"But he broke into our friend's home." Gertie's shaky hands made Jake nervous, so he stepped in and removed the weapon, breathing a little easier. "He said he was all by himself, but he had made a big bonfire on the beach. He has to be expecting a crowd. I don't trust him. Not one bit."
"Everybody needs to relax, and we'll call the cops. They'll take care of the situation." Max said.
Color started to normalize on the kid's face. "It's my grandmother's place. She said I could crash here tonight."
"What's your name?" Gertie asked while pointing her finger at him.
"Troy," he responded.
"You think we're going to buy that load of nonsense?" Annie asked as she waved the frying pan, punctuating each word. "What's all that stuff by the beach? Why the big bonfire for yourself? Something doesn't add up, young man."
"Does Ellen even have a grandson named Troy?" Lois asked.
"I thought it was Trevor," Annie said.
"I thought it was Tim. Or was it Tom?" Gertie shook her head. "Who can remember? I have enough trouble remembering my own grandkids' and great-grandkids' names."
"Like I said, why don't we have the police sort this out?" Max again offered, even though it appeared no one was paying attention.
"Good idea but not so much in practice. This time of year, the police force is down to rent-a-cops practically," Lois said.
"Just the same—"
"I say we should interrogate him," Gertie offered. "You guys are the experts. I, for one, would love to see how it's done."
Jake shook his head. "It's not like in the movies. The kid seems to be telling the truth. Besides, we're here now, so even if he had something bigger planned, our presence should stop that in its tracks."
"How do you know it's so innocent? He could be connected to whoever is after us," Lois said.
"But you don't know that for sure. You received threatening notes, but nothing has ever happened, right?" Max asked.
"Well except for the incident with Jake, and then the minor problem with Sabrina, oh and the discovery of the pipe bomb lookalike earlier with you, Max." Annie smiled. "So yes, I guess we've been victimized once again."
"Victimized seems pretty harsh. You came here—not the other way around," Sabrina said. "Did you say pipe bomb?"
Max just shook his head and mumbled incoherently.
"We spotted the fire along the beach, and we knew nobody should be there so decided to investigate. Sabrina was trying to recover our knives from our earlier practice session." Gertie squealed, "That was such fun. Your sister is scary accurate, can I just say?"
"She's better than me. That's for sure," Max said.
"I bet she's better than most men. In fact, I think we're all committed to become experts like her," Gertie said.
"Yeah, well, she worked at it for a long time," Jake added
"What are you trying to say, Jake?" Lois asked.
He shook his head. "Nothing. Just saying that maybe you ladies should try something a little less dangerous, that's all."
"Can I leave?" the kid asked.
"No!" everyone responded in unison.
"Not until we can verify your story. Give me you name and address, and I'll run them to make sure you're telling the truth," Max said.
Gertie nudged Annie who then nudged Lois in an I-told-you-so look. Jake couldn't hear what they were saying, as the volume of noise suddenly went from mild to full blast as the kid's phone went off, blaring Metallica or something along those lines.
Maybe Jake was getting old, but he barely resisted the urge to cover his ears. "You've got a phone—" Before Jake could even finish his thought, the door opened. Oh man, he had a bad feeling about this.
The sounds of voices carried into the back as kids spilled into the house.
"What's going on?" He ignored the kid for a moment and concentrated on the influx of young adults flooding into the space.
"I brought the keg. How about you guys?" someone said.
"Mel's bringing the hot dogs and brats. Kellie has some killer chips from this gourmet place in town. Nick already started a fire going on the beach. This is going to be sweet."
"Wait a minute. You guys are having a party here? There's no way this is your grandmother's place." Max pulled out his phone to call the police.
Jake stopped him with a hand. "How many kids you invite? The truth." Jake stared at the kid and hoped his shot at intimidation worked.
The kid shrugged. "Okay, I really am a friend of Troy, and he said his grandmother wouldn't mind if I spent the night. My dad changed the combination code on his place, and I'd already invited some friends up."
"Are you kidding me?" Sabrina shook her head. "You thought that was okay?"
Music started to reverberate from speakers somebody must have brought with them. How they thought they could pull this off was beyond Jake. A girl trailed her hand down Jake's arm as she walked past. "You must be Troy's older brother."
Jake ran his fingers through his hair. "Something like that."
"Do you like to party?" She smiled, showing an overly bright smile to go along with her shiny blonde hair. When he thought about what he'd been doing at their same age, he couldn't help but shudder.
He shook his head. "Nope. In fact we're here to throw you guys out."
"Wait. We'll be good. We drove all this way."
"Yeah, I'm sure you did, but now is not the time to trash somebody's house."
"But what if we promise not to trash it?"
"Sorry, but you can't guarantee that. It might not happen on purpose, but you guys get drunk, and the next thing you know, the place is trashed. Don't know if anybody here really knows the owner or not, but this thing here is absolutely not happening." Jake hated the fact he sounded like such an adult. When had that happened?
The blonde girl scooted close to Jake and wrapped her hand around his bicep. "How about just for a couple of hours?"
"That would be a hell-to-the-no," Jake said.
"And I thought you were cool."
"Still cool but not going to happen," Jake said.
"Out now before we call the police." Max's voice resonated through the crowd until they mumbled and then started to trudge out the door.
"How long do you think we need to hang around to make sure they've left for good?" Jake asked.
"I think we should camp out on the beach just to make sure," Gertie said.
"Not a great idea." Max glanced at Jake and shrugged. Accustomed to the finer things in life, Jake knew the last thing Max would consider doing is camping out on the beach. "I think we sufficiently scared them."
If he weren't so opposed to the idea himself, he might go along with Gertie's suggestion just to annoy his brother. But sleeping on the beach with the wind whipping up and no Tessa around didn't sound like a great idea to him at all.
"How about the three of us stay at your house tonight instead of just one of us? We can be triple alert to anything that might happen," Sabrina said.
"That will work. I don't know about anybody else, but I'm starving. And I know you ladies have a bunch of steaks waiting to be grilled," Jake said.
Jake figured they'd dodged a bullet on that one. Who knew what would have happened if they hadn't been here. And he thought this was going to be a relaxing trip.
Not so much if he looked at what had happened so far.
One kidnapping attempt. One incident involving some knives, and the potential for more trouble ahead. Especially if he pondered the thought that Lois, Gertie, and Annie were some kind of goon squad of assassins. He shook his head.
Seemed a little far-fetched even to someone with his active imagination, but those ladies were up to something. He'd stake his life on that. If he could only figure out what it was, or at least discover another clue to help him along the way.
His siblings thought he was a little crazy, but he knew there was something more than a little secretive about their situation. And he was banking on the fact that he'd be able to figure it out before
Max and Sabrina did.
CHAPTER SIX
"They finally went to bed." Max plopped on the couch, his one the staircase where the three when had just departed to their respective rooms.
"Too bad they took their laptops. We might have been able to look around and see what's going on," Jake said.
"You two are amazing. Three women in their eighties are running you ragged." Sabrina didn't hide her smile.
"And I'm telling you they're up to something. They sure as hell aren't worried about somebody coming after them, even though they produced the notes," Jake said.
"Are you saying they sent the notes to themselves?" Max asked the question that had been circling his brain from the beginning. Were they after some attention from their loved ones? That could be the only explanation, because so far nothing even remotely remarkable had happened on his watch. Or his siblings' for that matter.
"But you said Lois had a nine millimeter. Doesn't that mean at least she's taking the threat seriously?" Sabrina asked.
Jake rubbed his hands down his face. "Suppose they were doing something…illegal. Would we have to report it?"
"Spit it out, Jake." Max couldn't help but be curious.
"I know you think I'm crazy, but they're plotting something. I'm not saying it's murder…but it might be."
Sabrina barked a laugh. "You can't be serious."
"I'm saying what you see is not what you get with those three," Jake said.
"I'll agree. They know more about this threat than they're saying." Max couldn't put his finger on it, but there was much more going on than they were admitting. "So where do we go from here?"
"We only have another day and a half before Annie's son gets here. We've just got to keep the ladies under control until then."
"Easier said than done," Sabrina added.
Max pondered Sabrina's thought. He was fairly confident nothing would happen during the night, but the way things were going he couldn't count on it. As much as he wouldn't admit it to his brother, the ladies were keeping some kind of secret about all that was going down this weekend. But what it was remained to be seen.
He decided to sleep in the downstairs den rather than in one of the bedrooms and set it up with pillows and blankets after everyone else had gone into their bedrooms. It was too late to call Gianna since her last text, around eleven, had indicated she was going to bed after another hellacious day as a NYPD detective. Enough of those and maybe she'd take him up on his offer. He could only hope.
Instead, he changed into sweats and settled himself on the not-very-comfortable couch. He had no doubt that the ladies would be up early, so he needed to get at least a couple of hours of sleep. Just as he'd fallen asleep, a noise from outside woke him. Damn. He'd forgotten to set the alarm. The idea that the teens had come their way to exact some kind of revenge flitted through his mind.
He shook off the thought. That group would have made much more noise. Unless there was only one or two of them. He grabbed his phone and accessed information from the video cameras The Alliance had installed earlier.
Holy crap.
Somebody was climbing up the back trellis of the house and heading toward the second floor bedrooms. He couldn't remember whose room that was—either Annie or Gertie's—but right now it didn't really matter. He slipped on his gym shoes and located his gun.
The figure was dressed in head-to-toe black, making it impossible for Max to determine gender, but based on size alone it had to be a male. The man climbed the back trellis with admirable agility while Max slipped out the door and hid along the shadows, waiting and watching. And while he had his gun poised and ready, Annie came rushing out onto the balcony to greet the guy with a hug.
Seconds later, they went inside her room. Now what? Annie didn't seem threatened. But why the big secret? It wasn't like she was a teenager trying to evade the watchful eyes of her parents.
Max walked halfway up the stairs, stopped, and turned around. Did he really want to hear what was going on in that room? He shuddered. That would be a hell no.
But he was supposed to protect her. How could he do that if he wimped out about doing some eavesdropping? Maybe he should wake Sabrina.
No way. He'd never live that down.
He went up the stairs again, stopped outside Annie's door, and listened. Repressing a cringe, he drew in a deep breath.
"But Anthony will be furious if he finds out."
"He's your son not your keeper. What are you worried about?"
Max heard what sounded like a sniffle. "I guess I'm afraid he'll be like his father and punish me by refusing to speak to me when he hears about us."
"What's he going to do? Arrest us?"
"You don't know Anthony. He's a by-the-book kind of guy. And he's heard about your past, and, frankly, it didn't sit well with him. He's afraid you'll lead me down the wrong path."
The man laughed. "He might be right about that."
Then Annie laughed as well.
Max figured he'd heard enough to assure him Annie wasn't in any immediate danger, but he was curious who this guy was and why her son didn't like him. He knew Anthony worked for the Department of Justice in Washington. Was the guy some kind of criminal? Judging by the finesse in getting up the trellis, he had to be much younger than Annie. Maybe the guy was bilking Annie of her money.
Crap. He didn't want to get involved in family drama.
As he watched the monitor on his phone, he spotted Annie going onto the terrace and giving the guy another hug before he climbed back down the trellis outside her window. Max would have to tell his siblings of this development. Not that he had a clue what to do about it. Then again, leaving Annie and her family to work out the details of her affair with a younger man was not his problem.
He inched back down the steps and could only hope he'd be able to get a couple of hours of sleep before morning.
* * *
Max roused himself from the couch when he heard somebody coming down the steps. Barely six a.m. Babysitting old people was exhausting. Hadn't they gone to bed at eleven or so?
He rubbed his hands through his hair and opened the door to the front hallway. "Good morning, ladies. You're up early today?" Had he only been there one night? It sure felt like a lot longer.
"We were going to go for a power walk. I suppose you might frown on the idea of us going by ourselves." Gertie made a face.
"Just let me get my tennis shoes on, and I'll be good to go."
"We have some planning to do, so maybe you could walk a bit behind us," Lois said.
"Secrets?"
"You betcha," Gertie added.
"No problem." He shook his head. Who would have thought this freebie would be such a PIA.
"There's a coffee place in town, and we'll probably walk that way and stop there if that's okay."
"I'll grab my wallet."
Less than ten minutes later, they were out the door and headed toward town. As far as Max could tell, they were on a mission. He didn't know what kind of mission it was, but the ladies had something on their minds.
As promised, he lagged behind for the short walk. The threesome went into the coffee shop and were greeted by a young girl behind the counter. They got their orders and sat down in a couple of overstuffed chairs in the corner. Max kept his distance, keeping his eye on them from across the room.
He'd just opened the paper and had taken a sip of coffee when Gertie yelped and said something about spilling coffee on her leg. Before he could get across the room, Lois jumped up to help and spilled her coffee on the floor. Then the young girl behind the counter came running with a towel and slipped and fell. She directed Annie to the back of the café where they kept the towels, and asked Max to grab some ice from behind the counter.
"Does anyone need to go to the hospital?" Max asked as he surveyed the crowd of women.
"I'm not sure." Gertie pressed ice to the area outside her right knee. "The ice sure does feel good. Thanks, Max."
He helped the counte
r girl to her feet. Maybe around seventeen or so, her complexion had gone from pink to crimson in the span of the last few minutes.
"If you could wipe down the chairs, I'll get the mop," the young girl said.
About five minutes later, Max had done what he could with the chairs, another group of senior citizens had shuffled in, and he suddenly remembered he hadn't seen Annie come out from the back.
He raced through the coffee shop and into the backroom, but it was empty. The back door opened up onto an alleyway, but he didn't spot her anywhere. The idea that he'd been played by three little old ladies made him cringe.
"What happened to Annie?" He walked back toward the table. They had to know. There was no way she'd left on her own.
Gertie shrugged. "Bless her heart—didn't she go into the back to get some towels? She's probably had trouble finding them."
"She's not there." Max cursed. How could he have fallen for such a lame set-up?
"Are you sure, Max?" Lois asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." He ground his teeth together. "You two need to tell me what's going on so I can find your friend." While he spoke, he pulled out his phone and texted Jake and Sabrina.
"I have no idea what you mean." Gertie shook her head.
That was the way they were going to play it. Good thing he had reinforcements coming.
* * *
Jake and Sabrina arrived less than five minutes later. Max pulled them to the side. "It was a set up, and they aren't talking."
"Wait a minute. Back up and start from the beginning," Sabrina said.
He relayed what had happened at the coffee shop as well as what he'd overheard last night.
"Say what?" Jake's stunned expression said it all. "Did they have sex?"
"Eeeuuuu." Sabrina moaned. "I want to wash my ears out with bleach right now."
Jake shrugged. "Just asking what you both were thinking."
"Just so we're clear, I wasn't thinking that. Besides, the guy wasn't there more than five minutes. And at this point, with Annie missing, I don't think it's relevant. Obviously it's the guy from last night."
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