Harley: Prince Of Tigers, Book 5

by Kathi S. Barton

  “Dead. I told you he was dead. And what sort of buyers did you have for her?” Sharon couldn’t remember what she’d been talking about and waved the man off. “You don’t know, or you’re not telling me?”

  “Whatever.” Sharon was jerked around, and someone was tying her hands behind her. “Are you taking my hands? Where did my arms go? What the hell are you doing to me? Where are my arms?”

  Kenny was brought toward her, and she could see that his nose was bleeding. Telling him he had a little something on his nose made her laugh hard. Things were just too funny when you were high as fuck, she thought. When he was asked if he understood something about his right arm or leg or something, Sharon giggled again. As they were dragging her out the door, she told them she had to get her stash. Going back into the house, she used her toes to pull the vase off the little table, and it knocked over some of their toys. Before she could get her stash of fun shit, the cops snatched it right up from her.

  “That’s mine. You give that back right fucking now before I have to hurt you.” The man, a different one this time, said she was too stoned to do much of anything, like walking. “I can walk just fine.”

  It took her three tries to get to the door, but she made it. Turning to stick her tongue out at the other man, she was jerked out of the house and put into the back of a car. It was nice and toasty warm.

  “Where we going? If you’re taking me out to dinner, I want a nice thick steak. Damn, I think there might be one in the fridge. Where is Pansy? He can—oh yeah, you said he was dead. Did he tell you to come and get us? I don’t know why. I don’t like him at all. I don’t know why I even stole him in the first place.” Then she remembered. “Oh yeah, more food stamp money. The girl too. What’s her name again?”

  “You stole them both?” Sharon nodded and had to stop. Her head was surely going to fall off. “Where did you take them from?”

  “I don’t know. Someplace. Where is my stash, buster? Don’t think I don’t know you took it.” He said he had put it in some kind of bag. “I want it back. Put my name on it or something so you know it’s mine. Where is Kenny? He was supposed to go down to the buyer and get us some more stuff. I got money for the girl. Ronnie. That’s her name. Stupid little kid. Did you know she can run really fast? Pansy, he usually takes her away, but not anymore. We surely did fix his ass, didn’t we?”

  “Yes, I suppose you did, didn’t you?” After that, no one would speak to her about anything. Of course, she was sure they didn’t care so long as she was cuffed up. If she was loose—well, by god, she’d show them a thing or two. “We’re here.”

  It took her several moments to figure out where here was. “Wait a fucking minute here. This is the police station. You didn’t tell me I was going there. What the hell are you pulling? Give me my stash and take me home. Are you flipping nuts? I can’t go to jail today. They’ll know I’m stoned out of my head.”

  “I think anyone looking at you or even smelling you over the stench of piss and shit would know you were high. You’ve been read your rights, Ms. Johnston. Now you’re going to jail to not just stand trial for killing your son, but a great many other things I don’t have time to go over with you right now.” She told him this was bullshit. “I assure you, killing your own child is bullshit as well. Now, are you going to get out nicely, or do I get to jerk you out of the car and drag you—? Skip that. I’m not touching a hair on your head. I think there are rats taking up residence in your head.”

  Touching her hair, something she used to be so proud of, Sharon could feel that it was out of order. Trying to brush her fingers through it only made her hurt. Then she broke a nail. Looking at the rest of her fingernails, she did wonder who had eaten them all off to the cuticle.

  Being jerked from the back of the cruiser, she was off her feet for a moment before she fell against the stupid vehicle. “Don’t think I won’t tell them you abused me. Just look at my arm.” She couldn’t see it because someone had stolen her entire arm. “Who took my arm? Did you take it?”

  “Why would I want something as nasty as your shot up arm? Christ, you have enough needle marks on your body. It’s a small wonder you’re not spouting blood all over the place.”

  She was taken into the station house and asked them again where Kenny was. Them telling her to shut up only pissed her off more, but Sharon was suddenly too tired to care what the hell they did to her right now.

  Getting on the little bed that was in the room when she’d been given back her arms, Sharon laid there and tried to think what the hell was going on. The one thing she did remember was that she had to meet someone at midnight to sell off the girl. But where and who was something she couldn’t put her finger on.

  “Sharon Johnston, do you know why you’re here?” She said someone had stolen her stash. “Yes, I heard about that. And that you were about to sell your daughter to someone. Can you tell me where?”

  “I don’t remember. Will I be out of here in time to get there? I know it’s a dark place, but that’s about all I can remember. Do you know?” He told her he didn’t. “Oh well, she ain’t home right now anyway. I heard Pansy was dead. I ain’t going to pay for him being buried. He’s not my kid either.”

  “Where did you get him? And Ronnie?” She said she couldn’t remember right now. “How about you give it some thought, and we’ll go from there. The sooner you remember, the better it’s going to be for everyone all around.”

  Sharon heard one of the men shouting something about not being able to sleep. Telling him to fuck off made her feel good. When he told her to come down there, and he’d let her, she sat down on the bunk again.

  What had she been doing today? Sharon had trouble keeping her mind straight on some things. Like today. She knew the police had brought her here, but why was the question. Kenny and her had had some fun with Pansy, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember him dying. She thought for sure his smell would have been something she noticed. Then she thought of the people she’d been selling the girl to.

  They’d been real nice to her, and them paying her upfront had been super great. She and Kenny had some fun that night. Where was the kid now, though? Dead? No, she didn’t think so. The fucking cops didn’t tell her that.

  When someone banged on the cell, she turned and looked up at him.

  “Do you have any family that we can call for Ronnie?” She snapped her fingers and said that was her name. “Yes. You’ve only been told that about twenty times. Do you have any relatives that can come and take care of her?”

  “Got nobody but Kenny. We ain’t married. I would have lost my place in the housing if we’d done that. Stupid fucking government.” He asked if there was a sister, brother, or her parents. “No brother or sister. I guess I had parents. Duh. But I don’t think they’ll come around. They kicked me out a long, long, long time ago.” She giggled. “You got any parents? Or some brother and sister someplace? Maybe they will take me in. I’ll need someplace to stay for a little while.”

  “You’re just fine where you are. All right. No family to speak of. Anyone that we can call?” She made a bird sound, yelling call-call until she forgot again. “Ms. Johnston. You do understand that you’re going to be tried for murder, don’t you?”

  “Nah, can’t charge me for murder on account of him not being my kid. See, I’m not stupid.” He told her that murdering someone, anyone, was still murder. “No, you got that wrong. I know better.”

  “I’m sure you think so. A nice family has Ronnie. She’s going to be staying with them until we can find someplace for her.” She asked how much they were going to give her. “Nothing. They’re keeping an eye on her. Feeding her and making sure she’s safe. Nothing like you did.”

  “She wasn’t my brat either. You people sure don’t listen too much, do you?” Sharon started to feel the shakes coming on. “Hey, I’m going to need to get my stash back soon. I got to have it soon, or it
’s not going to be pretty. Just give it to me, and I won’t tell anyone. Come on. I’ll even blow you for it.”

  “Fuck no. I wouldn’t let you touch me if you were wrapped up in sanitizer. Christ.” The cop actually shivered. “The doctor will be in to see you in about an hour. He’ll make sure you’re fit.”

  When he walked away, she told him she wasn’t fit until she got her stash back. Sharon knew they’d have to hand it over sooner or later. It was hers, damn it. Sitting on the bunk again, she wondered what the hell the man was talking about with her being in trouble over having some fun with Pansy. Damn it all to hell, she wished to fuck he’d have died anywhere besides someplace the cops could find him.

  The shakes were getting powerful bad now. Every time she felt the chills coming over her, she wrapped herself up in the little blanket they gave her. Then she’d be burning hot like she was in a toaster oven. Memories were coming back to her as well. Things she’d done to Pansy made her smile.

  Sharon even knew where she was supposed to meet the woman that was buying the girl. Dolly or something like that was the girl’s name. She remembered the doctor too. He’d been rough on her, jerking her around so she’d stay awake. Begging for something to get her over this shit was getting her nowhere.

  “Do you hear me?” She looked at the person standing in the cell with her and told her to go away. “I’m not. I’m here to talk to you about the woman you sold your daughter to. What can you tell me about her?”

  “Who are you?” She said her name, even spelled it out for her. “Rowan is a man’s name, you moron. What do you want?”

  “The name of the woman you sold the child to.” The woman looked to her left. Sharon didn’t because she was sick with need right now. “Her name was Dixie Carter? You actually fell for that?”

  “Yeah, that’s her. Can you get me something to get me through this? It’ll have to be a lot on account of me doing it for so long.” Rowan told her she wasn’t getting anything. “The other cops, they stole mine from me. I can just use that for now.”

  “Ms. Johnston, has anyone told you why you’re in jail?” She said they couldn’t charge her with murdering someone else’s kid. “I’m afraid we can. There is also child endangerment. Child neglect. There are also—”

  “Get me my fucking stash.” Sharon leapt at the woman but didn’t remember touching her. When there was other shouting going on, she looked down at her body and saw the pool of blood at her feet. “What did you do to me? I can’t go home looking like this.”

  She was put on the floor, and she noticed everyone was yelling about her blood being contaminated. Sharon asked them how she was supposed to have washed her blood but shut up when they told her to. It didn’t matter. She was too weak to argue with them now. But she was going to get her stash back if it was the last thing she did.

  Chapter 7

  Harley walked into the living room to find Micky on her laptop. She was talking to herself, he thought until he saw that she had a mic on in front of her mouth. He sat down across from her and watched her work. She did look up at him once and winked, but otherwise, she was engaged in what she was doing.

  “Yes, I can see the damage done to the two buildings. I think I might have pointed that out to you at one point.” She asked whoever she was speaking to if they were using a drone. “Okay, good. I want you to fly to the backside of the larger of the two buildings. I need to see what you’re talking to me about. If the wall is gone, I don’t see how it’s salvageable for the buildings.”

  Walking over to sit next to her so he could view what she was, Micky turned the computer toward him. Whoever she was speaking to, they were very good with the drone. It was moving smoothly as well as right where Micky had guided it to.

  “All right. I can see that now. So what you’re telling me is that you can connect the two buildings at that point, and it will save me a great deal of trouble. I don’t know if you know this or not, but tearing a building down is much easier than all the work it would take to put up walls to make that one building.” Harley asked her who she was talking to. “Mr. Williamson, I have to remind you once again that I have no contract with you on any repairs or any of the work you’re doing now. Also, you’ve been told several times that this conversation is being recorded. You are aware of both of those, are you not?”

  “Yes, yes. But once you let me get to work, you’re going to say it was a good find in letting me do the design work for you. I have a construction crew here right now that is just itching to get to work for you.” She told him to show her where they were. “I don’t mean that they’re on the premises, but they can be as soon as you tell me what I’ve been telling you all along is correct.”

  Putting the man on mute, she looked at Harley. “I’m assuming you didn’t hire this man.” She said she’d not. “All right. Let me get in touch with my brother and see if he could head there with me. I’ll get him out of there and his drone with him. But I do have to admit, that is a great way to look at the top of buildings.”

  “I have a couple of people that do it for me. I can have them come by sometime when you need the help. They are really good at it too. Which is very helpful if a tree is downed or something like that, and you have to see the structural damage before you remove it.” Nodding, he left her there talking to the man after kissing Micky goodbye. “Sir, I have to ask you how the hell you got onto the property in the first place.”

  If he answered her, Harley didn’t know. Whistling as he reached for anyone that could spare a few minutes, he wasn’t surprised when Dad said he’d go. In fact, he said he was in town right now and could be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Whatever that meant.

  “The lock has been cut. The big dummy even left the cutters there.” Dad waited while he called the police. “You have to be pretty ballsy to do something like that, don’t you think? I mean, there must be a dozen signs here that say to stay off the property. Humans are dumber than rocks sometimes.”

  Entering the building when the police arrived, Harley and Dad hung back. They knew when the man had been found when they heard him shouting that he was talking to the owner right now. Harley told the police, who he was sure knew that he and Micky owned the land, that he was the owner.

  “He broke into the place and told my wife that he had a crew to start working on the things here without our permission. As you might know, we’re waiting on permits to get these two buildings taken down to use the area for gardening in the spring.” Mr. Williamson was arrested and taken away, but Dad wanted to have a look around. “Sure. I mean, Micky is at home working. I have to leave in the morning for France, so I’m all yours tonight.”

  The building had been worked on by the faeries over the last few days. Had Williamson been inside the building, he would have noticed that the walls had been torn out as well all the equipment, even the things that had been damaged. Dad commented on the fact that the wall didn’t look all that damaged to him.

  “The main walls are up and in good repair. There aren’t as many outlets for electricity around, but that’ll be easy to fix.” Dad pushed against the door that was more splintered wood than door now. “Harley, as much as I hate to agree with a trespasser, I’m thinking he might have been on the right path. What were your plans for this space when you’re done, anyway?”

  “Gardens. Not just for the kids, but anyone that wishes to be able to grow a few things.” Dad said there were too many trees around for them to do much good. “I never saw that until just now. So you think if we turned this into a garden area, we might be failing before we begin?”

  “Fail? No, failure isn’t a word I like to use. But the people growing things, they might feel they’re failures when they can’t get much to grow. I mean, in the early spring, before the trees come full on, it’ll be fine. But in the summer and until fall, they’ll be lucky to get much more than an hour of sun daily.” They walked to the parking lot, where heav
y equipment had been stored by the city when it broke down. “Sell this stuff for scrap. There’d be plenty of it here to make a good deal of money. Also, you could donate it to one of those scout troops or one of those other kids things, so they can use it for uniforms or something. This place here, you can see it gets a great deal of sun just by the way the trees are far back from it.”

  They walked around for hours, Dad pointing out things, him relaying the information to Micky. When she showed up an hour later, she had the plans to the places as well as notepads to keep track of the changes. Bubble and Pop showed up a few minutes later with not just Sunshine but a group of faeries as well, ready to work.

  “I just want to see what’s here after the tree is removed. Nothing more just now.” The tree wasn’t removed as much as it just disappeared. Micky asked if they needed it chopped up for anything they could do with it. “I don’t want anyone hurt by it just being tossed into the woods, Bubble. Tell me what you need, and I’ll make sure you have it.”

  “The way it is now is perfect. With the break old enough, there are bugs and other things inside the bark. That way, where it is now in the woods behind where the new trees are, they’ll chomp on it rather than the new leaves in the new plants.” Micky told Bubble that if he needed anything, to tell her. “Thank you, my lady. We would like to have the small pieces of slate that have been broken off. We can use them to put better roofs on our houses than just dried grass and such.”

  “All of the slate is being removed. I’ve made a bargain with one of the locals to repurpose it for art projects in the other building. You take all you need of the broken ones, and I’ll be happy for it to be used by the faeries.” Bubble said he’d spread the word around about it being there. “Good. Also, if we have to remove the slate from all the buildings, I’ll make the same deal with you. Just take what you want of anything you can use—please just take it. All right?”