Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Aaron
"The threat is over."
I wasn't the only one who looked at Maverick like he had suddenly grown a second head—Owen and Lex did as well—but I was the one to speak up. "What do you mean, the threat is over? We still don't even know who the threat is, so how could it be over?”
"That's the official word according to Wes' contact. The threat has been neutralized and there's no need to worry about information leaked."
"Bullshit." Lex said exactly what we were all thinking.
"Are they even going to tell us who breached the system?" It would seem bureaucratic shit was even worse as a civilian.
"I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it."
I was half tempted to laugh at Maverick's response but the sad part was what he was saying was true.
"So what are we supposed to do now? Just go back to our regular lives and hope what they say is true?"
There wasn't a chance in hell that was going to happen, even if my boss recommended it. The secure little bubble I thought we had here in Willow Creek was now burst based on what happened.
"No, we don't take what they say at face value. We adapt, we change, we find a new normal but at no point do we ever take what they say to be true."
I hated that he was right but it was better to be safe and prepared than to be caught off guard again.
Annalee's ear-piercing scream cut through any further conversation and sent all of us running from the office portion of the building straight toward the reception area.
Standing at her desk, Annalee was staring down in horror at a package that looked to be recently opened.
"What's wrong?" Owen approached his woman, then cursed when he saw what was inside the box. "Who the fuck would send something like that?"
Curiosity got the better of me as I approached the desk. Inside the box, lined with bubble wrap were two dead rats. "What the fuck?"
Maverick walked up next to me, and unlike Owen and me, he cursed under his breath so low that I barely caught all of the words he said.
"You expect me to believe the threat is over after getting something like this?" Owen practically bit our boss' head off.
"Terrorists don't send messages like this. They’re more direct. This is something else."
I had to agree with Maverick. Based off what I knew about the terrorists we handled during our last op, this wasn't their MO either. This was another threat. One a lot closer to home.
"Can we please forget about who sent it for a second and just get it off my desk?" Annalee's voice was much calmer than I would've expected considering how loud she had screamed when she initially found it.
"I got it." Lex reached for the box but Maverick stopped him with a hand on it. "We need to contact the sheriff and make a report."
"Great! So these dead animals are just going to sit on my desk for God knows how long?"
I felt bad for Annalee. She would probably never look at her desk the same or want to open another package that was delivered.
"You can go in the back and use one of the other computers in the meantime. We’ll stay out here."
"Thank you." Annalee gathered some of her stuff, and like the good man that he was, Owen followed her.
Maverick waited until the two of them were gone before he spoke again. "I'll call the sheriff,” he said, pulling out his phone, “and get the ball rolling, but this package wasn't meant for us."
I looked to where Maverick was pointing and cursed again. He was right; that wasn't our address. But it was someone's that I knew.
"Sophisticated Sheen." I wanted to run out of work and head straight for Valerie despite knowing Nolen was with her. "Why the hell would someone send two dead rats to Valerie?"
"Sheriff Andrews is on his way." Maverick put his phone back in his pocket. "Does she have any enemies we should know about?"
"Not that she's told me about," I answered honestly.
"No disgruntled customers?"
"Most of her customers are here in Willow Creek and I would've heard if someone had a problem with her." That was one of the good things about practically stalking the woman before she would give me the time of day. I knew almost everything about her life since I’d left.
"What about her online business?"
I shook my head. "She hasn't said anything other than things are going great. So much so that she's considering opening up another store in the city."
"Maybe someone isn't happy that she's expanding?" Maverick didn't sound convinced and, truthfully, neither was I. The people of Willow Creek seemed supportive of everything others did in the community. I couldn't see anyone in town being mad about something like that.
"A dead rat doesn't feel like something you send someone for opening a new store."
"I have to agree," Sheriff Bobby Andrews walked through the door and said immediately. "Sorry I only heard the tail end of what you were talking about but a dead rat seems a bit extreme."
Pleasantries were done before anyone spoke again on the matter.
"Two dead rats, huh?" Sheriff Andrews was the youngest elected sheriff in the state. At only thirty-four years old, it was a surprise that the county elected him. Normally, it was a political game of who-knows-who the best, but from the little I’d heard about the man, he was new to the area by only a year before he got elected.
The sheriff used a pen to look at the address label. "Sophisticated Sheen's address? Doesn't everyone love Ms. Valerie?"
Pride swelled at the question because it was true. Everyone in town loved Valerie and what she brought to the town.
"They do. That's why it doesn't make sense." Maverick sounded as frustrated as I felt.
"What about Vanessa?" Andrews asked.
"Her employee?" Now I was completely confused. "What about her?"
"Could this have been meant for her?"
I took a few moments to actually think about what he was asking and then it hit me. "Son of a bitch."
"What?" Maverick and Lex went on high alert.
"I never thought to check her background."
"Whose?" The poor sheriff looked confused as he probably tried to follow along with the conversation.
"Vanessa's. In all the research I did on Valerie while I was away, I never once thought to check out Vanessa's background."
Such a stupid and rookie mistake on my part. One I was going to fix just as soon as I made sure everything was okay over at the store.