Chapter 8
Pedro looked back at Myrna and nodded when he saw her peeking through the almost closed door. With his gun down by his side, but at the ready, he unlocked the door, opened it, and breathed in relief when Shay stood there.
“Shay, welcome.” He stepped back and the smile was quickly wiped off his face when Shay entered, and several other men came in behind him.
The looks on their faces gave him pause, and he looked up when he saw Myrna come out from her room.
She immediately turned into a hostess, and everyone took her offer for a cup of coffee.
She ended up making three pots before they all got one.
“What’s up?” Pedro asked when they all settled at the table.
Clark had gone back out and brought in two more tables and more chairs for everyone.
Looking around the table, he saw Duane, Clark, Jake, Tony, Shay, and several other men that he had forgotten their names.
The man with the eye patch nodded at him.
“Ryan Carter.” Then everyone else gave their names.
“Manny Sanchez, I’m dating Ann.”
“Scott Gould.”
“Lloyd.” He didn’t give a last name, neither did the next two.
“Denver.”
“Perry.”
“Reid Garrett, I’m dating Erin.”
“Okay, why are you here?” He looked at Myrna when she lightly slapped his bicep.
“Probably because they found out something from their investigation into the Godwin’s.”
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry, I forgot. What did you learn?”
Duane started off. “Instead of getting deeply involved, I reached out to a friend in the Denver office. Because I’m retired from the FBI, I don’t have the clearance I used to have. I didn’t want to do a half-assed job in the investigation.”
“Okay, and what did they find?”
“SSA, it stands for Supervisory Special Agent, Yvonne Wilson is my friend. I told her everything you told me, and she opened an investigation. This might be the twenty-first century, but horse theft is still a felony in this state.”
“I didn’t steal Sally,” Myrna said in shock.
“I know that, and there are no cases filed against you for taking Sally back into your possession. Yet.”
“What’s that mean, yet?” Pedro asked, and actually wrapped his arm around Myrna to try to stop her from trembling.
“According to SSA Wilson, the video of Gus Godwin taking Sally from Myrna’s home is the horse theft case she’s going to be opening. Nothing against you. She’s going to want to talk to you.”
“She’s not leaving New Double,” Pedro said.
“We know, that’s why Yvonne will be coming here.” Duane nodded.
“Is that all?”
“No,” Jake said firmly. Pedro noticed that he was the only one from Brotherhood Protectors that came.
He opened a file, looked down, then back at Myrna and Pedro.
“In my investigation, I have several places to look, and my boss had even deeper places. In my research, I found that Officer Avery Mosher is the ex-fiancée to Randy Godwin. I don’t know if she is helping them or not.
I do know that each and every time you contacted her, either in person, or via phone or e-mail, her personal phone records show that she contacted Randy.
” He paused and looked directly at Myrna. “Twenty years ago.”
Everyone paused, and frowned. “I don’t understand, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Remember I told you my boss has deeper, darker ways to find information?”
“Yes.”
“Well, eighteen years ago, both Randy and Gus started to get into deeper trouble than usual. This time, their antics would be cause for a felony or two to be issued. It turns out that that either paperwork would come up missing, or be filed improperly, so the felony charges didn’t stick.”
“Was it an inside job?”
“That’s what Hank is looking into.” Jake turned to Duane.
“I haven’t told you of my findings yet, so if she didn’t find it on her own, your SSA won’t know of these incidents.
” He passed a folder toward Duane. “That’s your copy.
” He then turned to Myrna and gave a slight nod.
“My boss, Hank Patterson, even dug into your background. He found nothing other than your name, date of birth, social security, number, address, and a list of jobs you held since the age of fifteen. He also viewed your bank account information. Nothing sticks out.”
“I knew that would happen, but thank you for looking into me.”
“What about the Godwin’s?” Pedro asked. “What about their records?”
Jake remained silent, but his expression went cold, and he stood as he opened another file, and picked up the top sheet, they were all connected as he lifted it above his head, and then dropped the file on the floor, and stood in the chair.
“I know this is dramatic, but each sheet of paper is a different charge.” He looked at the others’ shocked faces and then put it back down and sat back down.
“There are three pages like that, Gus has five.”
“Are any of the charges felonies?” Clark asked as he sipped his coffee, then rose to get himself some more. He filled the mugs of the people that wanted it, and made another pot.
“Not permanent ones.”
“What’s that mean?” both Pedro and Myrna asked at the same time.
“Remember I said that paperwork was filed wrong, or missing? Because of that, the charges were argued down to a misdemeanor. Each and every time.” He shook his head and scrubbed his face.
“What?” Pedro asked.
“The Godwin’s’ lawyer.”
“What about them?” Duane demanded this time.
“It’s Avery Mosher’s sister. She dated Gus Godwin all through high school and the start of college. They were both good guys until Gus blew out his knee on the college football field, and within months, Randy blew out his shoulder on the baseball diamond.”
“Shit, so you had good, up-standing kids, they had dreams of taking the world by storm, but when they became injured, instead of rallying around to do good in school and getting a different job, or degree, they turned to a life of crime?”
“Yeah, pretty much. They were injured in their sophomore year, at different colleges, and then by the end of that year, they flunked out. They tried to blame it on being in the hospital, but they refused the tutors the college sent to work with them. They never returned.”
“What business was their family in?” Denver asked.
“Junk yard, tow truck, and auto repair.” Jake looked around and grinned. “Not that I’m stereotyping here, but think of the auto mechanic in horror films.” He grinned when everyone nodded.
“What’s the next step?” Myrna asked, to fill the silence when no one spoke for at least two minutes.
“That’s where we come in,” Clark said. He looked around the table, and everyone nodded. “These guys were under my command while we were in the SEALs. We know missions, we know how to keep people safe. I’ve talked it over with Erin, Naomi, and Cole, and we’ve come up with a plan.”
“Which is?” Pedro asked.
“One, Myrna does not leave New Double property. Two, each one of us will be taking turns guarding the entrance to this ranch. Three, if the two of you need anything, contact one of us, we’ll send Laurie over, and she will do what was done a couple of weeks ago.”
“What?” Jake asked in confusion.
Myrna answered. “She had me place an order on-line, then she went to pick it up. She used Erin’s credit card, but I was able to pay her back in cash.”
“Why?”
“Because we don’t know if anyone is trying to follow my credit cards. Now that I know Officer Mosher might be aiding and abetting Randy and Gus, I’m not going to take any chances. I do have a question or two.”
“Which is?”
“Is anyone looking for me? I mean, has anyone reported me missing? Have they filled out a missing person’s report? Next question, how can I access my bank account? Next question, can someone tell my boss?”
“I thought you were self-employed,” Jake said with a frown.
“Yes and no. I took a three-month leave of absence after Randy put me in the hospital. I worked from home two days a week, but the other three, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I went into the office. My boss came to see me in the hospital, and he gave me the leave. It’s been a month and a half, so I have that same amount of time left. ”
“I can put a call into SSA Wilson,” Duane said. “Give me your boss’s information.” He wrote it down and nodded as he looked at Jake.
“As far as I know, no one has reported you missing, same with looking for you. We’ll have the FBI contact your boss, and let me think about accessing your bank account. What bank?”
She told him, and he nodded. “Do you have any credit cards or check book with you?”
“No, I only grabbed Sally’s papers, and my cash. I thought I had grabbed my cards, but I didn’t. Hell, I even forgot to grab my license.” Myrna said with a sigh and sat back heavily.
“What if?” Denver stared and waited for everyone to look at him. “What if this SSA Wilson goes to Myrna’s home, in the guise of asking questions about the Godwin brothers, and I don’t know, somehow think they hear someone in distress and break in, or pick the lock?”
“I didn’t lock the door when I fled. If no one broke in, everything should be right where I left it.”
“Where’s your purse?” Duane asked.
Jake shoved a pad of paper and pen toward her. “Write down the items you need from your home. Purse, phone, laptop, clothes, shoes.”
“Not too much,” Duane said.
“Why not?” Lloyd asked. “Why not make it look good.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have the FBI show up in force, serve a warrant, fake one if there isn’t a real one, if Myrna’s not home, then they can still ‘serve’ it.” He used air quotes. “While they are there, have them call Myrna and she can talk them through what to grab.” He looked at her and asked. “What’s your address.”
She gave it, and he pulled his phone, and did something, then turned it toward her. “This it?”
“Yes, how did you do that?”
“A real estate website. There are even photos of the inside.” He accessed it, and instead of everyone crowding around his phone, Pedro got his laptop, and shoved it toward Lloyd. In minutes he had Myrna’s home up.