Make It Right (20 page)

“I'm going to kill her.” James started for the door.

“James. No.” Amelia knew that he would do just what he said. She also knew that if he just went to the Davenport house and killed Missy, Royal would kill him without hesitation. She got up from the couch, moved over to him. “She needs to be punished. She deserves to die, but if you go there now, you're going to die, too.”

“I don't care. She'll be dead.”

“I care. I care.” Amelia tightened her grip on him. “I need you to not do this right now. I need you to bring this to Nightshade with me. I need you, James. Please.”

“She has to pay.”

“She will pay. You know Nightshade as well as I do, James. You know that the penalty is going to be severe.” Amelia tuned out the voice in her mind that said Missy being who Missy was would make everything different. Even if Royal wanted to, how could he protect her? She'd killed someone who was protected, as well a child. She'd burned a stash house. “Please James. I need you to trust me.”

“I do. But you need to know that if Nightshade doesn't get justice for them, I will.”

“I know.” Amelia stretched up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “You used to date Lily's sister, didn't you?”

“Yeah. Kelly.” James nodded.

“It ended on good terms, right? She moved away or something?”

“Yeah, she moved to New York. We talked about me going with her, but we both knew it was the end. She sends me Christmas cards and we talk online sometimes. Why?”

“Lily might talk to you. We need her to tell Royal what she saw. I'll try to talk to Rosa. We worked together once.” Amelia barely remembered the woman; they'd both been cashiers at a grocery store. “Maybe she'll hear me out.” Or maybe she wouldn't. There were too many ifs, but she couldn't focus on that.

“I'll talk to both of them again,” Paco offered. “They're just scared, and you can't exactly blame them. So, we'll talk to them. And until then, we'll keep it to ourselves.” He looked directly at Amelia. “That means that you can't tell Danny. He'll be obligated to tell Nightshade.”

Amelia felt sick to her stomach all over again. She didn't like the idea of keeping something, or anything for that matter, from Danny. At the same time, she knew that Paco was right. He would take it to the club immediately, and without proof, it would just cause problems for them all. “Alright,” she said finally. “For now, it's our secret.”

<#<#<#

Rosa wouldn't talk to her, or more accurately Rosa wasn't around for her to talk to. Amelia had gone to her house early, armed with coffee and doughnuts, only to find that the place was empty. Completely cleaned out, from what she could tell looking through the windows. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

If there had ever been a shred of doubt about what Rosa had saw, the fact that she'd packed up her family and run in the middle of the night would have obliterated it. There was no doubt in Amelia's mind, after she'd spent the rest of the night curled up in an armchair in the living room to be sure that James didn't just take off.

Danny hadn't come home. He hadn't called, either. It was part of the reason why she'd come to visit Rosa so early. She'd left James and Paco sleeping or maybe passed out. She hadn't wanted to spook the woman, but now she was feeling a little spooked herself. Had the family disappeared the way that Fiona and Taylor had? Were they dead somewhere? Was Missy capable of pulling that off?

Amelia got back in the car, locked the doors and leaned her head back against the seat. She reached for her phone and did something she'd normally never do. Danny answered on the third ring. “What happened?” He demanded.

“I just want to make sure that you're still breathing.” Amelia had heard the annoyance in his voice. “Seems like you are, so I guess I'll just let you go.”

“I'll call you back.”

Amelia didn't reply. She just ended the call and regretted making it in the first place. Danny might have been annoyed that she called, but he was also going to be worried. Distracted. If something happened to him now, she'd only have herself to blame. Fuck. This day just kept getting better and better.

She was just about to pull away from the curb when she saw a familiar pickup truck pull up
behind her. James looked nothing but pissed as he stepped out. Amelia got out as well. “Are you fucking kidding me? With everything that's going on, you just can't walk out of the house without letting anyone know where you are.”

“You found me,” Amelia pointed out.

“I used to be a detective, and I think that I'm pretty smart. It wasn't that hard to figure out. You need to be more careful.”

“I'm sick of being careful. I'm sick of hiding. I'm sick down to my soul that we know who killed my family and yet we're still just sitting around.”

“Let's do something about it, then. Let's go and talk to Lily. Let's see if she'll talk,” James suggested. “Let's get the proof we need to put that bitch in the ground.”

Amelia followed James to Lily's house. Her stomach churned sickly at the sight of the burned out ruin which had been her home for so long. There were so many memories there; she'd been looking forward to seeing Jackie and Earl make new ones with their family, but now that was never going to happen. While she wasn't sure she believed Jackie's story, she did believe that the woman would never return to Detroit.

Lily was quite obviously not expecting company when she opened the front door. “What's this?”

“We need to talk, Lily. Now.” James spoke and Amelia was surprised how hard his voice was. He stepped forward so that Lily had no choice but to let them inside. Amelia shut the door behind them. Her stomach was twisted. She had a fucked up feeling that this wasn't going to be a friendly conversation.

“Fucking Paco. I told him not to tell anyone. Get out. Get out of my house. I didn't see shit.” Lily was screaming, sweating more than the temperature of the room warranted. Yeah, she'd seen something, and she was terrified.

“Where's Jake?” James demanded.

“He's working. Early shift. Why?”

“You remember that favor I did for you?” James snarled the words. Amelia looked back and forth between the two. She nearly opened her mouth to ask just what favor he'd done, but decided against it. “I asked you a question.”

Lily hesitated for only a moment, she stared daggers at James and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah. I remember the favor.”

“That favor kept Jake from going inside for a long time. And I wanted to help stop that because I always liked you. Always liked him. I put my neck on the line. I got rid of the gun. I'm the reason that he's working the early shift. And I'm asking you, nicely, for a favor. I'm asking you to tell Nightshade what you saw.”

“That'll get me killed, and we both know it. Come on, James, I hung out at the bar. I know how things work when it comes to the Queen. I don't want to die.”

“You won't. I promise. I will keep you safe. You talk to Nightshade and then I'll put you and Jake on a plane to visit Kelly. You enjoy a nice vacation. Come back and everything will be just fine.”

“No.” Lily spoke slowly, shook her head. Before Amelia could really register what was happening, James had his hand wrapped around Lily's throat.

“You're going to talk. This is me telling you, not nicely. You're going to talk or I'll make sure that the gun finds its way to the proper authorities.”

It took most of Amelia's strength to pull his arm back. For a horrifying moment she thought that she wouldn't be able to stop him. He'd kill Lily, right there in the living room, and then they'd have no witness. “Stop. Stop. She needs to be alive to talk.” Her words finally must have gotten through because he took a step back.

Lily gasped for air. “You crazy son of a bitch! I should call the cops on you.”

“Do it,” James suggested. “I'll make sure that they find the gun. And when I get bail, I'll make sure that I find you.”

There was enough menace in his voice to make Amelia's blood run cold. “Lily, please. She killed Fiona and Taylor. She burned down the house. The only way that she's going to get brought to justice is if you talk. Please.”

James took a step towards Lily and she flinched. “Alright. Fine. I'll tell them and then I'm getting on a plane. You're paying for the ticket. First fucking class.”

“Fine.” James growled the word. “A deal is a deal. You back out and maybe I'll do worse than turning the gun in.”

“James, that's enough.” Amelia laid her hand on his arm. “It's time for us to go.”

<#<#<#

It was just after Amelia had eaten dinner, a bag of potato chips and half a bottle of a lovely red wine, that Danny finally came home. She looked up as he entered the bedroom. “Hey.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. Why?” Amelia knew that she had to convince him that everything was fine, but she wasn't sure that she was up to it.

“You called.”

“I know, I'm sorry. I know that I shouldn't have. I guess everything just has me freaking out lately. And you didn't call.”

“Couldn't. The drop got interesting.” Danny took off his boots and stretched his arms over his head. Amelia wanted him to define interesting in minute detail, but she knew that she couldn't ask. “Did you cook?”

“There's some potato chips left.”

“Baby, that is not a meal.” He shook his head, bent down to put his boots back on. “I'll go and get us some pizza.”

“I'm not hungry. I just ate chips. I'll make you something. I think that there's some leftover pot roast. I'll make you a sandwich.”

“I'll just go get something. You want to take the drive with me?”

“I'd rather just make you something. I don't feel like getting dressed.”

“I'll be right back. You sure that you don't want anything?”

“No. Take your time. I'm going to lay down.”

“You sure that everything is okay?” Danny took a step towards the bed.

“Everything is fine with me but you're the one who is seriously anxious to leave when you just got home.”

“I'm just hungry, Amelia, and that pot roast sucked.”

“You ate like three helpings of it.”

“I didn't want to hurt your feelings.” Danny sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I tried something new.” And apparently she wouldn't try that recipe again. So much for combing the internet for interesting flavor combinations. “You should have just told me. I'd have fed it to Chopper.”

“Babe, I tried to give some to Chopper. He looked at me like I was trying to kill him.” Danny reached out and ran his hand over her leg. “Come on, get dressed and come with me. We can go get whatever you want because potato chips aren't dinner.”

“Okay.” Amelia nodded. “We're eating in the car, though, because I'm not getting dressed dressed.”

“Sounds good to me.” He chuckled. “Maybe we can do some making out in the car, too.”

“Maybe, if you play your cards right.” Amelia got off of the bed with a lighter feeling inside than she'd had before. Danny might not have liked what she made but he wasn't questioning her call or what was really going on with her. She'd take it, and she'd take his good mood.

It was the moments like this, when they were happy and easy with one another, that made all of the other moments work it. “Maybe? If I'm buying you dinner, you're putting out.”

Amelia's laughter stopped when the doorbell rang. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“No.” Danny started for the door and Amelia was right behind him. They took the stairs two at a time.

James had got to the door first. “It's Royal and Train.” He opened the door, a smile on his face. Amelia screamed as Royal punched James in the face and he went stumbling backwards.

“What the fuck?” Amelia tried to surge forward but Danny held her back.

“Easy, Love.” Danny spoke low in her ear. “But yeah, Royal, what the fuck is going on here? You come into my house throwing punches?”

“Lily Beck showed up at the bar tonight.” Train moved forward, grabbed James and yanked him to his feet. “Seems she saw more the night that my family was killed than she let on.”

“Yeah, she did.” Amelia cleared her throat. “So why are you hitting James?”

“What do you mean, yeah, she did?” Danny demanded.

“You knew?” Royal turned to face Amelia. “You knew that this son of a bitch killed them and you've been spending every day with him?”

“Whoa, slow down. James didn't kill them. James wouldn't have hurt them any more than you or I would have. He loved them.”

“Exactly. He was always making puppy dog eyes at Fiona. She wasn't interested. She made it clear. Is that why you did it? Because she rejected you.”

“He didn't do it,” Amelia protested. “He's not the one that Lily saw. She's only saying that to be spiteful because we told her that we'd get her husband locked up if she didn't tell the truth. I don't even know how to say it, Royal.”

“How about you just say it?” Danny suggested. Amelia risked a glance at him and saw only anger on his face. “We'll talk later about the secrets you've obviously been keeping.”

“It was Missy.” Amelia blurted out the words. “Lily saw her coming to the house that night and Rosa saw her at the stash house the night it burned. And she's got plenty of the acetone used to set that house and my house on fire.”