White Wolf 2: The Call of a Soul (28 page)

“I think Pincer knows about the black wolves. I think he knows about you, Sis.”

“How would he know about Melanie being a maggishahwi, Gray?”

“Will everyone shut up!” Drake thundered. “My mom doesn’t know about any of this.”

“I know, Drake. I’ve known from the start.”

It was Mike and Drake’s turn to have slack jaws.

Mike recovered first. Melanie watched his Adam’s apple bob a few times before he cleared his throat. “I always figured you must have known some of it, Mom. You didn’t give birth to us. So you must have consented to adopt us. But when I tried to confront you on the whole thing after Dad died, you broke down and cried. And then the next day…”

“My suicide attempt?” The roses left Lucinda’s cheeks. “I was in a state back then. The doctor’s had given me tranquilizers and sleeping pills. I barely made it through the first few days after your father died. When Boyd came back to help us, I was so relieved at first. I knew that Hank, your father, didn’t trust him, but it was like a godsend. Boyd told me we could lose the mill and the properties if we didn’t act fast. I didn’t know anything about business, and then Mike started talking about quitting school.

“So I didn’t object when Mike turned over the running of the mill and the family finances to Boyd. I could’ve sworn that I threw the pills down the garbage disposal after that. But things just seemed to get fuzzier and I grew more depressed. I lost a whole day, then a whole weekend, and the next thing I knew it was two months later and I was in that place. I honestly can’t tell you if I did try to commit suicide. I remember nothing of it. But I loved you two more than life itself. I can’t imagine leaving you to cope with such an awful thing.”

Drake reached over and squeezed his mother’s hand. “The past doesn’t matter. You’re fine now. The future’s what we need to concentrate on.”

Mike leaned forward. “Did you know our birth mother?”

“No. I never met Raine. But I know of her and the history of the whole thing.”

“Did Boyd know about us?”

Lucinda shrugged. “I never told him, Drake. As far as Boyd knew, I gave birth to both of you. I tried to hide your special skills from him, but then with the pills—I don’t know. He may have wormed the truth out of me. Looking back, I’m sure he suspected.”

Melanie nestled her hand in Mike’s. He kissed her cheek, but his gaze never strayed from his mother. “We need to know the truth. All of it.”

“For generations the oldest Dorland male has been the judge when there are disputes in the native tribes that border the United States and Canada. The judge—the term your father used was
masikiiwa
—is a member of all the tribes of the land.”

“My father was the descendant of a Native American or Canadian?” Mike’s hand reflexively squeezed Melanie’s.

“No. He was a direct descendant of the first Frenchman appointed by all the tribal leaders to be the judge in disputes. The French didn’t war with the natives of America and Canada the way the English and the Americans did.”

Mike and Drake glanced at each other.

“Must be where I get my charm from—the French side.” Drake waggled his eyebrows.

“Stop interrupting,” Mike ordered. “Mom?”

“Your grandfather, David, began training Hank to take his place the summer Hank graduated high school. Hank met Raine at a small, remote reservation on one of the Canadian islands. They fell in love. Raine was still in high school, and Hank had to start college. By the end of the summer, Raine knew she was pregnant.” Lucinda’s voice wavered, and she paused before continuing, “When her father found out about the pregnancy, he was furious. By then her father had turned to the black wolves, and he had arranged her marriage to one of the most powerful black wolf warriors. He kept Raine a virtual prisoner. Late in her pregnancy, she found out he intended to use the baby in a ritual sacrifice.”

Mike’s arms tightened around Melanie.

“Hank couldn’t figure out why she stopped writing. The phone number he had for her went dead. Back then, there weren’t any cell phones and it wasn’t easy to find out why a phone wasn’t working. It was a bad winter, and the lakes froze. Hank and David didn’t get back to the reservation until late spring. Raine was nowhere to be found.” Lucinda cleared her throat.

“Get your mother a glass of water, Drake.” Virgil curled an arm around the back of Lucinda’s chair and gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“Acts as if he owns the place,” Drake muttered but obeyed Virgil’s order and gave his mother a tumbler of water and then sat back down.

Virgil chose to ignore Drake. “Want to continue your story, Lucy?”

Lucinda smiled, a sad sort of smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Raine and her sister had arranged to substitute her baby with a dead fetus—her sister was a nurse. The sister secreted Mike off the reservation and left him in a basket at a church in a town near the border. She couldn’t afford to have any suspicion thrown on her.”

“That’s taking an awful chance. What if the priest was on vacation or something?” Susie propped her chin on cupped palms.

“Not a necessary detail we need to know right now. Go on, Mom.” Drake tipped his chair back.

“Raine’s father was furious about the stillborn child, but he planned to use it in a ritual anyway. The security around Raine wasn’t as tight as before, and she managed to escape and contact Hank. Raine was frantic to find Mike. They went to the town where her sister had left the baby and finally found a record of an abandoned baby being taken to a border town. One look at your silver eyes, the exact color of your father’s, and they knew. It took a lot of legal wrangling to get you back. By that time, Raine was pregnant with Drake.”

“I’m two years younger. Had that much time elapsed?” Drake asked.

“Yes. Unknown to Raine and Hank, her father had contracted the black wolves to find her and bring her back. They found them right after Drake was born. And intended to sacrifice both boys. Such a sacrifice meant an immense increase in their powers.”

“A newborn is a treasured sacrifice. As is a maggishahwi.”

Mike and Drake exchanged glances when Mama made the statement. No one could’ve been more surprised than Melanie though.

“There was an attack, and Raine was fatally wounded. She died protecting the two of you.”

“She died protecting us?” Both Mike and Drake uttered the question in unison. The two brothers stared at each other for long seconds.

“Hank never told me the details, but that’s what he said.”

Drake’s bronzed complexion had ashened, and Mike…well he looked as if someone had cracked him on the skull. Melanie didn’t know what to do, so she simply kissed Mike’s cheek.

“Please continue, Mom,” Drake asked.

“Hank was afraid that Raine’s father would find out you two were still alive. He went back to Princetown, which is located in eastern Pennsylvania, rented a house, hired a housekeeper and nanny, and resumed his college education.”

Melanie didn’t even bother to wipe away her tears. “You’re the nanny he hired?”

Lucinda sniffed and dabbed her napkin at the corners of her eyes. “The minute I held you two in my arms, that was it. Hank and I got married. The only person who knew the whole story was David, and he died that winter.”

“I don’t even remember living anywhere else but here. No matter.” Mike met his mother’s gaze. “Now tell us about Boyd.”

“Boyd. Hank couldn’t continue with stepping into the magisterial role, so David decided to train Boyd the winter before his death. They had to return to Raine’s father’s reservation. By then, her father had gone completely over to the black wolves. Boyd had always been jealous of Hank. He was seduced by the idea of power. David realized what was happening. Boyd was supposed to inherit the mill, but David changed his will before he died.” Lucinda blew out a long, audible sigh and glanced at Mike, then Drake. “We never talked about it, but we both believed Boyd engineered David’s death.”

“I wouldn’t put anything past him. I know it isn’t possible, but my every instinct tells me that Boyd killed Dad. But how could he have? He wasn’t even in town then.”

“That isn’t true, Mike,” Kitchi stated and shared the news of Boyd having a drink with one of the mill employees. “I know that my husband was investigating Boyd and all the mill workers. Until the accident that is.”

Mike gripped Melanie’s fingers so hard she winced. “The question is, who killed Boyd? And why? Gray said something this morning that I want to throw out to all of you. He said he thought the murders and the bear killings can be divided into two. One set carefully staged, the black bears and Old Man Balden, while Shuman’s and Boyd’s showed pure rage.”

“It makes sense.” Melanie glanced at Drake. “You need to tell everyone what you found on the casino’s software.” She listened to Drake’s explanation about Shuman’s twin sons.

“Were they fraternal or identical?” Melanie met Gray’s gaze and realized for the first time her brother had become the alpha he was meant to be. He had that same hard edge Mike had. And Drake. Almost as if they had all shed their boyhoods like snakes shed winter skins.

“The records don’t say,” Drake answered. “You know it was pretty easy to trace the records of the twins’ birth. I figured because the casino’s firewall is so hard to crack, Shuman simply didn’t bother to hide his tracks.”

“Okay. Let’s backtrack a bit.” Mike traced a circle on Melanie’s shoulder. “Pincer had the horses moved. Jim’s name is on Whisper’s insurance, but it should be Willowby’s. Doc G. held the insurance documents. Two options. One of them’s in collusion with Pincer. Which one?”

“It must be Jim. Why else would he insist on having a copy of the insurance at the clinic?” Melanie pointed out. “I mean, he had to have known the fire would happen.”

“I agree with you, Sis, but I just don’t see Jim as a murderer. He trained horses. How could he kill them?” Susie folded her arms.

“I think Gray’s theory is right. That there are two sets of murderers.” Drake asked.

“We’re going around in circles.” Virgil tucked his arms over the back of the chair. “Are there any other salient facts?”

“One. Drake went to the mill after school every day. There was no one at home and he got out earlier than I did, so one of the ladies in accounting, your niece, offered to look after him. When I finished football practice, I picked him up and we went home together. We were both supposed to be there when the mill blew up. But Drake had been sick that day at school, and we went directly home.” Mike covered Melanie’s hand for a brief moment.

“Boyd planned to kill us too.” Drake shook his head. “
That
you never told me.”

“No. I meant to before we moved back.” Mike shrugged. “I’ve been distracted.”

Drake stared pointedly at Melanie, and the tips of her ears burned. “Understatement of the century.”

“Anything else?” Virgil asked.

“Pincer is as far away from Shuman’s coloring as a person can be. So is Doc G.” Mama hooded her eyes. “I don’t have a clue what Shuman’s wife looked like.”

“You have blue eyes, Mama,” Susie pointed out. “And you had almost gold hair before it went white, yet none of us have your coloring. And Melanie, with all your animal empathy, don’t you think you would’ve picked up on Doc G. being evil?”

“We can’t rule anyone out on that basis,” Mike declared. “Right now anyone not in this room’s a suspect as far as I’m concerned.”

“This is getting us nowhere.” Virgil eased his chair back from the island. “It’s easy to solve. We need DNA: Jim’s, Pincer’s, Shuman’s, and Doc G.’s. And guess what, I can get two of those for you in an hour. You, young White, go get Shuman’s. You examined the kill site, right?”

Gray nodded. “There isn’t much of him left.”

“All we need is a scrape. Or a hair.” Melanie knew that much. “Trouble is how and where do we get it tested? Without anyone finding out? Obviously I can’t use the labs Doc G. sends his work to.”

“I can solve that one. Tiffany. Pincer’s executive assistant. She’s the one responsible for communicating with crime labs, the coroner’s office.” Drake folded his arms and grinned. “No names have to be on the specimens, just an identifying number. That’s how the sheriff’s department does it.”

“Okay, here’s the plan. Virgil and Gray are in charge of getting the DNA samples. Drake, you handle Tiffany. Agreed?” Mike, once again, had taken charge.

Everyone nodded.

“Come with me to the Caboose, Lucy. I’m anxious to show off my girlfriend to all my customers.”

“Girlfriend?” Drake snapped.

“Give it up, Drake. I have a feeling we might be seeing another wedding ceremony soon. I’m warning you, Virgil, that you’re not taking my mother RVing across the land without a ring on her finger. Other than that, I’m behind you all the way.” Mike and Virgil exchanged the kind of testosterone-pleased grins only two men can muster. “How long have you known about us anyway?”

“Just before your father died, he asked me to keep an eye on all of you. Hank and I went through school together, and we once had been best friends.”

“Once?”

“I fell in love with your mother a long time ago, Mike. Your father sensed it. We decided it would be better if I stepped out of the picture entirely.” Virgil met Mike’s stare dead-on. “I honored my promise, but he died, and before he did, he asked me to look after Lucy and you two.”

“So many secrets,” Melanie murmured and twined her fingers with Mike’s. He looked so stricken.

“Who’s giving me a ride back to the resort?” Gray’s glance swept the room.

“I’ll take you.” Drake slapped Gray on the back. “Mrs. White, are you coming with us?”

“Kitchi, please, Drake.”

“Virgil, I think you showing me off can wait a day or so. Kitchi and I have a wedding to plan. I don’t know about you, but I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time. Let’s talk about it as we clean up. Mike, I’m assuming you’re not letting Melanie out of your sight for a while? Or out of bed?”

The blush that swept Melanie’s whole body threatened to run riot when Mama said, “You might have that the other way round, Lucy. If last night’s screaming was anything to go by.”

Even Mike had the grace to blush through his ate-the-canary-and-every-single-feather grin.