Rodney: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I’ll take care of him.” She told him not to kill him. “I’m not making any promises on that score. However, if you’d like to go home and help out with the moving, that would be all right with me. The kids can stay here until I go to see my brother. Aaron is resting now, the best thing for him, and I’ve put a cast on his arm. Angie is taking a nap. She said she did it after school every day.”

  “You’re serious.” Rodney pointed out that he wasn’t very good at jokes, and he was rarely, if ever, not serious. “What am I going—?”

  “Don’t. Don’t ask me what the catch is. Or how much I’m going to take from you for this. There is no catch. I promise you that I have nothing untoward in my head about you having a place to stay that is safe, as well as something you can afford.” He grinned at her. “Your family is now my family, and I need to do this for them. To make you happy. I swear to you on my mom’s heart that I’d never ask you or trick you into anything you don’t want to do.”

  “I was wrong to say that to you. I’m sorry.” He said he was all right with her being upset. Taking it out on him was better than her killing someone. “That was going to be the next thing on my list of things to do today. The landlord again. He’s been…. Perhaps I should tell Harris about it. She’d be less prone to kill him.”

  “Doubtful. She’d just find a way so it would look like an accident.” Rebel didn’t know if he was serious or not but let it go. “All right. You head back to the house. Shep said that Sheila is helping a great deal, but she’s upset. Something about a call from someone. I’m betting insurance company, but I don’t know yet.”

  After handing her his cell phone and telling her to call when they were about done, he said he’d take care of the kids and make sure they were both all right. For some reason, Rebel thought they’d be in better care with him than they would be with anyone else she knew. As she drove back to the home she was sharing with Sheila and the kids, she thought about what it would be like to have someone love her. It had been a while since she’d even dated anyone that she liked. The last relationship she had recently had been with a control freak. Even after that, she scolded herself. Here she was planning a wedding with a man she barely knew.

  As soon as she pulled up in front of the house, she knew something had happened, and it wasn’t going to bode well for their ex-landlord. Getting out of her car, she made her way past the police cruiser and the large SUV that was parked in the driveway. Mr. Cort was sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back, with one of the police standing over him. The officer tipped his hat at her and said that Harris and the others were inside. She nodded and went into the house, noticing that there was blood on the front stoop as well as the front door. Mr. Cort was screaming at someone, her she thought, about getting off his property and that he was suing her. Oh well, she was no longer worried about him.

  “You must be Rebel.” She said she was. “Rodney said you were on your way. That piece of shit out there is lucky that Sheila found him in the house before I did. I would have killed him where he stood.”

  “You must be Harris.” She grinned like it was wonderful that she’d made such an impression. “Rodney said you’d find a way to kill Cort without it looking like anything but an accident.”

  “I have before. Tell me what is yours in here, and we’ll get it on the truck. Wait, the truck isn’t back yet. I knew we should have rented a trailer. Oh well. Are we taking your things to the new home or to Rodney’s?” She stared at the other woman. “Okay, I’ll take that as a new home. Though I can tell you, we’ll just be moving you again soon. I’m pushy like that, just in the event you don’t know that yet.”

  “To Rodney’s home.” Harris stared at her for several minutes before nodding once and told her she was a smart girl. “I don’t know about that, but he’s promised me I’m not going to be pushed into anything, and I believe him. You? Not so much. But I also know you’ll stay out of whatever is going on with us if asked. You will, won’t you?”

  “To a point, yes.” She turned away to go into the next room but stopped just short of being out of her sight. “I don’t have to tell you not to hurt him, do I?”

  “I have no intentions of hurting anyone. But, as I told him, I’m not going to be pushed into shit I don’t want either.” She nodded and left her there.

  Going into the kitchen where she could hear Sheila, she was nearly taken to the floor when she leapt at her, laughing.

  “They came through. Look at this. It’s the full amount. Harris said they’d had it ready to go for weeks but were lazy.” Sheila whispered in her ear, “I’m not sure, but I think she made them pay me. Oh, Rebel, I can afford to pay our bills now. And with giving my notice, I don’t have to fret as much about having to wait for my first check with you. I can still work for you, correct?”

  “Yes. I need you there.” The check was for ten grand. It wasn’t much of a policy, she supposed, but it was enough to get her some cushion in the bank. “What happened with Cort? Did he hurt you?”

  “No, that’s his blood. He used his key to come into the house, and I’d just gotten this check. Instead of begging him, like I think he wanted me to do, I offered to pay him everything we owed him. He grabbed me and tried to shove me against the wall before I could get away. I hit him and then kicked him in the nuts while he was down. Harris is the one that made him bleed. She’s kinda scary, isn’t she? But I’m happy now. So we’ll have to forget the little shitter and move into a better home.”

  Harris was making notes when she caught up with her again. She asked her what she was doing, and when she told her, Rebel told her she could add to her list. The house was in poor repair, and the roof leaked like a sieve when it rained.

  “I don’t think the furnace works either. The air doesn’t work at all, even though he told us it did. Also, if you’ve not made it to the upstairs bathroom, let me warn you now, don’t go in. It won’t hold your weight. The kids’ either, for that matter. I’m terrified that one night the tub is going to come down onto us while the kids are bathing.” Harris wrote it down. “Why are you doing this? I mean, we’re moving out—thank you for that, by the way—and he can’t bother us again.”

  “He needs to have his ass kicked, is what he needs. These are terrible conditions here, and no one should have to put up with this. Sheila told me he just barges in when he wants to. That’s not right either. The fucker is on my shit list, and I’m going to take care of him.” Rebel didn’t tell her about her waking up with him standing over her. She figured the man wouldn’t make it to the hospital if she did. Harris was one intense person. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve made sure that there is food and supplies at the new house for your family. I had no idea that things were that bad for you guys. The insurance company is going to have to pay for that. There isn’t any reason for them to have held up the check for that long.”

  “I was going to call them today, but then I had to go and see to my nephew.” She asked about the bully. “I don’t know a great deal about him as yet, but I will before too long. I think the kids have been keeping things from us because they know how bad things are here. Or how bad they were. I was really worried about what we were going to do when I didn’t have any more time coming to me from work.”

  “I want to talk to you about that as well. Soon. There is no reason for that either. We’ve had some issues there for a little while, and I’ve had enough.” Rebel asked her if she took on problems like this often. “Yes. We work on things as a family usually, but I’ve decided I need to step up some work with the hospital. If I have to go there for anything, I want to know I don’t have to worry about petty shit going on that will upset me more.”

  “Good point. I didn’t think of it that way.” Harris and she went through each of the rooms that were nearly devoid of their things. They’d not just been loaded up, but it looked as if someone was going into the rooms after they left and cleaning up. “When I c
ame here for my brother’s funeral, I thought for sure that Sheila was joking about paying nearly nine hundred a month for this place. It’s not worth nine hundred dollars to purchase if you ask me. But she was grieving, and I didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was. Now, with the things taken out, I can see that it was much worse than I thought. It’s small wonder the kids didn’t get sick more than they were.”

  “He’ll have to either pay for this place to be brought up to standards or sell it off. I’m hoping he sells. The Marshalls own the houses on either side of this place, and I’d love to be able to tear the three of them down and put in a nice place for kids to go after school.” Rebel liked that idea and told Harris so. “Also, you might not realize this yet, but you have the same input that all of us do on things the family does. Any ideas you have or even suggestions will be welcome.”

  “I’m not ready for that just yet.” Harris said she understood, and they finished up the house inspection. “I’m wondering if I should have told Rodney I was having my things brought to his house. He must think I’m off my rocker a little. We had a little spat before I came here. I might have given him the impression I was a bitch.”

  “I’m sure you are when you need to be. But I’ve told him already. You’ll have to share your blood with us so we can talk to you through a link. Also, in the event that something happens and we need to find you. But that’s not anything we have to be in a hurry for now.”

  Too much, Rebel thought. There was just too much right now.

  Harris seemed to understand and changed the subject to something less personal. She told her of the babies coming, as well as a vampire friend of hers that was coming to see Harris to tell her of the vampire line she was a part of. Jason, she told her, had been looking into it for her since he’d tasted her blood.

  It was going to be hard to keep up with this family without a notepad. Rebel decided she’d get one when she was out next. It might help her to keep all this stuff straight. Or not. She had no idea right now. But she was thinking it would be fun.

  Chapter 2

  Lach didn’t know why, but she thought there was no room for error with this ghost. When she asked him, for the tenth time, why he’d waited so long to come to her with his problem, the man would only say that things were not all that they seemed. Lach didn’t even know his name yet, much less what he was talking about.

  “Without something to go on, there isn’t any way I can help you, sir.” He nodded and moved around the room. Shep had offered her his office to conduct this talk with the dead man. While she knew he was indeed dead, she couldn’t tell what had caused it by looking at him. The babies decided they had had enough of her sitting still and started to wiggle around. “I’m going to have to walk a little. Are you going to have a problem with that?”

  “Nay, you are having twins.” She knew this, but the way his accent came out, she thought perhaps she might well be talking to Rebel’s brother. “You are a beautiful woman. I am enjoying talking to you. However, if you could give me a few more minutes, I’ll be able to tell you much.”

  Walking around the room, she noticed some of the touches that Harris had added to this room. There were pictures of men and women dressed in uniforms. A picture of a man she thought she knew but wasn’t all that sure. It looked like the new president. With Harris, it wouldn’t surprise her if it was him. Right now, she wanted to tell the man when he was ready she’d come back, but he must have worked things out and started talking to her.

  “The check from the insurance company, it wasn’t enough. It was for one million, not ten thousand.” She asked him who he was. “As you might have guessed, I’m Thomas Walsh. Brother to Rebel and late husband to Sheila. I saw my children today. They are very well cared for, don’t you think?”

  “They are. How did you know about the money?” He told her he’d taken the policy out himself. “I see. I’ll tell Harris. She’s working with your wife on that. You said that things aren’t what they seem. Are you telling me that someone is out to get someone in your family?”

  “Aye, that would be the right of it.” Thomas grinned at her. “You’re smart as well as beautiful, aren’t you? I didn’t die as they think I did. When I was brought to this point, I knew things I didn’t before. I was poisoned. I know you need proof of such a thing, and I have it in my body. However, I’m not sure who the person is that did the deed to me.”

  “Was it Sheila?” He just glared at her as if the very thought of his wife harming him was too much. “All right. I don’t believe it would have been your sister either. She wasn’t even in this country when you passed away. Can you tell me what it was that killed you?”

  “Poison. But that’s not enough. It was arsenic. Fed to me, it was. A little all the time until it was too much for me to bear with me poor body. Do you know the people that were around me then?” She said she didn’t have any idea. “‘Tis one of them. The people that would be able to come and go as they pleased.”

  “Other than the landlord, who else would have—?” He turned to look at her, nearly scaring ten years off her life when he walked through her. “Don’t do that. Don’t move through me like that again. That was just weird. All right?”

  “Yes. I do beg your forgiveness. But the landlord. Did ye know that he was wanting me wife? That’s it. It has to be him. Or his missus. Stranger woman than I’ve ever known, that one. She wanted us, my missus and me, to have a foursome. I’ve never heard of— Well, I’ve heard of it, but to be so open about it. I tell you right now, it made me tell them that we was going to call the police on them.” She asked him if he had. “Nay. I began to get ill soon after the threat. I’ve seen him too. Sneaking into my home when the children are abed. What do you suppose he’s up to?”

  “They’ve moved to a safer home, did you know that? Also, Cort is in jail. I don’t know how long he’s going to be there, but with this information, we might be able to make it a good deal longer. What did he do in your home while you’ve been away?” He looked out the window and didn’t answer her for a minute or two. “Rebel is the mate to my brother-in-law. Rodney. She’s going to be working with him, and so is your wife, as Rebel’s nurse. I think they make a good couple.”

  “Rebel is the best sister a man could have asked for. When I was ill, she rushed home to be with me. I passed before she could make it. I miss talking to her every day. She is a good doctor too.” Lach told him she thought she was nice as well. “He watches them sleep—all of them. I’m fearful for my daughter. He seems to spend the most time by her bed. Aaron, he protects his sister, as he should, but I think Cort has set tyrants upon him to get him out of the picture. He has been hiding a great deal from his mom and aunt, I believe. Especially when he’s come up against them when they’re out to get his sister.”

  Things were falling into place, Lach realized. Cort was working things around so he could get to Angie. Standing up, she looked at Thomas and could see that the man was devastated by this. His face was hard, even in death. He worried about his family very much, and she could see what it was costing him not just to come to her but to know he could do no more than that to save them.

  “I’ll return shortly. If you must fade, please try to come back. I’m going to get Harris to see if she might have questions for you too.” He nodded and did fade. For a younger dead man, he seemed to have a great deal of control. “I’m sorry this has happened to you, Thomas. I truly am. But I promise you, we’ll do all we can to get this sorted out.”

  Getting Harris to come to the office was no problem. It was getting Rebel not to join them that caused the issue. In the end, she did tell the woman what was going on and that she would have to be quiet, as excitement and other emotions would drain the dead faster. She also told her she couldn’t, under any circumstances, tell him anything unless he asked about it.

  “Why?” Lach said she didn’t know, but that was a hard and fast rule. “All right
then. I’ll keep my mouth shut as much as I can. But please, if possible, I’d like to be able to see him, just once more, to tell him how much I miss him.”

  “He can hear you, Rebel. You could tell him.” She nodded, but Lach could tell it was more than just telling him that. “We’ll see how much we drain him today. That doesn’t mean he won’t return, but this might be more than he can handle in one visit. Understand?”

  “Aye. Thank ye.” Lach had noticed that the more stressed Rebel was, the more her lilt and accent came through. She loved this woman. And to know that she was indeed a part of the family now made it so much better.

  Thomas was gone when she arrived in the room. But he came back, making his way to his sister almost as soon as the door was closed behind the three of them. Lach had to admit, she’d only seen this sort of sibling love with the Marshall boys. It was nice to see that there were humans who felt the same way the men did.

  Rebel took notes while Harris asked questions. She would give her the answers that Thomas gave her, and it was a good deal more than she thought the man would have had. Some of it, the things he’d found out after his death, would not be things they could use in a court of law, not without evidence. However, Thomas was giving them enough that Harris thought she could have his body exhumed.

  “There are three ways we can go with it. Just so you’re aware, I’d very much like to go with number one. Just outright kill the fucker.” Even Thomas had a burst of laughter with that comment. “The second one is, as I said, exhuming the body. That won’t be too difficult. The current administration is very nice to me since I’ve been helping with small projects. And since I’m with the Feds, I can perhaps find someone I can speak to about it and get it going.” She sat there for several minutes. Lach could see that her mind was going a mile a minute. “I keep coming back to number one. However, I know there won’t be justice served with that one. All right, number three. This one is a bit trickier. We’d have to catch him getting into the house. Since you’ve all moved out, I don’t know how to pull this off.”