“It got her killed.”
“Which is why we’re going to handle this another way.”
“What did you find?”
Gabe flipped through the spreadsheets. “I think your father was on to your uncle before he died. These are the financial statements for the company. Your father made notes all over them, accounting for lost revenue and missing income.”
Ella looked through another set of papers. “These are more of the same.”
Gabe pulled out a CD with a slip of paper attached with a binder clip.
“What is that?”
“A receipt for drinks for two the same day Lela has in her calendar to meet the mechanic.”
Gabe checked the box for any more papers, but only found a small handheld digital recorder. He pushed play.
“What happened to your wife?”
“That’s Lela,” Ella said.
“Phillip Wolf killed her. He kidnapped her from our house while she was out hanging the laundry on the line. I was at work, checking over your parents’ plane.”
“Was there anything wrong with it?”
“No, ma’am. Good as new. Your father paid good money to keep that plane in top condition. I did my inspection and he did his before he flew it every time.”
“Did you inspect the plane the day of the crash?”
“I went over it from nose to tail. Checked everything out. But then a man stopped by the hangar. He handed me a picture of Marjorie, sitting in a chair, a gag in her mouth, the morning newspaper against her chest.”
Ella reached for Gabe’s hand and held it tight.
“What did the man ask you to do?”
“Sabotage the fuel gauge to make your father think he had more fuel than he did and swap out the black box for one that didn’t work to cover it up.” The words came out choked and halting. Ella felt his pain. “I did it to save her, but I couldn’t. He killed her anyway.”
“How did you disable the black box?” Lela asked.
“I didn’t. I swapped it the day after the plane crash.”
“How? Weren’t there a ton of NTSB and police?”
“They were everywhere. The guy in charge, Eardly, the one who came with Marjorie’s picture and the order to kill your father, asked if I did my job. I told him I did it and begged him to tell me where they took my wife. He said that part wasn’t his job, handed me an envelope full of cash, and dismissed me, telling the others he’d questioned and released me. I hoped they’d release my wife, and I’d find her at home. Before I left the hangar housing all the wreckage, dinner arrived for the investigators. They were distracted just long enough for me to switch out the black boxes and take the faulty fuel gauge.”
Ella and Gabe both stared at the bright orange metal box and gauge on the floor beside them.
“Is that what’s in the bag?”
“After they killed my wife, I took that money, the evidence, and I took off until the coast was clear. They got what they wanted. If I came forward, they’d pin the whole thing on me. I’d go to jail. I couldn’t sit in a box the rest of my life, going mad with grief. You have to understand, I did it to save her. I’ve lived with this for ten years and it’s eating me alive. I deserved to lose my wife for what I’d done and now cancer is slowly killing me.
“They had my wife.” His voice cracked.
The sound made Ella’s heart ache, but he’d killed her father and never came forward. Maybe if he had, her mother and sister would still be alive today.
“You take this to the right people. Make him pay for killing my wife.”
“What about you? You killed my father.”
“I paid every day. No one could be more sorry than I am for what I’ve done. God has sealed my fate. It’s nothing less than what I deserve. I’m not long for this world.”
The anguish in his voice wasn’t enough to make her sympathize. He’d killed her father, which led to her mother’s suicide. Yet he’d only been trying to save his wife. The fury swept through her. Gabe’s hand settled over their joined ones, her nails biting into this skin. She loosened her grip, but didn’t let go of him, or her rage. She’d make her uncle pay for ruining so many lives.
“How do you know my uncle is responsible?”
“The black box and gauge aren’t the only things I kept. I took the photograph. I stared at that picture every day, reminding myself of what I’d done and what it cost me. Every day I made myself look at her face and apologize for what I’d done. The other day, tired from the chemo and dying, I lay down with the picture and my eyes watered up and I saw something I’d never seen before. Here, look.” Something rustled. “See, right here. In the reflection of the picture on the wall. He didn’t just take Marjorie’s picture. He took one of himself.”
Gabe pulled the picture out of the envelope that had held the recorder. He held it between him and Ella. They both stared at the image of Phillip, taking the photograph reflected off the glass. If you weren’t looking for it, you’d probably miss it overlaid in the framed art on the wall, but once you saw it, there was no mistaking Phillip Wolf.
“After all these years, I finally know and can prove Phillip Wolf killed my wife.”
The rest of the tape was nothing but them saying goodbye. “I’ll listen to the whole thing again, but my uncle will probably say I fabricated the conversation.”
Gabe held up the CD marked “Surveillance, The Rise, Bozeman, Montana.”
“Your sister didn’t leave anything to chance. She recorded the conversation and got the meeting on video.” He held up the restaurant receipt. “She’s got proof of the date and time of the meeting, which I’ll bet matches the time on the video.”
“This is what brought her here. The meeting to get the evidence that Uncle Phillip killed our father. She came to the ranch and discovered my father’s stash of evidence against him too.”
“You’ve uncovered even more. The ongoing embezzlement, the missing paintings; and he killed those auditors.”
“He won’t kill anyone else,” she vowed.
“Were you supposed to be on the plane with your father?”
“No. If I remember right, my parents had a long, private conversation in the study right before he left. Lela was fighting a cold. I wanted to stay with the horses. Mom stayed with us, and my father went alone. He promised to return in a few days.”
“He didn’t want to take you with him. Your father went back to confront your uncle, but Phillip had already set up his death.”
“Because he knew my father was on to him about the embezzlement.”
Ella sighed and stared at the black box and the files of evidence against her uncle, and thought of the morning her sister confronted their uncle. Triumphant. Full of righteous indignation, and emboldened by the presence of a detective she thought was on her side, Lela marched into the penthouse and swore to take him down.
Ella wouldn’t be that reckless. She needed to verify everything and leave nothing to chance.
“Check this out.” Gabe held out a legal-size folder.
Ella opened it and gasped. “My father wrote out a new will.” She sorted through the papers, found the old will, and started comparing it to the new one. Gabe sat beside her in silence until she finished deciphering all the legalese.
“Fucking asshole, dickhead. Jail is too good for that murderous bastard. I’m going to dump his ass in a vat of acid and watch him writhe in pain.”
“I’m right there with you. I want to rip the guy limb from limb for what he’s done to you and your family.” The anger in his voice matched the fury in her heart. “Tell me what the papers say.”
“My father was not only on to what he’d done, he’d made sure my uncle never received anything if something happened to my parents. The will my uncle is using now was made when Lela and I were born. My father changed the will two months before he died. My uncle isn’t our guardian. My parents name my mother’s distant cousin. I remember meeting her a few times. She was really nice. She and my mother we
re great friends. They spoke on the phone and exchanged letters often. After my parents died, she came to see me and Lela several times, but then she stopped.”
“Your uncle must have made her stop coming around. If she and your mother were close, she might have asked questions about why you girls were with him and not her. Your mother wouldn’t have left you girls to this woman without at least talking to her about it first.”
“That’s my guess, but that’s not all. The terms of the will are completely different. Lela and I never had to get our MBA, or work at the company. They left it all to us, to do with as we pleased.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “The will states that if Lela and I wanted to pursue other interests, like art or veterinary school, we could sell the company, or keep it and hire managers to run it.”
“You wanted to be a vet?”
“I was fourteen and in love with the horses my father bought me.”
“What dad doesn’t want to buy his princesses ponies?”
“My father spoiled us every chance he got. My mother too. They’d each scold the other for doing something for us. Then they’d smile at each other like in the grand scheme of things it didn’t really matter.” She ran her fingertips over the papers.
“When you were babies, the MBA and running the company seemed a good idea. Then, you grew up and your parents wanted you to find your own path and do what you loved.”
“I miss them so much.”
“I know you do, sweetheart. They’ve given you everything you need to finish this and do what they wanted for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Live the life that makes you happy. Whatever kind of life that is.”
“Everything could have been so different if that bastard hadn’t meddled in our lives.”
She leaned back and scanned the contents of the vault. “I finally have all the proof I need to take my uncle down. It’s time to contact Sam.”
Gabe’s silence spoke volumes. Once she called Sam, everything would change. She’d go back to New York and do what she had to do.
“Come on, let’s close this up and get back to the house. We’ll call Sam in the morning.”
Ella wanted to call Sam immediately. Still, she nodded and silently agreed to wait until the morning. They’d have tonight together, just the two of them, before everything got even more complicated and her life intruded on his again.
Gabe closed the vault and all the open workbench drawers. The locks clicked back into place. The evidence remained inside. Safe, until they handed it over to Sam. Gabe took her hand and led her back through the house to the side door leading out to the patio.
“Where the hell did you leave your phone?” A deep voice echoed through the kitchen. Someone must have come in through the garage side door just after they left. The men her uncle had sent to find her. Her heart slammed into her ribs, then raced, sending an adrenaline rush through her veins.
Gabe opened the patio door and shoved her through.
“Probably in the bathroom.” The second voice sounded closer as the men moved through the house.
“Go get it. I wish this fucking house wasn’t so damn cold. I’m going out on the patio to stand in the sun for a smoke.”
Gabe pulled her close. “Get to the horses. Ride for the trees. Hide. Now.”
“Come with me.”
Gabe gave her a steely look that said, No way. “I’ll get rid of them. Go. Quick. Before they see you.” He gave her a quick kiss and shoved her bottom to get her moving.
She scrambled around the side of the patio and out of view from the windows that lined this side of the house.
Gabe didn’t waste time and snuck back through the living room and around a huge pillar and came up silently behind Phillip’s man. He snatched the gun from the guy’s waistband holster and pressed the steel between his shoulder blades. “Don’t say a fucking word.”
The guy was smart enough to keep quiet. Gabe grabbed him by the neck and dragged him backward toward the bathroom off the stairs. The second guy came around the corner, his lost phone in hand, and halted dead in his tracks.
“If you want your friend to live,” Gabe said in a low, even voice, “take your gun out nice and easy, drop it to the floor, and kick it my way.”
The guy complied with a murderous look. “Who the fuck are you?”
“The owner. You’re trespassing. Not to mention breaking and entering.”
“Phillip Wolf sent us. He owns this place, not you.”
“Wrong. He sold me the property. I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you need to get the hell off my land.”
“We’re looking for Ella Wolf.”
“As you can see”—Gabe swept his gaze over the empty rooms—“she’s not here.”
“You seen her?”
“The only people sneaking around this place are you two.”
“Come on, man, you’re not going to pull that trigger.”
“ ’Round these parts, we shoot strangers first and ask questions later.” The deadly serious note in his voice got their attention. “Now, get the fuck out of my house.” Gabe shoved the guy he held the gun on toward the front door. The other guy scampered after him. Gabe snagged the other gun off the floor and kept the ends of his barrels trained on both men. He walked them to the black Escalade out front. Probably the same one he saw at Finney’s trailer home.
“How the hell did you even know we were here?”
“Called the alarm company to put the service in my name. They told me about the alarm going off when you two yahoos broke the garage window. If Phillip Wolf sent you here, why didn’t he give you a key or the alarm code?”
The two men stared at each other, clearly at a loss for an answer. They’d simply taken the easy route and broke in instead of going through the hassle of contacting Phillip over such mundane details as keys and codes.
“Right. Maybe I should call the sheriff. Let him check you two out. Make sure you’re legit,” Gabe suggested.
“Look, man, take it easy.” One threw up his hands in protest. “The woman isn’t here. We’re leaving. Just give us back the guns. We don’t want trouble.”
“You’ve already got it. Get in the car and drive away. Don’t come back, and we won’t have a problem. Got it?”
The men tore out like the devil hunted them. He waited for them to turn the bend out of his sight. Still, he waited a couple of minutes more to see if they were stupid enough to come back.
His heart pounded. Had Ella remained out of sight? That encounter was too close for comfort. He dreaded what came next. Facing off with Phillip would be far more dangerous than going up against his goons.
Satisfied the men had left without further incident, he went back through the house, locked everything up, and set the alarm. He ran around the back to his horse, stuffed the guns in his saddle bags, and got up in the saddle. He turned and headed back down the hill toward the tree line, following Ella’s horse’s tracks.
Just outside the trees, he whistled for her to come out. “All’s clear, sweetheart.”
Smart woman that she was, she came out fifteen feet down, closer to the wide valley they came up earlier. A much easier spot from which to ride hard and get away.
“I can’t stay here anymore. I’ve put you in danger.”
“You’re in danger every second that bastard isn’t behind bars.”
“Yes, and now I’ve brought that danger to your door.” She leaned forward as if the weight of all she had to do now settled on her shoulders. “It’s time, Gabe.”
Chapter 26
Gabe knelt beside Ella sitting at the kitchen table hours after they returned home. He ran his hands up her thighs to her hips and grabbed hold to get her attention. “Come to bed, Ella.”
“I’m so tired.”
“Let it be. At least for tonight.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
The burden of having to fix everything weighed on her when all she wanted to do was grieve for her family. H
e hoped a part of her wanted to stay because of him.
“I want you to stay.”
To prove how much he meant that statement, he pulled her sister’s letter that she’d been staring at for the last hour from her hands and set it on the table. He reached up, cupped the back of her neck, and drew her to him for a soft kiss that coaxed her to set her sorrows aside and find some happiness in his arms. If that was all he could offer her right now, he’d give her everything.
Her lips were soft against his. He stood, pulling her up with him, their mouths still pressed together, and he sank deeper into the kiss and her.
God, how he needed her. He dipped his hands low over her hips, bringing her up to wrap her legs around his waist. Her arms encircled his head, and he buried his face in her neck and kissed and nipped, hungry for her in a way he didn’t want to evaluate too closely.
With his long strides and determination to get her into his bed, he had her in their room in seconds, but the short walk didn’t distract him from kissing her, or rubbing his hands over her bottom, dipping deep, to tease her soft folds.
His legs hit the bed, and he bent forward, letting her fall on her back onto the mattress and rumpled sheets. She bounced and smiled up at him.
“I like seeing you in my clothes,” he said, staring down at her in his Led Zeppelin T-shirt and Texas A&M sweatpants. Her favorite outfit to lounge around the house while she washed her clothes. “But I prefer you out of them.”
He put actions to words, peeling the sweatpants down her legs. Since the first time they made love, and he discovered she didn’t wear any panties, because she didn’t have any but the original pair she arrived in, it had become a torture to see her each and every day, knowing she was bare under her clothes.
She pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it over the side of the bed. His eyes devoured every inch of her soft, creamy skin.
“Love me, Gabe.”
He wanted to tell her how much he already did, but showed her instead. He leaned over and planted soft kisses down the center of her chest and over her belly. Her fingers slid through his hair and she sighed softly into the night. He detoured from her stomach and planted a kiss on her hip. He slid his hands up her thighs and back down, grabbing her knees and spreading her legs wide, opening her to him. He laid a trail of kisses up the inside of her thigh and buried his face in her heat, sweeping his tongue deep into her core. Her fingers clenched in his hair and she moaned. The taste of her shot through him in a blaze, making his cock jerk and the need to be inside her intensify, but he wanted to please her, make her forget everything but him and the way he made her feel when they were together. He wanted her to know how much she meant to him. How much he couldn’t live without her. What he couldn’t bring himself to say with words, because he couldn’t find any that expressed the depth of what he felt, he showed her with his body.
At Wolf Ranch Page 22