Old Growth & Ivy (The Spook Hills Trilogy Book 1) by Menard Jayne

Author:Menard, Jayne [Menard, Jayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jayne Menard
Published: 2015-07-04T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

On Saturday the fourth of May, they were having a quiet afternoon at the Portland house. Ivy was in the kitchen preparing a bone-in pork roast for the oven before prepping a carrot cake. Down the hall in the office, Steve and Mathew were batting around plans for next steps on the vineyard. From what Ivy could hear, they were outlining the sequence of fields to be prepared and planted. True to their analytical mindsets, they had divided the land into strips laid out on a blown-up plot map that showed contours and elevations. Each field was numbered. They planned later to rename them by the date, source and variety planted, such as "2013 French Gamay”. She could hear them arguing over whether to include the name of the source vineyard or grower. Steve wanted to include it; Mathew wanted the grapes to become Spook Hills varieties, since much of the character of their wines would be attributable to their terroir.

When Ivy turned to get the flour and other dry ingredients for the cake out of the pantry, through the glass door to the big deck, she caught sight of a man dressed in black climbing over the deck railing. The deck was elevated on the second story. He must have shimmied up one of the posts that held up the deck. She froze as she watched him swing his second leg onto the deck. He turned, saw her and pulled a gun. It took all of her survival instincts to force herself into action. She grabbed her gun off the counter, dove for the floor, landing hard against a cabinet, screaming for Steve.

She could hear him pounding down the hall, yelling for Mathew to cover the stairs. A shot rang out by the deck and the door crashed open. Gunshots sounded from the front of the house; glass shattered. Ivy could hear the corgis barking as they raced out to the kitchen. Two more shots rang out when Steve flew in. Ivy heard a crash in the cozy room. More shots came from out front and then a car screeched away.

Mathew raced into the kitchen moving fast despite the limp from his damaged leg. Steve ran past Ivy into the cozy room with blood dripping from his arm.

"What the hell?" Ivy scrambled up, grabbed a dishtowel and ran after Steve to press it on his wound. Mathew scooped up her keys, yelling “Corners Better” and flew downstairs to the garage. Steve was fumbling with his cell phone one-handed, then hitting speed dial.

"Retired Agent Steve Nielsen. Shooting at 1279 Council Peak Lane. Call the local police. One intruder dead." He stopped and listened.

"Former Agent Heylen in pursuit of the other perps. Get out on Council Crest Drive, Fairway Drive, Vista, and so on. Get a fucking chopper in the air if you can. Yeah, I'll hold."

He turned and said. "Ivy, call Mathew on his cell. Stay on the line with him no matter what."

"Your arm!"

"Tie the damn towel on and leave it – it’s only a scratch.

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