Voyage of the Dreadnaught: Four Stella Madison Capers by Lilly Maytree Read Free Book Online

choice.”
    “One always has a choice,” said the Colonel.
“There are other ways to help besides breaking more laws.”
    “Let’s get something straight, right off.”
Cole met the Colonel’s gaze and pointed to his own chest for
emphasis. “I wasn’t the one who broke the law.”
    “Do you have a passport, or don’t you?”
Mason asked him.
    “To begin with I didn’t break any laws,” the
young man corrected himself. “Like she said, it was a snap
decision. I just didn’t have enough time to get one.”
    “Bad people aren’t usually interested in
border regulations. What’s Shortcake talking about, here?”
    “It was me that talked him into it, Pop. I
told him we could get good money at pawn shops for those
pictures.”
    “What pictures?” asked Millie.
    “The crazy art collection.”
    “What?”
    “E-gads, Lou…” Gerald moaned. “The ones
painted by E.J.’s first wife? They’d be worth a small fortune at Christie’s , by now How much did you sell them for?”
    “Nothing, they disappeared.”
    “After she spent the money they already gave
us for a down payment, too.” Cole wiped a trickle of water off the
side of his face that was coming from his wet hair. “You don’t
cross those kind of people. They’ll come after you for stealing
peanuts.”
    “Those kind of people don’t usually do
payments,” Mason said.
    “They paid seven hundred and fifty dollars,
based on the preliminary artist sketches,” Lou informed them. “The
ones in that portfolio. I needed some things for the trip if we’re
going to be gone so long. You know I spent a hundred and fifty just
in diapers? Then baby food and—a bunny suit, of course. Three of
them, in fact. The Senator’s crawling around so much, now, he’s got
one wore out, already.”
    “Don’t change the subject,” said Mason. “We
all know how money disappears.”
    Millie sat down on the other side of the
table, next to Mason, with a heavy sigh. “You should have asked us,
Lou. Those paintings weren’t ours to sell. After everything J.D.
did for us, too.”
    “But you said yourself they were garbage,
Mil. And the whole place was going to be knocked down, anyway. I
didn’t think anybody would even notice.”
    “They weren’t our things.”
    “Wrong’s wrong, even if it helps you” quoted
Gerald, before he got up to refill his mug, again. “You got taken
on the sketches, too. They’d have brought a strong five thousand at
auction.”
    “Yeah, well I don’t happen to know any fancy
art collectors,” Cole pointed out. “And, by that time, we were in a
hurry.”
    “You’re lucky you didn’t let go of the
paintings, or we’d all be in a fix.” Mason rubbed a hand over his
unshaved chin. “Long as they’re back at the house, we’re safe. I’ll
deal with J.D. about the sketches. He’s reasonable enough.”
    There was such a long
silence that he glanced around the entire table. Now, everyone
looked guilty. “They are at the Villa … right?”
    “Pop…” Lou Edna shook her head in disbelief.
“They just… disappeared! We looked everywhere for them!”
    “What? Holy--” BOOM! His fist banged down
with a resounding thump. “This whole situation’s getting worse by
the minute!”
    “Hold on, Mase…” The Colonel raised his hand
to interrupt the outburst. “It just so happens Stella found
them.”
    Such a unanimous exclamation of relief burst
forth from everyone at the same time, it sounded staged. Except for
Stella. She tried nudging the Colonel under the table but he spoke
out too soon.
    “I found them, all right,” she finally
confessed. “They were in the dumbwaiter.”
    “That’s right where I hid them, but they
weren’t there when we went back. Those guys were waiting for us,
and when we didn’t show up, they kept calling. They said they were
coming over to deal with us. We had to lock Millie in the cellar,
too, because I just didn’t have enough time to explain.”
    “You know I almost had a heart