THE IMMORTAL
Chapter 9 - The Confrontation
It took two days. As he did most
mornings, Jonah watched Clea walk down to the mailbox soon after the postman
departed. As she returned to the house, she sorted through the envelopes and
ads until one piece in particular caught her eye. Leaning on the shovel, he
observed her perplexed look before she entered the house through the back door.
Curiosity tempted him to go into
the house to find out if she’d received anything from the farm bureau. He could
always use the excuse that he needed to get a drink of water, but something
held him back.
“If she needs my help, she knows
she can come to me,” he told himself, and returned to the barn to finish
mucking out the stalls. He was about to head out to the chicken coop to gather
eggs when he became aware of her coming to the barn.
“Jonah? Are you in here?”
“Right so, madam,” he called back
to her. “Be right there.”
He wasn’t surprised to find her
standing near Daisy’s pen with several sheets of paper in her grasp. She held
them up for him to notice. “Jonah, do you know anything about this?”
He cast her an amused smile. “You
will have to be a bit more specific. Anything about what?”
If she caught his jest, she ignored
it. “This is a letter from the farm bureau. They sent me several weight and
payment verifications dating back three years. They said these were sent to me
at my request, but I know I never contacted them nor did I ask for them. Which
leaves you being the likely culprit.” She didn’t appear mad, but she was
definitely perturbed. He didn’t need three guesses to know why.
“Yes, I went to the farm bureau.
Initially, I wanted to check out how and where the farmers brought their crops
in to be weighed and measured, and how they were subsequentially paid.”
“Because you think Mr. Barnes is
cheating me out of my share?”
Jonah straightened. “I know he is.
I just had to find out how.”
“How?” she persisted. “What made
you so sure? You’ve never met the man.”
“I may not have personally met Mr.
Barnes, but I have dealt with men like him all my life. You yourself told me
he’s been badgering you for some time to sell that parcel of land to him. So
who came up with the idea of him working the fields and giving you a cut of the
profit?”
“He did.”
Jonah nodded. “Of course, he did.
He finally chose an alternate solution.” He gestured toward the papers. “Have
you studied those numbers?”
Her expression suddenly went bleak,
giving him his answer. “These say…he’s delivered two loads every season. Two
loads. That means he’s been paid twice!” Clea eyes glistened with angry, unshed
tears. “I recognized the first set of numbers, but I had to be certain, so I
pulled out all my receipts for the years listed on these reports. The first set
matches what he brought to me that year. But these second set of numbers…” She
took a shaky breath. “He’s been taking two loads to the granary? Two loads?
Every year?”
Striding up to her, he held out his
hand. “May I? All I asked the man at the farm bureau was how things were done.
After he explained, I asked him if he would send you copies of those reports
from the last three years, if only to verify for myself. Forgive me, but I told
him you were missing that paperwork from your files and needed copies. That’s
when he asked if you wanted copies of both reports.” Jonah stared into her
stricken face. “I interfered in matters that did not pertain to me, and I’m sorry.
But my conscience would not allow me to sit by and let him get away with—”
She held up a hand to stop him. “I’m
glad you did.” She set her jaw as her despair became determination. “Vince
Barnes has some explaining to do.” Clea eyed Jonah. “I’m going over to his
place now. Would you mind backing me up just in case?”
He answered her with an equally
determined smile. “Most certainly, madam. I wouldn’t let you go without me.”
“Thank you. Wait here. Let me go
get my purse.”
There was a definite purpose to her
gait as she went inside the house. That included letting the screen door slam
behind her, something she often scolded Joey about whenever the boy did it.
Knowing she always left her purse in her bedroom, Jonah took that brief time to
secure the barn door before waiting for her near the truck.
Barnes’ farm was a little more than
a mile down the road. When Clea pulled up to the farmhouse, there was no sign
of a vehicle parked nearby. A woman Jonah didn’t recognize looked up from where
she was on her knees, tending some plants under the front window.
Clea got out of the truck and
addressed her. “Hello, Mrs. Barnes. Is Vince here?”
“You just missed him. He ran into
town for some salt licks. Is there something I can help you with?”
Jonah noticed the pleasant smile on
Clea’s face. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear she was reserving
judgment on the woman until she figured out whether or not Mrs. Barnes was
complicit in her husband’s thievery.
“I just had a couple of questions
for him regarding our agreement in him cultivating, harvesting, and selling the
crops grown on my land.”
The woman brushed the dirt from her
gloved hands as she stood. “Maybe I can answer them for you. What did you need
to know?”
“When he goes to take them to the
weigh station, is he able to take it all in one load? My uncle over in Roebeck
was asking me what size hauler he used. He’s getting ready to buy one, and
wanted to know what size Vince would recommend so he wouldn’t have to make
several trips.”
The story fell so smoothly from her
lips, Jonah was impressed.
Mrs. Barnes smiled. “Oh, he uses
that old semi of his. It can haul a pretty good load, but most years there’s
such a bumper crop, it takes him at least two trips to get it all to market in
time.”
“So he uses a standard semi tractor
trailer?” Clea checked.
“Yeah.” The woman removed her
gardening gloves and threw a thumb over her right shoulder, in the direction
where Jonah could barely make out the top of a barn behind the house. “He keeps
it parked underneath an overhang beside the barn since it doesn’t fit inside.”
Mrs. Barnes’ smile grew. “Your generosity in letting us use part of your
farmland has been a Godsend these past few years. I’ve been meaning to stop by
some day and thank you personally, but…” The woman paused. “Is there anything
else?”
Clea got to the point. “So you’re
willing to testify that Vince always takes at least two trips to the
weigh station every year?”
Mrs. Barnes went on the defensive,
as Jonah knew she would after hearing Clea’s declaration.
“What do you mean, am I willing to
testify? What are you insinuating? That my husband is cheating you?”
Jonah was prepared to step in and
defend Clea, but she showed a side of herself he wasn’t expecting.
“I’m not insinuating anything,
Brigit. You just confirmed what I’ve recently discovered, and Jonah here will
also confirm what you told me. That your husband takes two loads, minimum,
to the weigh station every year.”
“Which he pays you your fair
share!” the woman countered hotly. “I’ve seen the checks. Hell, I double check
the math for him! He pays you thirty-five percent!”
“Of the first load,” Clea
tersely informed her. Reaching inside her bag, she pulled out the envelope from
the farm bureau. “I was notified today that he’s been delivering two loads
every year for the past three years, but I was only given a copy of the weight
and price of the first load. I
never knew of a second load until now, which means, yes! Your husband has been
cheating me on my fair share for at
least the past three years!”
Mrs. Barnes’ face went from white to pink in a matter of seconds, but
she couldn’t refute it. Much. “Th-there has to be s-some mistake.”
“How many checks did you write for me each year?” Clea demanded. Jonah
already knew the answer, but was curious to see how the woman would answer.
“I-I don’t write the checks. Vince does.”
“So you’re telling me that when you do the bookkeeping, you haven’t
noticed the fact that there’s only one check written out to me?”
Jonah smiled to himself. He knew the answer to this one, too.
“I don’t do the bookkeeping,” the woman admitted. “That’s Vince’s job.”
In a way, Jonah was starting to feel sorry for the woman. Between the
evidence from the farm bureau, and what she was aware of, she could see things
weren’t adding up.
Clea served the coup de grâce. “We can resolve this issue real quick
like. Where does Vince keep the books? All we need to do is review his
statements.”
The woman quickly nodded. “Maybe he wrote those other checks and just
forgot to give them to you.” It was a lame excuse, and they all knew it.
She invited them into the farmhouse where a pot of something delicious
smelling was cooking on the stove. Leading them into the kitchen, she quickly
stirred the contents. “Wait here,” she requested and disappeared into the back.
Jonah went up to Clea. “I do believe the woman truly doesn’t know about
her husband’s shenanigans,” he murmured.
Clea agreed with him. “But you’d think, if she double-checked his
figures to make sure he wrote the checks out in the correct amounts, that she’d
be curious to know why he never consulted her about helping him with a second
check if he took two loads in.”
It was a fair assessment.
Mrs. Barnes hurried back into the kitchen with a large three-ring
binder and another larger leather-bound book. Setting them on the dining table,
she opened the binder. “Here’s where he keeps all his receipts and stuff
related to the farm.” She tapped the binder before flipping it open. “And there’s
the checkbook.”
Since he was unfamiliar with check writing in this day and age, Jonah
pointed to the binder. “Do you mind if I…”
“Go right ahead.”
They were interrupted by the sound of heavy boots approaching the back
door. Jonah automatically stepped back, placing himself between Clea and the
big man entering the kitchen.
Vince Barnes took one good look at the two books lying on the table, then stared straight at Jonah. “What the hell’s going on here? What are you doing with those?”
TO BE CONTINUED
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