Ewing (A Cross to Bear #6)

Chapter 4

Ewing was glad when it was bedtime for the kids. He just needed to relax his mind a bit so that he could figure out this thing with Tetters. He knew that he was the man behind the kids being killed the other day. Knew it in his heart and soul. But what he was afraid of was that there was something more going on, and this was because he knew that Tetters was as dumb as a rock, so how did he figure out to kidnap the women?

Also, and this terrified him even more, was how was he selling them, to whom, and what did they do that had them ending up in a crevice on the mountain? He looked at Trinity when she said his name. He was sure that she’d said it more than the one time, too.

“I was thinking about Tetters, the man that looked like he was going to snatch up one of the girls.” She said that she was sure that he had wanted them. “I didn’t want to think about that, but you’re right. And that makes me more uncomfortable when I think about what he was doing with the others that were killed.” She told him that she didn’t know what was going on with that.

“Oh, that’s right. You weren’t here when the girls were found to be kidnapped.” After telling her what had happened that night, he went on to tell her of finding the stash of bodies. “There are ten so far that we can’t put an identification to. The two men were easy enough to figure out. We’d only had the two missing and now they’re accounted for. But since their bodies have been down there for some time, there is no telling what happened to them prior to them being dumped. Some of them have bullet holes in their bodies, others knife markings. It’s hard to tell what the animals did to them versus what actually killed them. What we do know is that they were all dead before they ended up there.”

“So you had these four pieces of shit kidnapping teenage girls, ten of them—” He told her that it was a total of twenty-three so far. “Christ, that’s a lot of deaths, but they were taken someplace that perhaps this Tetters person knows about, and they’re killed.”

“Yes. We know that they had a boss, too, the four pieces of shit, I mean. Someone that night they were to take the girls to. But one of them ended up dead before they got to their last place. Liza, one of the girls, was keeping in contact with her sister, and she told her that there was a boss that was going to be pissed off because one of them was dead. The only reason we have that information is because when they gave her the drugs to knock them out, they didn’t count on her being a cougar shifter. Otherwise, there is no telling how long it might well have been before we could have found them. And a great deal more bodies piling up as well. If at all. Also, we’ve had a look around. There isn’t anywhere that we can find where they would have stashed the kids so that Tetters could get them.” She asked if he had a house or something that they could be stashed at. “I think, and this is something that my brother Mark said. He pointed out that Tetters is a lazy fuck and wouldn’t be far from where they’d been killed to dump them. The land that he was dumping them in was in the park. And that area is butted up to my land here. Like close enough that he could…he just recently got him a new truck. I saw it in the lot. So he’s making money off of this. A great deal, too, if I don’t miss my bet.”

He thought of something else. Two of the elderly people who had been in the dumping ground had been unidentified. They’d been on the bottom of the pile of bones, and it was difficult to know who they might have been. Ewing thought for sure that they were the Masons. It would be like him to kill them off for no reason. He decided to reach out to his brothers and tell them what was going on.

“Why are you doing this right now?” It was his brother Gibb who had asked him. “Isn’t your mate right there with you? You should be wooing her, not trying to solve crimes. I understand that this is important, but damn it, Ewing, she’s right there in your house.”

“What did you expect me to do? Huh? Throw her to the floor and have sex with her. I don’t know if you know this or not, but I have a houseful of children who are still trying to get used to having a meal when they want it. All I need for them to do is walk in on us having sex on the floor.” He told him that he’d watch the kids. “Thanks for that. I might take you up on that sometime, but right now, we’re talking, and I don’t care what it’s about so long as we’re together and not arguing about stuff. And this is important. I think that Tetters tried to take one of my daughters today. If not for the quick thinking of Trinity, I think he might have gotten out the door with one or more of them.”

“Christ, you should have started with that. Are they all right? I can come over if they need their big uncle to care for them.” He told Barron that they’d gone to bed without any idea how close they’d come to being taken from them. “I’m sorry, little brother. You tell us what you have, and we’ll…can we come over? I mean, it’s not that far, and I think that it would help. Hell, we’ll even get some food to bring over.”

In the end they did come over and brought their wives. They were sitting around the dining room table talking about everything pertaining to the case when the sun was just coming up. After making a couple of calls to the Feds about who he thought the elderly couple might have been brought them to his house as well.

He was never so happy to have a cook as he was right now. Even the women, who were usually so vocal about having a good meal, had been set to have donuts for breakfast after spending all night working. Milly, their faerie cook, was thrilled to be able to cook for so many. He was just happy that she didn’t go running out of the house when she showed up to work today.

Everyone went home after helping with the clean-up. The mess they’d made not only in the dining room but the living room as well wasn’t that difficult to clean up because of the magic that everyone seemed to have. Just before Sunny and Dexter left, she asked if she could use a little of her magic to find out where the bodies had been killed.

“I know that with the Feds involved that you have to be careful of how you find out the information. But I know the location now. Also, the people that have bought and paid for the chance to kill someone.” He asked her if that was true that people were paying to kill people. “Yes.”

She didn’t say anymore and he was afraid to ask her for more information. She’d tell him, no doubt, but he wasn’t really ready for it right now. After she sat down, asking him to have a seat, he asked if Trinity needed to be there. Her smile told him it all. She needed to be involved, too.

Once they were seated, tea and crumpets showing up about the time that they were seated, and he and Trinity were holding hands. He was about as nervous as he’d ever been about anything in his life. Terrified as well. This was going to be epic but more like a hurricane rather than good news.

“He is the one in charge. Bert is.” That was all he needed to hear before he could breathe easier. Knowing the enemy was nearly all the battle his grandda used to say. “How he did it was a miracle. The man is ten kinds of stupid. All he’s done to advertise is hand draw an advertisement that says simply ‘anything you want with teenagers. He has about twenty people show up, and they bid on the chance to have whatever kind of fun they want with some teenagers. He’s figured out, through his nephew Vance, that girls were easier to catch as they were tiny and frail.”

“They drugged them then take them in their car someplace, and that’s where you know they’ve been…is it just murder or sex too?” She told him sometimes it was both. “Christ. So, how long do you suppose he’s been doing this?”

“A few months. Right after he killed the Masons because they sold the store to you, he’s been making a living on doing this murder spree with the girls.” He didn’t want to believe that he had anything to do with this and it was Trinity who told him that it wasn’t his fault. “He isn’t getting paid from the store. Doesn’t know how to order things. He hasn’t the first clue either about how to get on the internet and even look things up. He can read the paper online because it was logged in all the time when Mason worked there. I think that we’re lucky in that he knows shit about the internet. If he’d understood even the basics, he would have more deaths on his head because he’d be getting them from more places instead of just locally.”

“Locally?” She nodded and said nothing else. “This is by far worse than anything that I’ve ever encountered. I don’t know what to do with the information that you have. Other than to go to bed and not ever wake up. I…I don’t know what to do? Take a walk? Is it on the Mason’s property?”

“No. Yours.” That made him nearly sick. These killings had been going on right under his nose for the last few—the slap to his face about knocked him off his chair. While he didn’t understand why he’d been hit, he knew better than to retaliate. “It’s not been going on under your nose. Yes, I read your mind. Buck up and figure this out. Otherwise, we’re going to be sitting on information while the bastard is still out there causing the deaths of teenagers all over the fucking town.”

“We should just tell them. Everything.” Sunny asked Trinity how that would work. “I don’t know. I really don’t but sitting on it, that seems like we’re just as guilty as Tetters is. Or…I just thought of this, tell the president. He knows what’s going on here. We should see what he would want us to do with what we know now.”

“I love that idea. He could say something like he had some pictures come back that had what…no, that won’t work. Perhaps he could say that it was an anonymous caller…nope won’t work either. They’d have to be cleared through the system before talking to him, and they’d not have his private number.” Sunny smiled when he had a sudden thought. He didn’t want to think that she planted it there for him to figure out, but he wasn’t going to ask her.

“I was thinking that I should have one of the officers say that they’ve seen something suspicious and checked it out and saw what looked to him like a crime scene. Surely, there will be blood everywhere. And if not, then I can use some of my mojo to make sure that they can think there is.” She winked at him. “You’re very good at keeping your mouth shut when you need to. Aren’t you?

“Yes, that’s it. And I’m not stupid enough to think that I have all the answers.” He loved this idea and when Sunny told him that it was taken care of, he believed her. Now, they had to catch Tetters so that this sort of thing didn’t happen again. “He might leave town in his big new truck. How do you suppose we can keep that from happening?”

“He won’t be able to leave the house.” He didn’t ask. As much as he wanted to know, he didn’t want to know either. “Also, he’s going to have trouble with his truck that makes it so that it won’t run well.”

If it was fixed by Sunny, he had to believe that she had covered their asses as well. Something like this would make national, hell, even worldwide news and he didn’t want to bring his kids into this. Not now that they were beginning to trust people around them. And he had no doubt that it was going to be a shit show.

Getting the kids going this morning was fun. The three youngest of them had been going to preschool to see where their education needed to be. Their studies were sorely lacking, but they were catching up. The two older girls were going to second grade to see what sort of education they were missing. He knew that Patty could read, but not Lily. They’d been working on that nightly since she came to him.

Today was the first time since they’d been staying with him that he got them off on time. It had a great deal to do with having a second pair of hands. Trinity had even been able to fix their hair for them so that it wasn’t just brushed but put into a nice braid that he’d not been able to manage, no matter how many videos he watched.

Billy had his second bottle by the time he was able to make it out to the vineyard. He was a little nervous about leaving the little man with Trinity, but she assured him that she was going to enjoy it. Besides, she had the faeries there so that if she needed anything, they could help her take care of it. She was also going to figure out her job situation with the president so that she could go back and forth to work while he stayed with the kids. If that was something that she wanted to do, she told him before he left.

“I love the kids. As much as I think they like me.” He assured he that if they didn’t like her, they’d tell her. “Oh, good. I think. Anyway, I can work from home most of the time, but I would have to go to DC a few times as well. I don’t know how often but I know that my job depends on me being able to interact with the president personally at times.”

“I don’t even know what it is you do for him.” She told him that she was his go to person when he had to have a talk with one of the people in his office as well as dinners and such. So he’d not say or do the wrong thing that would get him into hot water over it. “That sounds like a good job. Does he mess up much?”

“Not as much as he used to before I came along. Believe it or not, he would just say things that are now considered to be taboo nowadays. Saying the wrong nationality or even calling someone of color by the wrong culture could and would get him into trouble with entire nations. Also, I’m an attorney.”

“That’s wonderful. I have a vineyard—which is where I’m headed after I take the girls to school. The vineyard is one that I make most of my money with. Actually, I have several of them and sell my wine all over the world.” He laughed. “Not to brag, but it’s been very profitable for us. There is an us now, right?”

“Yes, I’d like that.” She shyly put out her hand, and he took it. Holding it next to his cheek, he inhaled deeply of her scent. “I know that you guys have this thing about it’s my body, and I should decide when we have children, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to hold off on that for a while. Having six kids under the age of nine is a bit much for anyone, I would think.”

He still, even a couple of hours later, was laughing about her telling him about waiting on having kids. He would have given her whatever she wanted, but was glad that she felt the way that he did.

The vines were coming along nicely. He was impressed and told them so that the faeries were doing just what he’d asked them to do. The new grapes were looking good and full, and when he walked into the winery, he was impressed with how much cleaner, not that it was ever dirty but it looked shiny, like a new penny to him. Perhaps it was because he’d not been there in a while, but he loved the look. He looked into the cork situation.

“We can make those for you, my lord.” He wished they’d just call him Ewing but that wasn’t going to happen, he didn’t think. “I have heard that there is some trouble with them being ordered. It would only be enough for you to fill what wines you have going out soon. That way, we will not contribute to the downfall of the world.”

“The world? But it would hurt the middleman in this case. However, I just discovered that the man is dead, so I might have to find someone else to get them for me. I could have gotten them cheaper by going to markets myself, but I like using the local people for that sort of thing. It’s a nice income for them.” She told him that she knew Ms. Mason and that she would grow the most beautiful flowers in the summer months. “You know you can plant some flowers around the vines if you wish. So long as they don’t interrupt the grape harvest, you can use the land that is between the grapes.”

“That would be most helpful, my lord.” After showing them where they could use the soil, he was happy with the quickness of them getting them planted and started growing. It would be great if the flowers were to bring in more bees to the place. Pollination is critical for the grapes that he grew. Most anything, he knew.

~*~

Mac saw the cruisers go by the house three times. Well, that was all he noticed before it occurred to him that they might be looking for him. After giving them information about him being related to his nephew, he was sure that they were going to question him about his whereabouts concerning what he’d been caught doing. He had been practicing what he’d say to them all day yesterday and into the morning hours.

“I’m just going to blame it on him.” He wasn’t sure how that plan was going to work, but that’s the only one that he’d thought of that would get him out of the picture, so to speak. “It’s not like he can dispute my words over his. He’s dead.”

Looking at his phone when it rang, he decided that he was going to get out of the killing business for a while, too. It was too much to juggle the police, the men calling him to get his act together and get him another group to go after teenagers. His mind kept going back to the little girls. Damn, but they would have been a nice addition to his money maker.

When his phone rang again with the same number, he decided that he was going to get going on his blaming Vance for all the murders. Of course, he figured out that he couldn’t say that it was murder, but he could, for now, at least pretend to know nothing about the boy’s activities when he wasn’t living with him. His mother would be rolling in her grave if she were dead. That was a sore spot for him.

Gertrude had been roaming the world since she’d been divorced from her husband. Not that he liked the other man, but his sister had made out very well when they divorced, taking more than half his estate and holdings. She was usually on a cruise ship, traveling around the world and would never, no matter how many times he asked her to send him any money. He knew that she had it, but she wouldn’t share it with him.

Picking up the phone, he was surprised that the call was so clear. It was his sister, Gertrude, who was asking about how much truth there was about her son dying. He told her what the papers had said about him.

“And you never thought that I’d like to know about my own son’s death, did you? You bastard. I loathe you. I always have.” He said that he didn’t think she’d care all that much since she’d not seen him in decades. “I saw him just a month ago. We had a nice visit, and he even took one leg of the cruise with me. How dare you think that I’d not be devastated by the death of my only child. And to have to find out from my ex-husband, to boot. I could just strangle you, Mac. What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing. I mean, he’s dead. It’s not like he was anything to me. My nephew, of course, but we weren’t close.” He thought that was a brilliant thing to say in the event that his phone was being bugged. “I don’t even remember the last time I saw him, as a matter of fact.”

“Liar. You and he were up to something. Vance told me that you were making good money, he didn’t say illegally, but knowing you, there is no other way that you could be. You’re a lazy fat fuck now, just like you’ve been all your life.” He looked around the room to see if anyone was in there to overhear what she was saying to him. “I’m coming home. And my home had better be in good shape, too, or I’m going to sue you for it. I’m sick of traveling anyway, so prepare yourself by moving out.”

“I don’t live there no more anyway.” He thought of the state of the house and decided that it would be a good thing to blame on the kid, too. “Vance was living there for the last few months. I haven’t been there, but—”

“Why must you lie all the time? I know that Vance wasn’t living there. He told me that you made a whole mess of the place and had moved out a week or so before I saw him. I was just seeing if you’d blame him for it. You really are a bastard, aren’t you?” He wanted to hang up on her, but she said she was coming home, and he wanted to make sure he was out of town when she got here. “Besides that, he’s very neat, unlike you, so I know that if there is a mess, then you’re the one who did it. Where are you staying anyway?”

“The Mason’s house.” Closing his eyes at the stupidity of his answer and now they’d know that he’d been here staying, he tried to backtrack. “They’re out of town, and I’m house-sitting for them. They really are out of town, Gerty. I swear it.”

“I don’t care where they are, you old fool. Not that I believe you. You will always lie even if the truth is right there in front of you.” She huffed at him once again. “I’m catching the next flight home, and you’d better be making the house look like I left it. Why I allowed you to move in while I was away…I must have had a brain fart or something. I’ll see you in a few days.”

With that scary parting, she simply hung up the phone. Jesus, that was all he needed now was his sister being around him all the time. Maybe he thought he could get someone to kill her off for fun. He’d almost pay good money for that to happen.

The second time his phone rang, the caller ID said that it was a private number. He usually would answer those but not today. He was too nervous after talking to his sister to try and keep his stories straight. He needed to write things down is what he needed to do and he was going to start that now.

By the time he was ready to cook his meal, his phone had rang four more times. The house phone—who had one of those these days, he thought with a grin—had rang quite a few times, too. One of the calls was from the Mason’s daughter. She was wondering why she’d not heard from them again. Now, he had to come up with another excuse as to why they weren’t able to come to the phone. Putting his head down on the table, he decided that there was just too much going on for him to keep track of. He would almost go to the police to tell them what he’d been up to if not for the fact that he’d go to prison.

Answering his cell phone, he was nearly ready to toss it across the room, too. He realized how short he’d been when the caller asked him if he was all right.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Too much going on right now. Who is this?” He told him that it was Ewing Cross. “Oh good lord, what is it you want now? I’m sorting out things that are in the way, and I don’t have time for you and your cokes.”

“It’s corks, not cokes. And that’s the reason that I called you.” He said that he called the place this morning and they’d not called him back as yet. “That’s all right. Tell them I’m getting a refund from you, and that will be the end of it.”

“From me? Why do I have to give you a refund if you didn’t even get the corks yet? That’s just stupid on your part if you think that I’m going to—how much are you talking anyway?” He told him. “For corks? That much for a couple of corks? Good god, what are they made of anyway? Gold?”

“They’re made of corks, you imbecile, and it’s not a couple of corks. It’s three hundred thousand of them. The last time I got them ordered, they came here on a semi.” He couldn’t imagine that what he was saying was true. What the hell was he going to do with that many corks anyway. He remembered using the corks that had been in the brewery his parents worked at and using them to go fish— “Are you listening to me? I said that I’d be there first thing in the morning, so you’d better have my money. I know for a fact that they don’t charge you for them until they shipped and since they’ve not arrived on time, I’m assuming that you didn’t order them. So I want my money back.”

“You’re just causing me all kinds of trouble right now, and I don’t like it. I have a great deal on my mind and—Well, I’ll just tell you. My sister is coming home. She’s not going to be happy with me—with Vance because he left her home in a wreck. She’s also mad because I never told her that he was dead. Why would she even care, I ask you? It’s not like he lingered around being sick before he kicked the bucket. Someone killed him, and I don’t know what happened to his body even. Then there is the trouble with my money maker that I can’t do because Vance put me in a world of hurt by getting caught and killed.” On some level, he knew that he was saying too much, but he was on a roll and it was actually making him feel better to vent like this. “The police keep going by the house here. And the Mason’s freezer is about empty. What am I going to do about food when that happens now that I don’t have my money maker. I don’t know, do you? Then there is the stupid store. I can’t steal any money from it because no one pays in cash. Even for a little two dollar thing, they whip out that credit card like they don’t have two bucks on them. Christ, I wish that I’d never started this shit. But it was a good—”

In that very moment, he realized all the things that he’d been saying and shouldn’t been. He didn’t know if he should hang up or not and was startled when Ewing started laughing. Asking him what he thought was so funny didn’t help his nerves at all, either.

“You are. Christ, this is wonderful. I thought that I could distract you for a minute or two while the police surrounded your house or the Mason’s home, but you just confessed to a great many things that I didn’t care about while sprinkling in there the fact that you’ve been in business with your nephew as well as living in the Mason’s home. We know that you killed them. You got your DNA all over their bodies. Also, and speaking to you just now, I’m not the least bit surprised to know how you managed to get an entire handprint of your right hand—in their blood, no less—on their bodies. Did you what? Hope for someone to catch you? It certainly seems like it.” He let out a laugh, one that was enough that had him realizing that Ewing didn’t think he was funny at all. “And if you ever come near my family again with the intention of taking one of them, I will shift into my bear and tear you apart while you’re still breathing. Do I make myself clear?” He nodded, not thinking about the fact that he couldn’t be seen. “You have a nice day, Tetters.”

The police came into the house from the windows and doors. There was nothing safe from the damage that they seemed to be wanting to create. They were dressed like he was some sort of drug dealer and might have some kind of army behind him. Even when they had him down on the floor, cuffing him and telling him his rights, he could hear Ewing laughing. What he could find so funny was beyond him, but there he was, laughing his ass off.

“Well, Tetters. Do you have anything to say about all this?” He said that he wanted his sister. “She’s not going to be able to help you if she even wanted to. I don’t think she likes you all that much. She’s the one that called us saying that you had led her son down a merry path, and that was why he was dead.”

He hated family. Especially his own and the Cross fuckers. All of them were a bunch of cock sucking bastards that were only out for themselves. At least he was honest about what he wanted and how he’d done it. He was out for himself, and everyone knew it. But family was sneaky. They’d get you in the back while they were hugging the stuffing out of you in the front. Or something like that.