Page 26 of Bernadette
“Okay, I understand that, but can you answer this, what exactly is Boswell doing? You have all the bowls of alphabet soup involved, but from my brief conversations with Morgan, they’re not hands on.”
“They’re not, only Carl Miller with the local branch of BCI is here on a sort of permanent basis. I say sort of, because once we take the bad guys out, he’s back to his own life.”
“Oh, and the others? I briefly saw a gentleman named David and didn’t like his attitude.”
“David Helm, Homeland Security. Don’t let him get to you, his bark is worse than his bite, and his bite is very small. He’s let the position he holds within that agency go to his head. He tries to posture, and take over the investigation, but he doesn’t know jack shit about what is going on. I went to his agency almost two years ago when Fred Myar, from the DEA, and my best friend who helped me start Boswell when we got out of the service years ago told me what was going on. David blew me off, telling me it wasn’t his agency’s concern.”
“What exactly are we dealing with?”
“As I said, Fred Myar is my best friend, we served together, and when we got out, we were going to start an agency together. Life happened and he had to come here to North Dakota because his wife was from here and her father became sick. They ended up moving here so she could help her mother with her father. Anyway, they never came back to New York and Fred ended up joining the DEA. That was around thirty years ago. Two years ago, he called me unexpectedly and asked me about what I do at Boswell. See, my agency only does things overseas, we don’t do things domestically.”
“I understand,” Bernie took the cup of coffee offered her and wrapped her hands around it. “Go on.”
“Fred told me that he got wind that some women had come up missing. Poof, disappeared off the face of the earth.”
“But?”
“Morgan was living here by then, and I called her back home to talk to her about what was going on. Fred flew out there and talked to her about it. After that meeting, I went to my people in Washington and was able to get all the alphabet soups’ consent to investigate, but I also got their consent not to interfere with Boswell’s investigation.”
“Smart, not that I’ll want to know, but who’s footing the bill for our salaries and supplies?”
Chip grinned, “Those bowls of soup.”
“Really?” This time it was Astrid who asked. “All the electronics?”
“Yep, I try to set you up the way I set up my own agency back home.”
“Wow,” the women said, and nodded.
“To answer your question, it was brought to our attention that some doomsday preppers were selling drugs, weapons, and possibly women over the border into Canada. Turned out it wasn’t doomsday preppers, and that’s what the ladies of Boswell are currently working on. They have a plethora of information yet to comb through, but I have all the confidence in the world that they will find the underlying cause of it. I’ll let them tell you what they’ve already endured as well as uncovered, and what they have yet to do. But, that’s for another day.” Chip rose to his feet and looked around the table at everyone.
“It saddens me to say this, but Peggy and I will be leaving for home later this afternoon. Not that I didn’t enjoy collaborating with you women, and seeing my niece get married, but I have my own business to run back home. I believe Dottie and Stan will be going home with us.”
“They’re not staying until Morgan and Wyatt get back?” Joyce asked in shock.
“No,” Dottie said as she joined them at the table after helping Dolly clean up the mess that had been brought in. “I know we said we would be staying for at least a week after the wedding. We didn’t want to take any excitement away from Morgan or Wyatt yesterday, but our offer on a house was accepted. We’re going home to start packing up our house, and Stan will be talking to the people who have wanted to buy him out for years. There are three other companies, and he’s going to contact his lawyer, to have her contact him.”
Ava grinned as she settled back in her chair. “Start something like a bidding war?”
“I never thought of it that way, but it could be a possibility. We have a meeting with the realtor here this afternoon, and from there, we’re heading home.”
“Do you know when you’ll be back?”
“We hope by Thanksgiving, but if that’s pushing it, then definitely before Christmas. While Stan works on selling his business, and turning the club over to the other members, I’ll be busy packing up the house.”
“Did you get the boxes Astrid and I used at Mandi’s house?” June asked, and that spurred the others to all rise and head to the door. Bernie stood there, feeling lost, but Dolly shooed her to go join the others.
“Will you be okay here?”
“Yes, I’m usually here all day by myself, and there are people outside if something happens. I’m not going to jinx it, but I feel as if the trouble we’re having all seems to stem around Wyatt and the ranch. At least that was my take from the information June was able to uncover.”
“Okay,” Bernie said and with a shrug, and a confused feeling, she hurried outside and saw the women talking to the men. She looked up and smiled as Chuck approached her. “Hey.”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Something about boxes?” Bernie asked and sucked in her breath when Chuck grinned at her. “You know what they’re talking about?”
“Yeah, come on, I rode over here with Justin, why don’t I drive your truck over to the compound. I heard the adults are leaving this afternoon, and we should be able to get you settled in no time.”
