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“Yes.” Archie took her hand into his before continuing. “When Shelly’s body is sorted out, he’ll have to leave the hotel. I’m going to go to the police station now to identify her body as well as tell them that Douglas has been there all along. I can’t believe that he’s not been caught. But he will be now. If you don’t mind.”
“No. That’ll be great. One less thing that I have to concern myself with.” Carrie looked around the room at the others there and back to Archie. “I’ve set up some rules that they have to follow. As soon as I can find a place where they can come to me, I’ll make sure that no one comes to our home again.”
After a quick kiss on her mouth, he left her there with his brother. Nash was going to take her around to find a suitable building—it really didn’t have to be much—that she could use to make her job work better. She also had to get with the bank and make sure that her brother couldn’t get into her or Archies accounts.
Chapter 3
Archie had spoken to Carrie twice since he’d gone to the police station. The first time was when he asked her if Shelly had any tattoos or marks on her body to identify her. While he could make out her face, too much damage had been done to it for a one-hundred percent identification. The turtle tattoo on her left hip, as well as ‘Douglas’ written around her ankle, was the perfect help he needed to claim her body and have her sent to the funeral home after the police were finished. After he collected her things, a necklace as well as her birthstone ring, the other things were left behind for the criminal case against Douglas. In addition to the clothing, she had a gun on her that they were hoping had been used in other crimes around town. It had gone to be tested just after he did his part in claiming her body for burial.
“How long have you known that Douglas was with her sharing an apartment, Archie? I mean, I have to have something for my records on it.” He told the officer the truth, or at least a part of the truth, saying that Shelly had spoken to Carrie at some point. “That’ll be easy enough to find out. I don’t think any of us thought that he had a full-time girlfriend. I didn’t think that anyone was stupid enough to be that monster’s girl. But then, when she ended up at the hospital, I think the doctors said that she’d been in there quite often before that day, in fact, several times a month. I wonder all the time why women stay with men like that. I know, too, that there are women out there that beat on me. I just don’t understand it.”
“I don’t either. Not at all. But then, I grew up with my mom beating on my dad a great deal. He never hit us. I genuinely think that he saved our lives when we were children by taking her on. Then her father started in on us. I’ve only recently found out that he tried to have Mother abort us by means of throwing her down the stairs a few times, and she was all for it. He did kill Dad, he told us, because he’d had sex with her. It’s small wonder that any of us grew up to be halfway normal kids.” Scotty laughed and said he was sorry. It didn’t bother him as much as it used to, people knowing their business. As Sunny was so fond of saying, they had made them into the great men that they were now. At least, he hoped so.
“We’ll go and pick him up tomorrow, but keep an eye on him until then. He’ll be starving by then without her picking—you know, I wondered all the time how someone as tiny as she was could put away as much food as she would have delivered nightly. Now, I guess we all know what she’d been doing. Sharing everything with him, including her income too. Even though she’s dead, they’ll try her the same as if she weren’t. Poor girl. She was surely beaten to crap by him.” After he left there, he set one of the faeries that had been following him around to keep an eye on Douglas. Archie didn’t want anyone hurt, and if they were waiting until tomorrow to arrest him, he might be desperate enough to hurt them more when they showed up.
Archie made his way to the building, where Nash said that he was with Carrie. He was both nervous and excited to be living with her as his mate. However, he was just as terrified. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t had sex before. It was just that he’d never had it with a mate before. Archie wanted it to be as romantic as he could make it. He spotted the florist just as he was coming out of the post office after having his address changed.
Archie had always loved rooted plants more than cut flowers. Mostly the green type, but he also loved the fragrance that flowers gave off. His favorite smell was gardenias. The tart smell they gave off reminded him of his dad and the way he would take care of those very plants outside their home. It surprised him, too, that people thought that they only came in red when they had a variety of colors. Mom was never keen on there being flowers around the house. So, as soon as he was declared dead, Mother had all the flowers destroyed by the lawn mower that were surrounding their home. Next spring, he was going to have the entire house encircled with flowers and plants year-round in honor of his dad. He thought that once he told his brothers what he was doing, they’d more than likely do it as well. Archie was also thinking of putting in a few trees, fruit ones as well as flowering ones in the back yard as well.
After getting a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Carrie, he detoured to the next house they were seeing and sat down on the floor to wait for her and Nash. He was thinking about the house that they were living in when a child wandered into the building and seemed to be making himself at home. It wasn’t until he pulled a puppy out of his jacket that he thought that he knew what was going on. And who the boy was.
“Mikey? Is that you?” He looked so terrified that Archie put up both hands so that he’d see he was his friend. “It’s all right. It’s me, Archie Sheppard. What do you have there?”
“A dog. Mom won’t let me have one at home on account of them eating everything in sight. But I thought that I could save him bits of my lunch and stuff to bring him. He’s a pretty dog, and I thought that I could teach him to warn us about my daddy coming around.” Mikey slapped his hand over his mouth and stared at him wide-eyed for a moment. “I was only kidding, Mr. Sheppard. I really do…I mean, my daddy don’t hurt us much. I was just joking around.”
“Sure you were, kid. I understand more than anyone how parents can be mean to us. It’s all right. I won’t tell a soul what you said to me.” He scratched the dog behind the ears and was rewarded with a lick to his hands. The dog was so wiggly that he was sure that Mikey was going to drop the little pup. But he held him tightly like he was used to having the dog be happy like that. “Where is your daddy now? Jail again?”
“No, he’s out. I’m going to tell you right, Mister. He’s making things hard for my mom and sister. I can sneak out before he gets too drunk sometimes but I can run on account of me putting me a pair of shoes I can grab and go.” Mikey, about ten years old, looked up at him. He had a shiner that looked fresh. He asked him about it. “You’re the only one that knows about my daddy, I think. Nobody does anything about him, so I’m thinking they don’t see it or hear him when he’s home. Last night he beat up my momma and sister so bad that Sissy had to go get some stitches. Momma told me to stay away until he left. I don’t mind doing that for me, but I worry about them. He sure does hate my sister for her being a girl and all. It’s not her fault she was born that way. I think that he’s mean for blaming something like that on her. Don’t you?”
“I don’t understand that at all either. However, I know what you’re saying about leaving your family to fend for themselves. You don’t want to be hurt anymore, and you hate that you have to leave your family in order for you not to be. I’m sorry he’s like that. I think he and my mother could have used a few lessons on hitting people that are smaller than themselves.” Mikey agreed. “All right, buddy. How about I keep your pup at my house. He doesn’t seem to have much trouble with what I am.”
“On account of me being a bear, too. I thought he’d run when he smelled me, but he didn’t do nothing but come right to me. Maybe his smeller is broken.” Mikey grinned at him, knowing that he’d said it wrong. “I like you, Mr. Sheppard. You’re all right. Momma said that you guys are better off without your momma. She told me that if there was a family that needed a break more than you guys did, she didn’t want to meet them. I don’t know what she meant by that but I think she meant it in a good way.”
“Thank you. And I’m sure that she did.” He held onto the pup and tried to look it over at the same time. It was the wiggliest dog he’d ever been around. Once he touched the little guy’s left back paw, he whimpered but didn’t bite him. “I think we should run him by the vet. Just to make sure that he’s healthy. I’d really hate to take him home and find out that he was sick. My new wife would murder me.”
He told Nash and Carrie where he was headed, and Carrie decided to come along. She said that if a puppy was going to be living with them, then she should get to know it. However, as soon as she got to the office, her smile dropped, and he had a feeling that there was someone else there that only she could see.
It bothered him a little that he couldn’t help her when someone showed up. But then, he didn’t know what he’d do if a dead man was around either. Smiling to himself, he decided that he could be as helpful as she needed by being there for her. Sometimes, he thought, it was easier just to be ready for something that happens rather than create trouble because you’ve been left out, like Mikey, that made better sense in his head.
“He’s got an infected toenail that can be easily fixed. You said that you found this little guy?” Mikey told Brandon that he’d found him while walking back from the barn. “If I were you, I’d check out the barn more. I’m thinking that there might be a couple more dogs out there, too. I’ve heard tell that Mrs. Adaline’s pregnant dog has gone missing. I don’t know if anything happened to her cherished pet, but it’s not like it to not come home. If you find her, let me know, and I’ll make sure that she’s all right. Even if she’s not, someone needs to take care of the pups. I might have to keep him here for a couple of days. You can come by and visit him anytime you want. I’d welcome the company.”
“I’ll head out there now. I should mention that he wasn’t fearful of either of us. Mikey is a bear, and I’m a jag, but he didn’t run off when he smelled us.” Brandon said the dog had a slight cold, too, and that was why, perhaps. “If we continue to take care of the little thing, will he stay with us even after the cold is gone?”
“I see no reason that would make it so that he’d not want to be in a nice house with people around. Just be nice to him and the others if you bring them home and they’ll stick around. However, let me know if you decide not to keep them all. Being kind to animals is all they need to be your best friend. Not to mention a couple of good snacks, too.” Brandon looked at Mikey, and he looked so serious. “It’s a big responsibility for someone to take care of a puppy for you, Mikey. That’ll mean that you are smart enough to know that you can’t keep the little guy from being hurt by your father. If he does hurt any of them, you bring them here, and I’ll call the police. Cruelty to animals isn’t going to be something that I’ll tolerate. Understand? And the invitation still stands about you coming to visit them all the time.”
“Yes, sir. I will do that.” He petted the puppy, and Archie noticed that he was more than a little upset. “Dad tried to kill him off yesterday by giving him rat poison. I knew he was going to try something, but I was able to save him. I might not be able to the next time. I’m glad that Mr. and Mrs. Sheppard are going to be able to keep him safe for me.” He looked at him. “I’ll work too, Mr. Sheppard so you don’t have to be out a bunch of money for food. Momma said that dogs are expensive, so I’ll make sure I work for him.”
Archie started to tell him that he could afford the dog, but it was Carrie who spoke to the little guy. Telling him that he had to come by when he’d not get into trouble but to always come by and get some food for himself and his momma.
“I don’t want to have you getting sick while paying for his food, young man. So you come by the house when it’s safe for you to do so, and we’ll fill you up. Then you can take some things home to your momma and sister too so they don’t get sick. All right?” Archie thought Mikey had a loose screw in his neck for as hard as he was nodding. “Also, if your daddy hurts you again, you come to me. I’ll take care that he understands that you work for us.”
Mikey looked up at him. “If I was my daddy, I’d be more afraid of Ms. Carrie than I would be of you, Mr. Archie. She seems all nice and everything, but I know she can whop him hard enough that he’d remember his manners around her. Then, you’d take over when she was finished up with him. If’n there is anything left of him.”
Even after Mikey left, he still laughed about what he’d said. Yes, Carrie was very protective of the little boy but so was he. Again, he didn’t understand why people would knock around their children. It wasn’t fair, nor was it very nice.
~*~
Carrie asked to use the bathroom and went there to talk to the ghost that was hanging around the vet. She was an elderly woman, she’d bet in her mid to late eighties, and there didn’t seem to be any trauma surrounding her. But she did realize that maybe poison wouldn’t leave any kind of markings, so she waited to be told what she wanted and how she could help.
