Chapter 11 #2
“Why don’t you come with me? The deputies are already on their way. And, if you didn’t do this,” he added, “we still need to know who the hell has access to your place and who’s behind this. Because my grandpa needs to get to the hospital quickly, and I don’t even know if he’ll survive.”
“That’s—” Oliver stuttered.
“We’ll settle this like gentlemen, and, if you aren’t involved, that’s one thing,” Ashton explained. “However, if you are involved and if Grandpa dies, you’ll go down for murder.”
Ashton had listened in on part of the conversation before making his presence known, surprised and disturbed to hear just what was going on.
Pulling out a leash, he hooked it onto Khan’s collar, keeping him at his side, as he’d stayed in the shadows, still trying to understand the motive here.
He also knew a rescue mission would soon hit the property, and he didn’t want Khan getting on the wrong side of the chaos.
From the sound of it, somebody had taken Oliver for a ride. Ashton still had to get to the bottom of it all.
Oliver slowly turned to Ashton and asked, “Are you serious? He’s up there in my barn?”
“He is, indeed.” Ashton glanced at his watch, “Deputies and an ambulance will be here any minute. We need to get back up there to Grandpa.”
“I’m coming with you,” Oliver declared, “because I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“Then you need to explain how he’s on your property.” Ashton took off for the barn.
A wild look came into Oliver’s gaze, as he shook his head. “I can’t explain it because I didn’t do this, and why would I? Especially now.” He looked from one to the other and yelled, “What the hell is going on?”
She called out to Ashton, “Oliver’s got signed documents that he’s purchased the entire Nelson farm, Ashton. The house, the property, … all of it.”
He stopped in his tracks, then turned and looked from one to the other. Because surely there was more than she was saying; he could almost see it.
“And he has given Grandma a big chunk of money as a deposit.”
He closed his eyes at that; exactly what he had expected. “Fuck,” he swore, despite being prepared for supposedly all contingencies. “Yeah, first things first,” he announced, “we’ve got to get Grandpa some help.”
By the time they made it up to where Grandpa had been kept, Crystal cried out and collapsed at his side because he did not look good at all. There was a gray cast to his face.
When Oliver first got sight of Grandpa, a horrified expression took over Oliver’s face. He shook his head, pointing. “No way,” he muttered. “I didn’t do this,” he declared, his tone sharp, his voice getting louder. “I didn’t put him up here.”
Ashton asked, “So, who could possibly have come here and done this?”
“I don’t know,” he yelled in shock, looking from one to the other. “I didn’t do this.”
They all heard the sirens in the distance.
Oliver grabbed Ashton’s arm. “Young man, Alexander and I might have had some issues, but I didn’t do this. And she’s right. I just paid a shitload of money to your grandmother to buy his whole place.”
“When?” Ashton asked.
“Just a few days ago, I made a deposit. I have to pay off the rest this year, then it’s all mine.”
Ashton just looked at him and groaned. “And you have no idea, … do you?”
“About what?” Oliver bellowed.
Khan growled at Ashton’s side, definitely taking offense to Oliver’s raised voice. Ashton calmed him down. “The farm … wasn’t hers to sell.”
“What do you mean, it’s not hers to sell?” He cried out, “Then whose is it?”
Ashton looked at him with a sense of finality because the man needed to know where he stood.
“It’s all mine—assuming anything is left after all her stealing, cheating, gambling, and back-ended deals come to light,” he explained, as Oliver turned white and groaned.
“You’re now another victim of her schemes. ”
The old man looked at him in shock, muttering, “Johanna had her own Realtor close the deal, and he did strike me as …”
“Shady?” Ashton asked.
Oliver frowned, shaking his head. “Yeah.”
Ashton suggested, “Like a bookie maybe?”
“Damn that Johanna,” Oliver snapped, now realizing just the tip of the iceberg here.
“Bet no title search was done before closing either,” Ashton noted. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. When did you finalize the deal?”
“Not very long ago, … just last week.”
“So, right around the time that Grandpa went missing,” he stated, frowning at Oliver.
“I didn’t do this though,” he repeated, then his expression changed to one of horror. “Oh my God. Will the sheriff say I kidnapped Alexander just to get the property?”
“I don’t know,” Ashton admitted, “but obviously there’s no shortage of bullshit going on around here. And this is just another aspect. Better go meet the deputies and bring them up here.”
“But they may shoot me on sight,” Oliver noted, his eyes wide open. “If you’ve already told the sheriff that Alexander’s here and been a hostage on my place—”
Ashton thought about it and then nodded. “Good point. I’ll go get them. Do not move.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Oliver stated. “I’m sitting here right beside Alexander because I didn’t do this, none of this.”
Ashton handed Khan’s leash to Crystal, not only to keep Khan safe from the upcoming chaos but in case Oliver tried anything.
Khan would keep Crystal safe. And, with that, Ashton bolted down the stairs, met the deputies and the medical personnel in the driveway, and pointed them all to the barn loft.
He turned to Richard and the deputies. “So, we have another new twist to add to this mess now.”
Richard groaned. “What did she do now?”
“According to Oliver, who is up there with Grandpa and Crystal, he had nothing to do with this. And he seems truly shocked that we found Grandpa in his barn. There’s a separate and kind of hidden room up there, and that’s where Grandpa has been kept.
Now, I don’t know who’s behind all this, but Oliver lacks motive because, as far as he’s concerned, he’s already purchased Nelson farm, has recently paid a very hefty deposit on my land, and, yeah, without my approval. ”
Richard just stared at him for a long moment. “What?”
“Yeah. According to Oliver, he paid my grandmother a large chunk of money against the sale of the whole place, with the balance due by the end of this year, at which time we all would vacate, and he would totally own it. He had no idea that I own the land and that Grandma had no rights to sell it—well, he knows now, but that’s another huge issue.
He also says that she got his down payment money recently. ”
Richard stopped, pushed his hat back, and asked, “What do you think is going on?”
“I think my grandmother is planning to escape and needed a large amount of money before leaving. So, she fraudulently sold off the property. I don’t know how or why, and I highly doubt she hired a real lawyer or a true closing agent for this supposed sale.
It’s just another con. I think the plan was to get Oliver’s down payment money, which is one-half-million dollars.
Now, whether to supposedly pay off her bookie to release Alexander or to just selfishly supply her own needs, I don’t know.
But, Richard, Grandma already snagged that extra chunk of change in the amount of one-quarter million from one of Grandpa’s client accounts.
So, with about $750,000 total that we know of—and no place to live, plus I had already sicced you, as the sheriff, on her—Grandma’s got to be planning to leave as quickly as she can. ”
“Well,” Richard began, hesitating, “we are struggling to find her right now.”
“What the—”
“No need to panic, Ashton. We have frozen the accounts. She can’t get at the money, but she has pulled yet another bunko.”
“Of course she has.” Ashton just stared at him. “So, do you need any more proof about what the hell this woman is up to?”
Richard groaned. “We’ve just never seen anybody do this before.”
“You mean, steal, cheat, and lie to get everything they want? Of course you have,” he declared, staring at him. “It happens all the damn time.”
“It just doesn’t happen in our neck of the woods. And there was no reason for her to get that money when she already owned the place.”
“Except,” Ashton stated, with a snort, “she doesn’t own anything.”
“Right,” Richard muttered. “Do you have legal documents proving your claim?”
“Sure I do. Everything is registered in my name. You can contact my lawyer.” Then he gave him the name and address of Anderson Moore.
“Well, at least a reputable lawyer is involved on your end,” Richard noted, with a sharp look. “Although lawyers aren’t my favorite people to deal with, but that may at least give us some idea of what’s going on.”
“Well, it looks pretty clear-cut from where I’m standing. Still, I’ve got to tell you, I don’t think Oliver had anything to do with any of this, but you’ll have to do your own investigation into that.”
“Oh, thank you,” Richard replied skeptically. “You’re letting us do our own investigation.”
He glared at him. “I personally don’t think any of this is very funny, and I am worried that my grandpa won’t make it.
And, if he doesn’t, this will go from kidnapping and confinement and elder abuse and whatever else to some kind of homicide charge.
A whole different kind of headache. Plus, nobody has found Sean Keaton yet, right? ”
Richard glumly shook his head. “Christ,” Richard muttered as he turned around, Oliver walking toward them.
Oliver told Ashton, “Alexander’s still not conscious, but he’s still alive, and the EMTs are loading him up now.”
He nodded. “Thank you for that.”
Oliver looked over at Richard and announced, “I didn’t do this.”
Richard nodded. “I’ll need to get your statement.”
“I ain’t got a statement. There ain’t nothing to say. And apparently his goddamn grandmother screwed me out of a ton of money.”
“How much money?” he asked, double-checking.
“Half-a-million dollars.”
“Yeah, that would be her,” Ashton noted.
“The only good thing is, if it was a recent transaction, we might get it before she does. If it’s not recent …” Richard left it with a shrug. “Yeah, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Shaking with rage, Oliver yelled, “I’ll sue that whole goddamn family. Bunch of liars and thieves.”
“You can try,” Ashton replied, “but, before you spend a bunch of money on lawyers, you should know that I may not have anything left when this is all over with.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, staring at him in shock. “That place is worth millions.”
“Well, it was until she started stealing money from not only the household accounts but also the client accounts in my grandfather’s business.”
Oliver just stared at them, stunned.
“Yeah,” Ashton confirmed. “We’ve put a freeze on that transaction because she took one-quarter million out of one client account alone, about the same time as I hit town,” he shared.
“Grandma shouldn’t have had access to any of those accounts for the last six years.
We’re still working on how she did that, so lawyers are involved, deputies, Sheriff Richard here, and God-only-knows who else.
There is no end to the hell in my world right now. ”
Oliver shook his head. “I thought having my family and losing all of them was shitty,” Oliver began, “but you would have been better off if you lost your grandma. You’ve lost so many family members already, at least you could have lost the one causing you all the trouble. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Ashton muttered, “I would rather have the earlier version of Grandma back. Regardless, life doesn’t seem to be quite so accommodating in giving us choices.”
Oliver snorted. “No, it sure as hell isn’t. It ain’t been the same for me since my brother died. And I was trying to buy the place for him because he’s the one who was all bent over backward about the whole thing. But I sure didn’t expect this to happen.”
Ashton asked, “How did you pay her?”
“Via a wire. She wanted the money wired to her.”
Bingo. “I need that wire info,” Ashton declared. “Now.”
Oliver frowned but headed to the house, was soon back outside with one single sheet of paper that he handed over to Ashton.
He quickly took a photo of it and texted it to Anderson. Freeze this account.
Oliver shook his head. “I feel like an absolute idiot, letting that old gal con me out of that kind of money.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that because she’s conned plenty of others. So, this isn’t on you, but I’ve got my attorney freezing those funds, before Grandma takes off with them.”