Chapter 4 #2
“Yeah, because I need to come back and feed the animals,” she explained, trying to get the vehicle unlocked.
“This is way ahead of my normal schedule,” she noted, with a quiet smile.
“And I don’t want to … put you out of your way, having to bring me home when you’re in the middle of something else. ”
He just nodded, and she hopped into her truck, trying to figure out everything else that she needed to do while she was in town anyway. She pulled out, watching as he followed her, wondering at how quickly everything here would be changing.
He seemed to be somebody in charge already, and that surprised her. She didn’t think the twins had even the slightest clue that their world was about to flip over.
She worried about Jenny too, who was almost a family heirloom in her own right.
Jenny had been here for decades serving the family.
Crystal had to wonder at what point in time even Jenny’s tolerance for the BS going on at home would come to an end.
Although, given how close Jenny was to Ashton, she may know a lot more than even Crystal did.
Particularly if there wasn’t any more money, which Crystal wasn’t sure was much to begin with.
It seemed that Jenny knew by now, dealing with the household bills and orders and such. Her grandmother too, for that matter.
But Grandma’s strange behavior was an issue in itself. More than once Crystal had overheard Grandma berating Jenny in an over-the-top way, wholly unacceptable. Jenny never said anything, never pushed back, probably trying to avoid exacerbating Grandma’s outbursts.
Crystal headed down the main highway and took the familiar route to Sean’s place.
She turned off onto the gravel road and drove carefully as the truck bounced over the uneven surface.
When she parked right at the front door, she noted it was a little bit open.
She hopped out and walked forward, calling out, “Sean? Sean, are you okay?”
Ashton’s footsteps were rapid behind her. To stop her, he grabbed her hand, which she quickly took back. “I presume this isn’t normal.”
“No,” she replied, frowning at him. “This isn’t normal.”
“Stay here.”
His words were direct, not quite an order, but no mistaking his tone of authority.
She stopped where she was and watched as he stood in the doorway and called out several times.
Then, with a look back at her, he stepped inside.
In that moment, she realized what kind of a military life Ashton must have had, fully prepared for something godawful to be going on in there, yet stepped in without hesitation anyway.
She didn’t even know what she would have done. She probably would have gotten to the doorway, then stopped, hoping everything was okay. Beyond that, she didn’t know. She didn’t have any experience with something like this.
When Ashton reappeared at the door again, he shook his head. “Doesn’t seem anybody is here, but the place also appears to be tossed.”
She frowned at him and then bolted forward.
He let her go inside. “Don’t touch anything,” he called out behind her.
She realized he was thinking more along the lines of somebody having broken in. “But Sean doesn’t have anything.”
“No, but not having anything isn’t the same thing for you as it could be for somebody who’s not quite in the same financial situation.”
“But Sean doesn’t do drugs, so that’s not here either.
He’s just a lonely old man who is rather desperate to get his dog back,” she shared, trying hard to not let the tears spill.
“He was suffering pretty heavily over that,” she added.
“I know the deputies were sick and tired of hearing about it, but they didn’t have anything to offer.
Nobody has seen the dog, and there were just no answers as to where it could have gone. ”
Ashton didn’t say anything. He walked back inside, around to the bedroom, and checked the phone without touching it, then hovered around. “Have you been to his place before?”
“Yes, yes, of course. Several times.”
“And did it look like this?”
“God no. Sean’s quite neat, organized, and all. I think it’s part and parcel of his military training. So this is very unusual,” she stated, as she stared around.
Ashton huffed. “Honestly, it’s criminal.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she agreed. “I would think so. It looks like somebody has literally tossed it. Now, that doesn’t mean that they did it on purpose though,” she noted cautiously.
He shot her a look.
Crystal took that to mean how Ashton was probably thinking the same thing she was. He knew something too. She pointed out, “I’m just saying that, if they came upon this cabin, and nobody was here, they may have just decided to look for drugs or something because it was an opportunity.”
“Maybe,” Ashton conceded, “and maybe it’s something else altogether.”
He dialed a number, and she asked, “Who you calling?”
“The deputies.”
She heard him talking to somebody as Ashton wandered around Sean’s place. When he rejoined her, he shared, “They’ll send somebody out. They think Sean just wandered off.”
She frowned at that. “You know, people like to say things like that when someone gets old, but neither Sean nor Grandpa would have just wandered off. Sean would, however, have gone looking for his dog.”
“And would you, … would he have had any idea where that dog is?”
“No, not that I know of, but I didn’t see him very often,” she said. “I came to talk to him once in a while just to make sure he was doing okay.” She frowned and added, “Now I feel like I should have been here a whole lot more. I mean, this”—she stared around the space—“is not normal.”
“My concern is whether somebody did this, looking for something other than normal petty cash. Something they could pawn off to get drugs. My next concern is whether a bigger, uglier motivation is behind this.”
She cast him a quiet look. She wasn’t sure whether he was expecting an answer or not because this wasn’t her world. “I don’t think I like the world you’ve lived in.”
“Right. You wouldn’t have liked the military world I lived in. Unfortunately it’s not all that hot at home just now either.”
She flushed at that. “Yeah, Grandma’s gambling. I have to admit she has been off lately.”
“Yeah, she’s off all right,” he confirmed. “And now I’ll have no choice but to corral her on a permanent basis. And that won’t be fun.”
She stopped and stared. “Are you talking about putting her in a home?”
“I don’t know what I’m talking about,” he admitted, “but I need somebody to give me an idea of whether what she’s doing is part of a medical condition or a mental condition or an addiction, or just plain selfishness.
But lying to the first deputies about Alexander just walking off, then lying to Deputy Hale that her bookies are holding Grandpa for ransom over her gambling debts?
” He shook his head. “Either way, it’s not normal behavior, and I need somebody to take a more serious look at her. ”
Crystal frowned. “Grandma won’t go for that. Plus, this is addictive behavior, whether drugs or alcohol or gambling.”
He looked at her and shrugged. “I do know that she won’t go willingly to the doc. And of course, the willingly part is the issue.”
She winced. “Yeah, she really won’t go if she thinks you’ll commit her or something.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I was thinking. I just need a medical consult.”
She felt a sense of relief over that, not much, but it was something.
“But paranoia? … It can also be a sign of dementia. Her actions are definitely off the wall and not normal. And whether that’s completely understandable in the realm of an addiction, I don’t know either,” he admitted.
“That is not in my wheelhouse, so I really do need an expert. Surely you won’t get mad at me for getting an expert involved to see if Grandma can be treated with medications to help her in some way? ”
“No, not mad,” she clarified, “but I also know that she’s traumatized because of Grandpa. And you can’t get her to speak to a shrink any more than you can get her to speak to a medical doctor—at least not honestly.”
“Yeah, there is that,” he muttered. “But then, is she traumatized because of Grandpa? Or because of what she did that brought this to him?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I just don’t know. I wish I did.”
“So do I,” he muttered. “And you can see me as the bad guy all you want. But this?” he noted, with a wave of his hand. “It all must be taken care of, and you don’t even know the half of it. So, just hold off on the judgment, please.”
She threw up her hands, horrified that he thought of her like that. “Look. I am not judging you,” she snapped. “But Grandma spent a lot of time raising me. And gave me a good start in life. While she’s been different lately, I just don’t want to see her in trouble for nothing.”
“She’s already in trouble, and it ain’t for nothing,” he declared.
“Major trouble and I don’t even know if I can keep her out of jail.
” With that, leaving Crystal gasping in shock, he turned and walked to the door.
“You might as well go home because the deputies will be here soon. So, here’s your chance to not be involved in this mess. ”
“What will you tell them?”
“I’ll just tell them this is what I found.”
“Well, no point in not telling them that I was here,” she remarked. “I work with them sometimes too. It depends on the situation.”
He glanced at her and nodded. “Did you ever think about going back to school and getting a degree in social work or something?”
“Yeah, I’ve thought about it, but I went the veterinarian route,” she replied, with a careless shrug.
“I’ve thought about getting another degree a few times, but it takes more money, more time, more effort.
And none of those things appear to be something I really have anymore.
” He shot her a look, and she just shrugged. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” he vowed. “I don’t hear fine in anything you’re saying.”
She groaned. “And I haven’t had a chance to see who you are in the last many years either,” she pointed out, “but you’ve stepped in, and it’s as if you’ve taken over.”
He nodded. “Yeah, but there’s a damn good reason for that.”
She studied him, a questioning expression on her face.
“Nobody else has stepped in to date, and meanwhile the place has gone to pot. So again, hold off on the judgment. Give me a chance to sort through things and to see where we’re at.”
“And how much time will that take?”
“I need a day or two,” he replied.
“I’m not against giving you that day or two,” she noted, “but I do need to know that Grandma will be safe when this all ends.”
He gave her a wry smile. “I can’t promise safe.
I can almost surely promise jail time.” At Crystal’s gasp, he added, “She brought this all on herself. Yet it’s really nice to think that you still care that much about her because I’m really not sure many people do, not after the way she’s been treating them. ”
“I know Jenny does.”
“Yet Jenny is more concerned about Grandpa, at least at the moment.” He sighed. “Probably because Grandma’s been burning a lot of bridges lately, and that’s pretty painful for the people involved.”
“I know Grandma’s been pretty rough on Jenny.”
“Yeah, and Jenny doesn’t deserve that,” he said. “Neither do you. So, give me your honest opinion. Do you think there is a chance that some medical reason could account for the change in Grandma’s personality?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I hadn’t really considered that.”
“Well, I am here now, and I have to consider it,” he stated, “because it’s also highly possible that she’ll wind up in prison.
I need to know whether that’s something that will get her committed to some mental hospital or wind up in general population?
She would be safer in the mental hospital, in my mind. ”
She stared at him, shell-shocked. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Hell yes, I’m serious,” he snapped, looking at her.
“I’ve shared more than enough with you that I would think you could easily see the criminality here.
So, where among all this crap did you think I wasn’t serious?
And if you think I’m doing this out of spite or something like that, you’re wrong.
I really want to find Grandpa, and I’m hoping he’s still alive.
But, either way, Grandma has her own issues that will have a very serious impact on what happens to her.
It was bad enough when Grandma was stealing from the household money.
She was effectively stealing from all of us.
But now Grandma continues to steal other people’s money in the form of Grandpa’s investment clients.
Did I not make that clear enough already? ”
“You have proof? Real evidence?” she asked. “Not just theories?”
“Hell yes, I’ve got proof. I’ve got money trails. I’ve got bank documents on each end. What the hell, Crystal? Do you not remember my own college degree was in finance?”
She closed her eyes, trying hard not to panic. “Dear God, I don’t know what she’s done, but surely it can’t be that bad.”
“Well,” he began, slowly turning to face her, “what is the absolute worst thing that you figure she could have been involved in? Playing bingo? Hell no. Gambling. Stealing other people’s retirement funds. That’s prison time for her, maybe even for Grandpa for enabling her.”
She frowned and didn’t say a word. She gave him a hesitant wave and took off in her truck.