“It was good, great in fact.”
“Yeah? That’s good. What was so great about it?” At least one of us had had a good day.
His smile grew wider. “You will be pleased to know that you are no longer the scarlet lady.”
“What?”
“As of today I am no longer living with the scarlet mistress.” My elbow rested on the cool countertop as I rubbed at my sensitive temple. I could feel a headache brewing and didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
“Craig, please, my head hurts, I can’t deal with your riddles right now.” I returned my eyes to his and could see the joy dancing within them. The deep green shone like light cutting through a green glass bottle and the corners crinkled, softening his often impassive features.
“Today, my little penguin, I became a free man. Today, I became free and single-”
“Craig,” I cut in, confused. Free and single were not words I ever wanted to hear coming from those lips.
“Singularly available to be exactly who you need me to be,” he chortled.
“You already are exactly who I need you to be.”
“Au contraire, my pretty one, until today there has been something between us, something neither of us could do anything about. But today, finally, I am a free man. Free to now make an honest woman out of you.” Craig twisted my stool so my back was against the counter. He skimmed his arms around my sides and pinned me in, his fingers gripping the rounded edge of the work surface. When he bent down so we were eye to joy filled eye, realisation hit me hard and fast.
“Oh my God, Craig. The divorce finally came through didn’t it?” I screeched but already knew the answer. I scrambled up off the stool causing Craig to step back, and launched myself into his arms. He scooped me up and wrapped me in his tender embrace.
“I’m finally free of her, Ambs. That dead weight is no longer tugging on me and holding me back. I’m all yours now, baby,” he crooned as I wrapped my legs around his waist.
“You were all mine anyway, and I have always been all yours since day one. Does this mean that Aleisha and all the ties to her and her family have now been severed? There are now no obstacles in our path?” I moved my hands into his hair, sliding them around to grip around the nape, massaging gently just as he liked. With a slow lick across his bottom lip, I sought permission to celebrate his news, and to show him he was very much all mine.
“We’re in the clear,” he breathed against my lips before dragging the lower one between his teeth in a seductive claiming. “Just you and me and our future together.”
Why was it that no matter what time of year it was, it always rained on the day of a funeral? As I sat on the window seat in our bedroom watching the rain pelt on the glass, my thoughts drifted back to the day of my mum’s funeral. That had been a cold and damp January day also. The difference between that day and this was that it had been snowing so everything around looked pretty covered in white, an elegant farewell to the most elegant and selfless person I knew. Today, though, the wind was howling and the rain was coming down so heavy I could barely see the dreary flower borders of the back garden.
“He’s with you now, Mum. Please take good care of each other,” I whispered as my eyes drifted to the dark clouds overhead and a tear trickled down my cheek.
“The cars are here, Ambs. We need to go, baby,” Craig said to me from the doorway. I nodded but didn’t try to get up. I wasn’t yet ready to say goodbye to yet another family member.
I heard Craig’s footsteps as he crossed the wooden floor and then he was there, crouching down beside me. “Come on, Pingu,” he said softly, reaching his hand out to rub soothing circles over mine. “I’m here with you… for you. I won’t leave your side, I promise, but you have to do this. You have to be strong baby.”
After the elation of the divorce had settled, I’d been withdrawing in on myself again, knowing this moment was coming. I couldn’t help it. It was the final goodbye. No going back, no pretending it wasn’t real. Craig, being the extremely perceptive guy that he was, had picked up on it straight away, and had been trying to pull me out of my funk with words of encouragement and promises of support ever since.
Placing my hand in his and gripping tightly I stood on unsteady feet. I didn’t want to go, I wanted to curl up somewhere and pretend none of it was happening. The trouble was I had people depending on me. There were people just as upset as me, who had lost as much as me, if not more. Thinking of my dad, Marika and Giana I sucked in a deep calming breath and looked into Craig’s sympathetic eyes. “We really have to do this don’t we?” I whispered. He simply nodded and pulled me into his embrace, holding me in his arms until he knew I felt strong enough to face the reality of goodbye.
The chapel service went by in a bit of a blur of choked out hymns, prayers and heartfelt tributes from Dad and Craig, who had stood up on my behalf when I didn’t feel I could speak. My heart broke for Marika when she stood and recited a poem she’d written about the dying embers of a once roaring fire. The deeper meaning of the passage, the connection between her and James was moving. It was clear she loved him deeply, that they’d had a passionate relationship and she felt she was fading without him.
Afterward, when we were standing at the graveside, I trailed my eyes over to the left of where James would be laid to rest and read the words on my mum’s headstone, “In Memory of Mary Anne Merchant, 21st September 1952 – 9th January 2009, Loving wife and mother, forever in our hearts.” The lump in my throat expanded as I fought back the emotion that I knew would be unending if I let it take hold.
Marika’s sobbing noises next to me and Craig’s hand in mine giving a gentle squeeze of comfort, pulled my attention back to the priest standing at the graveside.
“We have entrusted our brother, James to God's mercy, and we now commit his body to the ground…” The burden suddenly became too much and tears began streaming down my face as I watched the coffin being slowly lowered into the ground. The sounds of the priest’s prayers were nothing but a faint buzz in the background, a gentle murmur on the wailing winds and lashing rain. This was it, the final goodbye. My brother really was gone forever, soon to be nothing but a memory that will eventually fade over time.
Craig wrapped me in his arms and drew me tight against him, allowing me to pour my grief into his chest.
Craig
The funeral service was an emotional event. Amber had surprised me with her strength and composure throughout, although at the last minute she hadn’t felt able to read her tribute so she’d asked me to do it for her. It was weird, reading a tribute for someone I’d never met, and from what Amber had told me of him, I didn’t particularly like either. But I made it through her written words, trying to do them justice for her sake.
Following the service we made our way to where James was being laid to rest. I had been standing next to Amber while the priest recited his final prayers and that was when I spotted him. Stood off to the side, away from the group of mourners, but watching on was Ben. What the hell was he doing there? I didn’t like the guy. He was connected to Aleisha’s little clique and had no problems flirting with my girl knowing she was mine. He had no business being there.
People were standing around hugging and sharing their condolences but my gaze had been fixed on Ben. I needed to find out what he was doing there but I didn’t want to leave Amber alone. She needed me and I felt torn.
My chance came when I noticed Owen standing away from the crowd, staring down at Amber’s mum’s headstone. He clearly wasn’t holding up to well. “Ambs,” I whispered against her ear when the last well-wisher left her side. “Baby, you need to go and talk to your dad. He doesn’t look like he’s doing so great.” I gently turned her shoulders so she could see her dad.
“Oh Dad,” she gasped on a sob.
“Go and see him, Ambs. Let him know you are there for him. I’ll just stick around here so you can have a moment together. All right?” She nodded and turned to look up at me. I kissed her for
ehead and gave her a reassuring hug. “You need this time with him.”
As soon as Amber was safely at Owens side I checked Ben was still there and then slipped away, backing up beyond the sobbing mourners.
“Ben, what the fuck are you doing here? This is a private funeral, you’re not welcome,” I hissed as I moved into hearing distance, stopping a few feet behind him. He immediately spun round to meet my glare.
“Craig, nice to see you too.”
“Cut the crap. What are you doing here?”
“I came to pay my respects,” he smirked.
“You’ve seen what you needed to see. Now get the fuck out of here.” I turned to walk away to get back to Amber. She was still with her dad but I knew at any minute the precious lid she was containing her grief under might disappear and she would need my comfort.
“Craig, wait!”
Swinging around to face Ben again, I raised my brows in question. “What?”
“Look, I’ve got to be careful, but I did come to pay my respects...” He looked around nervously, not the usual cocky Ben I knew and detested. He looked tired, worn, as though he’d been living through a living hell. His usual sharp appearance was marred by days’ worth of stubble, dark circles under his eyes and his clothing was all creased.
“Just spit it out, Ben. I need to get back to my fiancée.”
“Oh yeah, I heard congratulations are in order.”
Stepping up in front of him so we were nearly chest to chest I growled, “Fucking spit it out, or get the hell out of here.”
He continued to meet my stare, neither of us prepared to back down, but I noticed the deep breath he took as he plunged his hands deep into his pockets. “I need to tell you something… I know who killed James.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Craig
My back stiffened and I narrowed my eyes on Ben. How the hell could he know? I’d hired the best investigators to look into things, working around the clock, and they had come up with nothing. The police had come up with nothing, so how could this idiot know what had happened?
“What do you know?” I growled.
“Look, Craig, I’ve risked a hell of a lot to come here today. If they catch on that I am spilling my guts, I will probably literally end up spilling my guts, if you catch my drift. So get off your fucking high horse and let me talk. I’m the good guy here.”
I glanced over my shoulder to check on Amber again. She was now crying and holding her dad. I needed to be with her, holding her hand, and comforting her, not talking to some idiot who was probably chatting shit. “Look Ben, I should be over there with Amber right now, so just tell me what you know so I can get back to her.”
He looked me dead in the eyes when he said “It was Kordell and Andre.”
It felt like he’d landed a roundhouse kick to the gut that had knocked me flying.
“As in Aleisha’s brothers, Kordell and Andre?” I asked, seeking clarification.
He nodded and watched for my reaction.
Kordell and Andre? What the fuck would James have been doing with those two pricks?
“What happened?” Just then my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. Yet another number withheld call greeted me as I pulled it out. I ignored the call and slammed the phone back in my pocket. Feeling frustrated with everything going on I leaned back against a tree. “Tell me what happened,” I repeated, glaring at Ben. “How did James know them?”
Ben sighed and leaned back against the opposite tree, mirroring my pose. “I don’t know the full ins and outs of it all, but from what I can gather; James borrowed from some shifty character last summer and then couldn’t pay them back. The brothers cleared the debt for him and then wanted something in return as payment. When James realised what that payment was going to be he refused to help and the beating was his payback. You know what they’re like. You don’t mess with the brothers.” Oh I knew full well what those bastards were capable of. I still didn’t get it though.
“What did they expect from him?”
Ben sighed again and diverted his gaze over to the mourners now starting to depart. “You.”
What?
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Bringing his eyes back to meet mine, Ben continued. “From what I can gather through the grapevine, when the brothers learned of his connection to you they thought they could use him as a pawn. They were hoping to use him to get to you.”
“Why would they want to do that?” Even though I asked the question, I knew the answer. Revenge. They hadn’t agreed with Aleisha giving in so easily with the divorce and put pressure on her to fight to get their greedy hands on my money. There hadn’t been a hope in hell of that happening though. There was too much evidence against Aleisha’s deception and I was adamant she wasn’t getting a penny out of me. She didn’t deserve it. But I couldn’t understand what they were expecting to get from James.
“Like I say, I don’t know the full story. I think it boils down to the fact they want your money. James was grateful when they paid off his debt but didn’t realise the bailout came with conditions. He was a bit naïve like that.” Ben remained silent for a moment, looking through the driving rain back over to where James had just been laid to rest. “Look, Craig, I’m just going to lay it all on the line. The brothers wanted James to get back in contact with Amber. That much I know. They wanted him to get back in her good books and then use her to get to you. They wanted him to get into your computer or your files so they could do whatever they hoped would allow them to bring you down.” He looked back in my direction. “When James learned what they had planned and knew it would affect his sister he wouldn’t have any part of it. You can see where that got him.” He tipped his head in the direction of the hole James was now resting in.
Well, fuck! I knew they were bitter about not getting a penny of my money, but I didn’t realise they were that hung up on seeking revenge over it. And using Amber as bait was fucking low. My blood was boiling wanting to know what part Ben had taken in all of this. “If you fucking knew all of this, why haven’t you done anything about it?” I seethed. “Were you involved too?”
“Fuck no,” he shouted, looked affronted. “Are you fucking kidding me? I was the one that found him, Craig. I called the fucking ambulance. I knew straight away who’d done it, and I’m sure they know that I’m onto them. I’m right on their radar at the moment and they have their guns locked and loaded, and aimed right at me. One wrong move and I’ll be joining James over there.” He paused for a moment. “Look, I shouldn’t be here now, but I needed to pay my respects, James wasn’t a bad guy. Him and me, we got on well. I also needed to tell you what I knew. I don’t know what their plans are now, but believe me they didn’t end the minute James stopped breathing.”
I’d thought the divorce had gone through too smoothly. I’d hoped they had just accepted that Aleisha would be getting nothing from me and move on. I owed her, or them, nothing. I’d been young and naïve and became trapped into an unlawful marriage that was over before it started. If they had issues with things they needed to bring them to me and stop using innocent people in their petty games.
“Is that it?”
Ben bobbed his head. “Yeah, just watch your back, Craig. I don’t have a clue what they are up to, but I do know they are stubborn bastards and they won’t give up until they get what they’re after.” He pushed himself away from the tree. “James was a good guy, a little misguided maybe, but a good guy. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
“Ben,” I called out as he began to walk away. “Thanks. If you ever need anything, just let me know.” With another nod he walked away, pulling his jacket tight as protection against the rain and lowering his head.
Amber
Back at the house I looked around at the table of food and drinks that had been laid out while we were gone. Anyone would have thought we were having a party. I had to remind myself that these people were joining us to celebrate James’s life.
Wha
tever! Eat and drink up people, do what you’ve got to do and then go.
I just wanted to be left alone to do my own thing. We’d said our goodbyes and I’d shed my tears. James was gone, would never be coming back, and I wanted to move on.
Craig reached for my hand as I stood in the hallway, smiling weakly and nodding as people sauntered by. He laced his fingers with mine and gave a gentle reassuring squeeze. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, Craig. I just want to get this bullshit over and done with so we can have the house back to ourselves.” Craig looked at me quizzically. “What? Don’t look at me like that. It is all bullshit. Why are these people really here, Craig? Nobody gave a shit about him when he was alive, not really. They’ve come to ease their conscience and to get a free feed. I say let’s do this thing and then they can fuck off.” Pulling my hand from Craig’s I walked into the living room to play my part in the charade.
Continuing my nodding and smiling act as though I knew these people, I worked my way around the crowd listening to far too many ‘I’m sorry’s.’ Eventually I reached Marika who was sitting on the sofa chatting with my dad. He was holding Giana, making a fuss of her.
“Are you okay?” I asked lowering into the seat next to her. Although I’d had my moment of weakness before the funeral and shed a tear or two during it, I had remained strangely strong. Marika on the other hand had been a mess. It was hard to imagine what she must have been going through. If it was me having to say goodbye to Craig, I knew for a fact I would be a wreck and needing to take more than an herbal concoction to try and make me feel better.
“No, not really. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him, Amber. I don’t know how to do this alone.” Her eyes welled and her lower lip trembled. It was obvious she was scared and on the verge of breaking down again.
Silver Dove (Silver #2) Page 13