The Wells Brothers: Luke (29 page)

Oh God, she’d cope better if it
had been a ghost.  Those she understood.  This?   How had it come to this?  And
why?

The passageway came to a dead end. 
Steps led upward through a door of some kind.  Coming to a halt, she waited,
the torch in her hands sending a shaking beam over the old wooden steps.

A sudden movement, the figure
behind her leaning around to rip the journal from her hands at the same time
tearing the torch from her hand and shoving her aside viciously, sending her
staggering into the wall.

Hearing the person running up the
steps, the dark falling in around her, Mikki leaped for the steps, desperate
not to be left in the tunnel.  The trap door slammed down, scraping across her
arm, but she pushed against it, managing to get partly through the trapdoor
while the figure tried to stamp it down, slamming their foot on her hand and
twisting painfully into her flesh.

“Holy crap!”  Furious, desperate,
and so scared she was surprised she didn’t faint, Mikki sank her teeth into the
leg.

With a scream, the person leaped
away, and she shoved the trap door up and rolled away, coming to her knees
clutching her hand and staring wildly at the figure.

“You bitch!  You bloody
bitch
!”
 Enraged, the figure threw the knife at her and ran.

Mikki ducked the knife and it
sailed over her head to clatter to the floor. 

“Anna?”  In disbelief, Mikki
stared after her. 
“Anna?”

She was near the front door,
tugging it open.

Knowing now who it was, anger
taking over from fear, Mikki surged to her feet and took off after her.  Anna
threw the doors open and fled down the steps, Mikki bursting through seconds
later. 

“Anna!”

The woman was fast, she’d give her
that, but Mikki was now fired up on adrenaline-fuelled anger.  She tore after
Anna, following the light, running past one of the graveyards, tripping on
something unseen and going arse over tit to the ground.  Swearing, she
scrambled back to her feet to see Anna running on the other side of the family
graveyard.

Shit, no way could she catch her
now.  No way.

Suddenly Anna shrieked, feinted
right, shrieked again and fell, the journal flying out of her hands, the torch
flying into the air to disappear from sight.

Hot damn!  Mikki started running
again, only to have something wind around her waist and yank her back.

“Let go!” Panicking, she slammed
her elbow back, hitting a hard abdomen.  “Damn it,
let me go!
”

“Mikki!”  Luke’s voice in her
ear.  “Mikki, it’s me!”

She sagged in relief.

Then Anna was suddenly up, the
torch lying not far ahead of her shining back to highlight her.  In a flash she
was running.

“Luke!”  Mikki twisted in his
arms, pointed.  “We have to get her, it’s Anna!  The prowler was Anna!”  She
swung back quickly, tugging against his hold.

“Ease up, baby,” Luke said. 
“She’s not-”

He didn’t finish speaking before
Anna was knocked sideways by something diving out of the bushes right at her. 
She went down, rolling and kicking, the man on top of her silent.  In short,
expert moves, he rolled her onto her stomach, knelt on her back and raised a
hand.

“Ryan’s got her,” Luke finished.

Now that it was over, Mikki was
starting to shiver.  Luke hugged her to him and she threw her arms around his
neck, holding on tight.

“Jesus, Red.”  He held her tightly,
pressed kisses to her temple and hair.  “I was so scared for you.”

“You and me both,” she admitted
with a shaky laugh.

A scuffle sounded, feminine
cursing, and they both looked around as Ryan and Aaron walked up, Ryan holding Anna’s
balaclava in one hand, his other holding her arm securely as she struggled, Aaron
lighting the way with a high-beam torch while speaking quietly into his mobile.

Mikki’s eyes widened as she
realised the woman was handcuffed.  Where the hell had Ryan got handcuffs?  No
security guard she knew had handcuffs.

“You bitch!” Anna snarled at
Mikki.  “How did you do it?  Huh?  How did you do it?”

Fury at the woman evident in the
tense lines of his body, Luke immediately manoeuvred around to place himself
between them.  Mikki had no doubt that if Anna had been a man, he’d have
punched her lights out, but she was a woman and his upbringing made him keep
his fists to himself.  Nevertheless, his protective stance was obvious.

“What the hell do you think you’re
doing?” he growled furiously.

“I’m taking what’s mine before she
destroys everything!”  Anna’s eyes flashed with hate.

“Me?”  Astounded, Mikki edged
around Luke to stand beside him.  “What’d I do?”

“You tried to destroy me, destroy
my family!”

Mikki and Luke looked at each
other before returning their attention to Anna.

“I did
what
?” Mikki gaped.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know!”

“Anna, what-”

Anna lunged forward, Ryan yanking
her back effortlessly while Luke again shoved Mikki behind him, his hand on her
hip holding her back.

Seeing the enraged woman was held
back easily by Ryan, Mikki slipped back to Luke’s side, his arm immediately
going around her in protective support.

“You touch my woman,” Luke snarled
at Anna, “and I just might forget how I was brought up.”

Flipping the phone shut, Aaron
glanced at him.  “The police are on their way.”

Kicking and struggling, Anna tried
to wrench away.

Ryan moved quick, kicking her
lightly in the back of the knee, bringing her to her knees in the dirt. 
“Stay.”  His voice was cold, calm.  “Or I’ll bring you down.”

It was enough to make her stop
struggling, but she still glared at Mikki.

“I really don’t know what I did-”
Mikki began.

“Mikki!”

They all looked around as Elspeth
came running up, torch in hand.

“I told you to stay back at the
mansion,” Aaron said.

“This is my niece!”  Elspeth flung
her arms around Mikki, dragging her away from Luke and hugging her tightly. 
“Oh Mik.”  Pulling back, she cupped her cheeks, giving her a kiss on the
forehead, her eyes suspiciously bright.  “Oh, baby girl.  Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”  Mikki hugged her aunt
close.  “I’m okay.”

“What happened?”  Eyes growing
wide, Elspeth looked down at Anna. 
“You?”

“Who did you expect?” Anna bared
her teeth.

“But you?  Why?”

Luke fell in on Mikki’s other
side, his arm around her waist while Elspeth clung to Mikki’s other arm.

To be truthful, Mikki was glad of
his strength, leaning against him, the fading adrenaline leaving her even
shakier, which was a little embarrassing.

As though he knew it, he gave her
a gentle squeeze, pulling her close into his side.

Aaron pocketed the mobile.  “I
suggest we take this up in more comfortable surroundings.  It’s going to take
the police about twenty minutes to get here.”

~*~

One hip perched on the edge of the
table, his foot braced on the floor, Luke positioned himself beside Mikki
sitting in a chair, his leg brushing against hers, needing the contact even
though she appeared a lot more composed.

He tried to keep his own
expression as composed, but inside he was furious, furious that anyone would
harm his woman, his fear for her running through his veins like razor blades. 
He should have been there to protect her from…this.  This woman who glared
daggers at Mikki even now, though she was sitting in a chair with her hands
cuffed behind her back, Ryan standing at ease behind her.  He’d sat her at the
head of the table and shoved the chair in, pinning her between the table and
chair so she couldn’t jump up.

Elspeth was seated close beside Mikki,
her hand resting comfortingly on her niece’s thigh, while Mikki patted Elspeth’s
hand in a gesture of returning comfort.

Pulling out a chair, Aaron sat
down and leaned back, crossing his ankle over the opposite knee, his fingers
linked loosely in his lap as he surveyed Anna emotionlessly.  “Tell us why you
attacked Mikki.”

“She knows,” Anna spat.

Mikki shook her head.  “I don’t.”

“You had the journal, you know the
truth!”

“Anna-”

“You knew my grandfather murdered
my grandmother!  You knew and you were going to tell everyone!”

They were all startled.  Well,
Luke amended, everyone but Aaron and Ryan, who simply watched Anna calmly. 
Even Dog looked startled, a littler whine coming from him.  He stroked Dog’s
head reassuringly.

“So your grandfather murdered your
grandmother,” Aaron drawled.   “Why?”

Anna flounced back against the
chair, or tried to, it was difficult to do when she was cuffed.

“Tell me.” A thread of steel
underlined his tone.  “Let’s see if what you say matches what Mikki knows.”

Mikki glanced up at Luke, and he
gave her a rub on her back, trusting his brother’s instincts.  She subsided,
leaning against his leg.  Elspeth stayed silent.

“I know she’s buried in the suicide’s
grave,” Aaron stated.

Mikki tensed, Luke managing to
hide his surprise.  Aaron knew?  How the hell did he know?

Anna glared at Aaron.

“He murdered her and buried her
there.”

“He murdered her because she
cheated on him!”

Aaron nodded.  “Yes, she did.”

Anna’s shoulders slumped, her head
tipping forward as she stared at the table.

The room was quiet, everyone
waiting.  There had to be more to it than this, Luke thought.  “Tell us.” He
caught everyone’s attention with the unaccustomed hardness with which he
spoke.  “Tell us the version you say is true.”

“There is only one truth.”  Lips
pressed tightly together, she glared at him, but there was no doubting the
sheen of tears in her eyes.  He’d have felt sorry for her expect that she’d
threatened Mikki.  That he wouldn’t tolerate from anyone, so he simply met
Anna’s eyes unflinchingly.

Aaron just calmly watched Anna,
but Luke could feel Mikki’s tension, see the curiosity on Elspeth’s face. 
Expression bland, Ryan stood behind Anna.

Her gaze dropped, her face unexpectedly
crumpling as she battled her emotions.  There was a subtle change in her, some
of the tension seeping away, a tear trickling down her cheek.  Then, finally,
she looked  around at them.  “It wasn’t supposed to go like this.”  She was
still angry, but it was a defeated anger.

Aaron nodded slightly.

“I was supposed to find the
journal, take it before you,” she looked at Mikki, “found out.  But I was too
late.”

“Your family,” Aaron said
quietly.  “Your story, right?”

She nodded.

“Tell me.”

“Mikki knows.”

“I want your story.”

Anna’s lips tightened.

“Tell me.”  His voice dropped,
soothed, compelling, inviting confidence.

Luke had had that same voice used
on him in his wayward youth when he’d done something particularly boneheaded
and tried to keep it quiet, so he knew just how Anna would feel - like Aaron
was on her side and would help her.

She spoke slowly, as though each
word was squeezed out under duress, and perhaps it was.  “My grandmother had an
affair with Wilford Willock.  My grandfather found out and he murdered her and
buried her in the suicide’s grave, where no one would think to look.  It was a
fitting end for an adulteress, he said later.  To everyone else, including my
father, she’d simply vanished.  They searched the woods, put out flyers, but
nothing turned up.  No one thought to search the mansion grounds, and that was
what my grandfather banked on, that no one would suspect the high and mighty
Willocks.  Not the war hero, Wilford bloody Willock.”

Aaron shook his head
sympathetically.  “That was a horrible thing he done.  It must have been hard
for you to keep this secret all these years.  How did you find out?”

Anna frowned slightly.  “Just
before my grandfather died, he told my father what he’d done, as a form of
confession, I suppose.  He wanted Dad to know his mother hadn’t just vanished
into thin air, he wanted him to know what really happened.”  Her lips twisted
with an inner pain.  “I found out from Dad one night when he got drunk.  He was
looking at old photos, and he started crying.  It was our secret, you see. 
He’d kept it from the rest of the family, not wanting to sully our name, and
now it was up to me to keep the secret.”  She sighed suddenly.  “My sister and
brother never knew, my cousins.  They led their lives, lived happily, even
moved away, but I stayed to make sure the secret was never discovered.”

“It could have come out any number
of ways,” Elspeth said softly.  “What made you think you could stop it?”

Anna looked at her as though she
had some marbles missing.  “I had to try.  I was stuck in this town, keeping
our secret, watching for any rumour to appear so I could squash it before it
started.”  Her gaze switched to Mikki, hardened.  “Then you came along and
found the journal, and next thing you’re asking questions about a secret lover.”

“It was you watching Luke and
Mikki in the graveyard,” Aaron stated.

“I was hoping to find out where
Mikki kept the journal, to take it before she discovered anything incriminating
in it.”

“You found out it was still in the
mansion somewhere.”

“Yes.  I knew about the passageway
into the mansion because my grandmother told my grandfather about it before he
killed her.  She and Willock used it for their affair, to meet each other. The
original Willock family who built the mansion were big on an escape route in
case of trouble.”  Her laugh was derogatory.  “Guess you could say they were
pioneers of the Doomsday believers.”

Luke couldn’t help but think of
Aaron’s ‘prepare for the worst’ saying, and he briefly wondered if his brother
had an emergency escape somewhere in his own home.  He glanced at him, but
nothing in his brother’s calm façade revealed anything.  Wouldn’t surprise him
if Aaron did have an escape route, definitely something to ask him later.