Magnolia Gods (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

tossed around the old family documents, ones signed by George Washington and Admiral Farragut. She never moved from her chair the whole time.
    “After they got through, they went outside to their car with my father. He tried to fight them and they beat him. My grandmother got up then and screamed at them that her son had been too little, only a baby, at the time of the theft, that he knew nothing. “Why don’t you bastards leave us alone?” she yelled. Her words echoed out over the isolated farm, the rustling cornfields. The men surrounded my father, talking to him in harsh voices. I had to watch from inside, through that screen door, my mother telling me that the men were threatening my father’s business if he did not tell them about Grandfather. I remember the slamming of the car doors, one after another, as the men finally left. I cried as my father walked slowly back to the house. The tires squealed as they drove away. My father got real quiet after that. He sat alone on the porch for hours and wouldn’t let my mother help him with the cuts on his face.
    “That day my grandmother took me upstairs to her bedroom where she had the huge bed that I used to climb on. She said, ‘Your father’s doing all he can do. That's all we can expect of a person. You watch and wait ‘cause your turn will come and you’ll make me proud of you too.’
    “After my father was killed, the visits stopped. My grandmother had died the year before and my mother said no one was left to push around.”
    “Did your grandmother ever talk about Captain Lawson’s flight?” asked Mike.
    Jesse answered, “My grandmother just said that her husband played hell with the devil one time too many and got himself caught. That’s the only thing I remember her saying. I never figured out what she meant. “
    “Strange that the Aviatrice people still came around after the Navy recorded that the plane went down at sea,” said Mike.
    “They might have thought that some of the stuff Grandfather took was hidden around the farm,” said Jesse. “It wasn’t, but no one could ever convince them.”
     Mike looked at Jesse and said, “You think that finding the seaplane wreck will get Aviatrice off your back once and for all. You think it will give you answers about the mystery of your father’s death?”
    Jesse nodded and stood up. “Maybe. Anyway, I’m willing to spend all this money to try,” he said. He was taller than Mike. “Come on, Mike, I want to show you something.”
    Outside, they climbed into Jesse’s Mercedes. Jesse held the back door open while the Chesapeake jumped in, throwing dust all over the leather seat.
    “We’re not going towards River Sunday,” Jesse said as they pulled out. “I want you to see Captain Lawson’s home.”
    Mike liked to drive fast but he was no match for Jesse. “You have a family, Mike?” Jesse calmly asked as the car lurched to avoid a slow pickup truck. Then Jesse speeded up.
    “No,” answered Mike, holding the door handle tightly. “My father died a few years ago. My mom was killed in an airplane crash. I live at my father’s house outside Wilmington.”
    “That’s tough losing your mother,” observed Jesse.
    “I never knew her,” said Mike. “She died when I was only a year old. My father met her when he was still flying. He was a test pilot after the War. She was a lot younger than him. They were both pilots and I guess that was one reason why they were together.”
    Mike’s mind went back to a small gilt frame on a mantel at his Wilmington home, a picture of a smiling young woman standing next to his father and holding him, a baby, in her arms.
    “They went on a trip to the Adirondacks,” Mike continued. “They were in a float plane and something went wrong as they set down in a lake. She was crushed in the wreckage. My father had to get help. By the time the rescue team got back, she was dead.”
    “Must have been pretty rough on your old man,” said Jesse.
    “Not him. He