Sheppard: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 1) Read online

  “Is that necessary? As I was just telling them, he’s grief stricken.” The SS man, Shawn Gibson, said that it was necessary. That in order to keep everyone safe, they did not want to take any chances. “Well, it sounds to me that everyone went a little overboard on this. He’s just spouting off. Let me talk to him, and I’ll calm him down.”

  “No, I’d rather let the ones that know what they’re doing talk to him. He might be grief stricken, as you say, but he just blamed his daughter’s death on my wife.” There was a hard tone to Howard’s voice, and she moved closer to him. “Now, what is it you wanted, Davidson, that made you come into my personal home?”

  “Nothing. I just saw everyone rushing here and thought I’d make sure that things were all right. Nothing to it.” He smiled, but Lily could see the anger there, his disappointment in how things were going. Lily wasn’t sure that Harris had killed Shelly, but she was glad now if she had. It had brought out all the anger that had been hidden before, brought it to the surface so that everyone could be aware of it. Not that she wanted the young girl dead, but things had been moving toward an end, she was sure of it. What it was going to be was anyone’s guess, but she thought that however it ended, Harrison was going to be the one to end it for them.

  Once everyone left, Davidson seemed to linger a little too long, asking questions too of the security team, like when were they going to pick up Collier. What they were planning to do with him. All the while, they never answered him, and at one point, Shawn asked him to state his business. He looked at her when she moved near the doorway to give him the hint that she wanted him out of their home.

  “I’m sure that once you think about things, you’ll understand that he meant you no harm.” She asked him why he thought that. “Because he’s a good friend of mine, and you have to see that he’s been dealt a hard blow. I’d just call them all off, and I’m sure in a couple of days he’ll call you up and tell you how sorry he is.”

  “Will you make him do that, Davidson?” She didn’t know where the question came from, but once she asked, she decided that she wanted an answer. “Will you make him call me up and tell me that he meant nothing by calling me a murderer? How about that it was my fault she was dead because I had her take her vacation time that was coming to her? What will you have him say to me about that?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m betting that you don’t either. It could be bad for you to go making accusations like that with nothing to back it up with.” He looked at her hard now, like he was looking for some way that she might have what he didn’t want her to have. Information came to mind. Or deals. Lily stared back just as hard. “You aren’t as tough as you think you are.”

  “And you aren’t as smart as you believe yourself to be either. Get out, right now, before I have you escorted out of here.” He leaned into her, just enough where she could smell alcohol on his breath. “In the future, don’t come here unless invited, and try very hard, if you ever are invited, not to smell like you’ve only just came from a bar.”

  When she slammed the door after he finally left, she leaned back against it. She was shaking so badly that she ended up on the floor rather than trying to walk to her table. Christ, she thought, she felt like she’d only just tangled with a tiger. When her phone rang, she was almost afraid to answer. But seeing Jill Ann’s face there, Lily answered it.

  “Hello, my dear. I was just thinking about— What is it? What’s happened?”

  She started crying. Lily could hear his voice behind her sobs. He was offering her comfort and telling her that he was going to come there, but she finally calmed down enough to talk to him.

  “I just was having a bad day. I’m all right now.” He said that he could tell, and if she needed him, he was there. “No, no, that’s all right. I hope to be seeing you soon. Did you get my message?”

  “I did. Thank you, my dear. I wasn’t sure you’d gotten mine.” He laughed. “Yes, everything is set for you to come see us. We have a few more guests then we were planning, but the more the merrier. Yes, the more the merrier.”

  “Thank you so much. I cannot wait to talk to you again. You have no idea how much it helps me with the passing of my friend. She was such a wonderful person. I know you’re aware of that, but I do think it was the best balm for me.” He told her that they’d talk about old times, just the two of them. “Yes, I’d like that. I have some pictures too that I’m going to bring. I’ve dug them out of storage, if you can believe that.”

  “Yes, I’ve been finding things that I want to share with you too. You don’t realize how much junk you collect until you have to go sorting through it. My wife, she had some stuff stored away for our grandboys that I’m giving them now that they have their own homes.” He spoke to someone there with him, and she smiled. It must be Harris, whose foul mouth she’d heard so much about. The language was crude and funny. “Well, I’ve been told that you have a country to run and that I’ll see you soon. I miss you, Lily child. So much.”

  Lily felt so much better after talking to him. After taking care that she had all the things that she wanted to take, she had herself a lying in. Sometimes in order to get her ducks in a row, she simply had to take a little nap. Lying down, she knew that she’d feel much better in a little while. Trying her best not to think of anything, she closed her eyes. In less than twenty-four hours she’d be someplace she could be free. And Lily could not wait.

  Chapter 9

  “What the ever loving fuck is wrong with you?” Maron didn’t like this one bit. Sure Benson’s daughter had died, and it was a tragedy, but it wasn’t worth putting everything that they’d worked for out there in the open like this. “How the fuck did you figure that blaming the president’s wife was going to be low key?”

  “She had something to do with it—I know it.” Maron asked him how that was possible. “She hired someone to kill her off. Don’t you think it’s suspicious that two days after she made my little girl take her vacation, she fell in the shower? A little too pat, don’t you think? I mean, why did she do that anyway? Shelly was doing a great job with messing with her schedule, and telling us when she was doing things outside of the house so we could keep tabs on her.”

  “Did the first lady just decide to go all the way across town and trip your daughter while she was in the shower? Not likely, if you ask me. Besides, if you remember correctly, you told me yourself that Shelly was drinking a little more than she should have been. And the night before she was found, didn’t she go to a party being held at the local college?” Benson nodded, but said that Lily still had something to do with it. “You’re just nuts. And if you keep this up, you’re going to fuck things up for the two of us too.”

  “He’s not going to suddenly decide that I’m not worthy of him talking to me about his personal life. What little personal life that he has. Christ, he’s the most boring man that I’ve ever had to be around. Much less work with.” Benson sniffled a little more. “She was my only child, Maron. Can’t you understand that?”

  “I can. I’m sorry for your loss, I really am. But you have to keep your mouth shut. What did you say to Lily before I got there? Christ, you didn’t just blab about everything, did you?” He said that he’d not said a word about what they were doing. “I certainly hope not. That would be bad for the two of us when it comes out about the president.”

  The president was going to go down soon, and they were going to reap the benefits of it. Benson would be president, of course. Then Maron would be the vice president, because Benson would choose him as his second. It would be wonderfully perfect when all was said and done. They’d have everything they ever wanted, and all the money they could stash away.

  They had so many people waiting for the day to happen too. Money deals that were on hold. Deals that would bring them to war almost as soon as the I do’s were said. Not that they were getting married, but they would be sworn in. He looked at the list that he had on his personal phone, and wondered if it would be too
risky to move things up a few more days. It seemed to be taking forever for them to get the goods in the right place for it to happen. Drugs and money would be found as soon as— Fuck. Shelly couldn’t place them anymore.

  While she’d been able to stash away some of the drugs that he’d stolen, the money had been a bit more problematic. It seemed to slip through his fingers at every turn. Benson had thought about counterfeit money, but so long as it wasn’t circulated, then it would do them little good. Not to mention fingerprints on it.

  The real money would have so many prints on it that it wouldn’t matter if they couldn’t find his on there. But new money, just printed up, real or not, wouldn’t work. They needed the stick of the prints being traced back to Howard. No prints on them would take the blame from him and put it on someone else. Asking him to touch the money wouldn’t work because the fucker would want to know why.

  “Do you have any idea how many problems you’re causing me, Howard?” He wouldn’t care, that was what pissed him off. And his little wife Lily was pissing him off as well. “She had her little feelings hurt by Benson, and had to call in the national guard.”

  She’d not done that, but just as bad. Calling the secret service in was like calling in the army, navy and air force all at one time. Christ, he wished he’d been with Benson when he found out about his daughter. Then he could have knocked him around a little before he decided to make a call that would come back to bite them in the ass.

  “What are you mumbling about?” He’d forgotten that Benson was with him when he started bitching under his breath. “You don’t think that they had a thing to do with it, do you?”

  “No, I don’t.” He asked about Cora Banks, the hit man that worked for the government. “Yes, that would be her MO, but she’s dead. I have told you this over and over. Did she resurface after that thing we sent her on? No, she didn’t. And do you know why she didn’t? Tell me Benson, why didn’t she?”

  “Because you killed her.” He smiled at the man. “What about her paperwork? You said that it had to be done after she was dead. What happened to her file, Maron?”

  “I don’t care. It was blank. I supposed that’s what it was when she was hired on for what she does. And there is no telling how long it had been that way.” It did bother him about her file. There was a picture in it, but when he was looking over it, someone next to him said they had the same picture in their new wallet. Then he showed him. “You just let me worry about whether or not she’s alive. She’s dead to you, that’s all you have to worry about.”

  If she was alive, however, they were going to be in a world of hurt. Not only would she come after them, but she’d make sure that they were dead too. No one would ever suspect that she had anything to do with it either. She was that good. Damned good is what he’d heard about her.

  After leaving Benson to his bed—they had brought him to the hospital when he’d freaked out—Maron went home. His house was bug free, so he didn’t even bother trying to keep anything hidden away there. Pulling out his phone, he made a call to his contact that had told him about Cora being dead.

  “I have been looking for her body since you called me.” He asked him why he’d not found it. “I don’t know. I followed her until the marketplace, then she was gone. I think she had people helping her.”

  “Of course she did. But when I called you before, you assured me that she was not only dead, but that you’d seen the body.” He said that he’d lied—just that he’d lied. Then he laughed. “I don’t fucking think this is funny at all, you moron. I want you to find her body, and find it now. Christ, do you have any idea what this will do to us if she’s not dead?”

  “It won’t bother me.” The giggle again, and Maron wanted to climb through the phone and kill the little fucker. “I’ve nothing to do with her. Dead or alive? It matters very little to me.”

  “I’m going to kill you.” The man laughed again before he hung up. Calling him back did him no good either—the line, the operator said, was no longer in service. “Mother fuck.”

  He nearly threw the phone across the room, but stopped at the last moment. His butler would murder him if he did that again, and he didn’t need any more staff leaving him at the moment. As it was, he was having to pick up his own dry cleaning and pick out his shirts. Maron was used to the finer things in life, and having only two people working for him in a house this size wasn’t cutting it.

  He saw no reason to hire anyone else when he’d be moving soon. To the VP house, reserved for men like him. Maron had an idea that he’d piss a few people off when he was living there, but they could suck a big cock for all he cared. He was going to be making things happen with his best bud, and then they’d sit up and take notice of him.

  Getting his tux out, he was pissed because it was the wrong one. There was no way that he’d put on that much weight between the last time he’d worn it and now. He yelled for the butler to see if he had picked up the right one when he heard a voice behind him. Then it was in front of him, saying his name over and over. Finally taking out his gun, Maron demanded that whoever it was show themselves. The woman that came out of the darkness nearly had him wetting his pants.

  “I heard that you’re looking for me.” He just shook his head, not sure that he could speak when he saw how she was dressed. And there was no doubt at all that this person was a she. Christ, her black on black outfit fit her like a glove. Maron could see her eyes and nothing more. “Well, what is it you want, Maron? I’m a busy woman.”

  “I don’t know who you are.” The gun came out of someplace in her outfit, and was pointed right at his head. He could feel it there like she was trying to make him a weird sort of art project that had to do with guns and brains. “Don’t kill me.”

  “Not yet, I won’t. Do you know who I am?” He nodded. “Good. Then we can skip over the pleasantries. You’re not going to find my body, in the event that you didn’t get that.”

  “Cora Banks.” She did a little bow at him, and he wanted her to fucking die where she stood. “You’re very difficult to get in touch with, you know that? I have a job for you.”

  “No you don’t. You just wanted to know if I was dead or not. Now that we’ve established that I’m not, tell me what you’re up to.” He asked her if she’d killed Shelly Main. “Did I? Hmm, I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about. But if I did, it was because she was stashing coke all over the White House in order for you and your buddy to get the president impeached. Is that about right?”

  “Why would I do something like that?” She turned her back to him and he didn’t move. All he needed was to get himself laying in the bed next to Benson. “How the hell did you get in here?”

  “The front door. How did you think I’d get into your home? I’ve been in your buddy’s house too. Too bad about him, however.” He asked her if she was going to go to the hospital and harass him. “Not unless I don’t get the answers I want from you. What is the big plan between you guys? Besides getting the president into trouble.”

  “Benson isn’t going to be causing any more troubles for me, so you just stay the fuck away from him. His daughter was just murdered. By you. What do you think he’s going to do when he finds out that you did it?” She paused for a moment, then turned back to him. “You did kill her, didn’t you?”

  “Like you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She stood by the window that he had never opened since he’d been in this house. It was blowing cool night air in as he stood there.

  “You know that there are cameras all over this place, don’t you? Not only will it tell me how you got into my home, but it will show that you threatened me as well.”

  “I’m not worried about your cameras. You shouldn’t either if you know what’s good for you. So you and Collier are in on this, are you?” Maron had a second of clarity. She hadn’t known what his partner’s name was until he’d told her. “If Benson is as stupid as you are, I’m not going to have too much trouble exposing you, am I? Christ, you
guys get dumber every time I have to deal with one of you. So drugs, and I’m thinking money. You’re going to stash them all over his personal residence, then put out a tip. It won’t work, you know. On so many levels. But you’re not going to be able to make that stick, because I’ve taken care of things. Things do not seem to be going in your favor right now, Maron. Whatever will you do?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her laughter made him think of bells atop a church that rang on Easter morning. It was soft and lyrical. Pretty even. He had a feeling that while this woman had a great body—he could see every curve of her—her face was something that his brother used to call Butter Face. She’d be pretty butter face was ugly. “I want you out of here right now.”

  “I’m leaving. One more thing before I leave, however. You should stop now. If I have to come back here, neither one of you are going to make it to the next sunrise. You can count on that.” He said he wasn’t afraid of her. “Yes you are, Maron. You’re so close to wetting your pants that I can almost smell you.”

  She raised her head up and sniffed loud enough for him to hear her. Then she simply disappeared out the window. Running to see where she’d gone, he forgot to worry that she might be right there. She wasn’t.

  There wasn’t a trace of her around. Not in the garden below, nor in the tree that was just too close to his home for comfort now. Pulling out his gun, he thought about just firing up in the tree to kill her, but he knew she wouldn’t be hit. His luck wasn’t that good.

  The noise behind him had him turning and firing at the same time.

  “Mother fuck.”

  He’d just killed his butler.

  ~*~

  Shep watched her pace back and forth. Whatever had happened when she’d been out, it had pissed her off enough that she couldn’t even speak to him. So far all he’d gotten from her was that the vice president was in on this.