you were going on a honeymoon. You snookered me, Abby. I want my pound of flesh.”
“Call someone who’s fat and can afford to lose a pound or two. I don’t have any to spare. I’m working. That means I have no time to do anything for you.”
“You better find the time, and this one is for free. F-r-e-e! That job you have, the one that is paying you in eight figures? That’s all compliments of me. I can take it away just like…that,” Maggie said, snapping her fingers.
“Go ahead, take it away,” Tookus blustered. “I hate nine to five. I hate wearing a suit and tie. You want to fall back and regroup and call me again like in twenty years?”
“Nah! I’m going to come over to those plushy digs where you work and rip the skin right off your face. What I can’t decide is, should I do it before or after I sic the vigilantes on you? Now, if you’re really nice to me, I’m going to forget you challenged me. Truce?”
“Truce. What do you want?”
Maggie’s voice turned syrupy sweet. “Not all that much. I want everything there is to get on one Baron Bell. I want it from the moment he came into being in his mother’s womb until this very minute, and after that I want hourly updates.”
“You gotta be kidding me, Maggie. Mr. Squeaky Clean himself! Mr. Man of the Year! Mr. Personal Buddy of every power broker in Washington! That guy is the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus all rolled into one. He is beloved and cherished beyond belief. What’d the son of a bitch do to put him on your radar screen?”
“Just never you mind, Abner. At the moment, Baron Bell is under my radar but rising to the top. That’s all you need to know. I want this by nine o’clock tomorrow morning. I do not care if you sleep or eat. Is that clear? If you’re one minute late, you will find yourself skinless. Nice talking to you, sweetie.”
Maggie let loose with a deep sigh. She had no doubts at all that Abner would come through for her. But whether he would have anything worthwhile that her friends on the mountain could use was another matter entirely. Well, she was the master of spin, if she did say so herself.
Time to get ready to close up shop and head for the mountain with the others. She could hardly wait to sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings prepared by Charles. She smacked her lips in anticipation.
At least she wouldn’t be going empty-handed. Abby’s file would be her gift to the host. She laughed as she envisioned Charles’s expression when she handed it over.
Chapter 2
It was Thanksgiving eve, and the compound on Big Pine Mountain was quiet. The reason for the silence was the late hour and the fact that snow had been falling for the past nine hours. A giant white blanket covered the mountaintop, making it picture-postcard perfect.
Charles Martin prowled the confines of his command center, his thoughts all over the map as he stared down at the paperwork Maggie Spritzer had brought with her earlier in the day. With the investigation his own people had done, he felt like he had a solid basis to move forward when the guests left on Sunday and the Sisters got down to the mission at hand. He now walked out of the command center, slipped on a heavy mackinaw, and opened the front door. A blast of early-winter air rushed through the room. He smiled at the high drifts of snow on the porch. He stood under the overhang and fired up his pipe. The smoke from the cherry tobacco in his pipe and the heady scent from the evergreens were an intoxicating mixture. He loved it. Loved seeing the steady snowfall, knowing all his chicks inside were safe and sound. For now.
Tomorrow they would all sit down to a huge dinner he would begin preparing in just a few short hours. They would all pray and give thanks for so many things. He hoped his voice didn’t falter when he offered up his own thanks. As he puffed on his pipe he thought about the son he’d never gotten a chance to know. He knew that if he let the tears flow, they’d freeze on his lashes. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. It wasn’t that he was banishing all thoughts of Geoffrey, but that it was unbearable to think about his son, the traitor.
Charles listened to the silence around him. He wondered what it would be like to live in a world as silent as the one he was standing in. Never to hear the sounds of laughter, never to hear the wind rustling in the trees, never to hear the birds chirping early in the morning. That was an unbearable thought. He shifted his mental gears to the work at hand. Not that dinner was work. He could prepare a Thanksgiving feast with his eyes closed. What he couldn’t do with his eyes closed was figure out what was going on with Baron Bell. Or with his eyes open, for that matter.
He whirled around when he sensed a presence. “Myra! What are you doing up at this hour?”
“I’m up because the bed got cold. Why are you standing out here, Charles?”
“The world looks so clean and pure right now. It’s so perfect, I just want it to be like this forever, but that’s a foolish wish on my part.”
Myra reached out and nestled her hand within his. “It is beautiful. The snow came early this year. I’m ready to get married now, Charles. I thought maybe on New Year’s Day. I’d like Nellie to marry us. Say something now, Charles, because I don’t think I will get the nerve again to make this commitment.”
“But you didn’t ask me. You made an announcement. I’m supposed to get down on my knee and ask you.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Myra asked.
Charles dropped to one knee and reached for Myra’s hand. “Myra, will you marry me on New Year’s Day? If you say yes, I promise to love and honor you into eternity.”
“My answer is yes, Charles. Will you make the announcement at dinner?”
“If that’s what you want, then, yes, it will give me great pleasure to announce our betrothal. You just made me the happiest man in the world.” Charles moved his arm and wrapped it around his beloved’s shoulders. “What made you pick this moment in time, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Well, Charles, we aren’t getting any younger. In fact, we’re getting older by the day. If that isn’t enough of an answer, I realized I don’t like cold beds. And you’re right. This moment, right now, this instant, is so perfect, it just seemed like the right time. I’m going to have Annie stand up for me. Whom will you choose, Charles, to be your best man?”
“Elias. You don’t think the boys will be upset, do you?”
“No more than the girls will be upset with my choosing Annie.”
“I don’t have a ring for you, Myra.”
Myra laughed. “The ring isn’t important. Just ask Elias for one of his cigar bands. That will do nicely.”
Charles reached for his bride-to-be. “My life is now complete, Myra. I think we should go inside before we both freeze to death out here, and then there won’t be a wedding at all.”
“I think you might be right. Come along, my darling. I’ll help you get started with your Thanksgiving dinner.”
Charles pretended horror. “My dear, you are worthless in the kitchen. But you can watch me. Let’s have an early breakfast. You can brown the buns and make the coffee and squeeze the juice. We received a box of Baby Bell oranges with our food order yesterday. Wait till you see them. Each one is more perfect than the
