Chapter 12
CHAPTER
TWELVE
LoneStar
Booker has some sort of equipment he ordered from a buddy, which is military grade, and is scanning the entire property, both inside and out for listening devices.
So far, he’s come up empty which is a good thing, but again, it’s not.
It leaves a lot of our questions open-ended without knowing where to go to close those gaps.
If somebody hasn’t been eavesdropping on our meetings and conversations, how are they getting their intel?
Because there’s no way they’re not, they know too much about what our next planned move is and have been counteracting it like they’re professional chess players.
They’re getting insider information, I know they are, there’s no question about it in my mind. It’s a gut instinct.
There’s a game going on, one with dire consequences and one the Kings aren’t privy too, and that is unacceptable.
I’m having a hard time keeping my feet still as I walk from one end of our fence line to the other, unable to settle my mind.
Booker can’t physically take care of two jobs at the same time, so his search for Britton has been placed on a temporary hold, which isn’t setting right with me.
Britton could be in imminent danger. She needs me and I feel like I’m letting her down.
I should be out on the streets, scouring the world for her, saving her from whatever shitshow she’s found herself starring in.
However, I know if I do that, I could end up being on the other side of the country and some info would come in and I wouldn’t be able to get to her in a timely manner.
No matter what I do or where I go, it’s a crapshoot.
Damned if I do and damned if I don’t—the running theme of my life these days.
As I walk through the forestry behind the clubhouse, a small voice captures my attention and I tune in, recognizing Elodie’s excited voice and follow it to where she’s bent over a few leaves, moving them around with a stick.
Jersey is directly behind her, little G strapped to her chest in the carrier Icer uses when he walks around with the kiddo.
“Whatch’a doing, Ellie?” I ask, needing a distraction, walking closer to her and using the nickname that slips free sometimes when I talk to her. Indiana scowls at me when I do and Icer grunts at me, but sometimes, saying Elodie can be a mouthful.
“We’re looking for bugs in their natural habitant,” Elodie animatedly replies, her eyes bright and shiny with elation.
“Habitat,” Jersey says, politely correcting her in a soft, soothing tone.
“What she said,” Elodie smarts off, aiming a thumb over her shoulder and pointing it in Jersey’s direction.
“What she said is correct,” I state, crouching down beside Elodie and looking down at what she’s discovered. “What have you found so far in your exploration?”
“Explore a what?” Elodie asks, her eyebrows scrunched together.
“Exploration,” I repeat, smiling at her cuteness. I try and break it down into words that’ll be easier for her to decipher. “It means walking around and looking for things.”
“We’ll add that to our dictionary words,” Jersey inputs, typing something into her phone.
Jersey looks up at me and says, “I’m making notes in my app of things we need to add to the curriculum as we explore.”
“Ah,” I answer, glancing back over at Elodie to give her my attention. “So, little lady, what have you found?”
“Lady bugs and roly polies!” she yells, glancing up at me again.
“They’re so cute,” she gushes, holding her hands together in front of her chest, poking herself with the stick on the chin.
She looks at it with a frown, as if it’s betrayed her before shrugging her shoulders and going back to her search.
I look up at Jersey and say, “It could be worse, you could’ve come upon a fire ant pile.
They’re notorious for making their homes here where there’s not a lot of foot traffic.
I accidentally stepped on one that was covered by some fallen leaves and had them going up and down my leg, biting me along the way. ”
“We’ve been lucky in that case,” she says, bouncing a now fussy boy. She went into the right field, she’s great with kids of all ages it seems. “But she gets restless when she’s stuck indoors so I try to add some learning experiences to the outdoors.”
“How do you like the one on one instruction instead of teaching a class full of kids?” I ask her as I stand back up, letting Elodie do her thing without me hovering over her.
“I’m enjoying it,” she responds. “I get more time to interact with her and she’s not overwhelmed by the larger number of kids.”
“Do you think she has social awkwardness?” I inquire, unsure of how that’ll go over as she gets older since there’s always a clubhouse full of people.
“No,” she replies, shaking her head. “With her, I don’t think it’s a case of social anxiety, I think it’s more along the lines of the bullying she was dealing with had her closing in on herself.
Her trust in adults far exceeds that of kids.
Unless it’s family.” Jersey looks down at little G after forming that comparison, making crook-eyed faces at him which has him giggling.
“Daycare duty?” I ask, nodding my head from her to him.
“Yeah, his mom had to do some work and Icer is on some sort of errand, so I got to keep him with me.” She never looks away from him while speaking with me, longing in her eyes.
I feel a story there, but it’s not my business to pry so I dismiss my curiosity and instead, turn back around and watch Elodie. “Are you only looking for bugs, Ellie?”
“Not nessassailily,” she answers, massacring the word.
This time, I’m the one to correct her, “Necessarily.”
“That’s a hard one,” she grumbles, tossing her stick in a fit of anger.
“That’s another thing we’re dealing with. She gets aggravated and tosses the closest thing to her. We’re working on healthier ways to handle upsetting things.” After she informs me of that, she swings back to our despondent girl and asks, “Do you need to walk it off, Elodie?”
“No,” Elodie responds, a dramatic sigh following it. “I just don’t understand why words have to be so hard to say.”
“Life isn’t easy, Ellie,” I tell her, figuring it’s not too early and she’s not too young for me to impart some words of wisdom. “But when you struggle, and we help you, listen to us and know that we aren’t trying to upset you, we want what’s best for you.”
“Thank you, Uncle Star,” she says, still sounding defeated.
Wanting to lighten her mood and bring the sparkle back to her eye, I lean down and whisper, “Wanna know what I saw earlier today?”
“What?” she leans in and asks, her voice just as low as mine was.
“A tickle monster and he sprinkled some dust on me! Now, all I want to do is tickle little girls,” I excitedly express, reaching down and tickling her ribcage.
She wiggles in my arms and eventually frees herself, running to Jersey and hiding behind her. “Go wash that dust off, Uncle Star!”
I chased Elodie around a bit, until I got tired and decided to part ways with the trio and let Jersey continue with her lesson. As I stroll back into the clubhouse, Riptide is standing there, eyes on the floor. “What’d I miss now?” I groan.
“Nothing,” he replies, waving me away.
“It’s something or you wouldn’t be staring at the ground like that,” I point out.
He stomps his foot and lifts his head, the glare on his face has me ready to retreat.
Rip doesn’t lose his temper often, but when he does, it’s all hands on deck.
Otherwise, the town will burn down around him if we’re not there with water to put the fire out.
“The bank turned down our loan request for the new businesses.”
“What? Why?” I ask, not understanding. “We have the capital, our credit is there, so what’s their reasoning for the denial?”
“Nothing that makes a lick of sense,” he grumbles. “We’re going to have to go out of Canton if we want to find some financing.”
“Need to go to a bigger bank if you don’t want them influenced by the town council,” I state. “You know that bitch has a hand in the town’s financial endeavors.”
Rip scoffs before asking, “Yeah, but what’s next? We won’t be able to rent or buy any property in town for our companies without her blacklisting us. I thought about going a town or two over, but I don’t know how far her reach is.”
“So, do you think she’s trying to force our hand and run us out of town?” I inquire.
“That’s exactly what I think she’s doing,” he replies. “We’ve got to get her and her cronies out of office before they sink this damn town.”
“What about that fed Van hooked us up with, Rip? Isn’t that what she’s here to do?”
“Yeah, but her hands are tied with legal tape,” he rebuffs. “Every move she makes has to be approved by those higher up than she is.”
“Then let’s reverse the play and turn it back around on her,” I suggest. “Instead of us being the ones run out of town, she’ll be the one packing up and relocating.”
“What do you have in mind?” he inquires, his face no longer pinched.
“Did you read my report from my last stakeout?” I ask him, knowing that what I found her doing will get her removed from office with the snap of our fingers. Either that, or it’ll be some pretty fantastic blackmail material.
“Not yet, that was the plan for the day. I’m behind on all of the paperwork after dealing with this banking bullshit,” he informs me.
“Go read it, Rip. After you do, you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel,” I promise him. “I’m gonna check in with Booker and see if he has any leads on Britton. But I’ll be around if you want to go over what I found out.”
“Come to my office once you finish with Booker. I may have some questions,” he orders.
“I’ll be there,” I remark, leaving him to go do some reading while I walk down the hallway to Booker’s office to inquire if he’s been able to uncover anything crucial on my woman’s whereabouts.
My feet falter when those thoughts filter through my brain.
My woman? When did I start thinking of her that way and why didn’t I realize that’s what I was doing before now?