Chapter 17
He decidedon Como Steak House in Como, Mississippi for dinner. It was a bit of a ride down the Interstate, but, in his opinion, had always had the best steaks around.
His mama gave him a sharp look once they were well on their way to the steak house.
"Okay. I kind of fudged the truth a little bit about being back in Mercy."
She sniffed. "I'm not an idiot, Ian. Once I got over the initial happy feeling from you just showing up out of the blue, I knew there had to be more to it. I'm just sorry I'm having to force it out of you. I believe it's got something to do with your new job. Right?"
He winced. Feeling awful about the fact that she'd been so over the moon about his visit thinking it was just to see her.
"You're right." He said in a quiet voice. "I didn't want to lie to you, but my boss made it very clear that this mission was fully under cover. No one could know."
"I'm your mama." She said in a no-nonsense voice. "I get to know everything."
"You'll have to take that up with Hank Patterson. My boss." He shrugged. "I guess I could get in trouble telling you what's going on but if you can't trust your mama, who can you trust?"
"That's exactly right."
He hesitated. Going against orders went against everything in him. Mama poked him in the arm to shake him out of himself.
"Okay. Here goes. I'm in town to protect Matt MacKenzie from a mob hit."
She burst out laughing. "You can't be serious! Nobody puts a mob hit on someone from a little no where place like Mercy, Mississippi." She gave him a sideways glance. "I can't even imagine what sweet old teddy bear Matt MacKenzie would have done that would warrant someone trying to kill him. He's spent his whole life in Mercy. And, as you know, nothing much happens in Mercy."
He glanced sideways at her in the dim light. "Wasn't there something about a wolf man getting himself murdered in the woods not long ago? That sounds like something out of the ordinary."
"Okay." She conceded. "You've got me there. So tell me how Matt came to have a hit put on him."
The sky to the west faded from scarlet, to orange to gray as he explained the situation.
"Well, I can see that you've got a real problem on your hands. I can't for the life of me imagine how you're going to catch someone with no idea what the person looks like."
She paused, then went on. "In a town like Mercy, strangers stand out. And I can't think of a single stranger I've seen lurking around." She waved a hand around. "You see people passing through. The ones that get off the interstate to eat or something. But they're gone before we even realize they're here. I mean someone who'd been seen multiple times. I'd have heard about it from the girls."
He didn't doubt that for a minute.
She frowned. "Maybe he's staying down the road in Hernando. Or even up the road in Memphis. How did you get involved?"
Ian shifted his long legs to a more comfortable position. The rental car was smaller than his big truck and his legs were cramping up from it.
"Mr. MacKenzie contact Hank at the Brotherhood in Montana and requested someone be sent here to protect him."
"How in tarnation did Matt know about your company?" she asked.
"Good question, Mama. Hank seemed to think that you had mentioned something about my new job and that's how Matt knew about the Brotherhood."
"Hm." She shifted her purse from her lap to the floorboard between her feet and adjusted the air vent on her side. "I surely haven't said a word about you to Matt MacKenzie." She glanced sideways at him. "I reckon you know the reason for that."
He nodded.
"I did tell the girls about it. They were all so worried about you when they heard you'd left the Navy. And right pleased that you'd found something you like. So I suppose Matt could have heard something about it from one of them. Or through the grapevine in general."
He laughed. "I didn't realize I'm such a hot topic of conversation these days."
She backhanded him lightly in the chest. "Don't sass me, young man." She leaned her head against the head rest. "I don't ever talk to Piper about you. Even thought we've become good friends from working together forStreetpups."
He tensed.
"I wish things had turned out different between the two of you. She's such a wonderful girl. But I reckon it was for the best that she didn't take off with you since her mama got cancer so soon after y'all graduated." She shook her head. "Poor woman. She fought the good fight."
"I intend to get her back while I'm here."
She squeezed his arm. "Nothing would make me happier."
