Alistair (Golden Streak Series) (9 page)

“Allyson? She’s a good girl. I met her
once, though I doubt she’d remember. It was a long time before she met the ass
who murdered my daughter.” Alistair didn’t caution the man on slander because
he was pretty sure that man was right. “I’ve finally gotten the court order I
need to have her body exhumed and autopsied. Could be telling, I think.”

If it was, there was going to be all
sorts of repercussions for Isaac to try and get out of. “Does Isaac know about
this? If he does, he might skip the country. I understand he still has a jet
that he could use.”

“The firm where he worked took that
yesterday for legal fees. There is some story going around that he hit his
secretary and that he took some money. Overbilling, I understand.” Alistair
told him that was true. “He’s not going to have a pot to piss in when I
finished with him. He’s been having my daughter’s hospital bills sent here
instead of paying them off. I’ve also made it so he’s not getting any insurance
from her, either. Not with me saying she’s been murdered and all. I think he poisoned
her for her money.”

As much as Alistair wanted to tell him
he agreed he knew he was in no position to say it. For all he knew, the man
could be fishing for information to use against him, as well. He only told the
man how sorry he was for his loss.

“She was a wonderful girl, Mr. Golden. Just
wonderful. And she had fallen for the ass because he said all the right words
to her. I shouldn’t have let her go through with it. I blame myself for her
death every day.” The man broke down, and Alistair waited. It would be hard, he
knew, to lose someone. But a child would be devastating.

“Mr. Cross, my family and I are going to
meet tonight to discuss this thing with Isaac. We’re afraid for what he might do
to Ally if he keeps at this. He threatened me and my family today if we didn’t
hand her over to him.”

Alistair hoped that his family wouldn’t
mind having a meeting on such short notice, and he was sure that Ally would
forgive him for their run, but this was getting to a critical point, and he was
afraid for all of them.

“I can do that. I can…you sure you don’t
mind me coming, too?” He told him no. “I might have some information that will
help you. I understand you’re an attorney, a good one, too.”

“I’m an attorney, but a good one? I
suppose. I love what I do.” Alistair cleared his throat. “I’m in love with Ally,
Mr. Cross. She and I are going to be married as soon as it can be arranged. And
I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”

“I can tell that.” Alistair heard him
speaking to someone else. Then he came back on the phone. “I can be there this
evening. If you give me the address, I’ll have a car bring me around. Can you
recommend a good hotel?”

“I can do that. I’ll set everything up
on this end, and if you tell me what time you’ll be landing, I’ll even have a
car there to bring you to my house.” Cross told him he would be there around
four. “I’ll have everything set up, and I hope you like home cooking, because
my cook has been playing with some recipes with Ally, and it should be
interesting.”

Cross laughed. “It’s been a while, but I
would love to have a home-cooked meal. I’ll see you tonight. And thank you.”

He called home first and talked to Jed.
He said that the
little tiger
was in the shower. He then asked if he
would like for him to have her call him. Alistair laughed at the nickname and
wondered if Ally knew about it yet.

“Yes. Tell her about the company. Also,
tell her he’s expecting a home-cooked meal. Do you mind helping with that?” He
laughed. “I suppose we should entertain more, but I’ve never wanted to before.”

“She’ll be good for this house, I think.
I’ll see what she wants to have and then have her call you. I need to go into
the store for some things. Would it be all right if the little tiger went with
me? I’ll take care of her.”

“I know you will. Please don’t let her
stay there alone. I don’t trust that idiot to not to try something. If she
doesn’t want to go with you, then…then drop her off at Ryland’s house. I’ll explain
if she gets upset.”

Then he called Ryland. “Cross says he
might have some information that might help us. He…you should have heard him,
Ryland. The man is devastated to have lost his child.”

“I would be, as well. The meeting is a
great idea, and even if the man doesn’t have anything we don’t already have, it
might do him some good to have some people around that he knows are going to do
something. And we will.”

“I know,” he told Ryland. “I wanted to
talk to you about my changing Ally. I should have—”

“Don’t. I had a long talk with her and Bronwyn.
And you can’t guess who was more pissed at me. I’m telling you that that mate
of yours can tear a hide off of anything. And here I thought she’d be lucky if
she didn’t crumble at the first sign of trouble.” He laughed. “You’re fine. I
mean it, and with the way things are going, it might save her life to be able
to shift and have the extra strength. Bronwyn said I should have congratulated
you, not made you feel like shit about it. I am sorry about that.”

“Thank you, Ryland. You have no idea
what it means to me that you said that.” After Ryland said he’d make sure
everyone was at his house at five, they hung up. Alistair decided he had a
great family and was gladder for them every day. He dug into his work and managed
to finish up in time to go to the airport to get Mr. Cross.

Chapter 9

Lance sat in his hotel room, too tired
to think about what had happened. He’d had it all worked out and knew that he’d
eventually have the man eating out of his hands. He looked at his hand where he’d
given himself notes and wondered at what point he’d lost control of the
situation. He thought it had been when that other man kept edging closer to him,
but was sure that was only part of it. Lance hadn’t even gotten to the part of his
speech were he told Alistair that he was still in love with his wife and wanted
her to come back. At least he didn’t think he had.

Pacing the small confines of the room,
he tried to ignore how dirty his trousers were and the mud that caked his
shoes. He knew that they had cost a great deal more than he’d ever paid for a
pair of shoes. And now they were ruined. The filth would never come out of
them. And why did the large man have to knock him into the puddle in the first
place?

“He’s going to pay for that, too.” He
kicked off the shoes and put them into the trash. There was no way he was ever
going to put them on again. They would be a constant reminder of what had just
happened. And he was no closer to getting her back than he had before.

He glared at his cell phone, knowing
that even if he wanted to call his mother, there was no way to do it. The thing
had been shut off last night right in the middle of a call to get a pizza
delivered. And he was still pissed about that, too. It had ever shown up, and he’d
had to walk to the convenience store five blocks away only to find out it was
closed. He was sick to death of nothing going his way. When his phone rang, he
nearly fell back from it.

“I could only pay the first past due
amount and have to come up with the rest by the end of the week or it’s off for
good. Have you managed to get anything done on your end?” His mother never said
hello
, he just realized, but launched into whatever she had called about
before anyone else could speak. “Lance, are you listening to me? We have to get
his cleared up before everything else comes down on our heads.”

“I went to speak to the people she’s
staying with, and the man is a brute. He and his brothers told me that if I
came near her, they’d hurt me.” He snorted, though he was sure that hurt was
nothing compared to whatever they had planned for him. “I’m going to see if I
can get to his house today and have a few words with my wife. She’s been
fucking around with me long enough.”

“I think you should just kill her when
you see her.” She paused. “Never mind. You’d just fuck that up as well. I want
you to come home. I’ve been looking into what it would cost for you to fly back
here, and I’ve just enough to get you here. That man I was telling you about
said he has a good lead on her and he’ll have this completed by the end of the
week. He is giving us a discount, too, because of the way it was handled
before.”

He didn’t want to leave this in the
hands of someone else. He wanted to take care of it. And if the man knew about
this, then what was to say he wouldn’t tell someone for more money. He had represented
people like him, and knew what they were about.

“I’m not coming home until I speak to
Allyson. I want to know why the cunt ran. And I know it has nothing to do with
me hitting her. She enjoyed that entirely too much for that to be it.”

He grinned when he thought of her
cowering in the corner when he’d stood over her and wanted to feel that power
again. Then have sex with her. He loved the feeling of dominating her after he’d
knocked her around and only getting to do it the few times had only wet his
appetite for more.

“You get yourself arrested and you’re on
your own. I don’t have anything left to sell. Not after yesterday.” He was
almost afraid to ask and didn’t have to when she started to tell him. “The
computer people came with the police. And since they couldn’t find the computer,
they had the right to take anything in the room of equal value. I handed over
the computer, but right behind him were the credit card people. They took
everything that wasn’t nailed down. This is getting out of hand. That girl has
caused us enough problems. Take care of it or I will.”

He closed his eyes, ignoring her threat.
“Did they find the safe?” He knew from her laughter that they’d not only found
it but had gotten it opened as well.

“They knew the combination. I’m betting
that cunt you married before Allyson gave it to someone, and that’s all they
needed. Took everything in it, including the cash you had stashed in it. How
could you hide that from your mother?” He wanted to tell her because she would
spend it on stupid shit like her hair when he needed it for his collection, but
said nothing as she continued. “Your suits are gone, as well as your shoes and
cufflinks. They said we still owe them a great deal more and are going to come
for the cars today. Those were your father’s.”

He had figured that someone would
remember the cars sooner or later but had hoped he’d be able to sell them
before that happened. He sat down when she told him that the police were
guarding them so that she couldn’t even go out to the garage and look at them
one last time.

“They’re afraid you’ll run off in one of
them.” He laughed, and it sounded manic even to his own ears. “I don’t think
they realize that you’ve never driven a car in your life and wouldn’t know the
first thing about taking off in them.”

“This is not funny, young man. You’re
supposed to take care of your mother, not bring her down like your father did. I’m
not enjoying this.”

“Neither am I.” He got up to pace again
and realized now if they cleaned out his safe and anyone bothered to look at
some of the things in it, he was as good as dead. He had been keeping notes on
everything since he’d been a child, and when he’d gotten to be an adult,
nothing had changed. He had so many things in those journals that even one of
them would have strapped to a table as they filled his body with poison. Murder
using poison as well as the murder of a minor was just a few things that they
now had him for.

“I can’t come home. If I do, they’ll
arrest me as soon as I get off the plane. Assuming I even get that far.” He
decided he might as well, if nothing else be honest with her. “You need to get
as far away as possible. Change your name, everything about you, because if
they find you after reading those journals, you’re going down with me. Your
help alone in getting me the stuff for Paula is going to get you a long stay in
a federal prison.”

“What have you done?” He laughed again,
terror running through his body hot and heavy. “I will not go to prison because
you have a spending problem, and I had nothing to do with the poison you fed to
that woman to kill her off. Nothing! Do you hear me?”

He hung up and sat on the bed. He was
going to make her pay. Allyson caused all this because she ran and wouldn’t do
what he’d told her. He wasn’t stupid enough to think he was ever going to
collect on the insurance now, but he was going to kill her. Her and that
fucking bastard she was living with. He went to the bathroom and took a long,
hot shower. Then naked, he lay down on the bed and covered up. Closing his eyes,
he let his mind drift over what he had to do and hoped to Christ he was able to
get one thing to go his way for a change.

~~~

The jet landed without a hitch. While
Alistair had money and a great deal of it, he’d never considered the purchase
of a jet to make his life easier. The few times he’d had to fly somewhere he’d
simply booked the cheapest flight he could get and left, not worrying overly
much about how he got to his destination. This man, Marcus Cook, reeked of
wealth.

“Mr. Cook. I hope your flight was fine?”
Cook nodded and smiled but kept turning back toward the tarmac. “I have a car
here for us, and we can either go by your hotel or we can go straight to my
house.”

The second person who walked toward them
was an older man who looked to be in his late seventies. But the closer he got
to him the older he seemed to get. Cook introduced him as his dad.

“My dad has been helping me with this
all along. Dad, this is the young man I was telling you about. Alistair Golden,
my father Troy Cook.” They shook hands.

Troy Cook was one of the sharpest
attorneys that had ever graduated from Harvard Law. He’d been someone that
Alistair had admired since he’d been a teenager and had seen him on the news
talking about a case he’d just won.

“I’ve read about you. Well, I’ve had you
looked into. You’re a sharp young man. Are you going to help my son take this
prick out?” Alistair nodded. “Good. He needs someone like you in his corner
when this goes to trial.”

“I won’t be able to go to trial for him,
sir.” Alistair flushed when the man raised a brow at him. “I don’t have a
license to practice law in Nevada. I’m assuming that’s where this will be held.”
This time Troy nodded. “I can help him, but that’s all I’ll be able to do.”

“We’ll see about that.” Alistair had no
time to ask him what he meant about that as their luggage was being brought
toward them. There was a great deal of it, too. More than a couple of night
stays worth.

They decided to be dropped off at his
house and then have the driver check them into the hotel and have their luggage
taken there, as well. It would be late, Troy told him, and he would not want to
carry his things up after the exhausting evening. Alistair doubted this man had
ever carried anything more than his wallet for decades but didn’t say anything.
They pulled up in front of his home just as Ryland and Bronwyn did.

He introduced them, and Marcus marveled
at how lovely Bronwyn looked in the bloom of her pregnancy. Alistair waited for
her to say something smart, but she only nodded and thanked him. She turned
back to him after they were moving toward the house. Then he nearly burst out
laughing when she turned and stuck her tongue out at him. That was the Bronwyn
he knew and loved.

He pulled Ally into his arms the moment
he saw her. She held him tightly to her, and he could feel her fear. He
introduced her to the gentlemen, and she led them to the living room. He was
glad to see his mom and the rest of his family there waiting for them. And
Keith already had his computer set up.

“I’d like to suggest we table this
discussion until after we eat, if you don’t mind.” Ryland looked around the
room as he continued. “If it’s okay with everyone else, I’d very much like to
have a nice, calm dinner with you. Then we can sit down to business.”

“What a capitol idea. A nice, quiet
dinner with new friends sounds great. Don’t you think, Dad?” Marcus looked at
his dad and smiled. “Dad, what is it?”

“You’re not human.” The breath that he’d
been holding seemed to strangle him, and Alistair didn’t know what to say to
the older Cook. “I thought you were something else when I saw you, but all of
you together make me think it more. What are you? Wolf? Something else?”

“Tiger.” Troy looked at him and nodded.
“All of us are, as is Ally now. We’re purebreds. We…how did you know?”

“I’m not nearly as old and stupid as
some would have you believe.” He glanced at his son as he continued. “I have a
housekeeper that’s a panther. She didn’t tell me. I know you have rules about
that. But one night, I was in my yard, and she…well, she kept me from a burglar
that was bent on taking what I’d had. After it was over, she sat down with me
and told me what she was. She taught me how to tell when I was around others
like her.”

Alistair watched as Marcus sat down hard
and looked around the room. Troy went to stand next to him and nodded to
Ryland. There was a wealth of words said in that simple gesture and Alistair
looked around the room and at Ally. She stepped forward and took Troy’s hand.

“I’m happy that you came today. We have
some information that I think you might need, but like Ryland said, we should
eat first. I’ve been having a good time in the kitchen today. Our cook, Jed, is
an amazing man.” Their voices faded as she led the two men into the dining
room.

“Do you think he’ll tell anyone?” His
mom looked at all of them before she looked directly at him. “He could ruin us
if he wanted to.”

“He won’t.” He had no idea why he knew
that to be true, but he was positive that the Cooks would say nothing. “I think
they’re more interested in justice for their daughter and granddaughter than
they are our family secret.”

Ryland nodded. “I think he’s right. I
think he just wants to make sure that no one else dies by this bastard.”

They entered the dining room just as
Ally was telling them about her gun practice. The men were charmed by her,
Alistair could tell, and they all sat down just as Jed brought out the first
tray filled with salad and bread sticks. As they each filled their bowls,
conversation started to loosen and become friendlier. By the time dessert was
served, they were good friends and a great deal less worried about what they
might or might not be. As they went back to the living room, Keith sat down at
his computer while Brock handed around files.

“I’ve had a trace put on the two cell
phones on the Isaac account since the first time he called Alistair. He has
only called one number other than a couple of pizza places, and those calls
have been to the other name on the account, his mother, Aida Isaac. She has
called a great many more people, and…okay, I’ll get to that in a minute.”