Fisher (Prince of Tigers, #3) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,18

time there doesn’t seem to be a way for her to get out of it. Gambling, I was told. Peter, by the way, he’s a great kid. Harper was impressed by a great many things she found out about him and your niece Rachel.” Piper told him she liked the kids better than she did her brother and sister. “I can understand that. In a couple of weeks, they’ll both be eighteen and have already made plans to leave the houses. Rachel had a scholarship to Brown, but she’s not going to be able to take it. Louis borrowed against it to pay for some material to be printed up in a scam he’s running. Harper is looking into that too.”

“What about my sister? I know she’s been in trouble before with money. When I called to tell her Mom was in the hospital, she thought I was a bill collector and screamed at me for ten minutes before I was able to let her know it was me.” Fisher told her what he knew about both of them. “I don’t know all that much about it, but even I can tell that selling property you don’t own is against the law. And gambling has always been a problem for Mary. What happened with Louis? Did someone get wind of it?”

“Yes. Harper did it just before she told me what was going on.” When Piper smiled, he grinned with her. “She has some pretty impressive contacts and dropped a few hints here and there so that it would be looked into. Will you come up here and sit with me?”

“In a minute. I need more information.” Fisher thought about sitting on the floor with her, but he was sure that would scare her. She seemed to be skittish about things like that. “That’s the reason they’re pushing so hard to get something from Mom’s estate or me. Isn’t it?”

“Harper said Louis is getting to the point of desperation about money. She told me he’s purchased a gun. While she doesn’t have any idea what he is going to use it for, she wanted me to ask you if you’d be willing to go home with me so we can all protect you from him. If that’s what his plan is.” Piper asked him if he thought he was going to kill her. “He can’t kill you, not with you being an immortal. But he can hurt you physically and mentally. I don’t want to have to kill him for hurting you in any way.”

“Does he know where I am? Before you answer that, there are things I have to tell you. I can’t leave here. I mean, I could if I wanted to skip out on not paying the rental fees I owe, but as it stands right now, I owe about five hundred dollars’ worth of back rental money.” Fisher asked her if she’d allow him to pay it for her. “I have the money now, but in addition to the money I owe here, I also have some truck issues. It’s ten years old and starting to show its age. I don’t think I can make it there with what I have going on. And it’ll cost me more to have it fixed than I have at the moment. Even with the money from Alexander.”

“My truck is brand new and can pull the camper if you’d like to sell your truck while here. The other option you have is, if you’d allow Peter to fix things for you, the truck and the camper will be new once he knows he can fix it up for you. You’re his world right now.” She looked at the little man sitting on the counter in her kitchen. Peter’s head was nodding so quickly it was comical. “Whatever you want to do, it’s fine with me. You’re my world as well.”

She didn’t say anything but continued to stare at Peter. When she spoke, it was soft and emotionally filled. “Mom and I went to the auction where this was being sold off. It was raining so incredibly hard that even with umbrellas, we were drenched. It was still early May. There was only one other couple there because of the weather. Anyway, I was able to get this one and a second camper for less than I would have paid for one of them on a lot.” She turned and looked at him. “We decided to work on the better of the