Trevor (Strong Manor #6)

Chapter 1

Trevor was in the yard watching his puppies playing in the snow when Jenson pulled into his driveway. He had a hard time remembering if he had a meeting with him or not today when he hugged him like he’d not seen in just yesterday.

“We’re having dinner tonight with the family. Please tell me that you’re going to be there.” He said that he was and asked him what they were having. “I don’t know yet. Mom said she had it all taken care of, so that’s all I know. I’m thinking that it’s going to be take away rather than cooking. They’re loving living in their new home. I know that I’m happy that our house is finally finished now, and we don’t have contractors all around us.”

“I’m supposed to look at a few houses today. I’m not thrilled about it, to be honest. I hate the fact that I have to do this when I have other things to do but I do need a bigger place with my own yard. I want my own yard more than I do a house, you understand?” Jenson told him that he understood perfectly. “No offense, but what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in DC for meetings and crap?”

“They ended the secession early today. I couldn’t stand to not be at home for another minute so I hitched a ride with one of the men coming to talk to Clay. He’s been doing some upgrades to the equipment that is in the NASA offices. Did he tell you that he got a bonus for getting something taken care of in space? I only half listen to him sometimes. I should pay more attention, but I get something stuck in my head and I can’t understand what he’s telling me. Jade knows, of course, but I tune them out when they’re together. They’d never have a conversation with me around asking them to explain things to me. Even though I’m an engineer, I have trouble…my job is taking more time from me than I thought it would.” Trevor asked him if it was that serious. “No. Yes. I’m not sure. I want to be with my wife. When I started out with this congress thing, I didn’t have her in my life. Now? Well, all I can think about is how much I miss her and our son.”

“You’re in charge, aren’t you? I mean, can’t you say when you’re going to leave or stay?” Jenson told him that it didn’t work like that. “I guess I can understand why you’d need to be hanging around there a great deal. It’s something that you’ve always wanted. Has that changed for you?”

“Yes and no. I love what I’m doing, but like I said, I miss Jade and our kid. He’s getting to the point where he’s not sleeping all the time. Last night, he rolled over by himself, and both Jade and I laughed until we cried, scaring Benson until he was upset.”

Taking the puppies in the house, he put them in the cage that he’d purchased for them when he’d lost one of them in the condo. He’d not really been lost, but he’d been so far under the bed sleeping that he’d not found him for a while, and it had terrified him that the little sucker had gotten out. Changing his clothing for something better, Jenson said he’d go with him to look at the houses. He was really glad for the company.

“This first house is supposed to make me realize how much I don’t want a small house. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. I’ve been living in a two-bedroom condo since I was eighteen years old.” They pulled into the driveway, neither of them getting out. “This house is supposed to have three bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. I don’t know that even one of my pups could live in that it’s so small.”

The two of them talked about how much he was looking for in a house. While he didn’t want a huge assed house like they had, he didn’t want to be tripping all over himself either by having the puppies, soon to be two overgrown dogs making him fall all the time.

The second house wasn’t something that he wanted either. First of all, it was too close to the school, and he thought that he’d never have any peace. He did want to live closer to his parents but didn’t want to have to time things so he’d not hear kids screaming all the time.

“You don’t like kids?” He told his brother that he liked them just fine when they were someone else’s. “That’s just not right. All of the women want to have several children, and you just want to be the favorite uncle who has money to burn on them. I see how you are.”

“I’m sure that there might be a person out there for me. I’m very sure of it. But I’m in no hurry to settle down and be domesticated. I have the puppies, who I think are growing bigger daily, and I’m fine with that for now.” Jenson called him a fool. “Perhaps I am, but like I said, I’m not going to rush into anything at the moment. Besides, she’d have to love dogs, as I’m not going to be getting rid of them. I love the little suckers.”

“Sap.” The next house was something along the size of his parents’ home. The one that they took after giving Clay the manor home. Getting out of the car to have a look around, he was dismayed to find that the snow they’d had last night hadn’t done a thing in hiding the work that needed to be done to the yard. It was not just overgrown with weeds about two feet tall, but there were things in the yard, things he didn’t have names for, that made him think of a haunted house rather than one that he wanted to spend his golden years in. “This is all the yard that you get. Right in front of the house. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have a nice big yard around my house with the pool.”

“You’re right about the yard. I don’t think that I’d even want this place if it was perfect inside without a back yard. And the front one is in need of too much work to consider buying it.”

They moved on after about ten minutes of trying to get to the front porch. There weren’t any more homes on his list, and he was really disappointed in the realtor on that, but they saw several for sale signs, and they didn’t feel cheated out of what they’d seen. They stopped at the next house on a whim. As soon as they cleared the trees in the front yard, Jenson whistled. This was a forever home, just not for him, he told his brother.

There were two people in the yard when they pulled up the drive. They were shoveling the driveway and talking. Asking them if they wanted to see the house, Trevor was almost afraid to see it. If he fell in love with it, he was going to forever blame Jenson as he told the couple that they’d love to see the house.

“I know you. You’re…let me think. That’s it. You’re my congressman.” Jenson shook hands with the couple and told them that he was still getting used to his new title. “I bet you are. I saw your wife in town a couple of days ago. My goodness, that little boy of yours sure does take after you, doesn’t he?”

“He looks more like his mom, I think. But thank you for thinking that. No one notices me when they’re around.” They all laughed and Trevor shook their hands next. “My brother is looking for himself a forever home. He’s got himself a couple of puppies that he’s looking for a nice big yard too.”

As soon as they got into the house, his brother took over talking to the couple and he made his way around the house. Christ, it needed nothing done to it as far as he could see. It was perfect. But for him? He still wasn’t sure. He made his way to the back of the house through the kitchen. It, too, looked perfect to his eyes, and he saw the back yard.

Going out of the house and onto the large deck devoid of furniture this time of year, he looked at the expanse of the yard. He could raise all ten of the puppies that Gracie had found and not have to worry about them being overcrowded. There were trees in the fenced-in yard, three down the middle and four on each side, that gave the yard a very nice, shaded area. The couple, he’d never caught their name, had had a garden back there that looked like it had done well for them. There were still three large pumpkins in the place that he could see sitting on the wrap-around porch for the holidays.

Going back into the house, Trevor looked for flaws in his…the home. As far as he could see, it was ready to move in without so much as a dusting to make it better. He wanted to tell the couple to leave so that he could have it to sleep in tonight. But he’d learned from going to auctions that you never showed your hand when dealing with sales. He found them in the living room, with Jenson asking them questions about what they thought needed improvements in the town.

“Did you find the yard to your liking, Mr. Strong?” He asked them to call him Trevor. “All right. I know that the back yard is a bit much, but I’m betting that you’ll find a way to fill it out with those puppies you have.”

He had to bite his lip so that he’d not beg them to let him move in as soon as this afternoon. Sitting with the couple, he asked questions about the house. He thought he was doing well until their doorbell rang and it was another person wanting to see the house. Trevor looked at his brother.

“Calm down.” He nodded and asked him what he was supposed to do. “Nothing. If you’d like, I can talk to them for you. You look like you’ve had the best Christmas, birthday, and any other holiday all rolled into one. I’ll help you out with this. But you have to have Christmas here for the family. This place just screams family get-togethers for any reason.”

When the couple came back, asking them if they had any more questions, it was when he asked the price. It was much bigger than he thought but he swore to himself it wasn’t because he was a Strong. He wanted to tell them that he’d pay any price so long as he could have it.

It was Jenson that made the offer. He wanted to smack him around, telling him that he wanted the house bad enough to pay the asking price, but he seemed to know what he was doing. He was going to murder his brother or at least do him bodily harm if he lost this house. Leaning back on the couch he’d been sitting on. He closed his mind off to the conversation and thought about the investments he’d made just this morning on a large business that was going to bring several hundred jobs to the area. Not to mention, they were going to use local to build the plant. It wasn’t until his brother poked him that he let go of his thoughts.

“We’re leaving.” He nodded at his brother, standing up when he did. “I’ve helped you out by making an offer on the house, and they want to see what this couple wants to do. I’d say that you’re in for some bidding wars because they want to make it their family home, and it’s just you. Not that that should matter, but I just have a feeling.”

“Did you make an offer?” He said that he’d said he’d pay the asking price. “Good. This is a great house, don’t you think?”

“I do. You zoned out there for a moment, and I told them that you were looking to expand jobs in the area and that you were thinking of what needed to be done to make it happen. It was sort of embarrassing when I think about it. What the hell were you thinking about?” He told him it was just what he’d said. “Oh. You have someone that wants to start up a business around here? That’s awesome, little brother. I’m proud of you.”

They were nearly to the car when the other couple came out of the house. Once they were gone, taking their time in getting the car started, he was both excited and nervous when the home owners came out to the car. They told them that the couple thought that the house was a little too big for them. Jenson said that the offer still stood if they wanted to think about it. They left soon after that.

He only then just realized that he’d only looked at the main level of the house and the yard and was sold on it. Trevor decided to ask his brother about the house. Since Jenson was driving now, he simply handed him a sheath of papers about the house.

“Eight bedrooms? It didn’t look that big for that amount of bedrooms.” He explained that there were two bedrooms over the garage that also had a dinette set as well as a bath and living room. “That’s kinda nice. I could have someone over if I wanted.”

“You want the house then?” He said that he did and thought that the house was perfect the way that it sat. “I have to agree with you there. It also has a new furnace and air conditioner. The kitchen has been updated in the last year. There aren’t any carpets in the place. That is something that Jade wanted in our new home, too. I like the hardwood floors and the way they feel when you walk around on them.”

“What else can you tell me?” Jenson told him that the house had hardwood floors throughout. That, as he’d said, the furnace and the air conditioner had been replaced, the roof was new, and that the garage, while a new addition, had been made in the way of the house so that it blended in well. There were also fifty acres to the house that was used by the local farmers as an added income. “When did they say they’d get back to us? I’m assuming that you gave them your card.”

“I put your number on the back so that they can call you directly.” He thanked his brother. “You owe me dinner. And if you get the house, you’re going to babysit for Jade and me so we can have a nice dinner.”

“Deal. Don’t be surprised if your son loves me more than you guys when you get back.” His brother told him that he thought that he could handle that. “You say that now, but you don’t know what I have planned for the two of us when he comes over.”

~*~

Debra was asked once again to come to the living room. She hated that room most of all. People were so nice and happy there and all she wanted to do was just be left alone so that she could think. And plan. They were even making that hard for her. Thinking and planning were what she did best.

Sitting on the couch as far away from the little shitter—their baby, she hated it when it would come up to the couch and make its way to her. It wasn’t walking yet, but it did annoy her to the point that she wanted to go and get a butcher knife and cut off his head. The little monster would suck on his hands then touch her—Christ oh mighty, it would touch her with its grubby little hands.

“Does someone your age trick or treat?” She asked what that was, knowing full well what it was and how it was supposed to end. She wanted to have to sacrifice something to the gods worse than she wanted these people to leave her alone. “If you want to, you can dress up in a way that would keep you from being recognized while out getting candy.”

Jenson was an idiot, but Jade wasn’t. Neither was Jenson, now that she thought about it. He was just a sap, what his brothers called him. Jade was sharp, and the way that she stared at her all the time, never leaving her alone in the house, especially around the baby, had her thinking that she could get into her head. She watched her like Mrs. J did toward the end of her life.

Her planning could only get her so far in what she wanted out of life. It was simple, really, her plan but not being able to get out and get it done, now that was a different matter altogether. She looked at Jade when she said her name. That was another thing that she wanted to get away from and that was to have people stop staring at her all the time.

“I asked you if you wanted to go trick or treating.” Her voice had a tone to it, but she didn’t know what she’d missed. Telling the woman that she didn’t want to go or to dress up seemed to satisfy her. Screaming in her head, she smiled, knowing full well that it didn’t even come close to looking like a smile but more of a grimace. Whatever. They were holding her back.

“How old are you? I’ve heard two different ages. I would have thought that your guardian would have been able to tell us the true age as she raised you from infancy.” She stared at Jenson, wondering when he got so smart. Instead of answering him, Debra stood up and said she needed to go to the bathroom. “All right, Debra, if that’s your real name, we’ll pick up from there when you return.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jenson shrugged, but she could tell that he was ready to get something more than she wanted to share. “I’m tired. I think I’ll take—”

“The FBI is looking for you. I have a feeling that you even know what they’re looking for you for.” She sat down on the couch again and stared at him with her mouth open. “The only thing is, they don’t call you Debra Carter but Lavender. Lavender Hunt. I know that it’s you because they told me about the scar that you have on your left shoulder. It’s from when you were shot six months ago when they had you trapped, or so they thought, while you were robbing a bank. You’re very enterprising for someone who claims to be only eight years old. Not that I don’t think an eight-year-old could have some skills, I think, and this just could be me, but I think that you’re closer to the twelve-year-old that they say you are.” She laughed. It was about as forced as she could make it.

“I just don’t know what you’re talking about. I mean, the FBI? What could they want with me?” He told her. “Murder? Attempted murder too? Why, I’m just a kid.”

“Sure you are.” The front doorbell rang and she was frightened when she couldn’t go and hide. Jenson told her to have a seat still and that these people wanted to talk to her. “They have a few questions to ask you and are, for their own reasons, I guess, going to take you in. That’s who you’ve been hiding from, isn’t it? I mean, you had Mrs. J. fooled into thinking that it was some bad guys that wanted you but it’s really nothing more than the Feds as well as a few other departments with initials on their flak jackets.”

“You’ll not do this to me.” It was Jade who asked what she was going to do about it if they didn’t turn her over. “I’ll kill you all. I know how, too.”

“So do I.” The men came into the room just as Jade pulled her gun. “I’d like to say that this has been fun, but really, it’s not been. You’re a monster. And I’m glad to have you out of m—”

“Mommy, you can’t do this to me. I’m just a little girl?” It had worked before for her, whining to Mrs. J when things weren’t going her way. Mostly, it was that she needed money for something, school supplies, she told her, but really, she’d been hiding guns all over the other house just so she could never be caught like she was right now. She turned to Jenson. “Please? Daddy, I don’t want to go with them. They’ll hurt me, take me apart like I’m something of a monster, and all I wanted to do was to stay alive.”

“You’re not going to win any favors by using that tone with me. I’ve been reading over the file of Lavender Hunt for a few days now.” She stood up and reached for her gun. When she couldn’t find it, she began looking for it in the cushions of the couch. It was one of the men that their butler let in that laughed.

“Hello, Lavender. It’s been a long time in coming.” She said that she didn’t want to go and that they’d made a mistake. “As much as I’d love to tell you that we never make mistakes, I can tell you right now that we haven’t on you. Your gun is the one pointed at you. Jade and her husband have been pretty good at keeping an eye on you for us.”

She wanted to run and turned to do so, but she felt the first bullet hit her in the back. Before she fell fully to the floor, two more shocking pains took her breath away. Unable to feel her legs, she tried crawling to the patio doors. They’d kill her if they caught her, and that just wasn’t in the books for her. Before she got more than a foot from the door, someone put their booted foot on her shoulders.

“Damn you, you mother fuckers. What the hell is this all about?” The man closest to her said it was about the nineteen deaths that she had been a part of. “I’m a kid.”

“Yeah? Well, it didn’t seem to matter when you and your gang were robbing homes, only to end up killing off the homeowners. We know how you got into the house by pretending to be a long-lost child and preying on their hearts.” She struggled to get away, but she wasn’t moving. “We’ve been able to catch your gang, too. They didn’t particularly like working for you. They said you were meaner than a rattlesnake when you were pissed off. Each of them is singing to the heavens about all the shit that the five of you have been doing.”

“Which one of them told on me?” she was told that once they had them in a cell, they were happy to talk about her. “I knew I couldn’t trust them. But it’s difficult to find good help when you need it. Damn it all to fuck and back. I almost had the most killed for my age. Just two more—if you didn’t count school shootings. Christ, you couldn’t just wait a few more weeks to turn me in, could you? You’re lucky that your brat isn’t counted in the dead. I hate that little fucker more than I do you two.”

She was read her rights four times before they put her in a van. Each department made sure they were able to get their piece of her, too, by frisking her over and over. The mother fuckers even took her boots off that she’d worked a week on to have a blade put into the top of them. She supposed she had the Strongs to thank for them finding it so quickly. The sides of the van were reinforced steel bars and a long bench in the back that they chained her like a dog, too. She saw Jade standing on the patio when she was finally locked in.

“I’ll be back. No one will want to convict me once I have my day in court. I’ll make sure they see me as this little kid who doesn’t understand what they’re doing to me.” Jade laughed, threw back her head, and laughed hard. “What do you find so funny now? Just so you know, as soon as I’m out, I’m coming after you and this pitiful family of yours.”

“You’re not getting a trial.” She asked her what she was talking about. “Yes, you see, I told them just what you said to me, that a jury would be a waste of time. That’s why they’re taking you to a prison where you won’t ever see another inmate or jailer but the ones that bring you your food. You won’t even get any outside time like criminals do. That way, you will never be tempting anyone for so long as you live.”

“You bitch. Everyone deserves a trial. You’ll see.” But she was beginning to worry now. None of the men were talking to her. They were…she wondered if the laughter she was hearing had to do with what the fucking bitch was saying. She asked the man who seemed to be the most in charge. He smiled at her, and she could see that he truly was enjoying whatever he had up his sleeve concerning her.

“You’ll be remanded over to a maximum security prison. There will be no trial, and thanks to us finding your books, the ones that you didn’t share with the Strongs, we’ll have a wonderful time closing some cases that I’m betting you were in charge of. The murder of the nineteen people, three bank robberies, as well as the attempted murder of Mrs. J and the Strongs. Did you notice that they never drank whatever you brought to them in the name of thanking them for keeping you safe? Yes, ma’am, you’re going to rot in jail, and there will be no one to mourn your death, nor care that you’ll spend all your time alone without a single thing to distract you.

She was still yelling at them when the door to the van closed, and someone put a ball and chain over her mouth. There were four men in the sucker with her, and she couldn’t talk to them. They’d put the gag over her mouth while each of the men had their guns pointed right at her. This was so not fair that she wanted to smack someone around. They didn’t even care when she glared at them, the mother fucking assholes.

The ride was bumpy and twice she fell over. The first time, she got herself up, but the second time, she just laid flopped over. Bumping her head several times didn’t seem to bother anyone but her and she was screaming at them around the ball. Christ, when she was set free, she was going to murder each and every one of them.

The van started to slow, and she wondered what was going on. There were no windows in front of her, so she wasn’t sure what was going happening. The front of the van, where the driver was, didn’t show her anything either, so she had to wait. Another thing that she hated to do was to wait on shit. She really was going to make each and every person suffer when she was freed.

Lavender didn’t think that she’d be put in a real prison. She really was just a kid in age, but she’d been doing crimes for as long as she could remember. The only reason that Mrs. J was still alive was because she was a good cover for her. So long as she’d been in bed before the old bat got up, she was none the wiser. Or so she had thought. Apparently, she’d been keeping tabs on her as well. There wasn’t enough trust in the world, she thought. Not even for a twelve-year-old girl who were trying to make the best out of her life.

Once the van stopped, again she fell over. She was pulled out by her chains. They never took their guns off her chest and head, and if the situation wasn’t so serious, she might have laughed. An angel. That’s all she needed was an angel that would get her out of this. Then she got a good look at the place where they’d taken her.

It was a jail, she supposed, but it looked more like concrete slabs stitched together to make the walls and roof. There were several of these…houses? Cells? She didn’t know, but if they thought that she was going to be staying out here in the middle of nowhere with just four walls of gray concrete, then they were in for a big surprise.

“From now on, you’ll be known as cellmate nine. For the rest of your life, you will be living…habiting in building number nine. There will be no contact with anyone. You’ll have three meals a day every day that you’re alive. There is no mail service out here, no internet nor will you be allowed anything other than what you need to keep you alive. If you die? You’ll be buried in the fields beyond here without a marker or anything other to mark your passing but a slash on the building you died in to know that it’s now empty and awaiting the next person who will live out their life. Do you have any questions?” She asked what she was going to get to entertain her, books or something. “Nothing. You’ll need to figure out what you need on your own to keep you entertained. No one will give two shits if you’re bored or not.”

Shoving her into the building, she heard something slapping along the sides of the door. The man on the other side told her that he was sealing her into her dwelling so that she’d not get out. They actually concreted her into the building so that she’d not be able to get out. The only opening that she had was the opening over the far door that she knew was going to be for her food to come in.

She was never going to make it in here. Surely, they were kidding about her being stuck in this place and expected to live out the rest of her life. Christ, she realized, she might live for another seventy or so years like this.

Sliding down the wall, not hearing a thing going on around her, Lavender thought perhaps she was well and truly caught this time. Feeling the tears fall down her face, she had a thought that this was what they were all laughing about. How a twelve year old was going to be living this way forever. Christ, she just wanted to start her life over.