The Season of Sin (Peace In The Storm Publishing Presents) (15 page)

“Stop it Ms. Hudson or you’ll be spending the night!” Jayce warned.

She broke away from Steven.

 “I want you to admit you did it.” Dylan stared at Bruce.  “Tell me to my face you slept with Shannon.”

“Don’t do this.”

“Tell me!”

“Yes. I slept with Shannon.”

“You slept with your girlfriend’s mother’s lesbian lover, Bruce? You have to be the sorriest excuse of a man to ever walk on this earth.”

“Stay outta this, Aunt Jas.”

“Hell.” Swaggert stuffed chewing tobacco in his mouth.  “This shit’s just like a soap opera.”

“And there’s something else you’re forgetting isn’t there?” Dylan stood in front of Bruce. “Shannon got pregnant with your baby didn’t she?”

“Don’t do this. I’ve always only loved you.”

“Well.” Dylan chuckled.  “Isn’t this some kind of curveball? Once again I was worrying about you and didn’t even know you’d been lying to me through most of our relationship.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh? You slept with my mother’s lesbian lover and got her pregnant and hid it from me!  Do you see how fucked up that is, Bruce?”

“Please.” He reached for her.

“Don’t. Everyone was right about you.”

“No. Listen to me, Dylan. I made a mistake but I couldn’t tell you because I couldn’t lose you.”

“You didn’t tell her because you’re selfish and only cared about yourself. She finally knows what you are.”

“This is your fault, Jasmine.”

“
Mine
?” She laughed. “I didn’t put you in between Shannon’s legs did I?”

“Jasmine if you were a man I’d kicked your ass years ago.”

“Don’t you dare talk to my aunt like that.”

“Dylan.  I love you so much, baby. I need you so much.  You want me to beg?” He got on his knees. “Then I’ll beg. Please forgive me, Dylan. You don’t have to be with me if you don’t want to but just don’t abandon me now please. I’m scared. I’m truly scared because I didn’t kill anyone.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You know it’s true. I don’t care who believes me as long as you do.”

“I’ll never believe anything that comes out of your mouth again.”

“What did you mean when you said you hid something?”

“I was pregnant.”

“What the hell did you just say?”

“I got pregnant back then too. I was gonna tell you but…”

“You were pregnant?” He fell into a chair.  “What the fuck?”

“Dylan you don’t have to do this in front of everyone.”

“I want to, Aunt Jas. It’s time we get all these secrets out once and for all.”

“Let me guess.” Bruce held his hands in front of his face. “You got rid of it huh?”

“Yes.”

“What a surprise.  I know you didn’t do it on your own.  I know you loved me too much to be pregnant and get rid of it without telling me.”

“Just like you were supposed to love
her
enough to be honest with
her
?”

Swaggert bumped Jasmine. “Why don’t you shut up?”

“You hear me, Dylan? I know you wouldn’t get rid of our baby on your own would you?”

“What difference does it make?”

“It makes a hell of a lot of difference to me. Who made you get rid of it huh? Nadia or Jasmine?”

“I had nothing to do with it.”

“Bullshit!” Bruce jumped up. Jayce held him back.  “You and Nadia had everything to do with me and Dylan and that’s why we’re not together!”

“Don’t blame me for you being stupid and not realizing what you had when you had it.”

“So what happened huh, Jasmine? Did you and Nadia take Dylan to a clinic or did you hold her down while Nadia sliced the baby out herself?”

“You vile…ooh!  I didn’t even know she’d been pregnant until Nadia told me months after Dylan had the abortion.”

“I don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth! You don’t give a damn about Dylan only keeping her away from me!”

“I love my niece!”

“As long as she’s doing what you want her to right?”

“It was my decision, Bruce.”

“The fuck it was. I know you and you never would’ve gotten rid of our baby.”

“We couldn’t take care of a baby and you know it.”

“I’d have made a way for us.”

“How?”

“I’d have married you and done the best I could but you didn’t give me the chance! How could you be pregnant and hide it from me?”

“Just like you hid everything else, Bruce? You forget where you are and why you’re here?”

“I don’t believe this.” He walked around with his hands on his head. “What other surprise you got?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I don’t care. We both made mistakes. We can get past them.”

“Not this time.”

“If your aunt wasn’t standing here you’d be singing a different tune but you let her run your life and I’m sick of it.”

“Don’t blame it on me. Dylan’s finally seen you for what you really are.”

“You stay away from me, Bruce. I never wanna see you again.”

“She’s full of shit,” Swaggert said. “She says that all the time. She’ll be back next week.”

“I mean it for good this time.” Dylan went to the door.

Bruce followed her. “You’re not getting away from me.” Jayce stopped him at the door. “I won’t lose you, Dylan. I will
not
lose you!”

“You already have.”

“Bruce.” Jayce took out his handcuffs.  “You’re under arrest for the murder of Shannon Kuriakis.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

A Month Later

Jasmine, Nick, Dylan and Zoë were having lemonade on Jasmine’s back patio when Jayce, Steven and Brianna arrived that evening.

The weather had been gorgeous for the last two weeks and Steven couldn’t wait to take advantage of it. Unfortunately he hadn’t a break since this case. The only pleasure he got was being around Zoë.

Dylan, Nick and Jasmine sat around the patio table while Zoë stretched out on a lawn chair.  Brianna sat in the chair by the water hose. She looked at Zoë and then Steven like she always did when they came by. He kept denying he had feelings for Zoë but obviously they were harder to conceal than he thought.

Zoë wore a flimsy red summer dress and red flip flops with tiny bows on the top of them.  The red sparkled against her dark skin. She propped her leg up, giving his eyes slight access to the silk panties underneath. He felt her gaze behind her shades. She wiggled her leg while sipping her lemonade through the straw.

Sweat beaded around his neck again. How could he want a woman so much so soon?  For weeks he’d cursed himself for sending her out of his house without confronting this itch. Why the hell did he have to be such a good guy and respect her? Why didn’t he just fuck her and maybe then she’d been out of his system.

“Steve?” Jayce spread the newspaper clippings in front of the others.  “Man you okay? Look like you’re about to faint.”

“Do I?”

“Yes you’re sweating.” Brianna glared.

“Oh well it’s kinda humid to me.” He fanned. 

“Maybe you need some lemonade too.” Zoë plucked the end of her straw with her lips.

He wanted those lips wrapped around his…

“Detective Kemp would you like something to drink?” Jasmine asked.

“Uh no, I’m fine.” He made sure to sit in the chair farthest away from Zoë. He hadn’t any problems keeping his body away from her. It was his eyes that had a mind of their own.

Zoë slung her ponytail over her shoulder. She licked her lips between every sip.

God help me.

Jayce gestured to the clippings. “Think you can help us, Dylan? You might be the only one who can.”

“Me?”

 “These clippings were found in one of your mother’s boxes we confiscated.  She had many copies. They’re about a woman, Elle Givens. Her baby was kidnapped almost thirty years ago. Know why your mother had these?”

Jasmine held a faded clipping. “I think I remember this from the papers. This lady killed herself didn’t she?”

“Apparently she never dealt with the pain of the kidnapping,” Jayce said.  “She shot herself ten years ago.”

Dylan went through the clippings.

Jayce continued.  “It’s been said that her baby was kidnapped in connection to a kidnapping ring. Elle sought out a private investigator but I don’t know if it helped.  A Jim Klein kept popping up as being involved. Some suspect he lead the ring.” Jayce adjusted his belt. “But the police didn’t have enough to go on.”

“What happened to him?” Dylan asked.

Steven put his elbows on the table. “He disappeared.”

“Without a trace,” Jayce said.

Dylan flipped through more clippings. “How can someone just disappear?”

“Probably changed his name and took on a new life,” Brianna said.  “Might even be dead.”

Dylan laid clippings in her lap. “Where did this happen?”

Nick read a clipping. “Newark.”

Everyone looked at him.

“I remember when they first kidnapped the baby. It was a horrible story. The saddest I’d ever heard of. How could someone steal someone’s baby and not give a damn?”

“Elle was married too wasn’t she?” Jasmine brushed her dress down.  “I remember them mentioning a husband or something back then.”

“Yep.”  Jayce nodded. “Elle and her husband adopted another child not long after the other had been taken. A little girl I believe.”

“Excuse me.” Zoë hung her legs over the side of the chair. “I don’t understand what this has to do with Dylan or Nadia?”

“Well that’s what we hoped Dylan could tell us.”

“I don’t know what you expect me to say, Detective Matthews. I mean, I don’t see how clippings would have anything to do with Mom being killed.”

Zoë crossed her legs and looked at Steven.  He turned and smiled at Brianna. She looked at him as if he had something hanging out of his nose.

“Ooh.” Jasmine passed a clipping to Dylan. “The suicide scene.”

“Oh, gross.” Dylan covered her eyes.

Jasmine touched her chest. “God look at all that blood on the floor.”

Zoë wriggled. “Do we have to look at these pictures?”

 “I still don’t understand what all this has to do with Mom’s murder.”

“I really think there’s a connection between Elle’s story and your mother.”

Zoë swatted a fly. “Well it doesn’t make sense to me, Detective Matthews.”

“Me neither. Mom always read up on things and kept memorabilia from stuff that had nothing to do with her.  She was the kind that was overly curious and so when something caught her attention, she focused on it. She’d do research, collect articles, and even write down things dealing with what interested her.” Dylan shrugged. “This doesn’t seem any different to me. I don’t know why you feel it is.”

Jayce leaned over.  “These clippings are just a sample of what we found about Elle in Nadia’s possessions. She had pictures of Elle that she’d blown up from the newspaper articles. She had articles where she’d outlined things about the baby’s kidnapping. She had notes and passages about what had happened.”

Dylan fidgeted. “I don’t know why she had all this stuff. She never spoke to me about this. I think she was just collecting this story like everything else she collected.”

“You don’t look so sure,” Brianna said.

“None of this makes any sense. What difference does it make why she had some clippings? Mom also has clippings of Charles Manson. Is he connected to this too?”

“Why are we even worrying about clippings when you already got Bruce in jail?” Jasmine asked. “He did it. You found Shannon’s gun last week.  You said Bruce’s prints were on it. What more do you need?”

“We need to see if the bullet found in Shannon’s head came from Shannon’s gun.”

“Well why the hell aren’t you doing that, Detective Matthews?”

He titled his head.  “Well I’m sorry if we aren’t doing everything at a pace you’re satisfied with Ms. Hudson, but things take time. Ballistics will do their thing and if the bullet matches that gun than we go from there.”

“But you got his prints on the gun.” She set her glass down. “You know he was at the garage with Shannon. He admitted it and you found his blood on her. I don’t understand why you’re wasting so much time.”

“We have to identify the murder weapon. We can’t be sure Shannon was killed with her gun can we?”

“What about my sister? You found anything substantial to link Bruce to Nadia’s murder?”

“I don’t need you to tell me how to do my job, Ms. Hudson.”

“Which means you haven’t done squat right?”

Dylan turned to Brianna. “Did you find anything about Elle in my mother’s journals?”

“No. The first time I heard of this was when Jayce told us this morning.”

“Could someone please just tell me how this all could possibly be connected?” Dylan looked around.  “Please.”

“Excuse me.” Zoë got up.  “I’ll be right back.”

She went around the side of the house. The way her ass moved in that dress stayed in Steven’s mind.  He broke from fantasizing to see Brianna’s repulsed expression.

“Be honest with me, Detective Matthews. Do you believe Bruce is innocent?”

“It’s not my job to decide that, Dylan.”

“I asked what you
believed
.”

“I uh…I think there are possibilities that he could be.”

“Oh please.” Jasmine threw her arms up.  “If you believe that I have an invisible farm to sell you.”

 “Bruce is innocent until proven guilty.”

Steven’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He had a text from Zoë telling him to come inside the house. 

“Something wrong, Steve?” Brianna rocked in her chair.

“Uh I have a call to make. I’ll be right back.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Zoë stared at Steven from the top of the stairs. He could see out the patio door from where he stood.  He turned before his vision reached Brianna.  He loved her but even that wasn’t strong enough to block this strangling desire he had for Zoë.

She slid her dress up on the side. She spoke with her eyes and body language, nothing else. She watched him with a bloodthirsty gaze that pierced his senses.

A tornado could tear through the living room and he wouldn’t leave. His body
craved
Zoë so he had no choice in the matter.  He couldn’t leave. This yearning had become too big to fight and he didn’t want to.