“I can do that. The insurance money Collin and Rita had on themselves is coming to you. Harris has made some changes to it, and I thought we could put the money in the bank for the children.” She shook her head. “I had a feeling you were going to say that. What did you have in mind? I don’t know the total payout of it, but Harris is working on that.”
“We’ll use it for people that can’t have children through any kind of natural way. To help pay for some of the treatments, their insurance might not cover. I have no idea why that popped into my head, but that’s as good a way to use their money as any I’ve ever heard of.” He told her that it was brilliant. “All right. All the bad news finished?”
He said there was one more thing. “Your mother is moving away. I don’t know where to, but Harris said she’d tell you if you wanted.” She said she didn’t. “I didn’t think so, but Harris will talk to you about it when she comes over for dinner. Harris is going to keep tabs on her, so she isn’t coming around here again. As far as anyone is concerned, Collin died in a horrific car accident, and your sister committed suicide. They’re being buried together, but nowhere near anyone in the family.”
“Okay. I don’t want to know about that either.” He nodded. “The babies’ room is fine for now, but I’d really like them to have separate rooms. I know we have plenty of room for that. Also, I’d like to have a room for my dad when he comes around to visit. I think he will, don’t you?”
“He’s getting with one of my brothers to help him find a house he can live in. Something I didn’t know and that he might have mentioned to you is that his second wife passed away some months ago. Frank was thinking about moving into a retirement village when Harris contacted him about you.”
“I’d like that too.” She was dressed then, and they headed down the stairs. “There are so many things going on in my head right now. I mean, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt good about taking on a project. Also, before I forget, I have to be at the courthouse tomorrow for the trial with the Grays. I hope things go in my favor for this. I don’t want to have one more person on my shit list right now.”
Starving and glad that they had a cook to help out, she ate everything on her plate and even managed to steal two pieces of bacon from Oakley’s plate. Sitting back in the chair, she felt stuffed, warm, and safe. They talked like they were a regular couple, with regular troubles and good things coming to them.
“Oh.” She stood up quickly, and so did Oakley. Mrs. Marsh held her spatula like a weapon as Lach put her hands over her belly. “It moved. They moved. I felt it. Here, come feel it.”
They both laid their hands on her small belly, and when Oakley smiled, she knew he too had been able to feel his children. Because they were, now and forever, his babies. Lach even knew that any other children she had, all of them by him, he would feel the same about the two she had carried for another person as he would for the children the two of them created between them.
“That’s our babies there, Mrs. Marsh. Aren’t we going to have the best time with them around here?” She nodded, tears in her eyes as she turned back to the stove. “I don’t know about you, love, but I’m more than ready to go and get them some clothing and such for their first days in this world.”
They were headed to the mall within minutes. Neither of them mentioned the things going on tomorrow at the courthouse. Nor did they ever stop holding hands, except when it was necessary. Then they held onto each other again. Lach thought having a mate and a husband was about the best thing in the world. She wondered how perfect it would be once their children came along.
Chapter 7
The courtroom was packed. While Oakley knew this was a big event for the town, he was seeing people from their little burg he’d not seen in some time. There to support their newest member, as well as hoping, he’d been told, to make a good impression so they’d be asked to babysit once in a while.
Oakley didn’t know how they thought that was going to work. There was Frank, his grandda, then Fletcher, Bella’s father. Five uncles and two aunts. Not to mention several friends of friends that had already put their names in the hat for their chance. They were betting on the fact that there were lots of babies coming along, he thought, what with Harris having a child and them having two. Then there was Dean and Bella’s little guy, Dru.
He looked at the two people brought into the room in prison stripes, as well as chains on their ankles and wrists. Harris had found out the two of them had been nothing but trouble since they’d been arrested. Then there was the fact that Allison had been put into solitary confinement several times over the last month to keep her from hurting the other inmates. It looked like they were a pair, the two of them.
“There’s that bitch that caused all this. I hope they hang your ass.” No one said a word as Allie came toward the bench that she was to sit at, and close to Lach. He had to hand it to his wife; she didn’t shy away from the violence of Allie. “I hope you rot in hell, bitch.”
After she was seated and told to behave, Lance would turn around and glare at Lach off and on. Like that was supposed to scare her off from testifying today. The people had nearly killed Lach, and there was no way any of them were going to walk away from getting this family off the streets.
The judge, a very close friend of Harris’s, came into the room amid the people moving around for a better seat. Judge Parker had spoken to Harris at great length about the things she’d found, and also how badly they needed to have these two fuck up badly here today so there would be a reckoning for their past deeds too.
There weren’t any seats to be had. It was, as it turned out, standing room only in the small quiet little courtroom. They’d moved the trial to their town for two reasons. One of them to not make it hard on Lach, who was looking very banged up, thanks to Harris and a makeup team. And apparently, a change of venue had been decided on because there wasn’t a soul in the Gray’s town that didn’t want to string the two of them up for other reasons. Apparently, they’d been making their own kind of trouble around the city, as well as the people that worked for or with them.
Once everyone was seated again, Judge Parker asked the Grays if they had an attorney. Lance stood up but was told to sit down. Henry was a no-nonsense judge, and he didn’t like people messing with the rules he’d been enforcing for the last fifty years or so.
“I asked you if you had an attorney. I didn’t ask you to stand up and give me a long, drawn out story as to the reasons there isn’t one sitting next to you. Do you or do you not have an attorney?” Lance simply said no. “That’s no sir, Mr. Gray. I’m a very important person, and it just so happens I’m the most important person you’re going to meet today that may or may not keep you and your daughter out of prison. So keep that in mind when you address me.”
“No, sir. I don’t have an attorney.” When it looked as if Lance might say more, Henry glared at him. “If you don’t allow me to speak, then this is going to be a long assed trial.”
“Fifty dollar fine for cursing in my courtroom. Double or nothing on how long it’s going to take you to pay me for that?” Lance said nothing. “Good. It seems you can be taught. With you and your daughter not having an attorney, there will not be any coming back later to say you were poorly represented. Because you’re going to be if you think you can take on this here family and not come out the loser. Are you sure, one hundred percent sure that you don’t want an attorney for this trial?”
“I’m sure.” There was something said under Lance’s breath, but Henry chose to ignore it. “I would like to say I feel this is a waste of taxpayers’ money. My daughter was poorly treated at work, and none of this would have happened had she—I mean, Ms. Russell—only done what she asked her to do.”
“Are you going to do this the entire time, Mr. Gray? Or are you going to let me do my job here? I did get all gussied up this morning for this. From what I understand, there was more to th
is than a simple not treating your daughter well. I have a list of witnesses a mile long that are more than willing to testify about the goings on that night. Not to mention some of the things your daughter did leading up to this fateful night. Are you still sure you want no attorney to come here and help you out?”
“Yes. I’m sure.” Lance finally sat down, only to have his daughter jump up as well as she could with her chains on. “My daughter is a good girl, you know. I never had any trouble with her. I don’t know why she had trouble there. It’s all just a misunderstanding and that woman’s fault.”
“I’m a great woman, Daddy. And he’s right. If the dumbass back there would have just given me my dinner, then she’d not be having a hole in her head. If you ask me, I think it’s an improvement on her looks.” Henry told her that it was a fifty dollar fine for her too. “I don’t care if you put a million dollars on me in fines. She was a total fuck up from the day my daddy hired her.”
“One hundred dollar fine. We can play this all day if you want. I know for a fact the money I bring in for people being fined in my courtroom goes for a good cause.” Henry slammed his gavel on the desk he was behind and glared at Allie. “Hush your mouth right now, or so help me; the only way you’re going to help your cause here is to do so with tape over your mouth. Say another word without my permission, and I will have you returned to your cell. I’m not in the mood for your drama. Mr. West, call your first witness before I blow a gasket here.”
Ricky called the medic to the stand that had been first on the scene. As he described what he’d come upon when he’d been called to the restaurant, he talked about the wounds Lach had received and the extent of the burns on her back and arm.
“What else was going on when you arrived, Mr. Tayler? Can you tell me what the staff was doing when you arrived? Were they helping Mrs. Marshall out?” He told him what they were doing. “What do you mean, they were holding Ms. Gray to the floor? I wasn’t aware that she’d been hurt.”
Ricky looked confused when they all knew he wasn’t. Going over his notes, he turned back to Mr. Tayler when he said the staff was holding Ms. Gray down to prevent her from killing, her words exactly, Mrs. Marshall.
“You mean that, even after injuring my client, she still wanted more blood? My goodness.” Ricky turned and winked at them. “That doesn’t sound like someone I’d want to be working with. Can you tell me what happened when you got Mrs. Marshall to the hospital?”
Mr. Tayler told them the police had arrived at the hospital and arrested her father, Mr. Lance Gray. Allie Gray was arrested, he reminded him, at the restaurant. When Ricky asked what Lance had done to be arrested, Mr. Tayler smiled.
“He threatened Mrs. Marshall as well. He told her he was going to backdate her firing, so it looked as if she’d not been working when she was hurt by his daughter. Also, and this one I figure everyone needs to know, Mr. Gray had told Mrs. Marshall to treat his daughter the same as she did everyone else. When Lach there mentioned that to him, he said he had said that, but he hadn’t meant for her to get pissy with her. As you can see, that didn’t go over well for her.” Ricky asked him how he’d been privy to that conversation. “I was still there with the rest of my team, loading up on supplies that were ordered to be picked up. They were next to the area where our supplies are kept.”
Lach stood up when she was called to the stand after Lance said he had no questions for the medic. After being sworn in, she sat down on the large chair, and Henry asked her if she was all right. Nodding, she told him she was doing better every day.
“Mrs. Marshall, in your own words, can you tell us what happened that day?” She started off by telling them that Dobie, the regular cook, hadn’t been to work in a while, or she might not have been running the cook’s station. “So, you were not the cook?”
“No. I was the assistant cook. I fixed up the plates when Dobie put the meal on them. Adding sauces or something else that had been ordered. I was, that night and for the previous few weeks, doing the job of two people.” Ricky asked her what else she did in the restaurant. “Ordering. The food and the liquor. Also, I made up the schedule Mr. Gray was supposed to be doing and wasn’t. Made sure there was coverage for all the shifts when someone called off. I’d been leaving messages for Mr. Gray for weeks about how I was working every day for the last forty, but he never called me back.”
“You fucking should have kept your mouth shut about that too. She would call me three or four times a day to tell me every little thing going on. Like I had nothing else to do but listen to her bellyaching about how she was being overworked.” Henry told him he had another fine added to his accounting. “Like I care right now. Because of her, the restaurant has been closed for the past month, and no one is making any money.”
This went on back and forth for another twenty or so minutes. Finally, Lach told Lance to shut up and let her talk, then he could have his turn to ask questions. That, of course, didn’t go over any better than Lance being told he was going to go back to jail if he didn’t wait his turn. Finally, Henry had enough and ordered them both to be taken back to their cells. Lance said he’d be good from now on. He really wanted to get this over with.
Oakley was on pins and needles, hoping that the two Grays would stay. Much depended on them being able to be there so that their past crimes could be added on to what they were being charged with now. When Henry relented and let them stay, Oakley saw him wink at Harris. Thankful for friends in high places, the trial continued.
Lach finished her story by telling the room she’d had three surgeries while in the hospital. The first one was to remove the glass that had been so sharp it had pierced her skull, the second and third times were to make sure she didn’t have as much scarring as they were afraid she’d have.
“Mrs. Marshall, can you tell me how many times—just an estimate—you called Mr. Gray about his daughter?” She said if she had her purse, she could answer that. Oakley took it to her and winked at her when she took it from him. “You have notes?”
“I do. I started keeping track of the things I did daily, so if anything was missing or was wrong, I could cover my own bottom. I wasn’t a cook, nor did I know all that much about running a restaurant. But I didn’t have anyone to call upon for advice, so I did it as best I could. Writing things down seemed to be the best way for me to keep track of the daily grind.” Lach pulled out her notebook. “Allie was hired on the tenth of last month. I called Mr. Gray that night and well into the evening when she refused to do her job. I have the times here if you want those as well. In addition to the calls I made about his daughter, I also called six times to tell him Dobie hadn’t shown up to work, and I was getting underpaid to do the job of two people.”
This went on into the lunch hour. Henry said they’d take up where they left off when they came back at one-thirty. Things were going just the way they hoped they would, all the way up to and including making the Grays look like the worst people in the world to work for and with. There was only one more thing they wanted to be brought up by Lance, and that would seal the deal for them going to jail.
“I thought for sure he was going to be going back to jail. Then I don’t know what we would have done about bringing up the past actions of Allie and her dad covering them up for her.” Oakley told her he thought they’d do it soon. “I hope so. I’d really like to get some justice for the three people she killed. I guess this seeing ghosts thing is going to come in handy more than I thought.”
“I hope so. They’re helping Harris too.” Lach nodded as she played with her food. “I believe that would do you a bit more good if you were to actually eat it instead of spreading it all around your plate.”
“I’m afraid.” He told her he was sorry. “No, don’t be. I’m just terrified this is going to come back on me, and we’re going to be paying out the ass for something I didn’t do. I wish now I’d just given her the stupid steak.”
“If yo
u had, do you really think that would have been the end of it? Do you think that as she realized she could play you, she’d not be demanding more things? I don’t. She and her father strike me as people that will take advantage of anyone they can. You did the right thing.” She told him how the other staff were out of work. “They might be, but Harris is making sure they’re getting their full pay by cooperating with her and her team on some of the other things that have happened at the place. She hasn’t told me what they are, but they’re going to come out soon.”
After their lunch, they took a walk around the courthouse. It was getting chilly out, and there was a crispness in the air that made him want to run in the woods. The cold weather was his favorite time of the year. It was also coming up on the holiday season. Thanksgiving. It was the time of family and friends. And this year, he had a great deal more to be thankful for.
The courtroom was still packed when they arrived. Lach was called to the witness stand as soon as Henry joined them. He asked her if she was doing all right, and when she asked if she could have some water while in the hot seat, she called it, he had someone go to his office and get her one of his bottles. Oakley knew this wasn’t a ploy—Lach had been more thirsty since she’d been at his house. Rodney said it was because it was dryer out, and she was carrying two children.
~*~
Lance was sick and tired of having the judge cut him off at every turn. It might well have been better had he had an attorney to make sure things were done correctly. But who the hell could afford one while his place was shut down? The police had done that too, shut him down until further notice. Like that was supposed to help his income.
Oakley: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 3) Page 9
