Expired Cache

by Lisa Phillips

  Dean found his phone in the grass. While the EMTs worked on Jess’s head injury, he texted Stuart asking what he was thinking walking off like that. If he got back a reply quickly, one that made sense, then he’d know Stuart really was okay.

  Then he sat back on his heels and took a long inhale.

  His phone buzzed in his hand a second later.

  It’s only two miles home. I have a headache, and my legs still work fine.

  Dean replied that Stuart had better text again when he got home, or he’d be doing all the chores for a week. It was an empty threat, and Stuart would know that, but he wanted to know his friend and roommate got back safely.

  “This place is a mess.”

  The two firefighters had no equipment. No truck. Thankfully the blaze had calmed to smoldering. Still, it gave off a considerable amount of heat.

  He’d really been standing on the porch? He probably should be dead, but then he could honestly say that about so many of the dark days in his life. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d had a near miss. Alive still, for a reason.

  He looked at Ellie. They shared a relieved smile.

  Was she the reason he was still here? Thank You, God. Spending time with her, even if it was only as her protector, was a gift he recognized.

  As he watched, she took in the burned-out ruins of her grandfather’s cabin, her cabin. What was left of it. Tears rolled down her face.

  When he had first met her, she’d needed help but hadn’t wanted him to help her. Now that he was there to help her there was nothing he could do or say to lessen the pain she felt over this loss. So fresh on the heels of losing her grandfather. Now she’d lost what he had left her.

  And there was nothing Dean could do.

  Except be there for her.

  He moved toward her.

  “Dean!” Conroy trotted over, followed by Ted.

  Dean’s kid brother looked like he wanted to be sick. “What—”

  Ted slammed into him. His thinner arms wrapped around Dean’s chest like a vice.

  Dean winced. “Easy on the shoulder, yeah?” He tried to sound light and breezy, but he wanted to throw up.

  “No.” Ted moved his arms to Dean’s waist, but arguably squeezed him harder. “I thought you were dead. You got blown up.”

  “Wasn’t the first time.”

  Ted reared back to thump him in the chest. “Not funny.”

  Dean grabbed his wrist. His brother was really shaken up about this. “I’ve been in danger before.” He glanced at Ellie, who was staring at them. “I’m fine. Why don’t you go check on Jess?”

  He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “The EMTs will do more than I can, and she has her sister.”

  Okay, so there was more to this. Dean would have to ask him about it later.

  “We’re all good. Even Stuart, who told Jess he was going to walk it off. He’s probably already home by now.” Dean checked his phone and found the text. He showed Ted. “See? All good.” He squeezed his brother, the tendon between his neck and shoulder. “But I do need to ask you something real quick.”

  “What?” The fear on his brother’s face was starting to settle. Dean wasn’t used to having his brother here, needing to be reassured. He usually came home weeks or sometimes months later off one Navy mission or another. Not less than an hour after, where Ted got an eyeful of the repercussions. Like now. It looked like a war zone up here.

  “Do you know where Dad is?”

  Dean still had a hold on his brother’s shoulder, so he felt Ted flinch. “Why would I know where he is?”

  Dean wasn’t sure that was the truth. “I gotta ask him something. It’s important, and it might help keep Ellie safe.”

  Conroy said, “What makes you think that?”

  “A photo.” Dean figured the truth would come out soon enough. “Chief Ridgeman served in Vietnam with a group of guys from Last Chance.”

  “Mid-seventies?” Conroy said, “The town was founded right after the war ended.”

  Dean shrugged. There was a lot he’d never known about his dad, apparently. “I think our father might know why someone is so desperate to keep Ellie from finding out the truth.” If this was all about something that had happened back then.

  “Was your dad one of the founders?”

  Ted glanced at Dean, who tipped his head to the side in a shrug. “I know he liked it here, but I have no idea. If those guys in Ridgeman’s picture from Vietnam were the town’s first residents, I’ve never heard about it. We moved around a lot, but I know my dad favored Last Chance.” Dean turned to his brother. “Can you find him?”

  Ted started to speak. From the look on his face, he was going to be cagey.

  Ellie spoke first, “Your father was one of the men in that picture?”

  He spun to find her right behind him, the tracks from tears on her cheeks. How did he explain this? “I—”

  “You knew one of those men, and you lied to me.”

  Okay, so that was true. “El—”

  “We need some help!” one firefighter yelled. The other was crouched in the center of the destruction. “There’s a body down here!”

  Nineteen

  Dean took a step toward the cabin wreckage. Ellie stepped in front of him. “Not so fast.”

  If he was going to play dumb, that was fine for him. As for her, she wasn’t going to just ignore it.

  Ellie folded her arms. “Your father was in that photo with my grandfather? Who else did you recognize and not tell me about?”

  Anger surged through her, hot like a roaring fire. Like the one consuming her inheritance. Any chance she might have at figuring out what her grandfather intended was rapidly turning into a colossal mess.

  No. She couldn’t think about that right now. What she needed to do was focus on Dean and the breach of trust. He was supposed to have been sticking close to protect her. The truth said more about his character—he’d been there to protect himself only.

  “I don’t recognize any of the others. I barely recognized your grandfather.”

  “But you knew one of them was your dad,” she shot back.

  Dean said, “That’s my business.”

  He wasn’t even going to defend the fact he’d lied to her. Lying by omission was still lying. Ellie’s heart squeezed in her chest. How much more loss was she going to have to feel today? It was enough to make her want to squeeze up in a ball and ugly cry.

  She hadn’t done that in a long time.

  Dean tried to move around her, but she got in front of him again. He shook his head. “I need to help them.”

  “They’ve got it. They’re trained, certified first responders. You need to tell me the truth right now.”

  She didn’t like what all this was doing to her. She sounded like a shrew, a heartless one at that. But the truth was, what could she do? Ellie’s skills didn’t extend to fighting off attackers, saving people from exploding cabins, or digging someone out of wreckage.

  If she sounded like a horrible person, then at least that would keep her and Dean from getting any closer. She was just guarding her heart, right? And apparently there was reason to do so.

  Dean shrugged. “There’s nothing to tell. He was in the photo, so I asked Ted if he could find him for us.”

  There was no us.

  She looked at Ted, not wanting to make herself sound worse than she already had in her exchange with Dean. It would only come out desperate. A sad, lonely woman’s attempt to make something out of nothing. He’d know she liked him. That she was nursing a monster crush.

  One that had distracted her in a serious way from seeing what was right in front of her face. Best not to say anything.

  She turned to the side. “Fine. Whatever.”

  Ugh, now she sounded like a juvenile shrew. Why was this whole trip home bringing out the worst in her? She wasn’t like this. If her coworkers or students ever saw her acting this way, they would think she’d lost her mind.

  Maybe she ha
d.

  “Our father is none of your business.”

  She turned to face Ted, and the frown creasing his thick, dark brows. Ellie said, “Until someone gets hurt worse than they already are. Like your brother.”

  Ted worked his mouth back and forth. “It’s still none of your business.”

  “Hey.” Jess shoved the EMT’s hand away. “Quit hassling her, Ted.”

  “She’s the one accusing my brother of lying.”

  Ellie tried to interject, but Jess cut her off. “Because he did lie. He knowingly withheld information. And it could have gotten one of us killed.”

  Hurt flashed on Ted’s face for a second before he shook his head. “Everyone is fine.”

  “Except the guy in the cabin when it blew up.” Conroy hopped off the debris and strode over. “I’m tempted to sit all of you down and make you walk me through everything that’s happened, and what you all know about this.”

  Dean followed after Conroy. He’d gone up to the cabin with him, despite his injury. Now all his focus was on his brother when he said, “It’s not Dad.” Then he glanced at Ellie. “It’s the missing lawyer.”

  “I wanted to talk to him.” The words came out before she even realized how self-centered that sounded. A man had suffered, and she was only worried about the information she could have gotten out of him?

  Dean said, “He’s not dead. You may still get your chance.”

  “He’s alive?”

  Conroy nodded. “He was beaten pretty badly and appears to have been restrained at some point. He was in the big chest freezer in the cellar.”

  Ellie blinked. She hadn’t even known her grandfather’s cabin had a cellar. “How long was he in there for?”

  “We don’t know.”

  He could have been tied up in the freezer when they’d come here yesterday. Ellie shuddered.

  Dean said, “The cameras showed a break in just after five this morning.” As though he knew what she was thinking.

  Ellie didn’t want sympathy from him right now. Not only did she not think she deserved it, but she also didn’t trust anything coming from him. Nor did she plan to anytime soon.

  Conroy said, “So either he was dumped here and whoever set the explosion thought he’d die in the blast, or he was conscious and knew what was about to happen so he climbed into the freezer thinking it could save him.”

  “Which it did,” she said.

  He nodded. “He’s in rough shape and unconscious, but we’ll get him to the hospital.”

  “Along with Dean and Jess.”

  All of them bristled.

  She didn’t back down. “They both need to be seen by doctors. Jess probably has a concussion.”

  The EMT by her sister said, “I’m thinking the same.”

  “See.” Ellie waved at her sister.

  “Officer Ridgeman will be taken to the hospital.”

  “Dean should get checked out as well.”

  Ted nodded. “I agree.”

  Dean started to grin. “Et tu—”

  “Shut it.”

  Dean pointed at his brother. “Don’t tell me to shut it.”

  “Make me.”

  Ellie said, “Is this necessary?” Sure, she bantered plenty with her sister. It was a great stress reliever. But they all needed to focus right now.

  Conroy turned his compassionate gaze on her.

  It didn’t help. Kind of actually made it worse, since apparently he thought she wasn’t okay. Ellie said, “What does the lawyer have to do with whatever I’m supposed to find? And, like me, does he know something he isn’t supposed to? Because if he was meant to die here to keep him from saying something, that means he represents a threat.”

  “Exactly.” Conroy nodded, his expression turning to one of approval.

  “I’m glad he’s alive.”

  “It may be a while before he can say anything at all, but we can all be thankful his heart is still beating.”

  “Along with the rest of ours.” Ellie was tempted to thank God that they’d all survived. No one else could have pulled that off. The second the cabin exploded she’d thought for sure they were all dead, and she would be up here alone with three bodies and nothing left of her grandfather’s gift.

  They’d come through it unscathed, for the most part. Only the thought that this wasn’t over kept her from celebrating. She still intended to find out what her grandfather’s guilty secret had been. Another temptation to pray. A tiny whisper that she should, in order to ask that no one else get hurt while she finished this.

  The still small voice that called her to those childish things, where she thought of God like a papa-daddy who sat on His throne up in heaven waiting for her to ask Him for what she needed. Now that she had grown out of that fantasy belief, she needed to leave the temptation to talk to Him again alone. More proof being home was messing her up. Making her want to pray, of all things.

  “Whoever brought him here, they beat him pretty badly,” Conroy said. “I’d guess they carried him, because I’m not sure he’d have made it under his own steam. Though, it’s possible. We’ll have to see what the doctor says about his state.”

  While he spoke, the EMTs carried the lawyer past them, headed away and down the path at a steady clip that was almost a run.

  “Jess needs to go too.”

  “I’ll take her in a second.” Conroy watched Jess make her way over.

  “Are you okay?”

  Ellie’s sister snuggled up to her side. “My head’s going to hurt like a mother tomorrow.”

  She frowned at Jess’s use of language.

  Her sister chuckled. “Other than that, I feel like I’ve been blown up, and I want to hurl.”

  “Great.” She didn’t like how many people were getting hurt. But it felt good to hug her little sister right now.

  “We need to get this guy.” Jess said, “If my head didn’t hurt, I’d probably have an idea how to do that. I’m sure I would.”

  Conroy nodded. “I’m sure, too.”

  “I have to figure this out.” She asked Dean, “The house is okay, right? Because all the things of my grandfather’s that I collected from here are there right now.”

  Assuming what she’d even taken would help her now. Maybe she’d missed the solution that was right in front of her, and now it was blown up. Everything he’d given her that she’d left behind was now smoldering rubble.

  Dean went to retrieve his backpack. Maybe that had been blown up as well.

  Ellie couldn’t lose it. Even if she wanted to, nothing would come of grieving this loss. Not right now. Maybe later, when she was alone in the bathtub like before. Or not, since it would be much better to actually take a bath to just relax.

  But how could she do that when there was so much going on? A man was in the hospital. The mystery was still a mystery, and now it wasn’t just her that was at risk. The lives of people she cared about were in danger.

  “Okay, let go.” Jess shifted away from her

  Ellie realized she’d been squeezing her sister way too hard. “Sorry.”

  Dean finally looked up from his tablet. “The house is good, Ellie. For now.”

  “So what’s next?” Ted glanced between them.

  Dean answered, “Ellie saw his face.”

  “You did?”

  She nodded in response to Conroy’s question. Jess looked about ready to blow. Ellie said, “I saw him, so I grabbed Dean’s gun and chased after him. But he got away.”

  “With the gun.”

  Ellie pressed her lips together.

  “Sorry,” Dean said. “I was just remembering aloud what happened to it.”

  Conroy tapped on the screen of his phone, then said, “If I get you to look at mug shots, Ellie, do you think you’d be able to ID him?”

  “Maybe.” She thought about it. “I’ve seen him twice, but I’ve never gotten a good look at his face.”

  Jess squeezed her hand. “It’s worth a try, right? He nearly killed the lawyer, just for doi
ng his job reading us the will.”

  Conroy said, “Maybe.”

  Her sister whirled on him. “What?”

  Ellie had no idea what “cop” thing was transpiring between them. “Someone should probably explain this to me, as well.”

  “It’s like you said.” Conroy nodded to her. “He might be in the same position as you, and knowing too much makes him a threat to whoever wants to keep their secret.” Conroy turned his phone so she could see the screen. “I took this photo of his shoulder when they were taking him out of here. I’ve never seen it before, so I snapped a picture. Considering everything, I didn’t want to take a chance.”

  “So you do know what’s been happening.”

  “Only what has Jess told me.”

  Ellie was about to argue with him when her sister said, “Pop had one of those.”

  “What?” She turned to her sister, then looked at the screen of the phone. “He did?”

  “I saw it when he was sick. I had to help him dress a few times.” Jess’s eyes were dark, full of grief. “It was on his shoulder. He said it was an old Navy tattoo.”

  “So maybe they got the tattoos at the same time.” Ellie shrugged. “What does it mean?”

  “They served together.” Dean’s expression darkened. “Holmford, Ridgeman, and my father.”

  She swallowed. “Mr. Holmford was one of the men in the photo as well?”

  Dean said, “We really do need to find my father then.”

  Conroy said, “What if all those military guys in that photo of yours are the founders of Last Chance?”

  Ellie gritted her teeth. “They buried a secret, and then built a town on top of it.”

  Twenty

  Conroy perched on the edge of an unoccupied desk. No papers, no computer. “Everyone sit down.”

  Dean folded his arms carefully, trying to do it despite the pull in his shoulder. Savannah was here, as was Mia—the police lieutenant, and Conroy’s fiancé.

  Ellie turned an office chair toward the police chief and folded her hands in her lap. Dean wanted to make a crack about the teacher’s pet, but he didn’t. How dare she get mad at him for withholding that information about his father? This was his father. Why was it any of her business if he kept it to himself, or not? Until he chose to talk about his past, or his parentage, it wasn’t anything she needed to know.