He’d spread out the papers on top of the small table off the kitchen in the cottage. He looked around wondering where else he could put them. He might have to go get some tacks and put things up on the walls. He wasn’t worried about any damage; he would pay to have them repaired.
He had spent hours going over everything his people could dig up on Jeremy Ellison. It wasn’t pretty. It seems that Jeremy was responsible for Tiffani’s murder all those years ago. He felt an ache in his heart thinking about her. He wouldn’t say he loved her, but he cared for her. But love? No.
As far as Anthony could tell, Jeremy had been following him for years, and possibly killing women that got too close or fit a certain description. His men were still going back through everything to see if there were any strange disappearances or murders in and around the time that Anthony was traveling.
He started pacing the room. How could I have been so stupid not to realize someone was following me and murdering women? He shook his head; he couldn’t dwell on that. He had to look forward to finding this bastard and giving him what he deserves.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock. Scowling he went to the door and opened it. There stood Evie, the setting sun shining through the clouds behind her. He was taken aback by her beauty and more harshly than intended said, “What?” He watched as she took a step back.
“Dinner’s ready,” she said. When he didn’t say anything she continued, “It states in the rental agreement that dinner is included. So,” she gestured with her hand towards the house, “dinner is ready.”
He nodded. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll skip it.” He started to close the door.
Evie stepped forward essentially blocking him from shutting the door. “You might want to reconsider. If you don’t, they’re just going to find another way to grill you. I’m sure The Trio is in your reports, and I can guarantee there is no way it could cover everything they’ve done. They will let nothing stop them until they get answers. Get it out of the way now and they might leave you alone. You really don’t know what they’re capable of.”
Anthony stood there and tried to remember what his research had said about the old ladies. He was beginning to think he should have paid more attention to that part. He sighed. “Fine, just let me lock up.”
“You don’t have to do that. We don’t have a lot of crime around here.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I will. Jeremy is out there somewhere and I don’t want him in there.”
“You’re right.”
Walking toward the house, he was happy she didn’t try to fill the silence with nonsense. He just wanted to get this over with and back to figuring out what Jeremy’s next step might be.
He wondered when she would bring up the e-mail she sent to him. It had kept him up many a night as he tried to figure out what to do. Now that he was here he just wanted to get started. He felt frustrated that Lexi wasn’t here.
He walked into the room and took a mouth-watering deep breath of what was sure to be pot roast. He readied himself for the lion’s den. The three of them stood together on the other side of the table, their hands folded in front of them, attempting to look demure.
“I take it the weapons are locked up?”
Leigh moved forward and held out her hand to him. “Hey toots, I’m Leigh, sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. Yes, Evie took them away from us. Some nonsense about hurting ourselves.”
Solemnly shaking her hand he said, “I’m Anthony. I’m glad you no longer look like you want to bash my head in.”
Marie came up to him and looked at him through squinted eyes. “You’ve got some good bones and nice muscles. We’ll see what the personality's like. I’m Marie.”
He didn’t know what to think of these women. Looking over to Evie he saw her trying to hide a smile behind her hand and narrowed his eyes at her. Suddenly his face was gripped by strong fingers and he was forced to look into the eyes of one pissed off grandmother.
Speaking in a soft tone so that only he could hear her Evelyne forced him to bend down so that they were eye to eye. “Listen buster, you’d better be nice to that little girl over there otherwise smacking you upside your head with a frying pan will be the least of your worries.” Giving his face a little shake, she let him go.
“Okay, let’s eat.” Evie said in an overly cheerful voice.
He walked over to the only chair that’s back faced the wall and sat down so the ladies couldn’t sneak up behind him. “Do I have to worry about the food being poisoned?”
Leigh gasped. “Don’t ever say such a thing! Wasting perfectly good food? Never.” She piled heap upon heap of food on her plate.
He still held back and waited until they all started eating before he began. He closed his eyes when he tasted the food. Being locked up for five years he missed real food, especially home cooked. It was something he wasn’t going to take for granted any longer. Among other things...
He looked up when one of the women cleared their throat. Looking at each of them, he couldn’t guess the problem. “What?”