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“What?” Twyla asked, questioning her hearing, before her mind reacted. “Forrest isn’t broke. He has the Plantation and his airplane, and all the money his grandfather left him.”
Norma Rose shook her head. “Galen spent it all.”
“That can’t be,” Twyla insisted. “Galen went to jail for money laundering.”
“Exactly,” Norma Rose said. “Laundering counterfeit money. After he spent everything else, he got involved in making it, but no one knows exactly how or where the counterfeit money came from.”
A strange sensation made the hair on Twyla’s arms stand on end. She glanced around the room before saying, “Someone else is looking for where it came from, too.”
Chapter Ten
Forrest couldn’t believe Twyla hadn’t put up more of a fight. As meek and polite as any schoolgirl, she’d thanked him for the bowling game and readily climbed into the backseat of Norma Rose’s Cadillac.
And that had him worried. She was a fighter, but also a conniver. He had to wonder what was going on inside her pretty little head, and he was worried it involved him and his situation. Ty had confirmed Ludwig had been recently paroled, and said he’d look into the thug’s connections. As much as Forrest didn’t want the Nightingales involved, he was grateful for their affiliations. Being a former federal agent, Ty had acquaintances across the nation who had information they’d only share with other agents.
The front door opened behind Forrest and Jacob stepped out. The man said one word as his gaze wandered toward the car pulling out of the parking lot. “Telephone.”
Forrest pulled his gaze away from Norma Rose’s Cadillac and asked, “Mother?”
Jacob shook his head. “Your aunt Shirley.”
Instantly concerned, Forrest pulled open the door and went directly to his office. Shirley rarely called. He picked up the receiver lying on his desk. “This is Forrest. Aunt Shirley, are you there?”
“Yes, Forrest,” she said, quiet as a whisper even through the phone lines. “It’s good to hear your voice.”
“Yours, too,” he replied, sitting down. “Is something wrong? Is Uncle Silas all right?”
“He’s fine, we both are. Looking forward to a visit from you when you have time.”
“I’ll make it down there before long,” he said. “I promise.”
“I’m sure you will, but I didn’t call to press you into a visit,” she said softly. “I’m calling because your mother asked me to.”
“My mother?” Forrest stopped at that revelation. His mother and aunt hadn’t spoken in years.
“I was as surprised as you by the call,” Shirley said. “She’s tried to call you, but you’re never home.”
“I’ve been busy,” he responded, “and have tried calling her back.”
“I’m sure you have, darling. I thought about not calling, but felt I had to. She wants you to come and get her. In your plane.”
Forrest had no intention of leaving, but if push came to shove, he would make the flight to California. “I’ll give her a call, and I’ll be down to see you soon. Tell Uncle Silas hello from me.”
The silence on the other end of the phone said his aunt wasn’t ready to end the conversation, but he was. If his mother called her sister, things were happening in California. Things he needed to know about.
“You two take care,” he said into the receiver.
“We will,” his aunt said. “And you be careful, Forrest. You know how we felt about you coming home.”
“I know,” he said. “But it’s something I had to do.”
He said goodbye and hung up before the conversation went any further. He had no idea if his mother had told Shirley about Galen’s pending release, but he hoped not. His aunt and uncle didn’t need more worries on their plate. They’d questioned his mother’s choices for years and had tried several times to make her leave Galen.
Sitting back, Forrest glanced around the room. When he’d arrived, it had been completely torn apart. He’d assumed, since it had been Galen’s office, that people had been looking for anything of value, or opium. Now he knew it had to do with those counterfeit California banknotes. While showing Ty the bowling alley, they’d discussed how Galen had been forced out of the opium business long ago. His arrest records documented human trafficking in connection with money laundering, but trafficking didn’t hold much weight. An act had been put in place last year by the League of Nations. Ty claimed the government was only upholding the trafficking law in order to combat the influx of immigrants. Therefore, he felt the counterfeiting was the direction they had to stay focused on. Ty also said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Galen with counterfeiting, which was why he was petitioning for release and might get it.
