The Reckoning (12 page)

“That we’re all crazy.”

“Well, that’s a given… okay, now what am I thinking?”

Elizabeth
cleared her head and thought about the one thing that Mike had told her. “
You have a half-sister.
”

“I most certainly do not!” Claire said.

Mike looked up at Claire. “What was she thinking?”

Claire narrowed her eyes. “She seems to think I have a half-sister.”

Elizabeth
turned toward Mike and raised her brow. She hadn’t been expecting that Claire could actually read her mind. She’d thought of the one thing she would have never guessed.

Mike glanced at her. “Why couldn’t you have thought of a number or color or something else?”

Elizabeth
shrugged. “I tried to think of the only thing she wouldn’t be able to guess.”

Claire crossed her arms over her chest and raised her brow. “Michael Bennett, don’t make me read your mind. You better tell me now why she would think that.”

Mike sighed. “Let’s finish telling
Elizabeth
first, and when Abby gets here, I’ll tell you why she believes that.”

Elizabeth
turned back to Mike. “What about Abby? What can she do? Leap buildings in a single bound?”

Mike smiled and took her hand. “Nothing cool like that. She has the gift of psychometry. Do you know what that is?”

Elizabeth
smirked. “I learned about it in college. She can touch objects and get premonitions.”

“Something like that. When she touches objects, she goes back to a place in the past where the object once was.”

Elizabeth
laughed. That was all she could do. “Must be hell for her owning antiques.”

Claire giggled. “I haven’t thought of that. That must be why she buys everything new.”

Claire had proved it.
Elizabeth
was turning into a believer. She turned toward Mike. “What’s yours?”

Elizabeth
watched as Mike’s cheeks turned red. She’d never known him to get embarrassed about anything. She was intrigued. “Well?”

“I can touch someone and witness things that just happened. It plays in my head like a movie in living color.”

Elizabeth
nodded. “Oh I get it; that’s why you’re so good at your job.”

Mike frowned.

Elizabeth
reached for his arm and squeezed. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that was how you knew about the parking garage. I almost ran into you when I went into the hospital. You knew what had happened, didn’t you?”

Mike grinned and took her hand. “I swear,
Elizabeth
. I was going to tell you tonight.”

Abby, Sam, and Thompson walked in. “Tell her what?” Abby said, pulling out a chair and filling her plate. Sam sat beside her, but Thompson remained standing.

“I ruined it, Mom. I told her about the redhead that I’ve been dreaming of and mentioned Aunt Emma’s gift. I thought she knew.”

Abby leaned over and kissed her son on the cheek. “He was going to tell her anyway, so don’t sweat it, kid.”

Abby took a bite of lasagna and asked between bites. “Does she believe us?”

Elizabeth
answered for herself. “She does now.”

Abby nodded. “Good, welcome to the family.”

Mike turned toward Thompson. “What’s the update? What are the feds charging him with?”

Thompson looked down at his feet and mumbled.

“What did you say?” Mike asked, pushing his chair back and standing.

“It’s not good,” Thompson said louder.

“Why is that? We caught him red-handed slashing her tires. Even if they couldn’t have gotten him on stalking, they could keep him for destruction of property.”

Thompson held his out, palms up. “Mike, he’s offered up information on Winter’s and help with the blue drug in exchange for getting
Elizabeth
to drop the charges. He’s adamant we get nothing, if we don’t convince
Elizabeth
that he doesn’t mean her any harm.”

Mike advanced on Thompson. Butch stepped between them. “Old friend, I suggest you start talking, or for Claire’s sake, I’m going to take a swing at you myself.”

“The professor mentioned Winters during question, but then turned a tight lip. He refuses to talk at all until you get
Elizabeth
to drop the charges. Why he cares about that is beyond me, when with a little bit of digging the feds will get him on something bigger. Right now, the only thing they got is what he did to
Elizabeth
’s car. He’s also the only one that knows about the blue stuff. That’s all I know right now. I swear it.”

Butch threw his arm around Mike and walked him back to his chair. “This throws a wrench in things, and we’ll figure out what he has on Winters, but right now, we need to think about
Elizabeth
. If this asshole is out running the streets, she can’t go home.”

Elizabeth
searched her mind for mention of the name Winters and came up blank. She’d never heard it before, not in the few years that she’d been in Southall. “Who’s Winters?”

Every eye in the room turned on her like she was speaking in a foreign language.

Claire cleared her throat. “He’s the guy who killed our father.”

Oh god. They either had to let go of her psycho or lose the lead on their father’s killer. It made sense now. There was no way she could take that away from them. She turned to Thompson. “I’ll drop the charges.”

Thompson nodded.

Mike grabbed her hand. “
Elizabeth
, you don’t know what you’re saying. This is the one chance to get your life back and to finally stop running.”

Elizabeth
cupped his cheek. “It’s too important. I can deal with the psycho, but it seems to me, you all,”—she gestured to the entire table with her free hand—“have come up empty for a lot of years. It’s time you have your answers, and if I can play a small part in giving that to you then you need to let me.”

Mike leaned in and pressed his lips to hers before he pulled back and shook his head. He turned to Thompson. “No deal. There isn’t a damn thing we can do to bring our dad back, and as much as I want the bastard to hang, I’m not letting
Elizabeth
’s life be the bargaining chip. If the only way to keep him in custody is the slashing of the tires; then no deal.”

Elizabeth
pushed from her chair and stood crossing her arms over her chest. The last time she’d checked, she’d never given him the power to decide. It was her decision, and Mike Bennett wasn’t going to make it for her. The fact that he didn’t want to see her get hurt touched and warmed her heart more than words could say, but she wasn’t about to let him throw away his one shot at finding out the truth. “Thompson, Mike doesn’t have the right to speak for me; make the deal and get him to talk.”

Elizabeth
walked out of the room toward the library where she’d spent some time earlier and plopped down on a couch. She’d done the right thing, and she knew it. She wouldn’t be changing her mind, no matter what any of them said.
Elizabeth
leaned her head back on the couch and closed her eyes.

She didn’t know how long she stayed in that position or when she’d fallen asleep, but she opened her eyes when she’d heard the door creak. She thought that Mike might have been the one to come find her, but it was his sisters. Emma, Abby, and Claire walked in with a bottle of wine and four glasses.

Elizabeth
rubbed her eyes.

“We didn’t mean to wake you, but from the looks of it, you should probably thank us; otherwise your neck would be hurting in the morning.” Claire said

Elizabeth
grinned. She really did like the Bennett women. They were strong and loved each other. Everything she felt with her own family, these women also had it in spades.

Claire sat down beside her. “You do too. That’s why we like you.”

Elizabeth
dropped her grin. “Were you reading my mind?”

Claire’s cheek’s reddened. “Sorry, once I drop the wall, sometimes I forget to put it back up. It won’t happen again.”

Claire set the glasses down and filled them up, handing her one. “I want to thank you for what you did earlier.”

Elizabeth
waved her hand. “You would have done the same thing.”

Claire shook her head. “That’s not what I’m talking about.” Claire took a sip of her wine and turned toward her. “I’m thanking you for telling us about our half-sister. Mike had it in his mind that he didn’t want any of us to get hurt by our father’s previous marriage.”

Elizabeth
glanced down at her hands. “I’m sorry about that. It wasn’t my place to tell you.”

Claire smiled. “Don’t be ridiculous. We need to keep these men straight around here.”

Emma took a seat on the other side of her. “Now, as for the plea bargain, you’re wrong. Your safety, and sanity come first. You shouldn’t have made that deal.”

Elizabeth
stood and walked past the women. “I know you don’t like my decision, but if there’s even a thread of truth to what Professor Ito,” –
Elizabeth
smiled at Abby, who nodded—“said, then I can’t take that away from Mike or any of you.”

Elizabeth
took a sip of her wine. “Besides, I have every bit of faith that Mike will keep me safe.”

Abby stood, walked over to
Elizabeth
, and threw her arm around her shoulder. “Welcome to the family, Elizabeth. If I know Claire, you’ve just proven yourself as one of us, and she’ll have you married in no time.”

Elizabeth
stepped out of Abby’s embrace. “That’s not why I did this. I don’t want to marry Mike.”

Claire stood. “We know you have a good heart, and that was why you did it. We’ll just wait and see if Mike is smart enough to figure things out.”

Emma laughed. “Claire, I know you better than that. You’re going to give him a shove in the right direction, aren’t you?”

Claire pointed at herself. “Why, Emma, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Abby plopped back down in her chair. “Okay, ladies, we need to figure out this sister business because I have a feeling she’s the one wreaking havoc with our gifts.”

They all sat back down. “Ever since John started having his dreams about the redhead the other day, it seems that our Emma’s gifts have turned funky. Mike and I were at the station earlier today and we were both hit with an intense energy that we couldn’t explain. Mike tried to explain it as an increase in his emotions, but to me, it felt like a surge of raw energy.”

Abby glanced at Emma. “Even you are picking up on stuff that wasn’t meant for any of us. Have you asked Momma Mae about it?”

Emma shook her head. “She hasn’t been around, and come to think of it, she hasn’t since the first incident. I bet that’s why she’s hiding from me.”

Elizabeth
glanced around the room at the women she’d come to admire and hoped that the guess she was about to make was accurate.
Elizabeth
stood and started pacing in the library. “Maybe she has powers too, and somehow, hers affect yours.”
Elizabeth
stopped and turned toward them. “Since it hasn’t been consistent, there has to be a commonality.”
Elizabeth
picked up her wine glass and addressed Emma. “Where were you when you got hit with your massive PMS symptoms?”

“At my café.”

Elizabeth
turned toward Abby. “And Abby, you said you were at the station with Mike?”

“Yep, where are you going with this,
Elizabeth
?”

Elizabeth
sipped her wine. She couldn’t believe she was throwing this out there. “Emma, do you have security cameras in place at the café.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “The guys wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Elizabeth
gestured toward Abby. “And I’m sure you have them at the station. Why don’t you compare notes? Pull up the video from both times and see if you can find the same person at both places. I’m betting she’s a redhead and John could pick her out.”

Abby jumped up. “You’re a genius.” Abby nodded. “Definitely sister material. I don’t think there’s anything the four of us couldn’t handle.”

Abby pulled the clip from her phone and was speaking with someone named Ted when the door opened again and the guys filled the library. Mike strolled over to her, took the glass out of her hand, and set it down on the table. “It think it’s time to go, Doc.”

“Wait, we were just—”

Mike cut her off by pressing his lips to hers.

Claire cleared her throat. “It’s okay,
Elizabeth
. How about we meet up tomorrow at the café and we can test your theory?”

Elizabeth
smiled. It appeared that Claire could keep a secret of her own.
Elizabeth
nodded. “Good idea.”