Love At Peace (Hometown Heartstrings #3)

Chapter 14

Roarke

N one of the houses I looked at fit. They didn’t appeal. I couldn’t see myself living in any of them, but that night, when I lay in bed in the cabin I couldn’t stay in for long, I wondered if I wasn’t looking at the houses for what they offered or if I was projecting my view through a filter of wishing Heather could’ve been there with me.

I wanted to find a home, not just a house to sleep in. I wanted to settle down for good here, with a good job at Grand River and a place to call my own. Heather, despite her hesitations to even give me the time of the day, was part of that vision. Considering that, it was no wonder that the places I checked out didn’t meet my criteria. She hadn’t been there with me, and it mattered.

I didn’t have time to look any further for houses. Realtors were spamming me with calls, texts, and emails, but I had yet to pick one to go with. This shopping around phase could take a while, and in the back of my mind, I was half convinced that I wouldn’t even find anything until after the holidays. People weren’t focusing on selling properties now. They were in family tradition preparation.

My family—the men I worked with at the ranch—were my company for the busier-than-usual workweek. Horses were acting up. The vet had to come by multiple times. More holes were found in the fencing. A couple of younger, newer recruits tried to cause a fight over a woman.

It was a chaotic few days, and during them, I lacked the energy to do more than show up, work hard, and head home to crash. The second my head hit the pillow, I’d fall asleep, but the insomnia kicked in like clockwork, keeping me up at three o’clock so I would only be able to achieve an on-and-off rest. In those early hours, I obsessed about all that was wrong in my life. All this damn drama.

Heather.

Nevaeh.

Even darker thoughts about Veronica surfaced, and I hated that my ex-wife still had the power to piss me off. She was supposed to be a figure of my past. A lesson hard learned that I would do better without women in my life, but it seemed that lesson hadn’t stuck yet.

The parallels of being manipulated, namely in the way that I was kept in the dark, bothered me.

But I tried to combat it in the only way I knew how.

Marty came by the ranch when we broke for lunch in one of the barns. He’d been called out to pick up one of the young ranch hands who’d gotten too drunk in town and thought he could pull off a hit-and-run with a stop sign.

“Too many cameras all over the place nowadays to get away with something like that,” Marty said as he ushered the hungover young man into the back of his cruiser. He shut the door, and I bet with the heat making the car nice and toasty, the idiot would be passed out for a nap any second.

“Which makes me wonder how Nevaeh hid for so long,” I told him. “And how no one knows where David Kenning is.”

He shook his head. “No more mystery about that one.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned his butt against the cruiser. “I found him.”

“Oh yeah?”

Gavin walked up and stood next to me, curious. “Where’s he been?”

“He went back to Chicago for a day or two, but getting that intel was like pulling teeth. He’s got a lot of friends looking out for him.”

Damn lawyers. Too many of them were corrupt like that, enabled to skirt the laws when they broke them.

“And I got Jerry to sit down long enough to explain a few things.”

“Was David at that apartment when Eric was hit? Or fell?” Gavin asked.

“No clue.”

I grunted. “I thought you said you’d cleared up some of the mystery.”

“Partly. Jerry can’t confirm when David actually left that apartment. David convinced him to not worry about the faulty lock on the door, saying it would be easier for him—and his ‘roommate’—to get in and out.”

“And that roommate was Nevaeh?” I guessed.

“Maybe. When I pressured him to say if Nevaeh was living with David there, he clammed up and didn’t say anything. And there’s not exactly a paper trail I can follow. He never had David sign a lease. Nevaeh either. Jerry operates with things on the downlow, with supposed understandings and verbal agreements rather than legitimate lease documents signed by both parties.”

I shook my head, annoyed.

“Well, she seemed like she was familiar with going there,” Gavin said.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “And she walked into that apartment and slammed the door shut. Like she lived there. Hell, she had to have been staying with or visiting that asshole somewhere at some time if he knocked her up.”

“But it doesn’t seem like she’s there anymore,” Marty said. “I had Jerry show me around the place, since it could still be a crime scene if we assume Eric didn’t just trip or fall on his own. When he showed me around, that apartment was empty. That one and the one next to it that wasn’t in good condition. If Nevaeh was there once, she’s not anymore. Him either. I haven’t seen a sign of David in town all week.”

“Maybe he got another rental car,” Gavin guessed.

“And there’s no cameras at that building? Surveillance or security?” I asked, eager to know what happened to Eric and if David was a danger to Heather. “Anything?”

“Nothing,” Marty replied. He sighed as he studied me. “If you do see your niece, though, I would like to speak with her again. Something isn’t right about how Eric was down there for a whole night, in and out of consciousness. He can’t answer any questions until his memory returns a little bit, so in the meantime, I’ve got to ask around elsewhere.”

I nodded, promising I’d give him an update.

Since our last argument when she slammed the door in my face, I had seen hide nor hair of my niece. Before, I would dismiss her absence as another episode of her being a flaky, dramatic teenager prone to dashing off. Now that I knew she was pregnant, I worried about her not being prepared to give that baby its best chance. I’d already searched for ways to help. Programs for homeless women. Services for prenatal visits. Even adoption agencies, if she wanted to go that route. Whatever she decided, that was her call, but she couldn’t be this irresponsible about someone else’s life and wellbeing.

It wasn’t long until I heard from Marty again.

He called me a couple of hours after he’d left with the hungover ranch hand.

“Hey, Roarke?”

“Yeah. What’s up, Marty?” My first reaction to him contacting me was fear. I was gripped with an instant worry that something bad had happened.

Is Heather okay?

“I’ve got Nevaeh in my cruiser with me,” he replied. The pure exhaustion and exasperation in his voice was evident.

A sliver of guilt tracked through me at the fact I worried about Heather before my niece. I was concerned about both of them, but I was at my wit’s end where Nevaeh mattered. She refused to tell me what the hell she was doing. She refused to own up for her actions. She never took credit for her crimes or attitude and still expected me to just go lenient on her.

Heather was equally secretive, but I was getting better at realizing she wasn’t demanding that I stay back as a means of insulting me or attacking me. She was acting in the interest of her own survival. Besides, she was an adult and acting like one. My niece was acting like a bratty child with no sense of responsibility.

“Now what?” I asked as I rolled my eyes at Gavin. He’d perked up, pausing from fixing this bit of fence with me.

“One of the security officers at the Hopewell Mall caught her for shoplifting.”

“Again?” I blurted out before thinking better of commenting like that.

“What do you mean, again ?” Nevaeh snapped in the background of his line. “Just shut up, Roarke.”

I was surprised he had me on speaker. Then again, if he was driving, he’d be limited to make a call.

“She was caught shoplifting and gave them a hard time. So, they called me and I came to collect her,” Marty finished explaining.

“You got no right, Marty. They’re lying,” she protested.

“They found the merchandise in your pockets,” he replied, using that same tired, don’t-mess-with-me tone. “They caught it on camera.”

“No. That’s not true,” she argued.

She was either delusional or...delusional. No one could be this stupid to argue video and physical proof. If she had to, I bet she argue until her last breath, always at odds with the world.

“Anyway,” Marty said after clearing his throat. “I’m calling because I’m not sure where to take her.”

“You’re not arresting her?”

“The store isn’t pressing the full extent of charges. Because it’s the ‘holiday season’ they want to go easy on her.”

“That’s a mistake,” I replied wryly.

“Fuck you, Roarke,” she yelled.

“So, no, I’m not arresting her. Since she didn’t resist me too much, and the mall manager told the security guards to drop it, she’ll just get fined,” Marty explained with the fading patience of a saint.

“Ooooh,” Nevaeh taunted. “I’m so scared. Fine me. Do whatever the hell you want. I don’t care.”

There were times that it made sense to be cocky, but right now wasn’t it for her.

“Where should I drop her off?” he asked, finally cutting to the point.

I huffed a bitter laugh. “Fuck if I know.”

“And you want to always make yourself sound like some kind of giving and generous uncle, huh?” she said in the background.

“Why aren’t you taking her to her boyfriend?” I asked, not bothering to keep the snark out of my tone. “Go home to that asshole, Nevaeh. Remember? You told me that you were in love and with this great guy. He should be able to give you a place to stay, right?”

“David’s going to do a lot more for me than anyone else ever has,” she shouted.

“Yeah? Like leave you with a baby?”

“He loves me,” she insisted.

“Where should I take her?” Marty asked again.

I laughed once, unamused. “To wherever she calls home.”

My cabin wasn’t it. I wasn’t living in the cabin I’d first started renting since I came to Burton. With that busted water pipe, I was staying at the other, more rudimentary cabin. It was even smaller than Heather’s. Calling it a studio would be a stretch. The couch folded out to a bed, and that was the extent of furniture.

“When I ask her where she’s staying, she won’t reply.”

I hung my head and rubbed my brow, hating that she was being this difficult for him.

“Yeah, because I don’t need you being nosy and coming by to ask me questions about Eric. Or Heather. Or any damn laptop. Or—”

“Roarke?” Marty asked, his voice clearer and louder because he had to be closer to the mouthpiece on his phone. “Where should I take her?”

“I have no clue,” I admitted. I supposed I could tell him to bring her to the cabin I was in, but I didn’t want to. I never let her stay at my place without my supervision. This cabin didn’t have the security cameras like I’d installed at mine. The irony wasn’t lost on me that I had to rely on cameras to keep my home secure from my thieving niece. If push came to shove, I could sleep on the floor and let her take my couch-slash-bed, but I was no longer in that sort of a giving mood.

“Did you go on Heather’s laptop?” I asked.

It was a jarring shift in the topic, but that was all I needed to know. If I could extend help to Nevaeh, it would have to be with the knowledge that she hadn’t done anything to compromise Heather’s integrity or career. Until she could tell me if she had done anything like that, my generosity was conditional.

“Screw you, Roarke. All you care about is that stupid woman. She broke David’s heart, do you know that? You’re so concerned about this lying little bitch when all she does is stomp all over good men who want to help her.”

I narrowed my eyes, zoning out at the ground.

“Well, her loss is my gain. David’s gonna help me out. He’ll pay for my fine. No. You know what, he’ll erase this fine altogether.” She laughed. “I don’t care what you and Marty wanna ask me. I’m not saying shit. I don’t care what fines or charges anyone wants to throw at me. David will make it all go away.”

The degree to which she was completely unworried bothered me. It peeved me that she would lack the simples sense to determine right from wrong. And it pissed me off that she’d use a loophole to avoid consequences of her wrongdoing too.

I wish I never helped you in the first place.

For all the trouble she’d caused me, and all the trouble she’d likely caused Heather, I regretted enabling her and letting her off the hook one too many times.

I disconnected the call, at an utter loss of what to say.

Because it’d all go in one ear and out the other.

And nothing I said would get me closer to Heather again.