To Redemption (Whitsborough Chronicles Book 4)

by C. A. Rene

  I look in the driver’s side but it’s empty, save for a lot of blood. It’s sprayed all over the windshield and the center console. I look further in and see Andrew’s slumped form sitting in the passenger’s seat.

  “Fuck,” Ember breathes out. “He made it look like a fucking suicide. The entrance shot is on the left side, how much you wanna bet Andrew is right handed?”

  “It won’t matter either way,” I shake my head. “We could get the trajectory of the bullet, do an analysis on the gun powder residue, and it will always be determined a suicide. That’s the power Moore has.”

  “Motherfucker.” She growls and kicks at the car tire.

  “Don’t touch anything.” I remind her and back up, walking slowly to the Hummer. “Let’s go, we don’t want witnesses linking us to this.”

  “Fuck!” Ember screams as soon as I pull off the street and drive by Andrew’s car. “I needed him!”

  “I know, Babe.” I try to keep her calm even though my insides are churning. “We’ll figure it out.”

  She sits quietly seething as I take us back towards home.

  “Take me to the station.” She growls.

  I whip my head to look at her, “what?”

  “I need to have a word with our police chief.”

  “Em, I don’t think-“

  “Vin!” She screams into the car, “I won’t lose track of what I promised I’d do. What I’m doing in memory of my mother and my parents.”

  “It’s dangerous!” I scream back.

  “Do you really think he’ll kill me in a station full of cops and civilians? That may be the best place to engage him. Then I’m going home and planning on how to hit him where it hurts. I still have a name on that list.”

  “Wilson McKay.” I nod.

  She stays quiet as I reroute and take us to the police station, I know what she’s saying is true, Moore would never kill her in the police station but he could arrest her and hold her for forty-eight hours.

  “Stop worrying.” She says quietly, “I can feel your fucking anxiety.”

  I try to reign it in as I pull into the police station parking lot. “I’m coming in there with you.”

  She nods and hops out of the Hummer, I round the front, adjusting the gun in my waistband and following close behind her. It’s late evening but Em knows the chief’s schedule by memory and we wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t. She storms into the front doors and the two cops sitting at the desk stand abruptly.

  “I need to see Moore.” Em snarls. ‘Tell him it’s Ember Craven.” They stand looking at her like she’s a pest when she lets out a yell, “now!”

  One of the cops has the common sense to listen to her and picks up the phone to make the call. The other cop is still looking at her like a buzzing fly, annoying and persistent.

  He looks over to me and I raise a brow, planting a look of utter boredom on my face. Cops around here are antsy and fucking trigger happy, I don’t need him finding an excuse to draw his gun.

  “Follow me.” The cop says as he hangs up the phone. He gives Em a curious look as he rounds the desk and leads us down a corridor. The other cop is looking at her like she’s unhinged and could combust at any time.

  Same, Bro.

  We get to a corner office and the cop knocks on the door, “Miss Craven here for you, Sir.”

  “Show them in.” The smug bastard says, he knew I’d be here too. I can’t help the ripple of apprehension that slides through me, did he plan this? Does he know Em’s next move before she makes it?

  Em doesn’t wait for the cop to open the door, she pushes by him and throws the door open herself.

  “Miss Craven and Mr. Greene.” He says as he sits behind his large desk. “What can I do for you?”

  Em lays her hands on his desk and leans into his face, “I found your message, you son of a bitch.” She literally growls.

  “Message?” He looks from her to me and grins.

  “One day, Moore, it’ll come down to me and you. Believe me when I say I can’t fucking wait.” Em matches with an evil grin of her own.

  “Is that a threat?” Moore mocks shock on his face.

  “You can fucking bet your criminal ass it is.” She snickers and stands back up. “It’ll be the most fun I’ve had since taking out my daddy.”

  Moore drops his mask and stands up from his desk, “you are way over your head, little girl.”

  “We’ll see.” She retorts and turns to leave the office.

  Moore looks at me and I flash him a smile, “guess I’ll be seeing you around, Pig.”

  14

  A prominent man was found of an apparent suicide in Whitsborough and not one thing was mentioned about it in the papers or the news. I would say that’s so strange, only I know it’s not. This town is built on magnificent cover ups and forged truths. Its pillars erected on the backs of rapists and murderers and I can’t wait to watch it all crumble. I want to dance in the destruction as the dust settles and rebuild with sincerity and love. I know in today’s world it’s hard to imagine such a place, but I also know that if one person can make a difference, imagine what my whole family can accomplish.

  “McKay will be at the town hall meeting tonight.” Travis says as he walks into the room. “Just a heads up, he was close to my father and Halbert. Also, your mother.”

  “Maybe I can use that to get close to him.” I murmur.

  “You definitely could.” Travis agrees. “I spoke to Sharla last week about your mother, I just wanted some insight about her and what she was like. Sharla told me she was a spitfire E, just like you and she had more admirers than she had enemies. One of those admirers? Wilson McKay.”

  “No way.” I breathe out in wonder. “That will totally work for us.”

  “Sharla says they dated briefly in high school but her father chased him off.”

  “I want to see their gravesites.” Emmett says from the office doorway. “Our grandparents.”

  “Why?” I ask him.

  “Because regardless of what happened, I want to see it. I need to see it.” He shrugs.

  I get it, our blood family is dwindling and more are buried than are alive. If I’m honest, I’m kind of curious too.

  “Okay.” I agree. “This weekend. If I have enough time to do a class, we’ll visit after.”

  Keeping up with the classes has been tough and I’ve missed some weeks but overall it’s therapeutic and I try to get there as often as I can.

  “Then we’ll visit the family crypt to pay some respects.” Emmett says.

  “That’s a good idea.” Travis agrees, sharing a look with Emmett.

  I watch them leave my office with their heads close together and talking low. I don’t have the time to figure them out right now. If they are cooking up something then I will just have to trust that they know what they are doing.

  Tonight, Adri is helping Sharla out by closing the restaurant, that way Sharla can come with us to the town meeting. I want McKay to be completely at ease while he speaks to us and maybe if he sees a familiar face he will be. I go over the documents I have set out in front of me. I plan on offering the Fire Chief a sizable donation to the Whitsborough Fire Department and I’m hoping it’ll soften him enough that I’ll be able to get him alone at a later date. I know he knows exactly who I am, hopefully money can pull the blinders over his eyes.

  “We need more neighbourhood watch in our community. The other night, a group of teenagers were walking the streets and drinking!”

  “Looks like she could use a bottle of something herself.” Sharla mumbles while I snort into my hand.

  “That is definitely something we can look into.” The mayor mutters, looking half asleep. “Next up we have Fire Chief McKay with some very important tips on how to keep your home safe.”

  I watch as Whitsborough’s asshole number… fuck, I lost count. Anyways, another asshole, walks his way up to the center podium and taps the mic like a fucking lo
ser. We just had Sally Mae up there screeching, the fucking thing works fine. Dipshit.

  “How about not being a nasty ass piece of shit who loves kiddy porn?” Vin grumbles and I elbow him.

  Sharla doesn’t know about the under-workings of Whitsborough, or if she does, she doesn’t know we know about it. I definitely do not want her knowing we know. That’s a fucking mouthful. The Chief drones on about fire detectors and not smoking while extremely tired-thanks for that Coach Halbert. Finally, the Mayor joins him on stage and cuts the very painful speech short.

  “I was informed about an hour before this meeting of something amazing.” She sounds like Emmett when he’s forced to study for school, bored and half asleep. “We have a fairly new citizen to Whitsborough, but her family name goes all the way back to the founding. She would like to donate one hundred thousand dollars to the Fire Hall restoration project and another one hundred thousand for a new truck.”

  The crowd begins to clap and I watch as many faces look around the hall curiously. The Mayor looks out at the crowd and I want to roll my eyes in utter disdain. Her uselessness knows no fucking bounds. I stand up and give my best impression of the Queen’s wave.

  “There she is.” The bitch’s robotic tone begins to grate on my frayed last nerve. “Amber Craven.”

  “Ember!” Vin yells out, obviously annoyed to shit.

  “Sorry, yes. Ember Craven.” She waves off her error. I kind of want to watch her bleed for that.

  “Craven?” McKay's eyebrows shoot up. I want to do a happy dance with the recognition in his eyes. “Thank you, Miss Craven.” Aw, whataya know, the perv has manners.

  I nod my head and sit back in my seat. “It’s really great what you’re doing Ember.” Sharla pats my knee.

  She’s been eyeing the ring the whole time we’ve been here and I know she’s not one hundred percent on board. Yes, I love the woman, she birthed my soul and raised him until I found him but she wants us to wait. A long time. Vin won’t hear it and I don’t entertain it. If this is what him and I want then there’s nothing on this planet that will stop us.

  Once the hall begins to clear out and everyone moves outside for refreshments, I make my way over to McKay. When he sees me up close, his eyes widen further.

  “You look a lot like her.” He shakes his head in awe. “Hello, Sharla.”

  “Hey Will.” She smiles at him. “Ember is planning to build a family here with my son Vincent. So making it safe is her number one priority.” She doesn’t know how accurate her words are.

  “I believe I’ve heard about Ember around town.” Yep, I bet him and Moore have talked at great lengths.

  “I’m sure you did.” I smile at him. “My aunt and uncle were also big contributors so I wanted to continue that in their names.”

  “Yes, Debra and Scott.” His turkey neck moves as he nods. “They were good people.”

  “How are the restorations going?” I ask him, sounding extremely interested.

  “Great.”

  “I would love to come by and see the progress.” I blink at him innocently. “Oh! And when the truck comes. Right, Baby?” I look at Vin.

  “Yep.” Vin pops his ‘p’.

  “Uh, yeah sure, come by anytime.” McKay nods.

  “Great!” I clap. “We should get home. Helping clean up this town is exhausting.” I grin at him.

  His thick swallow gives me all the information I need, McKay does indeed know who I am.

  “It was nice seeing you again, Will.” Sharla smiles.

  “Yes, brings back some old memories.” His eyes haven’t left mine. Eyes that belonged to the girl he dated so long ago.

  I nod at him and slowly walk away between Sharla and Vin. I glance back when we get to the hall’s entrance and see him already on his cell phone. That's right, tell Moore I was here.

  Vin and I drop Sharla back home and we watch as she walks up to the front door. I don’t like that she lives alone but she won’t hear anything about it. She refuses to move and refuses to date anyone. I mean, I get it. Robert fucked her over but come on, I would be looking at that as a fucking blessing.

  “You want to stay with her tonight?” I ask Vin.

  “She’s fine.” He replies but I can see the worry in his eyes. “McKay tomorrow night?”

  “Yeah,” I nod. “McKay will be on duty.”

  “So Marlana’s now?” He asks me.

  “Andrew’s first. I just want to put this in the mailbox.” I hold up a thick envelope.

  “That’s good of you, Em.” He smiles as he drives us to Andrew’s house.

  “His family didn’t deserve to lose him this way and made to believe it was a suicide.” I have another one hundred thousand dollars for Andrew’s family, without his income I fear they may lose the house.

  When we pull up outside of his house, I can see a few lights on upstairs and I hope they don’t see me placing this in their mailbox. I wouldn’t even know how to begin to explain what the fuck I’m doing.

  Vin waits in the Hummer while I walk up Andrew’s driveway. He was a piece of shit, the things he did in life were deplorable but I want to believe he was changing and his family doesn’t deserve his fallout.

  I drop the unmarked envelope in the mailbox and hurry back to Vin. When I get back in the Hummer and do up my seat belt, I look up to the second story. There’s a lady standing there in the window watching us.

  “Sorry.” I whisper as we pull away.

  Marlana’s house looks deserted but I know different. She just hasn’t left the house in days and fuck who knows, maybe she’s gotten into her mama’s stash of narcs. As much as I wanted to kill the purple headed toad, I think she can serve a purpose and really I'm hoping she can change her life around.

  "Rock, Paper, Scissors?" I hold my fist out to Vin.

  "We're both going in, Em."

  "Fine, I'll let you try for best two out of three." I flutter my eyelashes at him.

  "C'mon." He chuckles while getting out of the Hummer.

  I grumble about his brutish ways as I follow him up the path to Anal Ram's house. He tries the front door and unsurprisingly it swings open unlocked. Maybe she's become the town escort now.

  "It smells like a trash dump in here." Vin groans, covering his face.

  "If we find another dead body, I'm out. I just want to eat some sushi and go to bed."

  "How can you think of food right now? It literally smells like shit in here."

  "I'm hungry. I haven't had dinner yet." I pout and follow him further into the house.

  We get to the kitchen and the floor is covered in Tonya's dried blood. That would contribute to the stench, we head down a hallway towards Marlana's bedroom and the floor is covered with dirty laundry and old takeout bags. It's fucking gross.

  "Anal Ram!" I yell out and Vin snorts. "This place is a fucking dump, where are you?"

  "Go away." I hear faintly.

  "I want to, trust me. But we got some business to get into."

  "Fuck you." She says a bit louder.

  I get it, no matter how much I hate the bitch, I killed her mother. I wouldn’t be too happy to see me either but too fucking bad. She either pulls it together and does as I ask or I kill her too for being a waste of fresh oxygen.

  I kick in her door while Vin leans against the wall. Her room smells like a literal asshole and I gag into my sleeve. She has rotting food everywhere and the air in here is thick and humid like she didn’t bother to even open a window.

  “Just kill me.” She moans from under her covers.

  “Where would the fun be in that?” I rip the blanket off of her.

  “My mom is dead, what’s the point?”

  I bend down and look into her gray pallor face, “my mother was murdered too, only she didn’t rape boys and help build a sex trafficking ring… but I digress.” I hear Vin chuckle from the hallway. “What I’m trying to say is you can either wallow in here and just kill yourself or yo
u can get up and make something better out of your life.”

  “Why do you care?” Her voice sounds hoarse.

  “Oh fuck,” I cackle. “Don’t mistake this for kindness, I hate you and would love to watch you swing from a rafter but I don’t want to kill more than I have to. Don’t make me have to kill you.”

  “What do you want?” She slowly sits up.

  “I want you to shower.” I pinch my nose and take a step back. “And then I need you and I to have a long conversation. Clean this place up and I’ll be back to see you in a few days.”

  I leave her and her stinky fucking self and join Vin back out in the hallway.

  “Can you believe you used to fuck that?” I ask him, thumbing back at Marlana’s room.

  “Em.” His voice holds a warning. He hates when I bring up his past with other chicks and I love to get him riled up.

  “Honestly though, remember when her hair was like vagina pink? You fucked that.”

  I don’t get much of a warning when he grabs me around the waist and throws me over his shoulder.

  “Vin!” I squeal. “All the germs!”

  He whacks me hard on the ass and mumbles something under his breath. I grin to myself because I got him riled up today, mission accomplished.

  15

  “What’s the deal with Marlana? What are we doing with her?” Emmett asks while we sit around eating breakfast.

  “I was actually going to talk to Carm about getting her something with the Rampage.” I shrug.

  “Seriously?” Vin asks. “Didn’t you just tell her to turn her life around?”

  “She doesn’t have to be a gangbanger to be useful. I just thought her getting out of Whitsborough would be beneficial to her and us.”

  “Not everyone in the Rampage is a criminal. Fuck, they have accountants and chefs, I’m sure Carm would find something for her.” Emmett nods. “And I think it’s a good idea to get her out of this place.”