With This Ring

By

Retta Michaels

Preface

Dear Reader,

In a lot of my writing, I've never felt the need to write a preface. With this story, I want you to know what to expect. For me, the story is a mixture of a whole lot of truth and a whole lot of fiction.

For me to explain it, I must sit and tell you what my conceptual plans were for the novel

IN LIFE, we are not given a set list of directions and plans how to complete it. Some people don't like the unknown, so they don't take any foreign steps into different territories. With others, they know no structure.

Rather than having a nameless character out there who could sue the fuck out of me for even inferring they're a member of the mafia, I chose to go personal and use my own name. It's a lot less messy and a lot more friendly for my lawyer.

I am not a member of the mafia. I will not say I do not know a lot of the family members from several cities, but I am not a member myself.

I will state at one time I was with a man named Gino who headed a crime family. He's since passed and this story has been released with permission and editing done by his son who is still a dear friend of mine. (Thanks Dave.)

The names I've used in the story besides my own are ficticious. The names have been changed to protect everyone. Where names weren't important, I have not used them.

I have given enough references to who the person is so if you can read between the lines, you can see who they are. With that said, I will not say more about the characters.

The story is made up. It is totally ficticious. None of the incidents happened, and nothing of the sort ever occurred. If you choose to believe it did happen, and if you choose to believe it's true, then that's on you. I will state now if I receive an email asking me if such and such part is true, I'll be polite and refer you to the Preface and leave it at that.

The reason I'm writing this preface is because I want people to know when I write, I write fiction with an air of the style of writing used by the National Enquirer or the Sun. There's an air of truth in there someplace, but it's actually fiction. If you choose to believe it's truth, then do so...I've got about twenty acres of swamp land I'll sell you and someplace on that land is a complimentary Iphone. If you can find it, it's yours.

With that said, I'll now state the characters of this story will probably be used time and time again. I think I've found a niche in this style of writing. I'll tell you now, it's done in the style of Mack Bolan “The Executioner”, James Bond, or Scarface.

“With This Ring” is the first book of the saga. It shows how someone can go from leading a normal life wanting to lead a normal life to being thrown into a complex cast of characters which require him to be more and more of what he doesn't want to be.

I hope you enjoy the story.

Chapter 6:

We went into the office and Steve closed the door. He came up to me and kissed me. “Man I've missed that this afternoon.”

“I have too. I thought you were going to get JT?”

“We can do this without him. If we find anything interesting, we'll tell them. The first thing I want to do is go through the drawers and see if I find anything.”

“I'll look over here in this book shelf. He's got papers over here in things.”

“Probably a filing system of sorts.”

I pulled out a law journal. It was from the years of 1966 & 1967. I opened it and saw it was a diary of sorts. I began to read and started seeing what was done and who did it. Then I saw what the person paid in order to have the charges reduced. It stated who paid him what and whether he took the matter to the judge, or if he kept the money for himself. Off to the side was an extra line drawn in which looked like a ledger. At the bottom, was a total for the page.

I made a mental note to read more in depth the journal when I had a chance. It's information was such it could be useful. For the entire time he was in office, twenty two years, I saw all the ledgers and journals.

Steve said, “Babe, take a look at this.”

I went over and took a look. It was a checking account with the older style of receipts on the left and showed the checks torn out.”

“What am I looking at?”

“This is an account used for one thing....to pay the judge money he took in from people paying fines. What he took in was a whole lot more than what he actually paid toward their fine. The rest went into his bank account at the end of each week.”

“I found the journal over here for all the years he was in office. It states what the person did and what he took in to reduce the fine or the punishments. It's a vertiable who's who and the potential for blackmail would be enormous with those books.”

“Do you think now that he's gone, someone might come looking for them?”

“I don't know, but if I was paying him, I'd really want it lost. BUT, if I didn't know if he kept the journals, I might hope he hadn't. It's really iffy.”

“I think we need to put them away someplace where no one would be able to find them if they broke in.”

“My suggestion is to get a computer in here and scan them all onto a disk so you had the back up.”

“Would your laptop work?”

“Yeah, but I don't have a scanner.”

“Would Wal-Mart have one?”

“Yeah, but it's going to take forever to scan all those pages.”

“Let me go out and get one and bring it back.”

“Honey, why don't you get a computer there too. That way we have one for in here anyways.”

“I wouldn't even begin to know what to get in a computer.”

“My best advice would be to not get one from Wal-Mart, but at this time of night, I imagine there's not much else open.”

“What's wrong with a computer from there?”

“Well, there's the actual make made for other companies and then there's the Wal-Mart edition. Things made for them tend to be cheaply made.”

“How bad could they screw up a computer?”

“Oh, I could think of a lot of ways. A cheaper hard drive would fail sooner. Cheaper memory would burn up faster. The capacitors in the board would be made cheaper and it could burn out faster. The video card probably is less and so on and so forth.”

“Would you have space on your disk at your house?”

“Yeah, that's no problem, but without internet service here, it would be slow as could be to communicate back and forth. We'll have to see if they have DSL out here.”

“I don't think they do. Some people were complaining about it.”

“Well, they have satellite internet which is more costly, but is fast.”

“How much does that cost?”

“A lot, but if we're going to have internet and can't get any other that's fast, then we'll have to go with that.”

“Who does that?”

“It will have to be done through the phone company or a satellite provider like Dish Network.”

“We could have satellite for the television then too couldn't we?”

“Yeah, that's a must in order for you to see any sports. Is all you get out here is two channels?”

“We get four. There are a couple extras we pick up from Charleston.”

“Let me call the phone company and see what they offer. Hey, wait a second, someone around here has to have wireless because I can pick it up with my laptop. It'd have to be here because we're too isolated.”

“Then he's got one here someplace.”

“Take a look at the walls and see where the phone line comes in. If you can trace the phone line someplace, then you'll find the computer or the router.”

“You think he actually had that?”

“If you didn't, then it would have to be him, or JT.”

“Do you think JT has a computer if he's asked to use yours?”

“Then it's your daddy. Your mama doesn't know a thing about them.”

“Do you think Daddy would know about computers?”

“Honey, it doesn't take a lot to learn computers.”

We looked for the wire and soon Steve said, “I've got it. It's going into this cabinet over here.”

“It's locked, do you have his keys?”

“There's a bunch of them in this drawer.”

“Start trying.”

“What if it's protected by passwords?”

“I'll show you a few tricks you could use in your profession to get into other people's computers in case you're looking for child porn.”

“I've never done it. I don't think there's anyone here that's ever complained.”

“Maybe, maybe not, but if you ever have one, you'll know what to do.”

“How do you know so much?”

“A whole lot of bought used computers. Some of them have passwords protecting them and I needed to get in and reset them.”

“And it worked?”

“Honey, all you do is go in and take out the battery on the mainboard. It resets the system so all the passwords are reset. I'll probably need a small phillips screwdriver.”

“I've got a set downstairs. I'll be right back. Try those keys and see if you find one that works.”

I tried keys and knowing office furniture, I tried the smaller gold ones first. I did seperate out several safe deposit box keys from everything else so he could take them to see what was in them.”

The fourth key I tried worked. The door slid open and there sat a HP computer and the router. What made it nice was it was on a slide out so the computer sat at the users side. Behind the computer was a flat screen monitor. I set it up on top and then put the keyboard up.

I turned the computer on and it went right into the operating system without asking for a password. The files which came up upon the screen were interesting. I clicked on them and began seeing photos of all sorts of crime scenes and accident scenes. I backed out of the file and then went over to documents. In it was all sorts of files which when I opened them, had the ledgers and journals all on it with Quicken software. Why he didn't have a printer was beyond me. He could have used the computer to print the checks.

I took a look into the History files and began opening what he'd last viewed. There were all sorts of banking sites. What was interesting was when I clicked upon the site as user, it put me into the account automaticly. I viewed the site and took note of the account numbers and where the bank was located.

Each site I viewed put me into the account. It was apparent the man didn't know much about computers and tended to be lazy with user names and passwords. Each one clicked me in and I was allowed to use the site as if I were him.

Steve came back in and said, “You have it running!”

“Yeah, take a look here. You're going to need a chair, so pull that one around.”

“I wonder why he had a chair across from his desk when no one was allowed in here?”

“Maybe it was habit.”

Steve drug over the chair and I began showing him what I'd found. He was amazed at all the accounts and the amounts in them.

“Steve, you're going to have to go into those banks with a copy of the Will showing you're executor and a copy of his death certificate in order to be allowed to move the money and close the accounts.”

“Do you know how to do all that?”

“I'm familiar with it, but I'm not the executor. They'll want verification to prove you are who you say you are.”

“Ok, would you go with me?”

“Sure.”

“He had a lot of accounts.”

“He knew the banking industry only protected accounts up to one hundred thousand dollars. I imagine you'll find withdrawals bringing them down to that total each time they gave him interest on them. Someplace around here, you'll find tax records stating what he got from each bank annually.”

“So you're saying he didn't trust them?”

“Yeah, but he was fastidious about making sure they only had that much in them. Right now, we're at six different banks. There are eight more and I'm sure one of them is the one he used for household accounts.”

“That would be the local bank. These are either in Charleston, or Savannah.”

“Yes, but how many banks are there here locally?”

“Not many.”

“That's why he went there. I bet you'll find he has accounts there too. Check that checking account and you'll probably see it's local. If he used it for an account, I bet he had more accounts there.”

He got the name of the account and said, “Is there anything else on the computer besides accounts with Banks?”

“Not for his internet usage. He does have a lot of files. There's one of nothing but crime scenes and accident scenes. He had to get them off a site or from a disk he put in.”

I showed him the files and then showed him the ledgers.

“These ledgers were emailed to him from the judge. Those are the records he was getting from the judge for payments received and it shows the judge sent him money too.”

“Well, they were busy scratching each other's backs. He sure wasn't careful about encrypting them or using passwords which makes this really easy. In a moment, I'll do a search for hidden files and see if he had any.”

“How will you find them if they're hidden.”

“It's relatively easy if you've worked on a computer enough. What you do is go do a search for every document, text, or pdf file and then it searches through the hard drive for them all. When it shows the results, it will lead me to the files they're in.”

“How new is this computer.”

“One moment, I'll check.”

“How do you do that?”

“System restore. If he used it, it should tell me when it started. If he didn't, then I'll look and see under the system file and see when it was constructed. That will give us a year he got it.”

I opened the system restore and it had never been used. I then went into the system and it showed me the computer had been constructed in May of 2005.

“You sure know your way around a computer!”

“It's not really hard. There's a lot of trial and error in what I've done on one.”

“You're saying this is really amateur stuff. Yours are a lot more complex?”

“Oh yeah. What you'll find with mine is I've got all sorts of operating systems form Unix Linux and even some Sun operating system. I kept away from the Mac operating systems since a lot of things never worked for me when I used it. I use Windows, but for programming of the jumbos, I'm into a lot of Unix.”

“Is that harder?”

“Yes and no. Once you get used to it, it's a lot easier to program things than Windows.”

“You'll have to show me.”

“That'll be fine. We'll have to find space in here to put them, but in this room, there's a lot of wasted space. We'll have this place shaped up in no time.”

Rose came in and Steve gave her his chair.

“Tell mama what you found and I'll go get another chair.”

I explained everything to Rose and showed her the accounts. She was amazed at what I'd found.

One thing I did note was his Sheriff's pension was direct deposited. I told her in order to continue receiving payments, she'd have to contact them and verify his death with a death certificate. She was confused about it and I told her I'd help.

I said, “Rose, would you get one of those legal pads and start making a list?”

“Sure hon.”

“I need to have us “To do” lists so we don't forget something. We'll go do a bit of this on Tuesday. Has the funeral home told you when they want you to come prepare the funeral plans?”

“No. They'll probably call tomorrow.”

“They might wait until Tuesday to hold the funeral. If so, they'll have the visitation on Monday. Be prepared for all the state and local police agencies being out in force to give him a send off. They do that when one of their own dies.”

“I never thought of that, but you're right.”

“If they have the funeral on Tuesday, we'll take care of his pension on Monday and then run around to the banks. Since Steve was executor of his Will, he'll have to have a copy of the will and certified death certificates to close accounts and move funds.”

“His will doesn't state anything about these accounts.”

“If it doesn't, then Steve will have to take them all through probate which will be a bitch. They might make him wait up to a year for that to happen.”

“They wouldn't!”

“Yes, they would. And they'd have to put it in the newspaper to see if anyone wanted to stake claim to them. Steve might be able to get it put through the judge faster, but him doing so might require a favor as crooked as those guys seem to be.”

“If so, I'll tell him to wait.”

“No, if it's so, I'll have a friend of mine called and you'll be amazed at how an outsider can get things done.”

Steve came back in with the chair and sat down. I adjusted the screen so we could all see but with the small size of the screen it made it difficult. I adjusted it using the Ctrl + to make viewing larger and Steve said, “Man, you really know the commands!”

“I type up stories. In order to read them on the sites, I do that so the print isn't tiny. It blows it up so my monitor has it huge.”

“How big is your monitor?”

“My smallest is a 19”. I've got a 21 and a 42” plasma. What makes it nice with the plasma is I can blow it up and tile the pages I view so I can see multiple pages of a story at once.”

“We'll have to get one.”

“We'll have one once we get to Missouri. The advantage of this computer is I can get in and make it so I can access it with my laptop. Then I can save directly over. That way we have a copy of everything in case someone chooses to come in and take this one.”

I went over to the user section and made myself a user and then went in and made my laptop able to access the computer. “When we get the laptop back, we'll be able to access it.”

Steve asked, “Rhette, I'm not seeing the accounts from the trees or their household account on here. This looks like it's his accounts for the payoffs and the bribes.”

“Hon, think of it. Would I want to have these accounts out in the open so everyone could find them if they came into this office? Or, would I have them so I knew where they were online and leave that out of this room? He probably chose that route and used the check books we have here for those accounts.”

“Where are they at?”

“Have you looked in the file cabinet over there?”

“No.”

“Then look in the bottom drawer. That's where I keep mine.”

“Why?”

“I can lock the file cabinet and no one's going to be able to get in it.”

“It's locked alright.”

“Then use this key to open it.”

I handed him the key and it went right in.

“We need to take tape and label these keys.”

“Better yet, until you have a system to store them, either leave the key in the lock or leave the lock unlocked. It might not be safe, but it sure will make it so we don't have to keep sorting through these keys.”

“He sure never hid them well.”

“He was probably sure you guys wouldn't come in here, but the computer being locked away rather out in plain sight does say he didn't want anyone to know he had those accounts.”

“Do you think there are any more we don't know about?”

“One thing you'll have to check is this key here. I'll tell you now it's to a post office box someplace. If you use your Sheriff's credentials and call the post office and give them that number on it, they'll be able to tell you where it's located.”

“Ok”

I showed them the keys I was sure to office furniture. One of the sets on a little ring was to the desk itself. We still had four keys unaccounted for which I knew weren't to anything in the room.

Rose said, “Let me have them and let's go up to his bedroom. In his bedroom is a strong box under the bed. I do know that and I've not been into his closet, but there might be things in there.”

“Ok”

Steve said, “I'm going to stay down here and read some of these things.”

“We'll be back.”

Rose and I went upstairs to the bedroom and she pulled out the strong box. One of the keys fit and inside was a bunch of change. It looked like he emptied his pockets into the box. Why he never kept the key closer is beyond me, but at least we had one of the keys down.

In the closet, I found a Sentry safe. The key which said Sentry on it opened it. I looked through the files in the safe and then locked it and handed the key to Rose. “Here, take this and give it to Randy's mom. It's love letters written to him from her. Let her decide what she wants to do with them.”

She nodded and put the key in her pocket.

I looked up at at the top of the closet and found a metal box which said “Budget” upon the side.

“I wondered where that went. It's what I used to put the mail in so he'd be able to go through it when he had time.”

“Well we found it.”

I took one of the keys and it didn't work. I used the other and it fit. Inside, I found all sorts of cancelled checks to Randy's mama.

“Here's the cancelled checks for Randy's child support. There are grade cards in there and other things regarding him in it.”

“I'll give him this box and let him go through them. He might want some of the things.”

In behind that box, was another. I pulled it down. It was made of wood and painted a military battleship gray.

“That's his daddy's. I bet you'll find things of his daddy's in it.”

“Let's keep the key with it and then we can look at the things later.”

“Open it and make sure. I don't think he got rid of the things, but we better be sure.”

I opened the box and found a lot of certificates and awards. There were all sorts of military documents and all belonged to Steve's grandfather. There were also patches and stripes from a uniform. At the bottom was a birth certificate. I looked at it and asked, “When was James born?”

“1928, why?”

“His dad was fourteen when he was born?”

“I knew he was young. They were still kids when they got married.”

“Hold on a second, here's her birth certificate. She was older than him!”

“Yes, by two years I believe.”

“The little scamp!”

She giggled and said, “Well, he was a rounder. She probably wasn't his first. The stories he'd tell would have everyone blushing.”

“Sounds like JT earned it honestly.”

“When he told me about what he was feeling, I was floored. I'd seen him with so many girls, but to hear him tell it, he wasn't doing anything with them.”

“That's what he said, but there are going to be a lot of fragile egos shattered around here and a lot of guys are going to be wanting to start fights.”

“Why would they do that?!”

“It's two fold. He's beaten them out previously to go out with those girls, so they're going to be a bit upset and now that he's gay, they're going to assume he's weak and won't fight back. Guys still do it with me all the time. My problem is two-fold in that I'm little and they think I'm weak and won't fight back. Fortunately for me, I found strength in a man named Bryon Peterson in prison. He taught me to box.”

“And that helped?”

“Yeah, but the advantage of being taught something is using it, but mixing it with other things and being smarter than the opponent. Also, the element of surprise helps.”

“What? You attacked them!”

“No, watch this.”

I raised my arm in the air straight up. Her eyes naturally followed my arm. Then I reached out and touched her on the cheek.

“I never saw that coming!”

“Your natural instinct is to follow movement. I knew what I was going to do but you didn't. Therefore, I was prepared to go on the offensive. Instead of touching your cheek, I'd full up blast them in the nose. After that, they grab their nose because it's painful. Nothing's fair in a fight. I'm not going to stop and let them regroup. I'll be in there throwing everything I can at the person. By the time they're recovering from their nose being broken, I'm already inflicting all the other pain I can like hitting them in the balls and kicking their legs out from under them. Once they're down, I'm on them flailing away again at their nose because their instinct is to protect the damaged area. I'm beating the hell out of the backs of their hands, but by then they'll already know they've been beat.

In prison, the man on the ground has lost but the next man I fight will be expecting me to do that so I have to use different tactics like drawing a line on the ground and telling them to cross it. They'll look at the line to cross it and that's when I already have them sucker punched.”

She laughed and said, “How many times did you fight?”

“Fifty two. Of those, I went down on the ground once and beat the holy hell out of the man. The others, I got hit in the face three times, but won all the others. One of them was so funny the guard made the guy go back in and fight me because he ran away from me and I'd broken a nail. The guy didn't want to fight but the point had to be made...no one steals from me and gets by with it.”

“What'd he steal?”

“A piece of chicken. He made the deal to get a bar of soap from me for a piece of chicken. When chicken day came, he told me to go fuck myself and ate it in front of me. The laugh was on him because he thought because I was littler, I'd let it slide.”

“If you have boys, you'll have to teach them self defense.”

“Nowadays, I'll have to teach it to my girls too. Girls are more vicious than boys now. They'll use a girl's hair to hold onto so she can continually punch her. A guy think's it's sissy to fight pulling hair, but I've done it. I'm gay, the rules don't apply.”

She laughed and said, “Have you been in any fights since prison?”

“If you call what happened to my face a fight, four on one, then I got my ass kicked. The same goes for Kevin. When he hit me, I wasn't expecting it. He learned that afterwards he had hell in session an I was going to beat it out of him. Other than that, I went in a bar once with a friend and my friend got in a fight. Prison rules state one on one, but if two gank one guy, all's fair. He was fighting and getting his butt kicked, but I stood back. Then the man's friend wanted to attempt to pull a knife. I was standing behind him and as soon as I saw the knife, I broke his arm and beat the hell out of him. When his friend tried to step in to hit me, I used the knife and told him it was going to be used against him instead of my friend. He ran like a girl.

That's another reason I'll never go to a straight bar again. Those guys when they get drunk want to blame it on the booze they're coming onto a guy, but when the guy accepts the advance, they want to kick his ass. That's how Matthew Shepard got killed and I'll be damned if it happens on my watch.”

“Who's Matthew Shepard?”

“A kid that got beat to death out in Wyoming. Two guys came onto him and he went with them. They tied him to a fence out in the middle of nowhere and beat him. Then they left him for dead.”

“I think I heard about that.”

“It's still a sore point with gays. It's ok with we're taken out and tied to a fence. Let that happen to a girl and suddenly all hell breaks loose.”

“I'll have to study up on things.”

“I have a website for you to see. A guy over in some other country has it. It shows the number of gays who've died and their stories. It's just sad at what can happen.”

She stood up and said, “Honey, let's go back downstairs. This has gotten you sad.”

“Life's precious. You can be minding your own business and have it taken from you over hate. What I'm doing is telling you this so you know what JT will face. People will tend to not do a thing to Steve because he's Sheriff, but even if JT wore his uniform and badge, he'll face problems. It's the authority behind it that's protective.”

“You need to talk to him.”

“Sadly, he's going to have to learn a lot of this stuff on his own. No one can be taught how to be gay, they have to want to learn it.”

“Show him the sites. Then tell him to read. He has to know what he could face.”

“Ok”

We went downstairs. Steve was looking at the computer and said, “A lot of these guys were being blackmailed by daddy. Some of these payments went on for ten years after I got to be Sheriff. One of the guys had to die in order to stop the payments. I agree what he did probably would have had him in prison for the rest of his life, but to do that to someone is not upholding the law, it's breaking it for personal gain.”

“He did what he did honey. He's dead now. Erase the file. Let those that were abused know it's over.”

“Mama, I can't do that. There's a retired judge out there and a current judge out there that are in this too. I've got to turn this over to the proper authorities so their justice can be met, otherwise I'm just as guilty as them.”

She nodded and said, “Son, protect yourself. They're powerful men.”

I put my hand upon her arm and said, “He's got protection now. Whether he likes it or not, I'm going to get it for him. What I'm afraid of is the party attempting to tell him and the Attorney General to drop it in order to not give the party a black eye. We could probably use this politically as a way to switch parties because just as soon as Steve gets told to drop it, he could go public with it and have everyone tried in the press. It's his call, but I'm not going to see him off to work one day out at his car so our kids can see us get blown to bits. Those people need to know that not only do they have the law coming up against them, but they'll have outside forces coming up against them so whatever they think they can do will be thwarted and used against them.”

Steve said, “Rhette, let me handle it.”

“As much as I think you're a big boy, the answer has to be no. Firmly and resoundly, I'll stand on that answer. There's a man who has my heart behind that badge and if you feel the need to prosecute this, then I'll stand behind you with all I have and everything I can gather.”

“Rhette, this isn't the time.”

I stood up and said, “Excuse me. I'll go upstairs and go to bed now. My mind is made up. If you don't want to argue it, I'll go ahead and make that call anyways. Good night, and don't bother coming to my room. If you don't want me here, then I'll go home, but I'll still make that call.”

I patted Rose on the shoulder and went around and kissed Steve. “I love you and you need to know I know what's possible. Apparently, you don't. Losing your face isn't likely to happen over that. They'll do what they can to stop it no matter what.”

I went out and went upstairs. I clicked out my phone and dialed David. “Hello?”

“It's me Margaret.”

“And what do I owe the favor Tilly?”

“I need you and everything you can bring here to protect Steve.”

“What's going on?”

“His dad was Sheriff and was taking payoffs, bribes, and extortion moneys from a lot of people. The two judges were in on it too. Steve's dad is dead and we found all the files and journals of what was taken from the people. He wants to take it to the Attorney General and have the two judges brought down.”

“I'll have a crew of guys out tonight. Can they stay at your place in town until we can get them accomodations?”

“Tell them to come here to the house. We've got enough rooms.”

“Does Steve want the protection?”

“No”

“Then having them there won't be an option. We'll do it covertly and I'll have guys watching those two judges.”

“Ok, thanks.”

“Anything for you. All you had to do was ask.”

“Whatever I do, don't pull those guys off him.”

“What does that mean?”

“If I call you and tell you to pull them off, don't.”

“Ok, use the phrase poppyseed dressing when you actually want it pulled off. Once I hear that, I'll pull them back.”

“We might have the Attorney General involved in the cover up. He's a part of their party.”

“So you think this will be attempted via party lines.”

“Yes.”

“What I'll do is I'll have a man at the phone company listening to all his phone calls. The mere mention of anything party affiliated will cause the connection to be terminated.”

“Ok, do what you have to do, but don't let him get blown up.”

“It's not happening. I'll make some calls tonight and let the family out there know they're not to ever touch you guys.”

“Or his family.”

“Any of you guys.”

“Protect the shit out of us, but tell your guys they can't go into the woods around us. It's full of rattlesnakes.”

“Really?”

“They killed over a thousand of them in a house on the property because they let the grass grow up around it.”

“Man.”

“Yeah, so tell them not to go that direction, but someone with a long range scope out on a fishing boat would do good. Another thing is they're going to have a funeral. Get a man in the funeral home so that's not disrupted.”

“I'll have ten of them there. I want it to look like there's secret service all over you two.”

“Ok, but I don't think he'll start anything until after the funeral. I'll keep you updated with what I know.”

“Ok, I'll see you later.”

“You coming in?”

“Yeah, I'll let you know where you'll see me when you see me.”

“Dave, he has a step brother who has a wrecker service. We'll need protection for them too.”

“Ok, it'll be done. That might be the way you see me.”

“Tell Randy what's going on and he'll help.”

“I don't like doing that.”

“They're not real close but Randy and he want to be close. If Randy thinks it will help, he'll do anything he can. He knows how their dad was.”

“Ok, I'll think about it. Who knows, the man might need a new driver.”

“That's the spirit.”

“I'll be there and you can count on that.”

“Thanks.”

“You've got it, there's no sense in thanking me.”

“I'll go now.”

“By morning, you'll know you're protected.”

“Ok”

I went up to the third floor and went down the hall to the room I was thinking about using for my writing room. I went in and closed the door. I flipped open my phone and called home.

“Hello?”

“Hi mom.”

“How's it going?”

“All's well here. I need you to do me...well us a favor.”

“What's that?”

“Would you put word out in the family telling all the younger girls we need surrogates?”

“Why?”

“Because we're going to want to have kids. Tell them we'll pay them a million each and they can stay here so no one knows back there. Put word out to everyone because the way I think it will go is we'll probably have one who will take us up on the offer and once the others see how the money's changed the one's life, the others will be knocking your door down wanting more details.”

“You can't find anyone else to do it?”

“We could, but if I'm going to raise kids using his semen, I want my bloodline represented too with his. I might not be able to give it to him, but I sure can do some good for our family in the process.”

“I'll do it, but it could take a while.”

“No problem. As long as I know the effort's being made on our side, I'll know we're doing our part.”

“How are you doing?”

“It's been a busy day. A lot has happened and for a normal person, one of the things would be a major event that was once in a lifetime, but right off hand, there were four for me.”

“And you're still standing?”

“Yeah, you know me. I'm a weeble. I'll wobble but I won't fall down.”

“Kevin said he's coming out there.”

“When?”

“He's closing on the business on Monday and most likely will arrive Tuesday.”

“We'll probably have Steve's daddy's funeral on Tuesday.”

“He died?”

“Yeah”

“Oh Jesus, tell that poor woman I'm so so sorry.”

“I'll tell her. She's holding up well.”

“What your dad and I will do is wait until the weekend after next to come out.”

“That'll be fine. If you check, you should be able to find an airline that flies direct. Whenever you need to, use my bank card there.”

“Ok, but I doubt if we will.”

“Don't let lack of money ever stop you from coming to see me. I've got it and it was made to be spent.”

“Ok, but it's more the lack of time.”

“I know. It's not like you were coming into town to see me.”

“No. What else happened today?”

“Well, we did a lot to take their mind off of things. There's an old house on the estate that we were wanting to bring back to rights, but when Steve's mom and I went over there, it was a jungle of weeds. Rather than go in, we decided to go over and get the brush hog and take some shot guns out to kill any wigglies. What we found was enough to empty like fifteen boxes of shells.”

“Oh my lands!”

“Yeah, we called out the deputies and they all used them for target practice. They mowed all the way to the house and Steve said there was probably a thousand of them at least in the house. So they burned it. Which got the fire department guys there and us having to go to town to get enough from KFC to feed all of them.”

“That's a lot. It had to cost a fortune.”

“Yeah, but we packed more into the day than what I told you about.”

“You care to talk about it?”

“No, not really. It's a day in the life. You know how it is. Days like to day make me yearn for the days I'm bitching about nothing to do.”

“And on those days you're wanting days like today. I know how it is.”

“Yeah. Listen, you're going to be having a man call you to come deliver a car for you.”

“What kind!”

“One like mine but a hard top.”

“Honey, you shouldn't have done that.”

“No, you deserve it and if you think I'm spending too much money, don't look at the money. The reason I'm doing it is because the car is that good. It's made like they used to make cars before all the plastic and everything. Yes, it's a Rolls, but that car will probably last you the rest of your life since it's made so good.”

“The parts are probably expensive as hell.”

“Maybe, but if it ever needs repaired, you use that credit card I gave you. Know it's a gift from me and use that card for everything...parts, oil changes, tires, I mean everything.”

“I will because your dad will shit when he finds out how much you spent on it.”

“Well...you're worth it.”

“So are you, but you shouldn't have.”

“No, Steve and I had words over it as he thinks Brent and Ash will look at it that they can't give you anything like it. I told him if they had the money, they'd give it and were probably looking at me having the money and saying I wasn't buying you guys a thing, so they'll know I'm not being selfish with it. I'm also buying his mom one. She's driving a Pinto for chrissakes.”

“Does she like the one you got?”

“She drove it today and just went on and on about it. She said it's the nicest driving car she's driven and is heavy feeling like the Caddy they had back in the seventies.”

“Well if it's made that nice, it's probably made that heavy. Those cars were like tanks.”

“Yeah and that's why I want you guys to have it. If it affords you some protection and you can walk away from an accident, then the money was well spent.”

“Thanks hon.”

“Well, I'm going to go to bed. I love you guys.”

“We love you too. Give them our love and condolensces.”

“I will. Bye now.”

“Bye bye hon.”

I turned around and Steve was standing there. He enveloped me in his arms and said, “I just got the ass chewing of my life from my mama. She said to get my hind end up here and make up with you.”

“Honey, I'm not backing down on this one.”

“And you shouldn't have to. I don't really want you to call him because I think I can handle it, but if you must, then do it.”

“It's already done. We'll have protection starting tomorrow morning, but no one will know it. You might want to tell JT if he sees someone behind him, it's probably his protection so try not to outrun him.”

“No, because then I'll have to tell him why he's needing protection.”

“Steven! You tell him. If I withheld something like that from you, would you be pissed?”:

“Yeah.”

“Then tell him. Let him know why and what you're going to do it. He may not agree with it, but I think it will be best. Keep the money in those accounts and let them decide what they want to do with it. If it has to be given back, then do it, but if not, then don't. I imagine since you inherited it, they won't make you give it back, but who knows. Either way, you're following the law and that's what matters.”

He smiled and asked, “You want to come with me?”

“Yeah”

We went out and across the hall. He likes the solitude of the third floor. Interestingly, I knew exactly what room you were going to go to.”

“How'd you know?”

“This was her room.”

“Really!”

“Yeah.”

“I chose it because it faced the ocean and I want to see the fishing boat in the morning when I get up.”

“What fishing boat?”

“Since they can't go out into the woods, they're going to be out there with a scope.”

“You'll probably hear helicoptors flying overhead too.”

“This is going to cost a lot of money.”

“Honey, the President won't get as much protection as what we'll have. There are going to be about a hundred guys who are here by tomorrow. Everywhere you turn, you'll see someone and it'll be one of them.”

“How will I get any work done?”

“They'll stay back, but you'll be amazed how fast they'll be there when you need them.”

“Where are they going to stay?”

“I offered here, but he said they'd find someplace.”

“Tell him to have them come here. It's the least we can do.”

“Let's talk to JT first.”

We knocked on the door and JT yelled for us to come in. We went in and JT set my laptop off to the side.

“These chapters are long! I expected to buzz right through and get them all read tonight, I'll be lucky if I'm done in a month!”

Steve smiled and said, “Really?”

“Yeah, but with Jordan, I'm already captivated. It's an awesome story and I'm not even done with the first chapter.”

“We need to speak with you.”

“What about?”

“Let us sit down because this will be a talk we'll have to have sitting down.”

“Sure, grab up the bed and pull up a sit.”

I sat on one side and Steve sat on the same side as JT. “JT, we found a bunch of files in dad's office. Not only were there files, but he had journals and journals of everything he took for payoff's and bribes from people. Not only were there files from him, but correspondances from the judges who were sending dad money as his cut from things. There are also statements and a check book used to make payments to them.”

JT nodded his head and said, “So what I heard was true.”

“Yeah, now dad's dead, but those guys are alive. We can't arrest dad, but as Sheriff, I can't let this go on unnoticed. If I do, they'll probably attempt to suck me into the loop and I'll tell you now, that's not going to happen.”

“How much money are we talking about?”

“So far, there's over a million dollars. There are safe deposit boxes in banks and I imagine those contain quite a bit of something which aren't cash....like stocks, bonds, or whatever.”

“Is that why he kept the office so secret?”

“I don't know, but Rhette found the computer because we were talking about internet service. He said he was able to reach wireless internet from here in the house and since it only can be accessed form a close range, he knew it had to be here.”

“So we've had internet service all along and I've been holding off on buying a computer.”

“It looks like it. We found dad's computer in a locked cabinet. Rhette knows a lot about computers and was able to get in and look at the files. What he found was scary. I'm thinking the accident and crime scenes in the photos are used for extortion, but I'm not sure. Even after I was in office, he was still taking the payoffs from one. The only way the guy got out of paying was he had to die.”

“Ok, so what is it you want to do?”

“I want to take the information to the Attorney General and share it with him so we can get the two judges. There's easily enough information he can't ignore the violation of the law.”

“Do you think he'll arrest them?”

“If he doesn't, I'll most likely have to call in the FBI or take it public and try them in the press, but then I'll be including the Attorney General's correspondances in that and holding him accountable.”

“So if it's my permission you want, then go ahead. Is that what you're wanting?”

“No...well yes, but what I need to tell you is we now know and just as soon as they know we know, then I imagine they're going to want to try getting that information or putting a stop to me doing it.”

“So they'd kill you for this information?”

“Probably”

“Well then don't do it.”

“I can't do that. What Rhette has done is he's gotten us protection. Starting tomorrow, you'll have someone protecting you. Mom will. This house will, and Rhette will too.”

I interrupted. “Randy and his family will and also Kevin. He's going to come in next Tuesday. I just spoke with my mom and she told me.”

JT smiled and said, “Good.”

“Well, what we wanted you to know is you're going to have someone protecting you. They'll be near, but they're not going to impede your life. When you need them, you'll be amazed at how fast they'll be there. One way you'll know is there's going to be a fishing boat out there in the morning. Due to the snakes in the woods, we figure it's safer for our guys to be out there. Let their guys die trying to get through those woods, but our guys will stay safe. You'll probably hear a helicoptor buzzing overhead every now and again, but that will be them. When you go anywhere, you'll have one on you.”

“Man, this is going to suck.”

“No, it's going to be business as usual except the driving has to be kept normal. If you attempt to lose them, they'll be lost but then you're probably running right into the hands of the people you were to be protected from.”

“Ok, I'll keep with them, but we need to tell Randy.”

“Randy probably already knows. The way I was going to do it was having my guy contact Randy and tell him the truth. Then have Randy help him to protect you guys. At first, Steve wasn't for the idea, so I was going to do it whether he liked it or not.”

Steve said, “When Rhette left the room, mama jumped onto me like I've never been jumped before. She said I was as stupid as daddy ever was but only dumber. When she got through, I felt like I was smaller than a fleas balls. So I came up here and made up with him. That's when he told me he'd already ordered the protection.”

“What do we have to pay for the protection.”

I started to speak but Steve interrupted me. “JT, when we were down getting his car, he told me about a relationship he had with a mafia guy. Not just A mafia guy, but the head of a family over a whole city. The guy chose being in the family over Rhette, so he moved on, but Rhette stayed close to the guy's son. Now the son's over the family and he told Rhette on the phone with me hearing that Rhette was supposed to inherit everything. Instead, Rhette gave it all to him. Now the guy feels like he owes Rhette everything.”

“Why?”

“If Rhette had taken it, he could have viewed the guy as a threat and had him killed. He knows that and Rhette does too. Rhette wanted the guy and not the family. I think because Rhette views the guy as a brother of sorts, he gave it to him. Now the guy is giving him whatever he wants. This is one thing he asked for and it's given.”

“It still has to cost a lot. Aviation fuel is a lot in itself and having guys on a payroll costs a lot.”

“Well, that's what I think. Now, they're probably going to have to get motel rooms. I think we should offer them the use of these rooms as token or our appreciation. What do you think?”

“It will be a lot of work on mama.”

Steve looked at me and I said, “They're going to clean up after themselves. We'll arrange chore schedules and cooking schedules. We probably will have to buy some refrigerators and freezers, but we'll get them fed.”

“Well, invite them here and we'll house as many as we can.”

“Ok, with the bedrooms here, we'll probably have two to a room. Up in the attic is enough space to make a dorm which those guys can use one of the rooms for it's bathroom.”

“What I can do is I can give up my room here. I can move to your house so when Kevin comes I can be there. What we can do is house a lot of them there too. That way, the number we have in that attic is very few. It'll be getting hotter than hell up there and even with the breeze and the top hatch open, it's still stiffling.”

“Ok, let me call him and tell him to divert the guys this direction. What you will see is a whole shitload of cars out there. There will be every make and model the rental agencies will let them have. What you two need to know is the police agencies and the deputies are going to get suspicious. You need to alert them there's another agency in which is doing some investigating. You don't have to say who and you don't have to say who's being protected. I imagine they won't be blind and they'll think it's you two who is under investigation since you'll be the ones who are followed.”

“No, I'll tell my guys my life has been threatened and it could be that JT's is threatened too. That way, when this comes out, they'll see I was really in jeopardy. If my guys think I'm the one or JT's the one being investigated, then they'll do what they can to jack with those guys. There will probably be stop sticks and all sorts of things done to them. Rather than have that, I'd rather have them feeling like they're helping rather than hindering.”

“Ok, that's a good choice, but we don't know if they're on the take too.”

JT said, “I think Dan is. Since I'm a dispatcher, it's my job to give him messages and to pass along evidence. There have been a lot of envelopes which have been brought into him that could only contain cash and lots of it.”

“Ok, I'll tell Dave.”

“You don't know if he is or isn't.” Steve said with alarm.

“And you don't know if that man will blow your head off if paid to do so. Look at my face. Those people were paid to do the job. Don't ever underestimate the power of a dollar with some people.”

JT said, “Steve, let Rhette do his job and you do yours. Right now, it sounds like he's doing a better job of protecting you than you are. I think I know of two others who are, but I'm not sure. What I do know is I've seen Dan passing along envelopes to other guys.”

I asked Steve. “Just because your daddy got out of it and you're not in it, do you think it's stopped. It sounds to me like you chose not to get into the loop, therefore they drug Dan in. I bet right now, the party knows you're thinking about running for Governor and are planning on switching parties. What do you think they'll do? Do you think they won't set you up? If so, you need to think again. What I'd do is have Dave's guys go into your office and run a sweep for bugs and anything else in the room. Then, they can run video in and keep it under surveillance. One thing I'd do is switch locks. That way, no one gets in and no one gets in without being taped. It's damned hard to fight video of them being in there and once that happens, I'll tell you now your job will be to suspend them.”

Steve shook his head and said, “This is a mess.”

“Steve, war isn't pretty. Just because it's been going on without your involvement doesn't mean it's not happening. I'm thinking Dan will probably be switching parties in the next few months and running for Sheriff under the Republican banner. The only way he could be stopped is if JT stayed with the party and if he did, he'd be in under their thumb. Right now, we know we're dealing with snakes and my advice is to kill them or take them away so they can't inflict any more damage. Those guys made their beds, let them find themselves in the wet spot so they know they're fucked.”

JT giggled and Steve smiled. “I just hate the thought any of them could be dirty.”

“Well, think about it. As soon as your daddy died, Dan insisted on getting out here. To me, that seemed a bit strange, but I didn't know how you did things. Yes, he could've been showing you support, but now that I think about it, he might've brought in a bug and planted it so they know what we know. Was he near your daddy's office?”

“No”

“Good, then did you keep an eye on him all the time?”

“Not all the time. I thought I could trust him.”

“Ok, let me call Dave and get us someone in who can do a sweep of the house. They probably know about the gold and a lot of other things. I've pretty much told them my life story, so I'm sure that could be used against you.”

I flipped open my phone and dialed Dave.

“Hello?”

“Have them come to the house. Steve now knows and he's find with it. What we're going to need is a sweep of the house as well as his office. We've spoken with his brother and he said he thinks Steve's assistant is dirty and taking payoffs and possibly has two more who are in on it. That doesn't mean there aren't more, and it doesn't mean they are, but have your computer guy do checks on their accounts with the banks and find out. Also, the Judge uses the computer to send correspondances. Get into his computer and find out who all he's paying.”

“Ok, I'll divert them there.”

“JT will take what we can't house here to my place in town. It's got six available bedrooms plus the apartment above the garage.”

“Sounds good. How many can you house there?”

“If we put two to a bedroom, we can house fifty. They'll have to clean up after themselves and do their own laundry and help with the cooking, but we have a huge attic which will be able to house overflow. Me telling you the fifty is accounting for two of the rooms to be left open so those bathrooms can be used.”

“Sounds like a helluva plan. You sure you're not living in a hotel?”

“It's a big mansion.”

“Sounds like a helluva mansion. Mine's big, but I couldn't sleep fifteen much less fifty.”

“Well, we're going to be doing some work to the place in the future. It's got plumbing, but the electrical on the outer walls needs replaced.”

“Let me know what you want to do and I'll get people on it. We can use that as a cover for us being there. We can bring in construction trucks and have them around town.”

“Ok, but there's a lot more than that we need to have done.”

“You tell them what you want done and we'll get it done.”

“Dave.”

“Yes.”

“I appreciate this.”

Steve patted my leg and I said, “Steve said to let you know he and JT do too.”

“Ok, tell them the guys will be arriving in about three hours.”

“Ok That means I've got to get to Wal-Mart and get groceries to feed people.”

“Rhette, we're going to have a trailer with a mobile kitchen unit pulling up from Tampa. It should be there by morning. If need be, we'll turn that attic into a chow hall.”

“We have a breezeway under the house which is done up like a pool hall. There's plenty of room down there.”

“Ok, sounds like the place is huge.”

“Tell them we're going to be raising this place up about five feet.”

“What!”

“Yeah, it's at twelve feet and tidal surge in a hurricane is seventeen.”

“Then it sounds like you should make it twenty two. You're not taking into account the waves breaking against the pillars. Water soaking the wood is just as bad as it hitting the house directly.”

“Ok, I'll tell Steve.”

“I'll see you in about two hours.”

“How're you getting here sooner?”

“I'm flying in my jet. That man better know how to break the sound barrier with the engines I paid for!”

“Ok, we'll see you.”

“Bye now.”

I got off and said, “He'll be here in two hours. The work we're wanting to do to the house, the will do as a cover. They're bringing in a mobile kitchen unit from Tampa and it should be here in time for breakfast. I offered the use of the breezeway as a chow hall. Is that ok?”

“Sure”

“He said you need to think about raising the house ten feet instead of five.”

“Why?”

“Wave breaking against the pillars will soak the wood. He said it's just as bad as it hitting a house directly.”

“Ok, but that's really going to make the front porch look funny.”

“I've got an idea about that. Rather than having the steps come down straight as they do now, I think we could split it up and make it like the back porch steps do. We can landscape to cover for the height and put a raised front yard in where the house won't look so tall from the front. Along the sides, we can use trees to cover up that height.”

Steve nodded and said, “So they'll do the work?”

“Yeah, they'll do it as a cover for them being here.”

“Ok, what does he want us to do?”

“Live life normally.”

“That's going to be hard to do with about seventy five extra people living here.”

“Honey, for peace and quiet, we'll go over to Randy's. I bet by the time you've listened to four girls for an evening, you'll want to come home to seventy five guys.”

JT laughed and said, “I hear that!”

Steve smirked and said, “So you're telling me to buck it up because with us having kids, we'll be thankful for the peace and quiet we have now.”

“Yeah.”

We heard a yell from downstairs and went running. Rose was out in the hallway yelling about a boat shining it's lights at the house. I told Steve. “Get a flashlight and flash it back. Tell them this is the house.”

I turned to Rose and said, “That's a part of our protection. They won't be shining that light in the future. What they're doing is probably training the scope on their rifles to be sure we're protected no matter what.”

“Well, it scared the bejezus out of me!”

“I'm sorry. We should have told you what's happening. In about three hours, we'll have a lot of guys moving in. What this house can't hold, mine will. Altogether, we'll have a hundred guys protecting us.”

“They're all staying here!”

“No, just about seventy five.”

“How will we feed all of them?!”

“They're pulling up a trailer which is a mobile kitchen. They'll feed them and they'll clean up after themselves.”

She smiled and said, “You really go all out, don't you?”

“Nothing but the best.”

She smiled and said, “Did you put him back into line?”

“He knows where he needs to stay.”

“Good.”

“He said he's never been spoken to by you like that.”

“Well, he needed to know you're right and he was being a fool.”

Steve said, “When you two get done conspiring against me, remember I'm here.”

She smiled and I said, “Oh we will, and then your goose will really be cooked.”

He laughed and said, “He said he'd be in sooner?”

“Yeah, apparently he outfitted his jet with some really high power engines and he's going to see if they can break the sound barrier. I hope they do because for him to complain about money he spends means it was a lot.”

I turned to Rose and said, “You be thinking about what color you want rooms painted and all the things you'll want in a house because those guys will be building it soon.”

“Oh my!”

“Yeah, I figure if they need to be here and use construction as a cover, they're sure going to do some construction.”

She laughed and said, “I bet by the time they're gone, you'll have this place where you want it.”

“Yeah, providing I can plant trees in this soil that I want.”

“You can plant them. Most anything will grow in this soil. It's a bit brackish, but we've got a good mix of top soil.”

“By the time we're done, that road out there might look like a real peaceful country lane.”

Steve said, “Mama, they've shut off the light. You can go back to bed again.”

“No. Me knowing I've got company coming means I've got to get this place ready.”

“It's ready. Your job is to live life as you would normally. Just know you'll have someone out here who will be your bodyguard when you go anywhere.”

“How close will they be?”

“As close as you want them to be. Look at him being someone who will be the guy standing over in the corner or the guy who you now can turn to and ask to carry your groceries in.”

She smiled and said, “So I could get used to having him there.”

“Yeah, just know that his job is to protect you and do what he tells you to do in an emergency.”

“Ok”

Steve said, “Rhette, would you go with me so we could take a walk?”

“Sure, where do you want to go?”

“I'd like to talk with you.”

“Ok, then let's go out to the car so I can show you what I want to do.”

“That's what I want to speak with you about.”

“Ok”

We went outside and over to the car. It was still sitting where I had parked it earlier. We got in and I turned on the headlights.

“Ok, as you can see, we can see where that house was and this house. Over there in between is the barn and the shed. What I want to do is take those out and bulldoze in between.”

“Ok, I'm in agreement.”

“What we're going to do is put up that snake fence and have a huge yard. It'll probably go over to the point that we have twenty acres over there and down to the line where the barn and the stables will be built. Let's drive down there and I'll show you where I think they'll look good.”