The Dire Choice (Otherworld Series #7)

Chapter 23- Shaw

---The present---

Munroe's mind was hidden behind a thick mental wall.

Shaw was astonished. It was the first time he couldn't read the mind of a mortal, he did not let his emotions show on his face, but the housekeeper picked them up anyway.

A small smile played on her thin lips. She looked a little to young to be a housekeeper who had taken care of Benjamin and Bethany Lancaster since childhood. Even Bethany had to be a young woman now, this female looked a bit too young.

He sniffed the air discreetly to find out what he was dealing with but the female turned and left the room.

"Follow me." She said, faintly.

Dazed and thrown of his game, he followed her out and up the stairs.

"It has been years since anyone has entered young Miss Lancaster's room, so do not mind the dust."

"Nobody cleans it?"

"Mr. Lancaster has it locked. Too many memories preserved. If you try hard, you can smell her on the sheets, on the clothes in the closet. She was a sweet little girl, if you ask me. Horrible, what happened to her in this house."

Damn, she was fast. He quickened his steps, trying to catch up on her loosely spoken words, every small detail would be useful.

"What happened to her?"

It sounded like something big had happened, but Benjamin had not informed him of anything of that caliber.

"The walls have ears, Mr. McAllister. We will speak in little Beth's room."

They entered the dusty old room, and it was as the mysterious housekeeper had said, he could smell the memories here, the person who had inhabited this room, maybe it was his enhanced sense of smell, maybe it was his urge to catch on to some clue, but he could smell Bethany Lancaster.

Her scent was feminine, strong and musky....sweet, almost delectable. She was...most definitely a Direwolf female. An Omega female to be precise. Only an Omega had such a scent, raw femininity waiting to bloom.

He cursed when he identified the scent. When he turned to look at the housekeeper, her face morphed into a snake Demon and back into the petite housekeeper.

He stumbled back. "You're from Otherworld."

From Dinhae to be precise, all demons were from Dinhae....even Shaw was from Dinhae, but he hadn't been for a while now, for the past thirty years exactly.

The housekeeper, the Demon, nods. "The Master of the house did not know, nobody does. Only Beth knew."

"Because she was one of us." Shaw whispered.

She nods again, her face somber, "Poor Beth came here when she was quiet young, she was weary of them for a while, but only young Mr. Lancaster was able to get through her walls."

He lingered around a dresser, seeing a picture of Bethany and Benjamin, on a yacht or a cruise, posing before the water, a happy smile on Ben's face, but Beth had attached herself to him, trying to hide from the view of the camera.

"The Mistress, Margaret Lancaster was never too happy of Bethany, she was overly...submissive to Richard, the Master. "

Shaw shivered. "She was Omega. Female Direwolves aren't supposed to be among humans for a reason."

Munroe inclines her head, agreeing. "Especially not around a tyrant like Richard Lancaster."

He places the picture back in its place, observing the room. It was pink and girly, everything typical human parents would assume a human girl would like, but when Shaw reached the bed, beside it was a corner, full of blankets and pillows arranged in a little fort, a place of comfort. An Omega's nest.

"Tell me what happened. You must know." He turns to the housekeeper jerking behind when he finds her standing awfully close to him, her eyes a mysterious shining blue now, unlike before when they had been warm brown.

"It was tragic. Master Benjamin left the house to live on Lancaster land that was closer to his college. He left Beth behind right when she was reaching the peak of her womanhood. You can only imagine what happened to her. "

Shaw took a shaky breath. "Richard Lancaster...."

She nods, smiling weirdly. "They were alone, only a few female servants behind that night. She broadcasted heat. Even humans went crazy with the scent. Richard Lancaster, maddened by her scent, attacked her. But she got away, fortunately. She hid in the attic, away from him, but sadly leaving behind a young maid, who became the hole who offers relief. By the time it was morning, we found Richard Lancaster's limp, tired body spent over the maid. She had cut her wrists on a broken pot, she would rather die than live through his attentions.

Damage control had to be done, all the servants who witnessed the 'accident' were sent away with money enough to last them a lifetime, nobody went to the papers, nobody told Benjamin or Margaret anything about the incident. Only Beth knew. She had been the first one to see the body.

Later, on 21st Feb, on her birthday, she packed a bag and climbed out the window, jumping down to the lawn, I met her at the security pass, gave her some money, told her how to reach Benjamin, but she never made it....something happened to her on the way. "

Shaw made his way to the door. "I'll get my recorder, you have to tell me what she was wearing, the exact colour of her clothes, which direction she took, stay here, I'll go get my things."

He rushed downstairs, not waiting for an answer, he'd need her statement, a witness statement. This was big, Richard Lancaster, wherever he was, would have to face the consequences of his crime, the dead maid would have justice, they would find Bethany, when he reached the sitting room, Benjamin Lancaster was waiting for him.

"There you are!" The guy said. "What the hell is going on?" He asked, when Shaw rushed to his bag, bending to get his things out.

"This is big, Mr. Lancaster, your housekeeper had alot of things to say, I've cracked a case within a case!" He said, excited, fumbling with his recorder.

"What the...?"

When Shaw stood with his things clutched in his hands, his eyes bordering on crazy, Ben placed his hand on his shoulder, confused and spooked.

"Shaw...The housekeeper isn't coming."

Shaw paused, exasperated. "She already came, she's waiting up for us."

Ben didn't let him go, fisting his collar, making him face him. Blue eyes stared at him like he was crazy.

"Shaw! " He said, trying to shake him out of his jig. "The housekeeper isn't coming! She died last night!"

"What?"

"Mrs. Marshall died last night."

"Mrs. Marshall...? No. You're housekeeper's name is Munroe. Fabiola Renita Munroe."

He jerked back, surprised, shocked and more than a little spooked now. "Munroe....Munroe died years ago, Bethany hadn't ever seen Munroe, she had died when I was a baby!"

The recorder fell from limp hands. He felt a tremble run beneath the ground, under his feet.

Shaw shrugged Benjamin off and ran out of the room and up the stairs, when he reached Beth's room, he couldn't open it.

It was locked. Just as she had said. The room was always locked.

For all he knew, the conversation he'd had with Munroe hadn't even been real.

Munroe herself hadn't even been real.