Page 52 of Her Righteous Protector

Max held her stare. “No, I don’t. That’s part of why I talked to you the other night.”

Her heart plunged.

Am I right? Is he just trying to reel me in and use me?

Max looked back down at her phone. “I need to forward this to my second in command. Kane is the one who handles all of my computer stuff.”

“Okay, do whatever you want,” she said listlessly. “But what kind of help will that be?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Max admitted. “But it’s a start.”

Hannah got up from the table. “Elias Peterson wants you to call him. I’m going up to see how Zephyr is doing.”

Max reached out for her arm as she tried to pass by. “Hannah, don’t do this,” he begged.

“Do what?”

“Don’t think that because I want to eventually take Zeph to Virginia that that’s the reason I am determined to explore what’s between us.”

Hannah shrugged him off. “You need to call Elias.”

16

“Sounds like you totally fucked that up,” Kane said.

Max kneaded the back of his neck as he held his smartphone to his ear. “Thanks for pointing out the obvious. Now tell me what you think about the texts.”

“Meghan’s parents are whacked.”

“Again, Kane, you’re all about the obvious today. You’re so helpful.”

“No, I mean seriously whacked. Nothing on the books, no convictions, which is pretty fucking unfortunate. Instead, you have got one con after another, with one victim after another.”

“I don’t get it,” Max said as he leaned against the back porch railing and looked out into the darkness. “If they’ve conned all of these people, why no records?” he asked tiredly.

“They also ran a pawnshop that the cops were sure was a front for laundering money, but they never were able to prove it. But they were so goddamned stupid, even doing that they ran it into the ground and had to close it four years ago,” Kane said in disgust.

“Okay, what else?”

“They were constantly taking advantage of people who were in the shadows. People who didn’t want to have anything to do with the cops. Time and time again they would find someone on Craig’s List who listed their car, then send them a cashier’s check over the amount of the price. They would then say that an error had been made and that after the cashier’s check had been deposited, that the seller please wire them back the overage on the day they picked up the car. Well, of course, the cashier’s check would never really clear, and they’d be out the car, and the extra amount they’d wired to the soon-to-be-closed checking account.”

Max shook his head. “How’d you find out?”

“It’s a typical scam; when I saw how many accounts they’d opened with so many banks I did some tracking. They’ve been pulling this one for nine years.”

“They’ve squatted more than a few times, but always under different aliases. I don’t think they’ve paid rent in the last eighteen years.”

“Where are they living now?” Max asked.

“Oh well, now, they’ve cleaned up their act. Their current attorney has fronted them some cash so they’d look good to a judge. They’re in a two-bedroom apartment in Whiting. They just moved in three weeks ago.”

“Can you prove the money came from the attorney?” Max asked.

“Not in a way that a court will like,” Kane admitted.

“Fuck.”

“So what are you going to do with the mess you’ve made with Hannah?” Kane asked.