Page 49 of Justice

“Yes, Molly, your granny.”

“Well, Mr. Hannigan, your several years too late, as she died the year I got married.”

“I’m aware, and you have my condolences. I also know when the authorities came into her home, they never found her equipment.”

A smile grew on Molly’s face as she ducked her head in pride. Drake knew this feeling, a story hidden in your mind and heart you have to keep to yourself. While you listen to others speak of what they assume is the truth, you know where the real story lies, hidden inside of you.

“But they lacked my patience and skill for uncovering the truth.” Molly’s head shot up, her eyes full of anger.

“Calm down, Molly, I mean no offense. On the contrary, I have an idea of how we can both continue your grandmother’s legacy and make a great deal of money.”

Reaching for his phone, he scrolls through his photos until he lands on the one he needs. Handing her his phone, “Do these look familiar?” Drake had used common sense in finding out where Emma Jean kept her equipment, something the local authorities lacked. “Keep it in plain sight, isn’t that what they say?”

Molly handed the phone back to him. “And keep your enemy close, which is why she allowed me to see my ex-husband. She believed in using a man for what he is worth, a hard dick and a strong back.”

“Your grandfather built her home, didn’t he?”

“Hammered every nail with his own hand.” She boasted, and Drake could practically see the pride in her eyes.

“Use the man for what he’s worth. Smart lady.” Drake nodded his head in agreement.

“How did you know?” Molly questioned, genuine interest in her voice.

Rising from his seat and crossing the room to grab a drink, his cell vibrates as he offers Stetson a brandy.

“Public records show your grandfather purchased the land from the county during an auction the year before they married. Yet, he didn’t file a tax return that year or the following three years. Now, your mother was born nine months to the day after they were married, and was brought home to a finished house, debt free. There were no bank accounts or mortgages, but there were also no employment records until their second child was born and died shortly after.”

“My uncle Pete, he had a hole in his heart the doctors couldn’t fix. Granddaddy said it was his fault because of all the wrong he was doing instead of earning a living for his family.” Molly picks at the hem of her jacket, her head low and voice somber. “It wasn’t his fault, my older brother was born with the same problem, and my daddy worked every day of his life. Medicine just got better and doctors smarter.”

Drake ignored his vibrating phone, this moment too important to ruin with information he already suspected. “Your grandfather built a fake floor in the house so he could hide the printing press, taking it out when he needed to print money to live on. His skills as a carpenter were excellent. Even with the team I hired, it took days to find the opening.”

A single tear fell down her face, and it took everything he had not to reach out to her. “After granddaddy died, she had four kids to feed, so she pulled the press out and started printing again. She got good at it, really good, and when I came to live with her; she showed me everything she knew. Since you have her press, I suspect you want me to show you how to work it.”

Stepping around the table in front of her, he takes a seat beside her, pushing a glass of brandy into her shaking hands. “No, Molly, I want you to come and work for me. I know the plates for the press are old, but I may be able to help with that. And I can get you anything you need to make new ones.”

Molly takes the drink from him, tipping it back and swallowing it down. Setting the empty glass on the table beside the forgotten pizza box. “I don’t come cheap, Mr. Hannigan, and I have conditions.”

“Molly, you never struck me as someone who didn’t know their worth. And you forget, I know how you survived in prison. I’m prepared to offer you thirty percent of what you can print, plus living expenses. Now, what are your conditions?”

“Thirty-five percent, a secure building with good ventilation, and your help finding my friend Justice. I’ll need an assistant, and she is the only person I trust.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT

Tobias waiteduntil the occupied light flashed on before he scrambled from his seat, retrieved his laptop and the photo of Tymeless. Based on the last shower Justice took, he’d have roughly fifteen minutes to start his search.

The second his eyes found hers in the photo, the tightness in his chest returned, along with an urgency to find her, as if time was running out. He set the initial perimeters to a surrounding area of five hundred miles. Within seconds, an expired Georgia driver’s license flashed on the screen, her face just as beautiful as the photo, yet sadness filled the corners of her eyes. He needed to remove the hurt from her face, so he increased his search to surrounding states.

A part of him had hoped it would be as fast and easy as it was with Justice, but as the minutes ticked by and the pilot announced they would land in half an hour, he closed the laptop allowing the program to do its work in private.

Glancing at his watch, he noticed Justice had been in the bathroom for over an hour. If they weren’t in an airplane, he would have worried she’d jumped out a window or something.

As the sound of the engines changed, Justice emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a thick white bathrobe, her dark hair in waves over her shoulders. Tobias tried hard to find similarities between Tymeless and Justice, both women were strikingly beautiful, but his heart belonged to the younger Hart sister.

“Did you fall asleep in there?”

“Not quite,” she laughed, running her fingers through her hair, a new smile coloring her face. “I could have, the room is huge, and Drake has everything to open a beauty salon in there.”

“Most of that was Deidre’s, not that Drake allowed her on here very much.”

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