Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“That will get your bottom hotter than Juniper’s,” Rocco warned.
“How did he see that?” Sadie whispered before announcing loudly, “I’m being good.”
Rocco just shook his head and walked to the table. “It’s time for dinner, Little girls. Come sit down.”
When everyone was seated, Juniper lowered herself slowly to the bare wooden chair that sat at her normal spot next to her Daddy. The cushion that softened all the others had been removed. She sat down slowly and felt every spank of her punishment.
“Sorry, Daddy,” she whispered.
“So, do we talk now or later?” Phoenix asked as he helped himself to a big bowl of stew that the kitchen had prepared.
“Now,” Magnus declared.
Phoenix nodded. “I sealed off the conference room after equipping it with a motion sensor that will catch any movement by the new door Juniper created. By the way, if we seal that off completely again, it will require a lot of wall restoration. I’d suggest restoring the bookshelf to conceal the secret opening. I’ve also looked into sensors for the windows upstairs to keep everyone out and in,” he continued with a meaningful look at Juniper.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Can I go next? I need to get this over with.”
“Of course.” Phoenix handed over the ladle to Juniper, who gasped when she shifted to take it, her butt screaming from the burn.
“Let me scoop you up a bowl,” Magnus offered. “You go ahead and tell us everything.”
“I’m sorry for worrying everyone today. I took way too big of a risk. I wanted to see if I could clear my father’s name of any possible association with the bank robbery. I knew Eric was climbing with Rocco today, and I decided to go down in the tunnels to see if the money was even there. I thought maybe this was all a big misunderstanding.”
“We’ll talk about you hacking into the computer system later,” Magnus said ominously, and Sadie gasped.
“I got into the library… Well, conference room, now. The lever took some manipulating, but I saw the wall crack where I remembered the door being. It just took one big push to get it to open over the stairs.”
“Did you fall?” Celeste asked, looking worried.
“I caught myself on the third step. It wasn’t too bad,” Juniper said, watching Magnus shake his head in disbelief.
She continued quickly. “I explored all through the tunnels and found nothing. I knew I had to get back in my room before Eric’s lesson ended. I was headed back to the stairs when I saw a small nook. There was a hole, and I pulled out a bag. It had the name Southern Star Bank barely legible on it. I opened it up, and there were stacks of New Zealand money inside.”
“How many bags were there?” Hawking asked, accepting the ladle as it moved around the table.
“I don’t know. I just pulled out that one. There were others,” she revealed before saying quickly, “I don’t think it was my dad who robbed the bank. If it had been, wouldn’t he have taken the cash? Why hide it and never return to New Zealand?”
“That’s a good point, Juni,” Magnus agreed. “What if he was forced to be involved in some minor way and took advantage of Edmund being jailed to hide the money from him?”
Juniper nodded her head quickly. “He would’ve done that. Edmund Rivers must have threatened him with something.”
Something clicked inside her. The only thing her dad had cared about was her. Edmund had been arrested two weeks before she was supposed to visit for the summer break. Her father had called her mother at the last moment and canceled her trip with the excuse that the resort was closing.
“Edmund threatened to hurt me. That’s the only thing that could’ve forced him to take any part of this,” Juniper guessed as her eyes filled with tears.
“We may never know the truth, Juni. You’re right that his abandoning the money supports your father’s innocence,” Magnus said, wrapping an arm around her.
“Now, what do we do?” Juniper asked.
Magnus rubbed his temples. “When was the last time you saw your friend Sammi?”
“The summer I was twelve. I never saw her again. We sent a few letters over the next couple of years, but then it fizzled out.”
“Let’s eat,” Rocco proposed. “After dinner, we can clear the table and brainstorm.”
Juniper forced herself to eat the food on her plate, but she didn’t remember it well or taste it. Everyone was pretty quiet until dinner was cleaned up, and the cart was sent back to the kitchen.
Magnus brought a laptop over to the table and started clicking away, his brow furrowed.
Juniper sat on her hands next to him, worrying her bottom lip. The other girls looked about the same as she felt.
“Looks like the resort closed for about six months soon after Edmond Rivers was arrested,” Magnus murmured.