Page 8 of Zane

Matt nodded, giving a grin at the young women.

“You’re all very brave and the kind of women we’ve all married.Strong, intelligent, and fighters.Good for you,” he said.“We’re going to leave you our contact information.If you need help while this is playing out, just call us.”

“Thanks,” she said taking the sheet of paper.“I’m Blake.That’s Lula, Oona, and Pia.She’s an exchange student from Spain.I doubt she’s going to hang around for the trial.She wants to go home.”

“We can make sure she gets home,” said Matt.“We’ll have our legal team help her to give her deposition and any testimony ahead of whatever trial might be coming.”

“You act as though there may not be a trial?” she frowned.JB stared at the woman and then stepped closer, speaking softly.

“Blake, if we have our way, I can assure you there will be no one left to put on trial when we’re done.”

“I heard that!” said the sheriff.Matt turned to him and glared at him.

“No, you didn’t.”

“I laughed for the first time in months.Months.When the legal team here called and said there would be no reason for a deposition, I was more than relieved.I thought, ‘well, it’s all over’.I was so damn wrong.”

“You weren’t wrong,” said Zane.“Your timing was wrong but you weren’t wrong.”

“They had those papers and they looked so real.Like I’d blackmailed poor Tom for my tuition money.I didn’t even know the man!But I was sitting there all alone, staring at those three idiots and I thought, I’ll get out of this.”

“I’m sure you thought you would,” he said staring at her.

“How arrogant of me?” she whispered.

“Not arrogant,” said Jill.“And the good news is that the marriage was a fraud.You were not legally married.We filed the paperwork to ensure its stricken from any records but we don’t believe it ever made it to a legal record book.”

“But why marry me?I had no money.I had no ties to Tom.What purpose did I serve?” she asked with confusion.

“Maybe you provided an appearance of normalcy,” said Ham pulling his chair closer.“From the outside, it would look as though a mysterious family member and his wife took over the business.But they weren’t there to run a feed store.”

“That’s for damn sure,” she said.“They knew nothing of what animals should receive what kind of feed.They didn’t know anything about animals at all.”

“How do you know?” asked Zane.

“The orders were coming and they were getting them confused.They would have harmed the animals had I not straightened the orders out.I made all the major orders from the big suppliers for the same reason.I wish I had known it was all of you that were my mysterious deliveries.I would have run across that bridge the first chance I got.”She shook her head and the others smiled at her.

“You’re here now and no one is going to harm you.You’ll stay for as long as you like but I know that Lucy and Sniff would like for you to stay and help with the animals,” said Ham.

“Believe me, I’ll take that offer,” she smiled.“Hey, I don’t know that it matters now but they were supposed to be picking up some big shipment of feed on Saturday night.”

“Where?” asked Ham staring at her sideways.

“I’m not sure which one but one of the docks.They said it was some kind of exotic feed, which I thought was strange since we hadn’t served any exotic animals.”

“Did you hear or see a name of a ship or a company?” asked Christopher.

“Cerberus.The name of the company was Cerberus.”

CHAPTER SIX

“Cerberus.The three headed hell hound that guarded the gates of Hades,” frowned Gator.They all looked at him, eyebrows raised.“What?I know things.”

“I’m afraid I didn’t study mythology,” said Blake.

“I’ve actually been reading a lot about it,” said Zane.“Cerberus, the legendary hound of Hades, is the monstrous, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek Underworld.

“His primary duty was to prevent the dead from escaping and to keep the living from entering without divine permission.He was born to the fearsome monsters Typhon and Echidna, making him sibling to other famous beasts like the Hydra and the Chimera.”