Page 20 of Cole's Joy
“Not that well, he’s the vet, I’ve met him a couple of times. With my experience with horses, I don’t call the vet unless it’s an absolute emergency. I’m talking forty-five years of experience here. I’m even qualified to give them their shots when needed.”
“Oh. Okay, so you know him in passing?”
“Yes, and what I’ve seen of him he’s a pretty good guy. Why? Was he involved?”
“Indirectly.”
“How can someone be indirectly involved in an accident?”
“First, I hate gossip, but I need to repeat some things here for you to understand why the accident occurred. I know Tom was extremely embarrassed to tell us about this.”
“What?” Cole only asked when she stared off into space and was silent for almost two minutes.
“It appears that several ladies who work at Tom’s vet clinic took it upon themselves to sign him up for a dating app.”
“No,” Cole said in shock, then smirked. “How did that work out?”
“Badly.” Lois shook her head and sipped her tea.
“Tell me.”
Lois drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “This is all second-hand information, and I’m paraphrasing, but apparently the first date he agreed to go on, the woman contacted him and told him that in order to go on a date with her, he had to purchase a few things before the date can happen.”
“Like what? Condoms?” At the look of shock on her face, he only shrugged. “What else could there possibly be?”
Lois giggled and had to wipe the corner of her eye with the towel she’d brought to the table with her. “What would you say if I told you that this woman demanded that he pay for her mani/pedi, that’s to get her nails done, both finger and toes, at a salon, to pay for hair extensions, and even fake eyelashes.”
“Isn’t that what mascara is for?” The look on Cole’s face had Lois laughing by then.
“Yeah, I thought the same thing. But the kicker was that the restaurant she demanded he take her to takes at least eight months to get a reservation, and according to Tom, he’s not leaving hungrier than when he arrived.”
“I don’t know if I understand that statement.”
“The way Tom explained it to us was that take a normal steak. Like one of the ones we have at our BBQs. One that only one person eats.”
“Okay, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I know, but again, according to Tom, take that one steak, shave it down and you can feed forty people off it. Well, maybe not that many, probably closer to twenty-five or thirty.”
“Oh, hell no. One of those fancy high-end restaurants? That meal would have set him back hundreds of dollars. That’s what that last foster family lived off of. Those type of restaurants when I stayed home with the grandfather and we had burgers and such. It was just starting out back then, not all the rage it is now, but still, it’s a disgrace in my eyes.”
“Yeah, like that. Anyway, he told her no. He didn’t know her well enough to fork out that much money, so he cancelled the date. She didn’t take it well. Now, he had a second date a couple of weeks later and he asked Duane to do his background check on this one. From my understanding, before Duane arrived here a few months ago, a man by the name of Jake from some Brotherhood agency in Fool’s Gold would run background checks for Erin. I don’t have all the details.”
“Okay, I’ve heard of Jake. He’s the boss of The Brotherhood Protectors out of Fool’s Gold. There are several other branches. I worked with Carter out of the Yellowstone office while we were transferring The Double A from Wyoming to Colorado. Good people, all former military like the men that work on Broken.”
“Ah, good. Anyway, I don’t know whether you know this or not, but Duane is retired from the FBI.”
“I do know. He was over in Wyoming when we took down Naomi’s father and his business thug. I use the word thug lightly. He was a loan shark and I don’t know for sure, but I’m positive he was involved in other criminal activities.”
“Ah, okay, well Tom asked Duane to run the name of his next date. They were only going to have coffee at the local coffee shop. When Duane got back to Tom, he said that Sparrow, a deputy sheriff from town would come in to arrest her. Jake and another member of his team, who happened to be Sparrow’s husband were also in the coffee shop.”
“As backup?”
“Apparently.”
“Why was this date being arrested?”
“She had several federal warrants out for her arrest for identity theft. Anyway, she was arrested. Tom walked away. Don’t quote me, but remember that day everyone came here for the bonfire and BBQ?”
