Page 76 of S.O.S. Billboard

The former would allow her to possess a rifle or shotgun, and would take anywhere from two weeks to sixty days to acquire. The permit to carry—her preference—would have her Glock back in her hand, but the waiting period could be as long as three months. Not timely, in any manner of speaking, but O’Shea might as well get the ball rolling.

In the meantime, she’d make sure she got several canisters of pepper-spray. It was the only thing that was legal to carry in this state for protection without a permit or license.

“I hope it doesn’t come down to weapons,” Anna trembled. “It’s why I’ve been trying avoidance. But I also know I should be prepared. I really appreciate you and the team taking time to help Ethan hone his skills. If Barnie does show up here, I want my son, at least, to be able to hide.”

To the detriment of her own safety. That’s what O’Shea knew Anna hadn’t verbalized. But hopefully, with O’Shea’s help, they could navigate this situation without it coming to that.

“So why now?” O’Shea asked the question out loud. “Why not do this shit when you asked for the divorce?”

Even though O’Shea had meant to drop the subject, her brain wouldn’t turn off.

This Barnie asshole had, for some reason, let things ride for a year, and was only now escalating and making demands.

“I think…” Anna shook her head. “I have reason to believe that he’s getting ready to grab more power for himself. There have been rumors… Well, actually not rumors.” She dragged in a deep breath. “One of the women who works in the town offices befriended me during the divorce proceedings, and she gives me…updates.”

“And a certain update has you worried?” O’Shea probed.

“It does. Barnie has called a special town meeting for next Monday evening. He wants to convince the townspeople that they’ll be better off with a mayor than with a board of selectmen.”

“Don’t tell me,” O’Shea groaned. “He’s propping himself up to become mayor.”

“You guessed it,” Anna confirmed. “And he wants to appear like the perfect family man, which is why I think he wants the house and Ethan. It will strengthen his position when the town votes if he looks like a good family man. Especially with me out of the picture.”

Yes.There was no doubt Anna was in grave jeopardy.

“And this documentation you have against him?” O’Shea asked, rounding back to logistics. It was time to see what kind of big-guns Anna had in the wings, that weren’t the actual bang-bang kind.

“It’s not much, but it’s regarding a considerable sum of money that was voted into escrow by the citizenship several years ago. It was to be used as back-up funds in case of a town-wide emergency. Barnie’s handwritten ledger—which I purloined one night off his desk—has that money listed as not being in the same bank as the regular budget funds, but in an account where it’s supposed to sit and earn a higher rate of interest. Since he and the town manager, however, are the only two listed on the account, they’ve since used the money as their own personal stash; not only bribing people to look the other way when they pull something illegal, but for purchasing luxury trips, cars, and who know what else.”

“You don’t have actual bank statements?” O’Shea surmised.

“No. I don’t. Just his hand-written notes, but they’re pretty damning, and he knows it.” She sighed deeply. “The only reason he wasn’t vested in fighting me for them at the time of the divorce, was because a vote was about to come up for him to bereinstated as the chair of the committee. If I’d turned up with black eyes, or I was discovered dead, he was afraid people would look at the acrimonious divorce proceedings, figure out it might be his doing, and his reputation would be tarnished. Now, two years later, I’m sure he figures enough time has gone by that people won’t consider him bitter over our separation anymore, and nobody will be suspicious if something happens to me.”

“Man, this guy sounds like an asshole.”

“He is,” Anna validated.

Wow.O’Shea had thought her deadbeat parents couldn’t be matched, but Barnie was a nasty piece of work.

“Listen,” she told Anna. “I’m going to do some research on him, and I might even attend that town meeting on Monday night, just to rattle his cage a little.”

Anna’s brows drew together. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, O’Shea. If he finds out you’re living with me… Don’t call attention to yourself,” she ended decisively. “I’m not sure what he’ll do.”

“No worries,” O’Shea told Anna, with a gleam in her eye.

This was just what she needed to sink her teeth into while she waited around to hear about a job.

The bigger question was, of course, did she tell Billboard and SOS what she’d discovered?

Not yet.

She’d dig a little deeper, then she’d fill them in.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Billboard hadn’t heard from O’Shea all day. Of course, it was Monday, and they’d spent almost the entire weekend together, a lot of it horizontal, but still… He wanted to have her sultry voice in his ear, breaking up the boredom of paperwork.

Yup.Paperwork.

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