Southern Greed Page 11

  We mostly scanned the manuscript but I was looking forward to reading the book. The first part was about Grace’s life as a little girl growing up with everything she ever wanted.

  She talked about her marriage and her son and her life in general throughout the years. It wasn’t until the last few chapters that she began to talk about where the money came from and how she found out about the pirating, the prostitution, the gambling, the money laundering, the bootlegging during prohibition, and the drugs.

  I looked at Eugene when I read this part aloud and he dropped his head. “I was caught between the need to get my book published and the love I had for you. I thought you wanted to live in this mansion and be rich. I wanted to make you happy but, at the same time, I wanted to publish the book. I didn’t know if you would want the money if it was dirty.”

  When I frowned, he tried to explain more, “I didn’t say that right. I didn’t think you would want the money if you found out where it came from but I didn’t want you to read my manuscript until it became a book. I was selfish.”

  “No, I think I understand. I really do, Eugene. I don’t like for people to see my designs until they are done. But now that I do know, I don’t want any part of this money and I’m glad you don’t either. I want a simple life but maybe we can eventually afford to have a house with a swimming pool.”

  We both laughed and it relieved the tension. He patted my knee and said, “Let’s go lose ourselves in each other for awhile. Mrs. Hildebrandt volunteered to watch Ronnie so he’s up in her quarters.”

  “That was so sweet of her, but she needs to get some rest. She’s not that young and she was up in the middle of the night making coffee.”

  He shrugged, “She wanted to. You know how much she loves you. She would do anything for you”

  We made love with the desperation of two starving people and then held each other afterward and fell asleep.

  We slept until after three and I awoke with a start and sat up in bed, “Eugene, they haven’t come for the money. It’s after three. They haven’t come for the money and we haven’t heard from Patty or Detective Phillips. What does it mean?”

  “Calm down, honey. It could mean anything. Remember, Regina didn’t come until late yesterday. The police are probably waiting for her to get here and they’re probably setting up a sting operation to bring down Detective North.”

  We went into the kitchen and raided the refrigerator and Mrs. Hildebrandt found us and said, “I would have fixed you a proper dinner or supper or whatever it is you’re having.”

  “You’ve already done enough, Mrs. Hildebrandt. Where is Ronnie by the way?”

  She dropped her head and smiled. I looked at Eugene and he had a puzzled look on his face just like I must have.

  “Well,” She said. “There was a man came by selling puppies and I got one for Ronnie. He’s in your suite playing with it.”

  We took our sandwiches with us and when we got to our suite we found Ronnie on the floor giggling as a Golden Retriever puppy crawled all over him.

  CHAPTER 41

  It was almost nine o’clock and we were watching Ronnie play with the dog when someone knocked softly on our door. I opened the door to find Regina Walker, the nanny standing there wringing her boney hands.

  “She looked over her shoulder before stepping into our suite, “I came for the money,” She said. “But you’ve got to call the police. He plans to kill her as soon as we get the money. I didn’t know he would go this far.”

  Eugene and I sat there in shock while she continued, “I don’t know what to do. He said he loved me and we were going away together. He was going to marry me. I’ve never had anyone pay any attention to me before, especially someone like him.”

  Eugene got up and took Ronnie to bed saying, “We need to give the dog a rest, son.” The dog followed them into Ronnie’s bedroom. Neither of us said anything until Eugene came back and handed her the briefcase.

  I was so angry I didn’t have any sympathy for her, although I could identify with her. I had lost my head and agreed to help Adam pull a scam. He could be very charming.

  She kept standing there like she wanted to say more. We watched her and Eugene joined me on the sofa. She was twisting the handle of the briefcase and she finally said, “There’s something else. Detective North is a dirty cop. He plans to get rid of the body in exchange for two million dollars and he has false ID just like all of us.”

  We didn’t let on that we knew about North. We waited to see what Regina was going to do. It seemed that we all were at a loss as to what should be our next move.

  “I want to turn myself in,” She finally said. “But I don’t know how to set it all up. I know I’ll have some jail time but I don’t want anything to do with murder. It was different taking money from you, you had plenty. You wouldn’t even miss it. But I want no part of this here.”

  Eugene and I looked at each other and made a silent agreement. When he nodded, I spoke up, “The way to help the police and yourself is to follow through with delivering the money. The police already know that North is dirty and they’re setting up a sting. They’re watching the house right now and will follow you when you leave here. We will testify on your behalf.

  “We’ll tell them that you were going to turn yourself in and we talked you into going ahead with the original plan so that they can catch everyone.

  “But if you’re conning me and my baby gets hurt, I’ll come after you if it takes the rest of my life and every penny I own, and I will kill you.”

  “I’m not conning you, Mrs. Murphy. I’m sorry. I really am. I want to help the police now.”

  After she left we sat without saying a word for a long time, lost in our own thoughts.

  I thought of something, “You know, Eugene, when this is over, I want to give Patty some reward money, before we give the rest to charity. If it wasn’t for her, Jeannie would be killed. I also want to reward all the staff, especially Mrs. Hildebrandt for being there for us.”

  “I think that’s a good idea, honey. You want to try to get some rest? It might be awhile before we hear anything.”

  “I don’t think I could sleep, could you?”

  “No, probably not.”

  Mrs. Hildebrandt knocked on the door and stuck her head in, “There’s a buffet set up for everyone if you’re hungry. Things have been so crazy, I forgot to fix any supper and the guests were wondering if this had turned into some kind of fat farm.

  “We decided to make it buffet so everyone can eat when they want.”

  “Why don’t I go get us a plate and we can eat in here,” I said to Eugene, and left with Mrs. Hildebrandt.

  “How’re you holding up?” she asked me while we were heading to the dining area.

  “I think I’ll be all right pretty soon. Regina came earlier and she’s now helping us. I can’t go into any details but I really think it will be okay.”

  She hugged me and then we arrived at the dining room and I started fixing plates for us. I made sure to get enough in case Eugene wanted to wake Ronnie up. None of us had eaten enough to keep a flea alive these past few days.

  CHAPTER 42

  We had fallen asleep with my head on Eugene’s shoulder and his head on top of mine, sitting on the sofa.

  I was dreaming and in the dream I was holding Jeannie in my lap. She was holding something up to me and saying, “See, mommy,” but I couldn’t tell what it was she was showing me.

  The she said, “Listen, mommy, listen,” and I heard a knock. In my confused mind, I thought I was still dreaming. I was trying to see what Jeannie was doing to make that knocking sound. Then I heard Eugene saying, “Coming,” I became wide awake realizing the knocking was for real.

  I sat up straight and looked at the clock. It was five in the morning and I had a terrible creek in my neck.

  Detective Phillips was standing at the door and he looked like death warmed over. Without being invited he collapsed on the sofa and put his head in his hands. Mrs. Hild
ebrandt came in carrying coffee for everyone.

  “Mrs. Hildebrand, you haven’t slept in days,” I said to her. “Come join us. You deserve to hear what Detective Phillips has to say. Then go to bed!”

  I was trying to concentrate on everything except the fact that the detective didn’t have Jeannie with him. I was afraid to ask.

  Detective Phillips put three spoons of sugar in the coffee that Mrs. Hildebrandt had brought in on a tray and I noticed his hands were shaking. No one said anything as we watched him. He blew on his coffee and took a sip and set the cup on the coffee table.

  He let out a long sigh and then began, “I don’t know where to start.”

  I felt like screaming but instead asked in a quiet voice, “Detective Phillips, where is Jeannie?”

  He looked at me like he was surprised I had asked and then said, “Oh, God, I’m sorry. I should have assured you right away. Jeannie is with the caseworker. She took her to the hospital to be checked out. She appears to be okay, but dirty. They were hiding out in a cave. She’ll be all right if she’s as tough as her mama, which I think she is.

  “Okay, from the beginning, we watched the nanny when she came here and then followed her. She stayed on foot and walked down the coast carrying the briefcase. Detective North thought it was just me and him, but we had people up and down the coast watching, including the FBI, since it was a kidnapping case.”

  He shook his head, “He’s been my partner for fourteen years and all this time I thought I could trust him. Now that this has happened, I keep remembering cases where we thought we were close to solving a case and the perp. got away.”

  He took a deep breath and blew it out and sounded like a bull, “Okay, so we were following the nanny and he told me to go over the sand dune and follow her on the other side of the dunes while he followed her down the beach.

  “I went over the sand dunes, but came right back, keeping close enough to the shadows of the sand dunes so he couldn’t see me. I could have stayed on the other side and let the other guys get him but I wanted to be the one to bring the son-of-a-bitch down.

  “I saw him run into the cave and then run back out. When he saw me he said, ‘no one in there,’ and I knew they were there. I pulled out my handcuffs and had him on the ground and cuffed before he knew what hit him.

  “As I was reading him his rights, I looked up and saw the other police officers and FBI agents bringing the others out in handcuffs. The caseworker was carrying your little girl.”

  Tears of joy streamed down my face as I bent over and wrapped my arms around the detective. Eugene put his arms around both of us and he was crying. Then Mrs. Hildebrandt put her arms around all three of us and she was crying. Ronnie came out of his bedroom and saw us crying and he started crying, “Is Jeannie dead?”

  Eugene picked him up, “No son, she’s okay. We’re crying because we’re happy.”

  “That’s stupid, to cry when you’re happy.”

  We all laughed through our tears and then heard a knock on the front door. A very pretty young woman with dark brown hair and eyes and a perfect figure opened the door before we got to it.

  She was holding Jeannie and as soon as my baby saw me she reached for me. I held her tight and nothing had ever felt so wonderful and perfect.

  Everyone was trying to hold her at once and she said, “Me was in cabe. Me don’t like.”

  “Why Jeannie, You’re speaking so well,” I said.

  “Jeannie stay here, mommy. Don’t like mean people.” The she saw the puppy and said, “Me want down!” as she reached for the puppy.

  CHAPTER 43

  Adam, his sister, his mama, his lover, and Detective North got life. The nanny got fifteen months and two years probation. If she tries to be a nanny again, I hope the parents are smart enough to run a criminal background check.

  Mr. Budd, the producer made the movie about my life starring Janet Stone. The movie was a low budget, B-rate movie and didn’t make her career like she had hoped. Mama got no money from the movie and Mr. Budd didn’t make a comeback like he had hoped.

  Something positive came out of the sorry movie, they portrayed the Reverend Jacobs as such a villain that several of his victims were courageous enough to press charges. We helped put him away for life. He continued to profess his innocence saying he was being persecuted for being a man of God.

  I guess you’re wondering what became of the mansion. I talked to Colin and we decided to turn it into a luxury alcohol and drug Rehabilitation, but not for the rich and famous. It was for people with no money. It would take a lot of money to run so that’s where the rest of the money would go. We would also have fund raisers from time to time for the high society people I had met through my grandmother.

  We hired a psychiatrist named Doctor Drew to be the director and he lived in our old suite. He hired counselors and psychiatric nurses but agreed to keep all my old staff for cooking, housekeeping, etc. Mrs. Hildebrandt was delighted. Now she had people who needed her even more than we had.

  We were given enough money out of the estate to buy a house with a swimming pool and a back yard big enough for the kids and dog to play in.

  I gave Patty and some of the other staff $100,000.00. I tried to give Mrs. Hildebrand money but she wouldn’t take it. Patty was going to use hers to get an MBA so she could run a hotel or resort by herself.

  Eugene’s book was a hit and he went on to write novels after that. He became a best-selling author. We eventually had enough money for me to open a boutique that carried some of my own designs.

  Ronnie started first grade the next year and Jeannie loved her big brother.

  It seems our life is perfect, at least for now.

  #####

  About the author

  After retiring from three major careers, teaching high school math, exploring for oil and gas as a geophysicist in offshore Gulf of Mexico, and working as a counselor/psychotherapist, I decided I wanted to try my hand at writing. I had read one to two books a day for over forty years and decided to just go for it. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Look for my Judith McCain thrillers beginning with Blood On White Wicker, my first book. Or you can start with Southern Fried Chicken, which is my first two books condensed into one. Also look for my self-help book, The Answers Are Within, and my science fiction/fantasy, 3037

  Contact me at: peggyholloway62@yahoo.com

  or visit my blog site at http://authorpholloway.com

  FROM DOUBLE SHOCK:

  CHAPTER 13

  December 7, 1941:

  I thought at first it was the end of the world. For once all three daddies were with me and the baby. We were having a good time drinking wine and talking and laughing when, all of a sudden there were loud noises like about a million guns being shot at the same time.

  I had heard the guns from the rifle range near my house but this wasn’t that. We went running outside and looked in the sky and there were planes shooting at us. Cole and Adam picked me up and Daniel picked up the baby and ran with us to an underground bunker I never knew existed.

  On the way there, I saw several people falling down covered in blood. People were screaming and running in all directions. I’ve never been so scared in my life. When we got underground, the three men left. People were screaming and making so much noise, the baby started screaming too.

  She’s maybe cried twice in her life. She’s such a good baby. She turned two this year and toddles around on her short little legs like she is in a hurry.

  I got her quieted down by rocking her in my lap. She put her thumb in her mouth and went to sleep in spite of the noise.

  It was killing me not knowing what was going on above us and I asked another lady to look after Ramona and climbed out of the bunker.

  I saw a GI and asked who was shooting at us. He said it was Japanese planes. If he had said German planes I wouldn’t have been confused. But Japanese planes? They weren’t in the war were they?

  I was just wandering
around and found that I had wandered to an area I had never been in before. I was on a road made of white sand and I could see no one.

  I heard someone say, “Psst,” and turned toward the sound. It was a Japanese soldier. He was about my age. He was laying in a ditch beside the road and he was wounded. It was very confusing. Why was one of them down here?

  I looked around and behind a tree I spotted a parachute. I looked back at him and he looked terrified. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said but I could see he didn’t know what I was saying.

  I came back over to where he was and looked down at him. He had his hand on his chest and I took it in my own. It was covered in blood. I unbuttoned his uniform. He had landed on a branch and a splinter of it had gone through his chest.

  I pulled out the stick. He bit his fist to keep from screaming and blood started pouring from his chest.

  I didn’t know what to do but by some miracle I thought about taking off my blouse and holding it against the wound. It seemed to take a long time to get the bleeding to stop and by then he was really weak. I ran back to where the parachute was and tore off strips and tied them around his chest.

  I buried the rest of the parachute. When I got back to him he was sleeping. I didn’t know what to do with him. I was also without a blouse. The only thing I saw left to do was to put the bloody blouse back on. I would have to make up a story about why it was bloody.

  I didn’t think I should tell anyone he was here and I looked around for a place to hide him. I was afraid to move him and ended up unburying the parachute and putting it over him. I knew I should at least get him some water and I looked around.

  I took his helmet and walked around the area and found a small stream and filled his helmet with it. I raised him up and helped him to drink. It was frustrating to try to communicate with him.

  I must have been gone for hours and they would all wonder if I was still alive. I tried to tell him I would be back, using sign language. I don’t know if he understood.