High Stakes Crime: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Shelby Nichols Adventure Book 15)

by Colleen Helme

  “Sure.”

  Uncle Joey pointed at the tabs with arrows on them, showing where each signature needed to be placed. A few minutes later, we were done. Uncle Joey gave them their copies of the contract and kept the other for himself.

  He pulled a white envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it over to Stewart. “Here’s my initial investment of fifty grand.”

  “Thank you.” Stewart took the money, and it was easy for everyone to pick up his excitement.

  “When will you be ready to go?”

  Stewart turned to let Ian answer. “We should have everything ready by Monday. I know it’s soon, but, with the weather turning, we don’t want to wait. Will that work?” He glanced my way, knowing that I was supposed to go with them.

  “Will we be back in time?” I asked Uncle Joey.

  “Yes.” Uncle Joey turned back to Ian. “What’s the plan?”

  Ian opened the briefcase he’d brought with him and spread some papers out on the table. He placed a map of the area on top of the others and pointed out some landmarks. “We’ve been using the cabin as a base camp, so we’ll meet there.” He explained that it was a two and a half hour drive from the city. “Shall we meet at the cabin by noon on Monday?”

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  He went on to show us the areas they’d already been over and what they needed to concentrate on next. “We’ve staked out claims here, here, and here.” He pointed at the map. “With an additional two more here and here.”

  My eyes widened. That was a lot of land to cover, but it was in the same area where I used to go prospecting with my grandpa, so at least we weren’t that far off. Ian explained the places they’d already explored, which cut down the area by quite a bit.

  Stewart let Ian take over the discussion, while he tried to see the map in a different light. He knew Taft’s map of the area by heart, but he wondered if they’d misread it somehow. His gaze was drawn to an area he’d dismissed as being too far north. But what if he’d miscalculated? Wasn’t there a small ravine along a ridge there?

  He stepped to the map, ready to mark it with a pencil, but stopped. No need to give away his secret before he checked it out himself. A surge of excitement ran over him. Taft had said the mine was near a ridge, but the entrance was below it. That might be just the place they’d been looking for.

  I stepped closer to the map to get a better look at the area Stewart had been thinking about. It was on the tip of my tongue to mention it, but I held back. What I really needed was a map of my own. “Could we have a copy of the map? I’d like to have my own to keep track of the places we go.”

  “Of course,” Ian said. “I’ll provide a map on Monday, and we’ll go over the plan again then.” He had no intention of giving me a copy of his map with all of his notations on it, but it was easy enough to buy a map of the area for me.

  Stewart was thinking the same thing, even though he’d just signed a contract saying everything he found would be shared with us. He’d wait until we were gone to look in that direction. Then, if he found the mine, he wouldn’t have to tell us.

  With Ian in charge of buying all the food and supplies, including tents and sleeping bags, the only thing that I’d need was a daypack containing my personal items. At that point, Uncle Joey mentioned that Ramos would be joining us as well, so to add enough food for him, too.

  Now was probably the best time to mention that Billie wanted to come along for the story. I didn’t think they’d go for it, but it might keep Stewart and Ian honest, which I was beginning to doubt.

  “There’s one more thing.” Everyone turned to me. “Uh, remember that reporter from the Daily News I was with? Billie Jo Payne? She’d like to come up for a day or two and do a piece for the paper. I told her I’d ask.”

  Their surprise turned to annoyance. How could I even ask? “Before you say no, I think it’s a good idea. I’m sure she’d sign a contract, or agree to whatever kind of secrecy you want, but it would be nice to document it, especially if we find the mine. She’d be like a silent observer, with nothing to gain but a story.”

  I heard thoughts of no and hell no from everyone but Stewart. He actually considered it, thinking that having someone to keep me busy, and out of their way, could be a plus. It would be boring as hell for her, and two days of that would be enough to send her back to civilization. As a bonus, she might even take me with her.

  “I’m happy to think about it,” Stewart said, surprising everyone but me. “As long as she signs a non-disclosure agreement, limiting what she can report on, I’m okay with it.”

  Uncle Joey nodded. “I’ll discuss it with Shelby and take care of the details. I’ll get back to you later this afternoon.” He wondered why in the world I’d want Billie to go, but he thought there must be a good reason, so he was willing to consider it.

  After a final discussion about everything we needed, Ian and Stewart left directions to the cabin and hurried to the bank to cash the check.

  With them gone, Uncle Joey and Ramos both turned to me. Uncle Joey raised his brows. “Why is Billie really coming?” The other question he didn’t ask out loud was why hadn’t I mentioned this earlier?

  “That’s a good question. But first, let me tell you what Stewart and Ian were thinking. It’s kind of important.” I explained everything I’d heard, including Stewart’s idea of where the mine could actually be.

  I continued with telling them why Stewart was amenable to Billie joining us. “He wants to keep me out of his way, and if I’m with her, that works. But he doesn’t know Billie that well if he thinks she’ll stay out of his way.”

  “What about you?” Uncle Joey said. “Why did you ask if she could come?”

  “Well… that’s another story. We just kind of talked about it at the beginning, and I thought it would be nice to have her along. But now that we know what Stewart’s planning, it could work out better if she was there. I mean, he couldn’t just get rid of me so easily with her as a witness.”

  “Get rid of you?” Ramos said. “What makes you think he’d want to do that?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe if I found the mine, and he wanted to keep it a secret?” I shrugged. “You know… something like that?”

  Uncle Joey shook his head. I was certainly looking at all the angles and already thinking about how this could backfire. “Okay. Talk to her. If she’s coming, I’ll get Chris to come up with a non-disclosure for her to sign. Do you think she’ll come?”

  “It all depends on her editor. If he doesn’t think it’s a good story, he won’t send her.”

  “Okay. Let me know right away. In the meantime, we’ve got to have everything ready to leave for Vegas in the morning. Why don’t you give Jackie a call, and tell her you’re stopping by?”

  “Oh… yeah, sure.”

  He watched me expectantly, so I quickly pulled out my phone and put the call through. “Hey Jackie, it’s Shelby. Can I stop by for a minute? There’s something I need to tell you… yeah? Good. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  I put my phone away and stood. “All right. I guess that means I’m going now. I’ll let you know what Billie says.”

  Uncle Joey knew he’d pushed me into talking to Jackie, so he couldn’t complain too much about Billie, even though he wanted to.

  Ramos was thinking that I was getting in too deep, and something was bound to go wrong. Why would I ever think that having a nosy reporter along was a good idea? And now I was talking to Jackie? It was obvious that it was Manetto’s idea. He must want me to read Jackie’s mind and tell him what I found. That was just wrong. It crossed a line, and he thought I was better than that. Wasn’t I her friend, too?

  I opened my mouth to tell him I had no intention of doing that, but, with Uncle Joey standing there, I couldn’t say a word. Still, it cut me to the quick that Ramos thought the worst of me. With my head down, I hurried out.

  CHAPTER 6

  I drove to Uncle Joey’s house, wishing I could turn around and go home. Inst
ead, I decided that I’d just have to keep my shields up, so I wouldn’t be tempted to tell him anything. He never should have asked me to do this, so if anyone was to blame, it was him.

  That still didn’t get me off the hook. I should have just told him I wouldn’t spy on Jackie for him. Now, here I was in this awful predicament. Why did I do things like this? Now I understood what Chris meant when he said I was too helpful. Not only that, but I was letting my power get the better of me. Just because I could listen in, didn’t mean that I should.

  Maybe I could start the conversation by leveling with Jackie. I could tell her that Uncle Joey was worried about her, and that’s why I was there. I could encourage her to tell him what was bothering her, so I wasn’t in the middle of it.

  Yeah… that should work. If I happened to pick up anything I shouldn’t, I’d just keep it to myself and let them work it out. That would work this time… and if Uncle Joey ever asked me to do something like this again, I’d tell him no.

  I pulled into the circular driveway and got out of my car. My stomach churned, and I couldn’t seem to step toward the house. Maybe I should just go? I could still back out and tell Uncle Joey I didn’t feel right about it.

  Before I could get back in my car, Jackie opened the front door. “Are you coming?”

  “Oh… uh… yeah.” Seeing her reminded me that we’d been through a lot together. We were friends, and there was nothing wrong with visiting her. In fact, I was concerned about her too, and talking to her was perfectly normal. Sure, she didn’t know I could read minds, but she understood my premonitions just fine.

  In fact, I suddenly wanted to tell her everything that was going on with me. She might be able to give me some inside advice on the poker tournament and Sonny’s methods. And none of this had anything to do with Uncle Joey. We greeted each other with a quick hug.

  “Let’s go out back to the deck,” she said. “It’s real nice out there right now.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “You want a Diet Coke?”

  “Yes. Thank you.” I followed her into the kitchen, and she filled up a glass with ice before handing me a can of soda. “Thanks, this is great.”

  “Sure.” She got one for herself, and we went through the French doors to the beautiful patio that overlooked her amazing backyard and swimming pool. She sat in a lounge chair, and I took the one beside her.

  “Sitting out here is nice. No wonder you’d rather be here than at the office.”

  She nodded before glancing my way with a raised brow. “I imagine Joe sent you.”

  “Well… uh yeah, but I wanted to see how you’re holding up, too. It must have been a real shock to see your ex like that.”

  She huffed out a breath. “Uh… yeah. It was like a punch to the stomach.” She’d always known that running into Sonny was a possibility someday, but she’d never thought it would be here, on her own turf. “At least he had no idea I was here, so he hadn’t tracked me down like I first thought.”

  “Oh. Yeah… that’s good. It was probably quite a shock to him, too then.”

  “Yes… probably, but since he doesn’t have a conscience it would be hard to tell.”

  “You know he’s long gone now. So why haven’t you come back to the office? You are coming back, right?”

  She turned to me, and her face softened. “Yes. But just not yet. I need some time away from all that… you know?”

  “Sure do. It’s why I’ve been missing for the last few weeks. Now that I’m back, it’s like I never left. But I know my time away helped… so it should help you, too.” She nodded, but her lips thinned. Joe was trying so hard to give her some space, and she appreciated it. But she just wasn’t ready to go back to the business.

  Having Sonny show up at the office had unbalanced her, bringing back the past to settle over her heart like a black cloud. She’d thought she was over it, but now she couldn’t get it out of her mind. The way he’d used and betrayed her hurt almost as badly now as it did all those years ago.

  “You know what surprises me the most, is how much it still hurts.” She shook her head and worked hard to tamp down the anger. “Now I’m afraid that Joe might kill him, and part of me would be okay with that. But if Joe got caught…” She sighed. “I don’t want that to happen, either.”

  I nodded. “Makes sense to me.”

  “I can’t tell Joe not to kill Sonny, even though I should.” She caught my gaze. “I’ll just have to leave that up to you.” She trusted me to talk him into doing the right thing.

  My lips thinned. If only it were that easy. “I’m working on it, but you know Uncle Joey and Ramos, they both want him dead. I’m hoping that winning the tournament will ruin Sonny. We know he owes someone big-time, and he needs that money to get out from under his obligations.”

  Jackie nodded. “Yeah… Joe mentioned something about that. Can you win?”

  “Of course.” I put conviction into my tone, even though I wasn’t completely sure.

  “Good.” She took a sip of her drink. “Did Joe tell you what happened… with my brother’s company?”

  “Yes.”

  She took another sip of her drink before replying. “I knew they were breaking the law, but I ignored that gut feeling. I thought that denying it meant it wasn’t happening. That was pretty stupid. Then Sonny made that deal with the feds. He told me he wouldn’t go to jail if Bruce came out of hiding and took the fall for their crimes. But someone had to lure him out. That someone was me.”

  Guilt swamped her. “I couldn’t tell Joe that I helped Sonny bring Bruce out. You know how important family is to Joe. I told Joe that Sonny lured him out… but I did it. I betrayed my own brother.”

  She glanced off into the distance, remembering the day Bruce got caught. “After Sonny got off so easily, I discovered that he’d drained all of the off-shore accounts, leaving Bruce with nothing to negotiate with. Instead of facing eight years by returning all the money from those accounts, Bruce got the maximum of forty years, which means he’ll die in prison.

  “Sonny should have gone to prison too, and all of that money should have gone back to the investors. To think he used it to buy a hotel and casino makes me sick.”

  “That’s horrible,” I agreed. “But I don’t think Uncle Joey would blame you for anything that happened. He loves you, and he’s worried about you. You should tell him everything. He can take it.”

  She nodded. “You’re right, I should… and I will.” She thought getting over the hurt would be easier if Sonny was dead, but she didn’t want Joe or Ramos to risk getting caught. She couldn’t bear to think of either of them ending up in prison because of her.

  She leaned toward me. “Shelby… promise me that you’ll do everything you can to keep them from killing Sonny. There’s got to be a better solution. I’m sure there are plenty of other people that want Sonny dead. Joe needs to let one of them kill him.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. I’ll do my best. I promise.”

  “Thanks.”

  She sat back in her chair, thinking that her heart wasn’t as heavy now that she’d spoken to me. “So tell me about this gold mine. Joe mentioned it last night. What’s that all about?”

  I spent the next few minutes telling her the story, including the fact that I’d invited Billie to come. Instead of thinking it was stupid of me to do that, she actually agreed.

  “It makes sense to me,” she said. “It would be nice to have another woman there. Have you talked to her yet?”

  “No… but I need to.” I checked the time, finding it close to noon. “I’ve got to go, but it’s been good to chat. Thanks for the soda.”

  “Sure. I’m glad you stopped by, even if it was Joe’s idea.” She grinned. “I feel much better now.”

  “Good. Me too.”

  We left our chairs, and Jackie walked with me to the front door. “I almost wish I could watch you kick Sonny’s ass, but I’ll just have to hear about it when you get back.” I smiled, and she gave me a quic
k hug before continuing. “Thanks Shelby… I know you’ll do your best… with everything. Good luck.”

  I thanked her and hurried back to my car. It had been great talking to her, and I was glad I had, especially since it wasn’t anything so bad that she and Uncle Joey couldn’t figure it out together.

  With my heart a little lighter, I pulled into the precinct parking lot twenty minutes early. It gave me time to call Billie, so I pulled out my phone and put the call through.

  “Hey Shelby,” she answered. “What’s up?”

  “I’m going prospecting.” She squealed, and I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “You still want to come?”

  “Of course! I need to ask Michael first, but I think he’ll agree. When are you leaving?”

  “Monday morning. It doesn’t give you a lot of time… and there’s something else.” I took a breath before continuing. “You might have to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I know that sounds like it defeats the purpose of you coming, but it would mostly relate to the location of the mine… you know… stuff they want to keep secret? If you’re still interested, they will have the agreement drawn up for you to look over. Can you let me know soon?”

  “Sure. I’ll talk to Michael right now and call you back.”

  “Great.” We disconnected, and I headed into the station. As I spotted Dimples sitting at his desk, I realized that I’d just invited his wife to go prospecting with me. It could be dangerous, and he might not approve, especially if he knew the whole endeavor was backed by Uncle Joey.

  Hmm… how was I going to tell him about that? Of course, if he knew Ramos would be there to watch over us, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad… or… would that make it worse? I knew Chris might not like it, but, if Billie was there with me, he’d be okay, right? Or… maybe I just shouldn’t tell him Ramos was coming?

  Dimples glanced up, and I sent him a little wave.

  “You made it.” He stood, pulling his jacket off the back of his chair and shrugging into it. “The truck isn’t far today. In fact, I think we can walk over. It’s at the Galloway Center.”