Mate’s Harvest: Bear Sheriff III
Page 14
Angie crawled to him. One of his hands flailed around and grabbed her.
“Bitch!” he yelled.
“You’re never going to harm Marcus ever again. And you’re not going to have me or my daughter!” she screamed, and with that she brought the scalpel down onto Tim’s chest. There was a loud yell of pain, then a wheezing sound as he struggled to breathe. Then Angie brought it down again and again and again until there was no life left in Tim Finch, in The Skinner, and Angie was covered head to toe in bright, red blood. Still, she brought the scalpel down again and again until she heard the door open and someone scream.
Janey Finch stood in the doorway, absolutely stunned by what she saw: Angie covered in blood above Tim’s lifeless body. She ran into the room and came at Angie, rage in her crazed face. Angie didn’t even think twice.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she plunged the blade into Janey’s stomach. She gasped in pain – the blade wasn’t long and she couldn’t stab her deeply – so she stabbed her again until the light went out in Janey’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Angie got to her feet, struggling and limping as she did so, and made it to Marcus. He was still unconscious. She draped herself over him, resting her head in his lap.
“I’m so, so sorry.”
Chapter 19
“What the hell were you thinking, Stone?”
Marcus’s head hurt like hell. He could barely think, let alone think about what he had been thinking nearly two hours ago, so he didn’t answer.
“Got anything to say?”
“No.”
“This is gonna be a hard sell, even after what you did. Jesus, Stone. Jesus. You went and tried to take out The Skinner yourself.”
“I had help.”
“Yeah, lucky for you.”
“When are you going to let me out of here, anyway?” Marcus asked. Putting together that many words physically hurt but he had to do it.
“Sick of cells?”
“Yeah,” he grunted.
He was sitting in a cell in the back of the Sheriff’s Department, aching like he had never before. His head throbbed from the baseball bat he’d taken to it, his chest hurt where he’d been sliced open, but his pride hurt most of all.
And he missed Angie, terribly.
“Where is she?”
“Let’s get this over with,” Nixon said, unlocking the cell. Marcus got shakily to his feet. He was surprised when Nixon held out a hand to help steady him. Marcus paused for a few moments, took a few deep breaths, and then began to walk.
“Angie,” he said when he got into the main room of the Sheriff’s Department. She got up – looking just a little worse for wear, but he knew nowhere as bad as himself – and hugged him. He winced in pain but didn’t say a word. He didn’t think he would ever feel her warm touch again. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Marcus,” she said, kissing him lightly on the lips. “Are you?”
“Fine,” he winced.
“Let’s get this over with,” Nixon said from behind them. Marcus reluctantly let Angie go, then together, they settled in to chairs on the opposite side of Nixon’s desk. He half expected the Sheriff to sit down and talk to them – but then he noticed that there was someone else standing behind the desk.
“I’m Agent Stevens,” the man said, not extending his hand. “Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Marcus just glared.
“I’m here to figure out what really happened. Then we’ll make our judgment as to what we’re going to do with you two.”
“Okay,” Angie said. Marcus didn’t say anything but he reached over to her and squeezed her knee gently.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” the man suggested, and Marcus nodded, and he started from the beginning.
Marcus didn’t leave anything out. He didn’t care any longer. He was exhausted, almost pushed past the point of no return, and he just couldn’t manage to lie any longer. He started in jail – then told them about breaking into Joanna Rivers’s house. He realized with a pang of regret that they’d missed her funeral – the FBI agent had been kind enough to point that out after Marcus had assured him they were friends.
He told the man about stealing all of the important information, then he told him how he’d broken into the Sheriff’s Department and held everyone at gunpoint. The agent blanched at this. Marcus was prepared to lie for the Sheriff’s sake, but Nixon stepped in during this part of the story and came clean about letting Marcus and Angie go.
The FBI agent didn’t say anything, so Marcus kept going with the story. He told them of running from the law. Hiding in the Great Southern, then finding out just who The Skinner actually was.
Angie took over explaining once Marcus had been knocked out; truthfully, he didn’t remember much of what had happened at the Finch’s house.
He felt a small cold pit in the bottom of his stomach when she described killing Tim and Janey Finch.
Is this what it’s like to be with a killer?
No. Neither one of us are killers. Not really. A killer is someone like Tim Finch. A killer is someone like his wife, who was too scared to disobey him. We have fought evil people, and we’ve killed them. But that doesn’t make us evil. It doesn’t make us killers.
I just have to keep telling myself that.
Eventually, the story was over. The FBI agent wrote down some notes in a journal, then he started asking questions. They seemed to drone on and on and on. Marcus answered the best he could.
Eventually, they started asking about Agent West and what had happened to him. Marcus stuck to the original story that The Skinner had killed them, too.
The sun had set completely when the FBI agent had finished all of his questions. Marcus hurt all over. He was tired. He was thirsty. Even being next to Angie couldn’t seem to perk him up. They had somehow won. They had killed The Skinner. And everything was in this man’s hands. If he decided that they were to be charged with their crimes…
He took Nixon outside to talk for a few minutes, then they both came back inside. The man nodded once at Angie, at Marcus, and then left.
“What’d he say?” Angie asked the second the door closed. “Are we free to go?”
“Not exactly,” Nixon said, sitting down heavily onto his chair that Agent Stevens had previously occupied for the last few hours. “We’re all under review. He’s taking it to his higher ups. They’ll make their decision soon. Until then, you’re free to go. As long as you don’t try to run off, Stone.”
“I don’t have the energy,” Marcus said – and he wasn’t lying. He didn’t think he could even make it out to the parking lot, let alone to another state or Mexico or wherever he’d be safe.
They got up and made their way to the door.
“Why’d you stick up for me back there?” Marcus asked. I wouldn’t have thrown you under the bus, Nixon. Not after what you did for us.”
“It was the right thing to do, Stone,” Nixon told him. “I am a man of the law, after all.”
“Yet you broke it for me. To try to stop The Skinner.” Nixon shrugged. “Thanks, Nixon.”
“Remember, the doctor said to take it easy,” the man said, closing the door behind them.
Darkness washed over Marcus, along with the cool night air that had recently blown in to the small town of Charming. Marcus stood still for a few moments, Angie at his side, just breathing everything in. Charming had been his home for as long as he could remember. It had been his wife’s home before that.
It was home.
But somehow, after everything that had happened, it didn’t feel like it. Not exactly. But Angie was standing next to him and that was what was important.
His Bronco sat parked out front of the Sheriff’s Department, keys in the ignition. He made his way slowly around the front of it and climbed into the passenger’s seat. Angie climbed into the driver’s seat, wincing as she did so.
“How’s your leg?” he asked, grimacing as a headache washed over him.
He woke up as they pulled into the driveway. Angie, even with her hurt leg, helped Marcus up the familiar sidewalk to the house. She unlocked the door for them and they made their way inside.
Together, they went straight to the bedroom and both collapsed into the bed, neither bothering to take off any of their dirty or bloody clothes. They were both dirty, injured, but they were alive. That was the important thing.
Marcus slept a dreamless sleep. He didn’t remember waking once in the night. Ever so slowly, he came to. A glance at the clock showed him that he had slept past noon. He rolled over and found that Angie was still next to him, sleeping soundly.
Ever so slowly, she woke up. He watched her, love swelling in his heart. He wasn’t sure what the future would bring for either of them but he knew that no matter what happened, he would always love Angie and he was sure she would always love him. She smiled slowly at him and kissed him lightly on the lips.
“What time is it?” she whispered.
“Almost 12:30,” he told her. She laughed lightly.
They laid in bed for another hour until Marcus could stand it no longer. He was dirty and hungry. Together, they climbed out of bed, each wincing at different injuries, and made their way to the bathroom. Marcus grabbed a trash bag and they tossed their dirty and bloody clothes in it, ready to be burnt.
Marcus started a shower, waited until it was steaming hot, then together they climbed into it. The water was almost black with grime and blood in the first few minutes. Slowly, the water cleared until they were both halfway clean. Marcus took his time washing Angie and she took her time washing him. They stayed in the shower until the hot water had entirely run out. Goosebumps exploding across their flesh, they stepped out of the shower and toweled off.
They put on clean clothes – big and old, perfect for laying around in – and Marcus heated up a couple of TV dinners since neither one wanted to cook. They sat down on the couch together and turned on the TV, eating their barely edible meals, watching the local weather.
A news report came on about Tim and Janey Finch. Angie mercifully turned the channel before the story got too in depth. They watched an old sitcom, then a game show, and then a crime drama.
“Is this how things actually are?” Angie asked as the local cops tried to solve a crime.
“You know better than I do,” Marcus grinned. Angie curled herself up in Marcus’s arms and they just sat there, watching TV, almost like a real couple would do. Marcus couldn’t think of a time they’d actually done anything like this. Ever since meeting Angie, their lives had been a whirlwind of nonstop life or death situations. When they’d had a few moments of respite, it had never been relaxing. It had been like waiting for the next storm to hit.
And now, somehow, everything was all over. Marcus still didn’t know what would happen. Would he wind up in prison? Would Angie? Would both of them for what they had done?
Marcus wasn’t sure but somehow, he didn’t think so. They’d broken the law, more times than Marcus could count. He was a changed man, now. Angie was different, too. She’d done everything to protect him and their unborn child.
They’d done terrible things.
But they’d done good things, as well. They were good people. Marcus knew that, now. He was no longer unsure of where his life was heading. He’d seen Tim Finch – and he’d seen that despite being a father, he was still a monster. He had always been a monster.
And while Marcus had feared he was the same as Tim Finch, even for a little bit, he knew he wasn’t anywhere near what that man had been.
Marcus had killed before, but he wasn’t a killer. Angie had killed, but she wasn’t a killer.
They were just… two people, about to be parents, that would do anything to protect their child. They were just people.
They were good people. Marcus pulled Angie close and smiled.
Chapter 20
Angie woke slowly, wrapped in Marcus’s arms. It was the middle of the night and she looked out the window. Instead of feeling scared or panicked that someone might be out there, she just smiled and nuzzled closer into Marcus’s warmth. The TV was droning on and on about something, the volume quiet. Sometime in the night, Marcus must have turned it down.
She sat there and just thought. She thought about everything she’d been through, to her losing a friend and Mayor Copeland’s insane ideas. She thought of meeting Marcus. She remembered learning of Shifters and how at the time, with everything else going on, she hadn’t been so surprised.
She remembered how their relationship grew and how the Wolf Shifters had shown up, kidnapped her, and then eventually perished – between her, Marcus, and The Skinner. She remembered Marcus in prison. She remembered feeling so utterly alone. And she remembered so much more that had happened over the course of – how long had it been? A year? A little bit more or less, give or take?
Most importantly, she put her hand on her stomach and thought about the life growing inside of her. Their daughter. She carefully lifted up her shirt, looking at her belly. It had been growing larger in the recent months and days. She’d barely had enough time to just look.
She ran her hands over her smooth stomach, watching it by the flickering TV light, completely enthralled. She was going to have a baby with Marcus. The thought seemed to finally sink in and she felt both giddy, nervous, and happy all at the same time. They’d spent so much time dealing with serial killers, murderers, and all of the other problems that Angie realized she hadn’t put much thought into deciding how they were going to raise a child.
But they were going to.
“You’re beautiful.”
Angie gave a slight jump and looked over at Marcus. His sleepy eyes were watching her, glinting in the light, and he smiled warmly. She hadn’t known he’d been awake, or even just how long he had been, but she didn’t care.
Sitting with one arm wrapped around her, Angie turned her body to him so he could put both of his hands on her belly. He rubbed slowly, almost apprehensively, but he smiled just the same. Then he took her hands in his own and they just sat in silence for a few moments.
“I don’t know the first thing about being a father.”
“And I don’t know the first thing about being a mother.”
“Angie…” he breathed. “What if I’m…?”
“Don’t say it,” she told him. “Chances are I’ll wind up somewhere with you.”
She meant it as a joke to ease the tension but neither laughed.
“Maybe we should get to bed,” Marcus suggested. Neither wanted to get up and ruin the moment but Angie nodded just the same.
She was just getting up, sadly pulling herself out of Marcus’s grasp, when there was a knock at the door. Angie glanced at the clock. She thought maybe time had passed yet it was still the middle of the night. Marcus was up in a flash, reaching underneath the coffee table and grabbing a pistol she hadn’t even known had been there.
He motioned for her to stay back but Angie couldn’t resist following. If there was someone else after them, they wouldn’t knock.
Right?
Angie didn’t know what to believe any longer.
She followed Marcus to the mudroom and waited for him to open the door. He did so, the pistol at his side.
Standing outside was Sheriff Nixon. He was bathed in the porch light and looked tired. His wary eyes took in the pistol. Marcus just shrugged.
“What do you want?” Marcus growled. “Here to haul me away? Couldn’t it have waited until morning?”
“Didn’t think you would want to wait,” the Sheriff said. He breathed a long, slow breath. “You’re free to go. They’ve done their investigation. They won’t be pressing any charges or fo
llowing this up. For both of you.”
“That seems awfully quick…” Angie said. She hadn’t meant to; she didn’t want to jinx Marcus.
The Sheriff shrugged and said, “Looks like they just want it to be over. No more investigation means they can just brush all this shit under the table and pretend like it never happened.”
“Just like that?” Marcus asked.
“Just like that. There’s gonna be a lot of press for a few weeks. The Skinner is huge, after all. But eventually it’ll fade away. In a few years all you’ll hear about him is some crime show on late night TV. You two just keep your heads down for the time being and this’ll all blow over.”
“Thanks, Sheriff,” Marcus said, extending a hand. Angie watched in surprise as the two men shook hands and then Sheriff Nixon turned and walked down the driveway. Together, they watched until his headlights rounded the bend in the driveway and he was gone.
“Just like that,” Angie said with a smile. She couldn’t help herself.
“It won’t be that easy,” Marcus growled and shut the door with a slam.
“But Marcus, we’re off the hook. For everything we’ve done. We won’t be going to prison!” she said, happy. She turned to Marcus and he looked stormy. “Marcus? What’s wrong?”
“Just like that, huh? No repercussions for what happened? No justice for those who died, everyone just gets off the hook, like a free pass?”
“What more do you want, Marcus? Everyone who wronged us is dead and gone. And it wasn’t our fault at all. We didn’t choose what happened. But we’re here and we’re alive and we’re not going to prison, and Marcus, we’re about to have a baby. We have our whole lives ahead of us. We can do whatever we want with it. So let’s not waste it. We did the best we could. You did the best we could.”
She came close to Marcus and wrapped her arms around him. After a few moments, he nodded.
“You’re right, Angie,” he whispered, their lips close. “You’re always right.”
“That I am,” she said with a light laugh. Marcus laughed too and they kissed and it was light and carefree, as if all of their problems had melted away. And in a way, they had.