Jorden: The McCade Dragon –Erotic Paranormal Romance (9 page)

“Twenty, or I wait for the sale.” Mr. Wilson was pissed. “Up to you, but if you take my money now you can walk away with a little cash. And be free and clear. You know as well as I do that if the sale from the bank doesn’t get enough cash, you still owe it. Trust me when I tell you, I’m going to get it for a great deal less than you need to cover taxes and other crap that you’re behind on.”

“I dislike you a great deal.” He put out his hand. “Twenty. And I don’t want to hear from a single person how you ran things into the ground.”

Jasmine looked at Jorden and he nodded. She took Mr. Wilson’s hand and shook it. Christ, he’d just bought twenty grand worth of old shit. And for less than half the price he would have paid for it.

“Thank you.” She kissed him on the mouth and he thought he would gladly have paid more if she did that again. “I am going to make you so much money that I’ll have you paid back in a year.”

Before he could tell her that she wasn’t going to pay him back, she walked away talking to some of the other patrons in the building. His mom kissed him on the cheek and told him he’d done a good thing.

“She’s not going to pay me back, Mom.” She told him he’d better let her. “Why? It’s not like I can’t afford this. And she will be happy here. And that alone is worth more than she got him to take for the place.”

“Yes, she will be happy, but I have news for you. See those two pieces over there in the corner?” He looked. One of them was a white cupboard like he’d seen in a million other homes, and the other was a tall dresser, taller, he thought, than he was. “Mr. Wilson has two hundred on the cupboard and Jasmine said she could get twelve hundred easy. And the tall boy, the dresser…he has fifty on it. She said she has a buyer right now that would pay six grand for it. Your future wife? She is going to be making a mint in no time. And if you really want her happy, then I would suggest that you take the money that she pays you back and put it in an account for your son. He’s going to need help when he finally gets to go to college.”

Okay, maybe he’d not come out so badly. He started looking around at some of the other items in a new light. Yes, they’d have to clean the furniture up, get rid of a lot of the junk, or what he thought was junk, but she would be happy, and that above all else was worth every penny.

Chapter 7

Wilburn set the phone down on the cradle and thought about what he’d just found out. The piece of jewelry that he’d stolen last month was a fake. His men had gone into the house and gotten just what he’d sent them for, so technically, it wasn’t their fault, but someone was going to have to pay for this, and he was in the mood to make someone, anyone really, pay big time. He looked at the picture again, the one that he’d stolen from his grandda all those years ago, and wondered not for the first time what it was about these pieces that had people thinking they were worth more than they were. Even without the added knowledge of the dragons, people were going nuts about them.

“Why are you forsaking me?” The picture, of course, had no answer, and he laid it down. Twice now, two times in the last month, he’d been on a wild goose chase. He looked at Richard when he laughed. “What is it? You’re no more help than the picture is.”

“No, but I did get something you didn’t know. I know that one of them McCades has more information than even we do. I’m telling you, that younger man, he knows a lot.” Wilburn asked him what he could know. “Well, he did know that all the pieces have to be together to work. And that the picture that we have isn’t a true adaptation of what it looks like. Also, they figured out the connection to you and the ring. Nasty business that. You should have been more careful. Now they can connect you to Bart, and we all know how that might turn out, don’t we?”

Wilburn might have to end up killing his brother before long. He was helping him by keeping tabs on the McCades, but lately it seemed as if he was keeping things from him. Wilburn wasn’t sure what it might be, but he knew that he was.

“You said that there are five pieces. They have two now. If we can’t find the other pieces before they do, then we’re pretty much fucked. I need at the rest of it or we’ll never be able to control the dragon.” Richard nodded but said nothing. “Do you know where the last three pieces are?”

“No. Can’t say that I do. But they don’t either, so that’s fine for now.” He was going to die today, Wilburn thought. The fucker was lying to him about how many pieces there were, and he knew it. “And there are six pieces, not five. I heard that painter telling his brother about that. I don’t know what it would be; they seemed to have all the pieces a woman might want to doll herself up with now, so we’ll have to think on that one.”

So he did come clean on this. But Wilburn thought he was still keeping things from him. He had told him about the bug he’d planted in the painter’s building, but he wouldn’t let him listen in on the conversations there. Wilburn, of course, never mentioned that he had his own bugs in the building and had heard the entire exchange too. Most of it anyway. Wilburn was going to have to have someone go in and check on the device he had and its placement. Something was very off about the sound at times.

Richard had also told him that there was a boy there, useless for the most part, but Wilburn knew for a fact that he’d gotten the drop on his brother, and that wasn’t good. He’d held him until the police got there. He also knew that Richard had lost him six of his men by fucking with the family before he’d told him to. Not great men, but good men that were helpful in tracking down things for him. Like the fucking pieces that kept eluding him.

“I’ve been thinking about a part of the recording that I can’t listen to.” Wilburn asked his brother what he meant. “As I was listening in on them, at one point, they started talking about the picture and how it was a fake. Then their words sort of got fuzzy. Like there was a lawnmower running in the room with them. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t understand a word they were saying.”

“Do tell.” It was the same thing that he’d heard too when he’d tried to listen in. As if someone had turned a blocker on so that they could have a conversation without anyone eavesdropping. In order for that to happen, they would have to know about the bugs, which he was sure that no one did. “Are you sure that you got it planted well? That maybe it didn’t fall and get stepped on?”

“No, no, it was right under the table where he has all that material laying. I had to ask one of the men what that might have been. I guess he stretches his own canvas for some reason. Seems like a lot of work when you can just go buy it. Anyway, it was right there, stuck really well too. And I heard them talking after I left, then…well, then the lawnmower started up. And later on, it was clear again. I could hear music playing, softly like. The only sound that wasn’t music was a click-click noise that I wasn’t sure what it was until later.” Richard nodded as if he was verifying himself. “It was as if the lawnmower was shut off and there wasn’t anything but this plucking noise. Like a stapler, but one of those great big ones. And I might not have thought of that, but I did see one of them on his table.”

“So something or someone is blocking your bugging of his office. Do you have any planted elsewhere? Other than the artist’s building?” Richard said it was his first one, but he had plans of getting one into the police station this week. “That’s right, you mentioned that. That other McCade, he’s a cop. You think that’s smart? I mean, a bug in there is really bad if you’re caught.”

“I won’t get caught. And even if they do find it, they already think I’m working with the one boy, so it’s doubtful that they’ll think I’m in on it. Vance. You know, he’s sort of scary. Have you ever talked to him?” Wilburn said he’d not had the pleasure. “Not much of a pleasure, I’m afraid. One time he threatened to cut my twig and berries off and feed them to me. I had no idea what that was and nearly agreed with him. Might have too, if he hadn’t looked so pissed off at the time. But then, now that I think on that, he’s pretty much like that all the time. Anyway, I asked Rebecca about it and she said it was my dick and balls. Another time, he said that—”

“I really don’t care what sort of threats he lays at your doorstep, Richard. What is it you’ve been able to figure out about what their plans are?” Richard was annoying as fuck, and most of the time he screwed things up for him. Usually he didn’t want to kill him with every beat of his heart, but he thought he would gladly do so today. “And when do you meet with this cowboy that you’ve been working with.”

“Cowboy? I don’t know that any of them could be considered a cowboy. Why would you even…? Ah, you’re making a funny. I don’t know. I’m supposed to wait for him to call me. But usually if I don’t hear from him in a few days, I go to him. I think he forgets about me at times.” Wilburn didn’t think that was it at all, but said nothing. “He has it in his head that I’m not very useful to him.”

“Are you? Because from where I’m sitting, you’re not too terribly useful to me.” Richard said he was more useful than he was getting credit for. “I just bet you are. When you hear from him again, let me know. I want to also know when you plant those other bugs. No chance of you getting into the houses, is there? I’m sure we can get a lot of information from there.”

“No, no. I can’t go there. He told me—and I do believe him—that if I went there, he’d kill me. Nothing else, just if I showed up at his home or those of his family, I’m dead. Like I said, he’s scary when he wants to be.” No one was that scary, Wilburn thought, but said nothing more to his brother.

A bit later, Richard left and Wilburn was alone to think. Had Bart just left things alone, then he’d have the piece that he needed. But because of his inability to leave things alone that didn’t belong to him, Wilburn no longer had the one key that would control a dragon. A fucking dragon. But the fucker had gotten himself dead, and it had taken Wilburn nearly a month to figure out the connection to the doctor marrying, and that he’d married Bart’s sister, of all people. And that she’d had the ring.

Of course, Wilburn stole things as well, but that was beside the point. Bart had fucked him over without even knowing it. The money—and there had been a great deal of it—had been bad enough, but the ring too? That had been a real bitch. And Wilburn hadn’t had the opportunity to kill the little fucker. He’d done that all by himself. And the McCades had gotten their first piece of the pie.

When his phone rang he just let the service pick it up. Wilburn rarely answered his own phone, even his cell, unless he was expecting someone to call him with information. When the ringing was cut off, he thought about the piece that he’d gotten tested today. He’d thought he had the necklace.

He looked at his picture. There was the ring and earrings that he’d marked off. Those were gone to him. The necklace was there, and he had put a small mark near it that he’d have to remove now. Along with the hair combs and brooch, he had to wonder what the sixth piece was. Couldn’t think of a single thing that a woman would want to put on and bring a dragon to life. Now that he was sure there was another piece, he started looking for what it might be.

Two hours after his brother left him, Wilburn had several items on a sheet of paper of what the last piece might be. Not much to go on, not really, but it was a start. As he began digging deeper into what it might look like besides having something to do with a dragon, there was a knock at his door. He looked up when Quincy asked if he had a moment.

“You find anything out?” He said that he’d been looking, and all he could come up with was that another piece might have been found in California. “You go out there and have a look. Do you know what this piece might be?”

“The man who owned the house it was supposed to be in is a man by the name of Tucker, a John Tucker. Several years ago, before his wife passed away, he told one of his grandsons that he had a prize, and that someday he’d be a billionaire. And that he’d be riding on the backs of dragons. The kid, I guess, didn’t take him very seriously until he came across a receipt for a dragon brooch. So far he’s not seen anything like that, and is having the house torn apart looking for it. I guess his grandfather had paid over six million for the thing, and he wants it found.” This was good information, but he didn’t bother telling the kid that. He wanted him to work harder. “I’ll head out there now.”

When he didn’t move, Wilburn had a feeling that he wanted money, a lot of it. But he wasn’t going to give him any, and if the kid proved to be too greedy, he’d just send someone else out there and Quincy’s body would never be found.

“There’s something else.” Wilburn waited for him to continue, and when it looked like he wasn’t going to, Wilburn started to tell him to get on with it. But Quincy looked at him then. “The man, Tucker, he had a list. The grandson told me that it had a word next to each of the names on the list. And with the one that said brooch, it said Tucker. The other names, ones that he said he’d never heard of before, were crossed out and the word dead beside each of them, with a date.”

“So? He had a list of who owned what piece of this puzzle. See if you can get the list and we’ll figure it out.” Quincy nodded then shook his head. “I don’t have time for games, boy. What is it?”

“All the people on the list, his grandfather included, died within five to seven days of each other.” The chill that went up Wilburn’s back scared him just a little. “I’m not sure that getting that list is a good idea, do you? I mean, a week apart? What are the odds of that happening? And is it the dragon doing it?”

He was gone before Wilburn could say anything. He might have been gone for a few minutes to over an hour, but Wilburn’s mind was working details. Who was on the list? How had they died? Did they have a piece? And if so, where was it now? After the kid had mentioned the dragon killing off people, Wilburn had gone into a sort of mental question session. All questions, no answers, however. All his mind could circle around was, perhaps it was the dragon that was taking care that he didn’t get his piece. Was that even possible?

Bart was dead. His dad and grandda as well. All the people he had sent to get the fucking earrings were dead. He’d had most of those killed himself, but they were gone all the same. The only people around that had any direct contact with the jewelry were the women who now wore it, and they were a part of this shit going on. Maybe he had to rethink this. Perhaps send someone there to find the brooch that he could sort of trust. Maybe he’d send Richard after it.

~~~

Jasmine was in the middle of taking a good inventory of the crap she’d gotten when she felt something. She wasn’t entirely sure what it might have been…a movement? Maybe, but that didn’t seem right. A noise? No, it couldn’t be that, because the music playing in the room with her would have canceled out anything that she might have heard. Standing up, careful of where she was, Jasmine went to find Gavin, who was working in the back of the building.

She had ten days to get the stuff out of the building. Mr. Wilson—Hubert, he’d ask her to call him—had come by the police station that morning and told Dalton that the owner of the building wanted it cleaned out. He had taken a great deal of satisfaction in telling Dalton that, but she’d already been moving things around anyway. It was just a matter of moving faster now.

Gavin met her in the short hall and put his finger to his lips. She nodded and asked him if they were in danger, and he smiled. No, she supposed not, and moved behind him when he pointed into the large room where the furniture that she’d already decided to keep was sitting. There in the middle of it was the biggest fox she’d ever seen.

“How did it get in here?” she asked Gavin in a whisper. He said he thought it had been in here for a while…he seemed pretty comfortable with things. “Is he real?”

Neither one of them could tell the difference between a shifter and an animal. Not as yet anyway. Jorden said he’d try to teach her, but he’d been holed up in his studio for two days now and she hated to bother him. When she felt a small touch to her mind, she stiffened until she knew who it was. Kenton.