Chapter Twenty-One #2
With a loud groan, her sister had stepped even farther away.
“Oh, I should have known that would be next. You and Grandmother, the predictors of gloom and doom. So what exactly did you see?” When Josie hadn’t answered right away, Amy Sue had laughed.
“Right, you can’t quite see it, but you feel it, right? ”
“Yes,” Josie had said quietly. “I think he’s going to try to kill you.”
Amy Sue stepped back some more, shaking her head as tears filled her eyes. The sound of a motorcycle engine filled the air. Shane had left to run an errand and now he was almost back.
“I’m trying to warn you,” Josie had cried and again reached for her sister, needing to touch her, needing to get through to her.
Amy Sue had stumbled away from her, headed for the door. “I love him. He loves me. You aren’t going to ruin this for us.”
Josie had heard the thump of the bike’s engine die.
When she’d looked out, she’d seen her sister in Shane Wagner’s arms with him looking up at the house over her shoulder.
As Josie’s gaze had locked with his, he’d smiled up at her.
The promise in that smile made Josie fight for breath from the weight on her chest. He was coming for her and couldn’t wait.
Now back in her office apartment, she realized that she knew nothing about prison pen pals. She’d assumed that few people wrote letters via postal mail anymore because of the internet. She hadn’t realized that some prisoners didn’t have access to the web because of their crimes.
What surprised her when she went online was to find that there were programs to help inmates find nonincarcerated pen pals.
Just as there were ways for those interested to find prisoners interested in a pen-pal relationship.
The letter writers made social connections, relieved loneliness and improved their mental health through the correspondence with the outside world.
She thought of Amy Sue. Had she been lonely? Was that what had led to this?
Pen pals, she learned, were usually strangers whose relationship was based primarily if not solely on their exchange of letters, and some of those relationships lasted for years. Some also led to romantic attractions, with some falling in love.
Josie was aware how intimate a letter could be compared with a text or even a phone call. But surely these nonincarcerated women—since she guessed they made up the larger number of letter writers—should have been warned of the downside of this interaction.
She did find some rules that pen pals were advised to follow. Don’t offer legal advice or assistance. Don’t share confidential details with others about your pen pal. Amy Sue had definitely followed that one to a T.
Why didn’t they also warn people against sharing too much about themselves, including where they lived?
At least there were rules for not getting scammed by your prisoner pen pal.
A red flag was if the prisoner repeatedly asked for financial help.
Josie hated to think how much money her sister had sent Shane, making him think there was more to be had where that came from.
Josie felt sick at the thought of how Shane had taken advantage of her sister. How he was still doing just that—not to mention what his main goal might be. Josie had tried to see, but as her sister had said, she’d only come away with a feeling after that one image of her sister dying on the ground.
She felt helpless, something new to her. Even when Roger Grimes had his arm around her throat and a gun to her head, she’d believed that she could get out of the situation. With her sister, this was even more dangerous because she couldn’t do anything until Shane broke the law.
Her cell phone rang. She quickly picked up, although half-afraid it would be bad news.
“I’m looking forward to our trip to Billings this weekend,” Cordell said, sounding excited.
“Be sure to bring your swimsuit. We’re staying at a hotel with a pool.
” When she didn’t respond right away, he said, “Don’t try to get out of this, Josie.
You can’t do anything about your sister, and you need this.
Also, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in a swimsuit. ”
He was right about her needing to get away.
If Shane was after the land, then he wouldn’t do anything to Amy Sue—except scam her more.
Since her talk with Cordell about the situation, she’d since gone to the bank and moved as many of the farm’s assets into an account that her sister couldn’t touch.
She hated doing that, but she told herself it was the only way to protect Amy Sue and the farm.
As for her own safety, Josie knew she would be safer away from the farm and Shane this weekend.
“I’m picking you up Friday right after lunch,” Cordell said. “Do you still have that black swimsuit with the low neck?”
“You wish. I’ll see you Friday after lunch.”
* * *
Max hadn’t wanted to do it. But to pacify his brother, he made the call to the warden at Florida State Prison. He yearned for the day when he never had to hear Grimes’s name ever again—let alone say it out loud.
“I have a strange request,” the sheriff told the warden when he came on the line. “I need to know if Roger Grimes and a man named Shane Wagner had any contact that you know of while in prison there.”
“Any particular reason you’re interested?”
“Both of them ended up in Montana.”
“I heard about Grimes taking some hostages and getting himself killed along with another former prisoner from here, Dave Peters.”
“Montana draws them, I guess,” Max said. “I appreciate you doing this.”
“I’m familiar with Shane Wagner. Seemed to be a model prisoner, recently released. He already in trouble?”
“Not yet.”
“I can do some checking for you. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
Max thanked him and disconnected. As he did, he saw Goldie crossing the street on the way to the hotel.
He hadn’t been down there to see how his brother was doing.
Truth was, he’d thought Cordell would have lost interest by now.
Maybe his brother had changed. Or maybe he’d never really known his brother.
He thought of Cordell stepping up down in Wyoming. His brother had saved them when Max couldn’t. Otherwise, they would all be dead.
Not wanting to think about how impotent he still felt, he busied himself with paperwork, but he found himself looking down the street toward the hotel.
Goldie didn’t look miserable. Every time he’d seen her passing by, she’d been smiling.
She looked happy. He told himself it was because she was free of the black cloud he’d been born under.
She was better off without him. She definitely deserved someone without so much baggage.
Late in the afternoon, he got a call back from the warden.
“Your instincts were right,” the man said.
“Grimes and Wagner did know each other. They were set to get out at the same time, but Wagner’s release was delayed.
I asked around and the guards said that the two of them had their heads together a lot just before Grimes was released. They could have been up to something.”
Max felt sick to his stomach. It hadn’t been his instincts—it had been those of Josie and Cordell.
Grimes had been corresponding with Esther, who was telling him about everyone in town.
It might have even been Grimes’s idea for Shane to target Amy Sue just as Josie thought, the two of them sharing information as they made their plans.
But other than settling the score with him and Cordell, what had been Grimes’s plan?
More important, what was Shane’s now that Grimes was out of the picture?
He swore, hating that he was going to have to give Josie the news.
Worse, what it could mean. How many more parolees were headed up here because of the prisoner pen pals?
It probably seemed safe writing to a man behind bars—even one allegedly locked up for life.
But what if he got out? Lonely criminals getting letters from equally lonely women who had no idea whom they were corresponding with, both making promises they had no intention of keeping. What could possibly go wrong with that?
* * *
After getting the news from Max, Josie couldn’t stand another minute in her office. She’d known Grimes and Wagner had to be in on it together once she’d heard they were from the same prison. If Shane Wagner’s release hadn’t been held up, he would have been here at the same time as Grimes.
She shuddered at the thought of the two of them working together. It was bad enough that Grimes had involved his friend Dave. Would she and Goldie even be here right now if there had been three of them?
Josie hadn’t seen Goldie for a few days so she made a point of having lunch at the café before she was to leave with Cordell.
The noon rush over, the place was empty except for Goldie, so she took a seat at a corner booth so her friend could join her.
Josie knew that Maggie, who was filling in until Ronnie could return, always went out back for a smoke break after the lunch rush.
“How are you doing?” Goldie asked, keeping her voice down even though it was only the two of them in the café. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Amy Sue’s new boyfriend.”
“I saw him. He’s adorable. I wanted to ride off into the sunset with him.”
Josie leaned toward her friend. “He was in the same prison in Florida as Roger Grimes.” Goldie’s eyes widened as her expression filled with horror.
“They were supposed to get out at the same time. Grimes could have told Shane about Amy Sue since we know they were both involved in some kind of prisoner pen-pal group.”
Goldie looked as sick as Josie felt as she leaned back in the booth. “What does this mean?”
“I don’t know exactly—just that Shane Wagner could have always had his own plan involving my sister that Grimes didn’t even know about. Or they were in it together.” She shrugged. “Goldie, he’s only pretending to care about Amy Sue. Max thinks he could be after the farm.”
“But you own the farm.”
“Yes, but it would go to Amy Sue if anything happened to me, and I didn’t have an heir.”
“What are you saying?” Goldie demanded, looking even more stricken.
“He has to get rid of me to get the farm, and if he plans to sell it, which, of course, he does. Amy Sue would have to go, as well.”
“Oh, you can’t be serious,” her friend said, looking around the café as if not sure what to say or do. “Can’t you change your beneficiary?”
“My grandmother put the farm in a trust so it stayed in the family. She’s the only one who could change it.”
“You need to get pregnant and quick,” Goldie said, only half joking.
“Then I suspect Shane Wagner wouldn’t hesitate to take us both out.”
Goldie rubbed a hand over her face. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’ve tried to talk to Amy Sue…” She shrugged. “She thinks I’m jealous because she is finally serious about someone. There is no getting through to her.”
“Max?”
Josie could hear the pain in her friend’s voice, as if even saying his name hurt.
“He’s the one who just notified me of the connection between Shane Wagner and Roger Grimes.
Unfortunately, it’s not illegal for the two to have known each other or for them to have been pen pals with women from this area.
Max can’t do anything until Shane breaks the law. ”
“You mean kills you.”
“Or at least attempts to. But Max would have to be able to prove it and I think Shane is too smart to get caught easily,” Josie said. “He has every advantage because he’s staying out at the farm and he’s working here in town for Cordell.”
“But Cordell knows what he’s up to?”
“He’s watching Shane as much as he can. He’s also taking me away for the weekend to Billings. We’re leaving soon.”
“Josie, that’s great. You must be so excited.”
“He’s been keeping me at arm’s length. I’m hoping that’s not the case this weekend, but for all I know he might be getting us separate rooms.” Goldie lifted an eyebrow. “Apparently he wants more from me.”
“Good for him,” her friend said. “I made that mistake with Max and look how that turned out.”
“I know he loves you,” Josie said.
“I thought he did. But now I’m not so sure. I can understand why he broke things off because of Grimes. But once we were both safe…”
Josie shook her head. “I’ll never understand the male mind or heart, for that matter.”
“You must be so worried about Amy Sue and what this is going to do to her when she finds out the truth,” her friend said.
“If she does. Killing me would only be the first step. He’d have to marry her to get the farm, but then he wouldn’t need her anymore since I doubt his goal is to become a farmer—no matter what he tells her.”
Goldie shook her head. “So your sister was his pen pal and you had no idea?”
Josie shook her head. “I don’t think they ever discussed his plans once he was released. She might not have even known he was going to be released. So I’m sure she opened up her heart to him.”
“A complete stranger?”
“A criminal behind bars. She would have felt safe.”
“Maybe he really does care about her,” her friend said. “Maybe there’s a happy ending here and we’re just overreacting because he knew Grimes.”
Josie glanced out the window to the hotel across the street. Shane Wagner had just come out with a load of what looked like old bedding in his arms. He dumped it into the back of a truck parked at the curb.
As if sensing he was being watched, he looked in the direction of the café and spotted Josie. He grinned and gave her a wink before going back inside.