Home to Stay (The Long Road Home #2) - Maryann Jordan Page 0,67
have become a must for me.”
19
“She’s clean, at least from the initial investigation.”
John frowned at Josh’s news. Sitting at the large round table in the LSI headquarters, he was already more comfortable in his new work setting. He looked forward to his first in-the-field assignment but having a job he was proud of as well as being with Gramps and now having Lucy in his life made being home worthwhile.
Now, focusing on Josh’s pronouncement, he shook his head. “How can Paula be that squeaky clean?”
Josh chuckled, looking up from his computer screen. “Well, I didn’t say squeaky. No priors. No arrests. A couple of parking and speeding tickets. Her credit is good. She pays her rent on time. Her car was a college graduation gift from her parents so she has no vehicle debt. Her outstanding student loans are low. She lives in a modest townhouse, one that you’d expect from a twenty-four-year-old teacher. Not a great neighborhood but not a dump. And so far, our surveillance on her house has shown no visits from any of the Minotaurs.”
“Sounds pretty squeaky, if you ask me.” John tapped his pen on the table, hating to grouse but he’d hoped they could find something about Paula that they could turn over to the authorities.
“Yes, but I didn’t mention her bank account.”
John stopped the movement of his pen. A hasty glance around proved the others in the room were paying close attention as well.
Josh continued, “In the past month, she’s had four cash deposits into her savings account. All less than six thousand dollars, well under the limit so it doesn’t tip off anyone’s radar at the bank, but there’s no evidence of where the money comes from. Then, a week or so after the deposit, she withdraws it.”
“Payoffs?” John asked, leaning forward, his forearms resting on the table.
“That’d be my guess,” Bray said, drawing John’s attention over to him. “According to what Lucy told you, Paula has been going to Canada for several months, ostensibly under the guise of music festivals and concerts.
“Hell, this is like déjà vu,” Clay said. When John tilted his head in silent question, Clay explained. “My fiancée is a musician—a violinist. She not only plays in an orchestra but also in a Celtic band that travels to some festivals locally and in Canada. That’s where we first got involved with the International Drug Task Force and the Minotaurs.”
“Fuckin’ hell, so this really isn’t anything new for you all?” John shook his head before turning to Mace. “I’m not stupid enough to think that we’re going to shut down an entire network of outlaw biker gangs, but how do we keep this out of our backyard? I mean, Paula works at a local elementary school!”
Mace held his gaze for a long moment then slowly nodded. “And that right there is what lets me know you fit with us as a Keeper.”
John’s brow furrowed but he remained silent, feeling the heavy weight of Mace’s stare while the smiles were coming from the others. Not knowing what Mace was referring to, he waited.
Mace leaned forward, now mimicking John’s posture. “You want Lucy safe. We get that. We do, too. But I wondered if this was only about a woman you care for. But with that statement about our backyard and the elementary school, that tells me that your concern goes beyond just you. That it extends to a broader scope of protection.”
John slowly let the held air from his lungs out, feeling as though he’d just passed a major test but hadn’t realized he was being quizzed.
Mace continued as though he hadn’t just laid a world of good onto John. “Drugs? Can she get them across the border without being sniffed out?”
“What about guns?” Bray asked. “Lucy said there were guns on the table beside the drugs.”
“The amount of drugs she saw could have been for the Minotaurs’ recreational use instead of for Paula to transport,” Tate said. “But the guns she observed also seem to be what they would have carried for their own use as well.”
“What if she just provides an account to run money through?” John asked. “I’ve been thinking about what Lucy said about Paula. That she’s not wild but likes to act like she is. That she gets off on the idea of going out with a bad boy. Lucy’s even intimated that Paula is nice but not always smart. From what I’ve seen, I’d say that assessment is right.”