Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“It’s over,” Cindy told Jonas on the phone several days later.
“What?” He put down his hammer and walked away from the shed he and Thomas were building.
“The Sheriff’s Department raided the truck stop. Olivia’s okay, she called me. And she said Jen told her that Brenda’s getting charged, too. Though she didn’t have specifics.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Myra didn’t answer her phone, shockingly enough.”
“Was Olivia heading home?” he asked. “I can go over there, see if she needs something.”
“She was going to, but I suggested she grab Tasha and we meet up at the pack house. See if anyone else wants to meet up. It helps that it’s Friday.
We can have a, what do you call it, like an after-action report or whatever.
And then we can gossip. We can get pizzas.
I texted Myra to see if she’s good with that, I’ll let you know as soon as she answers. ”
“A debriefing, I think. And that sounds good to me.”
She laughed. “Remembering that word would have made the text to Myra easier.”
He went back to the shed and updated Thomas, who called Bill out of the trailer to give him the news as well.
It wasn’t long before he had a text confirming the pack house debriefing was on.
Cindy said she and Olivia were handling contacting everyone and organizing food, so he was able to go back to the construction efforts.
By the time they were ready to clean up and head to the house, the shed was complete.
Bill came back out to offer his compliments.
Thomas said it was Bill’s job to paint it, and they started a discussion about the color.
Laughing as he told them goodbye, Jonas went home to shower.
When they arrived at the house, everyone was there except Jen, who didn’t get off work for another hour.
They gathered in the kitchen as Cindy and Olivia handed out plates and drinks. There were pizza boxes on the counter and a thick stack of napkins. He kissed his mate and grabbed a slice of sausage and mushroom and one of buffalo chicken.
“Jen said she’s eating at work, that’s why we’re not waiting,” Adam said as they all found seats at the table.
“How did the shed building go,” Myra asked before taking a bite of her slice.
“It certainly looks great,” Bill offered. “It will look even better when I’ve painted it barn red.”
Thomas growled. “It’s not a barn, you can’t paint it red.”
“There’s no rule that says barn red is only allowed on barns.”
“It’s in the name!”
Everyone burst out laughing, and Thomas picked an olive off his pizza and threw it at his mate.
“How was school, Tasha? Anything fun and exciting today?” Adam asked.
“No, but Mom did tell me that you said the Changs decided they’re going to move here. I’m super excited about that. Can you give them my cell phone number so Blaire can text me? I’m bummed they’re not coming until summer, but at least we’ll be able to have fun before school starts.”
“Absolutely,” he promised.
“When does Latisha get here,” Joe asked. “Next month, right?”
“That’s her plan right now,” Myra confirmed. “Adam and Jonas volunteered to drive out to meet her. One of them will drive her moving truck back. She’s going to fly.”
“Awesome,” Tasha said, her mouth full.
Olivia gave her a look that had Tasha flushing.
“If you guys want company, let me know,” Robert said. “I wouldn’t mind that road trip.”
“Any word from Becky and Soo?” Candace asked.
Myra nodded. “They’re really hoping to make it work, just worried about the job situation. I told them there was no rush, the invitation was open, it doesn’t have an expiration date.”
They ate pizza and chatted about everything except the situation at hand. Jen arrived shortly after they’d cleaned up and they regathered at the table.
“Okay. Here’s what we know,” Adam said. “Federal agents worked with our deputy, and showed up at the truck stop late this afternoon. They took the files and computers and sent everyone home, telling them not to come back.”
“So none of the working employees were held?” Joe asked.
“No, they didn’t seem interested in anyone who was at work,” Olivia answered. “As the manager, I’m the one they gave the warrant to. They asked me to call everyone into the diner, checked people’s names off of a list as they identified themselves, and then told us all we could go.”
Robert was sitting next to her, and he patted her arm. “That must have been distressing.”
“It probably was for the other employees,” Olivia said. “For me, it was a relief, because it was awkward knowing something was wrong, something like this was going to be happening, but needing to act like everything was normal.”
“Yeah, that had to have sucked,” Bill said.
Olivia just nodded. “Of course, now I don’t have a job, but that seems crass to think about after all that’s happened.”
“Not at all,” Myra assured her. “We will definitely work on that. As for the rest of this nastiness…I spoke to Jose, Brenda’s alpha.
I had filled him in a few days ago, with what we knew and what was happening as far as the investigations.
When I called to let him know of today’s events, he said he was ready to bring Brenda in.
Then he called back to let me know she had confessed to skimming money from her clients for years, getting into deep financial trouble herself and screwing Cindy’s parents and another client—not a pack member—in order to get herself out of it.
She’d hoped by leaving town and coming to a tiny pack, that she’d escape discovery. ”
“What does our being a small pack have to do with anything?” Candace asked.
“Hierarchy, I would bet,” Adam answered. “She figured she’d be higher up here than fourth.”
There was a lot of overlapping reaction, but Jonas tuned it out and studied Cindy. She was shaking her head slowly.
“I can’t believe she thought she’d get away with all that,” she said.
“She did for a number of years,” he pointed out.
“So,” Tasha began, hesitatingly. “Her alpha asked her questions and she had to answer him with the truth, right?”
“Right,” Adam said.
“And she got away with it all these years because no one suspected anything was wrong, therefore no one asked any questions.”
“Right again,” Adam said.
“Wow,” she said.
“He confirmed that she doesn’t have any money, unfortunately,” Myra continued. “Her house is mortgaged to the hilt. So there’s not much chance of getting anything back for those she swindled.”
“How long have you been waiting to work the word swindled into the conversation?” Cindy asked.
They all chuckled.
“You know me too well,” Myra said with a grin. “I’m sorry about your parents. I can’t think of any way to help, but if anyone has ideas about that, let me know.” She looked around the table. “Have I missed anything? Jen?”
“I can confirm that neither the Sheriff’s Office or the feds are interested in Olivia as anything other than a witness, and they’re pretty thankful for what she was able to give them.
It sped things up on their end. That, and apparently they received an anonymous data file that corroborated what Olivia had told them, as well as some stuff she didn’t have access to.
That’s why they were able to move forward. ”
Olivia blushed as the others offered congratulations.
“Have we figured out why Brenda wanted to get someone hired there?” Bill asked.
“Oh, yes, Jose did question her about that. She just wanted to have done a favor for the pack. She was certain that would make an already obvious invitation a slam dunk.”
“Kind of delusional, isn’t she?” Joe asked.
“Kind of,” Adam agreed. “Apparently she had used them to launder money in the past. So she knew what they were up to, but they’ve been at it a long time, so she had no reason to think they’d get found out.
When we didn’t extend an invitation to join the pack, she was so pissed, she contacted someone she knew at the treasury department, not caring that her old friends would get destroyed by the trouble she was trying to cause Olivia and the pack. ”
“Wow,” Tasha said again.
“Of course, there was already a local investigation happening, but she didn’t know that.”
His dad was shaking his head. “This is all just crazy. I thought New York was lively, but it was nothing like here.”
His mom slapped his shoulder but everyone else laughed.
Myra’s phone beeped and she checked the display. “That’s John,” she said, reading the message. “They’ve arrested the owners of the truck stop. One guy got shot, but otherwise smooth operation.”
“Oh, well then,” Cindy said. “Smooth.”
“Who’s up for a run,” Adam asked. “I think we’ve gotten all we’re going to get from this tonight.”
“Excellent idea,” Myra said, kissing her mate.
They raced into the night, yipping and playing for several hours. They rested before meandering back and making their way into the house, where they piled on the living room rug and slept as a pack.
Jonas woke early and nudged Cindy awake.
She yawned and pulled herself free of the wolf pile, and they went into the laundry room to change and put on their clothes.
Cindy was still sleepy and she leaned into him, soft and warm.
He breathed in deep, loving the scent of wolf and mate and woman, all Cindy.
“We could stay here for breakfast, or I can make you pancakes and keep you naked all day at home,” he said.
“Mmm, pancakes and naked Jonas. I don’t even have to think about it.”
They quietly let themselves out of the house and he drove them home. She’d gotten a ride with Myra, so they didn’t have to worry about a second car.
He made them pancakes and she juiced oranges and heated maple syrup. Which gave him interesting ideas. She saw him eyeing the bottle, and the twinkle in her eye and the shit-eating grin told him she was on the same page.
They ate a lot of pancakes and decided they weren’t feeling quite that sexy with full stomachs, so they took his laptop to the bed and checked out different houses and blueprints. Naked.