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

a lot of money to lie around in an attic." Aunt Polly said and wiped her glasses.

"He thought he had plenty of time to search, and then I showed up. That must have really shocked him." Maddy leaned forward and shook her head.

"Leland didn't know about Jack Drake's involvement and innocently told him about the leather case you found in the library, which didn't have anything in it except old receipts."

"What about the body in the truck, this Fred Simmons?" Maddy asked quietly.

"Fred Simmons tried to blackmail Drake for more money."

"How do you know all of this? I mean, are you sure?" Maddy frowned.

"The cowboy's partner, the second guy who stopped you, saw everything. It seems they had a falling out with Jack Drake over money. When they brought him the Al Capone letters and diary it didn't put him any closer to the bonds than before. In fact, it put more heat on than he had expected with the police."

"That's ironic, bad guys blackmailing another bad guy." Maddy said in amazement.

"That's right, and they weren't very good at it. Stealing your aunt's diary and letters was for nothing, too, since the only thing in it was about his father being Al Capone's lawyer."

"You're a good lawman, Alec." Aunt Polly said proudly.

"Thanks Aunt Polly, but it was me and a lot of other law enforcement people working on this case together."

"Did they arrest Jack Drake then?"

"Well, this paper is called a 'death bed' confession." Alec tapped a piece of paper on the palm of his hand and threw it on the desk.

"You're kidding. Jack Drake is dead, too?" Maddy was shocked.

"Died three hours ago. It seems that when he and Simmons argued and wrestled over a gun, it went off killing the guy. Drake had the other one cover it up. Jack Drake had a bad heart and couldn't take the stress after that. They rushed him to the emergency room last night but he didn't make it. He thought it would be a simple case of theft but it turned into murder."

"So it's finally over." Maddy said quietly, a strange feeling of relief coming over her. "I wonder what happened to the letters and the diary."

"Sorry, Maddy, but the second guy said Jack Drake burned them, scared he'd get caught with the evidence. Now you can't prove Al Capone invested the money for your aunt, and I'm sorry about that."

"Oh, that's okay. I have the copies I made for the family history if anyone is interested. The bonds more than make up for that. The library is well on its way to becoming a reality for the town. Tommy is set for life, and the bed and breakfast inn will be open for business right after we get married. I think, considering a gangster started all of this, it's come out pretty good."

"May I make one correction? The inn will start up right after the honeymoon." Alec corrected her.

"Hello? Alec? Oh, Maddy you're all here?" Alec's office door opened a crack and Leland Lancaster peeked in. "I just heard the news about Jack Drake, and I wanted to see if it was true. May I come in?"

"Sure Leland, come in. Yes, it's true if you mean Jack Drake was behind all the trouble for Maddy." Alec leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.

"I heard Jack's dead." Leland continued. Shock replaced his usual professional demeanor. "I'm so sorry about all the trouble he caused you, you could have been killed. I didn't know he was doing that, I swear."

"We know that, Leland. Please, don't worry about it." Maddy was sorry to see him so upset.

"I introduced him to your aunt, Miss Morris and he was my attorney too, the best in the state, I thought. It looks like he embezzled from a lot of his clients. How wrong can a guy get?"

"Leland, he fooled a lot of people. No one's blaming you." Maddy said softly.

"I suppose. Thanks for saying that. It's turned out okay though. I hear Miss Madeline's money is going to start a new library?"

"Well, yes, it did turn out okay. And it brought Alec and me together, too." Maddy slipped her arm around Alec's waist, smiling broadly as she flashed her engagement ring proudly.

"That wasn't hard to see, I knew it right off. I hope I’m invited to the wedding?" Leland asked coyly.

"You're first on the list, Leland, after Aunt Polly, of course." Maddy patted his arm.

"I knew it all along. I'd be honored to attend. We'll be seeing you at the church, then. Good by Aunt Polly." He winked as he slipped out the door.

"He never had a clue about the two of you," Aunt Polly snorted and then laughed. "Oh, well, like he said, it's a small town and word gets around."

* * *

The wedding went beautifully. All present agreed that the ceremony was exceptionally nice. Along with all the traditionally wrapped presents, one in particular Maddy steered Alec to open.

Highly suspicious, Alec carefully looked at the big, blue bow around a sturdy box.

"It won't explode, will it? I think we’ve had enough mystery for a while." He teased.

Maddy urged him on and Alec tore back the lid and found a rollicking, gangly puppy inside. With joy on his face, he happily pointed a finger at his new wife.

"Hey, you remembered, and she's a hunting dog."

"He. It's a he, and he's a purebred. German Shorthaired Pointer, Bubba said you always liked them."

"What a great gift. Just what I wanted. Thank you. How you doing there, Buddy? Gee, guess he needs a name. What shall we call him, Maddy?"

"That's easy." Maddy smiled coyly and pulled a dog food bowl from behind her. The big, red letters on the bowl read simply, AL.

End

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About the Author

Author Kathleen Pieper was born and raised in Nebraska. At the age of 8 she wrote her first 'book' and from then on it was all about the written word. She