Mitch (15 page)

“Pretty much. Will he be able to—whatever it
is that they do to the dead—will he end him somehow?” He told her he didn’t
think it worked that way, but would ask Steele. “Yeah, I doubt it would be so
easy. I’d just be too lucky. My father said I was to let him live here with us
so that he could haunt me. Like that was ever going to happen even if he was
alive.”

He was glad she’d not changed her mind about
that. Not that he thought she would, but it was nice to know he wasn’t going to
come to see them. He thought about the letter he’d gotten from the Bruces’
attorney that morning.

“They want me to settle. I got the letter
from them just before you got here. I think they know they’re in the wrong and
want me to just pay them off.” She asked him if he was going to. “No, this has
gone on long enough. And I think I need to have some closure. The trial is in
three days. I wish you could be there with me.”

“I can for a little while. Do you think it
will be an all-day event?” He didn’t know and told her that. “I don’t think it
will. I think that once the judge has this thing going he’s going to run it out
fast. You told me that he was speaking to his wife about it?”

“Yes. I think that maybe Connie has had a
hand in this too. I’m not sure what she’s been up to, but she and Aster have
had their heads together.” He didn’t ask them. He was sure whatever it was, it
wasn’t going to be too terribly helpful. And he also had a feeling he was going
to be owing the Bruces rather than just having this go away. It was the way
things usually went for him. “I’m about as ready as I can be.”

“But you’re not happy about this.” He shook
his head, then realized that she couldn’t see him and answered her. “You’re not
without resources you know. I mean, you have money now, and if you want to pay
them off, we can do that.”

“But it won’t end there. In a few years, less
I bet, they’ll come back and try this again. And again until we’re both drained
from it. And they’ll continue to watch over and hurt children.” He shifted on
the chair and thought about the night he’d left. “Steele met that boy that
helped me. His name is Garth Bell. We’re going to find his body when this is
over and bury him in the little cemetery on the property. I hope you don’t mind,
but I said we’d pay for the marker.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea. Will he be
able to go there and see it?” He told her he would. “Good for him. And for you.
To get to meet the person that saved you that night must be scary and nice. You
can thank him, like you told me you wished you’d done all those years ago.”

But no one had been there to save Garth, and
that saddened him even more. After Vinnie went to rest, he went into the yard
to meet with the rest of the men. They were headed out again, this time across
the United States. There had been a few scary things going on at a high school
out there, and they’d been called in. Ray was heading this one up.

“Nine children have reported seeing some
unnatural behavior in the school yard. While they are assuring everyone that it
is not of a sexual nature, not one of them has been able to tell us just what
is going on. Or they won’t…we’re not sure which right now. Then a teacher was
murdered on the grounds and all hell has broken loose.” They were each handed a
picture of the woman as the plane jetted them across the states. “Her throat
was cut, and she was also shot several times in the head and groin area. There are
some saying that it was to cover a rape, but the man who they have in custody
says that not only does he not remember doing it, but he had no idea who the woman
was.”

“Was she hurting the kids?” Ray told Hugh,
who asked, that it had not come up that she had. “But we’re not ruling it out
then.”

“We’re not ruling anything out.” Ray handed
them all a second picture. “This is one of the kids that hung himself a few months
ago. There wasn’t a note left and so far none of this is really helping his
parents or the people closest to him. What they have been able to find in
notebooks and such was garbled as well as choppy, very unlike the young man,
they’re saying. He hung himself on the school grounds using one of the few
trees that are in front.”

“Did he and the teacher know each other?” Ray
told him that it was a small school, and it seemed that everyone knew everyone
in some way or another. “What have the parents said, anything?”

“So far they’ve not been involved in the
death of the teacher.” Another file. “This will give you all the school transcripts
of the young man who hung himself, as well as anything the police found in his
room that they took in the form of evidence. I’m not sure what they might have
needed his grade school yearbook for, but they took that as well. Nothing has
been returned to the parents as yet.”

“What is it you think is going on?” No one
said anything, and Mitch looked up at Ray when he didn’t answer Landon. Ray
looked...well, he looked like he might know something but didn’t want to say it
out loud. Mitch thought that was pretty telling in and of itself.

As soon as they landed, he and Steele went to
the house of the boy. Steele wasn’t sure this was the way to go, but Mitch had
a feeling the kid had something there, but as yet, it hadn’t been found. Or the
boy hadn’t wanted it found. The mother let them in, and Mitch saw Jeremy was
there with her.

“I don’t know what you might think you’ll
find here. They took it all from me.” Steele nodded and told her he’d work on
getting the things back. “The only things I really care about are his letterman
coat and his class ring. I know they’re not going to honor him at graduation in
a few weeks on account of him not really graduating, but I’d like to have them
all the same.”

Jerry, as his friends called him, sat next to
his mom when she started to cry again and looked right at him. He felt the
connection right away, and Jerry asked him if he could see him.

Nodding, he pointed to the hallway and to where
he thought the bedroom was. Jerry led him down the hall to his room and Mitch
closed the door behind him. They might need it to be quiet for a few minutes.

“Do you know who killed the teacher?” He
nodded and said he did. “Did you have anything to do with it?”

“No. I only know who did it, not...I don’t
want him to get into trouble. I think he might blame her...well, he does blame
her for me being gone and all, but I’m the one that did the deed…you know,
killed myself.” Mitch told him he knew that. “He’s a good guy. Straight up
nice. But Ms. Candlewick, she was not as nice as people thought she was. And
now...she’s coming around here telling me that we were meant to be together.”

“She want you to do anything else?” Jerry went
to his window but didn’t answer him. Mitch knew how hard it was to admit that
something had been done to you. And that the people you trusted most were the
ones that did it. “My foster family, they’re suing me because when they tried
to rape me, I told on them.”

Jerry turned to look at him. “She didn’t have
to rape me, if that’s what you’re thinking. I wasn’t going to have sex with
her, not intercourse anyway. But the rest? I was willing. At first anyway. But
then she...she had a husband, she said, and there was a problem with him.”

“Did she want you to kill him?” As soon as he
asked, Mitch knew it wasn’t that. And when Jerry shook his head, there was a
new kind of dread washing over him.

“He liked to see her fucking someone, she
told me. And I was prime to watch. I thought that was all it was going to be. Him
getting his jollies while I went down on his wife. I never...we never had
intercourse, like I said, but it was close sometimes. But when I got to the
house, we had a nice dinner and then....” Jerry looked out the window and
didn’t say any more.

“Did they drug you?” Jerry nodded, still not
looking at him. “When you left the house that night, did you know you were
going to kill yourself?”

“No. I sort of just come to that after I was
taking the fourth shower that night. I just couldn’t get clean, you see. And
then I got this text from my girlfriend. She said she was looking forward to us
having a wonderful wedding night. It was just too much.” He turned to look at
him then. “You and Mr. Steele, you can help me, right? I don’t want to leave my
mom, but I need to...I can’t be here anymore.”

“We can help you.” Jerry nodded and told him
about the things he’d hidden. “Can you tell me where they are? It would go a
long way to helping your friend. Because you know as well as I do he’ll get
caught.”

“Yeah, I know.” It took him ten minutes to
get to the box. It held his cell phone, which had never been found, as well as
a long note telling why he’d done it and why he couldn’t live with himself any
longer, and sealed the deal on the teacher’s fate. He even had a few pictures
on his phone that he’d managed to get of the teacher and her supposed husband
right before he’d passed out from the drugs they’d given him.

Chapter 11

“Good work out there,” Drew said to him when
he sat beside him on the way back home. “How did you know? I mean, I know you
can talk to them, but how did you know he’d be at his house?”

“His mom was there.” Drew said that wasn’t
much of an answer. “The boy didn’t kill himself at his home where his mom might
find him, but out where the teacher would. He wanted her to know, even
subconsciously, that it was her fault.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that was anything she
was thinking, do you?” Mitch had to laugh. The teacher, not married and selling
sex tapes of the boys she’d had sex with on the Internet, had been really
pissed off when she found out that not only was she dead, but all her movies
had been taken down, as well as her site. “And to find out that the principal
was in on it was really a shocker.”

Mitch had read the boy’s notes before turning
them over to the police. He wouldn’t have changed them in any way, but he
didn’t want the mom to find out anything else that would hurt her. The note
he’d written to his mom was just where he’d said it would be, in the drawer
where the gun had been hidden in her room. He wanted her to find it in the
event she wanted to end her life as well.

“He knew I’d think about it, didn’t he?” Mitch
said nothing to answer her, but Jerry told him he knew that she had several
times. “I miss him so much. Every day it’s like getting up in a pool of heavy
syrup and to have it clog your every pore and every fiber of your being with
every breath. I don’t...I love him so very much.”

“He loves you as well.” She knew what they were
now. He and Steele had talked to her at length about Jerry and what he wanted
from her. “You’re going to do as he asked? You’ll make sure that it’s done that
way?”

“I will. I promise him, I promise them all I
will do it.”

“You think her case will stand up in court?” Landon
asked him. Mitch said he thought so. “I do too. Steele is offering his
attorneys up to represent her, so I don’t think she can lose this one. And to
have her donate all the money she gets from the state and donations is going to
go a long way to get help for everyone they affected in this.”

The foundation that Steele had had his firm
set up had already hit its goal of five million. That was hit about ten minutes
after the information had been put on the news with the foundation’s address.
The money was going to go toward setting up a manned suicide hotline, as well
as a scholarship fund for the high school. And the assistant principal had
given not just Jerry’s diploma to his mother, but had presented her with his
tassel and cap that the school usually gave to all their honor students. And
any more money that was won in the suit was going to be added to it.

“Steele said that you and he have added to it
as well. I think that’s great of you guys. I’m going to as well as soon as I
get home.” Mitch told him that was nice of him, and Landon said nothing. “How
are you liking the new home?”

“Great. It’s a big house. A lot bigger than I
thought it was when she suggested I buy it. And I think she really gave me a
deal.” Landon laughed. “Okay, she gave me one hell of a deal. One buck. That’s
it, just a buck. She said I was doing her a favor by taking it because of
Vinnie’s parents and all.”

“I guess she’s making the same offer to Drew
as well. She wants to downsize and getting rid of a few homes to this family is
a good way to start. Hugh said he’s fine where he is living in the big house.” Landon
lay back and closed his eyes. Mitch knew he wasn’t sleeping. The man never turned
off as far as he could see.

“I’d like to ask you a personal question.”

Mitch told him to go ahead. “But just so you
know, I might not answer you. Or if I do, it’s going to be honest and no
holding back.”

“Did they rape you?” Mitch looked around. He
wasn’t sure who might hear him, and thought perhaps that was why Landon had come
back to where he was and not asked him when they were all there. “The reason I
ask is, you had an immediate and profound attachment to the kid. I know from
the transcripts he was raped. So I wondered if it had happened to you.”

“Yes.” Landon nodded but didn’t look at him. He
didn’t even open his eyes. Mitch waited for him to say something. Like, did you
like it? Was it good for you? But he should have known better. Landon wasn’t
that sort of man. None of them were.

“When I get my house finished in a few weeks,
I’d like to have you and Vinnie over. To sort of help me break the house in. I
know she doesn’t eat food, but you do, and I’d really enjoy having you over.” Mitch
asked him if he could bring Alexandra. “Sure. I like the woman. She’s sort
of...I guess you could call her old world. And I enjoy talking to her.”

Mitch wondered if he was ever going to say
any more about his answer. But the longer they sat there talking, the more
relaxed he became about not having to explain what had happened. When the plane
landed about an hour later, Landon stood up and stretched, putting out his hand
to shake. As soon as he took it, Landon started talking in low tones.

“When I was nine years old, my parents sent
me to a boarding school. It was nice and I had a really big room. You see, I
came from money. A great deal of it too. But my parents were distant, cold. So
I acted out, stressed out about everything.” Mitch nodded, waiting for more. “Three
months after I was sent there, I set fire to my very nice room. It caught
quickly, much faster than I ever could have imagined. The building was coming
down within an hour of me starting it.”

“How many?” Landon nodded but said nothing,
still holding his hand. “You set a building on fire, and I’m assuming that
someone was killed.”

“Two people. However, not from the fire but
from trying to save the coke lab they had going in the adjacent building. In
their haste, they set fire to their work area and killed themselves. That was
the first time I had to deal with a ghost.” Mitch knew there was more, but the
longer they stood there holding hands, the more worried Mitch got. Then when Landon
spoke, he wanted to hug his friend. “Nothing in this world can bring them back.
And even though I didn’t directly cause their deaths, I was as responsible for
it as if I’d put a bullet in their heads. I’m telling you this because there is
no amount of worrying over something that is going to make the problem go away.
Money won’t solve it, nor will trying to reason with it. It is what it is most
of the time, and just letting things ride, letting them work themselves out, is
the best way to get it solved.”

“You’re talking about this thing with the
Bruces.” Landon said he was talking about everything. “I don’t understand.”

“You do. You just are too afraid to let it
go. This thing with the Bruces, are you doing everything you can? Have you
absolved yourself of causing it?” Mitch said he had. “Then there is no reason
for you to think it won’t work out. Karma is a bitch.”

Mitch stared at his friend, and when he let
go of his hand and turned to pick up his bag, Mitch stopped him from leaving
with a touch of his hand on his arm. Landon looked at him but said nothing.

“Do they haunt you, Landon?” Landon nodded.
“Bad? Is it really bad? I can help you, maybe.”

“No. You can’t help me with them. No one can.
They are my...I guess you can call them my penance. Whatever you call them,
they’re my responsibility, not anyone else’s.” Mitch wasn’t sure that was right
and told him so. “Let it go, Mitch. All of it. Lean back, let the rest flow
over you, because there isn’t shit you can do about it.”

After he left him standing there, Mitch
thought that Landon wasn’t letting it go either. And that his relaxed, laid
back appearance was just that, an appearance. Mitch didn’t think his friend was
following his own advice and letting things go either.

Tomorrow he was going to face down his own
form of torment, and for some reason, he had a feeling it was going to be much
better than he’d thought. Getting his gear, he stepped off the plane just as a
long limo pulled up. When Vinnie stepped out of it, Mitch thought his day could
not get any better than this.

~~~

Mitch smiled at her when he saw her. He was
the most handsome man when he did that, especially when it was directed at her.
As soon as he was close enough, he picked her up in his arms and kissed her. Vinnie
felt all melty inside.

“I love you.” Her heart skipped several beats
when he said it to her. Hearing it from this man was the greatest thing she’d
ever heard, and she wanted to treasure it. “I love you with all of my heart and
soul. You are and always will be the greatest thing in the world to me.”

“I love you as well.” They both got in the
car, and she started to sit across from him when he pulled her onto his lap. Her
legs were on either side of him, and she could feel his hardening cock. Rocking
over him, riding him through their clothes, she started to unbutton his shirt. “I
hope you know that this wasn’t really my plan.” He held her ass, pulling her
tighter against him. “I love the way your mind works, however.”

“Ride me.” Her blouse seemed to just
disappear when he started pulling at it. Her breasts were bared, his mouth on
them before she could catch her breath. When he bit down hard enough to make
her cry out, he lifted his head and looked at her. “Strip. Now.”

The command in his voice had her wet. When he
pushed her to the other side and began tugging at her pants, she nearly begged
him to take her right then. He wanted her to ride him, but his cock was freed
and his fist holding himself gave her pause. The thought of sucking his cock
made her mouth water.

Stripping down to her bare skin, she moved to
sit on her knees between his legs and licked him from tip to groin. His precum
tasted delicious, and she found she wanted that more than anything he was
offering her. As soon as she took him into her mouth, he began fucking her
hard, his hand curled to the back of her head to hold her.

Sending him images was something she’d wanted
to do for a while now. Not just of the two of them, though that was erotic
enough, but what she thought of when they had sex. Him coming over her. Mitch
standing up, his cock stiff and oozing cum all over her while she sat there
with her mouth open. Another image of what she thought he’d look like with her
tied in front of him, her arms wide and her legs spread open. He was eating
her, his hand digging so deeply into her ass that there would be marks. Her
face covered in a mask so that when he did touch her, it would be a surprise to
her.

“Christ, you’re killing me.” Looking up at
him while she curled her tongue around his thick crown, she could see his eyes
were hooded, his mouth slightly open. She wanted to watch him as he came down
her throat, and needed to taste him this way. Reaching between his legs, she
cupped his heavy balls in her hand and rolled them, watching his face to see if
he enjoyed it. But when he stiffened, his hips lifted up off the seat, she
tasted the first of his cum and slid her fingers into her pussy to come with
him.

He cried out his release as he filled her. Swallowing
as much as she could, licking her lips when drops of it slipped out, she nearly
fell back when he pulled from her. But then she found herself on her back on
the seat and him deep inside of her.

“Come for me. I want to feel you tighten
around me again before I come again.” Her legs wrapped around him, and his body,
stiff and hard, pounded her harder than he’d ever done before. And when she
pulled his throat to her mouth, she knew the exact moment when he came. Vinnie
sank her teeth into his pounding pulse just as her world shattered with her own
release.

She drank deeply of him. And even when he sat
up, pulling her body with his, she didn’t stop. He was hers, and even though it
had only been a day since she’d seen him, Vinnie could not believe how much
she’d missed him. When she had her fill, she sealed the wound and held him to
her as she rested. His soft chuckle had her lifting her head to look at him.

“We’re going to have to pay for the seats to
be repaired, I think.” She looked at where he had pointed and could see that
they’d torn the soft leather. Laying her head back on his shoulder, she told
him it was well worth it. “I love you.”

“I love you as well.” She moved off his lap
and started to pull on her clothing. He, too, began to dress, but neither of
them stopped touching the other. A kiss here, a brush of fingers there. It was
soft and loving, and probably the best thing in the world to sooth her. “My
father is calling for my death.”

“I heard. Billy said you were really nervous
about it.” She nodded as she pulled on her shoes. “You don’t have anything to
worry about. I guess the council, the vampire council, is looking into his
behavior. Steele said they wanted to meet with him, and he’d like for us to be
there, as he knows little to nothing about your bylaws. But they’re holding me
to my promise to send him away. And I plan to as soon as I see him.”

“I can go with Steele, that’s no problem.” She
lay back on the seat and held his hand in hers. Vinnie didn’t want to talk
about her dad right now so changed the subject. “The inventory is done at the
warehouses. Grandmother even had her things brought over. Everything is marked
but not priced as yet. A guy that Connie knows is going to come and tell us
what we should charge for each piece and the least we should take for it. I
guess he worked in an antique shop until his death, and now he just hangs out
in them. He has a lot of knowledge.”