Looking at the detective, Kasey quietly asked, “Do you have an idea on who shot her?”
“Hard to say. The townies have never liked Raelin or Quinlan; it could be any of them,” she paused a moment, as the gears in her head turned. “Oh fuck,” Del breathed her eyes going wide.
“What? Who did you think of?” The dark haired Fed waited as she watched Del.
“The wound, it would require an amazing shot to pull off. The whole town can fire a gun so that doesn’t really narrow it down, but I remember when I walked into the foyer of the Kingsley Estate that there were a shelf or two full of marksmanship trophies. Both Regina and Arthur are skilled shooters, but only one of them has motive.”
Kasey sat down in a chair. “You figure that Arthur told Regina that he was divorcing her, and she followed him to the spring and murdered Quinlan. Oh Lord...no wonder Arthur didn’t come forward to claim Raelin. He feels guilty that his wife killed her mother.”
“I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet. Not only that, but if Regina knew Raelin was his, who’s to say she wouldn’t have gone after Rae too,” Del said. She leaned forward, holding her head up with her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. “How am I supposed to tell Raelin her mother was murdered because her father had decided he wanted to share his life with them?”
“Or that he kept quiet so that she wouldn’t be killed. Let’s see what Brito says before we jump to conclusions.” Kasey reached out for the file. “Do you want me to have him brought in?”
Del’s head snapped up, a hard look on her face, green eyes dark. She stood, her posture rigid. “Yes and don’t bother being gentle.”
Kasey stood and looked at the older woman for a moment. “I know that I have no right to say this, but don’t go down to his level. I know how you feel because I want nothing more than to rip him apart for his part in all of this, but I can’t. What happens here stays here, but I really don’t want to lie to Raelin.”
Del took several deep breaths before she spoke, “Fine, but don’t think I’m going to go easy on him either. If you think I’m being too mean, you just think about how you would feel if you’d found Jenny sobbing on her mother’s grave, knowing there was nothing you could do to take that hurt away.”
Nodding her head in understanding, the younger woman walked out of the room and her way to Brito’s cell, turned off the air conditioner. She returned about a quarter hour later with Brito wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackles. None too gently, she led him to a chair and sat him down. “Answer her questions Brito, if you know what’s good for you.”
Del stood leaning against the opposite wall her arms crossed across her chest. “You know why you’re here? They tell you?” she asked an obvious edge to her voice.
He stared at the detective without answering, his hands shackled to his waist.
Kasey waited a beat before she slapped him on the back of his head. “She asked you a question. You wanna answer her.”
“I ain’t sayin’ nuthin’ until these cuffs are off,” the man growled.
“Then you’re going to be sitting here a while. That’s okay, I’m plenty patient. Aside from money laundering, false arrest, anything else you want to fess up to before I start asking you questions? It would make this all a hell of a lot easier. Probably less painful for you in the long run,” Del asked sitting casually on the chair across from Brito, propping her feet on the table.
The man sneered at the blonde. “Go ahead and ask your questions. I ain’t admitting to anything I didn’t do, but I ain’t gonna make your job any easier.”
“That’s okay. I’m not the cop that’s going to prison. Make my job as hard as you want, because at the end of the day, I’m not going to need to worry about what Bubba is in the mood for when the lights go out,” Del replied with a smile as she fingered a particular folder. “What do you think Spaulding? How many of those gang bangers in prison is going to make friends with a cop?”
Kasey grinned as she walked around to stand behind Del. “I do believe that he is going to be the most popular fresh meat on the block.”
Brito lost his sneer and started to sweat. “You can’t put me in general population...that’s an instant death sentence. You gotta put me in solitary. Ask your questions. I’ll answer what I can, just don’t put me in general pop.”
Del stood slowly, dropping the file in front of Brito, opening it so he could look. “You must remember this case Brito. Was a pretty big one. You said it was a hunting accident. What evidence did you get to draw that conclusion?”
Looking down at the file, Sam’s face went even whiter, and when he looked back up at the two women, his eyes were wide. “I’ll tell you anything you want, but you gotta promise me that I get protection. They will hunt me down if they know I talked.”
“I’m not promising you fuck anything at all Brito. You made this bed and you’re going to lie in it. Who shot Quinlan Montrose?” she growled.
“Nope...you’re not getting anything from me until I’m promised protection. Put me in federal prison...hell, stick me on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean; I’ll be safer there.” The man shook his head.
Kasey offered, “I’ll see that you get into a super prison. Just talk,” She hoped that he didn’t know too much about those facilities.
“You promise?” Brito almost pleaded with her to agree.
“Spaulding is a woman of action Brito. You start talking and she’ll see what she can do. Right Spaulding?” Del asked tightly. She’d really not wanted to offer the man anything.
“I’ll do my best. You have my word.” The Fed was barely able to keep the grin off her face.
“Listen, I’ll sign whatever you want. I’ll tell you everything. Just protect me,” the man was pleading now, sweat running down his face.
Kasey looked at the detective with an eyebrow arched. “What’s the matter Brito...feeling scared?”
“Oh, he should be, because he doesn’t answer my question soon I’m going to lose my patience,” she turned back to Brito. “Now, I’m going to ask you again. Who killed Quinlan Montrose?” she asked, casually taking her jacket off.
Hanging his head, the former Chief hung his head before answering. “Regina...Regina Kingsley killed her.”
Del spared a glance at Kasey and turned her attention back to broken man in front of her. “Why did you cover it up? This was before the trafficking started. “
“She knew that I was taking money for the gambling. She said that if I didn’t close the case as a hunting accident, that she would turn me in. Plus she offered me twenty thousand. I figured, what would it hurt? I couldn’t bring Quinlan back, and Arthur was a basket case.” The man didn’t bother looking up.
“Why did Regina kill her?” Del asked robotically. She knew if she let any emotion sink in right now, it would be the anger, and it wouldn’t do a thing for the case for her to lose her temper.
Brito brought up his hands to wipe the sweat off his face. “Arthur had told her that he was divorcing her and was going to be with Quinlan. Their marriage had been over for years, and he got fed up with all of Regina’s demands. She couldn’t handle it. Followed him out to the spring and shot Quinlan in front of him.”
“What happened to Arthur?” Del asked. She’d had just about enough of this.
Brito looked at Delaney. “Arthur lost it for a while. He walked around like he was in a daze for months, then one day he disappeared. Didn’t say anything to anyone, just up and left.”
“Somebody has to know where he is? You don’t just up and disappear,” Del pointed out.
Shrugging his shoulders, Brito quipped. “Well, he did. I couldn’t find hide nor hair of him, and I think that Regina hired a P.I. like yourself once, but never found him. She doesn’t need him anyway; she’s always done what she wanted.” He smiled and snickered. “He got her though. When he left, he pulled all of the money and left her with nothing.”
“So, she’s left with nothing, doesn’t want to give up her indulgent li
festyle so she gets in with traffickers? That’s a mighty big leap Brito. What else is going on that she needs to resort to human slavery?” Del asked leaning forward in her chair.
“You swear that I’ll be protected?” Brito whined.
Del just looked at him. “Don’t look at me, if it were up to me, I’d feed you to the Kingsleys on a silver platter,” Del replied rolling her eyes.
He stared at her for a few moments in silence before he answered. “AJ used to go with me to gamble, and he has the worst luck. He got into debt to the wrong people, and to pay them off, Regina agreed to help them with the trafficking.”
Shaking his head, he leaned his elbows on the table. “She’s a piece of work. She knew exactly which people in town she could bribe, blackmail, or threaten to help out. The Kingsleys own the town for generations is seems, and even though Arthur wanted to sell the land to the people that rented it years ago, Regina talked him into keeping his legacy.”
“Yeah well, don’t you worry about her. You leave that to us professionals,” she nodded to Kasey, telling her she’d had enough. Her head was pounding, she could feel the muscles in her shoulder getting stiff, and more than anything, she wanted to get home to her witch.
Walking around, Kasey grabbed the man by the arm. “Come on Brito...you’re gonna go write everything out. I want details and if every last one of them checks out, I’ll clear it with my Boss for the super prison. If not, I’ll personally pick out your cellmate. Understand?”
He mumbled his agreement and she walked him to the door and handed him off to another agent. Turning back to the blonde, she took in the bowed head and hunched shoulders. “You okay?”
“Yeah fine. I just didn’t get much sleep last night and my head is pounding. What am I supposed to tell Raelin?” The detective sighed. “She’s going to be devastated.”
Going over to place a hand on Del’s shoulder, Kasey simply stated. “You tell her the truth and then you be there when she needs you. It’s all that anyone can do.”
Del just nodded, silently grateful for Kasey’s presence. She was turning out to be not only a fine agent, but a damned good friend as well. “You think the other agents can take care of Brito’s statement? I want to get home to Raelin, and I imagine you want to get back to the house as well.” Del was careful not to mention Jenny by name, knowing there was a chance that someone was listening from another room over the surveillance equipment.
“Yeah, I want to go check out the Kingsley property to see if there’s anything to lead us to where the girls are being held. The Director wants to coordinate the arrest for the day after tomorrow if possible. She’s trying to get everyone on site here before making our move. I also want to have Jasper pay the Reverend a visit and see how he’s behaving,” Kasey informed the blonde.
“That’s probably a good idea. What cover are you going to use to get onto the Kingsley joint?” Del asked leaving the room with a stack of the files she’d been looking at before Brito had been brought in.
Walking out to the Jeep, Kasey sighed, “I was thinking of going in to ask them what they knew about the Chief’s gambling problem and him spending the county’s money.”
“That will work. Just be careful, I wouldn’t put it past Regina to pull something. Can you drive? My head feels like it’s going to explode,” Del asked, rubbing her forehead. She piled the stack of folders and the couple of evidence boxes they’d grabbed on the way out of the building into the back of the Jeep.
“Sure, do you need to drink something? Both you and Brito were sweating up a storm.” Kasey took the evidence boxes from the blonde as she noticed her favoring her right arm.
“I’m fine; I have a bottle of water in the Jeep,” Del answered distractedly, pulling out her keys and handing them to the agent. She wanted to get back; her headache was partly from lack of sleep and partly from the heat of the room, but it was also from a distinct feeling that something had happened. Her chest wasn’t tight with anxiety like it had been last time so she knew that the house and Raelin were safe, but the buzzing in the back of her head told her something was off about her witch. She frowned as she got into the passenger seat, waiting for Kasey to finish putting the boxes away and join her in the driver’s seat.
The Fed could see that her friend was upset and antsy by the constant bouncing of her leg. “Hang on; I’ll get us back to the house as fast as I can.”
“Thank you. Something just feels off and I want to get back. Raelin was going to run into town for food and while Jasper was with her, I can’t help but feel like it wasn’t entirely uneventful,” Del said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes against the headache.
The ride was quiet as each woman was lost in her own thoughts. Kasey was thinking how to go about talking to the Kingsleys and wondering if she should have Will go along with her. She wasn’t sure if he might speak out of turn, but she knew that she didn’t want to go alone. Del just kept trying to figure out a way to tell Raelin what she’d learned without completely breaking her heart. The more she thought about it, the more she realized how impossible that was going to be. The closer she got to Leroy and the house, the more anxious she felt and she wanted nothing more than to just curl up with her witch for a good long nap.
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Del instinctively knew they were pretty much home so she opened her eyes and immediately went tense. She saw Raelin’s truck, the plastic bags taped up where windows should be and she’d hardly let Kasey pull the Jeep to a stop before she was barreling out of it and into the house. “Raelin?” she called, looking frantically around the house.
“She’s doing a cleansing Missy...things got a bit tense in town.” Jasper was sitting in the living room with Will, but Jenny was nowhere in sight.
“What do you mean tense Jasper and where’s Jenny?” she asked, unable to get a feel for Raelin anywhere in the house.
Standing up, Jasper led the blonde and now Kasey since she had joined them to a side hallway. Sitting on the floor cross-legged across from a door was Jenny, who as soon as she saw her Fed, stood up and barely restrained herself from running into the older woman’s arms.
“Hey guys...glad that you’re back,” the auburn hair woman was speaking to them all, but only had eyes for one.
Kasey threw her girl a wink and grin when Ryerson wasn’t looking before she turned her attention back to Del, who was quickly getting agitated.
“You still haven’t told me what happened or if Raelin’s okay,” Del asked the two agents, giving them both a hard look.
Jenny interrupted, “Raelin is doing a cleansing. She said that she had a lot of negative energy surrounding her and it was affecting her badly. She said that she may be in there a while.”
“We ran into AJ while we were at the store and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but he made some remarks about you. However, when we went to get into the truck, we found all the windows smashed and people started to talk. I drove her home and she’s been in there ever since,” Jasper explained further. He was unsure if he should mention the conversation that he and Raelin had at the store, not knowing if Raelin would want Del to know.
Del looked at the door a long time before she leaned back against the wall of the hallway and slid down to the floor. “I can’t feel her at all. It’s like there is this big empty hole in my chest. I can’t even tell if she’s all right or not.”
Jenny looked at the blonde before joining her on the floor. “I’m sure that if there was something wrong that she would find a way to let you know. Besides, Rori is in there with her, and he for sure would let someone know.”
Del just nodded, the motion making her head pound. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
Holding out his hand, Jasper suggested to Jenny. “Why don’t you go fix Agent Spaulding and Missy here something for lunch? If I know either one of them, they haven’t eaten, and this one looked like she needs something.”
The younger woman agreed and headed towards the kitchen, letting her fingers brush
against Kasey’s hand as she walked by.
The younger agent watched Jenny head to the kitchen for a moment, her hand warm where she’d felt the girl’s fingers and looked at the others. “I’m going to go help her. I don’t feel right making her do up my lunch like that,” she smiled. “Will, you should come with; we have some stuff to go over anyways.”
Will nodded. “Sure. I want to hear what our Director has in store for us anyway.”
Jasper waited until they were all out of sight before he turned back to the blonde. “I’m really worried about Raelin. She said something while we were in the store that got me thinking, and I want to ask you some questions, if that’s all right with you.”
Del looked up at that, concern written on her face. “What’s on your mind?”
The older man pulled a chair close to where Del was and made himself comfortable. “How many times has Raelin used her magic when she was angry or scared? I know that she used it against Sumners the other day, but what were all of the other times? What were her reasons?”
Del closed her eyes and thought about it. “The first time I saw it was when I was at the fishing camps. She used it to scare off the two men who busted up my lip. The second time was with Brito. Shortly after that, she used it to blow out the electrical transformers so we could get away. Then with Sumners the first time, he was in the house and he was insulting us. All of them have been because I was either in danger or being attacked verbally or physically. What did she say to you Jasper?” Del asked, giving him a searching look.
Jasper sighed and leaned back, resting his head against the wall. He didn’t like getting into someone else’s personal business, but he didn’t know if Raelin would tell the detective, and he felt that she had a right to know. “I don’t know Delaney. It might be better if she told you herself. I’m just guessing.”
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