The Whisperers: A Three Book Box Set Page 30

  “I don’t know – to either. I told her to call the lake house if she wanted Teddy and Jake.”

  Mik shook her head. “Fine, let’s go see what this is about.”

  They all headed back to the house. Alex and Eldric were sitting at the kitchen table. Eldric stood when everyone entered. “Forgive us intruding at such an early hour.”

  “What’s wrong?” Mik asked.

  “Teddy and Jake said they’d be here in just a few minutes,” Alex replied.

  “Fine, then fill them in when they get here,” Mik responded. “And spit it out.”

  Alex took Eldric’s hand and pulled him back down into his chair. “Before I was discharged, Eldric found something in my room.”

  “What?”

  “A bug.”

  “Bug?”

  “Yeah as in something someone uses to spy on you.”

  “What?” Mik looked at her and then cut her eyes to Jed. “You don’t think…”

  “Deidre Manning?” He asked and then shrugged. “Beats the hell outta me. We’re square with Dalton so I wouldn’t think it was him, but he did say she was hell bent on destroying him and all of us so …”

  “But what the hell could she find out from bugging Alex’s hospital—“ Mik’s eyes opened wide then narrowed. “Carly’s papers. She might have heard what happened.”

  “But what difference could that make to her?” Jesse asked. “You being related to Carly and Colton has nothing to do with Dalton or us so what could she do with that?”

  “With what?” Teddy’s voice had everyone looking at the door.

  Mik quickly filled her and Jake in. Teddy slammed her hands on her hips. “I’ve about had it with all those damn Mannings. Why can’t they just get out of our lives and leave us the hell alone?”

  “Amen,” Jed said.

  Alex spoke up. “I’d like to talk to Dalton about this, see what he thinks.”

  “I’m not keen on involving him in any more family business,” Mik said.

  “He’s been really good to us, Mik. He refunded all that money from that old deed, let Teddy out of her shop and house lease and even bought me out of the partnership and let me out of my condo lease. He’s not a bad man and I really believe he’ll help if he can.”

  Mik looked at Jed and after he shrugged, she looked at Teddy. “Fine,” Teddy agreed.

  “Thanks,” Alex said and stood. “Oh and one more thing. Eldric and I are headed to Florida at the first of next month.”

  “To stay with Lily and Clint?” Mik asked.

  “No, to stay at Ellie’s house – the one where – where the doorway was. She and Cam have had the old place bulldozed and are rebuilding so they’re staying in the garage apartment for now.”

  “So, is this a visit or something more permanent?” Jesse asked.

  “I don’t know yet.” Alex took Eldric’s hand. “But I want to find out.”

  “I hope you’re happy,” Jesse said and then added to Eldric. “And that you’re good to her. Cuz bro if you’re not you’re gonna have hell to pay on both sides of the family.”

  Eldric chuckled. “How well I know. And I vow to you all that no harm will ever come to Alexandra. She will be protected and loved.”

  Mik and Teddy exchanged a look and then Mik smiled at Eldric. “Good enough for me. Okay, if that’s it for now, I have things to do.”

  “Thanks, Mik,” Alex said.

  “No worries. Oh, Jesse, you had a call from that guy who was here a couple of weeks ago taking pictures of Jake for that jeans ad. He wanted you to give him a call about doing some modeling for him.”

  “Say what?”

  Mik laughed. “Seems the Nash men are real head-turners. Guy tried to get Jed to do a shoot for a hat ad.”

  Jesse laughed and looked at his brother. “And you said?”

  “You can probably figure it out,” Jed replied and started for the door. “Work’s not gonna do itself. Let’s get a move on people.”

  Jesse chuckled and followed the crowd out of the door, making a mental note to call the guy and then to call Carly and tell her.

  Chapter Eight

  Carly had just finished putting away the leftovers when she heard a car outside. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Colton and Memory had headed out earlier that day to spend a weekend at the coast where Memory had a photo shoot scheduled for Saturday.

  It being Friday night meant all the hands had the night off. They worked hard for her and she figured they all deserved the time off to kick back, or kick up their heels as the case might be. Even her foreman had taken the evening to take his wife out to dinner and a movie.

  It would have been the perfect evening for Jesse to come over, but as luck would have it, he was helping Jed and Jake. They’d been trying to get an old fence replaced for the last month and this was the first week all three of them had to devote to the task.

  They had arranged to get together Sunday afternoon, but until then she was on her on. Not that being alone bothered her. She felt perfectly safe and comfortable and every now and again, it was nice to have time to herself.

  In fact, she thought she just might indulge herself in a long bubble bath with a good book. It wasn’t something she had time for often but she did enjoy it. Just then, she heard the sound of a car.

  She went to the window and looked out. She didn’t know anyone who drove a Mercedes. Maybe it was someone who’d just taken a wrong turn. Carly walked outside and down the front steps. The car door opened and an elegant but elderly woman climbed out.

  “Miss Marsh?” The woman called out.

  “Yes.”

  The woman closed her car door and approached Carly. “My name is Henrietta Manning Mills and I am here to beg a few minutes of your time.”

  Carly had heard the Manning name. More times than she could count. There had been little of substance said about Henrietta. All Carly knew of her was that she was Dalton’s aunt and apparently, there was no love lost between her and Deidre Manning.

  In fact, according to what Jesse had told her about Eldric discovering a recording devise in Alex’s hospital room, when Alex confronted Dalton about it, he was furious. He was adamant that it had to be Deidre behind it.

  Carly couldn’t for the life of her figure out why Deidre Manning would want to bug Alex’s hospital room. If Deidre was really was behind Alex’s shooting then she’d wiggled free of that. Jesse had told her about the man that had been identified as the shooter turning up dead with two others.

  “Miss Marsh?”

  Carly realized she’d been lost in thought for several seconds. “Oh sorry. Yes, of course, please come in.”

  Henrietta followed her inside and they took seats in the family room. “You have a lovely home,” Henrietta commented.

  “Thank you. I like it.”

  After clearing her throat, Henrietta spoke again. “I will come straight to the point. Dalton informed me of the bug that was placed in Alex Morgan’s hospital room. I managed to secure a copy of the audio that was recorded.”

  She opened her purse and extracted a thumb-drive, which she placed on the coffee table. “Feel free to give that to the Nash family.”

  “What’s on it?”

  “The only thing of substance is the information that you and Mikayla have the same father.”

  “Oh! Okay, well I guess that’s not much of a secret now.”

  “Perhaps not, but I fear it did open a Pandora’s Box of sorts and what may emerge could be disastrous for Mikayla.”

  “Then why not go to her with this?”

  Henrietta looked down at her hands in her lap. It wasn’t until then Carly noticed the way Henrietta was twisting her hands nervously. “All you all right Mrs. Mills?”

  “No, no I am not, my dear. Far from it.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Do you have abilities like your sister?”

  Carly’s internal alarm went off. She never told anyone about her ability and didn’t think Mik went around broadcasting i
t either. “Excuse me?”

  “I know about Mikayla’s abilities and hope that you inherited some of your father’s skills as well.”

  That was the first time anyone had referred to her and Mik’s father possessing abilities. “What makes you think he had abilities?”

  “Would it be possible for me to have a drink? Something stiff?”

  Carly wished Jesse were there. She bet he could feel what was going on with Henrietta. For herself, she was mistrustful and mystified. But it was clear that whatever had driven Henrietta to seek her out was something that had her afraid.

  “Sure. I have – uh bourbon.”

  “That would be lovely. Neat please.”

  Carly got up and went into the kitchen. She saw her phone on the counter as she got the bottle from the cabinet and thought about calling Mik, but decided to wait until she found out what Henrietta wanted. She poured a tumbler half full and carried it back into the family room.

  “Here you are.” She handed the glass to Henrietta and mentally gave the old lady a fist bump at the way she upended the glass and swallowed every drop without even a blink.

  “Thank you.” Henrietta placed the glass on the table beside the thumb-drive.

  “Mrs. Mills, I still don’t understand why you’re here. If you think Mik is in some kind of danger then you should go to her.”

  “No, no, that’s not possible.”

  “Why?”

  “It would cause more harm than good. If you … if you have any abilities, Miss Marsh, then please use them to protect yourself and your sister. Forgive me, I must go.”

  “Wait!” Carly jumped up as Henrietta got to her feet. “Please, tell me what’s going on. If Mik’s in danger like you say then I can’t help her – or protect her – unless I know what’s wrong.”

  “No, no, this was a mistake. I must go.”

  Henrietta hurried to the door on shaky legs and Carly followed. Just as they stepped onto the porch, another car pulled up and parked behind Henrietta’s. The three men who climbed out did not look friendly. From their expressions to the guns they wielded, they spelled one thing. Danger.

  Carly grabbed Henrietta’s arm, dragged her back inside, locked the door, and ran for the pantry where she kept her shotgun. Before she made it back to the family room, there was pounding on the front door. She found Henrietta standing in the middle of the room, gripping her purse to her chest, wide-eyed and trembling.

  “You have a phone?” Carly asked as she raised her shotgun.

  “Yes.”

  “Call 911—“

  The sound of shattering glass drowned out her words. She was vaguely aware of Henrietta’s voice on the phone as the window beside the door exploded, sending glass blasting into the room. Carly saw the man beating at the wooden frame with the butt of his shotgun. “Call now!” She barked at Henrietta and then yelled. “I’m armed and will shoot!”

  When the window on the opposite side of the door exploded in a hail of gunfire, Carly threw herself on Henrietta, taking her to the floor. In the seconds it took to hit the floor, roll off Henrietta and raise her weapon, the door flew open to reveal a man standing in the opening with a very large handgun pointed at her head.

  Time seemed to slow to a crawl. She felt her finger tighten on the trigger, felt the repercussion from the shotgun pushing back at her, heard the deafening blast and then saw the man in the doorway stagger back, his arms wide and flailing.

  Just then, a noise from the kitchen had her bolting to her feet. A man barreled into the room, weapon raised.

  “Drop it or I’ll fire,” she warned.

  He hesitated then smiled a split second before she heard a voice behind her. “Shoot and the old bat dies.”

  Carly didn’t know what to do. She cut a quick look behind her. A man had one arm around Henrietta’s neck, squeezing hard enough that her face was flushing. His free hand held a gun pointed at her head.

  Carly considered chancing it. Could she fire before he did? Her finger twitched then stilled at the sound of a gun cocking. She lowered her shotgun to the floor and raised her hands. She cut her eyes to Henrietta who still held her phone in her hand. Hopefully she’d been able to complete the 911 call.

  The man holding Henrietta forced her to sit on the couch and then looked at Carly. “Take a seat.”

  “Where?”

  “Right where you are. Sit bitch.”

  She did as she was told, watching as he walked to the door and called out. “Secured.”

  A few second later, another man walked into the house. He was dressed in a suit and carried a briefcase. “Excellent.” He crossed the room, placed his briefcase on the coffee table, and opened it.

  He withdrew a stack of papers, held together by a large paperclip and then took a seat on the sofa beside Henrietta. “Now, Mrs. Mills, this can all be over quickly and easily and we’ll be on our way. I just need your signature”

  “On what?”

  “These documents will transfer all of your shares in Manning Enterprises.”

  “To who?”

  He smiled at her. “Now if I told you that I couldn’t let you live, could I?”

  “I don’t care.”

  Wrong answer. Carly thought.

  “Oh, but I think you do. You see, if you do not, I will kill you with Miss Marsh’s formidable weapon and then I will kill her and make it appear to be a suicide.”

  “That won’t get you what you want. If I die, everything I own goes to my nephew so go ahead. Shoot me. I’m old and I don’t care.”

  The man looked at her for a long time. Carly had to admire Henrietta’s backbone. She sat right there and stared the man down without blinking. Finally, he stood and walked into the kitchen.

  From where she sat, she could hear him as he talked on his phone. He was telling someone that Henrietta would not sign and asking for direction.

  When he returned to the family room, he pried Henrietta’s phone out of her hand and diddled with it.

  “What are you doing?” She made a grab for her phone but he evaded.

  “Sending your beloved nephew a text, asking him to come to your rescue, of course.”

  “No. Leave him out of this.”

  “Too late. Of course, you could sign now and keep him from harm’s way.”

  “I’ll die before I sign that.”

  “As you choose.” He looked at Carly. “Where is your phone?”

  “Why?”

  “Do not make me ask again, Miss Marsh.”

  “In the kitchen.”

  “Very well, let’s get it.”

  “What for?”

  He reached down, grabbed her hair, and hauled her to her feet. “Please, do not force me to have to become violent.”

  “Fine.”

  He shoved her toward the kitchen. She got her phone from the counter and he snatched it from her hand and accessed her contacts. When she saw Mik’s name appear, she protested. “Leave her out of this.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that.” He typed out a text, hit send, then dropped the phone on the floor, and stomped on it. “Now, while we wait, why don’t you make some coffee?”

  Carly was done with arguing. Her heart was hammering. What had he put in that text and would it have Mik rushing here? She hoped not.

  As she set about preparing coffee, she turned it over in her mind. None of this made sense. Who would want Henrietta’s shares of the company bad enough to threaten murder? It obviously wasn’t Dalton so who did that leave?

  Deidre! She’d heard enough about the woman to make the jump to that conclusion. But why involve Mik? Or her for that matter. They had nothing to do with Manning Enterprises and Henrietta Mills.

  What the holy hell was going on?

  Chapter Nine

  Jesse nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Mik yelling his name from the door to the small tack room he’d taken over for his saddle making.

  His alarm escalated to fear when he saw the rifle in her hand. “We have to g
et to Carly’s. Now!”

  She didn’t give him time to respond before she turn and ran. Jesse followed, catching up with her before she was fifteen feet away from the barn. “What’s going on?”

  Mik snatched out her cell phone and handed it to him without breaking stride. A physical jolt hit his body when he read the text.

  If you want to see your sister alive, you’ll come now. Alone and no police.

  “You’re not going alone.”

  “Of course not. Do I look that stupid? You, Jed and Jake are going with me. I’ll let you off at the entrance to the ranch and go in alone and you can follow—“

  She stopped talking and snatched the phone from him as it rang. “Dalton?....Yes, I got a text, too… no don’t call the police yet. They might kill them if the cops show up…yes, I’m headed there now…okay, see you there.”

  By the time she pocketed her phone they’d reached the truck where Jed sat in the front seat and Jake in the back. Jesse didn’t ask anymore, he just climbed in beside Jake and accepted the handgun Jake offered. Mik got in behind the wheel, started the truck, and floored it.

  “So what did Dalton say?” He asked.

  She cut at look at Jed as she answered. “Dalton called. He got a text. Henrietta is at Carly’s place and they’re threatening to shoot them both unless he and I show up.”

  “Why Carly?” Jed asked. “And what the hell is Henrietta doing at Carly’s place?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “Wonder why we haven’t heard from Colton?” Jesse asked.

  “He and Memory were leaving today for the coast. She has a job there tomorrow and they were going to make a weekend of it.”

  Jesse didn’t ask anything more and no one else said a word on the fifty-minute drive to Carly’s ranch. Mik stopped at the entrance and he climbed out with his brothers. Jed walked around to Mik’s window. “Give us ten minutes to get positioned around the house. And see if you can get a message to Carly to create a distraction.”

  “A distraction?”

  “Her ability. Tell her to blow something up and when she does, hit the floor. We’ll be coming in.”