Mary and the Bear (21 page)

"Did that bastard touch you? If he did, he's a dead man."

"No, he hit me with the briefcase when I wouldn't go with him willingly."

"What!"

Right then, Rome knocked on the door. Hugh grabbed the covers and wrapped Mary Elizabeth in them before calling out for him to enter.

Rome came into the room with a small notebook in his hand. Mary Elizabeth looked him over with interest. This was the first time she'd seen a police force in the month she'd been living in Refuge. He was Latino, and a very handsome one at that. Instead of the usual police uniform, he was dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a black polo shirt with Refuge County Police Department monogrammed on the pocket in red. He pulled the police issued baseball cap off of his head and ran his hand through his mane of shiny, dark curls before sliding the cap back on his head.

"Are you okay to answer some questions? If not, you can come down to the station tomorrow and answer them. I know you've been through an ordeal."

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with.” She straightened up her drooping shoulders and wrapped the cover around her more securely, uncomfortably aware of her nakedness. Hugh sat down on the bed beside her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, silently offering his strength. She leaned into his warmth as she turned to Rome and asked, “What do you need to know?"

"Everything you can tell me, starting with who the unconscious gentleman in the front is. Just start from the beginning. Then, if I have any questions or need any clarification, I'll stop you and ask, okay? Be as detailed as possible."

She took a deep breath before starting. This was going to take awhile. “His name is Charles Remington and he's my brother-in-law.” She felt Hugh tense beside her at the information, but he said nothing. “He was married to my sister Babs who we buried a few weeks ago. Up until tonight, I thought she'd died as a result of a drunk driving accident."

Rome interrupted. “What happened tonight to make you think differently?"

"Charles confessed to killing her. I'm not sure how he managed it but he said that he was responsible for her death.” Hugh's hands gripped tightened until she winced in pain. “Hugh, please, you're hurting me."

"Sorry.” He loosed his grip.

"Okay, we'll come back to that later. So Charles is your brother-in-law. What's he doing here?"

This was the part she hated. It all sounded so sordid. “After the funeral, Charles came to see me. He was making noise about how he should have married me and how, now that Babs was dead, this was his opportunity to make things right. I figured it was the grief talking. I had already been offered the job here but hadn't decided yet. The incident with Charles, along with a few other things I won't go into, pushed me to say yes."

"That one piece of news just saved his life,” Hugh said with a growl.

"Hugh,” Rome said warningly. “Law present, in the room?"

Rome asked Mary Elizabeth to clarify. “Why did he say he should have married you? What made him think that you would be interested?"

"Charles and I were engaged when he met my sister.” Mary Elizabeth thought that the less said on that subject, the better. Seeing how crazy Charles was, she realized she'd had a lucky escape. Instead of being angry with Babs when it happened, she should have been down on her knees, thanking her instead.

"So he married your sister instead, and now feels he made a mistake."

Mary Elizabeth nodded. “Babs was cheating on him. I didn't think he knew about it but I found out after her funeral that he did. That's why I think he's so fixated on me. He figures if he married me, I wouldn't have strayed. I told him he was seven years too late and I was no longer interested. Anyway, I came here. Charles used to call daily, asking me to come home. The last time he called, about two weeks ago, he referred to me as his fiancé.” Turning to Hugh she said, “That was the night of the party. I told him again that I wasn't marrying him, and that I was here to stay. That was the last I heard from him until he showed up tonight.” Then she told him everything that happened from the time she walked in the door until Hugh arrived.

Hugh bristled and vibrated beside her during the telling, his anger a tangible thing. Once she was finished, Rome turned to Hugh and asked, “Do you have anything to add to this?"

"Yeah, Charles called again, only this time I answered the phone. He introduced himself as my mate's fiancé. I didn't tell him who I was but I did tell him she belonged to me. Then I hung up on him and disconnected the phone to keep him from calling back and disturbing Mary Elizabeth."

"So he was aware that there was a man in her life. It's probably what pushed him over the edge."

Mary Elizabeth shook her head. “I don't think it would have mattered. I thought he was just going through a difficult grieving process. I knew that my saying no to his proposal made him more determined to have me, but after tonight, I realized that the man's nuttier than my grandma's fruitcakes."

Hugh thought, Mary Elizabeth was right. Charles was insane and from the sound of it, he had plenty of money to cover the signs of his illness. He could afford good legal representation. The kind that didn't care about guilt or innocence and did the job they were paid to do—get their client off. He and Rome shared a look that showed they were thinking the same thing. With a small nod, Rome indicated he would handle it.

Mary Elizabeth didn't notice. She was slumped against Hugh. Reaction was finally setting in. All she wanted to do was wrap herself around Hugh and celebrate being alive and with the man she loved. Things could have turned out so differently tonight. She was ready for everyone to leave so that they could be alone. This was so not the homecoming she'd envisioned.

Rome closed his notebook. “That's all I need for now. We'll be here a little longer gathering evidence, but from the looks of things, it collaborates with what you've told me. Charles has already been taken to the station. Hugh, bring Mary Elizabeth to the station tomorrow so she can sign her statement and press charges."

"What about Babs? Can you charge him with murder?” She really didn't want him to get away with killing her sister, but she knew things like that happened all the time, especially if you had enough money.

"I forgot about the sister. What can you tell me about the accident?"

"It was listed as a hit and run. Babs’ car was totaled. The driver of the second vehicle was never found. The vehicle was listed as stolen and there were open containers and the strong smell of alcohol inside. Babs bled out on the way to the hospital, never having gained consciousness."

"It sounds like your brother-in-law covered his tracks well. Even if he confessed, there's probably not enough evidence to get a conviction."

"Yeah, that's what I figured. So he'll get away with it after all.” The thought was depressing, and a little frightening. She hoped they could make these charges stick. She didn't want to be looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life. Right now Charles was obsessed with her. What happens if he decided that if he couldn't have her, nobody would?

Rome told Hugh he'd talk to him later and then left Hugh to comfort his mate. As soon as the door closed, Mary Elizabeth came out of the covers and climbed into Hugh's lap. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. “I missed you so much. When I first saw Charles, I was so mad at him for messing up my surprise. That's before I realized how crazy he was."

"Don't you ever leave me again,” he said sternly.

She ran her fingers through his hair before cradling his face with her hands. “I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I just needed time to get my head straight. To figure out what I wanted."

"And have you figured things out?” His look was very intent, as though he could see right into her soul. Maybe he could.

"Yes, I want you. Whatever that means. Whatever it takes. You've crawled into my soul and now I can't imagine my life without you in it."

"It's called love and I feel the same way about you.” He went to say more but she kissed him to silence.

"Later. I have several days of abstinence to make up for."

His eyes glowed as he recognized his words from earlier being spoken back to him. He lowered his mouth to hers. She was right. They could talk later. Much, much later.

From the sounds coming from the room, it didn't take any investigative skills on his part to know what was going on in there. Rome ushered his deputy out of the apartment. Anything they needed and didn't already have would have to wait until later.

He walked out of the apartment and locked the door behind him with a sad smile on his face. He was glad Hugh's mate was safe and sound, in his arms where she belonged. It was his job to make sure she stayed that way. He'd give anything to be able to hold his mate in his arms again. Now that he'd finally found her, he was working on a plan to bring her back to Refuge where she belonged. Once she was here, he'd never let her go again.

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He looked down at the paperwork in front of him and straightened it slightly on the table, in pretended nervousness. “There are some discrepancies between your statement and those of the other two, but since Ms. Brown is unwilling to press charges, I have no choice but to let you go, on the condition that you leave town immediately. Ms. Brown has expressed her desire to be left alone. Any further attempt on your part to see or contact her in any way will be seen by this department as harassment, and a restraining order will be issued against you, with or without her consent. Since both you and Ms. Brown are sporting bruises, this will officially go on record as a domestic dispute.” Rome glanced up, then quickly looked down at the table again.

"Once your statement has been signed, your belongings will be released to you. I strongly advised you to leave town now. Do not stop for any reason. To make sure you don't run into any problems, one of my deputies will follow you to the county line.” Rome slid the paperwork across the table.

Charles smiled triumphantly as he signed his statement, not bothering to read it to make sure it was correct. He now knew for sure that Mary Elizabeth loved him. She'd refused to press charges against him, not that it would have mattered if she did. They both knew that he'd done nothing wrong. Had these yokels tried to detain him, he'd have had his team of lawyers swarming all over them before they knew what hit them.

As for Mary Elizabeth, he still wasn't clear on what happened. He'd been told that the big guy had come in after Mary Elizabeth ran into his briefcase. He'd thought that she was being attacked and had done what any man would do under the circumstances—protected her by striking back.

He packed a hell of a punch. Charles's last clear memory was of standing over Mary Elizabeth informing her of their wedding. Which reminded him, he still had a bride to collect. He'd play along for now. Leave as they instructed, but double back. Nothing and no one was going to keep him from the woman he loved.

Later at the front desk, when the sheriff handed him his keys, he gave a friendly warning. “We found your van and parked it in the side parking lot. If I were you, I'd take it to a mechanic and get it checked out. It seemed to pull a little to the right while I was driving it. Oh, and be careful of the wildlife, especially on the roads at night. They tend to come out of nowhere with all of the woods around here. With the curves in the road, sometimes you're on one before you realize it. Drive carefully. We wouldn't want you to have to return for any reason. Stay within the posted speed limits and you should be okay. Deputy Harris here will make sure you make it to the county line in one piece.” Deputy Harris tipped his hat to Charles, and then went out to his cruiser to wait.

Charles gave the sheriff a look of scorn as he took his belongings. Checking to make sure everything was there, he noticed his gun was missing. “Where is my gun?"

"Deputy Harris has it. He'll return it to you once you reach the county line."

Knowing there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, Charles took his things and left. They hadn't heard the last from him. As soon as he had Mary Elizabeth safely home, he'd slap a lawsuit on this town so large he'd own it. Smiling at the thought, he walked out and got in the van.

As instructed, he checked it out carefully. Everything appeared to be just as he left it. Starting the van, he strapped on his seatbelt. He wouldn't put it past them to give him a ticket for not wearing one. He turned onto the main road leading out of town. As promised, Deputy Harris was right behind him.

Once he cleared the main part of town, he picked up speed as the posted speed limit increased. The mountainous road was dark and curvy, downhill all the way. Several times he tapped his breaks to slow his speed, as the grade of the road caused his vehicle to roll faster and faster.

Steering became harder and harder as the power steering seemed to fail. He was using more and more muscle to steer into and out of the sharp curves. His brakes felt funny, too. They'd been fine at first, but the longer he drove, the mushier the pedal felt and it was taking the van longer and longer to slow in response to his foot on the brake pedal.

The suspicion that someone tampered with his brakes had just crossed his mind when something large and furry darted out into the road in front of him. Thinking it was a deer, he instinctively jerked hard on the wheel to avoid hitting it. The last thought to cross his mind right before the world went topsy-turvy was, ‘that was the biggest damn wolf I've ever seen.'

Because he'd been heading into a sharp curve at the time, his action caused the van to overbalance and flip. His seatbelt popped lose as the van flipped several times before slamming into the trunk of a huge oak tree. The impact of the crash caused the van to crumple like an accordion.

Deputy Harris, who was several feet behind him when the accident occurred, slowed the police cruiser before coming to a stop beside the wolf sitting on his haunches in the middle of the road. As he opened the door and got out, the wolf shape-shifted to reveal Deputy Wilson standing there in all his naked glory. He casually walked over to the cruiser to collect his clothes from the passenger side of the car while Deputy Harris went to check on the accident victim.

After looking things over carefully, he radioed back to headquarters. “Boss, you'd better send the coroner. Mr. Remington done had himself an accident. Seems he was driving too fast down the mountain and swerved to avoid the local wildlife. Saw the whole thing with my own eyes."

"Some people just don't listen. I warned him to be careful, drive slow and watch out for the wildlife. Oh well, I'll wait until morning to inform the next of kin. No sense waking up any more people than we have to at this hour of the night.” Rome signed off the radio with a smile of satisfaction on his face.
Yes, siree, some folks just don't listen
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