A/N I don't own SOA. I had forgotten to say that for a few chapters. Hope you are all enjoying the story. Thanks for the comments. And give me some feedback. I like the guesses about who is the 'bad' guy. Also, I personally think this chapter is hilarious. Some Juice interactions.
Chapter 7
Happy was throwing the flat tire in the back of Maggie's truck and putting the jack back away as Maggie came back around from the driver's side of the truck. "Thanks for helping me, I could have gotten it, but it would have taken me twice as long."
"No problem." Happy said.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing up here? There isn't anything up here but cattle, elk and an old hunting cabin." Maggie said.
"We are staying up at the cabin. We are old friends of Angie's." Happy said. He didn't want to reveal any more than he had to.
"You went up the road on a motorcycle, is there something wrong with it?" Maggie said.
"You ask a lot of questions." Happy said.
"Sorry, don't mean to be nosey, just observed your bikes at the house this morning and saw you go by while I was doctoring the calves in the pasture over there," she motioned to the pasture to the east. "Well thanks helping with the tire, I have other calves I need to go check on."
"Hey, I didn't mean to be short with you, we are just trying to keep a low profile up here." Happy said.
"Yeah, I know. Taggert told me. I am probably the only one who will be up here on a regular basis. We have 25 mamas ready to drop up here. Gotta keep an eye on them. I will try to keep out of your way." Maggie said.
Happy nodded to her, "Well if we see anything we will let Angie know."
"Thanks," Maggie said as she got in the truck. "Oh and just so you know, don't leave any food outside the cabin at night, or the black bears will come visit you."
"Thanks for the warning." Happy said as Maggie started the truck and drove off. Happy shook his head and headed back to his truck. Taking out his phone he looked at his messages, there was a text from Jax. He headed back to the cabin and picked up Juice and Opie and headed to the main house.
Angie and Jax were in the den when the boys arrived. Walking into the den, Juice, Opie and Happy looked around at the very manly room. Hanging on the walls were mounted heads of various animals. Deer, elk, moose, even a buffalo. In addition there were stuffed birds, and in front of the fire place was a bear rug. Juice paused as he walked in the room, looking at all the animals. His mouth was gaping open. Jax and Angie were leaning on the desk, watching him. Finally Hap went over and drug Juice into the room. "They aren't going to eat you dumb ass."
Opie laughed at Hap's comment and Angie and Jax smiled. "Yeah Juice, these are dead, but you should look out for live ones of these up at the cabin," Angie said as she went around the desk and sat down.
"What is this room?" Juice asked.
"It was my father's den. He killed all these. They are trophy kills. I just never was able to change it." Angie said.
"It's kind of creepy. I feel like their eyes are following me around the room." Juice said.
"Get over it," Opie said. "So how was your trip to visit with the sheriff?"
"Interesting," Jax said.
"Very." Angie agreed. "Juice. I am going to email you some pictures of some docs I took with my phone from the file. They are hard copies of the calendar from Mark's Blackberry. It wasn't synced to a computer so I have never seen this. Can you blow these up so I can read these? Maybe there are some names in his calendar that will give us a lead. There weren't any leads in Mason, Matt, or Dad's."
"Sure I will get on that first thing." Juice said.
"Explosion was 3 pipe bombs, remote detonation from less than ¼ mile. Person who set it off had to have been able to see it go off." Jax said.
"So target was either your family or who was with them. Who else was out there with them?" Opie said.
"Here is the information on the 3 men. All three were injured. They were all investigated, but let's look at them again. Check them against Maroney interests."
"I'll call Peter, he and I will work on this," Opie said.
"Angie, are there any business interests that you abandoned after the explosion?" Happy asked.
"Not really. The only thing we let up on was some land acquisitions. But we only postponed them. We bought the land; it just took us another 9 months to close the deal."
Jax perked up then. "How close were you to closing the land deals when the explosion happened, Angel?"
"I don't know. Pretty close." Angie said. "This was one of the projects I was working on. It was with Mark. It was for Maroney Mining. Probably 3 weeks. We were getting ready to do some inspections. I would have to look at the files to find out for sure."
"Let's do that, Angel." Jax said.
"Ok, I will call Steve at Maroney Mining in the morning." Angie said.
"Now how about our little plan?" Angie said.
"Well I say we hatch it and see who crawls out," Jax said.
"I agree," Happy said.
"So, Maroney Industries is going to raise some money for charity. High profile. Center it around the Ranch." Opie said.
"That's about the size of it, Opie. It is time I do something to honor my brothers and father. What better way than to raise money for our favorite charity, breast cancer research. If I do it right I will drive everyone who had a connection with our family and our businesses to attend. All suspects in one room." Angie said.
"What kind of event are you planning Angie?" Juice asked.
"Ever been to a Hoedown?" Angie said winking.
"Come on guys I have to show you something, Angel has a toy you have got to see. She is going to give it to me as a gift to show me how much she loves me," Jax said.
"I said no such thing Jackson! I worked hard on that and it is mine. You want one, go find one of your own." Angie said as she rounded the desk.
"Come on y'all. Let's make a break for it." Jax gave Angie a kiss on the cheek and headed out the door.
As the guys headed out Angie put her feet up on the desk. Opening the drawer of the desk she took out the picture of her family. Angie was so little in it. 6 years old. Her Mom and Dad were standing in front of the fence down at the corrals. Mark stood next to his Mom. He was 21 in the picture. Matt, 14 and Mason 13 were in second row, leaning on the fence. Angie remembered they were standing on the hay bales to make the picture look right. Angie was sitting on the fence between Matt and Mason. It had been 6 months after the picture was taken when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She put up a good battle, but by the time Angie was 8, her mother had died.
At 6 Angie was well on her way to being a tom boy but after her mom died she spent all her time with her brothers. They were older than her, but with only Pricilla on the ranch, Angie had nothing but men influencing her life. She rode horses, worked on the ranch, raced cars, rode motorcycles. Angie remembered her Dad trying to make her into a little girl when she was about 9, but she revolted and cut the hair on all her Barbie dolls.
Mark had gotten married by the time Angie was in high school. His wife Carolyn had helped with things like prom dresses and the few girly things she did want to do. Soon it was time for Angie to go off to college. The University of Colorado had been great for Angie. It gave her the opportunity to find out who she was, and for her to run from her problems.
Angie was deep in thought when there was a tug at her arm. Looking down she saw Abel looking up at her. "Hey buddy what are you doing?" Angie said.
"Why are you crying Mommy?" Abel asked. "Are these animals scaring you?"
Angie hadn't even realized she was crying. Smiling at the innocence of the small child she wiped the tears from her face and pulled Abel up in her lap. "No sweetie, I am not scared by the animals. I was just looking at some old family photos."
"Who are dese people?" Abel asked.
"These people are my brothers, and my Mom and Dad." Angie said to Abel. "This is my Mommy, and my Daddy, and this is Mason, Matt, and Mark." Angie said pointing to each person in the picture.
"Where are they now?" Abel asked.
"They are in heaven," Angie said.
Abel squirmed in Angie's lap getting down. "Mommy can we go ride a horse?" Abel asked.
"Is that why you came in here?" Angie said.
Abel stood there shaking his head up and down smiling at her.
Standing up from the desk she grabbed Abel's hand. "Come on, let's go for a ride. But you are going to have to ride with me little man." Angie said as they headed for the door.
"No I want my own horse," Abel protested.
"No not this time. Maybe when you get a little bigger." Angie said as they headed out of the room.
When Angie and Abel returned from their ride, the guys were still messing with Angie's Chevelle. Angie and Abel walked over to the car. "If you all have done anything to my car I will cut off your jewels and hang them from the rear view mirror." Angie said.
"Wow Angie, that is harsh. And man is this one sweet ride." Opie said. "Your Dad let you drive this in high school?"
"Until I would get caught drag racing. Then it would have to sit in the barn for a while. I think it sat in the barn more of my Junior year than I drove it." Angie said.
"Well Abel is going to look great driving it till he gets his first Harley." Happy said.
"No, I am saving it for if we ever have a daughter, this is a GIRL'S car gentlemen." Angie said. "Now get out."
The boys backed away from the car, hands in the air, feigning surrender. Just then they heard a vehicle pulling up the road. Angie turned to see who it was. Her face turned hard. Jax noticed the change in her mannerism. Jax turned to see who was coming up the road. Walking over to Angie his slipped his arm around her and looked toward the SUV coming into the driveway. "Who is that?" Jax asked.
"Trouble." Angie replied.
