"Penny's going to work more on the party plan for the next event with Sebastian."
"Maybe I can help." Bronwyn said.
"Sure, I suppose. Penny, maybe you can bring her up to speed." If I hadn’t known any better, I thought Penny shot me a death glare. But then she and Bronwyn went off to talk.
I turned to my brothers. "We need to make it through the next few weeks. Sebastian has confirmed he is coming in for a Halloween party Penny is hosting at Morticia and Lilith's house."
"The creepy haunted house?" Mace asked.
"The house isn't haunted. There's no such thing as ghosts."
"Ida says it's haunted," Archer said. "Also, Hunter, I can't believe you bought food and didn't get me anything."
"I didn't buy it," Hunter said and glared at me.
"I’m helping you," I told him. "I'm going to fix your situation with Meg before you ruin us all. This land deal should have been a simple handshake. However, you have made it unnecessarily difficult."
"I bet it's all some devious plan to ruin Hunter," Parker said.
"You better not!" Hunter hissed.
"Of course I'm not! Besides, heaven help us, but a not-insignificant amount of our family net worth runs through Hunter. It's not like just getting rid of Adrian."
"Adrian is really trying to get better," Mace protested.
I shook my head slowly.
* * *
After I wrappedup with my brothers, Penny was still in a tense meeting with Bronwyn. I didn't want to disturb her.
While the acquisition was important, I had several other things on my plate.
I had contacts everywhere. It was part of how I was so effective. One of them was waiting for me at a teahouse in downtown Harrogate. The FBI agent was sitting at one of the tables in the back of the shop, sipping a cup of imported Japanese tea. We shook hands.
"Officially, I'm here about the business from this spring with Anke and the theft," Agent Donley warned.
"Of course," I said, waving his concerns away. "Anything you can tell me about my father?"
"Honestly," Donley said, "I think the guy must have some sort of lawyer or someone he's working with. He'sjustskirting the line of child abuse."
"Of course."
"Your father declared all the money you sent him on his taxes. I had forensic accountants look into him. He pays taxes on the property," the FBI agent said.
"What about welfare fraud?" I countered.
"He technically doesn't have his official residence with any of his wives, so they can legally collect government benefits. He's not running drugs. He's just an awful person. Unfortunately, there's no law against that."
"I need to rescue my sisters," I insisted.
"I would advise being sneaky," he said. "I was in the cult division at the FBI a couple years ago. Usually if you disband the cult, the mothers will take the kids and run off, and you can never find them. Sometimes they're absorbed into another cult, but a lot of times they simply disappear. Whatever it is you're going to do, do it very slowly and carefully."
I glowered.
"Probably a little too scary for Halloween," he joked. Agent Donley shook my hand. "Let me know if I can help. Thanks for the tip about the Russian spy."
45
