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Janelle looked up when she heard a voice come from the door. Surprised, she hopped to her feet and walked over to Guilliam. “Hi,” she greeted him, a smile in her tone as she studied his face. “You look tired.”

He nodded as he searched her face. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice gentle.

She nodded, then shrugged. “I’m okay. Tough times here though.”

“I know.” He turned to face her mother in the hospital bed and sighed. “It’s hard to see her like this. She was so full of life. So, nothing that they could do to treat this, huh ?”

“No. She fought and fought hard, until, one day, no more fight was left in her,” Janelle shared. “And then Mom asked to stop the treatments.”

He winced. “And you let her?”

“Ah, you know me so well,” she muttered, a note of bitterness in her tone. “I fought her on it, but she was tired, and she was ready to go.”

“Your father has been gone for many years.”

“Yes. I’m sure that played a part in her decision too—not to mention the fact that the doctors kept telling her they could keep trying, but they didn’t hold out any hope.”

“Well then, if there’s no hope, it makes you question what you are putting her through and why.”

“Exactly, and that was the point I came to,” she murmured. “It wasn’t easy, but we’re here now. And it will all be over soon.”

“When you say soon , what does that look like?”

She shrugged. “They’re looking for a hospice placement, so I would say less than a month, maybe less than a couple weeks. Today one of the nurses told me that Mom may not make it to hospice and may go while she’s here.”

He nodded, then walked over to stroke her mother’s hand. “I always loved her.”

Janelle felt tears in the back of the throat at that. “I’m sure you won’t appreciate this, but, when I told her this morning that you were back, the first thing she said was, Good timing .”

He asked, “Why would she say that?”

“Because she’s worried about me,” she replied, “as are a lot of my friends.”

“Of course. This has been your life for a long time, hasn’t it?”

She nodded. “Yes. A very long time,” she murmured, as she stared down at her mother. “While it’s been an honor and a joy, it’s also been damn hard, the hardest thing I could ever do.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what it would do to you.”

“How could you? Honestly, I had no idea what I was in for,” she explained. “So, why would you know? How can anybody understand the process, particularly when you expect that it will turn out fine, only to then suddenly find out it’s not fine at all? You’re just dealing with the aftermath and the slow decline.” She shrugged. “It’s been one of the hardest battles I’ve ever had to face. And it wasn’t even mine.”

“It was definitely yours,” he corrected, as he walked to her. “It was your battle because you are here for her, come thick or thin. You should be proud of the battle you waged, and she needs to be at peace with the battle she waged. And, if she’s ready to go, and it’s her time, then she’ll go,” he stated. “No guilt. No wish- we-could-haves,” he murmured. “It’s all about one day at a time and getting through this next stage of your life.”

She sniffled several times and let out a long breath, not sure what to say. In a way, it was wonderful to hear him speak this way and lovely to have this conversation, mostly because part of her still felt guilty that she couldn’t get her mother to fight anymore. However, there just wasn’t anything more that could be done to save her mom. Janelle understood, yet she didn’t understand at all. Who could understand it? It was all too much. Too much pain, too much torment, and too difficult to watch somebody you loved and cared for so deeply go through this.

As she reached for the Kleenex in her bag one more time, he sat down beside her. “I have access to the criminal database, so I was hoping you could take a look and see if you recognize anyone.”

She nodded and pulled out her phone. “Don’t bother yelling at me. This is all I have.” Then she held up the picture on her phone.

He looked at it and frowned. “ Ha .”

“What’s ha ?”

He went back to his laptop, brought up the site that he was looking for, then flipped through it, finding something. It quickly became obvious that he was looking for something specific.

Janelle realized that maybe Guilliam recognized the fake doctor too. She waited and waited, until suddenly he brought up an image.

“Him?” he asked.

She looked at it and then slowly nodded. “Yes, him. How did you know?”

“Just something about that tilt of his chin. I’ve seen him before. As a matter fact, I think we’ve…” He frowned. “As much as I don’t want to say it this way, I think we’ve been up against him before.”

She stared. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing good. Absolutely nothing good. So, you’re sure this is him?”

She nodded. “Yes, it’s absolutely him.”

“I need a moment.” Then he got up and went out into the hallway to make a phone call.

She didn’t need to be within earshot to know that he was upset, and obviously it revolved around this man. She studied the photo on the laptop. His name was Scott Smith, which sounded like an alias to her. He supposedly had the nickname of Scotch. She didn’t know how he got such a nickname, but still the man in question didn’t speak with an accent or anything. She studied his face for a long moment and realized the mug shot was a good likeness. If he appeared to be slightly older now, that would be normal, even expected.

Then Guilliam came back and sat down beside her.

“Are you going to get him?” she asked.

“We’ll certainly start hunting for him. How long ago did you see him here?”

She thought about it and winced. “It’s probably been just over an hour.”

He nodded. “We will get access to the hospital camera footage and see where all he went.”

“I’m sure the hospital will love that.”

“They had somebody impersonating a doctor on their premises,” he pointed out. “Believe me that anything I do is nothing compared to what the media would do if they find out.”

“I mentioned that to him.”

He stopped and stared at her.

“I know. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned anything.”

“You shouldn’t have spoken to him at all about anything,” he stated. “The fact that you did blows me away.”

“It blows me away too,” she muttered. “I just wanted to get a picture of him, so I could send it to you, to see whether this was a problem or not. And then he comes by, caught me taking a picture and got angry.”

“Not to mention the fact that it might break a few laws. You’re generally not allowed to photograph people if they don’t want to be photographed.”

“It’s not as if he’s allowed to impersonate a doctor either,” she argued caustically.

“So, how did you know he wasn’t a doctor?”

“He was just roaming the hallways, looking a bit on the lost side,” she began. “It just seemed wrong. Doctors are here, but they’re busy. They come and they go, but they do it with intention. They’re never just wandering around lost in the hallways.”

He nodded. “I can see how that would get your attention.”

“I’m here all the time,” she noted. “I don’t pop out of Mom’s room all the time, so I definitely don’t get to see my fill of doctors. In my situation, I’m always waiting, hoping to speak to a doctor. And, when you do, they come and go quickly. You get to know their routine to the degree that you can, specialists aside, so you can speak to them. This guy just didn’t check any of those boxes.”

“Okay, good enough.” Guilliam smiled. “You’re right. He isn’t necessarily somebody you would have recognized in a white coat, except that he was acting off , which caused you to look at him more closely.”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “And I saw him enough times in that same lost state that it bothered me. Then I started making a point to pay closer attention and to watch for him.”

He pondered that. “You mentioned how you saw him come out of a closet.”

“Yes. And I didn’t have the best thoughts right off the bat. I was thinking, oh great, that doctor probably had some sweet young nurse in there, and they were banging it on the counter.” His eyes widened at her phrase. She shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly a flattering first thought.”

“No, it doesn’t sound like it,” he agreed, his lips twitching.

She glared at him. “There’s always shit going on in a place like this, but you just don’t really see it.”

“And nobody wants to see it either,” he pointed out.

“No, and that’s part of the problem. It seemed to me like he shouldn’t have been in the closet. I guess that’s what I wanted to say, and I didn’t know why he was there.”

“Probably getting his doctor’s coat,” Guilliam suggested.

She stared at him and murmured, “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Who knows what he was really doing, and that’s not an issue for you,” he replied, “but I don’t want you aggravating him.”

She snorted. “You mean, aggravate him any more than I already have?”

“You may have chased him away, and that’ll make it that much harder for us to find him.”

She winced. “Ah, jeez, I didn’t think of that either.”

He smiled. “It’s not the end of the world if you did. We’ll find him. I promise.”

“Sure,” she muttered, “but it still makes me feel shitty.”

He winced. “That’s not my intention, and I don’t want you feeling shitty. I just want you to look after yourself, so it’s not a horrific deal that blows back on you.”

She nodded. “I can do that.”

He hesitated, then added, “I’m not even sure it’s safe to leave you here.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Why? Because of the altercation I got into with our fake doctor?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Think about it. This guy potentially could make your life very difficult.”

“He’s not a doctor, so, if he’s trying to get me kicked out, as he threatened he would, that will only cause troubles for him,” she muttered.

“I don’t think he’s worried about kicking you out,” Guilliam replied. “More to the point is that he would have picked up on the idea that you could now recognize him, and, after the altercation, you may very well have told somebody.”

“And you think that will cause me some trouble?”

He looked over at her and asked, “What do you think?”

She winced. “I don’t know what to think because I don’t know who this guy is or what he’s up to. I just think it’s a shitty deal that he gets to walk around like that.”

“Sure, but the fact that he’s been doing that also means that he’s up to no good, and, if he’s up to no good, what lengths will he go to in order to keep you from telling anybody that you saw him, and that you saw what he was doing?”

She stared at him. “So now, what you’re telling me is that I could be in danger.”

He groaned, then sat back. “Yes. I believe you could be in danger.” She glared at him, and he shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

“There’s nothing to say,” she noted. “I don’t normally get into trouble, you know.”

“Normally?” he repeated. “I can recall a couple times where you got pretty upset.”

“Sure, but that was over injustices,” she muttered. “It’s not fair for you to bring that up.”

He laughed. “It might not be fair,” he pointed out, “but for bad guys up to no good, I don’t think fair will be very high on their list of issues.”

“So, what do I do then?” she asked. “I can stay out of his way.”

“But he knows what room you’re in, right?”

“Sure, but I’m not leaving my mother,” she declared, her voice adamant. “No way. I’m here right through to the bitter end.”

“I get that,” he said, “and I understand that. It would be awfully nice, though, if we had a way to keep you from getting into any more trouble.”

“How do you propose doing that? Even if they move us, the fake doc will still be around, so he’ll still hassle me if he sees me. And, if he wanted to find me, if he’s got any skills at all, he could certainly do so.”

“Maybe, and it could be a whole lot more than hassling you,” he pointed out. “That mug shot name is fake as well. So we don’t know who this guy is or what he is up to, and I don’t want him coming back to stop you from saying anything to anybody.”

She sat back and glared at him.

He nodded. “I know. It’s not what you want either. However, you pulled the tiger’s tail, and that tiger, in theory, could be very dangerous.”

She stared off into the distance. “That would really suck if somebody’s out there, making my life even more difficult.”

“Yeah, well, I’m guessing he is probably out there somewhere, thinking you ’re the one making his life difficult.”

She nodded, followed by a chuckle. “You’re right. I think he probably is.” She groaned. “What have I gotten myself into this time?”

“I don’t know, but I sure wish you weren’t in the middle of it.”

She looked over at him and nodded. “Again, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Maybe not, yet here you are,” he said. “And it’s not something we can get you out of that quickly.”

“I’m staying right here too,” she repeated, as she looked around the room. “So, I’m not sure there’s anything we can work out to change the situation.”

“We have to come up with a working solution,” he replied. “I just don’t know what it will be. I’ll talk to the others, and we’ll sort it out. In the meantime, if you see him at all, you tell me immediately. If you do see him, please don’t approach him, don’t say anything to him, don’t do anything.”

She glared at him but nodded.

“And, yes, I’m serious. We don’t know what he’s up to. But, if he’s somehow involved in the attack on Mason or these associated issues, for all we know, you could be his next victim.”

*

Guilliam sighed. Frustrated that Janelle didn’t seem to be getting the message, he arranged with the hospital to relocate her mother and requested a private room at his expense. He wasn’t sure if the insurance money would cover it or not, but the hospital was okay to move her, so long as somebody would pay for the additional costs. When Jasper contacted him a little later, he explained what he had done.

“That’s a start,” Jasper noted, “but it’s not likely to be a final solution.”

“I know. It’s frustrating because we have no way of knowing when he might find her again. I keep hoping that something will break first.”

“Oh, I think something is bound to break,” Jasper stated. “We’ve got some new information at least, and one of the guys we have in custody has decided to talk.”

“Good. Now if we can find this asshole at the hospital, pretending to be a doctor, I will take that as another big sign.”

“You think he’s connected?”

“I wouldn’t if he hadn’t showed up near Mason’s room too. That, and his other actions are suspicious enough that we have to consider it a real possibility and take more precautions.”

“I agree with that,” he murmured, “and I’ve told Tesla, so she’s on the lookout.”

“That’s good, though it might not be enough to change anything.”

“Might not be, but that’s not the point. What’s important is that everybody is aware. Did we deal with intel sharing for shift changes of the guards?”

“Yes, and we put two extra guards on, starting today, just because of it.”

“Good,” Jasper muttered. “I wish our fake doctor would take a chance and would try to get to somebody. At least then we could stop his attempt and have another guy to interrogate. The one guy in jail who’s interested in talking wants a free pass.”

“That ain’t happening,” Guilliam snapped, anger curling through his tone as he thought about the crime against Mason that had started all this.

“I know. And you can bet that none of the bosses are too inclined to give in to him either, but they also know that we need to solve this thing, and need to do it quickly. It’s been too long already.”

“I know,” he conceded, “which is why I’m here now.”

“And that’s great and proving to be helpful already. I mean, you’ve got a girlfriend in the hospital who has, right or wrong, identified a shady character.”

“But he’s also on our list of majorly shady characters,” he pointed out.

“Yes, you’re right in that sense, so we need to find him, but now I want you to come talk to our prisoners.”

“Oh, I would love to have a crack at them,” Guilliam replied, “particularly in the mood I’m in.”

Jasper snorted. “Not sure anybody would be okay with you beating the crap out of them,” he noted, “but I’m more than willing to step out and turn a blind eye.”

Guilliam laughed. “Generally that’s not required, and my sunny disposition does the trick, but I’ll hunt you up when I get done.”

“You do that,” Jasper said, with a chuckle.

Taking his leave of the hospital, glad that Gideon had someone drop his car off, Guilliam headed down to the investigators’ office and to the holding area where the three men were being kept. Two were in a cell together, and one of those two wanted a deal.

As Guilliam walked in, the guy crossed his arms and stared at him with a bored expression. Guilliam just shrugged, turned, and walked right back out again.

“Hey, wait,” the guy called out.

Guilliam stopped at the doorway, pivoting to face him. “Wait for what?” he asked. “I’ve got no time to wait.”

“No, I get it. I hear Mason’s still alive though.”

“He is, and that just means some asshole is likely to make another attempt.”

The prisoner immediately nodded. “Yes, and I think that is exactly what will happen.”

“We already have somebody at the hospital acting suspiciously.”

His gaze widened at that news.

Guilliam nodded. “He’s not very good at whatever he’s supposed to be doing.”

The other guy winced. “Right, sometimes you can’t get good help,” he muttered.

“Maybe, but, in a case like this, it’s definitely to our benefit that idiots are out there, hiring more idiots.”

He shrugged. “Not my deal.”

“ Not your deal won’t be your deal because you’re heading to prison,” Guilliam stated. “So I don’t give a shit what you want.” The prisoner just glared at him, and Guilliam shrugged. “If you’ve got something to say, say it. Otherwise I’ve got another prisoner to talk to.”

“I already said what I wanted.”

“Yeah, that’s nice and not happening. You’re headed for life in prison, and honestly, I don’t give a damn if they throw away the key. You’re also looking at being court-martialed. So, as far as I’m concerned, that will be way worse than anything the civil system will give you.”

The other man didn’t say a word.

Guilliam turned to walk out.

The prisoner called out again, “Hang on.”

Bored, Guilliam turned. “You’ve got two minutes to give me a reason not to walk out.”

“Oh, I have a good reason. That suspicious guy in the hospital? He’s not really good at his job, but somehow he always manages to get the job done.”

“He’s looking for Mason, I presume.”

The other guy nodded. “He’s just another one of the lackeys.”

“We’re already looking for him, and Mason’s got triple guards, so the chances of somebody getting through to him are not great. We’re doing everything we can to ensure that nobody gets a second chance at him. Right now we’re more interested in finding out who put this in motion and why.”

“I don’t know about the why,” the prisoner replied. “All I know is that it had to do with somebody Mason killed.”

Guilliam frowned. “Mason’s job required him to kill dozens.”

“I know,” the guy said, with a nod. “Maybe you should be looking at the people in question.”

“We already are, but, so far, nothing in particular has popped.”

He shrugged. “That’s because you’re thinking missions. You need to be thinking closer to home.” And, with that, he shut up, but added, “That’s all I’m giving you.”

Guilliam walked out of the temporary holding cell section into the main building for the investigative team. He found Masters and Jasper standing there, waiting on him.

“What did he say?” When Guilliam told them, Jasper stared at him and repeated, “ Closer to home and not a mission . We have flagged several cases that fit that bill, where Mason’s been involved in it,” he murmured.

“How bad were they?”

“Some were bad. Some might even have involved Tesla,” he noted.

“When you say, involved Tesla , what does that mean?”

“One was a home invasion of a friend of theirs. After the home invasion, the friend got pissed off when he found out that nobody was interested in following up on it. Mason started to apply pressure for an investigation. It wasn’t handled within the military, so the local cops were dealing with it. However, there wasn’t a whole lot of evidence, so the case remains active. Then somebody came after Mason and attacked Tesla.”

Guilliam’s eyebrows shot up. “I didn’t hear about that.”

“Right, because Mason dealt with it the way Mason always deals with stuff, cold and efficient. The guy died on the spot. It was a clean kill because the guy was in Mason’s house, holding a gun to Tesla, clearly after revenge. It was the same guy from the home invasion of Mason’s friend.”

“So, what then? A family member coming for justice? Do we have some punk out there who’s related to this dead intruder, who decides Mason’s to blame? This sniper shooting of Mason is one huge op for some Joe Blow to fund.”

Jasper nodded. “If you consider that this guy went after Mason because Mason was trying to solve the case for this friend of theirs, it makes sense that maybe our mastermind comes from the same gene pool.”

“So, in other words, friends or family.”

“Exactly. And that would also explain why none of these names or cases are in our files.”

“Agreed. Which means we need to go to town and talk to the local police.”

At that, Jasper grinned. “I know exactly who you need to talk to.”

“Good. Give me the details, and I’ll be on my way.”

It took about thirty-five minutes to get to the police station, and, when he walked in and asked to see Chief Princeton, he was surprised to see a woman waiting for him.

She smiled. “I see Jasper didn’t give you a heads-up. I’m Alex Carlon-Princeton, Chief of Police.”

He shrugged, reaching out to shake her hand. “He spoke highly of your work in the position. If you have information you can help us with, I would appreciate it.”

“I pulled up the file that Jasper mentioned, when he called earlier today. How is Mason doing?” she asked, looking over at him.

“As well as he can at this point. He’s alive and has surfaced a couple times, then goes right back under. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing because, if he wakes up, and we haven’t got this solved, we are not keeping that man in the hospital.”

Her face cracked with a beaming smile, as she nodded. “You’ve got that right. So, I didn’t realize we were looking outside of his military career.”

“We are again looking at Mason’s own home invasion.”

Her face sobered up immediately, and she nodded. “Yes, but it was a clean kill. Somebody came in with the intent to hurt them.”

“I get it. A man has a right to defend his own home, to protect his family. Believe me that I understand. I’m not blaming Mason in any way, but Mason killed an intruder. Whether legally or not, that doesn’t mean that somebody close to this dead intruder might have a different idea of justice.”

“No doubt the kid who stupidly broke into Mason’s home—and his friend’s house earlier—was doing it more for a lark and because he was bored.”

Guilliam sat back and stared at her. “The kid was bored? The one involved in the home invasion?”

She nodded. “He had a very entitled lifestyle, and he didn’t have enough eyes on him to keep him out of trouble, apparently. As far as he was concerned, life was just—”

“Names?” he said quickly.

She handed him a piece of paper. “I already summarized what information there was on both home invasions, plus a list of the dead intruder’s family and friends. It’s not a whole lot of names.”

“But it confirms that this is the guy who was doing the home invasions.”

She nodded. “Yeah, and apparently he bragged a fair bit to Mason, while he was in their home, holding a gun to Tesla’s head.”

Guilliam winced at that. “That’s a death sentence right there.”

She nodded. “I hear you, and I get it, but we still can’t have any vigilante justice.”

“So, it is correct to assume that the parents of this kid had an issue with what happened?”

“They called it murder, and of course it wasn’t, but they also didn’t want to believe that their son had been involved in all these B&Es. Of course they miraculously all stopped once he was dead. Plus, he confessed to Mason, who had it recorded. Still, the parents claimed it was under duress, even though he was clearly bragging about it.”

“Right. So, we have a typical father, who doesn’t want to believe his kid’s a bad seed.”

“Typical well-to-do father who believed his kid could do no wrong,” she added. “That’s always a problem.”

“Definitely a problem,” he muttered. “Not fun.”

“No, not for any of us,” she replied. “I took quite a bit of flak over it all. The locals were fine with it, of course, because all the break-ins stopped. Plus, the son had started to go over the edge a little bit.”

“Meaning?”

“The kid took trophies from the houses he broke into. Underwear—ladies’ underwear, of course.”

“Aw, shit,” Guilliam muttered. “This guy was on his way to becoming a rapist then, and that probably would have progressed pretty quickly.”

“He did threaten to rape Tesla, right in front of Mason,” she shared.

Guilliam stared at her in shock, and she nodded. “Wow,” Guilliam replied. “Did the kid know who she was?”

“I don’t know. Mason was upset for this friend, who had been the victim in a prior B&E. Mason came to me about his friend’s home invasion, which was already on my docket, but we just didn’t have any evidence of who was involved. Mason pretty well set himself up as bait, publicly promising to take down this guy, suggesting that his place be next on the list.”

“Ah, crap, such a Mason thing to do. I am surprised he did it with Tesla there though.”

“She wasn’t supposed to be there. She was going to her father’s, but then something came up at work, so she returned home, which put her right in the line of fire. Mason had no idea she was there. So, when he came home, he found her with this guy. It didn’t take long for things to escalate.”

“No, it wouldn’t. Jeez, poor Tesla. I hadn’t heard about that.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s all but forgotten about it. Honestly, if ever a gal could get over things and move on, it would be her.”

“You do know them well, don’t you?”

She smiled and laughed. “Yes. I’m also married to Macklin. So, as he is a member of Mason’s team,” she murmured, “that puts me in the inner circle for many things.”

He smiled at that. “Nice to know you are part of Mason’s extended family.”

“Still enforcing the laws and keeping order in this city,” she stated.

He chuckled. “I didn’t need the reminder, but thank you.”

Her grin flashed. “Just making sure.”

“As you should,” he said, with a nod. “In the meantime, what kind of reception can I expect from the family?”

“The worst. If you’re planning on talking to them, expect to get kicked out. And, if they realize that you’re on Mason’s side, you might even be facing the barrel of a shotgun.” He stared at her in surprise, and she nodded. “Trust me on this that no love is lost from that group now.”

“Can you tell me anything about the family?”

“Self-made megamillionaires. Granddad set up some junkyards way back when, and he slowly built it up into a huge business, and now also owns grocery stores across the country.”

“The dead kid’s father is the only son to Granddad?”

“Son-in-law, one of two,” she clarified. “And unfortunately the family pretty much babied the kid the entire time, so he had no challenges in life, which is why, as soon as Mason challenged him, the kid thought that would be one of his ultimate thrills. I think this was when he thought maybe he’d step it up to a killing, maybe with a rape of Tesla while he made Mason watch the rape.” Guilliam let out a slow exhale at that. She nodded. “Just so you realize that the family doesn’t believe the kid was guilty, and certainly didn’t think anything of his crimes.”

“We went through all of Mason’s military cases, and, sure, there have been multiple killings, but again they were all classified as good kills.”

“It doesn’t matter how something is classified. When somebody thinks their loved one was treated unfairly, it’s a done deal, and you’ll never convince them otherwise.”

“It’s sad, isn’t it?” he murmured. “A lot of people were hurt by his kid’s actions.”

“We had almost a dozen B&E cases that we feel were all his intrusions,” she noted.

“So, how did Mason know it was him?”

“He got a bit of a description from his friend, and then he had an inkling over something the kid said during one of our interrogations.” She stopped and then frowned. “I think the father or maybe the grandfather had a military connection, and that just set off the kid. Whatever he said got Mason’s attention, something about somebody in the military would take care of things.”

“So, he was counting on somebody else in the navy looking after him as well?”

“Seems like it, but I don’t really know because that military connection never did get clarified. And I don’t have anybody to clarify it now either.”

“And who else is in this family tree?”

“I’ve lived here long enough to know something about that bunch. The grandfather is the oldest living patriarch. His wife died some years ago, and they have two daughters. He favored one over the other, as he loves to pit people against each other, even in his own bloodline. Both daughters married, and both had one child, each a son. The one Mason killed was the old man’s favorite, of course.”

“Is everybody left in the old man’s family in good health?”

“No, the favored daughter is undergoing cancer treatment, so she’s not in very good health. I understand her husband blames all this stress for creating her condition. So, what you’re heading into, if you’re planning on talking to them, is sure to be aggressive and all negative.”

“Got it,” he noted. “I may have to delay a face-to-face with them. Don’t want to give them a heads-up that we’re looking at them. Still, it would have been nice if the B&E kid would have thought about the repercussions of that before he headed down this pathway.”

“Wouldn’t it? But, with no challenges growing up, no guardrails, he didn’t have to study, didn’t have to work, didn’t have to do anything. Trust-fund kid.”

“And yet you would think they would be planning ahead, so he would have the skill set needed to take over the family business one day.”

“Not sure Dad was prepared to make that happen, and the kid probably realized it wouldn’t happen for a long time, so he figured he had time anyway. That’s if he thought about it at all. It’s not as if he’s ever needed to do anything in his entire life.”

“Crap.” Guilliam got up. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

She added, “You also need to be aware that, if anything happens, and I get called in to deal with you”—she eyed him pointedly—“there won’t be any special treatment.”

He gave her a bright toothy smile. “And that I appreciate.”

She shook her head, a wry smile on her face. “You’re all the same, aren’t you?”

“Hey, Tesla’s a very good friend of mine,” he noted, “and I count Mason as one of my best friends in the world. So, if I can do anything to make this all stop, to resolve the continuing threat to Mason, and to stop the escalating body count, I’m all in.”

She nodded. “I did hear from Jasper that the head count’s gone up,” she murmured. “If anybody crosses onto my side of that base, I’ll be all over it.”

“And that’s possible,” Guilliam replied. “No idea whether it will or won’t, but I’ll do my best to keep it on the base.”

She laughed. “You’re not doing me any favors if you do because Macklin’s already involved in the background, as far as I can tell.” She snorted. “I’m quite happy to help resolve all this properly, and once and for all.”

“Sure, but you also know that, when things go to shit, nobody’s worrying about location.”

“I think the kid went to the base on purpose.”

“Why is that?”

“He had the means to get in and out because of his grandfather’s company. I think he used the company vehicle to access the base, and I think that, while he was there, he took a lot of ribbing because he was a spoiled little rich boy.”

“Do you think he ever applied to the military?”

“If he did, it would have been squashed by Dad, I’m sure, but Dad will never admit to that.”

“No, of course not,” Guilliam stated. “Interesting, all this family history. I appreciate it.”

“While the family history is interesting, it’s not necessarily beneficial.”

“It might explain why he went onto base to target Mason though.”

She frowned and asked, “Why?”

“Because it would have been more of a challenge. Anything that happens on the base is a whole different story. The fact that you managed to close these home burglary cases because he was caught on base, and the case was closed at the time, obviously in conjunction with you, means there’s got to be an awful lot of hate directed at you as well.”

“There is an awful lot of hate directed at me regardless. Of course I’m an elected official, and that’ll be coming home to roost before long,” she stated, with a nod.

“Are you expecting to not get re-elected?”

“Not if that family has any say in the matter,” she replied. “That’s just a given.”

“Got it, but I’m sure the rest of the town is happy that the home invasions are over.”

“Sure, but not everybody believes it was the kid. Quite a few don’t have any problem seeing it that way though. Another thing that you may not be aware of is that this all happened quite a few years ago.” When he frowned, she nodded. “Pretty sure it’s been”—she looked down at the notes in her hand—“four years.”

“Four years,” he repeated. “Why would anybody wait four years?”

She sighed. “That’s what I’m hoping you can tell me because, if it’s dear old dad on a vendetta, he’s waited a hell of a long time for his revenge. So, why now? And if not him, who else?”

Great questions, and ones he had no answers for.