Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
CASH
Kindred sits on my desk, her brows furrowed together after I laid everything out for her. I can’t get a read on her, but I’m sure she is thinking everything through that I said.
"Babe." I run my hand up and down the side of her thigh.
"Talk to me." At Kindred's core, she's all sweetness. I might not be mean and cruel like my father, but I’m also not innocent.
I have killed before. I couldn't even tell you how many people.
I didn't care to keep count, and often there wasn't time to. It was kill or be killed.
"I'm trying to pick which narrative I prefer." She taps her finger on her lips. "It's either she is obsessed and in love with you and wants me out of the picture—" Kindred does a slashing action with her finger across her throat.
"Don't do that." I grab her hand and take it into mine.
"Or she knows the truth, and to make you feel what she’s been feeling since her brother died, she'll take what means the most from you.
" I nod. "Which is obviously me." I love how she says it so confidently. If we weren’t in the middle of such a deep discussion, I’d show her just how much I appreciate it.
"Obviously." I shake my head because it's not funny and we shouldn't joke about it, but Kindred has a way of lighting up the darkest of moments. I have always been drawn to that light. She gives my hand a squeeze.
"Which one are you thinking?" Kindred asks. "Not that it really matters at the end of the day."
"As strange as it is, I think it's an infatuation with me." She thinks I tried to play hero, and in a way, I had. In my book, I killed the traitor. Not sure Beckett would see it that way if she knew the truth.
"See, this is what I'm saying. All these girls are always fawning all over you." She rolls her eyes. "Too bad for them, you're mine, and I popped your cherry last night." Kindred's cheeks flush. "See, I can be crude too." Her cheeks are getting redder by the second.
"You're not wrong, Cupcake." She pulls her shoulder in, leaning toward me like she has a secret to tell me.
"I kind of love that you're all mine."
"I more than love that I'm all yours."
"All right, cowboy, let's not get too mushy. I have a mission over at the inn."
"The one Beckett’s staying in?" Kindred hops down off my desk.
"Yep. I've got to get over there so I can listen in on all her plans." Kindred rubs her hands together. I'm not sure how to tell her I don't see Beckett in her room talking to herself about all her evil plans, but I'll go with it.
When we make it over to the inn, Hollis and Candy are already there, sitting in the parlor room that has been converted to a bar at the front of the house. “What took you so long?” Candy asks.
“I had to sneak in.” By sneak in, she means Betty left the back door cracked open for her. The inn has a handful of bedrooms and sits on the edge of the main road in town. It’s a historical old-style mansion that has been converted into a bed and breakfast.
Kindred starts pulling shit out of her bag, setting up some kind of station on the bar with an iPad and headphones. I swear that purse of hers carries everything, which is confirmed when she pulls out a pink sparkly reindeer, setting it down on the bar too.
“What?” she asks me when she sees me staring at it.
“I didn’t say anything.” I brush her hair off her shoulder and help her out of her coat.
“Your face is saying it.”
“Hey.” Candy elbows her in the side. “Probably because you didn’t turn it on.” She nods to the reindeer.
“Oh, right.” Kindred grabs the reindeer and clicks a small button on it. Its nose starts blinking pink. “You could have just said that and not given me the judgy face.” I didn’t think my face changed, but all right.
“My apologies.”
“You’re forgiven.” She pats the high-top chair next to hers.
I don’t want to sit, but I’ll indulge her.
She leans over, kissing me on the cheek.
Her mouth lingers, and she brushes her nose gently back and forth before returning to whatever plans she has concocted.
I know I’m going to be in for a treat no matter what it is. Kindred doesn’t do anything small.
I do my own intel, pulling out my phone to see I do, in fact, have responses back. Hollis makes his way over toward me. I tilt my phone toward him so he can see what I am.
There it is in black and white. Pictures of Beckett in a hardware store twenty miles down south. I was even sent a copy of the credit card receipt. That might not be enough to fully pin her down, but it adds to the pile.
“Eggnog?” Betty asks Kindred as she sets a glass down for her.
“Tis the season.” Kindred picks it up and takes a sip. Betty leans up against the bar, watching what the girls are doing.
“I knew she was strange,” Betty tells them.
“She’s got a stick up her ass, and when Tinsley was doing my nails yesterday, she told me she wasn’t into her vibe.
Not sure what that means, but if Tinsley said it—” Betty shrugs, taking a sip of her drink, her attention turning to me.
"Tinsley came over. It wasn't a professional paid nail appointment or anything.
" I don’t respond because these girls have a way of giving themselves away without help from me. “Is this an interrogation?"
Tinsley has been doing nails under the counter over at the salon for a few years now. She is not licensed and only accepts cash payments.
"Don't worry about him," Kindred tells Betty, waving me off.
"He's obsessed with me. We can break all the rules and laws we want.
" Kindred gives the worst impression of an evil laugh, like she isn't the one who works at Town Hall and helps with all the licensing and so on.
"This stuff is good." She takes another swig of her eggnog, which I'm sure is spiked.
“Whatcha doin’?” Tinsley pops out of nowhere. “Is this the rehearsal dinner I wasn’t invited to?”
“We’re not doing one,” Candy tells her.
“Then what’s up?” She is trying to wiggle her way in between Candy and Kindred. I glance behind me to see her brother along with the Knotty Knitters, who have taken up a table.
“We’re hanging out. Having eggnog.” Kindred lifts her glass before taking another few sips.
“Did you hear anything?” Kindred whispers loudly, sitting up straighter and pushing the headphones more onto her head. Not sure that will help.
“This about that Katie chick?” Tinsley glances around. They both nod.
“I don’t hear anything,” Candy huffs, glancing at Hollis like the man can make Beckett confess to herself in her room.
My attention drops back to my phone when I see another message come through. Shit, I hit reply, telling Roger where I’m at as I read over everything he’s sent me. I don’t turn my phone away, letting Hollis see too.
“Shit,” Hollis mutters under his breath, sharing my sentiment. When I lean back, I see more people have entered the bar area.
“Guys!” Kindred hisses loudly. “I’m trying to spy. Take it down to a three.”
“You heard the lady!” Tinsley shouts, backing her up, kind of. They listen and take it down a few notches.
Hollis turns, shifting toward me so he can speak without anyone overhearing. “Should we do anything?” I shake my head no. We wait.
I would rather there were not so many people here, but if I tried to herd them out, that would spread like wildfire, and more would show up. But this is the nature of things in New Hope. People always migrate toward Kindred. It's the way of things.
"I hear something!" Kindred shouts, then slams her own hand down over her mouth, cringing. "I think I hear something." Now she whispers. The whole bar falls silent. Kindred cocks her head to the side.
"Is that your brother?" Candy asks, and I slip out of my chair.
"Yeah, what is he doing?"
I take a few steps back, and Hollis slides in, taking my place silently, knowing what I'm doing. Katie Beckett has lost it, and now she has lured Ethan to her room. I'm sure he thinks he's about to get lucky, but I think his luck has run out.
The second I am free of the room, I bolt up the stairs to the bedroom. I debate for a split second what weapon I should draw. When I reach the door, I don’t bother knocking; it’s best to catch them off guard.
My foot connects with the door, and it bursts open, chunks of wood splintering. Ethan has his hands up, backed against a wall with a gun trained on him. I fire, hitting Beckett in the chest, her eyes still wide as her knees give out, electricity coursing through her system.
"Ethan!" I shout, and the sound of running can be heard coming down the hallway.
"That bitch is crazy." Ethan drops his hands. I step closer to Beckett and kick the gun away, seeing the silencer on the end.
"I know." Kindred comes rushing into the room, I'm sure having heard everything.
I hold my hand up, pressing it to her stomach so she doesn't move past me. I’m not taking any chances when it comes to her.
“This is what happens, Ethan, when you think with your other head!” Kindred tosses at her brother.
"No!" Beckett whimpers, rolling to her side. "No, no, no," she says over and over, knowing it's the end of the line. "Why did you guys get to make it out and not him? You saved the others but not him!"
“What the hell am I missing?” Ethan asks, and I give him a look that lets him know this isn’t the time. Especially with the town filling up the hallway.
“She was talking about killing Ethan,” Kindred says, pressing herself into my side.
She glances down at Beckett. I can tell by the way Kindred's face softens that she feels bad for her. I don’t.
There was a silencer on the end of that handgun.
This was a laid-out plan that’s been in the works for months.
Beckett was planning to commit murder. I can’t even entertain the thought of what that could’ve meant for Kindred.
That was the email I'd gotten from Roger.
When I started pushing for more information on her, he started digging deeper.
Beckett had already put in for a transfer out of the city, and it had been approved.
Those had been her first steps, but her sergeant had noticed she'd been acting strangely.
When he pushed, she lost it on him and was fired.
I don't know where shit got lost in translation, but clearly it had. Beckett had assaulted her sergeant and then made a deal that if she checked into a mental facility, charges wouldn't be filed.
She agreed but left after a week. Then she showed up to her new position as if nothing had happened. If I had to guess, because they'd made a deal with her and didn't press charges, that's where things slipped through the cracks.
I get it. Cops want to protect their own, but in doing that, you sacrifice protecting the community, which should always come first.
"Can you get everyone downstairs?" I ask Kindred, and she nods, her eyes filled with tears, and I know it's for everyone. "Thanks, Cupcake." I kiss the top of her head. "Sheriff Buford is going to show up anytime now. Send him up for me."
Thankfully it isn’t long before Roger shows up, and I tell him everything that has gone down. I am relieved that Beckett doesn’t know the full truth. That means there wasn’t a leak.
I’m not a Ranger any longer. I’ll leave that be and let them handle it how they see fit. I’m also not a head doctor, so I got no fucking clue if her knowing the truth would only make it worse.
Roger cuffs her, putting her into the back of his cruiser. “The FBI is coming to pick her up. I didn’t want to put that in the email I sent you. I guess there are some shady dealings with not only her time on the force but with her brother too.”
“All right.” I merely shrug, not sure what they will tell him. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
As much as that sucks, it might give Kindred a little relief knowing that Beckett isn’t a girl who simply lost it because her brother died.
“There is more to this story?” Roger asks.
“This isn’t my story anymore.” I glance toward the inn, where I know everyone is peeking out, being nosy as hell.
“You think you can move that crowd along? The Feds will be here soon, and they’ll want to process her room and, I’m sure, have a million questions.”
“I’ll try, but I make no promises,” I tell him, heading back up the sidewalk.
“I get it.” Roger chuckles, coming from a small town too. He leans up against his cruiser to wait as I head back inside the inn.
The second I'm through the door, Kindred is throwing herself at me. I catch her, pulling her closer. She buries her face in my neck. I run my hand up and down her back. She lifts her head to whisper into my ear.
"There was a third option, and we got it wrong."
“You can't predict crazy,” I tell her. “The Feds are on their way. She’s in deep shit. We need to clear people out.”
“I got it.” She presses a kiss to my neck as I put her back down onto her feet.
“Listen up!” Kindred claps her hands together. “Christmas has come early, the Feds are on the way.” They will talk about this for the next year, maybe two. She peeks over her shoulder at me. “It’s better to just tell them, or they’ll be trying to sneak back in.”
“The Feds!” Tinsley says excitedly.
“Y’all have to clear out,” I inform them. They all groan.
"Guys, we have a wedding tomorrow, and it's Christmas Eve," Kindred reminds them. "We can all gossip then." Candy nods adamantly next to her.
This night could have ended in disaster, but instead, all of us will get to go home safe and sound. I’ve never been more thankful for anything in my life.