Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  Anger simmered below the surface of her calm. That Estmond trait was never one that any of them could bury within themselves for very long. Maybe Dan was right when he’d said that David had left her before and he would again.

  No. He said he loved her, that he wanted to be with her. Something wasn’t right.

  The group moved through the doors, pouring out into the parking lot, with her lawyer, Mr. Ainsworth trailing behind the group. Obviously, he was waiting for the family to finish with their reunion hugs before he approached her.

  Once they were outside, with the hot, midday sun pounding down onto them, she took a moment to eyeball Aiden. Oh fuck it. “What’s he doing here?” She directed her question to Jack and Lucy.

  Jack looked over his shoulder at his friend. Well, sort of a friend, who kidnapped her sister and threatened to kill more than one member of her family. “We can trust him,” Jack told her. “He’s going to help with your case. We have to talk about it later.”

  Aiden chose to stay silent and let Jack do the talking for him, but he offered her a small grin.

  “I don’t know if I can trust him,” she responded.

  Lucy guided her further down the sidewalk. “He said we will talk about it later, not here, all right.”

  “Fine,” Hannah breathed out, she just wanted to go home and crawl into a steaming hot bath to relieve the tension in her muscles. It was then that she caught sight of David’s car on the other side of the lot. Exactly where he’d parked when he brought her in the day before. “What the hell?”

  Her voice was soft, but Jack and a few of the others heard her. “What?”

  She stopped and then after a minute decision, changed direction. “That’s David’s car.”

  Liv fell into step beside her. “So?”

  “So, it’s in the same spot as it was when he brought me in yesterday.”

  “What the fuck?” Dan hissed. “He was the one who arrested you?”

  She looked up at her brother, meeting his angry stare. “Don’t. He had to. We were at dinner at the Davis farm when both he and Sheriff Davis got a call that one of the seniors saw me at the scene and they found a piece of fabric from my clothes there. There was nothing he could do except bring me in.”

  “That son of a bitch,” Dan mumbled as they drew nearer to the Chevelle.

  “Stop it, Dan.”

  “Fine. But I still don’t like that bastard.”

  She circled the Chevelle, rounding the front of the car and looking closely for any clue that he’d been gone at all. If he had been at the station the entire time, he surely would have come in to see her. As she approached the driver’s door, she noticed that it wasn’t closed all the way. It had been open just enough that any passerby probably wouldn’t notice unless they were looking closely.

  “Shit.” She hurried forward, reaching for the handle. “He wouldn’t have left his door open like this … not with this car.”

  “So, what does that mean? Steph asked. “Did someone break into it?”

  “I don’t know.” Hannah bent and peered through the window. It looked exactly as it had when they had exited the vehicle, including her file folder on the seat. “This isn’t right.” Hannah shook her head.

  “Look.” Jack pointed down at the pavement. “That looks like blood.”

  Sure enough, Hannah looked down and a small spatter of blood not far from where she stood beside the car. “I knew it, something isn’t right here. He’s in trouble.”

  “What do you think happened?” Jack asked her with a raised eyebrow.

  “I don’t know, but I better go tell his boss.” She started back toward the station and panic began to take hold. “Maybe they can like … trace his cell or something.”

  She knew the entire group was following her and she could hear their voices mumbling in the background. “Wait.” Jack hurried to fall into step with her. “Don’t, we might be able to help without bringing the police into it.”

  She stopped and spun on Jack, “And why the hell wouldn’t we want to get the police involved. It looks like someone attacked him … took him.” Her voice caught in her throat. “What if it’s more Reapers?”

  Jack didn’t touch her, because unlike with Lucy, it still burned when he touched any other Keeper. “That is precisely why we want to keep the cops out of it, Hannah. What if it is more Reapers and we have to … uh, anyway, you can tell the cops if you want, but we have a few resources at our disposal as well.”

  “I don’t know.” She narrowed her eyes as she thought about the choices.

  Mr. Ainsworth, who had been silent thus far, stepped in front of Hannah. “The young Reaper is right. If it is his kind whom you’re up against, it makes more sense to fight fire with fire. The authorities, as wonderful as they can sometimes be, won’t be as much help this time.”

  Not exactly convinced, Hannah considered his words. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded. “I believe that in this case, you must handle things on your own.”

  Hannah didn’t respond. She was still unsure of what to do. But, she knew that David was in trouble and she wanted to do whatever she could to help him. If Reapers did take him then it was her fault anyway.

  “I must go, Miss Hannah.” Mr. Ainsworth handed her a card. “We still have much to discuss about your case. I will give you today to rest, but tomorrow we have to meet. Call me in the morning and we will figure out the details.”

  “Yeah, okay.” She took the card from his outstretched fingers. Her mind was somewhere else completely though. “Thank you so much for helping me out, Mr. Ainsworth.”

  He gave her a nod and then backed up. “Thanks to all of you,” he addressed the entire group. “It’s been a pleasure.”

  Her family exchanged goodbyes with the lawyer and then he was headed across the parking lot. “So, what should we do?” She turned to Jack and Aiden.

  Aiden offered her a small smile. “I need his cell number, first of all.”

  Hannah hadn’t had David’s cell number long enough to know it by heart, so she had to get out her phone and search through it for his contact information. Once she rattled off the numbers, which Aiden wrote on a scrap of paper, she waited for him to tell her what he was going to do.

  “All right, I’m going to step over there and make a phone call. I don’t have any access to a secure computer, so I’m going to contact someone who does.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “How do I know you’re not going to call someone and tell them you have us all together and that they can come and get us? A massacre of Estmond Keepers?”

  He tilted his head to the side and slid his eyes over her body, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. “Because, Red, I’m a man of my word.”

  Hannah scoffed at the ‘Red’ remark. She was a thirty year old, red head, like she’d never heard that one before.

  Liv stepped up beside Hannah. “We don’t have time for this. Let him do whatever it is he’s going to do. If he wants to help, we should let him.”

  Oh great, everyone in her family was becoming a Reaper lover. Good lord.

  Aiden waved the paper in front of her and pointed to a bench over by the entrance to the station. “I’ll be back in a few.” With that, he strode away.

  Immediately, Hannah turned to her family. “I know you all aren’t crazy about David, but we have to put that aside right now. If it’s my fault he’s gone …” her voice trailed off.

  The rest of the group looked at each other as if they were confused. Finally, Dan was the one who spoke. “I may not like the guy very much, but that doesn’t mean I want him dead, Hannah.”

  Steph nodded. “We’re just looking out for you.”

  The few minutes it took before Aiden returned to the group was almost painful, but she managed to keep herself from running over there and pestering him.

  They were all staring when he finally clicked his phone off and jogged over to the group. “Well, we can be thankful that his phone wasn’t dead. I have an ad
dress.” Again, he waved the little paper.

  “Let me see that!” Hannah lunged forward and swiped the paper out of Aiden’s hand. When she looked down and saw the address scrawled across the paper, confusion settled over her. “This can’t be right. This is David’s old house in The Springs.”

  Greg threw his arm around her and led her over to where all of their cars were grouped in the parking lot. “Listen, we are going to go there, ready for anything. Okay?”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  “But first,” Jack added, “we need to make a weapons stop.”

  CHAPTER

  22

  DAVID

  Slowly, muffled voices began to clear. David realized that he must have passed out at some point during the time Marcus and Aaron were beating the crap out of him. He was still handcuffed to the chair, but the two men had left him alone after he lost consciousness.

  His face hurt like hell and he didn’t have to see it to know it was bad. Plus, his clothes were covered with blood, which wasn’t a good sign.

  From the sound of their voices, they were in the tiny kitchen, discussing the situation. David didn’t open his eyes because he would rather them think he was still out of it, but he listened carefully to every word that passed between them.

  “Dude, Julian is going to be so pissed,” Aaron muttered in a low voice.

  “Yeah, he will be, but not as bad as you think. He knew that finding Coop, or the money, was a long shot.”

  “Then why are we here, in this fucking dump. That pig isn’t going to tell us anything.”

  Marcus coughed, “Because, we have to be sure, and he fucking deserves it for what he did to us. It’s humiliating to know we let a cop infiltrate our operation … that we didn’t have a clue about who he really was.”

  “True that,” Aaron agreed.

  “Don’t worry, we won’t stay another night here,” Marcus assured his partner.

  “That’s just what I wanted to hear. I want to go back to my senoritas and margaritas.”

  Obviously, David couldn’t see them, but he imagined a sick smile pasted across Aaron’s face. The man had never been gentle with women and picturing him with any woman made him want to vomit. The problem with that was the women tolerated it because he paid them well. When money does the talking, it usually wins.

  “I do too, man. I do too.”

  “So what are we going to do with fuck head in there?”

  When Marcus answered, his voice didn’t hold one ounce of remorse. “You know what we have to do. Julian said to kill him either way. He done fucked up when he crossed the boss man.”

  There was silence, which meant Aaron was probably nodding in agreement.

  Shit. He knew this wasn’t going to end well. He should have known from the beginning that case was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, or get him killed, neither of which was something he wanted. Now, he was supposed to be helping Hannah and he was stuck here, at the mercy of these goons.

  Just fucking great.

  He heard Marcus and Aaron returning from the kitchen and kept his head down so they wouldn’t know he was conscious. It was a small thing, but would probably give him a few extra seconds.

  “You gonna talk yet, cop?” Marcus leaned down, his face hovering near David’s.

  David’s only wish at that moment was that he was free so he could return all those punches and beat the shit out of Marcus.

  “Answer me.”

  Without speaking, David only shook his head the tiniest bit to let him know that he wasn’t talking. Even if he did know where Coop was, he would never tell these assholes.

  Wham.

  Marcus’s fist slammed into his cheekbone. His head rocked back and stars appeared behind his eye lids. Then, before he could react, Marcus hit him on the other side. Son of a bitch, that hurt.

  “You are such a piece of shit, Foster. I’m trying to understand how you were able to make us believe you were one of us.”

  He suppressed the urge to talk back, to fight, knowing that Marcus would still keep beating him. So, he just let his head hang limply, waiting for it to end. His eyes were pretty much swollen shut anyway. Even so, he didn’t try to open them.

  With sound being the only usable sense he had left, he knew when Marcus withdrew the gun from the waistband of his jeans. He knew when he raised it and released the safety, and he knew when the hammer clicked back, that his last few seconds on earth were utterly pathetic ones.

  CHAPTER

  23

  HANNAH

  The sun slipped behind the mountains in a plume of orange, pink and red, leaving the earth aglow in the short time between dusk and darkness.

  Hannah sat in the back seat of Liv’s minivan, watching the scenery whiz by as they sped along the twisty back roads. They were headed for The Springs, to where David’s phone had been tracked. In a way, she hoped that it was a mistake and he was indeed, back at the station. But, inside, she knew he was in danger.

  “Knock it off.”

  Hannah turned around in the seat to face her baby sister. “Knock what off?”

  “You know … the worrying,” Lucy responded.

  “I can worry if I want to. And you have to admit that you’re a little stressed out about all this too.”

  Lucy nodded. “Yeah, I am. But, you have a lot more going on than I do right now.”

  Hannah laughed at the thought. “Yeah right, with all the ‘Chosen One’ crap and avoiding Reapers who want to kill you because you mean the end of their race? If that’s what you’re talking about then, yeah, you totally have less to worry about than me.”

  Her little sister rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat. She was wedged between Jack and Aiden on the rear bench seat of the van.

  “Listen, I just want to find David, make sure he’s all right, and then get through this murder trial. Until then, I’m going to be a complete wreck. You all are just going to have to deal with it.”

  “We’re almost there,” Liv called from behind the wheel.

  “Good.” Hannah nodded. “I want to get this over with.” She had just turned back around so she was facing forward again, when she heard Lucy cough and then gag. “Luce! Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m …” she gagged again and her hand flew to her mouth, covering it as if she hoped to keep whatever wanted out barricaded inside.”

  “Liv, pull over,” James demanded from the passenger seat.

  “Hurry!” Jack added, his dark eyes full of concern.

  “I am.” She slammed on the breaks to slow the van, causing them all to lurch forward in their seats a bit.

  Once she had the van pulled all the way off the side of the road, Hannah bolted out of her seat and slid the side door open with far more force than necessary and hopped out. Lucy lunged for the opening and tripped on her way out, falling to her knees in the dirt. Immediately her stomach emptied out whatever she’d had to eat throughout the day.

  Hannah, as well as everyone else turned, trying to give her a bit of privacy. Except Jack, who hovered beside her, trying to hold her hair back so she didn’t puke on it.

  “Jack! Get away from me, I’m throwing up.” She shoved him away with her elbow and then dry heaved. “Man …” She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, “I don’t know where all this came from. I must be car sick, or something.”

  “Yeah, these twisty roads can do that to you.” Those were the words that came out, but Hannah had a few ideas of her own about what might be making her sister nauseous. However, she wouldn’t say anything in front of Jack, the last thing she wanted to do was freak him out too. When Jack went into freak out mode, it usually involved alcohol and stupidity.

  She let her gaze shift to Aiden for a brief moment, the man had the face of a fucking angel, but she knew how cold he could be. The blond Reaper had kidnapped her sister and threatened to kill several members of her family. She had absolutely no reason to trust him and it would take a hell of a lot to change her mind on that one.
It bothered the crap out of her that he was with them in the first place, even if he was the one who had traced David’s phone.

  She had just turned around, since it sounded like Lucy was done, but her sister coughed and then she gagged again. In a flash, Hannah turned back so that her vision was directed toward the pavement.

  “Ugh, this is so gro …” Lucy wasn’t able to finish her sentence. Her words were followed by the distinct sound of vomit hitting the ground. A collective groan of disgust rose from the rest of the group. At least they could be thankful this didn’t happen inside the van.

  “I’m so sorry you guys!” Lucy cried from her spot in the dirt.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Jack crooned, reaching out to push a lock of her hair away from her face. “It could have happened to anyone.”

  She inhaled deeply through her nose and then released a long, slow, breath. After doing that a few times, she held her hand out so that Jack could help her to her feet. “I think it’s over now.”

  “Drink this.” Liv pushed a gallon jug of water into Lucy’s hands. “But, rinse your mouth out first.”

  “Thanks.” Lucy accepted the water and immediately tipped it back, taking some of the liquid into her mouth, swished it around and then spat it out. “All right, I’m ready.”

  “Good.” Hannah nodded. “Let’s go.” She knew she sounded bitchy, but she was anxious to get to David. Hopefully the Reapers hadn’t sucked his soul or harmed him in any other way. God, she would never forgive herself if he wasn’t all right.

  They all hurried back into the van and piled inside. Twenty minutes later, they were turning into the recreation center at The Springs. It had been agreed upon that they would meet there, leaving the vehicles and taking the trails to David’s house. Using the trails would keep their presence quiet, which was far better than driving right up to the house and alerting the kidnappers of their arrival.

  Liv pulled the van into a parking spot right beside Greg’s Escort. Hannah slid open the door and jumped out onto the pavement, quickly followed by everyone else.