Mitch (11 page)

“I think he’s trying to get in to kill her.” She
had no answer for him because to be honest, it would be like him to kill his
only child. For no other reason than she was breathing. “Did he say what sort
of treasure there was? Physical, or just in his mind.”

“Diamonds and emeralds, he told me. Some old
money. Mostly, he said it was jewels. I have no idea what he thinks to do with
them. He can’t even lift them up, much less sell them. Unless that’s what he
has Amber doing.” She thought on it. “Christ almighty, he’s using his wife to
get into the house to do his dirty work. He’d do it too. And so would she. They
have this...they’re attached like you’d not believe. He does things and she has
always been right there with him. In anything. When they put out the order to
kill him, I was surprised that she wasn’t brought up on charges as well. But
he’d do it. He really would.”

“You mean kill his daughter.” She nodded and
watched as Vinnie laughed again at something her father had said. The panther
never moved from her position at her feet. “I’ll think about your offer. But if
you do hear something and let me know, then I’ll talk to Steele. He has more
power than I do.”

Nodding, Millie felt better than she had in a
long time. At least since she’d been killed. She turned to watch the exchange
between the two of them as Mitch was when she thought to ask him about Vinnie.

“She can’t see us, can she?” He said nothing.
“She could if she wanted. I know that Amber could see Horrie when he came
around. All she has to do is concentrate hard on him and the rest will be easy.
She might not like what she sees, but she’ll be safer if she can see us. But
I’m sure you know that, don’t you?”

“My friend told me the same thing. She has to
want to see us and believe in me.” She nodded, then turned to him. “What do you
see when you look at him? Do you see the monster that I do?”

“Yes. And I see you for what you are as
well.” He asked her what that might be. “You’re in love with Vinnie. And you
glow with it. Like Steele does with his wife’s love. Use it against him, all of
us if you need to, and you’ll be as powerful as you can be when you deal with
the dead. We do not...most of them don’t care for the concept of purity. And
you have it with your love for her. That gives you more power than most people
have running in their homes…you are in love.”

Millie left him then. She didn’t want to see
him making fun of her. She wasn’t sure he would, but things had been so good
for her lately that she didn’t want to mess it up. Going to see her
sister-in-law wasn’t always a good thing, but Millie was determined to help
Mitch and Vinnie if it was the last thing she did. And for some sad reason, she
thought perhaps it might be.

Chapter 7

The morning had dawned bright and sunny. Of
course. But so long as she stood as still as she could and didn’t venture into
the sunshine streaming into the room, Vinnie figured she could stay long enough
to see what the judge was going to do about this ridiculous law suit. And the
more she found out about the couple she’d been about to represent, the more she
wished she could hunt them down and drain them both. She thought she might yet
if things didn’t go the way she wanted them to. When the judge came into the
room, Vinnie actually smiled. Judge Wilson was a man known for his lack of
tolerance for stupid people taking up his time.

“Your honor, my client—” The judge lifted his
hand when he picked up the file. She had no idea who the attorney was for the
Bruces, but so far he was not doing well. Even new attorneys on the scene knew
not to speak before him. Judge Wilson ruled the courtroom. “Your honor, I think
that this has—”

“I think you should shut up.” Judge Wilson
laid down the file he’d been looking over and glared at the younger man. That
was another thing that most knew. He did not pretty things up when he spoke to
you. It was harsh and to the point. “You’re in my courtroom, buddy, and what I
say goes. Now. Sit your butt down there and keep quiet until I say you can talk,
or I’ll bring you up on contempt charges. That’s not a way to get on my good
side, in the event you didn’t get that.”

When it looked like he was going to talk
again, Roger Pratt, a good friend of hers and a shifter, actually laughed. It
turned into a harsh cough when Judge Wilson looked at him, but it was funny to
see the younger man to his right squirming in his chair. Things might be okay
after all.

“It says here that you’re suing Mr. Mitch
Riley for loss of wages. That happened nearly ten years ago. You just now
figuring out you don’t have a job?” The attorney started to speak, and the
judge cut him off. “I’m speaking to this here Bruce person, not you. You can
have your turn later. For now, I want to know what he has to say about this.”

“Sir, I assure you I knew I was without funds
coming in. At least not as much as I should have been taking in. I think that
we’ve been passed over a great deal over the years for the more...long term
children because of the lies this man told about me and my wife. And that was a
loss of wages we’re talking about. We were on the verge of calling in his social
worker when he called in all those lies about us. And the things he told them,
sir, are just not true.”

“Things like what?” The judge picked up the
file again. When Mark didn’t answer him, he asked him again. “What sort of
things did he tell on you about? Here, I have the transcript on what he said
when Mr. Riley called in. So how about you tell me what you think he said.”

“Well, we had to ask him to leave because he
was trying to have sex with my wife.” Everyone in the room burst out laughing,
and that seemed to piss off Mark. “Well, he did. She was a lot thinner back
then and much prettier, but he did it.”

“Hey.” His wife, Carol, slapped her husband
on the arm. “You’re not right. I’ve still got it. You sure do want it often—”

“Be that as it may, we’re talking about what
sort of things that the younger Mr. Riley would have said to the office of child
welfare when he called in.” The judge actually shivered a little as he
continued. “Please do not bring up any of your domestic issues in my courtroom
again. I don’t have the stomach for it, and I’m sure this courtroom doesn’t
either. Now how about you answering my question on what sort of things this
young man might have said when he supposedly lied about you?”

“Your honor, if I may be permitted to speak,
my client is seeking damages not just to his reputation, but loss of wages for
all the slander that Mr. Riley has been spewing. There are things said by him,
in his comments to the offices, that hurt both my clients when they applied for
a larger house loan, as well as on any job application that they tried to fill
out to add to their household to help the boys they did manage to care for.” The
attorney shuffled around some papers, but never handed anything to the judge or
anyone else.

“And again, I ask you what you think this boy
said about your client.” The lawyer started to shuffle the papers around in
front of him again. “Not the whole thing, Jefferies, but the highlights. Surely,
you can do that without a sheet of paper in front of you. Whatever you have
written down there, surely you can tell me some of it.”

“He told them that my client beat him and
tied him to the bed nightly. It wasn’t the first time that this occurred, but it
had happened over a period of months and months.” He handed the bailiff a file
finally. “As you can see here, both my clients needed medical attention when
the younger Riley fled the house that night, and it was a couple of days before
they were able to make the call regarding him and his behavior.”

“They didn’t tell the police this?” Vinnie nearly
laughed when the judge asked. “I mean, they were right there, I’m sure. Someone
would have called this in, am I right? I think I even saw a police report filed
by the Bruces. Only it said that...let me look. Oh, here it is. It says here
that they’d been set upon by thieves and that they’d had a break-in. Doesn’t
sound like an attempted rape to me. Does it to you?”

“They were trying to make it easy should the
young man want to return.” The lawyer was flustered, and he was making stupid
mistakes. “Should he want to return, they didn’t want the police involved. He
was a good boy, after all.”

“I’m sure they didn’t want him to come back.
And when he returned, which I’m to understand that he didn’t, what were they
going to do to him, or for him? Tell him not to do that again and let it go?
From what you just said to me, it had happened before.” More fumbling with
paperwork. “Jefferies, do you think that those sheets in front of you are going
to give you some sort of divine answer? They’re not, let me tell you. Ask your
client what his plans were for the kid if he returned.”

As he sat and began whispering to his client,
Vinnie looked at Mitch. He was sitting next to Roger. The two of them were
talking as well, but it was more on the game and living with her than anything
that was going on in the courtroom. When Jefferies stood up again, they both
fell silent.

“They would have gotten him professional
help.” The judge waited, as did everyone else in the room. Professional help
for what, she wanted to ask him. But apparently that was all they were going to
get.

“Okay, let me get this straight here.
Because, I have to tell you, this one boggles the mind a little.” Judge Wilson
picked up the file and looked at it briefly before putting it back on his dais
with a shake of his head. “Your client is suing Mr. Riley, Mr. Bennett, Mr.
Stark, and Miss Graham for loss of wages. I’m not even going to ask how the
others are involved. I’m figuring it’s a quick buck. But, I digress. They’re
suing these people for nine million dollars each over lost wages. And the state
as well for the same thing. Even though—and this one is the mind blowing thing
yet—they not only continued to take in boys to care for them in the foster care
system, but they were paid as well. To the tune of nearly seventy thousand a
year. For ten years after the young Mr. Riley left their care. Do you have any
idea how utterly ridiculous that sounds? Not to mention, nowhere at any time
did the kid say a word against the Bruces. Not verbally, nor did he come in and
write it all out. He said he’d had enough and would rather take his chances on
the street. That’s all. So this slander? I think it’s something they were maybe
feeling a might guilty over and projected. What do you think?”

“My client believes he could have been paid
better and had more income had it not been for the leaving of Mr. Riley.” Judge
Wilson looked at Mitch, then back at the Bruces as Jefferies continued. The man
was completely ignoring the fact there was no basis for their complaint. None.
“Because of what he did, they were without the proper funds to have the many
luxuries in the house that young men need now, and they believe that is why
they were passed over for pay increases over the years as well as some of the
other benefits that are afforded to state employees.”

The judge leaned back in his chair and looked
at the wall to his left. Wilson was a good man with four boys of his own. He
had to know how much this was going to cost the state if this went to trial, as
well as how it would be looked at in the future. This case did not need to go
any further than it had.

“You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to
let you proceed with this thing. I think…no, I know that things are going to
come out in this trial that are going to turn your hair white.” Vinnie had started
forward when she noticed Mitch and Steele and how they were not surprised by
the judgment. Stepping back a little, she waited to hear what else was going to
be said by the judge. “I’ll hear this one. It’ll be good to know I was able to
do something good on the side of justice of the little guy. We’ll hear this
on...two weeks from today. And Jefferies, I’d suggest that you get your crap
together in the meantime. Find out what you’re dealing with before it’s too
late, if it’s not already.”

Vinnie stood where she was until she knew it
would be safe for her to come out of the shadows, when the sun was not so
bright in the room. Mitch winked at her and Steele pounded him on the back as
he moved to her. There was something extremely sexy about the way her man moved,
and she wanted to take him home and show him. The moment he touched his mouth
to hers, she decided the house was too far and turned him to the wall. His soft
laughter had her grinning up at him.

“As much as I’d like to take you up on the
offer you are so deliciously giving me, I think there are too many people
around for us to continue this. What do you think?” She nodded, kissing Mitch’s
neck as he talked, his hands holding her to him tightly. “The judge has a wife,
did you know that? She died about six months ago. And they’re closer now than
before.” That gave her pause, and she looked at him now.

“She’s been talking to him about this case? And
he’s...he knows things that he might not otherwise know.” Mitch nodded. “What
does she know that made him take this...she knows it all, doesn’t she?”

“Yes. She’s friends with Connie Aster,
Steele’s grandmother, who wants to meet you by the way. Anyway, she hooked Mrs.
Wilson up with a couple of the people that didn’t make it out alive, and she in
turn told her husband. I didn’t think this wasn’t going to trial. The judge is
going to expose them and what they’ve done to us.”

Vinnie tried to wrap her mind around the fact
that the ghosts were going to help her and Mitch. Not that she didn’t believe
they were out there. It was just that they were not at all like she’d been told
as a child. Well, Mitch was getting the most help, but her too. Mitch was
called over to speak to Roger, and she leaned against the dark part of the
wall. As she stood there thinking about everything she’d been told and what was
actually true, she saw someone. As her aunt moved toward her, Vinnie wanted to
run and hide.

Please don’t. He had no idea that I was
coming here.
Vinnie
looked at Mitch and her aunt laughed.
Not him. He can see me, as can most of
the others in this room right now. Your father doesn’t know. I wanted to talk
to you. I’m glad you can see me now.

Why can I see you now?
Millicent only
shrugged.
This is a trick, isn’t it? Father is going to come here now and hurt
everyone somehow. You’re just setting me up so I’ll lower my guard or
something. I have news for you, I won’t let that happen.

Me either.
Vinnie followed her aunt to the chair
in the back of the courtroom and sat down when she looked like she had as well
.
I was wondering how we could speak in such a crowded room. I suppose we can
talk like this because we’re blood related. You think?

Vinnie just realized then that they were
talking through a link that had formed between them when she’d turned twenty-five.
Her aunt would torment her at night when she’d be out trying to make herself
safe, and had on occasion scared her so badly that Vinnie had stayed cowering
in her room for fear of being hurt. Her Aunt Millie wasn’t a nice person.

I have no idea. Why are you here?
Millicent looked
hurt, but Vinnie had had enough of her aunt and her ways to last several
lifetimes.
If you have a message from Father, I don’t want to hear it.

I think you do…I think you need to. He’s
going to kill you and Mitch. Steele and the rest of them too if he can get
close enough. And having your house is going to make that possible.
She asked her how
she knew.
I talked to your mother. She told me everything, even things that
I’m sure she didn’t mean for me to know. I still have the power to command her,
which in this case came in handy. Your father and mother are plotting against
you and Mitch.

What does my house have to do with all of
this? And the treasure that you told Mitch about. And so you know, there isn’t
one that we can find. And Hugo and I have been all over the tunnels.
Millicent nodded and
asked her about the vault, and whether she’d found that one.
No.
There
is a safe in the office and the one that I have in my rooms, but that’s not
what you mean, is it?