Nothing Ordinary, M J Marlow [ebook and pdf reader .TXT] 📗

was astounded at the lies. “I was there to see how she was doing.” “Did you strike Mrs. Owens?” “Of course not,” Jeffrey snapped. “I would never hurt Anneke!” He was stunned that anyone would suggest he did. “Just tell me what they have on me so we can fight.” “They found your weapon on a hill overlooking the place Guthrie was shot,” Edward told him. “The only prints on it were yours. They found tire tracks matching the tread on the Jeep you had hired in Sheridan leading away from the area. They also have a note you wrote to Guthrie telling him point blank that he was a dead man for what he had done to Mrs. Owens.” He looked at Jeffrey sternly. “This is what they have.” “My rifle?” Jeffrey was shocked. “Are they certain it was mine?” He looked at his father. “I turned it in to the Armory Sergeant before I left Germany.” He pulled his wallet out. “I have the receipt right here.” He searched for the receipt he knew had been in his wallet and it was missing. “I must have it elsewhere. I never rented a Jeep. I’ve been here. And the note?” Camden nodded to him. “I have absolutely no recollection of writing the bastard. It’s obviously a forgery.” “Very neat, Lieutenant,” Camden replied. “All of these things will be verified, of course.” “We will not fight it,” Owens said as he got up. “Unless you are ready to arrest my son, Major, we will be leaving.” “Go ahead,” Camden nodded. “We’ll be in touch.” Jeffrey left with his father and Marcy and they got in a military sedan. They drove to Marcy’s house and Annie looked relieved to see that her friend was not under arrest for a murder she knew he had not committed. He told her what they had tried to do to frame him and she was angry. “Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like you are guilty, Jeffrey,” Annie said as she nursed her son. Jeffrey saw his nephew and smiled. He looked just like James’ baby pictures. Annie frowned as she had a very uneasy feeling. “It’s happening again, isn’t it?” “What is, Annie?” Marcy asked. “Walter took my family away and I was left vulnerable,” Annie told him. “Jeffrey and Father and Uncle Marty are the only people left that I could truly count on to protect me and support me and they were in other countries.” “Uncle Marty?” Marcy queried. “I was under the impression that you had no family left, Annie.” “My godfather is Colonel Fernando Martinez of Isla de la Juventud,” Annie told the woman. “He was a very close friend of my father’s.” She hid her smile as she caught the way Jeffrey was looking at Marcy. “He took me away from Walter and tried to help me get my mind back.” “Tell me about your time with Walter Guthrie,” Marcy asked her. “What’s to tell?” Annie shrugged. She smiled as she saw her son’s eyes starting to close and shifted him to her shoulder to burp him. “He sent a man to tell me I had to go my uncle’s house for dinner the night Jeffrey left town. My uncle drugged me at dinner and locked me in a room to keep me from running. I woke up the next morning and was told I was now my uncle’s ward and I would stay with him.” Owens came to sit beside her and she gripped his hand. “Guthrie told me he would have James murdered if I did not agree.” She looked up at Jeffrey with tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t let him hurt my husband.” “What was your life like after that, Anneke?” Marcy asked her. She had her recorder running without Annie’s knowledge. “Walter raped me,” Annie said bluntly. “My uncle kept me locked up in the bedroom so I could not run and the only people I saw besides him was his housekeeper, Ilsa; my cousin, Eliza, and Guthrie and his sister, Gillian. All my awake time was spent primarily with Guthrie with occasional lunches with my uncle.” She had her head in her hands now as the headache started. “He took me out to shop and I saw Mrs. Taylor. Since he was there, I had to lie to her and tell her I was fine. I called her on the phone in the restaurant bathroom later and he caught me.” “It’s all right, Streudel,” Jeffrey said as he rubbed her back. “It will help if you talk about it.” “He was so angry at me,” Annie remembered. “He called his sister and told her the lie about my having ‘violent mood swings’ and how he was frightened I would hurt myself or someone else. He asked her to prescribe a sedative for me. Then he set up the little scene for Eliza’s benefit by throwing the statue out the window and telling her I had done it trying to hurt him.” She looked up and Marcy was struck by how lost she looked. “Captain Ryan called and Gillian had to take me in to his office. He insisted that I was the one who did it and I passed out. I woke up in the hospital and Uncle Marty was there. He insisted that I was going with him.” She looked at Marcy. “I had spoken to James then and I was ready to fight. I went with my godfather.” “I read the report of what happened on Isla de la Juventud,” Marcy nodded. “Guthrie convinced you to leave with him?” “No he didn’t,” Annie looked ashamed of herself. “He abducted me.” She looked at him honestly. “I am not proud of myself, Marcy. I should have been able to fight him…” “The man was a predator, Anneke,” Marcy told her bluntly. “He knew exactly what to do to make you do what he wished. You are not at fault.” “I wish I could believe that, Marcy,” Annie said softly. She smiled and murmured to her son as the baby burped. Then she handed him to his grandfather and Owens looked down at the infant with a doting smile on his face. “I never thought I would have to live in an armed camp to feel safe. I hate what he’s done to my life!” She got up and ran outside and Jeffrey was on her heel. He held her in his arms as she cried and Marcy frowned. The bond between this pair was quite evident. She could see how Jeffrey could be an obvious suspect for the murder. She felt a brief twinge of jealousy before she reminded herself that these two had grown up together. He was her brother in all the ways that truly mattered. “Your son may have to distance himself from Anneke,” Marcy told Owens. “We can’t give anyone anything to use as a weapon against him.” “That is unacceptable,” Owens told her. “We will find out who did this to him, Marcy. I want their hides nailed to the wall.” He watched his son. “They have known each other her entire life, Major. Jeffrey has always seen himself as her brother.” He looked at Marcy and smiled. “I think he’s found the woman he wants in you.” He saw her blush. “I see.” “It’s too soon to tell how this relationship is going, sir,” Marcy told him. “I’m not a big believer in the ‘love at first sight’ theory.” She looked at his watch. “I need to get back to the base. Can I drop you somewhere?” “My son and I will be staying with Anneke if you have the room,” Owens told her. “We are family. There is no impropriety here.” Marcy nodded and left the house. She was just pulling away when a taxi arrived. She watched the tall, elegant brunette enter the house and frowned. The cold expression on her face as she knocked on the door turned Marcy’s blood cold. This had to be Guthrie’s sister, Gillian. “Doctor Guthrie,” Jeffrey frowned as he opened the door. “You’re here to see Annie?” Gillian nodded and she went to the dining room and saw Annie with the baby and the General. She frowned as she realized her chance to get to Annie was hampered for the moment. She knocked on the sliding glass door and Annie turned and saw her. For a moment the girl was a white as a sheet and then she recovered and came inside. “Gillian,” she nodded as she joined the woman. “I wish I could say it was good to see you.” “My brother made a lot of mistakes, Anneke,” Gillian said tightly, “but he did not deserve to be shot down like a mad dog.” “Of course not,” Annie agreed. “Can I get you something to drink?” “I’ll get it myself,” Gillian replied. “You should be resting. You’re not looking at all well.” She looked truly concerned. “Are you eating enough? Getting enough rest?” “You’re not ill?” Jeffrey frowned. He made her sit down and looked at her in concern. “I just had a baby, Jeffrey,” Annie shook her head at him. “I’ll be just fine.” She saw the look on his face. “Let up on me, Jeffrey. I am going to be fine.” “He did care for you, Anneke,” Gillian assured her. Annie looked at her in disbelief. “As much as my brother was capable of caring for anyone but himself. May I get myself something to drink?” “Of course, Gillian,” Annie nodded. “I don’t blame you for anything, you know,” she told the woman as Gillian turned. “He was lying to you.” Gillian nodded and went to the kitchen and got a bottle of wine from the fridge. She brought it and a glass back to the table. She poured out a glass and took a sip then she looked at Jeffrey. “I heard you have been questioned you about his murder, Captain.” Jeffrey nodded. “I don’t believe for a moment that you shot him. You are more the hands-on type. You would have shot him face-to-face at point blank range.” “Gillian!” Annie cried in dismay. “What a horrid thing to say.” “I’m not in the mood to be pleasant, Anneke,” Gillian replied. “My brother is dead.” She took the glass and the bottle and rose to her feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I am going to get drunk.” “That is not a pleasant woman,” Owens said once Gillian was gone. “Anneke you are a saint to have her here under your roof.” “This is Marcy’s roof, Father,” Annie replied. She got to her feet and the room spun around her. She sat back down for a moment. “I’m fine,” she assured them. “Just dizzy from standing up so fast.” She tried again. “I need to eat something.” “I’ll fix dinner,” Jeffrey volunteered. “You sit right there and I’ll bring out some cheese and crackers. And some milk.” Annie did as she was told and enjoyed the sounds of the Owens’ men as they moved around in the kitchen fixing dinner. She felt at peace for the first time in months and smiled down at her son, admiring his perfect features. The Taylors arrived and Molly shooed them out and took over while Taylor put their luggage in the other guest room upstairs. For the next hour they shared a pleasant meal together. Annie went up to the room she’d been given to put the baby in the bassinette Marcy had made Jeffrey pull down from the attic and turned as Jeffrey stepped in. He closed the door and Annie knew what he had to say was serious. “The General and I are staying here at your side,” Jeffrey told her, “until this is settled. Someone has done a good job of framing me, Streudel.” “We both know you’re innocent,” Annie replied. “We’ll go out and celebrate when you are