by Terry Spear
“We did. Did Hunter tell you what Jessica heard when she was home sick from school that one day?”
“Yes. The time corresponds to the approximate time of death. Both of them were shot several times. They bled out before their wolf’s healing abilities could come into play.”
Anna took a deep breath.
“I’ve informed their families. Not the kind of news anyone wants to hear at Christmastime, but they need closure. William and his family had an alibi for that time. They were with you in the Amazon.” He took a deep breath. “You have the hardest job—giving the news to Jessica.”
“What about Everton’s condition? Any word?” Anna asked.
“Intensive care still. He had a heart attack. He’s in a coma. So no questioning him yet.”
They said good-bye, and Anna looked at Bjornolf. “I should have aimed better.”
“Hell, Anna,” Bjornolf said, taking her into his arms. “You were drugged, and he intended to shoot and bury you. If you’d hit somewhere less vital, I might not be holding you here now.”
“You’re right. I just wish they could have interrogated him and learned what all this was about. As to Jessica, she has to be told. I hate being the one to tell her. She’ll want to know the truth, but it comes at a price.”
“If you want me to…”
Anna shook her head. “She knows my parents were murdered. So I kind of have a connection.” She hesitated, her gaze drifting to his chest.
He kissed her and hugged her tight. “I know, Anna. I don’t want you to be sad about any of it any longer.”
She sighed and gave him a small smile. “I don’t want to be, either. I want this first Christmas to be really special. And it will be,” she said with determination, dragging him into the kitchen. “If we get to cooking.”
* * *
They should have known that something was wrong when the kids didn’t come home for dinner on time. Not when Jessica and Nathan had proved how responsible they could be. Not when they were just doing some last-minute shopping and most places were already closed for Christmas Eve.
“I’m worried about them.” Anna turned off the oven.
Bjornolf glanced outside at the dark and the snow falling. “The mall’s closed by now.” He tried to get hold of Nathan by phone again.
Anna left another message on Jessica’s phone. A text message back from Jessica made Anna’s heart leap.
At farm. Getting stuff. Be quick and home soon.
What would they be doing at the farm? Getting more of her clothes? Or something else?
Dottie, Jessica’s adoptive mother, was still unaccounted for.
Concerned that someone else was using Jessica’s phone, Anna called Jessica and got her message machine. “Jessica, answer the phone.” Jessica had to hear her voice and know it was Anna.
But Jessica didn’t respond.
Anna shook her head at Bjornolf’s quizzical look.
“Maybe they’re just fooling around,” Bjornolf said, rubbing Anna’s arm. “Nathan told me he’d meet her at the house when her parents were away. They might have wanted to get away from us for some privacy. They’re young.”
“Maybe,” Anna said, but she still didn’t think they’d be that irresponsible when they all had planned on having a nice dinner together.
“If we go to the house to check up on them, there’s no telling what we might find. On the other hand…” Bjornolf said, his words trailing off.
“They could be in trouble,” she finished for him.
“We’ll leave a message to let them know we’ve gone out to the farm in case they arrive here, and we miss them somehow.”
Anna was already headed for the bedroom. “We’re going armed,” Anna said, breaking into his thoughts as she jerked on a white turtleneck and switched her blue jeans for white to blend in with the snow.
“Absolutely.” Bjornolf called Hunter to give him a heads-up in case there was trouble, while he and Anna strapped on knives and guns and headed out to the Land Rover. “We don’t know if there’s any problem. We’re on our way to check out the farm.” Anna had already called Hunter about Yale’s conversation, so he knew what was up with that.
“I’ll get Finn to notify the troops. Don’t get yourself and Anna killed, Bjornolf,” Hunter said with a stern warning. He meant for them to wait for backup.
“There may be nothing to it. Just a couple of parents worried about their teens,” Bjornolf said as he glanced over at Anna.
She was tense and ready for a fight.
“I hope so. But wait for backup,” Hunter said again. But he knew that Bjornolf and Anna couldn’t wait. Not if the kids were in danger.
They drove a little slower than they wanted because the roads were icy. Anna kept trying to call Nathan and Jessica with no result.
Bjornolf said, “We’ll park outside the fence.”
“We’ll keep to the trees until we reach the back side of the house. You got your lockpicks?” she asked, but then patted her pocket. “Forget it. I have mine.”
“Text Jessica and tell her the food’s getting cold, so we’re going to go ahead and eat. If someone else has her phone—”
“Incoming,” Anna said as he parked the Land Rover next to the fence. She read the message: Flat tire. Tow truck coming. Later.
“They’re in trouble,” Anna said.
“Or this is a setup, figuring we’ll assume they’re in trouble and come to help them.”
Anna texted back. Got a flat where? At farm, or on the way back?
They answered. Farm. We’re fine. Take 2 hours. Roads bad. Get there when can. Eat.
She called Hunter and told him the messages they’d received. “We’re going in.”
Bjornolf leaned over and kissed her mouth. “Keep low until we get close to the house.”
The chain link rattled as they climbed the fence. They both ran at a crouch through the trees.
Gunshots rang out inside the house, and Bjornolf and Anna forgot stealth. At a dead run, they headed for the back of the house.
* * *
When they reached one of the basement windows, Bjornolf made Anna stand back while he got a look.
Helen Wentworth looked like a crazed woman as she waved a gun at Dottie Everton, who was seated on one of the couches. Dottie was glowering at Helen, her face splotchy with anger. The kids were sitting nearby. Nathan’s arm was wrapped protectively around Jessica. There were small-caliber holes in the sofa only inches away from Dottie. Helen started to pace. The kids looked pale faced.
Nathan saw Bjornolf out of the corner of his eye, turned his attention more fully on him, and sat up a little taller. Bjornolf shook his head, indicating for him to look away. Nathan did and squeezed Jessica a little. She looked up at him as if trying to read some message in his action.
Bjornolf and Anna were going to have a devil of a time getting to the kids and Dottie without Helen witnessing their arrival on the basement stairs.
Bjornolf was concentrating so hard that he didn’t realize Anna wasn’t close behind him any longer. He turned and saw she was gone. Shit.
Then he saw her inside the house at the top of the basement stairs. The wall hid her from everyone in the room, but Bjornolf had a clear view of her. “Shit,” he said again, this time under his breath.
Weapon ready, Anna was already moving down the stairs. She carefully placed a boot on one step after another, using Helen’s screaming and Dottie’s crying to cover her approach.
Bjornolf’s heart was racing as he held his weapon. He was preparing to shoot through the window and target Helen, but he was afraid the bullet might hit someone else, since she was pacing in front of Dottie and the kids.
Helen shrieked, “I can’t believe it was you who had the affair with my husband the first time. And then started it back up! But that wasn’t enough, was it? No… you had to be in on this scheme to get rid of me and the kids. You couldn’t just divorce Roger. And William couldn’t just divorce me. You had to plan my murder! A
nd the kids’! How could you? After you’d lost your own baby!” Helen choked up.
Dottie wiped away tears. “You’re wrong. William said he’d ask you for a divorce.”
“You weren’t mall shopping that day when your daughter was killed,” Helen said as if she hadn’t heard her. “William said he was on a business trip. But you were together. He arranged to have your baby murdered because it was his baby, too.”
Dottie sobbed. “He wouldn’t have.”
“If I had learned he was having an affair with you, I would have taken him to the cleaners. He knew that. His father loved Roger and would have cut William out of the will if he’d known he was screwing you. William had to get rid of the baby. The proof you two were having an affair. He arranged for the nanny, didn’t he?”
Dottie just stared at her as if she was in shock.
“He cut off the affair. Or you did after you lost the baby. Then last year you and he started it back up again. Right after William cut Roger out of the will. That’s when William starting acting cold toward me again. Being married to Roger was fine until the will was read, and he only got a dollar from his father. You wanted what William got. You think he would have let her live?” Helen asked, motioning the gun at Jessica. “He never wanted kids.”
Dottie quickly looked at Jessica and shook her head. “No. She was going away to college.”
“You think so? You think that if William had no trouble having his own kids killed, he wouldn’t have Jessica murdered once he got rid of me? He only had to get rid of Roger. He’d used him to kill the couple who owned the tree farm. Once Roger killed the DEA agents, if he got caught, he’d permanently be out of the picture this time.”
Four more steps. The stair Anna stepped on creaked. With their wolf hearing, both Jessica and Nathan turned their heads slightly toward the stairs. Anna immediately stopped.
Dottie and Helen were too wrapped up in their own drama to hear her. Thank God.
“Roger tries to kill a woman. The two dead DEA agents are unearthed. Another couple was killed, the owners of this farm. Coincidence that your adopted daughter came to you at the same time? You murdered her parents and raised the baby. You didn’t buy this place.”
“William said the baby needed a home. I took her in. That’s all!” Dottie shouted.
Bjornolf heard a truck pull up out front.
Helen turned her head toward the stairs. “Showtime.”
Bjornolf frowned. His people wouldn’t drive up that close to the house, alerting Helen that they had arrived and set her off.
“Front door’s locked, Jessica. Get it, won’t you? Don’t think of running or telling anyone what’s going on here or your boyfriend gets it. Okay?” Helen said.
Jessica looked at Nathan. He nodded, kissed her cheek quickly, and let go of her.
Her whole body trembling, she headed for the stairs. As soon as she turned the corner and put her foot on the first step, she covered a startled gasp and froze, staring up at Anna.
Bjornolf prayed she wouldn’t give Anna away.
Then, as if she realized her mistake, she dashed up the stairs, gave Anna a really quick hug, then slid past her to the landing.
Bjornolf didn’t want Jessica to get hurt. But he didn’t want to leave Anna, either. He had no choice. Anna was trained for this kind of work and was armed. Jessica wasn’t.
He raced for the front of the house.
William was at the front door, gun in hand, finger on the trigger, safety off, waiting like a wolf who was about to pounce on the unsuspecting.
Bjornolf slammed into him. William fired off several rounds as he went down. Bullets hit the door, the door frame, and the siding of the house before Bjornolf wrested the gun away.
Gunshots rang out inside the house at the basement level, and Bjornolf’s blood went cold.
Chapter 27
Shots rang out at the front door, and Helen turned toward the stairs. Nathan jumped up from the couch, tearing her attention away from there.
“You want to be shot? Just pull that again…” That’s all Helen got out as Anna leaped from the stairs.
Anna tackled her so hard that Helen’s gun went off, a bullet striking the ceiling. The weapon went flying. Dottie dove for it.
Nathan scrambled to get it. He fought her over it and socked her in the jaw, apologizing as he did: “My mother taught me never to hit a woman, but if you go for the gun again, I’m going to have to forget that lesson.”
“Don’t get up,” Anna ordered Helen, as she pinned her to the floor. Anna held her arm against her back, threatening to break it if she moved. “Everything’s under control down here!” she shouted up to Bjornolf, hoping he was all right.
“We’re good up here!” Bjornolf answered from the front porch.
Anna let out her breath with relief.
“I don’t understand why my parents had to die.” Jessica raced down the stairs and glowered at Helen.
“A long time ago, I overheard William talking to Jeff about a new find in the Amazon that they’d gotten from some people in Oregon,” Helen said. “Shortly thereafter, Dottie and Roger moved to the Christmas tree farm and had a new baby. I didn’t think anything of it. I never connected the dots. Not until the trip to the Amazon, the so-called kidnapping, and then Roger’s arrest.”
The Silverstones were only trying to find a werewolf cure, Anna thought grimly.
“What about the DEA agents?” Anna asked.
“They had been snooping around William’s businesses for some months. He swore he wasn’t doing anything illegal. I believed him. Or… at least I wanted to. They must have visited Roger to learn if he knew anything about William. Big mistake.” Helen let out a breath. “Dottie had to be in on it. She wanted the baby.”
“I was not,” Dottie screamed at her, but she was seated again on the couch.
Nathan watched her closely with the gun in his hand. “Why wreck the Christmas decorations? That’s what I don’t get.”
Dottie pointed at Anna. “She and that man were trying to take Jessica away from me.”
Well they did do that, but not for a reason Dottie could ever guess. As a she-wolf, Jessica had to be with a pack.
Vehicles roared into the parking area next to the house and Anna sighed. The cavalry was a little late, but they had arrived.
* * *
“I’ve decided,” Jessica said as she and Anna, Bjornolf, and Nathan sat down for their reheated Christmas Eve dinner. “I don’t want to do the kind of work Anna does. It nearly killed me to see her standing on the stairs. I can’t believe they didn’t hear my muffled shriek. I was so afraid Helen would shoot Anna before she was able to disarm her.”
Nathan shook his head. “Amen to that.”
Except for a few bruises, Anna was fine. She was satisfied with the way things had gone down.
“So why was William at the house?” Nathan poked the serving fork into another yam and loaded it onto his plate.
“He really did care about Dottie and had planned to come to her rescue,” Anna said. “Helen thought we’d believe the kids had a flat tire while they took care of it.”
“Only we wouldn’t have made it home,” Nathan said.
“No,” Jessica said. “Helen would have killed everyone if she could have. She was furious with her two-timing husband and Dottie. If William had made it down the stairs, he would have shot us to get rid of all the witnesses.”
Nathan selected another yam. “If Dottie had gotten hold of the gun, William and Helen would have been dead.” He looked over at Jessica. “I don’t know about us.”
Jessica shook her head. “She wouldn’t have shot us. I don’t think. I think she truly did love me. I was the child who replaced the one she lost. I think my… Roger really loved me, too. Maybe he knew Dottie had the child with William. Maybe he felt sorry for my parents being murdered and he wanted to protect me. Maybe William really killed my parents.”
They all sat in awkward silence for a bit. Then wanting to lig
hten the mood and share in some Christmas spirit, Anna said, “Did anyone want some dessert?”
“I’m full,” Jessica said.
“I’ll pass until later,” Bjornolf said.
Nathan grinned. “I guess I’ll wait.”
Anna nodded. “It’s Christmas Eve, and I’ve never had one before so let’s have some fun after we put the food away.”
Nathan squeezed Jessica’s hand and smiled at her. She smiled back at him. It was their first Christmas Eve together, too.
Jessica and Anna put away the leftover food while Bjornolf and Nathan set up a board game.
“Thank you for coming to our rescue.” Jessica put down the platter of ham and crossed the floor to give Anna a hug. “Thank you for everything.”
“We knew you kids were too responsible, and it wasn’t your fault when you didn’t come home on time for Christmas Eve dinner.”
Jessica’s face flushed a little.
Anna studied her and smiled. “You… went to the farm to spend some alone time together?”
Jessica shrugged. “I wanted to get some more clothes. And we’d just gotten to fooling around when we heard Helen and Dottie come in the front door. We went down to see what was going on. That was a really big mistake. Helen took our phones away. When you started calling, she had to do something. So she tried to get you to stay away. She hoped William would arrive before anyone came looking for us.”
Anna shuddered and hugged Jessica again. “I’m glad we were there in time.”
After cleaning up the kitchen, they made hot chocolate and went into the living room, where the guys had set up a murder-mystery board game. “We choose teams and play against each other to solve the murder,” Nathan said, eager to begin.
Her brows raised, Anna looked from the board game to the guys. “You’re kidding, right?” She motioned to the packages under the tree. “Why don’t we each open a gift tonight instead?”
