11
11
Lauren left the Spencer residence while Aaron was busy putting his mother to bed. She had a lot to think about and didn’t want him trying to discredit what his mother had just said. No matter how differently Lauren tried to look at it, it all came back to one conclusion. Aaron Spencer was hiding a lot.
Very likely, the location of her family’s corpses.
She approached her family home, heard the building noises from outside and knew they were busy in there.
She saw Parker’s van parked outside the gate.
Lauren walked past it, looking down at the ground in wonder. The grass had been cut better.
A small smile curved her mouth as she walked towards the house.
Natalie’s laughter could be heard from somewhere inside the house along with frightened yelping.
There was nobody in the living room so she walked into the kitchen and there was where she found Parker hopping around, his arms flailing wildly about. Natalie leaned against the wall, holding her stomach as she laughed at the sight.
James ran in, holding a hammer and covered with dust.
“What’s going on?” he asked breathlessly.
Chuckling, Natalie stepped carefully towards Parker and picked a large spider off his shoulder.
When he saw the size of the spider in her hand, Parker’s eyes rolled back and he fell limp to the floor.
“Oh, my God,” Lauren gasped, reaching out to help him.
“Don’t you worry, Lauren honey, he’ll be up in a minute,” Natalie said with a chuckle. “He’s just a big wuss.”
She reached up to a window and tossed the spider out.
Grayson appeared at the kitchen door as Lauren straightened.
“Hey, you’re here,” he said.
She smiled and nodded, hoping it didn’t show that she was troubled inside.
“Where have you guys started?”
“We’re changin’ some pipes in the walls for now,” said James. “Haven’ started on the rooms' walls as yet. We were waiting on you for that.”
Lauren nodded, understanding that they expected her to go through her family’s things. See what to keep and treasure. It was the normal thing to do, but Lauren didn’t want to. The thought of seeing and touching things that she would remember from her childhood...when pops and momma were still alive... it hurt.
“I’ll do that...later,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Tomorrow. So it’s out of the way and we’re able to move on with the rooms.”
They nodded gravely saying nothing.
“Wake up, big ol’ baby!” Natalie teased, nudging her boot into Parker’s side.
Lauren glanced down at him and saw his lashes flutter as he came to.
“What happened?” he murmured as Grayson helped him up.
“You passed out like a little girl's what happened,” Natalie said, grinning.
Parker shivered, remembering that huge spider.
“You alright?” Lauren asked with a wry grin.
He pouted and nodded. “Hate spiders.”
Lauren wrapped a comforting hand around his arm. “You and me both, partner,” she drawled in a rich Southern accent.
James cringed. “That’s about the worst cowboy accent I done ever heard,” he drawled back and Lauren laughed, rolling her eyes.
“Whatever. Come on, guys. Let’s get back to work.”
She headed up the stairs to help James and Grayson in the bathroom while Parker and Natalie worked in the kitchen.
The house was in a good state, but its plumbing had died and gone straight to hell.
They worked all day, pulling out worn, burst and weak pipes, which was all of them and replacing them with brand new ones that Parker and James had bought from the biggest hardware store they could find.
Most of the walls around the bathroom and kitchen were split open, exposing the skeleton of pipes that ran through them before bursting onto the exterior walls of the house.
Samantha came back in an hour after Lauren had arrived, bringing lunch for everybody. She looked like a breath of crisp fresh air in her yellow summer dress compared to her dusty friends.
She cooed at James’ dirty state.
“I’m gonna scrub you silly when you get home,” she said with a naughty smile.
James blushed and Parker groaned.
“Y’all should probably get a room,” he said, making a face.
Lauren chuckled and wiped a hand across her brow, smearing dirt on her forehead.
“Oh, that’s a picture,” said Grayson and Lauren glanced at him over a tiny bush in the front yard where they sat under the shade of a huge tree.
“What?” she asked.
Grayson shook his head and leaned over the newly trimmed bush. His thumb brushed gently over her face and drew back, showing her the dirt.
“You keep puttin’ dirt on your face,” he chuckled and Lauren laughed, pushing his hand away.
Suddenly a car hooted.
Everyone looked out at the street and saw the black truck parked out on the road.
Aaron Spencer sat behind the wheel.
“Son of a bitch,” swore Parker as he stood up.
“Parker. Parker!” warned Grayson as he quickly stood and put his hand on Parker’s chest, pushing him back before he got the chance to go and harass Aaron.
“What the fuck is he doin’ here?” wondered James as he looked curiously at Aaron’s truck.
“Oughtta be ashamed of himself, wanderin’ about the streets like that,” said Samantha.
“I asked him to come, okay!” said Grayson and they looked at him like he’d lost his mind.
“What the bloody hell would you do that for?” demanded Parker.
“I asked him to bring me his electric drill! Okay? Calm down. Yours isn’t workin’, so I’m borrowin’ Aaron’s.”
“But I told you I would buy whatever we need and don’t have, Gray,” Lauren said quietly, looking up at him.
Grayson shrugged. “Sorry… slipped my mind.”
“Like hell it did,” snapped Parker.
“It’s okay,” Lauren said getting up and patting Parker on the shoulder.
She glanced at Grayson and nodded toward Aaron’s truck. “We’ll use it.”
“What?” asked Parker, stunned.
Lauren held up a hand. “It’s fine. We’ll use the drill. Even if I don’t want to. Let’s not be childish.”
Grayson nodded and jogged out to the street to get the tool from Aaron.
“What’s the big deal?” wondered Natalie, trying her best to catch a glimpse of the infamous Aaron Spencer from where she stood on her tip-toes. “It’s just a damn tool. It’s not like using it will make the house rot.”
Lauren glanced at Natalie with a frown, wondering if the woman’s icy tone was directed at her.
Molten gold eyes studied Lauren from the car. Something had burned in his chest when he'd seen Grayson touch her face and Aaron clenched his jaw. He didn't know why, but he'd scowled at their faces being leaned so closely together. Aaron forced his gaze away when she met it. It looked like they had been arguing about him after they spotted him. No doubt Parker Grey told her that Aaron was the devil incarnate.
Aaron sighed. Well, he couldn’t change what people believed and he wouldn’t try to.
Grayson came up to the car and leaned against it.
“Hey. How’d it go?” he asked.
Aaron shrugged. “Not so good.”
Grayson looked apologetic. “I’m sorry I sorta pushed you into talkin' with Lauren…”
“It’s alright, don’t worry. Besides, I got a feelin’ we're not done talkin', she and I. How’s the house comin’ along?” Aaron asked, not even looking at the building. He didn’t like to look at it. He saw it enough in his nightmares.
Gray glanced back at it.
"Pretty good."
Aaron nodded, reached into the passenger seat for his drill and handed it to Grayson.
"Here."
"Thanks, Aaron. How's momma?"
Aaron glanced at him then. "She's still strong. She misses you."
Gray smiled. "I'll come by one of these days."
Aaron nodded and started his car. Grayson knew when Aaron was done talking, so he saluted and headed back to the house.
Lauren watched as Aaron Spencer drove away, not even once looking in her direction or at the house. He kept his gaze strictly forward.
"Killer!" Parker hissed as Aaron drove off.
"Cool it," said Grayson, rolling his eyes as he handed the drill to James.
James studied it. "Where did he get this piece? It's the best I seen in a damn long while," he said.
Parker scoffed. "Probably stole it from his stupid Fire Department."
Grayson clenched his jaw and glanced at Lauren. "I'm gonna go back to work now. Thanks for lunch, Sam."
He kissed Samantha's cheek and headed back to the house.
"Me too," said Natalie and followed. Soon, they were all heading back in and Samantha busied herself with removing monster weeds from a discovered flower bed, a plastic apron protecting her dress.
The day was spent on sweat, dust and hard work.
By the end of it, they were all dusty enough to be run through a car wash.
Everybody piled into Parker's van and he drove off to drop them off.
"Mrs. Stanford paid a roofing company, you guys. They'll be in tomorrow," Lauren said tiredly and the others cheered.
"She sure is kind," said Natalie.
Lauren nodded at another one of Natalie's compliments to the Mayor's family. You'd swear she wanted to be a Stanford.
Samantha dozed off on James' shoulder and the pair looked so adorable with their faces streaked with dirt, Lauren flashed a pic before she got out of the car, making Natalie giggle.
"Bye, guys," Lauren said and the car drove off.
She let herself into the house, cringing at the dust on her clothes.
Martha appeared. "Lauren, dear, is that... What happened?" she gasped.
Lauren gave her a crooked smile. "Uh... hi, there, Mrs. Stanford," she said, frozen with one foot in front of the other.
The front door opened and closed behind her.
"What's this?" an amused voice asked and Marcus walked around Lauren, regarding her with laughing eyes.
"Don't you dare!" she warned, fighting a grin. "I've been buried in cement and dust all day, alright?"
"Oh, why do you bother yourself, dear, I told you I called the roofing company!" said Martha with her hands on her hips.
Lauren nodded. "I'm grateful, Martha, but the house needs other things too. Painting, replacing windows, plumbing. I can't expect you to do all that too. So my friends are helping me do all that stuff.
Martha shrugged. "I can get people for all that too."
"No..." Lauren sighed. "I want to do it. I need to."
"Oh, alright. But I get to let the roofing company take care of the windows too! They do windows," said Martha and Lauren smiled.
"Okay."
"Now you can stop playing Frozen and go take a shower," said Marcus, chuckling and his mother pinched his arm before walking off.
Lauren eyed him. "Or I can give you a big hug so we both get dusty, how's that?" she asked sweetly.
Marcus cocked an eyebrow. "Are you trying to get me to shower with you, Ms. Burns?" he asked. Lauren gasped, then coughed when she inhaled a cloud of dust from her own clothes. Marcus laughed at her and she playfully flipped him off as she coughed and sneezed her way to the stairs.
Lauren was walking towards her room when she heard the Mayor's voice from one of the other rooms.
"What do you mean you couldn't find anything?" he demanded. Lauren frowned and her steps slowed. "Oh, you idiot, what if you got caught? Right, listen. Tomorrow night, you go back there and comb that entire property. I need to be sure that nothin' will threaten my position, you understand? Good."
She hurried into her room before Mayor Stanford could come out into the hallway.
With a frown, she went into the bathroom to take a shower. Did the Mayor have somebody snooping around for him? That wasn't very honest, was it?
Lauren turned on the hot water and got in.
"What is it that could threaten his position?" she wondered curiously as she worked shampoo into her hair.
What had James said? Or was it Parker? The Mayor got his title because of his love for the late Reverend, wasn't it?
Lauren gently massaged her scalp.
The mayor couldn't possibly be afraid of her late grandfather affecting his career, could he?
Lauren paused.
Her late grandfather... or something belonging to him? Like something that could be found in his home that had just recently been opened after nearly two decades of being locked up.
She gasped, feeling the water run down her back. James' words sounded clearly in her head.
"Parker here thinks that somebody's been in this house..."
No. Lauren shook her head.
It was just... too far-fetched.
Wasn't it?