Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“Who planted them, if not you?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s your ranch and you are oblivious to entire fields of illegal drugs being produced? Yet, you expect us to believe that you would know if meth was being made.”
“I have acres of farmland, woods and streams that make up the ranch. I only recently inherited it and took a more active role in what goes on there. Prior to that, I had specific duties assigned by the previous owner, Walter. None of them involved policing fields of pot that would have been there well before I took over.”
“Once again, then how can you be sure there is no meth lab?”
“There is nowhere to have a meth lab. After I found the pot, I had a group of my employees go with me to canvas the entire ranch for anything else we might not be aware of. All pot fields were destroyed and there are no buildings in which a meth lab could be built. The buildings on the property are all on the front acreage and in use.”
“How do you know that the employees you sent out aren’t the same ones who are making and selling the drugs?”
“I trust the guys I took out completely. There are no drugs on my property.”
“Then you wouldn’t mind consenting to a search by the FBI?”
“I would mind. However, I’ll not have my reputation sullied and my employees harassed by an intrusive government overstepping of bounds.”
Agent Pilosa glared at him angrily. Then she snapped, her entire head turning red as she yelled across the table.
“There are girls out there somewhere, dead or dying, and you don’t want to be inconvenienced? How fucking dare you! If even one of those girls could have been saved by your cooperation, I swear to God, I will end you. I will make sure you rot in a tiny prison cell in some remote place where you’ll never see anyone you care about again!”
“You can scream all you want, Agent. My ranch is not involved in this and you don’t have anything even indicating otherwise or you’d have a warrant to search it. I don’t know where you got this misguided notion that we are out there cooking meth, but I can assure you that we are not. You have my word that if I find out otherwise, I will not hesitate to contact you and hand you the person over to you who has betrayed me. Short of that, you can go fuck yourself.”
“Listen, we’re all a little on edge. Let’s just calm down and talk about this some more,” one of the other agents said.
Kay pulled her locket forward and opened it, removing the tiny mic that had been placed inside. She tossed it on the table and stood up. Bradley stood too, and they walked out. No one attempted to stop them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Well, that went well,” Kay said as they walked toward their cars.
“Didn’t it?” Bradley replied, still fuming. “I’ll see you at the house.”
“Okay. I’m going to do a bit of shopping while I’m in town, but I won’t be far behind.”
“I need to go by the tack and feed store, so we’ll probably still get home at about the same time,” he said. “See you at home.”
Kay climbed into the Lexus and pointed the car toward a nearby shopping center. Bradley pulled out in his old truck and went the other way. As she neared the stop sign just down the street, she looked up to see two dark cars pull out, one turning her way and the other turning Bradley’s direction. So, now they were going to be followed. Well, that was going to be a big fat nothing for the FBI.
She truly believed that the ranch had nothing to do with this. The simplest answer would be to just let them do their search, but she suspected there were reasons why Bradley resisted that. One was that this was his clan and he wasn’t about to undermine his authority with them by just allowing the FBI to target any of them. The other might involve something much more important. Somewhere, there were bound to be bones that couldn’t be explained away.
Watching as the dark sedan pulled in behind her at the market, she knew she was right about being followed. Feeling a bit angry herself, she waited a moment before getting out of her car, giving them time enough to park and gawk at her through their dark tinted windows. Then, she stepped out of the car, tossed up her hand in greeting and smiled before walking into the market. When she returned, they were gone.
Back at the house, she found Bradley still brooding. He was pacing back and forth in the community room when she arrived and seemed relieved when she turned up. He motioned about the house with one hand and then put it up to his ear. Kay shook her head from side to side, sitting her shopping on the floor.