Free All About the Money (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 7) by Ann Mullen Page A

hiring
someone to break into a place,” Billy replied. “But you don’t have to worry
about that. If we decide to do this and get caught, we’re on our own. We would
not give you up. You have my word on that.”
    “You don’t have to worry about us getting caught,” I added.
“This is what we do for a living, and we’re good at it.”
    “That’s what your mama says.”
    “You told her about your plan?” Billy asked.
    “Yes, why?”
    “Don’t tell anyone else. The more people who know about what
we’re planning to do, the better the chance is for us to get caught.”
    “Does that mean you’re going to do it?” Mick asked.
    Before Billy had a chance to answer his question, Flo took me
by the arm and started heading to the foyer. She was silent the whole way, but
I could feel her shake. Once we got to the front door, she stopped and said, “I
guess you don’t want to see the upstairs, do you? I’ve been such a bad host.”
    “No… no, you haven’t,” I said. “You’ve been a very good host.
Thank you for showing us your house. It’s lovely… very nice. Maybe we can see
the rest of it next time.”
    “We have a few more stops to make before the end of the day,”
Billy added. “And the day keeps going, whether or not we do.”
    “I know just what you mean,” Flo replied with a smile.
“Please call me as soon as you find out anything.” She looked at Mick. “Did you
tell Billy about the security we hired?”
    “He knows. I told him on the phone.”
    “When will they be here?” I asked.
    “They should be here soon,” Flo replied, looking at her
watch. “We called them first thing this morning, and they promised the detail
would arrive by one
o’clock .”
    “We’ll have two men on guard around the clock,” Mick added.
“There will also be a woman bodyguard for Flo.”
    “Yep, she’ll go everywhere with me… and she carries a gun.”
    “Good,” I said. “I won’t have to worry about you. A bodyguard
is the best thing you can have. She’ll make sure that no one gets close to
you.”
    “We have work to do,” Billy said. “We’ll be leaving now, but
you’ll hear from us by the end of the day. I’ll let you know what we’re going
to do. If we have to break into Downer’s house, we will.”
    Flo looked at Billy and said, “A word of advice—don’t rely on
the cops. They’ll let you down every time. Find the person who burned down my
office, and then I might be able to sleep at night.”
    Billy and I turned to leave, but Flo had one last question
for us.
    “What will you do if you find out that Downer Rhodes is behind
this?”
    “With enough evidence, he’ll go to jail,” Billy replied.
    “Don’t bet on it,” Flo said. “People like him never do time.”
    “What are you saying?” I asked, wondering if she was headed
somewhere with her question.
    “If he gets caught and doesn’t go to jail, he’ll still be a
threat. I want that threat eliminated. I don’t care what it takes.”
    Billy and I looked at each other, and then Billy said, “The
only thing we do is catch the bad guy. We don’t set the punishment.”
    “I didn’t mean that I wanted you to harm him,” Flo said with
a chuckle. “All I meant was that I want you to make sure the evidence you get
is enough to send him to jail. Something rock solid.”
    “That’s why we have to examine all our options,” Billy
replied. “I’ll think about your plan, and see what I can come up with.”
    Billy and I waved as we walked out the door and headed to the
truck.
    “That was strange,” I said as I climbed up into the passenger
seat. “I thought she wanted us to snuff him out. Murder-for-hire isn’t part of
my job description.”
    “She’s scared and probably afraid this will never end until
either she’s dead, or he is. She made it clear that she wasn’t asking us to do
away with him.”
    “Only after we made it clear that we wouldn’t do it. What
happens if she decides to take matters into her