Larson: McCullough’s Jamboree – Erotic Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  World Castle Publishing, LLC

  Pensacola, Florida

  Copyright © Kathi S. Barton 2017

  Paperback ISBN: 9781629898308

  eBook ISBN: 9781629898315

  First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, November 13, 2017

  http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

  Licensing Notes

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

  Cover: Karen Fuller

  Editor: Maxine Bringenberg

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Larson looked at the headlines again. There was something so final about it that it hurt his heart to think that his friend was gone. Not just him, but his wife of twenty years as well.

  Thomas and Donna Simmons had been found on an inflatable boat three days ago. Defensive injuries were all over their bodies, as well as several gunshot wounds that had more than likely had them suffering all the way to the end.

  The newspaper hadn’t given him as many details as Lauren had, but the paper had said that their deaths—murders—were being looked into. And where their boat had disappeared to. They had been shot in the head, both of them, and put on a dingy, he thought it was called.

  “I’m sorry.” He nodded at Lauren when she spoke. “I have some people looking into things since there are a lot of unexplained events. Also, and I don’t know if you know him well, but their partner is saying some pretty damning things about you.”

  “Me? What does he think I did to them?” She said it was about money. “I was his investor and nothing more. I mean, we were friends too, but I never borrowed anything from his partner. The last time we spoke, he asked me to sell off some stock that he had and I did. It’s all recorded too.”

  “Hang onto it…the recordings, I mean. The partner is saying that a week after Tom and his wife went away, you called him and told him that there was a deal just too good to pass up. He in turn told you that Tom was away and that he didn’t make those sorts of decisions. But you insisted.” Larson shook his head and told her that the partner had called him. “Well, like I said, hang onto those recordings. Also, you should think about closing up for a couple of days.”

  “Why?” She told him. “You think he’s going to make trouble for me? That somehow, he can tell others that I’m a cheat and a liar? Why would he do that? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I know that, but you know how people can be. They’re untrusting and will latch onto anything that they can to make someone else have less than them. It’s the way the world works. As much as it sucks, you know as well as I that it does happen.”

  His phone rang then and he answered it, but almost as soon as the man on the other end, Harley Wells, said his name, he made sure that things were being recorded. And he put it on speaker phone so that Lauren could hear as well.

  “Mr. Wells, I didn’t expect to hear from you. Did you need some investing done?” Lauren slid a note to him about warning the other man he was being recorded. “You did listen to the options, didn’t you? I mean, this is a very good place to have your money grow.”

  “Yes, I listened to all the options. Is this your way of asking me if I know that I’m being recorded? Besides, you can’t use it, not now that I’ve put it out there that you’re being sued by me. Anyway, I want you to know that I want that money back, and the shares put back where they were.” He asked him how he thought he couldn’t use the recordings. “Because I’ll just say that I didn’t call you. That you’ve doctored this whole thing, much like you did for my partner. He shouldn’t have sold off that stock. I was hoping to use it.”

  All sorts of things jumped into Larson’s mind, but looking at Lauren, he knew better than to say anything to Wells. Instead, he read the next note that she slid over to him. He didn’t want to ask but she pointed to it again.

  “Did you kill off Tom and his wife? For their shares?” Wells said that he had and that he’d do it again, but he’d be more careful this time. “Careful how? I’m assuming that you think you’re the beneficiary to their estate.”

  “I will be.” He laughed again. “Thomas do Jenny think October left me Vince.” Larson asked him what he was doing when he started just saying words with no rhyme or reason to them. Lauren sliced her fingers over her throat and he hung up.

  “I don’t know what just happened here.” She nodded, but he could see by the look on her face that she was worried. Or thinking. Either one of them, he wasn’t too happy about. “Lauren, please tell me that you’re going to figure this out.”

  “Oh I am. And you don’t have to worry too much about him. I’d steer clear of him for sure, but I’d not be answering my phone for the next week or so.” He asked her if that would make him sound guilty. “Perhaps, but in the end you’ll be fine.”

  “And that garble of words, what was that?” She told him he was making words to sound as if he’d made a tape of their conversation. “Why would he need to do that? I mean, I’d not even have the first clue about that.”

  “But I would.” He asked her what she meant, thinking that he knew what she was saying but wanting her to confirm it. “If I were in a position to use a recording of someone’s voice to get them caught, then yes, I’d do it. And he would know that. It’s no secret to anyone now as to what I’m capable of. Everyone thinks I work with the president. That I’ve gone out of my way to make sure that he’s safe. Then there is the added fact that I made sure that our former president went to jail for a very long time.”

  “Why me? Why is he coming after me? I didn’t do anything that wasn’t asked of me. I’m honest as the day is long. Why is he telling me that he murdered them, and is going to go after their estate? Especially since he knew he was being recorded.” She said that she didn’t know, but she was looking into it. “I’m going to lose my business, aren’t I?”

  “No. Once this gets out, that he’s done this, then it’ll go back to normal. But until then, I think you should have your business closed up, just for now, and go work on your new house.” He thought about his home and all the work that was being done on it. “Where are the recordings that you use?”

  “I put them in the safe every night. I don’t even use them a second time. Ever.” She told him that was smart, but she wanted them. “All right. I can do that. Lauren, he killed that couple.” He turned in his chair to get into the safe that was under the carpet at his feet.

  “Yes, and while they don’t know it, I’m afraid that their kids are next.” He realized then that Wells had mentioned the children by name and told her. “Yeah, I have a detail on them now. They’re with their grandparents for the time being, but there will be more guards around them at all times now. And don’t talk to them. I know you want to go there and see them, tell them you had nothing to do with their parents’
deaths, but he’s more than likely waiting on you to do that. We have to play this very close to the vest.”

  For the rest of the afternoon he took steps to close his business. Larson knew that it was only temporary—he hoped—but he was still depressed about it. As he called in the service to have them answer the phones, he handed over all the recordings that he had in his safe to Lauren. She said she’d make sure they were safe.

  Going to his new home, he watched his dad and grandda as they worked at taking the railing down. It was cast iron, and the previous owners had painted it a bright blue. It was chipped for the most part, but Dad had told him that he could have it looking as good as new in no time. They were going to dip paint it black to match the shutters, the real kind that actually covered the windows. Larson was glad to see something going right.

  “You here or going again?” He told Dad what had happened. “Well, I’m thinking that if Lauren says she can fix it, then she can. I got me some helpers in the back yard, tagging what you don’t want to pull up. I guess this place had a nice rose garden years back, and they want to come in and mark them for you so you don’t pull them up. Said they’d help you make them pretty again.”

  He headed to the back yard, a place that he was beginning to think was never going to look good or be finished. But the moment he spotted the two women, he began to have hope. In the time they’d been here, not only were ribbons on some of the plants, but there was a large brush pile next to the patio.

  “Hello, Larson. My goodness, you have a wonderful place back here. I cannot wait until you put some of these beauties in the next garden show. You’ll win for sure.” He nodded at Mrs. Frank and told her what he’d found out about the gardens. “She, the missus here, she didn’t care much for people. I think her only solace after her son passed was this place. She sure did love to have her roses around. Did you find anything in the house that belonged to her?”

  “I’m not sure there was much left. The house had been empty, from what I understand, for a very long time.” Mrs. Frank told him to have a look-see in the barns. There was stuff in there. “You think so? I mean, why would it still be here after all this time?”

  “She didn’t have no one left when she got up there but for a sister that was as mean as the owner was nice. So this sister was some upstart that had it in her head that she was going to live here and carry on being queen of the town. Nobody liked the old biddy, and she only lasted a year, probably less. But she took all the things that were in the house and put them in the barn, last I heard.” He watched what she was doing as she continued to talk. “And when I heard that one of you McCulloughs had bought this place, I was tickled pink. You go on now, and you and me, we’ll have ourselves a look. Might be some things in there you can use for your place.”

  They walked to the big barn. It wasn’t tall like the one on his brother’s place, but it was huge in that it was one level of sprawling wood. He found the light switch just where she said it would be and turned them on. As they lit up, one after the other, he could see that someone had taken care to make sure that nothing was ruined. There must have been a dozen or so cats around. And every one of the boxes was set up on bricks that he was sure matched the ones on the patio just beyond the rose gardens.

  “I guess they’ll look up to you.” She was still laughing as she led him to the back of the barn. She was pointing out that someone had put boxes in this area, and each one of them was marked with what was in it as well as which room it had come from. “Looks like she put everything in here, doesn’t it?”

  There were over a hundred boxes of varying sizes. There were trunks too…most of them had faded labels on them, but he could make out some of the words. As soon as he realized that there was more in the next stall, he called his mom. She of all people would know what was good to keep or toss out. She said she was in town with the baby but would come by.

  “My mom, she’s coming to look this over. You think that anything in those trunks will be any good? This one here says it has wedding stuff in it. What do you suppose that is?” Mrs. Frank told him it might be a wedding gown for his new mate when she came along. He didn’t comment. Larson was terrified of having a mate.

  “She sure did have a good old time with packing this stuff up, don’t you think? It might have been easier on her just to leave it in the house. That’s my thinking anyway. Well, if you’ll be all right here, young man, I’ll go back to my garden. I don’t mean that it is, but I expect you to invite me out here when it’s in bloom. Maybe we can have a garden party when that happens. If you want.”

  Larson told her that would be fine with him, if the house was finished. She just laughed and walked away. Larson didn’t know what she thought was so funny, but he pulled one of the boxes off the shelf and cut the tape. It was old too, probably as old as he was, but when he opened it, he just stared at the contents.

  Boxes of seeds were in the box, along with when to plant them and what they were. He picked up the first one of about three dozen and read the label. Basil. He wondered if the seeds were any good after all this time, and opened the box to see them. Inside was a canvas bag of them that had been tied with leather. He discovered that they were all like that as he began to pull a few of them out. He wondered what Mrs. Frank and her ladies’ club would think of that.

  By the time his mom had shown up, he’d opened three more boxes, each one of them better than the last. And he had so much more to look through. His mom handed him little Samuel and opened some herself. It was going to be fun, just finding out what had been kept for the house.

  ~~~

  “Mom, where are you?” Her mom was her lifesaver, and she grabbed her hand as soon as she was close enough to touch. “I can’t do this. I can’t believe I ever thought I could. We should leave.”

  “No. We have things to do here, and you can do this. If it gets to be too much, we’ll take a walk. The building is certainly big enough for that. Besides, I’d really like to meet these people. I know that we can’t take him home with us, but I’d like to know that he’s in good hands.” Virginia pointed out that they’d had them investigated. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean that they’re nice people just because they have money.”

  They had arrived late last night in this little town. The plane had been delayed twice coming out of California, but that wasn’t all. Her luggage had been misplaced, along with a couple of her mom’s things. As it stood right now, not only did she not have any clean underwear, but she had nothing to put on her feet but flip flops. And it was too cold for that. The company that owned the airline was sending over a credit card for them to use to buy some things, but she wanted her own stuff. It was why she had bothered packing it after all, damn it.

  Her mom tisked at her when she cursed again, then said, “I need to do something. Sitting around here is making me uneasy.” Virginia and her mom were to meet with the McCulloughs in an hour. But she had to find a place to get some of her necessities, as well as figure out when they could go home. “How about we hit that little shop there on Main Street? It looks like it might be open for business. I’ll buy you lunch.”

  “All right.” The shop had no name as yet, nor did it seem to be a place that showed up on her phone. But it had some lovely displays in the window, and she had already fallen in love with the pretty pitcher and bowl set that sat on a dry sink. “I think I’m going to enjoy having a little getaway here, if only I didn’t have to meet any people. And I mean any person. I like my quiet and the fact that no one is around me. But here…I mean, it’s so quaint, don’t you think?”

  It was. The entire main drag was decorated for the upcoming holiday…or what she thought of as a holiday. Thanksgiving was her second favorite time of the year. It was cold enough for a jacket, and the crunch of leaves under her boots made her smile. But here, it looked as if they had gotten a dusting of snow a few hours ago, and then there were the dark clouds overhead.

  This little town acted like this was the best thing to ever happen her
e. There were decorated pumpkins, as well as pretty candles. There were real cornucopias that had small pumpkins in them as well. One shop had brought in a large roll of hay, painted it bright orange, and given it a turkey face with cloth feathers out the back of it. Virginia was making mental notes of it all, just to use in a book sometime.

  “Do you suppose that they have any magical creatures about, and this is their way of making sure that things are friendly?” She laughed at her mom’s statement. “I know that you don’t believe in such things, but I think it’s possible. And you certainly write about them enough.”

  “I like the way I can go into my own little world and make up whatever I want about them. Not being real, that just gives me more to work with. Besides, creatures are around, but not very magical, I think. I mean, who would believe that anyone would be able to do some of the things that are in my books? No one, that’s who.” She held the door open for an elderly man and woman, and smiled when he tipped his hat at her. “Mom, this is going to be in my next book, somehow, someway.”

  The antique shop was busy. Two women beside the counter were having a great time talking about some other woman, but in a good-natured sort of way. Virginia supposed conversation with the woman behind the counter had been going on for some time too, from the way they’d gotten comfortable about it. Virginia noticed that in addition to the antiques on display, there were also things like old doorknobs and stained-glass panels.

  Virginia wanted it all, from the old silver napkin holders to the beautiful hand-stitched hand towels for the bathroom. She was fingering a beautiful doily when the woman from the counter came to speak to her.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it? Most of these things were left by a little antique shop that went out of business. The owner of the building bought it, and now I’m helping her sell these things at a more reasonable price.” Too much information, she thought, but Virginia told her that was nice. “You’re new to the area, aren’t you? I’m thinking that you’re not from around here.”