Page 5 of Beau
They didn’t go to the living room to sit and talk, but did sit at the kitchen table.When it was apparent that they were getting along well, she suggested that since he had cooked, she should do the clean-up.Beau told her that the faeries would do the cleaning up as he’d made them happy by making a mess for them.
“They thrive on helping out.Something that you’re going to have to learn about them is that they had no concept of size.Since everything is bigger than they are, they just assume that when you want something, it has to be the biggest they can make.”She was confused about that.“You do know that they can make things for you, don’t you?They’re going to be all right in fixing the furnace and roof, as they have sizes already made up for them.But if you were to tell them you needed a greenhouse, for instance, you’d have to tell them what size you want.Like lots of details in how big you want it to be.Or it might be bigger than your home that you live in now.”
“I didn’t know they could make things.I guess I should have when they said they could fill outthe rooms for me.”She sat up straighter in her chair and thought about what he was saying.“So they’re not going to repair the furnace, but put in a new one that is magical.Same with the roof.”
“You might not even see a difference in your old furnace and the new furnace, but it’ll be magical, as you said.It will never have to be replaced.Ever.Same with the roof.It will never leak again, not even if you lose some of the roofing in a storm.”She laughed, knowing that he was telling her the truth but still disbelieving of it too.How could they make it work without a big person there to show them how it would work?She didn’t know and decided that she wasn’t going to question their work from now on.If they fixed it, she was in good hands, she thought.
Danielle hated that Beau was going to have to take her home.But it was raining again, and she didn’t drive to his house.As soon as she was at her house, she realized that she didn’t want to go in and be alone.Looking at Beau, she made a decision that would affect the rest of her life, hopefully in a good way.
“Would you like to stay here with me?I’m not ready for us to be a couple, but since it will happen sooner or later, you might as well get used to the house and the things that are here.”He asked her if she was sure.“Yes.I don’t want to be alone either.I don’t know why, but I might even sleep better if there was someone else around when I went to bed.I’m sure that the faeries would be good company, but there are just too many of them around for me to get used to them right away.”
“All right.I can have the faeries make me up a room, if that’s okay with you?”She said that was a brilliant idea, as she was still sleeping on the air mattress she’d brought with her when she’d moved in.“You should have them make you up a room.The master suite.If there is one.I’m assuming that there are a few bathrooms in the place.”
“Not as many as there should be.There is one on each floor, and they’re not close to the bedroom that I’m using.I should think about that too.Having them put in a couple more bathrooms in the place.”He said he’d be happy to tell them when to begin and, with her help, where to put them.“I was thinking that each bedroom needs to have its own bathroom, but I’m not sure how that would work.Maybe I’m getting too greedy or something with them around.”
“I don’t know.I’ve never been much further in the house than the front hallway.But if that’s what you want, they’ll be more than happy to make you happy.I think that’s what they live for, making people happy.”She said she’d give it some thought.“If I’m going to stay here, I’m going to need some things from home.Tooth brush and some clean clothing.”
“You go and get them, and I’ll see what they’ve done to the house.I might have to stay with you if the house is in worse shape than it was before.I know that when I’m cleaning, that’s the way things look.”She was laughing when she got out of his car.“I’ll see you when you return.Just be careful driving in this mess.”
Danielle was giddy when she walked into her home.She was excited, too, about what she’d see.The first thing she noticed was the living room.Not only were the blood stains gone, but the whole room looked renewed and refreshed.She could get used to this.
Chapter 3
Calhoun had the information that they needed about the woman claiming to be their mother.Dad was on his way home from Europe with his new wife and said that he knew that their mother was dead; he’d seen her body.Whatever was going on, none of them could figure it out right now.Only that someone was pretending to be Marsha Watson, the long-lost mother to the six of them.
As they sat around her dining room table, Rogen was taking notes.It had been a habit that she’d picked up when talking to clients, and she’d never broken the habit as yet.Once they were all ready to talk, she told them that she’d discovered two things about this Marsha person.
“I don’t think she’s a shifter.I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that this woman, whoever she is, has no idea that we’re cats.”It was her brother Tommy who asked how she could be so sure.“She didn’t reach out to any of us through our family link.That would have been the most logical thing to do when she’d been trying to get in touch with us.And it’s not like we put it out there that we’re jaguars either.Someone who would know us would know that right away.”
“Okay, that makes sense for how you put it.I agree.Either she doesn’t know or hasn’t figured it out that we’re cats that she should be able to talk to us.Anyone else think that could be true?”They all agreed with her, and Calhoun wrote it on the side of things that they thought were true.The other side of the board was things that they did know, and there was very little on that side of the wipe-off board.“Before we get to number two on Rogen’s list, I got copies of her death certificate.Also, I have copies of the insurance policies that were cashed out when she passed away.I don’t know how helpful they’ll be, but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry.”
“I agree with you on that.This whole thing makes me nervous.”Belinda said that she was more pissed off than nervous about this.To think that she’d been buried over ten years ago and was just now coming around pissed her off.Rogen nodded as she continued.“The second thing is something that I’ve only been tossing around.It’s to do with my being married to the Sheppard’s family.We all have money right now, and anyone in the world could find out about the Sheppards having money.I think that it’s just too convenient for this to be happening right now when we’re all together and making a good living for ourselves.”
“I actually thought of that too.”Tommy looked around the table as he continued to speak.“None of us is hurting for money right now, and it’s only been for the last few years that we can all say that.Even Belinda is doing well with her job and not having to pay extra fines for her leap.”
Belinda, her sister-in-law, had been paying dues to Weston as the leap leader and fines to her old leap leader, too.He was pocketing the money that he collected from a great many people that way, and when the king of their kind found out, he fired him for his dirty dealings.In turn, since Belinda had been the one who had told him about the double fines.Weston had given her a bonus in the money that he’d collected that month, and it made her very happy.
“So you think that she’s out to get money from us?How do you suppose that’s going to work when none of us believe that she’s our mother?”It was Calhoun who suggested blackmail.“Okay, perhaps I can understand that better if you were to let me know how you think she’s going to be able to do that.”
“We cashed the insurance when she died to pay for the funeral.It was the only way that it would have been paid for; if we hadn’t done that, we’d still be paying it off.”Sandy said she thought that was a lame excuse to blackmail someone.“Do you have a better idea?It’s the only reason that I can think of for her to be coming around and trying to contact us.Even Dad thinks that she’s here to get money from us.”
“I can understand why she’d wait until now to come after us.Like you said, we all have moneynow.But I don’t understand why she’d think she was going to get away with it.I’ve not seen a picture of our mom since the funeral.Do you suppose she’s been waiting all this time because she’s had work done on her face?That would take a lot of preplanning, and her not knowing about the money that we have now.Ten years ago, we didn’t any of us have a pot to piss in.And she would have known it.In all that time, too, we’ve had some terrible things happen.Did she ask any of you what happened to Benson and his two kids?And why she couldn’t get in touch with them?”
“I never thought of that.”Most of the table hadn’t thought of it, and Rogen felt bad because it made Belinda sad for a moment.
Danny, Sandy’s ex-husband, had murdered Benson and their two children for the insurance that he’d taken out on them.After cleaning out her house after divorcing him, she’d found more policies with names of people who were elderly down her street and the rest of the family, including her.He had planned on killing them all off for a nice payday.The fucking bastard was now in prison where he belonged.Where he should have been decades ago.
It was mind-boggling to think that after all this time, their mother had decided to show up and want something from them.Of course, they didn’t know that for sure, but there was no other reason for her to contact them now after being presumed dead after all this time.
Their mother hadn’t been a terrible person, not like some of the parents that she’d met through her work.But she did drink a great deal.That was what had caused the accident, they’d found out.Their mother had been very drunk when she had an accident with the car that she had been driving.Rogen had never understood that part, as their mother was a shifter too, and it would take a great deal of alcohol to get her intoxicated enough to be considered drunk.But it had happened, and she had died, so they didn’t look into it too deeply.
“Dad’s plane just landed.He said that the car you had there for him has picked him up, and he’s on his way here.He, too, has a death certificate as well as the paperwork from the autopsy that was performed after her death.I would think that that’s a good indication that she was killed that night.”Rogen got up to have the staff bring in drinks and snacks.She never dreamed that they’d be talking about this right now and wanted to get it over with and find out what the hell was going on.
No one had heard from their mother since the night she called them all at three in the morning, telling them that she’d only just gotten out of a coma and she’d been looking for them.Also, apparently, she’d only just gotten into town.Whether that was the town they now lived in or the town they’d come from, no one knew, but it was something that they were looking for answers about.
“I’ve checked with the hotels around the town.None of them has a Marsha Watson in their groups.The bed and breakfast doesn’t have anyone by that name either.Unless she’s changed her name for some reason.”Sandy asked about the hotels where they used to live.“Most of them said no, they didn’t have her on their books, but a lot of them said they couldn’t tell me because of privacy rules regarding her stay.”
“This is just stupid.”She couldn’t agree more with her brother on that.“I’m actually losing sleep over this nightmare because we buried the wrong person, or worse, she really has been in a coma and we’re all guilty of not believing her.”
