While Tammy was on the phone, Misty was talking with Ezra, showing him a few details from his financial records that were out of place, things that just should not be there, more money coming in than was possible through their sales. Ezra just stood there listening to Misty, frowning and shaking his head.

Periodically he would say something short, like, “I don’t understand how” and “it just doesn’t make sense” and “how could it happen” and “what is all the extra money”. He seemed to be genuinely bewildered and concerned by all that Misty was showing him. I was proud of Misty, she was calm yet firm as she explained all of this.

She is normally a very shy woman, but she is certainly bold today. Finally Tammy was finished her phone call and rejoined us. “Misty has been showing me a lot of irregularities in our financial records,” said Ezra to Tammy, “I just don’t understand how things could be so bad. You told me that you could take care of the books for us and save us some money.

Where is all this extra money coming from that you show in our books?” “Well, I may have made a mistake here and there,” she said nervously, “I’m not a professional after all.” “This is more than just a mistake here and there,” said Misty, “you have been deliberately trying to hide things. You have not been honest with us since we came here. Now, we want some honesty!”

Misty then went to her bag and took out a package and dropped on the desk in front of Ezra. “Bath powder?” asked Ezra. “It is not bath powder,” I said, “although that is how it’s labelled. It is actually Meth, a horrible drug, and that package would be worth a lot of money. And that is just one such package. Nearly every box ordered by that woman has drugs in it, of various kinds.”

“So, now you are opening our customers parcels illegally,” shouted Tammy, “she’s a good customer and if we lose her we lose a lot of money! I can’t control what people put into their parcels when they order something and it’s none of my business anyway what they do!” “It is your business Tammy,” said Misty firmly, “you met with this woman 5 years ago and made a deal with her so she could bring her drugs in safely without the police watching her.

And you meet her in different places all the time to deliver her parcels, like yesterday when you met her men in a park near here. Then they gave you an address to deliver the next batch today. We checked that address, it’s an old abandoned house in an area you should be staying away from.” “You’re even spying on me now!” yelled Tammy, “Well, you are all fired, as of now! So get out of here!”

“You didn’t hire us Tammy, Sienna did,” I reminded her, “and she wants us to stay. Now, you have a choice, either contact the police and let them know we found all these drugs, or we will do it.” “I can’t do that!” she continued yelling, “this woman would have me and my family killed! Plus, we stand to make half a million dollars from this shipment. Then I can pay Finders the money I owe him and…”

She stopped there when she realized what she said about Finders. “What do you mean about owing Finders money?” asked Ezra. “Never mind, it was a personal loan,” she said in a more normal voice now. “She borrowed money to get her porn business up and running,” I told Ezra, “and now Finders wants his money back, with interest, and he wants it tomorrow or your family starts to die.”

Tammy looked over at me, quite surprised that I knew about this. “I am a private investigator Tammy,” I said, “it is my business to dig around and find out what is going on. And I don’t mean by myself, I have a large team that helps with all of this investigative work. We are professionals and we do our job well.” Then Tammy looked at Jennifer.

“Why is that woman always with you anyway,” said Tammy, “she makes me nervous, I don’t want her around anymore.” “If you are not doing anything wrong,” said Jennifer, “then you have no reason to be nervous.” “Jennifer is our bodyguard,” I said, “that is why she is always with us.” “Bodyguard?” she sneered, “She doesn’t even carry a gun, what good is she?”

“My wife carries a gun,” I said, “Jennifer doesn’t need one, she is more dangerous than any gun.” Tammy was turning red with anger right now. “Look, I have to go and deliver that shipment,” she said, “whether you like it or not. I’m already 20 minutes late and it will take me about 30 minutes to get there now. This is a lot of money for me and it gives me a chance to pay off Finders.”

“And, of course, your new porn studio is now ready to use,” I said, “except I am not going to let you use it. Your nice new studio is being dismantled as we speak.” Tammy’s mouth fell wide open and she ran toward me! “I’ll kill you for this!” she yelled. But Jennifer stood up and literally flung Tammy back onto her chair and stood beside her to make sure she stayed there.

Poor Ezra was sitting on his chair behind the desk with his head in his hands. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he said, “I just can’t believe it.” “You spineless wimp!” exclaimed Tammy, “That’s why I didn’t tell you anything, you would have been against it right from the start and we would have lost everything we worked so hard to build!”

“None of this is as important as our kids or your parents,” he replied, “don’t you even care that your dad was killed?” “That stupid man,” she said shaking her head, “he had to try and stop them from taking Johnny, that’s why he’s dead. He should have stayed out of it and he would still be alive.” “And what about our Johnny?” he asked.

“They were just taking him to his appointment at the studio,” she said casually, “I couldn’t make it because I had deliveries to do. Helene specifically wanted Johnny in the video that day.” He looked at Tammy, shocked by what she just said. “You’re using our kids in porn videos?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“Just Johnny and Judy, not the baby,” she said, “and it’s nothing serious anyway. The kids are so young they won’t even remember it.” “Time for changing of the guards,” said Jennifer, and she walked into the hall. Shortly after Sky came walking in. Just then there was a crashing in the outer office and…

To Be Continued.

©2025 Steve McLeod.