Oakley: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 3)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “He did it, you know. My brother. I thought he had, but I was never sure enough to say anything.” Lach didn’t say anything as Grandma removed a small chain from around her neck and laid a pendant with the year cut into it onto the table. “I have to be honest with you when I tell you I was fearful of Lockley. To this day, I feel all shivery when I just hear his name said.”

  Lach looked at Lily when she spoke. “I don’t know who did it. Can you tell her that for me? Even if I did, I’d never have blamed her. We were good friends in high school. I didn’t know it was him.” Lach told Grandma that. When she nodded, Lily put her hand on Grandma’s shoulder. It wasn’t as if either of them could feel the touch, but she told Grandma about it anyway. “She was forever there for me. When the other kids would make fun of me for whatever reason, I’d know she’d be right there with me fending off their meanness. I do remember Lockley, but I don’t know that I ever saw him.”

  “He was in jail so much I’m sure after a time that’s where Mom would look for him when he came up missing. He was a nasty brother, forever trying to get me into trouble for things that I’d not done.” Grandma asked where Lily was, and she looked in that direction when she told her. “I’m so sorry, Lily girl. I didn’t go to the police because I was terrified he’d get out of jail and kill me too. I found your pendant one day when he was caught up in something, and I needed a nickel for a bus ride to town. There it was, lying there in his sock drawer like it was some kind of favorite of his or something. I’m so deeply sorry about that.”

  Grandma sobbed out her sorrow as Lily did the same. The dead didn’t have tears, but Lily was terribly upset all the same. Lach could see her sorrow, even feel it a little as the two of them spoke over each other. When Margaret came back to see what was going on, Grandma told her everything. But she never mentioned Lach seeing ghosts or talking to Lily.

  “Uncle Lockley killed a woman?” Lach hadn’t realized Margaret was a niece of the man who had killed Lily until just then. “No, you must be wrong about that. Uncle Lockley is feeble and out of his mind most of the time. But to kill someone? I don’t think he’d be strong enough to do that.” Lach noticed she only spoke of her uncle in terms of him doing the killing now. Not when he was younger.

  “Not recently, Margaret. When we were children together. He killed a woman, a child really, when he was nineteen and her just barely seventeen. Lily was my best friend in high school, and her death haunted me for the rest of my life.” Margaret looked at Lach, and Grandma slapped her hands down on the table. “Don’t you be blaming that girl, Margaret Anderson. Without her asking about that place out there, I wouldn’t have been able to piece together why this here pendant was in his socks when he was a boy. Here, look at it. It was the year the two of us should have graduated from high school. But he killed her.”

  “Why would he have done such a thing?” It was Lily that answered that question. Grandma apparently had the same thoughts about it. “No. I don’t believe you. I won’t believe you. Why would he do that to someone that told him no? Uncle Lockley wouldn’t have hurt a flea.”

  “He killed before too, Margaret. Mostly it was the neighborhood cats. Occasionally a dog or two. But he’d been in jail so many times back then it was difficult for any of us to be surprised by his next arrest. Even my momma, God rest her soul, shut him out of our life when he turned twenty-five. She’d not let him around me either on account of him beating me up for whatever change I had on me. I was his sister, too. Then when he was given the option of going to prison or war, Momma made him take war. I think, and I’m betting I’m right, that she was thinking he’d be killed over there and not have to return to us at all. She was that terrified of him. So was I.”

  Margaret sat down and didn’t say anything for a long while. When she did speak, it was so quietly, as if her voice was burdened with the emotions that had been brought out today. When she looked at her, after confessing that she too had always been afraid of her uncle, she told them something else. Something that Lach had a feeling no one else in the world had ever heard before.

  “I was fourteen when he picked me up from school once. He said Daddy had sent him to get me, that he wanted me to hang out with him for a few hours. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but when he pulled up in front of the old barn on the back of our property, I asked him what we were doing there. He said it was time for him to introduce me to Peter. I didn’t have any idea what he was talking about until he undid his pants and pulled out his penis. He was hard, too, like he was ready to have sex with me.” Grandma held Margaret’s hand while she continued. “He grabbed my head and told me to kiss it. To make him feel better would make me a special person to him. I slammed my fist into his hardness and took off running to the house. I never went anywhere with him again. He wouldn’t stop asking me to go places with him either, not until Mom left Dad a few years later to go and visit her momma when she got sick. I’d gotten taller while we were away. And smarter. I wouldn’t even be in the same room with him if I could help it.”

  “I’m so sorry, darling. I should have said something all those years ago, and you’d not have had to put up with that.” Margaret said that he was scary to be around. “I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry, child. You have no idea how much I’m sorry that he did this to you.”

  She and Oakley left after that. He stopped them about halfway to the car and hugged her. When he asked her if she was all right, Lach looked up at him and came to a sudden and profound decision.

  “I’m going to have a fundraiser to make sure the gazebo is retooled and put back into good shape. Then I’m going to call it the Lily Lynne Anderson Memorial Park. It’ll be bright with flowers and beauty. Benches so that people can go there just to relax and rest. There will be plenty of lights around it, too, so no other person can be taken there to be raped and murdered for as long as I’m alive. That prick is going to jail, I don’t care how old his mother fucking ass is.” Oakley laughed and said he was going with her if he was arrested. “Oh, you can bet he will be. Just as soon as I call Harris and tell her what’s going on.”

  By the time they got to Harris’s home, Lach had worked up a full steam of anger. It took her five minutes of just cursing before she could speak. When she was finished, Harris not only sent someone for the pendant, but she was going to have someone go out and arrest Mr. Anderson. It was nice to have a family like this one at her service. She had no idea what she would have done had the police, or even Harris had blown her off.

  ~*~

  Oakley was nearly finished for the evening when Harris and Shep came over. He was always glad to see his family, and this time was no different. When they sat down with him in the living room, Harris went off to find Lach. She said she had something important to ask her.

  “He confessed. Anderson did. He confessed to that crime and two others. When she brought up the part about his great-niece, he laughed and said he’d been doing his nephew a favor by introducing her to sex. Anderson said his nephew hadn’t appreciated him doing that to his only child. As you can imagine, that didn’t go over well at all with my wife, either.” Oakley said he didn’t think it would have. “The lab called right before we were sitting down to watch some television tonight, and said the pendant had blood on it—both Anderson’s and the young woman’s. A nearly eighty-year-old murder is finally solved. Christ, Harris was so happy she was dancing on the couch.”

  “Lach has been worried about it all day. She was so upset when we set out for your house that I was glad to see you both home. I have no idea what she would have done if she’d had to wait on you to come back.” They both laughed. “What else, Shep? You didn’t have to come all the way out here to tell me about a crime we knew to be a fact.”

  “Grandma Houston passed away about an hour after the police picked up the pendant. Her granddaughter thinks she’d only been staying alive to be there when her brother was finally brought to justice. I cannot believ
e how the crime went unsolved for so many years, only to find out that not only was there a person that knew something about it, but she’d hidden away the one thing that would convict him.” Oakley pointed out that the things they had to work with now were so much better than they were even ten years ago. “Yes, that’s what Harris said. She’s talking to your wife about working with her. In a quiet capacity. No one would know who she is nor how she’s helping.”

  “She was talking about that on our way home today. I think Lach was thinking she’d call up the ghosts to see what information she can get from them to help with their murders. Just to see if she could, she called up her sister. By the way, the sister isn’t any nicer now that she’s dead than she was alive.” Shep asked if he could do it too, talk to the ghosts. “No. Whatever she got, it wasn’t from me. The doctor told her there might be some changes in her memory from the head wound, but never mentioned anything like this. Lach doesn’t seem to have any memory issues, which I suppose could be a bad thing or good. But then she doesn’t dwell on the past all that much, she told me.”

  “And she shouldn’t. The thing is, after she and Harris talked the day she got home, I’ve noticed that Harris is more relaxed about things. As if just hanging out with the other two women, including Bella, makes her more focused. I know she sleeps better too. The three of them could be sisters if you removed the fact they don’t look like each other at all.” Oakley told his brother he’d noticed the same thing about Lach. “I’d not point it out if I were you. I did, and Harris started asking me things like was she always so tense? Did she not sleep with me well? Just leave it alone. Trust me.”

  The women joined him after they both had a good laugh. Apparently, Lach was going to be working with Harris, and the money she made was going to go toward the remodeling of the gazebo. Lach had also gotten her first donation from Harris in the form of labor. It was, she told them, a good project for inmates in the jail to work on when they wanted some time outside. Harris would also pay them.

  The phone ringing caught them all off guard. It was nearly eleven o’clock. Oakley answered it and sat down to make notes on whatever the person wanted. If they called this late, he was sure it wasn’t going to be a social call. It wasn’t, as it turned out. Ricky West said he was sorry for the late hour when he told him why he’d called.

  “Allison Gray was killed today. She tried to take the gun away from one of the officers escorting her to the shrink the judge ordered. He wanted to make sure she was fit to stand trial for the murders she committed.” He asked how her father was taking it. “I’m not sure I can be the one to judge him in this. He seemed to have zoned out for a bit, then I swear to you he looked happy. Almost like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders, and he was glad for it. I could be wrong, but I just don’t understand the human mind anymore.”

  “I don’t either. What happens with the trial now that she’s no longer going to be prosecuted?” Ricky told him they would go ahead with the trial. People would still need a verdict for their loved ones. “I didn’t think of that. But I can see that need. I know I would.”

  “Her dad, Lance, he had someone call me to come to see him in the morning. The trial has been postponed until after the funeral, of course. But Lance wants me to come in so he can make a full confession of all the crimes he’s covered up for his daughter. The mother, too, I’m afraid. I’m having someone look for her now I know she’s been murdered as well. He didn’t know for sure when he had them call, but he thought she was dead and that Allison had killed her. We’ll see.” Oakley wondered if Harris would have Lach help with that one, but didn’t mention it to Ricky. “There isn’t any reason for you two to come back to the courtroom anymore either. I’ve cleared it with the judge, and he is in agreement with me. The trial is now about her deeds and his cleaning them up. Lach will be compensated for everything, first and foremost. After that, the rest of his estate will go to paying some of the other people money. That was the way Lance wanted it so that Lach will have her medical and such paid off. I think now that he’s all alone in the world, he’s not going to be long for this one. He’s a happy but beaten man. Don’t tell Lach I said that, but I think he’s going to either kill himself or will himself to death.”

  “That’s so sad. I mean, even if he had a daughter from hell, there wasn’t any reason for him to take on so. Do you think?” Ricky reminded him that he’d sort of condoned her actions by paying them off. “I suppose that’s right too. I still feel sorry for him. It must have been hell having Allie doing the things she did.”

  “I would imagine he created most of the issues himself by shoving her off on unsuspecting people he got her to work for. After the second time it happened, I’d be looking at her, not the people that were hurt by Allie. She should never have been working at that restaurant. Not if she had a history of having a nasty temper and had murdered people. But it’s done now, and all we can do is make sure people think about mental health more than they did before. Because we both know she wasn’t right in the head. Someone should have done something about it long before she tried to kill our Lach.”

  After they spoke about the time he’d come to the house to talk to Lach about her medical bills, they ended the call. Oakley sat there for a few minutes, just looking around his home. They’d only been here for about a week, and it looked like they’d lived here their entire life. He so wished his momma was there right now. Not just to see all the grandchildren, which would put her over the moon. But to just be here with them all. Oakley had come to realize his momma was the backbone of all things family.

  Going back into the living room, he smiled when he heard them talking about Thanksgiving coming up. Shep would think it was right around the corner, but in reality, it was still a couple of months away. It was only the first part of September.

  When the couple left them well after one in the morning, he and Lach went up to bed. It had been a long and stressful day, and he would bet neither one of them would be up before noon. Christ, what he wouldn’t give right now for just a good long sleep without any interruptions.

  As soon as his head hit the pillow, he knew he was more than just exhausted. It was well beyond that. Even when Lach wrapped her nude body against his, he couldn’t even manage a kiss to her. When she giggled, all he had left in him was a small smile before he just let nature take over, and he slept.

  Chapter 9

  Sitting at his desk the next morning, Oakley didn’t remember when he’d slept so well or so late. They’d both slept until well past noon and had made love. Being energized after getting some good rest, he came three times and lost count of how many times Lach had come. He looked across from his desk when he heard a soft laugh.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone. I wonder if I even heard someone tell me you were here.” The young woman looked to be in her early twenties. She was a pretty little thing. Something he knew as an adult male in this world, he would never be able to say to her. “Did you need something from me?”

  “I do. I was wondering something first. You’re working here all morning. Is there a reason you’re not out and about the town?” He told her he was disciplined and worked from home as he would if he had a job somewhere else. “That’s a good answer. I used to love the outdoors too.”

  He thought it an odd way of saying that, but again asked her what she needed from him. Instead of answering him, she got up and walked around the large room, stopping twice to look at a picture or the title of the books he’d brought here.

  “There was a time when there was no one to help people like me. Oh, I don’t mean there wasn’t anyone, but it was becoming harder and harder to just get to see someone. However, the help was less than stellar and rarely did anything get finished.” She looked at him. “I’m getting there, I promise you.”

  “You take your time with this. Sometimes I understand that getting to the point isn’t always the way some people work.
Why did you think I can help you?” She didn’t answer him again. It didn’t bother him as much as he thought it might. Being ignored when he asked a question was something he was getting used to. The roundabout way of getting to the point was his grandda’s way of talking too. “I’m going to take notes if you don’t mind. I take notes on a lot of things when I’m working. It’s a habit I got into when a kid. I never could stop myself after that.”

  She sat down across from him again. “I’m dead.” He asked her what she’d said. “I’m dead. I didn’t think you figured that out, so I’m telling you so when I start telling you what I’ve come here for, you won’t think me off my rocker. I can be. Silly, I mean. But not so much anymore. Since I died.”

  “I don’t see ghosts. My wife does.” She nodded at him. “No, you don’t understand. I can’t see ghosts at all. Lach had a head injury, and that’s why she can see and talk to them. I didn’t have anything hit me in the head.”

  “Lach could always talk to us. But when she met you, she became relaxed about herself and life, and then we came around more for her help. When she was but an infant, we kept an eye on her, knowing that someday she’d be there for us. With her family, it was difficult to approach her when she was so tied up inside. She’s very relaxed now.” Oakley thanked her, not even sure she was telling him he was the reason. “We—well, I—was sent to ask you if you’d be willing to help as well. Before you answer that, let me tell you why we’ve come to you.”

  “All right.” He stared at her for several seconds. “Are you really dead? I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but you don’t look like someone that is dead. What I mean is, you’re not bloody. That didn’t come out right either. You’re pretty, and I don’t see anything like wounds on you. I have no idea why I thought all dead people had blood on them, but that’s in my head right now. Blood. Lots of it.”