Chapter 38 - South Beach - Ignition

South Beach - Stanfield Residence - Thursday, very early morning




Rising out of deep exhausted sleep, slowly, chased out by the deep toll of a bell somewhere offshore, Beth rubbed her eyes, lurched up. She’d fallen asleep on the couch. What time was it? Past 2 a.m., almost 2:30.

The bell rang again – not the clang of a buoy but the insistent purr of her cell which was, well where was it? She got up, moving slowly, followed the sound through the darkened kitchen and managed to punch the button. Even Coop wouldn’t call this late but it couldn’t be anyone else. “Hello?”

Cooper’s voice, blurred but tense, leapt out at her. “Beth. I need to talk to you.”

Something in the tone, whether it was the hour or remnants of a bad dream still fogging her mind, abruptly terrified her. Her own voice caught in her throat. Gripping the phone hard, backing away from the desk, she let her thoughts start to run screaming in panic round and round her mind for a few seconds – he was calling to say he wanted a divorce; he was calling to say he had made a mistake and had been in love with Stevie all along – oh for gods sake stop it! she scolded herself. Cautiously, she asked, “In the middle of the night? Are you ok?”

“Yeah but I need to explain about something.” And he proceeded to talk, at length, rambling, something about a club and Rafe and how she should not listen and it wasn’t like it appeared, none of it very coherent. It didn’t sound as if he were at a club; it was very quiet. But it did sound as though he’d had a great deal to drink.

“What are you talking about?” Beth interrupted. “What kind of club? Why would I care?”

Cooper hesitated. “A private club.”

A private…she stared at the phone, unable to believe he would actually…then walked outside into the cool night air where she could at least breathe. “Coop are you talking about some kind of brothel? You and Rafe are at a whore house?”


Another long silence before he began to repeat himself without ever quite answering her question. Her back ached; she was so tired she was almost cross-eyed and he was calling her from a whore house? And not because he felt bad about it, but because Rafe might tattle on him? Something she couldn’t imagine Rafe doing anyway, especially if he was there with him.

“Are you done?” she finally broke in.

Then unexpectedly, he shot back at her in a voice hard and hoarse with anger, “Am I done? What about you? What the hell is going on with you and Ryan?”

Her heart pounded in her chest and her throat tightened. She couldn't answer that question. She didn't know the answer. Ryan was a constant warm prescence she didn't want to contemplate losing, but that night...that night had not been repeated. She was trying. Was Cooper making any similar effort? No. He was calling her from inside a goddamned brothel. Completely enraged, Beth shouted into the phone, “I’ll tell you what is NOT going on! I’m not running around the house naked chasing him with a riding whip! Why don’t you go back and play with your girls! It sounds like the party sure didn’t start without you!”

She cut the connection, turned to the pool and in a fit of fury, hurled the cell phone into the water.

Beth stood there, shaking with anger, pain, fear, jealousy. And second guessing herself. She should not have hung up on him. She should call back. No, he would call back. No he probably wouldn’t.

To hell with him. She was not waiting around here. And she wasn’t putting up with Ryan tagging along with her, not this time. Hauling herself up the stairs, Beth marched down the hall, went into Rayne’s room and switched on the light. “Rainie,” she said softly, waking her daughter, “wake up. We’re going on a little trip, just you and me. Get dressed honey.”

Pine Lake - Friday, early afternoon


Rayne banged her feet off the side of the narrow deck, leaned her head against the rail and looked out at greenish water splashing on a beach. It wasn’t a beach she wanted to play on. It was too cold. Behind her she heard her mother slamming pots around in the kitchen. Boy she was mad about something this time.

This was stupid. They weren’t supposed to go anywhere without Ryan when her daddy wasn’t home. But they had. And it was already boring.


Rayne got to her feet and wandered into the kitchen. “Is this our house now?” she questioned her mother unhappily, “because I don’t like it.”

“It’s a perfectly nice house,” her mother said with that fake bright voice that meant it really wasn’t but they were supposed to pretend it was. She put plates down on the table and added without looking up, “And it’s just like a little vacation, that’s all. Just you and me. We’ll have fun.”

Her hands on her hips, Rayne stared at her, thought about it, and demanded, “Can I call Daddy? Because I don’t think this is much fun. There’s nothing to do.”

Her mother sat down on the other side of the little round table, didn’t even look at her own sandwich, and said, “Daddy’s working right now. Eat your lunch.”

Not in the daytime he wasn’t working, Rayne knew that much. But it might not be day where he was. She eyed her mother again, who wasn’t eating the lunch anyway and didn’t look like she felt very good. Was it the new baby, she wondered?

Snatching up her plate, her mother dumped it in the sink with a big crash and a hard tapping sound like her rings hitting something.

Then she leaned back, looking outside like she was going to cry but she didn’t. Rainie waited, worried now, and put her arms around her. “It’s ok Mommy,” she whispered. Her mother hugged her, almost too tight. “Of course it’s ok sweetie. Go play with the toy box for a few minutes.”


That dumb toy box. Rayne stomped upstairs, went into the room, and it was the littlest bedroom she had ever seen. She didn’t like that stupid bunny her mother bought; it was a baby toy. But there was a computer on the desk, and she knew how to use it a little bit.


Listening for her mother, and she didn’t hear anything, she settled down in the chair, turned on the computer and thought about it. She clicked on the email and slowly, one letter at a time, typed in the address, then the text.

Hi Daddy how are you. I’m bored and mommy is sick so come home.

Pine Lake - Friday evening


Ryan pulled up hard next to the lake house, running the tires into soft ground, slammed out and stood there looking at the place.

He’d gotten the call early in the morning, before he was more than half awake. Cooper, in a mood like a man with a nasty hangover and demanding to know if Ryan knew where his wife was since he hadn’t been able to reach her. Taken completely off guard, Ryan stalled, claimed he was on his way over, and carefully pressed him for anything he should know, suspecting there’d been an argument, a confrontation of some kind and Beth had simply decided not to answer the phone. Cooper turned cold and uncommunicative, almost snarling, “I expect you to do your job and your job is to keep track of her. That’s it. If you can’t do that, I’ll hire someone who can.”

She hadn’t just turned off the phone though. She’d taken the little girl and left the house. No word. Nothing. It had taken Ryan the better part of the day and many awkward phone calls to find her. He was tired, angry, and worried.

He had expected her to hole up in someplace familiar, but she hadn’t. Leaning hard on a friend of hers in the design business -- he'd tried Gayl first but got nowhere -- finally got him an address, and Ryan stood outside the place, took a quick look around and shook his head. Right on a main road, no fence…at least it backed to the lake. Lady, you are not going to outrun me, he thought, and strode on up to the door.

Beth threw open the door – he’d bet she hadn’t even set the alarm – and stood there looking at him. “Go home,” she told him flatly.

Ryan planted his feet, crossed his arms and studied her. Something had happened between the two of them; he knew her so well by now, he could see it, see it in her eyes and in her mouth. “That’s not going to happen Beth. I’m coming in, or you’re leaving with me. Your choice.” For a moment he thought she was going to argue the point, but she shrugged and stepped aside. “Come on in then.”


He knocked mud off his boots, pushed past her, closed and locked the door and turned to find she’d walked away into the middle of a big room overlooking the lake. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ryan demanded, making an effort to keep his voice down. The little girl had to be around here somewhere.

“Leave me alone, Ryan,” she replied, looking out at the dark water, her back to him. The anger and concern, long damned day, rose up in his throat. “I can’t leave you alone! This is my job! Cooper called me – Beth…what’s going on?”

“What do you want me to say?” she suddenly shouted. “That you were right? I don’t know what’s going on! I can’t even get away by myself!”


She opened the door and went out into the cold night and paced down the length of a deck, stopping to look back at him when he followed her. He was completely uncertain how to handle this. Yeah, guess they’d had a fight, and it didn’t stretch his imagination to figure out what it was about. Ryan’s anger bottomed out leaving nothing but aching frustration.


“Hey,” he started, quietly, putting his hand on her arm, “you can’t run away from this. You have to face the man. Go back and talk to him and decide what you want to do.”

Beth drew the back of her hand across her eyes, but when she looked up at him, he didn’t see tears. Loss and pain, but no tears. “I’m sorry about your job,” she told him. “That was…I wasn’t thinking..”

Cold wind sliced through his sweater. It was too cold out here, too cold for him, too cold for her. Ryan hesitated, started to suggest they go back in, but she didn’t seem to want to move. He reached out, wrapped his arms around her, felt her shiver.

“I’ll be here,” he promised quietly, holding on, determined to keep holding on. She knew how he felt, and Ryan held onto that. She might deny it, but she kept him as close as he intended to keep her. “Whatever happens, I’ll be here.”

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NEXT CHAPTER: Rising Above Chapter 7