Chapter 14
Norah
The next, morning I’m freaking out just a little and have texted Amélie twice. Shiva hasn’t pooped all day and Vader keeps chasing his tail. All I’ve gotten is the laughing emoji and ‘welcome to parenting’. With a side note of they are fine.
Rake has spent most of the morning chopping wood. About an hour in I realized he’s working something out in his head. My insecurities immediately went to ‘he’s changed his mind about us and doesn’t know how to tell me.’
Then the part that has watched him, listened to him analyze and think things through, said to let it go. WE the couple are fine. Something about what’s going on with my family is the issue. Twice that I’ve witnessed, he’s pulled his phone and texted someone.
Whatever it is, he’ll tell me. That’s the kind of relationship we’ll have. We’ll fight together for each other.
I finish the dishes, prep a casserole for dinner, check that we have enough meat for sandwiches for lunch and throw on a load of clothes.
Time to take the dogs out for more training.
Only then do I notice that the chopping has stopped.
Looking out the kitchen window, I see the pile of wood along with the split logs.
But no Rake. Smiling, I glance in the mirror. Maybe he’s on his way in for a nooner.
My gosh, I’ve become a horny teenager looking for any opportunity to get down with my man. I hope these feelings never wear off. I skim the yard again, the stump where he cuts the logs. The axe is lying on the ground. My stomach knots as Rake’s rules repeat in my head.
Safety rule one of wood chopping, never walk up and surprise someone chopping wood. Call out a good ten feet away and make eye contact before going closer.
Rule two of wood chopping, never leave an axe on the ground. Unseen, someone could get hurt and it’s bad for the blade. Seat the axe in the stump.
Pulling my phone I text Patch.
Help. Rake is missing.
He responds immediately.
On way. Stay in cabin. Lock up. We’re on it.
I put the phone on silent. Make sure I have the whistle around my neck and go to the door. Shiva is already there pacing back and forth.
“Okay girl, you know something is wrong, but we need to be smart. We just need to stall till back up arrives. Heel.”
We slip out the front door and Shiva darts into the woods. Vader stays at my side. We walk past the wood stump where I grab Rake’s discarded shirt and continue as if taking a walk in the woods. I don’t see anyone. Shiva joins us. I have her smell the shirt. “Find Rake.”
She immediately takes off into the woods and up the trail. I follow and Vader brings up the rear. When we hit a patch of loose dirt, even I can see plodding boot prints the size of Rake’s, but what surprises me is the smaller women’s prints beside him. Should I call out? Did someone come for help?
Checking my phone for messages, I discover there are none. If he was going to leave to help someone he would have told me. Wouldn’t he?
I text Patch again.
Following trail up the mountain. Women’s footprints with his.
As we move higher, I wonder if this is the trail he told me about. Where they found the excavation going on. It’s too far to the west to be the tribal burial grounds. I went there often with Nana to visit Grampa’s grave. Rake is right, she must have heard something to make her investigate.
The women’s shoe prints with Rake’s don’t make sense. Another fifty feet and I hear a woman’s strident voice along with another. My anger threatens to explode. Mother and Faron.
She and Faron were behind all of this from the beginning.
I should be shocked, but I’m not. Pulling my phone, I text Patch telling him whose here and hoping he’s getting my messages.
I try to give him a rough idea of how far the dogs and I have hiked.
Giving the dogs the stay command, I turn on my phone’s recorder and make sure I have the whistle in the palm of my hand.
Reinforcing the stay, I step into the clearing.
“What are you up to this time, Mother?”
Faron stands off to the left, a handgun stuck in the front of his jeans like he’s some bad ass dude.
Rake sits on a stump, hands tied in his lap.
Obviously, they have no idea what he’s capable of or how insignificant Faron the weasel is compared to Rake’s training. Why did he even go along with them?
He scowls at me, obviously annoyed. “Norah, what are you doing here now?”
Now? Oops! I may have made a mistake.
Stay put. We’ve got this. Patch already knew. This was planned.
Shit. I glare back at Rake. Next time keep me in the loop, I silently snap.
He rolls his eyes as if he heard me.
“This is a pleasant surprise,” Mother continues. “Now Faron doesn’t have to go get you and we can get off this damn bug infested mountain that much sooner.”
“Why are you here in the first place? You hate the woods and never could be bothered to visit your mother unless you wanted money.”
“That’s the issue. The bitch. She took us off the bank accounts. Then she caught the amendment we added to the will and had them correct it on the spot, signed it and waited for the clerk to come back from taking it to the courthouse. She cut me out completely and left everything to you!
“That isn’t happening. I’m taking back what’s mine.”
She lifts her Gucci tote, pulls out a blonde wig that looks like my hair and tosses it to the ground. It’s then I notice what she’s wearing. “What are you doing in my dress? I’ve been looking all over for it for over a month.”
She smiles and pushes her hair behind her ear as she pulls a wad of papers from her purse.
“I saw it when I went to see Twila. She was being such a bitch about giving me money. That’s when she told me she was done with me and accused me of stealing from you.
My name was on that account. It was my money, too. ”
“My tuition money? The money I saved from years of babysitting and working at the ice cream parlor every free moment? You think it was yours?” I shake my head. “Forget it. Why do I even ask. But the dress? It is not your style or size.”
“I took the dress and bought the wig. The stupid president of the bank thought I was you and was eager to do whatever Twila’s little minion wanted. He drew up all the papers to give me a massive student loan but a stupid clerk contacted Twila direct.
“The outfit came in handy today. Hotshot here,” she glances at Rake, “wasn’t so bright either and thought I was you.
” She looks at Faron. “This is really perfect. We have her sign the papers and date them a week, maybe two ago. Then we kill them both right now. Lovers’ quarrel.
Oh, that’s beautiful. Such a perfect plan. ”
“Oh, oh we can leave the dress. She caught him with his lover.”
I look at her with pure disgust. She has never cared about anyone but herself. A true narcissist.
“Trish, you watch too much shit television.”
I meet Rake’s gaze and shake my head. Raising my hand to my mouth I fake a cough and blow the whistle.
No sound. No warning. Shiva charges from the woods and has Faron down, mouth around his neck in less than a minute. Vader uses a body strike to knock Mom off her stump, then stands growling with one paw on her chest as she screams.
Patch, two of the other guys from the team, and the Sherif walk out of the woods.
Rake is standing and already has the ropes off his wrists when he walks up to me, leans down and kisses me gently on the lips. “You can call the dogs off now, babe.”
“Trish Barlowe-Pyles you are being arrested for the murder of Twila-Johnson-Barlowe and—”
“I didn’t do that. It wasn’t my fault. He messed with her breaks. That’s not on me. I’m innocent. He made me do it all. Everything. I’m an innocent pawn.” She starts to snivel and weep.
Faron yells back. “You lying bitch. You blackmailed me into all of this. It was your idea.”
I pull my phone from my pocket and it’s still recording. Rake smiles. “May have to make you an operative, Sugar.”