Frazier: A Cross to Bear Shifter Romance, page 9
“Okay. You think of him, and I’ll have a look. From there, I can trace him backward to—how far do you need me to go?” Jamie told her that at least until she found out what his anger was about. “If I see the face of his sister or her kid, I’ll go that route as well. Can you…I don’t know. Keep listening to this woman and hint at what I should be saying when she pauses?”
“Does she ever pause?” They both laughed, and she said that she’d do it. “Thanks for this. I hope you can at least find out something.”
She found the man sitting in a restaurant having a cup of coffee. Amelia hated coffee with a passion. While she was drinking hot tea with Frazier nightly, she didn’t care all that much for it either. Unless it was his grannies. She’d not asked for any of it, thinking they’d want to keep it around, but she could go for some of her fall special right now.
Getting into his mind, she found that he was an angry sort of shit. While searching for the cause of his over-the-top anger, she looked around for his reason for wanting to find his sister. It could be nothing more than she was a bitch and had said something to him this morning, but she—just as she was making up stories that might have pissed the man off, she found the source of his anger.
“Jamie?” She said she was there. “There is a body in a gully near the entrance to the Pigeon Forge area. Not far from the mile marker that leads people back to Gatlinburg. He’s been there for a while, at least a couple of months. Decomposed and been shot three times. There won’t be any identification on him, but his name is Nathan Webb. He’s the ex-husband of Dave Farley’s sister. He’s the angry shit. I can’t find where he killed his brother-in-law, but he does know where his body is.”
“That has him angry? Oh well, that’s the man that I was supposed to find anyway. Webb has been missing from his home for about that long too.” Amelia said she was still looking. “You might want to tune into your meeting first. Mabel is thinking that you’re agreeing with her proposal for her to take the house. Lay down the law if I were you and tell her how it’s not going to happen.” Amelia looked at Mabel.
“I think you’ve gone on about this quite enough, Mabel. You will live in the house that belongs to you and leave your neighbor alone. If I hear that you are tormenting her again, I will have you pay a hefty fine for pestering her about anything at all.” She looked around the room. “If you think that I’m going to do what my mother has done in the past, then you are sadly mistaken. I will hear each and every case, and I will, good or bad, pass judgement on you. If you are here to waste my time, to piss me off so that I walk away? You don’t know me very well. I will be here until every appearance is heard. Do I make myself clear?”
Six of the witches gathered up their things and left. Two more were nodding like they were happy this was the way she was going to handle things from now on but left as well. As the eight remaining witches sat there, Amelia told them that she wasn’t going to be listening to anyone wanting to increase their wealth by means of magic. That was against their bylaws. In the end, everyone in the room left, and she was finally able to concentrate on the man.
“Thanks for leading me right to Webb. Now if you could find out where Farley’s sister is, and she’s all right, I’d feel a good deal better. I have no idea why but I have a feeling that this isn’t going to bode well for her in the end. Not if he’s that angry still after a couple of months.” Amelia told her that she’d found the source of his anger. “I’m not going to like it, am I?”
“Probably not. Nathan was an attorney for Madeline Farley, Dave’s sister, in getting her child support for the kid. She goes by—hang on. She has three children, triplets. Two daughters and a son. Anyway, Maddy needs her child support. Baby daddy is behind by about eight years now. Burney Archer just stopped working above board so that he’d not have to pay her for the kid’s needs. Nathan and Maddy have been friends since before they started kindergarten together.” She asked if she knew why her brother killed him. “Dave has never liked Webb. He’s smart and has been helping his sister hide from him. Why hiding? I don’t see it in his mind, but I’m assuming that it has something to do with the fact that he knows Archer from prison. Really well, it seems.”
“So this shit killed the attorney that is helping his sister get food on the table for his two nieces and nephew because he didn’t like him? You do know that is one of the stupidest reasons I’ve ever heard for a reason to kill someone, don’t you?” Amelia laughed and said for as long as she’s been around, that one is way up on the top of her list too. “Do you happen to know where Maddy and the kids are? I mean, is he even in the right area to find them?”
“Let me have a search around. She’s a pretty little thing.” Amelia found the woman easily enough, but finding the kids was a little more difficult. Each time the woman bounced from hiding place to hiding place, she didn’t have the children with her. Being ten, she figured that they’d have a good handle on being able to care for themselves, but she really didn’t know that many children. “She’s good at hiding them away, that’s for sure. And she is in town. She works three jobs right now, each of them a restaurant—to which there is an incredible amount of them around here. Dishwasher for two of them, and she cleans rooms for a bed and breakfast just up the road from where her brother is enjoying coffee.”
“I have him now. One of the officers that are helping me today is going to be watching him for the next few hours. By tonight he won’t be able to take a shit without the Feds knowing the weight, size and what it consisted of. He’s staying at one of the larger hotels just off the main drag in Gatlinburg.” Amelia said she’d not known that she had that much pull. “Neither did I, to be honest, but once I told them that he killed Webb, a federal judge, they stepped right in and took over. Fine by me.”
Still looking for the kids, she found four other hiding places they’d been hiding in over the last month. Each time they moved, it was as if they knew that Dave was close on their tail. Sometimes the kids would simply bug out of a hiding place before their uncle showed up an hour later. Never any less than that, either. Just as she was moving to the next place, she hit paydirt.
“Found them. Christ, Jamie. They’re behind the Gatlinburg Crockett’s Breakfast Camp. It’s on Parkway. They’re going to be caught if—never mind. They heard some kid taking the trash out or something and have hidden again. They’re all right, but I’d really like it if you were to pop there and get them. Take Mark with you. I don’t want any of you hurt because they’re digging in the dumpsters.” She watched as the kids seemed to know just what they were looking for. “They’re smart as tacks, those three. Or their mother taught them well. Either way, they’re not just eating people’s leftovers from their plates. They’ve found some pancake mixes that are expired. Also, they’ve found a bag of apples, some other spices and some kind of canned meat. I think it’s ham. Now they have some syrup that they’re putting in their backpacks.”
“Do you know where they are headed?” She told her that they’d been staying in one of the many empty shops along that lane. “Okay. I’m going to go up Parkway and pop there ahead of them. This might turn out badly if they scream or something. What are you going to do?”
“Get their mom. I’ll get her and then bring her with me to meet up with you guys. I just realized that one of the girls is hurt. I don’t know how or anything. I’m focusing more on keeping up with Maddy for now.” Jamie said that sounded like a good idea. “I’ll see you soon.”
Amelia used her considerable magic to close up the building she was in as she made her way to the restaurant where Maddy was working. Just as she was ready to come out of the bathroom where she had popped, a shot was fired in her direction.
She couldn’t leave with Maddy. She’d been shot by someone coming from the dining area. It looked like she would bleed out if someone didn’t get their heads out of their asses, so Amelia entered the brouhaha and started barking orders. No one seemed to understand that she didn’t work there but did what she told them. Telling Jamie what was happening, she gave her just enough magic to keep her alive.
“Maddy has been shot twice. It’s going to be touch and go here for a little bit. She was shot once in the head and then in the chest. Get the kids, and I’ll meet you at the hospital.” Jamie asked if she thought she’d be a while. “Not on my end. But there is…Oh damn, Jamie. I found your man. He’s dead. And it looks like Dave boy shot and killed him. His sister too. I’m so sorry.”
“Are you coming in the ambulance with her?” She said that she could. “I’ll make sure that you can. Just be careful. He’s on the run again, I’m assuming. We’ll find him. And when we do, he’s going to pay. I’m with the kids. I will have to tell them something so that—”
“Hang on. Maddy is talking to me.” Leaning down to hear what she had to say, Amelia told her that they were picking up the kids right now. Nodding, she told her the word that she’d have to know in order for them to believe her. Once she had given it up, Maddy closed her eyes. Amelia gave the young woman a bit more magic to help her and spoke to Jamie. “Tell them that their mother is hurt and going to live, but the code word for them to trust you is…you’re not going to believe this, Jamie, but it’s ‘Minnie.’ Just that. Minnie.”
Chapter 7
Thad didn’t have any idea why he trusted the people that had…well, his mind wouldn’t allow him to think too hard about how they’d gotten to the hospital. The big man, his name was Mr. Gibb, had wrapped his arms around his waist, and they were suddenly at the hospital. He might well have hurt the man, even if he’d only been able to kick him, but his sisters were there too and didn’t seem to be in any kind of fear. The two people holding onto them were Miss Sunny and Miss Jamie. He looked over at the man who had entered the emergency department by the sliding door. Like a normal person would, he wanted to point out but didn’t.
“My name is Mark Cross. This is my wife, Jamie, who has helped you. This is my sister-in-law Sunny and my brother, but not her husband, Gibb. You’ve introduced yourself to them?” All three of them told him that they had. “Good. All right. My sister-in-law Amelia is with your mom. They’re on their way in by ambulance right now. Did you know that your mom had been hurt?”
“Yes, sir.” Thad looked at his sisters when they nodded at him. He didn’t know if this was a good idea or not, but they had all agreed. “We’ve been on the run for a bit now. Mom is about a step ahead of her brother all the time. We’ve been moving around a lot, so no one could find us. Dave, that’s his name. He’s not a very nice person. Is mom going to be all right?”
“Yes. She’s in good hands. In the event that you didn’t notice, we’re all magical. Amelia is a witch and is staying next to your mom while she’s there. She won’t allow anything to happen to her while she’s being taken care of. All right?” Thad nodded and looked at his sisters Belle and Maria again. “I’ve been told that one of you is hurt. This is a good time to be fixed up while we’re here. No one will get to the four of you while we’re with you. And we’re not leaving you at all.”
“Belle has been hurt. She hurt her ankle two nights ago when we were on the run. I tried to wrap it up for her, but it’s still hurting her.” Belle showed Mark her ankle when he asked. All he did was touch it, and Belle didn’t seem to be in pain anymore. “Thank you for that. She’s been hurting so much that I was worried about her. Does that work for all kinds of stuff, Mr. Mark?”
“Yes. Are you hurt?” He wanted to tell him that he was hungry, and that hurt too, but he knew that wasn’t what he meant. So all he did was lift his pant leg up to show him the wound on his leg that was still bleeding through the paper towel. Thad had been keeping it clean with paper towels since the night it had happened. The infection was nasty smelling, and he’d get all sweaty at night when it hurt the worse. “That’s a nasty cut, Thad. How did you get that? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“We were almost caught a couple of weeks ago. Mom was going to get me something to put on it today, she got paid, but I guess her brother caught up with her. I got hurt because I was going back to get the food that we’d left when we ran just when Dave showed up. He was really mad that he’d missed us again. I got cut from coming out of a screened-in window.” He was never going to call Dave uncle again. The man had been tormenting them since he and his sisters were little. All on account of the little bit of something that the three of them had and he wanted them to work for him. It was Maria that started talking to Mark then.
“We can see things. Not really anything that is important to us. Contests, mom calls them, like ball games and horse races. We see who the winner is. We can also see the score or times the horses come in to win on the contest too. You know, when it’s over.” Mark didn’t say anything as he pulled the paper towel completely off his wound. “But Belle, she can see when we’re going to be caught, and we move then. It’s only a little bit of time, but bugging out all the time is hard to do.”
“I just bet it is.” Jamie looked at his leg then. “That really is a nasty cut. However, I’d feel better if you were to get it cleaned up before we fix you up. All right? I mean, there might be something in the wound that will only keep festering. No one will know that you’re here nor that you’re hurt. I won’t even tell your mom until she’s better. If that’s okay?”
“Yes. I don’t want her to worry. She hates leaving us to get some work, but we need stuff too. Food is most important, I guess. We’ve gotten good at knowing who throws out the best things we can eat.” Having someone helping them, even if they were strangers, nearly made him cry he was so relieved. He and his sisters had been trying so hard not to show their mom how afraid they were, and he thought that was stressing them out more. “Mom had to take us back from him about a year ago. It was our birthday, and he’d been in the house. I don’t think he’d been invited or anything. He just came into the house and beat the snot out of our mom. After he drugged us, he took us to the racetrack and made us tell him the winners and stuff. It’s cheating, and we know it, so we didn’t want to help. Mom got us from him with the help of her friend Nathan. My biological father, he’s a deadbeat and owes mom a lot of money that could be going for us having insurance and a car to get around in. I don’t know why we’d need either of those, but mom sure does think it would make a difference for us.”
Thad realized how angry he sounded and apologized to Mr. Mark. He told him he’d be angry too if someone that is supposed to be caring for him didn’t do their job. Then he told him that they’d be staying with him and his wife until they could get to the bottom of things. He looked at his sisters to see if they were all right with that and noticed that Belle was staring at Mr. Gibb.
“What’s wrong?” Thad didn’t know what he could do to the man if he was going to hurt them, but they knew how to run, and they would too if it came to his sisters being safe. “Belle? What’s wrong? Has he hurt you in any way?”
“No. Not at all.” She finally looked at him. “We should stay with Mr. Gibb. He needs to get to know us all better.”
Thad didn’t know what was happening, but if Belle told him that he needed to boil his toes in oil, he’d do it. She’d never been wrong about stuff before. Maria could, too, tell them when they’d be safe someplace, but not nearly as often as Belle did.
“Gibb?” He only looked over at his brother and shrugged. It was then that Mr. Mark burst out laughing. “I think I get it. All right. As soon as Maddy gets here, we’ll test out this theory. All right?”
Mr. Gibb only smiled and looked at the three of them. Again he didn’t know what was going on, but he figured that sooner or later, he’d talk to Belle and find out what was going on. When the big doors opened to the sound of sirens, he stood up with his sisters. His leg was hurting so bad by then that he nearly fell. And would have had Mr. Gibb not grabbed him up and held him in his arms. It was their mom.
“They’re going to take her right up to surgery, and then they’ll admit her.” The woman that had been getting out of the ambulance came to kneel in front of them. “You must be, Thad. And your sisters are Belle and Maria. Your mom was so worried about you that she made me promise that I’d keep an eye on you all for her. I know that this is a great deal to put on you right now, but you couldn’t be in better hands than you are with my family.”
“I trust them too.” A nurse came to get him and Mr. Gibb. “I have a cut on my leg that they’re going to look at. I don’t want my mom to know until she’s better.”
“Good idea.” She looked up and over his shoulder at Mr. Gibb. “I think that all of you should be checked out while you’re here. What do you think, Gibb? That way, when your mom is better, and she will be, we can tell her that you’re all in the best of health.”
“Excellent. What do you say, girls? Ready to make sure that you’re all healthy with your brother?” His sisters followed him back to the emergency room. Once they were back there, it was as if there wasn’t anyone else in the world around but the four of them to be seen. He was taken to x-ray after being put in a gown. “While you’re gone, Thad, I’ll see about getting a bigger room so that the three of you can be together while here.”
Thad couldn’t help it. He started to cry. It was so wonderful to have someone taking over all the things he’d been doing since he and his family had been on the run. Mr. Gibb didn’t say anything while he held him but told Belle and Maria that stress and pain would make even grown men upset. After a few minutes of just holding onto someone stronger and willing to help them, he was taken to the other department to see about his leg.
