Unwelcomed Greeting: A Riverton Crossing Novel

by Savannah Maris

  “That’s so much better than an alarm,” she said softly.

  “You want breakfast here or are you eating with your folks?”

  “I’m not hungry just yet. I’ll wait and eat with them. I do need to take my laptop with me to get some work done, though.”

  “Already packed and waiting by the door.”

  “Then I’m good to go.”

  They walked out and he helped her climb in the truck. She was quiet in the mornings so she took him out of his thoughts when she asked, “What do you think will happen this morning?”

  “I don’t know. I guess the judge will just set bail and let them go until the trial. Simple possession isn’t much, but the trespassing should add a little more.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

  “I’m sure, baby. I want you safe and away from these lunatics. Plus, you can let me know if you hear anything at Dick’s while the proceedings are taking place. Don’t go being nosy, just listen.”

  “I can do that.”

  Mitchell dropped off his girl and drove to the courthouse. The drive was quick, but the parking lot was full when he arrived. Did half of the county break the law yesterday?

  As he stood in the doorway of the courtroom, he noticed Dick, Carlos, and Nathan sitting in the back corner behind a few guys in suits. He hadn’t ever seen the suits before, but didn’t think too much of it until Carlos leaned forward to speak to one of them. Masterson Investment representatives. Did they think this Harley guy was a loose cannon? Maybe it was Sam they were worried about. Either way, this couldn’t be good. Mitchell took a seat on the back row next to the aisle so he could watch the whole room. As he scanned the rest of it, he saw Mr. Jones, a manager at United Southeastern Bank, and Curtis on the right-hand side. What were a banker and the Chief of Riverton Crossing doing at a county arraignment? This may as well have been a public hanging the way these guys were acting.

  “All rise. The Honorable Judge Harland Bishop presiding,” the bailiff announced.

  Everyone in the courtroom stood and waited for the Judge to tell them to sit back down. When he did, the Judge dropped his gavel and said, “Court is in session. I call case number 157463. How do you plead?”

  Sam and his attorney rose. His attorney, middle-aged and very well-groomed, was in a tailored suit that looked expensive. Sam was in a county jumpsuit and looked like shit. “Not guilty.”

  His attorney spoke to the Judge, “Your Honor, my client went for a ride with a friend. All he knew was they were tracking where the river ran and whose property it touched. He wasn’t driving, it wasn’t his car. He doesn’t know why Mr. Youngener went onto posted property or who the drugs belong to. He was just a victim of circumstance. Mr. Booker has never been in trouble with the law, Your Honor.”

  “Any recommendations from the Prosecutor’s Office?”

  “No, Your Honor.”

  “Mr. Booker, since this is your first offense and your fingerprints were only on the door handle and seatbelt, I’m going to set bail at a hundred dollars and a personal appearance bond. You may want to choose your friends more wisely, Mr. Booker. Don’t let me see you back in my courtroom.” The gavel slammed down.

  “Thank you, Your Honor.”

  Sam and his attorney spoke to each other for a second before Sam was directed back to the door he had come through and his attorney left through the door beside Mitchell.

  “Case number 158632. How do you plead?”

  Harley and his attorney stood. In contrast to Sam’s lawyer, Harley’s attorney was young, wore an ill-fitting suit, and looked like he hadn’t combed his hair. Harley was also wearing a county jumpsuit, and obviously had not gotten any sleep last night. He pled the same as Sam, “Not guilty.”

  Harley’s attorney began, “Your Honor, my client was just following the river yesterday when he happened on the Riverton property. He didn’t realize the driveway was still part of the Posted land. My client doesn’t know where the marijuana came from, and doesn’t use drugs of any kind. He’s never been in trouble with the law, Your Honor.”

  “Any recommendations from the Prosecutor’s Office?”

  “Yes, Your Honor. I spoke with Mr. Youngener and his attorney at length yesterday. I believe the drugs aren’t his. Mr. Youngener has lived in this county his whole life, Your Honor. We recommend no jail time and a thousand-dollar fine for both charges.”

  “I see, counselor. Your recommendation is duly noted, but I don’t agree with it,” the judge said as he looked at the prosecutor. He then turned his attention to Harley. “Mr. Youngener, my intention is to set a precedent for any person who thinks they can run drugs through my county. I sentence you to a thousand-dollar fine and thirty days in jail to begin today.”

  “Your Honor, Mr. Youngener doesn’t have a record,” the prosecutor pleaded.

  The gavel slammed down.

  “That’s not what he said yesterday. That wasn’t what we agreed to,” Harley said to his attorney, who was obviously trying to calm him down. Mitchell couldn’t hear what he was saying to Harley, but Harley was irate.

  The gasps and whispers throughout the room spread like wildfire. Mitchell thought these guys were just supposed to pay fines and have bails set. He didn’t think an arraignment was supposed to happen the way it just went down. He looked around the room to see what was happening. He noticed the suits that were sitting in front of Carlos were making their way out the door. Mr. Jones and Curtis were leaving as well. As he slipped out with a few people between them, he heard the Judge saying, “Order in the court or I’ll clear it out!”

  The lobby outside of the courtroom was filling up so Mitchell slid along the wall trying not to be seen. He watched the suits, their thugs, the banker, and the Chief. They went out different doors, so he moved closer to the windows. As they got farther into the parking lot, they started drifting closer together so Mitch eased outside, too. Carlos, Dick, and Nathan walked to a car in the far corner of the lot, then finally joined the suits, Mr. Jones, and Curtis. The suits shook hands with the banker and Chief. Mitchell couldn’t hear what they said, but the suits were smiling when they handed a briefcase to Mr. Jones, then watched as he and Curtis left. At that point, it just appeared that the Chief of Police was escorting a bank executive with a large-dollar deposit. The suits, Carlos, Dick, and Nathan turned toward their cars. The suits got into a black sedan, while the other three got into a dark Challenger. Mitchell walked back inside until all of their cars left. They didn’t need to know he watched them. What the hell just happened?

  As soon as the cars pulled out of the lot, Mitchell ran to his truck and followed Mr. Jones and Curtis. Curtis would know his truck, so he stayed back several car lengths. He followed them for about ten minutes, straight to the bank. He parked his truck on the other side of the street and slid down in his seat as Curtis escorted Mr. Jones inside. Mitchell pressed the gas and called Evan.

  “Hey, man.”

  “Hey, I’m on my way to get Mak and then we’re heading home. Some crazy shit went down in court today. Be ready to talk when we get there.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “I’m leaving the bank. I followed Mr. Jones and Curtis here with a briefcase they got from a bunch of suits at the courthouse.”

  “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I’ll explain when we get there. I don’t know what you’ve told Ginger, but you need to decide before I get home because the shit I’m about to tell you could be huge.” Mitchell disconnected the call as he pulled into the Gregory’s driveway.

  “Hey, babe,” Kayla greeted him with a smile on her face that slowly left when she saw the look on his.

  “Hey, baby. Are you ready to go home?”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “I’ll explain when we’re with Evan. Let me speak to your parents so we can leave.”

  “Okay. Dad isn’t here, but Mom’s in the den.”

  He followed her through the house. “He
y, Mrs. Gregory. Did you and Mak have fun today?”

  “Yes, it was quiet around here until about a half hour ago. We were outside until we heard those loud cars come back next door and all that yelling.”

  He looked at Kayla and she nodded.

  “Where’s Mr. Gregory?”

  “He went to the grocery store. Why?”

  “If those jerks are back, I don’t want to leave your mom here by herself,” Mitchell said.

  “Thomas is on his way. He’s bringing them lunch before he goes to bed.”

  “We’ll wait for one of them to get here. Mrs. Gregory, have you noticed anything unusual over the last couple of days?”

  “Not really. Since we put up the fence, Dick hasn’t been bothering us as much. They had a fire last night, though. It smelled funny and the smoke gave me a headache, so we came inside,” she said.

  Mitchell questioned, “Pot?”

  “Could be. Could be meth, too. Doesn’t it have an odor when it’s cooked?” Kayla responded.

  “We’ll ask Evan,” he said.

  “Hey y’all,” Thomas called from the back door.

  “Hey,” they all said at the same time.

  “I’m glad you’re here, but Mak and I need to get home.”

  Thomas gave Mitchell a scowl and softly said, “Really, Mitchell?”

  “Not that,” he said and wiggled his brows. “Just kidding. I’ve got to talk to Evan about the hearing this morning. I didn’t want to leave your mom by herself,” he said.

  “Sure. Call me later and let me know what happened. I can stay until Dad gets back.”

  Mitchell kissed Mrs. Gregory on the cheek after Kayla said her goodbyes. She had her stuff ready to go, so he picked it up on their way out. Kayla’s dad was pulling up when they were about halfway to Mitch’s truck, so they told him goodbye before they climbed in.

  “Y’all don’t want to stay and have some lunch?”

  “No sir. We’ve got some things to do today, so we better head out,” Mitchell replied.

  “Okay then. Love you, baby girl.”

  “Love you, too, Daddy.”

  When they stopped at the end of the drive, a black sedan was sitting in the road blocking the driveway. The windows were tinted so neither of them could see in, but the back window slid down just far enough to show the eyes of the man in the back. He stared at them for a few seconds then rolled the window back up, and the car moved down the street. It turned into Dick’s driveway and pulled right to his garage. Kayla turned her head to follow the car, but couldn’t tell if anyone got out. Mitchell started up the street when she said, “That was freaky.”

  “Yeah. I don’t know if he recognized me from the hearing or was just waiting for someone to come out of that driveway,” Mitchell said.

  “Do you think they saw my dad pull in?”

  “Send Thomas a text and tell him what happened.”

  She typed on her phone. A few seconds later, it pinged with a reply. “He says he’ll nap at Mom and Dad’s today,” she told Mitchell.

  By the time they were pulling into the ranch, Mitchell seemed ready to come out of his skin as he helped her out of the truck and led her in the door. The arraignment must not have gone well this morning.

  17

  “Evan! Where are you?” Mitchell bellowed.

  “We’re right here, man.” Evan walked out with his arm around Ginger. He was just in his jeans because Ginger was wearing his t-shirt.

  He leaned over and softly said, “Why don’t you go put on more clothes and bring that shirt back to me, darlin’?”

  Ginger giggled, and Kayla’s mouth hung open before saying, “Girl, we need to talk.”

  “I know,” Ginger replied, trying to appear serious even though the smile on her face hadn’t faded one bit.

  “Mak, are you going with Ginger? Because I need to tell Evan what happened today,” Mitchell said.

  “No, I want to hear.” She turned and yelled to Ginger, “Hurry the hell up.”

  It was only noon, but Mitchell didn’t give a shit; he needed a drink. A stiff drink. He walked to the bar in the living room and poured himself two fingers of bourbon. He shot it down and poured another.

  “Whoa, man. The only thing that can be bad enough for that is if something happened to Kayla. Since she’s standing right here, I know that’s not the case. Let’s sit down and talk,” Evan said.

  Mitchell sat next to Kayla on the sofa with his drink in hand. The look of concern in her eyes and her hand on his thigh calmed him tremendously. He waited for Ginger to sit down before he began. Evan pulled on his shirt and draped his arm over her legs as she leaned into him. It was obvious how comfortable they were with each other.

  Evan gave Mitchell a nod to start when he was ready. The hearing, the people that were there, where did he start? He took a deep breath and explained what he saw, from how full the parking lot was to the people that seemed out of place.

  “Did you get a look at the guys in the suits?” Evan asked.

  “During the trial, I couldn’t get a good look, but I did later. They were as tall as Nathan or me, but not as bulky. One had a goatee, the other two were clean shaven. The one that gave Mr. Jones the briefcase wore a couple of big rings that I could see from halfway across the parking lot,” Mitchell said as he tried to remember what the men looked like. “Do they sound like anyone you know?”

  “The guy with the rings is Geno Agosta, the owner of Masterson Investments. He’s the money and the deal maker. The other two are his sons, Antonio ‘Tony’ and Lorenzo. Lorenzo has the goatee. Geno’s groomin’ them to take over; that’s the reason for the expansion. Tony will come out here and Lorenzo will stay in Nebraska. Carlos doesn’t work directly for Masterson. Masterson provides him with money, cars, and, occasionally, whatever drugs he wants. He was groomin’ me to come out here with Tony while he stayed with Lorenzo. Carlos is in charge of transport. He brings on who he wants and trains them the way he wants. I’d been involved in a couple small purchases and transport jobs, but hadn’t met the supplier before I left. Geno knows who he’s buyin’ the guns and drugs from, but never wants to be seen in the same place as the supplier,” Evan said.

  Mitchell nodded his understanding, but didn’t have time to respond before Ginger asked, “Before you left?”

  “Let’s let Mitchell finish and I’ll explain,” Evan said to her with a smile.

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly.

  “It’ll be okay, darlin’. I promise,” Evan replied and gave her a gentle kiss.

  Mitchell continued, “Anyway, after I saw those guys, I looked to the other side of the courtroom and there sat Mr. Jones from the bank and Curtis. I found that odd for a couple reasons. First, why were a banker and the town Chief of Police at a county bond hearing? Second, why were a banker and the town Chief of Police together at said hearing?

  “Then, the hearing begins. Sam was first. His attorney was dressed better than any of the Masterson trio. He’s a money attorney, so I figured he was either a federal attorney or Sam comes from old money. He didn’t mince words, and Sam walked with a hundred-dollar fine for being in the wrong place, and in a car with pot in it. Nothing for the trespassing because he wasn’t driving and couldn’t control where the car went.

  “The driver of the car was next. His name is Harley Youngener, by the way. Apparently, he’s lived in the county his whole life, but I’ve never seen him around Riverton Crossing before. His attorney was a public defender and tried to mimic Sam’s attorney with the whole ‘never been in trouble with the law’ thing. Here’s where things took a turn that I’m not sure they were supposed to take.” Mitchell relayed everything that happened during the rest of the trial. Evan listened attentively as he drummed his fingers on Ginger’s leg. Mitchell took a deep breath and said, “Don’t get me wrong, I wanted the boy to pay, but not like this.”

  “Son of a bitch. Who was the judge?” Evan obviously was putting the pieces together in his mind. “Why would the judge do that
? Was Harley mouthin’ at him?” Evan said.

  “No. It was Judge Harland Bishop. Everyone knows not to get mouthy with him, and Harley was polite until the Judge sentenced him. I couldn’t hear it all, but I heard him tell his attorney ‘that’s not what he said yesterday’,” Mitchell answered.

  “Could anyone else hear that? The Masterson people?” Evan asked.

  “I don’t know. It got pretty loud in there and that’s when they slipped out the closest door,” Mitchell recounted.

  “Okay, okay.” Evan started pacing.

  “Wait, Evan. That’s not all.” Mitchell took a sip of his drink and continued to explain what he saw occur outside the courthouse with their cast of players.

  “Tell him what Mom said about last night and what happened when we were leaving there today,” Kayla quietly said.

  Evan needed time to process what he’d been given thus far and didn’t really want any more pieces of the puzzle at the moment, but he looked at Mitchell and waited for the rest. Mitchell knew his brother well enough to know that Evan liked to handle one problem before moving on to the next, but went ahead and gave him a quick summary. “Yeah, Mrs. Gregory said there was a fire last night at Dick’s house, but it smelled funny. The smoke gave her a headache and she had to go inside. Mak and I thought it could be pot or meth.”

  “Could’ve been either or both. What happened when y’all left?”

  “The black sedan that the Masterson trio got into at the courthouse was waiting at the end of the Gregory’s driveway. As we waited for them to move, the guy in the back rolled the window down just far enough for us to see his eyes. He stared at us for a few seconds before the driver moved down the road as the window went back up. They turned in at Dick’s and went straight to his garage as far as we could tell.”

  “Do you think he recognized you from the courthouse?” Evan asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe. But Mr. Gregory had just come home from the grocery store. Maybe they just wanted the Gregorys to know they’re watching them.”