Chapter 22 #2
“Natural as determined by whom?” Lauren asked.
“Let’s not be obtuse, dear,” Veronica said. She turned back to Santiago. “Once you were appointed, I needed someone better aligned with my vision of the future.”
“What kind of drug did you use to kill your husband?” Lauren asked.
“That’s not what’s important! What’s important is I had a son who didn’t hesitate when it came to following my directives.
When Alden died, I made sure everyone understood how necessary it was for Anderson to proceed his father.
And when he did, he had every reason to trust my judgment.
We were able to seek out investors, who believed we could make Shrouded Lake a place that brought in more money than Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge combined.
The revitalization initiative was the first step, the next was to acquire land.
And slowly, quietly, people were made offers and were willing to leave homes that were barely standing.
The beauty of working with people with no financial acumen is that they can be bedazzled by large numbers.
It’s not our fault they chose to trust us versus paying attention to the details of the agreement. ”
“And you recruited Dave Flemming in your scheme to move the properties silently,” Santiago stated. Neither Flemming nor Anderson alluded to Veronica’s involvement at the station. Any mission leader would be impressed with the older woman’s ability to manipulate events and people.
“But she didn’t anticipate Mrs. Willoby’s refusal to sell her home. And she didn’t know about her affair with Mr. Williams. That’s where her plans unraveled,” Lauren provided.
“When I found out about their liaison, I thought she would cave to blackmail. And she had. The day of the crash, I’d come here to close out the deal, but the cantankerous bitch had changed her mind.
Imagine the nerve, to renege on the deal after all the work we did.
She said she no longer cared if her relationship with Mr. Williams was exposed. ”
The Archers hadn’t honored any deal they made, yet Veronica had the nerve to be upset when Mrs. Willoby didn’t follow through with their agreement.
“I decided if she didn’t want to sell her house, she didn’t have to.
I’d just purchase it from her children upon her death.
No one in town would want a haunted house that had just taken another life.
I resumed my friendship with Mrs. Willoby and began to use an innocent enough tincture in the right dosages.
I used very unsafe dosages,” she smiled.
“The day she died she was disoriented, even hallucinating a little. I told her to go to bed, that I’d call her daughter.
I didn’t. I did tell her Sherry Lynn had arrived to take her to the hospital.
She tried to get to her daughter but didn’t make it down the stairs alive. ”
“So you’d been here the day she died.” Santiago frowned. “But you were heading up the hill when you crashed.”
“A senior moment. I realized in my attempt to remove any sign of my presence; I’d forgotten to look for the paperwork that could be used as evidence of our plans.
I had been reaching for my bottle of gin while trying to make a U-turn; killing someone I didn’t particularly like was still overwhelming.
I felt like I was coming off a three-day binge. ”
“You smelled liked you were smack in the middle of one,” Lauren muttered.
“A drunken Mrs. Archer is a lot less suspect than a stone cold sober one,” Veronica said. “After I crashed, I drank a third of the bottle and intentionally spilled some of the gin on my clothes to round out the facade.”
“You are one calculating woman,” Lauren said.
“And when you killed Bailey Joe?” Santi asked.
“I didn’t. I orchestrated his death knowing God would forgive any mother trying to protect her legacy.
I recruited Sam Ferriday months ago. He installed Bailey Joe Williams’ security system.
I thought it was simpler if Sam took the honors since he had detailed knowledge of Bailey Joe’s home. And yours, Ms. Green.”
Now it made sense why his deputies experienced so many delays in obtaining access to the security cameras. How the deer head was planted in Lauren’s house without the system activating.
“Theft and murder, that will be your only legacy,” Lauren told Veronica, who cocked her gun. “Not if you die tonight, dear.”
Something heavy crashed into the front of the house. Tommy and Lauren looked at St. James, who was still unconscious. Veronica’s slightly shaking gun remained on Lauren as she ordered Tommy to check out what was happening.
“You’re too late you know,” Lauren said.
Santiago tensed the closer Tommy got to St. James’s body.
“You’ll never get this house. I’ve already contacted one of the last known descendants of the Moor family and she will be here within the month to move into the home.
If I die, it’ll still go to her. It will be damn near impossible to get through all the red tape I’ve wrapped around this property.
We both know you don’t have a pot to piss in when it comes to fighting that battle, Veronica.
And you won’t be able to count on your investors anymore; they will all flee when the details of your beloved revitalization scheme hits the media.
No one will want to be associated with your legacy. ”
There was another crash up front, followed by a gunshot. Santiago trusted that Sonny was out there doing what he needed to do.
Veronica must have sensed that her time had run out because she looked at Lauren with banked hatred and fired as he lunged at her, knocking the gun out of her hand.
Lauren stumbled back against the wall beside the back door.
Before he could reach her, the back door exploded, splinters and chunks of wood hit Santiago, as buckshot pierced his flesh.
Lauren screamed, crouching to the ground as a large shadow filled the doorway.
Santiago rushed the shooter, pushing the barrel of the gun up as it fired a second time into the ceiling as the two of them tumbled outside and down the front porch.
Santi punched Sam Ferriday in the throat and face repeatedly and when the other man was prone on the ground he stood, stomping Sam in his face until he was unconscious.
Santi rolled Sam’s body over and cuffed him then ran back into the house where Lauren had Veronica by the hair and was banging her head into the wall.
Veronica slid to the floor, and Lauren fell to her knees beside her, hand to her chest. Santiago kneeled beside Lauren when he saw the blood.
He reached to gather her into his arms when Tommy Lewellen’s foot connected with his jaw.
Holding on to Tommy’s ankle, Santiago slammed his fist into Tommy’s opposite knee, and the younger man went down hard.
Lauren stood, moving to Santiago in jerky motions. Veronica screamed and jumped on Lauren’s back pulling her braids as if she were trying to wrench her head off her body. Lauren careened out the door and stumbled down the stairs beyond Sam’s body and the two women were swallowed by mist.
“Shit!”
He had Tommy on his stomach with a fist full of his hair, pressing the man’s face into the floor. He dug his knee in the small of Tommy’s back as he pulled his second pair of cuffs. A figure suddenly loomed over him, and he reached for his gun—
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Julian shouted, hands up as Santiago aimed at his head. “Trying to help here.”
Holstering his gun, he tossed the cuffs to Julian and raced outside.
He could barely make out Veronica and Lauren, but he sure as shit heard them.
“You want to own this home so bad?” Lauren shouted, dragging Veronica toward the water. “Let’s see what the original owners say about that.”
Footsteps pounded through the house as Sonny ran to him. Red and blue lights flashed at the front of the house, and Roan walked along the side of the house moving toward them.
Veronica got to her feet and threw herself at Lauren knocking them both into the shallow water.
Roan gasped, taking a step back as Lauren stood, water pouring down her body.
Around her ankles, the water churned and frothed as if she was standing in a pool of starving piranhas.
Veronica’s body thrashed in the water.
Lauren leaned down as if to pull Veronica free from the lake, but she stumbled, blood seeping from her chest.
Santiago ran and grabbed her before she fell into the water again, pulling her farther up onto the shore.
Checking the injury, he saw the bullet was still lodged in her shoulder near the clavicle.
Cutter and two EMTs moved toward them.
“Everyone stay out of the water,” Santi ordered.
“Who the hell does he think he even needs to say that to?” Roan asked. No one approached the lake.
Santiago held Lauren against him. “You’re going to be okay,” he said.
“And that’s a fucking order, Ms. Green.” He lay her on the ground as one of the EMTs kneeled beside her.
The other one checked Julian’s head while his neighbor joked about trying to rescue the damsel in distress yet ending up needing to be the one rescued.
Wading into the lake, Santiago pulled Veronica onto the shore.
The waters calmed.
Both EMTs converged on Veronica’s body to perform CPR.
“Where’s McIntyre?” Santiago asked.
“He’s already heading down the mountain with the first ambulance,” Sonny said. “Either Tovin or Sam Ferriday stabbed him multiple times. He was bleeding out when I got to the front of the house.”
“Did I just kill someone too?” Lauren asked, looking at Veronica
“Did you see what the hell just happened?” Roan asked, dumbfounded. “What just fucking happened?” she shouted.
“Looked like Mrs. Archer kinda boiled to death—but without heat or being burned…maybe she was eaten by microscopic water creatures…I don’t…what the fuck,” Sonny breathed, rubbing a hand back and forth over his head.
Santiago learned that Tovin, the tow truck driver who’d towed Veronica’s car after the crash, was the man who’d attacked Sonny at the front of the house.
Turned out he not only worked with Tommy and Eddy at the garage, but along with Sam Ferriday, helped to dispose of a few residents that didn’t cooperate with Veronica Archer.
Lifting Lauren into his arms, he carried her to the ambulance. On the second story balcony, he was certain he saw the outline of a little girl. The figure was gone before he completed the thought.
Cutter arrived as the oldest of the EMTs told Santiago that Veronica Archer was dead.
“You head on over to the hospital with your woman,” Cutter said. “I’ll go break the news to the mayor…ex-mayor.”
In the ambulance Lauren was given meds and Santiago’s shallow chest wounds were cleaned.
“This isn’t over you know,” she said groggily.
He moved a few braids out of her face.
“What’s not over? What have we missed, little wren?”
“My mother. She’s going to be out for blood,” she mumbled. “I have never been shot before; been shot at but never shot.”
Santi smiled down at her, wiping a smear of blood from her neck.
“You’re blaming us for being better shots than you city folks?”
“Ma Mable is absolutely going to blame you. Figure out your cover story now.”
He pressed another kiss against her temple and closed his eyes.
She was safe, she would live.
He breathed deep, breathed her into his soul.
She wasn’t leaving him. Ever.
“Your mama can blame me all she wants. Hell, you can blame me, but you’ll be doing it by my side.
You try and do a Derrick on me, I will find you, shackle us together at the ankle, put a detail on you, whatever.
You’re mine, little wren, and I’ll fight you, your mama, and whoever else if they try to keep you from me. ”
He pressed his lips to her temple closing his eyes. “You’ve won. In the war between us, you are the victor. But I’m not letting you go.”
He leaned back with calm clarity.
If he was forced to, he’d become a deranged kidnapper to keep her, barricade them both in his house until his heart became her only home.
“I was just engaged to get married—”
“And that was a foolish on your part. But you turned it around, made the best choice, and ran straight into my arms.”
She laughed, then winced. “You literally threw me over your shoulder.” She smiled softly, her eyes crossing due to her growing sedation. “Like a caveman.” She slurred.
“Like an Appalachian Mountain man.”
“You could only do it,” she said, fighting to remain conscious. “Because I’m so…delicate and petite.”
The EMT snorted with derision, and Santiago’s laughter filled the cab.
“I absolutely did do it because you’re delicate and petite. I couldn’t have stopped it if I wanted to; couldn’t have stopped us if I wanted to.”
She was already unconscious when he said the words, but he planned to spend a lifetime on the lake proving how unstoppable they could be together.