Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 5

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MickLifeCrisis
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Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 5

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Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight or any of its characters.
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Mick, Beth, Josef and my OCs Kylie Jenkins and Savannah.


Previously on Savannah Returns:

“You ran a brothel?” Beth asked in surprise.

“I guess you could call it that,” Josef said with a grin. “It was a full service saloon,” he added with a wink.

Mick spoke up. “Well, it all sounds friendly and cozy. So what happened?”


Chapter 5


Josef turned serious again. “Most of the early mines weren’t profitable. It was a lot of hard work for very little profit. And it was a hard way of life. Men died in mining accidents all the time. Food was scarce in winter. Tempers flared. It was Michigan’s version of the Wild West.

“I had secretly invested in some of the bigger mining operations and I knew there was a new way of mining that was about to be employed. It promised to be more efficient and productive, and therefore more profitable as well.”

“And I take it you didn’t share this information with those poor blokes whose unprofitable mines you were buying up.”

“I was a businessman, Mick. I was in business to make a profit. So no, I didn’t share the information with anyone. Except Jeremiah. He and Levi had been trying to make a go of it for a few years by this time and Levi was ready to give up. I convinced Jeremiah to let him leave. I fronted him the money to buy Levi out. A few months later they started using the new technology and we were both making money. From the mines, the lumber, the ice… I even had financial interests in the shipping industry used to transport the copper.

“Levi learned about the profit we were making and showed up one day demanding a share. Said we had known all along that the mine would produce and that we had cheated him out of his share.”

“Well, didn’t you?” Beth questioned.

Josef shrugged. “Business is business, Beth. He had been paid for his share of the mine and I told him he wasn’t getting a dime more. He threatened to expose us to the rest of the mining community. It was only Jeremiah’s friendship for him that let Levi keep his head. We showed him some fang to convince him that we didn’t just feed on women. He turned tail and ran.”

At that moment Josef’s cell phone rang. He looked at it and pushed the speaker button. “What is it, Stevens?”

“Sorry to bother you sir, but you said if you received any kind of manila envelope in the mail to let you know immediately.” Josef and Mick both looked up and caught each other’s eyes. “Go on,” Josef said.

“It has no return address; the postmark is Chicago. Shall I open it, sir?”

Mick spoke up at once. “This is Mick St. John, Stevens. Has the envelope been x-rayed?”

“Yes, Mr. St. John. All the emergency precautions have been carried out per Mr. Kostan’s orders.”

Mick nodded to Josef who addressed his phone. “Then go ahead and open it and tell me what’s inside.”

“Yes, sir.” They could all hear the sounds of someone slitting open a large envelope and sliding out the contents. “It’s…it’s a photograph of a drawing.”

“What kind of drawing?” Josef asked impatiently.

“An old-fashioned drawing. Two men holding up beer mugs in a toast, and…and you sir, standing behind the bar.” The entire table around Josef exchanged stunned looks as Mick fished out the exact same picture from the pile on the table. “And there’s more, sir.”

“What else?”

“There is a circle drawn around your head,” Josef’s assistant said nervously. “And it says ‘Isaac Foster’ above it.” Josef groaned. “There’s also a written message underneath.”

“Well dammit, what’s the message say?”

“It says,” Stevens took a swallow that the whole room could hear. “It says ‘Pay me what is mine or you’ll never see Jeremiah Booth again.’ There’s a phone number, and then it’s signed ‘Aaron Walker.’”

There was silence around the table. “Okay, take a photo of the picture and the note and email them to my phone,” Josef instructed.

“Very good, sir,” Stevens replied and hung up.

In a minute the email came through and Josef passed his phone to Mick.

“Let me call Logan and have him look up that phone number. If it’s on, maybe he can ping it and get a location.” He pulled out his phone but Josef stopped him.

“No, I’ll get Ryder to do it. The less people outside of my company who know about this the better.” Mick nodded and put his phone back in his pocket as Josef placed the call.

When Josef had hung up, Beth turned to him. “So who is Aaron Walker?”

Josef drew a hand down his face. “Levi Walker had a son, but I can’t remember his name. It might have been Aaron. He would only have been around 3 or 4 years old when Levi left Copper Country.”

“Well, it can’t be him,” Kylie said. “Unless…”

“Unless he’s a vampire,” Mick and Beth said together. Beth sat back down and opened her laptop. She was soon clicking away.

“Okay, I’ve found Levi’s marriage license, and here’s a birth record for an Aaron Walker born to him in 1850. I’m trying to find a marriage license or death certificate for Aaron, but there’s too many. It’s kind of a common name and there’s no way to tell if any of these that I’ve found are him.”

“I think we can assume that the manila envelope that Jason received contained the same picture, probably with his own head circled,” Mick said and then turned to Josef. “Was there more than this one drawing?” he asked as he held up the original from the table.

Josef nodded. “Jeremiah paid the artist to draw a copy of it, so both he and Levi could have one,” he replied. “Aaron must have found his father’s pen and ink drawing and then scanned it or took a picture of it or photocopied it. Stevens said it was a photo of a drawing.”

“Levi Walker must have put names on the back of his drawing,” Kylie opined.

Mick nodded. “I think you’re right. Okay, let’s assume that this Aaron Walker is indeed the son of Levi and is now a vampire. He probably heard his father talking about losing money in the copper mines and how it was all his partner’s fault. And ‘Isaac’s’,” he added, glancing at Josef. “But why show his face now? What’s happened that he suddenly wants the money he feels was owed his father 150 years ago?”

There were several moments of silence and then Kylie spoke up. “Maybe he found the picture only recently,” she said quietly. Mick and Josef looked at her.

“That could be it, Mick,” Beth said.

Josef shook his head. “He must have seen his father’s drawing long before now. When Levi died he must have gone through his things. No, I think something else has happened recently that’s gotten him all riled up about this now. Something that reminded him that his father once worked the copper mines.”

“I wonder if…” Savannah started. But when everyone turned to stare at her she averted her eyes downward and shook her head. “Never mind, it’s a stupid idea.”

Beth reached over and took her hand. “What did you think of, Savannah? Sometimes the smallest thing turns out to be important.”

Savannah sighed. “Well, the inn was recently featured in the travel section of the Chicago Times newspaper. It had a picture of Jason and me.”

Josef pounded the table. “Damn it! That’s great. Just great. What in the world was he thinking, letting himself be photographed like that? And in a major newspaper!”

“But Jason doesn’t look like that picture from the mines!” Savannah protested.

“Someone who knew him back then might have recognized him,” Josef growled.

“Could he have come up here?” Kylie asked. “Just to check it out? And then maybe he saw the drawing on the wall…”

“And realized his father owned the same drawing,” Beth finished for her. “He put two and two together.”

“I’ll be right back,” Savannah said suddenly as she jumped up from her chair and left the room. She came right back with her laptop. “I can check the registered guests who checked in from the time the article appeared till the present,” she said clicking away at the keyboard. “I know it’s a long shot, but maybe he actually used the name ‘Aaron Walker’ or something similar.” She began scrolling.

Mick and Josef exchanged doubtful glances and Josef shook his head. He was certainly startled when Savannah announced, “I think I have him!”

“Really?” Mick asked.

“Here’s an ‘Aaron Levison’ from Chicago.”

“‘Levison’? For real? As in ‘Levi’s son’?” Josef scoffed.

Excitement was starting to go around the table. “Do you remember him?” Kylie asked. “When was he here?”

Savannah checked the dates. “Looks like he was here one week before the envelope arrived.”

“And Jason was kidnapped a week and a half after that,” Beth added. “He needed to go back home and make the photocopies or scans or whatever from his father’s picture.”

Mick nodded. “Okay, I’ll buy all that. But there’s something that still doesn’t make sense to me.” He turned to Josef. “Why kidnap Jason to extort money from you? What does he have over you, Josef? Why does he think you would pay him anything at all to spare Jason’s life? Were you really that close?”

Josef sighed and stood up from the table. He walked around the room as the eyes of the others followed him. They could tell another story was about to be told.


To be continued...
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 5

Post by allegrita »

Oh, you are wicked!!! :devil: I want the story NOW!!!!!

(Seriously... great chapter, and I'm dying to find out what is going to happen!!) :hyper2:
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 5

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:angel:

I'm glad you are enjoying it!
:thanks:
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Re: Savannah Returns (PG-13) Chapter 5

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Oh, that Josef never lays all his cards on the table!

Good story, good chapter!
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