Double Trouble 52; More answers and questions (and a nice visual)
 by Cariad
 
 
 

Double Trouble
~Fifty Two~

Julia ran up the stairs to her room. “What are you doing, Jules?” Holly’s voice echoed up behind her.

“I’m getting information,” Julia replied.

“How?” Holly asked, following Julian into her room.

Julia picked up the phone. “You’ll see!” She dialed Noah’s number, forgetting the ban, figuring his father would forgive him when he checked the caller ID. The number was busy. Using the automatic call back feature, Julia dialed *66 and waited for the phone to ring.

“Who are you calling?” Holly asked.

“Who do you think!” Julia replied with a mischievous smile. “Who else would be able to keep an ear out on the police radio!” The phone rang and Julia picked it up immediately.

“Hello?” came a female voice on the other end.

“Kay?” Julia guessed.

“Who is this?”

“Julie Crane, is Noah there?”

“You’re not supposed to be calling,” Kay replied.

“Please?” Julia asked.

“Julie?” Noah’s voice asked.

“How did you know to answer?”

“I’m bigger than my little sisters. I can get the phone away from them when I want. What do you need?”

Julia sighed. “Daddy and Mother went running out of the house and into a police car. Lights and Siren! Do you know what’s going on?”

“Hold on.” There was a long pause before Noah again spoke on the phone. “Ok, hang up now, Kay,” he said. Julia heard the click of the second phone being put back into the receiver. “Look, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. But since it probably concerns Johnny… My cousin Charity was attacked.”

“What?” Julia asked, nearly dropping the phone.

“What happened?” Holly asked, her face inches from Julia’s.

“Charity was attacked,” Julia explained.

Noah continued on the phone, “Mom and David came back to the B&B and heard Charity screaming. Let’s just say it was the same guy who did the rest. They caught him.”

Julia looked at Holly. “They caught him,” Julia explained to her sister.

“Aidan?” Holly asked on a breathless whisper.

“Do they know who it was?” Julia asked Noah.

“They don’t say over the radio. They only talk about the suspect. White male in his early twenties. Technically, that could be anyone in this town!”

“Aidan,” Julia mouthed back at Holly. “Do you have any ideas who it was?”

“Wait,” Noah said. There was another long pause. “Charity’s being taken to the hospital. She’s severely wounded—lots of bleeding. Hold on, call waiting.”

Julia patiently waited in the silence and quickly explained to Holly what had happened.

“I’m back,” Noah said. “That was mom. We’ve got to go the hospital and hope that Charity gets better.”

“Well, bye, I guess,” Julia replied.

“Don’t worry Juliet,” Noah said, and suddenly Julia wasn’t half as worried as she was. “I’ll see you soon, ok?”

“Sure,” Julia said and hung up the phone after she heard the line go dead.

“What now?” Holly asked.

“I guess we find out when Daddy and Mother,” Julia replied.
 

***
Holly leveled her sword at the cowering man before her. “I have no desire to kill you,” she snarled, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “but if you do not leave me alone, I will have no choice.”

Jonathan Hotchkiss looked up at her, his eyes pleading. “I swear, mistress, I will do whatever you desire of me!”

“Then get out of my sight forever!” she said, turning on him and striding to the end of the castle hall, which turned into a parapet as she reached a window. On the plain before, a knight rode up, his banner snapping in the wind. She could not make out the features of his face, but she knew who he was.

“I have come to slay the dragon, fair maiden!” the knight called.

Holly laughed. “He has already been slain!”

The knight reached to take off his helmet. Holly knew who he was. She stared at him in amazement.

“Then my work here is done,” he called up at her, replaced his helmet and wheeled his horse about, cantering away.

“Wait!” Holly called. “Why you?”

The knight paused and directed his mount in an elaborate bow. “Elephant Shoes,” he replied tipping his banner.

Holly awoke with a start, lifting her head off her sister’s shoulder. She was not in her bed, which confused her greatly. By her side, Julia was also waking. They had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room, within earshot of the front door.

“What’s going on?” Julia asked in a drowsy voice.

Holly stretched and turned around. “Father and Mama just got back,” she whispered.

“What time is it?”

“Morning sometime.” The girls hied themselves off the couch and after their parents. The Australian doctor and his two cohorts were absent. “What’s going on?” Holly asked as she and Julia caught up. “Why did you rush out of here so fast?”

“And who were those other people here?” Julia added.

Julian coughed. “Business associates,” he lied.

Holly caught Julia’s unimpressed glance. “So what happened?” Holly asked.

“They caught the killer,” Ivy replied. “Excuse me,” she continued, “I’ve spent enough time in your father’s company, and I’m very tired.” Ivy slowly made her way up the stairs to her room.

The front door opened again. Dressed in the clothes he had last worn in the conservatory with Holly, Jonathan Hotchkiss strode into the Crane Mansion. “Holly!” he nearly shouted as he shut the door.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she knew Jonathan was going to come and put his arms around her. His hug was vise-like and filled with joy. “I’m free,” he whispered.

“Obviously,” Holly gasped, trying to get her hands in a place where she could push away from him. Julia saved her by hanging on Jonathan’s side until he opened up enough to include both twins in the happy embrace.

“Gwen!” Jonathan called. “Gwen! Get down here!”

“GQ?” Gwen called from the top of the stairs, her voice raising in pitch. She charged down the stairs and into her brother’s arms. “You need to shave,” she observed.

“And bathe,” Holly commented under her breath.

“My odor offends you?” he asked his fiancée, having avoided releasing her completely.

Holly rolled her eyes. “You know just about everything about you offends me.” She tried once again to duck from under his arm, but could not free herself.

“I missed you, Holly,” he whispered.

“Save me,” she replied. “And you do need to bathe. Desperately,” she added, pinching her nose with the hand not pinned between her and Jonathan.

“Don’t mind Hollis,” Julia said happily, brushing his shoulders with her hands. “Just last night she was ready to lie in court to get you free.”

“Jules!” Holly shouted, her face turning red.

“Really,” Jonathan murmured.

Holly felt the desperate need to defend her actions. “What I said was IF I thought he was innocent, AND there was no other way to keep him out of jail…”

“You would lie for me,” Jonathan said, a definite smile in his voice to match the smile on his face.

“I didn’t want to see an innocent person convicted,” Holly insisted.

“You would lie for me,” he observed again.

Gwen slapped the back of his head. “I can see your ego swelling from here. And Holly’s right. You do need to bathe. You’re going to kill the poor girl if you don’t get her face out of your armpit. Besides, your clothes are wrinkled.”

“I missed you too, Gwennie,” Jonathan replied, kissing Gwen on the forehead.

Gwen punched his arm. “You know I hate that!” she snapped.
 

***
Holly took a deep breath and knocked on the guestroom’s door. She waited a moment after hearing no answer and knocked again. “Jonathan?” she asked quietly, fearing anyone would hear her. She knocked once more and tried the doorknob. Steeling herself, she twisted it and opened the door. His room was empty. “You’re not here then,” she said aloud to the room.

“No I’m here,” Jonathan replied, stepping out from the bathroom the room shared with another guestroom.

“Oh!” Holly said, her face flaming. She turned around and shut her eyes. Why couldn’t he be just the slightest bit pudgy like her brother Ethan was?

Jonathan laughed deep in his chest. “You can’t stay away?” he asked with amusement.

Holly stared at the door. “No!” she said, confused by the question. “Yes!” she countered almost immediately. “Please put on something other than a towel!”

Jonathan laughed again. “Am I that displeasing?” he asked.

“Yes!” she answered, her eyes still fixed on the door. “No. I mean you don’t need me to tell you that you look… nice.”

“No?” he asked, amusement in his voice.

Holly fought for control. She would not succumb to his charm. She would succeed in fending him off. She just wanted to tell him about Adele and then be gone. “No,” she answered, drawing a steadying breath. “Your appearance has never been in question, but it’s the actions that define the man.”

“Really,” his voice drawled right by her ear. She could feel the steam and dampness from his shower still radiating off his skin.

“Yes,” she replied primly. A towel dropped by her side, while a hand came over her mouth to muffle her terrified scream. Strong arms lifted her up, fingers lightly touching all her ticklish spots. Holly squealed and squirmed in his arms as he dropped her on the bed. Her foot shot out, catching his stomach with a loud thwack.

Holly caught her breath as Jonathan shrunk to the floor, gasping for air. She noticed he was not stark naked as she feared, but was wearing a pair of very nice pants, creases down the front of the leg.

“You’ve got good aim,” he panted.

“If I had better aim, I’d have hit you much lower, and you would not be speaking now.”

“No,” he conceded, rising.

“Don’t come any closer,” she warned, her right leg poised for another kick if need be.

Jonathan stared at her a moment and then moved back away to put on a shirt. “So, if it isn’t my now clean persona you’ve come to see, why were you looking in here? And who else were you expecting to find?”

“I was looking for you,” Holly admitted, her eyes warily glued to his strongly defined back.

“So you do find me irresistible,” he commented.

“No,” she argued. “Under normal circumstances, I would never even set foot in this place. I would certainly never catch myself alone with you in a bedroom, especially with you naked.”

“That will make the wedding night a little difficult,” he observed. “But I think we can manage.”

“Don’t even think of that, you pig! The wedding remains to be seen. I can still find someone better. You promised.”

“That I did, little Hollyhocks.”

“Don’t call me that,” she insisted. “I have enough vegetation associated with my name without you adding to it!”

“So I suppose Holly Berry is out too?”

Holly rolled her eyes.

“How about Mrs. Jonathan Hotchkiss?” he asked, turning around and giving her a charming smile.

“If you expect me to swoon over the sound of that, you’ve got me dead wrong. For one, I will not trade my name for yours. I don’t even know if I will take your last name. I will not give up my identity just to serve your own sick masculine need for dominance.”

Jonathan chuckled. “You still haven’t told me why you came here.”

“You keep changing the subject!” she insisted. She took a deep breath to calm herself. “I think you should join us when we visit the hospital today.”

“How so?” he asked, buttoning up his shirt.

Holly took another breath. “I was thinking about what you told me the other day in the conservatory,” she began. “And it seems as though Julia has been visiting this woman in the hospital.” Suddenly, Holly couldn’t tell the story. Doubts washed over her mind. What if Jonathan’s father had affairs with several ladies? What if Adele’s daughter was not Jonathan’s birth mother?

“And?” Jonathan prompted.

“Well, she has a large grievance against the Hotchkiss family.”

“And?”

“And I think you should clear it up with her,” Holly said hotly. The more she thought of it, the more she was sure that it was just an odd coincidence. “Never mind,” she added. “Just forget it.” Holly turned to quit his room. They would be leaving for the hospital in a few minutes anyway.

“I can’t forget it now,” Jonathan replied. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll go visit this woman in the hospital and clear up whatever silly imagined hatred she has towards my family, and then, you will come someplace quiet with me so I can explain something else to you.”

“More orders?” she asked.

“It’s about the murders.”

“Can’t we just forget them now that they caught someone in the act.”

“It was Aidan,” Jonathan said quietly.
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