Deadly Forever (Hardy Brothers Security Book 24)

by Lily Harper Hart

  MacIntosh made a clucking sound as he studied his computer screen. “Oh, my. This is going to change everything. I can’t believe no one has picked up this angle yet. This is just … disturbing.”

  9

  Nine

  “What do you think?”

  For some inexplicable reason, Mandy felt nervous as she sat in the passenger seat of James’ Explorer two hours later and stared at the ornate colonial home in one of Macomb County’s ritzier suburbs.

  When Judge MacIntosh told James and Mandy what was in the sealed file, they were both flabbergasted. As damning as the information was, Mandy had no idea how it could’ve forced the boys to do what they did. She could still hear MacIntosh’s grave voice when he informed them that Dakota Landers was accused of drugging and raping a female teenager at a party. The girl claimed she was gang raped, in fact, but since she was drugged the only face she remembered belonged to Dakota.

  “I don’t know what to think, baby,” James said, idly rubbing his thumb over the palm of her hand as he stared at the house. “This entire thing is … I don’t even know what to say about it.”

  “I don’t understand why he’s not in jail,” Mandy supplied. “I know the girl recanted her statement but … .”

  “Why do you think she did that?” James asked, shifting his eyes to Mandy. He was genuinely curious. “If she really believed she was drugged and raped, wouldn’t she want someone to pay for what happened to her?”

  Mandy shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen it,” she said. “While I was at the courthouse, I heard about it happening numerous times. Trials are always harder on the victim where rape is concerned, and from what the judge said about that file … well … her entire life would’ve been put under a microscope.”

  “Because she couldn’t identify the other boys involved?”

  “I think we know the others boys involved,” Mandy supplied. “If I had a million dollars, I would just bet that the other boys in the mall were his partners in crime. It would be too coincidental otherwise.

  “The judge said the girl made the claims four months ago and then recanted two weeks later,” she continued. “Dakota was the only one with formal charges pending, but the sheriff’s department was investigating the other boys at the party because they wanted to bring more charges. That all disappeared when the girl – her name was Darcy Sweetin, right? – changed her story.”

  “Yeah, Darcy,” James intoned. “I still don’t understand why she would recant. I know it’s difficult to deal with things like that, but … if that was my sister or you, I would expect a trial.”

  Mandy made a derisive sound in the back of her throat. “If that was Ally or me, you would kill whoever hurt us and there would be no trial. Then Peter would help you hide the body and we would go on our merry way. Although … I guess there’s nothing merry about being gang raped. That girl is never going to be the same again.”

  “You’re right about me killing whoever did that,” James said, his eyes landing on a man standing in the garage. “I’ll bet that’s Darcy’s father. Do you think he wanted to kill the boys?”

  “I think that would be a natural instinct for most fathers,” Mandy replied. “As for testifying, though, you have to remember that this girl is a teenager and these boys appeared to be popular. She probably got turned into the villain of her own traumatic life event.”

  James lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  “She would’ve been shamed,” Mandy explained. “The defense lawyers would’ve painted her as a slut who wore skimpy clothes and led on the boys and somehow enticed them to do what they did. They would’ve said she asked for it. Heck, for all we know, the other kids at the school might’ve turned on her because they favored the boys.

  “I don’t know this girl or her exact circumstances, but I’m sure she was terrified and embarrassed,” she continued. “She probably just wanted the problem to go away. She might’ve thought things would be better if she pretended it didn’t happen.”

  James licked his lips as he slid his gaze to his wife. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than having the thing he loved most violated. When she’d been kidnapped and kept from him, that’s all he pictured in his head. He was scared to death that she would die. Something inside of him hurt when he thought about the possibility of someone raping her, though. Even though it would’ve happened to her and it wouldn’t have been able to tarnish their love, it would’ve devastated them both.

  “I already don’t like these kids and I’m feeling better about their deaths,” James said, his voice low and threatening.

  Mandy squeezed his hand reassuringly. “We don’t know that these kids were involved,” she reminded him. “We have a feeling and I’m convinced we’re right, but that still doesn’t explain why they did what they did.”

  “I know,” James said, making a face when he saw the man stride out of the garage and head in their direction. “I was hoping to talk to the girl, but I’m guessing that’s not going to happen.”

  Mandy dragged her attention to the angry looking man as he closed the distance between them. “We could leave.”

  “I’m not doing that,” James said. “I don’t want that girl being paranoid thinking someone was outside watching her. I’m going to explain exactly why we’re here. If he sends us away … so be it.”

  Mandy pressed her lips together and nodded, watching as James rolled down his window and waited for the man to approach. For his part, the man looked angry more than anything else as he hovered on the other side of the window.

  “Can I help you?”

  James didn’t bother spinning a tale or trying to appease the man with his charm. “My name is James Hardy. I own Hardy Brothers Security. I was in the mall when those boys were killed – I killed one of them, in fact – and I’ve been digging around since then because I’m trying to find a motive for their actions.”

  The man’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. Either he was surprised by James’ fortitude or he was about to fly off the handle. “I’m guessing my daughter’s name came up during your search.”

  “It did,” James confirmed. “I was hoping to talk to her. I understand if … .”

  James didn’t get a chance to finish because the man cut him off with a curt shake of his head.

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Mr. Sweetin, I understand your daughter has been through a trauma and I certainly don’t want to make it worse,” James said. “I don’t want to pressure her. I was simply looking for more information.”

  “What kind of information?”

  “I want to know what would possess those boys to go into that mall with guns,” James replied, not missing a beat. “My wife was in there. She was in danger. She talked to one of the boys before … I killed him.”

  Sweetin seemed surprised by the admission. “You killed one of them? Please tell me it hurt.”

  “It was fast,” James countered. “He raised a gun in my wife’s direction and I didn’t hesitate to handle the situation. In truth, I was feeling a little … I guess conflicted would be the right word … after it happened. When we looked into the boys’ history, though, and found the sealed file … well … I thought it might lead me to answers. Instead it led me to you.”

  “I feel your pain,” Sweetin said. “I understand why you’re upset. You probably thought you were taking out hardened criminals but instead you took down a sweet-faced kid who looked like an angel.

  “You can let yourself off the hook,” he continued. “They weren’t angels. They merely looked like them. They were devils in disguise.”

  Mandy leaned forward and caught Sweetin’s gaze. “Did your daughter recant because she didn’t want to go to trial?”

  “My daughter wants to put this behind her,” Sweetin said, his tone firm. “I won’t have you coming here and riling her up. I’m sorry you’re struggling, Mr. Hardy, but you did the world a favor when you took those boys out of this world.”

&n
bsp; “I only interacted with one of them,” James clarified. “It was Nathan Graham. Can you at least tell me if he had a part in what happened to your daughter?”

  “I can’t tell you anything,” Sweetin replied. “We’ve been threatened with lawsuits and even gotten some death threats. I won’t get involved in this. As far as I’m concerned, those boys got what they deserved. That doesn’t mean I’m going to dance on their graves in public. I’m sorry.”

  James looked defeated, but Mandy wasn’t quite ready to let it go. “Your daughter might feel better if she talks about it,” she suggested. “I went through a traumatic situation months ago – granted, it wasn’t what your daughter went through, but it was still hard – and I found it helped to talk to someone.”

  James flashed a tight-lipped smile for Mandy’s benefit. She didn’t often talk about her struggles after killing Lance Pritchard. She seemed to have put the ordeal behind her, but he was always on the lookout should she take a step back in her recovery.

  “We’re handling my daughter’s psychological needs,” Sweetin said. “We can’t help you, though. I’m sorry.”

  With those words he stormed back toward the house. Mandy watched him a moment, sympathy overwhelming her. Then she saw the dark-haired girl waiting for him in the shadows behind the Lincoln sedan in the garage. She looked terrified as her father approached. Whatever Sweetin told his daughter didn’t sit well with her, because she made a series of wild hand gestures as she conversed with him.

  Finally, after what felt like forever, James moved to pull away from the house. Mandy locked gazes with the girl as they passed and she didn’t miss the sad fury on Darcy Sweetin’s face. She had no idea what to make of it, though.

  “Let’s go back to the office,” James said. “I want to see if anyone else has come up with anything.”

  Mandy tore her eyes from Darcy and focused on her husband. “Let’s get ice cream first. I’ll even let you have a lick of mine if you don’t want your own. You know how I like it when we lick things.”

  She was going for levity and it worked because James snorted. “That sounds like a plan, wife.”

  “WHAT’S THIS?”

  James narrowed his eyes when he found Maverick sitting at his desk forty minutes later, the young computer guru seemingly focused on a task.

  “There you are,” Grady said, making a face. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you for hours.”

  “We went to the courthouse to talk to Judge MacIntosh,” James said, licking his ice cream cone. “Then we went out to Macomb Township to talk to someone … but that didn’t really pan out. I forgot I turned off my phone so it wouldn’t be a distraction when we were with the judge.”

  “What did MacIntosh give you?” Grady asked. “Oh, and is there a reason you didn’t bring me ice cream?”

  “You weren’t with us and I knew it would melt by the time I got here,” James replied. “As for the rest … yeah, we got something from MacIntosh.” James launched into the sordid tale, and when he was done, Grady was flummoxed.

  “I have trouble believing the two things aren’t connected and yet for the life of me I can’t figure out how they could be connected,” Grady admitted, rubbing his chin. “For the record, even though I know you’re disappointed, I don’t blame that girl’s father for shutting you down. I wouldn’t let a stranger near my kid after something like that either.”

  “I didn’t expect him to let me talk to her,” James conceded. “I’m not even sure why we went there. I just … after MacIntosh told us what was in the file I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “I don’t know how a mall theft plays into a gang rape statement that got recanted, but you have to think that things are somehow connected,” Grady said.

  “I agree, but we have to figure out how,” James said, turning his attention back to Maverick. “Does someone want to explain to me what the boy wonder is doing here?”

  “I prefer being Batman to Robin,” Maverick said, never lifting his eyes from the screen. “I’m the hero, not the sidekick.”

  “I’m going to kick you in the side if you don’t tell me what’s happening,” James threatened. In truth, he liked the young man despite his personality quirks. Maverick was a lot for any man to take when frustration was threatening to overwhelm him, though.

  Maverick made a strange sound as he finally dragged his eyes away from the computer monitor. Instead of focusing on James, though, he beamed when he saw Mandy. For her part, she merely raised her eyebrows as she continued eating her ice cream cone.

  “Is that sprinkles?”

  Mandy nodded.

  “I love sprinkles,” Mavericks said. He was in his early twenties and still lived with his mother so he had a youthful quality that often made Mandy giggle. He was desperate for respect … and a girlfriend … but the realities of a harsh world hadn’t yet made jaded him. She liked that about him. “I wish I was that ice cream cone so you could lick me.”

  Of course, he was also a horny kid who desperately needed to get some.

  “Don’t make me thump you,” James warned, extending a finger. “We’ve been over this. She’s my wife. That means she’s mine. If your tongue gets anywhere near her, I’m going to cut it off.”

  Maverick made an exaggerated “well, duh” face. “You’re such a killjoy, Papa Smurf.”

  James scowled. “I don’t even know what that nickname is supposed to mean. Why am I Papa Smurf?”

  “Because Smurfs are blue and you’re giving me blue balls by having a hot wife and not letting me spend time with her,” Maverick shot back, seemingly unbothered by James’ warning growl. “As for why I’m here, though, you’ve been hacked.”

  James stilled, the need to smack Maverick around warring with the sobering news that someone was trying to breach their security system. “I don’t understand,” he said after a beat. “You said that wasn’t possible.”

  “Okay, let me be clearer,” Maverick said. “Someone tried to hack you. They didn’t get any information, but they made it through two layers of firewalls before my system shut them out.”

  “How many firewalls are there?” Mandy asked, her eyes wide.

  “Eight,” Maverick answered. “I don’t do anything halfway.” He waggled his eyebrows in an attempt to flirt. “That goes for everything I do … which I’m certain you would enjoy if you give me a chance.”

  “That did it.” James made to move in Maverick’s direction, mayhem flitting across his face, but Grady stopped him by extending an arm. “Get out of the way! I’m going to kill him. He finally crossed the line.”

  “You can’t kill him until he figures out who is trying to hack our system,” Grady countered, his pragmatic side taking over. “He’s the brains of this operation, after all.”

  James made a disgusted face. “How sad is that?”

  “Very,” Grady said. “As of now, no one got in. We’re trying to figure out who tried to get in and why. We need him to do that.”

  “I guess,” James grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. “Stop flirting with my wife, though. I don’t like it.”

  “Then get an uglier wife,” Maverick suggested, blasé.

  Mandy smiled as the men returned to their verbal interplay, happily licking her ice cream cone, but her eyes were pulled to the front door of the office when she heard the bell over the door chime. She almost choked on her sprinkles when she recognized the girl standing in the doorway.

  “Darcy?”

  James jerked his head in that direction. “Well, I wasn’t expecting this.”

  10

  Ten

  “You’re Darcy Sweetin, aren’t you?”

  Mandy already knew the answer, but she carefully approached the nervous-looking girl all the same.

  “I am,” Darcy confirmed, bobbing her head. “You’re the people who were outside of my house, right? I followed you when you left. I almost lost you in Mount Clemens, but then I realized you were at the Dairy Queen.”

  Mand
y sheepishly shrugged as she inclined her chin toward the ice cream cone. “It’s a hot day.”

  “Yeah, it’s freaking unbearable,” Darcy said, making a face as she shifted away from Mandy and focused on James. “You talked to my father. What did you say?”

  James stilled. “Didn’t he tell you?”

  “Who is the hot babe?” Maverick asked, his gaze focused on Darcy.

  Grady cuffed the back of Maverick’s head and offered him a small headshake. The last thing Darcy needed was a horny young man saying something inappropriate.

  “All my father would say is that you were asking questions about Dakota and the others,” Darcy supplied. “I want to know if it has something to do with my case or what happened at the mall.”

  Mandy gestured toward the front lobby and pointed at the couch. “Why don’t you sit down,” she suggested, forcing a smile. She took the spot next to the girl and left the chairs for Grady and James. Darcy didn’t seem overly jumpy, but Mandy didn’t want to make her uncomfortable and force her to sit next to a man when she might not be ready for close quarters with members of the opposite sex.

  “Thank you,” Darcy said, getting comfortable. She seemed happy to focus on Mandy, although she darted the occasional worried look in James’ direction. For his part, he pasted a welcoming smile on his face, but he was so rugged and strong that he couldn’t help but make the girl nervous. “So, were you there for me or what happened at the mall?”

  “Both,” James answered, opting for honesty. “It started because of the mall, though.”

  “We were there,” Mandy explained. “Er, well, I was there. I was with some friends and we were at a bridal shop when it happened.”

  “Are you getting married to him?” Darcy asked, jerking her thumb in James’ direction.

  “We’re already married,” Mandy replied. “I have three friends who are having a triple wedding – although that’s not really important right now – and we were there for that.”

  “A triple wedding?” Even though she’d been through a horrible ordeal, Darcy was still girly enough to light up when she heard about the wedding. “That sounds kind of fun.”