Chapter 17
“I hope you’re not mad at me for suggesting you get a lawyer,” Pedro said as soon as they were outside, and stood behind the trailer for some privacy.
“No, I was thinking the same thing, but I didn’t know who to call. Do you know the people you mentioned?”
“No, but I’m sure if we call Cole, because I don’t have anyone else’s number, he can contact Erin for us, or give us her number.”
“Do it,” Myrna said, and wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, though it wasn’t cold out.
She watched as Pedro withdrew his phone, made the call, and nodded.
He hung up quickly, then waited for a text to come in.
He showed it to Myrna, and then he drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush as he dialed.
“Erin’s Way, Ellen speaking,” came the reply.
“Ellen, this is Pedro, I need to talk to Erin please.”
“Is everything alright? I’m asking because Erin’s not here, like not on the property, she’s in town at the accountant’s office. Can I help you with anything?”
“I hope so, Myrna isn’t in any trouble, and she’s cooperating with the FBI, however, I would feel better if she had her own lawyer. Do you know if Jason or Ilsa are taking any clients?”
“Let me go ask them, I believe they are. They were in on the meeting when Agent Wilson told us what was up. Can you give me your number?”
Pedro did and they hung up. He looked at Myrna and gathered her in his arms. They stayed like that until she stopping shaking, then both jerked when they heard something.
“It’s just me,” Robert said. “We’ve got your back.”
“Oh, okay.” When Pedro’s phone rang, they all froze, but he answered it on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Pedro, this is Ilsa Miller, I’m one of Erin’s attorneys. Ellen filled us in, and yes, I agree that Myrna does need a lawyer. What can you tell me? Oh, and you’re on speaker with Jason and Duane.”
Pedro laid out their first theory, then the second one, and that they were grasping at straws until they could get their hands on the file Myrna had given to Cole, and the FBI could do some checking.
“So,” came a voice neither of them recognized.
“I’m Jason, by the way. So, you’re telling us you have a case of horse theft, trailer theft, assault, because the ex-boyfriend put Myrna in the hospital, and now, maybe the possibility of murder of Sally’s original owner, depending on what the autopsy shows, if there was one, and that she wasn’t cremated? ”
“Yes.” Pedro didn’t know what else to say.
“And if we dig up anything else,” Myrna said. “I know Mary, Sally’s previous owner, and my friend who passed, swore on her life that Mark, her husband, was cheating. She didn’t have tangible proof, but she had her gut instinct.”
“She didn’t need it,” Ilsa said. “Her gut was her proof. I’ll be representing you.
Can you give me your address, and I’ll be there tomorrow.
I want to go over to New Double to get the file you gave Cole.
I’ll read it, and with your permission, I’d like to make a copy for Duane so he can do his research thing. ”
“You have my permission.”
“Thank you, I should be there by nine in the morning.”
“It’s a three-hour drive.”
“I’ll be there by nine.” They hung up, and the four of them breathed a sigh of relief. When they reentered the kitchen, the two women were sitting at the table, but all their notes had been cleaned up.
“I need to get back to the office,” Yvonne said as she rose from her chair, took her cup to the sink, rinsed it, but left it in the sink. “Robert and Lela will be staying here. How did you make out?”
“Ilsa Miller will be here at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. She’s going to get the file from Cole, make a copy of everything in it for Duane to start his thing, and she’s going to read it.”
“Good, I’d like a copy of it.”
“I’m sure if you talked to Duane, he could send you a copy.”
“Yeah, I’ll call him when I get back to the office. If you have anything new to remember, tell Lela or Robert.” She left, with Agent Gregory on her heels.
“What now?” Myrna asked.
“Now, if you’re moving, we should go through things room by room and start packing. I find that if my mind needs to mull over something if I do busy work, I can let my mind wander while still doing another task.”
Pedro snapped his fingers and grinned when they looked at him funny.
“When Cole and I hooked up the trailer, he said that Shay had packed boxes in it.” He looked at them. “His girlfriend moved from Kentucky a month before we arrived, and still had the packing boxes.”
“I’ll go with you,” Robert said as he removed his tie, and jacket, and rolled up his sleeves.
The four of them worked the rest of the afternoon on going through the entire house, then they started in the attic to load the boxes up there in the trailer.
While Lela and Myrna saw what they were, the men did the carrying.
At one point, Myrna took a box down herself, and instead of putting it in the trailer, she put it in her bedroom.
When Robert disappeared, no one said anything until they paused in their cleaning up the last items and sniffed the air.
They grinned and finished, then went down to clean up.
As they walked into the kitchen, Robert was pulling a dish from the oven, slipped a tray in, and pointed to the table.
“Could someone set it?”
Myrna immediately went to the cupboards and as she got down the plates and glasses, Pedro was there. In under fifteen minutes they sat down to a delicious smelling meal.
“What did you make?” Myrna asked as she scooped up the red sauce, cheese, and noodles.
“Stuffed shells. They’re stuffed with meatballs or cheese. There’s also garlic bread.” He grinned as he passed her the basket. They ate in silence, then at one point, Pedro leaned back and studied Myrna.
“I’m not judging, but how did you accumulate so much stuff in the attic, but the rest of your house looks barren?”
“I grew up in this house. My mother got pregnant with me when she was a teenager. All I know about her is that she had me when she was seventeen, and she died of complications from my birth four days later. I came home with Grandma, she and Grandpa raised me. When I was ten, Grandpa died, and it was just the two of us. Most of the things we loaded up today were from my mother’s time here.
They were her boxes, and boxes from my grandmother’s family. ”
“Ah, so it’s your history.”
“Yes, I thought I’d take it with me, store it, and when we’re not racing horses in the winter, go through it one box at a time. I’ll decide to keep or toss it then.” They all nodded and continued to eat. At one point she looked at the two federal agents and grinned.
“What?” Lela asked.
“Okay, you’re going to be sleeping in the spare room, Robert said he’ll take the couch. However, I need to tell you both something.”
“What’s that?” Robert asked as he began stacking the dishes, but stopped when Pedro gave him a look, and took over the task.
“This place has two bathrooms. Mine has its own hot water heater, however, the one in the hall shares one with the entire house. If someone is in the shower and the water at the sink out here is turned on, or the dishwasher runs, you’re going to not only lose pressure, but you’ll get either a blast of the opposite. ”
“Opposite what?”
“If someone turns on the hot, you’ll get blasted with cold.”
“Ah, anything else?”
“Yes, it takes forty minutes for it to warm back up after the dishwasher runs, or someone else takes a shower. It was on my to-do list to get a new one, but if I’m moving, then I won’t have to. I’ll put it in the sale contract, and see if there are any takers, if not, then I’ll replace it.”
“Thank you for that information,” Lela said. “Now I’ll time my shower. I usually take one in the morning, but after being in that dusty attic, I’m going to take one tonight.”
“Me too,” Robert said, “But I can walk the perimeter while I wait for it to warm back up.”
“What about ours?” Pedro asked from his position at the sink, rinsing the dishes and loading the dishwasher.
“It’s fine, the only thing that one is connected to is what’s in the bathroom. Shower, tub, sink, and toilet. We did that when Grandma’s arthritis was bad. Oh, and there’s a tub with jets in it. The other one just has the shower tub combo.”
“Do you use it?”
“Sometimes, when it’s bad.”
“What am I missing?” Lela asked.
“I have arthritis in my hips. On bad days, I can barely walk, and the jetted tub comes in handy. One of the things being looked into is that I had it on video where Randy took my pain pills.” She rose and went to a narrow cupboard, opened it, reached in the back, and pulled out a bottle.
“This is what I am prescribed. I had the pharmacy seal it, so I could tell if he took the pills from this bottle. This is my spare.”
Lela took the bottle, her brows rose, and she handed it back. “That’s some pretty powerful stuff.”
“Yeah, and I believe Randy switched them out with over-the-counter pills. Talk to Robert about it, he saw the video.”
“Wilson has it, but she’s right. Wilson is going to look into it back at the office.”
They finished cleaning up from supper, Pedro got the coffee pot ready for the morning, and Myrna announced she was going to take a shower, as did Lela. The men said they were going to walk around outside to make sure everything was okay.
Myrna did as she said, but before she did, she took one of her pain pills, and took a hot bath. When she sat on the bed, brushing her hair Pedro came in.
“Hey,” she said quietly. “I took a pain pill, so I might be passed out by the time you come to bed. I’m not putting you off in the sex department…” she trailed off when he held up his hand.
“Stop. Just because we’re dating, it doesn’t mean that we have to have sex every night. If you don’t want it that’s fine. I’m not going to force myself on you.”
“Oh.”
To soften the blow of his words, he went to her and sat down beside her.
“We’re grown ass adults, Myrna. Hell, if we had lived our lives differently in the past, we might have had kids or even grandkids by now.
I’m happy with what we have so far. I just want to be able to reach out and feel you beside me in my sleep. ”
“Oh.”
“Thank you for telling me you took a pill. May I ask you a few questions about them?”
“Sure.” She set her hairbrush aside and smiled when Pedro helped her beneath the covers. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you take them all the time?”
“No, only when I need them. Going up and down the attic stairs was rough, and I know I’ll be doing a lot of bending and kneeling in the coming days, so I wanted to nip it in the bud from the beginning. You know, sort of preemptive motions.”
“Got it. Also, are you allowed to operate heavy machinery or drive while taking them?”
“It’s been recommended not to, along with not drinking alcohol. I don’t know what it will do, but I don’t do it. You didn’t ask, but within an hour of taking one, I get sleepy, then I’m out like a light and stay out for at least six to seven hours.”
“That was my next question. Thank you.” He leaned in to gently kiss her, and then backed away slowly. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Okay, I took a bath and used the jets,” she grinned at him. “We’ll have to install one of those in one of the bathrooms back home.”
“Something to think about.” He laughed as he picked up his bag and gathered some clothes.
The last thing Myrna heard was Pedro coming out of the shower thirty minutes later. She didn’t even feel him get into bed and snuggle up behind her.
Myrna rolled over, stretched, and looked at the alarm clock, then over at Pedro. It was five in the morning, and she knew she slept as good as she did because of the pain pill, but she didn’t care. Pedro slept fitfully beside her, but she was wide awake.
She tossed the blankets back gently, rose, gathered her clothes, and went into the bathroom to do her morning routine. When she headed toward the bedroom door, Pedro was sitting up.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, it’s only five, go back to sleep.”
“You’re sure? Can you wake me at six?”
She walked over to her side of the bed, and turned on the alarm, then kissed him, and smiled when he settled back into the bed.
She picked up the small box she had placed there the night before, and padded out to the kitchen.
Since she had seen Pedro get it ready the night before, she turned on the coffee pot, and waited for it to perk.
Once she had her cup, she settled at the table, opened the box, pulled out the contents and began to read.
She looked up when she heard movement, and saw her three house guests entering the kitchen. She noted it was almost seven, and Pedro refilled her coffee cup, his, and the two agents’.
“Hey, guys,” she said in a voice that made everyone pause to look at her.
“Mary was right, Mark was having an affair, and I know who it was with.”