Chapter 1
Gleason could honestly say that he didn’t care for construction.
But he needed to get with it if he ever wanted his house to be finished.
A week ago, the outside framing was up and most of the walls, but it was nothing like the house that he wanted it to be.
He thought that he’d be used to it because of the construction that had been going on at Kinsey’s place, but building a house was so much different.
It was the constant noises going on that bothered him, but he kept telling himself that it would be over soon enough and he’d have his own house to live in.
He was headed there when his brother Wylie called him.
“If you’re going to tell me more about your theory about the Golden Sheep, I’m going to hang up on you now.
” The Sheep had had something going on out there for the past two weeks, and the road was still blocked off from the restaurant.
“I don’t want to know where you’ve gotten your information either.
You’re going to get yourself killed if you keep this up. ”
“I just have this one thing. I know it was meth they were making, and that over twenty people have been killed when the basement caught fire when the police showed up.” He asked him how he knew that information.
“You told me not to tell you. But it’s all over the internet about what has happened out there.
Just this morning, I found out that Mr. Shadow, the owner of the place, whose real name is Carl Windermere, and his wife and two daughters were killed in the raid that had happened. ”
“Raid? You mean to tell me that some other drug cartel came in and raided the place, or was it the police? Either way, that’s not information that you should be telling people.
You’re going to get yourself killed over this.
” He said that there was so much information going around that it would take them years to round people up about it.
“Still, you’re going to get yourself into some big trouble if you don’t behave yourself and stop what you’re doing. ”
About a month ago now the Golden Sheep had been the target of the FBI and other agencies that had initials on their vests.
There was so much going on that the roads had been blocked off in front of the place, and cars were being turned around to go back from it.
No one was talking, but people, like his brother Wylie, were making up enough stories to get the place in the newspaper if something was going on.
Just as he was ready to hang up on Wylie, he said something that had him stay on the line.
“Rosie is working with that girl that I’ve been telling you about.
I just know that she’s in on it somehow and that the police are looking for her.
Well, not the police. The little pisser, the chief of police McGee, is out there daily at the site and not keeping his men busy.
Last week, there was no one driving by the crosswalks, and Jamie Steele had nearly been killed when a car drove right through the crosswalk.
” Rosie used to be the chief of police until she retired recently, and McGee took over.
She was working at the pizza shop so that she wasn’t lazing about the house all day looking for something to do.
No one liked McGee, and he thought that he’d be out of a job soon.
Trying to keep this all straight in his head was driving him crazy.
He couldn’t think who the girl was and asked him.
“You know. The one who is all cagey who works at the pizza shop? I think she’s going to be key to the goings on out there.
I’m betting right now McGee has no idea where she is, either. ”
“He’d have to be really stupid to not know where his prime suspect is, don’t you think?
” He said she’s probably not been home since this whole thing started and is hiding out somewhere in the open.
“I’m going to ban you from getting on the computer, Wylie.
What does Rosie think about you always talking about what’s going on around there? ”
“She’s helping me.” It figures. Once a cop, always a cop. “She doesn’t think that the girl has anything to do with it. She’s been working at the pizza shop for about six months now. But I do. She’s just too cagey, like I said before.”
He was at his house by then and couldn’t believe the progress they’d made.
Not only were the walls all up around the house framing, but it looked to him like they were putting on the siding as well.
He loved it. Going up to the site, careful where he stepped, he told his brother to behave, and that he needed to work at a better job that kept him out of trouble.
They hung up their phones, and he had a look around.
That’s when he saw David Winchester hanging around as well.
“The progress was taking too long.” He asked him what he’d done.
“I called in another couple of crews to get things going. You’ll see that the kitchen is being worked on the way you wanted it to be, and the whole house should be finished in a couple of weeks instead of months.
You might even be in there before Christmas. ”
“You didn’t have to do that. I could have waited.
” David was a billionaire who had taken him and his brothers under his wings when they sold him the farm that they’d owned some months ago.
Not only did he buy the five thousand acres, but he’d also adopted them as his boys, as he and his wife didn’t have any children.
It had been good to have such a good father figure around after their own father had killed their mother in a fit of rage.
“I must say I was surprised by how it looks.”
“You should see what they’re doing in the back yard.
I didn’t know you were paying for landscaping to be done, too.
It’s going to be a showplace back there, I think.
” He told him that he’d gotten his ideas about the back yard from his own home.
“Thank you, son. That makes me feel good when you said that. The wife and I plan on doing a bit of entertaining when the whole place is done. They only have to do a couple more changes, and it’ll be finished. ”
David and his wife Alice had bought their farm from them several months ago.
Not only did he buy the farm that they were glad to be rid of, but in the process, he had made them millionaires several times over.
It was hard getting used to having money as they’d been so broke all the time.
He thought about how broke they’d been back then and wondered how they were ever able to hang onto the land and not go under at any given moment.
It had been the choice between having a meal on the table or hot water in the house.
Things were never as simple as going to the bank and getting a loan.
They all worked other jobs, but Kinsey and Wylie had to keep the place going.
“You should see what a little money can do for you.” He laughed, and so did David. “All right, I have more than just a little. But it makes me feel good to be able to spend some of mine to help you boys out. You mean the world to me.”
“You have become a father figure to us as well.” The two of them didn’t say anything for several moments because of the emotions that would get to them when they talked about family.
“I’ve been furniture shopping too. It’s been really easy to figure out what I want.
I’ve been going to the other two’s homes to see what I like and then go out and buy it for myself.
There have been a couple of things that I didn’t care for in their homes, too. But for them it’s perfect.”
Kinsey and Wylie were married now, and he couldn’t have been happier for them.
They both had lovely homes that they seemed to glow in, and now that both of their wives were going to have a baby, his brothers seemed to be walking on air.
It was funny to see how foolish they’d become since they told them about the babies, too.
While the two of them walked around the construction site, he could see what kind of progress had been made with David helping him out. Not only were the walls up in the house, but they were laying floors too.
He’d opted for not having carpet in any of the rooms and was glad that he’d gone that way.
The carpet would wear, and he was glad that he’d gone for hardwood floors in all the rooms. He even had floor warmers in the bathrooms to keep his feet warm in the colder months.
There were even towel warmers in the bathrooms so that he had a nice, fresh, warm towel when he was finished with his shower.
The kitchen had the most improvements made to it.
The floors had been finished up, and the cabinets were put in.
Even the countertops were being laid in the large room.
Wylie and Rosie had a solarium off their kitchen that held fresh herbs and plants.
But he loved that they could have a meal in the large area, too, which he’d wanted for his own home.
It looked to him like it was finished for all but the plants that he was going to have put in there.
“There are real stairs.” He laughed at himself. “The last time I was here, there was only an illusion of stairs that the men were using. Now it looks like I can go up to the second floor and have a look around.”