Letters From Al by Pieper, Kathleen (i am reading a book txt) 📗

debated on what to do next. Should she tell Edna or approach Capone?

The infamous gangster, Al Capone sat reading a menu with another man in the last booth in the narrow diner. Frowning at her being late again, the cook nodded for her to take their order. Taking a deep breath Madeline looked around at the innocent people in the diner and knew what she had to do. Deliberately dropping her pencil, she bent down beside the gangsters. The words came spilling out.

"There are two men with guns across the street waiting for you, if you're Al Capone." A strange expression crossed the man's face and he straightened up. The round-faced man indeed had a distinctive scar on his face. Eyes wide, his companion flinched, glaring at her.

"She could be lying, Al." The other man kept his hand in his pocket, a menacing look on his face. Al Capone lit his cigar and looked over at her again.

"Are you lying to me, girly?"

Madeline shook her head emphatically. "I do not lie. I just don't want to see anyone get hurt."

"Well, you got an honest face. Okay, girly, just keep smiling. Is that the back door?"

Madeline nodded, her knees quaking.

“What’s your name?” Capone paused while his companion looked around nervously.

"Madeline, I mean, Mary. Mary Morris." She suddenly realized she didn't want a well-known gangster knowing her real name.

"Mary or Madeline, then, thanks. I'll remember your good deed." He tipped his hat to her.

"There's no need in that, Sir." She answered stiffly, frightened by even being this close to a gangster. How silly she had ever been to think this life exciting.

"Oh, but there is," he said and winked before disappearing out the back door.

The feeling of dread never left her after that. It even overshadowed the fear of discovery by her family. The next day she was walking home when the man who had been with Al Capone was waiting in front of her building.

"I've got something for you, Miss Morris." He was acting nice but his eyes were cold and suspicious. He put a manila envelope in her hands.

"What's this?" She said primly.

"This is just a ‘thank you’ for your help the other night. Mr. Capone always pays his debts in full." He turned to go.

With shaking hands Madeline opened the envelope and found money, lots of money. "Wait." She called out, "I can't take this. Here," she thrust it back at him.

Chapter 1

Present Day

"Well? Shall we set the date?" A peck on the cheek and it was business as usual. "After we're married maybe we can take a little trip to see the place."

"Larry, you just can’t just dismiss me like this. You think what I want is ridiculous. That means you think I’m ridiculous. How can you say that?" Maddy Morris felt her cheeks grow hot and stubbornly refused to be pushed this time. "I want to go back to Nebraska. When I got the letter about Aunt Madeline, it made me think back about things. Family things I hadn't thought of for a long time."

“What do you mean? You have your Uncles, they tell me they’re very fond of you.”

"What do my uncles have to do with this conversation? When have you talked to my uncles about me?" Maddy flared back, warning lights going off in her head. She did not want her uncles knowing her business. The resistance grew, trust of Larry didn't.

"Well, they're sort of my bosses' now, I told you I've moved up in accounting and they, well, they came to me to help you with the shares your parents had and things. The annual stockholders meeting is coming up and they thought you might be confused about how to handle your shares."

"What business is it to them? They never came around before my father died unless it was to get his proxies. They think I’m so dumb I can’t vote properly? What is going on, Larry?"

"Maddy, they never said you were dumb. I just think you need some help managing your money. My goodness, what are we arguing about anyway, they only want to help and so do I."

"Look, Larry, I don't like the things I'm hearing

about you and my uncles. I can't marry someone I can't trust, the engagement is off. I'm going to Nebraska and that's all there is to it. I think you should leave."

She needed space. The Nebraska letter was perfectly timed, and she needed to go. A neat, curt note again declining his cavalier offer of marriage lay on the hall table the next morning with the ring. Her roommate, Marie would be sure to give it to him. Larry wouldn't be able to change her mind this time. Allowing she didn't have much money, she felt good about her decision as she drove out of town.

The proposal had been a classic chess move, a last resort to keep her under control. Everything was starting to make sense now. Larry was more interested in his job and money that how she felt. She didn't mind that the ring was small, but it felt more like a prop in a grand production with her as the court jester. What a joke, a sad joke. She had almost fallen for it, but not any more. Apparently Larry thought she was so crazy over him that handling her was a done deal. She had seen the family ruin her parents life, they weren't going to ruin hers.

"I can do this. I can read a map for crying out loud," she muttered under her breath as she drove.. But she seriously doubted anything she did since last week. Talking to herself had become a habit for her, a way of rationalizing things she would have discussed with her parents or family if she had any she could trust. It was when she missed her parents the most. She could always talk to them.

Even her co-workers encouraged her to get out from behind the stack of books