Chapter Two
Gunner studied her for a moment then asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Avery sighed and explained it, “Mr. Lester has been looking at the books more closely in the last few weeks. He called in his own CPA and he’s doing an audit. He’s gonna find the missing funds and he can be vicious when he wants to be.”
Andy nodded. “I can’t decide which one is worse. One’s a bloody Mary and the other is the evil grandpa.”
Avery agreed as she told Gunner, “I’ve seen him sometimes and the way he treats his brothers and their families is terrible.
If they fall short of the payments he expects from them he’ll take more than his share and his brothers’ families suffer.
And I think his mind is sharper than Sarah thinks it is.
She assumes he’ll never notice but if he’s looking into his accounts, he’ll find a lot of his money is missing and he’ll know exactly who took it. ”
King joined them and asked, “What do you think he’ll do if he finds the money missing?”
Avery looked up at the two men and stated, “I think they will end up killing each other and neither one will regret it one bit.”
Gunner shook his head and looked over at King. “If they still have Gina they might shoot her as well. I just hope Jett can find them first.”
Just then, King turned his head as a commotion grew louder at the back door. He and Gunner took off down the hall and found Stitches standing there with his weapon pointed at a younger woman who was holding her hands up in the air.
King slid to a stop and he looked the woman over carefully.
Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her clothes look dirty and ill fitting. They were way too big for her and she had a piece of rope around her waist to keep her pants up. Her jacket was too big for her as it covered her shirt. Her feet were in well worn tennis shoes.
“Who the fuck are you?” King growled.
The young woman raised her arms up in surrender.
King heard a sound behind him. He turned to see Andy and Avery standing there.
Andy looked stunned as she stared at the woman in the doorway with her hands up and caught her breath, “Tameria, what the hell are you doing here?”
“Tameria?” King barked out sharply.
Andy nodded. “This is my cousin Tameria. She’s one of my Uncle Brink’s kids.”
King turned his head and barked out, “Well girl, what are you doing here?”
Tameria swallowed hard. Her arms were getting tired from holding them up. “I had to come and warn you guys.”
“Warn us about what?” King asked.
Tameria looked at King and said, “About what Sarah and Grandpa were really doing here.”
King glanced at Gunner then motioned her inside. “Well, get yer little butt in here and tell us what you came to tell us then. We got men tracking Sarah and her dad.”
Tameria paused to ask, “Why?”
“They shot my son Train and grabbed Gina then took off with her, that’s why.
That was after they sent twelve men here to try to release the prisoners we took after they tried to come in here and kill us all.
When that didn’t work, they sent in another crew to try to get their people back.
Then Sarah came to try to get Gabby to give her the money her mom left for her.
That didn’t work either. So little Missie, tell us what grand scheme Sarah has in mind this time? ”
Tameria sighed hard then she slowly lowered her hands.
She reached inside her jacket pocket then froze when Stitches cocked his weapon.
She looked at him and said, “Inside my pocket is a notebook. It has notes and timelines in it. I think your guys need to read it.” Then she lifted her hand away from her pocket slowly. “I don’t have any weapons.”
Andy stepped forward and looked at her cousin then she reached inside the pocket and withdrew the notebook. She handed it to King. Then she hugged her cousin lightly. “I’m sorry cousin.”
Tameria nodded. Then she shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t expect any member of the Asher family to be welcome here right now.
But I had to come. Sarah and grandpa are just about out of options and this was their last-minute gamble.
They stopped at the bank before they came here so I think they are planning on leaving the area.
They already shut down their house in Houston. ”
“Did they empty their accounts?” King growled.
Tameria nodded. “I think so.”
King looked at Gunner. “Damn, we didn’t get their money in time.”
Avery snorted. “Maybe not their main ones but Sarah and Lester didn’t keep their money in just one account.
Sarah has five accounts, all in different banks and I don’t think she’d risk emptying all her accounts with her dad in tow.
She might take just the one she had at the same bank. But that’s just pocket change for her.”
“I hope you’re right about that,” King stated.
Avery nodded. “Lester doesn’t know about four of the five accounts. If he did, she wouldn’t have them. He might be older but he’s still a miserable S-O-B.” She snorted. “And Sarah ain’t no fool. She might have plans to ditch him at some point when he’s no longer useful to her.”
Tameria nodded in agreement. “You got that right. She owns a house near here and I think that’s where they are going now.”
King’s eyes narrowed at her. “Do you know where this place is?”
Tameria nodded. “Yeah, it’s a ways down, just outside of Cedar Park. She has been going there at least once a month for the last two years.”
Andy frowned as she didn’t know about this. “What the hell for?”
Tameria sighed hard. “Your mom is getting in deep with a bad MC over that way. I think she’s found a new way to make a bunch of money and I don’t think it’s actually legal but when has that ever stopped the Queen of Mean?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Andy cocked her head at her.
Tameria sighed heavily. “I've been watching her for a while now, Andy. Bout two years ago she began making trips to Cedar Park and she’d be gone all day. Well one day, I followed her over there and she went to this house. I watched as she went into the house, then an hour later four bikers drove up and they went in too. Then later the bikers left, so I got close to the house, looking in the window, there she was sitting at the kitchen table. I couldn’t believe what I saw.
She had a pile of pills on the table along with a pile of cash.
She was dividing up the pills into baggies then putting the baggies into a grey satchel and she put the money in her purse.
Then she left the house and started driving back to Houston.
When she got to the city line she drove out a ways and stopped at an old church.
She put that satchel under the front steps and drove away.
I waited there for an hour to see who would come, then a couple of bikers pulled into the parking lot.
One of them got off his bike and retrieved the satchel then they took off. ”
“So you were following her around,” King asked the obvious.
Tameria nodded. “I got an old scooter bike that I fixed up myself. I used it to find out just what all Aunt Sarah was doing. Cause I knew it was bad. I’ve been wanting her to go to jail since I was four years old and learned that I had no decent clothes to wear to kindergarten.
I heard my parents arguing about Sarah and Lester, taking all the money and we couldn’t even get school supplies.
Never mind all the years after. All the hunger and doing without almost everything.
So yes, I followed her everywhere and I kept an eye on that old church.
She came back three days later and picked up the satchel again.
But before she did, she sat in her car and took out a lot of money, counting it, I think.
She then drove away. I followed her and sure enough, she went back to that same old house.
Hours later, she returned and put the satchel under the steps at that same church again. ”
The hallway got real quiet as her words set in.
Andy shook her head and asked in a pain filled voice, “So, Mom’s playing courier for drugs now too?”
Avery nodded at her. “She would do what makes her the most cash.”
Just then, Grizzly’s voice came from a doorway that led up to the roof, “Can you prove she delivers the drugs?” He stomped down the last few steps and came to stand beside King. He stared at Tameria with a puzzled look on his face.