Page 13 of Beau
“Yes, and you’re not invited to any of them.”Donald kept staring at her, and Beau wondered what he was thinking.When Sandy spoke again, it was as if they had all decided that whatever she said was going to be the way things went.“We can meet up later, but it won’t be in our homes.I don’t particularly want you in my home because of your cruelty.And there is no doubt to any of us that you’re really her.You can’t be.”
“I’m your mother, and I can’t believe that I raised you to be like this to me.I do have some memory loss due to the accident, but that doesn’t explain why you’re being cruel yourselves.I’ve never been talked to like this in my life.”She looked at Donald, the only person who hadn’t said a word to her.“What do you have to say for yourself?Or is the usual way that you do things just sit around and wait for someone to tell you what your opinion will be?”
“I know who you are.”She said that finally someone believed her.“I didn’t say that.I just know who you are.You’re that woman from the funeral home.The hairdresser.”
If he’d not been looking right at her, he might have missed her going pale.As it was, her cheeks brightened in anger, and she slapped Donald.As soon as Rogen went on the defensive to save her father, Beau stepped in front of her and stopped her.
“She’s not worth whatever you have in your mind.”Rogen glared at him and told him to move through clenched teeth.“Not until you realize that you’ll go to prison and never see Weston again, other than through bars.”
For a few minutes, he didn’t think she was going to heed his warning.But when she took a step back, he did as well.There was no point in pissing her off more by crowding her.She was a jaguar same as him, and it would be bloody on his part if he had to tangle with her.But he’d never harm her, not if he could help it.
~*~
Marsha hadn’t counted on a war between them.She thought that she might be better off leaving and regrouping for another scam.These people were insane if they thought that she’d stick around and talk to them again.How could she have made so many mistakes as she’d made in this one scam?
The tattoo was on the wrong shoulder?How could she have messed that up?Then she remembered that she’d taken a picture of it with her camera, and it had rotated the shoulders so that it looked like it was on the left.That little bit of information had come to her when she was trying to get away from them.
Then there was Donald.How did he know after all this time that she was the hairdresser at the funeral home?There was no way that he could have remembered her.And when he said that, why did he sniff the air like she smelled or something?That was only the tip of the shit that she’d done wrong.While Rogen was being talked down from trying to kill her, the others had shouted out other things that they noticed about her not being their mom.
“Like, how does me being human even factor into all this?”She asked herself that question several times since she left them standing there.“Aren’t we all humans?”
Were they humans?There had been no indication about them being shifters when she’d seen them at the funeral home.No one had mentioned to anyone in the car to the funeral or gravesite at all that they were anything but humans like her.If that was the reason that they knew she wasn’t their mom, then she needed to get out of town quickly and hide.But if even a small fraction of what she’d heard about shifters was true, then they could find her no matter what.Especially since she’d touched Donald.
“Hitting him was a mistake.”She could tell things now that she wasn’t around them that she shouldn’t have fucked with this family.They were a dangerous situation that she didn’t need to be around.
It took her nearly two hours before she was calm enough to deal with her situation and get her ass moving out of town.She needed to get as far from the family as she could.How could something that she’d worked on for ten years go so horribly wrong?Well, she’s learned her mistakes and now she was going to be better the next time she tried to scam people about their loved ones.
Would she stop?Hell no.It was a good money maker that she loved doing.No one was going to have her arrested if she failed, like she did with this family, but she was going to be a note in their lives and nothing more.It would be too embarrassing for her to be arrested, as she’d taken them for quite a ride so far.
“Well, not a ride for them.”It had only taken them about thirty seconds to realize that she wasn’t going to get any payday from the Watsons.Even with the backing that they had from the Sheppards’ family, she’d not want to be an embarrassment to them either.They’d just write it off as a lesson learned and be done with it.Laughing, she wondered if she could get some money out of them for being quiet on her end.“No, I’d better not press my luck with them anymore.”
As she was packing her clothing, getting ready to leave as soon as she could, she thought about all the time she had wasted on this group.It was time and money well spent except for the tattoo.How had they been so sure that it wasn’t on the left shoulder?Oh well, it was done now, and she was going to move on.She only hoped that they did too.There was no point in their being petty and having her arrested at this point.It would just be an embarrassment for all parties concerned.Just as she was closing up her luggage, a knock came at her door.She opened it with a bright smile that faded away when she saw the police there.
“What can I do for you, officers?”They said they were there because of fraudulent behavior on her part.“I’m sorry.It was just a misunderstanding on their part.I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“They said that you scammed them into thinking that you were their long-dead mother.That’s about as fraudulent as you can get.”She said that it was a misunderstanding.“Did you or did you not pretend to be their mother on several occasions.And did you or did you not tell Beau Sheppard that you were their mother looking for them?”
“Yes, I did that, but I was just playing a game.It’s something that I do.”She had hoped they’d understand, but they didn’t seem to be getting it.“You see, I’m packing up to leave now.It didn’t end the way that I hoped that it would, so I’m packing my bags and getting out of town.There was no reason for them to call you on this.”
“I’m afraid that they didn’t care for your little game.I’m going to have to take you in for questioning.”She told him that there was no reason for that, and she was leaving right now.“I’ll say when you can leave, and it won’t be today.Come along nicely, miss, or I’ll have to put you into cuffs.”
“This isn’t right, you know.”She told them that she’d go with them, but they’d better have all their ducks in a row about detaining her unlawfully.“I’m not even sure why they’re bothering with me.They saw through my deception, and I left them.It was all a game I was playing.”
“What was your reward if you won?”She knew better than to answer that question, so she just went along with them to the car.Being put in the back seat, she thought of all the ways that she could countersue them and couldn’t think of a single reason why they were doing this.There wasn’t any harm done in her playing around with their emotions.These people needed to get a grip on their lives if they thought that having her arrested was the way to go.“You’ll be put into a cell until such time that the Watsons and the Sheppards can come in and write out a report in pressing charges against you.”
“I think there has been a mistake about all this.They have to be told it was just a game, and no one gets arrested for playing a game.My goodness, if they lose at cards, do they have the other party arrested, too?”He said this was different and that she’d messed with their lives.“In a game.When are you going to get that through your thick head that I was only messing with them?And since they figured it out, there was no harm, no foul.That’s the way a game works when you—I’m not pressing any charges against them about me losing all my money in setting this all up, am I?No, I’m not.What a bunch of sore winners.”
She was put into a cell and told that someone would come and talk to her soon.Also, the judge wouldn’t be in until Thursday.It was Friday today, so she’d have to wait an entire week to have some judge throw this out of court because it wasn’t anything to be upset about.
Her only recourse was to talk to the Watsons.There had to be a way for her to talk to them and tell them how it had only been a game that she was playing, and that she played like this all the time, and no one got upset for her winning.Of course, she’d have to give them names, she thought, and that wouldn’t go over too well if they checked into things.The families that she’d scammed before would be told about her game, and they might be as upset as the Watsons were.
“This was all just preposterous.I don’t know what to tell them that will make them back off, other than what I’ve been saying all along.It was just a game that I played on them.And they won.”Sitting on the cot in her cell, she looked around.“This place needs an update.No way are they allowed to keep prisoners in a room like this one and get away with it.There is no way.”
It was nearly dark in the room when someone came to see her.They had a tray with them, so she assumed that they were going to feed her.Since no one had asked her what she wanted, she was going to turn it away in favor of something else to eat.In a cell like this, there was no way that the food was going to be edible anyway.
“I was going to give myself a treat tonight and have a large pizza.”She, the woman cop told her that she was only getting what was being served.“You can take it back and bring me something else then.I’m not eating whatever is on that tray.It can’t be as good as the pizza I was going to get, and that’s final.”
The tray was set on the floor and slid under the bars.She didn’t even bother looking at it and slid it back.Without a word from her, she turned on her heel and left the meal there as well as the scent of it behind.She’d teach them a lesson about herself.She’d not eat at all and see where that got them.
