Chapter 17
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Sammy woke with a start, wondering what was wrong, immediately sat up, realizing that Burton had gotten up. As she glanced around the room, just barely enough light confirmed that his clothes weren’t lying on the floor where she’d last seen them.
She crept out of bed, quickly dressed, and hurried into the hallway, the stairs right in front of her. She listened carefully, thought she heard voices, then realized Leland and Anderson had probably come home. She pondered whether to go downstairs versus crawling back into bed.
She cast one longing look back at the bed and then realized she really needed to know for sure.
After all, maybe something was going on with the babies and Burton needed a hand.
Or maybe … who knew. From the second-floor landing, she could see the front door but not much more into the rooms themselves on the first floor.
So, Sammy wasn’t quite sure why, but caution, an abnormal caution, had her softly and slowly walking down the stairs to the first floor.
The door was slightly ajar. With her heart slamming she cautiously searched the house.
Still, she found nothing disturbing in the living room, nothing in the kitchen, nothing in the playroom. Then fear struck her as she just as softly went back upstairs and walked into the Lisas’ room and froze. She stared at the stranger holding a gun on Burton.
Burton smiled at her, but a warning was in his gaze.
She turned to the gunman. “What’s going on?” she asked quietly.
The gunman glared at her and shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was deep, rich, and full of venom. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” she snapped, trying hard to not scream. “You’re in the nursery with three babies, holding a gun on Burton. What the hell is this all about?” She glanced at the babies, and then, realizing that she couldn’t see if they were okay or not, she walked closer.
The gunman tried to step in front of her, and she glared at him. “I’m going to check on the babies to make sure you haven’t hurt them.”
“I haven’t hurt them,” he declared immediately.
“You say that, but you’re the one standing here holding a gun,” she snapped. “So, I don’t believe you.”
His eyes widened. “Most people would not ignore someone with a gun,” he noted.
“I’m not most people, and you are starting to piss me off,” she declared, glaring at him. “I was enjoying a really deep sleep, something that hasn’t been possible for a while since you started this situation. And now you’re just really aggravating me. Step out of my way.”
His eyes widened. “I didn’t start anything,” he said.
“Sure, you did,” she argued, her tone sarcastic. “Somebody beat up that poor mother, putting us into this position right now, and you’re the one creeping around her house with a gun.”
“I didn’t beat anybody up,” he declared.
She stopped to really look at him and asked, “You’re Tim, aren’t you?”
He immediately shook his head. “No, but he has some explaining to do.”
“Yeah, he does. I’m not sure who you are then, if you’re not Tim.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does because you look just like him.”
He stared at her and asked, “You’ve seen him?”
“I’ve seen pictures of him. Burton has a picture.”
The gunman turned to Burton, who nodded and slowly pulled his cell phone from his pocket. The gunman waited, almost with an air of expectancy. Burton pulled up the photo of Tim and held it out for the gunman to see. He stared at it and nodded. “We are a pretty close facsimile but not that close.”
“Yes, you are. You look exactly like him,” Sammy exclaimed. “As in definitely siblings and potentially twins.”
The gunman snorted. “No, not twins. Siblings, maybe, but not a sibling I particularly care to worry about. That one’s quite troublesome,” he shared.
She glared at him. “I can definitely tell you that, holding a gun on us, including three babies, doesn’t make you the better person in this case.”
“How are these babies even connected to you?” he asked.
She stared at him in surprise and explained, “I’m a nurse, and these babies are partially in my care.” He looked at her, then at Burton.
She nodded. “Do you even know who these children are?”
“Yeah, Tim’s kids.”
“So why are you here, and why are you holding a gun on them?”
“I’m not holding a gun on them,” he argued, clearly frustrated. “I came here to see if they were really here and to see if they were okay.”
“And why do you care?” she asked, staring at him in astonishment. “Because that makes no sense. As far as we’re aware, you’re part of the whole problem.”
“Well, I’m not,” he snapped. “Yet my brother would say that, no doubt.”
“So, you do know Tim.”
He snorted. “Of course I do.”
“You made it sound like you didn’t. You wanted to see his picture after all.”
“I just wanted to confirm we were all talking about the same person,” he explained, with a shrug, “because my brother is a slimy piece of shit.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “So, why does Tim say he doesn’t have a brother?”
“That would be what he would say, isn’t it? Look. You guys are not parties to this entire thing, and I get that. And, in a way, you’re probably a whole lot better off not knowing what’s going on. But that brother of mine is involved in some pretty-ugly stuff.”
Burton interjected, “Seems you are involved yourself.”
“I was, … but I got out. My brother chose to stay in.”
Burton let out his breath. “So, you know what he’s into?”
“I know a lot of it. I also heard some disturbing news about his kids.”
“In what way?”
He shrugged. “As in potentially being used as hostages to get him to do something.”
Burton asked him, “You are aware of what happened to their mother, right?”
He scrunched his face. “I heard something, but I’m not sure I can believe what I heard.”
“She was beaten up,” Sammy declared, “beaten very badly. They kicked her so hard they broke her pelvis. And that’s just one of her many injuries. All because of Tim.”
“What do you mean because of him?” he asked, his voice rising.
“It’s all his damn fault. He wouldn’t give them some information or whatever it was that he was withholding. So, they beat her, and he let them. She is just now coming out of a coma.”
He stopped and asked, “Do you think Tim really knew something and had the information or whatever they wanted?”
Something was off in his tone. Burton gave her a warning look, and she shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s in jail. You are free to go talk to him.”
“I know he’s in jail,” he muttered, as he stared off in the distance. “And honestly, he should probably stay there.”
“If his involvement in his wife’s beating is correct, I’m inclined to agree,” she shared, “but I’m not the judge and jury here.”
“I am though,” Tim’s brother declared, glaring at her, “because he’s pulled all kinds of stuff in my life. And now he’s put a price on my head.”
Burton asked him, “What are you talking about?”
“Tim lied and said that he gave me a bunch of information, but I don’t have it. I don’t know what he’s even talking about. However, he used it to get himself out of trouble in the moment, and I really don’t appreciate it.”
“That’s essentially what he’s done with Talia too,” Burton noted, as he kept a watchful gaze on the gun. “That’s why she was beaten up, that she had the information—or something along that line. And they put her in the hospital over it.”
“Exactly. And they won’t stop until they get what they want. And I can’t let them catch me because I don’t have what they want either,” Tim’s brother told them. “Right now I’m ducking and dodging out of my brother’s way.”
“But he’s locked up.”
At that, he snorted. “He’s locked up some of the time. If you think that he’s always in jail, you’re a fool.”
Burton studied him. “We wondered if he was getting out.”
“Yeah, he’s getting out all right.”
“Was it you trying to see his wife at the hospital?”
“I went there once, yeah.”
Burton asked, alarm in his tone, “Just once?”
“Yes, just once, but she was unconscious. Somebody was sitting out front, as if on guard. I realized that she had somebody who would look after her, which meant she was in better shape than I was.”
Sammy frowned. “I’m not so sure that you were as worried about her condition as much as you were worried about yourself.”
“I did want to know if she had the information that Tim said I supposedly had.”
“And what information did he say you had?” Burton asked.
“Something to do with lists of people who worked in the organization. More than that, it was also bank accounts and whatnot.” He snorted.
“In case you don’t know, my dearly beloved brother has a photographic memory.
Still, he tends to write everything down afterward.
It’s almost like he needs a … brain dump.
So, when he realizes he knows something, then he writes it down and promptly just puts it out of his mind. ”
“So, Tim could have helped Talia if he had really wanted to? Is that what you’re saying?” Sammy asked.
“Absolutely he could have. But that would imply that he gave a shit. And believe me that he doesn’t give a shit about anybody but himself.”
“We found out Tim had a girlfriend down the street,” Burton shared. “So, we already know that he doesn’t give two hoots about his wife.”
Tim’s brother frowned at him and shook his head. “Well, if that doesn’t beat all.”
Burton shook his head. “Tim’s girlfriend is not my worry. Keeping these babies safe and getting Talia healed and back home again is our focus.”
The gunman nodded. “But I need that information in order to get my own neck free and clear of this mess.”
“So, ask your brother for it.”