A Penny Earned by Olivia Gaines

Author:Olivia Gaines [Gaines, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Davonshire House Publishing
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

HIS ARMS FELT HEAVY. As a matter of inquiry, he mentally assessed his entire body, noticing the weight of his whole being, and immediately concluding that something, was indeed wrong. A groan eased from between his lips as he attempted to turn over, expecting to hear the complaint from the air mattress or Penny. He got neither.

The air in the mattress was no longer inflating the sleep apparatus. During the night, the air eased out of a slit in the mattress, leaving them on the floor. Fred felt his lip which also felt wrong. He grouched at the discomfort waking Penny.

She turned to look at his face, the sleep in her eyes ebbing away as she looked at his mouth, noticing a big difference. Her finger reached out to touch his upper lip, making her husband flinch.

“What in the hell?” Fred said, touching the swollen upper lip. “I know something didn’t bite me; we had the house sprayed.”

Penny was sitting up and looking about at the flattened air mattress, but then she froze. Her hand went to Fred’s arm, the eyes growing wide. She held up a finger to her own lips, asking him to be quiet as they both listened. It wasn’t what they heard, but what they smelled.

Fred jumped to his feet. The 9mm he retrieved from his boots sitting nearby, holding it low. He waved for Penny to come to his side. Protectively, he pushed her behind him. When he looked back to offer instructions, he spotted the poker iron in between her hands. He arched his eyebrows in approval with a head nod.

Step by step, they made their way to the kitchen where the smell of coffee filled the air. Fred didn’t do electric coffee makers, so it wasn’t as if he or Penny had set it before going to bed. Someone was in the house.

He raised the weapon, coming around the corner, prepared to squeeze off a round, if need be, to protect himself and his woman. However, the heroic action came to a quick stop when he spotted the large frame of Cotter Wihlborg. Fred sighed in relief, but also concern.

“How did you get in the house?” Fred asked.

“Easy. I pressed really hard on the lock in the sunroom, and it gave way,” Cotter told them. “I came to see about finding the gold.”

“What gold?”

“The gold Sellers stole some years back. It was a bunch of gold bullion in a shipment to Ft. Knox that was lifted by some clever thieves and was never found,” Cotter told them. “Years ago, when I was first contracted, one of the things I was sent to find was the missing bullion −never did, and I can find a flea on a dog with mange.”

“Okay, too early for that kind of analogy and imagery,” Fred said, turning to look at Penny. The color seemed to drain from her face, then a God-awful sound came from her gut as she took off at a sprint to the downstairs water closet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.