Bitter Root

by Laydin Michaels

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  By the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  About the Author

  Other Laydin Michaels Title Available via Amazon

  Books Available from Bold Strokes Books

  Synopsis

  Adi Bergeron doesn’t want to be discovered. Discovery could lead to her arrest or worse. She just wants to keep flying under the radar, safe and anonymous. She may have to give up the life she’s built for herself when the restaurant she works in is chosen to be featured in a culinary magazine.

  Reporter Griffith McNaulty has had a rocky year. She’s struggling to rebuild herself after having her reputation destroyed and her heart broken by a previous interview subject. She’s jaded and hesitant to accept the flimsy story Adi presents as her past. The relationship that develops between them cements Griffith’s need to find Adi’s truth. Can she get to the root of Adi’s fear or will the past destroy them both?

  Bitter Root

  Brought to you by

  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  Please respect the rights of the author and do not file share.

  Bitter Root

  © 2016 By Laydin Michaels. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-62639-657-9

  This Electronic Book is published by

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, New York 12185

  First Edition: August 2016

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Credits

  Editors: Victoria Villasenor and Cindy Cresap

  Production Design: Susan Ramundo

  Cover Design By Melody Pond

  By the Author

  Forsaken

  Bitter Root

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to MJ, my rock, for always being in my corner, no matter the odds. Thank you to the fantastic, professional staff at Bold Strokes, you make dreams come true every day. Special thanks to Vic for all your help with the editing. Thank you to every dreamer out there, who finds a connection with the worlds we create. I hope to never disappoint you.

  Dedication

  For Gloria and Jerome 1945–2005, through your example, we learned to love. Live a lot, laugh a lot, love a lot.

  PROLOGUE

  Merley skipped through the shop looking for her papa. She had completed the signing in of deliveries at the dock, just like he asked her. He was supposed to take her to Conq’s store to get a limeade, and she was excited to go because her best friend Rachel was going to be working the counter today.

  Just wait till I tell her! She’s not going to believe it. I still don’t believe it. How did Papa rent the whole theater for my party? Who cares? We’ll have all the popcorn and candy we can eat, plus we get to watch all my favorite movies. Julie Messier is going to turn green when she hears. Too bad she’s a big ole mean thing. No invitation for her. It’s going to be so much fun. Twelve is going to be the best birthday ever.

  Life was so good since Mamma had married J.B. and he had become her papa. Before then, Mamma was as apt to knock her to the floor as to look at her. When her daddy died in the shrimping accident, it was like a bee got stuck in her undershorts. She was always mean. Merley pretty much stayed out of her way. She didn’t want to make her mamma mad, so she mostly hid from her. J.B. had changed all that. When he started dating Mamma, she mellowed. She smiled again and even laughed from time to time. He gave Merley just about anything she asked for. He was the best papa in the world and he was all hers. Take that, Julie Messier.

  She ran through the heavy wooden door to the back room, buzzing with anticipation, but stopped short. At first she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. There was Papa, holding tight to the arm of their neighbor, Ransom Prejean. Papa had something in his fist, and as she watched, he slammed it across Ransom’s face, opening a channel of skin and spraying blood all the way across the room. She bit back her scream, but not before both men looked her way.

  She was frozen in place, but Papa moved toward her quickly. He grabbed her around the waist with one arm and used the other to wrap her small hand around the grip of a pistol.

  “Take him out, baby girl. This scum tried to rip us off.” He held the gun pointed at Ransom, keeping it from shaking in her hand. And then he squeezed her finger against the trigger before she could make a sound of protest. The gun jerked in her hand as the noise blasted through her. She watched the hole erupt in the center of Ransom’s chest, more blood spraying out behind him.

  She couldn’t stop looking at his face. He looked just like that boy at school who fell into the coulee, his expression showing surprise and fear. But while the boy had quickly caught his balance and recovered, Ransom just melted into the bloody mess around him. Merley felt a sharp ache in her own chest, tight, like a knife going through her.

  Am I gonna die too? Am I having a heart attack?

  Papa spun her around so she was facing away from the carnage. “Look at me, Merley. You done a good thing here. That man was worthless and had to go. I’m proud of you, baby. Nobody cheats a Nerbass and lives to tell about it. Right?”

  She felt herself coming loose then, drifting away from that place and its gore. She started shaking everywhere, her stomach all roiling and twisting. What’s happening? Papa? I’m going to throw up. So much blood. If I throw up, it’ll get all mixed with that blood. She felt hot tears burn down her cheeks. What’s happening? Spittle hit her face, shocking her back to the present. Her papa was practically yelling in her face.

  “You hear me, Merley? I’m proud of you, baby. You didn’t do nothing wrong.”

  She struggled to reconnect, words choking out of her desert dry throat. “But…why? He’s dead, Papa. Why?”

  “You killed him, that’s why. It needed doing, and you did it. Now, don’t you fret none. I’m going to dump him so far out in the marsh that nobody is ever going to find him. It’s a better thing him being gone. Besides, the gators need to eat too.”

  “But, Papa, what about Max and Ellie? He’s their daddy. We gotta call the police, Papa. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

  He began to drag Ransom to the hatch in the floor that opened above his skiff tied up below the shop.

  “Stop that foolish talk, girl. He was a terrible daddy to those kids. He’s gone now and he’s not coming back. We have to get rid of him so they don’t take you to jail. Listen now. Get that bucket and mop over there and clean this place up. We don’t want anybody to walk in and see what you did. There�
�s some bleach on the shelf. Drag the hose up here from the hatch and wash it all away, baby girl.”

  I killed him. Merley’s ears wouldn’t stop ringing. As she hosed down the back room, she started shaking so hard the water splashed everywhere. I killed him. She watched the pink tinted waterfall slide from the edge of the hatch to mix with the salt water below. She filled a bucket with fresh water before climbing down the ladder to close the water valve. I’m a killer. Back upstairs, she poured more bleach than she needed into the bucket and began to mop the room. I’m a murderer and my papa is proud of me. She dropped the mop and sat heavily on the floor, legs dangling above the hatch. She felt cold, but her skin was clammy. Her head ached, and her stomach felt sick. The edge of her mouth started to twitch, and she knew tears were coming. She leaned forward as her stomach rebelled against what had happened and her breakfast hit the concrete floor. Now I’ll have to clean that up too. She slid to the side and curled into a ball, giving in to the shock and grief of the situation.

  Papa found her in that same spot an hour and a half later. He made his way up the ladder and swung her legs to the side to close the hatch door.

  “Good job, Merley. I couldn’t be prouder of you, girl. This is all for you, you know? One day this will all be yours. It’s about time you became a part of this. You’re almost twelve. That’s old enough. Get me one of those ice chests from the last delivery. I want to show you our power.”

  She pulled herself down to the big dock and brought one of the small ice chests to Papa. He opened it and pulled out a handful of little zippered baggies. They had what looked like rock candy inside.

  “This is it, baby. The key to the future. People buy this crap like they would die without it. All we gotta do is pay guys like Ransom to deliver it along with their shrimp. We box it up in the shrimp and send it on to the guys who sell it. It’s like money from nothing, baby. It’s all gonna be yours one day.”

  She didn’t want it. She didn’t want one bit of it. The ache in her gut and the hollow echo of that shot were all she felt. That night, she lay thinking about what her papa, the man she thought had made life better, was offering. She thought of Ransom’s eyes, the smell of blood, and the way the metal was hot in her hand. Her mamma had ignored her during dinner, and Papa had kept shooting her a knowing smile that made her stomach turn.

  The next few weeks were no comfort. Merley had her party, but it was bittersweet. She didn’t feel like she deserved to be happy. She watched Ellie and Max Prejean at school. They were so sad all the time, and it was her fault.

  I wish I could just tell them what happened to their daddy. I wish I didn’t have to feel like this. And now I have to work at the bait shop every day. Even Sunday. It’s like J.B. doesn’t want me out of his sight. Why’s he always watching me? What does he think I’m going to do? He’s made sure I’m stuck here. What else does he want from me?

  Merley hated the new life she was forced to live. J.B. made things even more horrible. Six months after the shooting, he opened a seafood processing company next door. Now they could ship more of their little surprises to even more places. He made other people disappear too. She didn’t have to pull the trigger, but she had to watch, too many times. She washed away so much blood she became almost numb to it.

  At least I didn’t know them and I don’t have to look at their kids every day. It was small comfort, though, as guilt continued to eat away at her.

  The week before her fourteenth birthday, Merley was at the counter of the bait shop. She had just sold six cases of “special shrimp” to a man in New Mexico. She was arranging for their shipment when the door banged open and J.B. rushed at her.

  “What are you playing at, girl?”

  “I’m not playing at anything,” she said.

  “Why’s your teacher saying you need to see a doctor? What’s that about?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I feel fine.”

  “Well, she says we have to take you to a psychologist if you don’t pep up. That’s not happening. You snap out of this funk you’re in, and I mean now. No more sulking around. This life gives you everything, and you need to stop pouting and be thankful.”

  “I’m not pouting. Besides, all I ever do is work and go to school. That and wash up after you beat on people. Why do I have to do all this? Why can’t I just be a kid?”

  “Listen here, I put my trust in you. You’re my daughter and you do as I say. Just be happy, you hear me? Don’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.”

  “Yes, sir.” Merley seethed inside but held her tongue, knowing he would only get louder and angrier if she provoked him.

  You’re not my father. You’re nothing to me but a monster.

  “One more thing.”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “You’re going with me tonight on the boat. I need your help with something.”

  Merley cringed inside. She hated going out on the boat with him. That usually meant he had someone or something he needed to get rid of and she had to help. She couldn’t stop a groan from escaping.

  “You have something to say?”

  “No, sir.” Defeated, she hung her head.

  *

  She had to get away from here. And fast. The boat trip that night had been the worst one yet. What could a kid that young have done to piss him off? The boy couldn’t have been much older than her. She’d helped J.B. lift his stiffening form over the edge of the cruiser’s gunwale. There wasn’t as much blood as usual, just some streaks on his face. J.B. was awful sketchy too. He kept glaring out at the Gulf like someone was watching him.

  “Why’d you kill him, Papa?”

  “Never you mind why. He’s dead and now he’s gone.”

  “But he’s just a kid.”

  “Not too young to steal drugs. Just shut up and let me think.”

  He was all twitchy, like he was scared or something. What could scare him? Merley couldn’t help picking up on his tension and started glancing out to sea too. What am I looking for?

  “What has you all spooked? You’re scaring me,” she said.

  “Nothing has me spooked. Just watch him and make sure he stays down. I want to make a stop before we head home.”

  They’d tied cinder blocks to his ankles and waist, as usual. He wouldn’t be back. It was weird that J.B. asked her to watch him. Something about this was off.

  “He’s gone, and he’s not coming back up unless the chains rust. Can we just go home now? I have school tomorrow,” she said.

  “We will, after our stop. We’ve got a long ride ahead. Get some sleep if you want.”

  “What? Where are we going?”

  “Just out to one of the rigs,” he said.

  “Are you crazy? That’ll take forever. I have school, you know.”

  “I know. Don’t worry. It’ll only be an hour or so out and back. It’s a jack-up rig and it’s not that far out. Besides, I told you, go get some sleep in the cabin. It’s probably better if they don’t see you.”

  “If who don’t see me? What’s going on?”

  “Dammit, I said go in the cabin and get some sleep. I mean it,” he said.

  Merley slid off the seat and headed to the cabin.

  Why’s he acting so weird? Why’re we going to an oil rig in the middle of the night? She shucked off her shoes and climbed into the narrow berth. She didn’t plan on sleeping, but before long, she was out.

  The clunking of the boat against something woke her. She slid out of the bunk and crept up the ladder to see where they were. When her eyes were level with the deck, she stopped. If J.B. saw her he was sure to lose his temper. She could hear his voice but couldn’t see him.

  “It’s not my fault, Chupa. The idiot took too much of the stuff. By the time I’d found him he was already gone. You have to explain it to him. It’s not my fault.”

  “Okay, Mr. Nerbass, but you know El Mayo. He’s going to want his nephew returned to him.”

  “It’s too late for that. I had to get
rid of him. If anybody saw him this whole operation could’ve been busted wide open.”

  “This isn’t good, señor. He is not going to be happy. Now he can only rely on your word of what happened. I suggest you go home and wait to hear from us.”

  “Now, that’s not fair. I give you good service. I’m never late, you always get your cut, I’ve proven my loyalty. My business shouldn’t suffer because he sent a boy to do a man’s work.”

  “Mr. Nerbass, you forget yourself. It is by his grace you continue to exist. I wouldn’t trifle with that, were I you. I’ll talk to him. We will see how he responds. If he gives me the go-ahead, I’ll get more product to you by the weekend. For now, we wait and see.”

  Merley slid the hatch door further back, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man speaking. It was stuck and she had to pull harder than she expected. When it finally came loose, it banged back into the housing. The voices above her stilled.

  She winced and froze. Uh oh. Now I’m in for it.

  “Who’s there? Nerbass, if you are trying to double-cross us—”

  “No double-cross. It’s just my kid. Hold on. Put that thing away.”

  Merely could hear nervousness in his voice.

  “Merley, come out on the deck.”

  She pulled herself up the rest of the ladder and stood in the open. J.B. and the other man were standing on top of the cabin. The oil rig loomed above them, its lights illuminating the boat. She looked at the man who had been speaking. His face was in shadow, but she could see he was a big man. Tall and broad, with dark skin, like chicory coffee with milk. She clearly saw the gun he was holding. She hoped he would stay up there.

  “Come on up here, girl. I want to see you,” he said.

  Dread tightened her stomach, but she did as she was told. The man gripped her face in his massive hand and turned it this way and that. It wasn’t painful, just awkward and uncomfortable. He stared at her for what seemed like forever. She stuck out her chest and stared back.