Lost & Broken (LIttlemoon Investigations Book 2)

by Morgan Kelley

  “Now, what can I do to help?”

  “Tell me about Leroy White.”

  “He’s our barn manager and has been for the longest time. He’s a trusted member of the family.”

  “Yeah, I get that, but what about money?” Beckett was trying to get the man to tell him about the issue at hand. He wanted to see if the man would tell him that he lent Leroy cash to bail himself out.

  “He came to me a couple days ago, deeply upset. He explained the situation, and I offered to help him out.”

  “What did you do?”

  The man dusted some imaginary lint from his arm. “I lent him some cash.”

  “Okay, how much.”

  “Three thousand dollars was the total amount. We also worked out a payment plan over the next couple of years.”

  “Wow, you’re a really good friend. You just handed over that kind of cash? I think maybe I’m in the wrong career.”

  The man shrugged. “I do get paid well because I’ve been here for a long time. One might even call me a fixture. I live on site and have no bills to worry about. The Hessers also allow me the use of any car I wish on my days off. When you’re adopted into this family, there are privileges that come along with it.”

  “I see.”

  “I can retire quite comfortably when I feel it’s time.”

  Well, it looked like good old Leroy was telling the truth. For now, until he got more, he could cross him off the list of suspects.

  “Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt the Hessers?” he asked.

  It didn't take Bruce long at all. “No. Everyone here on the estate loves them. What you hear in the media is all lies.”

  “Even Fredrick?”

  The man’s cheek twitched. “You shouldn’t judge a book by the cover, sir. Fredrick has had a very hard life. He lost his parents and is still finding his way.”

  Yeah, through every woman in town.

  “Is there anything more, sir?” he asked calmly.

  “No, I think you covered it.”

  “If you think one of us hurt the Hessers, you’re wrong. We take care of each other here. I suggest you save your time and stop thinking that someone under this roof could ever do anything like that.”

  He watched the man go back to his work. He might have believed that had he not found that note in William Macavoy’s office. Something didn't smell right, and he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

  Yet, but he would.

  If anything, he was persistent.

  * * *

  Sunday Evening

  As the women pulled in, they could see the two men sitting side by side on the steps of the grand main house. There were empty beer bottles beside them, and they were still drinking.

  That alone didn't bode well.

  “They don’t look so good,” Christina said, glancing over at Tori. “Kane isn’t a big drinker.”

  “Yeah, Julian either. They must have had a rough one.”

  Getting out of the Mercedes, they crossed the grass toward them. Once there, both men continued to sit wordlessly.

  “Hey, babe! How are you?” Tori asked, removing the beer from his hand to take a sip.

  Julian took the opportunity to pull his wife down into his lap. Immediately, he buried his face in her neck and breathed in her scent. It was good to have her back at his side once more. “I’ve had better days,” he said, holding onto her.

  Kane took the opportunity to wipe the memory of any other woman in his lap by having Christina curl up against him. Once she dropped her arm over his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek, some of the dread washed away.

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

  She and Tori stared at each other.

  “For what?”

  Then, it all came out in a gush from both men as they spilled their guts. There were the tales of the strippers, the women who sat in their laps, and then finally the money.

  “Wait,” Tori said, “What are you talking about?”

  “I sent you a text. I wasn’t kidding. The pervert is into paying for sex. He even has hookers delivered to the door like pizzas.”

  Tori took his face in her palms and stared into his troubled eyes. “Okay, first off, were you working while you were in the strip club?”

  “Yes,” he answered.

  Christina took over. “Were you thinking about me, or the women parading around?” she asked Kane.

  “God! Only you, Chrissy!”

  It jumped back to Tori. “Were you behaving like the last time we were in a strip club?” she inquired.

  Julian shook his head. “Hell no! My soldier girl was nowhere to be found!”

  “Then no worries, but you need to explain the money. That’s the part I don’t get.”

  As if on cue, both men pulled a wad out of their front shirt pockets and handed it to the women.

  Both women were confused.

  “It’s hustle money. When Fredrick was being an asshole, we took him and Stephen Snyder for every penny in their wallets, and then some.”

  Tori and Christina started laughing outrageously. When both men stared at them with even more worried looks, it was even funnier.

  “Jules, I trust my husband.”

  “And I trust my Kane-ykins.”

  The men immediately kissed their women. All the tension of that afternoon drained away. When they broke the meeting of mouths, Tori and Christina were grinning.

  “Want to go up to our room and get ready for dinner tonight?” she asked, wiggling in Julian’s lap. Tori had other ideas than just eating, and she was pretty sure he got the message.

  He wasn’t going to argue with that. After helping his wife up, he grabbed the bottles beside him. Together, all four headed into the house.

  Julian was grateful that his marriage was so stable, that even what happened today couldn’t chip away at it. All those fears of his past were slowly dissipating. Once, Tori had told him that she wasn’t his ex, and he believed it.

  His Tori was the best thing in his life.

  As they entered the foyer, there was a terrible scream. It curdled everyone’s blood, making them pause.

  Everything after that happened in slow motion and no one was able to stop it.

  There was someone tumbling down the stairs, rolling in a flailing mass, arms and legs all over the place.

  When the form came to a stop on the marble, there was a collective gasp.

  There at the bottom of the stairs was their client.

  Jaime Montgomery had taken quite the fall.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Instinct kicked in, and all four rushed toward the now prone woman on the floor. As Tori and Christina knelt beside her, Julian pulled out his phone to dial nine-one-one.

  As the woman moaned, they all took a collective sigh of relief. A fall like that could have killed her. Now, their priority was to see how badly she was hurt.

  Tori didn't want to move the woman, but she was struggling to sit up. That had to be a sign that her back wasn’t shattered into a million pieces.

  The gasps and cries of alarm seemed to urge the woman on as she tried to not make a spectacle of what happened.

  As the staff ran to see what the commotion was, Jamie whispered to Tori and Christina, “I was walking down the hall. I paused at the top of the steps to type up an email on my phone and someone pushed me.”

  They stared at Jamie.

  Was she serious?

  In the distance, they could hear the screams of the sirens as an ambulance headed toward Hesser house.

  Julian scanned the room. Everyone was either staring or whispering. Despite her adamant declaration of clumsiness, the conspiracy theories were building. Two Hessers were hurt, and now someone who worked for them.

  It was plain to see what they were now worried about. Everyone there was thinking that innocent people, not related to the family, were now in danger too.

  The wives clung to their husbands in speculative horror.

  Julian scanned
the crowd and unfortunately, all the guests and Fredrick were present.

  Shit!

  He had hoped to eliminate someone.

  Jamie struggled to get to her feet, just as the EMTs arrived at the door. Tori helped her over to them, and then joined the team not far from where the ‘accident’ occurred.

  There was only one thing on their mind.

  Littlemoon Investigations needed to wrap this up before someone on their team ended up dead.

  It didn't take the EMTs long to give Jamie a clean bill of health. She wasn’t in pain and the bump on her head was just that. Being stubborn, she refused to go to the hospital. Instead, she had Bruce help her back to her room to rest.

  Everyone thought that was a horrible idea, but Jamie insisted that she had to run the place in Lorelei’s absence. The more she insisted that it was an accident, the more the guests seemed to be buying that she was nothing more than clumsy and wasn’t paying attention to where she was going.

  Back in Tori and Julian’s room, they were all worried.

  “This is bad,” stated Kane.

  “Yeah, it is,” Julian answered. “It seems that the person after the Hesser family knows that Jamie is one of them.”

  Tori didn't see how. “We don’t really talk about it,” she whispered, keeping her voice down. “We’ve been incredibly careful to not blow our cover or hers.”

  Julian didn't know how it happened, but if she was pushed down a flight of stairs, something was definitely up.

  Christina was in FBI mode. If anything, working for the Feds taught her to hone in on the smallest details. “What I don’t get is this,” she began. “If this person wants to kill them, he’s doing a shitty job. Each attempt was a failure.”

  Tori agreed. “Jonathan was hit one time. Lorelei’s saddle couldn’t have snapped after the first time. It obviously had to wear through.”

  Julian saw where she was taking in. “You think that the person doing this is either an idiot or very patient.”

  “Yes. I’m just not sure which, but if he went after Jamie, that means he has to know.”

  “If we didn't tell anyone, who did?” Kane asked.

  “I think this all comes down to William Macavoy. He was the only one to die. That, to me, says that he knew something that was potentially dangerous. We saw the note that the sheriff’s deputy found. Maybe we were right, and William figured it all out.”

  “The sheriff is still going through the books. Hopefully, he’ll find something.”

  “We’re running out of time,” stated Julian. “We can’t stay here past the derby. We won’t have a cover. If we have to go to the Hesser family and tell them why we’re here, Jamie could lose her job, and we may get booted off the estate.”

  “Then, we need to move faster,” Tori said. “We don’t have a lot of options now.”

  Christina chimed in, “We need to get back into that passageway and see where it leads, so we can find that book.”

  Julian agreed whole heartedly. “Tomorrow, we need to divide and conquer. Fredrick is still the only one who no one touched. Today at the cigar bar, he insisted that no one was after the family.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s an idiot,” stated Kane. “He thinks it was the competition who took out Jonathan, and that Lorelei’s equipment was just old.”

  Tori didn't buy either of those theories. “He may be trying to deflect the guilt.”

  Julian agreed. “Tomorrow, he has a polo match. You and Christina need to go and watch him. We’re going to stay in and do some work here. We want to keep an eye on Jamie, to make sure no one makes another attempt at her.”

  “Plus, we need to keep working through the journal and see where the passageways lead.”

  Kane was good with that. In all honestly, if the person trying to hurt the family already knew that Jamie had hired them, they were wearing a bull’s-eye too. Kane didn't want his fiancée anywhere near that. A push down the stairs, while she was pregnant, could mean death. The safest option in this case appeared to be out in the open.

  What could happen at a polo match?

  “You guys should get a good night’s sleep,” Julian stated. He could tell that the big guy was worried about Christina. He was hovering over her, and his face was etched with concern. “Tomorrow, we regroup, keeping our eyes open to see what pops up.”

  They all agreed. Escorting them to the door, Julian locked up when they were gone. As he turned, his wife was staring at him. Somehow, he didn't believe that he was going to be off the hook over the strippers and cigar bar.

  “You’re not happy, are you?” he asked.

  “Come here, Julian,” she stated, no emotion in her voice.

  Immediately, he crossed to her, waiting for her to be angry with him. After all, she had every right, and he couldn’t blame her. When he finally reached her, he stood very still as if waiting for the emotional blow to his heart.

  “I missed you today,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

  It wasn’t what he was expecting, but he was damn grateful regardless. “Oh, Tori, I missed you so much. I hope you’re not mad at me.”

  She grinned. “I’m not, but you’ll have to tell me all about it, after.”

  He didn't know where this was heading. “After what?”

  Slowly, she unbuttoned her shirt, letting her fingers lure him in with the promise of what was beneath the fabric. When she saw his eyes flicker to the necklace at the vee of her breasts, and the camouflage lingerie beneath, she knew he finally got it.

  “Yeah, they had nothing on my soldier babe,” he whispered, hardly able to concentrate.

  “How about we discuss what I have to offer as we shower?”

  He wasn’t going to argue there. Tori naked, plus water equaled one thing in his mind.

  Amazing sex.

  “Count me in,” he whispered, leaving a few kisses across her shoulder.

  “Maybe I can interrogate you when we get into bed,” she purred, winking salaciously at him.

  Good God! He was going to love every second of this. “I’m very stubborn, Victoria,” he reassured. “You may have to work at it for a while.”

  That only made it all the more fun.

  “Oh, Mr. Littlemoon, you will be at my mercy. In the military, they teach us how to make people talk.” Then, she leaned in and whispered in his ear. When his entire body reacted to what she was going to do to him, it almost made her laugh.

  “It’s a good thing I don’t mind when you get rough,” he muttered, watching her in anticipation. When he reached out and ran his fingers across the naked flesh of her breast and abdomen, his body quivered in need.

  When the door clicked shut, it was her laughter which filled the room. “Then, you’re in for an amazing night, because you’re my prisoner until dawn.”

  “I can’t wait to surrender.”

  * * *

  Monday Morning

  At breakfast the following morning, the team sat there silently eating as everyone around them talked about the previous night. For the time being, the focus was on Fredrick and Lorelei.

  When Jamie walked into the room, Julian and Tori could see the fear in her eyes as she attempted to bury it. “Fredrick, the hospital called. Lorelei is insisting that she get out of there.”

  The man looked over at her. “Okay, and?”

  She looked a little impatient. “You’re supposed to pick her up.”

  Fredrick was okay with that. “Sure, after my polo match. I have to get my horse ready and changed. Surely, Lorelei understands the importance of giving our guests the full experience.”

  When he winked lecherously at Tori, Julian’s whole body reacted.

  Jamie wasn’t having it. “Except that she’s insistent that you get her now and not later. Lorelei isn't happy about having to wear vile hospital gowns.”

  He laughed. “Oh, I have a solution to the problem! You can get her.”

  She stared at him and tried to
keep her composure. “I’m a little busy, Fredrick.”

  He stood from his seat, dropping his napkin onto the plate. “You’ll make time to do it, Jamie. You always do your job, and well,” he said, walking past her as he slapped her on the ass.

  The woman flushed red at the stares from the guests. “Fine,” she muttered, heading out of the room. “It’s not like I’m shocked.”

  Tori found the interaction interesting. The woman was genuinely mortified, and that was probably a good thing. Fredrick was someone a woman shouldn’t get involved with unless she wanted some sort of communicable disease.

  As the couples began breaking away from the group and breakfast, Tori’s phone began vibrating. As she excused herself from the table, she noticed her husband wasn’t far behind.

  “Hello?” she said, not recognizing the number.

  “It’s Beckett.”

  “Hey! How are things?” she asked, keeping it light, all the while mouthing the word ‘sheriff’ to her husband.

  Placing his ear near hers, he listened into the conversation.

  “My team finished running everyone there. Do you have time to meet up today? I can’t give you everything over the phone.”

  “Yeah, we can make time. Where and when do you want to meet?” she asked, while Julian nodded in agreement. If the sheriff had something useful, they would be more than happy to squeeze him into their schedule.

  “There’s a little bar that serves lunch. It’s mostly a hangout for the cops, EMTs, and firemen in town, so I think it’ll be the best place. If you stroll into my office, someone might get suspicious.”

  “We hear you. So, what time?”

  Beckett rattled it off. “See you both there.”

  With that, they both disconnected the call.

  “Maybe he has something we can use,” Julian stated. “What we really need now is a good solid lead.”

  “I’m with you on that,” she said. “Want to dig through the journal a little more?” she offered, trying to knock something off her list, just to get the job done for the day.