August (Erikson Brothers #3)

Chapter 3

Jack was so disappointed that she’d gotten her period tonight. Crying in the bathroom, she was devastated that there wouldn’t be a child this time. For as much as they’d been making love, she thought for sure that, at some point, they had created a child. When August came to bed with her later, he held her while she cried about being a failure for him.

“Never a failure, love. Never that. We’ll just have to keep trying, that’s all. And practice, as you know, makes things perfect. Although, I think we’re pretty close to perfection now.” He held her from behind and soothed her abdomen with his large hands by rubbing them up and down. “I wanted to tell you something that your father said to me. I didn’t tell your mother because she looked so sad. But he told me that she had caught menopause—like it was something that one catches. That’s why he was handling things with the sale. Your mother would have gone through the roof had she known that.”

“No kidding. Oh my, that’s too funny.” She turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. “How did I get so lucky as to have you in my life? I mean, I feel like you’ve always been there for me. It just took us some time to get it going. And I have to admit to you that I never dreamed of finding anyone to love me. I love you so much, August.”

“I love you too, my dearest. Do you suppose that your mother hoped for a love like ours?” She told him how Mom had gotten pregnant with Richard, and during that time, they had to marry. “I feel so sorry for her. To be stuck in a loveless marriage with not even a tenth of the feelings that I have for you. I wish there was something that we could do for her.”

“We will. When we have grandchildren. I don’t think that she can stand the other five she has. They’re so—while we were eating, Davy slapped her in the face when she told him she wasn’t going to give him any dessert when he’d not even eaten his dinner. I don’t know why she took it. I would have slapped him back. But Mom got him in the end. She told him that if he ever touched her again, that she’d cut him up into little pieces and make his brother eat him. None of them spoke to her much after that.”

“I’ll have to remember that one.” August laughed hard. “I’d believe her too if she were to say something like that to me. Seriously, she can be really scary when it suits her.”

They talked about their families until the clock downstairs all chimed that it was two o’clock in the morning. Holding onto him, she was lured to sleep by his calming heartbeat. When she woke up with the alarm going off, not only was she alone in bed, but she felt better than she normally did when she was having a period.

Taking a long hot shower, she was ready to go to the bank with August. If it was to play out right, she had to be there as well and him so that her father wouldn’t think that anything was remiss. The man was going to get into so much trouble that she almost felt sorry for him. Almost. She didn’t realize how much she disliked her dad until today. She wanted nothing more to do with him after today.

Dad was wearing an ill-fitting suit. It looked like he’d put on about thirty pounds since she’d seen him last. It was a small wonder that he had. Stress eating was something that she knew her dad did a great deal.

David’s suit still had the tags on it. Like he was planning to return it after today. Or: she thought that this was more right. He was going to pay for it with the money they stood to make today. Richard was wearing jeans and a nice shirt but then he rarely wore a suit unless he had to. He told her once that it made people feel like he was a working man instead of some stuck-up bastard who ordered people around. Since his jeans were brand new and had no wear on them at all, she didn’t think that anyone thought that about him at all. They were asked to have a seat, and Dad acted like the man in charge and sat at the head of the table. When he smiled at her, telling her that he wasn’t going to be nice to her at all. She countered by telling him she didn’t remember a time when he was ever nice to her.

“Now then. Mr. Erickson, are you ready to follow through on the buying of the Blackman Soil Company? And if so, do you have any questions.” He said that he only had one question, and he asked if Mr. Blackman owned the property and company that the sale was about.

“He told you he did, didn’t he? You’re not thinking of backing out now, are you? I mean, we have buyers all over the state what is biting at the bit to buy us out.” Richard looked at her and glared. “You really didn’t need to be here, Jacklynn. It’s this man who we’re talking to.”

“Yes, I know that you idiot. He’s my husband.” That made his face take on a look of pure confusion. “I know you knew I was married. And I know too that you’re the one that told Dad that I was having an affair with the help at the grand opening. How childish of you.”

“It got you fired, didn’t it?” Richard laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world for her to be fired from a company that she now owned with August. “Whatever. This will be done, and you’re going to have to do what I tell you from now on. I’m going to be one wealthy man.”

“Can we please get on with this? Mr. Erickson asked you a question, Mr. Blackman. Will you please answer it? Do you own the land and the property that belongs to Blackman Soil?” Dad said that he did and glared at her like he was telling her to shut her mouth. “Then we’ll proceed.”

Papers were shuffled around, and signatures were required. Dad nor her brothers read the paperwork they were signing. It was good, really, that they didn’t. It stated that they were fraudulent in trying to sell something that didn’t belong to any of the three of them. When the check came out in the form of a bank check from August, he was asked if he wanted to have a receipt.

“Yes, if you don’t mind. I’d like a copy of everything that was signed today. There is no reason why I don’t cover my own ass in all this.” He winked at her, and she smiled at him. “Even though you’re family, it doesn’t mean that I trust you very much.”

“You wound me. I would never do anything underhanded to my new son-in-law. No, everything is on the up and up. My wife, as I told you, had caught some kind of menopausal bug, and that’s why she’s not here to work on this with me.” Dad laughed, and even to her ears, it sounded forced. “I don’t want her to be stressed too much. She seems to have the same kind of stuff that my mother had, too. Dangerous thing that sickness. Though she was a bit kinder when things were going on around her.”

As soon as the check was handed over to her dad, the room filled with the police. They were putting cuffs on her family when her mom walked it. Christ, she looked beautiful in her dark green dress and heels. She simply sat down in the seat that her dad had been yanked from.

“What is the meaning of this? I told you that I was helping you out today. There is no point in barging in on something that has nothing to do with you, Dedria.” She said that he was selling her company. “Did you really think that—everything is finished now. I have nothing to worry about. The sale is finished, thankfully and the money has exchanged hands.”

“If you would have taken five minutes to read the contracts that you all three signed off on, you’d see that it was a confession of the crimes you’ve done since working at my former business.” David said that she believed the sale too as she had called it her former business. “It is my former business. I sold the entire company to my son-in-law, August Erickson, here for five dollars. That way, he’s going to keep it in the family, and I’m going to be able to go on cruises like he said that I should. But I had to see your faces when you were arrested. You’re all going to be taken to jail now on several counts of fraud. I just love it.”

Once her father and brothers were taken away, they were screaming obscenities at everyone in the bank, talking about how Mom was a crook and that they needed to get their lawns done by someone else. Stupid people. Jack couldn’t understand why they didn’t just give it up. It was all done. After the banker left them to their own meeting, Mom looked at August.

“I nearly had a heart attack when you asked him if he owned the business. He lied, as I figured he would, but I’m not sure why you asked that.” He told her. “I see. You wanted to see if he’d continue the lie with his own daughter sitting right there. I guess he doesn’t care who he lies to so long as it benefits him. If not for Jacklynn, I wished I’d never met the man. He’s been a pain since I first went out with him. But as I’ve been saying a lot of late, it’s all water under the bridge. If you don’t mind me asking, what are your plans for Blackman?”

“To hire a good management team. Advertise more than you did before. My family didn’t want to get in on this deal, so it solely belongs to Jacklynn and I. It’ll be something that we can hand down to our own children someday and you can tell them how to make it work. As for the name, it’ll be Erickson and Family. I like that better anyway, no more dirtying the name with the former owners. Also, you can tell or not tell them how their grandfather ended up in prison for his part in trying to sell it. I don’t understand at all how he figured that he’d be able to make it work. Too many people knew he didn’t own it. Don’t you think?”

“Who knows what goes on in the mind of men and women like him. Now I have to deal with the women. Linda isn’t leaving the house, she said. I don’t know how she figures that’s going to work when she’ll have to leave eventually to take the kids to school. Speaking of which, they’ll be shipped off to military school if I have anything to say about it.” Mom laughed again. “Mary is trying to get on my good side by sucking up. It’s not going to work with me because I’ve known the way her mind works for years now. No, they’ll both be out of a house in no time. Did you want to buy those houses too? I suddenly want nothing to do with businesses, plots of land, or houses anymore. I want to be a rich woman that doesn’t have a care in the world.”

Alex had to step away to answer her phone. While August and her mom went over the things that were with the houses, she smiled when the call was from Alex. She was a scary woman but nice, too. Asking how things went, she told her how her father and brothers had gotten arrested and that her mom was selling the homes of her brothers as they spoke.

“I’m glad to hear the cheerfulness in your voice again. As it stands right now, I might have someone in mind to rent the houses out if you want to talk business. We can meet up later. What I really called for was to see if you and August feel like company this evening. We’ll bring the food, but it’s about time we got to sit down with you and get to know you.” She told her that she’d like that. “Good. We’ll meet up at about six. That’s enough time for us to get things situated with the food. Also, I’ve been eyeing the work that you’ve done on other homes. We all need to have lawn work done, and I think that we can keep you in business for a long time. Think that we can get a family discount?”

“Yes, I think we can work something out.” She laughed again. “Thank you, Alex. You and Locke have accepted me into the family more than my own family did. I love all of you to pieces as well.” Alex told her that she made it easy to like her, she was good for August. “No more than he is for me.”

Dinner wasn’t really so much a dinner as it was a free-for-all in who could eat the most food. There was a variety, too, from fried chicken to pizzas, as well as pasta salads and lasagna. There were very few leftovers, either. As they ate what they wanted, she was amazed that they weren’t as big as a house the way they put away the food.

“So, tell us about yourself. We know about your parents, of course, but we know very little about you.” She told them about her family and how they weren’t the best of people. “That’s all water under the bridge. We want to know about you.”

“Nothing much to tell. I’m the youngest of three kids. I have a degree in architectural landscaping and design. I’m currently unemployed but happier than I’ve been in a very long time. I have a good relationship with my mom—She gets on my nerves at times, but I’m sure that I do hers as well—However, not so much with my dad or brothers. I’ve been selected to design the buildings in the downtown area, but once the tornado came though, their budget didn’t cover it.” Demitrius asked her if she meant the Carter project. “Yes, that’s the one. It would have been a great feather in my hat but for the storm that came through.”

“I heard about that project when we first moved here, then in the middle of negotiations things went sour. I wasn’t even aware of the tornado, but that makes sense.” She told them how she’d gone to night school when she could, as her father told her that it was a waste of time and money to go to college. “He sounds a great deal like our father. A bastard.”

“Pretty much.” They all talked to and over each other, and she loved every second of it. The next time they got together, it was going to be at the Warehouse, a place that Demitrius was getting set to open soon. “That sounds amazing. There aren’t a lot of good places to eat around here. I can’t wait to try it.”

When they all left, making fun of each other because there was one egg roll left as well as a serving of pasta salad. Shaking her head at them as they wrestled to get to take the last bits home. It was an easy clean-up with all their help as well. Jack couldn’t wait for them all to get together again soon.

~*~

August woke up to someone talking close to where he was. Just as he was able to figure it out, he realized that it was Jacklynn who was on her cell phone, and she sounded very upset. Pulling on his jeans, he watched as tears flowed down her cheeks while he waited for her to tell him what was going on. That was then she tossed the phone to him. And ran to the bathroom. He could hear her being sick.

“Where is my sister? This is all her fault. I want to talk to her. You tell her I said to get back on the phone before it’s too late.” August knew it was one of her brothers, but he didn’t know which one until he asked. David sounded very upset about whatever he was babbling about. “It’s her fault, and I want to hear her saying so. It’s the least that she can do for me since she made it so that they’re all gone. I hope she remembers this for the rest of her life. It was all her fault.” Trying to make sense of what he was saying was difficult. There was one thing that David seemed to be certain of was that it was Jacklynn’s fault.

“What did you do, David? You’ll have to start over if you want me to understand you.” Jacklynn got up to go to the bathroom and he could hear her throwing up again. Not understanding what was going on, it took getting David to calm down enough to tell him. The man went between anger and sobbing too quickly for him to understand. “Tell me what you told your sister, and I’ll try to help you.”

“It’s all her fault for making Mom arrest us. Now, I have no job, and my family is gone. I’ve got nothing because of her. Nothing, do you hear me?” The hair on his arms prickled up as he explained to him between crying that he’d killed them all. “She made me do it. I don’t have any money. I don’t have any place to live. What was I supposed to do? Answer me that.”

“What do you mean that your family is all gone? Aren’t they with you? Where are they, David?” He told him that they were in the house. “And are you in the house with them?”

“Stop asking stupid questions. Where else would I be than with them? It’s all Jack’s fault. If she’d just kept her nose out of our business, then things would have been all right. But I don’t have any money or a job. What was I supposed to do? Tell me that? What was I supposed to do now?” He asked where his children were. “I couldn’t have them going through the shame that I did. I made it quick for them. I didn’t want them to suffer, so I killed them quickly, not for Mary. She kept harping and harping on me to get with my mother to have her change her mind. So I shut her up.”

“Did you kill your family?” Jacklynn came out of the bathroom, and he handed her his cell. Going into the bathroom again, he could hear her talking to a dispatcher at the police station and telling them what David had said to her. David had killed his children and his wife. “David, did you kill your kids?”

“Yes.” That made him sick and he was nearly ready to go to the bathroom himself. “They couldn’t go back to school after knowing what Jacklynn did to us. Mother too. She’s never been a good mother to any of us but Jacklynn. She was always her favorite. I thought that I could find her, but she’s not at the main house. But I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to take care that my family didn’t have any shame like I did.”

“Where are you, David? I’ll come to you, and we can talk about what you’ve done.” He told him it was too late. “No, it’s not. Tell me which house you’re at, and I’ll come there to get you.”

“I told you that it’s too late.” He could hear them now, the police that had been called by David’s sister. “See, Jacklynn can’t even do what she’s told even now. She’s called the police on me. But it’s too late for her to be some kind of hero now, damn it.”

He didn’t know what was going on, but he kept talking to David to see if he could tell him where the children were. He didn’t care so much for Mary, but the kids were only six, three, and an infant. Pulling on his shirt, he was rushing down the stairs after Jacklynn when David started blaming what had happened on his sister and mother again. Standing on the front porch of his home, he could see the flame rolling up from a house not too far from where he was.

The screaming started then. David was in the house, and he told him that the fire, he talked about it like it was a friend of his, was licking at the bottom of his feet so gently. When the screaming started, something that would haunt him for the rest of his life, he knew that the house that was going up in flames was David’s way of dealing with the loss of his job and family.

An officer pulled up in front of him as he was closing the phone. He had to be sick, thinking of the small children that had been left to burn in the home. Wondering how he’d gotten out of jail, he sat on the steps as he was being questioned. None of them knew the horrors that he did. Not even Jacklynn. Her brother had burnt himself alive with his three children and wife.

The sun was coming up when someone found the youngest. She’d been put into the shed out back and was screaming her head off. She’d not been burnt, he’d been told. Nor did she seem to have any markings on her body like he was sure that the other two had. The police took her to the hospital. August was waiting for someone to find the other two, who were surely as dead as David was.

Dedria joined them on the front stoop. He was so devasted that he threw up again when one of the officers asked him what David had said to him. It was all he could do to get through the conversation, crying for the loss of so many. He was worried about Jacklynn when she just sat there beside him and her mother, not saying a word to anyone.

When he tried to talk to her, she would tell him that she needed time. That she was all right but needed time. He believed that she was going to need time; it was a great deal to take in, but he was no less worried about her.

She no longer cried but sat rocking herself back and forth on the rocker. Even her mom couldn’t seem to get through to her, and his heart hurt with her pain. Just as he was going to go to her and make her look at him, two more police officers pulled into his driveway.

The officer looked bent. Like he was carrying the world on his shoulders. Putting out his hand, he shook it and told him that it was a nightmare. That there hadn’t been any reason for what had happened to happen.

“There was an infant that you were told about, correct?” He said that they’d found it bundled up in the shed. “Yes, that’s it. We’ve been able to find the other two children. They were…they were covered in gasoline. We’ll know soon if they were awake when the fire started. They have a…he must have shot them in the head. That’s what it looks like to me. Mary was in the bathtub. Again, an accelerant was used on her as well. You know, August, I can only pray that those little ones didn’t feel anything. With the fire being started with them—”

Office Doul started crying then. He was telling him how he himself had two little girls the same age as the ones that were murdered, and he could never think of a time when he’d kill them. August stood up and hugged the man, holding him upright while he sobbed at the mess of it all.

“Do you think that we’ll be able to raise Josephine?” It was the first time that Jacklynn had spoken to anyone but him in the last few hours. “I’d like to raise her as our own if that’s all right with you, August.”

“Yes, we can do that.” He was still worried but glad that she was interacting now. Her mother was still crying and blaming herself. August looked back at the officer. “Is she hurt any? I think you told me, but I can’t remember now.”

“Yes, she’s all right. I guess she goes by Joey. Had a devil of a time unwrapping her from her blankets. Poor little mite was tighter than a bug in a rug when we found her.” Jacklynn asked where she was. “They took her on to the hospital to check her over. There was a bottle out there with her but there wasn’t any way that she could have gotten to it. Do you know how old she is, by chance?”

“Four months old. She was born on the twenty-second of January. I’d like to go and see her with August and my mom. Would that—was my brother and father informed?” She was told that they had not been informed as they were still in jail. “It just occurred to me that David was in jail too. How was he out?”

“Mary bailed him out. She told the officer that she’d been stashing away money so that they could take a nice vacation this summer before the kids went back to school.” He cried a bit more, but not like before. “She told Linda, Richard’s wife, and Dick they should have planned for a rainy day, and they’d be out too. Poor woman. That poor family.”

They were loading up into his car on the way to the hospital when he heard from his brother, Zander. He’d just heard what had happened and wanted to make sure that Dedria and Jacklynn were all right. While telling him that he hoped they were, Locke and Demitrius called as well. Their little town was just waking up to the tragic news.

“He said it was my fault. I thought for a while that I had caused him to think that. But I didn’t. They did this—when David was younger, he had some mental health issues. He tried to kill himself once—no, twice just after Mary had their oldest. Then, with the right help and meds, he seemed to be better.” Dedria said that she had noticed that he was getting back into his old habits. “Yes, that’s right. He used to rock himself in the rocker really fast until he was given his med again. I wonder if he’s been taking them like he should have been.”

They speculated on that on the way to the hospital. They entered through the emergency department and could hear a baby crying. Milly, working the front desk, asked him if he was there to see the little girl and before he could tell her that was what they were doing, Jacklynn made her way around the desk and to the back halls. No one tried to stop her or say anything to her.

The screaming stopped, and that scared him a bit. Hurrying with Milly, they opened the door to the room to find Jacklynn holding little Joey and telling her that it was all right. That she had her now, and she’d be safe.

The baby had on a gown, the cutest little thing that he’d ever seen. The staff seemed to be worried about her, too, so they asked Jacklynn a lot of questions about her health. August was surprised at how much information she had on the child. She even knew how much she weighed at her last appointment. But not once more did Joey cry. She kept staring at Jacklynn like she had been waiting on her all day.

Shipley, his sister-in-law, was called in to take care of the bodies. But she wanted to ask Jacklynn if she was all right with her doing them. That was when Shipley started crying when she heard how young the children were. Not to mention that even their mother had been murdered. Jacklynn told her that she’d like for her to do the autopsies and asked her to not give her any information unless it was just to say how they died. She, like him, was worried that all three of them had been alive when the house caught fire.

Jacklynn handed Joey off to him when she was asked if she could identify the bodies. She told the officer that she would try, but she’d rather that someone else do it. August asked if he could do it as he knew the family as well. It would be difficult, to say the least, and he wanted to spare his wife and mother-in-law if he could. No one should have to go to identify small children, he thought.