by Alina Jacobs
“It’s bigamy.” Greg started laughing.
“It’s not funny,” I snapped at him. “This was a stressful time for me.”
“Don’t be so stupid.” Greg sneered. “You’re the lawyer.”
I thought about it. “Holy shit!” I said. “We got him!”
“Got who?”
“Dad! We have a way to nail him. This is a bigamy charge. It’s fraud. Idonna was already married. She knew she was already married.”
“Is her husband still alive?” Greg asked.
“Yep,” Blade said, “still alive and kicking.”
“So,” I said, excited, “she’ll flip. She’ll testify that Dad brought her to the compound for a fraudulent marriage. She’ll have to, or she’ll be fined and go to jail for a bigamy charge.”
“We need to find Dad first, though,” Blade reminded us.
“I’ll have Josh and Eric file a complaint to the State of Wyoming first thing,” Greg said.
My phone rang.
“Crawford!” I said happily.
“The fuck are you so chipper?” he grumbled.
“I’m not married!”
“What the—I would fucking hope not. We just swept through the main compound. We didn’t catch everyone before they scattered.”
“Did you find Dad?”
“Did you find our sisters?” Mace butted in.
Crawford sighed through the receiver. “No, and I’m concerned. I think he must have had some sort of a heads-up.”
“I told you,” Greg exploded. “I told you this was a stupid idea. They’re probably dead.”
“Don’t say that,” Parker said. “They could be found.”
“They won’t,” Greg spat. “Crawford fucked up.”
Remy got on the phone. “Greg, calm down. We will find them; we’re close. I can feel it.”
“We aren’t. Crawford put everyone in danger,” Greg said, heartbroken and angry. “He put Meg, Belle, our sisters, and our little brothers in danger. The kicker? He didn’t even catch Leif. He’s still out there somewhere.”
“There’s enough data here to nail him,” Crawford said.
“You acquired it illegally,” I spat. “Greg was right. We can’t turn this over to the FBI.”
“I didn’t get anything illegally,” Remy drawled. “We were just here visiting family when we came upon some concerning information and thought we’d better report it.”
“And,” Weston added, “we are going to make sure that it’s extra incriminating.”
“Ensure that doesn’t get traced back here,” Garrett said sharply.
“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Blade said smugly.
“We are so fucking close to ending this,” Weston added, puffing his chest out.
I wasn’t so sure. “It’s not over until we find Dad.”
There was commotion outside of the door.
“They’re busy!”
“They’re having a meeting!”
Several of my brothers were yelling. Feet pounded on the hardwood floors outside of the office, then there was furious banging on the door.
Weston opened it. “Little Isaac!”
“Why don’t any of you answer your phones?” Isaac exploded.
I looked at mine. I had several missed calls and text messages from Isaac.
He stormed into the room. “I had an emergency!”
“Did Minnie not accept your invite to the middle school dance?”
“He’s in high school, Parker,” I said irritably. “Isaac, what is it? We are in the middle of something important.”
“I think I just saw Dad.”
“Holy smokes! Where?”
“One of you better go get him!” Crawford yelled through the phone.
“He was at the Grey Dove Bistro,” Isaac said in a rush. “I saw him through the window. At least, I think it was him. But he left before I could get a good look. He jumped into a car and took off. I don’t know where he went.”
Shit.
“Meg. He went after Meg. Crawford, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Don’t you dare—”
I hung up on him then hit Meg’s name on my contact list, pacing while I waited for her to answer.
“Hunter, I—”
Her phone went dead.
Fuck.
“I need to go.”
75
Meghan
“Hunter?”
“Guess again.”
“Leif.”
“She is smart after all,” he said, taking a flashlight out of his pocket and shining it in my face. I winced against the bright light.
“Get out of my house,” I ordered.
“Make me,” he said in a mocking tone. He screwed off the top of the flashlight, setting it like a lantern on the side table in the foyer.
I backed away, trying to figure out how to escape the house. All the doors and windows were boarded up, though, and Leif was blocking my only exit.
The upstairs. Hunter had snuck in through my bedroom window on many occasions, thanks to the large tree just outside of it. If I could get up there, maybe I could escape.
“I don’t know what you want from me,” I said, trying to keep my tone calm and rational. The stairs were at the other end of the hallway. I just needed to get there. Slowly. “What does it matter to you if I take more information? It’s not like I have any more money. I’m flat broke—thanks to your son, I might add.”
“Of course Hunter screwed you over,” Leif said bitterly. “He screws everyone over. What did he promise you for dealing with me? Hm? Was he supposed to pay you? Give you a car? Marry you? You were in cahoots with him this whole time.” Leif sneered at me as I took a slow step back. “My worthless sons. I did everything for them, yet they eat me out of house and home. They’re disrespectful. They fight constantly.”
“Yep,” I said, taking another step back. “They are infuriating.”
“But you,” Leif said, shaking a finger at me. “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to get in my head. But I know you. You’re conspiring with them, just like that girl Belle. They sent her to try and weasel information from me. I didn’t realize it was a trap until too late. Now my compound is in disarray, the FBI is probably swarming it, and my daughters are missing.”
“I don’t know anything about your daughters.”
“Liar!” Leif screamed. “You and Hunter stole them from me. They went missing, and I know it was you. You laid that trap for me, after all. I should have known. God, I should have known. You women, you want everyone to think you’re dumb and pretty. I thought females were stupid until they screwed me over. Now I know. Your kind can’t be trusted.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with your compound,” I said.
Another step back.
“You’re going to pay for it, though,” Leif continued. “I’m going to start a new compound, a new family. And you’re going to help me.”
“Absolutely not!” I said, spinning on the ball of my foot and racing up the stairs.
The old Victorian house had a bizarre staircase built in the eighteen sixties. The stairs were not anywhere close to code. If you weren’t familiar with them, you would trip and fall flat on your face. But I’d had years of brutal races up the stairs against my sisters, and I could run them blindfolded.
Leif could not. He pounded up the stairs after me then howled a curse as he tripped. I cut to the right as the stairs turned sharply, Leif careening behind me, stubbing his toe at the uneven landing. Then I went up the twisty, final winding staircase to my childhood bedroom.
It had been a while since I’d climbed down the tree. When I was younger, I had done it to sneak away from my parents.
I locked the door to the bedroom and raced to the window. It was stuck closed with paint and humidity.
“Open! Open!” I prayed. I was not going to the desert to join a cult. I couldn’t even cook! The window creaked open as Leif threw his weight against the locked door. The metal lock started to
split from the wood. I used all the weight I had gained from stress eating to force the window open.
Thankfully I’m wearing a pantsuit, I thought as I forced myself through the window. At that moment, Leif busted down the door, the split wood banging against the opposite wall. I was almost through the window when I felt his hand grab my ankle and jerk me back inside.
76
Hunter
Crawford’s motorcycle was still parked in the garage where he had left it before going off with Remy to the American West.
Crawford had called Greg back and was now howling at me through the phone. “Don’t touch my stuff, Hunter!”
“He’s after Meg. I know it!” I yelled, pulling the helmet onto my head.
“You don’t know that,” Greg insisted. “Meg’s not even his type. He goes for waifish, tall, and blond.”
“Greg,” Crawford shouted through the speaker phone, “do something. He’s going to wreck my bike.”
But I sped down the drive before Greg could stop me. Normally, it took me twenty minutes to drive into town, but I did it in ten, roaring down the streets. I stopped at the Gray Dove Bistro first and banged on the door.
“Go away!” Minnie shrieked on the other side of the glass. “I’m calling the police!” She held up her phone, which was calling 911.
I ripped off the helmet. “Minnie,” I demanded. “It’s me. Where is Meg?”
She unlocked the door. The 911 operator was talking on the other line. “She went to the house,” Minnie said in a rush. “We are supposed to be watching a movie.”
“Shit.”
Meg’s crappy station wagon was parked in front of the boarded-up Victorian house. The door was wide open.
Was Leif in there?
Crashes came from inside the house. I paced around out front. I needed the element of surprise on my side, since I didn’t have a weapon. That house was big and creaky. If I walked through the front door, my father would hear me coming.
I looked around. There was a large oak tree that brushed the top of the house. One of the branches was at the perfect height to climb into Meg’s bedroom window. I knew, because I had entered that way on occasion.
I swung up, grabbing the bottom branch, and began to scale the tree. The wind buffeted my hair as I climbed to the topmost branch, and I shimmied to the window.
It was open.
Sounds of a scuffle came from inside. I shoved my way through the window and tore through the hallway. I was going to kill my father.
But apparently not unless Meg was going to get him first. She was swinging a blush-pink hand mixer at my father, who was bleeding profusely from his nose. Also, one of his fingers was at an odd angle.
I ran toward them and narrowly missed being brained with the kitchen appliance.
Meg shrieked when I appeared in her peripheral vision. The beater flew out of her hands and conked Leif on the head.
He cursed and stumbled, tipping backward to fall down the narrow staircase.
“Oh shit!” Meg cursed. “My mixer better not be banged up.”
“How come you’re not dead?” I asked.
“My bestie is in the police force.” Meg shrugged. “She taught me a few tricks, especially since things can get heated at town hall meetings. Never hurts to be prepared!”
At the bottom landing, my father groaned.
“Too bad he’s still alive,” I said, putting myself between Leif and Meg.
“You ungrateful, worthless—”
“Uh-huh,” I said. “Heard it before. Don’t care. I’m calling the police.”
“You’ll never find me!” my father declared, jumping up then staggering down the stairs.
“Don’t,” Meg said when I started to run after him. “He’s not worth it.” She petted her hand mixer as we made our way downstairs. Sirens blared in the distance.
“I think your sister sent the police here,” I explained as we walked out onto the porch.
Blue and red lights flashed. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw that the neighbors on the street had gone out onto their porches to watch the commotion. Several people were on the street, gawking and filming something with their phones. I blinked in the flashing lights.
“Is that my father?”
“Holy moly,” Meg said. “Is that an alligator?”
My father was groaning on the ground. A six-foot-long alligator had his leg in its viselike jaws.
A sewer manhole cover popped open, clanging onto the street. Mr. Boyde popped his head out.
“I got him!” He cackled. “Behold, people of Harrogate! I give you the great Harrogate alligator!” He stared up at the clouds. “Grandpa, I have vindicated you!”
“I need a drink,” I said.
“You owe me!” Mr. Boyde yelled, heaving himself out of the sewer then tossing his walker on the street.
“Help me up! Help me up!” he demanded. I ran over, giving a wide berth to the reptile, and hauled Mr. Boyde out of the sewer.
“You don’t have any proof that thing’s been living down there,” Art hollered, trotting over, waving his cane around.
“I bet you bought that on one of those dang websites, eBay or Craigslist or whatever it’s called, and planted it here.” Art gestured to the gator with his cane. The reptile released my father and snapped at the old man. Several women screamed.
“Catch him before he runs away!” Mr. Boyde demanded.
“I don’t think my father is going anywhere,” I said as Leif groaned on the ground, clutching his leg.
“No!” Mr. Boyde said crossly. “The gator! I want to be on the Guinness Book of World Records!”
The alligator started hissing and took a few jolting steps toward me. I was from the American West, and as such, I had dealt with lizards but never gators. I was very aware of the crowd watching me. I braced myself. I am not going to get eaten by an alligator and have the video posted all over the Harrogate Facebook group.
The gator hissed at me and lunged then was flattened as Meg flung herself on top of it, taping its mouth closed with a roll of duct tape.
“Holy smokes,” I said, grabbing the front quarters of the animal while Meg grabbed the back.
“Let’s just put it in the back of the police car,” Susie instructed, wrapping a blanket around the struggling creature.
“I found it!” Mr. Boyde said loudly, hobbling after us. “I want the reward money.”
“There is no reward money,” Meg said. She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. “But thank you for your service to the community,” she told Mr. Boyde. “You’re going to be awarded a medal.”
“A medal!” He puffed out his chest. “You hear that, Art? A medal!”
Meg smiled up at me. “We make a great team,” she said, wrapping her arms around me, like she loved me.
But I was about to break her heart. Again.
77
Meghan
“We need to call animal control,” Susie said. I released Hunter and went to talk to my friend.
“I do not get paid enough to deal with alligators.” She went over to handcuff Leif.
“I’m filing a criminal complaint,” I said. “This man tried to kill me.”
Susie listened to her radio scanner for a moment. “Since animal control says they’re off the clock, Leif can ride to the station with his new friend. And since Meg is an elected government official, I think the FBI will be very interested in talking to Mr. Leif.”
I breathed a sigh of relief after Susie hauled him to the car and forced him into the back seat.
“Hunter,” I said, turning back to him. He wasn’t smiling. I wrapped my arms around him. “You came to save me.” I snuggled against his chest.
“I’ll always come and save you, Meg,” he said. He still looked so sad. He stroked my hair.
“I think we should call a truce,” I suggested. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. You know that. I do want to spend the rest of my life with you. After your super messy divorce of course.�
�� I laughed anxiously. How was that going to work?
“Fortunately, I know a good lawyer,” I quipped.
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m not married. It was fraud, which is par for the course for my father.” He sounded tired.
I reached up to stroke his face.
“Then everything’s fine! Bullet, and alligator, dodged! But I think we should forget about moving into my old home,” I joked. “We pretty much laced that with bad memories.”
“Meg…”
“Or,” I continued, chattering on, “the building across the street from Hazel’s is going to go up for sale; we could move in there…”
“Meg,” Hunter interrupted. “We’re not moving in together.”
“Oh right, because of our siblings.” I laughed. “Sneaking around like teenagers it is, then!”
“Meg, we’re…” Hunter shook his head. “We’re done.”
“No we’re not!” I said in disbelief. “We’re just getting started!”
“Meg, I love you, and I will always be there for you whatever you need, but this?” He gestured between us. “Is not going to work. Your actions directly threatened the safety of my family. I can’t forgive that.”
“No. Hunter, I’m sorry I got involved with Leif,” I begged, trying not to cry because I was an ugly, messy, snotty crier, and it would for sure drive him off. “Please just give me another chance.”
“I can’t, Meg,” he said, pulling away from me.
“I love you, Hunter,” I choked out, starting to cry. “I can’t lose you.”
“I can’t trust you. You can’t be in my life.” He looked so heartbroken. I hated myself for hurting him.
“You would do the same if it were your sisters,” he reminded me.
“Your sisters!” I blurted out. “I’ll help you get them back!”
“Leif was arrested, and my sisters are still missing, probably dead, so it doesn’t matter now. I don’t need you.”
“But I need you,” I warbled.
He stroked my face one more time. “I’ll have Blade get in touch with you when he has your finances sorted out. But just please don’t contact me anymore.”
