Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“Oh, right.” Juniper turned her attention back to Sammi.
“I was stupid,” Sammi stated.
“No, you weren’t. It’s understandable,” Juniper said to support her friend. “There’s no way I would’ve known what money laundering was when I was thirteen.”
Sammi sighed. “Well, later that night, I heard sirens, and my parents were talking outside my bedroom door. I tiptoed closer to hear my dad telling my mother that Rick and Stoney had drowned at the entrance to the cave. It was quite a distance from the higher elevation where they stashed the money to the cave entrance and apparently, they didn’t make it back out before the tide came in, so they tried to swim out, but the riptide kept sweeping them back in, and they drowned.”
“My God,” Sadie said, putting her hand over her chest. “What a horrible way to die.”
Rocco wrapped his arm around her waist. “It is sad, but let’s keep in mind they were hiding a lot of money.”
“True,” Sadie agreed.
Juniper tried to sum it up. “So, Edmund went to prison for the robbery, but the money was never found. Wait, he didn’t even know where it was.”
“Exactly,” Sammi said. “He told his brother about the missing money, and the two of them have been on this wild goose chase since Edmund was released.”
Magnus gripped Juniper’s leg supportively. “I suppose Edmund hoped that both your fathers were aware of the money and its location.”
“Yes.” Sammi faced Juniper and winced. “My parents didn’t know Edmund had even been released until he showed up at their house last night. I happened to call them during dinner. When they didn’t answer, I finally went over to check on them. That’s when I walked in on Edmund interrogating my parents. He had duct-taped them to the dining room chairs and was demanding answers. I’m sorry to tell you this, but he confessed to killing your father. Apparently, he believed our fathers had the money and had either spent it or were still hiding it.”
Juniper couldn’t keep the tears from leaking down her face. This situation was horrible, but her tears were partially tears of joy at realizing her dad hadn’t done anything illegal and hadn’t known about anyone else doing so either. “I hope your parents are okay,” Juniper whispered. She knew the police had found and rescued them a few hours ago.
“Why did Edmund take you hostage?” Rocco asked.
“Because I pieced it all together while he was pacing around, ranting at my parents’ house. I hadn’t thought about that incident with the laundry ever again until that moment. It hit me. The laundry had actually been the money. And I knew where it was, so I told Edmund I did, mostly so he would leave my parents alone. I thought if I could get him away from them, he wouldn’t kill them.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “It worked,” she added.
Juniper gasped, covering her mouth. How horrible. But she was right; it had worked.
Sammi swiped at her tears. “I love them. I didn’t want him to hurt them, and I knew he would after he told them he’d killed your father. So, I told him if he would leave them alive, I would take him to the money. I had prayed I might be able to escape along the way. I was running out of all hope when your men found me.” She accepted a tissue from Celeste and wiped her eyes.
Magnus smiled at her. “You did good when you started screaming.”
“Yes,” Juniper agreed, though she shifted her weight on her Daddy’s lap because she knew as soon as they were alone, he was going to spank her hard for running toward danger.
A phone rang, and Hawking lifted his to look at it before quickly answering. “Hawking, here.”
They were all waiting to hear from Sammi’s parents. They knew the local police on the North Island had gone to the house and rescued them, but Sammi had yet to make contact with them.
After a few seconds, Hawking spoke again, “Yes, she’s right here. I’ll give her the phone.” He held it out. “It’s your parents.”
Sammi jumped up from the couch and reached for the phone. Hawking guided her away from the group so she could have some privacy.
Juniper leaned into her Daddy and hugged him. Her adrenaline was going to crash soon. She was exhausted and overwhelmed. Luckily, he understood and held her close, kissing the top of her head often.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Juniper said, looking up at him with her sad puppy-dog eyes.
Magnus wanted to be mad at her but couldn’t muster that emotion. His Little girl was always going to be a handful. It would seem she had difficulty staying out of harm’s way. All he could do was hope that now that Edmund and Eric were in custody and surely wouldn’t see the light of day again, Juniper would no longer be in danger and unlikely to climb out of windows or run toward men with guns in the near future.