by SK Wee
Once I got them inside the kitchen, I wondered what Logan was doing here. I had made sure all employees knew that we would be closed.
“There are some financial reports that I can print out for you in the office. I think you’re going to need them soon.” Logan went into the office and Fee went upstairs to shower. I noticed Mel was once again getting a text. That wouldn’t raise any suspicions if he didn’t keep looking over his shoulder to make sure no one else could see them.
“What kind of reports do I need?” I walked with Logan into the office. “I know nothing at all about any of this stuff. Fee is going to talk to her lawyer about the business and what should be done. I suppose he’ll need some idea of what the business is worth.”
“Don’t worry about any of that.” He calm reassuring tone helped ease some of my jitters. “I’m going to make sure you have everything organized and labeled. I see Raine left me a pile of unfinished paperwork. I’ll get this all put in and then print out everything you need.” My suspicions of Logan had lessened since Raine took over but I still didn’t quite trust him. There was just something off about all his convenient knowledge and helpfulness. Right now, though, I had no other choice but to trust him.
“Thanks for all your guidance. Let me know if I can help you at all.” He was already busy going through all the mess and I wasn’t sure he even heard me.
After closing the office door, I went back into the kitchen where Mel was rummaging through the pantry. He came out with a few packs of crackers. “I guess this is good enough unless you’re gonna cook me something?”
“Sorry, Mel.” That was the last thing I wanted to do. “Why don’t you go into town and get something to eat?”
“Maybe later.” I watched as he kept glancing at his watch. I began to wonder if he had some sort of meeting or appointment. That would seem strange since I didn’t know of anyone he associated with in the area. I began to clean tabletops and then went behind the bar and put some things away. Mostly, I watched Mel, wondering what he had planned. After once again looking at his watch, he got up quietly from his chair and glanced out the kitchen window. I made sure he didn’t see me watching as he looked back at me and then just as quietly, he snuck out the kitchen door. I quickly went to the window and peered out. I watched as he made his way over to an outdoor shelter. He must have found the key to the door and opened it up. About two minutes later, I noticed a car pull up on the opposite side of the shelter. I decided that it was time to investigate.
When I got out to the building, the door Mel opened was slightly ajar, so I pushed it in just a hair. I could see a sliver of the back of some man’s head and a sliver of Mel sitting across from him. They were trading what looked to be envelopes of some kind. I could just barely hear what was said.
“So, Pops, how are you going to keep things going without Bonnie to fix the books? I wonder whether Tara is going to reopen the place but I don’t think we can talk her into helping us, blood relative or not.”
“We may have to go elsewhere for our purposes.” The voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t put a name to it. “We could have handled Raine. He was a drunk, and I’m sure we could have forced him to help. I don’t know why you felt you needed to kill the man. I was as upset as you about what he did to Tara, but he still had his uses. I told you just to scare him, not kill him.” The unknown man sounded angry and I still couldn’t remember where I heard it. More importantly was the gist of the conversation. Why had he accused Mel of killing Raine? What about Bonnie? I continued to listen.
“Well, he didn’t scare as easily as I wanted and he got what he deserved. Nobody kicks around my little sister and gets away with it.” Upon hearing this I froze, my brother killed Raine. It was not suicide—it was murder!
“How could you!” Impervious to any sort of danger, I slammed the door open and entered to face my brother, Raine’s murderer. “You murderer! How dare you?”
Mel jumped up out of his chair and took hold of me. “Shut up, shut up, Tara! Someone could hear you. I heard what he did to you.” Mel seemed to think he was somehow justified—unbelievable!
“I could have helped him. He needed my help.” I didn’t know what else to say. Poor Raine never had a chance to heal, to become the man I knew he was deep down inside. I tried to pull away from Mel but he held me even tighter.
“You aren’t going anywhere, Tara. We need to talk this out, the three of us. We’re family and we need to stick together, you hear?” He forced my head up to look at his nearly demonic glare. I began to realize the predicament I was in. He was a murderer and I knew it. He couldn’t allow me to tell anyone. What was he asking me to do?
“Let me go, you bastard! Let me go, now.” I felt his hold strengthen and realized I wasn’t doing myself any favors by making him angry. “I promise I won’t tell anyone if you let me go.” I noticed then that he had a knife out, it looked like a switchblade and it looked bloodthirsty.
“I don’t believe you, Miss Goody Two-Shoes. You and that slut inside think you’re better than the rest of us. Ask our father, Tara. We may be bastards, but Daddy is here to teach us his evil ways.” I turned to look at the other man and found the kind pastor from the hospital. His eyes had lost all the compassion they once contained. Now they were cold as ice and sent a chill down my spine.
“He’s no father of mine. Let me go!” I pushed with all my strength but with my ribs still sore, I ended up bending over in pain. That was when I heard a loud crunch and Mel released his hold on me so suddenly that I fell to the floor. I looked back up to see Cal standing, legs splayed, gun in hand.
The old pastor—who also had a gun in his hand—quickly backed up and grabbed me by my hair. “Don’t move or she is dead.”
“You would shoot your own daughter, Pastor. Tsk, tsk. Not a very Christian thing to do, is it, Logan?” At that time, the pastor twisted his body to find Logan standing behind him with a gun aimed at his head.
“Drop the gun, now.” Logan’s voice sounded deadly. His cold, steely gaze made it obvious he that he would have no remorse over shooting the man in the head. He also didn’t seem to care if I was shot along with the pastor. Pastor Dale must have realized this also, as he dropped his gun and let go of me. Mel was just coming around on the other side of the building where Cal had kicked him. Suddenly there were even more deputies coming through the door. They had the two suspects in handcuffs and out in the sheriff’s vehicles in record time.
“Are you all right, Tara? Look at me.” Cal helped me to my feet. I was wobbly but he held on until we got back outside. “I got here as soon as I could, but we needed to hear his admission of guilt.”
“He killed Raine. Why? I don’t understand any of this. The pastor? Is he really my father? Do you know, Cal? You called me his daughter.” I was still trying to process all this information. None of it made much sense.
“Let’s go inside, shall we? There’s a lot going on and a whole lot more we still need to learn. The fact that Raine’s death was not suicide was evident almost immediately, and the fact that your brother happened to come into town about the same time led us to believe that he might have been involved.”
“What about Logan? Is he a deputy too? He has a gun.” At least it seemed like Logan was one of the good guys.
“No, he volunteered to help me until the deputies got here. We couldn’t wait for them any longer when Mel began to hurt you.” Fee was in the doorway when we got back to the kitchen. She had a fresh pot of coffee on and set a table for us. She was obviously fresh out of the shower and still had a certain glow to her eyes.
Once I sat down, I let out a sigh of relief. I didn’t realize how scared I was until the danger was over. My hands still trembled as I tried to sip my coffee. I noticed Logan come in from outside, he waved and went toward the office.
“I’ll get those reports finished now.” At least I now felt that he was on our side, that is, if there were sides.
Leaning back in my chair, I sucked in a deep, calmi
ng breath. It was time to find out what Cal knew. “Okay, spill it. What the hell is going on? Is that pastor my father?”
“I believe he is, yes,” Cal answered. I noticed Fee’s shocked look and we both looked over at her.
“I’ve known Pastor Dale all my life. I knew his wife before she died about ten years ago. How is it possible that he sired two children with someone else?”
Cal rubbed his jaw like he was searching for an answer. “Well, now, do I really need to tell you where children come from? He evidently had an ongoing affair with Mel and Tara’s mother all the while he was preaching against infidelity and not coveting your neighbor’s spouse and all that other crap they give lengthy sermon’s on. The fact is we have some DNA results, which verify he is their father.”
“Wow, is everything I grew up learning just a big lie?” Fee was having a difficult time accepting the pastor’s dual life. “He counseled me when I went to him about Rich’s affair.”
“Well, that’s something else we are still investigating,” Cal explained. “We believe the truth will come out soon, but it’s possible Pastor Dale attempted to frame Rich for the murder of Bonnie. This whole operation is much bigger than you know. In fact, the FBI has taken over the case. It goes from the street gangs of Las Vegas to the money laundering in our quiet little town. Most of that was accomplished right through this establishment with Bonnie tampering with the accounting. Once she disappeared, Logan immediately noticed something had been going on with the books.”
“It was Logan who found the evidence?” Fee asked. I knew she was also knowledgeable with accounting systems and would probably have found the evidence also.
“Yes,” Cal confirmed. “He took over the bookwork after Bonnie was killed. When he stumbled on the creative accounting tricks, he reported it immediately. I don’t think Vince ever knew about it. In fact, I’m certain Bonnie was acting alone at the Landing. Fee, you probably know Pastor Dale’s legitimate son, Conrad. He’s a physician in town and was being investigated for writing fake prescriptions. That’s when the FBI became involved. They were supplying drugs to a Vegas connection, which happened to be Tara’s bother, Mel. Pastor Dale also has some mob connections in Vegas. I believe that was why he recruited Mel to head up the scheme in Vegas.” I was having a hard time digesting all this incriminating information.
“I knew Mel was probably up to no good in Vegas, but I would never have dreamed it might involve murder. Drugs I could see, but murder? And what about Bonnie? He wasn’t involved with her murder, was he?”
“We’re close to solving that case, but I still can’t say much about it. I will tell you that Mel was not directly involved with her murder.” I didn’t feel any relief with the vindication. Mel was already a murderer, and to find out there were two different murderers was even worse.
“Where are they being held? Can I go speak with him?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to him, I felt like I needed his remorse, or regret for taking my life from me.
“They will be tried in federal courts due to the nature of the crimes, but they will be temporally held in the Salecia County Jail until that time. I need to go there now if you would like to come along.”
“No, I’d rather drive myself. Raine’s family is on their way and I’ll need to return right away.”
“I’ll drive you up there, Tara,” Fee offered. I didn’t have to think too hard to accept her offer. Ordinarily, I loved to drive, but I didn’t think I was in good enough shape to attempt it now. I don’t think I was in shock, but the events were certainly clouding my mind.
When we got up to leave, Logan came out of the office with a file folder. “Tara, here is everything you may need for the lawyer. Just let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you, so much.” I guess I owed the man an apology for thinking so poorly of him, but it still seemed like something was off about him—I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I did notice the look he gave to Fee, and it didn’t seem like a simple friendly glance at all. That got my protective hackles raised.
On the drive up to Salecia, Fee talked about everything Cal told us. She was wondering why the pastor had tried to frame Rich for Bonnie’s murder. We knew that Mel couldn’t have done it and Cal never mentioned any other suspects. We didn’t believe the pastor would soil his hands with the deed when he had all the others working for him. We came up with scenario after scenario, which passed the time. I was thankful to have something other than Raine’s death to think about.
When we arrived at the jail, I noticed the men in suits. These must be the federal agents Cal had mentioned. They all looked quite severe and business-like. I felt a little pity for Mel because I knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against these men.
They set Mel up in a small conference room and allowed me to enter. An agent explained to me that they had handcuffed Mel to an iron post for my safety. I wasn’t allowed to touch him or even come close to him. He sat opposite me at a table and my first glance at him made me realize he was not at all repentant.
“Do you know what is going to happen to you?” His cocky attitude made me wonder why I cared. “Have you any idea about how much trouble you’ve gotten yourself into? These are Feds, Mel. They won’t take any of your crap.”
“One jail is as good as another, little sis. My whole life has been some sort of jail.” He had made all his own choices so I couldn’t feel any sort of pity for him.
“You had as much of a chance as anyone to make something of your life, and this is your choice. Mel, you’re going to end up as someone’s girlfriend. Do you realize that?”
“Ha! I’ll kill the first one who tries. Nobody is touching my back door, baby sis. You can count on that much.” Mel spoke with slightly shaky bravado. I think he was actually afraid of what was about to happen to him.
“Mel, you’ve already admitted to murdering Raine. That’s not going away. What happened to Bonnie? Do you know?” I assumed the agents had already questioned him but I needed to hear some answers.
Mel took a deep breath and slumped back in defeat. “Bonnie wanted out of the game and Daddy didn’t like that. I had nothing to do with it though. I was many miles away. Why don’t you ask Daddy who did it yourself?” The last thing I wanted to do was speak to some stranger who had abandoned us.
“I think you know who committed the murder. Bonnie was my friend, Raine was my husband, and now I no longer have a brother, and I certainly don’t want or need a father.” I got up to leave and the door opened. One of the men in suits let me out. Fee was sitting with Cal still in quiet conversation. I just wanted to go home, maybe soak in a hot tub before Raine’s family got there. Thank God for Fee. She was all I had left.
While Fee was waiting, she had put in a call to the lawyer and he was meeting us at the Landing. Fee wanted to give him all the paperwork ahead of time so he could go over all the information. He was already there by the time we arrived back at the Landing. He hugged Fee and she introduced us. His name was Charles Duncan and mainly took care of estate planning so this was right up his alley.
After Mr. Duncan left, Fee got busy in the kitchen, she said she wanted to make sure we had some food ready for Raine’s mom and sister when they arrived. I wasn’t a very good cook so I left it all up to her and went to shower. When I came back downstairs, she had a table set for four and the food ready. I hoped that Marge and Abbey would arrive soon because the aroma made my stomach growl. I don’t think I had anything to eat since the day before.
Just as I was about to say I was too hungry to wait any longer, I heard a car pull up in the back. I ran out and sure enough, Marge and Abbey had arrived. I had been so worried she would put all the blame on me that I was shocked when Marge ran into my arms sobbing. We had become close after Raine left for the military, but I had still worried she would blame me for his death. I blamed myself. If I hadn’t lost the baby none of this would have happened at all.
In between her sobs, she sputtered, “I heard about the baby. I’m so so
rry, we’ve lost too much, way too much.” I let her cry it out, she had lost nearly everything—her husband, a future grandchild, and now her only son. I was happy she at least had Abbey and her family now. We clung to each other sharing our grief and there didn’t seem to be any room between us for finger pointing.
It was more than an hour before we sat down to eat, by that time I no longer felt much hunger, but as soon as I tasted Fee’s meatballs, my appetite returned in spades.
“These are delicious.” I managed to get out around a mouthful. “If we had food like this in the restaurant, we’d make a million.” Doris was a good cook, but she mainly cooked burgers and pizza.
There was little conversation until everyone had their fill and then Marge brought up the dreaded question about what was going to happen with the Landing. “As far as I’m concerned, Tara, I want nothing more to do with it. I know I still own half of it, but I would be willing to sell that to you below market.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do yet,” I answered. I had known she wouldn’t return to run the place, but I felt incapable of running it. “I don’t know anything about running a business, and I hate to see it go downhill because of that. The lawyer is looking over all the financial papers, and I’ll meet with him later in the week. I think we have to sell though.”
“I hate to see the Landing leave the family.” Marge sadly announced. “It’s been Larkin’s Landing for three generations.”
Chapter Thirteen
Fee
With the events unfolding one after another, I barely had time to consider all the changes in my life. I’m now a twenty-eight-year-old divorcee with no employment and no prospects. The talk over the dinner table struck a chord with me. I had a tidy sum from my divorce settlement and had planned to make some sort of investment. Why not the Landing? I could easily run the business end and some of the cooking. I knew nothing about the campground but I was willing to learn. That evening I brought up my ideas to Tara. She was silent for quite a while.