Aftermath (Dividing Line #6)

by Heather Atkinson

  “That’s enough from both of you,” said Ryan, his tone putting an end to any further trouble.

  After dinner Lexie flounced up to her room complaining of jet lag, taking a bottle of white wine with her. Rachel spotted her sneaking it out of the fridge but didn’t complain, she just wanted her out of the way for a bit.

  “Thank God for that,” she said, plonking herself down on the couch beside Ryan. “She’s really starting to get on my nerves and she’s twisted, hitting on her own brother.”

  “She always was wild. What she doesn’t realise is she’s too old to play the rebellious teenager, she needs to grow up.”

  “Lexie’s annoying,” added Leah, making Ryan chuckle.

  Lexie sat at the top of the stairs listening to their scathing voices drifting up to her, tears running down her face. These people were her only chance of saving herself and she’d fucked it up royally.

  Jules could see the lights on in the Law household and their cars on the drive and the temptation to sneak up to the house was strong, but she reined it in. They weren’t going anywhere tonight. A cosy night in for the family. Her brow creased into a frown. They’d taken all her family, the men she’d thought of as brothers for years yet there they were, snug in their nest.

  Jules huffed out a breath before turning on her heel and walking away. Dane was right, the Laws were different, she had to play it right, there would only be one chance and if she blew it the consequences were too dire to contemplate. She’d booked into a nearby B&B under an alias, she’d return here at first light to resume her vigil.

  As she walked away Jules noticed a car coming down the street, a dark blue or black BMW, it was hard to tell which colour in the fading light. It slowed down slightly as it passed the Law household before speeding up again. She tried to see who was inside but the streetlights reflecting off the glass made it difficult to make out any details. It turned a corner at the end of the street and disappeared.

  It would seem she’d have to move quick before someone else got to the Laws first.

  “Don’t you dare Ryan, don’t you bloody dare,” chided Rachel, waving her finger in his face.

  “I’m sorry babe but this meeting has been set up for weeks, I can’t miss it, not if we want to buy the land,” he replied, holding up his hands.

  “You are not leaving me alone with Lexie. She’s your sister.”

  “I can’t miss this meeting.”

  He was right, he couldn’t and she knew it but she still wasn’t pleased. Leah was in school and the boys were at nursery, so it would be just the two of them for hours. “What do I do with her?”

  “You’ll think of something.” When he heard Lexie’s footsteps on the stairs he rushed for the door. “Bye,” he called. “And look out for my other mad sister.”

  “Ryan…”

  The door slammed shut behind him, leaving her to huff in annoyance.

  “What did he mean by other mad sister?” said Lexie. She wasn’t thinking about the possibility of another sibling, more what his statement said about her.

  “Nothing. He has to go to a meeting, so it’s just the two of us.”

  “Oh,” said Lexie, shuffling awkwardly.

  Silence.

  “We could hit the shops if you want?” suggested Rachel.

  “Are there any round here?”

  “Yes. Some good ones actually,” she said indignantly.

  “I saw a sign for a racecourse.”

  “You like a flutter?”

  “I do.”

  “I don’t think there’s any races on today because the track’s hosting an antiques fair.”

  “Oh,” she pouted.

  “We’ll go into town, it’s lovely and the farmer’s market’s on. I want to get some fruit and veg.”

  “Exciting,” Lexie replied flatly.

  “You don’t have to come,” she retorted.

  The thought of being alone scared Lexie. “No, I’ll come.” She forced a smile. “I’m sure it’ll be lovely.”

  “It’s got a shopping centre too. I don’t want to be nosy but are you okay for cash?”

  “I’ve got plenty,” she said, throwing back her head.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t implying anything,” Rachel snapped back. She took a deep breath and compelled her lips to form some sort of smile. “It’ll give us a chance to get to know each other. You never know, we might find that we get along.” She couldn’t help but agree with the doubtful face Lexie pulled.

  Jules watched Rachel walk out of the house with some blond woman and the excitement that had been building up inside her deflated. She’d watch the children being taken to school by who she took to be the nanny and Ryan leave in his car. That meant Rachel was all alone. Not expecting such an opportunity she’d decided to go against her original plan and make her approach when she was in her home, but she hadn’t realised she had a houseguest so that was out.

  She rushed back to her bike parked further down the street, pulled on her helmet and started the engine to follow. Before she could pull out the same car she’d seen cruising by last night set off, leaving a diplomatic gap between it and Rachel’s Mercedes. Now it was daylight she could see it was actually a dark blue BMW. Inside she glimpsed a big man with a black moustache hunched over the wheel and a skinny man beside him in the passenger seat. Jules let one of the neighbour’s cars go by before pulling out. It would be difficult to lose Rachel in such a small place so she could keep her distance.

  When Rachel’s car pulled into a spot just vacated by another car on the main road in the centre of town, Jules drove by and parked round the corner with some other bikes. After pulling on the wig and sunglasses she headed back towards the shops, Rachel and the blond woman walking into the pedestrianised area towards the farmer’s market. Jules hung back, browsing the shop windows near Rachel’s car. She saw the blue BMW parked in a disabled bay, the cheeky bastard, the big man and the skinny man scowling out of the window, eyes riveted on Rachel and her companion, intent on their quarry. Were they from Manchester? If they were part of the northern underworld she felt sure she would have recognised them, unless they were mercenaries someone had hired. It appeared Rachel was oblivious to both her own presence as well as theirs as she perused a fruit stall, her blond companion looking bored. Jules couldn’t really blame her. Who would have thought the famous Rachel Law spent her free time studying guava or whatever the hell that weird fruit was in her hand.

  Sensing her companion was getting fed up, Rachel quickly finished up her shopping at the farmer’s market and returned to her car. Jules turned her head, pretending to study the window of a shoe shop, watching in the glass as Rachel dumped her purchases in the car, locked it up again and wandered down the street, the blond trailing behind her. It looked like they didn’t get on, they’d barely exchanged two words.

  Jules sighed and followed, sighing again when they entered a shopping centre. She hated shops and shopping. The crowds annoyed her as well as those creepy sales assistants who came running up to you when you entered asking if they could help, their look telling you they thought you were there to nick something. It was an insult, especially when she had the money to buy the place three or four times over. Still, that’s what people tended to think when they saw her dressed in bike leathers with her tattoos. She prided herself on never having shoplifted in her life, she didn’t need to. It was beneath her.

  The blond seemed to come alive now they were around real shops and it was Rachel’s turn to look bored as the blond wove in and out of each and every one, spending extra time in the jewellery store. Jules sneaked a look inside, striding past the store as though she was on a mission, chancing a sideways glance and seeing Rachel staring sightlessly at a display of watches while the blond tried on a bracelet. The big man and his skinny friend were on the prowl too, sitting in the window of a café opposite the jewellery store. The two women were in there so long the men enjoyed a large coffee each before they emerged, the blond clutching three carrier bags whi
le Rachel looked like she’d just woken from a coma. Jules thought it funny how Rachel had got more pleasure from looking at fruit and veg than a jewellers. Perhaps she wasn’t as shallow as she’d initially thought.

  After a couple more shops they returned to the car and Jules let them climb in before rushing to her bike. She was held up by some idiot in a transit van pulling out in front of her with no warning, forcing her to anchor on. She spat and swore, the impressive flow swallowed up by the helmet. Kicking the bike up into a higher gear she shot round him, giving him the finger on her way past and found herself two cars behind the blue BMW and four cars behind Rachel’s Mercedes. She relaxed. She hadn’t lost her.

  Not knowing what else to do with Lexie, Rachel took her to the salon and told her to get whatever she wanted done on the house. For the first time all day Lexie looked pleased by a suggestion of hers and was led off for a massage by Daina while Rachel flopped onto the couch, Tracey bringing her a strong coffee to revive her.

  “Who’s she?” said Tracey, sitting down beside her.

  “Ryan’s sister.”

  “I didn’t know he had a sister.”

  “Half sister. She’s Riley’s full sister.”

  “Riley, I remember him,” she smiled.

  “Unfortunately she’s nothing like him. She’s full of herself and a major pain in the arse. I thought the two of us might actually start to get along by spending some time together but I know now that’s never going to happen, not when I’m always having to stop myself from punching her.”

  “Oh dear. Maybe Daina’s magic hands can mellow her.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping.”

  “Hi Rach,” called a voice.

  Rachel looked round to see someone with their hair in curlers waving at her. “Dee, is that you?”

  “Yes it is,” she said, getting up out of her chair and joining them on the couch. “I’ve got to wait for it to set so I thought I’d join you for a natter.”

  “You’re more than welcome,” smiled Rachel.

  “Rachel was just telling me about her sister-in-law. Apparently she’s really annoying,” smiled Tracey.

  Rachel felt herself unwind as she chatted with her friends, getting all the local gossip. When Dolores had to return to the chair to have the rollers removed, Tracey said, “did Ryan tell you what I said?”

  “About your brother?”

  She swallowed hard and nodded.

  “He did. We’ve asked Battler and Bruiser to look into it. Don’t tell anyone this but they’ve already been asked by the relative of one of the other missing men to dig into it.”

  “They’re security, not private investigators.”

  “They’re as good as, trust me. If they want to find someone they will. They’re your best bet.”

  “Thanks. Sorry, I don’t want to sound ungrateful but it’s just…I…”

  Tears filled her eyes and Rachel patted her hand. “It’s okay, I get what you’re trying to say. Hopefully they’ll find something.”

  “I just need to know for definite, one way or the other. It’s torture.”

  “They will.”

  Rachel’s mobile phone started to ring and she rummaged through her handbag for it, just managing to answer it before it went to answerphone. “Hello?”

  “Mrs Law it’s Simon from the letting agents. Someone wants to take a look at Maidstone House.”

  “When?”

  “Now.”

  “Right now?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so.”

  “Fine,” she mumbled, just wanting to go home and indulge in a large glass of Abercraig whisky. This viewing would mean more time trapped in the car with Lexie, but needs must. “Okay. Tell them I’ll be there in an hour.”

  “I can handle it if you want Mrs Law?”

  “Thanks Simon but you know I always like to vet prospective new tenants personally.” The letting agent was good for handling all the paperwork and any jobs that might need doing on the properties but she insisted on deciding who lived in something she owned.

  CHAPTER 18

  The fifteen minute drive to Maidstone House felt so much longer when it was made in silence, Rachel and Lexie having absolutely nothing to say to each other. At least Lexie seemed more relaxed after her massage, head lolling in the passenger seat as she watched the countryside whiz by. Rachel was irked when she realised she hadn’t even said thank you for the freebie.

  They pulled up the drive of a large detached Edwardian house.

  “Nice,” said Lexie approvingly.

  “I know. Looks like the viewers aren’t here yet. Good, gives me time to air the place a bit.”

  Rachel went inside and began opening some of the windows to let in a stream of fresh air.

  “How long’s it been empty?” said Lexie, looking round approvingly.

  “Four months. We can’t get anyone local to move in because the last person who owned it killed themselves. They got into bad debt and ended up cutting their wrists in the bath.”

  “I hate it when people let superstition stop them from taking advantage of a really beautiful property.”

  “It wouldn’t bother you staying where someone had committed suicide?”

  “I like to think I’m made of sterner stuff. Can I look at the gardens?”

  Rachel nodded and they walked through the house to the rear sitting room, Lexie waiting while Rachel unlocked the French doors and they stepped outside into rolling gardens.

  “Lovely. No neighbours, no noisy traffic,” said Lexie, closing her eyes to enjoy the peace.

  “I would have thought you’d like all that.”

  “Sometimes I do. Sometimes I just like to be all on my own, no one around to judge me or call me horrible names.”

  “Who’s been calling you horrible names?”

  She shook herself out of it. “No one, just thinking aloud.”

  Rachel thought of her sudden appearance here, her need to find Riley and something slotted into place. “Lexie, are you…oh bloody hell,” she muttered when her phone started to ring again. “Yes Battler?”

  “Jules is in Devon.”

  “Oh that’s just marvellous,” she snapped. When Lexie gave her a questioning look she turned her back on her.

  “I flashed her photo - well, mug shot actually - around every local hotel and lodging house and the manager of a B&B just five minutes from your house called me. He said she was wearing a blond wig but it’s definitely her. He called her a bad tempered cow.”

  “That sounds like Jules.”

  “Where are you Rach?”

  “Maidstone House. I’m showing a prospective tenant round.”

  “Is the tenant there yet?”

  “No, they’re due any minute.”

  “What if it’s Jules who booked the viewing to lure you out?”

  “I don’t think that’s her style, she seemed much more up front than that.”

  “She was Jasper White’s assassin Rach. Assassins are sneaky bastards. This could be a trap. Lock up the house and don’t let anyone in. Me and Bruiser are on our way.”

  “What’s up?” said Lexie when Rachel hung up and tapped the phone against her chin, lost in thought.

  “Nothing.” She thought Battler was being melodramatic. Besides, Jules didn’t worry her that much. She’d beaten her once, she could do it again.

  Jules snuck through the bushes at the side of the house just in time to hear Rachel say her name. Did she know she was in the area and if so, how? She felt sure it was something to do with the nosy sod who managed the B&B she’d booked into, he’d kept giving her funny looks. Alternatively Dane could have warned them she was on her way, the treacherous two faced wanker. She’d get him back for that betrayal.

  Rachel and her friend were heading back to the house, probably leaving after the phone call she’d just received. There was no choice, she had to make her move now. The ditsy blond was still with her but she’d be no problem to deal with, then it would just be her and Rachel.r />
  Just as she prepared to emerge from her hiding place, the big man with the moustache and his skinny friend accompanied by a third man with a goatee walked through the French doors into the garden, causing Rachel and the blond to halt in their tracks. When the blond started to shake and back away while Rachel looked puzzled everything fell into place. The men weren’t here for Rachel. They were here for her friend. She was curious to see what the outcome would be if they attacked Rachel. She herself had experienced first hand what it was to like to be walloped by those fists and it wasn’t pleasant. The feel of her two front false teeth, all thanks to that bitch, made her want to sit back and enjoy the show. The blond was fucking useless, she was shaking all over. Rachel was on her own.

  “Lexie, what haven’t you told us?” said Rachel, backing away from the three men advancing on them.

  “They work for my husband, Cole. I ran away from him,” she said in a trembling voice.

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s a bloody psychopath.”

  “That’s why you’re here, you were hoping we’d protect you?” said Rachel, not taking her eyes off the men as they continued to advance on them.

  “I was hoping Riley would. I had no choice but to stay with you when I found out he’d been sent back to his regiment.”

  “Why didn’t you warn us?”

  “I don’t know, I suppose I kind of hoped they wouldn’t find me.”

  “Fucking marvellous,” exclaimed Rachel. She turned her black eyes on Lexie. “I will never forgive you for bringing this to our door, after everything we’ve gone through.”

  Lexie didn’t know what to say. Rachel had done nothing but welcome her and this was how she repaid her. She actually felt ashamed.

  “Ladies, we need you to come with us,” said the largest of the men, his big body threatening to burst out of his expensive suit. His head was shaved and rectangular, neat black moustache sitting on his upper lip, making him look like an overstuffed Hitler. “Cole’s very pissed off with you Lexie, you should have known better than to run.” He looked to Rachel. “Sorry you’ve been caught up in this beautiful but that’s what this poisonous cow does. Unfortunately the damage has been done, you’ve seen our faces so we’re taking you too.”