Rise and Shine (Shine On Series, Book 2)

by Jewell, Allison J.

  “Here drink this,” Mr. Thomas said, bringing her a glass of water and some pain relief powders.

  “You poisoned my dog, forgive me if I don’t drink the first thing you bring me.” Her heart sank deep at the words. She felt tears prick at the back of her eyes but she couldn’t lose it now.

  “Poisoned your dog?” Mr. Thomas asked, turning to look at Steven Johnson who was keeping to the corner.

  “Well, I couldn’t take no chances with getting bit or having him follow us. You know how them dogs are, he might have led McDowell’s boy’s here,” Steven said.

  “I’m sorry about that, Emmie. I’ll get you another dog when we leave here and get settled,” Mr. Thomas said.

  Leave here? She was not leaving here with them. She wanted to ask a million questions about where they planned to take her but she chose to leave those unsaid. They didn’t need to know she was thinking of getting away. She moved her wrists and ankles and tried to pull herself into a sitting position. Mr. Thomas scurried over to her.

  “Take it easy, Emma. You’re hurt a little. But I suppose it’s only right you should feel some of the pain that’s been bestowed upon me the past few weeks.”

  She cringed. He was the craziest man she’d ever met. He sat on the cot next to her, making her skin crawl where he touched her. She wanted to scoot away from him but forced herself to stay. As horrible as it sounded, she felt if anyone would keep her safe in this cabin, he would protect her with his misguided affections. Emmie attempted to give him a smile but came up short. She reached out a shaking hand and took the glass of water and aspirin from him.

  “Thank you. Mr. Thomas.” She prayed she wasn’t being poisoned as she swallowed the liquid.

  “Emma, please. I’ve told you, call me Paul.” He pushed the hair out of her eyes.

  Chapter Forty-seven

  “Okay, so what’s the plan?” Trick asked as they pulled up to Johnson’s house.

  Silas stepped out of the car and slammed the door before he spoke. “We find Emmie and blow the heads off anyone who gets in our way. And the person responsible… is mine. End of plan.”

  Gabe gave Trick a weary look and followed his brother. Silas never did things without a plan. He wasn’t surprised when his brother didn’t knock on the door, but twisted the knob and walked in.

  “Wait right here and listen,” Trick whispered to Gabe. “We may need you as a surprise.”

  Gabe understood his meaning and stood with his back against the house, pistol drawn. He didn’t like the feeling of this. He wished Vince and the butchers were here. There were a lot of Johnsons on this plot of land and only three of them. Unfortunately it wasn’t Mr. Johnson or Bo that they saw first. It was Bo’s youngest sister, who wasn’t much older than Jemma. Millie Johnson stood frozen at the sight of two armed men walking through the hall.

  “Get out,” Silas said to her in warning.

  She opened her mouth to scream and turned in the opposite direction. Trick stepped forward, afraid of what Silas would do. “Miss, we aren’t going to hurt anyone.” He wrapped his hands over her mouth so she couldn’t scream and pushed her to the door. “Have you seen Emmie here today?”

  Millie’s breath came in heavy gulps, ready to hyperventilate. She shook her head no quickly. She mumbled something against his hands. He loosened his hands just slightly to hear her words. “No. I haven’t seen her for a couple of weeks.”

  Just then Bo turned the corner, leading with a double-barreled shotgun, pointed right at Silas.

  “Tell your brother to let Millie go, now,” he shouted at Silas.

  Silas ignored his words and walked right up to him. “Where is Emmie?”

  “Last I saw her she ran off to be with you,” Bo said. “Why?”

  Silas ignored his question. “Where is your brother-in-law?”

  “Which one?” Bo asked, taking a step back from Silas.

  Silas grabbed the shotgun from Bo before he even knew it was coming. “Don’t play with me kid. You know which one. The one that you all had working for Thomas.”

  Bo turned and spoke to Trick, “Let her go. I’ll help you find Steven.”

  Silas hit Bo in the face with the end of the shotgun causing him to fall on the floor. “You are talking to me right now, boy.” The eerie calm of his voice was unnerving, even to Trick.

  Millie tried to free herself to run to her brother. She screamed against his embrace. Trick took a few steps backward, pulling Millie along with him. He whispered in her ear. “Don’t do anything dumb. We aren’t going to hurt your brother.” She fought him.

  Bo attempted to stand and fell. He wiped a trail of blood that was dripping from the gash on his forehead. He looked up and saw his sister’s panicked expression.

  “Millie. I’m fine,” he reassured her. It took everything in him to find his bearings to stand. “Go to Bart’s house or to the barn. I’ll come get you in a little bit.”

  Trick felt her tears on his hands. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. She nodded, looking at Bo. Trick pulled her to the door. “Do what your brother asked okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.” He wasn’t sure why he cared about this girl’s fate but for some reason he did. Maybe she reminded him of Jemma. But he knew one thing, Silas wasn’t in the habit of hurting women, but if she came back here with a pack of Johnsons he’d show her no mercy. He hoped she was smart enough to know that.

  She pulled away from him as soon as he loosened his grip and ran right past Silas and toward her brother. Damn it. She was supposed to go out the door. Bo wrapped his arm around her as she fell into him.

  “I’m fine. Go.”

  As soon as she was out the back door, he turned back to Silas. “I don’t know where Steven is. But Pap is out looking for him. After he talked to Gabe, he said he had to find him. I’ve been here waiting for him bring him back. What’s this got to do with Emmie?”

  “She’s been taken.” Silas gritted his teeth.

  “What?” Bo shouted in surprise.

  “About thirty minutes ago. No sign of struggle at her house but they poisoned the dog,” Trick said.

  “All this is on you,” Silas said, pulling out his pistol and holding it point blank at Bo’s forehead. To Bo’s defense, he didn’t so much as flinch as he stared down the barrel of Silas’s gun.

  “Silas. No, not yet,” Trick said.

  “You brought her back into this. You introduced her to Steven,” Silas said to Bo through gritted teeth. “It would feel so good to pull this trigger.”

  “Silas, Bo is the only person here that knows this land. If she’s not on Thomas’s property she has to be here on their land,” Trick said. “Whether you like it or not, we need him.”

  Silas uncocked the gun and put it back in his holster. “Bo, where is Steven?”

  Bo knew better than to say he didn’t know. The last thing he needed was to be seen as useless to Silas right now. “Well, there are a lot of places. Our land is more than five hundred acres.”

  Just then Gabe walked in the room behind Mr. Johnson. Johnson took in the bloody sight of his son and the three armed-and-dangerous men standing in his hall. He realized it was wrong to look for Steven alone. This was bigger than he thought. He looked at his son.

  “Someone’s taken Emmie,” Bo answered his father’s unspoken question.

  “Well, as you can see it wasn’t my boy because he’s right here,” Mr. Johnson said in defense of his son.

  Silas let out a loud groan. “Where is your son-in-law?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve looked about everywhere.” He looked dead at Silas. “Well, except one place. I was just coming to get Bo to help me.”

  Bo looked at his father. “Where?”

  “The cabin.”

  “But that’s where we keep all the moonshine. If those Thomas boys are working with the revenuers like Emmie thought,” Bo said working it out in his mind, “do you think Steven would lead them to our shine?”

  “What the hell are we waiting for?” Silas
shouted. “Let’s go.”

  **********

  “I’ve brought you a dress. I know you didn’t often get fancy things from catalogues and such.” Mr. Thomas brought a box to her.

  Emmie gave her best I’m-so-grateful smile and reached for it. Inside was a deep navy frock that looked a little matronly. “Thank you,” she barely whispered.

  “Would you like to put it on?”

  “No. I’ll save it for something special.” She forced herself to talk. This cabin was one room and no way she was changing in front of them.

  “Of course you would want to do that, such a kind heart. Getting you away from that devil may not be as hard as we thought.” He grabbed her chin between his bony fingers and bent down, putting his cold fish lips on hers. It took everything Emmie had not to vomit or cry.

  Smith laughed from where he was sitting.

  “What’s funny?” Mr. Thomas asked.

  “I’m just thinking she doesn’t kiss you like she kissed him.”

  Emmie glared at the man. “Why are you doing this? What’s in it for you?” she asked, unable to keep her question inside.

  “My cousin is Jim Parbour, famous revenuer in these parts. You might have seen his pictures in the paper.”

  “I still don’t understand.” She picked at a loose bead of her dress. “What’s in this for you? Why arrest a couple of girls… why bring me to Thomas?”

  “Oh, that arrest was just a test… and he passed it.” Smith frowned and picked his fingernails, “Or failed it, I guess it just depends on how you look at it.”

  Emmie frowned at the man. “You make no sense speaking in stupid riddles.”

  “Shh…” Mr. Thomas came over and pawed at her hair like she was a china doll. “You’ll upset her. Of course she doesn’t understand, she’s not like them. Emma, we had to be sure Silas would drop everything to rescue you that night.” Mr. Thomas smiled and folded his hands together. “And he didn’t disappoint.”

  Rescue her. What? Why would they want to test that? As soon as the thought crossed her mind she put it together. Paul Thomas wasn’t taking her away. Her stomach rolled as it all fell into place—she was being used as bait by the revenuer.

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Right on cue he walked in: Jim Parbour. His tall billowy frame took up the entire doorway blocking out every ray of light that might have shown through. Will Thomas followed him, closing the door behind them.

  “Well, well, well… our little golden ticket.” Jim stared at her.

  Emmie attempted to stand but her legs gave out. Clearly, that knock on her head had affected her more than she thought. Mr. Thomas reached down and helped her back on the cot. She had to get out, she couldn’t lie here as bait for Silas.

  “Aww…” Jim feigned sympathy. He took a step closer. “You’re a little more busted up than I expected.”

  “It’s what she gets for being a damned moll,” Will said with disgust.

  “Moll?” she mumbled to herself. What was that? She frowned at Will.

  “A damned gangster’s girl,” he spit.

  She shook her head. “I’m not a…”

  “You were right Paul. This one is naïve.” Jim bent down so he was eye level. “You don’t think your beau’s a gangster?”

  Emmie shook her head. Their words—moll, gangster—they took this to a new level. She was in too deep. Her mind raced looking for an out but couldn’t see an escape. She had to get out of here before Silas figured out where she was.

  “HE’S NOT HER BEAU,” Paul Thomas shouted.

  Jim looked up and laughed at Mr. Thomas. He laughed right at him like he was some crazy along for the ride. It wouldn’t matter if Mr. Thomas planned to keep her safe or not, he wasn’t the one making the decisions here—he was as much a pawn in this game as she was.

  “Will, control your brother.”

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Will pull Mr. Thomas to the corner until he was out of sight. The huge man was still right in front of her.

  “Your boy is a bad man, darlin’,” he said, touching her legs. Emmie recoiled from him. He held her legs in place and forced her to look him in the eyes. “Do you want to hear what he did to my brother? All we did was try to sell him a little of our moonshine.”

  Emmie shook her head. She didn’t want to listen to this man and his lies.

  “Did he keep you away from that side? He sent my brother home with a man they call the butcher. Do you know why he’s called a butcher?” Jim asked slowly. He was so close to her face she could feel his breath on her cheeks.

  “Because that’s what he is… that’s what he does to people. I got parts of my brother back in a box,” he shouted in her face.

  Emmie shook her head no. She didn’t notice the tears falling from her eyes. No, it couldn’t be tell the truth. Silas wasn’t a bad person; he wouldn’t do that. Her heart sank as she remembered the two new men she’d met last night. He had called them the butcher brothers.

  Parbour grabbed her hair and jerked her down, her face inches from his. “Doesn’t look like your man’s been watching out for you. I’m surprised. Maybe you don’t mean that much to him. I hope that’s not true or we’ve wasted a lot of energy to get him here.”

  Emmie found her voice, knowing that even Mr. Thomas’s misguided affections weren’t going to be able to save her. “You think you can take him, just the five of you? He has family too.”

  “Oh, darlin’ it’s not just the five of us.” He touched her face.

  It occurred to her that Will was in full uniform, so of course, his police squad was here. They were going to raid Johnson’s land. She looked over at Steven. That probably explained why he was stuck huddled in the corner nervous as a rabbit—he was afraid Mr. Johnson was going to kill him.

  **********

  Silas jumped the stairs and ran to his car. He stopped short when he saw Vince and the butcher brothers pull up in their car, dusty trails blowing behind it. They jumped out. Vince started talking when he was still several feet away. “Nothing at Thomas’s.”

  “We think they’re planning a raid at the cabin with Johnson’s shine,” Gabe said.

  “Well that explains the truck full of uniforms we passed on the way here,” one of the butchers said.

  “Where were the buttons?” Trick asked.

  “Turned on a country road about a mile from Emmie’s between town and here,” Vince answered.

  “They are going to come down the ridge to the holler,” Bo said. “We can beat them, if we go now.”

  Silas looked at Mr. Johnson. “Have you got men you can get together to meet us down there. We might need help.”

  Mr. Johnson nodded. “I’ll call the Sheriff too. He can get some men down to stall them.”

  Silas nodded in appreciation.

  “McDowell,” Johnson said. Silas turned, not having much time for this man. “If you get Steven, I’d like him to answer to me.”

  “I can’t make promises,” Silas said, sliding a shotgun into Vince’s car. They all piled into the car. “Bo, show us how to beat them down there.”

  Bo got behind the wheel and they raced to the cabin.

  “This has to be quick. We can’t take a chance of letting the uniforms beat us there. They may have cameras, newspapers—things we don’t want to clean up unless we have to,” Silas said to the others.

  **********

  Emmie had to think of something. She watched as they pulled out guns and checked ammunition. Oh God, what if one of those bullets hurt someone she loved? She thought of the words Jim said. Silas was not a gangster. Silas was an attorney and she was not a moll. She shook her head, she couldn’t think about that now.

  “Paul,” she said, careful to use his real name. He turned around, looking pleased. “I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten today.”

  “Oh Emma, I’m sorry. I should have offered you something. There’s a bushel basket of apples by the cook stove. Would you like one?” he asked.

  She nodded and attempted
to stand again, grabbing Jim’s arm. He looked at her and helped her to the stove where she met Paul. Will looked at her with disgust and made his way back to the tiny window on the front of the cabin.

  “I don’t know why you look at me like that. You’ve known me all my life.”

  He turned and looked at her with distaste. “Yeah but I don’t like the moll you’ve become. You were from a bunch of trash from what I hear and it seems your mother was a wanna be moll. Wouldn’t she be proud of you?”

  “I’m not a moll,” she shouted.

  He grinned as he walked away.

  Mr. Thomas patted her shoulder, “Of course you’re not. The apples are right here, my sweet Emma.”

  Emmie caught sight of Steven in the corner again. He had barely moved. She was thankful he hadn’t ratted her out for pretending not to know where the apples were and was banking that he was too anxious about the raid to pay much attention to her. She bent down and grabbed an apple.

  “My mouth is sore from them tackling me. My jaw slammed into the ground.” She rubbed it and did her best to give a helpless look to Mr. Thomas.

  Mr. Thomas rubbed over her hand. “They weren’t supposed to hurt you.”

  She grabbed a knife and the cutting board. “You don’t mind if I slice it do you?”

  Mr. Thomas looked at the other men. None were paying attention to them. “Sure. I can do it for you.”

  “No, really, I can manage. My hands are fine,” she smiled. He looked at her suspiciously and she added, “I sort of hoped you’d go grab that dress for me. I’ve changed my mind. This thing of Ava’s feels a little indecent around a bunch of men I barely know.”

  Mr. Thomas took a step back, looking at her dress. “You are right.”

  He moved away from her and she made quick work of slicing the apple then slipped the tiny knife into her dress. She grabbed another knife, placing it on the cutting board so no one would suspect her. By the time Paul brought her the dress everything was back into place. She smiled at him and put an apple slice in her mouth.