The Devil Inside Part 15

"I don't think Robert will ever invoke the name Danny Baxter in our presence again."

The boy nodded and gazed back out toward the farmland they were leaving behind at a fairly quick pace. "How can you forgive Emma?"

Cain picked a piece of lint off her coat as a way to delay her answer. The truth was love. Her love for Emma had blinded her to her responsibilities, a mistake she'd never make again. "I've lived with this memory from the moment I found Marie near our house and, trust me, blaming your mother was the last thing on my mind. I'm the head of the Casey family--me, not your mother. I blame myself every day for what happened. I don't need to forgive her."

Hayden turned in the seat until he was fully facing Cain. "Then maybe it's time you learn to forgive yourself and think about the good things you did while Aunt Marie was alive. Maybe you didn't give her enough credit, Mom."

"What do you mean by that? I loved her."

"I know you loved her, but you did so much more. All you had to do was give her a home and keep her safe, but you went way beyond that, didn't you? She told me you took her to a movie once, even though you didn't want to go. One of those old ones playing at the Prytania. She remembered how much fun she had going out to dinner and then that movie. She even told me how you took her over to the pub after the show and got her as many s.h.i.+rley Temples as she wanted."

"Yeah, I remember that night. Marie always liked the pomp and circ.u.mstance that came from the idea of dating. She just didn't understand it was supposed to involve someone you loved or were interested in, not your sister."

Hayden laughed, remembering the stars in his aunt's eyes when she told him about the night. "But you did love her, and doing stuff like that for her only proved it. So what if she didn't know the rest. You were her hero, Mom. She said in the movie the character died at the end, but she told her husband that love meant never having to say you're sorry."

"Love Story is what she was talking about. That's the closest I've ever come to crying in a public place over something so, I don't know, trivial. We ended up going back the next night and seeing the d.a.m.n thing again."

Reaching over, Hayden covered his mother's hands with his own. "Aunt Marie told me one day my mom would come back and we could be a family, but I had to remember Emma loved me, so she didn't have to say she was sorry for leaving. She didn't want me to be mad when she did come back."

"Your aunt was smarter than she let on. Hayden, I don't want to make this decision for you. Whatever relations.h.i.+p you want to have with your mother will be fine with me. Don't put my feelings first this time. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"I promise to do that, if you promise to stop blaming yourself for what happened to Marie. Danny did it, Momnot you. Whatever his reasons were, they were all about him. You gave Aunt Marie a life she loved and enjoyed. It isn't your fault it was too short."

"You're growing up to be as wise as she was. Thanks, Hayden. Your saying all that means the world to me."

Cain stayed silent about Hannah, not wanting to add to the emotions of the day. She often had to put business first, and that necessary callousness probably added to Emma's decision to leave. But sometimes she couldn't ignore her responsibilities, no matter how much she wanted to.

She just hoped they weren't making her incapable of the type of love she had given to and received from Emma. Though that love had caused her to make one of the biggest mistakes of her life, it had also given her one of her life's greatest joysHayden.

"Come on in the house, Emma. You're going to freeze out here if you stay any longer." Ross put his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you go get cleaned up, and we'll run over and pick up the b.u.t.terbean?"

"I'll get her in the morning, Daddy. Thanks anyway." Emma didn't move and wanted more than anything for some higher power to give her one wish. If she got it, Cain and Hayden would drive back up so she could make things right with them.

"Maybe she'll be just the thing you need to cheer you up."

A door slammed in the distance, and several cars pulled in. Kyle had changed and was ready to catch the plane waiting for him and his team at the small airport sixty miles away. He wanted to be in New Orleans before Cain so he could start planning. "Thank you all for your help. With what we got, we'll be able to nail Casey to the proverbial wall."

"Get off my land."

"Come on, Ross. You're making out all right here. I see you started using the line of credit we set up for you." Kyle pointed to the barn, talking about the feed he'd witnessed Cain and Hayden help stack up.

"I don't think you heard me. Get off my land now. And for the record, as you're so fond of saying, agent, I didn't touch a f.u.c.king cent that belongs to the government."

"Hit the lotto, have you, Ross?"

Kyle sounded so condescending Emma wanted to slap him.

"Better. Cain and I became partners. The feed in there belongs to her, and she was nice enough to let me feed it to my cows. Now get out of here."

"As soon as we've packed the equipment." If Ross had become so chummy with Casey in the few days she was here, he would go down with her if he tipped her off to their presence. "Ross, I'm only going to ask you this once. Did you mention any of this operation to Casey?"

"No."

"Are you sure about that, old man?"

"No, I didn't mention any of you sc.u.m and what you were here for."

"Good. Keep it that way, or you'll find your own name on one of those indictments I'll be getting in the next few weeks."

What you should have asked, Agent b.u.t.thead, was if she mentioned your being here. Then I would've had to say yes, maybe. Ross laughed a little as he helped Emma to her feet and moved her into the house. He watched from the window as the agents carried monitor after monitor and other weird-looking equipment out of his barn. If only Kyle would take his head out of his a.s.s and use it, he would have wondered about how easily the end had come after such a long road of trying, thought Ross. No way would he feel sorry for whatever happened to the man.

"Daddy, I don't know what to do now."

"Emma, I'm your father and I love you, but we've had this talk. I didn't agree with all this, and I was the only one in the house who thought about what could go screwy with this plan. I'm not going to sit here now and tell you what you did was wrong. The nights you sit up wis.h.i.+ng you could take it all back will take care of that. You'd better start thinking about your next move, though. Hiding here listening to the wind and your mother isn't going to take you back to where you obviously want to be."

Carol wiped her hands on the dish towel as she stood right outside the door and couldn't believe her husband. "What are you trying to do, Ross?"

"I'm not blind, Carol. I could see the way Emma looked at the woman while she was here. You pulled her back here with all your holier-than-thou speeches, making her feel guilty about every one of the choices she's made in her life, and she's been miserable. Cain deserves to know about Hannah." He turned to Emma. "And if you leave now, it might not be too late."

"You run again, Emma, and don't come back here if she throws your worthless hide out this time. You can go back to that sp.a.w.n if you want, but you aren't taking Hannah with you." Carol grabbed Emma by the arm. As a mother she had been cursed with Emma, but she saw another chance with Hannah.

"She's my daughter, Mother. Try and remember that. If I go back, do you think for one minute I'm leaving her here with you? You need intense psychiatric help if you think I'd give you the chance to make my little girl feel bad about who she is and where she comes from. That pleasure on your part will end with me. Hannah deserves to be happy, so if that means me letting her live with Cain and Hayden, that's what I'm going to do. You'll never get the opportunity to poison her mind with that garbage you call religion."

Carol turned around and raised her fist toward her husband. "You, this is your fault. Soft, you said when Emma was growing up. We shouldn't be so hard on her, you said. Well, this is what happens when you're soft with your children. They get taken by the first devil to come along. And did I hear you say you took money from that woman?"

"Shut up, Carol. This is Emma's life, not yours. You can't ruin someone else's life by stealing their chance to be happy. She's our daughter. She deserves better than your hate and constant judgment."

The fist opened, and Ross felt his head fly back from the force of the blow. "I want you to get out."

He put his hand over the heat on the right side of his face. "No, Carol. One of us is leaving, but it won't be me. You go home and see if your brother and his wife will take you in. This place belonged to my family, and now it'll go to my grandson."

"Daddy, wait." Emma tried to keep him from going inside the barn until the agents had cleared the yard. If Cain turned around and did try to come back now, all of them would be sorry.

"I'll give you the money to fly to New Orleans if you want to, and I'll check on Hannah every day over at Maddie's while you're gone. If you don't, then there'll be no more tears and asking 'what if.' It'll be done."

Emma tried hard not to cry in front of her father again. "I don't know where to even begin, Daddy."

"At the beginning, Emma. You need to give Cain the same chance you gave her at the beginning of your relations.h.i.+p. Because somewhere along the way you forgot what she meant to you and your children. Look where your blind judgment of Cain has landed you. She has a lot to atone for when it comes to you, but you aren't without blame. She stole Hayden from you, but what you've done with Hannah, that's not right either."

"I'll try, Daddy."

"That's all you can do."

Chapter Twenty-One.

"The folks at the pub are going to get jealous." Merrick sat next to Cain as the driver took them to Emerald's, Cain's other nightclub, for the fifth night in a row. They were meeting with some of the players in the deal Cain had going and, much to her discomfort, they had left all their electronic playthings at home. Cain didn't seem to be too concerned as to who else was listening in on all these very public meetings.

"What are you, my agent?"

"No, arling', just the eyes in the back of your head," she joked as the car rolled to a stop and the doorman bent to open the back door. Tonight was business, so she took her post behind Cain, scanning the crowd waiting outside for any familiar faces. Cain was more than capable of taking care of any threat that came from the front.

Cain stopped toward the head of the line and stared at a woman standing with two men, waiting to get in. She couldn't believe she had the guts to show up here, and with company, no less. Time to put her reputation to work and get a date for the evening.

"Morris, let the lady and her friends in." She pointed to the group. "They're with me."

"Thanks. I thought we'd have to stand there all night. Who's that?" the blonde asked the bouncer, referring to Cain.

"The name is Cain, and it's a popular club, miss," she whispered in the woman's ear as they made their way to the door. "People can't wait to take a walk with the devil, even if it's just for the night."

"I've heard it can be quite unforgettable if you let yourself go." Shelby tried to keep it clean since the small evening bag she was carrying had a powerful receiver.

"Can I interest you in a drink?"

"It's the least I can do since you were so kind to get me out of that line." Shelby wrapped her hand around Cain's bicep and trusted her two work companions to keep up.

In the van parked a half a block away, three other agents listened to the conversation, not surprised Shelby had been noticed right away. She looked hot in the dress she'd chosen for the night's a.s.signment. Surprisingly, Casey had done the picking up.

"Just like a b.i.t.c.h in heat," Kyle commented as the technicians adjusted the device in Shelby's purse to drop out as much background noise as possible. They could easily hear the conversation over the loud dance music. "What an idiot. She didn't learn her lesson from the first blonde who burned her a.s.s."

"What will you have?" Cain asked her at the end of the bar, which sent the staff into action. The bartender walked its length to reach Cain, ignoring angry customers who were screaming they were there first. "A mojito, perhaps?"

"Doesn't that mean 'little wet one'?"

"Well, I'd suggest something else, but I don't know of a drink that connotes staying dry." Cain's joke referred to what had almost happened a week before on Vincent's plane.

"How about just a club soda, since I'm not much of a drinker?"

"You heard the lady, Charlie. Club sodas all around." Cain could see her guest, Vinny Carlotti, had arrived and was being escorted to her private table. Vinny's entourage was shaking hands with her people. "Would you like to join me for a bit?"

Shelby was shocked Cain would even suggest it. She had tried unsuccessfully to get a transfer to another division since the night she'd met Cain. Her hostess had to know she was carrying some sort of listening device, but she didn't seem to care.

"I'm just here for the music."

Kyle almost blew the top off the van when Shelby gave that answer. To have Casey invite her into the inner sanctum of whatever was going on wasn't an opportunity that came along too often.

"Trust me. You can hear it from over there." Cain pointed to her table.

"If you're sure."

"What's your name, arling'?"

"Shelby Phillips, and yours?"

"Like I said, why don't you just call me Cain? Come on. Charlie will bring those drinks over to us."

Shelby took the offered hand, and Merrick cut a path through the dancers for them as they made their way to the other side of the club.

The two other agents she had arrived with sat at the bar and kept an eye out in case Shelby needed them to intervene.

"Shelby, I want you to meet Vinny Carlotti. Vinny, this is my new friend Shelby."

"Shelby and I have met."

Cain arched a brow, wanting him to say from where.

"She works for my father, part time, I believe." Vinny got up and shook hands with her before she took a seat next to Cain.

The agent didn't knock Cain's hand off when it came to rest on her knee and hoped her notorious friend knew what she was doing.

"Have you made all the appropriate arrangements?" Cain asked Vinny, liking the feel of the skin under her fingers.

"We're all set to move for next week. My men will be there to help divide the s.h.i.+pment once you take control of it. Once it's ready we'll send it out from there. Dad added another truckload of cigarettes since some of the vendors we deal with on the Gulf Coast were interested. Overall we stand to make over five million apiece, if everything goes according to plan."

"Good. We'll be getting the warehouses ready to move the stuff out the same night we get it. I don't want to be sitting on this much merchandise for too long and get my a.s.s popped for it." Cain shook hands with her old friend and made sure he and his party were taken care of for the rest of the night if they chose to stay.

"Want to join me in the office for a more intimate drink?" she offered Shelby.

"If she says no to this, I swear I'll have her a.s.s transferred to the most disgusting place I can think of," Kyle said to the others in the van. He had already called the group a.s.signed to Vincent Carlotti and informed them of the new alliance with Casey.

"Sure." Shelby followed a little behind Cain, enjoying the way the black slacks and black turtleneck Cain was wearing looked on her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but Cain doesn't allow anyone to carry anything in with them. If you'd like, you can leave your purse with me, and I promise I'll keep an eye on it." The big man standing at the front door of the office held his hand out and waited to see if the agent would comply. If he had to call Cain back out, it might look like he couldn't handle the situation.

"It's just a purse."

"And it's just her rules. Her club, her rules, that's the way it works. If you like I can go in and tell her you've changed your mind about joining her."

Shelby handed over the purse, knowing it was her last link to her backup. Not that she worried Cain was going to harm her, but Cain had made it clear it wouldn't be a good idea for her to keep up her surveillance. She noticed the two men move from the bar to get closer to the office, but they weren't able to get too close with the number of personnel Cain had between them and the door. To move in now would blow her cover not only with Cain, but also with Vincent. She hoped for the best and handed over the purse.

The office was a large s.p.a.ce with only a bar, a desk, and a sofa that overlooked the crowd through what she a.s.sumed was a two-way mirror. Soft, low lighting made it feel warmer than it was, considering the spa.r.s.e furnis.h.i.+ngs, but she could still see Cain clearly as she stood at the bar and poured two gla.s.ses of amber liquid.

"Irish whiskey," she informed Shelby when she handed over the gla.s.s before walking over and sitting on the sofa. "Come over here. I'm not going to bite. Unless..." Cain was obviously referring to any other wires Shelby might be sporting.

"Don't worry. Agent Kyle is most probably having puppies by now since my purse has left my person."

"I'm glad to see you again, but to tell you the truth, I'm surprised you're here." Cain drained the gla.s.s and sat it on the floor by her feet. Eventually she would have to finish furnis.h.i.+ng the s.p.a.ce to make it more functional, but it hadn't been a priority. She only came to the club when business demanded it or when she was in the mood for the rare evening out on the dance floor.

"I'd have put in another request for transfer this week, believe me, but any more of them and it would've started to look suspicious. I thought a few weeks of me coming up empty would do the trick, but you go and get all chatty on me. It's going to be hard to get rid of me now. Why did you do that? Was it a test or something?" Shelby took a seat and left a little room between them. Cain looked criminally good tonight, instead of just criminal.

"Maybe it was my way of helping you get that medal we talked about."

She slid closer and reached out for Cain's hand. "I appreciate what you did for me, Cain, but we agreed I have a job to do, and I'm not going to s.h.i.+rk my responsibilities even though you know who I am. You had to realize I was wired."