Mayhem & Mistletoe

by Amanda M. Lee

  I twisted to look at his face. “Ruth called Jake right after I left. She told him she was worried I was going to question her daughter. What if she was really worried about me discovering she hadn’t been separated from Cal at all?”

  “I don’t know what to make of any of it. You talked to her. What did you think during the conversation?”

  “I thought she was mostly telling me the truth.” And that’s what truly bothered me. “I thought for sure that the only thing she was holding back was a few stories about how she tried to reconcile with Cal. You don’t stay with someone for ten years if you don’t care about them.”

  He pushed my hair over my shoulder. “Love is one of those things that can’t be explained. You can’t control who you fall in love with. Ruth wouldn’t be the first woman in history to stick with a man even though he was bad for her.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Unlike me, who is nothing but good for you, and yet you still have to convince yourself it’s the right thing to marry me.”

  I glowered at him. “This is not the time.” I looked to the still-closed door, wondering if Mario was on the other side listening. “I don’t want Mario to accidentally find out. He’ll tell my mother.”

  “Maybe I want your mother to find out. Have you ever considered that?”

  “Only a crazy person would want to involve that woman in our lives.”

  “Only a crazy person could put up with you.” He lightly tickled my ribs. “You know you have to tell her eventually.”

  “I thought I would wait until after the wedding.”

  He grinned. “Oh, so there’s going to be a wedding?”

  I ignored the question. “Let’s get back to Ruth.”

  “Just a second.” He was somber as he held my gaze. “You have to tell your mother. You have to tell all of them. I don’t want to have to hide the truth from them. It will be impossible, especially because Jake knows.”

  I balked. “Why is it impossible?”

  “Jake will eventually bring it up to Derrick, and we both know he has a big mouth.”

  I’d considered that, and then ruthlessly shoved it out of my mind. I didn’t want to deal with it, so I ignored it. “Jake will keep his mouth shut.”

  “And Lexie? You’ll tell her eventually. We both know it.”

  He had a point and still .... “I’ll make you a deal.”

  “Oh, good, I love a negotiation.” He tightened his arms around me. “Let’s hear it.”

  “I will agree to mention it at the next family dinner if you help me figure this out.”

  He nodded without hesitation. “Sold.”

  “Wait. I thought you would need more convincing.”

  “Nope. I’m perfectly happy with your terms.”

  I had more negotiating power than I realized. Crap on toast! “Well, great.”

  His smile widened. “I’m guessing you want to have another conversation with Ruth.”

  “I don’t want to give her too much time to think up a lie.”

  “Okay.” He pressed a kiss to the corner of my mouth and pushed me to a standing position. “Let’s do it.”

  “Just like that? I thought for sure you would want to argue some more.”

  “I’m good. We can make up later tonight.”

  I considered it. “Making up might be fun.”

  ELIOT DROVE TO RUTH’S HOUSE, WITH ME PROVIDING directions. By the time we got there, I’d mostly formulated a plan.

  “Let me do the talking.” I strode up the walkway and immediately rapped on the door. “I’ve got this.”

  He looked dubious but didn’t argue.

  Ruth answered on the third knock. She looked genuinely surprised to find me on her porch. “Oh, it’s you.” She glanced around the yard, her gaze momentarily falling on Eliot, and then she forced a smile. “Did you forget something when you were here earlier?”

  “Just a few questions I should’ve asked. Do you mind if we come in?”

  “Oh, well ....”

  I gave the door a little shove, not waiting for her to answer. When I stepped into the foyer, I found the boots had been removed from the rug.

  “Now really isn’t a good time,” Ruth said. “I’m busy selecting items for Cal’s funeral.”

  “You’re paying for his funeral?” Eliot asked. “That’s nice of you considering the fact that you’ve been separated for a decade.”

  “Somebody has to do it.” She straightened her shoulders. “We might not have survived as a couple, but he was still my daughter’s father. He deserves a proper burial.”

  “Of course.” Eliot flashed his most charming smile. “I’m sure your daughter appreciates it.”

  “I hope so.” Ruth momentarily adopted a far-off expression and then shook her head. “What can I do for you? I don’t really have time for a conversation right now. Besides, I already told you everything I know.”

  “I think you left a few things out of the equation,” I countered. “For starters, how often were you seeing Cal?”

  A look of legitimate confusion flashed across Ruth’s face. “I told you that I wasn’t seeing him. I hadn’t seen him in ... I don’t know how long. There were times he stopped by to see Jessica, but that was years ago.”

  She seemed truthful and yet .... “Okay, I’m just going to lay this out for you because I don’t have time to screw around. I believe that you were involved in whatever plot Cal and Ray had going. I don’t think you participated out of choice, but your lingering feelings for Cal pulled you into the mix.

  “Now, I don’t want to see you get in trouble and I’ll do whatever I can to help you, but you have to tell us what you know,” I continued. “Covering for a dead person does nothing for you at this point.”

  Ruth’s expression was incredulous. “Are you accusing me of selling drugs with my ex-husband?”

  “And your brother.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Real fury filled her eyes and for a brief moment, I wondered if I’d gotten this all wrong. “I can’t believe you think I sell drugs. I let you into this house. I answered your questions. What more do you want from me?”

  “You answered my questions and then called the sheriff to tell him I was essentially harassing you,” I challenged.

  “I did no such thing.”

  She was so adamant that I found I began doubting myself. “Um ... yes, you did. He told me.”

  “I ....” She hesitated and I recognized the moment something occurred to her. She snapped her mouth shut and pressed her hand to my shoulder. “You need to leave now. This conversation is over.”

  The swift shift in her demeanor had me fighting against her insistent push. “We’re not done talking.”

  “Yes, we are. I’m not participating in this conversation a second longer.”

  “You have to confide in me.” I was adamant as I pushed back against her. “I’m the only one who can help you.”

  “Avery, she won’t trust you now,” Eliot argued. “She’s shutting down.”

  “Yeah, but ....” My gaze went to the floor, to the spot next to where the boots had been on my earlier visit. A new pair of sneakers had arrived, and they definitely hadn’t been there before. I would’ve noticed a pair of rainbow Converse.

  “How did Jessica take news of her father’s death?”

  “What?” Fear sparked in the depths of Ruth’s eyes as she started for me again. “That’s none of your concern.”

  I shifted my attention to Eliot, another piece of the puzzle falling into place. “The boots belong to Jessica. She made the call to Jake, pretending to be her mother.”

  Eliot cocked his head. “She was helping her father.”

  “Don’t say that!” Ruth turned shrill. “She’s a good girl. She’s always been a good girl.”

  “And that’s how he manipulated her.” I felt terribly sorry for Ruth. This woman had done the very best she could for an ex-husband who didn’t deserve it and a daughter who likely fought her at every turn. “Jessica went lo
oking for her father and he took advantage of her.”

  Ruth stopped fighting me, her eyes filling with tears. “How did you know?”

  I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. This victory didn’t feel sweet. “I put it together. She got in trouble at some point. She was performing community service.”

  Ruth nodded, morose. “She started smoking pot with her father. That grew to other things. She was arrested on minor drug charges six months ago.”

  A chill ran through me. “Hypno? Was that the drug?”

  “He got her hooked. I tried to get her into rehab, but she refused. I couldn’t lose her, too. I planned to keep working on her but ... I don’t know. She was a different person when she showed up at the house right after you left. She was furious, screaming that she was going to have to shut everybody up on her own.”

  I glanced at Eliot. “Does she own a gun?”

  “She owns a couple of them. I think she sold a few recently. She’s always broke, and I refuse to give her money. I’ve even had to hide my jewelry and lock my purse in my trunk every night so she can’t get at it.”

  “I’m guessing she was working with Cal and Ray,” I said. “They went after Beau’s team because they defected and were cutting into their profits.”

  “She didn’t kill those men!” Ruth was horrified. “She wouldn’t do that.”

  I felt bad for her, but she could no longer hide from the truth. “She didn’t do it alone. She was with your husband and brother. Then someone — either her or Ray — figured out that Cal was talking to us and ended him to make sure nobody came looking for them.”

  “It had to be Ray,” Eliot said. “He told us about the halfway house. He didn’t want to, but he would’ve garnered suspicion if he’d denied knowing where Beau had been living. They were tight for a time.”

  “Which is how Cal, Jessica and Ray got close enough to kill an entire team,” I mused. “Beau trusted Ray and didn’t realize anything bad was happening until the end. He ran ... right into a train.”

  “Jessica wouldn’t do this.” Ruth was adamant. “She doesn’t have it in her.”

  “Drugs do strange things to a person,” Eliot countered gently. “When you couple that with Jessica’s desperate need for a father ....” He trailed off and focused on me. “We have to call Jake. You no longer have a choice.”

  I nodded. “We have to get to Ray’s house. Jessica is going after him next. That’s why she’s wearing the boots.”

  Eliot was already moving toward the door. “We’ll call Jake on the way there. Let’s finish this.”

  “Why are you so excited all of a sudden?”

  “Because when this is over, you’re going to tell your family and we’ll be well on our way to a proposal and wedding.”

  My jaw went slack. I’d completely forgotten my promise to him.

  He grinned. “I told you I was going to get what I want.”

  He had told me that. I was starting to believe him.

  27 Twenty-Seven

  The sheriff’s department — led by Derrick and Jake — beat us to Ray’s house. While I wasn’t surprised, I was bitter.

  “Stay there!” Derrick, recognizing Eliot’s truck, waved us off when we pulled onto the street. He strode directly up to the driver’s side window. “We’re closing off the street.”

  It took everything I had not to explode. “That’s not fair.”

  “Life isn’t fair. You need to turn around.”

  My temper flashed. “We’re the only reason you have this tip.”

  Derrick’s expression never changed. “The sheriff thanks you for your diligence as a resident of Macomb County,” he drawled. “As a token of our thanks, we would like to invite you to a news conference, time and date to be named in the future, where we will lay everything out.”

  My eyes slitted as I sucked in a breath. “Do you think you’re funny?”

  Eliot held up his hand to quiet my ranting before focusing on Derrick. “Are you really going to shut her out of this? Is that really how you want to play this?”

  Derrick’s jaw tightened. “I don’t have a say in it. But even if I did, I wouldn’t allow her to wander around a potential crime scene. She can’t be part of this.”

  I was enraged to the point of Hulk-ing out when movement on the front lawn caught my attention. I saw Jake on the front lawn of Ray’s house, hands on hips, staring directly at us. We were far enough away that I had difficulty making out his expression, but his body language told me everything I needed to know.

  “Fine.” I made up my mind on the spot. “We’ll go. Just know that I will be doling out punishment for you and Jake at a later date. Perhaps it will be at the aforementioned news conference.”

  Now it was Derrick’s turn to be suspicious. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  “This better not be one of your little games. We have people in the backyard, so you can’t sneak in that way. If you try, you’ll be arrested.”

  “I’m leaving.” It was hard to force out the words, but I meant them. “You have a job to do. I need to respect that.”

  Eliot shot me a surprised look. “We’re going back to the shop. Once you have any information, we expect a call.”

  Derrick looked pained. “You know I can’t do that. Jake will issue a news release when he’s ready.”

  I looked around at the assembled personnel again. There wasn’t a paramedic in sight. “They don’t have anything anyway,” I said. “Ray wasn’t here.”

  Derrick’s eyebrows rose. “How can you possibly know that?”

  I didn’t bother hiding my smirk. “I know all and see all.”

  “How really?”

  “I’ve been in the game long enough to recognize when things aren’t going your way. You don’t have anything. That’s why Jake is outside. He’s cooling off.”

  Derrick glanced over his shoulder. “We just got here. We don’t know if we have anything yet.”

  “You might have enough to put Ray away, but you don’t have him or Jessica. You’re still looking.”

  “I can’t confirm or deny that.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I know.” I shot him a triumphant look. “You know what else I know? Next time I’m going to track them down myself and not give you a heads-up. You guys did me dirty. I’m not working with you I’m working against you.”

  Eliot opened his mouth as if to argue but said nothing. He wasn’t happy with the declaration, but realized calling me on the statement was in nobody’s best interests at the present moment.

  “We could arrest you for impeding an investigation, Avery,” Derrick warned.

  “Go ahead. I can’t wait for you to lay out your case in front of a judge, especially when I called you thirty minutes ago with a hot tip that solves your case. That will be on the record, too.”

  Derrick scowled. “Stay out of this.”

  “No. This is my story.”

  “Avery ....”

  Eliot cleared this throat, cutting off my cousin. “This isn’t the time to pursue this argument. She’s angry and she’s not going to back down. There’s nothing you can say to get her to see reason.”

  “Can you get her to see reason?” Derrick looked hopeful.

  “No. All I’m saying is that there is no compromise to be made here. You guys need to separate, go to your corners, and come back for round two when things have settled.”

  Derrick held my gaze for a beat longer and then took a step away from the truck. “I’ll tattle to your mom at dinner tomorrow night if you cause trouble, Avery.”

  Oh, well, that did it. “So you’ll narc if I don’t do what you want.”

  Derrick nodded. “She’ll make a big scene in the restaurant and you know it. Is that what you want?”

  What I wanted more than anything was to find Ray and beat him until I got the answers I needed. “I guess we’ll have to see where the day takes us.”

  “It’ll take you to jail if you’re not careful.”


  “Don’t threaten me with a good time. I ....” I broke off when my phone started ringing. I recognized Carly’s number and sent the call directly to voicemail. I didn’t have time to listen to her complain about carrying around a watermelon under her shirt. I would call later to apologize. “What was I saying again?”

  I frowned when my phone rang again. “She’s not going to stop until I listen to her complain,” I muttered. I pressed the phone to my ear. “I’m in the middle of a showdown with the cops. Can this wait?”

  “No, it can’t wait,” she practically shrieked. “I’m in the hospital.”

  My heart plummeted. “Is something wrong with the baby?” As much as I didn’t want to deal with the fact that my best friend was about to give birth to the worst thing that had ever happened to me, I knew she was looking forward to adding to her family. I would never wish ill on her or the baby.

  “I’m in labor.”

  That wasn’t what I was expecting. “Oh. I ... um ... congratulations?”

  I could practically hear her rolling her eyes on the other end of the call. “Are you purposely trying to irritate me? I’m in labor!”

  “So you’ve said ... twice.”

  “You need to get to the hospital.”

  “No, I’m dealing with stupid cops. I can’t come to the hospital.”

  “You have to.”

  “I’m good.”

  “No, you really have to.” This time her voice was tinged with tears. “Kyle is at a meeting in Ann Arbor. I can’t even get him on the phone. He won’t come out of the meeting for another few hours and then it will take him an hour and a half to get here. I’ll be alone all that time.”

  A sick feeling began spreading throughout my stomach. “Please tell me you want me to go to Ann Arbor and drag him out of the meeting.”

  “You need to be my coach. The baby is coming. They don’t know how long, but I don’t want to be alone. I need you to come to me.”

  She had to be kidding. Who in their right mind would want me in a delivery room with her during one of the most important – and painful – moments of her life? Nobody sane. The pregnancy had clearly depleted her mental capabilities. “I can’t do that.”