Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [49]
Annie fought the urge to put her fist through Peter Newman’s face.
Rosie sensed her owner’s fear and lunged at the investigator. It was all Annie could do to hold the huge dog in check. “Get off my property. If you think I’m guilty of something besides leaving my car windows open, charge me or get the hell off my property and don’t come back. I don’t have anything else to say to you, not now, not ever. Are we clear on that matter?”
Her insides shaking like Jell-O, Annie led Rosie up the steps and into the house. She unhooked the leash, locked and double-bolted the front door. She ran to the back door and did the same thing before she took the steps two at a time to the second floor, where she fell onto the bed gasping for breath. She needed to calm down and call Jane. And Elmo. And Tom. And the police. Another call to the insurance company and one to her lawyer would not be. out of order either. When you were guilty you had to act like you were innocent. No, she couldn’t call Tom. Tom would suspect immediately. He’d been as good as his word when she came up with the hundred thousand dollars to pay off his ex-wife for the kids.
The scheme had been elaborate, and it had worked. Mona, so greedy for the money, would have done anything to get it. Tom had told her he borrowed it. There was nothing in writing; the payment had been in cash. Mona had promised never to interfere in the children’s lives. A month after she sold the house, keeping all the equity, Mona had disappeared off the face of the earth. The children now lived with Tom and a part-time housekeeper in North Carolina. Everyone was healthy and happy.
Except for the Boston National Bank, who still hadn’t gotten their money back. As soon as the accounting firm gave her a date to take the last quarter’s profits, Annie would pay back the bank. Everything was ready to go. The moment she had the remaining money from the hundred thousand dollars, which amounted to thirty-three thousand, she would ship the money back. This time there would be no more delays. Tom was already paying her back and didn’t take a year-end bonus even though there was more than enough in their business account.
Annie sighed. Life was never dull.
Rosie watched her mistress until she was certain her breathing was under control. Only then did she lie down, her head between her paws, her eyes bright and alert.
Suddenly, Annie wanted to cry, as her thoughts carried her to a faraway place behind a silvery, shimmering waterfall. She wondered then, as she had a thousand times before, if she’d overreacted. She’d picked up the phone to call Parker at least a hundred times only to replace it at the last second. There was something wrong there. She just didn’t know exactly what it was. Then, of course, there was her pride. Pride was a terrible thing.
Time to call Jane and ruin her day. “Hey, Jane,” she said a moment later, “how’s my best friend? Wonderful. Happy New Year, Jane! I love this time of year, when the shops are closed for the school breaks. Oh, I’m not doing much. I hang out with Rosie. We just came in from our walk, and guess who was sitting on my front steps. I have bad news, Jane. Mr. Newman has decided through the process of elimination that the money went into your car, I covered up for you, and Elmo kept the money bag. He didn’t say so, but I think he thinks we split it among ourselves. He said something new this time around. He said they offered to cut a deal with the kid in prison to lighten his sentence if he would tell who the third person was. The kid said there was no third person. That brought them back to the cars that had open windows. If there was a third person, the boy would have gone for the deal. This is what we’re looking at, Jane. I’m calling the police to get a restraining order on him, and I think you should do the same thing. I’m also going