The Betrayed

by Jana DeLeon

  Carrying a couple of the sheets, she walked into the hall, where the light was better. The cursive was much easier to make out, but the faded spots were many and it was still difficult for her to make out all the words. As soon as she got a chance, she’d pick up a magnifier at the general store. The store probably didn’t have anything that would please Sherlock Holmes, but she knew they kept small magnifiers in stock for sewing.

  From what she could make out, large deposits were made into the account randomly, and never for the same amount. Royalties, maybe? But then, she wasn’t aware that Purcell had any money or investments of his own, and wouldn’t royalty payments have recurring dates? She sighed and dropped the papers in the appropriate boxes, mentally adding one more thing to the list of things she needed to discuss with William. Sitting in his office yesterday, everything had seemed so simple.

  Too simple.

  The thought echoed through her mind, forcing her to acknowledge one of the driving mottoes she’d always lived by—if something appeared too simple, it was always going to be a bear. Still, it seemed horribly unfair that she’d come to Calais for answers and all she’d found were more questions.

  “Hey.” Zach’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “You didn’t. Just interrupted a bunch of negative thinking that needed to stop.”

  He held up the voltage meter. “Well, positive or negative, I can pick up the energy signal. I’m not going to get in your way, am I?”

  “Not at all, but we need to clear you a path to the light switch, unless you want to try to hook up that thing leaned over ten thousand sheets of paper.”

  “It’s usually better to have a clear view and both feet planted on the floor when playing with electricity.”

  She smiled. “If we move those three piles nearest the wall, that will probably be enough. Let me grab one of the extra boxes.”

  She snagged one of the empty boxes from the hall and grabbed a stack of the paper and dropped it inside.

  “Do you want to try to keep this in order?” he asked.

  “I don’t see the point. Most of the stuff I’ve looked at isn’t sequential. It’s like God came into the office and shuffled all the paper like a deck of playing cards.”

  He laughed. “Now, there’s an interesting visual.”

  When they removed the last of the large stacks away from the light switch, she dragged the box back into the hall to get it out of the way, then returned to the papers on the desk as Zach removed the plate from the light switch.

  It was comforting having him right there next to her, even though she’d never admit it out loud and was a little perturbed that she felt that way. In every crisis she’d come across before now, she’d always been the strong one—the person everyone else looked to. Her own personal crisis had been borne silently and without aid, not even so much as a cry on an understanding shoulder.

  It almost seemed as if revealing her true self had weakened the wall surrounding her, and now everyone and everything was systematically chipping away at it, exposing more of herself than she felt comfortable showing. For the first time since she was a child living in Rose’s house, she didn’t feel in control, and that bothered her.

  “What the—” Zach’s voice broke into her thoughts.

  He was staring down at his voltage meter, a stunned look on his face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s spiking like crazy, registering way more voltage than is normally found in home wiring.”

  He held up the box and she saw the needle jerking back and forth in the center of the display.

  “Maybe that’s what is causing the problem—the wiring’s shot,” she said.

  He raised his head and looked directly at her, his eyes wide. “You don’t understand. I haven’t hooked it up to the light switch yet.” He lifted the loose wires up in his free hand.

  She gasped as one hand involuntarily covered her mouth. It wasn’t possible that the device could register electrical charge when it wasn’t even connected to an outlet, but it was happening right in front of her.

  “How...how can that be?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

  He shook his head. “I have no idea. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

  He moved the box around, but the needle still swung back and forth over the center of the screen. When he waved it in the direction of the bedroom doorway, it spiked even higher. He frowned and stepped toward the bedroom. When he stopped in the doorway, he lifted the two loose wires in the air and pointed them inside. The needle sprang to the right side of the meter and stayed pinned against the side, not moving at all.

  “It’s in there,” she said. “Whatever is causing it is in the bedroom.”

  She looked down at the box, and suddenly, the needle fell from the right to the left. Zach shook the box and lifted the wires farther into the room, but the needle remained at zero. He stepped back into the office and walked over to the light switch, but the needle didn’t move even a millimeter.

  “It’s gone. How can that be?” she asked.

  “Given that it should never have happened to begin with, I couldn’t even begin to guess why it stopped. Electricity is a moving current, but it doesn’t move in those extremes—not inside of houses. And it certainly doesn’t move through air.”

  “Except lightning.”

  “I didn’t see any lightning in the bedroom, did you?”

  “You know I didn’t.” She blew out a breath. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I live a simple life, and ever since I claimed my birthright, everything has become so complicated and confusing. I’m beginning to think I should never have told William who I was and continued living a perfectly decent life as a waitress.”

  He placed the voltmeter on the desk and laid his hand on her arm. “We’re going to figure this out.”

  A spark ignited in her at his touch and her arm tingled where his hand lay. It had been a long time since she’d allowed a man to touch her in an intimate way, even one as simple as a sign of reassurance, and he was the first man she actually believed when he said he’d be there for her. He was a good and honorable man who would probably do the same for anyone else, but she knew his touch held the promise of so much more.

  Realizing she hadn’t responded, she said, “Figuring out my problems is hardly in your job description.”

  He looked down at her, his green eyes staring directly into hers. “It’s more interesting than repairs.”

  She tapped the side of her head, reminding him of his injury. “But not nearly as safe.”

  He stepped closer to her, and her breath caught in her throat. “Sometimes a guy just doesn’t want to play it safe,” he said.

  She knew he was going to kiss her, and she could have moved away, but instead, her body betrayed her and leaned into him as he lowered his lips to hers. The gentle brush of his lips sent so many emotions racing through her—care, passion and desire—and she closed her eyes, drowning in this one perfect moment.

  He stroked her hair and deepened the kiss, and she leaned farther into him, pressing her body against his as he gathered her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around him, her hands caressing his strong, muscular back. Her skin tingled as the blood rushed to her head, leaving her almost dizzy with desire.

  “Hellooooo!” Carter’s voice sounded from downstairs like a boom of thunder.

  She released Zach immediately, the shock of her more-than-compliant reaction just now setting in. He held her a second longer, clearly reluctant to let the moment go, but not about to press the issue with Carter downstairs.

  “Up here,” she yelled as she walked out of the office and looked over the balcony. “We’ll be right down.”

  Carter nodded. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

  She glanced back at Zach, who was staring at her with a pensive look. Was he already regretting his action?

  “Should we tell him about what happened here?”
he asked.

  Unbidden, a flush rose up her neck at the thought of explaining to Carter what he’d interrupted, then she realized Zach meant what happened with the voltage meter, and a second wave of embarrassment washed over her as she realized her mind and body were still more engaged with the kiss and not the business at hand.

  “I guess so,” she said. “He won’t think we’re crazy. He’ll just go looking for an answer. That’s the way he is.”

  Zach nodded. “Then I guess we better get downstairs.”

  She hurried down the balcony hallway to the stairwell, wondering all the way just how far she would have taken things with Zach if Carter hadn’t interrupted. Something told her that if the sheriff had been ten minutes later, he might have caught them in various stages of undress.

  The worst part was, she was almost disappointed that he hadn’t.

  Chapter Twelve

  Alaina LeBeau stood at the front door and lifted a hand as her stepbrother drove away. As his taillights faded into the distance, she pushed the door shut and locked it behind her, her earlier conversation with Danae weighing heavily on her mind.

  She turned around and cast her gaze over the cozy living room of her adoptive parents’ tiny Boston home. Real estate was at a premium where they lived and always had been. Five people shoved into twelve hundred square feet had been a challenge at times, but they’d managed to make it work, and Alaina and her brother and sister had attended great schools with stellar reputations—allowing them all to enter top-tier universities with scholarships to pay for their degrees.

  Alaina had been fed, clothed, required to make good grades, praised when she’d done well and disciplined when she’d gotten out of line. On paper, she had nothing to complain about, even though she’d always known her adoptive parents never loved her as they did their own children. They cared, but that wasn’t the same thing.

  With Danae, Alaina got the impression that her sister’s childhood had been rough, possibly even abusive. Danae had that tough outer shell and guarded her speech like so many street kids Alaina had interviewed in the past for testimony. But Alaina also knew that behind that wall her sister had erected was a vulnerable, damaged human being, and her heart ached for the sister she’d always loved and wanted to protect. Now more than anything, she wished she was back in Calais, but she couldn’t see any way out of her obligations here—at least, not for a week or so.

  She heard her mother shifting in her bed, trying to get comfortable, even though it was practically impossible with her broken leg. Alaina stepped into the kitchen and poured her a glass of milk and gathered her medicine. She’d made vegetable soup while they were gone and her brother had stayed long enough to enjoy the meal with them and help her get their mother settled in her bedroom.

  You should wait.

  The words came to her every time she thought about the conversation she needed to have with her mother—the one where she asked if the only reason they took her in was for money. The one where she asked if Purcell continued to pay them to keep her.

  She and Danae needed answers. She knew next to nothing about Danae’s past, but her little sister had offered up that the woman who’d taken her was now dead. No answers were forthcoming from that source. William had yet to locate Joelle, although he thought he was getting closer. But even when their middle sister was found, no guarantees existed that her adoptive family was still alive or would be willing to answer the questions they had.

  She sighed. Truth be told, no guarantees existed that her own adoptive mother would be forthcoming, but at least Alaina had the advantage of being able to read people well. She’d know if she was getting the truth or a lie. She’d know if her mother was telling her everything or holding something back, and if she had to, Alaina would twist and manipulate her into letting it all out just as she did those on the jury stand. Now was not the time to worry about past hurts. Lives were at stake.

  Her mother was propped up on her back wedge, a rerun of one of those singing reality shows running on the television. Alaina handed her the milk and pills, and her mother took them both and dutifully swallowed the medicine as Alaina pulled a chair over next to the bed to sit.

  “Your soup was excellent,” her mother said. “I have to admit, I was a bit surprised. I don’t remember you being all that interested in cooking.”

  Alaina smiled. “Carter’s mother gave me some of her recipes and some tips. She’s a genius in the kitchen and makes it look so easy.”

  Her mother raised one eyebrow. “So all it took was a good-looking man to get an apron on you?”

  “How do you know he’s good-looking?”

  Her mother laughed and patted her hand. “You’re a beautiful, intelligent woman, Alaina. If a man caught your attention to the point that you’ve got his mother giving you cooking tips, then I have no doubt he is every bit a Hollywood hero.”

  “You watch too much television,” Alaina said, but her mother’s words pleased her.

  “Well, I would go bungee jumping instead, but my doctor might object.”

  Alaina laughed, then before she could change her mind she said, “Mom, I need to ask you something, and it might make you uncomfortable, but it’s very important that you answer me honestly.”

  Her mother frowned. “I’ve never lied to you before. If I have answers you need, you’ll get them.”

  “Did my stepfather...did he...pay you to take me?”

  Her mother’s eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. “Why would you ask something like that?”

  “Because my sister is going through the household records for the estate attorneys and she found entries in a checkbook—large payments to you and to the woman who took her in, made just after our mother died.”

  Her mother sighed then gave her a single nod. “This is one conversation I hoped I’d never have to have, but I promised you I wouldn’t lie and I won’t. Right after your mother died, Purcell started contacting her relatives. None of us really knew your mother—her family had moved to Louisiana so long ago and never visited—but your stepfather figured family could get legal custody more easily.”

  Alaina swallowed. “And family who got paid for it might be willing to take on a stranger’s children.”

  “When Purcell called us, the first thing we thought was what a horrible man, and I’ll go to the grave without changing my mind on that one, but our motives weren’t pure, either. We were living in a two-bedroom house on the south side of town at the time, and despite working extra jobs, we couldn’t afford to get out. The school system was horrible and we worried constantly what would happen to your brother and sister if they grew up in that neighborhood.”

  “So you took the money.”

  Her mother nodded. “This house had just gone on the market, and we could stretch to make the monthly note, but we needed the down payment and money to move. Purcell’s offer seemed prophetic. We needed the cash to make a better life for our own children, and you girls needed a home, but we knew we couldn’t take in all three of you.”

  “So you got me. How was that decided?”

  “We requested you because you were closest to our own children’s ages. We thought it would be an easier transition for you, and we didn’t want to go through toddler stages again.”

  Alaina took a deep breath and blew it out, trying to process the fact that she’d drawn the good family completely by default. If she’d been the youngest, she would have gotten Danae’s life instead of this one. The unfairness of it all left a bitter taste in her mouth.

  “Did he keep paying you? I mean, after that first payment?”

  “No. It was a onetime offer and we were instructed never to contact him again. We asked for information on your sisters, but he said it was not our concern and wouldn’t tell us where they’d gone.”

  Her mother squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Alaina. It’s true we made the decision to take you in because we needed the money, but I promise you we love you and are proud of you. We’ve never once regrett
ed our decision.”

  Alaina nodded, afraid her voice would break if she spoke. She knew what her mother said was true—they did love her—but it wasn’t the same for her as it was for her stepbrother and stepsister. It never could be. She knew part of that was because she wasn’t their biological child, but the other part was all on her.

  She still remembered her mother, and snatches of her childhood were returning to her since she’d moved to Calais. Some of the distance was her fault, because she knew where she really belonged, and it wasn’t in Boston. Ever since she’d set foot in Calais, Alaina had known she was where she was meant to be.

  “Are you all right?” The worry in her mom’s voice was clear.

  Alaina nodded and squeezed her hand. “I don’t blame you for your choices. You did what was right for your family, and I benefited from your dedication to raising your children in a safe place with a good school system.”

  “But you’re worried about something. I’ve known since you walked in my door that something was wrong. I hoped with that man dead, all the trouble was behind you now.”

  “Apparently not.” Alaina gave her mother a brief rundown of the odd things happening at the estate, leaving out anything to do with the supernatural. Her mother was a staunch believer in only what she could see and quantify.

  “I don’t like it,” her mother said when she was finished. “Can’t you girls go somewhere else until the police have figured all this out?”

  “I’m not positive it would do any good. If someone simply wants to prevent us from inheriting, then I don’t see any reason why the harassment would stop if we left Calais.”

  “But you’re not safe there.”

  “Actually, in many ways we’re safer in Calais. It’s a small place, so things that are out of the ordinary are easier to spot, and Carter knows everyone and everything that goes on. He’s watching everything like a hawk. He’ll figure this out.”