Page 151 of Capturing You

Though he'd insisted he could handle listening to the tapes, after he’d started the recording again, he’d sunk into the chair, propped his elbows on his knees, and held his head in his hands.

Seemed he was just taking in his father’s voice, savoring it.

Brooklynn, on the other hand, made copious notes, stopping the recording when necessary, jotting down every name, every place, every date, every detail from the cassettes.

When she wasn’t writing, she took everything off the large desk and laid out all her notes and all the handwritten notes Charles had hidden in his files.

His final words on the cassettes weren’t significant, only details about a June shipment and when it was due to arrive. There’d been no indication that he knew someone had learned of his duplicity.

The last recording played until, when it reached the end of the tape, it shut itself off, a loud click in the otherwise silent room.

Forbes had hardly moved.

Now, he took a big breath, blew it out, and looked up. His gaze caught on the desktop. “You’ve been busy.” Apparently, he’d been so intent on the voices he’d missed all her activity.

“Trying to get organized.” She searched his face for grief or sadness, but those were gone now. His expression was back to the stoic one that was his norm.

He stood and studied the information they’d gathered. “Any insights?”

She’d been standing too long, and her ankle throbbed. She settled on her chair and propped her leg up.

Forbes bent over the desk, his forehead wrinkled in concentration. His jaw was set, his chin strong. He supported his weight on his arms, bulging his muscles. This man was highly intelligent, incredibly kind, and exceedingly beautiful.

“I think we should look for repeated names and initials,” she said, “see if we can match them up.”

“Good plan.” They set to work.

By the time they were finished, they had a list of twenty name-and-initial pairings.

OT had been mentioned a lot.OT took care of that. OT handled it on his end.

“I think OT is Leo Taggart,” Brooklynn suggested.

“Why?” He didn’t seem skeptical, just curious as to her logic. “His name is Leo.”

“Your father seemed to believe he had a lot of authority and ability to handle the problems as they arose. What if OT stands for Officer Taggart?”

“Wow. That could be true. It’s the best guess we have so far.” Still standing, he penciled the man’s name beside the initials, then tapped the next pairing. “SD could be the fisherman, Shane Dawson.”

“He’s Bryce’s uncle.”

While he wrote that name, she found notes about him in the notebook. “Your father said, ‘SD could be an asset.’” She looked up. “So maybe SD—Shane, if it’s him—wasn’t involved?”

“If Dad really was a confidential informant, then maybe. But if that’s the case, then how did his nephew get involved now?”

“Someone else recruited him.”

“Another unknown someone,” Forbes muttered. He tapped the nameStratton,one of the few people called by name on the cassettes. “Tell me about Maury Stratton.”

“It can’t be her.”

Forbes straightened, his eyebrows high on his forehead.

She knew exactly what that look meant. “I mean, I know itcouldbe. I’m just… I can’t imagine Maury being involved in something like this.”

“She found you in the historical society today. So she could’ve alerted someone.”

Brooklynn’s certainty dissolved. “But why would she…?”