Page 3 of Her Righteous Protector

“Lester, it’s like I told you, I wanted to taste a little bit of everything.”

Lester shrugged and smiled. “Well, son, Mikey and I appreciate it.”

When Mikey came back Max pulled out the twenty-dollar bill that he always gave the man for mowing his yard.

“Dad, I have more money, do you see? Is this a lot?”

“It sure is,” Lester gave a wry smile and shook his head at Max. “As usual, it’s too much, now go put it in your piggy bank.”

“Okay.” Mikey pounded back down the hallway.

“You’re too good to him,” Lester said to Max.

“That’s just not possible to be too good to your son. You and Mikey have made me feel like part of your family, you know that.” Max looked around the mid-century house, with its faded sunflower wallpaper on the kitchen walls, and smiled. It reminded him of the best foster home he had ever lived in when he was a child. There had been a child with Down’s syndrome who’d made him feel welcome and wanted; he had hated having to leave that house.

Mikey came running back to the kitchen table.

“I’m ready!”

Max laughed. “Well, let’s get going.”

* * *

When Max got home, he sat on his couch with a beer and re-read the letter. It made no sense; not only did he not recognize Meghan’s name, but he’d never been to Chicago. He didn’t want to wait until tomorrow for answers, so he grabbed his cell phone off of the coffee table. His second in command answered on the second ring.

“Hey, Max, what’s going on? We’re still on standby, right?” Kane McNamara asked.

“It’s not official yet, but yeah,” Max answered.

“Thought so. I’m staying at the condo in Virginia Beach this weekend, not going out to Lake Anna. Even though it’s not official, I trust your instincts, Lieutenant.”

Max heard the grin in his friend’s voice. “I appreciate that, Kane. But I got to tell you this is your friend Max calling for a favor, none of this lieutenant bullshit for the moment.”

Kane laughed.

“You know I’ll do anything you need, Max, whether it’s professional or personal. Do you need me to hide a body?”

“Nah, if I needed a body hidden I would have called Cullen.”

“I’m hurt. What’s more, you’re thinking is wrong. Cullen might be able to come up with an ingenious way to hide the body, but I’m not a hundred percent sure he could keep his mouth shut,” Kane chuckled.

“When push comes to shove, all of the team could be trusted,” Max said with confidence. “And lucky for me, this favor doesn’t include a dead body.”

“Okay, what do you need?” Max liked how serious Kane sounded.

“I need you to get some information for me. I’m forwarding a picture of a letter I received and I want you to get as much information as you can for me. Apparently, I’ve been named as a beneficiary in some woman’s will, but I’ve never heard of her. I really don’t want to wait until Monday to find out what this is all about, especially when we could be going wheels up this weekend.”

“Are you sure this isn’t from a Nigerian prince?” Kane joked.

Not bothering to respond, Max texted the picture.

“Hmmm, it looks legit,” Kane finally said. “I’m surprised there isn’t an e-mail address attached.”

“So was I. When I went online, I found a listing for the law firm, but no website, which was also pretty odd. The attorney is a member of the American Bar Association, and it looks like he’s been practicing for at least forty years.”

“That might explain why there isn’t a website,” Kane commented. “Maybe he’s really old-school and depends on word of mouth.”

Max sighed as he swirled the beer in the bottom of the bottle and looked out his window. “Could be, but I want a heads up on what the hell is going on.”