Lisa Jackson - Wicked Game

“That proved Zeke’s paternity, yes.” Mac was trying to be patient, but he could hear the edge of annoyance in his voice.

“You only asked to know the baby’s paternity.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, the tech found some other-unexpected-information in that DNA, and he called this morning to give you the news. I took the call.”

“How long is this build-up gonna go?” Mac demanded.

“Ends right here, killjoy. Your little girlfriend’s DNA matches one of the others. They’re full-on siblings.”

“What?”

“Rebecca Ryan Sutcliff is Jezebel Brentwood’s sister,” she said with relish.

Becca stood with Hudson outside their car, the wind slapping her hair around her face. They’d started driving toward the tract of land the locals called Siren Song when Becca had suddenly insisted they head away from Deception Bay and to a neighboring town to the south. Hudson hadn’t asked her why at the time, but when she proceeded to waste away half the afternoon in studied silence, hugging her dog, he’d asked her what was wrong. She’d been incapable of telling him that she didn’t want to go. After all this, she-didn’t-want-to-go. It was laughable, really, as much as she’d insisted on learning the truth, an insistence that had sent them barreling toward the coast. But now, now that she was on the brink of real discovery, she was paralyzed with fear and she didn’t know how to explain it.

“What’s going on?” Hudson had finally asked in frustration when they turned the Jetta back toward Deception Bay. Becca shook her head and kept her eyes on the road, unable to verbalize the feelings tight within her. “Maybe I should drive,” Hudson said, for about the fifth time.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not acting fine.”

“I’m just-thinking.”

“Care to include me in that thinking?”

He sounded pissed and she didn’t blame him, but she really didn’t get it herself. She was running on emotion and sensation, and a deep fear for her baby’s life that seemed to have taken control.

He wants to kill you. He wants to kill your baby. She’d repressed her last vision, but after learning from the shopkeeper that Renee had asked about Siren Song, it had come to the fore, frightening her anew. She was desperately afraid for her baby. Afraid for Hudson. Afraid for herself.

Now they were at a lookout, gazing over the darkening ocean, gathering their thoughts. The lighthouse sat on its rocky mound to the south, and the murky island beyond had disappeared behind a fog bank. Night would be upon them very soon.

“Madame Madeline knew I was pregnant,” Becca said aloud. She’d said the same thing several times over the course of the afternoon.

“She seemed more like someone suffering from dementia than a ‘seer,’” Hudson answered. He’d also said the same thing over the course of the afternoon.

“I know you want to go to Siren Song.”

“I don’t have any problem seeing Mad Maddie first, but we need to make some kind of decision soon.” His eyes scanned the horizon.

“You don’t think it’s important,” Becca accused him.

“Renee got spooked by her,” Hudson allowed. “But she didn’t really learn anything from her.”

“Except that she was going to die.”

Hudson shook his head, his jaw tight. “Someone killed my sister by running her off the road. Someone I’m going to find. I don’t believe for a minute that Mad Maddie’s prediction had anything to do with it. This was murder, premeditated, because Renee asked questions and somebody didn’t like it.”

Becca closed her eyes and let the wind throw a shiver of rain at her. It was freezing cold but it felt oddly cleansing. She heard Ringo barking from the car, scolding them for leaving him inside. “I don’t want to go to Siren Song,” she admitted.

“What is it that scares you?”

He’s there, she thought. She wanted to say the words but couldn’t form them.

“When Renee called me,” Hudson said, “I think she’d just been there. Maybe she talked to them.”

“The cult members.”

He inclined his head. “She said something about colonies of people. She was excited. She meant Siren Song.”

“And I look like them,” Becca stated flatly.

“Yeah, well, that could mean next to nothing. I just want to talk to them. See if Renee asked them about Jessie, or maybe something else.”

Becca felt ridiculous, being so stubborn, when she’d been so gung-ho earlier. But it was like Jessie’s warning was playing over and over again in her head, an endless reel. Had that been what Jessie had been trying to tell her? Siren Song? But there were too many syllables in that message. Three, instead of two. So Jessie had to be trying to tell her something else, and Becca was sure it had to do with him.

Hudson pulled her into his arms. “I can go see them by myself.”

She shook her head, unable to explain the depths of her fear. She wanted answers as much as he did, yet now, suddenly, she couldn’t take the last few steps. She was profoundly frightened in a visceral, nonsensical way.

“I don’t want anything to happen to our baby,” she whispered.

“I won’t let anything happen.”

She didn’t say it, but she wasn’t sure he would be able to stop the cataclysm she sensed was coming for her.

Hudson suggested, “Let’s get another night at the B and B. I’ll take you there, then go see the people at Siren Song.”

“No, I’m staying with you. Don’t leave me.”

“Would you feel safer back in Portland, or Laurelton?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” She turned toward him, burying her face in his jacket, clutching its leather folds with tense fingers. “I’ll go,” she said in a muffled voice against his chest. “I want to know, too. I’ll go.”

“What is it?” he asked again, holding her close. “Why now?”

“I can’t explain it.” She was torn between laughter and tears. “If I didn’t already know I was pregnant I’d be wondering, because my emotions are all over the place. I just feel something bad is going to happen. Like we’re prodding the beast. And though I want answers as much as you do, I’m afraid.”

“Maybe we should just forget about this for now.”

“No, you need to find out about Renee,” she said, steeling her courage. “And I want to know if Jessie met with them, and if Renee followed her path.”

He pulled back to look into her face, sweeping her wind-tossed hair from her eyes. “You sure?”

She nodded.

“Then we’ll drive over there and see how it goes. If you don’t feel safe, we’ll leave.”

“Okay.”

“Want me to drive?”

“No, I’m okay,” she said, turning toward the car. Ringo was standing on the front seat, his paws on the dashboard. He yipped at her and scratched at the dash.

“Sure?” Hudson asked.

She nodded tautly. “Sure.”

Mac shoved his cell phone into his pocket and made a sound of frustration.

“Still can’t get hold of her?” Levi asked.

Mac had made a half dozen calls to Becca’s cell and home phone numbers, but there was no answer anywhere. Levi only knew that Mac was anxious to connect with the woman he’d been dialing for the past hour because of something that had come up at work. “I was hoping to get an answer before we start heading over the mountains and I lose the signal completely,” Mac muttered.

Levi looked long-suffering. “I’m hungry. Is there anywhere to eat here? They got a Subway?”

“I doubt it.”

“McDonald’s?”

“We’d have to go to a bigger town.”

“Then let’s do it.”

Mac considered. They could drive to Seaside, which had any number of fast-food restaurants, but it would be a good half hour out of their way. Still, it might give him just enough time to connect with Rebecca Sutcliff before he headed over the mountains.