“It’s him, isn’t it?” He asks.
I nod. “Yeah.” Then I tell him about all the incidents when I saw a blur of white, which I now know is Anderson’s unusual hair color.
After Noel finishes writing notes, he snaps his notebook shut and squeezes my shoulders. “Technically we have to finish the line-up.” I nod and watch as two more men file into the room. I don’t recognize them.
“What now?” I ask Noel as the men shuffle out of the opposite room.
“Now,” he says with a smile. “The fun begins.” He gives me a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the room. The other officer escorts me to the front desk area where the gang’s waiting. We’re given strict orders to wait in this area before the officer disappears.
Jack rushes to me as soon as we are alone. “What’s going on?” I fill him and the ladies in on super creepy stalker guy before settling in for the wait.
It quickly feels like we’ve been waiting hours for something to happen. A peek at the clock shows that’s it’s actually only been the longest hour of my life. I stand and stretch my muscles. I’m desperate for action. I walk over to the receptionist. “Do you have a soda machine or something?”
“Yeah,” she nods. “It’s in the break room. It’s for personnel only but go on back.” She points me to the left. I walk slowly trying to make the simple task of getting a Coke take as long as possible. A door opens as I walk past and two officers shuffle out.
“YOU!” a man yells, and I stop. “YOU!” he yells again, and I can’t help but turn my face toward the sound. Piers Anderson is standing in the room that the officers just vacated. His evil eyes are focused on me. Everyone in the station is frozen. Anderson takes advantage of the distraction his yelling has created and runs around the table rushing towards me. I’m immobilized – a deer caught in headlights. At the last moment, Noel runs forward and tackles Anderson to the ground.
“You ruined everything,” Anderson screams as Noel knees him in his back and reaches for his handcuffs. “I could have made millions off that old bitch’s property.” Noel has him handcuffed now and hauls him to his feet.
I momentarily lose control of my actions as his words make me see red. “How dare you call my grandma a bitch?” I yell just as an officer grabs me before I can reach Anderson. I raise my hand, prepared to slap Anderson, but the officer reaches forward and snatches my hand.
There are not enough officers in this station, let alone Oklahoma, to stop my lady posse, however. They are marching straight for Anderson, bags raised in preparation. Betty reaches Anderson first. She hits him square in the stomach with her bag. I hear a large oomph and Anderson doubles over. Betty looks him up and down. “You need to respect your elders, young man.”
Jack is quicker than the cops who are standing still staring at Betty. He grabs her and pulls her away from Anderson. A moment of silence follows before Betty’s entourage begins to clap. The room fills with masculine chuckles as Anderson fumes. Noel takes him back into the interrogation room and slams the door. Betty takes a bow before we return to the front desk to wait yet again.
Another two hours pass before we see Noel again. He walks straight to me and crushes me in a tight hug. “You’re safe,” he whispers into my hair. “You’re safe.”
I push a bit so I can look up at his face. “Of course I’m safe.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t understand.” He runs a hand down his face. “The ransacked house, the car chase.” He moans. “Fuck, I’ve been out of my mind.”
Wow, I’ve been a complete idiot. Too blind to see what’s in front of me. While I was worried about whether Noel really liked me and acting like a hormone-crazed teenager, he was out of his mind with worry about my safety. I can’t believe I missed it. Even now, he has dark circles under his eyes. I face plant into Noel’s very capable chest.
Our tender moment is of course interrupted by the Ben-Gay crew and Jack. Jack clears his throat, but Betty isn’t much on being discreet. “What’s going on?” She asks without so much as a how do you do.
“I’ve still got some paperwork to fill out,” he raises his hands for quiet when the ladies start to bristle with indignation. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you everything that’s going on. Can we meet at my house in say, an hour?” He asks as his stomach growls loudly.
Ally jumps up. “Let’s go,” she says in a pushy voice I’m not used to hearing come from her. “Noel hasn’t eaten all day. We’ll just have time to prepare something.”
I give Noel a quick kiss. “See you in an hour.”
He hugs me close before reluctantly letting me go. “An hour, my love.” He turns and walks back into the bowels of the police station.
Chapter 35
“The End” by The Doors
The ladies rush around Noel’s kitchen preparing a feast fit for a king. I’m setting the table when I hear the roar of a GTO in the driveway. I hurry to the kitchen door and fling it open in time to see Noel get out of his car and start to saunter toward me. Now here’s a predator I wouldn’t mind catching his prey – as long as his prey is me, that is. I run to him and jump into his outstretched arms.
Betty tuts and tells us to get a move on. She insists that we feed Noel before he fills us in. Everyone agrees, but their agreement is obviously reluctant as five old ladies and one man shovel food into their mouths at a rate a Japanese food competitor would be proud of.
When the coffee is brewed and the pie plated, Noel begins his story. “As you already discovered, Piers Franklin Ajax Anderson worked at Ajax Mining. His uncle, Alex Ajax, fired him when they discovered Anderson was bullying landowners into selling their mineral rights to Ajax Mining.”
“They just fired him?” I ask, angry at Alex Ajax and his treatment of Jack and I all over again. “What about the landowners and the harassment? What did they do about that?”
“I talked to Ajax Mining. They settled all of the harassment cases out of court and made everyone sign confidentiality clauses,” Noel explains.
“He could have freaking told us!”
Noel shakes his head. “Ajax Mining is a multi-billion dollar business for a reason. They’re not spending any money if they don’t have to.”
“Anyway,” Betty’s impatient. “Back to the story.”
Noel continues his explanation. “Without a job, he ran through his trust fund in no time. It seems Mr. Anderson has a bit of a gambling problem. He still had access to Ajax Mining through his family though, and he stole some maps, which indicated where Ajax Mining was considering buying mineral rights. He started going after landowners – acting like he was still an employee of Ajax Mining. Anna was, unfortunately, one of his targets.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “He investigated Anna, and thought she had no living relatives to stand up for her.” He smiles sadly at me.
“Technically, she didn’t. We aren’t related by blood,” I feel the need to clarify.
Noel shakes his head at me. “Family doesn’t always mean blood,” he whispers to me before continuing louder for the rest of the gang. “Anyway, he thought he could bully Anna into giving him the mineral rights.”
I hear several snorts of disbelief. “Not bloody likely,” Jack says.
“When Anna told Anderson she’d saved the land by putting an easement on it, he went totally bonkers and killed her.”
“But how?” Betty wants to know, as do I.
“He injected her with air.”
Gasp. “That really works?” I ask.
Noel nods. “It’s not as easy as it sounds, but it does work.” Not as easy as it sounds? I shiver. I don’t want to think about poor Grandma fighting off a madman. Noel squeezes me. “She was asleep and didn’t suffer,” he whispers to me.
“Asleep? In the middle of the day?” I find that hard to believe.
“Not the middle of the day.” Noel gives me a knowing look. “Anderson came back at night when she was sleeping. He claims she didn’t wake.”
“If her arthritis was bothe
ring her, she’d take a sleeping pill,” Ally confirms.
“So Grandma was really murdered?” Jack slumps against the wall. “I always thought it was just malarkey.”
“What?” I nearly jump out of my seat.
Jack shrugs. “I’ve had a ball investigating, but I thought it was just a game.”
“You need a boyfriend,” I announce and he blushes.
“Anyway,” Betty’s anxious for Noel to continue the story. “And then what?”
“First, he waited. He assumed the land would come up for public auction when Anna died. Just to be sure, he staked out the lawyer’s office.” He turns to me.
“And that’s when he discovered me and started stalking me.” I shiver in recollection.
Noel holds me tight. “He didn’t know what was going on, but he figured you were his best chance. He ransacked your house to search for your files and to find out what had happened with the land. He didn’t discover anything and started stalking you full-time.” I full-body shiver. “He freaked when you went to Ajax Mining.”
“He just confessed all this?” Seems odd to me.
“We had a lot of leverage.” Noel smiles at me. “We caught him red-handed at your house and then you identified him as your stalker. We were pushing him hard in interrogation and not getting anywhere when you happened to walk by, and he went after you.” Noel turns to me. “Don’t ever do that again, by the way.” I shrug. I didn’t do anything – not on purpose anyway. “After he attacked you and shouted about making millions from Anna’s property, it wasn’t hard to pressure him to confess.”
“So it’s over,” Betty sounds disappointed.
“Mr. Anderson is going to be locked up for a very long time.” I sag against Noel in relief.
The ladies gather their things and say their goodbyes. Betty looks upset, but her gang is obviously relieved. Jack kisses me good-bye and then it’s just Noel and I.
“What now?” I ask. Noel throws me over his shoulder and heads to the bedroom in response.
Epilogue
"Happy” by Natasha Bedingfield
“I got it,” I hear Noel yell as the doorbell rings.
I’m in the kitchen preparing the lemonade the ladies drink as if it’s going out of style. I make a huge batch of ‘adult’ lemonade for the ladies who aren’t driving and a smaller pitcher for the designated drivers. They rotate who drives because otherwise the whining and complaining is never ending.
After we had recovered from Grandma’s murder and the whole stalking thing, things calmed down. Noel and I decided to move in together. Although it didn’t exactly go like that. Basically, Noel ordered me to move in with him or else he was going to move in with me. I didn’t get much choice in the matter. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.
Although we liked our houses, we realized that we loved Grandma’s. We sold both of our homes and used the money to bring Grandma’s place into the current century. All the bathrooms have been updated, and we added an ensuite bathroom to the master bedroom. Noel put a man cave in the basement where he and Jack spend entirely too much time. Luckily, I’m allowed in the man cave although frou-frou drinks have been banned. Geesh. You try one time to use your new martini glasses.
Noel is still working as a detective with the local police force, but I’m no longer doing graphic work. Between the money I made from selling my house and Grandma’s bank accounts, I don’t need to ever work again. I’m not one to stay still, though. I volunteer for Save the Plains and I’m thinking about starting a no-kill animal shelter. Whenever I bring up my plans for the shelter, Noel just shakes his head and laughs. I’ll show him.
I hear Betty laughing in the sunroom, which is prepared for today’s knitting group meeting. Jack, Noel, and I are pretty attached to the old lady gang. When Ally asked if they could continue to hold knitting group meetings at our house, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Not a lot of knitting happens, but the gossiping is endless. Noel has even used information from the ladies to help him with background information on suspects. Don’t tell the ladies though. They’ll pester him to help all the time.
Ally walks into the kitchen holding a Tupperware cake taker. I smile in anticipation. “Hi Ally,” I reach over to kiss her cheek. “What did you bring today?” All the ladies spoil us with pies and cakes when they come over.
“Ta da!” she shouts as she opens the Tupperware. Awesome! My favorite chocolate cake, but wait, she only makes this for special occasions.
“What are you up to?” I ask with my hands on my hips – all kinds of untrusting.
She blushes, but shakes her head. “Nothing.”
Yeah right, I think, but manage to keep my mouth shut. These ladies are immune to my interrogation techniques so I let it go and grab the tray of lemonade and glasses, and walk to the sunroom. Betty, Rosemary, Martha, and Rose are already seated, their knitting bags unopened on the floor. I pour lemonade for everyone.
Ally walks in with slices of chocolate cake. Noel and Jack are on her heels. Noel hands me a piece of cake and smiles at me. “Yum!” I say and grab my fork to immediately dive in.
Shit. I bite down on something hard. I reach in my mouth to pull out whatever the offensive object is. What in the world? Is that a ring? I look up startled to see Noel down on one knee in front of me. The ladies are quiet for a change.
Noel clears his throat. “Izzy, would you make me the happiest man on earth by agreeing to be my wife?”
This has to be the corniest marriage proposal ever and I love it. “Yes!” I shout and jump up from my chair to tackle Noel. The ladies and Jack clap. I don’t care if we have an audience. My mouth locks on Noel. If he’s lucky, I’ll let him up for air after our first anniversary.
JACK GETS HIS MAN
By D.E. HAGGERTY
Copyright © 2015 D.E. Haggerty
All rights reserved.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Jack Gets His Man is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. The incidents depicted are pure imagination.
Synopsis
Jack’s life is awesome. His store is making money hand over fist, and his best friend has found love. So what if he’s feeling a bit restless and put out about his upcoming birthday and his ex is being a pain in his fabulous behind? That’s nothing he can’t handle. But then his smoking hot new bookkeeper discovers things at the store aren’t actually as they seem. Someone is playing fast and loose with the finances. Jack’s bestie and his gal pals, the gray-haired knitting detectives, jump at the chance to solve Jack’s problems. When they aren’t re-enacting scenes from spy thrillers, they’re setting Jack up on dates and generally insinuating themselves into his love life. They’re determined to find love for Jack as well as his missing money. Will Jack catch a thief or find love? Either way Jack’s going to get his man.
Dedication
To anyone who goes ahead and does something even though it scares your pants off
Chapter 1
Oh babe, you can kick my ass anytime
Jack caught himself before he sighed yet again and instead grunted in annoyance as he looked around his beautiful, but incredibly boring office. He and his business partner, Wyatt, had gone all out decorating the office of their clothing store, Fabulous, Darling, but the handsome room could do nothing to assuage Jack’s restlessness. He sat at one of the twin desks, but the desk belonging to Wyatt was empty, which wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was that Jack was sitting at his bored out of his everloving mind.
Before he could give into
sighing his day away, Jack stood and headed out of the office toward the store. He was feeling antsy and didn’t know what to do with himself. That’s how he’d ended up at his office in the first place. Neither Jack or Wyatt worked full-time at the store despite being the owners. When they first started the business, they toiled endless days away to get it going, but once the store took off, they retreated and hired a general manager to do most of the heavy lifting.
Jack passed the empty office of the general manager, a few doors that led to who knows where, and the storage room before opening the door into the store itself. Unfortunately, the store was as quiet as the back offices. Probably because it wasn’t open yet. Bummer. He looked around the desolate store and finally spotted the floor manager folding sweaters. Was he so bored that he was going to actually help fold sweaters? Yes, yes he was.
The manager saw Jack approaching and nearly dropped his sweater. “Mr. Harris, I didn’t know you were coming in today.” His voice wobbled and Jack raised an eyebrow at him. Why in the world was the man nervous?
Jack made a swishing motion with his hand as if to wave the man’s worries away and slowly lowered his eyebrow. “Just having a look around,” he responded nonchalantly as he grabbed a sweater to fold.
“Am I doing something wrong?” the man asked. This time his voice was nearly a whine.
Putting the sweater down, Jack looked at the man. “Look…”
“Danny.”
“Right, Danny. What are you so nervous about?” Jack believed in the direct approach. No sense beating around the bush. He actually preferred to go nowhere near bush.
The Gray-Haired Knitting Detective Series: (Books 1 - 3) Page 15
