“Me too, honey. I’m happy to be here with you, even if I would have preferred it be under different circumstances. I’m treating this like a vacation, though, so don’t you worry about me. It’s nice to get away for a change. Perhaps that Nora Burtle will stop pushing everything about the bake sale on me and actually do her part this year.”
Jenna laughed. “You sound a bit militant there, Aunt Mags. Does Mrs. Burtle leave you holding the bag a lot?”
“She does indeed. The bake sale, the flowers for the Ladies Auxiliary. You name it, she volunteers for it and then expects others to do the work. And don’t even get me started on her disastrous turn as Regent of our DAR chapter. Everyone else had to do the paperwork every month while she swanned around to events in her sash and played like she was a queen. Annoying woman.”
The sound of the doorbell echoed through the house. Jenna thought about letting it go, but she’d told Mrs. Barlow she’d be home today if the woman needed her to watch her grandchildren while she went to her hair appointment.
Jenna went through the house to the front door and pulled it open. It wasn’t Mrs. Barlow. A man in a shirt with the name of the local power company stood there, smiling. “Hi, ma’am. I’m here to check the fuse box. Is it in the garage?”
“Yes, it is. I can open it for you.”
“Sure. I’ll go around and meet you there.”
He turned away and Jenna started to close the door, but the man’s foot was suddenly between the door and the jamb. He pushed his way inside as Jenna tried to hold the door. She finally let go, intending to grab her phone from the charger in the kitchen and run into the backyard to scream and dial 911. But what the man said next stopped her in her tracks.
“Run and I’ll shoot. Then I’ll shoot the old lady and the kid. Your call.”
Too late, Jenna recognized Owen Fisher. She hadn’t at first because she’d never seen him up close, plus he’d had on a ball cap to hide his thinning hair and a pair of sunglasses that he’d now removed and tucked into his pocket.
“Well, Jenna Lane. Here you are. Finally.”
He didn’t look like a Mafia enforcer, but maybe that was the point. “I don’t know what money you’re talking about, and I don’t have it,” she blurted.
He strolled toward her, grinning evilly, the gun held loosely in his hand. “Not sure I believe you, sweetheart. Where’s the old lady and the kid?”
Alice’s little voice drifted in from the backyard, and Owen lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, that problem is solved. Get them in here. Quietly.”
Jenna held up both hands. “Please, just leave them alone. I’ll go with you. I’ll try to find this money you’re talking about, but I honestly don’t know where it is. I didn’t even know about it.”
“Yeah, that’s what you’d say if you wanted it for yourself, right? It’s a fortune in Bitcoin, sweetheart, and I’m here to get it back.”
Jenna blinked. Bitcoin? She knew what it was, and she knew it was currently very valuable, though also volatile. If Sam had stashed stolen money away in Bitcoin, it made a perverse kind of sense. It was easy to store and wasn’t accessible by others unless they knew the password. Didn’t help her much though. She didn’t know where he kept it, and she didn’t know how to access it.
Bitcoin was typically stored in a digital wallet, which could be a physical device like a memory stick, or it could be in the cloud or in a mobile app on his phone. Sam had been dead for over six months, and while she remembered seeing him with a memory stick that he kept his work files on, he would have had it with him in his office when Owen shot him. Owen could have grabbed it then, unless he hadn’t known to look for it. If he hadn’t taken it, then the police probably had it in an evidence bag.
“Sam didn’t give any Bitcoin to me or access to Bitcoin. I don’t know anything about it. I was just his assistant.”
“Right, right. You were his assistant and he trusted you with many things. Maybe things you don’t even realize. But you’re gonna figure it out, aren’t you?” He took a menacing step toward her. “I know you were there that night. Didn’t know it at first, but I figured it out later when I tailed you. Your Nissan was on the street when I left Baxter’s office, and there was no one in it. Which means you were inside.”
She shook her head, but he aimed the gun at her with deadly accuracy. “Don’t fucking lie to me, sweetheart. The engine was warm. If I’d realized it was yours instead of some rando visiting the dentist next door, I’d have gone back inside and found you. Where were you hiding?”
“B-bathroom.” There was no use in pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. It would only make him angrier. “I didn’t see anything. I heard voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I didn’t know anything until I heard the shots. I perched on the toilet and stayed there for a long time before I found him.” Her eyes filled with tears. “You killed him. Why did you do that?”
“He wasn’t a good guy, if that’s what you’re thinking. He played both sides, stole from the Flanagans and from the government. The government might turn a blind eye, but you can’t steal from the Flanagans and get away with it. That includes you.” He lowered the gun to his side, but she knew he could aim again lightning quick.
“Why did you follow me for a month? Why not just kill me?”
Her heart hammered, but she had to know. She wasn’t sure he would answer. He did, though it wasn’t much of a reply.
“Because that’s what the boss ordered.” He waved the gun. “Go get the old lady and the kid. Now.”
Jenna couldn’t figure out how to warn Aunt Maggie or how to get her and Alice out of the backyard before Fisher could catch them. The privacy fence was high, and the gate was stiff. You had to lift it to get it open because it was older and the wood had warped. Aunt Maggie was quite spry at her age, but the gate might be too tough. And even if it wasn’t, it required more speed than Aunt Maggie would have while carrying a wet, squirming toddler.
Jenna walked to the door, bypassing her phone on the counter. Owen palmed it and tucked it in his pocket, and despair swelled inside her. She started to step out the door, but he was there, his cold pistol against her back. “Ask her to bring the kid inside. You aren’t going out there and trying anything.”
Jenna swallowed. “Aunt Maggie,” she called. “Could you bring Alice inside? I’m a little tied up.”
Aunt Maggie swung her gaze around to look at Jenna. Owen Fisher lifted the gun and put it against her cheek. The color drained from Aunt Maggie’s face as she got to her feet and went to get Alice from the splash pool. Aunt Maggie wrapped the child in a towel and lifted her up. Alice pitched a fit as the older woman carried her toward the kitchen door.
“I’ll take her,” Jenna said as Aunt Maggie stepped inside.
Owen didn’t stop her as she grabbed the sopping wet toddler from her aunt. “I need to change her into dry clothes,” she said.
“If you’ve got them within reach, go for it. But I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Jenna frowned. “The laundry room. Can you walk with me to the laundry room? I’ll just grab something from the basket and—”