Into the Future: A Callahan Novel by Celya Bowers

know.  At first, I wasn’t going to tell you, because I know how much you love Paul and rightly so.  But you also keep the kids on his behalf.”
    Bea shook her head.  “What has he done now?  He’s been acting so weird these last few months.”
    “How so?”  Tristan reached for Lizzy’s hand. 
    “Coming over here at all hours.  Going through his things that are stored here.  He keeps muttering things about finding his insurance policy.  You know his company is being investigated.  Strange men have this house staked out.”
    “Have they spoken to you yet?”
    “Oh, yes.  The first day they were parked outside in a black Lincoln Town Car.  My neighbor had phoned me to say that some men were asking questions about Paul.  You know, like, does he live here? When does he visit?”
    Tristan nodded.  “What did they ask you?”
    “If I knew anything about his work.  I told them the only thing I knew that there was some kind of problem and he was trying to fix it.”
    Lizzy smacked her lips.  She’d heard that lie most of her married life.  “Bea, what kind of problem? Was money involved?”
    “I’m not sure.  He kept saying something about a CD.  He kept saying he had to find it and cash it in.”
    Lizzy’s heart started thumping.  Something was telling her to get home and check that video game.  Whatever Paul was into was too big for him to handle. She wondered was she being watched as well. “Did they asked about me or the kids?”
    “Yes, they wanted to know if he’d had any contact with you other than normal childcare.  I told them you normally communicated through me.”
    She relaxed a little bit.  “Maybe I should take the kids back with me?”
    Bea shook her head.  “No, it’s going to look strange if you do.”
    Tristan shook his head.  “They’re safe, baby.  You got two government agents outside.  They’re looking for Paul.”
    Lizzy knew he was right, but those were her kids, her babies.  “I don’t want them harmed.”
    “They’re my only grandkids.  I’ll die first.”  She waited a beat.  “Now what has my idiot son done now?”
    Lizzy quickly recited the events leading up to the meeting with the principal and the CPS case worker.   “After I could prove that he had asked to pick up the kids then failed to do so, I was cleared.  Now if he wants to pick up the kids, he has to go through my mother.”
    “Good.  I can wring his handsome neck,” his mother said.  “The nerve trying to trump up charges.  Of course, he hadn’t told me a thing about this.”
    “When was the last time he was here?”
    “Maybe two or three weeks.  He came and went through every box in the house before I finally kicked him out.  You should have seen the mess he made.  Just ridiculous.  A grown man, acting like a child.”
    Lizzy laughed.  That sounded like Paul.  He would leave a big mess and expect someone else to clean it up.  “Well thank you, Bea.  We just had lunch so the kids should be good for a while.  Let me know if you want me to pick them up before tomorrow afternoon.”  Lizzy rose, and Tristan followed suit.  She walk to the staircase and called for the kids. 
    They ran down the stairs, hugged their mother and Tristan, then headed back upstairs.  Once Lizzy and Tristan said their goodbyes to Beatrice, they went outside to Tristan’s BMW. 
    Lizzy noticed the car and the two men inside the black sedan.  Definitely government issued.  She wondered if Cam’s cousins knew those guys.  She was sure going to ask that night over dinner.
    The next stop was Lizzy’s house.  She had to see for herself what was on that video game.  One step inside and she felt something was in the house. 
    “Something doesn’t fell right, Tristan,” she said quietly, closing the front door.  She had dropped her car off a few hours before, but hadn’t went inside.  “It feels like something bad had happened.
    “Well you know the kids are fine.  Why don’t