Insight

by Jennis Slaughter

  The brunette stared at the cat. “I don’t know what to think Rori. For the first time in my life, I know what fear is and I’m scared. I’m scared that this is just fling for her and I’m gonna end up alone. I know that you and Momma always taught me to live by my heart, but I’m afraid that she might break it.”

  Rori thought over his words for a few moments before he spoke them. “We taught you to live by your heart for a reason. Because it never lies. You love her Raelin, I can feel it and I imagine she can too. I heard her promise to come back to you and I heard how scared she was that you might think she wasn’t serious about you. I think, that there is always an element of risk when the heart is involved, but the biggest question isn’t if it’s risky, but if the risk is worth it.”

  The young woman seemed to deflate a bit, hanging her head. “I’m going to go into the office and set up the desk. Please keep an ear out for Jenny.” Reaching out, she scratched the cat behind the ears before she left the room.

  Sitting there in the kitchen in silence, the gray cat didn’t move for a long time, thinking about what his human had said. Finally, he jumped down to walked through the utility room, passed the barely opened door to jump up on the bed to curl up next to Jenny’s head. Licking his paw, he straightened his hair for a few minutes before he lowered his head to nap.

  j

  Before she went into the side room, Raelin grabbed a few items from the pantry; a lemon, olive oil and a bowl with a clean cloth. Mixing the oil and lemon together, she started polishing the desk that Jasper had brought over.

  Smiling as she worked, Raelin remembered her mother sitting at this very desk for hours reading and making notes. She would often find her rubbing the wood in a loving manner, and when Rae had asked her about this, her mother told her that it was because her father had made it by hand for her.

  Working the oil into the wood gave the brunette time to think about her past and how closely it resembled Jenny’s. She never blamed her mother for that as she watched and heard her crying many nights over the man who wasn’t there.

  Moving her hand to the side, her thumbnail snagged on piece of wood underneath the desktop. There was a faint click and a narrow upright door popped open. Bending down, Raelin peered in to find a folded parchment. Reaching in, she was barely able to get her fingers on the corner, so she looked around and found a ruler that she could use to slide the paper towards her.

  Finally getting it out, she discovered that it was yellow with age and quite dusty. Taking it into the kitchen, she carefully unfolded it and spread it out on the table. It was actually two pieces of parchment, and after looking at them for a few moments, Raelin was surprise to discover that one was map of Leroy and its surrounding area, and the other was actually a deed to the town showing that it was almost entirely owned by the Kingsley’s. The Deed stated that it, Le Roi was deeded to the Kingsleys in the early 1890’s.

  Staring at the map, the witch found the area where her home was located and saw that it was one of the few homesteads that were not owned by the family. In fact, it showed that Raelin’s family owned not only the house, but the nearby woods and farmland. Looking closer to the margins of the parchment, it showed that they had been deeded to the Montrose family a little over five years earlier. Sitting down heavily, the brunette didn’t even try to control the thoughts that were whirling through her head. If the Kingsleys owned the land and most of the homes, why didn’t they sell some the land to have monies coming in? Unless everything was in Arthur’s name and Regina was powerless to do anything.

  Shaking her head, the witch stood to fold the documents and placed them in a large manila envelope before she headed towards the spare bedroom. Opening the door, she walked through the small sitting room to find Jenny awake, holding Rori.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?”

  The younger woman smiled. “Pretty good actually. Think that I’m going to try and shower on my own in a bit.”

  Leaning against the dresser, Raelin nodded her head. “I need to run into town and talk with Jasper for a bit. Do you think that you’ll be all right alone? I’ll set the wards and I’m sure that Rori here will keep an ear out for trouble.”

  Proving that she was feeling better Jenny tossed aside the sheet and swung her legs out of bed. Taking a moment to get her balance, she stood up and took a few steps. “I’ll be fine. I’ll take things very slowly, and won’t try to do too much.”

  Raelin hugged her friend. “Help yourself to the house, but please don’t go outside or be seen. I don’t think that it’s safe for you yet, and as much as I think that we should tell your mother that you’re all right; doing that might put her into danger.”

  “I’m going to have a lot to make up for when this is all over. I’ll be lucky if she lets me out of her sight even to go to Julliard.”

  Raelin reassured her friend, and helped her into the bathroom before she turned to leave. She was about to walk out the back door when Rori brushed up against her leg.

  “I want to apologize to you Raelin. I’ve been thinking some, and I know I haven’t been overly supportive of you and Delaney. I was trying to keep you for myself. It has just been you and me for so long that I was scared that if you let someone else in, someone that you cared or loved, that I would be forgotten. And that’s not fair to you, and for that I’m sorry.” The feline jumped up on the counter so that he could be eye level with his human.

  Picking up her oldest friend, Rae held the cat close. “We’re a team Rori...a package deal. Whoever loves me, gets you too. Delaney is the one; I can just feel it, so please...give her the chance to prove it to you.”

  Rubbing his head against Raelin’s chin, Rori purred, “As long as she makes you happy and keeps you safe, I’ll be her new best buddy.”

  “Thank you, now keep a close watch. I shouldn’t be more than an hour and I’ll bring home a filet of salmon for you.” The brunette kissed the cat’s head before she put him on his bench and left.

  j

  Pulling into town, Rae felt an undercurrent of anger, fear, and something else she couldn’t put her finger on. She drove and parked in front of Jasper’s shop, and as she got out, she turned to see that she was being stared at from the diner. Pulling a bit of power from the lines, she cast around her truck making sure that she had a way to get home before she went into the antique shop.

  “Hey Jasper...are you here?” she called out as she walked inside. She always loved how his shop smelled of wood, leather and an oldness that she loved. All of the pieces in the man’s shop had the older man’s touch on them and it was a loving touch indeed.

  Popping his head around a desk he was polishing, he offered the woman a smile. “Well hello Raelin. You look especially wonderful this morning. What brings you out my way? I figured you’d be home taking in the nice weather, getting those roses of yours in order.”

  Smiling, the young woman chuckled. “Those roses do fine on their own most of the time. They just let me know when to feed them their special fertilizer and they supply me with beautiful flowers.” Holding out the envelope, she gave it to the elder man. “I found this in the desk this morning, and I want you to take a look to see what you think.”

  Jasper gave her a curious look and pulled the papers out of the envelope. As he scanned the parchments, his eyes went wide in realization. “Well, this is interesting. Did you want it appraised?” he asked, not wanting to blow his cover, even if he was good friends with this woman.

  “No, I want you to tell me what you think. You know the town history, and I was wondering if you had any idea about this. I mean, you pay rent on this shop; did you know that you were paying the Kingsleys? And look closer at the map; it says ‘Le Roi’, instead of Leroy. Le Roi means The King.” The brunette pointed at the lower right corner of the paper.

  Jasper’s brain had already started piecing things together. “Looks like this town is almost all owned by the Kingsleys. Has been for generations it seems. This map is old. I’ll bet Le Roi, was named fo
r the original Kingsley who settled the place and that over time it just evolved into Leroy. Does anyone else know about this map? The townies would only own their houses by the good graces of the Kingsleys. I suppose at any time if they wanted the land back, they could lawfully kick the townies out.”

  Raelin’s eye lit up as she said, “And it would give them the one thing to hold over the townies if they wanted them to do something that normal people would balk at.”

  Jasper caught the knowing look in Raelin’s eye and sighed inwardly. ”It would. I should have known you’d figure everything out. I take it you know all about the dirty goings on around here, what you didn’t know, I’m sure Del told you.”

  “I know that you are helping her for some reason, I guessed that, but I don’t know the reason why. However, your assumption to me knowing everything is correct. With this…” She motioned to the map and the deed. “This proves that the Kingsleys have the one thing that they could hold over the townies to get them to do something like human trafficking. There wouldn’t be any other reason that they would go along with it.”

  “I think you are right. The only thing we need to figure out now, is why the Kingsleys would stoop to this. They have money; they wouldn’t have any reason for getting into this kind of dirty business. She told me that you found Jenny, I’m glad she’s safe,” he replied, folding the parchment and sliding it back into the envelope for safekeeping.

  Shaking her head, Raelin explained. “Delaney said that their house was in disrepair, and since Arthur Senior has been gone, there hasn’t been any money coming in. For whatever reason that he left, Mr. Kingsley is the reason that all of this started.”

  “You think he put them up to it? There hasn’t been anything on him since he left. Like he fell off the face of the earth,” he asked, genuinely interested in this woman’s opinion. Raelin was smart, exceptionally so and extremely perceptive. Add that to the fact that she had been in this town all her life, and Jasper knew she could be a big help. No wonder Del had bounced ideas off her. He leaned against the desk he’d been working on, waiting as she thought.

  “No I don’t. My mother thought very highly of him. I think that he just finally had enough of Regina, AJ, and all their demands. I figure that he is somewhere, finally being happy.”

  Jasper was about to reply when he thought he heard a commotion outside. Pausing to listen, he motioned for Raelin to be quiet. It sounded like shouting and it was coming closer, he moved towards the door, Raelin following and watched as a group of angry looking townies barged into his shop, shouting over one another and blocking the door.

  “Witch...dyke...where’s your girlfriend? She couldn’t find Jenny so she ran off. Who does she think she is coming here to find our missing?” the townies were all shouting.

  Raelin was taken back at the hate that was rolling off the crowd and by the intensity of the emotion that was jamming her access to the lines. “Delaney was asked to come here, and none of you ever cared about Jenny before. Why would anyone ask you to find her now?”

  Jasper stepped in front of the witch, addressing the crowd sternly. “You guys are way off here. I think you all need to leave my shop. I won’t have you in here attacking this woman. She’s done nothing wrong.”

  The bald man, who Raelin recognized from one of Jenny’s pictures, threw a punch at the older man’s chin, knocking him down and cutting open his head. “Stay out of this Old Man. You’re not a true member of this town and you’re friends with this bitchy witch and the blonde dyke.”

  A dark haired man with a scar on his face grabbed Raelin and dragged her around a desk, pinning her against a bookshelf and pressing himself on her. “I bet that you’re a wild one in bed, and you can be sure that I’ll find out if you don’t get the blonde to stay out of our affairs,” he slid his hands over Raelin’s chest, roughly palming her breasts before he slowly moved his hand to between her legs.

  Raelin pushed herself backwards, causing the bookshelf to topple over, sending the two of them to fall on top of it. “Get off me…” Terrified, she pulled at some of the power; even though she knew that it was tainted by the emotions of the crowd, and tried to clear a path to the door, knocking aside chairs and tables.

  The man who had hit Jasper swung around and caught her with a fist on the side of her face. As she fell to the ground, he kicked her hard in the ribs with a booted foot. She gasped at the pain and tried to scurry away.

  “Where do you think you’re going witch? We have plans for you,” he grabbed her hard around the forearm, pulled her up, and hit her again. “You tell the blonde to stay out of our business and to get out of town. You do that, and we’ll leave you alone. She stays and we’ll find you and show you pain that you like you have never known,” he threw her back down to the ground and kicked her once more.

  The scarred man reached to shove his hand down Raelin’s shirt, grabbing at one of her breasts. “I’m gonna have fun torturing these,” he laughed at her feeble attempts to push him away.

  Having heard the commotion as he was driving by, Sam Brito knew he had to put a stop to this before it got worse. There was no way he was going to let some drunken idiots blow their cover. He burst through the door, shoving the onlookers aside to get to the downed woman. He pulled the scarred man off and quickly cuffed him. ”What in God’s name do you men think you are doing?” He reached for the second man and pulled out a tie to bind his hands as well. “You think you can just get drunk in the middle of the day and go around attacking people you don’t like. Not in my town you won’t.”

  Raelin curled in upon herself, trying to shove aside what had just happened. Her mind was screaming out Delaney’s name, wanting her to storm into the store and rescue her, but also wanting her to stay far away from Leroy.

  Pushing aside some townies that were standing between him and Raelin, Jasper gasped when he saw the already closing eye and the split lip. “Raelin...my God!”

  Blocking exactly what the older man could see, Raelin pushed herself up to a sitting position, wincing in pain as her ribs protested. “I’ll be fine...just let me stand.”

  When Sam Brito reached out a hand to help, the brunette pushed it aside. “Don’t think that I don’t know the part you had in this. No one else knew about our conversation last night, but you. How else did they know about my feelings for Delaney?” Raelin growled.

  “Sam, I think you best be getting these men down to the station don’t you?” Jasper gave the man a hard look, cutting off whatever the Chief was going to say. He watched as the man ushered the two men in cuffs, ordering everyone else out with them. He turned back to Raelin, wanting to reach out to her, but thinking better when she shrunk away. ”Raelin, let me clean you up and get you back to the house. I’ll stay with you if you want. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

  Scooting away from her friend, Raelin grimaced in pain. “There wasn’t anything that you could have done. I’ll be fine. You stay here and take care of your shop. I’m sorry that I brought this into your store. Have you seen my phone by the way? It fell out of my pocket.” All the witch wanted to do was to call Del and hear her voice. Knowing that the blonde was safe was all Rae needed.

  “Mine was destroyed when I fell on it.” He glanced around the shop and spotted the remains of a second cell phone near the tipped over bookshelf. “Looks like they stomped on yours in the scuffle.” He bent over and picked it up, holding what was left of it out to the witch. “You sure you don’t want me to help you home? Everything in my shop is repairable or replaceable. You didn’t ask for this, so please don’t feel bad.”

  Taking the phone, she dropped it in her pocket before she picked up the envelope that thankfully had not been damaged. “No, I’ll be fine. You stay here.” She held her arm close to her ribs, wincing in pain.

  Making her way outside, Raelin saw that a crowd was still gathered across the street in front of the diner and it took all of her will power not to toss a spell in their direction. Carefully getting into her truck,
it took her three times as long to get home as she was driving with one arm. When she finally pulled into her yard and turned off the truck, she sat there in so much pain, trying to gather her strength to get out and into the house.

  Rori had known something was wrong the second the truck pulled into the yard. Running out, he leaped onto the hood, batting at the windshield, frustrated that he couldn't get to his witch. “Raelin! What happened? Are you okay?”

  “Some upset townies...let me get inside before you start grilling me. I need to focus.” Breathing heavily, Rae pushed open the truck door, making sure that she had the parchments and slowly made her way inside. Catching her toe on the corner of the counter sent the witch sprawling on her kitchen floor, crying out in pain.

  Rori mewled rubbing against Raelin’s hand. There was nothing he could do to help her and he hated it. “I’m going to see if Jenny can help you, she’s been moving around okay today. Just wait here.” He ran towards the utility room but was met halfway by Jenny, who was moving slowly into the kitchen. Spotting the witch on the floor, she moved as quickly as her sore ribs would allow towards the brunette. ”My God, Raelin what happened?”

  Pushing herself up to her knees, Raelin tried to smile at her friend. “I don’t suppose that you would believe that I was being my graceful self.” When Jenny shook her head, she continued. “Our fellow townies pushed their way into Jasper’s store and displayed their displeasure with Delaney and me. I’ll be fine, really. I just need to get to my room.”

  Jenny held out a hand to the downed woman, helping her to her feet. She noticed Raelin favoring her ribs and sympathized. “Do you need a hand getting up there? Or ice for the swelling on your face?”

  “I’ll make it up there just fine. It might take me a while though. You just take it easy...did you fix yourself something to eat?” The brunette attempted to get the girls mind off her. All Raelin wanted to do was to get into bed where she could imagine Del’s arms were wrapped around her.