Rage (Benson Security 3)

“So I see.” She kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Why don’t you go watch Mickey Mouse in the other room? Jack can put the TV on for you.” She grabbed a cloth and wiped her daughter’s face.

Jack had already demolished his donut and, unlike his sister, there was no evidence around his mouth.

“Whatever.” Jack held his hand out for his sister. “But I’m coming straight back. Come on, Soph.”

Sophie took his hand and chattered all about her day as they headed into the living room.

“How can you be pregnant?” Mairi asked as soon as they were gone. “You don’t have a life. You don’t know any men. Unless…” She narrowed her eyes. “Did you sleep with the Arness Outlaw to get him to help us?”

“No!” Isobel was seriously beginning to think that everyone she knew had a very low opinion of her.

“Then why does the kid think you’re pregnant?” Mairi filled the kettle and switched it on.

“Because,” Jack said as he strode back into the room, looking far older than his sixteen years, “the local weirdo was shouting it from the cliffs, while he had his hands all over her.”

“No way.” Mairi’s eyes were wide. “You did sleep with him for help.”

“No!” This was getting totally out of Isobel’s control.

“Did you or did you not have sex with Callum McKay?”

Isobel could feel her face heat. She looked pointedly at Jack, trying to tell her sister by telepathy that she was not going to answer questions about Callum in front of her son. She was fairly certain Mairi didn’t get the message.

“Mum doesn’t think you should talk about this in front of me,” Jack told Mairi. His lips quirked as though he was fighting a smile. “She just asked me if I knew how babies were made.”

Mairi burst out laughing, which made Jack grin and Isobel groan. With only nine years between the two of them, Mairi and Jack acted more like brother and sister than aunt and nephew.

“Go to your room,” Isobel ordered, which made the two of them laugh harder.

“So what’s in the freezer?” Jack asked Mairi, changing the topic away from Callum, but picking something else Isobel didn’t want him to know about.

“Dead body.” Mairi reached for the teapot as Isobel gasped. “We found him on the beach this morning and needed some advice on what to do with him. That’s why she slept with the outlaw.”

“Mairi! You can’t tell him about the body. He’s a kid.”

The two of them shared a look again. One that clearly said Isobel was woefully out of touch.

“At his age, you were alone with a baby,” Mairi said. “He’s hardly a kid.”

“That’s why I want him to have a childhood and not worry about adult things.” Isobel knew only too well what it felt like to be sixteen and woefully ill-equipped for adult life.

“You mean like the guy who comes around asking for money?” Jack pinned her down with a condemning stare.

“How do you know about that?” And yes, she sounded hysterical.

“Mum, you’re rubbish at sneaking around. I saw you talking to him behind the shop a few weeks ago. Him and that pumped-up steroid freak he’s got protecting him. What is he?”

“The steroid freak?” Mairi said. “No idea, but I’m leaning towards him being a genetic experiment between a hippo and a gorilla.”

“Helpful,” Jack said before looking back at Isobel, “but I mean the guy in charge. Who is he and what does he want with you?”

“He’s a man that Robert owes some money to, that’s all. H-he was j-just here asking where R-robert might be.” Damn that stutter.

Jack shook his head at her, clearly disgusted. Isobel wasn’t sure if it was with the situation or her lack of ability to lie. He turned to Mairi. “What’s the real story?”

“Loan shark.” Mairi was texting at the same time as following the conversation. “She’s paying off Rob’s debt.”

“Do you even understand the concept of secrecy?” Isobel asked. Mairi shrugged it off.