Nikka, trembling as much as Beth had, stood up from the table. She never in a million years thought she would be on this side of the law.
Maggie waited until Beth had cleared the room to swing the door open.
An incredibly fit man with a huge scowl on his face filled up the entire threshold. “Maggie Chalon, you are under arrest.”
“Sorry you had to drive all the way out here, George, but thank you for coming.” Maggie stepped back to wave him in as if it were a social call. She peered into the driveway. “You too, Frank.”
Nikka took a step back as two, not one, uniformed men strode into the cabin. They moved with an official swagger, their hands on their gear belts. The one in back had even flipped open the latch on his gun holster as he entered.
Her heart pounding, Nikka fought to take a breath. Maggie, on the other hand, crossed her arms over her chest and rocked back on her heels as if she didn’t have a care in the world. What was going on?
Damn this woman. Nikka ground her teeth; she hated playing catch-up.
Her brother stood straight-backed in the doorway, seemingly trying to wipe all emotion from his face. Two splashes of red appeared in the middle of his cheeks as he lost the battle. He was whopping mad and trying to protect her all at the same time. Growing up, Maggie had seen that look countless times. Nine times out of ten, their father had called them on the carpet for things that she had set in motion.
“Maggie. I’m here officially. You need to tell us where Ms. Walker is and then come with me down to the station. I’ll pull in all the favors I can, but you’ve crossed a line here, and there’s only so much I can do.”
“Seriously, George. You really think I’m a criminal?”
“There were over a dozen witnesses at Fern House who saw you violate a restraining order, and every reporter there filed a story. And yes, some are even calling you a kidnapper.”
Maggie felt rather than saw Nikka begin to crumble at the mere mention of the criminal offense. When she threw her an encouraging glance, Nikka was staring at George and Frank like a feral cat who might dart off at any moment.
“I’m famous?”
“More like infamous,” George said, his annoyance surging to the forefront. “It was quite the public getaway.”
Frank moved toward her.
George put up an arm, stopping his advance. “Please, get Ms. Walker.”
“Okay, okay. I will. But, George, this truly is one time where I got it right. Completely right. And I wanted to prove it to you. That’s why I came here. I knew you’d figure it out, and you’d be the one to show up.”
George closed his eyes, groaned, and dropped his head back. “Just go get her, Maggie.”
Maggie threw her hands up as if she was surrendering before walking out. She thought it a nice touch, but the tension was too heavy, and no one smiled.
“And you are?” Her brother asked Nikka as Maggie walked down the hall.
“Nikka Vaskin. I work for… Well, I guess I should say I used to work for Lea Truman.”
“How did my sister turn you? Wait. Don’t answer. It’s her superpower. She’s like a character from the Marvel Universe.”
“Did Lea file any charges?”
“No. Should she have?”
Maggie fought the urge to spin around to help Nikka with her brother.
“Not at all.” Nikka’s voice was low and calm.
A warm sensation spread through her. Nikka could totally take care of herself.
She knocked on Beth’s door. “Beth, can you come out here for a moment?”
Josie must have been right there since the door creaked open and her face appeared in the small crack. “Are they gone?” she asked.
“No. They will be, though. All Beth has to do is come out and tell them the truth. Is she up for it?”
Josie swung the door open the rest of the way.
Beth stood in the middle of the room, rubbing her hands obsessively. “I can’t do it.” She shook her head repeatedly. “I’m sorry. It’s too much all at once.”
An unfamiliar panic rose in Maggie as she met Josie’s gaze with her own questioning stare. House Call MD had said that anxiety and agitation were sure signs of withdrawal. Not the time for these particular symptoms.
“We’ll be with you, Beth.” Josie put a comforting arm around the older woman.
She was so good with her. Maggie thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t pulled farther down the road and grabbed some other woman this morning.
“They think we’ve kidnapped you,” Maggie said. “Just come out to tell them that we haven’t.”
“Then we can come right back,” Josie added.
Beth rubbed her neck. “You think I can do it?”
“I do.” Josie reached for her arm.
“Okay. I’ll try.”
Maggie rushed ahead to size up the room. Nikka’s grim face and the chill swirling around in gusts told Maggie all she needed to know. It was up to her to lighten the mood.
“Here she is. And look, no duct tape or rope or—” She bit her lip. She didn’t want to spook Beth, who had stopped at the edge of the room at the sight of the two men. “Beth, this is my brother, George. Please talk to him. He’s a good man.”
“Ms. Walker.” George approached and gently stilled her hands that were still moving around in circles. “Are you okay?”
Beth looked around the room, taking it in as if she had never seen it before. To Maggie, the woman laughing at the table earlier seemed long gone and someone confused and not at all in charge had taken her place. Beth’s revolving gaze finally stopped on her.
She nodded encouragingly.
“Let her answer for herself, Maggie. Ms. Walker, are you okay?” George asked again.
Beth shifted her gaze onto him. She looked slight and tired. Small wonder after the day’s events, but her confusion wasn’t helping their cause.
“No,” she said simply.
Maggie’s stomach dropped. Had she really said no?
“I’m not okay.”
Frank relocated to Maggie’s side and gripped her arm as if she were going to make a run for it. Maggie tried to shake him off as wisps of dread rolled around in her stomach.
“Hey. No need for that,” Nikka said, stepping to Maggie’s side and gave her a reassuring nod.
Despite everything, a soft fluttering hit her belly. Nikka had come to her rescue.
“Did they hurt you, Ms. Walker?” George kept his voice soft and nonthreatening.
“Of course we didn’t—”
Her brother flashed her a warning look. “Ms. Walker?”
“They did.”
Frank’s grip tightened.
George sighed deeply.
Beth closed her eyes and nodded her head up and down for what looked like a count of ten. “Please arrest them.” When opened, Beth’s eyes flashed, and she stood a little taller. “Vivienne and Lea Truman. And you, young man.” She turned to Frank, her voice gaining a little strength as she spoke “Let that woman go. Make her a deputy in fact. She’s the only one who fought for me all this time.”
Maggie jerked her arm away from Frank just as Beth reached over to pat her other one. “I heard you arguing in the driveway with Lea the other day. I never said thank you for that and for today.”
“You’re welcome.” Maggie smiled down at Beth.
“So you’re saying that everything my sister’s been telling us is true?”
“I’m not sure what she’s been telling you, but yes, Vivienne and Lea are the ones that have been keeping me captive out there… giving me pills I didn’t want… signing papers that they had no right to.” Beth looked as if she might start to crumble as the accusations tumbled out one by one.
Josie squeezed her tight as George backed off.
“I’ll be damned,” he said.
“Don’t sound so surprised, George. I was bound to be right sooner or later.”
“Don’t celebrate too soon, sis. Ms. Walker, we’ll need you
to come to the station to make a statement officially.”
“She’s not well, and she can’t travel all that way until she is,” Josie said. Beth leaned heavily against her.
George scratched his head. “I don’t know.”
“What about a video statement?” Nikka jumped in. Now that things had turned, Nikka’s color had brightened. Good thing too. George never could resist a pretty woman. They had always had that in common.
“What exactly are you suggesting, Ms. Vaskin?”
“Video statements are admissible. All you need is a witness with legal authority. You don’t need to do it at the station.”
“Like you?” Maggie asked.
“No, like a policeman or a judge…or, in this case, a sheriff.”
“That might work,” George said.
Even Frank was nodding.
“I would feel better about it if you had a lawyer and he were present,” George said.
“She is.” Maggie pointed at Nikka.
“Ms. Walker?” George clearly wasn’t convinced.
“Yes,” Beth said simply.
“She engaged me over dinner,” Nikka added.
“Okay, then.” George shrugged. “Let’s get started.”
They sat Beth down on the couch in the living room, scooping the Monopoly game back into its box, and Frank positioned himself in front with his cell phone. George directed the session. Beth patted the seat next to her for Josie and took one deep breath after another. Finally, after a few false starts, she began.
“When I was younger, I tore all the ligaments in my ankle. If the weather changes or I’ve been on it too long, it still gives me trouble. So Sammy got me some pills for the discomfort, and when he passed, I was taking them regularly, maybe even too often. They helped with all the pain, not just the physical kind.” She looked around the room, Maggie felt, to try to find an empathetic response. This was clearly more than a statement to the police. “Anyway, my brother had already hired Lea’s firm to control my interests. Vivienne came and took over for Sammy, and then it just got bad. I… I…”
Beth took a ragged breath.
Maggie shuffled in place; she wanted to help, but she didn’t know what to do.
“They can’t hurt you, now or ever again,” Josie said softly.
“Vivienne was… She made me take pills when I didn’t want to. She kept me asleep a lot of the time… And when I wouldn’t do what she wanted, she would…do this.” Beth rolled up her sleeve and revealed a purple bruise on her forearm. The handprint was so obvious, it looked almost like movie makeup.
“This happened yesterday when I wouldn’t take my pills.” She yanked up her sleeve beyond her upper arm, where an angry red mark had already started to swell. “And this was from today. When Vivienne was taking me downstairs.”
Maggie’s heart broke. If she had only acted sooner, there might not be a bruise or a mark on that arm. A quick look at Nikka, whose eyes were tearing up, told her she wasn’t the only one feeling this way. She reached out and squeezed Nikka’s arm.
“I hate to ask you…” George took a deep breath. “…but were there any witnesses to this alleged abuse?”
“I didn’t see the physical abuse, but I certainly witnessed the verbal abuse,” Nikka said softly.
“Maggie?”
“No, they restricted my exposure to her. I did see her asleep once. It didn’t look natural, as you know.”
Beth’s head dropped against the back of the couch as exhaustion consumed her.
“Let me get her to bed.” Josie gently helped Beth up.
“I’ll come too.” Nikka made a detour to Maggie first. “She really should be seen by a doctor. Her health is paramount, but we may need some sort of medical statement if Beth really does want to take this any further. There’s clearly more here than just stealing some manuscripts.”
“I’m on it.” In this light, Nikka’s eyes reflected the smoky grays of the stone in the room. Maggie searched the irises for the caution that was usually there. She couldn’t find it. Her eyes were clear, staring right back at her. They were in this together. Both of them would fight as hard as they could for Beth. A shiver traveled all the way down her body.
Tearing herself away, she walked with her brother to his cruiser and waited until Frank got in to pull George off to the side.
“Now you can really investigate Vivienne, right?”
“Yes. We will look more closely into how those prescriptions were filled, for a start, and certainly the physical evidence speaks for itself.”
“Good. And we need Dr. Harvey to come up here tomorrow. As soon as he can. In the morning?”
“Yes, that would be a good idea.”
“You’ll arrange it? Can you send him up with a container of gas? Not much. All we need is enough to make it to that Chevron on the highway. Oh, and can we get some food? Maybe a chicken and some fresh squash and green beans? They’re just coming into season.”
“Okay. Anything else?” Her brother’s tone revealed he’d had just about enough.
“Yeah. Sorry. Can you leave your phone charger?”
He rolled his eyes but nodded.
She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. “Thank you. I know this wasn’t easy for you. Beth needs us, and I think I really did have this one under control.”
He squeezed back. “Be careful, Mags. This is far from over.”
“I can handle it.” She thought about the three women, especially Nikka, waiting for her inside. “We can handle it.”
“I hope so. I truly do. But please, think of this as a wake-up call. You may get lucky this time, but you can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what?”
He rubbed his forehead. “Jumping into everything with both feet and pulling everyone in after you. Jesus, you’re thirty-two years old, and you move through life like you’re a teenager.”
She frowned. Where was this coming from? He should be congratulating her on a job well done. “Gee, when did you turn into Dad?”
“Low blow. You always tell yourself you’re on some righteous cause, but you forget most of us don’t live like that.”
She answered with a deep sigh. His words cut at her. She had heard this talk before, from her parents and past girlfriends, but never from her brother. They just stared at each other for a moment.
“You know Lauren was at the station too today.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve never seen her so mad. Did you steal her car?”
“No, of course I didn’t. Her car is…” She cocked her head. “Well, technically, I just stole her keys. That’s hardly the same thing.”
George rolled his eyes.
“Let me go get them.”
A minute later, she dropped Lauren’s keys into his outstretched hand. As his fingers curled over them, she said, “Tell her I’m sorry.”
“You should tell her yourself.”
Maggie nodded. She didn’t want to admit it, but he was right on some level.
“Think about what I said. You’re one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. And that’s without sibling bias. But it’s time to grow up and decide what kind of adult you’re going to be.”
CHAPTER 13
Nikka shut the door to Beth’s room and headed back into the den. She almost missed Maggie sitting alone on the couch, looking small and forlorn crammed into the cushions. The energy that usually swirled around her in gusts had dissipated.
“You okay?” she asked.
Maggie nodded. “Yeah.”
Nikka had the distinct impression, though, that she was trying to convince herself of that very fact.
“Josie’s going to stay with Beth. She found a sleeping bag and mat in a closet. I hope that’s okay.”
“Sure. That’s good. I’m glad she’s doing that.”
Silence echoed around the room.
“All right, I’m going to…” Something made Nikka pause. Maybe the way Maggie’s bangs hung in her eyes—s
he wasn’t sweeping them back the way she usually did—or the way she had pulled her legs up under her. Whatever it was, all her defenses were down.
Normally, Nikka shied away from weak and vulnerable. She had no room for either of those qualities in her busy life. In fact, the moment Alexis had told her how much she needed her was the moment when Nikka had started to pull away. If she was finally being honest, the whole I’m not ready to come out to my parents was only half the story in that break-up. But tonight she didn’t want to run.
Surprising even herself, she perched on the coffee table, facing Maggie, their knees just inches apart. She had been wrong. Maggie’s energy was still there. It reached out with a gentle tug. Nikka’s heartbeat quickened, and her skin tingled. Who was she kidding? After the day they had, she craved this intimacy too.
“So what happened out there?” She tested the waters.
Maggie sighed and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “With George?”
Nikka nodded and noted how close they were now. She didn’t move away.
“Nothing really. My brother thinks I need to grow up and stop getting people—and myself—in trouble by thinking with my heart, not my head.”
“He may have a point.”
Maggie raised an eyebrow.
“Even you have to admit this was one crazy, messed-up day.”
Maggie jerked as her elbow slid off her leg.
Nikka grabbed her forearm to steady her. Having a contact point, Maggie’s energy found her. Nikka quickly let go; it was almost too much.
“Well, it was,” Nikka said. “But look where the day ended up. You were right. Beth’s now safe. She and Josie found each other.” She glanced down at her fingers. They tingled at the tips where she had made contact with Maggie’s arm. Actually, the after-feeling was quite nice.
“Yes, but what about you? My brother may be right. I pull everyone in after me with crazy schemes.”
“Like I said, Beth and Josie are happy that you did. ”
“Are you?”
Nikka pulled back a little. What exactly was Maggie asking?
“I mean what about your job?”
“Ah…that. Gone, I’m sure.” She winced. She couldn’t help it. Her plans to make partner had been carefully crafted over years and destroyed in only one afternoon. She studied her fingers to digest that realization and curled them in to transfer the fading current of Maggie’s energy into her palm. Her stomach settled with the motion. “But, you know, I realized today standing there in that parking lot with everyone staring at me that, yeah, I want what Lea has, but I don’t want to be her. I’m not sure I saw the difference until today.”
Heartwood Page 22