Acquiring Trouble

her laptop she wondered if she should feel guilty for what she was about to do.
    She pulled up the documents she had stolen and reviewed them. She flipped from page to page and reviewed all the data and notes as quickly as possible. She had to find out if she was right or not. If not, she envisioned herself a jailhouse victim of a random act of violence. She didn’t kid herself. If she didn’t find what she was looking for she might have to gra b her bag and run for her life.
    Morgan continued to review the documents. It only took a couple of minutes to find what she was looking for. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and started to shake. She had found a way to stay alive. Morgan copied the documents onto a new flash drive and picked up her phone. She dialed the number she knew by heart and waited for him to answer.
    “I know how to bring them to their knees.” She waited for his respons e and then nodded. “By the end of the week it’ll be done. Just hold up your end of the bargain.”
    Morgan hung up her phone and stripped out of her suit. She climbed into bed, hugged the pillow to her chest and cried. She cried for the loss of a love she’d never have, for the pain of Miles’ s words, and for the fact that she was just crying. She hadn’t cried since her mother passed away, but it seemed a constant struggle against the pain of her past in Keeneston. The tears finally stopped flowing, her nose stopped running , and she finally fell asleep.

 
Chapter Fifteen
     
    Morgan woke up as the sun filled the room with light. She moaned and rolled over to look at the clock. It wasn’t even seven in the morning yet. She wished she had gotten more than three hours of sleep, but there was nothing she could do about it. She needed to get to town and hear the local gossip.
    Morgan rolled out of bed and scrubbed the sleep from her face in the shower. There was no better place than the Blossom Café to find out if she’d been discovered. It was sort of like stepping into the lion’s den, but the rewards could be just as grea t. And they had pecan pancakes.
     
    An hour later Morgan pus hed open the front door to the c afé. The noise hit her at the same time as the smell of eggs, bacon , and sausage. As customary, everyone turned to see who was joining them for breakfast. The talking stopped so suddenly that the only noise Morgan heard was the sizzling of bacon.
    Morgan tried to smile, but all eyes were narrowed on her and she decided that they believed she had betrayed them. She held her head up high and headed to the empty table in the middle of the room. Slowly th e whispers started and soon there was so much gossip flying around that s he was afraid she’d be hit in the face with it.
    “Did you hear about Glenn Myers’ s farm? His hay barn was burned down last night. They caught it before it spread, thank God,” Morgan heard Miss Daisy tell Tammy as she handed her a to - go coffee.
    “Oh my gosh! I hadn’t heard. Morgan, did you hear that?” Tammy turned and looked at Morgan and Morgan cringed. The c afé went quiet again except for the sound of chairs scraping the floor as the patrons turned to look at her.
    “No. I hadn’t heard about that. I’m so sorry for him and his family,” Morgan announced to the room instead of just to Tammy who had c ome to stand next to her table.
    “Everyone has been donating bales of hay to him all morning. I don’t have any just laying around,” Tammy laughed, “but I was going to head over to the feed store and buy one for him. Well, I’ll see you later. Toodles !” Tammy gave a little wave and bounced out the door.
    “I’m going over there too after bre akfast.”
    Morgan looked at the seat across from her and saw her sister standing there.
    “I could p ick one up for you if you want,” Pam said.
    “Thank you, Pam. I would.” Morgan reached into her wallet and handed Pam some money. The patrons took notice and started talking again. Apparently she was still suspected, b ut the gossipers couldn’t decide for sure if she was respo nsible for these criminal acts.
    Morgan looked at her older sister and sighed. Pam wasn’t going back to her table. “Would you care to join me for breakfast?”
    “Thank you.” Pam sat perfectly straight in the chair and smiled. Just as quickly her head shot up as the bell over the door chimed. “Oh! My husband is here earlier than I thought. He had to go get the truck to transport the hay.” Pam stood up