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Alex Morton

By: MysteryWriter



The plane carrying Alex Morton touched down in Capitol City just after 9pm. He was on the plane only because his sister had sent him the ticket. Actually people didn't send tickets to each other, they purchased them on line. Then they mysteriously ended up at the ticket counter of the airline. After that Alex just showed his driver's license to get a boarding pass. He used that boarding pass to fly almost home.

Alex knew, from all the news stories, to pack light. He had two changes of underwear and a clean shirt in his small gym bag.

For him getting onto and off the airliner had been a simple thing. He even spoke too the stewardess as he left. "Thank you ma'am it was a pleasure," Alex said as he left the plane. 

She smiled at him and said, "Thank you for flying US Air." Her voice sounded like a TV commercial.

Alex followed the line of other departing passengers into one of the tentacles of the octopus that the airlines called a terminal. He managed the long walk to the security gate without any problem. He also managed to make it through the crowd of people. The crowd was a bit intimidating. There were more people in that lobby than he had in seen during the last year, maybe longer.

Alex was one of nine vets who lived in a fishing camp located on a secluded lake in the interior of Maine. He was fortunate to have found something he could do which didn't require a great deal of interaction with people. 

Alex had used the money from his savings, and his settlement with the government, to purchase one of the run down summer camp cabins. That cabin, like the others, had once been part of a church summer camp. After he bought his cabin someone had converted the dining hall into a summer fishing lodge. It was used only in the summer and then only by a few hardy souls. 

His cabin was beautiful in the summer, but it was brutal in the winter months. He used an old coal stove to heat the place. The price of coal had come down some since the power plant's demand had decreased. Soon the coal mines would decrease production and he would be looking for a new fuel. At that time he would most likely put in a wood stove. Heat was a major concern when the temperature hit the negative numbers routinely in the winter.

Alex was brought back to the situation at hand, when he saw a young blond woman holding a sign which read, 'Welcome home Alex'.

When his sister recognized him, she rush to hug him. In doing so she came very close to knocking him off his foot.

Alex like a lot of his generation had lost a limb to an IED in Iraq. Since he had the last seven years to work out his moves, he managed to stay on his feet while hugging Lucy.

"God you are so fucking thin," she said.

"And here I thought I was just fit," he said laughing. "You still talk like a rebel I see."

"I'll try to keep it clean around you," Lucy promised.

"Probably a good idea, I shock easy," Alex said with a smile.

"So do you have a car here?" Alex asked.

"Give me your baggage check and we will go find it," she suggested.

"This is it," he said lifting the gym bag.

"Good, then lets go home," Lucy said.

"Home yeah," Alex said thoughtfully. They were in the car when Alex demanded, "So what about mom?"

"The end was better than anyone expected. We wouldn't let them do an autopsy. We knew for sure that she didn't want to suffer, and we didn't want that for her. She had a brain cancer, so the end was inevitable," Lucy explained.

"Why didn't I know," Alex said.

"Mom said you had enough on your mind and you couldn't help her die, so we should leave you alone." Lucy said defiantly.

"That's bullshit," Alex said.

"Bullshit yourself," Lucy said. "You didn't even come home after you left that hospital. Far as we knew you were living in an alley somewhere shooting up heroin."

"I might have been except I fell in with some people who pointed me in the right direction. I have been busy as hell being me. Just so you know, Mom knew where I was."

"I know she told me where to find the family papers. I was surprised when I found the name and address of that lodge."

"Let's pretend we are a normal family for this one weekend," Alex said.

"The memorial service is on Sunday, so that shouldn't be too hard," Lucy said. "Believe it or not, I do get it. Mom said you were off learning to be you again," Lucy suggested.

"Yeah, that's what I told her when I left the hospital," Alex said.

"Then you did talk to her?" Lucy asked.

"Of course I had to she was at the hospital. She wanted to do something for me. She never understood that it was never about money, it was about who I had become."

"Alex, did you know she owned Spruce Lodge," Lucy asked. "The lawyer hasn't read the will, but I'm sure she left it to you."

"I don't want it," Alex said.

"Maybe she donated it to the state or something," Lucy replied. "Maybe you could stay home this time."

"I don't intend to be here any longer than it takes to settle mom's affairs. You and Luther can do whatever you want and I'll go home."

"Luther and I have talked about it, but to be honest we don't know much about mom's holdings. I'm a dance instructor at the school of the arts, and Luther is a banker. We were hoping you would stay long enough for us to at least figure out what we had."

"Lucy, I have no idea what Mom where mom invested the money. After Dad died she took over his businesses, but she sold off a lot of them. I don't have a clue what she did with the money. Remember between the Army, the hospital, and searching for myself, I have been out of touch a long time.

"Just stay with us long enough to see what is what. We are going to need you for that," Lucy almost begged.

"Now that is real bullshit," Alex said.

"Okay, I need you around to keep Luther from bullying me," Lucy said.

"Lucille, I'm sure Mom took care of that. She knew Luther as well as anyone. Mom didn't believe in rose colored glasses." Alex said.

They drove for twenty more minutes just to get out of the Capitol City traffic patterns. After that they drove another ten minutes to get out of the suburbs. Finally they came to the country road that let to their mother's colonial revival style house. It had been purchased by their parents new in the fifties. The family had lived there ever since. 

With Alex's mother passing, it would almost certainly change hands. It would just be more crap to dispose of, Alex imagined. Damn it, he thought, I have spent five years living in the Northwoods trying to get away from this shit. He hoped he could resist the temptations of the Mcdonald's lifestyle. It wasn't just about fast food, it was about fast and easy everything. That shit just didn't appeal to him anymore.

Alex lived by working as a fishing guide for the lodge in the summer and trapping fur in the winter. He felt that it was a life he could enjoy for a lot more years. He had learned to adapt even with his modern version of a pirate's peg leg.

When the two of them reached the portico of the house, he had to carry his own bag into the house. The servants all had be 'let go' with the passing of his mother. A classy way of saying Luther had fired them all. Alex had no idea how many there were. After Alex left the car Lucy drove it from the portico to the small parking lot at the rear of the house. Why she insisted he enter through the front he didn't know.

When he stepped through the door he quickly understood. There were a dozen of his high school friends awaiting him.

"Luther, what the hell is this?" Alex asked.

"These are your friends. They wanted to welcome you home," Luther replied.

"I'm not glad to see any of these people. I don't socialize these days," Alex informed him.

"Well you will have to tonight," he said. Lucy was right he was a bully.

Alex smiled then left the room without speaking to any of them. He climbed the stairs and found his way to his childhood bedroom. When he opened the door, it was like stepping back into time, or maybe opening a time capsule. 

It was a teenage boy's room. His mom hadn't made any changes to it at all. To her he was still a high school kid, he supposed. He walked about for several minutes inspecting the remnants of his lost youth.

After that inspection he walked across the hall to the bathroom. He did his thing then inspected himself in the mirror. His hair was not long but it was ragged. His beard was short, but not stylishly so. In general he was a mess. Back in his room he was surprised by the small TV. It had been changed since his youth. He wondered why his mother would have done that.

He didn't even bother to turn it on. Instead he checked for the hollowed out book containing his stash of pot. Sure enough it was still there. He went back to the bathroom to flush the over ten year old pot down the toilet.

Then he went back to his room where he begin to read. He chose 'The Last Of The Mohicans' from his book shelf. As he read he ignored Luther's pounding on the door and shouting through it.

Finally he said, "Luther, if I come out there, I'm going to kick your banker's ass down those stairs. Then I'm going to throw everyone out of the house." That ended Luther's shouting and banging.

Alex read himself to sleep. When he awoke it was 5am and he was ravenous. He went down to the kitchen and found it kitchen empty for the most part. He wondered if anyone was really staying at the house over the weekend. He did find some instant oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon. He had to relearn how to operate the fancy microwave. He was sure that he had never seen one so complicated. 

When he finished with it, the oatmeal was still pretty awful. He poured it into the trash and return to his search for food. Someone had brought some fancy sweat bread, so he had some of that with fake butter. He didn't feel bad about eating their bread, since it was the only food in the house. 

Alex was sitting on the patio beside the pool when Lucy came down. "Did you eat all the sweet bread?" she asked.

"Guilty as charged," he said.

"It's okay, the look on Luther's face, when he came down those stair to face his guest, was worth all the bread in the bakery," Lucy said.

"So what is the plan for the family today?" Alex asked.

"There are no family plans as of yet. You need to buy a suit for the memorial service," Lucy said.

"I searched the house. Mom hadn't changed a thing. My old clothes are still hanging in the closet just like when I was a kid. I might have to cinch up a belt, but I expect I can manage with something from my closet," Alex said.

"Let's get Luther so we can all have breakfast, then we can see about getting you into something for mom's service," Lucy suggested staying with the buy him some new clothes plan.

"Surely you don't want me to wake Luther up?" Alex asked with a chuckle.

"After last night you are probably right," Lucy said. She took a cell phone out her holster, then dialed a number. A few seconds later she said, "Okay get dressed we are all going out to breakfast together."

"You two communicate on the cell phone even though you are inside the same house. That's just fucking strange," Alex said.

"Hell my friends and I send text messages across a room sometimes. I go to a lot of parties. Sometimes I don't want to say things out loud, so I text it." Lucy said. 

"What kind of things," Alex asked.

"You know like 'Is her dress too tight or is she pregnant?'" Lucy replied with a laugh.

"You do know that wasn't very neighborly of you last night?" Luther asked of Alex, as he entered the room. 

"Alex, we aren't in high school now. It isn't your job to shelter me or get me dates, just because I'm your kid brother. If I wanted to see those people, I could have arranged it. Now if you had held a wake for Mom, I would have stayed and played nice. A dinner party, or whatever you called that just two days before before her memorial service was a shitty idea," Alex said. 

"Unless one of you wants to make coffee, let's get the fuck out of here," Lucy suggested to end the standoff.

"Could you clean up your language for the rest of the weekend?" Luther asked.

Alex stood and just walked out of the room. He walked to one of the two downstairs bathroom. They were bathrooms with no tub or showers.

This place would make a great bed and breakfast, he thought. Each of the five upstairs bedrooms has a bathroom. There are two half baths downstairs with a large dining room and a couple of other multi purpose rooms as well.

If Mom had gone through the money maybe one of them could run a B&B, but Alex doubted it. At the moment he just wanted to empty his bladder. Then go somewhere and drink a gallon of coffee.

Since he had eaten, Alex drank coffee and listen to the two of them argue. Lucy seemed to pick fights with Luther just to burn off calories. Luther might be a bully, but Lucy was no angel. She sure as hell didn't need Alex to protect her. She had really needed him as a child to protect her from her their older brother. Rich or not they shared a rough and tumble childhood. Alex couldn't remember if the family had always been rich, or if that happened later. Hell he had no idea how they made their money.

Alex had always said he didn't want the family money, but would he give in to the temptation of living in the state capitol. He was sure there was a ton of money in the family coffers. Since I have a life I enjoy, maybe not, he thought. 

He had to admit it had been nice to sleep though without having to feed a fire in the middle of the night. Struggling into his peg leg had even been easier in the warm house.

"Did you get lost," Luther shouted from the front door.

"No, I was just reminiscing," Alex said as he approached them.

"I think you mean remembering. reminiscing is when you share a memory," Luther said.

"Whatever," Alex said with a smile. Even though he had been insulted he didn't care enough to make a fuss.

All three of them walked to the parking area in the rear. It was a thirty yard walk at least. Alex was glad that he was able to keep up with his peg leg and all.

Alex drank coffee while the two of them hurried through their breakfast. It was as if they were embarrassed to have him sit at the table without a plate of food in front of him. He rather enjoyed their discomfort.

Back at home he discovered that he had either been a chubby kid or he was sickly thin at the moment. His old clothes were far too large according to Lucy. 

"I will not have you going to the service in that suit," Lucy said of his High School graduation outfit.

"I suppose, I could buy a new suit," he suggested.

"It will have to be an off the rack suit," Luther suggested. There is no time for any tailoring.

"I don't have a credit card and I didn't really bring a lot of money. It's also Saturday so I'm sure my bank is closed," Alex suggested. "Taking all that into consideration, which one of you wants to put a suit on the their card. I'll repay you when the bank opens Monday."

"Bullshit, call it payment for past due birthday presents," Lucy said.

Alex nodded. He hadn't sent presents either, so he should have argued with her. Since he knew there was no reasoning with Lucy, he just kept quiet.

Alex settled on the first suit he saw along with a shirt and tie. He just wanted to get out of the crowded mall. He and Lucy had stopped in a shoe store inside the mall for a pair of black shoes with laces. He hadn't worn anything like them since his army days. 

They found a Walmart in the parking lot, where he bought a three pack of tee shirts and briefs.

That evening Lucy and Luther left him to visit their friends. Luther took no for an answer, after their previous encounter.

Alex lay on his bed watching some kind of wild Alaskan show and reading his book. The show was about living a subsistence lifestyle. The only thing out of place was that each of the 'real' characters had a snow mobile and all kinds of fancy shit.

They probably lived as close to a subsistence life style as he did. He bought only a little food at the store, but he did buy some. His government pension covered all his basic needs. He made enough money from trapping and being a fishing guide to pay for his boat, motor, snow mobile, and three wheeler. In that respect he was rich according to the Alaskans. He was certainly no subsistence hunter. He usually brought down a big game animal a season, but he could never depend completely on that to survive. There was also not enough fat on wild meat to make it tasty, so he cooked it using real lard. That was also something that was getting hard to find. He usually pounded hell out of the meat before cooking in order to make it tender enough to eat.

He thought about all that while he read his book and watched the fantasy reality TV show. Living in Maine he had gone hungry a few times. It only because he got snowed in. He never went hungry due to a shortage of game but sometimes it was impossible to get out to hunt. 

Actually he ate the meat from the small animals he trapped, or shot during the winter, as well as the bigger game animals. In the summer he ate the fish which were still plentiful in the lake, thank God. 

To be honest, after that first winter, he also had plenty of canned food. That first winter he had been snowed in for weeks at a time. Going hungry a few days made Alex realize that he just couldn't live off the land alone. So he began to stockpile non perishable food items for those times.

Alex ran a trap line of twenty traps. When his sister had the Sheriff track him down, the first thing he did was run the line and spring all the traps. He didn't kill just to kill, he thought.

When Lucy and Luther came home, Alex went down for a glass of water. He carried a tiny package with him. It was wrapped in a page from his book. "Since you bought me the clothes on your credit card, I got something for you sis," Alex said.

He handed Lucy a piece of paper with something wrapped inside. 

"You didn't have to do this," she said even though she opened the paper as she said it. "Is this real?"

"It is, There isn't much gold left in the wilds of Maine. Certainly not enough to look for on a regular basis, but now and then I pan a creek. I found this one nugget a couple of years ago. I have no idea what it is worth.

"That is so sweet," Lucy said.

"You know dad taught us to pay our debts," he said.

Sunday morning was pretty much the same as the day before, except that by Sunday Alex had found the coffee. He used a large sauce pan to boil a pot of coffee. It was the mountain man way of making it, but it made the best coffee. At least that was his opinion.

In his cabin he would have strained it though an old piece of cloth. In his mother's kitchen, he used a funnel and paper coffee filter. He strained the whole pot at the same time, just as he did in the cabin.

After three cups of coffee, and two hours in the cold morning air sitting by the covered pool, Lucy showed up.

"How long have you been awake? Lucy asked.

"I think it was around six," Alex said.

"How early do you wake up at the cabin?" She asked.

I usually wake up with the sun, then stoke the fire and lay back down. After another hour I drag my sorry ass out of bed," Alex informed her. "During the winter In the north woods a lot of my life is about not freezing."

"That just doesn't sound like much fun with your leg and all," Lucy said.

"You know that's the first time you mentioned my leg, or lack of a leg," Alex said.

"It wasn't because I didn't know or care about it. It was just that it seemed like a bad idea to bring it up. You know, just in case you have PTSD. Lucy said.

"I have do have it. Most soldiers have it. The trick is to recognize when you are headed for an episode, and then think happy thoughts," he said with a laugh.


Alex Morton



"I'm sure it's more complicated than that," she said.

"It is, but I live in a community of other vets. All of us are heavily armed and have episodes, so It's to our benefit to recognize the symptoms and deal with them early. But you know, when you struggle for survival in a harsh environment, there is less time to think about yourself or the past," Alex explained. "It makes it somehow easier."

"So about the leg, is it comfortable?" Lucy asked.

"No, but it makes life easier, so I deal with it. It takes a lot of planning to be an amputee," Alex said. "At least if you live my lifestyle."

"I can only imagine," Lucy said.

They spent a moment in silence, then Luther came onto the concrete patio.

"You two are up early," he said. "Lucy usually sleeps till noon after a night of partying." 

"Maybe there wasn't a good party last night," Alex suggested trying to close the subject. It didn't seem to be appropriate to discuss parties at that moment. After all they would be attending a memorial service for his mother within a few hours.

Lucy recognized his motive and didn't rise to Luther's bait. "So you guys want to go out and eat breakfast again?" she asked.

"I'm game let me take a shower first, then I'll be right as rain," Alex said.

"I think I'll stay here and do some work. The office send me some overnight email. I need to look at before tomorrow." Luther said.

So breakfast was just Alex and Lucy. Since she allowed Alex to choose, he chose a roadside diner where back in the day his father had met his friends before golf.

"The place hasn't changed much, Alex said.

"I think the walls were a different shade of green when we were young," Lucy said. 

"No they just have more smoke and grease on them now." Alex said with a laugh.

"You could be right. The food is still good. At least they still cook their eggs in grease. Even the scrambled eggs are greasy," Lucy said.

They returned home after the breakfast to pass the time until 1pm. The plan was to leave for the memorial service at one. It was being held at the wall where his father's ashes were interred. Alex really hated the memories the day was certain to drag up. It had already begun with breakfast at the diner on the side of the road.

Alex passed the time running his childhood through his mind like an old VHS tape. It, like an old tape, was filled with stops and starts as well as blank spaces. Still it did pass the time. 

An hour before he service Lucy knocked on his door. "I'm not very good at this but I'm sure I'm better than the last person who cut your hair. I wish it were still a little damp from your shower but I suppose I can manage." She said with a smile.

Alex decided to humor her. His answer of "have at it," wasn't spoken with a lot of enthusiasm, but then again he had agreed.

After all the snipping he endured, he had to admit it did look better. After she left he changed from his heavy twill work pants to his fancy new suit. One of the really hard things was making store bought shoes fit over the ball at the end of his peg leg. Alex filled the toe of the shoe with a wash cloth to make it fit better.

The three of them were driven to the memorial garden by a big black limo. Alex was not happy about that. It brought back memories of his father's death.

Alex's father had a stroke when Alex was a junior in high school. He lingered at home for two years before he finally passed. Alex had a feeling it was why his mother didn't want to die a protracted death by having cancer eating her alive. Everyone had decided on a conspiracy of silence surrounding the details of her death. He was also good with that.

Those were his though as people droned on about his mother. Most of them were fellow business owners, or employees. Some of the country club set showed up to pay their respects. Alex wondered how much any of the people standing around really cared for the outspoken woman. His mother tended to stay clear of any entanglements after he husband passed, so she had few friends. Everyone thought of her as cold and calculating. Alex couldn't say they were wrong, since when he turned eighteen, she packed him off for college. He never returned home for more than a short visit after that. Even though he stopped for a visit on his deployment leave, on h is way to Iraq, it hadn't felt like home.

He was never the same after that deployment and he could never go home again and pretend that he was. His mother came to the lodge as a guest every summer for the entire five years he lived there. She always brought him a box of candy. She never knew he gave it away. Taking his mom fishing had been enjoyable. They spent hours alone on the lake. They never seemed to find the words to discuss his early life. 

"Alexander, please come home and allow me to take care of you," she would beg at the end of the first couple of trips.

The visits became more enjoyable when she finally accepted that he wasn't going to come home. After that she kept him filled in on the other kids and even some of his old friends. 

They learned to accept each other during those last three years. She even visited him the last summer of her life. He realized that it was her last summer. She was thin and looked like death. They had some private time to say goodbye before she went home to find a way to finish cleaning up her life. Then after Christmas that same year she passed. Alex had expected that it would have been even sooner. 

One of the things that surprised him was that she clung to him before the lodge car carried her to the airport. They both knew it was the last time they would be together. The thing that surprised Alex was that she kept saying how sorry she was. Sorry that she hadn't there for him. She apologized, but made no excuses. Alex comforted her as best he could. Her saying that brought back some terrible memories.

The last of the speakers finished shortly after Alex shook his head to clear the memories. He tried to listen to the woman, who was a member of congress. Her final words were that Alex's mother would be missed.

Luther approach Alex after the memorial service. "Alex I know this sounds harsh, but you have made it obvious you don't want to be here, so I have arranged for the lawyer to meet us this afternoon." Luther said.

"Well, that's very efficient of you," Alex said sarcastically.

"Bullshit, don't try to make me feel guilty. You can't wait to get away from here, and I need to get back to work. Unlike you I have responsibilities."

Lucy had wandered up when she saw them arguing. Luther is right this time. You can stay as long as you like, but I need to get back," she said.

"Alright, I will do along with this, but I would never have done it this way," Alex agreed. 

On the way to the limo Alex was stopped by a woman somewhere near his age. "Do you remember me. My name was Gina Sloane, and this little man is Eddie Sloane." she said obviously referring to a boy about seven or eight with her shocking red hair.

"Of course Gina how are you," Alex asked. "The little guy with you has to be your son."

"Can't mistake him for a neighbor kid can you," she said. "I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am about your mom. I didn't know her well, but she seemed like a nice woman. I do know she worried a lot about you,"

"Thank you Gina, I'm sure mom would have appreciated your good opinion of her." Lucy said in a cold voice.

Alex shot a seriously nasty look at his sister. "Thank you for coming Gina. You didn't have to. I know mom would have been happy to know that you remember her kindly."

The limo drove them home. They sat on the sun porch drinking coffee to pass the necessary half an hour before the meeting with the lawyer. The mood was combative, so mostly the three of them sat in silence.

"I'll driver," Luther said. "I have the larger car."

"Why don't we both drive," Lucy suggested.

"Fine, you always have to have your way," Luther replied.

"She's a woman. It's better to just give in and save your strength for the real battle," Alex suggested.

"Since you have the big car, I'll ride with you Luther," Alex said.

"Sure," Luther replied.

"Are you sure you don't want to ride with us?" Alex asked. "You can have shotgun."

"Oh hell alright. I'm only doing this because Luther is such a lousy driver. Someone has to tell him what to do, or he will kill you both.."

"Screw you Lucy," Luther said.

"Oh my, now you do not want to go there," Lucy said sharply.

For the first time Alex cataloged Lucy's appearance. She was about five and a half feet tall, and she was also dancer thin. Looking at her objectively she was very close to being very attractive. If she wasn't his sister, Alex would have dated her.

"Do I pass inspection?" she asked. She had obviously caught Alex checking her out.

"But of course," Alex said. "You could probably use a bigger set of boobs."

"Dancers don't have big boob hon," Lucy said.

"Then I suppose you are perfect," Luther said with a chuckle.

"Enough of this not so friendly banter, let's go," Lucy said.

Since his front door was locked, they waited for the lawyer in his parking lot. He was part of a larger firm who occupied a complete building in an office park.

"You must be the Morton family, I'm Thomas Wilson. I represent your mother's estate." the older man suggested.

"I'm Luther, this is my sister Lucy, and the skinny guy there is my younger brother Alex."

"Well come on in and we can take care of this," he said. "I can make some coffee if you like. It comes in those per-measured packs, so not even I can mess it up," Thomas said.

Luther started to say don't bother but Alex said, "Sure that would be fine. Lucy there is an expert coffee maker. Why don't we let her do the honors."

Lucy gave Alex a hard look but she said, "Sure I can handle one of these."

Alex could tell that the delay was making Luther crazy. Lucy appeared to think that Luther's discomfort was payment enough for her coffee making service.

"Can we get started now?" Luther asked when everyone had a cup of coffee.

"Sure," the lawyer said. "So do you want the full 'here to' and 'forth with' reading or will a simple explanation of the terms do?"

"Give us anything Mom wanted to tell us first," Alex suggested. "It wouldn't be like her not to have the last word."

"Good," The lawyer said. "There is one paragraph she wrote herself. 

Since I believe people should know where their food comes from and none of you with the exception of Alex, who knows all too well where his food comes from these days, I decided this was a good time for you to learn. So some of the provisions in my will might sound strange, but trust me I have given them all serious thought. So please remember I love you all, and am trying to make you better people."

"What is that all about," Lucy asked.

"It's about you working at the business that your mom and dad built," The lawyer said.

"It's nice that mom wanted us to know what she did, but I have a career and can't just pack my tent start working in the family business." Lucy said.

"That is up to you. The alternative to you kids working in your mother's company, is to have it all sold. Sold for whatever it will bring on the open market. The proceeds are to be donated to the a charity for the aid of wounded veterans. I help with those things the Government won't provide.

"That doesn't include our trust fund from dad does it," Lucy asked.

"Lucy there was never any trust fund. Mom just subsidized your life. You were working at something you loved, and weren't any trouble to her, so she sent you the checks," Luther said. "Do I lose control of the investment portfolio, if I don't take over the business?"

"Yes and no, the investment portfolio is gone as of 9am tomorrow. Also you wont be taking over the business. You see your mother felt that Alexander was the only one of you who understood how it all worked," Thomas said.

"That's ridiculous, he knows nothing about investments," Luther said.

"When you go to work tomorrow you will find an order on your desk to liquidate the investment portfolio of your family. The business has operating capital but the Investment portfolio is to be sold and the total proceeds will go to a foundation for disabled veterans. If you fight that you will lose, and the bad publicity will follow you into the family business." Thomas said.

"You are going to have to let one of the others run the company, I'm headed back to Maine on tomorrow's plane," Alex stated emphatically.

"That is certainly your right. However if you do, or if any of you refuse to participate in the business, I am authorized to liquidate everything and make the donations. You will not get another penny from the estate. Your mother was most adamant."

Alex's first reaction was Thomas had to be kidding. The second reaction was what do I care if they have to earn their own way in the world. It was probably what his mother was hoping he would do.

"Your mom said to give you 48hrs to decide. So Tuesday by close of business I will expect a decision." The lawyer advised them.

"I want a copy of that will. I'm going to have my own attorney look it over," Luther said.

"Sir is there an outline of the business. I'm afraid we know nothing about it. Which is probably why mother wanted us to find out?" Lucy asked.

"What about you Alex," Luther asked. "You are going to stay till we get it worked out, aren't you?"

'Why should I," Alex asked.

"You heard him, If we aren't all involved in the company, we lose everything." Luther said.

"Luther none of us need the money. You keep telling everyone how successful you are. You will be fine," Alex said.

It isn't that simple. Most of the money I managed was Mom and Dad's. If the liquidate order can't be stopped, I am screwed."

"I sure as hell can't live on the salary as a part time dance instructor, Lucy said.

"I have absolutely not desire to live here again," Alex said.

"I realize that, but you can't let us down, after all we are family. Please save us all." Lucy begged.

"We have forty-eight hours, I'll give Luther and his lawyer a chance to work something out," Alex said

"Just so you know, Mom told me she bought the lodge to be sure you always had some backup. If they liquidate our holdings the lodge goes. The new owner could be hot to get rid of those crazy vets. You might own your cabin but I'm not so sure about those other guys," Luther said.

"Like I said, I'll give your lawyers a chance," Alex said. 

After Luther left to call his lawyer at home, Alex asked, "Did you find it strange that Luther didn't bring his family?"

"Jessica and Luther only stayed married because momma wanted access to the grand kids. They probably have the divorce papers in the lawyer's office now. As for Luther's lawyer breaking the conditions of the will, it ain't gonna happen. Momma wouldn't buy a stamp till she researched it to death. Thomas might look like a country lawyer, but he is going to be the best lawyer money can buy."

"Well Lucy, I guess I better go buy some more clothes, since it looks as though I will be here a week or so longer. I will not be here any longer than that."

Alex was a patient man. You learn that living in the Northwoods. Should he be away more than a week or two he would have to arrange to give his food to one of the other Vets. He didn't want it to go to waste.

Alex knew that Lucy and Luther had whispered conferences all Sunday night. Each time he went downstairs to pick up another cup of bad coffee, made in the Mr. Coffee type brew machine, they stopped talking all together. He knew they were plotting but there was nothing he wanted to do about it.

Luther had come back from his lawyer's office Sunday evening with what he considered bad news. His lawyer said there was no time to stop the liquidation order. His mother had been of sound mind at the time made the decision, so it was going to stick. 

Not to mention the lawyer advised him that he would have to have all the people named in the will sign on to the suit and agree to assume the liability for the law suit. In other words, he was likely to lose, he would be responsible for all the heavy cost of the law suit. Even worse for him, he would need Alexander and Lucille to sign on to the action. He knew why his mother had decided to make the donation to Wounded Warriors. He knew that Alex would never object to it.

While he and Lucille spoke quietly for the most part, one of both of them could be heard raising their voice now and then. Alex ignored them as best he could. He was beginning to be get a little paranoid though.

Alex started his day Monday by making coffee in a sauce pan. He made only four cups, since he knew the others were fine with the brew master type machine's swill. He chose to put on his down filled coat to sit by the pool again. The sun was barely above the horizon, but Alex had learned to accept the cold air, at least for a bit. Without doing some real work to raise his core temperature, he was risking hypothermia but he knew when to go inside.

That morning he made it about half an hour, but he couldn't stay out long enough for the sun to came up. The sun would have made it almost pleasant. He knew that it would likely be in the single digits in Maine's Northwoods that morning.

Alex sat in the glassed walled sun room with just a minimal amount of heat, while he watched for any signs of wildlife. He missed the forest critters already. He was still looking out of the one hundred and eighty degree glass panels when he heard the front door open and close. He wondered which of the siblings was out so early on a Monday morning.

"So was that Luther going out, or you coming home?" he asked Lucy as a joke.

"It was Luther. He went into the office to face the consequences of Mother's liquidation order. I told him that he better not skim any, since the lawyer mom hired was for sure going to check. He will get a fee since he is doing the liquidating." Lucy said.

"Luther is smart enough to find a way to get his share and more. When you get him alone, tell him not to ever let me find out that he took money from injured soldiers," Alex said.

"I already told him that. It will be hard for him to do any skimming, but like you said I trust him to find a way," Lucy agreed. "So what have you decided."

"I have decided that if I only stay a week, I need more clothes and the banks will be open in an hour. I can find a branch of the bank that has my pension account, so I can pay for my own stuff this time," Alex replied. "So do you have a class this morning?"

"No classes until 3pm. The life of an assistant dance instructor at the school of the arts is not a hard one." Lucy informed him.

"So can I hired the Lucy Morton Taxi service?" Alex asked. "Or should I arrange for a rental car. The pegleg is on my left side so I can drive and unmodified rental.

"No way am I going to allow you to drive in this traffic alone. So yes the taxi is at your service, but it will cost you. Lunch with Luther at the downtown club," she insisted. 

"Do I need to mortgage my cabin to pay for a lunch there?" He asked knowing The Downtown Club was known as a members only, power lunch club.

No, we can put it on the family account. I'm sure that the lawyer hasn't got around to settling every single one of mom's accounts," Lucy suggested.

"If you haven't eaten there in a month, I bet you the account has been closed and settled," Alex said. "Hell they might not let us in."

"Oh I'm sure we can get in even, if we have to pay for the meal," Lucy said. "Besides that dick Luther is a member in his own right."

"Are you a member?" Alex asked.

"No, but if Luther isn't there, you have pull," Lucy said. "Just you wait and see. They have dropped the coat and tie requirements, but those mountain man pants won't do. But you said you needed clothes anyway."




Alex Morton



"Now that I know my off the rack sizes, we can go to Kmart or something like it," Alex suggested. "I hated the mall."

"I remember, you looking as though you wanted your rifle. So go clean up and we will head out. First stop the bank."

Since Alex had always driven the lodge's crew cab pick up to pick up clients at the airport or Amtrak station, he had kept his driver's license up to date. With that driver's license, he had been able to access his savings account. Over the last nine years he had accumulated over fifty thousand dollars. Living as close as he could to a subsistence life style, even after paying his mortgage on the cabin, almost half his check just went into the bank. He tapped the account for equipment like snowmobiles and rifles. Other than those expenses he spent his pension in dribbles. He donated to the Veterans Service funds and a couple of homeless shelters, otherwise the money had just accumulated.

"How much money do you think I need," he asked Lucy.

"I have no idea. Why don't you just get a thousand and we can comeback later. Why not have your personal banker issue you a debit card?" she suggested.

I don't want a personal banker. Besides I haven't decided what I'm going to do, I might be going home tomorrow," Alex said.

"I know you don't want to be here Alex, but give us a chance. Luther and I are trying to get used to the idea that you might be the big brother after all," Lucy said.

They entered the Downtown Club at 12:20pm. According to Lucy they stopped serving at 3pm. They served lunch from 11am till 3pm and it was the only meal they did serve.

Alex still wasn't convinced that they would be welcomed. Well not till he saw that Gina who was in the lobby greeting people. "Well hello you two. I was hoping you would come in for lunch," Gina said. Alex could tell she was a professional greeter.

"Well here we are," Lucy said. Lucy was trying hard not to treat her like hired help, but it was there in here voice. At that moment Alex didn't much like Lucy. "Is Luther here yet?"

"Yes he is at the bar. Your table is ready would you prefer to join him or be seated. I can let him know you are here.," Gina said. Even Alex recognized the coolness in her voice. These games were childish, he thought.

"How about we wait at the table. I don't think I would be comfortable in the bar," Alex said to smooth things over. On the way to the table he said, "Over look Lucy, She is under a great deal of stress." Gina just smiled.

The table had been reserved by Luther, so Alex assumed he was paying for lunch. He wouldn't mind sticking him with the check, Alex thought. He was sure than Luther had skimmed money off the liquidation transaction.

"So Luther, are you going to share your commission on the liquidation trade with us," Lucy asked. Alex didn't say anything he just smiled. "I'll take that as a no."

"So Luther what have you learned?" Alex asked.

"The companies Mom owned make a hell of a lot of money, but no one of them has a net profit of over five hundred thousand a year. Together the five of them has almost three million a year, every year. That's not bad for a bunch of small time businesses The odd thing is how close their books mirror each other."

"You are going to have to explain that to this country boy," Alex said.

"Not mention the chick artist," Lucy interjected.

"Okay, most of the business where started by Dad years ago. Each one struggled the first year just as they are supposed to. They even struggle a couple of more years as he expanded them with small bank loans. When they became self sufficient he put them on a plan where he completely upgraded the equipment over the course of ten years.

First it was a small trucking company which had a small profit margin. He reshaped it to a courier company. After the ten years he operated it almost at a loss, it began to slowly make a profit. It was as if the profits were controlled to always show just the right amount to avoid scrutiny from the IRS.

As the courier company was growing he began to branch out. He never allowed the courier company to grow past that one size where it slipped under the IRS radar.

He also bought a string coin operated laundromats, but when the famous California laundromat tax evasion case hit the paper, he sold them the next month. All those records were lost presumably in the office fire." Luther said in a whisper.

"Maybe we should save this till after you come home," Lucy suggested. She didn't like airing her family's dirty laundromats in public it seemed. 

"I have a lot more to look into, so I'm going to be late," Luther informed his siblings.

Lunch was ruined by the number of unanswered questions going through everyone's mind. 

One of the questions for Alex at least was, is Luther being too dramatic. It was entirely possible. It would be harder for Alex to believe his mother was involved in something shady. It wasn't the same with his father. Alex could believe it about his dad, since everyone said he got his start working on the off shore oil rigs in the early days. In those days it had been even more rough and tumble on those rigs.

He was pretty sure that Lucy wouldn't want to believe it about either. She had been close to their father probably because she was the only girl and got spoiled by him.

On the ride home Lucy asked, "What do you think it means?"

Probably nothing dad and mom would have to have been pretty smart to fool everyone. I doubt Luther could have found it all in one morning." Alex said.

"One could put a lot of files on one flash drive. The lawyer gave Alex the backup files from mom's computer to help him make his decision. He is supposed to share them with us but he will probably just summarize them. I have a feeling none of us want them checked out too closely," Lucy suggested.

"We don't have to sit around doing nothing while we wait for him," Alex suggested.

"If Dad was controlling the books to show a smaller profit he was doing something with the money. The safest thing to do with cash is to hide it. Then find a way to infuse it into the other businesses. Where would mom and dad hide that kind of money?"

"Under the patio," Lucy said.

"Of course the fall out shelter," Alex agreed. There father had a fall out shelter built when the first pool was installed. The family home was far enough from any military target that it might survive an attack, but there would be fallout. Back in the fifties people all over the country were investing in holes in the ground. There dad had his built under the pool apron. Hell Alex had sat over the damn thing the day before.

His mom had let her husband's tools rust away to nothing. She had even given some of them away. Even so Alex found a hack saw. It was by far the least effective tool for cutting a lock, but it worked. It just took a while. He could have done better with a bolt cutter or an angle grinder but you worked with what you have. Something he learned in the Northwoods of Maine.

When he finally got the lock off the metal storm cellar type doors, he and Lucy walked down the ten steps to a depth the same level as the pool beside it. Alex could even see the wall of the pool beside the entrance to the shelter. 

There was no power since no one expected the power grid to be working after a nuclear attack. 

Lucy had brought a flashlight. She handed it to Alex who illuminated the room. It was still outfitted with over fifty year old wooden shelves. On those shelves there were bundles of cash about one cubic foot each. There must have been a hundred of them.

"Holy shit," Lucy said.

"Now listen real close Lucy. No one can know about this. If we tell anyone, the cops will take everything. Not only will you be left with nothing, Mom and Dad's reputation will be ruined. Everything will be worse than the lawyer described. A government seizure of their assets will leave you with nothing. Worse all of the good that mom did in h er life will be forgotten," Alex reminded her.

"Do you think I'm stupid. Okay sometimes I pretend to be stupid but I'm not stupid," Lucy said. "Mom knew that if we didn't agree to run it as a family it would all be lost."

"Yeah, I'm afraid mom and dad were into some bad shit," Alex said.

"How did they keep it hidden all those years," Lucy said.

"Because no one knew it, except each other. That's why mom created the elaborate will. You can trust no one, like you can trust family. Unless one of the members is insane." Alex said.

"You know Luther will turn on us to save his ass," Lucy said.

"So will you or I, if it comes to that. So we have to make sure it never comes to that," Alex suggested.

"That's why mom chose you. To make sure it never comes to that. You know what shit really is and I hope you know how to keep us out of it," Lucy said.

"I would like to think that I do, but who knows," Alex said. Alex and Lucy ran out of things to say, so Alex just drifted to his room. He allowed himself the luxury of a nap. In the Northwoods there was always something to do during daylight hours. Daytime naps for a healthy person were unheard of. The Northwoods residents made up for it by by going to be early. Alex stayed up later since he was out of the mountains of Maine.

Alex awoke to the knocking on his locked door. "Are you okay Alex?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, I'm fine what time is it?" Alex asked.

"Almost seven we need to go to dinner. Luther called he will be here in a couple of hours. He has news, and of course we have some for him," she said.

After another dinner out, his spent half an hour in the bathroom. His body was on a totally different cycle in Capitol City, Alex decided. It was after 10pm when Luther arrived.

"You have no idea what a mess we are in," Luther said.

"Actually I think we do," Lucy said. "Come with me, I have something to show you."

Alex stayed behind as they walked out to the pool. Ten minutes later, Luther walked back into the house. 

"Well that just settles it, I have no idea what we are into exactly, but it is ugly," Luther said.

"We could call the cops," Alex said.

"Yeah right, I can see us trying to explain it to our friends and other family members. All this shit in the will makes sense now," Luther said. "All except making you the head of the businesses."

"Luther do you think they made that money in the fallout shelter selling home made cookies," Lucy asked.

"Yeah, I get it. So what are we going to do," Luther asked.

"Lucy and I will find out all we can about the business operations, you try to find out all that you can about the financial operations," Alex said. "There has to be a road map somewhere of how mom did it.

"Mom left clues on the flash drive. There are names of people for each business," Luther informed him.

"Is there a mechanism to keep the whole things going without her until we can get a handle on it," Alex asked.

"The structure of the of the courier company is to service existing clients, but any new clients must come though the home office which is you," Luther said derisively.

"Well then leave it on auto pilot. In the meantime I'm going to ride with several of the drivers to see what the fuck is going on," Alex said. "Something is not right with them. Lucy, since neither Luther nor I will have any idea what the people at the Blue Skies Production Company is saying, you go talk to them. Try to get a handle on there production methods and expenses. It may just be a money laundering business or it maybe real," Alex suggested.

"Okay, but I'm a dancer. I have no idea about anything else," Lucy suggested.

"Don't sell yourself short," Luther said. "You understand a lot more than you realize. You know what goes into producing a show, so you know or can learn what goes into producing a movie or TV show. I have a feeling that Blue Skies is not what it seems."

"Let's talk about how we feel about all this," Alex began. "What if we find that there is something truly evil going on here? What are we going to do about it."

"I am pretty sure that all this cloak and dagger shit is going to be evil," Lucy replied. "I want nothing to do with it."

"Then learn to live on your dance instructor salary," Luther said.

"I propose that we find out what is going on with the understanding that victimless crime perpetrators are grass eater. While crimes that cause mayhem and death are perpetrated by meat eaters. I think we can all live with being grass eaters, at least long enough to extract ourselves while doing the least amount of damage possible. A meat eater's crime we need to get out of regardless of the losses," Alex suggested. "So what do you think?"

"I agree completely. I will not be involved in anything that harms people," Lucy said taking the high moral ground.

"I can live with that as well," Luther said.

"I figure that there will be risk in extracting ourselves from some things. Some of the other players my be even likely to try extracting us from the business permanently. We are going to have to be careful. We can't make any sudden moves," Alex informed them.

"Yeah, I can see that," Luther admitted.

"Me too," Lucy said.

"From what I learned the office of Flash Couriers is in one of the suburban areas. They have trucks leaving there for over night deliveries from the airport freight facilities to anywhere in the state. The receivers are all regular customers. The local company has no idea what they are carrying, or how much we charge. Hell at the moment neither do I," Luther said. These are all corporate accounts. Somewhere hidden in all the files there has to be a breakdown of the dark money," Luther suggested.

"What if the customer has found a way to ship contraband by air. If they are using us as an under the radar delivery method. Nobody knows it all, so no one link can expose the whole chain. We need Mom's files." Alex said.

"From what I see some client is making two payments, one in a bank transfer as it should be, and one in a brown envelope. You both know what's in the envelope," Luther said.

"You know the weak link as far as I'm concerned is Missouri or Arkansas. If the cops bust either end of the chain or someone else in the pipeline it could all come crashing down. If they roll up part of it, they could easily roll it all up including us. We need to know what the risks are," Luther commented.

"Well, I will try to piece it together. We also need to know how the money was getting to Mom," Alex said. "My guess is us mail, but I don't know that."

"That would be the safest way for all concerned," Luther agreed. "She probably didn't have it addressed to the house, just in case it spilled open. A post office box?" Luther asked.

"No, that means she would have had to pick it up. The postal inspector could have a tape. You know mom had all kinds of shenanigans at these businesses. What if one of them was on the up and up 100%, except that she used it as a mail drop. Which of our holdings would get things through the mail, and made a modest profit." Alex asked.

"One who would hold the packages and not be suspicious," Lucy asked. She took the list of businesses from Alex. "Girlie Girl beauty salon. I'll bet you they have been doing her hair for years. She goes in gets her hair done every week and picks up a couple of packages. You do remember that steamer trunk of a purse she carried." 

"What would she tell the manager?" Luther asked.

"It's a woman's business. Gifts from a lover or expensive perfume who knows, but women cover for other women. The trick would be to make it all believable, so that they never felt uncomfortable being the relay point.

"Lucy, go to Girlie Girl before you leave for the production company. Pick up any packages there if there are any. Maybe we can find where it comes from," Luther suggested.

"Okay then if we all know our assignments, I'm going to bed. I'm going to the courier company tomorrow," Alex suggested.

The next morning Lucy walked into the Girlie Girl's waiting area. She looked around the place and found it wanting. The shop wasn't the up scale, classy place which worked on her hair. It almost had the feel of a couple of girls working from a back room in their trailer. Even though it was located in a strip mall, it felt like a side of the road shop. The strip mall was a bit older than most, but it did have an office supply warehouse type store, and a few other businesses, none of which qualified as upscale.

Lucy's hair was colored, what she liked to think of as modern artist red. It was a color suited only for birds, older people commented, They didn't make those comments to her face of course. She thought it was chic until the shop manager of the shop came from behind the work station wall wearing her hair color and style.

"Hello I'm Lucy, Mrs. Morton's daughter," she said a little put off by the middle aged woman.

"I would recognize you anywhere. Your mother always spoke lovingly of you," the woman said. "I have also seen a thousand pictures of you over the years."

"Thank you," Lucy said. She then went on to say, "My brothers and I are trying to put my mother's affairs in order. Her instructions said that she had personal mail sent here regularly."

"Yes of course, I will get it for you," the woman who hadn't given Lucy her name replied.

She disappeared into the work area, then reappeared with several brown or white envelops of differing sizes.

"Your mother never told us what she was buying, but they all come from the US," the woman with the same hair as Lucy said.

"I'm not sure what's inside, probably something for the homeless shelter," Lucy said coming up with the only thing she could think of off hand. Every one knew her mom was involved with the homeless vets programs.

"Could I ask you what your intentions are for the shop. I always wanted to buy it back, but your mother said she wanted to keep it. It was so that she could get her hair done free," the woman said with a smile. "I know what the shop takes in and what the expenses are, since I handle all the purchases. So I know she wasn't making much money on the shop. I really would rather leave things as they are now, but if you decide to sell, please give me a chance to buy it first."

"What's your name ma'am," Lucy asked.

"Sorry, I forgot that you don't know me. My name is Gwen," she said.

"Well Gwen for now my brothers an I aren't planning any changes at all. If we sell off things, I am sure we will offer it to you first. In the meantime, could you squeeze me in for a haircut, just a trim I hate split ends," Lucy said just to keep the illusion that the family didn't know what was going on. Lucy even enjoyed playing clueless.

Meanwhile Luther was busy at the family home pouring over this mothers files. He made a few discoveries of his own. For one thing hidden in the money room was a small lap top. As he expected the laptop wouldn't boot up.

Luther was something of a video game player, so he understood the workings of the computer. He searched but the lap top had no operating system. 

If it wasn't his mother's computer, he might have trashed the obvious cheap piece of junk. It wouldn't go any farther than the BIOS. It either had no operating system or refused to boot it. His guess was there was no operating system on the computer. That would be in case the law go hold of it. He had to keep reminding himself that his mother and father had operated a criminal enterprise.

Before he carried the machine to a computer expert, he wanted to tinker with it a bit more. So after he removed three thousand dollars from the stack of bills, he search again for any other hardware hidden among the money. There was none.

Once back in the house, he tried the secret thumb drive in the USB port then powered up the cheap laptop. It became a small Linux system. The operating system was completely self contained on the thumb drive. He had he answers all along, but they were in a few hidden files on the high capacity flash drive.




Alex Morton



Inside those hidden file were the answers to all his questions. Well all his financial questions. It was the infamous second set of books. The one that got you time in prison. Luther could hardly contain his excitement.

Luther felt so many emotions when he realized what he had. He felt satisfaction that he figured it out by himself. He knew neither of the others could have. Luther also felt nervous because it was obvious that he was in over his head in real life, but he also felt really alive as well. 

Doing something on the scale that had produced such a large amount of cash was thrilling. Even if the money was dirty. Hell money had no memory, as he often told his small bank clients. In the case of the bomb shelter cash, he hoped it left no trail as well.

Luther spent the day in the closest thing to heaven a mere mortal could experience. He was simply filled with an almost orgasmic thrill, as he discovered more and more about the family finances. It was a fucking spider web of a trail. One thing he learned about their finances was that everything was in code. He doubted seriously that the key to the code, if there was one, was written down anywhere. The courier business might well be the key. He hoped that Alex could come up with something.

Lucy came into the house bringing a bag of burgers from a fast food joint. It was one restaurant that was not known for it's healthy food. Even so it was one known by every kid in the country.

"So what else do you have for me?" Luther asked taking a burger from the bag.

As we figured Girlie Girl is a mail drop. Mom got her hair done there, so I had mine done as well. The manager did it herself, she didn't charge me, but I gave her a tip anyway."

From her largest purse Lucy removed several large brown envelopes. "I thought there would be more envelops after three weeks." Lucy said.

"Me too," Luther said. "It's hard to imagine she would need the bomb shelter to store the amount of money inside those envelopes."

Meanwhile Alex was at the courier office. He had introduced himself to the dispatcher, who was a middle aged woman named Mike. He didn't ask her about her name, because he could guess that it was really Michelle. Since she was obviously a bull dyke, she had a gotten a man's nickname. She also had some large tats, which would add to her mystique.

"So Mike can you explain a little about what you do here. Not you personally the business. I'm not at all familiar with it. I've been living in a 12x12 cabin in the Northwoods for the last five years." Alex said to establish his on bonifides.

They mixed his lesson about the courier business with some of his stories from the woods and the war. After the first half hour it was obvious that she knew how to keep the drivers in line. She seemed tough and knowledgeable. The job she did for his mother was likely the best job she ever had. It suited her well and she was worried about losing it. 

"So let me see if I understand the broad strokes of the mountain run. You dispatch a driver with a box truck to the airport here in capitol city twice a week. He goes to the air fright building out there to pick up his load?"

"Not exactly, Our driver goes to the general aviation area where he meets a plane. That plane is unloaded into the back of his truck. It's in sealed canvas bags like the bags the post office used years ago for mail. The driver tells me there are anywhere from five to ten bags. One of the agreements is that he stops nowhere between the airport and a warehouse in Sparta."

"So no one has ever looked inside a bag?"Alex asked.

"No never we have a key to the warehouse, so we go inside to unload the truck, then we leave. "Your mom said to be sure my driver wasn't the curious type. Other than that the mountain run is just like any other. All our runs are a sort of mail runs for companies with satellite offices. We have a few less mysterious businesses, but that is our real bread and butter. The overnight mail business that is. We get a few phone in orders from unknowns, those I verify the credit cards and price it by the mile and time of day. The drivers never carry money, and they never see inside the packages. Like your Mom said, 'It protects us all.'" 

During the evening hours, Alex rode shotgun with an older black man on his mail route. The questionable run wasn't scheduled for that evening, so the mail route was his only option. While riding with Lamar, Alex learned all about the fifty six year old black man. His last job had been with Walmart until they began downsizing. 

"The older men were the first to go. I ain't quite sure why," Lamar said. 

"I have no idea why they do it that way. So how long you been with us?" Alex asked.

"I been with Flash Couriers over two years," Lamar said.

"What could we do to make the job better for you?" Alex asked.

"Me, I got no complaints. Over that two years I seen a lot of younger men come and go. Hell a lot of men period," Lamar said. "Most of the dependable ones seem to be either close to, or retired. Looks to me like they should hire people like me, and the other longtime employees. Hell, here five years is a long time employee.

We got a middle aged Ukrainian driver. He is good for the heavy lifting, but he is just a tourist. You know just passing through. As soon as he learns enough English he will be gone. He needs more money in his paycheck, hell we all do," Lamar admitted. "But then Mike told us what to expect when she hired us. She has lived up to every promise she made.

I drive relief for three routes regular and fill in at least once a week. She juggles drivers all day, everyday," he explained.

He rode along while Lamar drove the truck all the way to the coast. They stopped at the local offices of a utility company along the way. They delivered documents and boxes of small parts needed for the next day's work. The drivers needed to be able to lift about thirty pounds. Lamar had a problem walking from the parking lot to the building. There several trips from the parking lot to the offices for each stop.

"Tell you what Lamar I'm going to get you a freight wagon, just as soon as I can find someone to build it," Alex promised. "There should be one on each of the pickup trucks." Alex promised.

The Pick ups were almost all covered. Alex had seen only one open truck. The company had eight pickup trucks, and one small cube van in the inventory. They weren't all on the road all the time, but they ran quite a bit. He hated that Luther would have to find white money to pay for the wagons, which he had just promised to provide, but it would give Luther something positive to do.

The courier business was the goose, so he needed to be sure that it was well fed. He planned to insist they pay Mike more money as well. He also planned to have the drivers get an across the board raise. Luther can work out the details, Alex thought.

Meanwhile Lucy had been at the Production company for less than an hour before she worked out the distribution company's operation. They had machines which were pretty much out of date. Those machines made a few copies of CDs and DVDS at a time. If a record company promoted an artist, they would 'press' a hundred thousand or so copies of the album or music video. 

If someone thought they had a viable track, and wanted to promote it themselves, then they could have Blue Skies production company cut them from twenty to twenty thousand copies of their file. It was almost a hard copy of the Utube video. Actually some of the video came from Utube. 

Blue Skies required the purchaser sign a copyright waiver. They had to state that they owned the copyright. There were some shenanigans, Lucy was sure, but she didn't understand it. She was confident that Luther would. She did expect that It had to be money laundering. She couldn't see how they could make enough money in the vanity press type operation to interest her mother. Somehow while she processed the orders she must have added dummy orders as well. Those were to laundry cash, how she wasn't sure. 

"Most of our orders come from the net," Archie the manager said. "That's the only place we advertise. Your mother took care of all that sort of things, we are just salaried employees. She came by now and then just to be sure everything was working as it should." 

There were two other employees at Blue Skies. She didn't even bother to talk with them. They both looked as though they should be holding a skateboard and a joint. 

"Archie if I searched the warehouse would I find a drug stash?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I don't think so," he said.

"Good then let's call the cops and ask for a drug team to come search," She suggested. "Better we call them to do it, than have them swoop in one day and conduct it on their own."

"Your mom never wanted to search the building," Archie suggested.

"My mom was over sixty and the hardest drug she used was coffee. Now, do I have he cops come in, or do you tell me the truth?" she asked.

"The two kids might have some weed stashed here," Archie said.

"Get it out of here and do it right now. If you can't, I will have my brother Evil come over and have a chat with the three of you. After he beats the shit out of you, he will probably fire you as well. I'm sure that if stoners can run the machines anyone can," Lucy said raising her voice.

"It's no big deal. Hell pot is almost legal," Archie suggested.

"Sure and the cops only sort of arrest the kids and kind of toss the place. Even so I have to hire a lawyer Just to keep them from seizing everything. So you tell them to keep their shit in their cars or they will wish a misdemeanor drug charge is all they all the had to face." 

Lucy found that she enjoyed threatening the pot heads. She included Archie in that as well. She wanted to be careful since they seemed pretty mellow so didn't care that the production company was an obvious front. Even she knew that the business plan was terrible.

She reported back to Luther who was staying at their mother's house. Once he heard the story he shook his head.

"Smithfield enterprises," was his answer.

"Should that mean something to me?" Lucy asked.

"No, but it will," Luther assured her. "Wait till Alex gets here and I will try to reconstruct Mom's business affairs for you both. While you were out finding out what her companies did, I found out how she was doing it. I think we have a pretty complete picture of her activities. I still don't have all the pieces, but I have enough to know that everything she owned could turn a small profit on its own, but not the kind of money she had stored in the bomb shelter. Plus she was infusing money into the businesses all the time. 

Let's go to the club for dinner. I managed to get our membership back." He saw her look then said, "Don't worry, I used my own money, which I expect to get back."

"So you plan to wine and dine me, I hope you know that it won't help," she said.

"I know that is over, and that it was nothing but kinky sex," he said.

"Good, in that case you can wine and dine me," she replied.

While the two of them ate at the Greenhills Golf and Tennis lub, Alex ate at a Sheetz. Since he had been at the Flash Courier office all day, he welcomed the hamburger and fries. He had forgotten how much he loved greasy fast food. 

It was midnight when he got back to the house. He parked his mother's Buick in the heated garage, then went inside. There he found that Luther and Lucy were already in bed, so he went to bed as well.

Over coffee the next morning Alex saw Lucy enter the kitchen. "So how was your artistic day?" he asked.

"I don't know yet. Luther is going to search out Blue Skies financial records with Smithfield Enterprises to see what Mom was doing with them. Girlie Girl was the mail drop like we all thought. The packages come in USPS just like you thought."

"So what was in them," Alex asked.

"Luther insisted we wait for you before we opened them boss," Lucy said.

Alex just nodded then went back to this coffee. He looked off into the wooded area behind his mom's house. His attention was focused on a squirrel who was trying to find food. I could snare him, Alex thought. Problem is then what would I do with him.

Finally half an hour later Luther entered the room. "Well sleeping beauty, it's about time," Lucy said.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night," Luther said.

"So get yourself a cup of coffee and let's compare notes," Alex said.

"You know we need to bring back mom's cook/house keeper. If we are going to be here all the time, we need a wife," Luther said.

"Fine with me. We are just going to have to be careful what we say around her," Lucy said.

"Luther it was your idea, so you take care of it," Alex said. "Now could we get onto what we have learned?"

"Then you first," Lucy said.

"I learned that the money is likely to come from a courier account that operates very mysteriously. I don't think that it would look suspicious to anyone unless they knew about the bomb shelter," Alex said. "I don't know what is in the cargo we are transporting, but it comes in on a small plane and the driver never sees anyone but the pilot or maybe a load master. 

He takes it directly from the plan, then he loads it into the truck. After he drives for four hours without a stop, he delivers it to an empty warehouse. There could be an explanation if we need one. It's just a job so that the workers have materials when they open the plant first thing the next day." Alex said.

"The company is a dummy account," Luther said. "They are assigned a code number a well as a name. If we ever figure out the code, we will know who we are working for. Anyway they pay with a wire transfer for the delivery and in cash for the extra efforts to keep the pipeline secure and underground."

"The money gets delivered by mail to Girlie Girl," Lucy added. "Then cleaned though Blue Skies."

"There is at least one more laundry business," Luther said. "Airport taxi service. They run one of those call in taxi services. The operation is confined to pick up and delivery to the airport. It's a totally cash business." Alex stared at him. "What? I made a phone call. Their hook is 'Share a ride to the airport.' It must work because the reported gross income is half a million bucks. Of course a lot of it is probably black money being cleaned. Still it is most likely profitable on it's own."

"Okay but Mom was no criminal genius, who was pulling the strings for her?" Alex asked.

"Believe it or not she was a criminal genius. The web she built was brilliant. It is not so complex as to make it unmanageable but convoluted enough to be hard to accidentally stumble over. She ran it all though Smithfield enterprises. Smithfield is kind of a holding company for everything else.

"So all we have done so far is uncover the operation. We can still get out just by closing everything. We can even convert this mess to l legal operations, if one of you wants to run it." Alex said.

"Remember the terms of the will, you have to run it and we have to help." Luther said.

"This is all to complicated for me. I'm not used to running anything more complicated than a snowmobile," Alex said. "However I have made an executive decision. I am going to have six small lightweight freight wagons made for the Flash Courier company. I guess I'll get busy working on the design for them.

"Before you go off to play with your toys, we need to get Smithfield Enterprises working again. Without it we can't clean the money," Luther said. "Unless we can clean some money, we won't be able to show a good enough income to do whatever it is you want to do. Can we agree on that at least?"

"I vote we start back to work. You figure out how to do it and keep it going," Lucy said. She obviously didn't want to miss her monthly check. She was just like a welfare mom.

"You get the money flowing and I will try to get the other businesses to be profitable enough so that we don't need to operate a criminal enterprise," Alex said. "Tomorrow I'm going to work with the Airport Taxi Service," 

"Tomorrow Lucy you need to find and bring Angela back," Luther said. "I am going to be buried in the computer record for Smithfield Enterprises.."

"Oh by the way Alex, I told the pot heads at Blue Skies that if they fucked with me, I would have my brother Evil kick the shit out of them. I hope you don't mind."

"Why would I object to you trying to get a gimp killed," Alex said with a smile.

When the next day ended Alex had made a half dozen trips to the airport in three different taxi. 

When Alex arrived at the address, he had found in the on line directory, for Express Airport Taxi Service, he found a fenced in storage lot. It looked more like a medium sized prefabricated metal barn sitting inside an eight foot chain link fence, than a taxi office. 

"Hello inside the building, I would like to come inside," Alex said into the speaker. 

"State your business," a female voice said.

"Well I'm Mrs. Morton's son, and I am also one of the new owners. I would like to see what the hell it is that I own." Alex replied. Yes there was a little anger in his voice. It was a little cold to be arguing with a speaker.

The gate opened slowly. Alex didn't care much for the speed of the gate's operation. Unless the manager had a good reason for all the security, he most likely would do away with the closed gate.

"Come on up the office part of the storage warehouse," the voice said.

When Alex arrived at the building, he found one roll up door right dead center of the warehouse and one walk in door off to the left. He entered through the walk in door. Once his eyes adjusted, he noted that he stood on a raw concrete floor. He also noticed the woman about fifty or so waiting for him.

"You must be Alex. You have lost some weight, even from the Afghanistan pictures." The woman said in a gravely voice.

"Well the weight of my left leg anyway," Alex a little less angry.

"So the old lady finally got you out of that Doomsday hotel?" she asked.

"The lodge wasn't like that at all. We were just a bunch of Vets Living off the land. The lodge is for summer guests," Alex said. You seem to know a lot about me?"

"Son, you mama was lonely, and she liked to talk about her kids. I got grown kids of my own, so we swapped picture and stories when she came to visit. We would almost always go to lunch together."

Alex realized that this woman was Mike without the tattoos, or the history. She was tough and had a no nonsense personality much like his mother.

"Then I'm sure she appreciated the chance to talk," Alex said. He allowed a short amount of time to pass before he asked for the tour.

"This is my office," Hazel said. I open the gate for the drivers at 6am. The early drivers come in for the keys to their vans. The Drivers wander in all day picking up the vans then going to the airport to wait for fares. My oldest daughter runs the desk there she comes in at ten. She is the airport dispatcher. She works from a desk on the sidewalk. She tries to get the customers moved along withing fifteen minutes, while still using each of the vans to its maximum capacity. When she gets three passengers she calls up the van. 

There is no standing outside the terminals any more. So she has to call them from a special lot across the street.

I get the calls from people wanting rides to the airport. When I get three people for pickup about the same time, I dispatch a taxi to them. That pretty much all there is too it."

"Where do you get your drivers?" Alex asked.

"We hire mostly younger retirees. We try to keep it between fifty and seventy white males, but as you know that is impossible to do. We get away with doing it most of the time, because they are the ones who tend to stay the longest. We dispatch the last of the drivers at nine in the evening. It just isn't profitable after that. The local taxi service can charge them as much as a hundred dollars for our twenty five dollar service." Hazel explained.




Alex Morton



"I think I understand, so tell me why do you operate in a big old warehouse. So do you store the minivans in here?" Alex asked.

"The Minis are stored out back in the parking area. The security fence is for them. The heavily locked gate is for me. We hold a lot of money on site. Your mom came by once a week on Friday. That is when she took me to lunch and told me about all of you kids. By the way how is the tight ass Luther?" Hazel asked just to show she really was his mother's friend.

"Luther is a dick, he is one smart dick, but he is still a dick," Alex said.

"That was the impression I got. He always seemed to be over dressed in every picture your mom showed me."

"So whats in the warehouse?" Alex asked again.

"Storage containers," Hazel said simply then opened the door to the warehouse. For one hundred dollars a month you can rent a storage container. We do not have any cameras in the warehouse during business hours, but at night after I leave there is a state of the art security system. People your mom knew from the country club set, used them to store their valuables," Hazel explained.

"So how many of them are rented," Alex asked.

"Are you kidding there is a waiting list. Most likely because we have never had a search warrant served here," Hazel replied.

"Is there anything in the vault other than money from the fares?" Alex asked.

"No, but that is enough. I run 10 mini vans over the course of a day. The average generated income per day is eight hundred dollars each. So that is about eight thousand dollar cash per day. We consider anything over fifty thousand dollars on a good week. I do pay the drivers from that. I pay them everyday based on the revenue they accrue. They can't skim since they have to give us the full fare and we give them their cut at the end of the night. If we catch them skimming, no matter how good they are we always catch them in the end, and then we let them go."

"So what is their percentage of the fare," Alex asked.

"Flat twenty percent. The is five bucks a passenger. Most of the guys make about two hundred bucks a day. Melissa checks their minis and counts the passengers as they depart to be sure they didn't have more than they reported. It's a lot to keep up with, but we manage," Hazel said. "Your mom took our daily tally sheets on Friday, along with the cash. She also took care of all the other bookkeeping."

"Sounds like a pretty efficient operation," Alex admitted. "So is anyone else coming in for a minivan?"

"Sure, they will be coming in all day. We have three out for the early morning flights, but almost everyone will be in from eleven till seven, then we will drop back to three or four units until we close at nine," Hazel explained.

"Okay, then next driver who gets in, I want to ferry me to the airport dispatch location. I promise I won't hit on your daughter, or get in her way," Alex said.

"You better not do either, they both are firing offenses," Hazel smiled as she said it.

After he started, he rode with any taxi leaving the airport with an empty seat. Over the course of the day he rode with five drivers. He couldn't for the life of him remember their names. Two were women, one was a white man over sixty, and two were black. One was older and a really nice gentleman, and one was an arrogant young black man. He proved to be short on customer service, but long on attitude.

After they dropped off their passengers Alex demanded, "Go back to the office." When they arrived he walked with him into Hazel's office. 

"Hazel this young man was rude to the passengers and has no respect for them or the job. It is totally up to you what we do with him, but I will not have people out there representing us who do not respect the work we do. So you need to handle it immediately. 

Since I didn't want to put you in a position to take action based on hear say, I came back with him. If either of you have any questions? Fire away." Alex said. "But first turn in your trip sheet and your fares. You are definitely through for the day at least."

"Who the fuck are you to disrespect me like this?," the young man asked.

"He is the man who owns this company. He could have just fired you on the spot, but he was good enough to leave it to me. He doesn't know you, I do. You can either resign, or I will call your dad to come in for a conference. You know that he vouched for you. That is the only reason I hired you. So give me your trip sheet and the fares. Then we will figure out what to do next." Hazel said.

"I ought to kick the gimp's ass for not respecting me," he said angrily.

Alex struggled to his feel, making himself appear much more vulnerable then he was. "Why don't you just give that a try. You might find gimps a little harder to bluff than you think." he said. Alex stood on high alert waiting for the kid to make a move. What the kid didn't know that Alex had a weapon under his coat. It was a four inch blade welded onto a six inch piece of metal. He used the blade as a skinning knife. In it's former life, it had been a large pocket knife. He had been well trained in it's use. If push came to shove he would simply gut the kid.

The kid saw something in Alex's eyes. He said, "I ain't gonna sit here and listen to this shit." He handed Hazel the envelope the company provided to hold the fares. The back of the envelope was the trip sheet which was what they used to figure a driver's pay. With that he stood and walked quickly out of the door, forgetting to get his last pay.

"Sorry about that," Alex said.

"I have been expecting a complaint. I didn't think he was stupid enough to show his attitude in front of you." Hazel said.

"Keep his file handy, he may be back to cause trouble for you," Alex said.

"Oh I'm sure of it. He will want his final pay. I think his dad will calm him down, but you never know. That is why the twelve gauge pump gun is by the door. Your mom had that cage built with bullet proof glass and armored plate steel in the walls. I even have gun ports. Don't worry Alex your mom made sure I could protect her money."

"I doubt that it's about a weeks worth of money. It's about you," Alex said. He didn't say that nobody could afford an investigation of the warehouse.

"You watch your back, I expect he is a back stabber, literally," Hazel warned. 

"So I guess I become a driver for the rest of the day." Alex said with a grin.

Alex drove the mini van for the rest of the day. With the help of a GPS direction device, he found the addresses quite easily. Yes the passengers ranged from little old ladies going to visit the grand kids, to arrogant businessmen who tried his patience, but he always managed to smiled. On his first airport pickup he advised Hazel's daughter to expect trouble from the young black man. She informed him that her mother had already called.

He returned home at nine to find a young middle aged woman in the kitchen.

"Hi, I'm Alex, you must me Angela," he said.

"See senor Alex," she replied.

"It's nice to meet you," Alex said passing through to the triple sided glass solarium. He sat in the darkness hoping to see some nocturnal animal moving about in the cold, of course there were none. After a few minutes he went to the kitchen for coffee. When Angela looked up at him curiously he said, "Too much light." Then returned to the dark Solarium.

At 6:30 when Alex woke up the house was again quiet. There were no vacuum cleaners, or dishes rattling. It made enjoying his coffee much easier. He looked at the spotless sauce pan. He supposed that the coating of coffee residue in the pan was going to be a thing of the past.

After an hour of watching the birds and other animal from the solarium, Angela arrived. She went right to work making 'real' coffee. He heard her mumbling in Spanish. Something about crazy white people. Crazy gringo didn't really apply, since we weren't stranger in the land it was our land, he thought.

Angela prepared but didn't bring coffee to Alex. She rightly assume that he was meditating. Alex decided that morning that he was going to live in the solarium. If there was something that needed his attention they could bring it to his attention there. It was as close as he could get to his cabin. Everyone thought he was 'touched' anyway, so why the hell not. Somehow deciding that made him feel better. 

Lucy was the first of the family to come downstairs. She said, "Good morning Angela is Alex being a shit?"

"No ma'am, your brother is like a ghost. He speak only when he needs something. Is he like that with everyone?"

"Pretty much Angela, I think he needs to get laid," Lucy added with a laugh.

Angela actually laughed. "You could be right. Maybe a woman would cure him. He just sits looking out the window like he sees things we do not. Is Mister Alex very spiritual."

"God no, My nickname for him is evil. When he is thinking or is upset he has this look."

Angela shook her head. "Is Mister Luther coming soon or would you rather he eats alone?" she asked.

"Let me ask Alex what he wants to do," Lucy said as she turned toward the Solarium.

"So Alex, you have to stop frightening the help," Lucy said.

"He needed it. Besides he doesn't work for us anymore. How did you find out anyway?" he asked.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I am talking about Angela. Try to be a little nicer to her. She might just slip something nasty into our food."

"Of course that won't be hard. She seems like a nice person," Alex replied.

"So who else did you frighten," Lucy asked.

"It was nothing. We lost a taxi driver, but Hazel assures me that she has half a dozen more to choose from. So that won't be a problem. There is real opportunity for the taxi business to operate at a profit with just a few minor changes," Alex suggested.

"Do you want to have breakfast now, or wait for Luther?" she asked showing no interest whatsoever in the taxi business." 

"Let's wait for Luther That will make it easier on Angela. You can explain it to Luther, so he will be on time from now on. I'm sure it will come better from you. My people skills are a little rusty," Alex said.

"Oh I don't know about that. You seem to do alright with the female employees," she said.

"The ones I have dealt with are over fifty. They think of me as their helpless son, I expect," he said honestly.

"And Gina?" Lucy asked.

"Nothing about Gina," he replied. I have spoken to her once while we waited for Luther at the downtown club."

"She was sending you signals, didn't you notice," Lucy asked.

"I didn't get that at all," Alex said honestly. Besides I have only been home a few days. I'm still living in the 'Northwoods' frame of mind. Now let's drop it."

"Hey, I was just saying," Lucy said walking away.

"Miss Lucy," Angela said from the doorway. "I think Mr Luther is coming now. What should I prepare for breakfast?"

"Well we all agree on scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage whatever you have, either is fine. I suppose toast, since you don't have time to make anything else." Lucy replied.

"Looks like you are taking over the role as lady of the manor," Alex said.

"Oh have you changed so much that you want to be lady of the manor," she said making a limp wrist gesture. Alex didn't answer, he just shook his head then went for more coffee.

"He found two coffee pots inside the house. One was filled with the bland coffee from the drip pot, and a second carafe was filled with the strong black coffee which he had boiled.

"I think if you heat it for two minutes in the microwave, it will still be good." Angela suggested.

Alex followed her directions and agreed it was hot and the flavor had not changed at all. "Thank you Angela." She smiled as he walked back to the solarium.

He and Lucy sat without saying a word until Luther came down the stairs. Lucy rushed to tell him about breakfast. Alex followed along slowly since his body was a little stiff from all his driving the day before. If he drove at all in the Northwoods, it was for maybe a half hour a week during the summer, and none at all during the winter. He had driven for almost eight hours the day before. He wasn't surprised that a different set of muscles ached.

Breakfast was better than any of the restaurants where he had eaten since coming home. The scrambled eggs were perfect without being greasy and the bacon was crisp with being overly hard. Best of all the toast was just ordinary toast. 

"Angela, that was a very good breakfast. It was the best I have had in a very long time, so thank you," Alex said and smiled.

The other two agreed. When she returned with their after breakfast cup of coffee she carried two pots. She smiled at Alex as she poured the thick dark coffee into his cup. It seemed as though Alex had made a friend after all.

They didn't talk business over breakfast, since it was an unwritten rule that no one outside the three of them would know anything. Some things would inevitably be mentioned, but not the black business, as Alex thought of it.

"I have decided to move into the Solarium to stop going up and down that long circular staircase," Alex informed them both.

"Bullshit, we could open the dumbwaiter and make it a one person elevator. You just want to live in the solarium and pretend you are a mountain man," Luther said.

"That is probably also true," Alex said. "One day I'm going back there, but for now I'm moving into the solarium. That's just the way it is."

"I really don't care where you live as long as you stay close and fulfill the requirements of the will," Luther said.

"I think it would be a cool place to live," Lucy said. She was usually on Alex's side. She also loved to stick her finger in Luther's eye. Yes Luther and Lucy had a complicated relationship. "I will make the changes to the solarium," she insisted.

"All I need is a place to hang my clothes," Alex said. "I was thinking something like the hotels use to carry the guest's bags to their rooms, without the wheels of course."

"Maybe some drawers on the bottom," Lucy suggested.

"Shoe boxes would work better. I can pick them up to sort through them. I don't do well bending," Alex explained.

"That sounds great, so where are you going to sleep?" Lucy asked.

"I thought the sofa," Alex said.

"Hell no, I am going to turn the Solarium into a mountain cabin for you," Lucy demanded.

"Lucy do nothing to block the view out the windows," Alex demanded.

"Of course not that would defeat the whole purpose. I promise whatever I put in there will not obstruct the outdoor feeling of the room," Lucy promised.

"Well while you are decorating, I want to turn the downstairs library into an office space for our use. Complete with three computer stations. We will have to get rid of all the books and other junk in there," Luther said.

"Including that monster desk." Alex said. "We want three desks exactly alike. You can pick them out Luther." Alex did not want a whose is bigger fight on his hand. 

Fair enough, I will have dad's desk moved into the downstairs den," Luther said. "But be it known now that desk goes with me when this nonsense is done," Luther stated flatly.

"You are the oldest, dad would want you to have it," Lucy agreed.

"So the Library is here after known as the office, the downstairs den will be known as the study," Lucy added.

"Lucy can you handle all that?" Alex asked concerned she might be over her head.

"Sure maybe not all in one day, but I can do it. The only thing I have on my plate is a wash and set at Girlie Girls, on Friday," she stated.

"Okay, let's go have a meeting," Luther said.

"Angela, if you need to go to the store, you can use Mom's car," Alex stated.

"No, that is not the way it is done," she replied.

"Oh how is it done," Alex asked.

"Mrs Morton gave me the car for Christmas two years ago. I drive it and keep track of the mileage she adds the extra to my salary," she informed him.

"Fair enough," Alex agreed.

Once they were behind the office door, Luther removed a black box from his desk drawer. "This thing screws up the Wifi so it can't be piggy backed. This one he said removing another device, is an mp3 player with recorded music and an underlying track that hopelessly scrambles a recording of the conversation in the room. In other words feel free to say anything when we are locked in this room," Luther informed everyone. 

"Let's get to it," Alex suggested. "The airport taxi is good for running money through for sure. I suggest we find out what mom was reporting as income and add five percent."

"Let me worry about the money," Luther said.

"Fine you do the finances, but since my name is on the reports as well I want to know about them. We do not want a sudden spike in income." Alex said.

"Trust me I know all that," Luther said. "One thing I have decided is that we can run those CD's through the auctions around the area. They have them all the time. We would just have to buy them ourselves with the bomb shelter money." Luther suggested. "Then you can use a backhoe to bury them Alex."

Alex gave Luther a strange look, then said, "So all the money Lucy picks up will be called bomb shelter money?" Alex asked.

"I agree from now on we can call it bomb shelter material. It sounds a little less nefarious." Luther said.

"Okay, as long as we are on the same page," Lucy added.

"The reason I mention the CD's is that we have two cases from Blue Skies awaiting pick up," Luther suggested."One of you needs too get them."

"I guess that is me. Here Lucy, get me six of these built, or find where we can find them ready made," Alex said handing her his hand made diagrams. "It's like a little red wagon on steroids. It is also for the back of the courier trucks, so that the drivers can use it to carry several small packages," Alex informed her. "Most of our drivers are older, they can used the carts to make fewer trips back and forth to the trucks."

"No, I can't do it. I am not going to have time with all this redecorating. You are going to have to do it yourself. That is your project," Lucy said. It was good to see her defending herself. "I also have a class to teach on Friday, so the pickup from Girlie Girl will be after lunch. I have the appointment for three in the afternoon."

"Good, so put that on the Master Calendar. If we all do that then someone we will know when to start worrying," Luther suggested. "Remember you are safe only if no one has any idea what we are doing."

"Should I put on there that I'm going to be out most all night with a courier truck?" Alex asked.

"Hell no, I'm not going to worry about you unless you miss breakfast tomorrow," Lucy suggested.

"Well I'm off to have the wagons made and pickup those CDs. Too bad I can't have the Courier service pick them up," Alex said.

Lucy left at the same time to search for a clothes rack and a bed for Alex's 'solarium cabin'. She had no idea where to buy the things she needed, but she was anticipating the hunt. She also needed to buy desks and computers. Luther had told her that the computers she was going to buy were mostly for show. They were the ones the cops would grab, if they ever got onto them family. Alex and Luther had the computers that handled the business. 

If Lucy showed an interest, they would include her in the inner circle, but she didn't want to be involved. She had made that clear. She agreed to run errands for her brothers, but that was to be her only involvement.

"Alex do you want me to introduce you to the boys at blue skies?" Lucy asked.

"It certainly wouldn't hurt," Alex agreed.

"I'll ride with you and we can fill the car with their trash," she suggested.

"Fine, but I am not shopping for furniture," he said. "I would rather sleep on a mattress on the floor than look all over town for a bed."

"Fine, just follow me and I'll drive my car as well," Lucy said.