REMEMBER US by Glenna Sinclair Read Free Book Online Page A

claimed—”
    “No one has any proof of it. You said you made sure.”
    “I did. But I can’t control the victim. And he’s still alive and well. I had him checked out when they made the threat.”
    “You think he…?”
    “What are you talking about?” Bonnie asked. “That’s not what you told me.”
    Grant touched Bonnie’s shoulder, as Xander jumped to his feet. I watched him, watched the way he moved, the way he ran his hands over his head, as if he wanted to pull his hair out one strand at a time. I didn’t know what they were talking about either. But I could see it wasn’t good.
    Xander turned and stared at Grant. “Does Margaret know they threatened her?”
    Grant’s eyes narrowed. “Margaret knows as little about this whole situation as possible. I don’t want her getting mixed up in it.”
    Xander’s eyes fell on me for a second then he gestured to Grant.
    “Go on. They threatened Margaret, and you decided to keep working for them.”
    “They threatened Margaret, and I felt like I had no choice.”
    “What about Mom. Didn’t you realize that you would eventually go down for this? And that you would drag my mom down with you?”
    “Of course I knew that. But I had to make a choice.” Grant stared at Xander for a long minute. “You don’t have children now. But when you do, you’ll understand.”
    Xander shook his head even as his mother slid her hand back into Grant’s, showing him that she would have stood by Grant no matter what his choice had been.
    “Did you know the reporter last night?”
    Grant didn’t answer right away. His eyes moved to me almost reluctantly. That was enough answer for me, but Xander wanted concrete. He wanted no doubt.
    “He works for them.”
    Xander turned to me. The look on his face was almost comical. Despite the gravity of the situation, he so wanted to say I-told-you-so.
    “What were you doing for these people?” I asked, trying to ignore Xander.
    Grant looked at me, but I think he was waiting for Xander to explode again. He was quiet for a long moment, then he slowly began to speak.
    “They told me they were interested in developing real estate all over the country. They were beginning in California, but they planned to eventually move to the Midwest, and then further east. They said they wanted to buy old buildings, renovate them, and resell them. I’ve done that sort of work for dozens of clients, so I didn’t think much of it. You’d be surprised how many foreign companies work here in the states, doing things like that.
    “So we bought up a few buildings in various cities. But then they wanted to play with the money, make it look like they’d spent more than they actually did. Again, this is something I’ve done with clients before. I moved the money around, made it look like some of it came other sources…”
    “You laundered it,” Xander said, his voice incredulous.
    Grant shrugged. “You can call it that.”
    “You were laundering money for terrorists. And helping them buy buildings in strategic places in three of the biggest cities in California.”
    “I didn’t know they were terrorists.”
    “Now you do.”
    “And now I’m going to pay for what I’ve done.”
    Xander shook his head, turning away again, as he once more moved with agitation around the room.
    “We have dates of meetings, deeds, and paper trails,” I said. “Things the feds need to arrest you.”
    Grant studied my face for a long minute. “Okay.”
    “I was supposed to hand them over to a federal agent posing as a journalist two months ago. But now we know that man is actually working for your clients.”
    Grant’s eyes widened slightly. “They knew I was being investigated.”
    “Well, they also know that Xander was cooperating with federal agents.”
    Grant glanced at Xander. “You?”
    “Yeah. Are you surprised?”
    Grant stared at him for a long minute, then he just shook his head. “Not really.”
    “They approached me. They threatened Mom. They