Gunner watched Sasha as she spoke to nothing that he could see. When she laughed, he had to smile.
Sasha thought that she was like Raven. No one was like Raven. She’d made herself into what she was with hard work and money. Sasha had learned how to be a bitch by being street smart. She wasn’t a woman that people would think they should be afraid of. Sasha was more of a “Holy shit; did you see that?” sort of woman. A slick not-in-your-face sort of get-your-ass-caught person.
“There is a man here that says that he knows where there are several young men that have been killed. They’re not wanting to be found with the police here.” He didn’t see the other man, but he had an idea what Sasha was trying hard to say without embarrassing either of them. “He wants to know if he tells you where they are, could we please keep their names out of the paper. He said that they’d tell us if they wanted their parents notified or not.”
“They’re not homosexuals, I take it.” Sasha said they were not. “We had a small clue that Gauthier was a sexual deviant. Is that one of the reasons that they don’t want the police around?”
“No, he said. It’s because they have families, children, and they don’t want them to find out what they were forced to do.” Gunner asked Sasha if she had an issue with them not being called out in the paper. “None at all. What happened to them was no fault of their own. There is no reason to bring up something that is neither relevant to your case or the way that I can speak to them. They were killed by this man, and that’s all the newspaper or anyone else needs to know.”
“Thank you.” He heard the voice thanking him and looked at Sasha. She smiled at him and told him that she would head over there now to get their names and what they wanted to be done. She turned back to him before she was very far away.
“Chandler could come here and help. I think he is expecting someone to ask him.” Gunner asked her if he was good enough to get with the dead. “As good as I am. And he’s not as afraid of them as I can be. He’s getting a name for himself with the dead that he’s not to be fucked with. You might want to remember that if someone else comes around to see you.”
Twenty minutes later, Chandler was coming up from his end of the property. It was within walking distance, he knew, but he’d not realized how close. Chandler was in dark clothing like he was, and he’d even brought a clipboard and pen with him. Gunner hugged him tightly before letting him go.
“You all right?” Gunner looked away as he nodded. “You can tell me if you want. I’d never tell anyone. Not even Sasha if you didn’t want her to know.”
“I’m going to hell. I’ll miss you there.” Chandler asked him what the hell he was talking about. “Nothing. You just take the names, and we’ll talk later. It’s something that I’ve been meaning...I’m lonely, Chandler. Not for family. You guys are staying away just as much as I like it. But I don’t have anyone to talk to. No friends that I can call on to shoot the shit with. All the people I know have had it as bad, if not worse than I have. I just need someone that I can, I guess you could say, depend on to be there for me. Like Sasha and Raven are for you guys.”
“Sasha would murder you where you stand if she heard you saying that about her. That she’s not there for you. Man, I’m not kidding, either. She loves you, Gunner.” He said that he loved her as well. “If you can’t talk to me about shit, then she is the one that I’d talk to. And I have a feeling that you’ll have your mate coming around soon enough. That’ll be a great load off your shoulders.”
“A mate would go screaming into the night if they were to listen to some of the things I’ve done. Not to mention, I have nightmares that would give your nightmares bad dreams.” Chandler said he was sorry. “Me too. You help me out with this, and we’ll get out of here sooner. By the way, thank you so much for the jerky and cheese. That was just the ticket for me. I love it.”
“Sasha said you’d not like it hot. I had it in my head that you’d want your cheese hotter than hell. But she said that you’d like it mild, on a cracker that has no herbs or flavors with it. She said that you’d eat it on a regular cracker if you had those.” He just grinned at his brother. “Christ, she knows you better than I do. I’m telling you right now when the holidays come around, you should expect the most perfect gift from us. She got everyone’s cheeses right. Even Mom and Dad. Who would have thought they’d be thrilled to death with five huge rounds of cheese that would feed an army? And Mom likes jerky, not Dad. I hadn’t any idea.”
Gunner laughed with his brother all morning as he took names. Wandering to where Sasha was off and on, he made sure that she was all right too. It was a little disconcerting to see her standing there, talking and nodding her head as she wrote on her own paperwork.
Just after lunch, Gauthier was served. He was fired up about them trespassing and that they were ruining his fields when the FBI came around and took his statement. The man didn’t say another word until his attorney showed up. After that, there were a lot of men and women that Gauthier worked with and for that were arrested as well when they tried to flee the country. The police and the Feds were having a very good day, Gunner thought.
“Gunner!”
He turned and drew his gun at the same time when he heard Sasha scream his name. He did notice that most of the force that he had with him had done the same thing. When Sasha came running toward him and Chandler, he saw the man chasing her at the same time. From the look on his face, he had no idea that she was leading him right to his death. Shoving her behind him and to the ground, he took out the man chasing her with his own weapon out before he could fire at them.
He didn’t kill the man, mores the pity, Gunner thought. But he did wound him enough that he’d not be getting up and moving again. His knee was gone. The way he was bleeding made him think that he wasn’t going to make it for much longer unless Gunner called in some help.
Nodding to the medic that was with him, Gunner made his way to the man. Kicking away his gun so that he’d not use it on them, Gunner stood over the man while the doc worked on him. He waited just long enough for the man to accuse him of shooting him for no reason.
“My sister over there, when she yells at me to do something like that, I fire first then ask questions later. What did you do to her? I know for a fact that she was armed too.” Sasha came to stand with him. “I was just asking what he did to you that had you running away in fear without your weapon out.”
“The fucking bastard hit me from behind and took it. He killed the man with me too by breaking his neck like he was nothing more than a twig.” Sasha kicked the man on the ground in the ribs. Gunner didn’t even bother holding her back. “I thought when I stood up and hit him in the head with the log that he’d just run off. But he came after me. I thought this would be the perfect place for him to come. He killed my sister Melinda and tried to murder Pip.”
“You did that? I love Pip. She’s such a cutie.” Again the man said he didn’t know what they were talking about. “Sure you do. Melinda told us who you were right before she died. If you’re going to murder someone and their child, it’s always a good thing to make sure that they’re both dead before you run off. Not that you’re going to get the chance again, you see. Right now, I have you on all kinds of charges that are going to get you killed.”
“You should know too that before Melinda died, she told us how you’d been stalking her for days. That you murdered the man that was the baby’s father. Even after he told you that Melinda didn’t speak to the ghosts and that you had the wrong woman. She left me a list of the bodies that belong to you out here.” Gunner just let Sasha talk. “She told me that your name is Charles Hockings. And that you murdered six people thinking that they were someone that spoke to ghosts.”
He knew for a fact that Melinda hadn’t told her anything other than that the first name of the man that killed her started with a C. Melinda had also been able to talk to the dead. Gunner was also happy that Sash
a had not mentioned that she had spoken to her dead sister, only that they’d spoken. He thought that he and Sasha would make a good team if he ever worked with a partner. She was kinda cute too, like Pip.
When Hockings was arrested then put into an ambulance, Sasha looked at him before running to the nearest tree and losing her lunch behind it. Chandler came to stand with him while they waited on her, and Chandler told him, thanks. Gunner asked him for what.
“I think she was waiting for you to call her a liar. For all the things that she said to Hockings.” Gunner said what he’d just been thinking about her. “She’s brave when she needs to be, but as soon as it’s over, she’s sick like this. I think it’s the stress.”
“Sasha doesn’t have stress, Chandler, she has smarts. Do you have any idea what would have happened to her should she had told him that she sees ghosts too? Everyone that he encountered would think he was crazy, sure, except the ones that have bodies out here, or someplace else, who wouldn’t have taken the chance on her talking. Her doing what she did more than likely saved her life and yours. Because you will kill anyone that comes within a yard of her with intentions of harming her.” Chandler asked him why she was ill then. “That is pent up anger. I’ve seen seasoned men take out an entire group of men without pausing a beat. Sometimes their death wouldn’t be easy either. But after it was over, they’d have all this rushing through them and would have to get rid of it before it harmed them. Sasha is one of the strongest women I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. And that would include Raven.”
Handing a flask full of bourbon to Sasha to rinse her mouth out, he laughed when she coughed several times after taking a drink. Gathering up the men to take care of the other officer, they were finishing up with the last of the ambulances pulled in to carry the dead away when he called it a day for Chandler and Sasha. They had more than done what he’d asked of them, and he was going to owe them for a long time. Not that they’d see it that way, but he’d do something for them soon.
Going to his new home, he was glad for the progress that was being made on it. They only had the main floor to do, and the entire house had been cleaned and scrubbed, the furniture removed that he didn’t want, and all the walls had been painted a very bright white. He loved the cleanness of it when he walked down the halls and into rooms.
While he’d had a very good day with what he’d been doing, he also thought it was one of the more stressful days that he’d had in a while. Stripping down to his bare skin, he made his way out to the covered deck. Letting his cat take him, he ran like the hounds of hell were after him for as long as he had the breath to do it before lying down under one of the larger trees. He was nearly asleep when a deer walked by him with his herd.
This would be the third night in a row that Gunner had slept outside of his house. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before it would be too cold for this. But he was enjoying the peace of the woods. There were no guns firing. No one was screaming at him to go away. Nothing was going on out here that he didn’t create for himself. Even putting out the salt licks for the deer had been by design, so he could watch them as they made themselves at home. Never to kill them—just for no other reason than they were there.
Gunner knew that his coat would keep him warm and dry if it started to rain. The house wasn’t that far away where he’d not be able to go there for shelter if it got really bad. Watching the little fawns that were playing around like they had not a care in the world, he thought about a mate.
Having a mate for him would be problematic. He was not just a loner, but he was a man who had demons. Some haunted him when he was quiet—others gave him nightmares at any time of the day or night. Even if he wasn’t asleep, they’d come out to remind him what a terrible person he was. Smiling, he knew that if Sasha heard him say that, she’d bonk him on the back of the head. Gunner did finally close his eyes when the sun was coming up over the trees again.
~*~
Merriam was seated in her usual place—the first seat next to the dais so the judge could see her when she asked a question. She thought for sure that he’d not been able to see her those first few days she’d been in the courtroom after they’d started this waste of her tax money.
“Ms. Stipple, we’re going to be doing things a little—” She cut him off and told him that she was Mrs. Addington. “No. You’re not. We’ve established already that you cannot be legally married to Roger Addington because you weren’t Merriam when you signed the marriage license. Therefore, you are forever known to everyone as Janet Stipple. We’ve all gone over this with you repeatedly. You were never Merriam Addington.”
“You can’t just erase all the years that I worked and worked for the Addington name to mean something. I demand that you stop this nonsense right this minute, and you call me by the right name. Or so help me, I will rain a world of hurt down on you that will make the last war look like a simple schoolyard fight.”
The gavel came down hard and fast. It made her jump in her seat each time he hit it against the disk he had up there. When he stood up, leaning over the oak dais he was behind, she felt her spine stiffen while her anger surged up to meet his.
“Now you listen here. I’m in charge here, and I will say what is what. You sit your skinny little butt down and shut up, or so help me, you’ll be the one thinking about what sort of crap storm you unleashed.” She started to open her mouth. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare even think about saying another word, or I’ll have you removed from here, and you’ll have not one idea what fate awaits you until you read about it in the papers.”
She believed him. Not that she cared, but she did want to stay and see if any of her friends would come in today to give her their support. Merriam was sure that Raven or even Holly had made sure that it wasn’t in the paper for that very reason. When people cheered her on for something, Merriam shone. But not lately.
There were all sorts of things being done to her that Merriam couldn’t figure out. Yesterday she’d met with an attorney that said that he was there with Roger. She’d only had to hear that Roger was sending her help, and she’d jumped right on that meeting with him.
It turned out that the attorney was there to tell her that since she’d never been Merriam Cartel, then she wasn’t Merriam Addington either. Never had been. But when he mentioned that her daughter was only an Addington because Roger’s name was on her birth certificate, Merriam had thrown what could only be called a hissy fit. She didn’t think a brawl was what it had been, as the police were saying.
Yes, there had been a couple of chairs broken. And she had broken the man’s laptop, but it had been his fault. He’d just told her that her daughter wasn’t legitimate. That she’d been born without the benefit of marriage. Merriam was the greatest Addington ever born, and that she had given birth to a bastard daughter had made her see nothing but anger.
Then, not an hour later, she was called out again, this time unable to refuse any more visitors that would tell her bad news. This time it was a woman that came in to tell her that she was there to change her name on all the things that were in the name of Merriam Cartel to Janet Stipple. Thusly, all the things would then be changed from Merriam Addington, which she wasn’t, to Jane Stipple.
“I’m not changing my last name to that horrid name. I changed it so that I’d be something. And I am. I am Merriam Addington, and I will not give that up because you say so.” The woman, she couldn’t remember her name right now, told her that a judge had said so. “I don’t care what he says either. You leave my name alone. You call my husband up and tell him that I’m upset with all this. There isn’t any reason for him to be doing this. Because as soon as I get out of here, I’m going to go right back to the way things were before.”
“Yeah? Well, good luck with that. You have nothing left to go back to from what I’ve heard. The house you were living in is sold. The furniture, for the most part, has been either given away or is with t
he new owner. There is no place at all where your alias is now printed.” Merriam asked her what that meant. “Oh, you weren’t told. Well, your name is no longer Merriam Addington, so your daughter’s birth certificate has been changed. The alias that was on the marriage certificate that you forged has been destroyed and stripped from the books. Also, your husband said that I was to make sure you knew that the club that you were arrested in says that they’ve pulled down your picture from all walls. All the clubs that you were a part of have disbanded and renamed themselves. It seems like no one wants to be associated with you or your fake names at all.”
“That cannot be right. I’m a member of that place in good standing. I’ve never missed a day where I didn’t go there to have lunch or to serve on some board. You tell them that as an Addington, I will not allow them to just dismiss me as if I wasn’t anything to that place. It only exists because of me and my name.” The woman just stared at her. “Write that down. I know your type. You’re such an airhead that the moment that I tell you something, it goes in one ear and out the other. Write it down now, damn it. Or do I have to teach you a lesson in manners too? I will, by God. You’ll see what my name can do for you. Bad or good, it’s me that makes the rules.”
“You think so, do you?” Merriam nodded and watched the woman get up, gathering up all her things as she spoke again. “You think you make the rules, yet here you are with your wrists and ankles chained to the table and floor. I have a dog at home that has more freedom than you do. And you teaching me manners is a joke as well. You are far and away the rudest person that I’ve ever come across. You think just because you have a name that you stole—yes stole—from someone that could have loved Roger that you should rule the world. I have news for you, Janet Stipple—you’re nothing but a bully. A bully that preys on others to do her bidding as you sit back and think that the world owes you. No one owes you anything. Not me, not Roger, and certainly not anyone that you feel is beneath you. Which, after speaking to you for the last twenty minutes, I’ve figured out is everyone in the world. Christ, you’re a joke. A bully and a joke.”
Chandler: Bishop’s Snowy Leap – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance (Bishop's Snowy Leap Book 2) Page 11
