Table of Contents
Title Page
CREDITS
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
EPILOGUE
LOOK FOR
K.J. Dahlen
Demon’s STAND
Book Two
Whiskey Bend MC Series
CREDITS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, businesses and incidents are from the author’s imagination, or they are used fictitiously and are definitely fictionalized. Any trademarks or pictures herein are not authorized by the trademark owners and do not in any way mean the work is sponsored by or associated with the trademark owners. Any trademarks or pictures used are specifically in a descriptive capacity.
K.J. Dahlen
Demon’s Stand
Whiskey Bend MC Series
Editor: Leanore Elliott
Book Design & Formatting: Wicked Muse
Cover Art Provided By: Talia’s Book Covers
Chapter One
As the dirt hit the casket, the sound it made echoed through the cemetery and caused Shiloh to flinch. The sound was so final but then so was death. Shiloh’s heart was breaking as she listened to the thud of the earth hitting the wood of her aunt’s final resting place. She glanced at the temporary headstone marker. Tears rolled down her cheeks when she read the name on the marker, Donna Marie Kelley.
A voice inside her head screamed at her that the name on the headstone was wrong. It should have read Donna Marie Weston, not Kelley. Donna had been the one person in her young life that protected her after her parents died. She was the one who held Shiloh when she was sick or the nightmares got the best of her growing up. Donna had been there to make her laugh and kept her safe all these years. It made Shiloh sad that when her aunt needed her the most, she wasn’t there for her.
Donna had died four days ago in a car accident. Her car plunged off the road and down into a ravine. The paramedics said she might have lived if help had arrived right after the accident, but Donna wasn’t found until the next day. She’d been all alone and in pain when death came to call.
Tears slid down her cheeks as she thought of how long Donna had suffered. The medical examiner’s report told her that Donna suffered two broken legs and a fractured rib. The rib punctured her lung and eventually her abdomen filled with blood from a small tear in her artery. The coroner had determined she bled to death internally. The police were looking into the accident, but she knew there was nothing they could do. There wasn’t anything anyone could do. Donna was gone and now she was alone in the world.
Shiloh thought back on her life. They’d lived in twelve different cities over the years but when they moved to Seattle, Shiloh put her foot down and refused to move again. She had been sick of not staying in one place long enough to make friends. She remembered the look on Donna’s face when she refused to move again. Donna seemed scared about something, but she would never tell Shiloh what frightened her. It had taken Donna a few days to come to terms with not moving again but she had. Shiloh was old enough to know they had been running for a long time but when she asked her who or what they had been running from, Donna wouldn’t tell her. She’d made Shiloh promise to keep their secret and Shiloh would have been willing to promise her the moon at the time.
Shiloh glanced at the headstone again. She knew Donna wouldn’t want her real name on her final resting place but she was tempted to put it there. Shiloh Tremaine wasn’t her real name either. She had been born Georgia Michelle Corbin, but she hadn’t been called Georgia for a long, long time, almost a life time, her lifetime.
Shiloh looked around the cemetery. Green Haven was located on a slope overlooking Puget Sound, in Seattle, Washington. Donna had brought her here to Seattle seven years ago. Back then, Seattle had been just another town. Shiloh’s eyes looked past the town to the edge of the water and the gentle lapping sound she could almost hear calmed her. It was one of the things about Seattle she loved. Whenever Shiloh got scared or lonely, she would go down to the edge of the Sound and gaze out over the sea. The smell of the water and the gentle lapping sound was Shiloh’s escape. All of her fears melted away by the sound of the sea. She didn’t know why the sound of water made her feel good but it did.
Glancing toward the sky, Shiloh could see the dark gray clouds. It looked as dreary outside as she felt inside. She hadn’t had time to think about her future yet.
Shiloh had turned her head to watch the Sound when she felt someone walk up behind her. Turning her head, she saw a man she didn’t know standing there. He was tall and blonde with a full beard. His dark grey eyes were somber as he glanced at the grave in front of him. He turned to look at Shiloh before he told her, “Hello, my name is Jackson Russell. I’m sorry to disturb you at a time like this but I was your aunt’s attorney.”
Shiloh grimaced. She stared at the older, well-dressed man standing in front of her and couldn’t help but wonder why Donna felt the need for an attorney. “I wasn’t aware she had an attorney.”
Jackson tilted his head. “I haven’t had contact with her for a number of years, but she first came to see me seven years ago. She told me she had just moved to Seattle and she wanted me to keep something for her. She gave me this package to give to you upon her death.”
Shiloh accepted the package from him and glanced at it. She raised her eyes back to Jackson’s face. “Did she tell you what was in this package?”
Jackson stared at her for a moment. “She told me to tell you, you would find the answers to all the questions you wanted to know growing up in there. That you would find out why she had to keep you safe and some mystery only you could solve.” He hesitated and then said, “I didn’t know your aunt very well but I’m sorry she died.”
Shiloh watched as he turned and walked away. The package she held was heavy and her curiosity was getting the better of her. She caught her breath as she glanced at it and saw Donna’s handwriting on the outside. She’d written her name on the package.
Shiloh felt someone else coming toward her and she looked up to see Seattle policemen Tony Galen and Rick Craig walking toward her. She’d spoken to Tony and Rick shortly after her aunt died. They were the policemen that came to tell her about her aunt’s death. They had both been kind to her at the time and she couldn’t help but wonder why they were here now.
“Miss Tremaine, I’m sorry to disturb you at your aunt’s funeral,” Tony told her. He was the taller of the two. He was slim and dressed in a blazer and jeans. His red shirt stood out against the blue of his blazer and Shiloh could see his badge clipped to his belt. “But I think you have the right to know.”
“Know what?” Shiloh asked.
“The accident that took your aunt’s life may not have been an accident at all,” Rick blurted out. He was the more volatile of the two officers, but they worked well together.
“What?” Shiloh was stunned by the news. An accident she could handle but now they were telling her there might have been something more to it. “What do you mean?”
Tony glared at Rick for a moment then turned to Shiloh. “We dragged her car out of the ravine two days ago and our mechanic found several things th
at could have been tampered with. If that’s the case, we could be looking at murder, not accidental death. We need a few more days to determine the real reason behind your aunt’s death.”
“Do you have any idea who might want to hurt your aunt?” Rick asked.
Shiloh thought for a moment then shook her head. “We didn’t get to know anyone well enough for that. My aunt was a very private person and she didn’t socialize much. She was content to stay home.”
Tony reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a business card. Handing it to Shiloh he told her, “If you can think of anything you think we might need to know, please call us.”
Shiloh glanced at the business card in her hand and watched as they walked away. This was turning out to be a strange and unsettling day added to the funeral it had become bizzare. She tucked the card down along the side of the package she’d gotten from Jackson Russell. She was about to walk down the hill to her car when she saw him. He was leaning against a tree not too far from where she stood.
She was sure she didn’t know him yet he seemed very familiar to her. She tilted her head and studied him for a moment. Bits and pieces from her past flashed through her mind as she tried to place him, but it wasn’t until he smiled she remembered where she’d seen him before. A few years ago, when she was coming home from school she’d seen him leaving her aunt’s house. His smile was as warm then as it was now. He pushed away from the tree and began walking toward her.
Shiloh waited until he reached her to hold out her hand. When he took her hand in his, she had to say, “I don’t think we’ve met before, but I’ve seen you somewhere.”
He smiled. “I’ve known you most of your life. I was a friend of your aunt’s.” He shifted his gaze to Donna’s grave. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here in time. I only arrived this morning. When I read the paper, I found her obituary. I had to come, at least to say good bye.”
Shiloh smiled. “I remember you. I’d see you leaving as I was coming home. I asked her about you but she wouldn’t tell me who you were.”
He smiled. “I’m sorry, my name is Charlie Boone.”
Shiloh shook his hand. “I’m Shiloh Tremaine.”
Charlie glanced away for a moment then looked back at her. “If Donna didn’t tell you who I was then she wouldn’t have told you what I am.”
“Excuse me?” Shiloh said. “I don’t understand. What should she have told me about you?” She was intrigued now. She was finding her aunt had kept a number of secrets over the years.
Charlie leaned back on his heels. “You may not remember me but I’m a cop from Whiskey Bend. We met once when you were four years old.”
Shiloh felt a chill run down her spine. All her aunt would ever tell her about her past was that she was born and lived in the Whiskey Bend area with her parents until she was four years old. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I think we should talk, but not here. Let’s go back to my aunt’s house. I have some questions for you. I think it’s time for me to know the truth.”
Charlie stepped back and allowed her to lead the way down the hill. He got into his car and followed her back to Donna’s house. The drive only took minutes but seemed longer.
When Shiloh shut the car off, she looked at the home she’d known for the past seven years. She’d been fifteen years old when they moved to Seattle. After moving around since she was four, she hadn’t understood the fear that drove Donna from place to place.
Shiloh glanced at the package sitting on the passenger seat. Whatever her past was maybe the answers she’d sought all these years would finally be revealed. She glanced in her rear-view mirror as Charlie Boone pulled into the space behind her.
Maybe with his help she would finally understand what happened that was so bad Donna had taken her and run twenty years ago.
Grabbing the package, she opened her door and walked to the front door. Once they were inside, Shiloh made a pot of coffee. A few minutes later, she sat down at the kitchen table and looked at Charlie. “Ok mister policeman from Whiskey Bend, tell me what happened twenty years ago that caused my aunt to take me and run.” Shiloh asked.
Charlie studied her for a moment then decided to tell her the truth. Since there was no easy way to say what had to be said, he used the shock approach. “How about the fact that at four years old, you might have been the only witness to the brutal double murders of your parents?”
Chapter Two
Shiloh was stunned. She felt a cold shiver race down her back. She stared at Charlie for a moment then broke contact. Whatever she had been expecting to hear it hadn’t been that. She got up and went to pour coffee. Her hands were shaking when she set the cups down at the table.
Picking up her cup, she tried to take a sip of the hot liquid. Burning her lips, she set the cup back on the table and looked at Charlie. “What did you say?” she finally asked.
Charlie picked up his cup and took a sip. “I think you heard me.”
Shiloh wet her dry lips with her tongue. “I don’t understand. Donna told me my parents died when I was four but how could I have been a witness and not remember anything about it?”
“You were there that night, and when I found you, you were covered in blood,” Charlie told her. “The blood turned out to be your parents’ blood.”
“What do you mean you found me?” Shiloh asked. “I don’t understand.”
“Your aunt Donna discovered your parents’ just moments after they were brutally murdered. She dialed 911 and while she was speaking to the operator, she was searching the house for you. By the time I got there, she was frantic. She couldn’t find you. After securing the scene, we searched the house again. I found you in the hall closet. You were terrified huddled in the corner of the closet. By the time we found you, you were slipping into shock. You had blood on the bottom of your feet and all over your pajamas. You could barely speak and you clung to your aunt so hard we had to literary pry you off her to check you for injuries.” He chuckled. “You and your teddy bear almost knocked her to the floor.”
Shiloh remembered the bear but not the night in question. All she remembered was moving around from city to city with her aunt. Every time she had tried to remember her parents over the years, she got a blinding headache. “I’m sorry but I don’t remember much about that time in my life.”
Charlie took another sip of her coffee and told her, “I’m not surprised. You were too young to really know what you saw.”
Shiloh shook her head. “That’s just it, I don’t remember anything about my parents. I don’t even remember what they looked like. The only thing I can remember is living with Donna.”
“Do you remember anything about that time?” Charlie asked.
“Nothing. Donna wouldn’t even keep a picture of them in the house.” She glanced away from him for a minute then looked back with tears in her eyes. She wanted to say something, but her throat swelled and she couldn’t speak.
“Did you ever ask her why?”
Her head tipped down and she stared at the floor for a moment. “I asked all the time when I was younger, but she would never tell me anything about them. I learned to stop asking after a while. It was almost as if she wanted me to forget them. It almost broke my heart to think she didn’t want me to remember them.”
“I doubt that was the reason.”
“Then what was it?” Shiloh brought her head up stared at him. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“She was trying to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?”
“Not what, who.” Charlie insisted.
“What does that mean?” Shiloh asked. She got up from her chair and began to pace. “Donna would never tell me anything. I asked her once what she seemed so afraid of, but she would never say anything. All she would say was that one day, I would find the truth.”
“The truth is someone beat your parents to death and they would have killed you that night as well if he had found you. You saw whoever murdered your parents.”
“But
why? Why did he hurt them?” Shiloh asked as she sat down again. “And why would he, whoever he is, still want to hurt me?”
“Twenty years ago the police were investigating your father and his business partner Simon Pratt for smuggling contraband in their import/export business. They ran a small shop in a neighboring state as well as a consignment shop in Whiskey Bend but it was gaining in popularity and they were looking to expand. One day your dad, Mike came to me with a package. He said he’d found it in a shipment of items he ordered from Russia. He claimed he didn’t know anything about the package and that his partner Simon usually unpacked the shipments when they came in. He only uncrated this order because of one of the vases. He had seen it while he was overseas and knew your mother would love it. He was looking for her vase when he found the others. As he hadn’t ordered them he became curious and found something he swore he knew nothing about.”
“What was in the package?”
“Over two million dollars’ worth of uncut diamonds.”
Shiloh was stunned. “You think this Simon guy murdered my parents?”
Charlie stared at her. “We can’t prove it, but yeah I think so. That’s the only reason we haven’t arrested him for their murders yet. We didn’t have any evidence that would stand up in court.”
“But if my father said he didn’t know about the packages, why didn’t you look more closely at Simon as the smuggler?”
Charlie got up and poured another cup of coffee. He turned around and leaned against the counter. “We had no real proof that your father wasn’t the smuggler either. We were already onto to the smuggling ring when he came to us about the package. He claimed he was innocent, but we didn’t know for sure. Your father made all the trips to buy the items, as far as we knew Simon just ran the shop. Until we had the proof beyond reason, we had to treat him as a suspect. Before we could clear him or convict him, he and your mother were dead and the investigation into the smuggling ring ended.”
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