Beckett (Robinson Destruction #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,44

her that was what she’d said, then asked her to turn it up. She didn’t want to miss a word of it. “I’m recording it too. I know she told me not to, but if it’s needed—like she has to kill them all—then I want to be able to say they started it.”

“How old are you? Five? They started it?” The two of them laughed, and she watched her new sister-in-law. “She’s looking very confident. Oh, before I forget, we’re not allowed to speak to her. She thinks it will make her second guess what’s she’s doing. So we’re just to watch and keep our traps shut. Not her words, but that’s what she meant by it.”

“I’m sure she did. She’s so outspoken like that.” They watched her as she entered the room. The volume was turned up loud enough for them to hear. Tru decided that Allie’s soft-spoken voice should scare a man to death if he knew what lurked under her pretty hair. “She’s not going to get what she wants. She’s not showing enough force. But it is fun to watch her try.”

Tru didn’t know, but she thought Rogen was wrong, not that she’d tell the other woman. Even with as good friends as they were, Rogen could still take her down. Laughing a little to herself, she watched Allie play with the men in the room with her.

~*~

“What the blue blazes are you doing in here? This is a private meeting, and you’re not invited. Who the hell let you in anyway?” Allie told the man, who she thought was Clarkson, that she’d invited herself. “Well, you can just uninvite yourself. This is a meeting you’re not invited to.”

“I know you.” Allie nodded at the man next to her. “You used to work for us—the cook or something. If you want to keep your job, you’d better get your butt out of here right now. This meeting is to discuss who is staying and who isn’t.”

“Good. I’d hate to have crashed a meeting on how you’re going to be spending the money that you’ve stolen. I guess stolen isn’t the right word for it. Misappropriated, perhaps? Or embezzled? Both those words apply, don’t they, Mr. Clarkson?” He told her he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Sure, you do. You have several accounts all over the country that you can get to at a moment’s notice. Then there is the account in the Cayman Islands.”

Allie reached out to Beck, the only one of the Robinsons she wanted to speak to while there, and told him to contact Rogen now. She only hoped this would work. Beck told her that if she got him to think about something, they could search his mind for the information and use it against him.

He has three accounts in the Caymans. I’m having Rogen look for them now. Good job. Also, there is money in ten different accounts around the country, just like we thought there would be. Allie was feeling better now that things were finally coming together. Also, you should know that they’re recording this so that if anything happens, they have proof. I’m sure they can edit out what they don’t want seen.

Okay. I’m working, so be ready. She was sure it was going to come to the point where she needed his help. Actually, she was looking forward to having him come in with guns blazing, so to speak.

“Mr. Clarkson, you’ve been taking money from the school since its inception. That is the main reason you’ve been hiring below standard teachers.” Clarkson told her she didn’t know what she was talking about. “Don’t I? Three of the teachers on staff have criminal records of child abuse. One of them has a conviction for bank robbery. The first-grade teacher, Miss Mann, should have retired years ago. Having a teacher in her seventies is wonderful, but only if she is able to make it to the bathroom on time. She’s incontinent most of the time, and there have been complaints of her smelling during parent teacher meetings.”

Allie had a list of each of the teachers that worked at the school. Even when the others started taking notes on what she was saying, she was still nervous. Looking up at Clarkson when she finished with her list, she smiled at him.

“This is the plan that you are all going to follow. Each of you owns twenty percent of the school. You’re going to each sell me half of what