“Do you think he was being blackmailed?” Nyx asked. “You know, since everyone else was?”
“She was blackmailing me,” came the voice from the doorway.
Everyone spun in their chairs and stood.
There in the doorway was David Harmon, and he had a nine-millimeter pointed at Beau’s head.
Yeah, this was bad.
“I knew you were all close. As soon as I saw her,” he said, pointing at Elizabeth with his free hand, “I figured it was over.”
“So you killed my mother?” Beau asked. “Why?”
Tears filled his eyes.
“My father was known to have affairs. When Shelby saw me in town, she figured she could tarnish his name by telling the world she had given birth to my half-brother.”
They all looked at Beau.
He looked nothing like the man—one was a redhead, the other had midnight black hair.
Was this guy serious?
“And she told you this and you believed it?” Tori asked. Now it was about trying to slow this down. Beau was a dead man if David Harmon pulled the trigger.
“Yes. My mother, one of his affairs, told me my father had a roaming dick, and I knew it had to be with Shelby. She was a bitch. She loved rubbing it in, and she wanted to make me pay.”
“So, she was blackmailing you.”
“Yes.”
“Why would you even worry about it? No one cares who Shelby gave birth to,” Tori stated. “I know. There’s three of us here.”
“She told me I’d lose everything. She told me I’d be hounded by the media because you’re a media whore. I had just gotten my father back in my life. I couldn’t lose him.”
Ouch.
Someone was bitter and cranky.
“She told me I’d lose my home. I don’t have anything but that motel. It’s mine. She wanted it. She told me to hand over the deed, and she’d go away, but I couldn’t. It was mine.”
Elizabeth knew they were dealing with crazy, but here was her proof.
“So, you killed a woman over a motel that’s sleazily called ‘Sumass’? That’s your motivation behind all of this?”
“It’s all I have left of my father. He loved me. I know he did. He was a good man. I was his ONLY son, and I wanted to stay that way. She told me I’d have to share my motel with him!”
He began looking erratic.
This was escalating. There were plenty of guns in the room, but with the one pointed at Beau…
They couldn’t shoot the nut job.
“Where is your dad?” Julian asked. “Maybe he can settle this once and for all.”
The man grabbed his head but kept the gun on Beau. This was a bad sign.
Callen caught his wife’s eye. ‘Crazy?’ he mouthed.
She nodded.
Someone was definitely cuckoo…
They’d seen it all before.
“He’s in room seventeen. That’s his room. He doesn’t like when I bother him. We can’t ask him.”
They were all getting the impression that they weren’t going to find the man alive. It looked like David had killed more than Shelby. They’d bet he killed his father too.
The breeze started blowing in the room.
“Did you pay her?” Tori asked, hoping to move closer to her brother. If not, he was dead.
This was going to take a miracle.
“No, I pretended to pay. I showed up that night. I went in, and I was going to pay her, all right. I was going to pay her back for hurting me. She was a bad person. She hurt a lot of people.”
Yeah, he was preaching to the choir.
Elizabeth went for her gun beneath her blazer, but he saw her.
“HANDS UP! I’ll kill him.”
“Then you go to jail.”
He clearly didn’t care.
Elizabeth raised her hands in the air as she moved closer to Callen. Her hip was not far from his gun hand, and the blazer was pulled back enough that he could go for her gun.
This was going to be a long shot.
Figuratively.
“Beau is my half-brother and I’d have to share with him. If he dies, then I don’t have to share at all.”
Tori had to distract him.
“Then I’m your half-sister because Beau is my full brother. If your father cheated with my mother, then we’re related too.” Tori tried to get him to focus on her. She couldn’t let her brother die.
He stared at her.
It dawned on him that she was right.
“I have to kill you now too.”
“VICTORIA,” Julian hissed. “Not helping!”
“David, this is crazy,” Beau stated. “I’m not your half-brother. Lawrence Christensen is my father. I look like my siblings, not you.”
The man stared at him.
“Shut up! Your father knew Shelby cheated. She told me that’s why he wanted her to kill her baby. It wasn’t his. Then she went away, and we all forgot. We can’t let you come back, Beau. You have to die.”
The man was clearly hearing someone who wasn’t there. He kept looking over his shoulder at the ‘invisible’ person.
“My mom wants you to pay. Both of you have to pay.”
“Your mom isn’t here,” Beau stated. “You’re seeing things,” he stated.
Shit.
That was the worst thing to say to him.
It enraged him.
David screamed.
His finger was now on the trigger.
“She had to die for lying and cheating with my father, and you both have to die because the motel is mine. That’s my legacy!”
Tori saw the intent, as did Elizabeth and Callen. Without thinking about herself, Tori dove onto Beau and Nyx, flipping their chairs and taking them to the floor.
In that exact same moment, Callen went for Elizabeth’s gun, and he took the shot.
David was dead.
It hit him between the eyes.
On the floor, Nyx was hysterical. She was holding onto Beau, who had rolled to place her beneath him.
“It’s okay. He’s gone,” Elizabeth said, taking her gun back from Callen. “They should call you Tex.”
He laughed.
Arsen couldn’t believe it. “Well, so much for an arrest,” he offered. “They would have put him in a loony bin anyway. He was crackers.”
Yeah, she and Callen saw that a lot.
“Tori! Are you okay?”
She popped up, and she was smiling. “That’s so much easier when you’re not pregnant.”
Beau couldn’t speak.
He was dumbfounded. “Lawrence isn’t my father? You and Trey aren’t my full siblings? Or are you? I don’t know what to believe.”
Tori reassured him. “You’re family, Beau. That’s all that matters. You’re ours.”
Still…
He was heartbroken.
Chris had a solution. “If you really want to know, Christina and I can head to the morgue and run some DNA.”
Detective Woods began laughing.
“There’s a dead body on the floor. Is no one the least bit concerned about that?” he asked.
They all shrugged.
“Jesus, I don’t have words. I’m going to call this in.”
Chris waited until the man left.
“Chrissy, get some tissues and some blood. We’ll take a little trip to run them. Everyone should be out of the morgue and here. We’ll be in the clear.”
Christina giddily mopped up some blood and found some baggies in a file cabinet.
She went to Beau and wiped the blood from his forehead from where he’d bumped his head.
“Tori’s right. Family isn’t always blood, Beau, but we’ll find out for you.”
He patted her arm. “Thanks.”
Elizabeth linked hands with her husband. “Tori, it’s been fun, but we’re going to head to the inn, pack up our things, and wait on Chris. It’s time to head back to Salem.”
She had some waiting to do. Ethan would be coming home, a
nd she needed to get ready.
Tori hugged her friend. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“You can thank me by having the detective clean this up. You know how I feel about paperwork.”
She snorted. “Yeah, Tex, we do.”
She hugged everyone. When she got to Justin, she crossed her arms. “Let me see your ass.”
“WHAT?” he sputtered.
“A birdie told me you don’t have my name tattooed there. You know that’s all kinds of wrong.”
“Uh, your name on my body is all kinds of wrong.”
She snorted.
Then she let him off the hook. Elizabeth followed Callen and Chris from the room.
She was glad it was over.
She wanted to go home.
To Ethan.
“Angel, you kicked ass again.” Callen whispered, as they headed for the door. At it, she stopped.
“I want my husband back,” she stated. “I want Ethan home with us. I need you to help me focus for the next three weeks.”
He grinned lecherously.
“I think I can do that. How about we go back to the inn and play some kinky games?”
She dropped her sunglasses on her face, and she pushed open the doors. Outside, there was a plethora of cameras going off, as the media had obviously heard the gun shot.
She grinned.
The peace was coming back.
“Callen James, Miss Kitty wants to come out and play. Break out the handcuffs. I feel my grand return about to happen.”
He grinned like an idiot.
His wife was on her way back.
* * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *
Two Hours Later
Littlemoon Investigations
Well, the commissioner wasn’t happy, and that was fine with Tori and Julian Littlemoon. Honestly, they’d accomplished what they’d set out to do.
Beau was free.
The Littlemoons, with the help from the Blackhawk family had set the record straight. The commissioner could kiss her ass.
And that’s pretty much what she told him when he threatened to sing the tune of ‘frame up’. He really though they’d done that to David Harmon.
Well, they had video proof.
There were cameras in their office. Julian downloaded that portion, and that portion only, and handed it over. It showed the man coming in with a gun in his hand, and how it was pointed at Beau’s head.
That shut him up.
It also set him off on the war path. As Arsen returned to the office, sealed envelope for Beau, the commissioner was still there and waiting for him. He handed it to Tori, but before he could say anything, the commissioner began his tirade.
“You’re fired,” he stated. Commissioner Anders had to take it out on someone, and here was his victim du jour.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Tori and Julian watched the whole thing go down. The man had enough to bury the commissioner, to play the game, and destroy his and his partner’s career.
They waited for him to use it.
Only, he didn’t.
Arsen stared at the man, and then he pulled his badge and gun off his hip. Staring at them, he held them out to the man. “You can’t fire me. I’m tendering my resignation. I can’t work beneath or with people I don’t like. You’re dirty, and I won’t come down to your level. That badge means everything to me, but I’d rather lose it than disgrace it.”
The man sputtered.
“Julian,” he called.
“Yeah?”
“Are you by any chance hiring? I want to fight the good fight, and keep this clown from destroying our city.”
Tori laughed.
Oh, the commissioner looked about ready to have a stroke.
Perfect.
“There’s an opening,” Julian stated. They needed as many people as they could now that ‘Littlemoon Investigations’ was back in business. They had one hell of a backlog.
“I’d like to apply.”
Tori handled it.
“Army or Marines?” she asked, tossing out her standard question.
“Does it matter? They’re both honorable and do the right thing. I choose justice.”
“You’re hired,” she stated. “Be here Monday morning.”
He saluted them, and then flipped the commissioner off.
It was poetic justice.
“You should go, Commissioner,” Tori stated. “Regroup and try again. We aren’t easy to take down, but you’re welcome to keep trying.”
Oh, he would.
He turned on his heel and headed out.
Tori looked at the envelope.
“What do you think it is?”
He shrugged. “Open it.”
She did.
Tori read the information, and then she tore it up.
“Bad news?” he asked.
“It’s the DNA test results.”
He stared at her. “Not good?”
She shook her head. “David Harmon was right. Beau is his half-brother.”
He touched her cheek.
“Tori.”
She tossed it in a wastepaper basket and dumped a bottle of water on top of it.
“We don’t tell him the truth.”
Julian stared at her.
“Victoria.”
“It’ll hurt him. He doesn’t deserve it.”
Julian didn’t know what to think. “If you really think this is right,” he offered.
She nodded.
Before she could say anything, the lights in the room began flickering.
Then it got cold.
“Uh oh,” Julian muttered.
Beau and Nyx came running down the stairs to get to the main floor.
“It’s insane up there. Chairs are spinning, and doors closing. I was afraid to get in the elevator,” Beau admitted.
“Is it…?” Tori began.
The scream in the room said it all.
Evangeline was back, and she was going to be a pain in the ass.
Vases cracked.
The lights dimmed.
In the far corner, some mist appeared.
Nyx gasped. “Uh oh. We have a problem,” she said, pointing that way.
Evangeline was manifesting.
This didn’t bode well at all.
“I have holy water,” Julian said, right before something slammed into him and he went flying into the wall with a sickening thud.
Tori screamed his name.
She went flying, too, slamming into the file cabinets.
She was out cold.
Nyx put her body in front of Beau’s. She knew what Evangeline wanted.
She was finally complete.
Happy.
And this bitch needed that to end.
“I’m here to take you,” Evangeline said to Beau.
“How are you here?” he asked, holding onto Nyx. He wouldn’t let her go. He couldn’t.
Nyx knew. “David’s death. It fed her enough. We have one hell of a problem,” she admitted.
“You’re going to die,” she said, pointing at Beau. As soon as she did, his hands went to his throat, and he went to his knees.
Evangeline was suffocating him.
Nyx tried to help.
“Let him go!”
There was laughter. “He’s mine. I warned you.”
Nyx knew she didn’t have a choice.
She crouched by Beau as he struggled to breath. “I love you. I’m sorry. I’ll stop her.”
He was going blue.
Nyx stood and pulled a pouch from around her throat.
Beau watched, unable to help. If he didn’t get air soon, he was going to pass out.
“Stop!” Nyx yelled.
Evangeline focused on her. “Or what?” she asked.
Nyx glanced back at her husband. “I love you, babe,” she said. “Don’t forget about me.”
And then she threw the pouch at Evangeline. It exploded on the ground at her feet.
/> Nyx raised her hands. “Come to me. I am the vessel, and I lock you in me!”
The room exploded in power.
It was like fire, but it was light.
When it stopped, Beau could breathe.
He looked around. Tori was trying to get up from her pile at the base of the file cabinet.
Julian was holding his head as he crawled toward his wife.
“What the hell?” he muttered.
In the middle of the room was Nyx, and she was resting on the floor.
She wasn’t moving.
It was as if she were…
It couldn’t be!
Beau shouted her name as he raced to get to her. When he did, he touched her throat.
There was still a pulse.
“Nyxie, wake up!”
She didn’t respond.
“I’ll call an ambulance,” Tori said, limping to her phone on the once desk.
Julian moved closer. “What happened?”
He told him.
“And she said what?”
He repeated it.
Julian got that feeling in the pit of his stomach. This didn’t feel right.
“That sounds like a spell.”
Beau looked over at him. “She offered herself up for me. I’ve lost my wife.”
The tears came.
As Beau Christensen held his wife on the floor, Tori and Julian were only able to look on.
They didn’t know what to say.
They had never seen it coming.
Never.
And now they didn’t know where to even start as they fought for Beau’s wife.
Epilogue
The Next Day
Memorial Hospital
S itting there was torture, and Beau didn’t even have words for the pain growing in his heart. The last twelve hours had been hell, and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better. The doctors were confused, no one had a clue, but they kept telling him they’d figure it out.
Whatever Nyx had done, it had resulted in one thing.
She was in a coma.
Nothing they could do would wake her up. He’d tried everything, and their spirits had too. She’d used some spell to lock Evangeline inside her.
She was trapped with her.
Kiss of Souls Page 49
