Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (77 page)

“
Dad said I had to come say
good-bye,” Allen said from the doorway, irritated.

Emily crossed her arms, “You know… I’m
half tempted to make you go with us.”

“
Like you could make me do
anything,” Allen laughed.

Emily glanced at Chevalier, who stood
behind Allen and he nodded.

“
I’m your mother. I can
make you do whatever I want. Drop the attitude with me,” Emily said
angrily.

“
I wish you
weren’t.”

“
You will show me some
respect.” Emily’s body tensed. She hated the thought of what she
was about to do.

Allen crouched, an evil grin on his
face, “I don’t respect mortals.”

Emily shut her eyes and a tear fell as
Allen dropped to his knees, screaming. The pain was only a few
seconds, but Emily wanted to run to him and comfort him.

Allen got to his feet slowly and
glared at her, “Don’t do that again.”

“
If you’ll drop the
attitude, I won’t have to,” Emily told him.

Allen crouched slightly, and a small
scream escaped as he turned to ash.

“
Emily!” Chevalier gasped,
and looked down at his son.

Silas frowned, “That was
harsh.”

Emily took a step back and spun
suddenly toward Alexis, who was crying on the bed. She ran to the
baby and knelt down by her, “No, no, Baby, we don’t do
that.”

Chevalier looked over at them with
wide eyes, “That wasn’t you?”

Emily shook her head and picked Alexis
up, “He scared her.”

“
Did you know she could do
that?” Silas asked her.

“
No,” Emily said, and held
her tighter. “We have to go.”

Chevalier was in shock as Emily ran
from the room with Alexis. When Kyle revived the 6-year-old, the
sound of the helicopter taking off filled the upper halls of the
palace.

“
I thought I was supposed
to go with them,” Kyle said, looking up.

“
Take the other helicopter.
She just wanted to get Alex out of here,” Chevalier said, and put a
hand on his son’s shoulder.

“
What happened?” Allen
asked, his body shaking.

Chevalier glanced at Silas briefly,
and then back to his son, “Your mother finally decided to show you
who’s in charge.”

Allen frowned, “Mom did
that?”

“
Yes, she should have a
long time ago,” Chevalier said. “She wouldn’t do it because she
loves you, but you gave her no choice. Your life will be much
easier if you show your Mom and Sister some respect.”

“
Great!” Allen said, and
stormed out of the room.

“
Should we be sending the
Chief Enforcer to the home with a temperamental toddler?” Silas
asked.

Kyle laughed, “I should be ok if I
don’t scare her.”

“
Buy her something special
tomorrow, chicks love that,” Silas grinned.

“
Tomorrow?” Kyle
asked.

Silas shook his head, “Tomorrow… she
turns two.”

“
Damn,” Chevalier hissed.
“I always forget about birthdays.”

Kyle shrugged, “I don’t see what’s so
special about them.”

“
Yes, well… they aren’t
special if you’ve had over 1500 of them… but on your second, and
you have only limited amounts…” Silas said.

“
Let’s go shopping, Kyle.
We’ll both go over tomorrow,” Chevalier said, and headed out of the
room.

“
Great… shopping…” Kyle
scowled and walked out after him.

“
Elder!” one of the guards
ran up just as Chevalier was getting into his car.

“
What now?” Chevalier
growled.

“
There’s a problem at the
farmhouse,” the guard said. The farmhouse held the official address
for the entire city and was often used as a façade when mortals
needed one of them.

Chevalier sighed and blurred to the
farmhouse with Kyle behind him.

“
Oh, here’s he is now,” the
guard said to someone on the front porch. The guard was wearing
jeans and a t-shirt to blend with the farmhouse cover.

Chevalier stepped onto the porch and
frowned at the six police officers, “What’s the
problem?”

“
We’re looking for Emily
Russo. This was the last address she used,” the leading officer
said.

“
She’s not here right now.
What’s the problem?”

“
How long have you known
Ms. Russo?” an officer asked, grabbing a pen and paper.

“
I’ve known her for 10
years.”

“
So you would have known
her husband, Keith?”

Chevalier nodded, “Yes.”

“
Were you aware that he was
killed and buried on the ranch Ms. Russo owned?” The Officer looked
up at Chevalier suspiciously.

“
No, I wasn’t aware he was
dead,” Chevalier said.

The Officer handed him a card, “We
have a warrant to bring Emily in for questioning. Have her call us
when she gets in.”

Chevalier nodded and walked back into
the farmhouse. He turned and glared at Kyle, “They found
him.”

“
I swear, I buried him out
in the middle of the field… over six feet down,” Kyle said,
shocked.

“
Let’s go talk to the
lawyer,” Chevalier said, and he and Kyle went into the
city.

“
I can’t believe you
remembered her birthday,” Emily said as Chevalier carried Alexis up
to bed. She had fallen asleep while playing with a large wooden
horse Jess and Alec sent her.

“
Well, I admit, I had some
help.” Chevalier grinned.

Emily smiled, “I’m sure it meant a lot
that you were here.”

Chevalier kissed Alexis’ fat cheek
softly and laid her down on the bed. Emily kissed her forehead and
covered her up.

Chevalier took Emily’s hand and led
her out into the hallway, “Come to my office.”

Emily sighed, “What’d I do
now?”

“
You haven’t done anything.
We just need to talk to you,” he said, and they walked down the
stairs.

“
Then why do I feel like
I’m going to the principal’s office?”

Chevalier grinned, “Because you have a
guilty conscience.”

“
I do not!” Emily said, and
hit him on the arm.

Chevalier opened his office door and
went to his desk. Emily sat in a chair and glanced at Mark and
Kyle, who were also in the room.

“
Seriously, my dog ate my
homework,” Emily said pleadingly.

Chevalier grinned slightly, “I wish it
were that complicated.”

“
Ok then, spill it. What’d
I do now?”

“
The police came to Council
City looking for you,” Chevalier sighed.

Emily frowned, “For what?”

“
They found Keith’s body,
and they want to talk to you.”

Emily gasped, “What? How?”

“
They were laying a
foundation for a new home and found his remains,” Chevalier said,
wincing at the panicked look on her face. “The lawyers have spoken
to the police, and you are officially a person of
interest.”

“
They think I killed him?”
Emily whispered.

Kyle nodded, “Yes, right now though,
the police don’t know where you are, so if you stay on the island
you should be ok.”

Emily rubbed her temples. She suddenly
had a headache, “Even after death he’s screwing with
me.”

“
It’s hit the news and now
everyone knows that you’re wanted in connection with his death. The
Equites know I did it, but so far, luckily, they don’t know why,”
Chevalier said.

Emily nodded, “I need to turn myself
in then.”

“
What? Why?” Mark asked,
shocked.

“
To keep them away from
Council City.”

“
Stop trying to protect
us!” Chevalier growled.

“
I can get off on a murder
charge. I didn’t do it, and you have the best lawyers around. If I
turn myself in, then I won’t look as guilty as if I sit out here
and hide. How long before they get a search warrant for Council
City? You want feds running all over the palace?” Emily
asked.

“
You know, I could take the
fall,” Kyle said, deep in thought. “I was there as a field hand and
I’ve been using his I.D. all over Maine.”

Emily frowned, “Then what? Let you sit
in jail and rot?”

“
Well,” Kyle thought. “I
can always get out.”

“
The V.E.S. is going to
spot you from a mile away. A few blood tests and their points will
be proven. I’m not going to expose the heku, and the only way I can
prevent that, is if I turn myself in,” Emily told them. Her mind
was already set.

“
No, we’ll find another
way,” Chevalier said.

Emily grinned and shrugged.

Chevalier’s face fell, “No, damnit,
Em, stop it.”

“
What?”

“
You’ve made up your mind,
and I’m going to fight it. I won’t let you sit in jail for months
while the mortal justice system decides what to do,” he
growled.

“
I’ll go turn myself in. If
they put me in jail, then you’ll post bail and I’ll be back by
tomorrow,” Emily said.

“
There’s more to it than
that,” Kyle told her.

“
What more can there
be?”

“
They know the remains are
over 2 years old, though they can’t figure out how much older. You
were seen with me, impersonating Keith, as recently as 2 years
ago,” Kyle said.

“
So we’re… what?
Conspirators?”

“
Yes. I mean think about
it. You disappear for 2 months, and the entire state of Montana
looks for you. You get back and Keith disappears, then you sell the
ranch and the mysterious field-hand disappears with you. Ten years
later, someone digs him up. That doesn’t look really good for us,”
Kyle explained.

“
You can’t go to jail, not
on something this big. This isn’t car theft or domestic violence…
this is big, and if you were sentenced to death, it could expose
the entire species,” Emily said, trying to make them understand why
it was best if she turned herself over to the police.

“
You can’t go to jail
either,” Chevalier told her.

“
Why not? I didn’t kill
him, and I doubt they can prove that I did.”

“
There’s no doubt you would
get off. I mean… the…” Chevalier sighed and glanced at Kyle. “The
cause of death alone is something you could never have
done.”

Emily frowned, “What did you do to
him?”

Kyle grinned slightly, “He was pretty
mad, Em.”

Chevalier’s eyes turned furious, “When
Kyle called me back, I thought I would have to deal with him
hitting you. When I walked in and he…”

“
Chev!” Emily yelled, and
looked at Mark.

“
I lost my temper,”
Chevalier said, his voice tense and ominous.

“
So you, what? Drained
him?” Emily asked. “Wait… no… there were loud crashes.”

Kyle nodded, “Keith was kind of… well…
thrown around a bit.”

“
Oh come on! If I’m going
to jail for killing Keith, at least tell me what they found when
they dug him up,” Emily frowned.

“
Fine,” Chevalier said.
“They found a lot of shattered bones. No major bone in his body
wasn’t broken.”

“
You’re right then, I
couldn’t have done that,” Emily said. “We can use that as a
defense.”

“
No, we’re not, you aren’t
going on trial,” Chevalier said sternly.

Emily stood up and leaned over
Chevalier’s desk, “I’m not going to let Keith expose the
heku.”

“
And I’m not going to let
you go to jail for something I did,” Chevalier said
angrily.

“
Em, sit down… Elder, calm
down,” Kyle said to them sternly.

Emily sat back down hesitantly, and
Chevalier leaned back in his chair behind the desk.

“
We have no other option
than for me to turn myself in,” Emily said. “I can’t hide for the
rest of my life.”

“
Let the lawyers do their
thing. Let us work with law enforcement to try to place the blame
on Kyle,” Chevalier said.

“
No, damnit, Kyle can’t go
to jail without exposing the heku.”

“
He’s not going to jail,
that’s the beauty of this plan,” Chevalier explained. “They can’t
catch him. He won’t even have to hide.”

“
Mark, Kyle, get out,”
Emily said, and glared at Chevalier.

“
No can do. Your temper is
up, and the Elder’s got his fighting eyes, we can’t leave you two
alone right now,” Kyle said.

“
I’m turning myself in,
period,” Emily said, and stood up to walk out of his office, but
her way was blocked by Mark.

“
Sit,” Mark said to
her.