by Sharon Sala
Blake started to get up, but Bowie stepped forward.
“Sit the hell down,” he said softly.
Blake wasn’t accustomed to threats, but he felt the power of this one in every word.
Leigh touched Bowie’s arm, and he moved aside. She lifted her chin, giving all of them a slow, studied look.
“I vowed never to set foot on this property again, but you made it impossible for me to keep that vow. I’m here now because I want my sons to know the faces of their enemies.”
Jack slapped the flat of his hand on the table in his usual dictatorial manner and started to rise.
“Leigh! This is highly irregular and—”
Leigh moved so fast no one saw her coming. One moment she was standing beside Bowie and the next she had flung a piece of crystal stemware at the wall just above Jack Wayne’s head.
“You heard my son. Sit the hell down! I have something to say to the lot of you, and then I will be gone, but for the time I am here, I don’t want to hear another peep or the next glass I throw will be at your damn face!”
Her sisters’ hands went straight to their cheeks, as if the need to protect them had already arrived.
Jack was stone-faced.
Blake was in shock.
Justin was so angry he was shaking.
Charles was almost mesmerized by the woman and the giants she called her sons.
“One of you murdered Stanton, but I don’t know who. Constable Riordan paid me a visit today. He asked me if I was to guess which one of you would be capable of murder. I told him any of you...all of you.”
Blake reached for his wineglass. Bowie pointed a finger. Blake put his hand back in his lap.
Leigh glanced at Blake.
“My dear older brother Blake hides his deceit behind fancy suits and a wad of money. My little brother Justin is just mean. He always was. He always will be. He’s just like Father, and you all know it.”
Justin reacted as if she’d slapped him when she called him her little brother. Samuel knew his mother was oldest by little more than a minute and grinned at Justin, which made him even angrier.
Leigh pointed at Nita and Fiona.
“Sisters are supposed to be close, someone you can share secrets with. Someone you can depend on. My sisters didn’t like me, and I knew it by the time I was ten. Why? Because I was smarter than all of you. Taller than both of you, and I didn’t cater to our father’s demands just to stay on his good side. I can see by the age and anger on your faces that you’re still mad, and I still know why. Because I escaped and you didn’t. And you need to know that I don’t think for a minute that either one of you is innocent. You’d just as soon hire a hit man as buy a new pair of shoes if the need arose.”
Fiona gasped, and Nita started crying.
“Yes, cry, sister, cry, just like I cried when I found my husband lying in a pool of blood with a bullet hole in his back and his killer’s name scratched in the dirt.”
Jack Wayne inhaled slowly, mesmerized in spite of himself by the majestic anger in this woman he barely knew. He saw the way her four sons stood beside her in such tight formation, ready at a second’s notice to back her and protect her. Then he thought of the childish behavior of Blake and Justin, fighting this evening like hateful children, and closed his eyes, for the first time wishing he’d retired to the south of France years ago instead of staying on as CEO.
Then Leigh looked at the youngest man at the table.
“I have been given to understand that you’re Blake’s son, Charles. I didn’t know you existed until Constable Riordan told me about you today. I didn’t know what I would think, seeing you for the first time, wondering if you were already too caught up in this family’s sins, or if you were still young enough to escape with your soul.”
She took a step closer to the table, and her sons moved with her.
She leaned forward, staring intently into Charles’s eyes, and then abruptly straightened.
“This one has secrets. Big secrets.”
Blake jerked, and when Charles flushed a dark, angry red, making him look guilty even though she hadn’t specified a thing, everyone saw it.
“Just one more thing, and then we’re gone. Your resort is never going to be built.”
Thirteen
Everyone reacted as if she’d thrown cold water in their faces.
“Not only have we kept you from getting the land you need, I will ruin you in this town. I’ll make it my mission to remind people a man was murdered for the land you stole from good people.”
The shock on their faces was obvious. They were clearly surprised she knew they’d initiated the foreclosures.
“The people of Eden don’t like any of you. Yes, they’re afraid of you, but they don’t like you. And now that one of you has committed murder, they see weakness where once they saw power. The end of your reign hasn’t happened yet, but it will. You are all finished here. You’ll never recoup that money. No one here will buy your land, and it won’t take long for word to spread that the land is cursed by the blood you shed to get it. So if you want to come off looking like you give a shit, then you will make it your business to turn in your killer or face the consequences. I can and I will take every one of you down, and you know it. I’m through here, and if you don’t do the right thing, you’re all through here, too.”
Time had not faded the hate Justin felt for her. He wanted her to shut up. He wanted her gone. He was so angry he was shaking. He saw his steak knife, still greasy from the fat he’d cut away from his meat, and slid his fingers over the handle.
He waited until she was turning away before he leaped from his chair and snatched the knife from the table.
Bowie saw the knife just as Justin drew back to throw it. He reacted without thinking and snatched a bread plate from the table and flung it across the table like a Frisbee, hitting Justin squarely on the bridge of his nose.
“Son of a bitch!” Justin yelled as he dropped the knife, and grabbed at his face as blood spurted. The knife hit the floor as the plate shattered at his feet.
Samuel went one way around the table and Aidan the other, and they took Justin down. Bowie was now standing in front of Leigh, and Michael had her in his arms.
Justin was cursing and kicking, trying to reach for the knife.
Samuel had had enough.
“Hold him, Aidan,” Samuel said. He grabbed the knife with one hand, then straightened and yanked Justin out of Aidan’s grasp with the other. “Settle down!” Samuel said, and shook Justin by the collar to get his attention.
Justin had blood in his eyes and murder on his mind, but he had already accepted the fact that it wasn’t going to happen today, so he quit fighting.
“Bowie! Catch!” Samuel said, and tossed the knife across the table to Bowie, hilt first.
Bowie caught it in midair as Aidan slammed Justin back into his chair.
Justin pointed across the table at Leigh, who had watched the takedown in total silence.
“I am going to make you sorry!” he screamed. “I’ll make all of you sorry!”
Bowie palmed the knife from one hand to the other while watching Justin Wayne’s face turn an ugly shade of purple.
“You had every intention of putting this knife in my mother’s back, so you need to know that the urge to slit your throat is strong. But in my family, we don’t kill our kin,” Bowie said.
He circled the table and laid the steak knife across Jack Wayne’s plate.
“Sir, I believe this belongs to you.”
Leigh scanned the expressions of the people sitting at the table with a look of disgust on her face.
“You saw him, and none of you even seem bothered that he was about to kill me? None of you can bring yourselves to even look at me? Not even the mighty Jack Wayne?”
They still wouldn’t look at her, and they didn’t respond.
Leigh kept staring at Justin, trying to remember if there had ever been a time of peace between them and drawing a blank.
“So, little brother, you just proved yourself the bully and coward I always knew you to be. You waited until my back was turned. You seem to favor the coward’s way. Did you shoot Stanton in the back, too?”
Justin growled at her from across the table, like an animal on a chain.
Blake reacted as if his brother had just bitten him and pushed his chair back from the table, literally distancing himself from Justin’s madness.
Nita was openly crying, and Fiona kept making the sign of the cross over and over.
Jack Wayne was in shock. He didn’t know what surprised him more, Justin’s behavior or Fiona pretending to pray.
Leigh turned her back on them again, and this time it was in defiance.
Bowie frowned.
“Mama, I don’t care if these people are your blood kin, you do not turn your back on them again. I hope you’re done with what you came here to say, because we’re taking you out of here right now.”
He slid his arm around her shoulders and headed her toward the door, with his brothers right behind them.
Before anyone could react, they were gone.
“I am going to fucking kill him,” Justin muttered, as he grabbed a napkin to stem the flow of blood.
“Like you killed her husband?” Jack asked.
Everyone turned to look at Justin.
And that was when it hit him that they were about to lay the guilt for the murder on him just to make all this go away.
“I will not take the blame for that!” he shouted.
The front door slammed, their signal that their uninvited guests were gone. At that point the room erupted in chaos.
* * *
Leigh was silent on the ride home until they started up the mountain.
“I don’t know whether that was a good move or a mistake, but I’m still glad I did it,” she said.
Bowie glanced at her briefly as he drove.
“I know one thing. Your twin brother is a mean son of a bitch.”
She nodded. “We never had any pets when we were growing up because Justin always killed them.”
The hair stood up on the back of Bowie’s neck. “Really?”
She nodded.
“Do you think he killed Dad?”
“I think he’s fully capable of it, but I have no idea who did it. It all depends on who had the most to lose when Stanton and I unknowingly stalled the resort project.”
“Are you afraid they’ll come after you, too?” Bowie asked.
“No. They won’t come into my world. It frightens them, and now that they’ve seen my sons, you frighten them, too,” she said.
“Because of our size?”
Leigh reached across the console and gave his arm a quick squeeze.
“No. You have something they’ll never have. You have each other,” Leigh said.
“I got the idea that the level of competition between them is high.”
“And the bond a family should have is sadly lacking,” she added. “By the way, thank you for making sure that knife didn’t wind up in my back.”
Bowie couldn’t fathom a hate like that between siblings and was still a little shaky over how close she’d come to being hurt.
“You’re my mother,” he muttered. “You don’t have to thank me for that.”
She sighed, and then was quiet for another mile. Next time she spoke, her mind was on another subject.
“How is Talia?”
“She’s going to be okay, but she’s not there yet,” he said.
“If she doesn’t want to be alone right now, you know you can bring her home to us,” Leigh said.
“Thank you for the offer, Mama. Maybe after she has a better handle on everything she has to do.”
“I am happy for you, Bowie. You’ve lived alone long enough, and she’s sacrificed enough. It’s time for you both to know happiness.”
Bowie couldn’t bring himself to comment, because he knew she was thinking of Stanton with every beat of her heart.
The sun was setting as they pulled up to the house.
They went inside to find the women washing quart-size canning jars and filling them with the fresh green beans.
Leigh was grateful to see how far along they were in a job she’d dreaded facing.
“This is wonderful,” she said. “As soon as I change my clothes I’ll join you.”
Leslie pointed a wooden spoon at her.
“We’re almost done. You can sit here and play with your spoiled grandson to keep him out from under our feet.”
Leigh laughed as she scooped him up into her arms and hugged him close.
“Where’s Jesse? He’s usually a pretty fair babysitter.”
“In his room watching a movie about Daniel Boone.”
“Ah...that explains it,” Leigh said, then kissed the back of Johnny’s neck. “You want to come help Nanny change her shoes?”
The baby immediately pointed to her feet.
Leslie laughed again.
“Yes, he does love shoes, doesn’t he? We caught him trying to put on one of Aidan’s boots the other day. He got so far into it that he was stuck, and then he got mad.”
Bowie grinned and ruffled his little nephew’s curls.
“Hey, little guy, they’re telling tales on you,” he said.
Johnny grabbed hold of Bowie’s finger and tried to poke it in his mouth.
“He’s teething again,” Leslie said. “You’ve been warned now, so proceed at your own risk.”
Leigh left the room smiling, with the baby on her hip. They smiled as they watched her go, but the smiles ended as soon as she was out of sight.
“Was it bad?” Bella asked, referring to the meeting with the Waynes.
“If it hadn’t been for Bowie’s quick reaction, Mama’s twin brother would have put a knife in her back,” Samuel said.
“Oh my God,” Bella whispered. “What’s wrong with those people?”
Bowie shrugged. “Who knows? Too greedy? Too rich? A sense of entitlement that’s larger than their collective IQ?”
Aidan grinned.
Michael sighed. “Weird to think how closely we’re related to those people. They’re total freaks.”
“You should have heard Mama break it down for them,” Samuel said. “They were scared and mad, and I would be surprised if they don’t sacrifice one of their own for the sake of the others, regardless of who’s really guilty.”
“She was awesome,” Bowie said. “But we’ve seen that side of her before. Remember when we let Jesse play in the lake and he couldn’t swim? I honestly thought she was going to give us all away.”
Michael chuckled.
“Actually, I would have voted for that rather than face the spanking Daddy gave us for not minding her.”
Aidan shrugged.
“I still say I should have gotten a break. I was only seven and had no vote in what we did.”
“And Jesse was five. Lord, it’s a wonder he’s still here,” Samuel said, and then realized what he’d said and wiped a shaky hand across his eyes. “If we’d known how his life would turn out, I wouldn’t have teased him when he was little.”
“Hey, he grew up tough. It’s probably why he’s still here,” Bowie said. “We all did, and we’re the better for it. And now I’m going to change clothes, then come back and help any way I can,” he said.
“I won’t say no to that,” Bella said. “So let’s get back to it, girls. We’re almost finished.”
As soon as Bowie changed, he sat down on the end of the
bed to call Talia. After the chaos of this day he longed for the sound of her voice.
When she answered, she sounded exhausted. “Hello?”
“Hey, honey, it’s me. Just calling to hear your voice. You sound beat. Are you okay?”
Talia rolled over to the side of the bed and sat up.
“Yes, I’m okay, Bowie, just tired. Honestly, I just showered and was thinking about going to bed early when you called. They came and got the hospital bed out of the living room this morning. I was so relieved to have it gone.”
“I can only imagine,” he said.
“The funeral home also called. I went to see Dad today.” Her voice broke, and it took her a moment to catch her breath.
“I’m sorry you had to go alone,” Bowie said.
She sighed.
“No, no, it wasn’t like that,” Talia said. “In a way, it seemed fitting. We’d gone through the illness together. Paying him that last visit was mine to do alone.”
Bowie hurt for her, but he understood all too well.
“Have you set a date for his service?”
“Yes. Day after tomorrow, graveside only. We don’t have any relatives, so there’s no need to wait for people who would be traveling. His service was paid for already, and he’ll be buried beside Mom at Bluebird Cemetery on the hill outside town.”
“I remember going with you to her grave,” Bowie said.
Talia wiped a shaky hand over her face.
“Yes, you did, didn’t you?”
“Every year on her birthday for four years straight.”
Talia sighed. “I remember.”
“I would be honored to accompany you to the ceremony.”
“Yes, please,” she said.
Bowie hesitated. Something had been on his mind ever since he’d come home and discovered her secret. Now felt like the time to say it.
“I have to tell you what a special woman I think you are. You gave up everything you wanted to care for and honor your father. I can’t imagine how hard it was, and how lonely you must have felt, but I am so proud of you. I feel blessed that we get to pick up where we left off.”
Talia shivered.
“Thank you. I love you, Bowie. So much.” She scooted backward and then curled her legs up beneath her. “Is everything okay at your house? Do you know anything more about the case?”