by Dale Mayer
She picked up an envelope with no return address and frowned. She quickly ripped it open and out popped a check. She gasped, and sat down in a kitchen chair, hard.
“What’s the matter?” He strode across the kitchen floor to study her. She held it up so he could see. It was a bank check for $10,000.
Chapter 6
Her mind grappled with the concept of a big influx of cash like this. The number of bills she could pay off, the needed repairs she could make to the shelters, food she could actually buy for her charges—to supplement the free things she received–and the medicine she needed for the animals …
Suspicion ran through her mind, and it was a hard thing to let go of. She took a closer look at the check and said, “I don’t know who Goldberg Holdings is.”
“Does that matter?” he asked. “It’s a hell of a nice check.”
She nodded. “It’s marked ‘donation.’ I’ll send him a receipt right away.”
“It would be more prudent to see it clears the bank first,” he said in a dry tone.
She laughed. “Isn’t that the truth?” She set the check off to one side, excitement still thrumming through her at all the things she could fix. There would even be enough money left to leave in the bank for future needs for other animals coming to her small shelter. As she tossed bills to one side, she found another envelope. But this time it just had her name and address on it. She pulled it out and asked, “What the hell is this?”
He looked at it and said, “No idea.”
He held out his hand, and she dropped the envelope into it. There was something about it she didn’t want anything to do with. “I only want it if more money’s inside for the shelter.”
He gave her an odd look and opened it. There was something small inside. He dumped it into his hand and gasped.
She glanced up at his face to see it had suddenly hardened. “What is it?”
“A SEAL insignia,” he said. He laid it on the table with the envelope, brought out his phone and took a picture.
She figured he would send it to Levi. “But why would somebody send that to me?”
“I suspect it was intended for me.” He put the phone down and studied the small metal piece. “There’s nothing on it that I can see though.”
“Why would there be? Are you expecting the sender to sign it?”
He shot her a look. “Wouldn’t that be nice?” He looked at the stamp on the envelope. “It was mailed from Houston.”
“But it has my name on it. Not yours.”
“True enough, but the one man we think could be involved was a SEAL also. As far as I know, he’s living somewhere local.”
And she realized she’d been really slow to get it. “Of course, you think it’s a warning from your friend.”
“Not so much that as a statement…I’m here.”
She sighed. “You know? It would be really nice if you would take your macho bullshit far away from here.”
“It’s too late for that. A dead man was in your shed, or have you forgotten?”
Her temper snapped as she said, “Of course not, but that owl was left as a message for me.”
“I’m sorry.” He sat back and rubbed a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s not your fault.”
“Glad you remembered that.” She bounced off the chair and walked to the coffeepot, pouring two cups. She brought them back and set them on the table.
“Have you gone through the rest of the mail? Let’s make sure nothing else is there before I make a few phone calls.”
“There are still some letters in the stack.” She shuffled through them. “Electricity, water, insurance, flyer, flyer, flyer, garbage. That’s it.”
Flynn picked up his phone again and started making calls.
As Anna went back through the mail, she opened the bills, stacking them off to the side. For the first time in ages, they wouldn’t cause quite the same pain they had before. Ten thousand dollars would do a hell of a lot of good here. Several of the bills were duplicate notices. She stapled those together within the pile, then picked up the rest of the junk mail and tossed it into the recycling bin.
When he was done on the phone, she turned to him. “Will you tell the police?”
He glanced at her, already dialing somebody else. “What would I say?”
She chewed on her lip as she stared at the metal lapel pin. “I don’t know. There’s just something…evil about it.” She didn’t want it in the house. But then she didn’t want any of this. “Did you tell them anything about who you suspect is involved?”
Instantly, he shook his head. “No way. I don’t have any proof. And if he didn’t have anything to do with it, I don’t want to ruin his life a second time by sending the police sniffing around his place.”
She slunk back down in her chair and tugged her coffee closer. “I guess that makes sense. But it really sucks. What a mess.”
“Maybe. Focus on your good morning already. That check helps cover some of the gloom from this insignia.”
She stood up again. “On that note, I can go to the office and take a look at where the money will be going. I really needed this check. So thank you very much to whoever Goldberg Holdings is.”
She grabbed the bills and her coffee cup, and strode to her office in the back of the house. She didn’t know if the cops had been through her whole house or even in her office, searching through her finances or what. If they had, they would have seen a sad sight. Whatever. She somehow suspected they had the right to do what they needed to. With a dead body being found on her property, what else could she say but help yourself to any information you need.
She didn’t even have a chance to grieve for Jonas. Not that she knew or liked him very much, but he was somebody who had died, whose life had been unexpectedly cut short. And for that, she was very sad. That it happened on her place was horrific.
She added this newest stack of bills to the existing pile and set to cleaning up her office. Nothing like finally having money to clear the debts to completely change her perspective on the business. She went through the stacks of paperwork on top of the big desk and decided to reorder her bookshelves to make space for all the stuff. She quickly set about organizing on a deeper level. By the time she was done, she was ready for her second cup of coffee.
She returned to the kitchen, refilled her cup and went back to the office. Flynn was still on the phone. Good. Her hands were full with shelter problems.
Anna brought up her Excel sheets and tallied the money she owed. She could do a general expense transfer for some of them and quick payments of other bills online. That would mean a trip to the bank first to make sure the check cleared. But it was the safest route. She didn’t have enough to cover all these bills if that check bounced.
She hopped to her feet and walked into the kitchen. “I’m running to the bank to deposit this.”
He looked up at her. “Good idea, but you’re not going alone. I’ll come with you.”
“I want to go now, straight there and back. I want to pay off all the bills.”
He smiled. “And you look excited about something for the first time.”
“Yeah, no kidding.”
She grabbed her keys and walked out the front door, Flynn right behind her.
The trip to the bank was fast and efficient. The teller assured her the check had cleared already; they’d checked the sender’s bank account, and it was all good. Anna turned around and gave Flynn a huge smile. “In that case, let’s buy a few groceries.”
He laughed. “We’ll do that later. Let’s go home, take care of the rest of the stuff that needs to be dealt with, like the police. Then we can shop.”
She nodded.
As they walked back into the house, a cop stood in the middle of the kitchen, looking for her. He frowned and said, “Where the hell were you?”
She stepped back at his sharp tone. “I had to deposit a check in the bank and pay some bills.”
That seemed t
o mollify him. “You need to take a look at something in the shed.”
“Fine, let’s go.”
The three of them trooped out to the shed. Thankfully, the body was long gone. Blood remained on the floor and a couple feed sacks. She worried she’d never get the stain completely out. Even so, her memories would still be there.
The cop pointed out something at the back wall of the shed. “Is that yours?”
She walked toward the rear and saw an old rifle leaning against the far corner. She frowned. “I don’t own any guns. And to my knowledge that was never here.” She turned to look at Flynn. “Have you seen it before?”
Flynn approached, studied it and shook his head. “No, I don’t recall seeing it here either.”
“You two sure?”
She nodded yes and turned to the cop. “You should remember if it was here last night. Nobody mentioned it?”
“No, it was hidden under old coats and blankets,” the officer said. “It was missed on the first inspection.”
She backed away and said, “I presume you are taking it with you.”
He nodded. “We will to test it.”
“Whatever you need to do to solve this is fine with me.” She turned and walked out.
If she could replace the shed with a better storage system, she would do it immediately. She would never be inside it without thinking of Jonas.
*
“I’m off to finish this paperwork.”
He watched as she headed into the office. He’d seen her office many times. Stacks of unpaid bills and receipts were all over the place. She was doing too much on her own, as usual. He followed behind, stopping at the doorway, amazed at how much she had already cleaned up. Nothing like an influx of cash to change your attitude. He would have to thank Goldberg Holdings for the help.
She might be offended if she knew it was Logan’s father. On the other hand, she didn’t have any reason to know. Gunner had lots of money. And he was big on helping charities. If he had known beforehand that she needed it, he would have gladly helped. He was a big animal lover. So was Logan.
Flynn’s phone rang. He glanced down and saw it was Levi. Finally. “What’s up?” He turned away from Anna’s office and headed to the kitchen.
“According to Gunner, Brendan is living at his brother’s place, has no job, but is applying. He appears to be diligently establishing a new life. He was really angry but has since calmed down.”
“So we’re not thinking he’s the guy? I’d still like to know where the hell he was these last couple weeks. Anywhere in Houston is certainly close enough to be on alert.”
“Understood. Have you found anything else in the house that’ll point to him?”
“No, but the cops just found an old rifle in the back of the shed where the body was.” He quickly explained the little bit he knew. “It’s a little too obvious, considering it hadn’t been there before. If someone wants to pin it on me, they’d have to have my fingerprints on the stock.”
“Which is not hard to do, as you well know.”
His voice turned hard and abrupt. “I know.” He stared out the window for a long moment. “This is really unreasonable though. I mean that’s a long time to hold a grudge if it’s him.”
“But you were pretty damn angry yourself about what happened and how it went down. He’s much more volatile. If he still hasn’t let go of his anger, I can see him taking time to find a way to pay you back. Maybe he had no idea where to find you and just happened to see you in town. That could have changed things for him.”
“It would explain why he was really angry, then disappeared and got angry again. Revenge is best served cold.”
“It so is. Watch your back,” Levi said.
“Yeah, will do. Levi …” He hesitated. Maybe he didn’t want to know the answer to the next question. But it was hard not to wonder and worry if this would end his career with Legendary Security.
“What’s up?”
“Will this stop you from hiring me?”
“I already hired you, remember? As far as I’m concerned, this hasn’t changed my mind, but we need to put this to rest to free you up so we can send you on missions. There’s enough work here for half a dozen more men. I just don’t need the baggage that comes along with this case.” And Levi hung up.
That was good enough for Flynn.
Whistling, he focused his attention on the kitchen. Quickly cleaning up the mess the cops made, he worked on the rest of the house. When he’d been here before as a bodyguard for Anna, it had been difficult to keep busy, to ignore his cravings for Anna’s presence. She became one of those addictive kind of personalities. He knew what she would say, how to get a rise out of her, and when he got that expected response, it would cause some fireworks.
She was fully passionate in everything she set her mind to, which immediately sent his to consider what she’d be like in bed. One kiss was not a seduction. But it was a hell of a start. Now there was much more to consider. Not just how or when to further this relationship, he also couldn’t let whoever was trying to ruin her life get a second chance. Her safety had to be paramount. Anybody who killed one defenseless guy already probably wouldn’t hold back on killing a woman. And Flynn intended that that would never happen.
Chapter 7
It took several hours, but by the time she was done, she felt so damn relieved and happy it was hard to express. She paid off the very last bill, jotted down the confirmation number on the back of the deposit slip, clipped it together with the bills, and filed them away. She shut down her computer, got up and danced around her office. She was free and clear. She poured every penny of her paychecks into this place, and finally she had some money to help cover things.
It was amazing. The bills were taken care of with just under $1,000. How was it that little of an amount could make such a damned difference? But it had. Now that she had caught up, she could hire someone to fix some of the cage doors. All kinds of little bits and pieces of things needed to be done. She had to find a decent tradesman to help out.
She did have someone in mind, but she should also call the vet and see how much she owed for all the work he’d been doing. Charity was helpful, but people couldn’t do it forever. At some point people appreciated getting paid.
She sat back down again, twisted her chair so she could stare out at the huge yard behind her house and kicked her legs up to rest on the windowsill.
Anna sat there for a long moment. For the first time in a long while, she felt peace and contentment. It had been hard road getting here. And she certainly owed Goldberg Holdings a huge thank you that she was back on top again, hopefully at least for a full year. She’d probably lost her dog-walking business with the madness of the last couple days.
And maybe this was a crossroad in her life.
She didn’t know.
Plus, other shelters were always looking for a place to move animals to. She was a no-kill center, but most in Texas killed thousands of animals daily, all combined. It broke her heart.
So many humans and animals ended up in need because not enough people gave a damn. And for those who did, everybody had their favorite charities. And so many good ones existed and were deserving of the donations, but so was her small shelter. She was competing for dollars among bigger nonprofits. It was hard to get the attention she needed.
Maybe she could look at marketing again, like posting an online ad. Even just having someone hug the animals to let them know they weren’t totally alone would be great, which she could accomplish with a visit to a local nursing home or senior center. And that would help the humans there too. On better days she used to take the dogs and cats around to various pet supply stores on weekends. Many of the animals were adopted that way. But there were just so many and the need so great that it often didn’t work out.
She hated taking the animals back to their cages. They needed so much more than that lonely space. But at least they were safe while she found homes for them. And they had dog runs and
company here.
Yet what she was doing here was barely enough.
“That’s a pretty long face for somebody who just got ten thousand dollars.”
She jolted at his voice to find Flynn leaning against the doorjamb with a cup of coffee in his hand, staring at her. “Decisions, decisions,” she said. “Never easy ones.”
“The money wasn’t enough to cover what you needed it to?”
“Oh, it is. For the moment it’s huge, but I have to think long-term what I should do,” she said. “Limping along like this is not a good answer. I could stay and continue as I am. Hopefully better than I’ve been doing so far.”
“With money or time?”
“Both.” She stood up and walked toward him. “Are the police still here?”
He nodded. “But it looks like they’re packing up.”
“Great.” She smiled as she glanced around the office. “Things can go back to normal.”
“Whatever that means, considering what has happened.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m also wondering about selling the property and moving the shelter.”
“Why would you do that?” His tone was anything but happy.
“Well, the murder for one,” she exclaimed. “How many people do you think will donate money after this?”
“But somebody just did.”
“No, the check was sent before this happened. Chances are there won’t be more to come.” She turned to stare out the window. “It’s a large property, and real estate prices have gone way up as the city grew around me. I could sell.”
“And do what?”
Her shoulders fell. “Of course that’s the problem, because I don’t really know what else to do. This is where my heart is.”
“Then wait and see. You don’t have to decide today—or this week or month. You have time. This will blow over. And eventually things will return to normal.”
She twisted to look at his face. Then asked that one question sitting in the back of her mind. “Do you think he’s done?”
Flynn didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “There’s no way to know. Unfortunately.”
