Oakley was helping out by looking at newspapers across the country for someone that had been accused of raping a child. He didn’t have much to go on, just that it happened about ten years ago and that it had been a little girl. Looking over at Lach, he asked her how she was doing.
“I don’t know. I mean, my mind keeps drifting back to the fact that Mom called Dad for help. I know she has attorneys that could have helped her with that.” Oakley told her she might not trust them not to go to Roger. “I guess that could be right. Hell of a wedding day, isn’t it?”
“Hey, so long as by the end of the day, I’m going to be your spouse, I don’t care what I have to do in the beginning.” Oakley felt his cat claw at his skin when someone knocked at the door. “I’ll get it. Just stay there.”
Opening the door, Oakley was relieved to find one of the agents that Shep had introduced him to before he left. They were taking no chances with anything right now. Tomorrow Lach was going to go home with him, and they were going to have staff handpicked by Harris there as well. Oakley didn’t want anything to happen to his new family and was glad for the extra protection.
“Sir, Agent Harris wanted to let you and your wife know that her mother and sister have just boarded a ship for the Cayman Islands. The trip is for two weeks.” Nodding, Oakley asked about Roger. “She didn’t let me know what to tell you about that. I would call her if you would like more clarification.”
“I will.” When the door closed again, he turned the lock. It wasn’t something normally done in a hospital setting, patients with locks on their doors, but he’d installed it as soon as he returned from getting a ring for Lach. He told Lach what was going on.
“I wonder why she’d pick now to— So they’d not be around when someone tries to kill me. I don’t know if I should be hurt about that or not. No one asked me to go on a cruise with them.” Oakley told her he’d take her anywhere she wanted to go as soon as she was healthy enough. “I’m going to hold you to that. I’ve never been on a— Oakley, there is another ghost in here.”
He wasn’t bothered by it as much as he was the first couple of times it had happened. They only wanted her to notify someone that they were dead, then they went away. He’d only been calling Harris about the dead, and she handled it in her own way. Oakley didn’t want to know details; he just moved them along after Lach gave him the details.
“She said she’s been looking for someone to help her for a very long time.” Oakley pulled out a pen and paper to make notes. “I’m so happy you write it down. I’m having trouble adjusting to what I’m doing about this.”
“You’re doing a good job. I’m sure the dead really appreciate what it is you’re helping them with.” He couldn’t see the ghosts. Oakley wasn’t sure why, and he didn’t want to look into it all that deeply. Asking the first question they’d decided was the most helpful, he was waiting when he realized Lach was very quiet. “What is it, honey?”
“She doesn’t remember her name. She told me she’s been gone for a great many years.” Lach went back to listening to the otherworldly woman. “I’m to tell you that you’re not going to be able to see the ghosts like I am. That is not what they wanted to make it work. There are others, she told me, that will need your help and that of your family.”
Oakley asked her what the ghost needed. Lach told him she was still talking to her. So he watched Lach while she spoke to the ghost, and wondered what the ghost meant when she said the family would help others. While Lach got the information she needed, he looked over the newspaper in front of him.
“I’m to tell you that it’s her.” Oakley asked what she meant. “The article you’re reading, she said it’s about her. She wants you to know you know who killed her. Do you?”
“Hang on. Let me see what I have here.” Oakley had only been skimming the articles before, but this time he read it. “Honey, I think this is what we’ve been looking for. It’s about a man who kidnapped a little girl from her home. She was only six weeks old.”
“This is a woman here with me. I don’t understand.” Lach asked the woman what she meant about being the child in the article. “She said she’s her mother. That when her daughter was taken, she was murdered at the same time. What’s her name in the article, Oakley?”
“Marie Danielson. Her daughter was Beth.” Lach repeated it to the woman and then told him that it was her. “It says she lived alone except for her child, and that someone broke into her home and killed her and took her daughter. Beth was found a week later.”
He couldn’t make himself say the rest. He turned and looked at Lach, and she seemed to understand. After repeating what he’d told her to Marie, Lach started to cry. He went to her and held her to him as she told him what she’d found out from Marie.
“It was Roger. But that wasn’t his name. She described him to me, and it’s him. His real name is Collin Carter. He had been dating her, Marie said. But she was a little uneasy about the amount of time he spent with her little girl. He’d not done anything to her then, but after a couple more dates, she cut it off with him. The next day he came into her home and killed her by strangulation. She found her little girl before the police did, and knew exactly what he’d done to her.” Lach started sobbing, and he held her tighter. “She wants me to contact the loud woman. I’m assuming she means Harris.”
Even the joke about Harris didn’t keep her from being sad. He told Lach he’d contact her now, but not through their link. He just couldn’t say those things in his connection with her. He didn’t get up off the bed as he reached for the phone and put in a direct call to Harris’s phone. When she answered, he almost hung up. She sounded to be in such a great mood, and he didn’t want to take that from her.
“What is it, Oakley, that you couldn’t just contact me the usual way? Do you have guests that you’re trying to—?” She must have realized something was up. “What is it? What’s happened?”
Oakley told her everything, even what had been done to the little girl. He was crying too as he described the scene as it was described in the newspaper. His belly was protesting too like it knew things were not as they should have been with this death.
“Is Lach all right?” He told her they were both bruised by this. “I’m sending someone to come and get you both. I don’t care if she’s ready to be released or not. I want you both where I can protect you. Also, we’ll have everything arranged so that you can marry at the house. It’ll be safer, as well as having more room.”
“I’m all right with that.” She gave him the code word the agent would have. Also, she was doubling the guards around them until they were home. “Harris, he did so many despicable things to that baby. He killed her like she was nothing at all.”
“I’m going to get him, Oakley. I promise you. I’m going to get him before the end of the day.” He told her he was going to pack Lach up, and they’d be ready. They needed to be out of here. “Yes, you do. I’m also going to send your brother with my men. I want him to be there in the event jackass comes around. Not that you couldn’t protect Lach when it came to that, but I’d just as soon have too many around than not enough.”
In thirty minutes, Shep was there with his grandda. Hugging them both didn’t seem unmanly at all to him, but a way to draw strength and security from them. Grandda even hugged Lach like he was never going to let her go. Shep, wisely, didn’t touch Oakley’s mate.
It took them another hour to be on the road. Shep had to check out of the hotel they’d been staying in, and Grandda had to pick up a few snacks to eat on the way home. They all got a good laugh out of the three large bags of snacks when he finally got in the car.
“Just who are you feeding these snacks too?” Lach was seated next to him with her head on his shoulder when she was handed one of the bags. “Oh, look. I love these candy bars.”
While she ate one of the chocolate bars, he spoke to his brother. He was going to a home he’d
never been in, and he didn’t even know where it was located. Shep was telling him what he and the others had done for the house, making sure there was a bed for them, and that the staff was all ready to start working for them.
Lach and I will have to get around to getting baby stuff too. I mean, we’re having twins, and that’s scary enough. Shep looked at him, and Oakley had a feeling he was trying very hard not to tell him something. You’ve done it, haven’t you?
Yes. All of us went online and started shopping the moment you told us you and Lach were having twins. Oakley liked that he didn’t point out they were not his children but thought of them as Marshalls already. Consider it a wedding gift. Which, by the way, is going to be held at your home. The wedding, I mean. Frank is coming down as well to be there for his little girl.
Thanks, Shep. You’re about the best big brother anyone could have. Shep told him he knew that. Jerk.
By the time they pulled up in front of their new home, Lach was asleep. She hated falling asleep all the time, but Rodney told her it was a combination of being pregnant and being hurt. So now, when she needed to close her eyes, even for a little while, she no longer fought it but let herself drift off. Oakley hated to wake her, but he wanted her to go into the house first.
“Good heavens. This looks like a frigging hotel. Why is it so huge?” Grandda told Lach she was going to need more room with the babies coming along. “I do hope you’ll pick out a place for you to stay so you can visit us when you want. I have a feeling I’m going to be depending on you a great deal when they come along.”
Oakley didn’t mention the houses on the property. He thought if Grandda did need some space of his own, he would tell him then. For now, he was glad to have him coming around when he wanted. He was sure, too, that Grandda was going to be tickled pink about the name Lach had thought of for their daughter. Alma Grace was all they knew for their daughter. The boy’s name was going to be determined once they figured out some of the family names on her side of the family.
Walking through the house with Lach was fun. She loved each and every one of the rooms. She also fell in love with the master bathroom. The tub, an old fashioned one with clawed feet, was something she said she’d dreamed of all her life. He was thrilled that there seemed to be enough room in it for the two of them if they were to take a bath together. Then they ended up in the nursery for the children.
Chapter 5
Rebecca loved the open sea. Standing near the railing, she didn’t care how the breeze was making her hair messy. There was nothing, not at all, for miles and miles as she looked out over the vastness of the water. She turned when she heard Rita say her name.
“Come look, Rita. This is why I love to go on cruises. There is always something to catch your imagination. The waves are beautiful this morning too.” Rita didn’t move, and Rebecca laughed. “Why on earth would you come on a cruise if you didn’t have any plans of looking where we are?”
“Roger said I should push you over the edge of the ship.” Positive that she’d heard her daughter wrong, she asked her what she’d said. “He said it’s time we cashed in the policy we took out on you years ago. Roger has been planning your demise, Mother, for such a long time. It’s finally going to pay off for us.”
“What did you just say to me?” Rita told her again what she and Roger had planned out. How pushing her over the edge would be quick and easy for her. “I can’t believe you’d go along with this, Rita. I’m your mother. The only one you have.”
Rebecca held onto the railing, wrapping her other arm around the pole closest to her so she’d not be easily tipped. Rita came toward her, and at the last moment, she moved to be about ten feet from her down the rail. Rebecca had never been so frightened in all her life.
“He has such good plans about things. Making sure we’re secure for when we’re older. I did tell him that you were my mother, and I didn’t think it was fair of him to make me kill you. But he pointed out that you’re very old and won’t be around much longer anyway, when he’s still young and healthy. I had to make a sound choice, you see.” Rita looked at her. The smile on her daughter’s face was serene as if she’d not explained to her own mother that she was going to kill her. “With you and Lach gone with the children that she was carrying for us, people will feel so sorry for us. They’ll invite us to parties and the like. It will open so many doors for the two of us. Besides, don’t you want us to be accepted by people? Have a secure future? I’m sure you don’t want either of us, Roger and I, to be without, do you?”
“I don’t understand this. Rita, I’ve been your champion for your entire life. I can’t believe you can stand there, acting like I should be agreeable to the fact that you’re going to murder me.” Rita said it wasn’t murder. “Then what would you call it? You’re going to push me over the side of this ship. That is exactly what murder is, when you take my life.”
“No, Mother, you’re thinking of this like it’s all about you. It’s not. Roger explained to me that you need to think of the two of us. Our future. Our way of life.” She laughed a little. “It’s not murder. Let’s call it mercy. I’m being merciful by pushing you over the rail now instead of you getting too old and having to be taken care of. I’m doing you a great favor in this.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want you to do me any kind of favor like that. I’d rather live to be a very old woman and die in my sleep.” Rita told her she couldn’t allow her to do that. “Yes, you can, Rita. Don’t do this. I don’t know why, just because Roger told you to do it, you’re willing to go along with murdering me.”
Anger flashed on her face. “It’s not fucking murder, I told you. Don’t say that again, Mother. You’re pissing me off.” Rebecca apologized and told her she wouldn’t say it again. “Good. I don’t want us to use our last time together arguing with each other. You’d not want me to be upset whenever I think about you being gone. You’re going to let me do what I need to do so I can be safe in my golden years.”
Rebecca had never been so glad to see someone coming out on the deck with her as she was the couple that had. Latching onto them, telling them they had to see the ocean, Rebecca knew she sounded nutty. But her mind was frozen, it seemed, on the fact that Rita was planning to pitch her overboard.
When she was close enough to the door to slip inside, Rebecca decided she was going to stay indoors for the rest of the trip. Never going near the railing would make it so she’d not be able to toss her off. Rita joined her at the table she sat down at when she’d entered, and smiled.
“You’re not going to be able to thrall me on this, Mother. There are other ways to do this for you than just the railing. It would have been easier, yes, but I’m up for whatever it takes to put you into a better place. You might as well get it over with. Don’t you think?” Rebecca didn’t bother answering her daughter but did raise her hand to get some help in the form of one of the waitstaff in the dining area. “I’d not mention this to anyone, Mother. I do have a gun, and I’m not afraid to kill anyone that questions me about it. You’ll regret that I had to kill people when it’s inevitable that you’re going to do this for us anyway.”
Rebecca ordered a large glass of wine. Then changing her mind, she asked for a bourbon neat. When it was delivered to her, she noticed her hands were shaking so hard she nearly sloshed every bit of it out on the tablecloth. Setting the glass down, she looked at her daughter with new eyes.
“You of all people I’d never have expected to be crazy.” Rita slammed her hands down on the table and told her she wasn’t crazy, just very smart. “Call it what you want, child, but planning the demise of your own mother, not to mention your own sister, isn’t sane. What makes you think you’ll be able to get away with this? Or that someone isn’t going to notice you tipping me off the decking?”
The smile again. It wasn’t a new smile or even one that Rebecca hadn’t seen on her daughter’s face all her life. But now, knowing
what sorts of things were going through her mind, Rebecca knew Rita had been insane her entire life. Rebecca had just chosen to ignore the telltale signs because whatever made Rita happy made her happy as well.
She had another drink and realized as she was about to order a third that if she were drunk, her murder would be much easier for Rita to make happen. What she wouldn’t give to be able to talk to someone that might believe her. Then her mind latched on that woman, Harris. The friend of her sane daughter.
When lunch was ready to be served, Rebecca had a plan. Not a well thought out one, but a plan all the same. She had a feeling Rita wasn’t going to be easy to get rid of now that she was ready to do her job. Rebecca let out a little laugh and knew she sounded manic. Reaching the woman was the only way she could think of to come out of this without being killed.
For the rest of the day, and into the evening, Rita followed her around. Rebecca didn’t go out on the deck at all, and she hated that. It was what she loved most about a long cruise. Well, she used to. Now she wondered if she’d want to do anything near the open seas again. Rita had ruined that for her.
When nightfall was coming on, Rebecca decided to have a lavish meal. It might be her last, she told herself and dismissed that thought right away. Dressing up in her cabin was the only time she was able to pull out her cell phone and make a call to Frank. At the last moment, she decided that texting him might be safer for her.
Rita is going to kill me. Like it’s nothing at all to throw me from the ship. Roger is going to kill Lach and the babies as well. For their future, she told me. Rebecca gave him the name of the ship and all the information on her itinerary. Frank, please send me some help. Rita is insane. I’ve never noticed that before today.
When he answered her, Rebecca was so happy her phone had been turned to silent that she sobbed a little. She had to read the message twice before she finally felt like she might just make it off this thing without being in a body bag when they landed.
Oakley: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 3) Page 6