. “You must have a name. And if we’re to pull this off, I have to call you something. I don’t think go to hell is going to cut it.”

“Todd,” he said gruffly, not meeting her eyes. “Todd Smith.”

She nodded. “I’ll be back, Todd Smith. I hope you’re smart enough to still be here.”

Chapter 16

As soon as Lily left the kitchen, Santos stood. He looked down at himself. “Dammit.” The old lady had thoroughly outsmarted him. How far could he get not only injured, but without his pants?

“Dammit,” he said again, picturing himself limping down River Road wrapped in a bath towel. He had to trust her. Right. He’d trusted plenty in the last year and a quarter, starting with those bumbling, good-for-nothing homicide detectives. So much for trust.

Heart pounding, Santos sat back down and waited, a feeling of doom settling over him like a dark cloud. He closed his eyes, certain that in one minute a police officer would walk through the door and haul his butt back to New Orleans.

She wasn’t going to do that to him, Santos thought suddenly and with certainty. This Lily talked tough, but she had kind eyes. Something about her made him trust her instinctively.

He called himself a fool. Whether he could trust her or not, he was trapped.

She hadn’t lied. A moment later his Aunt Lily escorted an elderly man into the kitchen. Instead of a badge and a gun, he was carrying a black medical bag.

And true to her promise, the doctor played along with their story about Todd being her nephew; he asked few questions about how he’d received his injuries or about anything else.