Authors: Susan Griscom
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Thrillers, #Suspense, #Romance, #Paranormal
A SECRET FATE is a work of fiction. All characters and incidents contained in this work are the creation of the author and are meant in no way to represent any persons living or deceased.
Copyright © 2013 by Susan Griscom
Amber Glow Books
AmberGlowBooks.com
www.susangriscom.com
Cover designed by Susan Griscom
ISBN-13:
978-0615899503
(Paperback)
ISBN-10:
0615899501
TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~ Dedication ~~
To Cael and Addie—you were with me in the beginning through this wonderful journey and you will be forever in my soul with all the others to come.
“Memory is all we are. Moments and feelings, captured in amber, strung on filaments of reason. Take a man’s memories and you take all of him. Chip away a memory at a time and you destroy him as surely as if you hammered nail after nail through his skull.”
- Mark Lawrence,
King of Thorns
Prologue
“A scene from “Reflections”
The reception was in full swing. The band played almost nonstop. Gerry and Maia danced. Gerry danced with Addie, then with Siana. He even danced with little Breena. He was a dancing fool, he laughed to himself. Life could not get any better. Gerry caught sight of Cael sitting alone typing something into his cell phone and walked to him. Pulling the nearby wooden chair closer, he sat beside him. “So, when are you and my niece going to tie the knot?”
Cael didn’t even look at him but seemed lost in his own thoughts as he fiddled with the device. Setting the phone down, he picked up his glass and downed the contents. “Sorry, just changing Maia’s last name in my phone,” he said with a smile. “As for your question, now, that depends.”
“On?”
“On how soon we can recover from this one and ask all these fine people to go through another ceremony.”
“Don’t forget the wedding gifts.” Gerry laughed as he gestured toward the table hidden under swarms of presents. “They’ll need time to recoup the money in their bank accounts. Tell me something, soon to be nephew of mine.”
“Oh, you like that, don’t you?” Cael said, grinning. “Make you feel like a big man?”
“The biggest,” Gerry smirked. “Now that we got that out of the way, tell me. What went on with Careen’s autopsy? What is it Chief Thompson wants to talk to me about that made you and Duane smirk?”
Cael laughed and shook his head. “You’re not going to believe it.”
“Try me.”
Cael picked up the bottle of whiskey and poured a generous two fingers in two of the glasses sitting on the table. “Let’s have another shot first. You’re going to need it.”
They each picked up a glass.
“Slainté
, Gerry said and downed the golden brown liquid in one gulp. “Now spill.”
“Okay. So, it’s no secret how Careen felt about you, right?”
Gerry nodded.
“Well, she was, let’s say, a huge fan of yours.” Cael’s eyebrows rose with the word huge.
“So?”
“Well, apparently, Careen fancied tattoos. In particular, a tattoo of the face of the man she loved.”
Gerry eyes almost popped out of their socket as he blinked. “What the fuck?”
“Right here on her stomach.” Cael made a circle with his hands over his own belly. “The tattoo artist did a fantastic job. The resemblance was quite remarkable.” He laughed and patted Gerry on the shoulder.
“Christ. She had my goddamned face tattooed on her stomach?”
Chuckling uncontrollably, Cael added, “The artist even had you smiling.” Gerry shoved him, knocking him off balance and Cael almost fell off his chair in hysterics.
Just then, Finn walked over. “Oh hey, Finn,” Cael said, still laughing. “How are you these days?”
“You think it’s funny?” Finn said, slurring the word “funny” so that it sounded like “finny.” It was obvious the guy was smashed and Gerry cringed, realizing he’d over heard their conversation.
“You think it’s a big joke that my girlfriend had this bastard’s face tattooed on her stomach?”
“Uh … well ...” Cael coughed and damned if he didn’t look like he was trying his best to wipe off that smirk. “No. Not funny.”
“No, Finn. It isn’t funny.” Gerry stood put his hand on Finn’s shoulder and led him away from Cael. “Not funny at all.”
Sad
, Gerry thought.
Finn wrestled his shoulder free from Gerry’s grip. “Don’t fuck with me, Gerry. Why in God’s name should
you
get to be happy? Huh? Tell me! Why?”
“Listen, man, you’ve had a few too many. How about we get you home? I know it’s been a rough week and being here must be hard,” Gerry said.
“Don’t tell me what’s hard. I’ll tell you what’s hard. Having the woman you love get her ex-boyfriend’s face permanently etched on her stomach, having her call out your name when we made love.” Gerry cringed at that thought and Finn continued, “Knowing she saw you when she closed her eyes whenever I kissed her. That’s what hard is, Gerry.”
“I’m sorry, Finn. I had no idea,” Gerry said as he tried to comfort Finn with a touch to his arm.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t fucking touch me.” Finn pulled his arm away and stumbled, but managed to catch himself before tumbling into Siana and Breena standing by the bar.
“You!” An unfamiliar female voice shouted from across the room and Gerry turned, recognizing the woman as the one he saw in the cemetery the day of Careen’s funeral.
“You killed my sister!” she screamed, pointing her finger at Finn.
The music stopped and everyone stood around staring as Maia approached the woman. “Your sister? You’re Careen’s sister?” Maia asked.
“No. I’m Tara’s sister, Kendra.”
“Who is Tara?” Gerry asked.
“His ex-girlfriend,” she supplied, still pointing at Finn. “You killed Tara, the same way you killed this Careen.”
“You’re a crazy bitch,” Finn said, stumbling back as she approached him.
“You murdered my sister and framed
my
boyfriend almost exactly like you did here with this woman. You’re not very creative. When I read about Careen Faraday’s murder and saw your name listed as her boyfriend, I knew right then you’d done it.”
“No, you’re wrong. I didn’t. I didn’t mean to,” Finn stammered.
“What?” Gerry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You didn’t mean to? Are you admitting to killing this woman’s sister … Tara?”
“No. I … I …don’t know what I’m saying.” Sweat trickled down from Finn’s temple and he swiped at it then ran his hand over his mouth.
“You killed her in cold blood. A week before you killed her she told me you two had been fighting. She told me how you beat her. God, I begged her to leave you, but she said she loved you, kept saying how you didn’t mean to hurt her. But you killed her. You got away with that one, but you slipped up on this one, didn’t you? You got careless and sloppy, trying to cover your tracks.”
“No, it … it was an accident. Just like …”
“You murdered Careen?” Gerry asked.
“No, Gerry! I loved Careen. It nearly killed me inside when she died. It was an accident, I swear. We argued, she fell, her head … she fell sideways and hit her head on a chair. Her neck snapped. I … I panicked. I didn’t know what to do.”
“I suppose it’s just a coincidence that Tara died of a broken neck too,” Kendra yelled.
“No.” Finn pulled out a knife from inside his boot and grabbed Maia, pressing the blade against her throat. “I didn’t do it on purpose. You can’t get me for murder. I never meant to kill them.”
Gerry took a step toward Finn and Maia.
“Don’t come any closer, Ger, I’ll slice this knife right through her jugular. It won’t bother me one bit to do it. The love of my life is gone. I have no problem taking yours. Let me leave and I won’t hurt her.”
“Finn, you don’t need to do this. You can leave, man. Just put the knife down. I won’t stop you, please just release Maia.”
“You stole my woman, so now I’m fucking taking yours. Why should you have your happily ever after? Huh? What makes you so damn special?”
“I’m not, Finn. I’m not special.” Finn’s statements were becoming irrational and it was clear to Gerry that he was borderline certifiable. Gerry feared Finn was so distraught over what he’d done he just might do something drastic without even realizing it. “Please, Finn. Just put down the knife.” Finn’s grasp on the knife was strong and Gerry couldn’t get a grip on it through his telekinetic ability. There were too many people in the bar to risk yanking it out and having it stab someone by accident.
“No. Come on darlin’, you and me are gonna have a party of our own.” Finn led Maia out the door. Gerry, Cael and Addie followed as Finn took Maia across the gravel parking lot and into the wooded area.
“Breena, go back inside,” Gerry heard Addie yell as they followed Finn into the woods. Twenty yards into the forest, Finn stopped and turned toward Gerry. “You can’t have her. Not this time, Gerry.”
Addie raised her hand and the knife went flying out of Finn’s hand and stuck in a tree ten feet away from Finn and Maia.
“Good job.” Gerry nodded at her as he had been about to do the same thing.
Finn shoved Maia away and pulled out a gun from the waist of his pants, pointing it at Gerry.
Cael teleported behind Finn and wrestled him to the ground. Addie held up her hand and Breena gasped, “No, you can’t. You’ll hit Cael!” Breena ran closer to Cael and screamed, “The gun.”
Cael and Finn struggled in a tangle on the ground, wet leaves sticking to their backs and arms as they slid around in the mud. Gerry held Addie back to keep her from joining the two men.
“Gerry, can you get closer? Close enough to take away his memory?” Addie asked.
“I can do it from here,” Gerry said.
“Do it and I’ll whisk him away,” Cael grunted.
Gerry raised his hand toward Finn and Cael. They were moving too much; he couldn’t get focused on Finn’s head. His hand shifted back and forth, trying to line up with Finn. Cael was struggling with Finn to get the pistol. Gerry was sure the gun would go off into someone’s gut if he tried to get into the mix. Unsure if Finn’s finger was on the trigger, there was no way to send it flying. He’d never been able to use both of his powers at once anyway. Then he remembered Addie.
“Addie, don’t try to move the gun, it’s too dangerous.” Finn’s finger was sure to be on the trigger. Any movement could make it go off. “We could sure use some of your firepower right about now though,” Gerry huffed out through gritted teeth still trying to keep his arm steady for a straight shot toward Finn. He stepped a little closer and Addie walked with him, sending out a stream of fire and igniting Finn’s pant leg, which went out as soon as he rolled over the wet ground.