Joseph: Bentley Legacy (7 page)

He’d been beaten. Not recently, but not long ago either. She moved her hand over his nose and he shied away from her. After the third try, she realized that not only had he been hurt, but was probably blind too.

Taking the long rope that had tied him, she led him out of the trailer. As soon as the sun touched him, he jerked away from her but she held him firmly, talking to him as quietly as she could. He came with her, but she knew what it was costing him. Leading him over to the open gate, she walked in with him instead of just letting him go. Chris heard the gate close behind them.

“Chris, come away from him.” She looked at Joey and Davey when Joey spoke again. “Honey, come here. He’s dangerous. Davey said that he’s killed and he is mean. Something is wrong with him.”

“There is. He’s hurt, the poor thing.” Remembering that she had part of a pear in her pocket, she pulled it out and let him smell it. She held it in her palm as she continued to talk to him and Joey. “The poor thing can’t see, did you know that? Someone beat him so badly that he’s blind now. Who would do such a thing? They need to be beaten too.”

As he slowly ate the pear, she talked to him. When it was gone, even the core, she was pushed back when he touched his head to hers. She had no idea what he was doing until Davey told her what to do.

“He’s greeting you, Mrs. Bentley. Bump him back.” Chris told him to call her by her first name and did what he told her to do. The horse put his head over her shoulder, and she hugged him to her. “Well, I’ll be damned. He’s hugging you. Christ almighty, he’s hugging you.”

When he left her standing there, she looked at Joey. “I would like to keep him. And the other two. I don’t want them to go to the slaughter house. I think…I can help them.” Joey nodded and she moved out of the gate. The big horse followed her. When she turned to him again, he bumped his head to hers before moving away. She supposed he could smell her.

Joey hugged her to him and told Davey he’d take them. “And if you could also swing the other, I’d be very grateful to you.” Chris asked him what that was. “We’ve just hired two hands to help us with the ranch. Congratulations, Mrs. Bentley, we’re attorney ranchers.”

A vet was called out to look them over. Chris moved up and down the fence line and Elwood—the horse’s name—followed. A bag of apples was brought out for her to give the others too, but he never left her. When the vet finally arrived, he took one look at the horse, then at her.

“You do know that he’s set to be put down. The previous owner said he killed one of his best mares, as well as injured one of his hands.” Chris nodded and asked him if the man had beaten him. “Not that I’m aware of; but then, I’ve only seen pictures of him. The horse, not the man. They said he was too wild and too mean to handle.”

“No he’s not. I’ve been with him, and the most he’s done to me is hug me. Oh, and steal part of my lunch.” The vet, Heath Berger, nodded and made his way to the gate. Before he got within a yard of Elwood, the horse started to scream. Chris moved to hold him, wondering if it was the smell or something else.

“Now see here. You want him to tell others what a bad pony you are?” He nodded. “No you don’t. You’re a good boy and I’m going to make sure no one touches you again in pain. I’m a good attorney and I’ll represent you. All right?”

When he nodded again, she turned to Heath and told him to come on. Elwood stood still, but she could tell he was afraid. His eyes kept darting to the man, then back at her even though he couldn’t see them, but she was sure his sense of smell was as good as Joey’s. Chris kept talking to him during the entire exam. When he was finished, the vet just shook his head.

“The poor thing has been abused for some time, if the scarring is any indication. Some of these are a few months old, others years old. It looks like someone has taken a whip to him recently too.” Chris asked him about his sight. “He’s blind. Not sure what might have done that, but I’d say he might have had an infection and no one cared for it. You really going to represent this horse?”

“I am. No one should be allowed to abuse anyone, but animals have no one to protect them.” Chris asked him if he’d write her up something that talked about the abuse. “I need to document this for him.”

“I’ll do you one better. I’ll make it my business to make sure that the rest of the horses on the farm aren’t treated like this. It’s well within my ability as the county vet.” Chris thanked him. “No, ma’am, thank you. Someone…me included…should have gone out there and checked on him. And the other animals he has out there.”

Joey came to stand beside her and nodded to Heath before speaking. “I have to talk it over with my wife here, but I’ve just had a long conversation with Davey. He said that you know of a couple of other horses that need a second chance. I’d like to help them out. Bring them here to see if…I don’t know, I guess see if we can help them out too. I understand that you’re looking for a place to hang your hat after you retire.”

“I am. And I will.” Joey asked him what he meant. “I would love to be your vet for this. The missus here just told me that she’s going to represent these animals, and I’m going to help her too. You’re a good man, Joey. I heard it, but now I believe it.”

After he walked away, telling them that he’d be back in the morning to see if he could save one of Elwood’s eyes, Chris turned to Joey. He was red in the face from something, and she decided to have a little fun with him.

“Okay, Missus? No. I’m Chris, or the wife, but never the missus of anything.” He nodded. “And if you think you’re going to have this grand idea and I’m going to nix it, then you’re dumber than the man who hurt this guy. And let me tell you, he’s going to pay out the ass for what he did to my new friend. Another thing, I—”

“I love you too.” She nodded when he kissed her. “Now. My family is staying for dinner, and then you and I are going to go to our room and I’m going to fuck you until you can’t stand up. Then for scaring the shit out of me for going into the trailer without help, I’m going to beat your ass before I make love to you again.”

“I love the way your mind works. And you should know that I had help. He said I’d have to take the fall, but I’d really like to find a way to help your brother out. I think…what happened to Tony?” Joey looked at the brother in question, then back at her. “Are you going to tell me, or do I have to wait for him to tell me?”

“I think him. He’s been…hurt does not even begin to cover what was done to him.” She nodded and glanced at Tony when he yelled for them to come and eat. “It’s not physical, honey, but it was bad for a long while. I don’t know if he’ll ever get over it.”

“He will.” Joey wrapped his arm around her, and they went to the house. “Oh, and I have a job for you and Burke later. You’re going to help me with the horse asshole, and Burke is going to make sure that he doesn’t die before I’m done with him.”

“Deal. And just for fun, I think we should take all of my brothers. They might be able to…assist you in this too.” She nodded as they entered the house.

Chris looked around the table, their new table, as they all were seated. The babies were even in the room in a small crib that had been brought in by Myra. This was family. Her family, and she was thrilled to death to have become a part of it.

To think that not three days ago she was scared to death to come here, and now she couldn’t imagine leaving. It was the strangest, most wonderful thing that had ever happened for her.

Chapter 7

Jackson checked into the hotel just after five-thirty in the evening. He had had to work hard to get this information from Dick, but in the end he’d seen that what he wanted was a good enough reason for him to have it. What he told Dick was that the case he was working on needed Chris’s touch, and that had gotten him the address.

“I’d like a wake-up call at ten tomorrow morning.” The man who had carried up his bags said that he would let the desk know for him. As his luggage—one with clothing in it, the other some of the items he might need to bring Chris to his way of thinking—was all he’d brought, tipping the young man fifty dollars would get him the rest.

The shop that he was looking for was within walking distance of the hotel. It wasn’t the grand kind of magic shop that he had at home, but it would do. According to their website, they catered to all sorts of spells and magic. Jackson was excited to go and see just what kind of things they had.

After seeing to his things, he decided that he’d get some dinner and check it out. As he made his way to the little shop, then on to the diner that the front desk recommended, he thought about what he was going to say to Chris in the morning. They would talk a little. He had a list all set up. Then he would show her what he was. A grand witch. Jackson knew that he wasn’t one yet…a grand witch…but he would be soon. As soon as he had Angel’s power and added it to his own, he’d be something close to it. And then he’d have enough juice to work on building himself up to the next level until he was on the grand scale. And that was where the magic was.

He hated being a lawyer. It hadn’t been that hard to get into college or to get through it. Especially the way that he’d made his way through. Magic had not just made him what he was today, but had also gotten him the good grades that were required to work for the firms that paid well. And ultimately, that was all he cared about. Money.

It funded his needs. A way for him to purchase what he wanted when he needed it. It had also opened a great many doors for him. Now it was as if information on witches and what kind of power they had simply fell into his lap. He might not have gotten this far had he not had a list of them practically handed to him on his first case.

The woman had come into his office one day, and there had been a recommendation from one of the partners that he take the case. The first thing out of her mouth had been that she was a witch, and if he had a problem with that, he should tell her now. When Jackson had looked up at the doorway to the room he was using, several of the other personnel, as well as the partner that had told him about the case, were standing there laughing. It had been a joke on their part, but they had no idea that he was going to make this work. Even if it was only in his favor.

She’d been harassed at work, she told him. The boss had told the others that worked with her what she was, and they had been relentless in their jokes at her expense. Someone had painted her car black, then put a large dead cat on the hood. Another time a group of them had gone to her home when she’d been working and had painted the words
witch cunt
on her doors, and had put a mannequin on the front lawn burning at the stake.

“Like they did in Salem a long time ago. Why the hell would they do something like that? Was it supposed to, I don’t know, scare me off what I love?” Jackson had asked her what her level was. “Three. I’m a three. What are you?”

Jackson had told her he was a three as well, when in actuality he’d only been a one. A first-year witch. But he was working on more experience than she was. He’d been at it for a lot longer than he’d been in a coven. So as they continued to talk about their love of magic, she’d given him a list of places he could go to get some extras. Some of the things that they didn’t sell in the local stores.

She’d lost her case, of course, but they had dated for about a month. Not that he would normally have dated someone like her. The woman was beneath him in so many levels that it wasn’t funny. While she was content to stay where she was in the magical world, he wanted bigger and more. But there was information that was worth more than any kind of relationship she might have thought they were having. The woman believed him to be her soul mate right up until the time he plunged the dagger, one she had suggested that he buy, right into her beating heart. It was his first of many such murders for his cause.

The shop was bigger than it looked from the outside. He knew when he walked in that this place was going to serve him well over the coming days. They had things that he’d only just read about; herbs that were drying above the shelves alone were enough to make him salivate with greed. And when the owner of the place came out to help him, Jackson fell in love. Not with her, but the shop and its contents.

“We been here for nine generations now. Most of the things we carry, we make them ourselves. I have a drying room on my property that I use almost every day to dry this and that.” He nodded, making a mental note to fill the back of his car before leaving this dump of a town. “My great grandmother is the one that did the magic on the size of this place. She had to when we started to grow well beyond the doors and walls. We’d be out of business if I had to pay rent on a place that was even half this size. But she put a little of her own magic into it, and now we have more room than we can use sometimes.”

“I didn’t think this place was this big when I was outside. She did an excellent job. I would have thought others would have noticed it by now and remarked.” Paula shook her head and told him it didn’t work that way. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

“The ones that have the touch can see what she’s done. Others, humans I call them, they can only see what they want to see. A pickled kidney of a frog in a jar they see as some black candles that are marked magical. We both know that none of that is useful, now don’t we? We have spells that call for stuff that I carry, but the humans, all they see is the things they see in the movies.” She laughed when an older couple came in with their cameras out. “See what I mean? They’re waiting to see someone come in on a broom so they can go home and tell their friends what they seen. The girls that work for me? They’ll dress up on the weekends, when we’re the busiest, and let them have a show, but we’re just witches trying to make a living.”

Jackson ended up spending nearly five grand in the place, with plans to spend more when he got home. She was shipping it all to his house, and it would be waiting for him when he got there. But he did take a few things with him. Some of the items that he did need to take care of Angel and her magic.

His walk to the diner was made with a lighter step. His little black bag was not marked in any way, but he was excited about it. The place,
Mamma’s Home Cookin’,
was brand new, he’d been told, but had actually been there for many years before it had burned to the ground some months ago.

The menu was simple…almost too simple, he thought. There was breakfast on it that had pancakes, eggs, or waffles. And with that you could get bacon, sausage in links or patties, as well as ham. Then there was toast or biscuits and juice. Then, of course, coffee or tea. Lunch was either a burger with or without cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich, or you could get a ham sandwich. A list of cheeses were beside each choice. There were fries that were not baked, whatever that meant, or chips. A list of sodas and the coffee and tea. Dinner was just called dinner.

The waitress told him his choices. “We have meatloaf with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans, or you can have either a pot roast dinner with the same sides or fried chicken. You get a house salad with that and some bread. The chicken takes about twenty minutes, ‘cause we fry it up to order.”

Jackson had no idea what that meant but said nothing. He wasn’t really in a hurry, so he ordered the chicken. She told him again that it was going to be a while. After assuring her that he was fine with that, she brought him back a basket of rolls and a bowl of butter.

Not one to partake in bread all that often, he pulled out one of the large rolls and was surprised to find it hot and so soft it nearly fell apart in his fingers. Pulling it apart to eat only half of it, he found himself smearing the creamy butter all over it and devouring it before he could even worry about the calories. The second, then the third roll was gone before she brought him his iced tea. With a grin, she told him she’d give him some more.

The salad was better than he’d thought too. While he’d expected just lettuce with the usual carrots and cucumbers in it, he found himself nearly licking the bowl clean when he discovered that it also had a healthy offering of real bacon bits, sliced eggs, as well as homemade croutons. By the time his dinner was brought to him, Jackson had finished off two more baskets of rolls, much to his shame, as well as a second salad that he was informed was going to cost him another dollar. Jackson would have gladly paid her ten dollars for another taste of the dressing alone. When he asked her what it was, all she told him was house. He supposed he’d have to leave it at that. But he was going to try and get a bottle of it before he left. Jackson knew people that would figure it out.

The dinner was set before him, and all he could do was stare at it. Not only was there a mound of the whitest mashed potatoes he’d ever seen, but the creamiest gravy had been poured over it. The green beans were plentiful too, and as soon as he put the first bite of them in his mouth, he also knew that they had not come from a can. Someone had taken the time to snap fresh ones. But it was the chicken that had him moaning out loud. And there were four huge pieces of it.

There was a crust on it. Not like a pie crust, but a thick breading that had him thinking of his grandmother and her scald, as she called the breading on her own recipe. He cut into what he thought was a breast and watched the steam pour from the cut; the juices of the chicken seemed to bubble up right before his eyes. And when he took his first bite of the succulent meat, he closed his eyes and hummed his pleasure. Nothing this good had ever crossed his lips before.

When the waitress came back to refill his roll basket, he asked her how long the cook had been at this. She smiled at him, and he knew that he was just going to love the answer.

“Up until about a month ago he was living in a box behind the mall. Miss Reggie snatched him right off the street and cleaned him up. He was so grateful for her help that he shared his momma’s recipes, and she said to him if he brought in customers she’d sign the building over to him in one year. I think he’s gonna make it, don’t you?”

Jackson looked around. That was when he noticed that every table was filled, not with just one or two people but with groups of them, sharing a table with strangers so they could eat here, she told him. There was a line too, not around the block because of how large the dining area was, but out the door and into the street. There were to-go orders being handed over the counter too, as well as money hand over fist. Whoever owned this restaurant was making more money than he was as a lawyer, he’d bet the house on it.

Jackson decided that he was going to be here for every meal while in town, and he was going to have to find the owner. The idiot could not just give this place away to a homeless man. He would take it off his hands in a heartbeat. This would be a place he would make enough money to have fun in, and the little hope down the street would supple him with the means to do so.

As he made his way back to his hotel, almost too full to move, his phone started to ring. Pulling it out, he nearly laughed when he saw who the caller was. Chris couldn’t have had better timing. He answered it like he felt. Full of great food and cheer.

~~~

“I’m not your darling, Jackson. I’ve asked you to not call me that numerous times. Now it’s bordering on being harassment. What are you doing here in my town anyway?”

“Your town? I had no idea that you were so rich that you could afford your own town. But that’s neither here nor there. I’m here on business. I’ve come to talk to you about the Benton case. You do remember that case, don’t you? You left it on your desk when you left town so quickly.” When he paused, she looked down at her notes. Everyone in town had let her know that he was there, and she was going to figure out why. “Could it be that you’ve found yourself a boyfriend and he’s taking up a lot of your time?”

Joey nodded for her to go with it. “As a matter of fact I have. We’re getting married in a few days.”

Silence. Chris looked at Garth, who was helping them with the questions to ask. Some of them were really strange, but she said she’d stick with them. When Jackson laughed, she thought perhaps something else was going on, but then he spoke.

“You nearly had me there, Chris. I can’t imagine anyone that would get married only after a few days. You’re much too smart to let someone take you for a ride.” She asked him what he meant. “Oh, I don’t know. Or are you marrying this man so quickly because he has money? Does he know how much you owe the estate of Mrs. Black? I’m sure that he’d run for the hills should he find out about that. Perhaps I’ll let him know. Or I won’t. What will you give me if I don’t tell him?”

“He knows how much I got from the estate, but that matters little to him. He’s richer than my family was.” Jackson laughed again. “Were you just trying to blackmail me, Jackson? Not very smart of you, if you ask me.”

“You can’t have any money, Chris. You forget that I work in the same building you do. I know what the old bat did to you and your dad. Took him for a ride too, didn’t she? And the firm knows now too. I made sure that they knew that you and Black are related. Imagine their surprise when they found out. But you never answered me about what you’re going to give me. I have more dirt on you than you can imagine.” She was getting mad, but Garth and Joey told her it was fine. “Like how your sister was a witch. As are you. Not much of one I’ve heard, but still, not a good image for the big firm.”