Situating herself in the greenhouse office, she was able to use the big bags of soil for a bed.They weren’t as soft as a bed, but they were warm with the heat of the office that she’d carried them into.In addition to a bed, using the desk, she also had herself a table and a little heater that someone had left behind.There was even a hot plate that she could use, but she was slightly afraid of it.The plug was frayed, and she didn’t trust the wiring around it.She would only use it if she were there all the time.She didn’t want to burn down the place just because she wanted her soup hot.
Fixing herself some ramen noodles for dinner, she was set up about as well as she could be and still have food and water.After taking an inventory of the place and then figuring out different ways to get in and out, she felt that she was safe here until spring.She didn’t know if they were going to start the greenhouse up again or if they’d abandon it, as it looked to her like they had.
The next morning, she didn’t even bother trying to look for a newspaper.It only came out once a week, and she’d be lucky if the news in it wasn’t about a month old.Mostly, it kept up with the local sports teams and what they were doing, but it rarely, if ever, had a front page that would tell you something that you’d need to know, like a restaurant that had been shot up and people killed.She’d be better off trying to get information from the town librarian rather than the newspaper.She’d be able to answer questions, too.
Going to the pizza place in town around ten, she asked if they had any work for her.They usually did, and she was glad that she could work today.They never asked her for her phone number.Whenever she had free time, she would go in and ask.It was also a good way to hear things.She was hoping that the town would be abuzz about what had gone on at one of the biggest restaurants in town.
By the time her shift was over and she’d signed up for tomorrow too, she heard three different versions of what had happened at theGolden Sheep.She was going to have to get more information, but the police had made sure that no one could get into the parking lot, and there were no cameras around either.
The first version was that the place had blown up from a gas leak.She knew that one wasn’t right.They never mentioned the dead bodies, nor did they talk about how the Feds were there either.It had been a big deal to have the Feds around because the owner had blown it up for tax purposes and insurance.She didn’t believe that one to be true.
Nor did she think the second one she’d heard was true.It said that the gas leaked again, but since it didn’t blow the place up, they only had to evacuate.Again, no mention of bodies or dead people, so she didn’t hold out much hope of that one being true either.She’d seen at least four of the dead and thought about number three.It had the most truth to it.
There was no gas leak, but it did mention that the place had been gone over by the Feds.It was said that Mr.Shadows had been arrested, but that was easy enough to get wrong.No one had seen his body as yet, and they were speculating on how he might have been taken out of the picture.It talked about how there were other agencies around and that they weren’t allowing anyone within a mile of the place.The road had even been blocked off.
The thing was that she had it in her head that the place was selling some kind of illegal drugs.Whether it was fentanyl or not, she wasn’t sure, but something was going on.Just as she was clocking out of the pizza shop, they got a big order for ten large pizzas and five large salads.It could only be one family that ordered like that, and the Penningtons were not ones to mess with.They had a way about them that scared even her.Plus, they were big men who were soft-spoken.The kind of combination that would get a person into trouble with them.She stayed long enough to get the pizzas in the oven and the salads made.It was good money working for the town’s only pizza place, and they were always busy.
Chapter 1
Gleason could honestly say that he didn’t care for construction.But he needed to get with it if he ever wanted his house to be finished.A week ago, the outside framing was up and most of the walls, but it was nothing like the house that he wanted it to be.He thought that he’d be used to it because of the construction that had been going on at Kinsey’s place, but building a house was so much different.It was the constant noises going on that bothered him, but he kept telling himself that it would be over soon enough and he’d have his own house to live in.He was headed there when his brother Wylie called him.
“If you’re going to tell me more about your theory about theGolden Sheep,I’m going to hang up on you now.”TheSheephad had something going on out there for the past two weeks, and the road was still blocked off from the restaurant.“I don’t want to know where you’ve gotten your information either.You’re going to get yourself killed if you keep this up.”
“I just have this one thing.I know it was meth they were making, and that over twenty people have been killed when the basement caught fire when the police showed up.”He asked him how he knew that information.“You told me not to tell you.But it’s all over the internet about what has happened out there.Just this morning, I found out that Mr.Shadow, the owner of the place, whose real name is Carl Windermere, and his wife and two daughters were killed in the raid that had happened.”
“Raid?You mean to tell me that some other drug cartel came in and raided the place, or was it the police?Either way, that’s not information that you should be telling people.You’re going to get yourself killed over this.”He said that there was so much information going around that it would take them years to round people up about it.“Still, you’re going to get yourself into some big trouble if you don’t behave yourself and stop what you’re doing.”
About a month ago now theGolden Sheephad been the target of the FBI and other agencies that had initials on their vests.There was so much going on that the roads had been blocked off in front of the place, and cars were being turned around to go back from it.No one was talking, but people, like his brother Wylie, were making up enough stories to get the place in the newspaper if something was going on.Just as he was ready to hang up on Wylie, he said something that had him stay on the line.
“Rosie is working with that girl that I’ve been telling you about.I just know that she’s in on it somehow and that the police are looking for her.Well, not the police.The little pisser, the chief of police McGee, is out there daily at the site and not keeping his men busy.Last week, there was no one driving by the crosswalks, and Jamie Steele had nearly been killed when a car drove right through the crosswalk.”Rosie used to be the chief of police until she retired recently, and McGee took over.She was working at the pizza shop so that she wasn’t lazing about the house all day looking for something to do.No one liked McGee, and he thought that he’d be out of a job soon.Trying to keep this all straight in his head was driving him crazy.He couldn’t think who the girl was and asked him.“You know.The one who is all cagey who works at the pizza shop?I think she’s going to be key to the goings on out there.I’m betting right now McGee has no idea where she is, either.”
“He’d have to be really stupid to not know where his prime suspect is, don’t you think?”He said she’s probably not been home since this whole thing started and is hiding out somewhere in the open.“I’m going to ban you from getting on the computer, Wylie.What does Rosie think about you always talking about what’s going on around there?”
“She’s helping me.”It figures.Once a cop, always a cop.“She doesn’t think that the girl has anything to do with it.She’s been working at the pizza shop for about six months now.But I do.She’s just too cagey, like I said before.”
He was at his house by then and couldn’t believe the progress they’d made.Not only were thewalls all up around the house framing, but it looked to him like they were putting on the siding as well.He loved it.Going up to the site, careful where he stepped, he told his brother to behave, and that he needed to work at a better job that kept him out of trouble.They hung up their phones, and he had a look around.That’s when he saw David Winchester hanging around as well.
“The progress was taking too long.”He asked him what he’d done.“I called in another couple of crews to get things going.You’ll see that the kitchen is being worked on the way you wanted it to be, and the whole house should be finished in a couple of weeks instead of months.You might even be in there before Christmas.”
“You didn’t have to do that.I could have waited.”David was a billionaire who had taken him and his brothers under his wings when they sold him the farm that they’d owned some months ago.Not only did he buy the five thousand acres, but he’d also adopted them as his boys, as he and his wife didn’t have any children.It had been good to have such a good father figure around after their own father had killed their mother in a fit of rage.“I must say I was surprised by how it looks.”
“You should see what they’re doing in the back yard.I didn’t know you were paying for landscaping to be done, too.It’s going to be a showplace back there, I think.”He told him that he’d gotten his ideas about the back yard from his own home.“Thank you, son.That makes me feel good when you said that.The wife and I plan on doing a bit of entertaining when the whole place is done.They only have to do a couple more changes, and it’ll be finished.”
David and his wife Alice had bought their farm from them several months ago.Not only did he buy the farm that they were glad to be rid of, but in the process, he had made them millionaires several times over.It was hard getting used to having money as they’d been so broke all the time.He thought about how broke they’d been back then and wondered how they were ever able to hang onto the land and not go under at any given moment.It had been the choice between having a meal on the table or hot water in the house.Things were never as simple as going to the bank and getting a loan.They all worked other jobs, but Kinsey and Wylie had to keep the place going.
“You should see what a little money can do for you.”He laughed, and so did David.“All right, I have more than just a little.But it makes me feel good to be able to spend some of mine to help you boys out.You mean the world to me.”
“You have become a father figure to us as well.”The two of them didn’t say anything for several moments because of the emotions that would get to them when they talked about family.“I’ve been furniture shopping too.It’s been really easy to figure out what I want.I’ve been going to the other two’s homes to see what I like and then go out and buy it for myself.There have been a couple of things that I didn’t care for in their homes, too.But for them it’s perfect.”
Kinsey and Wylie were married now, and he couldn’t have been happier for them.They both had lovely homes that they seemed to glow in, and now that both of their wives were going to have a baby, his brothers seemed to be walking on air.It was funny to see how foolish they’d become since they told them about the babies, too.
While the two of them walked around the construction site, he could see what kind of progress had been made with David helping him out.Not only were the walls up in the house, but they were laying floors too.
He’d opted for not having carpet in any of the rooms and was glad that he’d gone that way.The carpet would wear, and he was glad that he’d gone for hardwood floors in all the rooms.He even had floor warmers in the bathrooms to keep his feet warm in the colder months.There were even towel warmers in the bathrooms so that he had a nice, fresh, warm towel when he was finished with his shower.The kitchen had the most improvements made to it.
The floors had been finished up, and the cabinets were put in.Even the countertops were being laid in the large room.Wylie and Rosie had a solarium off their kitchen that held fresh herbs and plants.But he loved that they could have a meal in the large area, too, which he’d wanted for his own home.It looked to him like it was finished for all but the plants that he was going to have put in there.
“There are real stairs.”He laughed at himself.“The last time I was here, there was only anillusion of stairs that the men were using.Now it looks like I can go up to the second floor and have a look around.”
