Lana quickly dressed and put her hair up with a clasp when her cell phone rang. It was charging on the dresser and startled her. She glanced down and saw Sharon's name on the phone.
"Hi Sharon, how's my favorite cousin?"
"Hey baby girl, I miss you and was wondering when you will be heading back?"
"Well, I might not be coming home any time soon. I planned to call you when I made a decision." She couldn't help but sound excited.
She could tell by her voice that something was going on. "So tell me the scoop."
"I have met someone." She could visualize Sharon dusting as she talked on the phone. She always did that. Sharon loved to talk on the phone, and that was why her house was always so clean, she cleaned while she chatted.
"Are you kidding, who is he, and how did you meet him? I am so excited for you. You know James would give him the third degree."
"I know, but I am so serious about this guy I'm thinking about moving here. Sharon, I have never cared for anyone as much as I care for him. He's the owner of the house I'm renting. I can't wait for you to meet him," Lana sighed.
"Girl, I'm so glad you have met someone. I know the last several weeks have been difficult for you, for all of us. You have that tone in your voice, and it wasn't there a week ago." She didn't want to change the subject, but reading the will was imperative. "I called to check on you and ask you when you're coming back."
"If it were up to Mike, I would never come back. Any particular reason you might need me to come sooner?" She didn't want to tell her about all her problems there, she knew she had enough on her plate without adding to it.
"Well, it's just we got the will out of the safety deposit box, and the attorney wanted to read it, but I wanted to wait until you got here," she answered while acting a little nervous.
"Sharon… I don't want a thing from James. So I don't know why I need to be there. I will sign everything over to you. You were the one married to him. I know he loved me and wanted to leave me something, but I could care less," she answered truthfully. She didn't care what he had, nor did she want anything.
Both of them were quiet. "Are you serious? I don't know what James would think about that."
"He'd tell me to do with it what I want. I want to give it to you. The way I look at it, you have two choices: keep the money, or we can put it in trust for kids or grandkids. That is what James would say." She just now remembered how James called her squirt and so does Mike. No wonder she loved the sound of Mike calling her that.
There was a pause, "How about we put half in trust and the other half I put toward paying off the house?"
Lana could tell she seemed nervous. She guessed she felt guilty asking her about this, and she didn't know why because she was sure the stock didn't add up to much money. But hey, if it helped pay off the house, that's less worry for Sharon. "That sounds great to me, and if you need me to sign the papers you can overnight them to me and I'll get them signed and overnight them back. How does that sound?"
"Oh Lana that sounds great, and you don't know how much this will help. James sick leave at work was only thirty days, and after that I only have what's in checking. This will tide me over until I can see what cash I have and what I will need."
"What about his life insurance?"
"Baby girl, he let that lapse. When James turned fifty, he let it go. It got too expensive. So right now, all I have is what is in checking and savings. And you know my brother Adam was so sick, James put all our money toward paying the hospital and helping his family. We were slowly building back up, but just haven't quite made it."
"Well, you get those papers sent to me, and I'll make sure they get sent back. I'm sorry I didn't know you all were out so much for your brother's illness."
"God bless you, and where do I send the papers?"
"I don't know the address, but I'll get it and email it to you."
"That sounds great. Baby girl, you take care, and I'll see you and Mike soon," she said with a little giggle.
"Bye, and don't worry Sharon, everything will be okay. I'll make sure of that."
"Thanks, love you, and call when you can."
"I will, and I love you too. Kiss the kids for me." Lana hung up the phone and ran to the kitchen. She was late getting dinner started.
*****
She washed her hands and started mixing the beans. Mike had already pulled items out of the pantry and fridge. "I started by opening the cans. I hope these are the right ones."
She glanced over and said, "You did good babe, I use pork-n-beans. How many cans did you open?"
Mike counted the open cans. "Five."
"How many men will be here?"
"Um, I think there will be about seven."
"The five cans should be enough." She leaned over, grabbed the onions and chopped away.
She added brown sugar, BBQ sauce, onions, and bell pepper then popped the dish in the oven.
Quickly she made her sauce for the coleslaw. It was her grandmother's recipe, and it was simple but delicious. She used this same recipe in her carrot and raisin salad. She would mix the sauce and cabbage at the last minute. Finally, she poured herself a glass of tea and joined Mike in the living room.
Mike got off the phone. "Raymond will be here in a few minutes, and he has talked to Tony."
Joe and Lana looked at Mike, wanting him to finish.
"What did he say?" Joe asked with anticipation.
"Tony admitted having an affair with Ms. Borders, but he has no clue about anything else.
He also admitted he had sex with her before he left on his trip."
Joe was excited and wanted to know the scoop. But he wanted to hear it from Raymond.
She walked over to the fireplace and poked at the wood, hoping to get a strong flame going.
She watched as the little flickers tried to reach the highest log. The stone fireplace was beautiful with a mantle she could tell Mike made. It was carved with the initials of his family. The carving of Kyle was sloppy, so she imagined his little boy helping his daddy carve this beauty. Now she knew why Mike could never get rid of this place, it had too many fond memories.
"A penny for your thoughts," Mike asked while wrapping his arms around his sweetie.
She leaned into his chest and enjoyed the moment before responding. "You don't have to pay anything for my thoughts. I happen to be thinking about how efficient you and your team are.
Just a few short days ago this case was in disarray. Now all the puzzle pieces are starting to fit together. I am in awe of you guys." She didn't want to tell him what was truly on her mind. For some reason, it seemed too private.
"Honey I told you this is what we do, and many times it is a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces.
And all we do is find the right pieces and then put it all together. Sometimes the pieces don't fit, and sometimes there are many pieces. But we eventually figure it all out, piece by piece. I wouldn't change my job for anything."
"One other thing I noticed about your team."
"What's that?"
"Sara, oh my, she is wonderful and so insightful."
"She is incredible. She sounds young on the phone, but she's about forty." Mike turned to Joe. "How old do you think Sara is?"
"I would say about forty."
"Parrot." Mike just looked at Joe and raised his left eyebrow, then continued, "She has premature gray hair. She is completely gray and short like you. I think she has a Master's degree and is married with one child who just started college. Her husband is an engineer at one of the airlines in Boston. We all love her immensely and couldn't do our job as well without her."
The heater kicked on, pulling all the air throughout the house. The wonderful smell of baked beans lingered. "I've got to check on supper." Immediately Joe and Mike followed her. "Do you guys want a taste?"
They nodded their heads.
Mike lifted the heavy beans out of the oven. They smelled so good she got a spoon for both of them and let them taste. "Oh baby, these are the best beans I have ever tasted."
Joe agreed by shaking his head.
Raymond and the gang pulled up, and the two men found other things to preoccupy their minds—the story about Tony.
The guys bantered back and forth about busting down the door. There were at least three different conversations going on at one time. Raymond talked about how they were vultures, waiting on their prey. They told the story of crouching in the bushes waiting for their cue Cooper.
Who in the hell uses the word Cooper as a raid word? She kind of liked the word shazam or pickle juice. But Cooper, that boggled her mind. Later she would ask Mike how they choose their raid words.
As Raymond told the story, Joe listened with delight. His eyes sparkled as he took in every word. She could tell he had wanted to be a cop since he was a child. He lived and breathed this business.
Raymond told the story of Tony in the back of the cop car. "He called me a cop wannabe."
"Did Tony know you were a deputy?" Joe asked.
"I told him, but he was so mad and drunk, I don't think it registered."
Mike took many notes during all this discussion. He downloaded Tony's driving schedule, then compared it to the time lines. Items such as receipts, dates, and timelines were entered on their makeshift boards. "Guys we need to look over the timeline for Tony, and tell me your thoughts."
Raymond began, "We know he had sex with Ms. Borders at least seven days ago."
Mike corrected the time. "It was eight days because he left out at four in the morning. The Medical Examiner's preliminary findings say they were dead between six or seven days. So it is a possibility Tony killed them—slim, but still a possibility."
"We know he didn't put the steak on the counter because he was out of town. And we know he didn't kill John Johnson because John was seen after Tony left. The only connection with this case is the sperm, and he admitted he had sex with Ms. Borders," said Joe, pinning some timelines on the board.
"I'm going to put Tony at the ten percent chance that he had anything to do with the killings."
Both Joe and Raymond agreed.
Joe asked, "What about the three clowns in jail?"
"I think they are opportunists, and that's all. I know you all don't know this, but Quent gave them a lie detector and all three of them passed. I'm going to put them in the ten percent category as well."
Raymond asked, "Who does that leave?"
Mike pulled a picture from his pile of papers, the man at the airport. "Somehow all this is tied to this guy. This picture is being searched through the FBI database. In the meantime, we have hair and blood from the Borders house, and we think his blood type is B-. We have had less, and we've caught the guy. We've put this picture with every police department and every federal agency. I want this guy caught."
"Dinner is ready." Lana interrupted.
The guys headed to the kitchen, grabbed plates and filled them with chicken, beans and slaw. She even surprised them with a triple-layer chocolate cake. While they were in the kitchen, she walked in the living room and joined Mike as he was organizing all the papers.
"You better fix yourself a plate or the guys will eat it all," said Lana.
"That's okay if they do, they've earned it."
"True. Are you okay?"
"No, not really."
"What's wrong?"
"I can see the picture of this man who talked to you on the plane and came into my neck of the woods and killed three people. Furthermore, I have to wait days before I can get DNA. Then, I might have to be disappointed if he doesn't have any DNA on record."
"Babe, he will make a mistake, they always do, right? I also know one of the reasons you are upset is because it involves me… right?"
"Absolutely that's true." Mike finished organizing all his papers so he could easily get to them. "How about we get something to eat?"
"Sounds good to me."
He took her hand as they walked into the kitchen, and Mike grabbed plates for both of them.
They scanned the leftovers, and it was sparse; six pieces of chicken, two cups of beans and no coleslaw. Lana quickly grabbed some dressing out of the fridge and whipped up a little more.
"You know Lana, you keep cooking like this, and these guys will never catch this man," said Mike.
As they fed their faces, they shook their heads and mumbled that they would catch him.
She honestly felt like a little kid among these strong pistol-packing tall men. "Good grief guys, I thought they made them big in Texas, but you all take the cake. What did your moms feed you guys?"
They just laughed and kept on eating. They grabbed all their goodies and went into the living room. Mike looked in the bucket of chicken and whispered, "I bet you're a breast woman."
"No, you are. Or at least you were earlier."
"What would give you that idea?"
"I wouldn't know."
"Can we talk since we are all alone?" Lana looked around to make sure no one could hear.
The guys were great, but she needed their conversation to be private.
"Sure baby." Mike was all ears, but answered without missing out on one bite of the baked beans.
"Why do you think this guy is after me? I know after seeing that video he probably is or why else would he be at the airport and go to all this trouble." She played with her food.
"I don't know why honey. As soon as we figure out his name, we will be able to determine more."
"I think I understand about the stalker and how he had his eye on me before the airport. I don't understand why he'd go through this much trouble when I live alone. He could wait until I get home."
"We can't imagine what goes through their crazy minds. For him—it might be the chase.
Another stalker might watch for months or years, and never bother the person they stalk. Some stalkers escalate, some stalkers just go away, and some shoot presidents."
"Are there any other alternatives besides stalking?"
"We know it's not an old boyfriend because you would know. We checked your spouse to see if he possibly hired a hit man. We also check close family members to see if there is anything abnormal in their lives."
She was shocked by that statement. "Like what?"
"This would not pertain to you, but it might be someone involved with drug dealing, or someone on drugs. I will assure you that while we sit here and I look at you and adore you, we continue to investigate. We have people in the office who are running checks on people close to you."
"Are you serious?"
"Don't get upset, we have saved many lives by doing this. Most people don't even know we're checking them out, and you would have never known about me checking on you if I wouldn't have told you."
"I don't believe anyone I know and especially love could have anything to do with someone trying to kill me."
"I agree, but look at the bright side, they will be eliminated. They won't even know we looked at them."
"Promise?"
Mike pushed his plate to the side, put his elbow on the table and looked her in the eyes.
"Promise, I told you that I would tell you everything, and I am. I told you that I would protect you, and I am. I told you that I would never leave you, and I haven't…" He took a deep breath.
"… And I told you I love you very much, and I do forever."
"I love you to infinity."
About that time, the men brought their plates into the kitchen one by one, then cleaned the kitchen. She was so impressed with them. Literally, within five minutes the room was spotless.
All the men ate some cake and excused themselves to go home. Joe told Mike he needed to get some shut-eye and left for the guest bedroom.