The Principle (Legacy Book 2)

by Rain Carrington

  The Principle

  By Rain Carrington

  Book Two: Legacy

  Copyright © 2019

  All rights Reserved

  Author-Rain Carrington

  Cover Illustration by-Rain Carrington

  Chapter One

  Hearing Leo Glover’s voice brought back memories of childhood that were carefree and absent the jaded views she currently had on the world. When he’d asked her to take on the case, she hadn’t hesitated, knowing she’d do just about anything for her friend.

  Not that she didn’t want it on its own merits. Stacy Woo sat at the bedside of the boy she’d been sent to find, the smell of the hospital reminding her of the months she’d spent in one similar, while watching her mother waste away.

  Boy was a stretch, however, though he seemed like one as he slept. Matthew Whitehouse was twenty-three. Wisps of light brown hair lay over his short forehead, and his skin was fresh and clear of lines or acne, leaving him in that gentle time of life.

  He had high cheekbones, a squared but not overly wide jaw. Handsome, surely. Muscled, maybe a little too thin, but his wounds were what drew her. What had he done, could have ever done, to warrant a beating like he’d gotten?

  Twenty-three was past the age of consent, past the age he could vote or smoke, and even past the age where he could take a drink. Though, being Mormon, she wondered if he’d taken that right when he’d been able.

  He was beaten nearly to death, his right eye badly swollen, lip split up to his nostril. The doctors said he had two fractured ribs, a bruised lung, head trauma, several deep cuts, and heavy abrasions. He was lucky to be alive.

  The nurse said he’d been unconscious since someone brought him in after finding him in an alley.

  He screamed hustler, but the more Stacy looked at him, the more she thought that wasn’t true. At least, that wasn’t his full story. Leo hadn’t given her many details, simply he’d come from fundamentalist Mormons.

  The lost boys, as they were called, were boys that were banished from fundamentalist compounds by their fathers or elder men of the sects. They worried the young girls they coveted for themselves would be taken by the younger men, so they drove them to the city and dropped them there to fend for themselves.

  Twenty-three was old for that, but she didn’t know if he’d been on the streets for years or recently been taken from his home. Either way, he’d been through the mill, as her father always said. Matthew Whitehouse needed a break.

  When he started to come around at four in the morning, Stacy sat up from the chair where she’d spent the previous seven hours and waited for him to notice her. After he opened the eye that wasn’t too swollen, he peered at the room, found her, jumping a little and croaking, “Who are you?”

  “My name is Stacy Woo. I’m a detective.”

  “A cop?”

  Stacy shook her head, the question not unwarranted, but sticky, nonetheless. “No, Matthew, I’m a private detective. I was hired to find you.”

  Perhaps she should have phrased it differently, but there was no chance to change it. He threw off his covers and jumped out of bed, ripping the IV from his arm, all the while glancing back at her like she was coming to finish the job someone else had started.

  Nurses came in and tried to calm him, but it was Stacy who had to do that. Thinking quickly, the little she knew about the situation, she yelled, “I was sent by your cousin, not your dad!”

  He stopped, the eye that wasn’t already swollen shut narrowing at her like he didn’t believe her. “What?”

  One of the nurses was trying to get her to leave the room, but all her attention and focus was on Matthew. “Your cousin, McCully Blaylock. We have a mutual friend named Leo Glover. Leo called me.”

  Stopping his struggle, he pled in a tiny voice, “Daddy didn’t hire you?”

  “No, honey, he didn’t. I don’t even know your father. I don’t really know your cousin actually, but I did speak to him and Leo on the phone. They explained what they could, and he texted a picture of you to me. Of course, the picture was at least five years old.”

  The nurses chattered at her for a full minute to not upset him again or she’d be escorted from the hospital. After a solemn promise to keep him calm, she was allowed to stay, with Matthew’s permission.

  He was tucked back into bed and a new IV placed in the other arm. Given a mild sedative, he fell back to sleep, leaving Stacy there to watch him all over again.

  The second time he woke, she was the one asleep. He cleared his throat to wake her, and she sat up, leaning closer to the bed. “How you feeling?”

  “Like heck. Who are you again? Your name, I mean. I think I remember the rest of what you said.”

  Clearing her throat, she shook the sleep off quickly to explain. “Stacy Woo. I was sent by a friend who is your cousin’s partner. They told me to find you, and I did, pretty quickly. A quick call to the hospitals did the trick.”

  He sat up, wincing, asking, “How quick?”

  She was worried about the same thing she suspected he was concerned about. “Quick enough that I didn’t leave this room, in case someone came to finish the job. As soon as you are able, we’re getting out of here, and I’ll get you to a place where you can recover and tell me what the hell happened to you to get you here.”

  His sky-blue eyes landed on his IV and he grumbled, “They’ll get me no matter where I go.”

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about, but you don’t know me. I may be little, but as the saying goes, I’m fierce.”

  She received a ghost of a smile for that. “No offense, but you’re a woman.”

  “No offense, but I’m not the one with the bruises and swollen eye.”

  A full smile was given for that, and she saw how absolutely handsome he was under the discoloration and swelling.

  He sighed, “My cousin, huh? Haven’t seen him in forever.”

  “He seems to really care. I mean, when I told him about this, he was very worried. He and Leo are coming as soon as they can.”

  “He’s not tellin’ my dad, is he?”

  Stacy had no idea what the family dynamic was. “Not if you ask him not to, I’m sure he won’t.”

  Staring at his IV again, Matthew seemed exhausted, but his mind was working on something. “We need to get out of here. How bad am I? Will I last a few days?”

  It was a strange question, one she didn’t want to explore. Getting up from the chair, she said, “I’ll look at your chart, but if you’re injured too badly, we’re staying.”

  “If I stay, I’ll be injured a lot worse than this.”

  She opened the door, looking up and down the hall. The lights were dim, and the place deserted except for a nurse walking away, then rounding a corner and disappearing. She slipped the chart from the holder outside the door and closed it.

  Once she was back at Matthew’s bed, she opened the chart, trying to decipher the medical jargon, and ran her eyes over the boxes that were checked.

  “You were busted up pretty good, Matthew.”

  “Matt, please, and how good?”

  From what she could understand, Matthew…Matt, had all the injuries the doctor had told Mac he’d had. Bruised lung and cracked ribs were the worst of them, plus the head trauma. If they were to leave, they couldn’t get far from the hospital, at least a hospital.

  She told Matt, “Listen, I don’t know who is after you or why, and we don’t have time to get into that right now. You’re going to do what I say, when I say it, though, or you’re on your own. In your condition, that would be a bad place to be, Matt.”

  “Got it. And…and thank you.”

  His voice was timid, so tiny that he could be a child. S
tacy wanted a child, maybe more than anything in the world, so when she was confronted with one, the maternal instincts that hadn’t been directed for her own kid kicked in and went to immediate overdrive.

  After helping him get the IV out of his arm and finding his clothes in the tiny closet, Stacy left the room to scope out their route for the escape. Sure, he could check himself out against medical advice, but it would be better if his leaving wasn’t known right away.

  There were two nurses in the office area, but they were intensely typing away on their computers. Another two were doing rounds and were far enough for Matt to get out before they discovered he was gone.

  The elevators and stairs were between his room and the nurses’ station, and as much as she’d like to take the stairs, no way could he make it down four flights with damaged ribs. They’d have to take the elevator, which would open in the middle of the lobby.

  The door opened behind her, showing a dressed Matt holding his side and shrugging one shoulder. “Anything?”

  “We can get out of here okay, but when we get to the lobby, we’re going to be out in the open. How nervous does that make you?”

  He didn’t have to answer with words. The way the eye that wasn’t swollen widened with pure terror was enough.

  “Right,” she whispered. “Stay here. The nurse is coming for rounds, so I have to be quick, and you’re not real speedy at the moment. Let me go find some scrubs for you.”

  She snuck out of the room, quietly rushing down the hall, keeping one eye out for a nurse’s lounge or changing room while keeping the other out for the actual nurses. She lucked out and found a laundry cart in the middle of a hall that went off to the right, and it was parked outside a linen closet, filled with sheets, pillow cases, pillows, blankets and scrubs.

  After grabbing a set, she hurried back to the room, and threw them to Matt. “Get them on fast.”

  After he was dressed in the scrubs, Stacy saw her dilemma. The clothes did nothing to cover his multicolored face. “Those bruises, shit, man. We need a mask.”

  “I’ve seen this movie,” he said, snidely. “Do you really think it’s going to look real for a guy leaving in scrubs and a mask over his face? I’ll hide my face somehow, but the scrubs are enough.”

  Laughing a little, she admitted, “You’re right.”

  “Let’s go.”

  They left together, and as much as she wanted to hurry, she couldn’t. Not with him limping along pathetically. She felt horrible for him, but she did worry that someone wanted to finish the job.

  They made it to the elevator and got the lobby button pushed. He leaned back on the wall, pale and shaking. “This hurts.”

  “I bet it does. I am going to need to know who is after you and why once we get to where we’re going for the night. If I’m putting my ass on the line, it’s only fair.”

  Looking her dead in the eye, he said, “One, I didn’t ask you to, and two, you cuss a lot for a lady. Stop, please.”

  After crossing her arms over her tiny chest, she smirked and countered, “One, you didn’t ask, I’m being paid to do it, and two, I’m not a damn lady, and I’ll cuss all I like.”

  Smiling hurt him too, so the second grin she’d managed to extract from him didn’t last, but she was grateful for it. “Okay, fine. Cuss all you like.”

  “Thanks. For you, though, I’ll try to turn it down a few.”

  “Thanks.”

  When the doors opened to the lobby, the chairs mostly occupied with tired looking people waiting to see a doctor for whatever injury or ailment they’d gotten in the middle of the night. People were coming in and out of the front, so Stacy steered them to the side exit, where the security guard nodded to them as they passed.

  Stacy got to her rental car and helped Matt into the passenger side, checking around the parking lot nervously.

  When they pulled out, she saw two pickup trucks parking in front of the emergency room doors, and heard Matt sucking in a quick breath.

  The trucks had five men each, some outside in the bed of the trucks, others crowded into the cabs. She glanced at Matt to see him sliding down in his seat, and she knew that they’d just gotten out in time.

  “Stay down, we’re almost past them. They aren’t even looking over here.”

  “Cousins.”

  “All of ‘em? Shit. Hold on, we’re going over speed bumps.”

  Every jar would hurt him, but she wasn’t about to slow down much, feeling the need to get out of there as much as Matt did.

  As soon as they were far enough away, Stacy started going over their options. “We’ll go to my motel, get my things, and find another place. As soon as Leo gets here, we’ll figure out when we can get you out of here.”

  “Wait, wait, out of here? Who said I was leaving?”

  Killing the urge to slam on the brakes, she gaped over at him. “You want to stay around here? They’re obviously hunting for you!”

  “I can’t leave! There are other people involved! I can’t just run out on them!”

  Exasperated wasn’t strong enough for how she felt, but she kept it to a minimum, knowing she hadn’t heard the whole story. “Let’s get to someplace safe for now. We’ll talk, figure things out from there.”

  “Great plan. Are you always so full of ideas?”

  Glancing over, angry, she saw the pained smile and sighed, “You are not very nice, you know that?”

  “Yeah, but I was the favorite of all my mothers, so I know I can get away with a lot with women.”

  “Oh? I suppose all the girls are after you too, huh?”

  “I don’t really know. I’m not into girls. Another reason I can never go back home.”

  Chapter Two

  It took a few minutes to get her things gathered, but she wasn’t concerned about the two trucks filled with cultists. Not until she saw them pulling up outside. “Matt, how the hell did they find us?”

  Matt rushed to the window, looking down from their third-floor window. “They have money. A lot of it.”

  That didn’t compute in her usually intelligent head. “Money? Those beat up trucks are twenty years old and the men are wearing overalls! How much could they have?”

  Without looking at her, he whispered, “Enough to pay for the information they needed to find us.”

  “Shit!” She grabbed her bags and headed for the door, thinking on the three ways in and out of the place, the stairs, the elevator, all the routes they could take to flee. “Out the door, to the right. There’s a janitor’s closet at the end of this hall.”

  They rushed out the door, making sure it was locked behind them to slow the men down, and once they got to the closet, they ducked inside as they heard the elevator ding. Stacy peeked outside and saw the men hurrying to her room, cursing under her breath, “Fucking clerk sold me out!”

  She closed the door, locking it behind her, then took out her phone to text Leo.

  Hope you guys are close. We may need some backup.

  “Can I ask you…why aren’t you calling the cops? Not that I want you to.”

  “I figure if you’d wanted the cops there, you would have told them who beat you half to death. You said you got mugged.”

  “Can’t trust ‘em.”

  Stacy bit her tongue hard over that. She thought the same thing, especially when it came to small town, local cops who were inevitably related to everyone.

  Leo texted back. We’re heading to the motel now, just got into town. What’s up?

  “Good boy, Leo, perfect timing, as usual.” Get in the building, pull the fire alarm.

  Reading over her shoulder, Matt started laughing. “That’s like a bad movie.”

  “Where do you think I got it? It always works in those bad movies.”

  They waited twenty minutes, and as soon as they heard the alarm, Stacy laughed.

  “I hope this works,” Matt said, though his voice was cheerier than she’d heard it before.

  From inside her bag, she grabbed a black ski cap, shovi
ng it over her bobbed hair, tucking in the strays so none of it showed as she dialed Leo. As soon as he answered, she told him, “Meet us on the third floor, Janitor’s closet. Do you have a coat and a hat maybe for Matt?”

  “My man has a hat and we both have coats. Why?”

  “Never mind. Just get here, and if you see a bunch of redneck looking assholes wearing overalls, avoid them.”

  Leo huffed out, “Right. See you soon.”

  Stacy pulled Matt over, pushing his hair gently from his face. “This is scary, but I swear it’ll be okay.”

  Matt’s eyes locked with hers and she saw steel and reservation. “This is nothing.”

  Leo and Mac showed up right after, and Matt nodded once to his blond cowboy cousin. “Mac, good to see you again.”

  “Matt, damn, boy, you sure are roughed up. Come on, now, let’s git goin’.”

  Leo took Mac’s hat and set it on Matt’s head, then he draped Mac’s long coat around his shoulders. Stacy grabbed Mac’s hand, holding it like they were dating as she introduced herself. “I’m Stacy, your date for the evening. Or until we get the hell out of here.”

  “Nice ta meet ya, miss.”

  They left together, Leo and Matt holding onto one another, like Leo was holding a drunk friend, then Stacy cuddling up to a stranger, walking out to the parking lot and getting into a crew cab pickup.

  Leo and Matt got in the back, Leo keeping Matt’s face hidden well.

  “Where we goin’? We can’t drive around all night. That wouldn’t do Matt any good.”

  As she answered Mac, she took out her phone once again, sighing as she pulled up the number in her contacts that she hadn’t called for two years. “We’re not going to drive all night, I swear. For now, though, get us out of here.”

  Mac pulled out and Leo watched the firetrucks pulling up. “Well, I don’t see anyone following us.”

  “See, Matt, I told you it would work.”

  He chuckled weakly in the back and commended, “Glad you watch a lot of movies.”

  The number stared up at her, bright in the truck. There was no picture with the contact, she’d taken that out long ago. It was too hard to see the few times he’d called before she finally convinced him to stop contacting her.