8. Reaper

8

Reaper

My mind was racing, urging me to call Viper so he could investigate all of this on the computer. I needed to know if Mam was still alive. If she were, our hiding would need to be much more cautious—no more running in the open.

I called Matthew Allen and filled him in on our conversation.

"So, does Sarra think she may be still alive?"

"She never saw the body. Her uncles sent Sarra a message that she was dead. Then they said she was cremated. She asked if she could see Mam, and they told her that wasn't a good idea because her body was bloated from the snake bite. Sarra didn't even know she had uncles until they sent her a message."

"Damn, I bet she's still alive. Sarra told me some pretty shitty stuff about her life growing up. That woman controlled every breath Sarra took. She won't be happy that Sarra left the swamp if she is alive."

"That's what I thought."

"The cabin is burned to the ground. The fire was set, so that's being investigated as well. She might have had it set, thinking Sarra would perish and no one would ever find out she stole Sarra and killed her parents. But who were the men that were found dead at the scene of her parent's murder?"

"Let me know everything you find out. Fuck, I might have to take Sarra to a different place. I'll wait for some information for two days, and then move her. So now, there might be more than just Brian after her," I said, then hung up and showered.

I was cooking pancakes, bacon, and eggs when Sarra came in. I caught my breath. She. Is. Mine. What? No, she's not mine; what the hell am I thinking? Damn, I'll have to take another shower.

"Hey, I'll cook dinner since you cooked breakfast. I'm starving. This looks delicious. Do you cook a lot at your house?"

"We share the cooking. We can all cook. My sister-in-law is still learning, but Evie is improving daily," I chuckled.

"Tell me about your brothers."

"I'm the youngest. Spartan is the oldest, and Rebel is the middle child. Then there's Ghost and Carrie; they are my cousins, but we were all raised together. My grandfather died a couple of years ago. He was our rock. When he died, we were lost for the longest time. We had no idea what to do without him. It was hard, but we got through it."

"I'm sorry. It sounds like you have a great family."

"I do. But so do you. It must have been a relief when you found out about all those cousins you have."

"It was very confusing. I couldn't understand why Mam never told me about my family. Now I understand that it was because they thought I was dead. Let's not talk about her anymore."

"I agree. So what do you want to do after breakfast?"

"Would you mind if I do some writing?"

"Not at all. You write, and I'll read more of those papers." We cleaned the kitchen, and Sarra went to write while I went to read.

I had been reading for an hour, making no sense of her crazy writings, when my phone rang. It was Matthew.

"That was quick. What's up?"

"I found out who the men were."

"So, tell me."

"They were Mam and Jeannie's brothers," Matthew said.

"Why did Mam kill her brothers? Did the brothers kill Jeannie and Gary? There is so much we need to find out. What the hell happened that night?"

"We know Gary and Jeannie didn't want anything to do with her crazy family. Maybe I'll find something in these pages. I sent Shane some of these pages. I'll send the rest as I read them and see what you can figure out. I hope she starts making sense so we can arrest all of them," I explained.

I was on the computer digging up everything I could about Mam's family, and a name popped up: Amanda Lundry. It says Amanda Lundry and her brothers have been on the FBI watch list. Is Mam, Amanda? Their last names are close enough: Mam Lundy. Yes, I believe she's the same person. I picked up the phone and called Shane.

"Did you find something?"

"Amanda Lundry is Mam Lundy." I could hear his computer clicking away, and then I heard Matthew.

"Damn, she's on the FBI watch list, and you didn't find her," I said.

"Shut up. I'm reading this. How were you able to get into this link?" Shane asked.

"I have my ways. I'm not going to talk about that. I want you to bring up all the brothers—the entire family—and find out where they live and where they are now. See if you can find anything on Amanda's death. I'm moving Sarra to another place. My next call will be from a burner phone," I said.

I started packing my duffel bag, putting the papers in with my computer. Then I knocked on Sarra's door.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but we're leaving. Pack your bag. I'll be waiting in the kitchen and making us some sandwiches."

She didn't waste time asking questions. She got up and started packing. "Let me help," she said, grabbing a bag and putting food in it. "Where are we going?"

"To the mountains."

"Are we driving?"

"Yes," I replied. She grabbed water bottles and put them in the bag, then took the chips and put them in another bag. By the time we were finished, we had three bags of food.

"I've never been on a road trip. I'm excited to see more of the country. If you get tired, I can drive for a while. Shane taught me to drive, and I have my driver's license."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you. We'll change vehicles when we get to the city. I will call you Mary when we are around other people, and you can call me Bill."

She stopped and looked at me. "Did you find something out?"

"Yes, Mam is Amanda Lundry, and she and her brothers are on the FBI watch list. The two men who were killed when your parents were murdered were two of her brothers; they were raised with your mother, and their father raised them. Amanda and the other brothers were raised by their mother. My guess is they tried to stop her from killing your mom. But I don't know that for sure."

"Oh my God, she killed my parents. Do you think she started the fire? I've been wondering about that."

"Did you ever meet her brothers?" I asked.

"I saw one of them once; he came to the house, and Mam talked to him and then ran him off. I didn't know who he was. But who else could he be? I guess she wasn't Mam. Her name was Amanda." I noticed the sadness in Sarra's voice and reached over to take her hand.

"Hellen, lock the house up as soon as we leave."

"Yes, sir. Have a safe trip," Hellen replied.

I heard Sarra chuckle. We drove until we reached the city, where we exchanged vehicles. Then we started our trip. I could tell Sarra was excited to see everything.

"This is amazing. I should have taken a road trip when Mam first died. I want to see all of America. When everything is over, I'm going to spend time on the road," Sarra said, like a little kid going to Disneyland for the first time.

"How about we take some scenic routes?"

"Really? That would be great. I would love to see the Pacific coast. Some other authors live in Washington State, and their pictures are amazing. Will that be far out of the way?"

"We can go anywhere in America you want to go. Nothing is out of the way. Evie used a small RV to get around; if you want, we will rent one and see America in an RV."

"That would be perfect," Sarra said, grinning. Then she clapped her hands just because she got to see the country on a road trip.

"Okay, we'll return this vehicle tomorrow and get an RV."

We stopped at a motel on the outskirts of town, and I got a room with connecting doors. Around two in the morning, she started having a nightmare. I hurried in and held her in my arms until she calmed down.

"Will you stay in here with me? I keep having these horrible nightmares. In my dreams, I'm two, and I see Mam kill my mother, and then she sneaks up on my father and stabs him in the back. My Dad looked at me and told me to run."

"It's just a dream. I'll stay here with you. You don't have to be scared anymore."

"I'm not scared. I'm worried."

"That's right, I forgot."