Chapter Nineteen

Ty darted out of the SUV, ready to confront his older brother. He'd bulked up since the last Ty had seen him, smirking at his disfellowship and the fact he'd been escorted off the property. He'd traded in jeans for a flashy, expensive suit and a watch that cost more than Ty's vehicle. Garrick had followed in Rand's footsteps with his taste for the finer things in life. Garrick paused, surprised at Ty's presence.

"I was told you were out of town," Ty said.

"And now I'm not." Garrick approached him. "Why is the long-forgotten favored one here? Are you a prodigal?"

The animosity hadn't mellowed over the years. "You live under a rock? Haven't you heard about the lighthouse murders?"

Garrick checked his watch. "What does that have to do with the Family, Tiberius?"

"I think the killer may have ties to the Family."

"You'd love to believe that, wouldn't you? Take down the Family as a vendetta? No one presently in or formerly from our community has had anything to do with murders over two hundred miles away." That was a long way to live and be separated from the victims, but this particular UNSUB had zero fear of getting caught. Could it be Garrick? Ty leaned toward no. He didn't have much artistic ability either. Their killer did.

But almost eighteen years had passed. Plenty of time to hone a craft, to work in a tattoo shop, gaining the knowledge and experience before setting out for his master fantasy. Not to mention they'd found prostitutes who had been tattooed in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas.

"I'm told you handle the Prophet's coastal properties."

Garrick's beam was smug. "You think I'm doing this? How have you made it this long in the FBI being so stupid? I handle more than Father's coastal properties, and I suppose it's a good thing. Hear a hurricane's coming to the Outer Banks. Seems to me you don't have a lot of time before everything takes a hit, including you."

His phone dinged and he checked it, but his eyes didn't track like one's did when reading lines. He muttered something and then pocketed the cell. "Is this revenge for asking for Bexley's hand in marriage? Your sweet precious Bex. She was nothing but a hot piece of tail and you know it. The real sweet spot would have been marrying the sister. All young and ripe..."

Ty balled his fist but remained level-headed. "How did you even know Bexley and I were sleeping together? Did you know before you asked to marry her?" Did he put it in motion to make sure Ty was disfellowshipped and Garrick retained standing as the upcoming Prophet after Rand's death? The last thing he would have wanted was for Ty to be named as the new Prophet and get everything Garrick wanted.

Had Ty been a puppet even then?

His blood froze.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, Tiberius." Garrick grinned. "Of course I knew you were sleeping with Bexley. Just like I knew when I went in, shocked and devastated, about her being deflowered, Father would take her from you. I couldn't care less about that skank."

Owen stepped out of the car and nonchalantly walked up. He must have heard the conversation and decided to intervene before it escalated. Smart move. Ty was unraveling faster than a sweater stuck on a hook.

Garrick took one peek at Owen and laughed. "Gotcha a bodyguard now? How's it going, boy?"

Ty thrust himself into Garrick's personal space, grabbing him by the collar, but Owen yanked him back. "Don't give this slug the time of day. He's not worth it."

Garrick laughed and brushed back his dark hair blowing in his eyes. "Go find a killer somewhere else, Tiberius. You're barking up the wrong tree here."

"Well, you didn't get what you wanted. I left and you still aren't taking Rand's place. I take satisfaction in that."

Garrick didn't even bat an eye. Why? Why wouldn't he be angry about it? Garrick loved power and authority and privilege.

"I wouldn't be feeling satisfied just yet, Agent."

What exactly did that mean?

"Bexley never went through with the consummation, so I'm feeling pretty satisfied," Ty blurted, then suddenly realized his mistake. How would he know that if Bexley was dead?

Garrick folded his arms over his chest and blinked a few times. "No, he didn't get to plant his babies in the woman you loved. But I take pleasure in knowing you didn't get her either. Do you miss her? I don't. Do miss little Ahnah, though. The way she lapped up the mud on my boots. If only she were still alive. I'd be all over that. But that's what happens to girls who run away."

Blood whooshed in Ty's ears.

"Y'all have a nice day and don't come back. Or I'll have the police escort you off the property. Your badge doesn't scare me, Tiberius."

When Garrick reached the porch, Ty hollered, "It's not my badge you should be afraid of!"

Owen gripped his shoulders. "Again, he's not worth it. Let's go. He's trying to get under your skin and it's working." Ty didn't budge. "Tiberius, let'sgo."

Finally, Ty acquiesced and clambered into the passenger side. He had no business driving while this distracted and angry.

"He knows they're alive. He's doing it, and he's all but taunting me to try and stop him. I should have suspected him first-go. Question is, is he also the Fire Ice Killer?"

"I don't know what he is, Ty. Other than a wicked man. But, yeah. I think he knows they're alive. Whether or not he took Ahnah or has plans to take Bexley is another story. And without proof, we can't search the home or his room or car or anything. All we have is his condescending tone and suspicion." Owen buckled his seat belt and pressed the ignition button.

Ty scrolled to his mother's name on his phone and pressed Call. He had questions.

She answered on the first ring. "Tiberius, have you seen a hurricane is heading for the Outer Banks? You don't plan to be there when it hits, do you?"

"Mama, you know I do. I've always wanted to go out by drowning." He rolled his eyes. "Sorry. I'm having a bad day."

"Why?"

"I saw Rand."

The line remained silent. Finally she asked, "Why?"

He told her what he could regarding the case. "How can Dalen be the Prophet? I thought only first wives could have heirs, and you're the first wife." Could Rand have been lying to protect Garrick? Did Garrick have plans to eliminate Dalen and usurp the office? Something wasn't jiving.

"Tiberius, I am not the first wife. Nor was I ever the ‘first' first wife. It's not about who he married first. It's about who he chooses to be first. There was one before me—before I ever came into the Family. Mother Lorna. She had a son. He was in line to be the Prophet. But he had some...problems, and Rand said he had to do what Abraham did to Hagar and Ishmael. He sent them away. I became his next choice."

"What kind of problems?"

"Well, for one, he kept carving the Family's logo into squirrels and cats. Or that's what I heard from your father. It was difficult for him to send them away but it had to be done."

The killer had been putting the logo on unsuspecting women.

"How old was he when he had to leave?"

"I don't know. Fifteen or sixteen? Rand had other wives before her and me—they just didn't get the title ‘first wife.' The first wife bears the next Prophet. Could be Dalen's mom was made the first wife."

He'd never questioned that before. You didn't question anything in the Family.

"Mother Mae told me that the boy was pretty angry about leaving and losing the office of Prophet. He loved the Family. Couldn't believe anyone would want to leave. And he was furious with your father. Vowed no one would take the Prophet's place but himself, but he was only a teenager blowing off steam."

Ty wasn't so sure.

"What was his name?"

"I don't remember. Mother Mae would know, or Rand. Disfellowshipped members aren't allowed to be spoken about. You know this."

Rand would never cough up the name, and Mother Mae was dead.

Could some tossed-out first son be out there coming for Ty, and was anyone else who might take the position be in danger too? When he said he was after those close to him, would he assume Ty was close to his brothers?

And who was this man?

Bexley paced the deck outside the room she'd been staying in since she'd come to Ty and his team about the killer's threats. All day she'd been contemplating if that was the wrong decision and if the killer would call her to tell her Ahnah was dead.

God help her, she needed guidance, divine help. As it turned out, it had been a team member, a friend, Ty lost. And she hadn't seen him all day, hadn't been able to talk with him. Nerves had her on edge. What if he'd slipped up and mentioned her and Ahnah? Could Rand talk Ty into returning? Had he seen Garrick or any of the other men who'd given Ahnah a hard time?

Thunder startled her and she backed up, sitting in the Adirondack chair, listening to rain pummel the house. It'd been nonstop all day. Josiah had been sullen and irritated he was stuck here, but he'd played some video games and they'd ordered pizzas for dinner. The entire team had shown them kindness and compassion and had moved their murder board to a room in the ground level apartment so Josiah and she didn't have to see it every time they entered the kitchen.

A soft knock on her bedroom door drew her from the deck. She opened the door and Tiberius stood there, hair wet and curling around his temples, his scruff a full day's beard. "How you doing?" he asked as he rubbed the nape of his neck.

"I was about to ask you the same. Tiberius, I'm so sorry about your friend Cami."

He nodded once, and she welcomed him inside. "I was sitting outside thinking. Praying. Hoping. Wondering."

Tiberius followed her onto the screened-in private deck and sat on the swing. She sat next to him. "Wondering what?"

"How Ahnah is holding up. What the consequences will be of my choice to not push you away like the killer demanded I do. How it went at the Family."

"I wish I had an answer. You did the right thing by coming to us with the phone call. And things went about as I expected in Asheville. Dalen is next in line when Rand dies—but I don't know if that old man is ever going to die. I saw Garrick."

Bexley tensed. "And?"

"He hasn't changed. It's in the eyes."

Shifting, she scooted closer, facing him. "How are you feeling?" She couldn't begin to imagine the feelings banging around inside him.

"Don't analyze me, Bex."

"I'm not. I want to know."

"You want to know how I feel? Okay," he said, through an expelled breath. "I feel left out of my kid's life. Someone has it in for me and literally plotted out a plan to derail me better than in some kind of spy novel. My dad hates me and barely acknowledged my existence but would be willing for me to return because it benefits him—me being an agent. I probably have nine hundred half-siblings and the only person who actually feels like family to me is Owen. I'm hanging on by a thread, and I don't have it in me to find this guy. Which means Ahnah might die like Cami and those other victims and their blood is staining my hands. No matter how hard I try to wash it off, it's there. All their blood on my hands."

She took his hands in hers. Big, warm, a few calluses on his palms. "No one's blood is on your hands, Tiberius. That's what he wants you to believe. He wants to make you suffer—and he is. He's messing with your head."

"He's messing with my head. My life. People I care about. How will I ever look Cami's family in the eye?"

He held his palms open and she continued to gently caress them. Lightning lit up the room and she caught his eyes, boring into hers and searching. For what?

He laced his fingers between hers. "I had a flood of memories there today. Many of them were about you. The time you threw dirt in my eyes before a race so you'd win. Or the time you jumped out of a tree and terrified me. I squeaked like a mouse and you made fun of me for weeks."

She laughed. "It was too easy to give you a hard time."

He inched closer. "I remember the first time I picked you flowers."

"Out of Mother Mae's garden."

Her body instinctively moved with his, bringing them together; she smelled mint on his breath, and goose bumps broke out on her skin. "I fell out of puppy love with you that day and into real love." He pulled her to him, sliding his hands into her hair as the rain fell in sheets. His nose bumped hers and his lips brushed against her mouth, feather-soft. "I remembered what you tasted like..." He let the thought linger, giving her the power to decide.

"I may have forgotten," she murmured and peered up from her lashes with a permissive smile.

Recognition dilated his pupils, and he deliberately explored her lips as they recaptured one another's taste. Encircling his neck, her fingers toyed with the hair curling above his collar. Memories washed over her like afternoon sunshine and sweet tea. Their breath mingled and his hands got lost in her mess of curls.

"I've missed you," he whispered against her lips. "Missed your smell, missed...you. I wish things could have been different."

She did too, but before she could agree, his mouth was on hers again, devouring. Like stepping into the ocean. Unpredictable but beautiful. She wasn't afraid to let the current draw her out and under. She was fully accepting of drowning in this luscious, heady moment. A place where monsters didn't exist, pain was banned and hope soared. The passion was unbridled and the only thing in this moment that wasn't broken.

But unrestraint had once been their downfall.

As if Tiberius had read her thoughts, he brought the crashing waves to a small lapping at the shore, not abrupt but a gradual glorious fade. Framing her face, he rested his brow on hers, his breath shallow. "I'm not sorry for that."

Was she? No, but it had complicated a civil relationship. Did he want more? Did she? What would that mean?

Finally, he moved away and leaned back on the swing. "When are we going to tell Josiah?"

Their son never strayed far from Tiberius's thoughts.

"I almost told him. But you showed up. We can take him somewhere. Just the three of us. Although Drew doesn't think it's wise. He backed up my original idea."

Lightning skewered through the sky. Bex flinched.

Ty leaned his elbows on his knees. "Drew isn't his dad. When we tell him, we need a game plan about spending time with me in Memphis. He's almost eighteen and I know it'll be his choice, but I'm hoping he'll want to know me. We need to rip off the Band-Aid and tell him where we came from, and why he can never have anything to do with them. He's a smart kid. He'll get it. Let me psychoanalyze you. You've been projecting your greatest fears onto him."

He was right. She feared losing Josiah to the Family. Feared she'd made a mistake and he'd hate her for withholding him from Tiberius. What if she lost them all—Ahnah, Josiah and Tiberius?

Ty hadn't come to Bex's room for a make-out session, and now he was puzzled in new ways. Did he have feelings for her? Yes. Was he mad at her for her epic past blunder? Absolutely. How could a man want to kiss and kill a woman at the same time? Maybe he was a psycho in disguise.

"You're right, Tiberius. I am afraid. But his right to know is greater than my fears."

"We'll figure out what to tell him and when. I'll back you up as being a good mom. You are. Even if he's been nothing but a punk, when we're playing video games I glimpse the young man he truly is and that's a testament to you."

"You can be quite charming when you want to be, Tiberius." She playfully elbowed him in the arm.

"I suppose." He eyed her mouth. "You got better at kissing. You have a lot practice?" The idea of Bexley kissing men—plural—unsettled him.

She raised an eyebrow. "If I answer that, you'll have to return the favor."

Smart cookie.

"I'll be transparent, Bex. I've had a lot of practice kissing. It started as a way to bump you out of my system. It didn't work. I purposely chose women who weren't looking to settle down. No feelings involved. Just a person to pass time with and keep from being alone." Nothing had ever been right after he thought he'd lost her for good. Was a second chance even possible? Did he want that? Did she?

Bexley rubbed her thumb with her index finger. "I've dated less than ten men. Only dated. I thought I could move on and forge a new life but I couldn't. Every time I look into our son's eyes, I see you, and I guess... I couldn't commit that piece of my heart to anyone else. Didn't seem fair."

"Nothing about this has been fair. Let's sleep on it. In separate rooms. I'm pretty tired, and tomorrow I'm running down that list that Rand gave us. Asa and Fiona are driving out of the hurricane zone and flying to Memphis in the morning to work Cami's case on that end. Talk to friends and family. Visit her gym and go through her past art shows, interviews. Anything that might lead us to this guy."

"I have appointments. With the hurricane, some of my clients are presenting anxiety, and want to talk through it. I also need to pack up a few more things. I'll go during the day, change up my routine and be careful."

"Okay. I'd feel better if you'd share your location with me. Until it's safe."

She pulled out her phone and shared her location. "I should go to bed."

"Me too. Or I might kiss you again." He couldn't remember the last time he'd showed this much restraint. He followed her into the bedroom. His emotions were out of whack. At the door she rose on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.

"Good night, Tiberius." She touched her lips. "I'm not sorry either."

Before it was all said and done, they might both be sorry.