Trust in Sanctuary [Sanctuary, Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Corinne Davies

  “And this seemed like the best opportunity?” Matt nodded to the crowd of people who were shouting back and forth at each other.

  “I’m sorry.” She looked around and saw what her comment had done. What was a calm lunch rush had turned into a shouting match. A bottle smashed on the floor somewhere and Eric turned to her. His hands were fisted so tight the scars stood out white against his skin. “Why’re you still here? Leave before you make it any worse.”

  There was no warmth in his tone, and his words felt like a lash against her heart. He couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d slapped her across the face. All those nights thinking about herself and wishing for death, that pain was nothing compared to the agonizing tear in her heart now. She scooted out from the booth and slipped behind the crowd. Someone grabbed at her but she shook off their grip and headed for the door. She had to make this better. Should have kept your big mouth shut, Jocelyn. They were never going to speak to her again and she didn’t really blame them.

  A bitter cold wind bit her cheeks when she stepped outside of the bar. Her boots slipped as she jogged down the street toward the boarding house. I put myself in this predicament, and I’ll have to get myself out of it. No more contact with any family members, not that anyone will want to once all of this gets out. She imagined what the look on Emily’s face would be. Would the young girl feel betrayed by Jocelyn’s actions? What if she was so upset she started down the same path that Jocelyn had when she was a girl? The more her world sped out of her control the more she craved the knowledge that she had the final decision in what happened to her body. But, unlike all those other times her appetite had failed her, right now she wanted nothing more than to find a container of chocolate chip ice cream and devour it.

  Facts were facts. She would discover the truth and get to the bottom of the entire feud. There was something about the old house Matt and Eric had shown her, something she’d seen before or read about. She was going to have to return every penny of the money she’d been paid if she didn’t find any solid proof one way or another. She’d allowed herself to be distracted and swayed from concentrating on the feud and now she couldn’t piece together the small pieces. The truth was always hiding in the details.

  Unless they had known all along and Matt and Eric really were trying to distract me from finding the truth. She banished the thought almost the moment after she had it. They hadn’t known anything about why she was really here. No matter how badly she wanted to, she couldn’t lay blame for this entire fiasco on anyone’s actions but her own.

  She’d had an affair with members of the family she was investigating. She’d created her own conflict of interest which compromised the small amount of theories she’d created. Nothing short of cold hard undisputable facts would stand up in court, if it ever came to that. If it was the Baldwins’ fault as she truly suspected then she couldn’t do anything more. But, deep down she hoped she found something that indicated the McLeans…but why would anyone take her word for it now that the truth about her having an affair with them was out?

  After she finished her work here, she’d go back to her miniscule apartment and arrange her lectures for next season. She’d become one of those strange, unemotional professors no freshman wanted to get. There would be no second chance for her. Matt and Eric were her one shot at happiness and she’d blown it.

  * * * *

  Jocelyn navigated the rough terrain of the narrow drive to the house Matt and Eric had brought her to last week. Had it really only been two weeks she’d known them? A quick calculation in her head totaled ten days. Ten days to fall in love with two men and then completely destroy it. That must be some kind of record.

  The weather wasn’t as bad as it had been when she’d first gotten here but the wind was still bitter cold. Her little car wasn’t made for this rugged track of land and it had gotten stuck twice in the mud as she tried to navigate her way down it. Traveling in a four-wheel drive tucked between two large men she hadn’t noticed how bad this track was. After what felt like ages, she reached the end and the ground evened out.

  She sat there in her car and stared up at the large house. There were a number of pictures of this place in the town records and even at Minnie’s. Jocelyn still thought it was creepy. Something about the vibe around this old place gave her the willies again, but for some reason she was sure the answer to everything was within those walls.

  There wasn’t as much sunshine as the day she’d come here with Matt and Eric so she’d brought a flashlight with her, one that clipped to her belt loops and left her hands free if she needed them. She made her way back into the living room and turned the knob on the wall, checking to see if the electricity worked. A large hanging light in the center of the room came on, flickered, and then dimmed but stayed on. The soft buzzing sound added to the eerie look of the room but at least it gave her a bit more light to see.

  She lifted some of the small pictures from the wall and set them down on the table under the light for a better look. She spread the pictures out over the table and brought over a table lamp from the living room. Plugging it into the wall she flicked it on. It flickered and dimmed as well but at least the additional light right over the pictures helped.

  Her heart beat rapidly as her subconscious spotted something, but her brain hadn’t seen it yet. There was something here she was missing. Using a magnifying glass she’d tucked into her coat pocket, she squinted and tried to make out what was in the background of the photos in case the answer was there. I should have brought the pictures I have in my room to compare. Taking the pictures back with her wasn’t possible. Not now. If she asked the family’s permission they might let her, or they might charge her with trespassing if they found her in the house.

  She opened the frames and slipped the pictures out to get a good look at them without the decorative mattes. A few papers slipped out of the back of a picture when she opened it, making her heart beat wildly. It was like finding treasure. An unexpected sneeze shot some of the pictures across the table.

  “Shit.” Jocelyn rubbed her nose as she crawled under the table to get the papers that had fallen there. Something in here is tickling my nose again. She pulled out a disposable face mask from her pocket and put it on. After how much she sneezed last time, she was glad she’d remembered to bring one with her.

  The small rug under the table was filthy and she figured it had to be mold or mildew being disrupted that set her to sneezing again. As she crawled she felt an odd lump under the rug. It was hard and perked her curiosity. Please don’t be a dead rat or any other petrified creature, she thought to herself as she stood up and carefully pulled the table to the side, placing all the papers and pictures together in the center.

  She flicked back the rug with her boot and discovered the lump was a metal circle attached to the floor. A root cellar maybe? She pulled on the ring with both hands and a large section of the floor lifted up, exposing hinges under the floorboards. Peering down she flicked on her flashlight and found a ratty old wooden ladder attached to the opening. Thick spiderwebs coated the corners, and she was sure she heard something skitter along the floor down there. She felt like Indiana Jones looking down into the hole where the Arc had been hidden. Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes? Not that she saw any snakes down there, but her imagination filled in the blanks.

  If there was any place that might hold some more clues to the Baldwins’ past this was a big possibility. It looked like no one had been down there in centuries. What if the missing gold was down there? She owed it to Matt and Eric to toughen up and go and see. “One quick peek and then I’m getting out of there.”

  She rubbed her nose as she sat down on the edge of the opening and looked down into the darkness. Bracing her foot against the wood ladder, she gave it a solid shove testing out the strength. The last thing she wanted was for the ladder to break on her way down there preventing her to get back up. She was lucky to be as small as she was, she’d never have made it down the small opening. Neit
her of her guys would’ve fit. The thought sent another sharp pain sizzling through her heart. Are they my guys anymore? Yes, they were, and she was going to prove it to them. She might have messed up but if crawling down into the creepiest place she’d ever been meant she could find something to clear their name, she’d do it.

  Jocelyn was surprised how deep the cellar actually was. She’d expected something along the lines of a closet but this space was almost half the house and ran from the front steps to the kitchen. She couldn’t touch the floorboard above her so it had to be at least the depth of a normal basement. There wasn’t any light down here other than her flashlight and the minute amount that shone between the floorboards above her head.

  A small field mouse skittered across the floor in front of her making her jump. Yuck, yuck, yuck. There were a couple piles of old wooden crates and she kicked at them first hoping to scatter any rodents or arachnids that had taken up residence. Thankful for her gloves she pulled the crates to the side, discovering that a couple of them were empty but most of them contained all sorts of things. It was like finding a hidden treasure. Each box opened up into another decade. She organized each box she opened and set aside those that looked to be from this century for examination later on. Under the second layer of boxes was a large steamer trunk sitting there like the legendary arc of the covenant. The hinges were old and squealed loud enough to hurt her ears as she lifted it.

  This is exactly what I was looking for. Her hands trembled and her heart beat wildly as she lifted up century old quilts. They’d been homemade from scraps of material and she wondered what story could be told from the sections of material. She made a mental note to look for the same material in pictures and try to build a story from this quilt. Emily would like that I bet. A painful reminder that Emily might never talk to her again felt like a pinch to her heart. Turning her head she sneezed into her face mask. Ew. She took the mask off and crumpled it into her pocket. She’d rather sneeze against her coat than have it reflect back against her face.

  Under another quilt she found an old carpetbag and it was heavier than she’d expected when she lifted it up. Her heart started pounding in excitement. What had she found? Gold, memories, proof? She opened the bag and shone her light in. No gold, but there were lots of yellowed papers in there along with what looked like clothes and a brush. At the very least this might be of interest to the family. She lifted the bag out and then sneezed two more times.

  An odd whooshing and crackling sound drew her attention from her obsession with the past. What the hell? Jocelyn looked around wondering where the noise had originated from. A car or maybe the wind? There weren’t any windows down here for her to see outside and see if anyone had followed her here. The hair on the back of her neck tingled and her heart started to pound out a nervous rhythm. Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t simple creepy jitters either. What if someone didn’t want her poking her nose around anymore? She’d seen firsthand how volatile this feud still was. Tears threatened and her throat tightened as she remembered the furious look on both Matt’s and Eric’s faces. They’d been so angry at her and rightfully so. It looked really bad but maybe she could talk to them and convince them that she was trying to be impartial and find the truth. She didn’t care who did or didn’t start this feud. She did care about them and prayed that she hadn’t wrecked what was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

  She needed to leave and ask the family formal permission before coming back. Right after taking pictures of everything she found. That way she could still do some investigating on her own. Gripping the handles of the bag, she clipped the flashlight onto her belt loop and started to climb the ladder. A few rungs up, she tossed the bag up through the opening and continued up. Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and sent a wave of icy fear slamming into her.

  * * * *

  “Fuck!” Eric smacked the steering wheel of his truck. “Where the hell did she go?” He’d expected to get back to their house and find her there after leaving the Bandit. Damn McLeans. He and Abe McLean had been rivals ever since kindergarten and he’d known the moment he saw that asshole bellied up to the bar that there might be trouble. He hadn’t expected the massive cluster fuck he was currently embroiled in.

  “Do you have any ideas?” he asked his cousin. Matt was sitting in the passenger seat next to him and they’d been driving around town hoping to see Jocelyn’s car. They’d been by Minnie’s and she said that Jocelyn had rushed in and out about twenty minutes earlier.

  “She looked really upset. Maybe she needed to drive around and cool off a bit?” Matt pulled off his hat and rubbed his head for the hundredth time. “You don’t think she misunderstood what we said do you?”

  That was exactly what Eric was afraid of. At the time he’d been so concerned of her getting trapped on the wrong side of a bar fight, he wanted her out of the building as quickly as possible.

  Both of their pagers went off simultaneously, signaling an emergency. “Fuck!” Eric swore for a second time as he flicked on his hazards and did a U-turn in the middle of the street to race back toward the station. “We know her cell number and sooner or later she’ll take our call. If she leaves town before we get back, I bet Aubrey has her address in Bozeman. We’ll find her.”

  He and Matt made it back to the station and were suited up and in the truck when they found out where they were going.

  “But, that’s our house.” Matt looked horrified when the chief told them the address.

  “You don’t think this is retaliation for what happened in the bar, do you?” Angus asked.

  Matt glared at the man sitting across the truck from them. “What would you know about that?”

  “Hey, I swear I was picking up lunch for the crew. I wasn’t there for a drink. I promised.” Angus lifted up his hands, palms out like he was innocent of any wrongdoing. “I tried to stop the chick who’d been with you, but she’s so tiny I was afraid of hurting her.”

  Angus had been told that if he or Matt caught him drinking anywhere in Sanctuary, they would have him transferred. The big man had been truly remorseful after the incident in Consensual when Aubrey had gotten hurt. Once he’d sobered up, the chief had put the man on a short leash and Angus hadn’t uttered a single word of complaint. Both Eric and Matt had wanted him transferred out of Sanctuary but didn’t have that kind of authority.

  “I can’t see them setting our house on fire over a small dust up like that.” Eric looked out the window and noticed the black smoke curling up in the distance. Fear curled up like a pit in Eric’s stomach and he rubbed the scars on the back of his hand with the other.

  “Didn’t she say it was your fault?” Angus added.

  Eric shrugged. “Families around here blame each other for the rain. It doesn’t mean they’re going to burn someone’s house down.” He glanced over at Matt wondering why his cousin hadn’t added his two cents. Matt looked like he was going to be sick to his stomach.

  “Dude, what’s up with you?”

  “Jocelyn’s car is parked outside our house.”

  Thankfully his training kicked in the moment they arrived because Eric’s thoughts were a mess. It didn’t stop the urge to rush in the house and possibly get both himself and Jocelyn killed. He knew Matt was feeling the same way because his cousin was all business making certain they were prepared before heading in.

  They entered through the front door, Eric’s own personal fear overridden by the sheer panic that Jocelyn was in the house. Water poured in around him as his team turned on the hoses in an attempt to get the blaze under control.

  The fire in the attic was completely out of control, and they believed the second floor was compromised as well. Black smoke interfered with his vision and he beat back the thought that this was a recovery attempt not a rescue. There was no way she could have survived. Three feet into the hallway the smoke was so thick he could no longer see the entrance behind them.

  “Pull back, Eric,” one of his team m
ember’s voices crackled over the radio in his helmet. “The structure is too unstable.”

  He looked over Matt and could see the anguish in his cousin’s eyes. They both knew that every second was leading them closer to a collapse. But to back away and leave Jocelyn in here, he wouldn’t do it. They’d only known her for a short time but he couldn’t back out of here and leave her, even if he knew that she was already gone to them. He dropped to his knees and started crawling. “Jocelyn!” He screamed her name and pounded on the floor. Would she hear him or feel the vibrations if she was crawling in circles? He felt so helpless not knowing where she was. What if she’d gone upstairs?

  Matt started hacking at the floorboards with his axe. What the fuck? The old wood gave easily under his wild strikes. That’s when he remembered his Aunt Katherine saying something about a cold cellar under the front hall of the house. If Jocelyn’s down there…

  Eric kept a safe distance back so as not to compromise the area Matt was standing on. He also watched the ceiling and walls around them as best he could for any sign that they were about to give way. A large crack and he felt the house shift slightly. “Fuck! Faster, Matt!”

  “The roof’s caved. Get the hell out of there.” He heard the fire chief’s voice through the small speaker in his mask. Eric listened for the sound of cracking that might alert him to the fire surrounding them. Sweat dripped down his face and neck as he tried to ascertain the weakest point. A collapsed roof had ignited the building that had collapsed on him. Panic and fear pounded at his senses but worse was the thought of leaving Jocelyn in a burning building. He’d work on saving her until the entire building caved in around him.

  Matt managed to crack open a small hole in the floorboards. It wasn’t nearly big enough for either of them but Jocelyn was tiny enough she might get through it. He crawled across the floor and lay down, disbursing his body weight along the compromised wood. There was a small room or space under the floor, and a second later Jocelyn crawled into view, pushing a wooden crate. Eric altered the beam of light so it wouldn’t shine in her face and stretched out his arm. Tears streamed over her face and around the white mask she was wearing over her mouth and nose when she looked up at him and grabbed his hand.