Page 14 of Aaron
“I think so.It’s just that I found out why you were here and wanted to make sure you knew that I had nothing—well, I had plenty to do with their disappearance, but nothing so nefarious that would make you think I had ill intentions.”She said that she understood, but it was her boss who would need convincing.“Aaron told me about him.I think he’s been taken care of.”
“I called his boss and made sure that he understood how he was treating you, one of his employees, and he said that he’d have a talk with him.”Mac asked what sort of talk?What, is he thinking of firing him?“I don’t know.He just said to leave it to him and he’d take care of it.So I did.By the way, your things at the B&B have been packed up.They needed your room for a party.I guess you knew that.”
“I did.But I forgot about it.Now I’m homeless until I go back.If I go back.”Alaric asked her what she wanted to do.“I don’t know.I love my job, but mostly all I do is research.I’m not one of the big boys, so I don’t go out as much as I’d like when there’s trouble.”
“It keeps you safe, however.”Alaric asked Aaron if he’d found a house yet.“Not yet.We’ve only just started looking for one.We both have some ideas of what we want, but we’ve not had the time to get going on seeing any.I’m hoping when she gets out of here, we can hit up a few of them that are around town.I know of four now.”
They talked about what they wanted in a house, and he decided that they had a good list.Not too over the top, but nothing too generic that they would take just about anything that came along.Not being serious about it as Aaron and Mac seemed to be, he’d been looking at houses too and hadn’t put in enough time to make himself a list of things that he wanted in one of them.He’d find one, but he wasn’t in a hurry to get out and get one either.
Alaric also had more information on the people that they helped.He told how houses at the end of their trip were usually rentals that they paid for to keep them open for new guests.It worked out well for them all, and it wasn’t really all that much.The houses were around the country, depending on how far the person needed to go to get away from the abuser.
“I know we have at least one house in every state.It makes it easier to get people out when they need help.So far, none of the women have returned or been found out, and I think it’s a great way to have someone’s life turned around for them.”Mac and Aaron both agreed with him.“Also, it’s not very expensive, as we take it as charity donations on our taxes.We have to, or we’d be hurting.Especially Aaron, for as much money as he has.”
“You have money?”He said that he knew how to invest at an early age and that his grandparents on his dad’s side had left him a bundle of cash when they passed on.“Just you?That doesn’t seem all that fair.I’m only joking.I’m sure that the others were provided for.”
“They were, just not as much as myself.I think that Alaric got a nice sum when our uncle Marvin passed away.”Alaric said that he did and was using it to invest in things that gave him a good return.“We’ve all had someone leave us some money when they passed away.Twice now, with both my grandparents, I’ve been left a good bit of money.Alaric inherited from our uncle because he and his wife had no children and picked him to take it.It’s been that way for generations.For one reason or another, we six have been the only children born around here for a very long time.”
“That’s good for you guys, but sad that so many didn’t have children.Is there a reason they gave?”Alaric said that, as far as they knew, it was just a choice they took when they found their mates.“That’s really sad, I think.Not to have children in your golden years to look back on for memories.I suppose they made their own kind of memories.Wouldn’t you think?What did they do to compensate for not having children?I bet they did a lot of traveling.”
“They did, as a matter of fact.When Grandda Dresden passed away, they were on vacation in Europe.He passed away gently in his sleep.Grandma Dresden passed away about a year later from a broken heart, it’s said.She wasn’t one to suffer fools easily.But Grandda?He was a funny man, and I miss him so much.”Alaric thought again about his grandparents.“They loved Aaron, but it was me who had the best time with them.I like to play jokes and tell them to people.I’m hoping that if I have a mate out there, she has a good sense of humor too.”
For the rest of the evening, and just before Mac was wanting to call it a day, they spoke about the other family members too.With Farley being a teacher, she asked if he’d been involved in the shooting at the school that she’d heard about.
“He teaches third grade at Nashport Elementary.It was Dresden Elementary that had been where the shooting had occurred.He wasn’t even aware that it happened until later in the day.”She said she didn’t realize that there were different schools.“In addition to the two we mentioned, there is Adamsville Elementary as well.They’re all in the same district.”
“The university where Darius teaches is about the same distance as Adamsville is from here.He teaches math and science out there.He’s been there for the last few years, long enough for him to be thought of as a great teacher.A lot of his students think of him when they have college questions as well.Because he’s so young, I think.However, he might have an inside that we don’t know about.”Alaric said that the others were police officers, other than Reagan, and she’d met him.Aaron nodded.“That’s right.When dad had to go away for the evening.Mom and Dad just celebrated their anniversary.I remember that now.”
After Alaric decided to go home, he told the two of them that he loved them.Mac seemed surprised by his admission, but he did love her like a sister.And was looking forward to her being out of the hospital and on the mend.He’d heard from their dad that she was more than likely healed up thanks to her being mated to Aaron, but he didn’t ask.There was nothing she could do about it in the hospital, and he wasn’t going to mess things up for Mac and her boss.Gravestone was causing enough trouble as it was without adding that she was more than likely healed into the mess.
Once he was home, he had himself a bowl of cereal.He didn’t like eating too heavily before going to bed, and he was just exhausted enough—stress will do that to a person—to go straight to bed without watching any television.Television was his way to unwind after a hard day, but he was even too tired for that.
Making sure his phone was ready with his alarm, he noticed that he had a missed call from his dad.It was too late to call him back, but he’d do it before leaving for work in the morning.He wondered why he didn’t reach out to him when he didn’t answer, but thought that was all right too; it must not have been important enough for him to bother.
It didn’t take him long to be in bed.After getting his clothing laid out for in the morning, he decided that he was about as ready as he could be.Once in bed, the light off, Alaric was nearly sound asleep when he thought of the conversation he’d had with Aaron and Mac.
He was excited about their new relationship.Aaron told him that he was already in love with the pretty woman.And he thought that Mac looked like she was close, if not already there in love with his big brother.Now all they had to do was find them a place to live, and they’d be able to start things on the right path.Closing his eyes, he was asleep in no time.
Chapter 7
Peter had been put on notice by his boss.Why the President of the United States had to stick his nose in on things he couldn’t quite figure out.But the next morning, after talking with his wayward employee, he got a call from him telling him to step away from Mackenzie Troff or he was going to know the reason why.
There was something about that man, too, that pissed him off.Aaron Dresden wasn’t a person that he would usually have anything to do with, but there he was sticking his nose in his shit, too.Peter had a good mind to go find the man and show him what it was like to mess with the FBI that he was in charge of.
He’d tried to explain to the President that he was investigating the kidnapping of his sister-in-law and other women who had been abducted from the little town.His brother, well, step-brother Larry Palmer, said that it was happening all over the town and someone should do something about it before every woman in the world was gone.
Not that Peter cared all that much for women in general, they were only good for a couple of things in this world, and one of them wasn’t working for the FBI, but he told him he’d look into it and see what he could find.The only name that Larry had was Alaric Dresden, who had arrested him shortly after his wife had come up missing.
Now he’d been told that there were no missing women and that he needed to find things to occupy his mind other than old tales of abductions before he retired him.He’d do it too.Peter was well past the age of retirement.Not that he wanted to stay home all the time.It was hard enough working with the women at work; he didn’t want to have to be around his own wife more than he had to.
Sharon was all right when he needed someone to hang on his arm when there were balls and such going on.She was pretty enough still, even though she wouldn’t dye her hair like most of the other women in his age group did.At sixty-seven, Peter thought of himself as a man about town, and he had all his teeth.
That was the advice his mother had given him when he’d been about to embark on the world of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.To keep his hair neat and clean and all his teeth in his mouth.He never knew if she meant that metaphorically or just a passing comment, but he’d been really good at taking care of his mouth since he’d become an agent all those years ago.And his hair had been the same style since then as well.He was a man who knew the value of a good set of teeth and a good barber.
“Agent Gravestone, there’s a call for you on line two.I think it’s the president again, but I couldn’t be sure.”He asked his secretary why he’d not asked.“It seemed impolite to ask who it was at the time.He’s on line two.”
With the door shut behind him, Peter picked up his phone.After saying his name and making sure that the agent part was said just loud enough to make the person on the other end of the line know that he was important, he waited for him to say something.It was then that he realized that he’d been put on hold even before he’d been able to speak to anyone.Damn it all to hell and back, that was one of his pet peeves.Calling someone and talking to someone else instead of waiting until they were finished talking.
He was ready to hang up when the person on the other end said his name.“Yes, this is Agent Gravestone.What can I do for you, Mr.President?”
