Micah (21 page)

“
You are required to
answer the questions, Mrs. Bentley. If not…if you do not, then this
case will not be closed.” Max Key took a step back when she growled
at him again. “Mrs. Bentley, I’m going to have to ask you again to
stop doing that. It’s very unnerving.”

“
How the hell do you think
I feel when you ask me the same five questions over and over? Fuck
man, don’t you have them written down somewhere? You’ve been going
on about shit since I sat down here.” Key looked at the judge and
so did Reggie. “I’ve been sitting in this hard-assed chair for
nearly three hours. I’ve been nice…well, semi-nice…and not gotten
up and left. But I swear to you, I will hurt the man if he doesn’t
get this over with.”

The room laughed a little and the
judge, hard pressed not to join them, slammed his gavel on the
desk. He had to look away twice, Joey noticed, before he
spoke.

“
Mr. Key, I’m sure that by
now you have to have learned all you can about their ride to the
farm. And if you ask her again where she was when she was released
from said van, I might hurt you myself. Christ man, I think the
chairs are aware that she had no idea where she was.” He looked at
Reggie then. “While I do thank you for your patience, do you think
you could refrain from threatening the lawyer? He’s going to piss
himself if you don’t.”

“
Okay. But I’m not making
any promises.” Joey laughed. He couldn’t help it. When Reggie
winked at him, he realized what she was doing. Christ, the woman
was a jewel. She was making this stupid affair just what it was, a
stupid affair. No one, including the judge, could see the reason
for all this.

It had been nearly a month since
they’d discovered the last of the bodies on the farms. Three had
been found in the back yard of the home of Nestor. They were old
and had been there since about the time he’d signed his lease.
There had been nine at his brother’s home. Four of them had been
there for a while as well, but five of them had been there less
than a year. But it was their mother’s farm where they’d been
digging the longest. It had been so bad that they’d had to bring in
extra men and women just to keep them all straight. Then they’d
found the body of Mrs. Curtis.

Finding out that she wasn’t their
mother had been a shock. Furthermore, finding out that the twins,
born Roman and Duncan O’Neil, had been kidnapped some years before
hadn’t really been a big surprise once they found out through DNA
who they were. That their mother and father had been killed over
fifty years ago and buried in the yard as well had been sort of an
anticlimactic ending to their fucked up lives.

The mother had taught her sons well,
it seemed. She’d murdered the couple that had given life to the
twins, and anyone else, it appeared, who came and upset her.
Thinking this thing was finally being put to rest, he was surprised
when Keys sent him notice that he was working on behalf of the
families and suing Regina Bentley for her part in the murders. Of
course, Joey wasn’t able to contact any of them because it was part
of the on-going investigation.

He looked behind him when someone
touched his shoulder. Micah handed him a file and Joey nodded.
Things were moving along now. Not without strife with Reggie and
Keys, but they were moving. They were up to the part where she’d
killed Keith when he opened the file his brother had given
him.

The farm and all the land
surrounding it is no longer up for auction. Not sure why you’d want
to buy it with the thought of finding more horrific things on it,
but the house is set to be torn down tomorrow.
Joey nodded as he read over the file.
I’ve done what you’ve asked. Now tell me why I did it for
you. But I think it’s foolhardy of you. What are you going to do
with five thousand acres?

You’d be surprised what a
man could do with so much land.
He had put
a bid in two weeks ago. And going to his brother about it, he’d
found out that he wasn’t just the highest bidder, but the only
one.
I’m going to have a lovely house put
there and raise horses. I have this friend who’s a cat too, a
cougar, who has ten that he’s going to sell me cheap.

He felt his brother’s laughter, but
Joey didn’t care. He needed this…more than he’d thought he’d needed
anything in his life. And he knew…him and his dad had talked about
it a great deal before he’d been killed. Joey looked up at Reggie
and winked at her. When she smiled back, he knew that she
understood that he’d gotten what he wanted.

“
Your honor, I have to
pee.” She looked at him, then back at the judge when he started
coughing around his laughter. “Should I have said I need to use the
facility?”

“
No.” The judge laughed
again. “You are a treat, Mrs. Bentley. A real treat. Court is
taking an hour recess.”

“
I only have to pee. I
don’t really need an hour.” He was still laughing at her when he
made his way to the chambers. Reggie made her way to Joey and
Micah, and after a quick hug, ran out of the court room.
Apparently, she really did have to use the facilities. When she
returned, he showed her the deed and she hugged him again. Joey was
so glad now that he’d told her about it. Having a sister was better
than having five brothers sometimes.

“
When do you take
possession?” She danced around the room, nearly pinging off the
walls. “I’m so happy for you. You’ll be so successful at it, I just
know it.”

“
It’s mine now. Micah
called in the dozers today for me. And I hope so about being
successful.” He looked down at the papers again, declaring him a
land owner. He had his own house, but it was on his mom’s property.
He’d wanted his own, something that he bought and paid for with his
own money. No one seemed to understand that more than Reggie did.
“You’ll have to come out with me to look the land over.”

It was as if a light had been taken
from her eyes. He’d nearly told her he was sorry, but she backed
from him…still smiling, but it was forced and he hated himself for
it. Walking to her, she took a step back, and his heart twisted in
his chest.

“
Don’t be upset. I
just…not yet. When you make it yours with a new house and barn,
I’ll be better. But for now, I’m not ready to go there. You
understand, don’t you?” He nodded. “Good. I’m really going to go
when you have it all done. I promise. But for now I can’t. It’s too
new, too fresh for me.”

“
I’m sorry, love, I didn’t
mean to bring you down.” She waved him off and told them she had to
make sure she didn’t have to pee again. When she walked away, Joey
looked at Micah. “I hurt her.”

“
No, you didn’t. It’s like
she said, it’s too new. But she is happy for you. Not only that,
but she’s planning to go horseback riding as soon as you have
things ready.” Micah looked at him. “Joey, about the other thing.
What have you figured out? Has she…are the papers signed
yet?”

“
She’ll be there today.”
Micah nodded, then sat down hard. “You knew it was soon, Micah.
Grandda and Grandma told you that she was ready to deliver a week
ago. She’s been born. You’re a father.”

“
I hope we can make this
work. I know nothing about babies.” Joey had no idea either. Very
little about kids in general. “When they told us what was going on,
Reggie was terrified. Me too, as a matter of fact. To have a
newborn, such a little thing in our care. What the hell do we do if
it hates us?”

“
I’m sure it won’t.” At
least Joey didn’t think it worked that way. “And Mom has been
talking to you about stuff. I know you have the nursery set up the
way she said. I’m glad she helped you. Christ, the stuff we thought
you’d need was way less than she said you’d need.”

“
No kidding.” Micah stood
up when Reggie walked into the room. She was still sad, and he
could see the tear stains on her cheeks, but he kissed her there
and told her he loved her. Micah sat down when she made her way up
to the seat again. At five minutes until they were going to begin
again, the bailiff came and got them both. He took them to the
judge’s chambers.

“
This is a waste of time
and money.” Keys started to speak but was cut off by the judge.
“What the hell do you hope to accomplish by having this poor woman
dragged through this again and again? The bad guys did it, Mr.
Keys, and they’re both dead.”

“
And she gets away with
their murder.” Joey started to hit the man, but Reggie moved
between him and Keys. “You want to do something to me, Bentley? Are
you going to buy your way out of this for your new sister-in-law?
You think you’re better than the rest of us? Well, you’re
not.”

“
You think…are you doing
this because of me?” Joey watched the man’s face and could see that
it was true. “Are you saying that had she not been related to me,
by marriage or blood, you wouldn’t have pursued this? Christ man,
what did I ever do to you that would make you do this?”

“
You and your fucking fat
success have been rubbed in my face since you passed me in
college.” Joey had to think what the fuck the man was talking
about. “I should have been valedictorian, not you. I had the better
grades until you went and took that extra course that gave you the
extra one tenth of a point more than me.”

“
Are you fucking serious?”
Joey didn’t even try to curb Reggie this time but sat down. Christ,
all this because he’d been better in college than him? It boggled
the mind.

“
Stay out of this. You
should have been arrested when you were found out there, not taken
to your home to be pampered like a queen.” Joey stood up then and
started to tell him she’d nearly died when Keys spoke again.
“You’re no better than he is.”

“
Well thank you very much
for that.” When she looked at him, then back at Keys, Joey sat back
down. Whatever happened now was all on Keys. “You made that sound
like it was supposed to be an insult, but it’s not. He’s a good
man, better than most I know. All of the Bentley men are. And if I
were one right now, I’d knock you down a few pegs for what you just
put me through.”

“
You have no idea what
else I have in store for you.” She laughed at Keys and leaned back
in the chair. Joey noticed the bailiff walk in the room, along with
a cop. This might be bad but right now, he didn’t care. “I’m going
to make your life a living hell. Bring you and that fucking family
down with every question you don’t answer. And then I’m going to go
out to the reporters and tell them that you’re not as saintly as
they’d been led to believe.”

“
I’m not going to let you
do that. This family is a good family. You’re a mean and vindictive
man. I want you to—”

“
Fuck what you want. I
don’t care. I’m going to lie to them to make you look bad. And in
turn make the powerful Bentleys look bad.” Reggie asked him what he
hoped to get out of this. “I’m going to stand over them when
they’re taken off their pedestal and piss on them while they’re
down.”

“
You’re nuts. Did you know
that you just threatened me? And my family?” Keys looked at him,
then at Reggie again. “You just don’t care, do you? You’re that far
gone in your jealousy that you just don’t see how stupid this
is.”

His fist connected with her jaw in a
blink. Joey stood up but was knocked back when the cop leapt over a
desk and took him to the floor. The harder Joey struggled the more
the cop held him down. It wasn’t until he heard the scream that the
cop let him up enough to look. For as long as he lived, he’d never
forget what was there.

~~~

Micah was so mad that he could hardly
see around it. Not at Reggie, though why she’d done it was beyond
him. But at everyone else who’d been in that room with them and not
saved her from being hit. He looked at the bruise on her jaw and
felt his cat rub along his skin to be let loose to do some major
ass kicking.

“
Tell him I’m fine.” Micah
growled at Reggie, and she laughed. “You’re adorable when you’re
all protective like this. You should see yourself. Your eyes are
all red. Your skin keeps taking on this dark fur. If you keep this
up, I’m going to have your grandda take you home.”

“
He could have hurt you.
Hurt you worse than he did.” She grinned at him. “This is not the
least bit funny, Reggie. He hit you.”

“
He did. And hard too, but
I think I got him back.” Micah was pretty sure that was what was
making him the pissiest…that he’d not been there to protect her
again. “I had it under control, Micah. I wasn’t even afraid this
time.”

“
He hit you.” She just
smiled at him and patted him on the cheek. When Joey had called him
in, he’d been terrified. But his brother was laughing so hard it
had taken him coming in to see her to verify that she was all
right. And the fact that Keys was still screaming like a little
girl had him laughing with Joey. Until he saw Reggie’s
face.

It was all he’d been able to do not to
kill the man. To have hit her…well, that fucker wasn’t going to get
the chance again to hit anyone. Micah did grin when he thought of
the sight that he’d come into when he’d entered the
room.

Reggie had shifted. Not fully, which
had both terrified him and impressed him. Being a full blood, he
could bring his claws out, even his fur if he wasn’t careful, but
her being able to do it had been a surprise. And the fact that
she’d held Keys by the balls, her fur-coated arm with the very
sharp and very lethal claws at the end holding him a good three
inches off the floor, had him laugh just a little. Not to mention,
she was calmly telling him that he was going to behave himself for
the rest of his life or she’d come back, find him, and let her cat
eat him.