Tides of Vengeance (The Montclair Brothers Book 4) (7 page)

“Well, here’s my castle. Stella will poke her head out in just a sec. She does that every time she hears tires on the gravel. She’ll be real excited that you’re here.”

“It looks like a very nice home,” said Brian, as his eyes moved up to the roof.

Ralph held the truck door open so Carrie could climb down. Before he shut the door, he gently took her by the elbow and whispered in her ear. “I just have to ask you one last time, not to let my wife see your gun. She’s petrified of ‘em. If you feel the need to shoot me, do it outside, and not in front of Stella. If you want to rob us, just tell me what you want, and I’ll give you all we’ve got. Like I said, I don’t think a cop and a kid will bring us harm, but I just have to make sure.”

Carrie pulled her head back and stared at his face. Suddenly he looked like the kindest, most gentle man in the world. But then again, a wolf could wear sheep’s clothing. If she were by herself, she’d let her guard down some, but protecting Brian made her unwilling to take any chances at all.

Carrie leaned in some and kept her voice low. “We don’t want to cause harm to you or your family, Ralph. The only reason I pulled my gun on you, is because you’d raised that shotgun at us. The only law I’ve ever broken was to snatch that kid out of his mother’s grasp. She will literally kill him. I won’t go into the gruesome details, but if you knew what they’d done to their own child, you’d help him to run for his life, too.”

“Fair enough,” said Ralph as he nodded his head. “He’ll be safe here.”

“Before we go inside, I need to know where this gun collection is that your wife is so
afraid
of.” Carrie looked hard into his eyes. She was ready to call the bullshit card.

“I can show it to you. There’s a footlocker in that shed back there. The guns belonged to my father, and they’re pretty old. I really don’t think they’d fire to be honest. I don’t have any ammunition for ‘em anyways. Heck, I haven’t even hunted in years, so I sold my rifle. That shotgun is the only weapon I keep loaded, and even that stays in the truck behind the seats. If Stella knew it was back there, hell, she’d never ride in it. Let me run inside and get the keys to unlock the shed and the chest.”

“That’s okay, Ralph. We’ll look at them later. Just so you have a heads up, Brian and I aren’t going to be separated for any reason. If he leaves a room, so will I. You also need to know that this .9mm in my purse, will be close at hand at all times. I’m not trying to freak you out, but I’ll protect that kid, even if I have to shoot someone to do it. You respect us, we’ll give you the same. That’s all I’m saying.”

Stella stepped out onto the porch, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. She was a petite woman, with short gray hair, and Carrie could see her smiling and waving as Ralph led them up the walkway.

“Ralph, you didn’t tell me we were expecting company! What a nice surprise!” She seemed as cheerful as Mrs. Claus, and Carrie felt herself being drawn to the woman.

“Sweetheart, this is Carrie, and that fine lad right there is Brian. They’re new friends I met, and they sure could use some good hospitality.” Ralph leaned down and kissed her cheek. The love in his eyes for the woman was obvious.

“I hope ya’ll are hungry. I have leftover meatloaf warming in the oven, and I just made a fresh batch of sweet tea.” She opened the screen door and went inside. “Come on in and sit a spell. Dinner will be ready shortly.”

The inside of the house reminded Carrie of an adorable, little cottage. She could tell that Stella took a lot of pride in her crocheting, by the many projects that were displayed. In the corner of the sofa was a large ball of yarn, and the beginnings of an afghan. It smelled like heaven the first time Carrie inhaled. Even if that meatloaf was made from cardboard, she was going to eat it. Her stomach was rumbling and so was Brian’s.

“How long are you folks in town for?” Stella asked loudly. Carrie didn’t want to yell back to answer, because she honestly had no idea how to answer the question. Brian looked over at her immediately.

“Honey! Let’s wait until we’re all in the same room before we start talking. I doubt they’re used to hollering through walls.” Ralph’s cheeks reddened, but he laughed.

Carrie looked around the room and couldn’t spot a single photograph of any babies. There was a framed picture on the end table of two young boys, and one of them was obviously Ralph. She lifted the picture up and held it in front of her. “This has to be you, Ralph. Is this a brother or cousin?” she asked while pointing to the boy Ralph had his arm around.

“Now’s a good a time as any to tell you, I guess. I’ll need to keep my voice down so she doesn’t hear me.” He pointed his thumb towards the kitchen. “That’s Johnny, my only sibling. Stella isn’t in this picture with my brother, but I have a couple of the three of us from back then. I’ve known her all my life.” Ralph paused and smiled. “We were raised in the same church and all, so our families spent a lot of time together. After service one Sunday, me, Stella, and Johnny, went to our barn and jumped around on the bales of hay, just like we did on a thousand other Sundays. Then all of a sudden, me and Stella noticed that we were the only ones playing. We knew Johnny didn’t leave the barn, so we figured he was hiding. I began to laugh and start shoving the hay around, hoping to make him laugh and give himself away, but instead, we heard the loudest racket we’d ever heard. Johnny had discovered one of daddy’s guns propped up in the back of the barn. He accidently shot himself in the chest with it. That’s why Stella is terrified of them.”

Before Carrie could respond, Stella yelled for everyone to “Come and get it!” Her stomach went instantly into a knot and Brian’s face turned white. Ralph immediately got up and led them to the table.

Carrie tried her hardest to maintain a smile and concentrate on eating, but her heart was breaking. The boys in that picture couldn’t have been any older than ten. Now all the comments Ralph had made about Stella being afraid of guns, and to shoot him outside, if that was the plan, made more sense. She felt as if she’d witnessed the event herself, through Stella’s eyes. Brian looked just as affected.

Ralph asked them to hold hands and bow their heads. He said Grace and then right before the end of the prayer, he gave Carrie’s hand two quick squeezes.

“I think it’d be right nice to have Carrie and Brian stay the night with us tonight. They’re hiking on their journey, Stella, and before you know it, it’ll be night time out there.” Ralph looked at Carrie briefly as if to get her silent permission to have asked that.

“Oh, Ralph! What a wonderful idea. We have a spare room with two double beds in it. I hope you say you’ll stay.” Stella looked at Carrie with puppy dog eyes.

“We’d love to,” replied Brian, without even giving her time to say a word.

“Yes, we’d really appreciate it. Your meatloaf is amazing, Stella. Thank you.” Carrie had to admit it was the best she’d ever tasted.

“We’ll have a fun day tomorrow if ya’ll can stay. I’ll pick us up stuff for a BBQ!” Her eyes seemed to be smiling as much as her mouth.

“I’ll take Carrie and Brian into town so we can pick up anything else they’ll need for their journey. Just write me out a list, Sweetheart.” He winked lovingly at her.

“I think that’s a fine idea. Take them into town and let them look around. Just remember to remove that damn shotgun out from behind the seat before they get in,” Stella said calmly, as she lifted a buttered piece of corn on the cob to her lips.

Chapter 7

T
yler had never
been so excited to have the workday end. One more hour, and he could fly out of the parking lot and leave Montclair Pharmaceuticals in his wake. He’d take off now if he wouldn’t have to come face to face with most of the staff. They all left at five, so he figured if he waited until five fifteen, he’d be safe. Tyler had spent most of the day chanting, “What the hell?” and staring out the window. Renee showed up at noon, just as they’d planned, only she went straight for an Emmy.

“How. Could. You?!” He didn’t know what she was thinking about to make the tears spring from her eyes that fast, but it must have been a doozy.

“Renee,” he’d explained, though without the waterworks, “I had no choice. Sean and Elissa were practically doing it in the cafeteria! Then the bastard threw a punch at me!”

“Your. Own. Flesh. And. Blood!” She’d paused to sob for a moment, before her final stage act. “You’ll be sleeping on the couch for the rest of your life!” She ran out of the lobby, continuing to gasp.

“Mr. Montclair,” interrupted the receptionist. When he could no longer see Renee, he turned to face the young woman, waiting for her to ask if she should call the cops, like everyone else was asking today. But instead, she offered a new question. “Is there something wrong?”

Something wrong
?
Yes, this whole day is wrong. As a matter of fact, my flippin’ life is wrong. How about every answer I have ever offered is wrong. Or perhaps trusting that this damn thing would go smoothly, was definitely wrong. Wrong
?
Yes. Everything
….
is allllll wrong
! he thought. “No, everything is just fine,” as he clenched his jaw.

He stormed out of the lobby like it was on fire, only to end up in a crowded elevator. Everyone was staring at him and mumbling, but he couldn’t hear what was being said, which was probably a good thing. As foul as he felt, he’d have fired them all.

For Tyler, the clock seemed to have stopped moving. Since Renee had left, she’d called him five times to see if he’d heard anything from Sean, Elissa, Carrie, or Brian. To keep his temper at bay, he’d forwarded all of his calls to Emma, and told her he’d meet with her at the end of the work day. Tyler knew he’d have to get his messages from her soon, and he prayed she was in a decent state of mind when he did so. Just when he thought he couldn’t handle anymore crazy for today, Emma came barging into his office.

“I need more boxes! I can’t believe that we don’t have enough spare boxes!” She threw her body down into the chair across from his desk. “
Then
! You have Renee calling me left and right.
And
! Your brother has so much shit
in his office. Poor Elissa had just a few things that needed to be packed up, but Sean?
Sean
! He has so much shit
in there, Tyler. Go look at it! I’m going to be here until midnight packing up his
shit
! Do you know what I get to use to pack his
shit
in now? Now! I get to use garbage bags. Big, ugly, black, garbage bags! You knew this was happening today, so why didn’t you ask him to kindly remove all of his…let’s see…model cars, the thousand clocks, the horse statues…Do you guys even have, or have you ever owned…
horses
?! No! Jacob had a meeting scheduled after the big hoopla downstairs, so that leaves me with zero help!
Zero
!”

“Emma, I’m really sorry. I had no idea that my brother was such a hoarder. I’m super exhausted, and my mind is completely broken, but I can come and help you.”

“Thank you! I’d really appreciate it!” Emma said angrily as she got up and flew out of the office.

“Damn,” Tyler mumbled. He was really hoping she wouldn’t take him up on his offer.

“Are you coming?!” She yelled down the hall from in front of Sean’s office door.

Kill me now
, thought Tyler, as he stood up from his chair.

When he walked into Sean’s office, he could clearly understand Emma’s frustration. She was doing better than he would have done, though. He’d have packed this crap in an urn, after he set fire to the room. Tyler picked up one of the large, black trash bags.

“Hold this open for me. We’re going to do this the Tyler way.” Emma looked at him suspiciously but did as she was told. Tyler sat on Sean’s chair and pulled out each drawer, one by one, and dumped the contents in the bag.

“Tyler, we have to label everything. Look at what you’re doing….you’re just dumping it all in one big pile!” She sighed loudly at him.

“Get another bag, Emma.” Tyler went to the book shelf and, after a few more bags, he emptied it as well. “The files stay. Those are Montclair Pharmaceutical’s property.”

“You’re not seeing everything! Look at this!” She slid open both sides of a cabinet, and inside were all kinds of models: trains, cars, and boats that he’d built and painted.

“Yeah he always enjoyed doing stuff like that. Get me another garbage bag, Em. Keep them coming until we’re done.”

“We can’t put these in garbage bags without protecting them. They’ll get all busted up.”

“We don’t have boxes, so unless you’re willing to carry each piece from the twelfth floor all the way down to receiving, where the storage room is, then it looks like the garbage bags are gonna win.”

“Can we at least wrap them?” Now was not the time for guilt-ridden Emma to surface and make this job harder than what it had to be.

“Do you have packing paper, Emma?” Tyler fought to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

“No, but we can use a lot of tissue or toilet paper…”

“I have something we can wrap these things in.” Tyler smiled. His insides were steaming.

“Oh good…that way—” Emma gasped. “What are you doing?!”

“Getting your packing supplies.” Tyler tore down the drapes, spread them out on the floor, and placed each one of Sean’s toys on the expensive fabric. He rolled them into a nice ball, before placing them in a garbage bag. “See? Problem solved.”

Emma stood there speechless, while Tyler pushed a button on Sean’s phone and asked for a dolly to be brought to the twelfth floor. After he hung up, He took a sheet of paper from the printer, taped it on the side of the bag, and with a black marker, he wrote “Sean’s Toys. Fragile. For 1
st
grade show and tell.”

“He’s going to kill you.” Emma quieted her voice.

“As long as no one kicks it down the steps, it’ll be fine.” Tyler stood up and dusted his hands off. “Is that it, Emma?”

“You know, Ty. I’ve had a horrible day, but yours must have been twenty times worse. I’m sorry I made you my sounding board. You didn’t have to come here and help me. I’d just been at it for hours, while trying to do my own work. I didn’t even stop for lunch.” Emma walked over and gave him a tight hug. “This really will all work out for the best, Ty, you have to believe that.”

The hug felt good to Tyler, and he was glad Emma was there to share the misery of the day with him. When, and if, he ever made it home, all he wanted to do was collapse in bed and shut out the world, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“Let’s call it a night, Em. I’ll see you in the morning. If you’d like to come in a few hours late, you can. You deserve a break. I’m going to push this stuff down to the storage room, then I can head home and listen to Renee’s endless questions. I don’t blame her for wanting to know what’s going on, I just don’t have any answers.”

“Brian’s
missing
, Tyler. He’s her son too. Any reactions, questions or craziness that comes from her, is completely normal. Until she knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’s safe, she’ll be like this. She’s scared, Tyler.” Emma kissed his cheek and made him promise to call her if he couldn’t sleep, or if he just needed to talk.

Three trips down to the storage room later, Tyler locked up his office and headed home. He’d totally forgotten to get the messages from Emma, but his brain didn’t have any cells left that were capable of solving anything.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

On the drive home, Tyler’s cell phone rang. He wasn’t going to answer it until he read his brother’s name on the display.

“Okay, Vinnie, I’m really not in the mood to hear about anything pertaining to the mess we’re in.”

“Ty, I’ll save the ‘Gee, that sure was a great plan’ crap for another time. I was calling you with some good news, Bro. Figured you could use some.”

“Good news? Hell yeah, I want some.” Tyler didn’t know what it could be.

“I received a call today from William Furrow, the prosecuting attorney, and he said that Lucy Atkins will be testifying that Robert Preston is nothing but a sociopath and that there’d be no help in a mental health facility that’s going to be of benefit to him. Robert is going back to prison. Furrow’s just waiting on the paperwork to come across his desk, then the judge can make a ruling.” Vincent beeped his horn and yelled at someone on the road.

“Wow, Renee is going to be pretty stoked about that. I’ll make sure and tell her the minute I get home. Thanks, Vin…for everything.” Tyler didn’t know what he’d do without his little brother.

“Hey, it’s us against the world, right? I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Get some sleep.”

Tyler could tell Vincent would have liked to discuss today’s events, as if he was writing a brief for a case. Because the brothers knew each other to the tee, Vincent was well aware of Tyler’s boiling point, and that he was fast approaching it.

When he pulled up in the garage at home, he shut off the car and sat there for a minute. There was no way he could handle everything that was going to come at him from the other side of the door, until he had a chance to calm himself down. He’d never forgive himself if he royally lashed out at Renee. He loved her with every ounce of his being, and right now, he was afraid he’d lose it. She wasn’t irritating him, but here he was, the head of the family, and he’d failed in his promise to keep Brian safe. His big answer: Give the kid money to disappear.
Good plan, Montclair…good plan.
And now, Brian is missing, and so is Carrie. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

The sounds of the passenger door opening startled him awake. Renee, in her yellow pj’s and slippers, slid onto the seat and closed her door.

“Honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to doze off out here. Let’s get you back in the house.” Tyler rubbed at his eyes.

“No, Tyler. It’s just you, me, and that wall in front of us, which means, no interruptions or distractions.” Renee turned her body so she could face him.

“Is something wrong? Are you sick? The baby’s okay?” The panic rose in his chest.

“We’re fine, Tyler. Well, physically that is. But I’ve been an emotional wreck, ever since Brian had his court date yesterday.” She reached over and held his hands.

“I haven’t been very attentive to you, and that’s another thing I’m kicking myself for.” He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them. “I have some good news that’ll probably cheer you up.”

“For now, Tyler, we need to fix us. You’ve been avoiding me, and I understand why. But you have to know how much my heart is aching for both you and Brian. I feel like our family is completely destroyed right now.” She sniffled and Tyler wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest.

“I feel guilty for not planning Brian’s escape better than what I did. Now, we have no idea where he is, or if he’s safe. Renee, I’m so sorry for how I handled things.” Tyler swallowed back his own tears.

“Baby, you laid down the only cards we had to play. I thank you for doing what you did. I’m not upset with you in any way, and your plan was a whole lot better than mine. I really was going to kill Shirley, right there in the middle of the damn courtroom.” She lifted her head and wiped her face with the front of her pj’s. “So let’s try and remember we’re on the same team, okay?”

“You have yourself a deal. I promise to let you know any details, the minute I hear about them. I love you so much, Renee. We’ll have our family back together, I promise. Sean and Elissa will dig up any evidence that exists against Hank and Shirley, and Carrie will protect Brian with her life. Right now, we have to keep the faith in our family.” Tyler lifted her chin and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

Renee nodded her head and gently patted his face. “Now tell me your good news.”

“Vincent called while I was driving home. Robert’s going back to prison.” Tyler looked into her eyes and smiled wide, but it quickly faded when he saw the look of anger on Renee’s face.

“They already had the hearing?”

“No baby, I’ll let you know when it is. We’ll go to court so you can be present.” He knew she’d need to be there. Missing Robert’s verdicts had devastated her. Tyler had no intention of going through that again.

“I made some lasagna. Are you hungry?” She asked as she climbed out of the car.

“I am now,” Tyler laughed. He walked around the car and wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you for this.”

“Thank you for saving our son,” she whispered.

Tyler’s gut began to twist again.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Brian ate two helpings of the delicious meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and corn, and downed two large glasses of sweet tea. Looking at his face, and knowing the kid was no longer starving, filled her with a huge sense of relief. Carrie offered to do the dishes, but Stella didn’t accept her offer.