Mystic Falls

by Vickie McKeehan

  They turned off their phones and shut out the world, curling up in bed to eat and make love.

  After their first round, she ran a hand up his chest. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the headboard, listening to the music from the Whitehorse CD that played from the living room. “I should’ve gone by to check the shop.”

  “No, you shouldn’t. Don’t think about what happened. I called Jimmy to put on a new door. He runs a locksmith business on the side. That door needed replacing anyway. The wood was rotting. It didn’t take much to kick it in. Jimmy changed the locks, front and back. I’ve got the new key set in my pocket. Everything in there has been scoured and cleaned up. I sent the blood evidence off to the lab with instructions to put a rush on it. But I’m not holding my breath for a quick turnaround.”

  She opened her eyes and met his. “You’re right. I don’t even want to think about going back in there for a few days. Why would someone try to do that to me? I don’t know anything, not really. Just what I’ve shared with you and Zeb. How would they know what we talked about?”

  “I don’t know. But I’m working on that angle.”

  “I don’t want to discuss it until I have to. I just want to enjoy one night without…seeing those two men burying Collette and Marnie. Let’s talk about something else. Remember that drive-in on the edge of town we used to go to? Every Friday night we’d pile into that old green pickup you used to drive around town and we’d snuggle and make out, remember that?”

  Glad she’d moved on to something else, he grinned. “I still have that old green truck, belonged to my dad and his dad, I think. A 1951 classic three-rear window Chevrolet. I keep it in storage, hasn’t seen the streets in probably ten years. But I do remember trying to get to first base with you in it when I was fourteen. I thought if I could only get you into the bed of that truck, I’d have a better shot.”

  “We were sixteen and you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself.”

  “I almost went broke buying condoms.”

  Her laughter filled the room. “I know I used my allowance to make sure we had plenty on hand. I remember one time after gym class you said you borrowed one from Fleet Barkley.”

  “That’s guys for you, always sticking together.”

  “By the way, we’re hosting a cookout this Sunday. Here. Leia’s idea. We’re getting everyone together in hopes of taking one day off from thinking about murder. That includes you.”

  “I could use a day like that.”

  When she started to crawl out of bed, he snatched her hand. “Hey, where you going?”

  “To let Rufus out, last potty break of the night.”

  “I’ll do it. He still won’t go near the doggie door?”

  “Nope. He refuses to push his way through that flap. It’s crazy. But the vet says it’s a fairly common problem with dogs in new surroundings. And when I think about it, I realize Rufus has only been here a few weeks. The vet says to give him more time to settle in. You sure you want to take him out? Because it takes patience, sometimes a lot.” But she knew he was serious when he started dragging on his jeans.

  “I’m the epitome of patient,” he reminded her as he motioned for the dog to follow him.

  Rufus trotted down the hallway but stopped at the back door. Before Lando let the dog out, he remembered what had happened just that morning and retrieved his Colt Commander off the counter, stuffing it into the waistband of his jeans.

  Stepping onto the patio in the dark, a chorus of crickets greeted him as he watched Rufus dart along the pathway and disappear into the garden.

  Poised to remain vigilant, he scanned the tree line and hedges for anything out of the ordinary. But all he saw were tall shadows swaying in the gentle breeze of summer, lifting the leaves on the magnolia and jasmine.

  The night air stirred with conflicting aromas. One of the neighbors had cooked fish earlier, while another had been baking bread. The odors mingled with the smell of rain hanging in the air, convincing him that a storm was brewing before morning. To prove it, Lando could see the faint streaks of lightning in the distance out over the water.

  He found that having a dog did indeed require persistence and patience. It took Rufus fifteen minutes to pee and another twenty to poop, an eternity for Lando who was waiting on the cold concrete in bare feet as the temperature began to drop and the wind picked up.

  Back in the warmth of the kitchen, Lando rubbed his hands together and took two beers out of the fridge to take into the bedroom. But when he got back to bed, Gemma was already curled up hugging her pillow, eyes closed, fast asleep.

  He dropped down into the rocking chair in the corner where he could sit, enjoy his brew, and watch Gemma sleep.

  They’d been through a lot, but at day’s end, he knew he loved her, he’d always loved her, something he’d known since he was seventeen. She’d captured his heart back then, only to break it when she’d left without a word. The nonchalant way she’d walked out the door had simply ripped a piece of his heart out. For the longest time he’d hated her for it.

  It had taken him years to put the bitterness behind him, to realize there had been no other man who’d been a party to her decision. Small solace when he’d had to deal with a shattered outlook on love. But at least he’d found an outlet for his anger. Work and school. Pure and simple, the dedication to law enforcement had pulled him out of the depths of a broken heart. Now that she was back in his life, he just needed to find a way to trust her again, enough to let his heart take the fall for a second time.

  The same question kept running through his head. Could he do it? Could he believe in love again with the same woman who’d dished out the heartbreak?

  For the last couple weeks, Gemma had definitely been a distraction. He wondered if that had hindered his own investigation since. But he couldn’t blame Gemma for it back in March in Collette’s case. She hadn’t even gotten to town yet. Had he missed important clues in Marissa’s death? He’d thought for sure it had been a simple matter of an elderly woman taking a tumble. But after Marnie had gone missing, he’d realized the coincidences were piling up. Had he missed important clues? Marissa’s death had flown under the radar for weeks. Without Gemma’s insistence her grandmother had died at the hands of another, he’d likely ignored that, too. Had he messed up the first case, which was Collette’s, and allowed the second to happen? Could Marissa’s death have been prevented? At this point in his career, had he become complacent to the point of lazy?

  All these doubts surfaced as he shed his jeans and shirt before crawling under the covers. While he lay there listening to Gemma breathe, he went back over every detail until he drifted off to sleep wondering what else he’d missed.

  26

  Sunshine streaking through the bedroom windows meant the storm had passed and moved on over the mountains.

  Coming awake, Gemma burrowed more into Lando’s side and breathed in his scent. She didn’t want to move from this spot, at least not yet. It was too rare to have the moment broken by crawling out of bed just for caffeine. She wanted to bask as long as she could in this utter contentment before having to face the day.

  For the first time in years, she felt complete. She was slowly gliding toward becoming a chocolatier, a business owner, and someone she hoped her grandmother would’ve liked. She had a man beside her in bed whom she loved. Sure, at times it could be a rocky, imperfect pairing. But the more time they spent together, the more it gave her hope for the future. Hey, even at this late stage in a girl’s life, the woman could dream.

  Gemma went on alert when she heard Rufus get up and go to the closed bedroom door and moan a couple of times. She thought she heard footsteps coming from the living room. That caused her to sit up as panic started its way up her throat.

  Before she could react, the door burst open, almost knocking poor Rufus in the head. Gemma blinked in shock as Genevieve stormed into the room.

  “I thought you dumped this piece of trash ten years ago. This is the real reason yo
u wanted to come back here and live, isn’t it? I knew it.”

  Gemma gaped at her mother. “What the hell are you doing here? Get out of my bedroom! You can’t barge in here like this.”

  Beside her, Lando bolted upright, only to see a very pissed off woman he’d seen before. While Genevieve might’ve aged well, her voice was still shrill and full of venom.

  “I should’ve known you’d go crawling back to this bottom feeder first chance you got. What did it take you, ten minutes?”

  “That’s none of your business,” Gemma fired back as she crawled out of bed and grabbed her robe. “You don’t know anything about me or my relationship with Lando.”

  “Oh, yeah? Well, I’m done with you. What do you have to say about that?” Genevieve whirled around and stomped out.

  Gemma belted her robe and followed her mother down the hallway and into the living room. For once, she decided to stand her ground. “You’ve always been done with me so many times before, why should now be any different? You’ve wanted to be done with me for years. Tell me something I haven’t known since I was five years old. Now get out. I’m throwing you out. What do you have to say about that?”

  Gemma held out her hand. “But before you go I want my house key back or I’ll be forced to change the locks.”

  “Your house key? You wouldn’t dare! This house belonged to my mother and should’ve been left to me.”

  “Gram knew better than to leave it to a greedy heartless woman like you. It belongs to me now. Get used to it.”

  “Fine,” Genevieve said as she tossed the key at Gemma’s head. Her aim missed and it clattered to the floor. “I’m cutting you out of my will,” she screamed before marching toward the front door. “How’s that for something new?”

  Gemma dashed after her. “Now you’re talking. Do it. Please. Disown me. You’ve been threatening to do it as far back as I can remember. And besides, I don’t want anything you have. Nothing. Not ever. Because I’ll sleep with whomever I choose to in my own house. Don’t ever try to run my life for me again.”

  But as she watched Genevieve fling open the front door, something occurred to her. Gemma took off after her mother, running past her and blocking her way out onto the porch. “Oh no you don’t. Not yet. You aren’t leaving this house until you tell me about my father. Who is he? Why the hell won’t you tell me who he is? That’s the least you can do before you go.”

  “Why would I tell you that now? I’m holding all the cards. I have millions in the bank that you’ll never get to touch.”

  “It’s not really your money, now is it? Besides, who cares how much you have? I don’t want it, never did. I realize that’s hard for you to believe. But it’s true. I deserve to know who my dad is.”

  Genevieve rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you’d love him. Because he was a no-good piece of trash just like the man you crawled out of bed with just now. He’d be right up your alley. Come to think of it, you’re two of a kind. You turned out just like your father no matter how much I tried to make you into something else. That piece of shit Lando Bonner fits your type.”

  “Don’t you ever say ugly things like that about him again. He’s not trash. He’s always been a decent person, a lot better than you ever were. You know it’s true. And from now on, don’t you ever bother coming back to this town again. Just tell me who my father is and go back to San Francisco. I’ll never bother you again.”

  “Get out of my way! You threw me out so I’m leaving, or trying to, if you’ll move your sorry ass out of the way.”

  “Tell me! Tell me who my father is. Now! Before you go.”

  “Oh, for God’s sakes. I was seventeen years old when Michael Coyote ruined my life. Happy now?”

  The fire drained out of Gemma. “Coyote. Paloma’s son?”

  Genevieve glared at her. “I found myself pregnant. It was that bastard Michael Coyote’s.”

  Gemma’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Wait a minute. Michael Coyote had to be at least…” She counted on her fingers. “If you were seventeen then he had to be at least twenty-four back then. Not only that, he was a married man with kids of his own. I know. Leia dated his youngest son Van in high school. When you were fooling around with Michael, you had to know that he had kids back then, toddlers. Van was only a year older than us in school.”

  “Good to know your fancy college education included math,” Genevieve snarled. “Good to know I didn’t waste my money on law school. You’re a joke, Gemma. You’ve turned your back on making something out of yourself. Coming back here is a step backward in time for you. No, make that ten steps back. Do you know how much of my money I’ve wasted on you over the years?”

  “Your money? That’s a laugh. You mean Robert’s money. You made sure you targeted the richest guy who would have you back in San Francisco. You latched on to him until you were done with him and got a nice seven-figure divorce settlement out of the deal after barely three years of marriage. So, please don’t go calling it your money.”

  “I didn’t hear you complaining about it when you walked out on that worthless Yukian trash you referred to as a husband.”

  “You take that back!”

  “Which part? Why? I thought you wanted to hear the truth. Michael Coyote, your father, knew I wanted an abortion, but the asshole went and got himself killed in a car accident before he could pony up the money for me to do it.”

  “I see,” Gemma said, her voice like ice.

  “No, you don’t see. I wanted to leave this dumpy town for good more than anything else in the world. I’d have done anything to make sure that happened. But I couldn’t do that with a squalling brat in tow. Now could I? I decided the solution was much easier than I thought. I stuck around here long enough to have you and then I got the hell out of town.”

  “You certainly did. That was the lucky part for me, leaving me with Gram was the best thing you ever did. Gram was a good mother, certainly better than you ever were.”

  “Then I must’ve done something right to let her raise you. The day you were born she was over the moon that I’d given her a grandchild, and a girl to boot. She’s the one who named you, said she’d always loved the name Gemma. God knows why.”

  “At least I know now. Thanks for finally telling me.”

  Genevieve raised her chin. “Now that you know, what good does it do either one of us? It’s a time I don’t like to revisit. What good does it do to learn the truth when your father is dead and buried and has been since before you were ever born?”

  “At least I know who he was. That counts for something. Does Paloma know?”

  “Of course not. You think I wanted anyone in this dirt-water town to know that I’d slept with a married man. Surely you aren’t that stupid.”

  “Then I guess I should thank you for not having that abortion. And…for handing me a new grandmother. Paloma was Marissa’s best friend. I wonder if those two actually knew the truth about you. Maybe they suspected it. I guess we’ll find out. Although Paloma will probably think I’m nuts for claiming her son as my father without any proof.”

  Genevieve glowered at her. “You’re going to run to Paloma and blab it all over town? You can’t.”

  “Sure I am. Even without proof I intend to talk to her about it. It might not be true.”

  “Are you calling me a liar?”

  “If the shoe fits. You aren’t exactly the standard bearer of truth and moral uprightness. Now are you?”

  Genevieve got in her daughter’s face until she was standing nose to nose. “If you’re set on ruining my reputation in this town, then get DNA from one of the Coyotes. It’ll tell the tale.”

  “Don’t you understand, Genevieve? No one cares about your stupid reputation almost thirty years after the fact. They probably didn’t give a shit about you when you were seventeen either.”

  With that insult, Genevieve shoved Gemma out of the way and marched down the steps.

  Gemma blew out a nervous breath. Her hands were still shaking when she hea
rd a sound behind her. She spotted Lando standing in the doorway of the living room. “I guess you heard all that?”

  “Jesus. I did. What a piece of work. I’m sorry, Gemma.”

  “Nothing you should be sorry for. Look, I need to get dressed and go see Paloma.”

  “Do you think that’s wise? How about breakfast first, maybe give you time to digest the news.”

  She shook her head. “Lando, after almost thirty years of secrets, I just learned the biggest news of my life for the very first time. I think that means I have the right to sit down and talk about it with someone who’s supposed to be my grandmother. Whether or not Paloma will feel the same way is up to her. But I’ll be damned if I keep quiet about it any longer.”

  “Want me to go with you?”

  “No, I’d like to handle this myself.”

  An hour later, Gemma sat in the car outside Paloma’s house doing her best to build up the courage to go up to the door. After all her bluster back at the house, she was having a hard time framing the right words to use. How was she supposed to blurt out what she’d just learned?

  Despite her nervousness, she finally got out of the car and found herself standing on the porch, staring at an overflowing pot of purple pansies.

  It took Paloma a few long minutes to answer the door. But the minute the woman yanked it back, Gemma looked in her eyes and said, “Sorry to bother you so early, but I just had the most bizarre conversation with my mother. She finally told me who my father was. Genevieve claims that man was your son Michael.”

  Gemma knew it was true when Paloma’s face paled to a pasty gray and her eyes seemed to widen with the knowledge. When the old woman’s hands began to shake, Gemma reached out to hold them steady. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that or upset you. But I had to see you, to come over here and confront this head on. I’ve waited so long…”