The Money Pit

by George, Renee

  I saw the muzzle flash in the trees before the shot rang out. Bang!

  “No!” I screamed. “Parker!”

  “Lily,” the operator said. “Lily. Tell me what’s happening.”

  Dread clawed at my throat. “Another gunshot.”

  “Is anyone hurt?”

  My skin tingled with goose bumps as a sudden chill took hold of me. “I don’t…” I couldn’t see anything more. The trees hid any movement. Please, Goddess, I bargained. Not Parker. Not him.

  Chapter 19

  “Are you still with me, Lily? The units on the way to you are fifteen minutes out. I need you to stay on the phone with me.

  “I can’t,” I told the 9-1-1 operator. “I just can’t.” I had to help Parker. No matter what, no matter the cost. I couldn’t lose him too.

  Smooshie had stayed quiet and hidden since the gunshots, not that I could blame her, but now began to bark as she saw the beginnings of my shift. “No,” I told her as I set down the phone. “Not this time, girl.”

  I made my way out of the trailer, hugging the front wall in a crouch, as I worked my way to the back end that faced the trees. I could see some movement. I stepped lightly, careful to not make a sound. There were some benefits to being a predator. I caught Parker’s scent. I inhaled past the musty scent of wet bark and left over winter decay. Beyond that was I didn’t smell blood. That was a good sign.

  I pushed my beast forward, golden fur sprouting on my arms. Goddess help me if he saw me like this, but I had to use the only advantage I had at my disposal. I slipped quietly into the tree line, using shadows to hide my progress. I heard voice up ahead, and crept closer.

  “Give me an excuse,” I heard Parker say, his tone angry and menacing. “I’ll blow your head off.”

  Relief flooded me. Parker had the gun. The upper hand. I pushed my beast back down, my skin returning to normal, as I raced toward his voice. I had a moment’s relief when I saw Parker kneeling on Adam’s back. He had the larger man’s arms back, and with Adam’s own shirt, Parker had trussed him up like a Thanksgiving turkey. The relief vanished when I saw he was holding a gun to Adam’s head, his finger curled on the trigger.

  “Parker,” I said gently. “The police are on their way.”

  “He would have killed me,” he said coldly. He pressed the gun tighter to Adam’s head. “He would have killed us both.”

  Adam was crying, but he didn’t move. “I didn’t, Parker. I wouldn’t.”

  I moved in next to him and went down to my knees in the dirt. “You stabbed your best friend.”

  “I’m not a killer,” Adam said.

  “Tell that to James Wright. To Merl Peterson.” My hands began to shake. “You are a killer.”

  “The guy in the house. That was an accident,” he sobbed. “I didn’t mean to kill. We were working for Mills when we came on him in the woods. He had a gun. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

  “The shot to the head killed him. You’d already wounded the man. Why didn’t you call the police?”

  “I have a clear shot on your girlfriend, Knowles. You need to put the gun down.”

  From the back of the woods, Nick Newton walked out from behind a tree. He held a rifle up and pointed it in my direction. “Get up, Davis,” he said to Adam.

  “He’s going to shoot me,” Adam said, his face still sideways against the ground.

  “No, he isn’t. Are you, Parker?” Nick didn’t waver with the rifle. He had the barrel trained on me.

  I didn’t know if I could dodge a gunshot, but I didn’t want Parker to give in. “The police will be here anytime,” I told Nick. “You won’t get away with this.”

  Nick fired once, the bullet whizzing just above my head, and quickly chambered another round. “The next one is going to give you a third eye in that pretty forehead of yours.” He tapped the trigger. “Now toss the gun and untie Adam. Don’t make me tell you again.”

  Parker eased up with his gun hand and moved his knee off Adam. The larger man rolled away from him, getting himself loose from the T-shirt binding him. He put it on. I expected him to look angry, raging even, but Adam Davis still looked scared.

  “Toss the gun,” Nick demanded.

  Parker looked at Nick, his eyes narrowed with disgust. He dropped the weapon.

  “Pick it up,” he told Adam.

  Beast Mode Cowboy looked more like a lamb than a lion in that moment. He picked the gun up. “I’m sorry,” he told Parker.

  “Shut up,” said Nick. “Let’s go.”

  How did he plan on getting away with more murders? This was Moonrise, not Los Angeles. It wouldn’t be too difficult for even Sheriff Avery to figure out this mess. Besides, the property would be filled with police in a few minutes. I could hear their sirens in the distance.

  I walked to Parker when Nick lowered his rifle.

  “There’s no way out from here.”

  “There’s always a way out.” Nick gestured over his shoulder. “Come on. My truck is in the field behind your woods.” His cruel smile made me shudder. “Didn’t you know we were neighbors?”

  Adam pointed the gun at us and said, “Move.”

  As we walked—Parker and I side by side, with Adam and Nick behind us—I tried to fit the puzzle together. “Adam fought with James Wright, and in the struggle the gun went off, wounding him.” I glanced over and back at Nick. “But you shot him in the head.”

  “Quiet,” Nick said. “No talking.”

  I knew he wouldn’t do anything while we were still on the property. He seemed to want something. “Why kill him?” I mused. “Why not call the police?” I snapped my fingers. “The money. The money from the bank robbery was never recovered. You thought it was hidden here somewhere. And by all the holes in the woods, you think it’s out here.”

  Nick snarled. He hit me in the back with the butt of the rifle. Parker turned, ready to lunge, but I caught his arm and warned him off with a quick shake of my head. Adam still had a 9mm trained on us.

  “Merl hired you, Adam, and Jeff to work for Mills, didn’t he? That’s why you killed him,” I said to Nick. I swiveled my eyes to Adam. He looked tense, but also relieved.

  “Adam shot Wright in self-defense, but he told you about the money hidden on this land. So instead of turning him in, Nick, you got greedy.”

  Nick came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my neck. I tucked my chin and bit into his arm. He screamed and pulled the trigger on his rifle.

  A dead silence followed a groan of pain as Adam slumped to his knees. Blood darkened his white T-shirt on the left side. He dropped the gun, gripping his chest.

  Parker lunged for the weapon, but Nick threw me aside and had his rifle back up and pointed at Parker.

  “No!” I screamed, and it came out like a mountain lion’s roar.

  I slashed at Nick, pouncing on his back. The big man swung at me with his rifle, another shot rang out. All my fear turned to fiery rage. This man killed Merl, and he would kill Parker and me if given the chance.

  I wouldn’t let him. I couldn’t. I didn’t care what it took to take him down.

  The side of his gun hit me in the face. I jumped to my feet with inhuman quickness.

  When Nick saw me for the first time since I’d first attacked him, he stumbled back with fright. He lifted his gun and aimed it at me. Parker shoved him from the side, but Nick managed to hang on to his weapon. He swung it at Parker like a baseball bat. Parker ducked, and when he did, I launched myself at Nick, tearing at his flesh with my claws. He screamed. And screamed. And then he didn’t.

  I fell to the ground when his body went limp beneath me.

  Parker stared at me. His face white with shock and disbelief.

  I’d lost control. I’d exposed my true self, and Parker would hate me for it. I hated me for it.

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Parker. I tried…” I forced the fur on my arms to recede, and my fangs and claws to retract. Oh Goddess. I broke rule number one of living amongst humans. Never let th
em see you shift.

  “What are you?” he asked. I took a step toward Parker, but he took a step back. His hand gripped the 9mm as if it were his lifeline. Would he shoot me?

  “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now. I—”

  Barks and shouting, along with wide-beam spotlights, flooded the woods around us.

  Sheriff Avery’s voice boomed as he yelled out commands.

  “Over here,” Parker said. He gave me a look I couldn’t read. I braced myself for whatever would happen next.

  Smooshie and Elvis were the first to get to us. Elvis went right to Parker and put his head under Parker’s hand. Smooshie, however, made a show of sniffing the bodies and examining the entire scene. I grabbed her by the collar to keep her away from the bloody gore.

  Nadine, Morris, and another deputy came into the clearing with Avery. They had their guns up and pointed at us. “Drop the weapon, Knowles!” Avery said.

  Parker bent at the knees and set the pistol on the ground. “Nick Newton killed Merl Peterson,” he said. “He and Adam were planning to do the same to Lily and me.”

  I could tell Nadine wanted to get to me, to see if I was okay, but she also wanted to keep her job. I nodded at her. Some of her tension eased.

  Avery looked suspicious. “So why are you two standing? And they’re on the ground?”

  Here it was. The moment of truth. How would Parker explain Newton’s wounds? They were definitely not made by a human.

  Parker stared at me for a moment, his facial expressions changing as he tried to work out what he would say. “It was dumb luck.” He shrugged. “Damnedest thing. A bobcat jumped out of a tree at Nick. His rifle went off and shot Adam. The wild animal attacked him until he fell, and then took off.”

  Avery looked at me. My mouth was dry as I backed up Parker’s story. “It’s true. It came out of nowhere.”

  Nadine stood between Sheriff Avery and me. A shield of sorts. When he left us alone, she said, “Shortly before you called nine-one-one, Jeff Callahan told us everything. The James Wright killing. The looking for the missing bank robbery money all these years. It was Nick that stabbed him, by the way, not Adam.” Her mouth turned down in a frown, and her eyes reflected a sadness. “Adam had stopped Nick from finishing Jeff off.”

  “Well, that’s something, I suppose.” Not that it would do him any good now. But at least he’d had decency left in him.

  Nadine wrapped a blanket around me as medics made their way to the bodies. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she said, and hugged me tight.

  “Me too.” I looked over at Parker. He stared at me like I’d sprouted fur and grew a tail. Wait. That’s exactly what had happened. Granted, the tail was small in my half form, but it had been there.

  Would he keep my secret? Goddess, what about Buzz? He’d made a real life for himself here. Had I ruined everything?

  Parker went with Deputy Morris back toward my trailer. I walked with Nadine and Smooshie, who, of course, had to stop by every tree and pee. I had to pull the clicker out of my pocket to get her away from the one that housed the gray squirrel family.

  Maybe Haze would know a memory spell. She was so bad at witchcraft, though, she’d probably give him a magical lobotomy. I couldn’t do that to Parker. Better I leave than to put him at any further risk from me.

  It was several hours before the police presence went away. Parker left without saying goodbye. He hated me. Who could blame him? He’d faced a lot of enemies in his life, but he’d never come across a monster like me.

  “You sure you don’t want to come home with me?” Nadine asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure.” I didn’t know how much longer I’d been in Moonrise, and I wanted to spend my last days and nights in my own place.

  Chapter 20

  The clear blue sky and warm sun promised a beautiful day as I watched Smooshie chase butterflies in the yard. I’d spent several days hiding out on the property, trying to soften my depression with demolition in the house. I’d already torn out the wall upstairs between the two bedrooms. It had been easier than I thought it would be, and while Nick had been a brutal killer, he’d also been right about them not being load-bearing walls.

  Buzz was still mad at me, and I couldn’t blame him. He offered me hope in a way that felt like a punch to the gut. He told me that no matter what Parker said, people wouldn’t believe him. Nobody else had seen me shift, so Parker would come off as delusional. Folks would assume his PTSD had gotten the best of him in a bad situation. No harm, no foul.

  Only, it felt like a lot of harm. I didn’t want Parker to suffer because of me. Just the opposite. My lack of control had been a direct result of him being in danger. Add to the fact that I’d never killed anyone before, and three days by myself was a lot when it came to rehashing the fight over and over in my mind.

  I believed with all my heart that Nick Newton was going to kill Parker. As many times as I ran the scenario in my head, I knew without a doubt, if it came down to him being alive or me being outed as a Shifter, I’d choose getting outed every time.

  Jeff Callahan recovered after emergency surgery. Nadine told me he had confessed everything: Adam’s fight with Wright, Newton shooting Wright in the head then blackmailing both teenage boys into staying quiet. He told them they’d go down for murder with him, accessories to the crime. Nick also blackmailed Jeff into trying to find the money with him, and to also try to buy the property when it went up for auction. They’d both been responsible for the multiple holes. Adam had gone away to play football and hadn’t returned. He’d almost believed he’d been out of it, but when he came home to honor his old coach, his worst nightmare had been waiting for him.

  Nick made Jeff arrange a meeting with Merl then he killed him and set Jeff up for the murder when the police started poking around Merl’s calls, which had included me and Nick. Jeff had been with Freda, though, when the murder went down.

  Air-tight alibi. Freda had sat at his bedside almost constantly since his stabbing. She was nineteen years older than Jeff, but she was very attractive. Too attractive for Jeff Callahan. But who was I to judge. Jeff would be going to prison, so I hoped she wasn’t too attached to the accountant.

  Goddess, I hoped Jeff didn’t take back his confession. I was already struggling under the weight of testifying at the Tom Jones trial.

  They still didn’t know who’d fired at my truck. And while I suspected it was Addison Newton, I didn’t have any plans to rat the kid out. Frankly, I liked him, and not just because he reminded me of Danny. I wanted him to have a chance. I was just sorry I wouldn’t be around to see it.

  Parker hadn’t called me or stopped by since the night I went all furry on him. I wanted to call him, but that wouldn’t be fair to Parker. He had a right to be freaked out.

  I hadn’t called Hazel about the whole mess. I didn’t want her trying to fix things for me. I would leave if it came down to it, for Parker and Buzz’s sake. I didn’t want to ruin either of their lives. But I would definitely miss the place. It already felt like home.

  A gray squirrel sprinted across the yard. Smooshie barked, her interest in the butterflies lost, and took off in a race toward the woods with the small creature.

  “Smooshie!” I ran after her as she followed the squirrel to the big oak with the hollow at the bottom. My pittie shoved her large head under the hood of the tree bark, her tail wagging as her nails bit into the dirt.

  I grabbed her collar and yanked her back. “No, Smoosh!” I grabbed her clicker from my pocket and snapped it like mad to get her attention. After a few seconds, she gave up, but her muscles were bunched with explosive energy, and I knew that if given half a chance, she’d burrow herself into the tree.

  As I held her tight, I noticed tiny marks in a bare strip of bark on the exposed roots. I leaned down for a closer look. There was a tiny “x” etched into the wood, too precise to be an accident.

  A rush of excitement warmed my skin.

  I heard a vehicle coming up the drive, and recog
nized the sound of Parker’s dually. My stomach lurched into my throat. I hurried to the edge of the woods. When Parker got out by himself, and not with a bunch of hunters or men in lab jackets, I shouted, “I’m down here.”

  He looked surprised then started walking down past the trailer to me. “You’re not naked again, are you?”

  My heart fluttered. His expression was cautious, pensive even, but his tone had been teasing. I stepped out so he could see me. “Fully dressed.”

  He half smiled. Smooshie ran to him, her whole body happy to see him in a way that only Smoosh could show. I was happy too, but after three days of nothing, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

  “Are you doing all right?” I asked.

  Parker shoved his hands in his pocket. “Not really, but I’m also not not all right. If that makes sense.”

  “I’m really sorry, Parker. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

  He squinted at me, his lips thin and tight. “I saw what I saw. Right? You turned into something.”

  I could tell him no. Maybe try to convince him it was his PTSD that made him see things. A trick of his eyes. Would that be easier for Parker to cope with? Would he be content to believe the lie?

  “I’m a Shifter.” My pulse became a dull thud as heat climbed my skin. I’d faced killers, crazy magic, and I’d also been shot, but never had I felt so afraid. “A werecougar.” I looked at him. His gaze met mine. “So you were close with the whole bobcat thing. Well, at least you were in the right family.”

  “This can’t be real.” He shook his head. “I’ve been trying to convince myself for the past couple of days that what I saw couldn’t possibly have happened. How is this real?”

  “There is a lot in this world that exists outside of human knowledge. The kind of magic and monsters that people only see in fiction and fairytales. It’s overwhelming, even when you live in that world. Trust me. It’s the reason I moved. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be a human with this knowledge.”

  “You’re not human.” He said it in a way that was pure statement, not a question. I could see the doubt creeping into his eyes.