Private Stock

by Iris Bolling

  “Take one more step and I will order him to blow your head off.”

  The loud voice boomed from outside the house. Cainan and his father pulled their weapons, then ran into the living room. Cainan shook his head, then holstered his weapon as the scene outside the window came into view. As he expected, two of Jerome’s men held guns on Benny.

  “Is he still that big of an ass?” Cainan asked his father.

  “More so now that he is interim DA. It’s hard to believe he is actually one of the best at what he does.”

  “Really?” Cainan could not believe that, but his father was not an easy man to impress when it came to the law. If he said Benny was good, you could take that compliment to the bank. “Is that why you allowed him to see Kennedy?”

  “Now that you are back, I can’t imagine him being around too much longer. Kennedy is going to see you and wonder what in the hell she needs him for.”

  “You think she’ll kick him to the curb?”

  “I cannot believe he is making a scene out there for the neighbors to see.” They turned to see Kennedy behind them watching. She stomped over to the door then swung it open.

  Cainan and his father shared a glance. “Do you think she heard us?”

  “Kennedy hears everything,” his father replied.

  “Cainan,” Kennedy came back inside. “They will not allow him in without an okay from your Jerome. Will you contact him please?”

  “No.” Cainan replied. “Benny was told yesterday what he needed to do to get anywhere near. He follows Jerome’s orders or takes that chance of being shot. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Either you get him under control or I will,” Scott told his daughter.

  “Have at it Daddy,” Kennedy said then went back to the kitchen.

  Scott stepped out his front door, said a few words to Benny, turned and came back in. Cainan watched as Benny got back into his vehicle then pulled out his cell phone.

  “Come on son. I’m sure your mother’s omelette is ready for you.” The two men turned then walked back into the kitchen.

  They had just completed their meal when Jerome walked into the house.

  “Good morning,” he spoke as an angry Benny stood behind him. “Mr. Crenshaw would like a few minutes to go over your testimony, Cainan. I’ve made the office a secure area for the two of you to talk.”

  “Good morning Jerome, Benny,” Kaitlyn smiled. “Have you had breakfast?”

  “No ma’am. I was pulled from a security meeting to deal with Mr. Crenshaw.”

  “I’d like a cup of coffee,” Benjamin huffed.

  All eyes turned to him at the tone he used.

  “Please,” he add as he held Kennedy’s glare.

  “Have a seat. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”

  “Thank you, ma’am, but he will take that coffee in the office.” Jerome motioned to Benny. “Shall we go?

  Benny huffed then walked towards the back of the house.

  “Jerome, will your men need breakfast?”

  “They will appreciate that Mrs. Wagner.” He nodded “They can come in one at a time.”

  “That will be fine,” Kaitlyn replied.

  Cainan stood and followed Jerome and Benny into the office.

  “Well, I thought the day when all my children were back under our roof would be interesting. I never imagined this.”

  Oh, stop complaining,” Scott kissed his wife on the cheek. “You are thrilled to have all of your children under one roof.”

  “Sure, I just never imagined security with guns at my kitchen table.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Sitting in the attic reading through the family history had AnnieMarie thrilled. There was something about reading the details of how the bank came to be that filled her with an unexplainable sense of calmness. Knowing the documents she held in her hand were written by her ancestors made the time spent in the space precious.

  Lost in a series of love letters she’d found in one of the trunks, from her great-great grandmother to her husband, she reveled in the personal touch of each letter she read. She had opened the window, with the light flowing throughout the huge space giving an astonishing view of the number of trunks that lined the space at the far end of the attic. She sat on the cushioned seat in front of the window as she read.

  “AnnieMarie are you up here?”

  “Daisy, yes, I’m all the way in the back.”

  She looked up as Daisy entered the space. “My god you weren’t kidding on the number of trunks.”

  “Isn’t it amazing,” she jumped up. “Look at this Daisy, these are letters my great-great grandmother wrote to her husband back in 1945. Look at the handwriting. We do everything by computer these days, but reading this written by hand seems to give it such a personal touch.”

  “Back during that time it was all Black people had. Typewriters were out, but hell, who could afford them.”

  “Oh, they had a typewriter,” AnnieMarie stated. “I saw some typed documents earlier.”

  “How long have you been at this?” Daisy asked as she looked around.

  “Since this morning,” AnnieMarie sat back on the cushion to continue to read.

  “I have a team of people meeting me here in about an hour.”

  “Okay,” AnnieMarie exclaimed as she continued to read. “Just don’t let anyone up here. I want to handle all of these.”

  “All right,” Daisy turned back towards the elevator. “Do you need lunch or anything?”

  “No, no thank you, Daisy.”

  Daisy walked the expands of the attic to the elevator. AnnieMarie continued to read the letter in her hand. It left her with a wonderful feeling of how much love flowed between the lines. She suspected some people would read the letters and find them to be rather erotic. One thing was for certain, according to the responses from her great-great grandfather, the letters left him yearning for his wife.

  “Hmm,” AnnieMarie sat there for a moment. “Why not?” She walked up to her table at the other end of the attic. Poured herself a cup of tea, then began writing a message to Cainan on her tablet. She stopped, then reached inside her purse. She pulled out a pen and her small notepad and began writing a message to Cainan.

  … … … The feelings I have for you are making it difficult not to wonder how you are. Are you safe? Can you trust the people around you? Do they understand you have people who care about you? With all those questions what keeps me awake at night are thoughts of you. Do you have thoughts of me? I’m not looking for answers, just a way to clear my mind of questions surrounding you. Should I try to find a way to get the gentleness of your touch out of my system or the taste of your kisses from my lips? How do I close my mind’s eye to the look of lust I saw beaming from your eyes on the roof that night or the thickness of you between my thighs? Do I wipe out the sensation of you throbbing against me? Should I keep the memory of your long, thickness in my mouth, the sweet salty taste between my lips, to savor until your return? I wonder if you think of me, the wetness you left in my panties, or the longing to have you, inside of me? I wonder Cainan, do you think of me?

  When she finished the message, she folded it in half, the slipped it into her purse. She sent Mike a text message asking him to come by. He would know the best way to get the message to Cainan. She took a deep breath, stood then opened the window to the roof. She stepped out, sat, closed her eyes, then allowed the heat of the sun to wash over her, while visions of Cainan filled her mind.

  A few minutes later to her surprise her cell phone buzzed. It was a message from Mike saying he was downstairs.

  AnnieMarie sat up. She didn’t mean for him to come right over this minute. She sent him a text saying she would be right down. She stepped back inside the attic, closed the window then took the elevator down to the foyer.

  “Mike,” she called out.

  “In the kitchen,” he replied.

  AnnieMarie walked through the foyer, the sitting room and then into the kitchen. There were a number of p
eople in the house, which surprised her. “Who are all these people?”

  “Oh,” Mike said as he was swallowing a sandwich down. “They are here to install a security system. Jonathan arranged it yesterday when he heard you were moving in.”

  “How sweet,” she smiled. “Okay, what do you need to get started.

  Mike laughed, “We’re almost done. We’ve been here for like two hours now.”

  “Really? I’ve been upstairs in the attic going through some old documents.”

  “Come with me,” Mike took her hand. “Let me show you the entire system and how everything operates.” He took her hand as they walked down the stairs to the basement of the house. The security room was next to the theater room. When they walked in a group of men were testing the system. Four monitors were on a wall with displays of different portions of the grounds and house.

  “Wow,” her eyes widened in awe. “I can see everywhere.”

  “Exactly,” Mike explained. “Every camera on the grounds has been updated. The main entrance panel is now voice activated. There is a camera to cover every entrance into the house. The rooms, with the exception of the attic, have motion detectors.”

  “Can we place them in the attic too?” She asked.

  Mike nodded, “Sure we can. I’ll have them up within the hour.”

  “So if something were to happen in the house, I would have to come to the basement to shut it off?”

  “No, and the alarms are silent. They will send an alert to your phone. You can set them up to mean different things. If someone is on the grounds outside the house, it will send this signal.”

  AnnieMarie’s phone buzzed. She pulled it from her pocket and saw the alert. Mike reached over then punched the button on her phone. The message opened to show them in the room looking at her phone.

  She smiled. “Okay, I get it.”

  “Good,” Mike nodded. “Now you will have two options. If you want to dispatch the police you hit option one. If you want to contact me, you hit option two.”

  “I like that,” she smiled up at him.

  “Now use it,” he emphasized. “Don’t try to play superwoman in this house. You understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” she put a little base in her voice.

  He laughed then kissed her temple. “We should be out of your way in another hour. You sent me a message. What did you want?”

  “Jerome said I shouldn’t try to contact Cainan through any electronic means.”

  “Right, it could be tracked,” Mike explained.

  “I know. I wrote him a letter,” she shrugged, “more like a message that I need to get to him.”

  “I can take it.”

  AnnieMarie frowned. Did she want to trust Mike to deliver such a personal message to Cainan? He must have read her mind.

  Mike laughed. “I don’t want to read your dirty little letters.”

  “It’s not a dirty letter,” she blushed.

  “Okay, your love letter, then. But seriously, I have to fly back out tonight. Myles wants me to stay up on any developments on the trial dates. Jerome thinks we may have some information by this evening.”

  “On a date?”

  “Possibly.”

  “You will tell me, right?”

  “Yes, I will tell you when a date is set.”

  “I want to be there for him, Mike,” she pouted.

  “I know you do, AnnieMarie,” he hugged her, “But it all depends on how dangerous this gets.”

  She nodded. “Okay, wait here. I’m going to seal my letter to him.”

  She took the steps back up to the attic to get the tape dispenser she had been using to seal the boxes as she placed items inside from the trunks. While the elevator would put her closer to her tea set up, the stairs put her at the far end of the attic where the trunks were located. When she reached the top, she was surprised to see Daisy there bending over reading the labels on trunks in the third row.

  “Daisy?”

  Daisy jumped up and turned towards her as if she was ready to attack. The reaction nearly caused AnnieMarie to jump right out of her skin. “What are you doing up here?”

  “AnnieMarie don’t you sneak up on me like that.”

  “I didn’t sneak, I ran up the stairs. Why are you up here?”

  She saw Daisy hesitate. That was weird, she thought. Daisy was rarely without words to say. “Daisy?”

  “I was, umm, taking a look at how much cleaning, would need to be done up here.”

  “But I said I didn’t want any cleaning in this area until I have a chance to go through all the trunks.” AnnieMarie walked over to the area where she had left the tape. “I don’t want this area disturbed by anyone.”

  “At some point it will have to be cleaned AnnieMarie,” Daisy replied.

  “At some point I agree, just not now.” She replied.

  “Oh all right,” Daisy said as she walked by her to go back downstairs.

  “Daisy?”

  The woman she had known all her life turned back to face her. “Did you lie to me just a moment ago?”

  “Lie to you about what? Cleaning up your house? No. You are the one who asked me to put a team together to clean the house or did you forget that?”

  “No of course not,” AnnieMarie felt a little bad for asking the question. “It’s just that….” She stopped, waving the feeling of unease away.

  “Just what, AnnieMarie?”

  “Nothing,” she smiled. “I just need to grab something and I’ll be down right behind you.”

  AnnieMarie watched as Daisy went down the stairs mumbling loud enough for her to hear. She glanced back over to the area where Daisy was bent over. Shook her head, then ran downstairs to give Mike her letter for Cainan.

  CHAPTER 21

  Winnie had just gotten off the telephone with Viv when she walked into the sunroom. She thought about all the sadness that had touched Viv in such a short period of time and was concerned for her. It was beginning to show. All Winnie could think was how Viv was there for her when Hepburn died. Not a day went by without a call or a visit. Now, her friend had lost another brother. Regardless of AnnieMarie’s feelings for Walker Jr, Viv loved him just as she had loved Hepburn. Now, she had turned over the keys to the family house to AnnieMarie. It was like losing another member of the family.

  Winnie slumped into the chair by the window.

  “Something has you down?”

  Winnie looked up to see Monica sitting in the corner.

  “Hi Monica. I didn’t see you when I came in.”

  “Your mind was preoccupied,” Monica put down her sketch. “You want to talk about it?”

  “I’m worried about Viv.”

  “Your sister-in-law? Why?”

  “She’s been through so much. Lost so much. I’d like to think of a way to cheer her up.”

  “From what Jonathan has told me you all have experienced significant loss in the last year. I see a family who loves and works hard. I have yet to see any of you play hard. You have to take moments to let your hair down, enjoy the fruits of the hard work you do. When was the last time you went out dancing, or to a music concert or a play?”

  Winnie stared at Monica for along moment. “You know, I can’t say.”

  “Don’t you think that should change?”

  “I do,” Winnie smiled. “I’m going to call Viv to see if she wants to go out for a drink.”

  “I think you should just drive by, put her in the car and go. Don’t give her a chance to say no.”

  Winnie sat up excited. “I can do a drive by.”

  “Of course you can,” Monica smiled then went back to her sketch.

  “What are you working on?” Winnie glanced over.

  “Ideas for Chrystina’s dress.”

  Winnie stood, “Oh, that is beautiful.”

  “Thank you. I have a few options to show her. One for an inside wedding,” she flipped the page, “and another if she decides to do a garden wedding.”

  “They are both
gorgeous,” Winnie smiled. “She is going to love them.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Hey, they look like you are just about finished. Why don’t you come out with us?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. This may be good quality time for you and your friend.”

  “We always have quality time. But we rarely just have fun. Like you said, we need to go let our hair down. Get loose.”

  “You know how to get loose, Winnieford?” Monica teased.

  Winnie raised an eyebrow. “Of course I do. I wasn’t always Winnieford Dunning, you know.”

  Monica gave her a skeptical look.

  “Come with us and see for yourself.”

  “I think I will. I’ll run upstairs and change.”

  “Change clothes?” Winnie looked down at her shell, black slacks and heels. “Why do you have to change?”

  “I don’t know about clubs here in the states, but in London when we step out, we step out.”

  “Oh,” Winnie exclaimed. “I know how to step out. I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes.”

  “I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Monica laughed.

  $ $ $

  Dressed in an off the shoulder body fitting dress and heels, Winnie walked into the club the sound of jazz was pumping through the speakers.

  “I’m not sure I’m dressed properly,” Viv said as a woman in a short black dress walked by.

  “I think she is the one who isn’t dressed properly,” Monica offered. “There is no way that body should be in that dress.”

  Winnie laughed, “I think you look wonderful. Ken would die if he saw you in that dress.”

  “Ken bought me this dress,” Viv said with a quick twirl in the sleeveless black body dress with a thick red belt around her waist. “I just never wore it.”

  “Well, you are wearing it tonight,” Monica said as she walked over to the bar dressed in a red shell top, black leather pants, and knee high black boots. “Come on ladies. Let’s start at the bar.”

  Monica ordered first. “I’ll have Sex on the Beach with a double shot of Vodka.”

  Winnie and Viv glanced at each other then turned to the bartender. “We’ll have the same.”