Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey 4)

“See that you don’t. We’re headed to the castle when you’re ready.”

He nodded and started to ask Grant if it really was a castle, but he was gone again. Benson thought a castle was just what they called their home. Wherever they lived or whatever sort of house they had, Benson was going to be on his best behavior while there.

Chapter 4

Retha wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on, but now she couldn’t find the house she’d been told her son was at. They said it was on Castle Street or something like that. But all she’d been able to find with that street address was a couple of showplaces that looked like castles, as well as a whole lot of hillbillies running around like fools.

“I’ve never seen so many people working out in their yards before. Have you?” She told Tag that she saw someone working in a garden too. “Why? Don’t they have enough grocery stores around here? Whatever they’re growing, it can’t be all that good for them. Look how much time it took for that lady out there to dig up potatoes. I didn’t even know potatoes grew in the ground, did you?”

“I never really thought about it.” Retha looked around. They were sitting at a big picnic table, having an ice cream cone. “Who the hell would have thought there’d be places around that still served up ice cream? I’ve not seen one of them kinda shops since I was a kid.”

The cone was delicious. When Retha was asked if she wanted a waffle cone or a homemade one, she opted for the homemade. It was the most wonderful thing she’d ever eaten. The inside of it was coated with the richest chocolate she’d ever tasted. The ice cream was so good she wanted a big bowl of it to eat by herself. But there wasn’t enough money for that.

Her plan had been to take the homemade one and send it back for being nasty. But once she saw the girl working the backline whip one up for her, she decided to give it a try. Boy, oh boy, she was never sending this sucker back.

“I’ve been watching the people here. They’re sure a friendly bunch. Did you hear that guy ask that woman if she wanted to join him and his family for dinner tonight? I can’t even remember the last time we were invited to have food with someone. Must be something else to have friends like that.” She told him they had friends. “We do. But not a one of them invites us over for dinner.”

“No. I’m sure everyone we know is struggling too. Just wait until we get the boy back. Then we’ll be on easy street. Did I tell you I contacted that man about selling him off? He said he didn’t do stuff like that anymore. I wonder what got up his ass.” Tag told her he’d heard the police were cracking down on stuff like that more and more. “Yeah, I suppose so. You know why, don’t you? They want to make it so no one can make any money but themselves. I’d bet anything that there are cops all over the place that are stealing kids away to sell.”

She didn’t have any idea if that was going on or not. Retha enjoyed saying things like that. It made her feel like she was a good deal smarter than she really was. The thing was, Retha couldn’t spell much of anything. Nor could she read. Signing her name was the best she could do, but only if she had time to think about each letter. While she knew her name, it was hard for her to remember in what order the letters went.

They were just talking about how to get another cone when a woman sat down with them. She didn’t even ask if she could but plopped her ass down like she owned the place. When she told her she did indeed own the place, Retha told her to go away.

“I think I need to stick around and tell you two some things you’re not aware of.” Tag asked her like what. “Well, for one thing, you’re not going to get Abe. He’s not going to go anywhere near you. Also, and you might find this hard to believe since we’ve only just met, but I don’t like you.”

“Well, is that so? You just wait a minute, and I’ll think on how much I don’t care what you like or don’t. How do you know we’re here for the kid?” She told him his name. “I know what it is, you cunt. Where is he?”

“Home with his sister and parents. Don’t call me a cunt again. Also, if I were you, I’d care a great deal about what makes me like or dislike you. It could be the only thing in the world that saves you. Not that I think you’ll just go away. But Abe, he told us he wanted you both dead.” That did surprise her. She hadn’t remembered his name until just then. “He’s happy. Going to college and having a wonderful life. Until he realized, I guess, that you two are going to try and mess things up for him.”

“He messed up a lot of shit for me too. You tell him that.” She realized that the woman knew where he was. “I want to talk to him. Now. I want him to tell me why he wants me dead.”

“I can tell you that. You sold him off, for starters. You and this man have been abusing him since he was born. Why didn’t you just leave him with Benson? He would have been a lot better off if you had. Of course, my sister and her husband wouldn’t have been able to adopt him if that had happened.” An ice cream cone appeared in the woman’s hand, and it took Retha a few seconds to take her eyes off the treat. “I’d give you this, but I haven’t had time to put any poison in it yet. Next time. I p

romise.”

“You said he was in college. That ain’t right. He’s not even five yet. You’re a liar.” The woman, she’d never said her name yet, just looked at Tag. “If you think we’re going to believe a thing that comes out of your mouth, you’re stupider than that kid is.”

“Abe is about to turn ten. Good job there in keeping up with the times. By the way, you should know two more things. I’m not human. I’m a bird of prey. Mercy is my name, but I’ve come to realize I don’t have a great deal of that when dealing with morons like the two of you. The second thing is that I’m going to kill you. Not easily, either.” Retha scrambled back from Mercy when her hair and arms started to sprout feathers. Big fucking ones too. “I had it in my head that I was going to snap the two of you in half then eat you down, but I think the two of you are poisonous enough to perhaps make me sick for a while. So that is out. Also, I thought about taking you out to sea. Just leaving you there. I know that neither of you can swim. We’re out there looking for something anyway as of this morning, and it might be entertaining to watch the two of you sink to the bottom of the waterway.”

“You’re insane. You can’t just tell somebody that and think it’s going to be all right with them.” Mercy asked Tag if he thought anyone would care. “I will. Damn it all to fuck and back. You can’t say that sort of thing. What if I believed you?”

“You should.” If she’d not been looking right at Tag, she wouldn’t have believed it. Not only did he rise up from the seat he’d been sitting on, but he turned blue. “Right now, I can snap your neck, and not one person here would care one bit. Even if I were to change into my bird and pick you up by my claws, no one would come to your aid. No one wants you around.”

“You’re killing him.” Retha looked around. There were people having cones, but not one of them came to ask what Mercy was doing. “Let him go, damn it. That’s my husband you’re killing.”

Just as she thought Mercy was really going to kill him, he flew across the parking lot and hit the brick building there. Retha knew he was dead. The way he was bleeding down the wall and with his head all smashed made her think the woman was stronger than she looked.

Mercy looked at her. Anger. It was as strong on her face as anything Retha had ever seen before. Backing away from her, she stopped moving when she was lifted up as well. Closing her eyes, Retha just knew she was going to be joining her husband as a freaky art project on the wall behind her.

“I should end you right now for what you’ve done.” Clawing at her throat, she couldn’t even ask her what she was talking about. “You passed those little boys around like they were chips in a fucking bowl. Where are they? Where are Abe’s brothers now?”

“Dead.” Retha had forgotten about her other sons. They’d been dead for so long that they weren’t even a slight memory anymore. As the woman stood up, a woman appeared behind her. She looked as confused as Mercy did angry.

“Mercy? What’s going on?” The woman behind Mercy spoke, but Mercy didn’t answer her, or at least not so that Retha could hear. However, she couldn’t see anything in front of her anymore. Black and blue spots had appeared before her eyes. “Kill her. Christ, kill her before Jude and Duncan find out what she’s done.”

Retha felt herself flying through the air. Just as she hit the wall where Tag had been killed, Retha knew she’d be lucky to die this way. The way that the two women had looked at her, she thought for sure they’d make her death longer.

~*~