They spent the rest of their time going over all the paperwork that was going to be needed for the transfer of the property to her name. Alan told her that if everything was signed over to Joey, she could use it for Margie’s legal defense. There would be a trial, he told her, and with her sister cooperating like this, it would look good for her to be getting some serious time cut off her sentence.
“Alan Shoe is going to be working with an attorney to help with your case. He wants you to know he’s going to work for a manipulation case for you. Telling the jury you were much too young when things started out for the two of you and that he should have known better.” Margie said she should have too. “Perhaps. But we’d only just lost Dad, and Mom was really out of it. I think under the circumstances, you did what you thought you needed to in order to get by. But he took it too far.”
“There were times when he’d just show up at school and take me places. Wild and wonderful places that only a child would think that way about. Bars and the tracks. I think I spent more time at the tracks with a bunch of drunks than I did in school.” She smiled at her then. “I’m working on getting my education while I’m in here. Not much right now, as I’ve only just started, but I’m going to make sure I work on it when I’m out. I’ve missed out on so many things.”
“Just don’t get frustrated and stop.”
Margie said, “Yes, Mother.”
“You know what I mean. I don’t know that I could start over like that. I would do it, but it would be difficult. But luckily you don’t have to worry about working while you’re doing this. And you’ve got family around.”
“I hope I still have family around after everything comes out.” Patting her hand again, Joey told her she would. “I guess you’ve met someone. Meadow told me you have a nice man in your life, as well as his entire family. She was telling me about her magic too. I don’t want to die in here alone, Joey.”
Holding her while she sobbed about what sort of person she’d become, Joey just kept telling her over and over how much she was going to be able to do once she was over this thing with Peter. How he’d been hurting her for years, and now that he was going to prison, she could move on. Joey expected at any time for someone to come and tell them to break it up. But no one did, not even bothering with her time limit when it came and went. Reaching out to Meadow, she asked her what was going on.
You must be doing it. I mean, I don’t know why not. She said she wasn’t magical. That was why not. Nope, you are. Just as the rest of the family is. Remember standing in the room when the magic was dispersed?
I wasn’t aware of any changes that occurred to me. Meadow just laughed. I don’t think I like you very much. You’re a very rude woman.
I am at that, and you know you love me. I’m adorable. I’ve not heard myself called that, but I think it works. I’ve been working on some things in here while I’m wandering around. This place is shitty. Joey told her that was why it was jail. It wasn’t supposed to be five star. It should at least have some working showers. There are seventeen people in this place that depend on things working for them. There is one shower. People are reduced to taking one shower a week, so they don’t overload the hot water heater. And there are rooms with space heaters right outside the cells that try to keep them warm. I’m thinking that as a family, we can help this place out a little bit.
Yes, I agree. Why don’t we call it the Peter Hightower Jail? That’ll be just what he deserves.
They both laughed, and Meadow said she’d work on that. Joey told Margie when she was better what she and Meadow had been talking about. She laughed about calling it the Hightower Jail.
“I might have to look into this.” Joey asked her if she was serious. “I don’t know. I want to make a difference. I know you are with your new family. I guess I’ve been sucking on the tit of society long enough, don’t you think?”
“I think I love this new person you’re becoming.”
They visited after all the paperwork was gone over, making sure the places where Margie was supposed to sign were all in place as she shoved them back into the file. The picture was the only thing that remained on the table between them. The file was now in her purse.
“I don’t remember this guy’s name, but the rest I do. I’ll write them on here for you to contact. If you need them.” Joey told her that at this point, she had no idea what she might need or not. “Me either. I should have been an attorney instead of a whore, I guess.”
“Don’t say that. That’s not true.” Margie told her it was exactly true. She’d become a bed partner to a man that paid her to have sex with him. “Okay, I suppose that is the definition, but don’t say that about yourself again. You’re not the same person you were. All right?”
“Yes, all right.” After writing down the names of the people on the photo, she even wrote down who the camera man was, as well as anyone else that was in the room when it happened. “I was wondering if I should have told you about Mom being blackmailed. Peter didn’t tell me what she’d done, or anything like that, other than it was really terrible and that you would hate her forever for it. I guess he thought we looked enough alike that no one would question it. I don’t want to even think about what he would have done to get me to say it was her all the time. But that’s over with, and I want to think I’m stronger for what he did to me. I’m certainly feeling a good deal smarter for it.”
“Lesson learned, right?” Margie agreed with her, and they talked again. This time about nothing to do with Peter or her sister’s relationship with him. “You should see our house, Margie. It’s huge and so nicely laid out. You’ll love it there.”
“I will love it anywhere that’s not here.” They laughed, and that was when she noticed that her sister had been yawning. She asked her if she was tired. “I am. I mean, sitting around makes for a lazy day. They get us up so early here that I’m usually in bed by nine or nine-thirty.”
“I’ll let you go.” Margie asked if she’d be back. “I will. Tell Meadow what you might need from me, and I’ll make sure I bring it to you. Anything you need, all right?”
“I’ve got most of what I need in knowing you’re going to come back.” Something entered her head, a small thought, and Joey dismissed it before it could grow. “I’ll be seeing you soon, right Joey?”
“Yes. Very soon. I’ll come back in a couple of days with some more clothing for you too. They said you could have some underthings, and now that I’ve gotten your sizes, I’ll bring you some.”
She moved quickly out of the area after her sister was taken back. Meeting Meadow in the hall, she could tell that the other woman was upset. She only hoped it wasn’t at her. Meadow told her that it wasn’t before she could ask.
“Good. I have enough on my mind without thinking what kind of horrors you could think up about me.”
“You’d survive them. You don’t have much in the way of skeletons in your closet.” That disturbed her on levels she didn’t understand. “Don’t worry about it, Joey. If I ever have to take you out, I’ll make sure it’s quick.”
Staring at the other woman while she had a good laugh at her expense, she wondered how much of the story was true as to what she’d done with her own tormentor. All of it, she’d bet now. And perhaps even more that people might not want to know about. No, right then, Joey knew she was going to stay on the best side of all the McCray women. Especially this one. She had powers that would turn a man’s hair white in a matter of seconds.
~*~
Pierce listened to Joey talking about her visit and her thoughts that kept circling around in her head. Her sister, she told him, had learned from the best about manipulating someone, and she was afraid she was just good enough to slip by all of them to get what she wanted.
“Did you talk to Meadow about it?” She shook her head, and he wondered aloud why she’d not. “If anyone can see what’s in a person’s head, it would be he
r, I believe. You should really do it before it drives you crazy.”
“I don’t know. Isn’t that sort of like telling her she’s not right? I’m terrified of her if you want the truth. I think she’s the scariest person alive.” Pierce thought she was right but told her that she’d not hurt her. “Yeah, so she told me. If she had to ever kill me, she’d make it quick.”
That got him laughing so hard that Joey slapped him. Telling him it wasn’t funny only made him laugh all the harder. Finally, when he thought he could contain himself, he told her he was going to call Meadow over, and she was going to tell her what she thought.
“All right, but if I suddenly disappear, it’s going to be on your head.”
Meadow said she was in town and would be over soon. He didn’t tell her what was going on. This was going to have to be from Joey. He had a feeling Meadow had been kidding with her, but he just wasn’t sure anymore. The woman was the scariest person he’d ever met.
By the time Meadow showed up, Joey had worked herself up into a frenzy. She would sit for a few minutes, then get her tablet and start on a design. After a while, he thought about having her tied down so she’d relax, but he was slightly afraid of her too. He’d never seen anyone like this before.
“Don’t hurt me.” Meadow sat down across from Joey and then turned to him. When Meadow asked him to leave them alone, he went to the kitchen with his brother. Telling Josiah what was going on, he felt better when he said he’d not thought of that. How Margie could be just as bad, if not worse than Peter.
“I’ll feel a good deal better when this is over.” Josiah told him what had happened with the IRS. “They actually put him in jail? Great. One less thing we have to worry about concerning him. I mean, I guess he could still cause some hurt on Joey, or even Becky if he were to know where they are.”
“Have you given any thought as to what you’re going to do with your money? Meadow and I were talking about the jailhouse when you called her. I think there is more wrong with the place than there is working. And with Mel working with us on the security systems, I think it will be a good deal more secure too.” Josiah told him the things Meadow had found when she’d been walking around. “I looked it up. There haven’t been any renovations on the jail since the late sixties. And even then, it was only to put in extra phone lines. I know for a fact that the Internet isn’t all that secure. I’ve been able to punch into the system whenever I need information without any trouble. Meadow said they share passwords too.”
“A couple of weeks ago I had to drop off some camera equipment that had been stored in one of their buildings. Not one of them knew if the storage room had a camera on it all the time. I would think that would be the first place they’d put a camera.” Josiah told him he would have thought the same thing. “I’m going to talk to the mayor about it. I think he’s up for re-election, so he might want to play ball in order to get the votes he’ll need. You should run.”
“For what?” Pierce told him, laughing while he did so. “I don’t want to be mayor. Christ, I don’t have time to do the things I need to do as it is. I’m agreeing with you that someone else should take the job, but not me. I wouldn’t know the first thing about it.”
“Apparently, neither does the one in office now.” Pierce handed him a flyer and waited while he read it over. “This is all over town. At the very least, he could have asked me to do it for him. Secondly, there are three misspelled words in the sucker.”
“Four.” He pointed to the fourth one. “All right, so he can’t spell or put together a sentence. Why do you think he’s doing such a shitty job? I mean, other than the camera thing, and that’s mostly on the head of the person in the jail system, not so much him.”
The paper, a flyer, said there was going to be a Christmast lite showing at the Count House. It gave the time and the day of the week, but a quick look at the calendar made him realize the mayor had the date incorrect as well. The Saturday he was referring to was actually a Wednesday. That would surely screw people up.
Another sheet of paper was handed to Pierce. This one, he had to sit down to read. It not only had misspelled words on it but was an invoice that asked for the chef of police to sign off on the paperwork for the new camera equipment that had been installed. He asked his brother if the address on the invoice was the mayor’s office.
“Worse. It’s his home address.” Josiah went to his refrigerator and got them both a glass of tea while he explained. “I went by there, and it’s all right there. There is a state-of-the-art system in the back yard of his home, as well as over the front door. He can see who is coming on his cell phone from anywhere he has Internet service. Also, and this one really pissed me off, he’s got himself a brand new car. I thought at the last meeting he was telling us he wasn’t making it on the salary we were paying him, and he’d have to think about raising taxes so he could afford his bills.”
The two of them were deep into looking into things when both Meadow and Joey joined them. Asking a few questions of Meadow, they were able to get information on quite a few things that were out of whack. Mostly it was things the city and county were paying for that were going into the personal residence of the mayor. She even suggested that their mom run for mayor.
“She’d do a fantastic job. And there isn’t anything she’d want that she couldn’t just go out and buy for herself.” There was that, she agreed with Pierce. “Also, I think she’d get more of the beautification projects done, and under cost too. The very fact that we have to get permission from the moron to decorate for the holidays is simply stupid. That means the new Christmas shop can’t decorate the outside of their shop until he says so. The thing is a fucking Christmas shop. The very name suggests it should be decorated with festive things all the time.”
“You get to ask her about it?” Pierce asked Meadow why he had to ask. “Because I said so. And I like your wife. She is one smart cookie.”
“Is she right?” Meadow nodded, looking so sad that it hurt him for both of them. “What did you find out? Other than the fact that she’s playing her sister.”
“That she’s going to burn in hell for the things she’s done to people.” He didn’t ask. Pierce wanted to know what that could be, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know exactly why they thought burning in hell was going to be something she would need. “She’s been killing for him since she was just a child. Luring people into her little web of lies and then killing them while Peter watched. He might not like her overly much at the moment, but he certainly has her turning out to be just like him.”
“I fell for it too easily.” Josiah told Joey she’d not fallen for anything. “I know, but I could have. Easily. Who wants to know their sister is a monster like the one you’re trying to keep her from? No one, that’s who. But when Meadow dug really deep, she allowed me to look as well. The shit she has going on in her head is fucking scary. And how much she thinks killing me is going to be an easy time. I got news for her. I’m not the sap she thinks I am.”
“But she has to play along with her. All the way up until we get her in court.” Pierce asked why. “Because we want her to believe, throughout all of this, that she’s pulled the wool over our eyes and that we’re going to give her whatever she wants. I also had a chance to look into her head about signing over the money to Joey. She didn’t care so long as Joey dies, and she gets it later rather than now. And that is her plan. To take not only what she has from Peter, but her sister as well.”
Pierce asked Joey if she was all right. He knew she wasn’t, not even close, but she did seem a great deal less stressed about it. It had to hurt her, he knew, to know her sister was this evil, diabolical person. He pulled her into his embrace as Josiah and Meadow argued about who was going to talk to his mom about running for the mayor seat. Then they had to convince their dad that he couldn’t do it.
“He’ll never get anything done. He’d be all over the town, that’s for sure, b
ut he’d be talking to everyone and anyone about who knows what before he remembered he should have been writing things down so he could take care of them. Last weekend Mom sent him to the store to pick up some flour. He was gone for nearly three hours and didn’t come home with the flour. I think she expected that to happen and was glad for the few hours of quiet time.” He laughed with the rest of them before going on about Dad going to the high school to have a look around. “The foreman had to call Demi to come and get him. Dad was out there on the beams looking at the jobs that were being done. If he had fallen, there is no telling what he might have done to himself. I love him to pieces, but he does need to think about what he does.”
“Yes, that’s for sure.”
They ended up talking about going to dinner, just the four of them. Inviting their parents was a great idea until they found out that Demi and Lucian were there too. Inviting everyone to the outing, Josiah told the others what the plan was and that they needed to convince Mom to run.
“Dad will help her. There isn’t any doubt about that.” He knew this too and was happy that Joey didn’t seem to be as upset as she’d been before. “They’re such a perfect couple. Don’t you think? She puts up with him as much as he puts up with her. When he messes up, he knows it and goes to get her something to make up for it. I really think he does some of the things he does just to get her something. He told me that getting to see her face when he gets the right thing is well worth having her fuss at him for a little while.”
“I don’t think Dad has ever messed up in getting Mom the right thing.” Josiah agreed with him. “Even when he really screws up, which isn’t as often as he professes, he makes Mom smile when he shows up with a dozen roses or even a box of her favorite candy. You’re right, Joey. They are the perfect couple.”
On the way to dinner, Josiah said everyone agreed that Mom would make a great mayor. Presenting it to her was going to be tricky, they thought. They couldn’t just tell her they thought she’d do a better job than the one they had now, then point out the things around town that she’d be able to fix up. The flowers were the biggest thing Mom didn’t like. No flowers were planted outside in the urns the town had bought several years ago unless it was something approved for the entire town. Also, all the flowers had to be the same size and colors. So if one person didn’t want to plant flowers, no one could. That really was a stupid thing, Pierce thought.
Pierce: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Page 11