The Cain Casey Series

Chapter Thirteen

“What the hell just happened to Casey?” Kyle had witnessed the whole scene through his high-powered binoculars from the trees near the road. In all the years he had watched Cain, he had never seen her so undone.

The two agents behind him were new to his team, so they had been stuck with the job of keeping pace with Cain and Merrick for their afternoon run. Hopefully the equipment they were carrying picked up more than just their own heavy breathing.

“We may have a problem, sir.” The first agent to arrive was leaning over with his hands resting on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“That’s not a career-making statement, Simmons.” Kyle dropped the binoculars into the bag at his feet with a dull thud. “I’m not going to ask you again. What happened?” he screamed.

“She ran by the Rath place, sir.”

“And?” Kyle asked, waiting for the rest of the report.

“What Simmons is trying to say, sir,” interjected the second agent, who sat on the cold ground nursing a charley horse, “is Maddie Rath had the kid outside. Casey just stopped when she saw them. Then she came back here. We’re sorry, sir, but we weren’t able to keep up on the way back. We did get a little on tape before she got there.”

“Did Maddie see Casey or Merrick?” asked Kyle.

“Not that we noticed. She was still outside when we continued our pursuit.”

Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose and took a couple of deep breaths. “Don’t say a word about this to anyone else or you’ll both be investigating moose droppings in Alaska. Get me?”

“But, sir, shouldn’t we inform Ms. Verde?” Simmons was still breathing hard from his run, making his question sound hesitant.

“It’s taken me close to four years to get Emma Casey to this level of cooperation, and I’m not going to jeopardize that with something this trivial. That means keep your mouths shut, gentlemen, and head back to the command post. I expect a transcript of what you picked up on the first leg of your run. You two worry about that, and I’ll worry about Emma.”

Kyle turned his back on the two men and watched Emma just standing in the yard, seemingly lost in thought. Yes, he had spent too many years on this case already, but his career wouldn’t advance until he could justify the money and time he had invested in Cain Casey. He was just about ten years from mandatory retirement, and he wanted to spend that time heading up some other task force at FBI headquarters. The feds owed him that honor for his loyalty and diligence. History would gloss over how he brought Casey down, but his superiors would remember that he had. That’s what counted.

*

“Honey, where’s Cain?” Ross asked as the feed truck turned up the road. He watched it approach, thinking that the unloading would be a good excuse to spend more time with Cain.

“She’s cleaning up, Dad. She and Merrick went for a run and Cain got sick. Do you need anything?”

“No, she just promised to help me with something.”

Emma barely heard the last part because her father was already moving toward the bunkhouse. He disappeared a moment later when Merrick opened the door for him and showed him inside.

“Just fabulous. I bring Hayden here so I can bond with him, and it’s my father and Cain who end up forging a lasting relationship.” Alone with her thoughts, Emma ignored the cold and sat on the porch wondering what was going to happen next. Two young deliverymen were the only ones who broke the silence as they flung bags of feed off the back of the truck into a pile by the front of the barn.

“Agent Kyle called while you were out.” Carol spoke through a crack she had made in the front door. The windy cold temperatures of a Wisconsin winter were becoming increasingly unbearable as she grew older.

“And what’d he have to say?”

“Our bird started singing this afternoon, so he wants you to try and keep her around for a few more days. I’m glad to see your father finally coming to his senses.” Carol opened the door a little more and pointed toward the delivery boys. The only way Roy was letting that much feed go was if Ross had taken Kyle up on his offer of assistance. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with the boy once this is over?”

“What do you mean, do with him?”

“Agent Kyle mentioned a good school in Virginia for him. Not that we can afford it, but I’m guessing they’ll let the boy keep some of her ill-gotten money.”

Emma watched her knuckles turn almost purple from gripping the armrests of the rocker. “I didn’t do all of this to send him away, Mother, and his name is Hayden. It’s not ‘boy,’ just like her name is Cain. What is it about my life you find so disgusting? Is it the fact that Cain’s a woman or that my son thinks our family is a joke? God, can you blame him?”

“Don’t get hysterical, Emma. If you want to know, yes, I think what you did with that woman is not only a sin, but also disgusting. Your boy’s an abomination as far as I’m concerned, and if you want to make your home here, it’s going to be without him. I didn’t raise you to go off and whore yourself, sniffing around someone like her. I won’t have it, and I won’t be parading your little family at Sunday services when this is done. To tell you the truth, it took a lot of prayer to not send you away when you came back like you did, but I’m a Christian. The only reason I agreed to all this is because it’ll mean it’s over and I don’t have to worry about you running off again to take up with that spawn.”

The venom in Carol’s voice was hard to miss, and Emma didn’t understand where it was coming from. Her mother had never taken the time to know Cain, so her hatred was hard to comprehend. “What Cain and I shared was beautiful, and it gave me the opportunity to learn how to love. The only reason I even recognized the emotion at all was because of Daddy. You and your ‘Christian’ values were always too busy condemning the rest of us to teach me anything about the concept. I never did ask, Mother, but why did you ever marry Daddy and have me? Being here with the two of us has obviously brought you nothing but misery.”

“Because it was either your father or Mark Liston, and even back then he was nothing but a drunk. If that’s not a good enough answer, then make one up you like better. Women back then didn’t run off and come back with bastards in tow. But you sure made the most of your choices.”

A freshly showered, angry Cain stood ten feet from the porch looking like she was about to pounce on Carol. “You call my son a bastard again, old lady, and I’ll teach you the meaning of the phrase ‘raising the old Irish.’ The fact that you hate me doesn’t bother me, but Hayden’s never done anything to earn your displeasure, so while I’m here, don’t speak to him or his mother like that again.”

The door slammed shut as hard as Carol could muster, considering how little it was opened, leaving Emma alone with a now-angry Cain. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah, it was just a fluke, I’m sure. Nothing to worry about, and since I offered your father my help putting all that feed away, I guess I don’t have a choice but to feel better.” Cain pointed to the large pile of bags.

“He likes you, I can tell. My father, I mean.”

“It’s nice to know someone in the Verde family does.”

“That’s not fair, Cain.” Emma stepped closer so Cain could hear her over the truck.

“I’m an expert on knowing life isn’t fair and on how people feel about me. You didn’t just leave Hayden, Emma. You left me with some shallow reason as to why, and you never looked back.”

“Hayden said the same thing to me, and like you, he isn’t going to forgive me either, is he?”

“Why would you care if I forgive you? Worry about your relationship with your son and if you’re going to have one at all. You killed whatever feelings I had for you with the closing of our front door just as effectively as if you’d used one of the guns you always hated being around. Forgive you? I don’t mention your name or even think about you except for the benefit of my son.”

“Cain, are you ready?” Ross called out across the yard.

“Cain, please, I want to finish,” said Emma.

“We’re not done. Don’t worry. Just not now and not here.”

Cain and Hayden helped stack bags of feed until Ross’s storeroom was filled. The sun was starting to set by the time they were done, and despite the cold, they had all worked up a thin coat of sweat before they brought in the last bag. Ross shook hands with Cain before walking back to the house to get cleaned up for dinner.

“Mom, are you sure you’re all right from this afternoon?” Hayden leaned on one of the stall dividers and studied his mother’s face closely for any residual illness.

“There’s nothing wrong, kiddo. To tell you the truth, it was a temporary thing, kinda like getting kicked in the gut. You know what I mean?”

Hayden sat on a bale of hay across from Cain and stayed silent. He had spent the afternoon listening to Emma talk about growing up on the farm and what a shock it had been to leave Wisconsin. The biggest surprise was that she had ended up with Cain after growing up in such a sheltered place. From her stories, he didn’t think she had in her to take such bold chances and go so against her upbringing.

When Emma spoke of going into the Erin Go Braugh and asking for a job, Hayden realized perhaps Cain wasn’t the only chance taker in the family. As they strolled through Ross’s pastures he found himself enjoying her stories, hearing about a side of Cain he knew nothing about. Emma spoke of her in a tone that had more than a trace of affection, which confused him. If Emma still loved Cain, why wasn’t she with them?

“Let’s go grab a shower and something to eat, then get you to bed, big guy,” said Hayden. “You aren’t as young as you used to be, so we have to watch out for you.”

Cain laughed and threw a wad of hay at him. “Wiseass, huh?”

“I’m your wiseass, though, and I’d like to think I learned all my wise ways from you. Even when I’m being an ass.”

With her chin on one of her fists, Cain looked at her son and sighed. So many things her father had said and taught her came back to mind when she had time to study her own child like this. “I wish you had gotten to meet my father, Hayden. He would’ve loved you, and my mother would have spoiled you until even I wouldn’t have known what to do with you.

“They had three children and they loved us, but I always suspected we were just the down payment on what they really wanted—grandchildren. Whenever I started seeing someone new, my mother used to remind me. ‘I want grandkids someday, lass,’ she’d say in that thick brogue. My dad would just laugh, but he told me one day he had practiced swing pushing until he wasn’t going to get any better without a live subject.”

Hayden moved and sat next to Cain. “As much as I’d have liked to meet them, I’d like to think I did get to know them through all the stories you’ve told me. You know what I figured out?”

“What’s that?”

“I listen to you talk about Grandpa Dalton, and it’s like hearing to a story about you. I look at all those pictures, and I imagine what I’m going to look like when I’m older. And Merrick told me you two had the same hands.” He put his smaller hand next to hers and smiled because the structure and shape were the same, no matter the size difference. “I want to grow up and have people look at me and say, ‘that’s Cain’s kid and he’s just like her.’”

Hayden could count on one hand all the times he’d seen his mother cry, but knew his words had reached deep when tears filled her eyes.

“You are my kid, and I love you, but you’re wrong. People are going to look at you and say we’re alike, but you’re better than I ever thought of being.”

“Thanks, Mom. You ready?” He hugged her and enjoyed the slight citrus smell that always clung to her.

“Hayden, I want you to do me a favor.”

“What?” The way she had asked made him think he wasn’t going to like her request.

“I want you to go up to the house and have dinner with your mother.”

“No. I spent all afternoon with her, and now I want to eat with you and the guys.” He moved a little away from her and crossed his arms over his chest as a way to say his decision was final.

“Son, it’s the last thing I’m going to ask of you while we’re here. After tonight, if you want to spend the next couple of days in the bunkhouse and not see anyone, then I’ll have to respect your decision.”

Not needing any other prodding from Cain, Hayden got up to go get ready for dinner.

He never saw Emma crying behind the first stall in the barn, deeply ashamed she had eavesdropped on their conversation. Listening to the mother and son had proved to her that Hayden had been raised by the same loving person who had stolen her heart so many years before.

For all of Cain’s faults her one best quality hadn’t changed. Even after Emma left, Cain was filled with love and devotion for her family. If Kyle succeeded now, Emma would never gain Hayden’s love or his respect, and he would gladly be sent away anywhere, as long as it meant not having to lay eyes on her again. She was sure now that he would want nothing else to do with her once he found out the extent of her involvement.

The Verde dinner table was again silent as the four people sat eating their meal. In the bunkhouse Cain started an indoor football game that ended up with the ball hitting the overhead light fixture, tilting the camera it hid. The agents in the back room of the barn could only stare in horror at the monitor, now showing the ceiling tiles, and wonder how they were going to get back in again to reset the angle.

“You guys watch it. With my luck I’ll have Carol down here suing me for damages.”

They heard Cain’s reprimand effectively stop the game.

“Why don’t you head into town and eat at the little diner Ross and I tried today, and let me lie down and wait for Hayden. I’m still not feeling well from my bout of barfing today.”

The agents cursed. If Cain wasn’t leaving too, they would be listening to nothing until the others got back, unless Cain was going to be talking in her sleep.

“Don’t forget to try the apple pie with homemade ice cream. It’s to die for. As a matter of fact, bring me back a piece, minus the cold stuff. It might make me feel better.”

Special Agent Rich, the senior agent working for Kyle, sat back in his chair eating an apple and pretending it was the pie Cain had talked about while he listened in case Casey decided to call someone after her henchmen left for dinner. The quiet filling the tape made him want to imitate the napping woman he was monitoring. Had he been paying attention, he would have seen the figure dressed in black crawl toward the nearest fence and head out to the dark pasture.