Page 22 of The Hard Way

“Yeah?”

“Let me in.” Thor.

I leaped up and opened the door. He walked in and scanned around at the cherubs. “She really doesn’t want people fucking in here.”

“It didn’t stop Jackie Trent,” Odin said. “Jackie was already threatening to sexually torture me. Even Margie witnessed it.”

“What?”

“It’ssonot funny,” I said.

“Corporate America is really getting crazy these days,” Thor said. “It’s sad what bosses will do these days.”

I hit him, and he pulled me to him and kissed me.

“I should sexually torture you just for making fun of me. Because it’s so not funny.” I snatched Thor’s phone from his hands. “Is it charged up?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take a lot of pictures.”

Thor had set up an appointment to go out to the farm and actually interview my sister Vanessa about the case. We needed the story from my sisters before we went after Andy. Vanessa had been a little reluctant to agree to the meeting—she’d told her side of the story to the main insurance people already, as well as the FDA, the police, and the paper, but insurance investigator intern Henry Simonette could be amazingly convincing.

“I can’t believe you’ll actually be there. You’ll walk in that door. You’ll sit at our kitchen table with Vanessa. She must feel so desperate.”

Thor nodded.

“And even though there’s no way she was criminally negligent like they’re saying, I can promise you she feels guilty about that guy dying. Probably hauntedly guilty. And so scared.” I felt sick, thinking about how upset she must be. We’d looked into the case a bit more and learned that if a jury found that she’d intentionally sold bad cheese, she could go to jail for years. She’d endured so much already, it was unimaginable. And Kaitlin and Candace would have lost two sisters. “I want you to look at everything, memorize everything. But be nice. They’ve been through so much—”

“I have it under control, baby. I know what you’re thinking, but you have to stop. We’re going to keep your sister out of jail.”

“Okay,” I said.

“And if it seems safe, we’ll take you by on our way out. So you can see.”

“This is enough of a risk,” I said. “We’ll make Andy confess and tell why he’s lying and then leave, just like we planned.”

“I know it’s hard to be near your sisters and not see them,” Odin said.

“Oh well.” I bit back the tears and scooted around to be in back of Thor. I made myself busy taking his hair out of the ponytail binder. It really was best that Thor was going rather than Zeus or Odin. My sisters would find him cute and unthreatening. I arranged his blond hair around his shoulders. They’d always loved the band Hanson.

We headed down and found Zeus waiting for us in the living room with Margie. He came over and kissed me. “I was telling her about our vacation in Mexico.”

“Cool!” I linked my arm into his.

Margie shot me a stern look.

Erp. Did she think I was literally threatening Odin with sexual torture, or did she just think we were having an affair?

“Also, she suggests the Cobblestone Supper Club for steaks,” Zeus continued. “I got directions.”

“Steaks sound great,” Odin said.

I actually knew all about the Cobblestone Supper Club; it was a local fancy place. The most elegant restaurant in Baylortown.

Thor pulled out his phone and punched in the address and took off.

“Ready, honey?” Zeus asked.

I took his hand. “Thanks for the recommendation,” I said.

---