“Me as well. And there have been times when the child just cannot go back to their family. We would help care for him or her until someone else comes forward and claims them too.” She asked him if he had a child like that in mind. “No. But I only need to ask Tholan if he hears of something like that, to let us know. The paperwork for us will be handled by the right people as well.”
“All right. Let’s do it. I’m not sure how I’ll make this work with my job, but I want to more than anything.” He sat up and kissed her. “Just be warned that you’re changing every poopie diaper there is.”
They were both still laughing and talking about it when they made their way home. She was glad for the break in this crazy life, and was more than grateful for the man who had done it for her. Now back to reality and what was coming up tomorrow.
~*~
The meeting was about half an hour from happening. Jenny was afraid, she’d be glad to admit that, but more than that, she was pissed off. Every time she thought of what these people had done to her and others, she wanted to hunt them down and beat the snot out of them. She took some comfort in the fact that they were going to jail for a very long time.
“You’d look very pretty if not for the scowl you have on your face at the moment.” She laughed when the man sitting next to her spoke. “There, that’s much better. You must be Jennifer Slayer. I’ve heard a great deal about you. You cannot know how much it means to me to have this taken care of. My daughter lost everything when this started. And now that she’s gone, I want this settled more than ever.”
She had heard that someone had killed themselves over this mess, and that made her twice as mad. These people had so much to answer for. At least at the end of this meeting, everyone was going to get some portion of their money back. Not all—there were simply too many that hadn’t come forward yet. And since they had no idea how many that might be, they were holding the rest in a trust to pay them. If nothing more came up, then the rest of it would be paid to those who had gotten their money already.
When Samuel and Betsy came into the room, they were shown to the seats right in front of Valyn’s desk. She knew this because all of the rest of the people that would get to confront them with her were in another part of the house, watching the monitor that had been set up for the FBI. They were most interested in their confession. She was as well.
“My goodness. This is a grand house. Must have put you back a lot of money.” Valyn said nothing to Samuel’s comment. “Well, I suppose you want to get this over with. I have an accounting of all the money that she’s paid us, as well as how much more she owes. As you can see, she made very few payments before she just stopped.”
“And these other charges that you have here. What exactly are they for? You never said that it would be this much when I spoke to you the other day. You claimed that it would be three hundred and ten dollars.” Samuel said that they were late fees, hotel fees for coming here. A car had to be used, as well as the time and energy that they’d wasted in coming here. “Yes, I do agree with you as to it being a colossal waste of time. And this fee here, the one that is for six thousand dollars. I don’t see an explanation of what that is for.”
“That is the cost of what my partner had to spend on finding where the young lady was. You can imagine that sort of information isn’t easy to find.” Again, Valyn didn’t comment. “I’ve noticed that you have a nice view of the outdoors from here. That’s what Betsy and I want for ourselves someday.”
“Do you now? Well, I wish you luck with that. I’m thinking that it’s going to be a long way off before you get around to that.” Samuel asked him what he meant. “This house and the grounds cost a great deal more than you currently have in your checking account. And you hold no securities or any kind of other land. I don’t think this house is in the cards for you. But I would like to speak to you—”
“You had no right to investigate us. None at all. We came here in good faith, to be paid the money that is owed to us.” Valyn asked if Jennifer owed him or the company. “The company. That’s what I said. And she will pay even if we have to contact the local police department to have her arrested.”
Benny walked in eating a piece of cake. He had been asked to just come into the room, but with the cake in his hand, he looked like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Valyn introduced them to the detective.
“Valyn, this cake is delicious. You’ll have to give me the recipe, so I can have Lily make it some night.” Valyn nodded and then told them who Benny was. “I was here when he said that you were coming. I didn’t think you’d mind if I sat in on this with you. Do you?”
Samuel was blustering. So when Betsy spoke, it was as if they were Jekyll and Hyde between the two of them. Jenny had to cover her mouth when Betsy stood up near Valyn’s desk and then he stood up too. She seemed to not be aware or didn’t care that Valyn was much larger than she was.
“Just write the fucking check so we can get out of here. We’ve wasted enough time on that little shit to last two lifetimes.” She slammed her hands on the desk as she continued. “You ever cross our paths again and I will make you regret it for the rest of your life. And that would include that cheat.”
“Cheat? It’s funny that you should mention that. I have some paperwork here that says that you two are cheats. You’ve taken a great deal of money from people that didn’t do anything to you other than to be targeted in your sick game. Some people have lost a great deal in this. Do you have anything to say about it?”
“Yes, I do. Fuck them. If they want to scam people like us, then they’re going to have to get up very early to do so. We’ve worked on this for years, and now that we have it perfected, you come along and sour the pot.” Betsy pulled out a gun and pointed it at Valyn. “Now, you’re going to pull out your fucking checkbook and write it out for the full amount. Then, after we’re gone, you’d better look forward to us calling on you again. You never know what’s going to happen to your darling wife.”
“Did you just threaten him?” Benny looked at Valyn, then at Betsy again. Samuel was trying his best to get her to shut up and go with him. “You did. You just threatened a man in front of a cop. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing, and shut your trap. I’m going to take care of you too. You don’t seem to be writing a check there, boy. Do I have to prove to you just how serious I am?” The gun went off and Benny fell off the desk. Jenny knew in her mind that he wasn’t dead, but her heart said to run and get to him. She watched as Valyn pulled out a large notebook from the top drawer. “You might as well add another zero or two onto that amount. And for no other reason than I told you to.”
“This isn’t my checkbook. It’s a list of names of the people that we know of that you’ve scammed. Besides my wife.”
As he read off the names of the people that had been called upon to bear witness to these people being taken down, Samuel was sitting on the floor sobbing.
“This isn’t what I practiced. You were supposed to be impressed at how I was dressed. And you were to pay attention to my words. You’ve done none of those things. You’ve upset Betsy.” Valyn continued to read the names as Samuel spoke from his position on the floor. The gun going off again startled Jenny as she made her way into the large room. The shattered glass behind Valyn was a relief. She’d not shot him. “There you are. You’re the cause of all this. Had you just paid like I told you to, none of this would be happening.”
“No, you’re right about that. You would have gone on using that credit card scam on a lot more people, wouldn’t you have?” He told her that it was a perfect plan and that he was going to continue using it until he couldn’t. “Really? I do believe that your days are over, Samuel. There is nothing now to keep you out of jail.”
The police and the FBI came into the room with them all. They were armed and wearing flak jackets too. When they began shouting at Betsy to drop the gun, Samuel started screaming at Jenny again. This wasn’t her fault.
> They were arrested for a long laundry list of deeds they had committed. Betsy had finally dropped the gun, but she was no less abusive to the men who cuffed her. Samuel was still going on about his suit, and something about the people who were in the room. She didn’t know what he was saying, so couldn’t say if it was nasty or not.
“Are you all right?” She nodded at Benny when he was helped to stand up. The blood on his shirt scared her a little. “I’m fine. Like you, I’m an immortal. I can be hurt, which saves me a great deal of trouble when I’m shot like this, but I won’t die.”
Just as they were being taken out to the van that had come to get them, Betsy took off running. It was funny to see this woman in heels and a lovely skirt and blouse running in the rocks and snow. She was taken down by one of the police that was there for support. But she bumped her head bad enough to bleed, so they took her to the hospital.
This was the oddest arrest that she’d ever seen. Of course, she hadn’t seen that many, but it was odd. As the house was emptied of the people there getting their checks, she sat in the corner of the room and thought about her life since meeting the Protectors and the Mystics.
It hadn’t been boring, that was for sure. And she had everything that she’d ever dreamed of with Valyn. Someone to love her, unconditionally, for the rest of her life. And now they were talking about children and helping others out. She smiled at him when he came around the corner toward her.
“Are you all right?” She said that she was perfect. “Well, I’m glad that you finally figured that out. Betsy is headed to the hospital, as you know. Boss wants us to go there and see that she gets cared for. I said that we would.”
As she was pulling on her coat, she remembered what she’d been told about Betsy. She wondered if this was the time that they found out. Not having any idea what sort of cancer she might have, she worried all the way there.
They met up with the doctor not long after they arrived. “I’m afraid that I have bad news for you, Valyn. I’m telling you this because you were nice enough to come here to check on her.” She held tightly onto Valyn’s hand and waited for the doctor to explain. “While doing a routine imaging of her head, to rule out any damage that might have been caused by the bump, we found a tumor sitting atop her brain. It’s been there long enough that its sort of taken over and dug its disease deep within her. There is no hope of us operating on it now. It’s too massive.”
“What happens to her now? Will she go to jail?” The doctor, another person married to a Protector, told her no, she was beyond that now. “What do you mean, beyond what?”
“Having a normal life. As soon as she was wheeled out of the imaging room, she had a stroke. And it has incapacitated her to the point where she is getting help to breathe now. If we were to take her off the ventilator, I’m afraid that she’d simply not exist any longer. Someone is telling Mr. Mercer now. And asking if she has any family that we can call. I’m sorry.”
They went to see her in the room she was in. Betsy was hooked up to all kinds of equipment, and all of it looked like it wasn’t getting much of a reading. Jenny went to stand by her bed and took her hand into hers.
“I know that you know what’s going on. I’m sorry for this. And the fact that you’re not going to be able to move around and be yourself any longer. I really am sorry for that. None of us meant for this to happen to you.” Valyn came to stand behind her, holding her as she continued. “There is a very nice woman here to take you beyond this life. She’s been watching over you since you took your first breath. And she will be here when you take your last. I don’t think you could be in better hands than that.”
They left after that. The day was over, but there was still one more thing she had to deal with. And at this point, she was going to be able to say to her mom, fuck off. Jenny knew that she’d feel better when it was done too.
“I’d like for you to put it out that we want a child to raise. I’m ready to help someone to the right path. All right?” Valyn told her that he loved her. “And I love you. We’ll make awesome parents.”
“Yes, we will.”
Chapter 9
“I have a child for you. Actually two of them, if you should want them together. They are brothers, and have been neglected for a very long while.” Valyn asked Tholan how old they were. “The oldest is Connor Bass at seven. The younger one is Davy Bass—I believe it’s short for David—and he is four. He’s the most traumatized. They have been living in an abandoned house for the last few weeks. They left the home they shared with their father when the death smell was too much for them.”
Valyn held onto Jennifer’s hand as they were being told what to expect. He wanted to say that they’d take both of them, but Jennifer had said just one to start. The poor little tikes. Valyn wanted to hug them until they were better.
“What killed their father? And what did he do for a living?” Tholan looked at him and he nodded. “I asked the question, Tholan. I’m expecting you to answer me despite what Valyn says to protect me. Please tell me.”
“The father was a drug dealer who would sell his sons for money for his own addiction. I’m sorry, my lady. When he was killed, there was speculation that one of boys had done it. He was killed with a single gunshot to the head.” She asked him who had done it. “The child. I think that is why he’s having such a hard time with all this. He killed his father, no matter the circumstances.”
“When can we have them? Today?” Valyn was so happy in that moment that he could have danced. But he wasn’t going to until Tholan left. “I’d like to have enough time to get the bedrooms ready for them. Or should they be in one?”
“I think one for now.” Tholan bowed before her and smiled when he stood up and continued. “You’re much braver and stronger than people give you credit for. I’m proud to know you.”
Valyn called out to Lily and to the other women of the Mystics. Neither Jennifer or he knew the first thing about buying things for two small children. When Lily told the others that she had it, she came to their home and smiled.
“I had high hopes that you’d take them both. I’ve heard that they are very fearful. And they won’t allow anyone to touch them.” Valyn asked her what she knew, hoping she had a little more information than Tholan. “What I can tell you is that it will take a great deal of love and understanding for them to come around to love you both. Starting off this way, to have children come into your home, this is the worst kind. But I have faith in you to do them good.”
The shopping spree was much easier than he had thought it would be. Knowing their age and an approximate weight for them helped a great deal in getting clothing. Lily cautioned them not to go overboard at first. That would more than likely overwhelm them, and they’d had enough of that.
Beds were purchased to be delivered to his home. They were also going to have them assembled and made up while they were gone. Galin had said that he’d help them and watch the men coming to make sure that they didn’t wander around too much. Valyn, like all of them, had a lot of antiques. Most of them had been used by him at some point in his life, and he didn’t want them to get broken.
The clothing was harder to judge for them. Not the sizes, though they were guessing at them for the most part, but what each of them would like. Lily told them that since they’d had so very little when they were found, she had nothing to go on for styles or colors. Jennifer told him that she had it.
It only took her an hour to purchase the things that the kids would need. Shirts and pants, as well as coats. Socks were easy enough, he thought, and when she made her way to the toy department, he reminded her what Lily had told them.
“I know. But when I was a child, pretty much in the same position these two are in, minus the dead father, there were only a few things that I dearly wanted. And at the age of four, you can bet that he’d like something to hold close to his heart. Not a teddy bear, but something else.” They walked up and down the aisles several times before she moved quickly up the next on
e. “This is what he needs. Now for Connor.”
Connor was much harder to decide on. He wasn’t a teenager yet, not for a few more years, but he’d had to grow up fast in order to keep him and his brother safe from people. Valyn was able to find just the thing for him when they were about ready to give up. They decided not to have them wrapped, but would give them to them when they were alone. Valyn drove them home slowly, thinking that in a few hours or less they’d be responsible for two little beaten children.
When the car pulled up in front of the house later that afternoon, they were about as ready as they could be. The rooms were plain, ready for them to decide on what they wanted. He knew that it would be a while before they trusted them with that sort of thing, but he was willing to wait them out. He had a lot of experience with children like these.
Connor came in the room first, followed right behind by Davy. Neither of them moved beyond the threshold, but Jennifer got down on her knees in front of them both. Saying nothing to either of them, she looked as if she was looking them over.
“My name is Jennifer. But you can call me Jenny if you’d like.” Connor asked how long they had to stay here. “Why? Don’t you think we’d take good care of you? Or are you planning your escape even though we’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to be ready for you?”
“We were doing all right by ourselves. I don’t know why they made arrangements for us like we’re stupid or something.” Davy mimicked his brother on the last few words. “You guys are going to split us up, and that ain’t happening. He’s my brother, and I’m taking good care of him.”
“Well of course you are. I shudder to think what would have happened to you should you have been found by someone unsavory. You must have been quick on your feet to have been able to feed each of you too, I think.” Connor puffed out his chest and Jennifer went back to telling them what they’d be gaining by staying here. “There is enough food here that you don’t have to ever go hungry again. There is a butler in the house, as well as a cook. And they are excited to have you here as well.”
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