Madden: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter 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 2021

  Paperback ISBN: 9781955086899

  eBook ISBN: 9781955086905

  First Edition World Castle Publishing, LLC, September 6, 2021

  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

  Prologue

  The phone ringing pulled her from a deep sleep. Or was it just the beginning of her sleep? Whatever it was, Gabby was as pissed as she’d ever been at being woken up. Pulling the cell to her ear, she took a deep breath to blast the person on the other end when he spoke to her.

  “Gabby, there’s been an incident.” She sat up in bed, untangling her hair from her face as she asked the officer what had happened. “Hailey is hurt. Badly. She’s been beaten to shit, and the guy she was with is dead.”

  “I’m on my way. Did you call her dad?” Paul told her she’d asked for her. “All right. Paul, send a car for her dad in about five minutes. That’ll give me— Where is she anyway?”

  “Shanks farm. Right along the road. It’s bad, Gabby. The kid looks like she’s gone a few rounds with a fighter. But she’s hanging on.” She got outside and into her truck just as she saw an ambulance race by her home. “I’m going to tell her you’re coming. All right. Hurry. I don’t rightly think she’s going to die right now, but I just don’t know how she’s still hanging onto consciousness as bad as she looks.”

  “I’m leaving my house now. I’ll be there before you know it. Send someone for Harry. Don’t tell him the way you have me. And for the love of all that is holy, don’t let him drive.”

  She was pulling up in front of the cruisers that were all over the road. Gabby only had to show her badge to one person, and she was let through. Whoever the guy was, she didn’t know him. More than likely, she thought, one of the guys from the county over. Going to the car, she had to look for her niece. Hailey was sitting on the ground leaning against the car, a bloodied, broken mess of a seventeen-year-old kid.

  “Hey, babe. Isn’t it a little cold for you to be sitting in the cornfield like this?” Hailey asked her if it was her. “Yes, honey, it’s me. The medics are here to take you in. You look like hell.” Her eyes were swollen shut, and it looked like her nose had been broken too. With her eye hanging oddly, Gabby figured someone had broken her eye socket as well.

  “I told him no. Over and over, I told him no. He just kept trying to get me to touch him. His dick, I mean.” She asked her what had happened. “I don’t remember right now. But I told him no. I fought him off like you told me, and he ran off.”

  Paul just shook his head when she looked at him. “Hailey, the men here want to take you into the hospital. I’ve sent for your daddy and told them not to allow him to drive.”

  “I kept telling him no, Aunt Gabby. But he kept hitting me. Harder than when he knocked me against the car window the first time.” Gabby could tell her jaw was broken, or at least in terrible shape. Hailey was holding her jaw tight as she spoke to her. “He just kept hitting me and hitting me.”

  The medics moved in when she stepped back. Them pulling her from the car had her nearly pulling her gun out and killing them for making Hailey scream, but Paul was there to hold her back. Even as they laid her on the gurney, Gabby could see there was more damage done to her than just what she could see on her face.

  As soon as they gave her something to knock her out, the medical team assessed her injuries. They were vast and painful looking, to say the least. As soon as Harry was out of the car, he came running to where they were. It was all she could do to hold him back while she told him she was still alive.

  “What happened to her?” Gabby told her older brother what she knew and what she’d been told by Hailey. “I thought she was home. I asked Rose where she was when I got home, and she said she was in her room. Then when the cop showed up, she wouldn’t even speak to me. This is it, Gabby. I can’t have her treating Hailey like this. Not anymore.”

  “Keep your voice down.” He looked around when she did. “Do you want everyone running back to her with what you’re saying? Christ, Harry.”

  He started crying when he got to the gurney to look at his daughter. The two of them spoke quietly while the medics told them what had happened to her. While they were working on getting her in a position to move her, Gabby went to the other side of the car to look at the dead body.

  “She didn’t kill him. I mean, she had something to do with it, but she didn’t kill him.” Paul showed her what he’d been able to see that she couldn’t in her position standing by the body. “He got the shit beat out of him too, it looks like. But the only thing she said to me when I got here was that he’d run off when she’d kicked him in his dick. It looks like he got out of the car to do whatever and fell on one of the frozen corn stalks. See here? It caught him right in the throat and severed the arteries. Bled out while she called us to come and get you.”

  “Have the parents been notified?” He said they’d not yet, waiting on making sure that Hailey got what she needed before anyone left here. “Good idea. Once she’s on her way, have someone go with you. Wear your body cams too.”

  “I will. I know this kid, Gabby. I have to tell you, I’m surprised he’s not been killed before now. Or killed someone else. He isn’t the type of person that takes no as an answer. As you can see.” She nodded and asked him if there had been reports from him before. “Ten at least. He’s a twenty-two-year-old senior at the high school. His last year if I don’t miss my bet.”

  “Are you serious? He’s not graduated from high school, and they allowed him to keep going there? Christ.” Paul told her who he was. “Why do I know that name? Chip Brunswick? It’s not the mayor’s son, is it?”

  “His nephew. I think he’s been staying with his uncle since the Christmas break. But he does live here. His parents have gone on a cruise or something. We were asked to go by their house a few times a day to make sure Chip here wasn’t having any parties.” She stood up when she’d seen all she could in the darkened area. “This is going to hit the fan, you know that, don’t you? I mean, you being a cop, your brother acting judge on a major case coming up. People are going to have a field day with all this other shit too.”

  “I’m not going to work on this with you. But I would like to be kept in the loop, quietly if you can.” Paul promised her he would. “I don’t know if what I’m thinking is going to pan out or anything, but do me a favor and pull this kid’s phone records and Rose’s. I have no idea why, but I think she might well have planned this sort of thing. I could be wrong.”

  “You’re never wrong when it comes to shit like this.” He made himself a note. Paul was old school. He literally wrote it down on a small pad of paper rather than on his phone like most people did. She did the same thing, as he’d been the one that had trained her. “I’ll let you know as soon as I do. Also, I’d like it if you had a burner so I can talk to you without anyone tracing it.” She said she’d get herself one.

>   The body was taken away soon after the coroner arrived. Doc Massey should have retired years ago, but he was the best there was at his job. Being in his late seventies, the man didn’t miss a beat. He used the newfangled equipment, what he called it, like the new kids on the block. He took one look at the car, then at the body, and nodded.

  “Couldn’t have happened to a better person if you ask me.” He also didn’t have a filter between his brain and his mouth most of the time. “I got me a couple of reports, Paul, that I’ll make sure you get. Two other girls have been done in by this kind of shit. Who’s the young lady? I’m assuming she made it.”

  “My niece.” Massey looked at her, shocked. “Yes, she’s been beaten up badly. The medics said she had five broken ribs on her right, as well as two on the left, broken right arm and wrist—a bite out of her ear. You might want to dig around for that while you’re in there, Massey. If you’d not mind.”

  “No. I’ll find it or know the reason why. How’s Harry taking this? Not good, I’m betting.” She said he was at the hospital now. “That Hailey is a good kid. She’s one of the bravest kids I know, next to you, Gabby. Here’s hoping she comes out on top of this.”

  The body was turned over, and she could see that his jaw was broken too. Not only that, but it looked like he might have had his hair pulled out in a few places, as well as what appeared to be nail cut marks on his cheeks. Just as Paul said, the stalk of corn, cut off at an angle when the crops had been brought in, killed him by going through his neck. The medics with Massey left it where it was when the body was turned over and put on the other gurney.

  “They’ll need to see what happened. I like a little drama when I have to show people how their loved one died. However, in this case, I’m thinking he wasn’t loved all that much.” It was Paul that asked Massey how he knew that. “About six months ago, I heard they were sending him to some kind of military place. To get his head on right. He’d gotten to be too much for him. Hell, I think he was too much for the two of them when they brought him home from that place. He’s not theirs, and I’m betting every day they wish they’d not adopted him. As I said, I’ll get you a couple of files I have that have his fingerprints and DNA all over the body. But old Fussy Ass wouldn’t allow me to use them.” Massey laughed. He sounded like a braying jackass when he was tickled like he was. “I had him sign off on it. For my eyes only, I told him. Hell, if that shit comes back to try and bite me in the ass, I’m going to show it to the queen herself if it’ll get me out of trouble.”

  The cleanup wasn’t anything she could help with, as she wasn’t there in a professional capacity. Getting back in her truck, she let the thing warm up this time, thanking her for getting her to Hailey in time. As she sat there, she thought about what Massey had told her. Two bodies. Two young girls that had been killed by this kid.

  Pulling into traffic, she headed to the hospital. Gabby also thought about how Rose was involved in this if she was. It would be just like her to have someone beat the shit out of Hailey so her daughters would be prettier. It was a sad case of the Little Cinder Girl all over. Except this evil stepmom was going to get her ass in trouble if she was even remotely in on anything that had happened here or in the last two deaths by Chippy.

  The hospital wasn’t busy this early in the morning. When she got up to the third floor where the operating rooms were, she found her brother still in his robe and slippers. She asked him if she needed to go get him something to wear.

  “Birdy is going to find me some scrubs to put on. I want you to stay with me.” Gabby asked if there had been any news. “Not yet. She was whisked away to surgery as soon as we got here. They were ready for her. She coded on the way in, Gabby. I don’t know what I’d do if she were to leave me like this. Christ, I love that kid more than I do myself sometimes.”

  “I do too. She kept telling me she fought him off like I’d taught her to do.” He hugged her, telling her he was so glad she’d talked him into letting her do that. “I know young boys and their parents much better than you do, Harry. They’re all pieces of shits. You’re the only man in the world I will ever love.”

  “You’re hard on men, Gabby. I have pointed this out to you before.” She was glad to see her brother smile at that.

  The two of them were still waiting on news when their parents showed up. She didn’t know who had called them but was grateful that someone had. In all the things going on tonight, she’d forgotten they’d moved to this town a few weeks ago to be closer to them. “The doctor is going to do his best with her. I know she’s young and strong, so I’m hoping for the best here.”

  Harry didn’t mention that she’d coded, and Gabby was glad. There were some things you didn’t tell your parents, and she thought this was one of them. They weren’t young, their mom and dad, and had seen a great deal, but no one wanted to know that their granddaughter had died once already tonight.

  When it rounded up to six hours in surgery, Gabby found herself a quiet place to do something she told herself she’d never do and had told the other person she’d never call on her either. Reaching out into the cold dark night, she called for Gaea, the Mother to All Creatures.

  “I felt her blood stain the ground, my child.” Gabby cried a little, telling her what Gaea probably knew better than she did. “You know I will do whatever you wish. I owe you so much more than even this, helping a life for you.”

  “I don’t want to tap you out, overwork your noddle here, Gaea, but I told you before, I was just in the right place at the right time, that’s all.” She nodded as she did each time the two of them spoke. Gaea was the reason she was such a good cop. The older woman would help her with things when she felt the earth. “She cannot die. Hailey is the best part of her dad and my parents. I love her too, but I’m alone, and they will be should she pass away. Especially from something like this.”

  “The man, he is dead. It took me a moment to make sure the stalk was in the precise place when he stumbled onto it.” Gabby asked her if she was being serious. “I am. Had I not intervened when I did, Gabriela, he was coming around the car to pull her from it and rape, then kill her. It was in his mind, you see, that she should have suffered a great deal. Be disfigured too. You would not have found the body either without my help. The deed wasn’t finished until there was nothing left of her but a stain on the ground.”

  “Did Rose help him?” She nodded. “Was she fucking him? I’m assuming she was because that sounds exactly like something she’d do.”

  “Fucking. It is a terrible word for making love. But in this case, you have gotten it right. They were fucking. Like little bunnies without a care in the world.” Gaea smiled, but it was far from friendly. “I will help where I can. There are things in motion that will help you along with her as well. Do not be fooled by Rose’s acts, Gabriela. You know her to be evil, but she is so much more than that.”

  “I don’t know what could be more evil than evil, but I’ll take your word for it. I think Harry has had enough as well.” She told her good. “You’ll help her then? You’ll make sure Gabby doesn’t die?”

  “Yes.” She started to fade out but came back for a moment as a solid person. “She will no more die than you will, Gabriela Thomas.” Then she was gone.

  ~*~

  Pierce wandered around the halls just as he was told to do. There was going to be a reckoning here soon. Not really that bad, but it had to be taken care of now, or someone was going to be killed. The jail that was just outside of their little town, but still the one they used, was so run down, overpopulated, and in bad shape that he was surprised someone hadn’t mentioned it before now.

  “I’ve been taking pictures of the shit I’m finding. I might as well have been using a video recorder for as much is wrong here. What are you doing?” He told Madden he was measuring the walls. “I’m assuming it has something to do with the overall building?”

  “There are codes that say ho
w large a cell should be, and with that, how many people it can hold. The cells, according to the American Correctional Association, or the ACA, should be seventy square feet per prisoner. With overcrowding, they have been putting in a second bunk for an upper person.” Madden asked him how large these rooms were. “Forty-eight. With three prisoners in the room when they’re in a pinch. Which seems to be happening a great deal.”

  “Christ.” Pierce agreed with him. “So we have these overcrowded cells, one shower stall for everyone to share, as well as the worst kind of conditions for the bathrooms. Demi is going to have a cow when she hears how bad this place really is.”

  “There’s more. From what I’ve been able to find, there isn’t a yard for them to walk in that’s secure. So they’ve been having them walk around the commons area in a circle to give them exercise. Since the kitchens are in such poor shape, they’re bringing in fast food that isn’t fit to eat when they order it, much less when it travels all the way here in the back of a van.” Pierce went over the list he’d been making since he arrived. “This place should have been shut down years, if not decades ago. I mean, just a few minutes ago, I had to go outside to pee. I was terrified of what would befall me if I were to have gone into that room.” They both laughed, but he’d been really worried. He wasn’t a little guy. “My bear curled up around me and seemed to be more afraid of going in there than he might have been on the darkest nights.”

  “I hear you.”

  They walked around for a little while longer together, then they parted ways again when they got to the next part of the building. Pierce was finding it hard to navigate through the halls. It seemed to him that someone had blocked off places that should have been halls and closed up rooms too. He was standing in front of what he thought should have been an office when he heard from Joey.

  I’m going to go and see Margie now. I wanted to let you know so that if you feel me getting angry at her, you’ll know the reason for it. He told her she’d do fine. I do hope so. All I’ve been thinking about is how this is going to be coming to a head soon, and she’ll be out of our life. Did you hear about the kids found not far from where you are in the jail?