by C. J. Miller
Before he could respond, a shriek of fear cut into the air. Claudia had her hands over her mouth. “I saw her. I saw Livia.” She was pointing to the woods on the far side of the barn. Knox was already on the phone calling the sheriff and the family moved together as if forming a protective barrier around the children from whoever was lurking.
“I know she’s around. I can feel the evil,” Claudia said. “She wants to get us back. All of us.”
Knox organized search parties, with three of his armed friends from the Texas Rangers each leading one. They had attended the party as guests, and Jade was glad they were there. The rest of the family and their friends went inside the house.
Jade and Declan went with Knox. Finding Livia and closing that part of her life would be liberating. The emptiness in her soul might be filled if she knew she could let another person inside without fear of Livia hurting them or trying to take them away. After looking for several minutes, the search felt hopeless.
If Livia had been in the woods, she was gone. Underground tunnels like the one she had built in La Bonne Vie?
When the sheriff arrived with sirens screaming and lights blazing, they circled the perimeter.
A day that had been joyful had turned to sadness.
* * *
Since Claudia’s Livia sighting at Cody’s party earlier that day, Jade expected Livia to appear everywhere. In her car. On her driveway. On her porch. The sense of unease wouldn’t dissipate. Having Declan with her helped.
“You can head inside,” Jade said. “I want to make my rounds.”
Declan turned toward the stable. “I’ll keep you company. I’d say I’ll help, but my shoulder is still beat.”
They hadn’t finished their discussion about how close they had gotten and why Declan needed limits between them. Jade didn’t know if it was a conversation that would play out in actions, if she needed to press the issue or if making it a big deal would drive Declan away. It was hard to be with him, spend time with him and still feel that hollow distance at times.
Jade opened the stable and went inside. She’d had one of her part-time employees fill in for her that afternoon. He had seen to it that the horses were fed and stabled before dark. After checking their water was filled for the night and their bedding was clean and dry, she relocked the stable. Locking the stable was new for her in the last couple of months.
Her pigs, goats and sheep were also in their pens, which had been mucked out, and fresh food and water were set out. It was a relief, after so many days of taking care of task after task, to have another person handle it.
“I’m exhausted and I’m really glad that I don’t have to deal with cleaning and feeding the animals tonight. Not that I don’t love my work. But working seven days a week is starting to wear on me,” Jade said.
“When I started my real estate company, for the first three years, all I did was work. I had no social life. Weekends and holidays meant nothing because I didn’t acknowledge them. I just went to the office every day without fail.”
“That sounds tough,” Jade said. Is that what her life would be like until she had more donations to make the farm profitable and had the means to hire more help?
“It was. I don’t wish that on anyone,” Declan said.
“Mac told me that it would be tough on me to start this business. The mortgage alone is prohibitive, but I have animals and the food and everything I need to care for them. It’s harder than I realized.”
“Don’t give up. You have a good thing going here. It will get easier,” Declan said.
“The girls from the 4-H club were just getting to the point that I was teaching them less and they were doing more. In a few more months, they would have been amazing assets to have. But I’ve lost that now. All because of my mother.”
“You have to keep going even when you hit obstacles. I know it’s hard, but stay the course. You believe in this place. I believe in this place. Eventually, the whole town will believe in this place and it will become like a town landmark. You’ll have waiting lists for volunteers.”
“Thanks, Declan. I need some encouragement,” Jade said.
“The security expert is coming next week. I wanted her here sooner, but she’s wrapping up another job. She agreed to do an assessment of the farm and she’s going to work with you to make you feel safe. No forcing anything you aren’t comfortable with. When I’m traveling, I need to know you’re okay.”
Because he asked in that way, she had to agree.
* * *
Declan lay in Jade’s bed next to her. His shoulder was aching. It had been hurting since that morning before the birthday party, but he didn’t want to cause a problem for Jade and her family. They were dealing with enough and they didn’t need for him to make excuses about needing to be home early to rest. Jade would have felt compelled to accompany him and she had needed time with her family.
At this point of his recovery, Declan had expected to be doing better. The police hadn’t caught Tim DeVega. He was as elusive as Livia Colton.
Insomnia kept Declan awake, his spinning thoughts that grew darker closer to dawn. When the green digital numbers on the clock switched to 5:00, Declan got out of bed, showered, changed his bandage and brewed coffee.
Jade seemed to wake as the smell of coffee drifted through the house. She joined him in the kitchen.
“Eggs?” he asked.
“Yes, please.” She walked to the fridge and pulled out some sliced melon and set it on the table.
“I’d like to ask you about La Bonne Vie,” Declan said.
Her shoulders tensed. “What about it? I’ve been there more times in the last month than I have in the last ten years. No interest in going back. That place is all bad memories.”
Declan chose his words carefully. The town council wanted to keep the land argricultural, and they’d implied he would be taxed heavily for rezoning. “I need to make plans for the house and barn. I’m thinking about tearing them down and trying to sell it as one large plot, maybe two, depending on interest. Prospective buyers have expressed concerns about La Bonne Vie, the tunnels and the history of the property. Without the barn and the house to remind them of what Livia did, it may sell better.”
Jade flinched when he mentioned the barn. She took a sip of her coffee, thinking it over. “I knew about the house. No one wants that place. It’s a disgrace to the town. I guess it’s a logical next step for you to take down my father’s barn.”
Usually, he and Edith did a thorough investigation into everything about a purchase. This one had gotten away from him. The personal nature of this deal had put blinders on him and it would cost him. “This was a screwup. I let my emotions get in the way.” His father’s affair with Livia Colton still messed with his head.
“I’m surprised to hear you say that,” Jade said. She took a sip of her coffee.
“I want to be honest with you. The only good thing is that La Bonne Vie brought me to Shadow Creek, and I met you.”
Jade’s cup trembled against the tabletop as she set it down. “That’s nice of you to say. I’m glad you’re in my life too.”
It was the closest he had come to telling her how he felt about her. It was as if he hadn’t resolved it in his mind and until he did, he couldn’t talk to her openly. In the space of a few weeks’ time, they had been through more than he’d been through in any other relationship. The stress hadn’t broken them and that surprised him. Turning toward each other instead of against each other was a novel concept.
“Do you have other ideas about what could be done with the land?” Declan asked.
Jade slid her coffee cup between her hands. “If you offered the land to Mac and Thorne at a fair price, they could expand their ranch. I doubt the history of the property will bother them. They couldn’t afford it when the state auctioned it. La Bonne Vie was a
ppraised at a high value. Without it, maybe they could afford the land.”
“I can pitch the idea to them,” Declan said. The town council would be happy with a local sale.
“Would you really sell to Thorne or Mac?” Jade asked.
Declan knew he’d take a loss. At this point, with the zoning restrictions, getting rid of the land was the quickest way to deal with the problem. He wasn't planning to work the land, and paying taxes and insurance on it added to the expenses. The construction costs in tearing the main house down had added to the overall cash outlay. It hadn’t been a total waste to buy the property. Destroying La Bonne Vie had done something positive for his psyche. Seeing the house ripped apart and disappear provided closure.
More than the financial reasons, Declan was willing to sell the land to Mac or Thorne if it meant something to Jade. “If they’re interested.”
Jade beamed at him. He slid the eggs onto two plates and set the plates onto the table. Taking a seat, he watched Jade, curious about what she was thinking.
“What’s on your agenda for today?” Jade asked.
“Edith and I are looking at a few properties. I’ll be home late.”
They finished their eggs and were out the door. The setup was decidedly domestic and Declan rather enjoyed it.
* * *
Declan rarely spoke about his family. Aside from River being his half brother, Jade didn’t know how Declan’s father had gotten involved with Livia or where the two had met or why he had chosen her over his wife and son. After their conversation that morning, Jade had wondered about it and it played on her mind.
It was seven when Jade finished her chores. She had an hour until the town library closed. She wanted to know more about Livia Colton. Livia loved being in the spotlight and welcomed reporters to her social functions. Jade might be able to find out something about Declan and River’s father, put another piece of the twisted puzzle together.
Driving to the local library, she accessed the archive machine where old newspapers had been scanned. Though the library planned to add them to a digital database soon, at present, they had to be read locally. Jade sat at the computer and typed her mother’s name. Thousands of search results. Clicking on the first link, Jade cringed. The article had nothing nice to say about her mother.
Typing in a more specific search, she added Declan’s last name. No results. Disappointment tightened in her stomach. Livia and Matthew’s affair wouldn’t necessarily have been publicized in the newspaper. Where else could she find the information?
Declan had met Edith in foster care. How had he landed in foster care in Louisiana when his father lived in Texas?
Jade opened another article about her own mother. This article had to do with Livia’s crimes, specifically, that she had used her house and her vast network of smugglers to move drugs between Mexico and Texas. Another article mentioned Matthew Colton, Livia’s half brother, who was a convicted serial killer. Dark family history.
When someone set a hand on her shoulder, Jade nearly jumped out of her skin.
“I’m sorry, dear, but we’re closing in four minutes,” the librarian said. She adjusted her narrow glasses on her nose, the ball chain connected to the frames swinging. Her white hair was nearly blinding.
“No problem.” She closed the windows on the computer. Reading about her mother was depressing her. Jade didn’t know everything about Livia’s life; in fact, she knew very little, and discovering it crime by crime was hard.
On the drive home, Jade couldn’t get her mother off her mind. A fog was setting in, casting shadows and reflections from her car lights.
Jade took her foot off the accelerator, letting the car slow. When she pulled into Hill Country, it was pitch-black. The lights were out in the barn and stable and she had forgotten to leave her porch light on.
With her mother’s crimes fresh on her mind, Jade felt her skin prickle. She hurried up the steps to the porch and unlocked her door. Darting inside, she shut the door behind her and locked it. Then she threw the bolt. As she walked to the back of the house, she turned on every light she passed.
Buying the farm had been her dream. But she hadn’t thought through the details of how it would feel to be alone there. Declan wouldn’t be by that night.
Jade turned on her computer, planning to send Declan a quick email about her day. Instead, she typed into the internet search engine: Victims of Livia Colton. The first result was the official website of the group, based in Shadow Creek, Texas. According to the site, it had members from fourteen states.
Going to bed would be a good idea. Shutting off the computer and waiting for another day. Or ignoring the site and group completely was an option. Like a glutton for punishment, Jade clicked the menu option for the discussion board.
Every story was worse than the last. Her mother was a cruel, evil monster. Even if the stories were exaggerated, they depicted a woman whose only intent in life was to make herself rich by using others. Her road to wealth was littered with bodies.
One of Livia’s first victims was Tad Whitman, the oldest son of a wealthy family. When she became pregnant, Tad had married her and she gave birth to Knox. There was some question as to whether Tad or his father were the true father. However Livia arranged to walk away from the Whitmans with a divorce from Tad, a name change for Knox from Whitman to Colton and a hefty settlement.
When Knox was two, Livia moved to Austin and seduced and married Richard Hartman, an elderly CEO. Leonor was born six months after their wedding. When Richard died a short time later, he left half his fortune to Leonor with Livia as the executor. Richard’s grown son, RJ, protested, but a judge ruled that Leonor was a rightful heir and the will stood. RJ’s son Barret had later tried to have Leonor killed because her existence disgusted him.
Money or not, Livia had a hard time getting along in Austin. She had two young children and society didn’t accept her. It was like they sensed she wasn’t from a wealthy family. Even when she had pretended to be high-class, she couldn’t quite hide her viciousness. Livia invested Leonor’s fortune into a large ranch outside the city in Shadow Creek. She met and married Wes Kingston. She had a son, River, and for several years, the family of five was the center of the county. But when Thorne was born, that all changed. Everyone suspected Livia had had an affair with the ranch’s foreman, Mac. Before Livia’s adultery was uncovered, she smeared Wes’s reputation, distracting the town and media from the fact that she’d had an affair on her husband.
When Wes divorced her, he left Livia additional land and custody of both younger boys, whose last names Livia changed to Colton. Livia wanted control of everything, including her children’s names, and she wanted to pretend like they were the perfect, cohesive family. Curiously, Mac stayed on as foreman at the ranch, but he didn’t stay involved with Livia. It was a part of Mac’s life he rarely discussed. His love for Thorne was obvious and while Mac had done the right thing stepping in caring for Claudia and Jade after their mother went to prison, he seemed to carry deep hurts from that time in his life.
The discussion board mentioned Claudia and her biological mom and dad, too. Claudia had recently learned that she wasn’t Livia’s daughter. Claudia had believed her father to be a Frenchman named Claude. The lie had been manufactured by Livia to cover up that she had kidnapped Claudia’s biological mother from her parents, who had never stopped looking for her, and then stolen Claudia from her mother.
Livia’s victims were shamed into silence. In Shadow Creek, she was wealthy and in control. Funding the building of a hospital, local agricultural and children’s programs, allowing ranchers to use her water supply, and providing entertainment for the town at elaborate barbecues had made heads look the other way when questions arose.
The discussion board also mentioned Jade’s father. Livia married Fabrizio Artero, an Argentine horse breeder. When Jade was born, she ha
d become the light of her father’s life. Though Jade sometimes had a hard time remembering her father, she thought sometimes she could recall his booming laugh and the warmth in his hugs.
Losing him had been the darkest day of her life. Jade had never forgiven her mother and she never would.
Jade paused over the name on the discussion board who had posted about Fabrizio. Ana Artero. She could be related to her father. Though Livia had made sure to sever ties with the Artero family and forced Fabrizio to isolate himself from his relatives, Jade had wondered about her family in Argentina. Fabrizio had hurt them and the name Colton brought out their hatred. She could not reach out to them without expecting rejection.
She fell asleep thinking about horses and her long-lost family in Argentina.
* * *
Declan wanted to see Jade. Though he had spent one night in a five-star hotel in Killeen, Shadow Creek called to him. Except the latest problem at La Bonne Vie called the loudest due to the disturbing nature.
Allison had phoned that morning around 6:00 a.m., reporting that items had been moved around the house. She had spoken to her crew and they were certain their tools had been shifted to other rooms. Trash from the Dumpsters had been thrown onto the ground, as if those had been searched. The construction site was easily accessible with the windows and doors missing, but it was also dangerous to be inside. The state of the floors and walls was questionable and they were close to bringing in the heavy-duty equipment to start tearing the house apart.
Declan heard a car and walked to the front of the house. A dark sedan was parked, watching them. The FBI? Someone else?
Irritated about this recent development and tired of feeling watched and stalked, Declan strode toward the car. The engine roared and the driver pulled away before Declan could see who it was.
That type of response led Declan to believe it was unlikely to be the FBI. They wouldn’t need to turn tail and run from him. Special Agents Monroe and Fielder had been open to talking with him at the B and B. Someone was watching him and Jade. The build was decidedly masculine, so not likely Livia. But she could have hired someone to watch.
