“Dammit,” Jonah growled and prowled over to Agent Russell and Captain Mandle. They said some hushed words and the Captain nodded before Jonah stormed back over to me.
“Come on, we’re going back to your mother’s. Now. We need to contact all of your sisters. Do you know their phone numbers by heart?”
I nodded, then left his side and raced over to the kitchen drawer where my old cell phone and charger was. I’d just gotten a new one after saving for months.
“We’ll get that hooked up on the way. Contact your mother. Make sure all of your sisters meet us at her house at five.”
“They’re already supposed to come over for dinner. Why do you want to see them?”
“If our killer took a book, a piece of jewelry, or something of not much use, I wouldn’t be so worried. He took a photo of you and your family.”
“Does that mean he’s going after my family?”
He inhaled so hard his nostrils flared. “I don’t know, but I’m not willing to take any chances.”
The second Mama Kerri opened the door to greet us I jetted toward her, smacking right dab in the center of her chest. The tears flowed as my mother’s arms came around me securely.
“Dear girl, what has frightened you?” Her hands held me close, but I didn’t respond, just cowered into her chest like the small girl I was when I showed up holding hands with my big sister after our parents died all those years ago.
“Ma’am, I’m going to bring in her bags and then we need to have a chat,” Jonah said from behind us.
Mama patted my back and head. “Yes, of course. Come on in.” She tucked me to her side like one of her baby chicks. I soaked up her essence, allowing all the nastiness that came before this moment to dissipate.
I couldn’t help trembling as she rubbed my good arm up and down and led me into the living room. She sat me down, grabbed one of her homemade throw blankets, and wrapped me up in it. She bent down, tugged off my shoes, and grabbed the pair of her slippers sitting next to her chair and put them on my feet.
“There now, you rest, and I’ll make some chamomile tea. You hungry?”
I shook my head and cuddled further into the blanket, leaning my head down on the arm of the couch and watching while Jonah brought in one suitcase and bag after another.
Mama noticed the number of bags he’d brought in. “I see you’re staying home for a while then? Tell me what happened?”
I firmed up my lips and breathed through my nose, closing my eyes and trying not to remember Katrina’s vacant look so I wouldn’t break down in tears again.
Eventually I didn’t have to because Jonah took over telling Mama the entire story. Besides covering her mouth and putting her hand to her heart, she received the information far better than I would have expected. Then again, Mama Kerri had been through a lot in her sixty years on this earth. From her husband dying when she was in her late twenties, to when she opened up Kerrighan House and started to fill the home she’d planned on having babies with her husband with lost and orphaned young girls instead. She’d seen it all.
Back then, it was much harder for a single woman to adopt children, but not as difficult to foster. And since we were all orphaned, we stayed until we aged out, and even past that. Some of us attended college while still living here.
At some point I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes back up the living room was filled to the brim with my sisters.
Little Rory was full out lying in front of me, cuddled up to my chest. I must have sensed her because I had the blanket curled around her and her sweet smell in my nose. She was giggling at something and then turned around. Her golden amber gaze met mine.
“Hi, Auntie.” She patted my face with her chubby little three-year-old hand. “You ’wake?”
I brought her hand to my mouth and kissed her palm then blew a raspberry into it. She laughed heartily and it filled me with such extreme love I couldn’t help but snuggle her, kiss her neck and face, and hug her precious form dearly.
She shrieked and giggled as I teased and played with my niece. Her curly black hair was a wild halo around her chestnut-colored skin. Her mom, Genesis, was half African-American and half Korean. Her daughter’s father was African-American and Caucasian. Together, the two of them made the most gorgeous child on the planet. Her brown skin was effervescent and was paired with stark, black hair and those amber eyes. She could have graced the cover of any magazine and sold a bazillion copies.
I lifted the toddler bundle of love and set her on my lap facing the room. Sitting in various positions, on the chairs, the floor, and standing close were every single one of my sisters. Except freakin’ Tabby.
“No Tabby?” I asked the room.
Each sister looked away, gave a pissed-off face, or just sighed.
“I stopped by her apartment when I left work,” Genesis said. “Her place was quiet. I’m thinking next time I need to touch base with the manager and see if we can’t get in. I’m starting to worry about her safety. That rat-infested place is scary and I’m certain there are drug dealers sitting on the stoop. It was so bad, I went there before I picked up Rory because I don’t want her there.”
“I’ll go, I have a key,” Mama said as she came in with a tray filled with meats, cheeses, jams, and crackers.
“Not alone you won’t.” Charlie threw her two cents in. “Drug dealers, nut-uh. Not happenin’, Mama.” My sister shrugged and then put her hand out to Blessing who gave her a fist bump that exploded after they touched.
I grinned at the two.
“Now that you’re all here, Agent Fontaine has some news he needs to share. However…” Mama held out her loving, eager arms to her grandbaby, wiggling the fingers and all. “This conversation is not for little ears! You want to help Grammy frost some cupcakes, my lovely?”
Rory bounced up and into her grandmother’s arms. “I wike pink cupcakes!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, I know, my girl. I’ve got pink with sprinkles ready!”
Rory raised her little arms into the air and cheered. “Yay!”
Genesis patted her daughter’s back as they walked by and Charlie kissed the girl’s cheek as they passed the threshold of the room where she was leaning against the jamb.
“Ladies, this is not good news so I’m going to get straight to the point. You are aware of what happened to Simone and me last night?”
Each of them gave their own nod or soft reply. He took the time to look each one of them directly in the eye. I appreciated that about him instantly. Wanting to ensure he had everyone’s attention, no one left out.
“Today my partner and I took Simone to her place to gather some of her things. Since the perpetrator took off with her car, ID, house keys, etc., it wasn’t safe for her to go alone and I’m very glad that we did. When we got there, we found a body…”
“A body!” Blessing blurted out. “Excuse me, sir. I do not think I heard you correctly.” She placed a hand to her hip, the other held in a cup shape behind her ear. There was nothing but sass in every ounce of her form. “Say that one more time?”
He licked his lips and sighed. “When we arrived, the location had been trashed.”
“Oh my god!” Genesis covered her mouth.
“No shit!” Charlie blinked staring at Jonah with her mouth hanging open.
“Dios mio. No!” Liliana added.
“That’s it. You’re outta there. Permanently.” My sister Sonia stood up, phone in her hand, buttons already being pressed.
Jonah stood up and put his hands out in front of him and waved the air in a calm down gesture as though the air itself were pressurized.
Me, I just brought my legs up and curled my form around my knees and waited for this to blow up.
“Let’s just settle down so I can explain everything without having to repeat myself.” Jonah’s FBI authoritative voice came out and was stern, demanding, and held no room for defiance.
A little thrill of excitement shimmered down my chest to settle low in
my belly, warming me from the inside out.
“The body had been strangled, defaced, and left for Simone to find on her bed.”
Another round of gasps from the peanut gallery and some curses. Fear filled the room. I could practically feel the desperation and anxiety pumping off my sisters in a collective rush, battering my soul like a choppy ocean wave against the shore.
“Who was killed?” Sonia crossed her arms over her chest, her phone tapping against her bicep.
“The building manager, Katrina,” I answered, her face ghosting past my vision. I held back the tears but only just. The roller coaster that had been my life the last two days was not one I’d like to ever ride again. Now I just wanted it all to stop. Bring me back to the safety of my bartending job, my schooling, and time spent with my sisters. Except I wasn’t stupid. With a killer on the loose, my entire life was going to change in every way imaginable.
“The FBI is handling the case in tandem with local law enforcement. We will keep you apprised as information becomes available. However, the manner in which this woman died was violent and intentional. He chose her by convenience but not what he did or where he did it. Your sister is not safe. Frankly, I’m not comfortable saying any of you are safe. I’d like to suggest you pair up for a while. Prevent yourself from ever being alone while we hunt this man and bring him to justice.”
“Why do you think we’re at risk?” Genesis, the ever-smart, methodical, and logical one asked. She also had the most to lose, since her three-year-old was her entire world.
“We know the perp has your sister’s phone, though she has informed me that it was password protected and has a GPS. We’ve got a tech guy monitoring it to see if it goes on. Right now, it’s off. Simone also tells me she didn’t have an address book at home nor specifics about where any of you lived. However, he did take a family portrait of the nine of you standing out in front of this house. It’s easy enough to recognize Sonia and figure out that she is the Senator. That puts her in a very high-profile public position. If someone searched for her, they could unearth her past here and at Kerrighan house. Eventually it’s all a matter of records. We don’t know what he’s capable of. Which is also why I’ve decided that Simone will come and stay with me at my home until this is all settled.”
His words went in through my ears, percolated around my brain and then still didn’t come up with one plus one equaling two.
“Wait, what?” I stuttered not sure I heard him correctly.
“It’s the safest plan. I share a house with Agent Russell. Two FBI agents in one place. Pretty damn safe.”
“I’ll say!” Addy finally piped up for the first time tonight, her long brown hair falling all over her shoulders in pretty, full waves that many women would beg, barter, and steal for. She looked Jonah up and down, her eyes sparkling with mirth. “I most certainly would not be passing up the chance to stay in his bed, Goldilocks.” She came over and plopped down on the side of the couch, her arm going around my back and hugging me to her ample bosom.
I nudged her back. “Horn dog,” I teased lightening the tension in the room a little.
“Um, have you seen him?” She continued to prod me.
Jonah covered up a laugh by pretending to cough, though when his gaze met mine, it was filled to the brim with an unspoken heat.
“No one is denying Agent Fontaine’s obvious…” Sonia looked him up and down as though she were assessing not only his looks but his brawn, and his command of the situation. “Attributes, and/or skills as a protector, but I have a team of people to keep her safe and alive in a high rise, with a doorman, and Fort Knox-style security. Why the hell wouldn’t it be most prudent for her to stay with me?”
“You’re the first person I’d go after if I was in the killer’s shoes and looking for her sister.”
I gasped and intense fear sliced through my gut. I bent over my knees and tried to breathe deep. Addy rubbed my back.
“Shhh, shhh, she’s fine. No one would dare mess with Sonia. Her team would eat them up. Plus, she can be really scary,” Addy whispered and ran her hand through my hair and down my back until I sat back up. I’d lost my fight with the tears, and no longer cared if I looked weak and weepy. A serious load of crap had landed in my life and it felt like everything was falling apart at the seams.
Blessing put both of her hands to her hips, firmed her jaw, and with a grit to her voice said, “I could talk to my dad. No one would touch her.”
“No!” I screeched knowing what that meant.
“Absolutely not!” Sonia shifted around and put her hand up in a stop gesture.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Liliana blurted, her hand immediately moving in the sign of the cross on her forehead, shoulders, and chest.
Blessing’s biological father was a member of a street gang in the heart of Chicago. A bad one. He was in the kind of gang where the members wore red and black, had tons of prison tattoos, carried around guns like some people carried newspapers, and probably killed for funsies. It had been rule number one since Blessing came to stay at Kerrighan house. Her father Tyrell Jones was never allowed to visit the premises. Tyrell had been found an unfit parent when Blessing’s mother was murdered. He didn’t fight for custody, but he did contact Mama Kerri after Blessing came to stay and worked out an arrangement to see his daughter every couple months or so. To this day, I didn’t know how connected my sister was to her dad. It had always been a taboo topic of conversation, though the overall consensus had always been no contact with any of us.
“Someone has to do something! This is family. I’m not going to come home to Mama’s one day and find her dead in her bed because of some lunatic. Been through that once. Don’t plan on going there again.” Blessing scowled, her naturally dark skin turning a deep garnet at her cheeks and down her neck with her anger.
Jonah held his hands out. “Which is why I am suggesting that she stay with me. I’m off work for at least a week and can protect her. She’ll never be alone.”
“What about when I have to go to work?” I perked up at his “never be alone” commentary.
“Simone, you’re gonna need to take a leave of absence,” he started but I stood up, the blanket falling to the couch as I started to pace.
“There is no way I can take time away. I’ll lose my job and I already lost one of them last night that I still need to replace!” I finagled my fingers through my ratty hair and gripped the roots. “I can’t provide for myself if I don’t have a job.”
“And you won’t be able to provide for yourself if you are dead either!” Sonia pointed at me, her pretty eyes going dark as night.
I shook my head. “This is insane. I have to work. I have to. There’s no other option. I’m already out of a home. They could burn the place down with all my stuff in it for all I care. I’m never going back there.”
Addy came up to me and hugged me, following her natural inclination to comfort first and think about the situation later. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah, like her sister will take her in and provide for her until all of this mess gets cleaned up…” Sonia ordered.
“No. I’m not living off my big sister!”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I make my own way! I pay for my life. Me!” I tapped at my chest. “You do not get to decide my life for me. You’ve been trying to do so since we came to live here. You have to let me go!”
“It’s because you’re too damn wild, Simone! Always leaping before you look! Running before you walk.”
“You mean living? That’s what people who live their lives fully do. Take advantage of every day they are given because as we both know, they are precious. Remember. You always say each day is a gift. I believe that with my whole heart! You on the other hand stay with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Making decisions for everyone in your life. Heck, you even make decisions for the entire state of Illinois and yet it’s still not enough for you. You want to control me too!”
&
nbsp; “I want you safe!” Sonia cried out, tears falling down her porcelain cheeks, the dam that held the waterworks back exploding along with her temper. “I want you alive!” Her voice rose. “Is it so wrong to want my only blood relative on this earth to be where I can touch and talk to her?” She sniffed and wiped at her nose. “You are reckless, Simone. Always have been. Every day of your life I worry about you.”
“Maybe because my big sister has always held on too tight! I love you, Sonia. More than anything. But you can’t keep me locked in a gilded cage like some exotic bird. You can’t clip my wings and expect me to stay around. I’ll always find a way to fly.”
Sonia sucked in a sob and tilted her head down as her shoulders shook with her grief.
I went over to her and wrapped my arms around her form. “I’ll be okay. Jonah is going to help me out. Keep me safe. Together we’re all going to figure this out. We have to.” I glanced up and into Jonah’s dark gaze. There was sadness but also a strength and calm resolve. His hands were fisted at his sides and it seemed like it was taking everything in him not to approach me and my sister. For what, I didn’t know. All I knew was that gaze pierced straight through my soul and made a promise. A promise to keep me safe, and I believed him.
After Mama Kerri made us all a lasagna dinner complete with salad and garlic bread, my sisters helped me go through all of my bags and narrow things down to a couple suitcases with enough clothes and toiletries for a couple weeks. I could always go back to Mama Kerri’s to get more of my things. It turned out that Mama wanted to stay with Genesis so she could watch her grandbaby like she usually did three days a week. Blessing and Addy paired up because they were used to traveling together for photo shoots and fashion meetings. Charlie and Liliana agreed to both go stay with Sonia and all of us would continue to try and get a lock on Tabby.
That brought me to now, where I followed Jonah’s broad form into a small brick house in one of the Chicago area suburbs, just outside of the city but closer to my bartending job at Tracks where I worked most weeknights.
Wild Child (A Soul Sister Novel Book 1) Page 6