Chapter 53

“Josey?”

“Hi Stella - is Kellie there with you?”

“Yes we’re here. I hope there’s not another problem over there.”

“No, nothing like that. I just got off the phone with Sheriff Jones, and he told me they’re still investigating that bunch who were here the other night. What I called you and Kellie about, he also told me that Phoebe Wainwright was living in one of her uncles apartments until he was arrested. Now, his lawyer has asked her to vacate, since she’s cooperating with the sheriff and working in Wainwright’s office to help them find records of his banking, and land titles.

“What I was wondering...

... .”Josey, this is Kellie. I heard what you just said. Stella and I want you to tell Phoebe she can move out to our place and stay with us as long as she wants to. If it wasn’t for her being there that day, we may never have gotten our money when we did.“

“Thanks Girls, I’ll make it up to you. I was really impressed with Phoebe that day too.”

“Yeah ... we saw her eyes light up when she heard your name, too...”

“Listen - Rondo gets on my ass enough - don’t you two starting on me or I’ll take care of you when I get home.”

“Come on, Josey. We need taking care of - real bad. Maybe if Phoebe does come live with us when we get moved in, you can come over for a party, with just the four of us.“

“I’m going to call her now and tell her. If you will, you and Stella both call and talk to her. I’d love to be invited to that party.”

“We will, Josey. Just let us know when we can start cleaning the place, and move over there. We want Lisette, Calleen, Shirelle, Alisha, Ashley, and Beth to come party with us too. We’ve already invited them to a naked housewarming party. But - don’t tell Naomi, Ava, Anna and Lougenia. We don’t want them to think we’re just a bunch of wild-ass young girls.”

“If you’re planning on being wild, you better be my wild-ass girls.”

“Yours and yours only, Josey. All the way - you’ll see. We love you, Josey. See you at supper.”

“Love you girls too, don’t forget to call Phoebe in about thirty minutes.”

“It’s long distance from here.”

“It’s just money, and it’s worth it for my friends to talk to our friends.”

“Bye Josey...

“Bye Josey.”

Rondo was still laughing and shaking his head when I dialed Wainwright’s office.”

“Wainwright’s Law Firm – I’m sorry, but we’re closed until further notice.”

“Phoebe?”

“JOSEY? OH WOW, I was just thinking about you.”

“You were? I was just thinking about you too and decided to call and see how you’re doing. I talked to Sheriff Jones earlier and he told me you were helping him with his investigation. He told me too, that your uncle’s lawyer has asked you to move out of your apartment.”

“Yes, and I have ten days to get out. I’ve been busy here today, pulling files and looking up records - but I’ve already called three places and one has an empty apartment, but the rent is so high, I had to pass on it. I’m just hoping I can find a place with a little privacy that I can afford.”

“Would you be willing to live in the country, if you could live rent free?”

“Josey – are you asking me to move in with you?”

“OH NO – I mean, what I was talking about is, you living with Kellie and Stella Montague at their house on the farm, until you could get a place you like better.”

“REALLY? I mean, do they know you’re asking me if I want to live there?”

“Yes, I called them before I called you. They will call you from my house in a few minutes and ask you to move in with them. They’re excited that I wanted to ask you, and they want to have a party when you get moved in.”

“OH WOW, just a few minutes ago, I had tears in my eyes, worrying about what I was going to do. Now, I’m so happy I’m dancing in my office.”

“I’d love to see that!”

“Josey, I know why you said that.”

“You do?”

“Yes, you know my big titties would bounce if I actually did do a little dance, now don’t you?”

“I’ve got a really nice picture in my mind, just thinking about it. I hope you dance for me at the party.”

“JOSEY ... Well - I would - if I knew you wouldn’t laugh.”

“I’d never laugh. I may even dance with you.”

“I’ll dance if you will ... I almost said something else, but I’ll wait until I know you better.”

“Let me know when Stella and Kellie tell you their place is ready to move into. Sheriff Jones said it will be at least another day before they wrap up out here, then y’all can start getting the place cleaned up. Rondo and I will come move you.”

“Josey, you have made me so happy. Thank you so much. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye Phoebe ... Save me a dance...”

“Rondo, I say we check out that attic, then make plans to get the rest of our money out of here as soon as possible.

...”Come back here and look at this, Josey. We were in to big a hurry the other day. When I moved these suitcases along this side, I found the block and tackle they must have used to bring the suitcases up with. Now we know why that guy was looking up at this window when he parked the truck.”

“Damn, this is some setup. That whole window unit is made to slide over out of the way, and this wooden beam slides right out through the window opening. Shit Man, we can find a tarp or a heavy blanket and load it down with suitcases to let them right down to the pickup.”

“How about this heavy cargo net, like they use on the river? This has to be what they used to bring them up.”

“We need to start loading both trucks and leave out with the first two loads as soon as we can.”

We had the cargo net loaded with twenty-five suitcases. We turned the crank on the winch to pull the net up, then rolled the trolley along the top beam to see if a load that size would fit through the window opening.

There was plenty of room, and we backed it up to load five more suitcases.

“Josey, I’ll run down the stairs each time, and stack the suitcases under the camper-top when you let them down to my tailgate. Then I’ll run back up here to help load the net again. We can get them out of here faster that way.”

“We’ll do it that way on your truck, then I’ll go down and stack my truck-bed full, and come back to help load the net. We’re in this together, and this isn’t only my money.”

“You’ve already given me more than I’ll ever be able to spend. I sure don’t need any more.”

“I want you to go to the bank in Collinsville with me one day and deposit all you have left from what I gave you in Jackson. Then we’ll take the reward money when it comes in, to the bank in Stewart. We may even go to Stewart first and deposit a few hundred thousand. Then, we’re going to open one of these suitcases at the house for us to use as our petty-cash. We’ll pay cash for anything up to a thousand, then write checks on anything over. You can always deposit more, when you write a check.”

“Is that the way you do?”

“Yes, and I’m real careful who I do business with for cash and I always ask for a signed receipt ... no matter who. It’s just good business.”

“I bet I know who taught you that.”

“I bet you do too, and I need to call her to see if Mona has left yet.”

“DAMN! I never thought of that.”

“Mona may scold me, but she wouldn’t stop me. I just don’t want her to ever know anything about me being involved in this sort of shit - that way, she won’t have to lie for me.” I was dialing as I talked.

“Granny.”

“Josey, I was expecting your call. Mona left an hour ago. How many suitcases did you say?”

“We have a good count on them now, and there are two hundred and ten. We can haul a hundred each trip with both pickups.”

“We may have to stack them to the ceiling, but we can handle that many. You may need to have another vault built at your place as soon as this weather breaks.”

“I’ve thought about doing that, but I wasn’t sure we’d need it.”

“How soon will you be here?”

“We have the two trucks loaded and it will take us twenty-five minutes or so to get there, so figure a half hour from now.”

“We’ll be ready for you. Back your trucks just inside the garage - side by side - we’ll have it ready and the girls are going to help us.”

We loaded the net for the next trip, before we locked both attic doors, and checked the back door. We hurried out the front and locked up.

“I’ll follow you, Josey. If I see anyone behind me, I’ll flash my headlights - just like we did coming up from Jackson...”

When we arrived at Granny’s, I told her, “Granny, Rondo and I will unload the trucks and go right back to load again. When we get return, we’ll help carry those suitcases up and stack them.”

“Set them here behind the pickups. We’ll move them, then we’ll start carrying them inside. Just get them over here for now, and we’ll have them put away soon enough.”

On our last load - each truckload went smoother than loading the first two. We were back at Granny’s in forty-five minutes, even after taking the block and tackle down and resetting the window.

The heat has been on in the Montague Home since the first time we came in with Kellie and Stella. I turned the thermostat up to 70° so it would be warm when we come over to help clean the house.

We helped Granny, Momma and Aunt Rita take suitcases in and set them at the bottom of the stairs. They had a long rope, and the girls were pulling them up the stairs, one at a time almost as fast as we brought them in.

“Momma, I talked to a man today over at the Courthouse in Stewart County who knew you years ago.”

“Do I really want to hear this?” She asked - and she and Granny laughed.

“Brent Jones, Sheriff of Stewart County.”

“OH MY LORD – I wish things would have been different back then. But – then you may not have been here today, if they were. Tell me what he looks like now. He was such a handsome young cuss back then. Persistent as hell too.”

“He’s still a handsome man. He has gray around his ears. He has a dark mustache and he’s probably three inches taller than me and weighs around two-twenty-five or close to it.”

“Damn. Is he married?”

“Yes, he did mention his wife.”

“Just my luck.”

“I’m going back to the courthouse to file my papers, as soon as I close the deal. I’ll check him out for you - if you want to get a little on the side with a married man. I have to tell you, I would approve. He and I will become good friends - if not best friends in the coming years - I have no doubt about it.”

She looked at Granny, “Momma?”

“Girl, you never asked my permission to get in the backseat with a boy, back when you were in school. From what Josey just told you, if you don’t go - I’m going to drive over there and meet him myself.”

“Momma - at least give me a chance to meet him and check him out, before you get in front of me.”

“Granny – Momma. We’re going home. It’s been a long day.”

I turned to hug Aunt Rita and she rubbed my cock. “We never did get together after the cartel members were taken care of.”

“Meet me over at the old Montague Farm tomorrow about 3:00. I have some young women I want you to meet.”

“Meet or Meat?”

“You’ll love their meat and you’ll love eating their pie too.”

“Damn! I’ll be there. Do I need to bring any cleaning supplies?”

“No, we should have plenty. I’m going to call Dixie Furniture and have them deliver four bedroom suites tomorrow afternoon.”

“Does Dixie have a store in Stewart now?”

“Yes. Jillian and Josalyn just ordered enough bedroom suites for the rest of the bedrooms at our house, from their store in Collinsville.”

“See you in the morning. I hope those new girls of yours love Mexican pussy.”

“They love you already, and the last ones will love your sexy ass simply because I love you. They will be all over you, if you let them.”

“I won’t fight them off.”

When we got home, the women had supper ready for us and they were all happy. Dixie Furniture in Collinsville had delivered the remaining bedroom suites for our house and they had each room already set up and the beds made.

I looked in the yellow pages for Dixie Furniture in Stewart, and called to see if they were still open. I wanted to order four bedroom suites to be delivered to the Montague Farm.

“Sir, are you kin to a Miss Rita Ruiz from Collins County?”

I knew what this was about before I answered her. “Yes I am, she’s my aunt, why?”

“She just placed an order for four complete bedroom suites and one living room suite to be delivered to the Montague Farm tomorrow afternoon.”

“OK then - do you sell appliances and televisions?”

“Yes we do, what would you like to order.”

“I want your biggest and best television - with the outside antenna - a Maytag washer and Maytag gas dryer, put on that truck. I’ll come by tomorrow before noon and pay for all of this before the truck leaves.”

“The bedroom suites also?”

“Yes, all of it.”

“I wanted to be sure, when you said you’d pay for all or this ... is there anything else?”

“No, but if I think of anything, I’ll let you know tomorrow when I stop by. OH, can you tell me where you’re located? I’m not that familiar with Stewart.”