Aiden (The Mavericks Book 18) Read online

  “Okay. That’s an interesting scenario,” Aiden stated.

  “Well, whether it is or not,” she replied, “it’s the family. Keeping the cops off Dad’s back is pretty important to him. He also loves keeping things quiet and not making any ripples. He told me not to get involved in anything that would cause issues.”

  “Okay. Interesting again,” Aiden noted. “You would think that somebody would have cared about Michelle’s plight, as she’s an innocent and not able to deal with this herself.”

  “I thought so too,” Toby agreed, “but I was wrong. Nobody cared. I did eventually go to the police, and they ran a cursory check, blah, blah, blah, and found nothing is wrong.”

  “Of course. And psychological abuse is very hard to prove anyway,” Aiden added. “In this case, it would be even worse.”

  “Exactly.” Toby nodded. “So, I tried to keep her happy and to talk with her to see whether anything specific ever came out of her. By this time, after all the fuss I raised, Moscow allowed me to see Michelle, the once-a-week type thing. It became our Friday night adventure, but there just didn’t seem to be anything to worry about, so I let it drop for the next few months. At this point in time, Moscow was kind of in and out of town, but I didn’t really see him. Then she called me recently in the middle of the night, and she was bawling her eyes out.” Toby pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath.

  “And no one cared. The home was dealing with multiple special-needs people there, so this was just a very exhausting scenario for me. I didn’t want to try and push Michelle away or to dissuade her from her fears, but I didn’t know what to do about it. Anyway, long story short is that Michelle finally told me that Moscow would come to the group home and would stand at the end of her bed in the middle of the night and just terrify her.

  “When I asked the home whether anybody was allowed visitors at that hour, they replied no, that absolutely no way would something like that be allowed to happen. So I immediately assumed—incorrectly as it turns out—that Michelle was making it up. And, no, I don’t mean she was making it up because she was trying to cause trouble. She’s not like that. Yet this was something that was ongoing, and she was trying to deal with it.

  “The trouble was, she couldn’t deal with it, and the home wanted to talk about changing her medication and doing all kinds of stuff, so I backed off because I didn’t want to cause Michelle any more trouble. I was at work one day—about six months ago—when Moscow came to my table and said, ‘I’m somebody important around here, and you better behave yourself or else.’ I just stared at him and then ignored him. It’s not as if I hadn’t heard those kinds of bullying taunts before from him. Besides, I was at work and not exactly free to talk. As it was, Moscow had interfered with the game enough that I got reprimanded for it.”

  She hesitated then added, “Finally Moscow caught me at home and told me that he wanted me back in his life. I said, ‘No, that’s not happening.’ I wasn’t that stupid and sure as hell wouldn’t get back into a scenario that made me very unhappy. He told me that the only way he would stop tormenting his sister was if I got involved with him again. I tried to get more information out of him to find out exactly what he was doing to Michelle, but he wouldn’t talk to me at all. He just told me that I knew what the deal was.

  “Then I went back to his sister to talk to her some more. By now she wasn’t saying much, but she’d lost a ton of weight. She was scared all the time. I’d take her out for ice cream, but she would always look around the corner, as if waiting to be pounced on. One time Moscow did come up to us while we were having ice cream, and she started screaming at the top of her lungs, and she had to be taken to the hospital and sedated. When I asked him what the hell that was all about, he just smiled and said that he needed to prove a point.”

  She stopped and stared at Aiden. “If that doesn’t tell you what kind of an asshole he is, I don’t know what would convince you.”

  Aiden frowned in shock. “And the cops didn’t do anything?”

  “Of course not,” she snapped. “There still wasn’t anything happening in their minds that was criminal.” Aiden winced at that. She added, “Of course they still had caseloads upon caseloads of other types of criminals who were probably something they could deal with, and poor Michelle’s case would have been more of a family court thing—or a completely different department than the clear-cut ones these cops would have been working on.” She shook her head.

  “One day,” she added, “Moscow found me at the end of my workday and demanded that, if I didn’t marry him right now, he would fix it so Michelle never got to sleep or would spend the rest of her life as this drugged-up vegetable. You’ve got to remember she was basically like a kid sister to me. We’d spent a lot of time together. I had avoided other relationships because I didn’t want anything like what I’d previously experienced with Moscow,” she explained, with a grimace, staring off in the distance.

  “I told him ‘Hell no,’ and I went to the cops. Of course they went to him and talked to him, but he just laughed and told them it was absolutely nothing like that and told them about his sister’s history and how she had this ability to twist things around. So, of course, the cops had the previous reports on file, and they also had a thick medical file on Michelle. So everything supported Moscow’s version, not mine. He came back to me and basically put the boot to me,” she stated calmly. “And, yes”—she looked over at her cousin—“that’s the one and only time he laid a hand on me.”

  At that, Mountain jumped to his feet.

  She shook her head. “He’s dead. You can’t kill him.”

  “Why the hell would you marry him if you knew that was coming?”

  “Because, at that point in time,” she explained, “I’d already been beaten up pretty good, and believe me. Not one visible scar was anywhere, so I told Moscow that the only way that I would go through with the deed was if he never touched me again in any way, shape, or form. It would be a marriage in name only because he really just wanted a possession. He was to leave his sister 100 percent alone, never see or torment her again, and to keep covering all Michelle’s medical costs. He laughed and told me that I was a fool, and that nothing would ever change if I didn’t marry him. And yet, even marrying him, he wouldn’t guarantee anything. So then I said, ‘Fine. In that case I’m not having anything to do with this.”

  Mountain nodded approvingly.

  She grimaced and added, “Until his sister called me again, and I went to the home right away. Michelle had supposedly fallen down the stairs, but she kept saying that her brother had beaten her up.”

  “And you believed her.”

  “This time I believed her because I was still sporting the same kind of bruises myself,” she noted. “The only reason I’m telling you this is so that you understand why we got married in Vegas a few days later. I had practically lived at the hospital, looking after Michelle. Once the hospital released her, she would return to the same group home, but she was heavily medicated and not doing very well. I guess, in retrospect, the damage had already been done, and I was probably a fool to think I could do anything to stave off more. But Moscow ushered me right into one of the little chapels on the strip,” she said. “We got married very quickly, without any fanfare or any romance—which was good because it was all I could do to get the words I do choked out of me.

  “And just as we stepped outside the chapel, he looked at me and smiled and said, ‘Now I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life making this worthwhile.’ Yet I already knew it was a horrible mistake and was trying to figure out how to get the hell out of this when a vehicle drove up with a couple guys in it. They hauled Moscow away in the vehicle and left me standing there on the strip. I headed back to my house, not sure what had just gone on, but I wasn’t too worried, as Moscow had greeted them like buddies.

  “Matter of fact, I felt relieved, escaping from whatever he had planned to come. I went to bed that night with the doors and windows locked. I checked up on Michelle the next morning, and she was doing much better. She was still medicated, and I went to work. I saw no sign of Moscow that day or the next, and I started to think that maybe, just maybe, he’d run off. Maybe he had this weird psychosis and just wanted to show he had that power over me, and maybe he had just buggered off. Of course, you know, that was way too much to hope for.” She shrugged.

  “Later I look up from my table, and my boss is coming toward me, and the cops are with him. I was immediately told that Moscow was dead. His body had showed up in a Dumpster down the road. I was shocked. I sure wasn’t grieving. In fact, it was the opposite. I was almost elated because I had desperately wanted to get out of this sham marriage but didn’t know how, and the cops didn’t like my reaction,” she noted.

  “And did you explain?”

  “Of course not. How do you explain something like that?” she murmured. “I wasn’t even sure how to explain it to myself. I mean, it’s just too stupid—all of it is. I should never have married him, but, at the same time, I didn’t know how to stop his abuse of Michelle.”

  “Somebody like that,” Aiden noted, “has learned a long time ago what works. So, from his perspective, he could manipulate you the same way he did his sister.”

  She nodded. “And I get that. I really wish that I’d never met him in high school. I wish I had never seen him again,” she said. “He’s a vile nightmare, and I’m still paying.”

  “And why would the cops think that you killed him?” Aiden asked.

  “I am not exactly sure that I have an answer for that,” she replied. “Honestly I think I looked good for it, and they stopped looking elsewhere. Still, Moscow had a lot of enemies.”

  Mountain interrupted. “Surely there would have been a lot of really good suspects.”

  “I heard Moscow had something in his pocket,” she relayed, with a headshake. “Something that supposedly implicated me—a note with my name and a bank account number. But I don’t know anything about that bank account. We didn’t have any accounts in common, and, according to the police, a lot of money is in it, and, because we’re legally married, then that money becomes mine. Of course, to them, that’s my motive. Obviously I have a lot of reasons to get married and to turn around and kill him, but they didn’t know the whole truth. But they did know that I wasn’t upset about his death. In truth I was delighted.”

  “And, of course,” Aiden noted, “you were afraid that, by telling the truth, you would put another nail in your coffin.”

  “Exactly,” she confirmed. “And now you know what happened. The cops are looking at motive. It’s almost always the partner. I’m the new wife. I have a lot of motive for getting rid of him. If I tell them that he beat me up and forced me to marry him and that he’s been abusing his sister, all that ever does is give the cops more motivation and more reason to see me as the best murder suspect they have.”

  “Right,” Aiden agreed. “The tangled webs we weave.”

  She snorted. “Some of us didn’t weave any of them,” she muttered. “Some of us just tried hard to live a life and to befriend a damaged young lady, yet become ensnared anyway.”

  “And the four other murders they’re trying to pin on you?”

  “You know what? I think, as far as the cops are concerned, as soon as they got me on the one, they were looking at all their unsolved case files,” she guessed, “and wondered if they could pigeonhole me into those too.”

  “And apparently there was a connection?” Aiden asked her.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “There definitely was a connection, with me being a dealer at a casino, and all four of these guys had won some big money.”

  “Interesting.” Aiden stared at her.

  She shrugged. “I don’t think ‘interesting’ is quite the word I would use.”

  “Did you know any of the men personally?”

  “Personally?” She hesitated, then slowly shook her head. “I just know them from my table.”

  “And were they all killed before your husband?”

  She flinched at the term husband. “I don’t know. I mean, their bodies were all found recently. However, I have no idea in what order they were murdered.”

  “So, what’s to stop the cops from thinking that your husband killed the others?” Aiden asked Toby.

  She looked at him, frowning.

  “Those murders could be the source of the money in that account,” Aiden explained, “the money that you don’t know anything about.”

  She stared at him. “That never occurred to me.” Then she looked over at her cousin. “I’m not sure if the cops considered that.”

  “We’ll get to the bottom of that,” Mountain promised. “Where were the bodies found?”

  “The cops told me they were all in Dumpsters.”

  “All of them?”

  She nodded. “So that’s another connection right there.”

  “And the problem with that is,” Mountain added, “you’re not strong enough to lift any man and drop him into a Dumpster, are you?”

  Chapter 2

  “You know that it’s always been a bone of contention in my life that I’m five-ten and weigh 110 pounds. I might be physically fit, but lifting up Moscow?” she asked, with a headshake. “Not happening. He’s fit. He’s a gym buff and big.”

  “Your husband?” Aiden confirmed.

  She nodded slowly. “I really, really, really hate that term.”

  “The good news is,” Aiden replied, “you’re no longer married because you’re now a widow.”

  “Thank God for that too,” she said, then came a bitter laugh. “And, of course, if the cops hear me say that, you know what’ll happen.”

  “First off,” Aiden stated, “you’ve already been charged for his murder. Do you have a lawyer on retainer?”

  She shook her head. “No, I was hoping to get a public defender. I can’t even believe I need to do this.”

  “Fine,” Aiden replied, “and what lawyer would that be?”

  “I don’t know. I know Dad is not footing the bill.” She snorted, looking over at Mountain.

  Mountain shook his head. “Of course not. It’s all about keeping his nose clean, isn’t it? His daughter gets charged with murder, and it’s got nothing to do with him.”

  “That’s about the size of it,” she agreed. “And I’m sure my mother has already lost my phone number.”

  Mountain winced. “And your sister?”

  “Same as my mother, you know that.”

  “Did they know Moscow?”

  “They loved him. He was charming and good-looking, wore suits well, played at the casinos and apparently won,” she explained, with a shrug. “That’s all that mattered to them. It’s all about appearances and money.”

  “Lovely family,” Aiden said, shaking his head. He looked over at Mountain. “Have you got anything to add to this?”

  “Moscow is a fucking asshole,” Mountain declared. “I tore into her pretty good when I heard she was back with him. She didn’t explain about Michelle though.”

  “You didn’t give me a chance,” she stated, glaring at him.

  He thought about it and nodded. “You could be right, and, for that, I’m sorry.”

  She shrugged. “You know what happens when you start this downward slide. It all goes really fast.”

  “It can,” Mountain murmured, “but it doesn’t have to be all bad.”

  “Really? Feels like it’s all bad.”

  He nodded slowly. “For that, I’m sorry again. I never intended to desert you.”

  “Nobody intends on deserting anybody.”

  Aiden spoke up. “Maybe one of the questions right now that I need to ask is, How is Michelle?”

  She turned toward Aiden, smiled, and replied, “She’s doing better. She does seem to understand that her brother is dead. Since then, she’s started sleeping again.”

  “That sounds like pretty good proof right there that Moscow was tormenting her,” he murmured.

  “Believe me. Nobody gives a shit about the proof. All the cops care about is whether they can make a case and can put somebody away for it. And I’m not sure why my parents hired you guys.”

  At that, Aiden frowned and looked over at Mountain. “That’s what Corbin said.”

  Mountain nodded. “I think so. I’ll check on that.”

  “You do that,” she said, “because I can’t imagine that ever happening, which is one of the reasons why I’m really confused as to why you’re here.”

  Aiden thought about it. “Regardless of why I am here, I will look into your case.”

  “What if you get another call for another case? Will you dump me too?” He looked at her. She sighed. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be a bitch.”

  “I think, after everything you’ve been through, you’re entitled to have some strong emotions.”

  She stared at him, her lips quirking. “Strong emotions? Obviously you’re one of those nice guys.”

  “Which you don’t like apparently.”

  “I got rid of the bad guys as much as I could,” she countered. “Believe me. It’s not all that easy when they’re real shits.”

  “No,” Aiden replied, “you’re right. I kind of like the idea of Moscow being responsible for the four other deaths.”

  “You know what? The only thing wrong with that is I can’t really see it because he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.”

  “Well, he got his hands dirty when he attacked you and Michelle, didn’t he?”

  “But I can’t prove it,” she said. “What I do know is the cops think I did murder Moscow.” Her doorbell rang. She groaned. “And that, I think, is the lawyer.”

  “Why would he come to your house?” Mountain queried, immediately bouncing to his feet.

  She stared at him. “Don’t they?”

  “No,” Aiden replied gently, “generally they don’t.”