"Polly!" Lydia exclaimed. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Aaron assures me that the kid was probably an office worker and any foolish woman could have taken him."
"That's not what I said. You have great presence of mind and handle yourself very well in tense situations," Aaron said.
"He also said that I should come down and train with his deputies," Polly said with a grin. "But I think he might have been teasing me."
Lydia nodded with enthusiasm. "It would certainly make me feel better if you had self-defense training. That's what it would be, right Aaron?"
"Uh huh," he said, cooing at the baby. "Self-defense. Absolutely."
"Aaron, are you paying attention to me?"
"No, ma'am."
The door opened and they all looked up to see Helen limp into the auditorium.
"Your friends told me you were here," she said, looking around. "Is there a chair in this place? I can barely lift my legs and the rest of me feels like it's been run through a wringer washer. I had no idea it was going to be so dangerous to come tell my brother how to run his life."
Aaron passed Sophia back to Lydia and went off in search of chairs. He came back with four in his hands and quickly set them up, gesturing to Lydia and Joss to sit after he'd helped Helen.
She beckoned to Lydia. "Can I hold her?"
"She's not a lightweight. Are you sure?"
"Babies are good for the soul." Lydia stood and placed Sophia in Helen's arms. The child was quickly enraptured with the woman, who then slid off her seat to the floor and said to Joss, "Go ahead. Put your son down. There's a great big room here for them to explore. I'll keep an eye on them."
"But you're..." Aaron started.
Helen waved him off, "Leave me alone. I'm not an invalid. By the way, you goin' to tell me what those sheriff's vehicles were doing in the parking lot and why you're here at this hour of the day playing with your wife?"
"I'm not playing with my wife," he said defensively.
"Tell me." Helen got up on her knees and crawled to where Cooper had face planted into the carpet. She picked him up and put him on his bottom.
Polly shook her head at the woman. She just didn't give up.
"I'm waiting for a confirmation call from Digger on his identity, but I suspect he works for..."
"Oh, for heaven's sake," Helen spat. "Just say his name. No one up here knows who he is and it isn't like the entire community is terrified of Voldemort. Say his damned name."
"Helen," Aaron said warningly.
"Don't 'Helen' me. Price Sutton. That's his name. It's time you quit being scared of him."
"It isn't just me that I'm concerned about. He had Albert killed and sent someone after you."
"I'm sorry your friend was killed, but you need to find a way to end this. It's been thirty years and you left home. I'm tired of him controlling our lives."
"That was the deal we made."
Helen sat back and watched the two children in front of her crawl to their mother. "I remember that day," she said. "It was the early eighties. Nobody thought much about the future, except that it was coming up someday. We were young, invincible and twenty-fifteen was so far away it didn't register as real. We weren't even thinking about the new century. You didn't have a wife or a family, you barely had a job. Mom and Dad were still alive. Our future was way out in front of us. These girls," she pointed at Joss and Sylvie, "weren't even born yet."
Aaron nodded.
"Aaron. The future is right now. Accept that everything is different and you were not the one who reneged on the deal. Sutton did when he sent a man to kill Albert."
"He thought we were going to expose him."
"He didn't know that. He panicked. And it's because Ludders was released from prison. Sutton didn't think about the future back then either. All he could see was that he'd gotten away with it. Jeff Ludders took the fall and went away for what we thought was a lifetime. But it wasn't, was it? Not for any of us."
Polly desperately wanted to ask questions, but all she could do was watch the interaction between Aaron Merritt and his sister.
"Digger is working with the FBI," Aaron said. "I'm not saying anything until Sutton is either in custody or dealt with. As soon as they confirm the identity of the kid who was just here, it will move forward. Until then, you all don't need to know anything."
"Digger?" Lydia asked quietly. "He knows about this?"
Aaron nodded again. "He knew thirty years ago."
"You told him and you couldn't tell me?"
"Honey. I couldn't. He was working for the FBI in Atlanta when it all went down. After I came to Iowa and found a good life, he called and asked questions, wanting to be back in the Midwest." Aaron turned to Polly. "He grew up in Minnesota. He applied at the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the rest is history."
"You knew Digger from back then?" Lydia asked, still in shock.
"I'm sorry, honey, yes. We didn't talk about it much."
"Apparently not."
"You're going to owe her a vacation in Hawaii, maybe even Australia," Polly muttered.
A knock at the door made them all jump and Sal poked her head in. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mark called and wants to have lunch. I'm taking off." She held up a folder. "We'll talk more about this later, okay Polly?"
"I'm sorry," Polly said, jumping out of her chair. "I didn't mean to run out on you."
"Of course you did. Quit apologizing. We all know that sending bad guys to jail is kinda your thing... that is, after finding dead bodies. We're all just sorry we missed the excitement. I think you should start a self-defense class here during the week. Teach us all about your tricks to turning men into gibbering fools."
"You're teasing me, right?"
"Not really," Sal said with a straight face. "You have no fear when it comes to hurting a man who is intimidating you. That's one of those things that most of us don't think of doing. Men are supposed to protect us poor, sweet women from the rougher things in life."
"Okay, okay. That's enough."
"I'm actually serious," Sal said. "Women aren't taught to do damage to men who hurt them. You're kind of my hero."
"Whatever. You go have lunch with your pretty boyfriend and oh, by the way, what are you doing about those puppies?"
Sal winked. "They might be a Valentine's Day present for Mark. How do you think he'll react to that?"
"I think that if he's smart, he'll consider them the best present ever."
"That's what I'll tell him." Sal leaned in and waved. "I'll see you all Saturday night."
Polly hugged her. "Have a good day and thanks for being here this morning." She watched Sal walk away and turned back to the room. "I left in a hurry. They're probably wondering what's going on."
"I should take these two home so they can get lunch and a nap," Joss said. "But I will admit that the action here is better than anything daytime television offers."
"You watch that stuff?"
"Uh, yes. What else am I supposed to do? Some of those people are my best friends during the day."
"You need to invite me over more often," Polly said.
"Don't you give me any trouble. Oprah, Ellen, Walker and Chief Gillespie and Olivia Benson take good care of me."
"Chief Gillespie?" Aaron asked.
"Television show," Lydia said. "In the Heat of the Night."
Joss was surprised. "You watch it too?"
Lydia smiled and winked. "Sometimes, but don't tell anyone."
"If y'all are taking these sweet babies away, someone is going to have to haul my butt off the floor," Helen said. "Lordie, I might have made a terrible mistake getting down here."
"Thank you for entertaining them," Joss said. "We never have this much fun when we're at home."
"You look like you're a wonderful mama." Helen picked up Sophia and held her up to Lydia. "Those chunky, brown cheeks and deep, dark eyes would make it difficult to deny her anything."
"I had to be firm right
up front or these two would have ruled the roost," Joss said. She brought the car seats over and once Cooper was tucked in, she took Sophia. The little girl protested, but when she was placed in front of her brother, she gurgled and reached out for him.
"Do you ever think they're actually having conversations with each other?" Polly asked.
"All the time. Sometimes I'll hear noises from them in the middle of the night. When I go in to check, they're just lying in their crib, chattering away at each other. It's back and forth too. It isn't like they are both making noise at the same time. It sounds like a conversation." She smiled. "I'll be honest, it freaks both me and Nate out. He tells me I should be worried that they're planning a takeover."
"Let me help you take them to your car," Aaron said. "Do you have a jacket?"
"It's in the hallway on the bench," Joss responded. "Thanks for an interesting morning, Polly."
Polly hugged her. "I'm sorry it got weird."
"You're fine. Where else am I going to get this kind of excitement?"
"Great. I'm your entertainment and excitement now."
Aaron picked up the two car seats and waited for Joss to hold the door open for him.
Helen waited until the door had closed before saying, "My puny bones are useless. Can you two at least get me into a chair?"
Polly looked at Lydia and they both chuckled.
"I'm sorry," Lydia gushed. "You poor thing. I thought you were staying up in your room today."
She and Polly reached down and lifted Helen to a standing position.
"What was I thinking," Helen moaned. "I should have stayed up there, but when I saw the sheriff's vehicles come in and leave, I hated to be missin' the action."
She hobbled over to one of the chairs. "Did you get a name on the young man who was here this morning? And what was he doing?"
"He said his name was Jerry Costanza," Polly said. "He wanted a tour so he could book a wedding reception here sometime next year."
"That was a convenient excuse to case the joint. Aaron put that all together, right?"
"What do you mean?" Polly asked.
"If he was casing the joint, who was it for? Why did he need the information?"
"We're asking those questions," Aaron said, coming back into the auditorium. "It worries me too."
"Good. I knew you'd be smart about this."
"Of course you did. When I leave today, are you two," he looked at Polly. "You three ladies going to play it safe around here or do I need to send an unsuspecting deputy up to keep an eye on you?"
"We'll be good," Lydia said. "I promise. You won't let me go home yet?"
"Not yet. But soon."
"There are comfortable chairs in the conference room," Polly said. "And the television works, too. Unless you want to go back upstairs."
"I'm not ready for that much solitude again," Helen said. "Do you have a deck of cards in this joint? Maybe we could talk your staff into a game of strip poker."
"Helen!" Aaron said.
"If it were one of Lydia's church meetings, it would be much more fun. Can't you just see all of those wrinkled, old faces in shock as they try to imagine each other without any clothes?" She cackled as she thought about it.
Lydia tried desperately to suppress a grin and failed. Even Aaron had to put his hand over his eyes as he shook his head.
Polly put her arm out to give Helen leverage as she stood back up from the chair. "Have you met Lydia's friend, Beryl Watson?"
"No!" Lydia cried. "They can never meet. The universe couldn't withstand the cataclysm."
"Who's this Beryl Watson? Is she as great a gal as me?" Helen asked.
"I'm leaving now." Aaron bent over and kissed his wife. She wrapped her arms around his neck and made a waving motion behind his back to Polly and Helen.
"We should leave first," Polly said in a stage whisper.
"They never could keep their hands off each other. I could tell you stories of the days before they had children." Helen's gave her a grin. "Let me tell you about the time they stayed in a hotel near a golf course. Which hole was it, Aaron? Was that why they started lighting it at night?"
"Stop it, you old lady," he said, taking Lydia's hand. "If you start telling stories, I have plenty that will embarrass you."
"He does, you know," Helen said, her arm through Polly's. "I was a girl with three younger brothers. I had to learn how to hold my own."
"I think you succeeded."
"Years and years of practice, my dear. Years and years of practice."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
"Can you give me a minute?" Aaron asked Jeff. He'd walked back into the office with Polly, Lydia and Helen. "I'd like you to tell me what you can about your visitor."
"I probably gave him more information than he gave me," Jeff said.
"Tell me what he was interested in."
Polly didn't hear anyone object, so she followed Aaron into Jeff's office and sat down on the sofa. When he looked at her and grinned, she just shrugged her shoulders.
"He was upset that I wouldn't let him tour the addition," Jeff said. "He wanted to see the rooms over there - said that he and his fiancée might want to spend the night after their reception. We've actually had several couples do that so I didn't think anything of it.
"What else?" Aaron asked.
"He wanted to see the whole place. He took pictures and said he was sending them to his girlfriend."
"He sent pictures out?"
"Sure," Jeff said nonchalantly. Then he stopped. "Crap."
Aaron stood. "I'll be right back."
He left the office with his phone at his ear.
"What do you think?" Jeff asked Polly.
"He's having them check the guy's phone. If he was sending pictures to someone, they aren't done up here yet."
"Do you think it's safe for us to be here? Maybe I should send Stephanie home."
She nodded. "If they aren't comfortable here, it's better that they go. I'll pay them anyway."
Aaron came back into the office. "Do you have anything going on here this afternoon or evening?"
"No," Jeff said. "Why?"
"Polly, I want you to lock the doors. Don't let anyone in unless you know them or they have an appointment."
She sat forward. "Jeff and I were just talking about it. Should we send people home? And I have to get the kids this afternoon from school. What about taking the dogs out?"
"I think you're safe, but do what you need to do."
Sylvie stood in Jeff's door. "I'm not going anywhere. If Polly is safe here, then I'll be fine. And besides, I have to prep for Saturday night. I can't afford to sit at home, staring at the television."
"There won't be any random violence. I'm certain of that," Aaron said. "Helen and I are the only targets this person is interested in and in just a short period of time, we will have this dealt with. Jeff, is there anything else that comes to mind regarding your visitor?"
Jeff shook his head. "No. Nothing else. I gave him brochures and pricing information. He was very polite."
"They always are," Polly muttered. "Right up until they go all serial killer on you."
She got up and followed Aaron out of the office. "Do you think we need to worry?" she asked.
"Not really, but it can't hurt to be safe. Can you lock the doors from here?"
Polly nodded and swiped her phone open and proceeded to click the doors locked from the app. "Here," she said. "Let me email you the key. That way you can get in and out."
"I already have it."
"Sure," she said, shaking her head. "I knew that. I'm a bit flustered by all of this."
He put his arm around her shoulder. "It's all going to be fine. Sutton has to know by now that everything is erupting. His days of calm are over and he'll either have to deal with it or go away and hide."
"What?" she asked. "When will you tell us?"
"I don't know why I still feel as if I need to keep everything quiet. It's just been second nature for all these year
s. Until someone with more clout than I have tells me that it's okay to tell people, I just don't feel comfortable. There are lives at stake out there and if Sutton decided to do something stupid, people other than me and Helen would be at risk."
"Okay. I know I'm being a pain about this. Sorry."
"I get it. These last couple of months have been strange."
They walked through the kitchen and he tugged on the door leading outside, then they walked through to the garage.
"I should have talked to Lydia all those years ago," he said. "But I thought it was behind me. It never occurred to any of us that it would come up again. When Albert called last summer, I still couldn't imagine that it would affect me. But the more time passed and the closer it got, the more I knew this had the potential to go south and I was going to be dragged into it. I shut down." He shrugged a shoulder. "That's all I can say. I just shut down. I didn't see a way to make it better. I worried about Helen and I couldn't talk to anyone. I didn't want to call her to make sure that she knew to be prepared. Polly, you don't know how powerful some of those people are and how deeply they have tentacles in the politics and life of Atlanta."
She wanted to interrupt and ask questions, but if he finally started talking, she was just going to follow him around the building and listen.
"Albert told me he was coming to see me. I don't know why. There wasn't any reason for it. We weren't going to fix things from here. Maybe he needed to make sure for himself that I was doing okay."
"Did you and he stay close through the years?"
"No," Aaron said. "It was too difficult. I left town and he left the force. He was so angry he couldn't see a way around it. I think he stayed in contact with Helen at the shelter. Every once in a while she mentioned that he was helping out with the kids. He was disappointed that we'd been allowed to just leave. No one wanted to take care of us. It was easier to let us go. I was young enough that it didn't matter. I could start over. He had a family, but in the middle of it all, his first wife left him and took their boys. I would never have known where she was except I had to let her know that he'd been killed."
"He never saw them again?"
"I don't think so. It was part of the price he paid."
Pages of the Past (Bellingwood Book 9) Page 25