by Janie Crouch
“The rest of Ellis’s clan includes investment banker George Pearson, Paul Wyn, owner of a chain of restaurants, and of course his lawyer, Oscar Stobbart. None of them have ever been arrested or in any trouble with the law besides Ellis.”
Noah grimaced. “Completely clean. Convenient.”
“Almost squeakily so.”
“Any of the rest of them married?”
“This is where it gets more interesting,” Tanner said. “Both Pearson and Wyn had wives who died within the last five years.”
“Isn’t that an interesting coincidence?” Noah said. “No other wives around to ask if Jared’s friends had been abusive also.”
Tanner nodded. “Unfortunately, according to the coroner’s reports, in both cases there was nothing suspicious about the deaths. One was a car accident. One was a skiing accident.”
“If you had said cancer, I might have agreed it wasn’t suspicious,” Noah grunted. “But we both know a death that didn’t get labeled as suspicious by the coroner’s office could still be murder. But on paper they look like tragic characters who lost their loved ones and have never broken the law. Nice.”
It was a tricky situation. Pearson and Wyn were both upstanding businessmen. They’d never done anything wrong in the eyes of the law. Accusing them of anything when their only questionable action was their association with Ellis—and he hadn’t even been found guilty yet—would be career suicide for Tanner.
Tanner pulled out his laptop and ran the program Bree had created. “According to the ankle monitor, Jared is definitely inside the town house.”
Noah pulled some binoculars out of his bag and trained them toward the building.
“Affirmative,” he said after a few minutes. “I’ve spotted him inside. Pearson and Wyn are with him. Looks like they’re having some sort of business meeting. Papers spread out all over the table. Maybe building plans or maps or something.”
“I don’t think any of them are in business with each other, but I haven’t searched definitively. It’s possible. None of them have business ties with Jared that we’ve found.”
Noah put the binoculars back up to his eyes. “Well, whatever’s happening here, Jared’s definitely in charge. Now I wish I hadn’t brought you.”
“Why? You going to go in there and take them all out for looking over business plans?”
“No,” Noah said. “If I wasn’t with you, I’d already have surveillance equipment that would allow me to hear what they’re talking about in there. No need to get a warrant.”
Tanner let out a low curse, both because it would be so helpful to have that information, and also because it was so risky. “You have to be careful, Noah. Between me bringing in Bree to the bonding office today, and getting caught, if Ellis or Stobbart catch either of us nearby, it could affect the case. They might really have an argument for harassment.”
“I’m not going to get caught. I don’t want anything to jeopardize Ellis spending a good solid chunk of his life behind bars. But I’d still like to know what they’re talking about and if it affects Marilyn.”
“If it’s maps and plans, it probably doesn’t have anything to do with her. It’s more likely business plans,” Tanner said.
“Ellis seems pretty involved with those for someone who’ll likely be going to prison soon.”
They watched for another hour, passing the binoculars back and forth, as the men continued to discuss and argue over their plans inside the town house.
“Okay, they’re on the move, putting on jackets.” Noah put down his binoculars and both of them sank a little lower in their seats.
Jared and his friends came out the front door a few minutes later and entered an Uber that pulled up outside the door. Tanner handed Noah his tablet as he started the car.
“Make sure the updates about Jared’s location coming to the computer are accurate and timely.”
Staying far enough back not to be noticed, Tanner followed along behind the car.
“So far, pretty damn accurate,” Noah muttered after a few minutes. “It’s providing updates every thirty seconds and they seem to be very close to Jared’s physical location.”
Just further confirmation that the tracker was working.
They followed the car to a restaurant just within Jared’s range, waited while they ate, then followed them to a strip club. Tanner barely refrained from rolling his eyes.
It really was like a group of overgrown frat boys getting together.
They stayed outside the strip club for another few hours until Ellis and his buddies stumbled out and back into another car to take them home.
Tanner didn’t bother keeping as much distance from the vehicle this time. Ellis and his friends weren’t doing anything suspicious, so they probably wouldn’t be checking to see if they were followed, even if they were sober enough to do so.
“I guess this was a bust,” Noah said as they parked across the street and watched Jared and company stumble back inside the town house. “I’m sorry I dragged you out half the night after you worked all day.”
“You did the right thing. Better to have me with you if you’re not sure you’re going to be able to control yourself around Ellis. And at least we’ve got further confirmation that the tracker is calibrated correctly.” Not that Tanner had much doubt after the work Bree had done.
Noah wiped a weary hand down his face as Tanner started the SUV. There wasn’t any point in staying. “Do you really think Jared didn’t have anything to do with the fire?”
“Him personally? No. I think the ankle monitor is solid. Hell, to be honest, I’m not even sure he paid someone to do it. And just because we don’t like his buddies, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re guilty of actual crimes, so we’ve got to be careful with this.” Noah couldn’t start throwing out accusations.
“I will be. After tonight I’m not even sure Jared had anything to do with it, eith—” Noah’s head jerked forward. “What the actual hell?”
Tanner spun his head to see what Noah was talking about and spotted Jared Ellis standing across the street, motioning with a finger for them to come closer.
Noah was out the car door and rushing toward Jared before Tanner knew what was happening. Noah was going to attack the man. Maybe not kill him, but definitely punch him.
It was exactly what Jared wanted.
“Noah!” Tanner ran—ignoring the honking horn and car that had to slam on its brakes to not hit him as he darted out in front of it. Noah was picking up speed and was almost to Jared.
Tanner ran, coming at his brother from the side in a flying tackle just before he reached out and landed a punch on Jared’s jaw.
“Get off me, Tanner,” Noah said through gritted teeth.
Tanner wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug. Strength for strength he and his brother were pretty evenly matched.
“It’s what he wants, Noah.” Tanner grunted as Noah’s elbow caught him in the ribs. “Somebody’s probably got a camera on us right now. You hit him and the whole case against him becomes shaky.”
Jared was smiling at the both of them from just a few feet away. There wasn’t much Tanner would like more than to let Noah go so he could pound on the smug son of a bitch.
“The case is shaky anyway, Captain Dempsey. No matter what you or your brother do.”
Noah stopped struggling. “How do you know who we are?”
Jared’s cold smile got bigger. “I met Tanner earlier today when he had a non-law-enforcement employee impersonate a lab technician to harass me. But you, I understand, have been spending quite a bit of time with my wife.”
“Soon to be ex-wife, you bastard,” Noah spit out. He tapped Tanner on the arm. “I’m okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Tanner let his brother go, ready to tackle him again, if needed. But Noah had fo
und his control, even if fury seemed to crackle off his body. Tanner got up and offered Noah a hand.
“You stay away from Marilyn and those kids.” Noah’s every word was clipped. “You want to get to them, you’re going to have to go through me.”
Jared tilted his head. “Marilyn will always be mine. All I need is a little time to persuade her of that.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Soon you’ll be rotting away in prison, where you belong. You’ll never be coming near Marilyn again.”
“My lawyer had enough to get me out on bail. Believe me when I say he has more than enough to keep me out of prison for good.”
Now it was Tanner who took a step forward. “I don’t think so, Ellis. I’ve seen the evidence. So enjoy your last few weeks of freedom. Or as much as you can in a two-mile radius. Because if you step one foot outside of that we’re going to nail your ass.”
Jared looked like he was going to charge Tanner, get violent, but stopped himself. Instead, he backed away slowly, holding his hands out in front of him. “I guess we’ll see what happens at the trial. But if I was a betting man, I’d bet I walk out of the court a free man that day.”
He winked at them and Tanner threw out an arm to catch Noah in case he lunged. But Noah had himself under control. Maybe more so than Tanner.
“And after the trial,” Jared continued, backing up step-by-step. “I’ll have as much time as I need to woo my wife back.”
He turned and walked away. “See you at the trial, gentlemen,” Jared called out over his shoulder. “I trust it won’t be again before that.”
Chapter Nine
They were able to move back into the New Journeys building three days later. The residents and townspeople worked together to get everything cleaned up and all their belongings transferred from the old building back to the new one.
Bree was still triple-checking Jared’s ankle monitor every day, making sure her results matched what was being sent to the Denver marshals’ office. She’d also spent at least a couple hours every day still trying to come up with a way Jared might try to outthink the system. She’d gone as far as to hack into the company itself to make sure everything was on the up-and-up.
It was.
Based on the conversation he and Noah had with the man, Tanner didn’t think Jared was behind the fire. It was worse than that, if possible. Tanner was afraid Jared had something up his sleeve when it came to the trial. He told Bree about the brief conversation he and Noah had with Jared—how secure he’d felt that the trial was going to go his way.
Tanner had been poring over every piece of evidence he could find, determined to make sure there was nothing that had been missed that the prosecuting attorney might need.
And all of it weighed pretty heavily on Marilyn.
There hadn’t been a peep from Jared or his ankle monitor. Bree had written a program so that if the monitor went off for any reason, it would send a notification to her computer and damn near everyone’s phone. They wouldn’t have to wait for anyone from Denver to notify them this time. They would know instantly.
But just the knowledge that Jared wasn’t behind bars, that he was so confident about his upcoming trial, ate at Marilyn. She’d been barely keeping it together over the past few days since the fire.
Everyone was glad to be moving back into the new building with its heightened security and the general feeling of being back in their home. The fire would mean that the renovations scheduled for the next few months would have to be pushed back, but ultimately it wouldn’t affect much now.
Cassandra was sitting in her office in the New Journeys building when Bree plopped down in a chair across from her after a day of carrying boxes up and down stairs.
“It’s good to be home,” Bree said.
“Yeah.” Cassandra smiled, but it wasn’t nearly as big as Bree would’ve thought.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m going to have to cancel the camping trip. There’s still too much going on with the insurance company and I just can’t go. I can’t be out of contact for three days right now, and there’s zero cell phone coverage in that section of the wilderness.”
Bree’s heart sank. Eva and Sam had been looking forward to this trip so much. They would be devastated.
But maybe they didn’t have to be.
“What about Tanner? He could lead the trip and do the teaching, right? I know he knows these woods well and as long as there’s nothing going on in his office, he’d be willing to do it.” She was sure of it. Nobody wanted to see these kids be disappointed.
Cassandra nodded. “Absolutely, he does. Dad used to take all three of us out all over these woods, and then they kept hunting and hiking even as they got older. That’s not the issue.”
“What is?”
“For insurance purposes, either you or I, as the directors of New Journeys, need to be there. Not to mention we can’t send Tanner alone with three women, given their histories, no matter how upstanding of a guy he is.”
Bree shrugged. “I’ll go. A chance to watch my fiancé out in the wilderness he loves? I wouldn’t mind witnessing that.”
Cassandra tilted her head to the side and gave Bree a look that all but screamed that the other woman thought she was crazy. “You do know we’re nine days from your wedding, right? What bride wants to go tromping off into the wilderness for three days a little more than a week before her wedding?”
“This bride right here.” The more she thought about it, the more perfect the idea became. Nothing sounded better to Bree than getting away from all the wedding craziness. Maybe some relaxing in nature would help her brain come up with her vows, because she hadn’t made one iota of progress on that.
And no amount of Jareds, ankle monitors or fires was going to stop the fact that she was getting married in nine days.
“I’ll tell you what.” Bree grinned at her future sister-in-law. “If you, Cheryl and Judy will handle all the wedding details for the next three days, I will talk Tanner into this camping trip slash rafting slash wilderness excursion. Believe me, I’m getting the better end of the deal.”
Cassandra reached over her desk and they shook on it. “I’m already making most of the wedding decisions anyway, since you’re hopeless at making decisions, so this will work out for both of us. The camping trip is officially back on.”
When two little cheers and a round of giggles rang out in the hallway, Bree and Cassandra met each other’s eyes and smiled.
The camping trip was back on.
* * *
THE BACKPACK ON Tanner’s shoulders was a familiar and comfortable weight. Every step he took deeper into these woods made something inside him loosen and relax. How many times had Dad taken him, Noah and Cassandra out here over the years? Too many to count. Long after most teenagers weren’t interested in hanging out with their parents anymore, he and Noah had still loved to come out here with their dad.
He loved the diversity of this area most of all. There were deep sections of forests and wilderness, then large patches of meadows that would open up out of nowhere, providing breathtaking views of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. There were thousands of square acres to lose yourself—or find yourself—in. And the Colorado River ran straight through it, at times gentle, but more often massive and majestic.
He’d been a little surprised when Bree called him up yesterday and asked him to lead the trip. He’d known how excited Eva and Sam were about it and would’ve agreed immediately as soon as he’d made sure there was nothing going on with the office.
But he was no dummy. When his bride-to-be started promising certain, quite explicit, sexual favors if Tanner would make time to do this, he’d pretended like his calendar was much fuller than it actually was. And he intended to collect on every last sweet, sexy and surprisingly dirty thing she’d offered to trade on their wedding night.
A
lthough the temptation to go pick her up right then and get started had been very difficult to resist.
But looking at the faces surrounding him now, he was doubly glad he’d been able to take the time to lead this little expedition.
Sam and Eva, both carrying appropriately sized backpacks, were beaming from ear to ear. The two other children who were supposed to have come on the trip had to cancel, but that had not dampened the kids’ spirits. Marilyn didn’t beam, but at least for once she didn’t look like the weight of the world was crashing down on her shoulders as she walked forward carrying a backpack not much bigger than Sam’s. Tanner had made sure that was the case. The woman just needed to relax and enjoy herself rather than worry about the heavy lifting. She had done the heavy lifting for long enough.
The other two women, Barb and Francis, he didn’t know very well, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves as they chatted quietly and walked.
Maybe most surprising was who brought up the rear of their group: Noah. His brother had shown up this morning at the place where they’d be leaving the cars, backpack ready.
If Tanner thought Sam had been happy before, the sight of his hero showing up to go on the camping trip nearly put him over the moon. The little boy hadn’t been more than ten feet from Noah all day.
Tanner didn’t press his brother for details about why he was here. He’d spent more time in Risk Peak in the last five days than he had since he’d gotten out of the army. Noah trusted Bree’s research on the ankle monitor but wanted to be nearby Marilyn just in case.
Tanner didn’t care why his brother was here. It was good to have a second person he could count on 100 percent in wilderness situations.
He knew he could count on Bree also. His computer genius had become quite the outdoors woman over the past few months. But this wilderness—as beautiful as it was—could turn deadly in a dozen ways before you could even blink.
“Everything good?” Bree’s hand slid into his and she smiled up at him.