Page 30

Riley

I ’m an idiot. The last thing Jules needs is me looking for anything more than friendship. But every moment I spent in that holding cell, she was all I could think about. All I wanted.

And when I finally saw her standing on that porch, I lost my head.

Get it together, Hunt.

Remember? No relationships.

I lean back against the kitchen counter and cross my arms as Beckett Wallace—a no-nonsense lawyer who got Bradyn out of jail back when he was trying to keep Kennedy safe—fills him in on what happened at the jail.

“Is Odie Landers going to press charges?” Tucker asks.

“I made it very clear to Mr. Landers’s attorney that pressing charges wouldn’t be in his client’s best interest. Since I would have absolutely no problem digging up every single skeleton in Mr. Landers’s deep, deep closet and putting them out for all to see.

” She smiles like the savage lawyer she is.

“And he agreed not to press charges?” Jules questions.

“He did. So long as Riley leaves the state and ceases all investigations into the murder of your grandfather, he’ll leave it be.”

“I’m not stopping,” Riley says.

“He will press charges, Riley,” Jules tells me.

“And now that he knows we’ll be looking, he’ll tie up every loose end that might lead to anything dirty he’s trying to hide.

He’ll go to Dodger, too. And if he’s the one who sent someone after my grandfather, he could do the same to you. To all of you.”

“Then we’ll deal with it. I’ve never toed the line to bullies,” I say. “And I’m not starting now.”

“But—” Jules starts.

“No. I promised you we’d get answers, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Jules’s frustrated expression only makes me care even more. She’s so willing to throw her own future away to ensure someone else doesn’t suffer.

Just as she did when she didn’t tell her grandfather the truth.

Just as she did when she told me to leave her to die and chase the killer.

Just as she’s doing now.

“I thought you’d feel that way,” Beckett says as she pulls out her phone. After firing off a text message, she sets it back down. “So, how can I help?”

“Keep Riley out of jail by convincing him to walk away,” Jules says.

“Can’t do. See, I’m not a huge fan of bullies either, and your brother strikes me as someone who wasn’t told no enough as a kid.

No offense to your grandfather, Jules.” Her phone dings, so she checks it.

A wide smile spreads across her face. “Perfect timing. I pulled some strings just to see what might fall out of Odie’s pinata and managed to get my hands on a lawsuit that was filed against Odie Landers about three years ago.

” She offers me the phone, so I take it and read through the email.

“Stalking?” I ask, scanning the listed charges.

“Yes. The wife of a private investigator who was found dead two weeks prior. According to her, Odie kept showing up outside the house and insisting he was friends with her husband. She’d never seen him before or heard her husband talk about him, so she refused to let him in.

It got nasty when he tried to break in, and she pulled a gun on him.

After that, she filed the restraining order, and Odie Landers did what he could to bury it. ”

“How did you get your hands on this so fast?” Tucker asks when I hand him the phone.

“Right before I hopped on the plane, I sent out feelers. I like to know who I’m dealing with before I deal with them.” Another savage smile graces her face. “This hit my inbox when I touched down, so I had my assistant verify it. That’s what she just sent over.”

“What was the name of the private investigator?” Jules asks.

I read the name listed in the order. “Robert Ventura.”

She turns to me. “He was one of the private investigators my grandfather used. Do you think that’s who was following Dodger? Was he following Odie too?”

“The timestamp on the photos we found were only a few months before your grandfather was killed. Ventura died three years ago.”

“Oh. Right.” Her expression falls just slightly.

“That doesn’t mean he wasn’t using someone else you know. Do you have more names?” Tucker questions.

“Two more. There were three he rotated between.”

“Get me those names, and I’ll track them down,” he replies.

“Okay. Um, the first is Vincent Tripp. Two P’s,” she adds. “And the other is Jesse Gilbert.”

“Great.” Tucker finishes writing the note down on his notepad then turns to his computer.

“I forwarded you that email too,” Beckett says to Tucker as she takes her phone back and slips it back into her purse.

“Thanks, Wren. Have I told you that you’re the best?” He grins at her, and she rolls her eyes.

“You Hunts think your charm works on everyone. Immune, remember?” She points to herself then turns her full focus onto Jules. “Anyway. It’s also nice to officially meet you, Jules. And to see that you are nothing like your brother.”

Jules tries to smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “You too. Thanks for getting Riley out. And for dealing with Odie.”

“All in a day’s work,” Beckett replies. “It was quite exhilarating, actually. You should have seen his face when I showed up.”

Jules gets to her feet. “I need some air. I’ll be back in just a few.”

I look after her as she leaves, trying to decide whether or not I should follow.

Does she want space or comfort?

“Are you seriously not going to go after her?” Tucker asks. “Come on, Riley, you’re supposed to be the charmer out of all of us, yet here you are, sitting on your butt.”

That gets me to my feet. “I’m not sitting on my butt.”

“Not anymore,” Elliot murmurs.

“ Bleib, Romeo. I’ll be right back.” I pet him as he takes a seat beside the doorway leading out of the kitchen.

I don’t even respond as I head out of the kitchen and toward the back porch. Since the door is partially open, I know that’s where I’ll find her.

Jules is standing near the balcony that overlooks the gardens below. She’d run for her life down there mere weeks ago. Is that what she sees when she looks at the bright blooms? Or does she see a happier past?

Childhood memories of playing hide-and-seek?

Afternoon strolls alongside her grandfather?

“Now that I’m learning all of these things about Odie, I feel like an absolute fool for not seeing them sooner. Just that conversation at the hospital—how did I not know who he really was?”

“You can’t blame yourself. He was your family. You wanted to see the best in him.”

“He never treated me with anything but contempt.” Jules turns toward me and crosses her arms. “I was trying so hard to have whatever family I could, and now I can’t help but wonder where I’d be if I hadn’t put him up on a pedestal.”

“You can’t spend your present in the past, Jules.”

“I know that.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “My grandfather tried to get me to leave.”

“What do you mean?”

She turns toward me. “Before he died. He’d been pushing me to start over.

To have grand adventures. I told him I liked our life.

That I was happy.” She sniffles. “Now that I know he was just trying to get me away from Dodger and Odie, I can’t help this crushing weight on my heart.

I’d tried to protect him and move on, and he found out anyway. ”

“What’s hidden in the dark always comes to light,” Riley says. “One way or another.”

“Do you think Dodger is the one who hired Fletcher?”

“More than likely. We’re looking into it. With a suspect to zero in on, we stand a chance at finding the truth sooner.”

She nods and faces out toward the gardens again. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“What do you mean?” Of course I know what she’s aiming for, just not whether or not she’s ready to hear it.

“You’re holding back.”

“I think Odie may or may not have had something to do with what happened to you. Either because he was trying to get you out of the picture, or he didn’t know ahead of time but used what you told him to blackmail Dodger afterward.”

“You think he might have used it to blackmail him?”

“It’s a possibility. But one I won’t be able to prove until I have some evidence. He won’t answer any questions now.”

“Not for you. But I can go.”

Fear ices through my resolve. “Absolutely not. He’s involved in this, and you’ll be walking right into his hands unprotected.”

“I won’t be unprotected. If you can’t come, then send one of your brothers.”

“Jules—” I trust each and every one of my brothers with the very beat of my heart, but with Jules, it doesn’t seem like it’s enough. The United States Army in its entirety wouldn’t be enough to put my mind at ease when it comes to her safety.

“Riley.” She takes a step closer. “I need to do this. I need to know the whole truth, and he’s more likely to tell me if you’re not there. Maybe he’ll say something that will lead us to the proof we need to put them both away.”

“You think he’ll talk to you if any of my brothers are there? He’ll shut right down.”

She considers. “Then put a wire on me—can you guys do that? Listen in and you can be right outside.”

I step closer.

She does too. And then we’re standing so close I can see flecks of gold in her green eyes.

“If things go wrong, then at least we’ll have the answers.”

“Why are you so quick to trade in your life?”

“If it means finding out what really happened? I’d do it. It’s worth it.”

“Nothing is worth your life,” I growl. It angers me to know that she thinks so little of herself. How can she not see what I do?

“Please let me do this. Let me face him and find out what he knows. He’s not going to talk to you, and you’re right—he likely won’t talk to your brothers.

But if he thinks that I’m there to crawl back into his good graces, we might get something out of him.

He views me as weak. Always has. Let’s prove to him I’m not. Not anymore.”

“And if it goes wrong?”

“Then you’ll be right outside. You’re quick on your feet, Riley Hunt. I have every reason to trust that you’ll come to my rescue again.”

“I ran those other names Jules gave me,” Tucker announces as he drops down on the couch.

“And?” I set the book I was only pretending to read aside.

“They’re both dead.”

“What?”

“Dead. Within the last couple of months too. One in a car accident, and the other was killed in a home invasion. Sound familiar?”

“Someone killed them.”

“Someone doesn’t like loose ends.” I cross my arms. “We have the pieces—we just need the proof. Odie swaps the contracts and moves the money so Edgar can’t get himself out of it.”

“I have more too,” Beckett says as she comes into the living room.

She’s changed into slacks and a white T-shirt, her dark hair loose around her face.

“I just spoke to Edgar Landers’s attorney.

Odie Landers came to him about six months ago and told him that Edgar was losing his rational mind.

He said that his grandfather was living on conspiracy theories and was suffering from early-onset dementia. ”

“What?” It’s news to me, and it rings with fallacy.

“The lawyer didn’t believe it at first, but Odie brought in a power of attorney as well as a doctor’s note documenting the mental decline.”

“Let me guess. Doctor Glen Dodger.”

“Bingo,” Beckett replies.

“So that’s how he was able to move the money and keep it from Edgar. He had a POA that granted him complete control over the assets.”

“Yes. According to Mr. Krumm—the lawyer—Edgar came to him claiming it was false. But with the doctor’s note and the POA, there wasn’t much that could be done.”

“The house? How did he get it in Jules’s name without Odie knowing?”

“That happened right before the POA was put into place, so it slipped through the cracks. Though he did express the furious phone call he got from Odie Landers after you told him about the deed being in Jules’s name.”

“What about a will? Odie mentioned they couldn’t locate it?”

“That is true. The same time he added Jules to the deed, Edgar revoked his will. Odie has been fighting to get named the administrator of his estate, but the court has yet to appoint him. Mr. Krumm said that they were waiting for Jules to be located since she’s the only remaining blood relative to Edgar. ”

“That’s why he wanted her found. So he could prove she wasn’t capable of managing the estate.”

“That’s my guess too. Mr. Krumm said that—in his opinion—Jules is capable of managing it. Which is precisely what he told the judge when asked. Odie has been fighting it every step of the way.”

“Something he failed to tell us.” I take a deep breath. “I doubt Edgar would have added Jules to the deed then terminated his will without drafting a replacement.”

“If he did, he didn’t use Mr. Krumm.”

“Which makes sense if he were trying to hide it from Odie,” Tucker says. “I’ll do some digging.”

“Me, too. Thank you, Beckett.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll keep tugging and see what I can find on my end. Maybe I can track down whoever he used to draft it; then we’ll have a copy for ourselves.”