Chapter 12

Myrna had been right about me needing rest. By the time I finished with the Geek and Pete, I was wiped. Bill wanted an explanation, but Myrna told him to come back tomorrow because I needed my sleep tonight. Sally was driving me crazy about resting, so I went ahead and went to bed to keep from hearing all three of the bugging me about it. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I slept like the dead and woke up at the crack of dawn. I felt a lot better than I deserved to because of the way I had been pushing myself yesterday. I knew I had to take it easy for a while, but hated the idea of just sitting around waiting for my body to heal.

I got my shower and headed for the kitchen, figuring I had beaten Myrna up for once. But as usual, I was wrong. She was in the kitchen in an old robe sipping coffee. I sat down and she poured me a cup. She didn't say a word until I had finished my first cup. She handed me a pill and I took it immediately.

"Jon, Jimmy found several listening devices in the house, even in the girl's rooms. All the phones had been tapped. He also found three tracking devices on your truck and Sarah's car. He said to tell you he would be back out this morning sometime to go over in detail how you wanted the cameras laid out on the property. Why do they want to keep tabs on you like that?

"They think I will lead them to someone they want to find badly. Myrna, when this gets started, you and the girls are going to have to be extra careful in everything you do. I don't want any of you going anywhere by yourselves. I am going to arrange it with Tiny to make sure all of you are covered where ever you go. I am more worried about Sally, what with her prom coming up and her mother's funeral that we are going to. She is at the age where they might try to abduct her to get to me. I will tell you now that if they touch or threaten any of you in any way, there will be hell to pay before it's all over. The fence and the dogs will help, but if they want in here, there is always a way to get around all of that."

"Jon, if you need help with money or anything, you remember that I have it. I would gladly give it to you to help out."

"Myrna, I have more money than I could ever spend in my lifetime. I have investments in so many places I don't even know all of them. Bill has been investing for me over the years, and he has always made me even more money with his choice of investments. I am sure you have some with him too, and if you don't, then you might have been very unwise with your money."

This got a short laugh from her as she looked at me. She went on to tell me that she had been buying and selling penny stocks for over thirty years and had made more money than she could keep track of. She also told me she had invested in several of the dot com companies and had sold out at a large profit in a very short time. She was explaining to me how she did it, when Sarah came into the kitchen. She looked like she hadn't slept at all. I noticed the dark rings under her eyes, but I didn't say anything until she sat down with her morning tea.

"What's wrong, Sarah? You look like you haven't slept at all, girl."

"Jon, I'm worried about all my files and the personal stuff they took. There were a lot of active case histories in those files that I don't want to get out. Some of the cases haven't gone to court yet, and I need my notes in order to testify. I just can't understand why they thought my files had anything to do with what you were working on. It just keeps rolling around in my head that I let the kids down because I wasn't smart enough to keep the files in a safe place. I had a hundred or more recorded personal interviews on those cds. Those poor kids poured their hearts out to me and they don't deserve to have it become public knowledge because of some power hungry government bureaucrat."

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Sarah. The runt was raided by the FBI yesterday and all of our files should be returned to us today. If for some reason they aren't, then I will put Jerry on it with his whole firm. When Sally comes down, we are going to have a little family meeting. I have a lot to tell all of you and I don't want to keep repeating myself."

That was just about the end of the conversation until Sally wandered into the kitchen, dressed, and with a big smile on her face.

"Good morning, everyone. Man, did I sleep like a baby last night. What's on the agenda for today, Jon?"

I just shook my head smiling at her. Myrna and Sarah just looked at her in disgust as if thinking nobody should be that chipper in the morning. Myrna got up and started breakfast and I held off discussing anything until we were all finished with our food, and just sitting around the table. I sat back in the chair and proceeded to tell them what was happening, and what we all would be faced with. I went on to tell them about the church and the previous case I had been involved in. I told them that the only reason our files and personal stuff had been taken was because the runt and several of his men were enforcers for the church. I didn't hold back anything and laid it all out for them, so they would know what we were facing when I started after the church. When I finished, I looked at all of them and said that I wanted their opinions and any advice they could think of. There was total silence for about five minutes before Sarah spoke up first.

"Jon, I heard about that case but I wasn't working with you then. I also heard that her uncle had disappeared, and was still wanted for jumping bail."

"That's true, Sarah, and now I think I know where he is. I wanted to make sure all of you knew what was going on before all of this starts. I will do everything in my power to make sure all of you are as safe as possible, but there is always a chance they might try to grab one of you if they think it will make me back off. I won't lie to you and if you want, I will send you to a friend of mine in another country to make sure all of you are safe. I will bust up this church at least as much as I can. I waited for Sally to speak but to my surprise it took her longer than usual. I knew I didn't have to worry about Myrna because she already knew about most of it. I for one wouldn't want to try to grab her cause it would be like tangling with a grizzly bear. Sally finally spoke and like most kids her age, she spoke from a kids point of view, which I had always found to be refreshing.