All About the Money (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

man so much, I thought to myself. He’s so kind and understanding. He
was raised well. My mind drifted for a minute. I thought about the other
members of his family. They were all just like him. Poor Savannah was covered in blood, had just gone
through what must have been the worst moment in her life, and all I could think
about was what a wonderful family I had. I guess maybe my mind had wandered off
to something good, because dealing with what had happened here was difficult.
Seeing our friend in such a bad state was heart wrenching. I brought my
attention back to the present situation.
    “Did you leave the gate open when you left?” he asked her.
    “No!” she exclaimed. “I’d never do that. That was the whole
purpose of putting up the fence—to keep people out… and… to have security.
After what happened last year…”
    Billy and I glanced at each other. We knew exactly what she
was talking about. Her stalker! That was a scary ordeal that could have turned
out badly. Fortunately, we fixed that problem, but this problem was a whole
different matter.
    “Then he must’ve had the access code,” I interjected, looking
at her and then back to Billy. “How else could he have gotten past the gate?”
    “That’s not as hard as you might think,” Billy said.
“Electronic gates aren’t without their glitches. I’ve seen my fair…”
    “It wasn’t a man,” Savannah interrupted him, her voice just a whisper. “I never said it was a man. I said
there was a body in my garage.”
    “I got the impression that a body had been dumped, and you
just stumbled onto it,” I said. “You didn’t say anything about being attacked.
I had no idea. I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner. Did you know her?”
    Billy stood up and said, “Okay. That’s it.” He reached out
and calmly took Savannah ’s dishrag bandaged hand. “I hate to
seem insensitive and abrupt, but you’re going to have to snap out of it… and
fast. Show me the body. We’re going to the garage, and on the way, you can
explain what happened. We’ll look at the body, size up the situation, and then
call Sheriff Hudson. We have to do it quickly. The longer we wait, the worse
it’s going to appear.” Billy glanced at me and said, “Call Russell Shank. Tell
him to get over here as soon as he can.” He looked back at Savannah . “You’re going to need a lawyer.
Once those i-na-dvs are called in, it’ll be like a feeding frenzy here.”
    “What?” Savannah asked, not understanding his Cherokee
language.
    “Snakes,” I explained, cracking a smile. “I haven’t learned a
lot, but a few words do stand out. I’ve heard them repeatedly, especially when
he talks about the cops or the press.”
    Billy continued with his questions as he ushered us out the
back door. I pulled out my cell phone, made the call to Russell, and then put
the phone back in my pocket.
    “When did this happen?” Billy asked. “In other words, how
long has she been dead?” 
    “Not more than two hours,” Savannah replied.
    “Two hours!” I repeated. “Why did you wait so long to call
us?”
    She just shook her head. She didn’t have an answer for me,
but I didn’t press the issue. She’d been through enough already without my
badgering her. We walked down the steps onto the graveled driveway. Our feet
crunched under the tiny pebbles as we made our way to the garage. The moon was
out in all its brilliance. Everything seemed normal.
    “Who is she?” I asked.
    “This is where it gets kind of sticky.”
    “We can do sticky,” Billy lightly joked, trying to lighten the
mood.
    “She’s McCoy’s secretary, Andrea Holt.” Savannah sighed. “She’s worked for him for a
good while. It’s a long story.”
    “Give us the condensed version.”
    Savannah stopped, folded her injured hands across her chest as if to protect herself
against what we were about to see, and waited for Billy to be the first one to
enter the garage. Billy opened the side door, stepped in