Rise and Shine (Shine On Series, Book 2)

by Jewell, Allison J.

  Spotty whined as she pulled him toward the door. Clearly, he didn’t notice anything wrong with the meat. Emmie opened the door and drug the dog in. Spotty was fighting her to get back to his dish. He huffed as he lay in front of the stairs.

  She went upstairs, feeling a bit unsettled in her house. The quicker she could get things packed and back to Silas, the better she’d feel. If that made her a coward, so be it. She should have let him drive her. Why did she have to be so darn independent all the time? What did she have to prove? Emmie tossed in her clothes and scurried downstairs. She opened the door and called for Spotty. He didn’t move.

  “Spotty,” she said again, walking up to him.

  The dog lay lifeless at the foot of the stairs. Her heartbeat sped up. She reached her hand out and touched his neck and called his name again. He still didn’t move.

  “Oh God. Spotty.” She shook him. She wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. She thought she saw a faint movement in his stomach like he’d taken a breath but couldn’t be sure.

  She sat on the floor with her back to the open air and gently shook her dog calling his name over and over to no avail.

  “Oh no. The meat,” she said to herself. Why had someone hurt her dog?

  She turned and ran to the phone. Emmie knew she could probably catch someone at the DeCarmilla house. It hadn’t been that long since she left. When she picked up the phone she noticed the wire had been cut all the way through. Her house, someone had been in her house. Her heartbeat pounded so loudly in her ears it was nearly all she could hear. She had to get out of there.

  **********

  “Silas, something isn’t right. I just called Mr. Johnson and he said he never told Steven to stop you from coming on his land,” Gabe said, emerging from the office. “They also can’t find him now. This isn’t good.”

  Silas smashed out his half finished cigarette and looked at the men that surrounded him. “Steven’s been working for Thomas. Emmie told me yesterday.” He turned to look at the butcher brothers. “You said Thomas is closed and packed up?”

  The nodded. His heart sank as he remembered Walter’s last words to him. Thomas has been asking about Emmie. It ain’t right. You need to take care of something that shoulda already been done. Silas looked at his watch. She’d been gone twenty minutes. That should be enough time to be in her house. He walked to the phone and rang Emmie. The nasalized voice of the operator came on telling him there was a problem with the line.

  “Oh. God,” he said aloud.

  “What?” Trick asked, at his side immediately.

  “Get in the car,” Silas shouted. He didn’t ask twice. Trick and Gabe filed in with him.

  “Vince take them back to that damn store. Search every spot where they could be hiding. When you finish, meet me at the Johnson’s. Their son of a bitch son-in-law is in this deep, I can feel it,” Silas said, running to the car.

  “Is that where you’re headed now?” Vince asked.

  “No. I’m going to get Emmie,” he said, already starting the car.

  **********

  Emmie bent down and scooped Spotty in her arms. Dead or not, she wasn’t leaving him here. He was heavy and half as big as she was. She knew she couldn’t carry him the whole way to the DeCarmilla’s but she just felt she needed to get him out of the house. She stepped off the stairs. His body felt warm. Surely that was a good sign, right? She couldn’t give up hope, not now.

  “Miss Emmie,” a voice called from the end of the porch.

  She looked up and saw it was Steven Johnson. Frozen for only a minute she took in the sight of him: short, stocky, with graying yellow hair. His teeth jutted out in the front like a rat. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her backward down the stairs, carrying the dog. She stumbled down the last one and fell to the ground. Spotty landed on top of her.

  Steven swallowed hard. “Miss Emmie, don’t be scared. I came here for your help. Something bad’s happened.” He walked toward her.

  “No. Did you do this to him?” Emmie screamed, attempting to get up. “Why?”

  “Is something wrong with your dog?” Steven asked.

  She didn’t trust him. “Stay away from us. Stop right there.”

  He did stop at the top of the stairs with his hands raised in surrender. “Just leave your dog there, Ma’am. You’re gonna hurt him worse if you keep dropping him like that.”

  Emmie laid Spotty in the old flowerbed at the corner where the stairs met the porch. He didn’t move. She also hadn’t seen the rise and fall of his stomach since she was in the house. Her heart was broken. Her throat tightened but she couldn’t mourn now or they may both be dead.

  “Did you do that to him?” she screamed through gritted teeth walking backward away from him.

  “No Ma’am, I wouldn’t hurt your dog. Like I said. I just come for your help. Something bad’s happened. You’re man’s got Bo. Saying he’s gonna kill him because you’ve been running around on him. Mr. Johnson sent me here to see if you could talk some sense in him,” Steven said.

  Emmie shook her head. That didn’t add up. She’d just been with Silas. He didn’t have Bo. Plus they hadn’t even been able to get on Johnson land because Steven had stopped them this morning. She opened her mouth to argue with him that his story had no logic but thought better of it. He’d already taken two more steps toward her. It wasn’t the time to argue. It wasn’t time to question. It was time to run.

  She turned away from him and ran as fast as her feet would carry her. Her heels stuck in the earth and she kept going. Her bare feet pounded the ground as fast as they would take her. She headed toward the main road. The path to Ava’s was too secluded for this game of chase. Emmie could hear him behind her, yelling her name. Shouting. His loud feet beating the ground with no rhythm as he tried to catch up. But he was older and out of shape and she knew she’d be able to beat him. If it wasn’t for this darn tight dress of Ava’s she’d probably be able to move faster.

  There was a car stopped a few yards up the road that appeared to be empty. If only she knew how to drive. Her breath was coming in heavy gulps of air now. She just had to keep herself at this steady pace and she would beat him to town, then there would be help. Emmie worked to stay calm and made a plan in her mind.

  She felt the impact before hearing or seeing anything. Emmie tumbled to the ground, gravel dug deep into her arms and legs as she rolled. But the worst of the pain came as the heavy body landed on top of her, taking her breath away for a moment. A scream escaped from her mouth on impulse.

  “Shut up,” the man said as he tried to pull himself off her. Her eyes came into focus and she saw the man that had clothes-lined her. Her pulse sped up as she realized it was him. The same dark curly haired waiter. It was Smith boy who’d delivered her to the police in Louisville. Oh, this was not good. Without another thought Emmie brought up a knee, causing him to roll off her, tucked into the fetal position. She stumbled, holding her side. There was a stabbing pain in her right abdomen with each breath she took.

  She tried to take off toward town again. But she was slower this time. That fall had taken something out of her, maybe broken a rib. Emmie could hear the men closing on her but that didn’t stop her from trying to get away. She felt the ground again before she knew what had happened. This time she planted face first.

  “Go get the car,” Steven yelled, on top of her. She heard the other man run in the opposite direction.

  Steven spit next to her. “Damn it, girl. You coulda just made this easy.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked when she found her breath.

  “It’s not about you, sweetheart.” He pulled her to her feet, holding her arms tightly behind her body.

  “People keep saying that but it sure as hell feels like it,” she said, fighting against his arms.

  Emmie knew if she got in that car she was as good as dead. She made one last attempt to stomp the man’s feet but her bare feet did nothing to his thick boots. “Stop fighting me, girl. I don�
��t wanna hurt you but I will.”

  Steven threw her in the back where Smith was waiting for her… with rope.

  “No, please. No,” she screamed and moved as far away from him as she could.

  Steven took off down the main road. “Shit. Car’s coming. Get her down.”

  Smith grabbed her wrists and made an attempt to loop them through the rope. She did her best to fight him. Her fingernails dug into the flesh of his arms.

  “GET HER DOWN,” Steven screamed. “It’s them.”

  She instinctively knew who them was. “Silas!” she screamed. She should have known he would have come to pick her up at her house. He was nervous to let her go alone. The timing would be right. Smith backhanded her and she fell down on the tiny floorboard.

  “SILAS!” She knew there was no way he could hear her but it didn’t stop her from trying. She put her arms up on the back of the driver’s seat and attempted to pull up. The back of the seat was the last thing she saw. Emmie felt her like her skull split in two as everything that was light faded to black.

  Chapter Forty-six

  If Silas had driven the car any faster the wheels might have rolled right off their axles. Trick’s fingers dug into his seat but he didn’t say a word. As he made his way down the main road he saw nothing that surrounded him. He drove right past the car that held what he so badly wanted, without even noticing the familiar face behind the wheel. He pulled into her drive and let out a sigh of relief when he saw Spotty lying at the foot of the stairs. There was no car in her drive and no sign of anyone else.

  “Gabe stay out here and look around.”

  He took the stairs two at a time, bounding up the porch. He pulled out his gun. “Emmie?” He kicked the door open cautiously. His heart sank as he noticed her suitcase sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Emma,” he shouted again.

  The silence was deafening. He turned to look for the phone and saw the line had been cut. He searched the house but could find no sign of a struggle.

  “Silas,” Trick called. “Get out here.”

  Silas ran outside his gun still in his hands. Gabe and Trick looked up at him with a panicked expression. “Her dog.”

  Silas jumped down from the porch and landed at Spotty’s side. “Damn it. You think he’s dead?”

  “He isn’t good… I don’t know. I can’t see where he’s hurt but I also can’t see that he’s breathing. Poisoned maybe?” Gabe asked.

  “Brother, this is bad,” Trick said.

  Silas screamed a string of swears and kicked the railing of the stairs. It fell over and broke into pieces. He paced, rubbing his face as he thought. “Thomas and Steven have done this. I know it.”

  “If they’ve taken her to the store or anywhere near Vince will find her,” Gabe said.

  Silas shook his head. “He’d expect us to look there.” He walked back toward the car. “He doesn’t know that we know Steven’s involved. We start at the Johnson’s.” Silas’s voice was cool and level.

  Trick scratched the dog’s ear and patted his side before he met the others at the car. He walked to the car slowly, his mind racing. His brother was panicked. Trick didn’t doubt that Thomas and Steven could be in on this, but what made Silas so sure it had nothing to do with the raids?

  “Si. I agree that Steven and Thomas aren’t all clear in this. But I’m just wondering why you don’t think it could be connected to the raids?” Trick asked.

  “What would the revenuer want her? What’s she done, make a few jars of shine? That’s not enough to get him the kind of covering and newspaper headlines he’s after.” Silas worried the skin on his jaw as he pulled onto the main road. “If he was here, he’d have gone after Johnson or the speaks. They’d get him more money… more press.”

  “Well, that’s probably true.” Trick nodded. He knew his brother was missing a big piece to this and he had to find a way to make him think of it.

  “And what would he want with her if she couldn’t offer him either of those things?” Silas continued to question himself.

  “What if he isn’t after just the press or money this time? What if he’s after you?”

  “Then why the hell would he take her?” Silas shouted. But as soon as the words left his mouth he knew his brother was right. Emmie was his weakness. The man knew that she was the most effective way to get Silas… To hurt him. How had he missed that? All Silas could do was nod in agreement. Trick was right. He shifted gears and sped down the open road. She couldn’t have been gone that long. She had to be close.

  “Okay, so if it’s the revenuer from the pictures that tried to bust up all the competition and sell us moonshine… what would that have to do with Thomas and Johnson?” Gabe asked from the back seat.

  That’s what Silas was working over in his mind. The pieces were starting to fall together. He remembered what Emmie had told him last night. The same thing she had told Bo. Will Thomas was in those pictures too. He’d joined the police in Louisville and now traveled with this revenuer busting up stills and smiling for photos.

  “I should have listened to her,” Silas said aloud. “I was so pissed off about her going to meet him dressed like that. I underestimated what she had to tell me. I should have listened.”

  “What?” Gabe asked from the back.

  “Will Thomas has been working with the revenuer. Of course he had motive to work against us and a fair piece of information too, with all of those pictures he and his brother had taken.” Silas’s brain clicked every piece together. “He had motivation too. I left his brother broken but instead of coming after me directly, he worked with the revenuer. This was always their plan. All of those other counties they busted, they were just playing with us. It was always going to end up here. It was always going to end with them taking Emmie from me. Because isn’t that what Thomas wanted more than anything else? I left him broken and took his girl.” He turned into the Johnson’s drive.

  “How deep are the Johnsons in this? Is it Steven or all of them?” Trick asked.

  “I guess we’re about to find out,” Silas said, stepping out of the car.

  **********

  Emmie felt cool water across her forehead. She couldn’t see anything but she could hear and feel. Her side hurt with each breath she took. Again, a cloth with cold water ran down her hairline. It was so gentle, for a brief moment she wondered if it might be Silas.

  She heard the person move away. “You weren’t supposed to hurt her.” She heard the man shout. His voice was high and cracked. The voice caused her stomach to roll. She kept her eyes closed tight. She didn’t want to see him. She didn’t want him to know she was conscious.

  There was no rag this time. It was just his cold clammy fingers running down the length of her chin. “She was not supposed to be broken,” he shouted.

  “I’m sorry. She’s a fighter. We saw Silas and I panicked,” Smith said. “Besides Will didn’t say nothing about not hurting her.”

  His fingers trailed the length of her face again, and then went down her neck. “You look like an angel lying there, my sweet Emma. But your clothes.” He ran his hands down the beaded flapper dress. “Oh, that devil has tried to turn you into one of them. Dressing you up like a whore. Forcing himself on you. Making you go to those clubs.” His hand made its way to her thigh and pushed up the hem with his clammy hands. “But you are beautiful even in the devil’s clothes.”

  Without a second thought Emmie’s hand reached out and grabbed his. She opened her eyes and her vision swam into focus. “Don’t touch me,” she said through gritted teeth.

  Mr. Thomas brought his hands together at his mouth as if in prayer. “Oh, my Emma, you’re awake.” He leaned down and attempted to kiss her forehead. It took all her energy to turn away from him.

  “Oh, sweetheart, I know you’re scared. I won’t let them hurt you again.” He pulled her face back to his.

  “Stay. Away. From. Me.” She turned her head and faced a log wall.

  “You don’t mean i
t.” He stood to his full height. “That devil has poisoned you against me.”

  “I do mean it. When he finds you—” She cut off short as she noticed he was standing over her, towering over, holding on to nothing.

  “I thought you were in a wheelchair.”

  “Oh, I might not have been quite as hurt as I made out.” He grinned. “Better for the devil to think I was out of commission.”

  “Stop calling him the devil.”

  “My poor angel you cannot see him for what he is. That’s why I had to rescue you. I knew when Smith came back from Louisville and said that you’d been drinking with him in that hotel… and the way he’d seen him touch you… I knew you’d been bewitched by him.” Mr. Thomas’s voice was cold and slow.

  He moved to the sink and she noticed he did have a slight limp that wasn’t there before but nothing that require him to be confined to a wheelchair. But the limp wasn’t the most surprising thing she noticed. For the first time she took in her surroundings. She knew exactly where she was. The cabin. They had brought her to Johnson’s cabin. They were idiots. She knew exactly how to get home, if she could just find a way to get some distance from these men. Steven knew she had been here but she wasn’t sure the others knew how familiar she was with this place. Emmie wanted to keep their focus on other issues, knowing she wasn’t strong or fast enough to get away from them right now. She’d have to rely on her brain.

  Emmie turned to Smith. “So all along at that party, you knew who I was.”

  Smith grinned but didn’t answer.

  “How’d you even get in there?”

  “Scout for the revenuers, friends on the police force, it doesn’t take a lot of brains and connections to pose as a server, girl.”

  “Why’d you have us arrested?”

  “So many questions girl. I’d think your head would be pounding too hard to think.”