by Terry Spear
“You’re right. Marek wasn’t on the last bank robbery. But in the other case where I learned DJ had killed the couple and their friend in the armed robbery? Maybe. There were three men. DJ was the only one who had been identified, but the police couldn’t catch up to him.”
“Okay, so who might have worked with Marek in the business of counterfeiting? Do you know any people he was hanging out with? Maybe even friends he wanted to spend time alone with?” Natalie asked, steering them in the right direction. She was good at this. “Maybe even friends of your brother and Marek that you know of.”
“Yeah, of course he had male friends he socialized with,” Lettie said.
“Any that you knew by name or that you can give us a description of?” Natalie asked.
Brock was about to ask the same question, but Natalie seemed to be doing fine and Lettie didn’t seem as reluctant to share with her.
“Dexter Cartwright, Joe McKnight, and Benjamin Hayward. They’d all go together to the pub near our house. They weren’t gone long, and Marek would come back in a cheerful mood, so it wasn’t an issue with us. If he’d been gone for hours, drinking it up with his buddies, I would have left sooner.”
“But it could have been time they used to make plans,” Natalie said.
“Or just drink. You can find fault with everyone when you’re really looking for it, you know,” Lettie said.
“Any other names you might have overheard? Had Marek been acting suspicious, trying to keep what he was doing secret from you?” Natalie asked.
“He suddenly had a sick aunt in Amarillo that I knew nothing about. He kept driving down there to check on her. Stay a few days, then come home. I smelled the she-wolf on him, so he hadn’t tried to hide that from me. You know we have faster-healing genetics, so I asked what was wrong, figuring if she was a sick aunt, she’d get better soon. He said she was an alcoholic and on dialysis. I wondered if he really had a girlfriend and was just lying. But he did it a few times, and then that was it. He said she was better. Which didn’t make any sense. Being on dialysis wouldn’t just stop, unless the person died.
“Then we broke up. I thought he figured he should move closer to her, and that’s why he packed up and left for Amarillo. Or maybe she really is a girlfriend. He showed me a fake bill and was so damn proud of it. Made me sick. I work hard for my money. I’d be pissed off if someone gave me fake money to pay for my services.” Lettie straightened. “That’s all I know.”
Brock was certain Lettie had been well aware of what had gone on. She wasn’t that naive. Maybe the counterfeit money had been the last straw with Marek, and Lettie was afraid somehow Brock would learn of it and make her pay for it since they lived in the same area. He didn’t get into Denver much, and where she’d been living with Marek had been in a part of town he never visited, or he might have run across her at some time or other.
“I don’t know anyone else he might have been seeing. I didn’t think he was acting suspicious about anything else. And I was damn busy trying to get my business off the ground,” Lettie said.
Natalie nodded. “Is Marek prone to drinking too much?”
Lettie’s brows shot up. Brock took that as a yes.
Natalie explained, “He got kicked off a plane for being drunk and disorderly.”
Lettie’s jaw dropped.
“Is he usually like that?” Natalie asked.
“Not around me. Well, when I said I was leaving him, he began drinking heavily. I figured it all had to do with me leaving. That he’d get over me soon enough, and it was just a temporary thing.”
Natalie glanced at Brock to see if he had any questions for Lettie.
“I better not learn you’re helping with this, once I check into these other guys,” Brock said to Lettie.
“Or what? You’ll kill me? In self-defense?” Lettie made a derisive sound.
“Don’t do the crime, and you’ll stay off my hit list. Ready to go?” he said to Natalie.
She looked as though she wanted to say something more, but then she nodded and left the shop ahead of him. He turned back to Lettie and said, “Do you want my card in case you recall anything more? Or do you still have it?” He smiled and walked out of the shop after Natalie.
Lettie slammed the door behind them.
“Why were you antagonizing her so much in there?” Now Natalie sounded hostile with him.
“And you weren’t?” He shook his head. “She’s a con artist. She’s good at her job. I don’t believe her when she says she didn’t know what was going on all along. She may be in on the whole operation, and splitting up with Marek was just a ruse. She may be moving the operation up here.”
“But he was angry at the airport. Breaking up with his girlfriend could certainly cause that. Did her brother really kill others beforehand? Lettie seemed surprised to hear that.”
“Yes, he did. I discovered that right before I took him out. She might have known about it all along and was surprised to hear I’d learned about it. Or she might not have known and was as shocked as she appeared. It’s not easy killing someone, despite whatever reason we have to. I looked further into DJ’s background, in case he had committed other atrocities, but couldn’t find anything else. Not that there wasn’t, but just that there was no way to learn the truth.
“I also checked the backgrounds of the other two men who had ambushed me. They’d also been on the other job with DJ, but the police couldn’t catch them. The only bad part about this is they’ll be listed as cold case files now. But at least they’re not robbing and killing any longer.” He pulled out his cell phone and hooked earphones to it.
“What about family? Do you investigate their backgrounds to see why these men went bad? If they have some criminal element in the family? Were they with a pack?” Natalie was about to walk past the coffee shop, but Brock took her hand and steered her inside.
“They weren’t with a pack, and the wolves were drifters. Their families hadn’t seen them in years, and they weren’t surprised the men had met a bad end. In the case of DJ and his cohorts, all three men had started out doing something criminal early on, and then the severity of their crimes escalated, from petty theft to stealing cars. In Lettie’s brother’s case, she’d kept in touch with him. The parents of all three men seemed likable enough, so the men had taken a wrong turn somewhere. What do you think about Marek having an aunt living in Amarillo?” Brock really liked that he could talk over the case with Natalie.
“Could be. Eugenia? The woman who’s getting mail there? Or she could still be a girlfriend. Or maybe part of the criminal setup he had going there.”
“I suspect Amarillo could be where they’re making the counterfeit money. Why carry it from Amarillo to Denver otherwise? I’ll be checking into Marek’s background, looking at family and friends, seeing if any of them are also working on this.” He led Natalie to a small café table away from everyone else and started listening on his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“I put a listening device in the pocket of the wallpaper book cover she threw at me. I couldn’t have planned it better.”
“Wow, I would never have guessed. You’re really good at this. Do you want some coffee, brownie, water, tea? We need to buy something.” Natalie looked back at the board that showed the menu.
Brock glanced at the menu. “Can you get me a coffee and a brownie?” He fished a bill out of his wallet, saw it was one of the fake hundred-dollar ones, shook his head, and shoved it back in his pocket. He reached into his other pocket.
She smiled. “That’s all we need to do. Use the bad money to buy something, and get ourselves into trouble. I’ve got this.” She took off for the counter to place their order.
Brock watched Natalie get in line behind three other customers as he listened to Lettie swearing up a storm in her shop, throwing things around, and pacing. Then she must have gotten on her p
hone. “Marek, how in the hell did one of your hundred-dollar bills end up in Brock’s hands? Yeah, yeah, his PI partner used it to get me to talk about you.”
PI partner Natalie? Brock smiled.
“I mentioned your three friends, all right? I didn’t say anything about anything else, but if your friends are doing this too, tough. I’m not covering for them, and I’m not covering for you. You’d better tell that brother of yours to stay clear of Denver. So how did Brock get the money? His partner said you were drunk and got kicked off the plane. Have you lost your mind? Who would do such a stupid thing?” Pause. “Don’t use me as an excuse for your damned drinking.”
Lettie stomped around the store, slamming books down on the table.
“The money was in a suitcase? Ohmigod, a whole suitcase full? How much money was in it?” Significant pause. “Three million dollars? How did you make… Forget it. I don’t want to know how you created the bills. How in the hell did you lose the suitcase? You think…you think a she-wolf has the suitcase? Well, hell, Marek. That must be how Brock got some of the money!” Another pause. “No, I couldn’t tell the hundred-dollar bill was fake by looking at it. I could smell the fresh ink! I’m a wolf, for God’s sake. And then I realized that not only was your scent on it, but so was Brock’s!” Pause. “All that matters is Brock’s like a dog with a bone, and he always takes down his prey permanently. You’d better quit what you’re doing. Now. And leave Amarillo pronto.”
Brock heard Lettie stomping around her store some more as Natalie brought over their coffees and brownies and sat down with him.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Lettie made a disgruntled sound. “You do know Brock has a whole pack to back him up in Greystoke, right? Yeah, yeah, I know he went after my brother alone. He also thought my brother was by himself out there. If you go after his mate, you’ll be a dead man…”
Brock stiffened. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten Natalie any more immersed in this than she already was.
“Well, whose fault is that? How come you and your luggage became separated? I would think you would have kept it chained to your wrist at all times…” Pause. “Well…if you couldn’t… Marek, if you couldn’t carry the suitcase on the plane, you should have driven.
“Yeah, so you had a deadline, but you missed it anyway! I can’t believe you were drinking when you have a job to do. You are such a moron… Wait, if she was on the flight with you, she must have had you under surveillance. Unless she just grabbed the wrong bag at the airport. Which means it was an honest mistake. Same black bag? Same size?”
Lettie let out her breath in a huff. “No, you can’t stay with me here. I’d clear out of Amarillo, if I were you. And I sure wouldn’t stick around Denver. Your boss won’t like it that you lost his money. If Brock doesn’t find you, your boss will. Brock’s checking me out now to see how I’m involved in this business with you—which I’m not, damn it! Don’t call me again.”
Lettie hung up and then paced some more. She moved some things around in the shop. The door to the shop opened with a sound of jingling, then closed with a clunk.
Brock turned off his phone, pocketed it, and took a sip of his coffee. “Lettie’s still up to her usual tricks: warning the guy who’s doing the crime that I’m after him. But it sounds like she wasn’t actually on board in committing the crime. She knows he had a boss, though, and was supposed to turn that money over to him.”
“Oh wow. So she did know about the operation, to some degree, which was probably why she so adamantly denied knowing anything about it. That means the boss will probably try to terminate Marek, and then he’ll come looking for me and the money.”
“That’s a good bet, which means you’re stuck with me until I deal with this bunch. And Marek has a brother. Apparently, he’s with the counterfeiters. How much trouble would it be for you and your family if you didn’t go home until we resolve this?” Brock was sticking by her side. He couldn’t believe the woman he hadn’t wanted to get to know initially had become his mission. And he was certainly rethinking the part about not getting to know her.
“It would be way too much trouble. I have talks scheduled for the next couple of weeks, either at the nursery or at other locations in the area. We have a big garden show coming up next weekend where I’ll be selling plants and gardening tools. Mom and Dad will continue to run the nursery. Besides, what if the boss, or Marek, learns where I’m from and where I work? He could go after my parents.”
“Okay, then we’ll go to your place. But I’m not leaving there until we resolve this.”
“How will you eliminate these guys in Denver when you are in Amarillo?”
“I’ll ask Vaughn and Jillian to look into the situation here. We all have a stake in this. They can advise their boss with the USF that they have a situation right at home that they need to resolve. He’ll most likely add it to their workload. In the meantime, we’ll look for Marek’s place in Amarillo, see if anyone comes after you, and deal with the fallout in Texas. I’ll be at all your garden talks as your assistant, watching out for you, if we still haven’t dealt with this by then.”
“What about my parents?”
“I’ll see if one of my cousins can stay with them and help out around the nursery. He can watch them at night at their place. Do you all live at the same home?”
“Not in the same house, but close by. The nursery is in front of the main house, and I live in the carriage house to the west.”
“Okay, so we’ll have two places to watch, but at least they’re on the same property.”
“Right. Are we leaving here?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Okay. I’ll let my parents know what’s going on.” Natalie got on her cell as they left the shop and headed down the street to Brock’s Humvee. “Hey, Dad, I have some bad news.”
Brock wondered if her dad would rethink the business of not being with a pack. A pack could be a good thing when dealing with rogue wolves.
Chapter 8
“Yeah, Dad. What would be the odds? This doesn’t mean that anyone will come after us. Especially if they believe we destroyed the money, which they would have to figure we would do if we’re not rogues. If we were rogues, we’d probably decide to go into business for ourselves.” Natalie explained everything that had happened up to this point to her dad.
“But if this Marek believes you are going to use the money? That you didn’t destroy it? You said Brock kept some of it as evidence to work on the case. Since you showed it to his former girlfriend, and she told Marek, he might figure you still have all of it. I think having Brock and his cousin come here to watch out for you and us is an excellent idea. I also think word needs to get back to Marek that the money has been destroyed.”
“I agree, but, Dad, let these guys handle it, okay? Mom needs you to help her manage the nursery. She doesn’t need you getting into this business as if it were your new mission.”
“I’m retired,” her father said, but he sounded as if he was itching to get back on a case. “The younger guys can handle this. Besides, it’s not a murder investigation.”
That wouldn’t make any difference to her dad. When it came to solving crimes, he loved it. He’d driven Natalie and her mother nuts with all the nights he’d stayed up late, puzzling over some evidence or other while he still worked as a homicide detective. Or he’d be checking out another lead and miss meals and everything else going on in their lives. Though he wasn’t supposed to discuss cases with them, he was a wolf, and wolves were close-knit. Both Natalie and her mom were the perfect sounding boards for him. And a few times, he’d even come up with a solution because of their input. Even today, he was fascinated with true crime stories and swore he was going to sign up to work on cold-case files at a local police department one of these days to help out.
“Okay, Dad. We’re coming in tomorrow. Just be on the lookout for any trouble until
we arrive.”
“Will do. And, Natalie, send us a picture of this guy who’s offered to be your bodyguard.”
“He’s just helping out.” She wanted her parents to know nothing was coming of this business between her and Brock. She could just imagine them worrying about her leaving home too. She wouldn’t. Not without them.
“Yeah, but your mom wants to see what he looks like.”
“I will. Tell Mom I love her. You too, Dad. See you tomorrow.” They ended the call, and she glanced at Brock. “Dad’s glad you and your cousin will be helping out.”
“What did your dad do before he retired?”
“He was a homicide detective.”
“I can imagine what that means. He’s ready to help solve the case.” Then Brock frowned. “You’re afraid he’s going to try to do more than just work at the garden shop while we’re there?”
“Yeah. I could hear the excitement in his voice. He’s eager to help with the case. At least he knows how to handle a gun. He taught my mom and me too, in case we ever needed to protect ourselves, which was something he worried about. She’s only needed to once. Since we’re a small business, we never know when someone might try to rob us. We don’t have a lot of cash on hand, like we did early on. Most people pay with credit cards. But we do have some money in the register.” She smiled. “Don’t take this personally, but my mom wants me to send her a picture of you.”
Brock laughed. “Wait until we get home, and you can get a shot of my good side.”
“Here I thought all your sides were good.”
He smiled at her.
When they arrived back at Aaron’s ranch house, Brock called Vaughn to see if his boss would allow him and Jillian the time to work a case there. After that, Brock ended the call and spoke with his cousin. “Hey, Shawn, got a mission for you. I’ll run it by Devlyn, but if you can spare some time, I need you to come with me and help safeguard Natalie’s parents at their garden center in Amarillo.” He smiled and glanced at Natalie as she brought them glasses of water, and they sat down in the living room. “Yeah, her parents. I have Natalie’s back. I’ll firm up details with you later. Bye.”
