I’m going to go and see Margie now. I wanted to let you know so that if you feel me getting angry at her, you’ll know the reason for it. He told her she’d do fine. I do hope so. All I’ve been thinking about is how this is going to be coming to a head soon, and she’ll be out of our life. Did you hear about the kids found not far from where you are in the jail?
The girl and the boy out on a date? Yeah, the cops here are telling us that this little bitty thing of a girl beat this guy to shit, then lived to tell about it. I guess it was touch and go for her for a while, but she’s going to pull through. She told him she was one of their nieces’ age. Yes. I can’t imagine what would be going through my head if anything were to happen to one of my nieces. I guess the cop that works here part-time is her aunt. I’ve never met her, have you?
No. Her brother is acting judge until Barker gets back from vacation. He’d not known that part. Okay, I’m here. I have her things that I told her that I’d bring, and I’m going to make a big deal about how this is going to work out for her. Also, I’ve got a list of things I’m to ask her about. But not in an I’m-needing-more-information sort of way. Whatever the hell that means.
He was still laughing about her when he stared at the door again. Or where the door should have been. Looking around, he shifted himself to his big bear and slammed his body against the wall. Pierce felt it budge, and some of the drywall crumble, but it was still blocked. The voice behind him told him he should have been paying more attention than he had been.
“I tried that before. Not as a bear, but that is a good thing to use. I only got as far as using a reciprocating saw. As you can see there, I got it in before the whole place shut down because I blew the single fuse that covers here. Not a good thing to happen in a place full of criminals, I’d think.” Turning slowly, he regarded the woman standing there. “Gabby Thomas. I’m assuming you’re with the pretty lady in the office screaming at the mayor and the captain.”
He nodded. While Pierce knew he could shift and dress at the same time, he wanted to get this doorway open. She asked if she could help him. When he nodded again, she came at him with her hand out. Pierce noticed that not only was it not trembling, but she didn’t seem to care overly much that he outweighed her by about three hundred pounds.
Biting gently into her hand so they could talk, she asked him if he’d hit the wall again. After the third try, not only did they have the wall knocked down, but it showed him that there were several such doorways along this hall. They were on the fourth door when he heard from Demi.
I don’t know what you’re doing, but keep it up. You’re scaring the hell out of the men I’m in here with. They think I’ve opened up the gates of hell and am bringing the devil himself down on them. I love it. Pierce told her what they were doing and who he was working with. As his bear. Good job. And so you know, Gabby needs to take this place over. The moron that works here thinks a good day at the office is not showing up at all. I’m about to go to prison for killing the lot of them.
There are several rooms here, cluttered with boxes of things I’ve not had a chance to look into. Gabby is. But she is sort of just taking glances and mumbling a great deal to herself about penmanship or something. They look to me like old evidence. But then I’m not the type that would know anything about that. Also, these rooms look a great deal like classrooms, all the way to the chalkboards on a couple of walls. She asked him if she could find him easy enough. I don’t know why not. I mean, if I’m thinking this is laid out right, I’m right behind the captain’s office. Or thereabouts. If there is so much overcrowding, why aren’t they using these rooms for something other than collecting dust?
I don’t know, but I plan to find out. She said she’d be there in about half an hour and for him to find a place to shift. You might want to tell Gabby to take off too. Someone has a real hard-on for finding her. She’s in trouble about something that occurred last night. Apparently, she was at the scene where her niece was hurt, and the boss is giving her shit about it. By the way, you found the rooms like they are now. I don’t want us getting into any shit about breaking down walls.
Pierce told Demi about the accident and how her niece was hurt. After shifting and dressing, he told Gabby what was going on. She took off before he got a chance to thank her for her help. He had no idea where the thought came from, but he’d bet anything she knew more about these rooms than anyone did. And he’d bet she was able to get in and out of them without anyone noticing too.
Standing at one of the windows when Demi arrived, he was immediately asked what the fuck he was doing there. If not for Demi, he was sure he would have been arrested. He was also glad that not only had Gabby left, but he’d had the forethought to wipe up her shoe prints.
Chapter 9
The courtroom was filled to capacity. Joey was positive that most of the people there had nothing to do, so they showed up for some kind of entertainment. They were certainly going to get it. She had to smile when she thought of her conversation with Alden last night. He’d asked her how she was doing, and she broke down, telling him her sister was trying to pull a fast one on her.
“Are you planning on letting her do this to you?” She said they weren’t. “They who, child? She’s your sister. What would you do if none of this other stuff was going on? I mean, would you be leading her to the slaughter, so to speak, or just telling her no and getting on with your life? Because the way I see it, and I could be wrong, but she’s still leading you down that path like she don’t have a single care in the world. And you’re letting her.”
They talked about it with the family then. Meadow said Joey was only making her suffer for all the things she’d done to her. It wasn’t as if they were doing this to catch a bigger fish. Margie was it. Besides Peter, and he was going to get his through the IRS. He’d not paid any taxes in the last fifteen years. Since Margie’s name had been forged on all the other documents, he forfeited those to her, which was now all in Joey’s name. Smiling, she thought of what the money from the two of them was going to be used for. The new jail would be a perfect reminder of how not to fuck with a family that not only had more funds than you did but was much smarter all the way around.
As the room was called to order, she looked around at her new family. Becky was even there, wanting to make sure everyone involved knew the little girl was safe. The things she’d been able to take from the house the night she and her mom fled were going to put Peter and Margie both behind bars for a very long time. The sentencing for Peter would be added to his tax evasion time.
Peter was to be brought out first. The police had told them they’d have extra men on duty for this. They were worried that Peter could have called in some extra muscle to get himself out of here. Not so much muscle, but people who owed him. Now with the primer to unlock the codes, they were able to see not only see who owed Peter but what he’d done with the body or bodies when they’d taken care of it for him. It was going to be a very high profile case when it hit the courthouse. But for now, they were working on his taxes. Mr. Shoe was excited to be taking care of both cases.
“I’m thinking we need to have our own seats in here for as much as we come to court for one of the family.” Cindy told Pierce to hush, but neither one of them could stop laughing. “At least a little padding wouldn’t go unnoticed.”
As things got under control again, everyone was seated. Peter was brought out of the side door. It shocked her to her core at how much the man had aged while being in a jail cell for just three nights. They’d put him there when it became apparent he wasn’t going to be able to get a loan for the amount of back taxes he owed, and since nothing was in his name, he didn’t have anything to put up for sale to get it. Joey hadn’t understood why he was still getting taxes charged against him since he didn’t own the things, but Demi told her the money had come from somewhere. And since Margie had never worked a day in her life, it was solely his responsibility to pay
taxes on his income, wherever it came from.
Peter asked if he could speak before the trial began. The judge told him he could, but there would be no grandstanding in his courtroom. He had enough on his plate today as it was. Judge Thomas, brother to Gabby, looked as worn and haggard as Peter did.
“Yes, sir. My girlfriend only needs to sign the paperwork for me to have rightful ownership of the things I erroneously put in her name. Once she does that, I’ll have enough money to pay the fines, which I’m to understand have to be paid first, then I can set up a payment plan for the outstanding balance.” Judge Thomas asked where his girlfriend was. “Jail. She tried to burn my house down around my ears a few weeks ago. She’s coming to see you next.”
“You keep some pretty interesting company, Mr. Hightower. Let me look at what I have here for a moment.” Judge Thomas looked hard at the paperwork in front of him. She knew exactly what he was seeing first. Since he’d not moved anything else around, Joey knew he was looking at the birth certificate of her sister. “How long have you and Ms. Matthews been dating, Mr. Hightower?”
“Oh, let me see. I guess it would be about ten or so years. At least that long.” Thomas asked him to repeat himself, to be sure of the time it had been. “Yes, she was a little young when we started out, but I have to tell you, she was nothing like any of the other women I dated.”
“Do you realize that ten years ago would have made Ms. Matthews fourteen?” Joey stood up then, and the judge turned to her. “Do you have something to add to this, Mrs. McCray? I’m to understand you’re sisters with this man’s girlfriend.”
“Yes, sir, she’s my twin. My father passed away when we were twelve, and that is when Peter started his sexual affair with my sister.” The room gasped, and she stood her ground. If anything, the judge looked sickened by what she was telling him. “The two of them have been having sex since then. I would also like to point out that in that paperwork you have there, it says Margie has had five abortions, as well as three miscarriages. Since the clinic where she had them performed is state funded, they take any DNA from the fetus for future reference. All of them were children of Peter. The first one, you can see she was barely thirteen years old.”
Everyone in the room turned toward Peter. Judge Thomas had to bang his gavel hard several times before he could regain control. He looked at her and asked her what she wanted to do. Her mother stood up then and said she’d not known about the abortions but would very much like to press charges against Peter for the rape of her daughter.
“She can’t do that.” No one said anything to Peter as he ranted about how Margie was a willing participant in all the things she’d done with him. That was what Alan had been hoping he’d say. Winking at Joey, he waited until the judge got Peter to sit down and shut the hell up. “She knew about us being together.”
“I knew they were together. I did. But since Mr. Hightower is a known homosexual, I only thought they were seeing each other in an older man sort of thing. Like her father figure.” Mom asked if she could give Thomas something. The man was so poleaxed that he was nodding even as Mom walked up to hand him the paperwork. “You can see right there that Peter lured my daughter away from us with promises of a better life. Also, more money than she could ever spend in a single lifetime. He had her—well, performing, I suppose you could say, for others. He also paid for her to have lessons in shooting, as well as other means of killing someone. According to my daughter’s diary that she left behind when she moved out at sixteen, you can see that she has murdered for him for a long time.”
Judge Thomas looked over the pages of the diary as the courtroom got louder, accusing Peter of all sorts of things that were more than likely true. Finally, the judge asked for everyone to have a seat. He would return shortly. As he was leaving the room again, he looked at Joey.
“Come with me, Mrs. McCray.”
She moved toward him to see what he wanted. Then he called in Mr. Shoe as well. The two of them were sitting in the room when the judge finally sat down.
He looked at her. “I can’t do this trial. I can sit in on this today, but this is just more than I think I can handle with what I have going on at home right now.”
“I understand. I read about your daughter in the paper this morning. She’s a very brave young woman.” He nodded, then looked at the paperwork he’d brought into the room with him. Thomas looked at Alan.
“I’ve known you all my life, Alan. Even before I knew to be afraid of you. So I can safely say I know you well enough to think you have a plan in all this. We both know he won’t last a day in prison. Not for the tax evasion charges, but the molestation of a child. And it’s right here in black and white that he did.” Alan told him he did indeed have a plan. “Whatever it is, I’m all for it. The sooner this monster is off the streets, the better I’ll sleep at night. I need you to tell me what to do, and it will happen just the way you want it.”
“I was hoping you’d see your way fit to put him in the general population of the prison system, with everyone knowing what he was there for, pending trial for the charges being pressed against him by the child’s own mother. I think it will take time for someone to gather him a defense pertaining to these things coming out. What do you think?” Thomas made himself a note and stuck it to the folder. “Also, as mentioned, Margie Matthews will be in soon. She’s about the worst kind of monster there is. She might try and scam herself a better deal by saying she’d been lured away from her secure home. And how she was misled by Hightower. But the things she’s done…well, let’s just say getting the monster’s spawn off the street will make a great many people sleep better tonight.”
“I have a reference here. Let me look and see what it’s about. I’m to understand there is a child involved as well?” Alan said that right now, she was staying with her Aunt Joey. “It’s about the three bullets that were taken from the body of Rebecca Hightower. Wife?”
“Yes. I hadn’t realized she was shot three times. When we had her body picked up and taken to the morgue, we didn’t say anything to anyone for fear of bringing Hightower’s wrath down on this town. The little girl, you see, she stole his book.” Thomas asked about the book. “The FBI has it now. Since they broke the code a few days ago, they’re digging up bodies right and left. It says in this book who did the killing. Margie did a great many of them, even as a child.”
“According to this email I just got, it says the bullets that killed Rebecca had two sets of fingerprints on them. One was your sister’s, Joey—the other Hightower’s. It also said that there was DNA on it. They think he perhaps had kissed it before it was loaded in the gun. Christ.”
She agreed with him but didn’t speak. She wasn’t even sure what she could have added to the conversation at this point.
“There is also the matter of the money. I’m to understand there is a great deal of it.”
“It’s been signed over to me.” Thomas laughed and asked her how she’d managed to get that taken care of. “She thinks I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she gets out. The story of being lured away and how Hightower made her do things is something that she’s been playing me with for the last couple of weeks. I know better.”
“Good for you, young lady.” She smiled back at him. His was a sad and pain-filled smile to her. “My daughter is in bad shape. The man that hurt her, he’s been going to high school, and he was twenty something years old. He beat her nearly to death. There will be a long recovery to her getting better. But I’m so worried she won’t be the same little girl she was before. She didn’t trust well. My second wife shook that right out of her. Why I married Rose, I don’t even know anymore. But if you can find it in your heart to say a little prayer for my Hailey, I’d really appreciate it. I know she would as well.”
“We’ll all keep her in our thoughts and prayers, Your Honor.” He nodded and asked them to go have a seat but to not say anything to anyone. Alan was
out ahead of her, so she turned back to Thomas. “If you need anything, anything at all, you give one of us a call. We have powers and magic that will help the three of you. I’ve yet to meet your sister, but I’m to understand she’s a ball-buster too.”
“You got that right.” He laughed. “Yes, I might just give you a call sometime for nothing more than someone to vent to. I’m so very grateful for what you’ve done here for me today. It will make my job so much easier.”
As soon as she was seated again, Peter turned to look at her. He was smiling at her like that was going to make a bit of a difference with how she felt about him. For some reason, she had a feeling he’d been responsible for more deaths than were written down in the book. He’d only been keeping it updated because Margie was doing it. Joey just stared at him until he turned away when Judge Thomas came into the room. Whatever had happened from the time she’d left him until now, it had made him look fifty years younger. And a good deal less weighed down by life.
“His daughter is awake and asking for him.” She thanked Demi. “No worries there. I was as glad to hear it as you are. Is everything set up?”
“Oh yes. It’s going to be a nice little surprise for not just Peter but my sister as well.” She looked over at the other woman. She’d been more than generous with not just her time but everything since Joey joined the family. “We need a girl’s day out. Someplace fun and warm.”
Demi was still laughing when Peter was asked to have a seat. The judge leaned toward his bailiff and spoke to him. For the next fifteen minutes, Thomas said, they’d be in a holding pattern. Yes, she thought, Peter and Margie were going to be blown away by what sort of backbone she’d gotten since they’d been children.
~*~
Pierce: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Page 13
