Johan's Joy (Heroes for Hire #22) - Dale Mayer Page 0,71
doesn’t mean the other is too.
Johan handed the phone back. “And that brings us to the next thing. How did you pay him?”
They both took a deep breath, and one spoke. “We put the money in an envelope and left it in our mailbox. When we came home, it was always gone.”
“Simple, straightforward, but potentially a problem, unless somebody is out there every day waiting for it,” Johan said.
“If it was on a weekend, then what?” Galen asked.
“They had to be paid on the first every month. If it was a weekday, we left it in the mailbox. If it was a weekend, we would put it there the night before. It was always gone in the morning. It’s been a big thorn in our sides for years. We couldn’t travel on the first or anything.”
“Did you ever see who took the money? Because I sure as hell would have been standing there waiting and watching to catch him.”
“We already knew who the blackmailer was,” he said, “so, no, we never even looked. And honestly, in all these years, we’ve never seen him pick it up either.”
Galen and Johan exchanged a hard look.
Joy saw it and stepped forward. “What?”
“Can you see Barlow coming here to pick up the money every month?” Johan asked her.
She stared at him, then slowly shook her head. “No, I can’t.”
Johan nodded. “Neither can I. So he had a partner.”
She continued, “Or he was being blackmailed too. What do both have to pay? Maybe one payment was for Barlow to keep, and the other one was for someone else to keep.”
“This has to stop,” the first man cried out.
Johan looked at him. “Are you ready to talk to the police now about the blackmail?”
The two men exchanged meaningful glances, then turned, standing together, their arms entwined, and nodded. “Yes,” one said.
“It’s time,” said the other.
“Good,” Johan said. “I hope we can catch the second guy before it gets any worse.” He smiled at them. “The first of the month is in two days.”
They both nodded. “We already have the cash too,” one said grimly. “It’s in the envelopes as usual.”
“So you would just put it in the mailbox out front?” Johan asked.
They nodded.
He walked to the front door, flung it open, and stepped out onto the concrete. “We can set up a camera,” he said. “You guys will go to work as you normally would, and we can have a video camera set up here to see who’s picking up the money.”
They both got excited at that idea.
He turned to Galen. “We may have to pick up some equipment though.”
“Not a problem. A two-day window is huge in our world.”
“It is, indeed. So today is Sunday. Tuesday’s the first,” he said. “We’ll be back with the equipment as soon as we can, if that’s okay with you.”
They nodded.
“And call us if you hear anything else,” Joy called out. Johan ushered her out to the vehicle. “How long will it take to get something set up?” she asked.
“Being Sunday, I’m not sure how much trouble we’ll have getting something. We may have to take a drive to Levi’s compound to get what we need,” Johan said.
“Kai’s going back anyway, isn’t she? I think she has to work tomorrow,” Joy said.
“So maybe Tyson can bring something back with him?”
“We’ll need to hook up with them and see for sure,” she said.
He nodded. “I’ll give him a call.”
She stood outside the car, pacing on the driveway as Johan contacted Tyson. She heard only part of the conversation, but it was short and to the point.
Minutes later he put away his phone and said, “Okay. Tyson said Kai was hoping to have dinner with you, early, like four o’clock today, and then they are heading back home tonight.”
She nodded, shoving her hands in her pockets. “That works.”
“Tyson will come back tomorrow morning with the gear for tracking any motion around the house.”
“That sounds good.” She nodded again. “So, I guess I get up and go to work in the morning?” she said, shaking her head. It all felt so damn wrong.
Chapter 17
When the next morning rolled around, it felt even worse. But she got up, dutifully got dressed, and stood alone in her hotel room, wondering what she was supposed to do next. When a knock came on the door, she instinctively knew it would be Johan. She opened the door and smiled. “You didn’t have to get up just because I’ve got to go to work.”