Zack. Zack was into everything illegal. The only thing that Sasha thought he didn’t do was dealing drugs. Why would he want to take away from Mom’s business? She thought. They were all three doing things rather than working a good job.
Pearl did work, but it was in customer service online. No way would anyone trust her to be out front with people. Pearl could be nice when it suited her, which wasn’t often. Around Mom, Sasha had noticed she was as good and kind as she could be. Sasha never understood why she was, but that was her.
Zack was a prick—a jackass as well. As the old saying would go, he’d take the pennies off a dead man’s eyes if he found them. His job consisted of trying to be one step ahead of the cops, something that he failed at more often than not. He’d only moved back in with Mom because her house was better than the streets or jail, and she had food around all the time. Both of them needed a reality check, and she wanted them to have it. In the worst sort of way.
Finishing up the towels that had arrived, Sasha looked at the baby bed that had come too. It was so sweet and pink. Not over the top pink, but enough to know that a little girl was sleeping there. She and Chandler both had decided that she’d sleep in their room for a while, just until they got used to having an infant around. Neither of them had all that much experience with a baby, so she was glad that they were doing this together.
When she made her way downstairs a few minutes later, she found that most of the house was finished up and that they were all enjoying the television that hadn’t been there earlier. Sasha wondered if any of them cared who won the preseason football game they were watching.
“We’re Ohio, all the way.”
She asked him why he’d be rooting for the Browns. That got a lot of groans from them all, but Quincey was impressed that she knew who they were. “I watch the game. I love football.”
“You just love all the testosterone that is floating around when a game is on, that’s all.” They were nudging each other about the joke that Quincey had made. “Will you make tailgate food for us, Sasha?”
“Okay, dick weed. From nineteen forty-six to sixty-two, they had Paul Brown. He’s the man that they named not only the team after, but the stadium that they had as well. Which was torn down in November of sixty-six. From sixty-three to seventy, they had Blanton Collier. Nick Skorich from seventy-one until seventy-four. Forrest Gregg was from seventy-five to seventy-seven. Since nineteen-ninety, they’ve had fourteen more coaches, all of them lasting just long enough to be traded for someone else. Do you want me to name those for you as well?” No one said a word. “There are other stats I can give you too. How about the Bengals or Ohio State? I know a great deal about them, too, including how many times they’ve gone to and won what used to be called the Rose Bowl.”
“Damn, girl.” Dwayne grinned at Quincey. “I think she’s a true fan, buddy. When the game comes on next week, you’re making the food so that she can be in here with us when the game is on. Hot damn that was epic.”
They all got a kick out of her knowledge of the teams. She loved football and was glad that she could be one of them when they watched the games. Sasha would make some food for them when they came over. She thought that she’d very much like having them all over for game day, as much as she loved the games.
Bonding with his brothers. It was something that she’d never thought that she’d be able to do with any man. But having them in her corner, she thought, was what was going to be best for her. Picking up Pip and holding her, Sasha thought that she could be a momma and a fan of sports too. Just wait until baseball season starts, she thought. Sasha knew much more about the Reds than any of them, she’d bet.
“Momma is going to make them sit up and take notice, you watch and see.” Pip looked at her, and Sasha thought that she smiled at her. “That’s my girl. You and I, we have a great deal to learn about each other. Also, I need to tell your grandma Holly about Melinda. Perhaps we can clear up that too. Wouldn’t you like to know about the man that killed her? I would.”
The rest of the game was a great deal of shouting and yelling. She realized about halftime that they didn’t care for either team all that much, but just wanted to watch a game. She’d have to remember that when they came back to watch games with them. They were all diehard Browns fans, as well as the Indians baseball team from Cleveland. Sasha was going to have fun with them all.
~*~
Katie hated this. The doctors were to show up in forty minutes, and she didn’t want to blow this. Zack had left her, too, saying that he didn’t want to be caught on camera. She knew why. Her son was in trouble again. Her precious baby boy was a trouble maker from way back.
Pearl was in her room, sobbing. The wedding hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped. The dress, of course, didn’t fit, and when she’d had to show up in something less fitting, they’d had a good time at her expense, telling her that the skirt she had on wasn’t anything new and that they didn’t see any change in her weight. Katie had tried to tell her, but who listened to their mom nowadays? No one, it seemed.
She wished that she had more of an idea about what they were going to be asking her. Basically, she wanted to make sure that she could answer the questions and not get pissy with them. That would blow up in her face if she did that.
Calm, she told herself. She needed to not just be calm but pitiful as well. She’d done this so much in the past in front of her kids that she thought that she could do it in her sleep. That, she knew, would trip her up too. Being much too confident in her ability to pull the wool over their eyes.
When the knock at the door made her jump, Katie scolded herself while going to the door. People who couldn’t use their legs didn’t jump up from their chairs. Moving toward the door, she gave herself a much needed pep talk. Katie wanted to slam it back in its place when she opened it and saw Sasha there.
“I don’t have time for you today. You come back tomorrow.” There was an elderly woman with her whom she didn’t want there either. “Sasha, I’ve been trying to call you for days now. Showing up unannounced is not what I wanted. We’ll talk later. Go away, and I’ll call you.”
“Mrs. Addington is part of the panel that is talking to you today. I’m her driver and friend. If you toss us out, Mother dear, then you will forfeit everything.” Katie wasn’t just rolled back out of the way by her daughter but shoved back hard enough to knock things around on the table behind her. “Where are the other two? Speaking of the other two, I wanted you to know that I met my sister Melinda.”
Katie felt the world spin out of control for several seconds. When things settled, she had her head down and between her knees with someone holding her there. Not ready yet to face her daughter, she told her that she had no idea what she was talking about.
“I only have the two daughters, Sasha. One of them is heartbroken right now, the other has broken my heart.” She was released and saw that Mrs. Addington had been the one holding her down. “Thank you. I’m sure that Sasha wouldn’t have helped her poor, disabled mother out.”
“I’m sure if she had one, Sasha would have been right there.” It took her a moment to figure out that the elderly lady was telling her that she didn’t believe her story about being crippled up. “Melinda said that you were her mother. Also, that you put her last name as Harvard before you got around to putting her up for adoption. Now that I see you, I can see that you figured you had a good reason for doing something so heinous. Why would you do that to your own child, I wonder?”
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about.” Katie desperately wanted to change the subject. Looking at her daughter as she sat on the couch and ate a bag of her chips, Katie wanted to snatch them away from her. “Don’t you have your own place that you could make yourself at home in? I’d very much like it if you were to stop snooping around my home.”
“My home.” She asked her what she was talking about. “I purchased this rental t
his morning. It was a good buy. I will be raising your rent here too. So when you start making out the monthly check for your rent, you’ll want to make sure you get my name right. I’m Sasha Bishop now.”
“You changed your name? What was wrong with Harvard? Nothing. You always were too uppity to have been around us much.” Sasha told her that she’d gotten married. “Married? You? Does he have any idea what you say you can do? Does he know that you claim you can see ghosts?”
“He can as well.”
When the door was knocked on again, Katie just barely caught herself from getting up and answering it. Looking at Mrs. Addington when she laughed, Katie had an idea that she knew everything that was going on.
Sasha opened the door to the other panel members that were supposed to be there. Katie wanted to ask for them to come another day. She was so upset right now that she was sure to make a mistake. All her mind could center on was the fact that Sasha was married, knew about Melinda, and she owned her house. How was any of that possible?
“She’s dead then.” Everyone turned to look at Katie when something occurred to her, and she blurted it out. “You said that you met this Melinda person. And that she told you that I was her mother. First of all, what proof do you have that she’s telling the truth? Not to mention, you’re taking the word of a ghost over your own mother.”
“Excuse me?” She might have been introduced to the man, but she couldn’t for the life of her remember his name. “What do you mean, she’s dead? Who’s dead, and why is that relevant to this case?”
“It’s not. I mean, I was having a conversation with my daughter here, and she brought something up that’s not true.” Her face flushed hotly. “She’s forever telling lies, this one. She even went for a long time telling people that she could see ghosts. I think you can understand why I’d not like her here when this is going on. She’ll try to make me look bad in front of you.”
“Mrs. Bishop is a friend of Mrs. Addington. And as such, she’s a friend of this board. If you have an issue with her being here, then I would like to point out that if we don’t do this today, we no longer have to give you a date and time to show up. Which is it going to be, Ms. Harvard?” Katie told them that today was fine. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. As for her seeing ghosts? Well, the only thing I have to say about that is, Mrs. Bishop and her husband have been extremely helpful of late to not just the local police department, but also the FBI. In the last several days, both departments have been able to close several cases thanks to them.”
“Yes, of course. But I don’t believe that she’s married to anyone either.” The man huffed at her and asked her if that was relevant to the case. “No. I’m just flustered, and she’s making me that way. I don’t want to mess up in answering your questions because she is here, making me upset.”
“If you’re telling the truth, there should be no reason whatsoever that you would mess up. You are telling the truth, aren’t you?” Katie looked at the man. There was something about him that made her want to tell him that she was lying. Tell him that it had all been a scam. There wasn’t a thing wrong with her. “Ms. Harvard, your nose is bleeding. You shouldn’t fight so hard.”
She knew then that he was trying his best to make her say things. Katie didn’t know what it was called, this thing he was doing to her, but she did know that she had beat him once at his game, and she’d do so again. Biting her lower lip, she concentrated on what was going on around her. Making her lip sore was going to be a small price to pay for getting out of this unscathed.
“Now, Ms. Harvard, are you ready to begin?” Nodding at him, she waited for him to start. “I’m sorry, Ms. Harvard. Since this is being recorded, both vocally and on video, you will need to answer each question as it is asked of you. Let’s begin again. Are you ready to begin?”
“Yes. I’m ready. Does Sasha have to be here? I’m only asking because she’ll try very hard to trip me up.” The man told her again if she was telling the truth, there shouldn’t be anything for her to worry about. “All right. Let’s get this over with so that I can get you people out of my house.”
“My house.” Growling at Sasha, she wanted to slap the piss out of her. “Mother, can you tell me if you can walk? Get up out of your chair?”
Katie looked at the man. When he nodded, she looked at her daughter again. “No. I cannot. And you would know that if you came around more often. When was the last time you were here, Sasha? Since you came to check on your own mother?”
“Months. Perhaps years. I don’t know. Don’t care either.” Sasha had always been so cold to her. “When you said that you couldn’t walk, does that mean that you have no feeling in your legs? Or back? Tell us what it is that keeps you from getting up and say...checking on the mail?”
“I fell. I was in the bathroom at one of the department stores, and there was water on the floor that I didn’t see until I was falling. I think perhaps I hit my head, but when I woke up, there were people all around me.” Mrs. Addington asked her why she was in that particular store. “I was buying a gift for my son. It was close to his birthday.”
“Zack’s birthday was six weeks after you fell. Why don’t you try that one again?” Sasha was going to fuck her over if she didn’t shut the fuck up. “And what on earth do you suppose Zack would have wanted from that store? I mean, it’s a women’s clothing and accessories store, correct? I don’t think my brother wears makeup. I looked, and that is by far the cheapest thing in the place.”
“They were having a sale.” Were they? Katie had no idea. So turning in her chair, she looked at the two other people that had come in with the man. “Do you have anything to ask of me, gentlemen? It seems my daughter is taking up most of your time here.”
“She said that she’d help us, and I think she’s doing a bang up job.” The man smiled at her, and that was when she saw his fangs. “You’ll answer her truthfully, won’t you, Sally Harvard?”
It was there again. Whatever he was doing to her, she couldn’t lie to anyone. So instead of trying to get out of saying the wrong thing, she told them that she wanted them to go. The vampire just laughed. Then he told Sasha to proceed.
“Why did you give up Melinda?” She didn’t, she told her. “Then why was she not living with us after she was born? What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t want another mouth to feed. Damn it, do you have any idea how much it cost me just to feed you three? A lot, let me tell you.” Sasha asked her again why Melinda had not lived with them. “I sold her off to the highest bidder. I made a great deal of money off that too.”
Slapping her hand over her mouth, she looked at the men and Sasha. That right there, admitting that she’d sold off one of her kids, was enough to get her in deep shit. Katie wanted them gone. All of them.
“I have had enough of this. I want you all to get out of here right now.” No one moved as she made her way to the door. “Did you hear me? I said I want you to leave this house right now.”
“Too bad. So you sold off Melinda to someone that gave you a great deal of money. How much?” She had to tell her the amount and the date when it had happened. “She was only a baby when you sold her. Do you know who the person was you sold her to? Have you any idea what was done to her when she was murdered? She was, by the way. Murdered so that her baby would die as well. I have her, Mother. Pip is what we call her. She’ll never meet you, I’m so happy to say, but she’ll be raised as my daughter. Also, she’ll be able to see ghosts. Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
The room seemed to explode with movement around her. Dizzy, she put her head down again and sat there as feet, many of them, were moving within her sight. Not lifting her head, even when she’d been told to do so, seemed like a brilliant idea.
“Mother, look at me.”
Lifting her head up finally, she looked at her daughter. There was something about her that made Katie cringe away from her when
she reached for her. Sasha just smiled when she spoke to her. Her voice did not reflect the smile that was on her voice.
“You’ll be going to jail in about ten minutes. As well as Pearl and Zack. There are enough drugs and merchandise in this place to open not just a pharmacy, but a boutique as well. I suppose you have a reason for that as well.” Nodding, she watched as Sasha sat down on the couch that was now empty of the other people. “Well? Do you have anything to say to me?”
“I loathe you, Sasha. Hate you with every fiber of my being. Why did it matter to you that we were getting a little extra on the side? Tell me. Does it make you feel like you won something? To take everything away that we’ve worked so hard to get?” She asked her what she’d actually done to work for it. “You sit there all high and mighty, telling me not only that you’re married, but that you have enough money to buy broken down houses so that your mother will have to live on the streets. Your brother and sister are—”
“You won’t be living on the streets, Mother. You’ll be going to jail. For a very long time. You know, I had only planned on having you arrested for insurance fraud. But when you told me how you were so callus in the way you rid yourself of Melinda, I decided that you didn’t deserve anything at all from me. Especially after I spoke to Melinda about how she was sold off and to whom.”
“Am I supposed to be sorry for it? I’m not. I’m sorry that I didn’t sell you off as well. You’re nothing to me. Don’t come around me again.” Sasha was still laughing as she left the house. “I hate you. I hate you to the very core of my being.”
The police came into the room as Sasha was leaving. When Katie was pulled from the chair that she’d been in for years, she stood there while her rights were read to her. Katie watched as they dragged Pearl out of her room. Her face was a mess from the tears that she’d shed. That, too, Katie wanted to think was Sasha’s fault. The fucking bitch had turned her back on her own family, and Katie hoped she regretted it for the rest of her life.
Chandler: Bishop’s Snowy Leap – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance (Bishop's Snowy Leap Book 2) Page 7
