Roman

by K. J. Dahlen

  “That’s a no brainer,” Briar said. “Lydia would protect his accounts. She might be afraid of him just enough to protect his assets.”

  “Maybe we can spread a little panic in Flynn’s mind,” Cade suggested. “If he thinks he’s being betrayed, he’ll slip up and implicate her in a conspiracy.”

  “It might be enough to connect her with his illegal activities, thus discrediting her in the courts,” Briar said.

  “You said something earlier about telling somebody something,” India said. “What was that all about?”

  Cade turned to her and sighed. “There is no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to tell you.”

  “Tell me what?” India asked. There were butterflies in her stomach as the tension built. She wasn’t sure she could take any more bad news.

  “We found out something about Flynn Hudson that when you add everything else up, it might explain his obsession with your family.”

  “What?” India sat down slowly.

  “When I went to see Jonathan Dillman in Sunbury, he told me about the Hudson family. That Flynn was born from a summer romance Loretta had with a ‘summer bum.’ He never said who the summer romance was with. We found out when Quinn began checking into Flynn’s background.”

  “Okay, so who is Flynn’s father? And what difference does it make in this case?” India finally asked.

  “Flynn’s full name is Flynn Jefferson Carsten Hudson,” Cade stated.

  India gasped. “Who is Jefferson Carsten?” she whispered as dread began to fill her.

  “Jefferson is your grandfather’s older brother,” Cade answered. “Today he is practicing law and is married with three sons in New York. He met and had a relationship with Loretta during the break between his high school graduation and starting college. I don’t think Loretta ever told him about the baby she was carrying when he left.”

  “Why if he’s related to our family would he allow Cooper to murder my mother?” India cried out. “Why would he threaten my life?”

  “I don’t know but I think its way past time for the truth to come out, don’t you?” Cade asked.

  India lowered her head.

  Briar sat down and pulled her into his arms.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was nine a.m. when Cade, Briar, Elliot, T.K. and India walked into the courtroom in Boston the next morning. Flynn, Gretchen and Cooper were in handcuffs sitting at a table with attorneys Lydia Garvin, Mandy Wiess and Sam Branter.

  When they took their seats behind the barrier, Flynn turned his head and stared at India. He sneered at her and leaned forward to whisper something in Lydia’s ear.

  Lydia turned her head and glared at her as well.

  India could feel the hatred emanating from them and she raised her head a little higher. Well, she hated them too, and she didn’t care at this point, how these monsters felt.

  A moment later, the bailiff announced the arrival of the judge and everyone stood up.

  When they sat down Briar moved to the front and asked permission to address the court. “Your Honor, it has come to our attention and I bring it to your attention, that Ms. Garvin should not be allowed to represent Flynn Hudson and it is our intention to charge her with conspiring with Mr. Hudson to break the laws of this nation.”

  Lydia jumped to her feet. “Objection, your Honor. Can Mr. Rivers prove these allegations of conspiracy?”

  Briar looked toward the back of the courtroom and nodded to the two men standing at the back. “Your Honor, these are agents, Steve Halling and Greg Norwood from the FBI. Evidence of the conspiracy has been turned over to the FBI and they are here to arrest Ms. Garvin for those charges.”

  Judge Brian Moore waved the FBI agents forward and asked, “Is the FBI going to charge and arrest Ms. Garvin for conspiracy?”

  Steve stepped forward and nodded. “Yes we are, your Honor. We are at this moment freezing all assets, both here and abroad, including the transfer of monies yesterday from Karen Jane Jennings account.”

  “What does Karen Jennings account have to do with Ms. Garvin’s accounts?” the Judge asked.

  “We were able to trace Ms. Jennings account to Ms. Garvin. In fact, Ms. Jennings is actually one of the defendants sitting in front of you today. Ms. Jennings is in fact Gretchen Hawks. Ms. Jennings is Ms. Garvin’s sister.”

  “What is significant about the monies transferred in the last few days?” the Judge asked.

  “The monies transferred yesterday are the bulk of Flynn Hudson’s fortune in illegal activities,” Steve informed him.

  Flynn jumped to his feet and turning to Lydia he shouted, “You treacherous bitch! Where did you put my money?”

  “All I did was move it, to stop something like this from happening, you fool,” Lydia whispered as she tried to get him to sit back down in his seat.

  “Well guess what? You didn’t stop it and now the Feds have it.” Flynn growled. “Damn you!”

  “Your Honor.” Lydia turned to the judge. “I was merely watching out for my clients when the transferred occurred. How can that make me a conspirator?”

  The Judge turned to Briar and asked, “I assume you have more than a money transfer to tie Ms. Garvin to this so called conspiracy?”

  “Oh yes, we do.” Briar told him. “We can tie her to an attempted kidnapping and a connection to a murder Flynn’s son committed fifteen years ago. Her fingerprints were found on the second floor of a warehouse here in Boston where the murder was committed. There is also a witness that puts her on the second floor of that warehouse.”

  Lydia turned her head to glare at Cooper. She didn’t say anything but instead turned back to the Judge.

  He was quiet for a moment then he leaned forward in his chair and addressed the concerns Briar brought before the court, “It seems as if there is enough evidence to halt this arrangement before it’s begun.” He turned to Flynn. “Mr. Hudson, I’ll give you forty eight hours to retain a new attorney while Ms. Garvin gets her own house in order. In the meantime, you and your other defendants will be remanded to jail here. In three days’ time you will be arraigned on the charged before the court.” He picked up his gavel and banged it on the bench in front of him. “Court is dismissed.”

  As soon as the Judge left the courtroom, Steve and Greg stepped forward to place handcuffs on Lydia.

  Flynn stood up and growled, “You’d better hope the money is returned or I’ll kill you myself.”

  Lydia reared back and the look on her face was one of fear. She turned to Steve. “Get me the hell out of here.”

  India smiled slightly at the scene in front of her. This was the easy part. The butterflies in her tummy weren’t looking forward to the next part. For the first time in a long time, she was going to face her grandparents.

  When Lydia was lead out of court, she passed India and she paused for a moment. Turning to her, India was met with a glare of pure hatred. “I should have let Cooper kill you fifteen years ago. He came to me after he murdered Jenna and said there might be a witness to what he’d done. He was whining about one of his precious jars being missing.”

  “Why did my mother have to die?” India asked her. There had to be a reason and she had a feeling Lydia knew it.

  “Flynn wanted to prove no one was safe to John Carsten,” Lydia told her. “By killing his daughter, Flynn thought he would have John’s cooperation but it didn’t turn out that way. I stopped him from killing you back then but I should have just kept my mouth shut. If you had died, I wouldn’t be going to prison now.”

  Steve hustled her away before India could respond. Taking a deep breath, India turned to Briar and a tear ran down her cheek. “How can you fight that kind of hate?”

  “I don’t know.” Briar pulled her up and into his arms. “I don’t know but she won’t ever get the chance to hurt you again.”

  “We still have one more visit to make,” Cade reminded them. When India turned to face him he asked, “Can you do this?”

  India nodded.

>   “You don’t have to go with us you know,” Elliot said. “We can tell John about the connection to his family without you.”

  “No, I have to face them at some point; this may as well be it. This way when this trial is over I can really get on with my life. I don’t want there to be any more secrets.”

  EPILOGUE CHAPTER

  Six months later…

  India was back in Boston. She and T.K. had given state’s evidence against Flynn, Cooper, Gretchen and Lydia. The first trial had only taken two weeks and the second one for Lydia had been shorter than that in days. Now they were at the waiting point of things in the third trial, waiting for the jury to find Cooper guilty or not guilty.

  John Carsten had been stunned to find out Flynn Hudson was his nephew, but no more than his brother had been when John called him to tell him what they had found. Jefferson made the trip to see his son only once. Flynn tried to blackmail him thinking Jefferson would deny the relationship but Jefferson had gone to the press with the story of how he met Flynn’s mother and the fact that his son had been kept secret from him all these years. Jefferson had commented how Flynn allowed his connection to his family to warp his sense of right and wrong and had turned into the monster he was today. Jefferson felt sorry for Flynn and said if he’d known about the baby he left behind, things could have turned out so differently.

  When Flynn accepted the fact that his plan would never be, he gave up. He’d accepted what was happening. He even gave evidence that cemented Lydia’s conviction with the courts. He also turned evidence against his son. He said he wasn’t long for this earth and he wanted to clear it all away. He’d told Briar that if he was going down he was taking them with him. Then the jury decided his fate. He was too ill to stand the day they proclaimed him guilty.

  India looked over at woman sitting next to T.K. Peggy Carsten. Her grandmother had begged her to forgive them for what happened in the past and suggested a new start. John hadn’t stood in her way and over the last few months, Peggy had become her friend. India wasn’t sure she could accept what John had done all those years ago but she was trying.

  Glancing over next to her on the other side was Briar Rivers. He’d been her rock through this whole thing and she smiled as she glanced down at the ring on her hand. Briar has asked her last night after they made love to become his wife and she gladly accepted his offer. They’d already moved down to the compound and were in the process of building their house not far from the main house.

  She had also been asked to join the Rivers Foundation. Cade had stated she was one of the finest investigators he’d ever seen, besides himself. Everyone had laughed and she joined. Her life would be dedicated to chasing monsters down that had hurt others. Her life was full now and she couldn’t wait to close this last page of her past and move forward.

  Peggy had shown up at the first trial and the next one for Lydia and she’d been supportive throughout India’s testimony. Now they waited with everyone else for this final verdict to come in.

  Today, it was Cooper’s trial. He’d committed the murders and the trial had showed the grisly evidence of his killings over the last fifteen years.

  When the bailiff announced the return of the jury, everyone stood and T.K. reached for her hand. India turned to her and smiled nervously. Turning back to the front of the courtroom, India watched as the Judge looked at the verdict.

  He passed the note back to the foreman. When he looked at the jury he asked the question everyone was waiting for, “Jury in the action against Cooper Hudson, have you reached a verdict?”

  “Guilty on all counts. We the jury would also like to request for the sentence to add Death by Lethal Injection, Your Honor.”

  India and T.K. held each other, like they had all those years ago in the warehouse. This time their tears were of relief.

  The courtroom went wild with cheers and yelling.

  Briar met his brother’s satisfied gazes. Then he got up and leaned over the bannister to whisper to a pale looking Cooper, “You think the afterlife has any fire extinguishers handy? Cause you are so gonna burn.” He gave him a wink and then sat back down next to India. He put his arms around her and kissed her cheek.

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  DEDICATION

  I would like to dedicate this book to all those women and children who have been caught up in desperate situations. I may not know your pain but I hope you are able to find a place like Redemption House to rebuild your lives. You have the strength deep down inside you to take that first step. I pray that you can find it within yourself to take that step and better your life.

  CHAPTER ONE

  When she walked into the Dirty Dancing club, Cassie didn’t really know what she would find. The place was clean at least. As she looked around, she could see the bar and tables. She could also see the stage and the runway area. All she knew for sure was she needed to find her.

  Smoke filled the room with its hazy scent and she wrinkled her nose a bit. Making her way through the tables to the bar, Cassie sat down and ordered a drink. When the bartender placed the glass in front of her, she turned slightly and watched the dancers for a moment. She grabbed the glass, brought it to her lips and asked, “Do you have a dancer here named Peaches?”

  The bartender, a big man with tattoos up and down his arms narrowed his eyes at her question, then shrugged. “I’m here to serve drinks, not to answers dumb questions.”

  Cassie narrowed her own eyes then taking her drink, she began to wander around the club. She watched everything without seeming to notice anything. Slowly making her way toward the back hall, she saw one of the dancers enter the Ladies room. Placing her glass on the table, she headed that way herself. Pushing open the door, she saw the dancer checking her makeup. “Hi.” She nodded at the dancer.

  “Hey.” The dancer nodded back.

  “I was wondering if you could help me.”

  The dancer stopped what she was doing and stared at her through the mirror. “Whatcha looking for?”

  Cassie held up her hands. “I just need some information on one of your dancers.”

  The woman frowned. “Sorry no can do, sister. We don’t give out info on each other. We protect ourselves and the club.”

  “I can relate to that. I’m not asking for anything but if you have a dancer here named Peaches. I really need to find her. To make sure she’s okay. I’m not here to hurt anyone, but I do need to find her.”

  “Sorry honey can’t help you, club rules.” The dancer moved toward the door.

  Cassie moved aside to let her pass. “She’s my friend and I need to know she’s all right,” she whispered. “I swear, that’s all I want to know.”

  The woman paused. “If Deke finds out I told you anything, I’ll be in so much trouble.”

  Cassie shook her head. “He won’t find out from me. If you see her, tell her to call me at the Star Bright motel, room 104. Just get the message to her. Nobody has to know we even spoke. Please?”

  The dancer nodded then left and the door closed slowly behind her.

  For the first time since this nightmare began, Cassie let a deep hopeful breath.

  A few minutes later, she walked out of the rest room and to the main door of the dance hall.

  ~* * * *~

  She didn’t see the three men that followed her to the parking lot and watched as she got into her jeep and drove away.

  One of the men lit a cigarette and as the smoke cleared he said, “Deke might want to know about this.” He turned and walked back into the club. As he made his way to the back room where the offices were, he nodded to the bartender.

  At the big oak door of Deke’s office, the man paused briefly and knocked. When Deke called out, he opened the door and came inside. The office was neat and tidy. The large oak desk in front of him was littered with papers and a laptop but he paid them no mind. As his eyes met th
e man’s behind the desk, Wiley swallowed hard.

  Deke was a big man, six foot six inches, and at least three hundred fifty pounds of raw muscle. His short black hair was brushed back away from his face and his eyes were the color of ice. His hands were just as big as the rest of him and could easily break a man in half. “What’s up, Wiley?”

  “We have someone sniffing around, asking questions about one of the dancers.”

  Deke sat back in his chair. His fingers steepled while his steely gaze met his Sergeant at Arms. “Now who would be foolish enough to do that?”

  Wiley shrugged. “It was a young woman. She first asked Hal about her but when Hal wouldn’t give her any answers, she went into the ladies room after Candy. I don’t think Candy would talk, but you never know what chicks are gonna say.”

  “Bring Candy in here,” Deke ordered as he got up and moved from behind his desk.

  A few minutes later, Wiley escorted Candy into the office.

  She took one look at the big man’s face and began to tremble.

  “I understand we had someone asking about Peaches.”

  Candy groaned. “She asked but I didn’t answer.”

  “What did she want to know?”

  “She said she was a friend and just wanted to know if Peaches was okay,” Candy answered truthfully. “She told me to have Peaches call her.”

  “Call her where?”

  “She’s at the Star Bright, room 104. I swear boss that’s all she said.”

  Deke stared at the woman for a moment then nodded. “It’s okay, you aren’t in trouble, but the next time someone asks anything, you better be the one to bring it to my attention, not Hal or Wiley. I run a good place here and give you girls the protection you need to feel safe. I need you to look out for each other as well.”

  Candy almost wilted in relief. “I understand boss. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you first thing.”