Read Online Fortune Hunter (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 8) by Jana DeLeon - Free Book Online

weren’t, we’d be having a totally different conversation.” Walter downed the rest of his beer and rose from the table. “I best get back to the store. It’s been busy today and Scooter’s bound to make a mess of things. But I couldn’t let any more time go by without saying something.”
    I nodded and he put his hand on my shoulder. “Carter’s a stubborn man. Always has been. And I’m sure he has his reasons for the decision he made. But I still have hope that whatever this mess is, it will untangle sooner or later and leave you two considering your options.”
    “Me too,” I said, surprising myself because I actually meant it.
    Walter smiled. “You hang in there, honey. And if there’s anything I can do, you let me know.”
    He started out of the kitchen and I turned around in my chair. “Walter?”
    He stopped and looked back. “Yeah?”
    “Ida Belle’s crazy not to marry you.”
    He gave me a sad smile. “I know.”

    * * *
    I da Belle scooted her chair closer to mine and Gertie leaned over my shoulder and looked at my laptop screen. “That’s the same picture,” Gertie said.
    “So are the others,” I said. “See?”
    I starting flipping through the photos Beulah had provided and then back to the Facebook page I’d found for Austin Jennings, a young man from Waco, Texas, who had just finished up his last tour in Iraq and was now back home with his wife, two kids, three cats, and a Labrador retriever.
    “It can’t be him, right?” Ida Belle said.
    “I’m sure it’s not,” I said. “The catfish lifted this guy’s photos because he’s good-looking and several of them are in military dress and clearly in the desert.”
    “Should we check?” Gertie asked.
    “Check how?” Ida Belle said. “We can’t exactly drive to Austin and accuse the poor man of bilking old ladies out of their retirement. He’s got a wife and kids. Imagine all the trouble that would stir up.”
    “It’s not him,” I said. “Everything he’s done has been carefully planned. There’s no way he’d use real photos of himself. The women he’s targeting don’t know what catfishing is, but clearly, he’s well informed.”
    Gertie nodded. “What about the mailing address?”
    “It’s a post office box in New Orleans,” I said.
    Gertie shook her head in disappointment. “Beulah should have known better. She’s sent charity boxes overseas. She knows the military has special addresses for such things.”
    I pulled up the Word document with Beulah’s notes and pointed. “She says here that he claimed the box belonged to a friend who collected stuff for several of the men he served with and got it to them through other channels.”
    “Other channels?” Gertie said.
    “She probably took that to mean the friend had a way of getting them contraband,” Ida Belle said. “Girlie magazines, maybe some drugs.”
    “So Beulah mailed a pair of underwear to this post office box,” Gertie said. “I still can’t wrap my mind around the lengths he went to in order to convince her that their relationship was real.”
    “It’s wicked,” Ida Belle said. “I know it’s an old term—one my mother was fond of—but it fits.”
    Gertie nodded. “We have to find him.”
    “Do you think any of his other victims will talk to us?” I asked.
    “Bessy and Willa won’t,” Ida Belle said. “They’re both friends of Celia. Myrtle was supposed to let us know if there were any more complaints, but I haven’t heard a peep out of her.”
    “I’m afraid most will keep quiet,” Gertie said.
    “Probably true,” Ida Belle agreed.
    “Okay,” I said, “then let’s approach it a different way. The Sinful Ladies are all single and older. Do you think any of them was a victim?”
    “No,” Ida Belle said. “I sent out an email to all members earlier today, and they’ve all responded that none were victims.”
    I frowned. “And you think they’re all telling the truth?”
    “I’m certain of it,” Ida Belle