Whitney looks at me like I’m an idiot before replying. “Well, Brian is arranging things for the kids during the afternoon. Then he’ll have grills and lay out everything anyone can eat. The restaurant will organize all that.”
Rolling my eyes, because honest to goodness she’s sniping at me, and I’m not biting. She wanted to do it, so I’m letting her. “Hey, I don’t care. If Brian has it organized, then good for him.”
Whitney looks a little shocked at her own attitude rather than at mine. I smirk, and she follows that with an embarrassed smile. “Sorry, Lee, I’m a little stressed with it. I have this annoying author I’m working with, and I’m telling you, once this is done I’m not sure I’ll work with him again.”
“If he’s stressing you out this much, you need to do a FaceTime meeting and lay it out to him. You are not a whipping post, Whitney. Is this the one that is writing about the Civil War?”
“Yes, and the research is huge. I have Gerald helping with that. He assigned one of the new assistants who I have to admit is turning out to be very good. But this author is pushy, and I’m sure he thinks I only work for him,” Whitney cringes at her own reply, and that tells me a lot about how she is feeling.
“How about we go to the ice hockey game this weekend? The darn garage can wait for one day I’m sure. Oren will love it, and it’s only two hours away.”
Whitney smiles, “Yeah, let’s, and if the guys don’t want to, then we’ll take him.”
“Oh, they will come with us, you can bet your lily-white butt on that, Whitney,” I say with a huge smile on my face. “Do you need me to do anything for the Valentine’s thing?”
“No, I have it under control, Lee. Nothing for you to do. Brian is being fantastic…He’s taking over most of it. That’s because he has all the contacts and staff to pull it off. I told him to manage, and I’d help if he needed me.” Whitney gives me a side-eyed look because she knows that I now know she is not the one organizing this thing. Not anymore, anyway.
I launch myself onto her, and we play wrestle around the living room floor. That is how Clem and Myles find us, and join in, covering us in dust and dirt.
The shower is interesting later I admit. I’m not telling how long we were in it, but the water was running cold!
Walking into my office, I smile at Annabelle, who is placing envelopes on my desk. “Morning, Annabelle.”
“Morning, Maylee. Mr. Wallis asked for you to visit his office this morning. I think something has happened with the case he took from you. There were officers here last night right after you left. I hung around for a while to see if you would be needed. But, as you know you were not, so I went home.”
“Thanks, Annabelle. I’ll go see him now. My first client isn’t due for another forty minutes, so I should have plenty of time. Can you make sure the file for that client is at the top of the pile, please?”
“I’ve already placed them in order of appointments Maylee. I know you didn’t like the alphabetical way they were done previously,” Annabelle says with a grin on her face.
“I’m that obvious, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid you are,” Annabelle laughs as she leaves the office. I follow her out and head upstairs to speak with Mr. Wallis.
Before I can knock on the open door, Mr. Wallis looks up from his desk. “Come in, Maylee. Take a seat. I have news regarding the Katherine Grosvenor case.”
I quickly take a seat and wait for the information that Mr. Wallis is going to give.
“This thing blew wide open. Six pairs of foster parents have been arrested. Thankfully, apart from two of the children the rest who had been adopted by these vermin…” Mr. Wallis takes a deep breath, calming himself before he continues, “are now over the age and don’t have to go into any kind of care. Any and all inheritances are being recovered from the accounts of these parents. If there is not enough left in the accounts, the rest will be recovered from the signing over of properties and assets.”
“So, it was all fraud. They were not interested in adopting the kids. They were just after the financial benefits they could get their hands on.”
Nodding, Mr. Wallis frowns. “I am thankful I have the reach to get this dealt with quickly, and cleanly. The two children who were in the adoption process are now with a new foster family. The social worker is in custody and has been charged alongside the other pieces of…” taking a deep breath, Mr. Wallis calms himself once more.
This has obviously upset him more than a little, and I’m not surprised. It's a horrible thing they have been doing. They created a syndicate. It’s the only way to describe it!
“Is there anything I can do?” I ask.
“No, it’s all under control. I will give you the file to peruse once it is fully concluded. You will see the pattern, and hopefully if it ever happens again you’ll recognize it quickly,” Mr. Wallis says, and I can tell that I’m now being dismissed.
Later that evening I fill Myles in on what happened, and he’s as shocked as we all were. But to be given the finality that, yes, this happened when these people are supposed to be protecting our most vulnerable is sickening.
“I think Mr. Wallis is a good man,” Myles has admiration in his voice. “We need more like that in positions that can make a difference and have the right thing done.”
“Yeah, I agree. I’m liking this office, and I'm happy to be working for them. I was worried when I moved here, but I think I was lucky to have chosen this one.”
“I’m thankful that Whitney came here and found Clem, because if she hadn’t, I would not have found you, cupcake,” Myles says right before he wraps his arms around me and kisses me silly.
Fifteen minutes later, after I extricate myself from Myles once more, I asked how things are going at the garage.
