Operation Mountain Recovery

by Justine Davis

  He tapped his finger on the steering wheel of his marked SUV. Stared at the front door of the house where he’d been once before and had been greeted by a haunted, tortured woman who bore little resemblance to the woman who had warmed his bed, his body and his heart. The woman who deserved so much more than she’d been dealt, who had been nearly broken but had come back fighting with a courage that humbled him.

  The Foxworth phone beside him beeped. He glanced at the screen, saw the texted Ready. No trouble with the boss, then, but he hadn’t really expected any, not with the arrival of Gavin de Marco. The man had instilled dread in better men than Sheriff Carter.

  He sent back Copy. Contact in two.

  He got out of the vehicle, settled his uniform jacket and drew himself up to his full six feet. Then he walked to the door of the mayor’s house, where she had been in essence imprisoning her daughter. The woman had arrived about a half an hour ago, after sucking up some oxygen at a meeting of the local merchants.

  She answered the door herself. He might have expected at least a maid, such were her delusions of grandeur, but Ash had told them no one lived in. Now that made sense. Don’t want any witnesses around while you gaslight your own daughter.

  He reined it in and put on his best I’ve got bad news face.

  “Mayor Alexander,” he said, taking his uniform hat off politely.

  Then he spotted something over her shoulder that nearly blew everything up. Packing boxes, full of what appeared to be clothing and other personal items. And on top of one was the same jacket he’d seen in Ash’s room. She was packing up her stuff? She didn’t even know where her daughter was, if she was even alive, and she was packing up her stuff?

  It took every bit of determination he had to keep his expression even when she spoke. “Deputy...Crenshaw, isn’t it? You helped my daughter the day she had that awful accident.”

  “Yes. And I’m afraid she’s why I’m here now.”

  He was watching carefully for her reaction to his phrasing. There was just enough delay, and a fraction of a second’s calculation in her expression, to tell him she’d been expecting this. An instant later her face showed nothing but distress.

  “You’ve found her.”

  “I’m afraid so.” And you should be afraid. Very afraid.

  “She’s dead, isn’t she.” It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t think he was wrong about the split second of relief that flashed in her dark, cold eyes.

  “We need you to come to the sheriff’s office.”

  She actually did pale at that. “Why?”

  “I’m afraid there will be some details to handle.”

  “Oh. Of course.”

  “I will drive you, Madam Mayor. I’ve been instructed to offer you every courtesy.”

  He didn’t think it was possible, but his loathing grew at her preening reaction to that ploy. And as he drove the vicious woman, he allowed himself a brief fantasy about dropping her off—literally—the lookout where Ash had nearly jumped. But what was coming would be even better, and he had to smother a smile of anticipation as they pulled into the back parking lot and he escorted her into the building.

  “We’ll be using the sheriff’s private conference room,” he said, thinking he’d arrested and brought in fried meth heads and drunks who had puked all over themselves with less repugnance than he felt now. Being obsequious to her was turning his stomach.

  He pulled open the door to the conference room, seeing that his boss had decided to vacate the area. Covering his bases, Brady guessed, in case this didn’t go as planned. But there were two uniformed deputies standing at the other door, and he gave them a nod.

  But it would go as planned. He knew that the minute they stepped inside and the two men already there stood up. One, holding a folder, was Gavin de Marco, whom the mayor gave a puzzled look, as if he were familiar but she couldn’t place him. The other was Dr. Andler, who gave her a look Brady could only describe as terrified as, at a word from de Marco, he scurried out that other door into the hands of the two deputies.

  He felt the woman beside him falter just for an instant when she saw the doctor run. But then she steadied herself, and he could just imagine how her mind was racing, trying to think of how she was going to turn this away from herself.

  “You notified my daughter’s doctor before me?” she said, going on the offensive with her tone.

  De Marco didn’t even look at her. Instead he spoke to Brady. “This is her?”

  Brady almost smiled at the disdain in the man’s voice. “It is.” And then, dropping the formality and letting a little bit of his glee about what was about to come at her show, he said, “Nan, meet Gavin de Marco. You may have heard of him? And of who he works for, the Foxworth Foundation?”

  She looked utterly shocked. De Marco didn’t offer to shake her hand, didn’t even nod at the introduction. Instead he said, in a voice that gave even Brady a chill, “Yes, that Foxworth. The ones that helped take down a corrupt governor. So let me say up front, a small-town mayor is no challenge at all.”

  Nan Alexander sank down into a chair at the small conference table, looking shaken at last.

  Oh, we’re just getting started, you pitiful excuse for a human being.

  At de Marco’s nod, Brady walked to the door the doctor—who he knew had poured out his guts in the hope of lighter consequences—had used and opened it. Ash was just outside, looking a little pale but determined.

  “You can do this,” he said softly. “I don’t have a doubt in the world. Just remember you’re fighting for yourself, and for the father who can’t, because of her.”

  She drew in a deep breath, steadied herself and nodded. Took a step toward the doorway, but stopped when he spoke again from right behind her.

  “Oh, and Ash?” She looked back. “I love you, too.”

  Chapter 35

  Her mother rose to her feet, one hand pressed against her chest. Ashley knew better than to believe it was in relief at seeing her, but there was a split second when she wavered.

  You’re fighting for yourself, and for the father who can’t, because of her.

  Brady’s words about what she was facing, and the fact that he was solidly at her back, steadied her.

  I love you, too.

  And those words made her able to smile in the face of her mother’s treachery and evil.

  “Hello, Madam Mayor.”

  She was delighted that it came out evenly, almost casually. Gavin de Marco gave her an approving nod and sat down as if content to watch. Brady looked as if he were stifling a grin.

  “Ashley, I don’t know what they’ve told you, but—”

  “Don’t bother.”

  “But—”

  “I remembered, Mother. Just as you were afraid I would.”

  “Honey, you’re just confused—”

  “Do not even try. Sit down.”

  Her mother looked as if she would protest, and Brady took a step toward her as if to enforce the order. She sat.

  “I’m going to give you a list. You will stay silent until I’m done. Is that clear?”

  Ashley had the pleasure of seeing her mother’s uncertainty for the first time. “There’s no need to be rude, dear.”

  Ashley nearly laughed out loud at that. She glanced at Brady, who was again stifling a grin. And then he winked at her, and she knew she could, as he’d said, do this.

  She walked to the opposite side of the table from her mother, put her hands down flat on the surface, leaning toward her.

  “One, I know you and Dr. Andler have been drugging me with some home-brewed concoction that caused my symptoms—”

  “Don’t be—”

  “—and I have the chemical analysis to prove it.” There, Ashley thought, she’d winced at that one. “And the tea you’ve been forcing down me is being analyzed as we speak.” Bingo,
Ash thought as the woman’s expression flickered again. She went on. “Two, you conspired with him to further the illusion that I was mentally ill, with things like the missed appointments—changing the date in my phone and on an new appointment card he gave you—and the fire in the kitchen, the snow tires and a dozen others I could name. Three, I know you intended to have me either declared incompetent or committed to an institution.”

  “For your own safety—”

  “I said silence. Four, I know about the payments from the Amalfi Group.” Nan Alexander went white then. And glanced fearfully at Gavin, who allowed himself a small smile. “Yes, Mr. de Marco and Foxworth are very, very thorough. So I think we can do away with the farce that this was out of any concern at all about me.”

  “Ashley—”

  Ashley cut her off again. “Fifth, and now we’re getting to the really good stuff, I know you did the same thing to my father.”

  The woman—for that was how Ashley was now starting to think of her, that or just Nan—gasped. “You know he was unstable!”

  “You mean he wouldn’t dance to your tune?” Brady said, the first time he’d spoken. Nan frowned as she glanced at him, as if she were trying to figure out exactly how he fit into all this.

  He’s the man who saved me. And if I get some kind of justice for my father, it will be because of him.

  “You meant for me to overhear that discussion with Andler, didn’t you? You were setting me up to believe he was becoming violent. Violent enough that he would have to be sent away.”

  “Of course not.”

  “My snow globe,” Ashley said as it suddenly occurred to her.

  Her mother blinked. “What?”

  “You’re the one who smashed it. Tell me, was it to further the perception that Dad was becoming violent, or simply to hurt me because you knew I treasured it so?”

  Nan didn’t answer, but it didn’t matter—she could see both were the truth. When she did speak, she said only, “This is all absurd. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you can’t prove any of this.”

  Ashley straightened up at that, and Gavin moved. He took a group of pages out of the folder he held and silently slid them across the table. They came to rest neatly in front of the woman, and Ashley wondered with an inward smile if he’d had to practice that or if he was just naturally that good. She knew what it was, a copy of the offshore account records showing the Amalfi deposits to Dr. Andler. And then he took out another, thicker sheaf, these stapled together, and did the same. They edged the others to one side as they hit, and she decided he was just that good.

  Gavin still didn’t speak, and when she glanced at him, he merely nodded. This was her show, unless and until she’d had enough and wanted out, then he would take over. But she hadn’t had nearly enough yet.

  “That,” she said with no small amount of enjoyment, “is Joseph Andler’s full confession. That he was paid by you to help gaslight my father, and then me. That he helped you perpetrate the fraud that he was unstable and suicidal. And that later he did the same thing again, to me. Nothing to say now, Mother?”

  She resumed her position with hands on the table, leaning in even closer now. And her voice was harsh as it came out through nearly clenched teeth. But this had been building for twenty years under the surface, and it erupted now. “But I haven’t gotten to the very bottom of your nasty, evil soul yet, have I? You tried to drive my father to what I nearly did. You tried to drive him to suicide. But when that didn’t work, when he was too strong for you to break, you made the ultimate decision.”

  “I never wanted you to die.”

  “If you’re expecting gratitude, forget it. Because remember what I said before? I mean it. I remembered. You were afraid I would, from the moment I told you about the nightmare. And then you saw me watching those videos of Dad, so you guessed it would surface soon. That’s what started all this. You didn’t realize until then I’d seen you, did you? You didn’t know I’d seen you with that gun, going into the den to kill my father.”

  Her mother shot to her feet. Brady took one step forward. “Please,” he said. “Please do something truly stupid. I really want to see you destroyed in a court of law, when your brilliant, gutsy daughter takes you apart publicly. And Gavin de Marco makes sure it’s front-page news.”

  Through the glow in her heart caused by his words, Ashley saw the moment when the woman who should have been the one to protect her and instead had been the one to try and destroy her, broke. She sank back down into the chair. It was as if whatever propped up her twisted psyche had collapsed. And suddenly it was enough. She had seen the nasty truth in her mother’s now flat, expressionless, almost inhuman eyes.

  There was nothing left to do except move on.

  * * *

  Brady stood at the kitchen island as Hayley poured coffee, watching Ash as she, Quinn and de Marco sat in the great room of the lodge discussing what came next. Her mother—although she didn’t deserve the term—was in custody facing a multitude of charges, none of which were murder. Yet. But Brady had the feeling if there was any way it was possible, Foxworth would pull that off, too. They wouldn’t give up until they found a way.

  “Quinn is still hunting down a mole who nearly got us killed on the mission where he and I met,” Hayley said, apropos of nothing. Except his thoughts, and he gave her a startled look.

  “Was I that obvious?”

  “No. I just know both of you want her to pay for her worst crime, Ashley especially. And I wanted you to know we don’t quit.”

  “I’m glad.”

  It was a moment before Hayley said quietly, “She’s going to need some time.”

  “I know.”

  “She needs to know she can stand on her own.”

  “She went through six months of pure hell and came out fighting. She’ll be all right.”

  “Yes, she will. But...”

  Brady turned to look at her as she hesitated. “Are you telling me to leave her alone? That...what happened between us isn’t, wasn’t, real?”

  “Oh, I know it’s real. I’ve been there myself. Besides, Cutter says so.”

  Brady glanced over to where the dog was sprawled on his bed, looking utterly relaxed for the first time since this had started. Obviously the dog considered his work done.

  “I swear, you’ve got me believing he’s what you say he is.”

  “He is. And the only thing I’m saying is give her time to level off. She’s been in the pit, and now she’s flying high. It will take her time to find her own normal.”

  “I can’t let her go through this alone.”

  “Of course not. But keep in mind you’re also a major witness in this.”

  “Oh.” He had to admit he’d forgotten that aspect.

  “Gavin will run interference on that, but it might be wise to keep the true nature of your relationship under wraps until her mother is locked up.”

  How they were going to manage that, he didn’t know, but he only said, “You sound certain she will be.”

  Hayley nodded. “Oh, I am. We’ve got the evidence, and Gavin will lay it out so completely that all the prosecutor has to do is show up. Not to mention just the sight of his face in a courtroom still has a very powerful effect for whichever side he’s on. And in this, he’s on Ashley’s.”

  Brady smiled at that, although underneath he was wondering how he would get through this if he had to take a step back from her. But as he watched her, as he saw the clever, quick, beautiful woman who had blossomed since that moment she’d realized the truth, he realized he had to look at the long game here. And for him, that meant the rest of their lives together.

  And for that, he could—and would—do whatever it took.

  Chapter 36

  Ashley looked out over the incredible vista and drew in a breath of air that carried the crisp scent of new snow and not eve
n a hint of the spring that would arrive officially in just over a month. The Foxworths, including Cutter—who, oddly, seemed just an ordinary dog now, taking a last roll in the snow before leaping into the back of their vehicle soaking wet—had left Monday, heading home after their unexpectedly extended anniversary trip. They, and Gavin, had stayed until it was clear her mother, now clearly broken, would not be fighting the charges, although they promised they would be back and at her side at the hearing that would be coming, or if she needed them. As had Gavin when he’d left yesterday.

  More importantly, she knew the man at her side now would be there, and that was all she really needed. She had been worried for a while, when he seemed to have pulled back, but there had been so much to do in the aftermath, she’d had little time to think about anything else. And then she had realized that was exactly why Brady had backed off—to give her room to come to grips with the complete wreckage of what had been her life. Yet he had still been there, every step of the way, radiating such utter confidence that she could do whatever was necessary that she couldn’t help but believe it. It had been a long ten days, but she had plowed through all the grim detail work, made the decisions necessary and at last, today, had called a halt.

  It was, after all, Valentine’s Day. And so she asked him to bring her here, to where her life had hit its lowest point...and turned around so miraculously.

  “You know the biggest irony in all this? That night, when you found me here, I thought about what I was doing, how it would hurt my mother to go through another suicide,” she said as she leaned against him where they sat on the stone seat. She felt him go very still, as if even thinking about it made him tense. “But that wasn’t what stopped me long enough for you to grab me.”

  “What did?” His voice was low and a little rough.

  “I didn’t want to do what you said—ruin this place for you. You’d done nothing but be kind to me, and I simply couldn’t do that to you.”