Page 41 of Buck (Diver Downeast #2)

When it looked like Bobbie was too shocked to speak, Buck took the lead.

“What do you mean, she owns the house?” He didn’t doubt that the money was long gone.

Tex didn’t hesitate. “Well, I dug deeply into the duo as you requested,” he drawled, but with an edge.

“Which included all their financials; i.e. looking up the deed to the home property. What I expected to find was a property deep in liens. What I didn’t expect to find was that Bobbie, or Roberta Follster is the sole owner of said abode, and that it’s completely unencumbered because without her signature, they couldn’t borrow on it, no matter what paperwork they’d manipulated. ”

“But…but…” Bobbie came out of her stupor, sputtering.

“That can’t be. The part about me owning it, I mean.

When I needed a loan, my brother Drew had to cosign.

Not only for the boat, but later on, for the catering business.

If I owned the house, wouldn’t I have been able to get those loans on my own, using the property as collateral? ”

“No,” Tex informed her bluntly. “At that first juncture, when you got your boat loan, you were just shy of eighteen, and Drew had power of attorney over you. Your bank would have seen that you owned the house, but they still needed someone of age as a co-signee.”

“Seriously?” Bobbie looked shocked, and Buck’s arm went around her shoulders in support.

“Just as I said,” Tex informed her. “When your parents left, you were young, and therefore not of legal age. You needed someone who could advocate for you; sign documents and such in case you…got sick, or wanted to go to college.”

Right. Like that had worked out.

“Your parents gave Drew, the oldest, power of attorney to make sure things went smoothly until you were eighteen and able to take over.”

“But I never did,” Bobbie groaned. “Take over, I mean.”

“Right. That’s because right before Drew ‘magnanimously’ cosigned on that first boat loan, he slipped in a bullshit document—one he had legally drawn up—that said he’d be in charge of the entire estate not just until you reached your majority, but until you put in writing that you were ready to take over as primary. ”

“But… But…” Bobbie was clearly having trouble digesting this.

Damn. The prick had never told Bobbie.

Buck had never wanted to inflict bodily harm on anyone as much as he did on the pair right now.

Tex’s voice grew gentle. “Yeah. You actually signed that document giving him all the power, Bobbie. I’ve seen a copy, and it’s your legal signature. And of course he never told you that there was anything that would eventually need to be reversed.”

“I… They…,” Bobbie made a feral sound in the back of her throat.

“There were a lot of papers back then. Drew would put them in front of me and tell me where to sign my name. I had no idea what I was doing. I thought it was all about legal stuff to do with my parents leaving, and then buying my boat.”

“Well, it was and it wasn’t,” Tex told her.

“You did sign the documents regarding wardship and the like. And those loan papers? Drew’s signature, as well as yours, went on them.

But I hate to tell you, you also extended his power of attorney until you revoked it.

Which you haven’t. Legally, he, to this day, still holds the reins. ”

“So the same thing happened with my business? I could have taken out that loan on my own if I’d known to sever Drew’s hold over me?”

“That’s correct,” Tex told her. “And it also answers for why they wanted to scare any smart suiters away. Meaning Buck. They were afraid if things got serious, someone outside their sphere might start helping you with your finances, and uncover what they’d done.

In the same regard, they couldn’t let you go to college, because the admissions office might have tripped over the same thing. ”

“Holy shit,” Bobbie breathed. “Just when I think they couldn’t have screwed me over any harder…”

Tex went on. “I’m sorry, Bobbie, but since we can’t undo what’s been done, maybe we shouldn’t linger on the past right now.

I’ve started the ball rolling on your behalf, and have already hired an attorney I know to draw up papers that put you back in charge of yourself.

Which means that very soon you’ll have decisions to make.

Like what you’ll do with the house, and whether or not you’ll allow your brothers to keep living there.

That’s if they don’t go away to prison for a long time, considering what else I found. ”

Bobbie’s face went from devastated to hardened in a flash. “Tell me,” she demanded.

“Can I intervene for a moment?” Chief Ildavorg asked. “I have a feeling the next thing you reveal might be a whopper, so I’d like to apprise Buck of what was found on his property this morning.”

Buck sucked in a breath. “I’m listening.”

“We found several five-gallon containers of gasoline placed in the woods around your house. We believe that if you hadn’t made noise and stopped whichever brother was on site, he would have set your place on fire with the hopes of killing you.”

“Son of a…” Buck had no words, but Bobbie reached for his hand and squeezed it, looking dismayed.

“It’s evidence, now,” he told them. “But we have to stop this pair before they cause any real harm.”

Tex jumped right in. “In that regard, I actually had somebody do some…snooping around your property.”

Not her brothers’ property, but hers.

Tex didn’t sound bothered to admit he’d sent someone to trespass. He actually seemed pumped. “I won’t elaborate on who I got to have a look, but let’s just say that beer isn’t the only thing your brothers are brewing up in that barn of yours.”

Buck knew it took Bobbie a second to understand that the barn was, indeed, hers.

Which fucking blew Buck’s mind, because it had been, all along.

“What are they doing in there?” Bobbie finally asked. This time her voice sounded far less sure.

“They’re cutting MDMA with fentanyl.”

“Ah, shit.” The chief, who’d been silent up until this point, let out a swear that Buck knew was antithetical to how the man presented himself.

Mason just growled.

“MDMA?” Bobbie repeated, clearly the only one in the dark.

Buck expounded on Tex’s terminology.

“You probably know it as Molly, a psychoactive street drug.”

“That’s correct,” Tex confirmed.

Understanding dawned on Bobbie’s face, and she grew irate all over again.

“And my brothers? They cut it with fentanyl, then…sell it?” she glowered.

Her eyes suddenly went wide and her mouth fell open. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God! That’s what I’ve been bringing to Canada every week.”

That realization hit Buck at the exact same time, and he didn’t know what had him angrier. That the pair were dealing out of Bobbie’s barn, or that they’d used her as a mule.

Buck hated that she’d been duped.

Bobbie continued. “ That’s what those rich people are taking after they eat that make them all…giddy and out-of-it.” Her face twisted up in fury. “Damn them. I thought I was bringing beer to Monsieur Provard, when all this time I’ve been smuggling drugs.”

Buck didn’t want Bobbi thinking about that too hard; about her imagined culpability. He chose to shift her perspective, get her thinking about what she could do from here on out to mitigate her misplaced feeling of guilt.

“So, we’re going to stop them, right?” he asked Tex. “What’s Bobbie’s next move?”

“I’m glad you asked. Everybody listen up, because I have a plan…”

Twenty minutes later they’d hashed out almost all the details, and Buck didn’t like it. The scheme revolved around Bobbie being central to a sting, and there were so many ways it could go wrong.

Buck’s skin crawled. He couldn’t deny her involvement, though, because Bobbie was eager and one hundred percent on board with the plan. The quickest way to alienate her was to tell her she couldn’t do something. He knew that well, from the past.

Fuck.

What choice did he have but to keep mum, even though it was killing him.

To give Tex his due, the scheme was a good one, but nothing was foolproof.

It would be up to Buck to make sure nothing went sideways.

Even if he couldn’t be with Bobbie at certain, crucial moments, he could make sure, somehow, that he was nearby.

In that regard, a call to Spence would be taking place as soon as Tex hung up.

Tex’s idea was for Bobbie to make her Canadian trip next week, per usual.

But this time her boat would be tagged with a tracking device, and she’d be closely monitored by the Canadian Coast Guard in joint operation with Border Patrol, the US Coast Guard and the Canadian Royal Mounted Police—dubbed the Shiprider Program.

The various agencies would watch from afar, wait for the product to be offloaded from Bobbie’s boat and into Monsieur Provard’s house, then they’d conduct a raid on the mansion.

Tex speculated out loud that the substance Bobbie was bringing up was most likely a drop in the bucket for the drugs Provard would have on hand.

Buck certainly hoped so. A misdemeanor charge for minor possession would mean that Provard might stay out of prison.

Not on Buck’s watch, so it was time to add a bit of insurance to the plan.

“How about this? We have the Canadians arrest Bobbie, too,” Buck suggested.

“Bogusly, of course,” he clarified when he caught sight of Bobbie’s shocked face.

“That way if Provard’s possession of an illicit substance gets him a simple slap on the wrist—because from what Bobbie said, he knows a lot of government officials—the man won’t go after her, thinking she was part of the set-up. ”

“Good call,” Tex agreed. “We can make that happen. But only if you’re comfortable with it, Bobbie.”

She nodded. “I am. I definitely don’t want any blowback if the slimy man wiggles off the hook. But…what about my brothers?”

Chief Ildavorg took it upon himself to answer. “At the same time the sting is taking place in Canada, I’ll have Federal agents, along with our police force, raiding the barn. There’s no way your brothers will escape justice, Bobbie. I promise.”

Buck was happy to hear that. One of his other, major concerns had been that Drew and Jeff would blame Bobbie for everything happening in Canada, and they’d take it out on her in some heinous way.

Wasn’t it bad enough that they’d ruined her young life? And his, for that matter.

Probably not. People like Drew and Jeff only thought about themselves.

The pair deserved everything the law could throw at them, including, it looked like, a possible attempted murder charge, considering the accelerant at Buck’s house.

“The hardest part for you, Bobbie,” Mason finally put in his two cents worth, “will be to act normally over the next week. You’ll have to put on a good show. We don’t want your brothers suspecting anything, or this will all be for naught.”

“Don’t worry,” she said, resolutely. “I can handle them. I’ve been tiptoeing around the pair for more than half my life, and nothing is going to keep me from making sure they get what they deserve.”

Buck was so proud of Bobbie. She’d metaphorically been hit over the head with a two-by-four during the last half hour, and here she was taking it all in stride.

With Bobbie still naked on the bed beside him, Buck was privy to the red flush that had worked its way up her chest during the entire conversation. But he didn’t see it as a weakness. Hell, no. He’d seen it as her harnessing her dismay, and drawing on it to strengthen her resolve.

She really was something else.

“Okay,” Tex made a clicking noise with his tongue. “If we’re finished here, Melody is calling me for supper. If anything comes up—and I mean anything—that might shake up our plans, call me, the chief, and/or Mason immediately. We’ll adapt if we have to.”

“Thank you, Tex,” Bobbie told the man, sincerely. “You’ve literally just changed my life. I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Tex demurred. “After it’s all over, then you can think about it. You and Buck might even toy with the idea of naming your firstborn after me.”

Buck almost swallowed his tongue.

Bobbie wasn’t flustered in the least.

“Little Tex?” she laughed.

Buck was glad Tex had turned things to a lighter note, but also shocked by Bobbie’s response.

“Actually, John,” Tex reminded her. “My given name is John.”

She snorted. “Huh. That’s so…normal for a man who seems to be able to work miracles.” Her face became resolute. “You know what, Tex? You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Holy freaking …

Buck couldn’t wait for Tex, Mason, and the chief to hang up.

Bobbie had just freaking agreed to name their first born after Tex. Which had to mean…

Yeah. He didn’t want to read anything into it, but had Bobbie finally decided she was ready to love him again?