Shaw's Landing (Haunted Hearts Series Book 4)

by Denise Moncrief

  “You don’t want to get between two ruthless men like Cooley and Haskins.”

  “Cooley’s dead.”

  The news seemed to shock Trudy.

  “Really?” Trudy pulled out a chair and sat at the table. It seemed knowing Cooley was dead had drained her of all her energy. “If Jared’s dead and Cooley’s dead… Then you should be free now, right?”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  Trudy nodded. “You know too much.”

  Tears welled in Courtney’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Momma.” She reached out and placed a hand on her mother’s face. “I know I just keep breaking your heart.”

  Her mother drew Courtney into her arms. “You know I wanted better for you than this. I wanted you to get an education and get out of here.”

  Courtney laughed, a tight little laugh devoid of any joy. “Well, I’ll probably be leaving this county, maybe even this state.”

  Trudy pushed back, wiped her wet eyes. “Then you’d best eat and get out of here. I’ve been watching the street outside ever since I woke up this morning and happened to catch a glimpse of a black car out the window. Someone’s been driving up and down the street all morning. I ain’t ever seen that car before.”

  “How am I going to get out of here?” Why had she told Brett to give Stan Kershaw his bike back?

  “Take your…your father’s truck. He isn’t using it.”

  Poor Trudy. She had the same problem calling Jepson her father. Not when they both knew that Fred Haskins had provided her with half her DNA.

  An hour later, Courtney was backing down her mother’s driveway in Jepson’s old beat up Ford F-150.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sitting at the breakfast bar in the upstairs apartment at Shaw’s Landing, Shaw had just finished outlining his plan to bring down Haskins and Halsey. As he had expected, Tori Downing was not pleased. Grayson had gone along with his idea reluctantly, but at least, he was on board.

  Gray finished off his last ounce of iced tea and stared hard at Shaw. “If I do this, I can’t let anyone know what I’m doing. No one. You shouldn’t have even let Tori in on it.”

  Tori sputtered a rebuttal, but Shaw talked over her. “She has to be in on it. If something happened, and I hadn’t clued her in, she would have hunted me down and—”

  “Really, Shaw? Do you really think I hate you that much?”

  He grinned. “You haven’t been very nice to me since the Lipton thing.”

  Her eyes flared with extreme annoyance at the mention of Lipton’s name as if proving his point for him. She poured him a fresh glass of tea from the pitcher she’d left on the island. “I promise I’ll play nice. I didn’t poison your drink or anything.” Her calm assertion made him wonder otherwise for a half a second. She was a criminalist, and she probably knew all the substances known to mankind that would be hard to detect in a corpse.

  Gray glanced at his watch. “We’re supposed to meet Josh and Ashley in town in a couple of hours.”

  “That should give us enough time to come up with a tentative plan I can present to my captain.” He paused a moment. “Maybe we should consult with the FBI and the DEA.”

  Grayson nodded. “Someone should know about this besides you and your boss. I want immunity in writing for whatever happens before this even gets started. That means involving the federal prosecutor.”

  A knock on the outside door startled all of them. An ounce or two of tea sloshed from Shaw’s glass as he swiveled on his barstool to see who was at the door.

  Maybe he was antsy, though he pretended, even to himself, that he wasn’t. Tori had told him about a half dozen incidents that had happened at the Landing since she’d been there that she claimed had the stamp of paranormal all over them. Gray had dismissed all of them as just her overworked imagination.

  Shaw suspected Tori was still recovering from the manifestation at Victoria House, and she was probably paranoid. She seemed to jump at every noise. Still, the appearance of Palmer’s chain and pendant on the dock…that hadn’t been explained yet. Might never be explained. That wasn’t her imagination. Shaw had held the necklace in his hand.

  Courtney’s face appeared in the window of the door. The woman was full of surprises. She had told him she’d call him because she had wanted him to come get her wherever she was. But there she stood, with a sheepish half-smile on her face.

  Shaw was off the barstool in a split second headed toward the door, but Gray beat him to it. The door swung open and the two of them stared at each other for a long moment, neither Gray nor Courtney moving an inch, almost as if they had both turned to statues.

  Gray spoke first, breaking the odd spell that had seemed to cover the entire scene. “Courtney? Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I…”

  Another moment of what seemed like suspended animation. Then, the two of them were in each other’s arms.

  “I’ve been worried about you ever since you disappeared, but even more so after I found out you were my sister.” Gray’s words were barely audible.

  Shaw had seen the man choked up a few times, but nothing like this. He hung back, not wanting to mess up the moment, the first time the two of them were together as brother and sister.

  Courtney pushed Gray away from her, straightened her spine and her clothing. “I’ve been wondering how you felt about us being… I mean we are on opposite sides of the law.”

  Gray smiled. “We are that. Or we were. Maybe we aren’t any longer.” He wrapped his hand around her elbow. “Come inside and get out of the heat.”

  The temperature had already ramped up outside. The first days of May and summer had already hit northern Arkansas unseasonably early.

  He led her to an empty barstool, and she sat down hard, dropping an oversized bag to the floor next to her. Before Shaw could suggest it, Tori had placed a glass of iced tea in front of Courtney. He slid into the seat on the other side of her from Gray. Tori parked her dainty butt on the other side of the bar.

  Courtney turned her head toward Shaw, and a gorgeous smile lit up her face. “I know I told you I’d call you.”

  His reply stuck in his throat.

  “I had to make other plans at the last minute. You told me you’d bring me here, so I just found the place. I hope that’s okay?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay.”

  The room fell to silence. Tori swished her tea in her glass. Gray’s arm draped the back of Courtney’s chair, and she didn’t seem to mind. Courtney traced the outline of the tiles on the top of the counter.

  Someone had to take the lead. There was much to discuss and there was no time like the present when they were all together. Courtney could disappear again before he had managed to piece everything together, so Shaw broke into the lack of conversation. “The three of us have just come up with a plan to take down Haskins and Halsey.”

  Tori huffed. “Don’t include me in this. I still don’t like it.”

  Gray reached across the bar and grabbed Tori’s free hand. “Settle down, babe. It’s going to be all right. You’ll see.”

  “You know undercover operations are dangerous.” She wasn’t giving in easily.

  “So what’s the plan?” Courtney glanced first at Gray and then at Shaw.

  “When he met with Haskins, Gray refused to become involved in his operation.” He stopped to rearrange his thoughts. He might as well call the man Gray. Everyone else did.

  “Yeah, that’s what Haskins told me,” Courtney replied.

  Gray jerked. “You’ve been to see Haskins?”

  She nodded.

  “That was a little dangerous, don’t you think?”

  Courtney laughed. “You did the same thing, Gray.”

  “Yeah, but I’m a cop.”

  “I’m a criminal.”

  Shaw had once again lost control of the discussion, so he dove into the middle of their dialogue to get it back. “We’re going to see what we can do about that, Courtney. You don’t want to be a criminal anymore, do y
ou?”

  He hated using the word criminal. He’d much prefer to think of her as a woman caught in a horrible situation for which she’d had to do illegal things to survive.

  “No.” Her one word answer, given in such a soft, yet firm tone, told Shaw all he needed to know. Courtney was ready to move on. That’s why she was there at his place.

  “I’m going to leak some information to the press that will disgrace Gray and implicate Halsey in a cover up. I think that will pit Halsey not only against Gray, but against Haskins as well.”

  Courtney tensed. “What are you going to tell them?”

  “Gray was responsible for Jeremy Haskins’s death, and Halsey covered it up for him because Gray is his biological son.”

  Courtney shook her head, almost violently. “You can’t do that. It’ll ruin Gray.”

  “Well, we’re hoping that when everything comes out, he’ll be a hero instead of a villain.”

  “How is that going to happen? This county loves to tear people down.”

  “Courtney, we’ve thought this through. It’s a solid plan.” Gray moved his arm across Courtney’s shoulder again. “Once it appears that I am disgraced, then Haskins will approach me again about being in his organization. I won’t accept immediately, as if I still have some ethics, but eventually, I’ll give in. Once I’m on the inside of his operation, I can collect all the evidence we need to arrest him.”

  Courtney didn’t appear to buy his argument. “You’ll have to do something insane to prove yourself. He won’t accept that you’ve changed your mind just because you say so.”

  Shaw glanced at Gray. That was the last thing they’d discussed before Courtney arrived. “He’ll need immunity from all branches of law enforcement before he goes deep undercover.”

  “Everyone will hate him.” Courtney stared across the bar at Tori. “Even you. Can you pretend to hate him for however long it takes?” Courtney blurted the answer before Tori could reply. “Of course, you’ll have a hard time with that. You don’t like this plan, and I don’t blame you.” She slid sideways in her chair, dislodging Gray’s arm and getting in Shaw’s face. “If you do this, I’m going in with him. Haskins wants both of us.”

  “No.” Just the thought made Shaw’s gut clench.

  “No way,” Grayson agreed.

  Shaw was relieved the man had taken his side.

  Tori set her glass down hard on the counter. “No, I agree with her. If they both join Haskins, not together but separately, then he’ll be blinded by the thought that he’s getting whatever he wants. He’ll think he’s invincible. Especially, if you can get law enforcement to back off for a while and let him believe he’s getting by with it all.”

  Had Tori finally accepted the plan? But at what price? Shaw didn’t want Courtney to go back into the life. He’d promised to get her out of it.

  Tori leaned over the counter, glaring at Shaw. He had two women giving him the evil eye, nostrils flaring. “That’s the only way I’ll agree to this.”

  “You don’t have much choice.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Shaw regretted his impulsive reply.

  Tori bristled and it wasn’t a pretty sight. “Yes, I do. I can always reveal your plan to the public.”

  What could he do? He had to abandon the plan or give in to Tori’s blackmail…umm, demands. “All right. It’s up to Courtney.” He caught her gaze and held it.

  Determination glittered in her eyes. “I want to do this, Shaw. I need to make up for a lot of things. This way I would feel like I was somehow helping to make things right.”

  He got that.

  She wasn’t finished with her stipulations. “We need to let Josh McCord in on this.”

  Shaw smiled. “We’ve already discussed that. We’re going to warn him not to believe everything he hears or sees, but we aren’t going to give him details.”

  “He won’t like being kept in the dark. He’ll dig until he figures it out.”

  Courtney probably knew McCord better than anyone.

  Gray inserted his opinion. “We need to leave him out as much as possible. He’s got his own stuff to work through.”

  Courtney smirked. “Ashley Rivers.” She leveled her gaze on Gray. “I overheard her talking to Josh. I couldn’t hear everything, but I heard enough. You told Haskins you killed Jeremy, didn’t you? But I bet it was really Ashley.”

  Courtney was smart. She could pull a lot of pieces together and fit them into a recognizable picture. She would have been a good detective.

  “When I was coming over here, I had to ditch a guy in a black car. Probably someone who was watching my mother’s house for Haskins. Now, he’ll know I’ve been to see her, but I’m pretty sure I lost him.”

  So she’d gone to see her mother. Good on her.

  “Who did you get to bring you out here?” Curiosity and a bit of concern resonated in Gray’s question.

  “No one. I hiked along the creek. I figured I’d find this place eventually. I knew there was a trail back here that went behind the restaurant. Cooley used to have some cookers in the woods, but hunters kept finding them.”

  Shaw’s admiration for her ratcheted up another notch.

  Tori rolled her shoulders. “So I guess this means I have to go back to town and pretend I’ve had a ugly split with Gray?”

  “You’re a good actress, Tori. You can handle it.”

  She tossed a wadded paper towel at Shaw.

  Courtney shot a hard look first Shaw and then Tori. “You two know each other?”

  Tori answered for both of them. “We’re not exactly best friends.” The sarcasm in her reply was hard to miss. How long could the woman hold a grudge?

  Did Courtney relax with that answer? Could his relationship with another woman matter to her? He dared reach over and grab her hand. “I want you to stay here for a few days and get some rest before you dive back into things again. Let Gray make his play first. You can wait until he’s in.”

  She shook her head. “I think Haskins would bring me into his operation this second. After all, I think he’s still looking for me. He sent Jake Richards to find me.”

  “How does Jake Richards fit into his organization?”

  “When I went out to his place, I got the idea he was Haskins’s chief security guard. There were others, but he was the one that escorted me into Haskins’s office. His cousin Zeke worked for Cooley as a security guy.”

  Gray added his bit of knowledge. “Zeke might be under the rocks behind Laurel Heights. Cooley wasn’t the only man down in those caves with Laurel Standridge.”

  Courtney sat up straight. “Standridge? I forgot that was Celeste’s name. Why haven’t I connected this before?”

  “What?” Shaw sensed what she was about to say was critical.

  She pulled a book out of her bag. “You might want to read this. I think this is Victoria Hamilton’s diary.”

  “There sure are a lot of diaries floating around,” Tori muttered under her breath.

  He’d have to explain Tori’s comment to Courtney later. Her expression revealed her curiosity, and from what he had seen of her, Courtney needed her curiosity satisfied.

  “You found it when you were in the basement, didn’t you?”

  She nodded. “I started reading it last night, but then…”

  Why the hesitation?

  She seemed to draw courage from deep inside her. “Victoria Hamilton had a lover in New Orleans named John. She had a child with the man and had to leave the baby behind in New Orleans when she married Alfred Hamilton. She always regretted that. Anyway, she kept referring to someone named Standridge in the beginning of the diary, and I thought it was a coincidence that I’d heard the name before. It is kind of unusual. At first, I thought she was talking about two different men, but no, she wasn’t. I think her lover’s name was John Standridge.” She held Shaw’s gaze as she fluffed out her thought processes. “Do you think John Standridge and Celeste Standridge are related?”

  Shaw didn’t think so. “If
Victoria’s child was adopted, she wouldn’t have the last name Standridge.”

  “Oh, you’re probably right.”

  “Although, that does seem to be a big coincidence, and I don’t believe in coincidences that big.”

  Gray’s fingers tightened around Tori’s hand. “We need to go back out to the house and try to contact John Standridge.”

  Tori shuddered. “I would love to know what happened to Alfred and Victoria Hamilton, but I’m not ready to go back out there.”

  That was plain.

  Shaw smirked. “Yesterday you were demanding that I clear the place for you to go back. You’re being a bit inconsistent.”

  Courtney shot him a look he’d never seen on her face before. “Settle down, Shaw. I understand why she’d go one way and then the other on that. I get it. She wants to know, but she isn’t sure what she’ll have to go through to find out. Give her a break.”

  Her calm reprimand backed him down from his irritation at Tori. “Okay, then. We can go out there and do another investigation…whenever you’re ready. But please do not go out there alone.”

  Tori’s shoulders relaxed. “I wouldn’t.”

  “Okay, then, you should go to town and get back to work. I’m going to need you on the inside of the Sheriff’s Department. You’re going to be my eyes and ears.”

  “Lovely.”

  Shaw turned his attention to other matters and snagged Gray’s attention away from Tori. “You mentioned someone yesterday that you wanted me to meet.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Tori rolled her eyes. “Waste of time.”

  “We can do that today. She’s always open for business. All we need is a King Size Baby Ruth bar.”

  Courtney sniggered. “Really, Gray? Are you really taking him to see Timna? She can’t help you. That old woman is full of crap.”

  Her derisive comment didn’t seem to fluster or dissuade the man. “She’s given me some good leads before. I think it’s worth a shot.”

  Shaw was in. This sounded interesting, even if it proved a waste of time.

  ****

  Shaw had reluctantly taken Tori back to town, and Courtney had stayed behind at Shaw’s Landing. Against his better judgment, he’d left a small caliber gun with her…just in case she hadn’t been able to shake her tail like she thought she had.