Chapter 17 #2
“Yeah, it sounds just as stupid as you can possibly imagine. Basically, she’s as deluded as Charlie was, thinking Chelsea’s student loan proceeds were a big pile of cash in her apartment.”
Penny frowned at Sterling and Lindsey. “You still didn’t tell me where Charlie was.”
“Yes, I did. I told you he was in jail,” Lindsey repeated, turning to face Penny, “and Detective Richard here is the one who put him there.”
He looked at Penny and nodded. “I sure did. Charlie went into holding last night. We also found a stash of unregistered weapons in his vehicle so he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”
“Why didn’t he call me?” Penny asked.
Richard shrugged. “I don’t know, but that was his choice. What I do know is that you may get a chance to ask him yourself because you’re going to jail too.”
“I haven’t done anything,” she snapped. “They were intruders in my daughter’s apartment. I heard the intruders, and I came running.”
“Yeah, and where were you running from?” Richard asked, his hands on his hips as he glared at her.
“I was outside, and I came running in.”
“No, you were inside the apartment,” Lindsey corrected. “You were hiding in the bathroom.”
“I was afraid that somebody would break into my daughter’s place.”
“No, you were here yourself, looking for some big pile of cash money.”
She flushed. “My daughter owes me, and you don’t know anything about it. It’s not your problem.”
“Your daughter doesn’t owe you shit,” Richard declared, with a headshake. “Even if she did, that would be a civil matter, so you can go sue her.”
“Sue my daughter? Why would I do that?”
“That’s the only way you could possibly get any money from her legally. Christ, now I would be tempted to stand in as a witness for her myself.”
Penny stared at him in shock. “It was an agreement between the two of us, and you don’t have any say in the matter.”
“Says you,” he snapped. “Your daughter is free and clear, and you’ll be up for fraud and as many other charges as I can find.”
“For what?” she snapped right back.
“For trying to steal your nephew’s property, for trying to steal your daughter’s student loan proceeds, and anything else I can find, including brandishing a weapon, which I presume is not registered.”
“I don’t know. I got it from Charlie,” she said, “so it’s not my problem.”
Sterling snorted. And that was her MO. It wasn’t her problem. Nothing was ever her problem. It was always everybody else’s, but to Sterling’s relief, it appeared that Richard wasn’t playing her game.
He handcuffed her and told Sterling and Lindsey, “Please give Chelsea my best wishes, and let her know that her mother is headed to jail.” He stopped, looked back at Sterling, and added, “So, you know, the timing would be really good right now.”
It took Sterling a moment to catch on, but then he nodded. “Good point. I have a truckload of supplies to take back to the ranch right now, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a whole truckload of people coming the other way.”
Richard smiled. “Exactly.”
Lindsey grabbed a few more things for Chelsea, then picked up Chelsea’s bag and walked outside. Chelsea’s mother still screamed at the top of her lungs that Chelsea owed her. Sterling called Timber and explained what had happened and the opportunity it now provided.
“We’ve got a bunch of men here who are ready to go right now,” Timber replied. “We’ll send them all that way.”
“Confirm they have overnight bags, and I guess we’ll have a barbecue of some kind. I don’t have the slightest idea what the place will look like, what food might be there.”
“Not a problem,” Timber said. “If nothing else, we can bring in pizza.”
Sterling laughed. “I’m not against that either.”
By the time they had gotten back to the Haven, they had passed two vehicles heading out already.
As they quickly unloaded the truck, Chelsea came out to join them. Sterling smiled at her. “Your mother is in custody and headed for jail, so we are taking over the family farm,” he shared. “You are welcome to come along with us, or you can stay here if you would be more comfortable.”
“Actually I really want to come,” she told him. “Besides, I can give you the lowdown on some of the work that we did and maybe help you find things. I don’t imagine you remember much about the place.”
“No, I sure don’t,” he told her. “I wonder if Grandpa would want to come.”
Chelsea’s face lit up with laughter. “I think he would get a big kick out of it.”
“Maybe I’ll call him on the way, if I can.”
“You do that, and I’ll head that way.”
He quickly loaded up his gear and told Timber, “I’ll give you a shout once I see the lay of the land. Thanks for the help.”
“Does that mean you won’t be coming back to work anymore?” he asked, with half a smile.
“Oh, I’ll be back,” Sterling vowed, “but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing yet. However, I’ve got six of your dogs earmarked for training.” When Timber eyed him in surprise, Sterling smiled. “I haven’t been completely idle,” he added.
“Do you think they will be any good?” Timber asked hopefully.
“Yeah, absolutely. I’m not exactly sure about four others, but I think we have some good search dog potential in there,” Sterling shared. “I need to spend some time with them and figure out which dogs would be the best prospects for each job.”
“Perfect,” Timber replied. “That sounds great, and I look forward to seeing what you can do. Besides you did great looking after Red, our little injured fox, so I’m sure you can handle anything that comes your way.”
“I hope so,” he conceded, “and it finally feels as if I have a purpose. I still need to check out the potential of having some land on my end for additional housing for disabled vets. I just don’t even know what I have yet.”
“You go sort that out,” Timber suggested, “and then we’ll talk.”
“Red huh? What a great name. Can she be released yet?”
“Nope not for a little bit, but we are building an outdoor space for her, and as soon as we can we’ll release her back outdoors.”
“Perfect.” With that, Sterling headed to one of Timber’s trucks. As he turned, Lindsey walked toward him.
“Can I come?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied, “but it might get ugly.”
“That’s fine, but I doubt that it will get much uglier than the last two days have been.”
He laughed and nodded. “Good point, but you never know. I guess it depends on whether Penny sees which side of life her bread is buttered on. She made bail but she might do something really stupid and end up right back in jail,” he said, with a smile.
“Still, I do need to take possession of what’s mine. ”
“Oh, I get it.” She scrambled in the truck, and it was a surprisingly tense drive. She asked, “Are you expecting trouble?”
“I don’t know what I’m expecting,” he admitted. “Penny and Charlie should both be in jail, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stay there.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she agreed.
Sterling added, “A judge could let them both out pretty easily.”
“Great,” she muttered, “not what I want to think about either.”
“No, but it’s something that we have to keep in mind.” As soon as they pulled into the long drive at the family farm, Sterling stopped and stared.
“Are you okay?” Lindsey asked him.
“Yeah,” he muttered, but his voice broke. “It’s been a long time.” He drove all the way down, then hopped out, walked up to the house, and saw that the men had already started to pile up personal belongings to one side of the front porch.
He stared at the stack of things. “Penny just moved right in. That’s my mother’s old couch.”
The guys heard him and picked up the couch and brought it back inside.
Sterling sighed, overwhelmed by emotions he hadn’t expected. “I can’t even freaking believe this, but everything … that coffee table, the dining room set, that’s my grandpa’s. So just the personal belongings will go,” he muttered.
The guys nearby nodded.
Joel asked, “Penny’s vehicle is probably still at Chelsea’s apartment, huh?”
Sterling frowned at Joel, then nodded. “Probably, unless the police moved it for some reason.”
It took about two hours to go through the house, making sure they had all the personal belongings boxed up for Charlie and Penny.
Then they drove the boxes to the property line, stacked everything outside of the fence line and left it with a note.
Then they closed the gate. Not that it would keep anybody out, but it was certainly a gate that declared very clearly that somebody was home.
And, with that task done, Sterling and the guys took to their trucks and began searching the property. They found unused barns in rough shape, but, considering they hadn’t had any maintenance over the years, it wasn’t surprising.
Sterling stopped at one point, shook his head, and sighed. “Man, I’ve got work to do.”
One of the men nodded. “It’s a big place.”
“Yeah,” Sterling agreed. “Just under ten acres, I think.”
“Geeze, that is one hell of a gift from your mom.”
Sterling turned to him and smiled. “You’re right,” he said, “and that’s how I need to think about it. This is my mother’s place. She put her heart and soul into it.”
When a shout came from Chelsea, he turned to see his grandpa walking slowly toward him. Sterling headed to him and gave the older man a hug.
Tears were in the old man’s eyes as he looked around. “This is where you belong.”
“It is where I belong,” Sterling declared. “I just wasn’t aware it was mine.”
“No, but that will all change now.” His grandpa asked, “Are they really in jail?”
Sterling nodded. “Do you still think Penny had nothing to do with Mom’s death?”
“I sure hope not. … I’ve given it a lot of thought since you brought it up the other day, but I don’t have anything new to offer.”
“Good enough,” Sterling replied. “In the end, it may be a question I just never get an answer for.”
“That could very well be, and it will be hard because we both want answers. Yet, if there are no answers to be had, it may just be the way it is.”
Just then came a shout and a commotion.