Page 48 of Peak Suspicion
“I just needed to make sure.Te amo, hija.”
“I love you, too, Mama.”
She ended the call. “You didn’t tell her about the attack,” Carter said.
“No. I didn’t want to frighten her.”
“Are you sure you’re okay here by yourself?”
Her mother wasn’t the only worrier. “I’m fine,” she said.
“I could stay here.”
She smiled. “If you did that, neither one of us would get any sleep.”
“True.” He bent to kiss her again, but pulled away quickly. “Call me if you need anything. Anytime.”
She nodded. “I will.”
She followed him to the door and locked it behind him, then sank onto the sofa once more, too weary to move. The attack had taken more out of her than she wanted to admit. She wouldn’t let Carter see that. Not because she didn’t trust him, but a woman was entitled to a little pride.
Thursday’s meeting atSAR headquarters began with an announcement. “Joel Chessman let us know today that he’s restructuring his charitable giving and not to expect a check thisyear,” Carrie, who served as the group’s treasurer, said. “That’s ten thousand dollars we were counting on for our budget.”
“Whoa,” Caleb said. “Did he say why he’s leaving us out this year?”
“The letter says he wants to focus on helping different causes,” Carrie said.
“Who is Joel Chessman?” Carter asked.
“He owns a big consulting firm or something,” Tony said. “He’s given a big gift to us the last three years. That’s more than generous.”
“I’ll draft a nice thank-you letter and tell him to keep us in mind in the future,” Carrie said. “In the meantime, we need to come up with some ideas to fill the funding gap.”
“We could hold another dinner-dance,” Sheri said.
“The last one was a ton of work and only raised a few thousand,” Eldon said.
“Nothing we do is going to net ten thousand dollars at once,” Sheri said.
“We could look for more grants,” Deni said.
“That’s a good idea,” Carrie said. “But those can take months or years to come through. We got word today that the boiler in this building might not make it through the winter, so we need to set money aside for a replacement.”
“We’d like to put in an electric heat pump,” Tony said. “And we’ve talked about adding more solar panels.”
“All that is going to take more than T-shirt sales and raffles,” Danny said.
“I think we should talk to Mr. Chessman,” Carter said. “Impress on him how valuable his contribution is.”
“Are you volunteering to talk to him?” Sheri asked.
“That’s a good idea,” Ryan said before Carter could answer. “You seem to be good at persuading people.”
“I’m not going to impress a billionaire,” Carter said. “I’m still a rookie. I think a veteran should go.”
“I’m captain, so I guess I should go,” Danny said. “But Carter needs to go with me. He can do most of the talking.”
“I don’t think—” Carter began, but was drowned out by the voices of the other volunteers, in support of the plan.
