“That’s it? That’s all she wrote?” Sam asked.
Hard to read through her tears, but she skimmed the last several journal entries. “She writes about his growing interest in her and how uncomfortable it makes her. She says he talks about running the Wolf empire with her by his side as it should have been all along.”
“His obsession for her drove him over the edge,” Gabe said, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips, kissing her palm.
“It’s insane that he thought he even had a chance with her. Anyone who saw my parents together knew she loved my father. He adored her. If she discovered Uncle Phillip killed my father, she’d have wanted revenge.”
“From the note she wrote, it sounds like she meant to kill him,” Gabe said.
“If he was obsessed with her, she’d have been able to get close to him. So, she lured him to the estate, knowing he’d come like an eager dog ready for a pet. Whatever she tried to do—poison him, shoot him, whack him in the head with a shovel—he turned the tables.” She pressed a hand to her sour stomach. “He hung her. I can’t imagine all her fury unleashed to kill that bastard turned to agonizing fear when Uncle Phillip’s so-called love turned to murderous rage. To do that to the woman he supposedly loved . . .” Reality hit her like an elbow to the gut, it stunned and hurt her. “I wish she’d killed him.” She slammed the diary down on the table, letting her rage reign. “All these years, I thought love killed her. I thought she loved Daddy more than she loved us.”
“No, Ella. Never. Even if she’d killed herself, that was her grief, not her love for him that drove her to it.”
The guilt ate a hole in her gut. “He made me hate her for leaving me.” She’d never allowed herself to grieve her loss and miss her. Those feelings swamped her now, threatening to drag her down into a pit of despair. The tears rolled down her face, but she held back the screams of agony.
Gabe cupped her face and swept his thumbs over her wet cheeks. His gaze held hers. “She didn’t abandon you, sweetheart. She tried to protect you.”
“He took them all away. My father, mother, sister. All of them gone, and for what? Money,” she spat out, like it meant nothing, because it didn’t compare to the people he took from her.
“He’ll pay, sweetheart.”
“The book doesn’t prove he killed your mother,” Sam said. “Unless he confesses, I can’t charge him. We could exhume her body and do another autopsy.”
“No. Leave her to rest in peace with my father. Soon I’ll bury Lela beside them. They’ll know I finished it, the way my mother and Lela both tried to do for me.”
Sam took the wood box from her lap. Gabe pulled her close and walked her out of the room and down the hall and back to the stairs. They walked through the living room to the dining area. Mary came out a door, carrying a tray.
“Mr. Bowden, I have a beer and a sandwich for you. Ella, dear, I’ve made you a vanilla latte, some fruit, and a chicken salad.”
Tears and her emotions back under control, she said, “Thank you, Mary. We’ll sit here at the table while the FBI finishes their work. Please make sure there is coffee and a snack for them if they’d like it.”
“Of course. I’ll take care of it right away.”
Gabe waited for Mary to go back into the kitchen to make more coffee for the ten cops upstairs. He reached over, plucked Ella from her chair, and set her on his lap. She immediately settled into him and reached for her coffee. She drank it absently, resting her head against him.
He picked up his snack and stared at it. “Did she seriously make me a filet mignon sandwich?”
Ella glanced at it, stole it from him, and took a bite. “Yep. With cheddar, Dijon mustard, and red lettuce with red onion. It’s very good.” She held the sandwich up to him, and he took a big bite.
“Damn, that’s good.”
Gabe set the bowl of fruit on her belly. He snagged a strawberry and popped it into his mouth. The blueberries were fat and huge. He pressed one to Ella’s lips, and she grabbed it with her teeth.
Sam came up behind them. “Ella, we’re ready to do the library.”
“She’s not going in there, Sam. Do your thing, but leave her be.”
“Gabe, man, it would be easier if she set up the scene for us and . . .”
“She’s not going in there. She needs to eat and take a minute for herself.”
Ella didn’t contradict him. Sam sighed and headed for the library without her.
“I can’t.”
“I know,” he said, hugging her close. “Eat.” She’d already eaten most of the sandwich and half the bowl of fruit. He didn’t mind sharing. Once he finished his half, he started on her salad. He loved the strange green dressing and pumpkin seeds with the shredded chicken and greens. “I need to hire a cook. This is really good.”
Ella laughed and shook her head. “Either that or you’ll have to cook, because you already know I don’t.”
Such a telling statement that she meant to live with him, but he didn’t dare take it as her intent.
“So, it’s left to me to take care of you.”
She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss. “You do it so well.”
Chapter 30
Gabe walked out of the bathroom dressed for the day and still feeling exhausted. He’d barely gotten three hours’ sleep. He stared at the rumpled bed and figured Ella probably got one. He wanted to pack her bag, put her on a plane, and take her back to Montana and away from this mess. Not going to happen, but that was exactly what she needed. He hated finding her crying in Lela’s room in the middle of the night. He’d done everything he could to show her how much he loved her and that she’d never be alone again, but it hadn’t been enough to make her smile and ease her grief. Part of him knew she needed to work her way through it in her own time and in her own way, but it still left him feeling inadequate. He needed to do something, because seeing her like that ate away at him and broke his heart.
She was a good, kind, loving, decent person who didn’t deserve any of this. He hated Phillip for what he’d done to her, to her family.
Gabe made his way down the stairs, amazed at the extravagance of her home. He’d seen pictures of places like this in magazines, but never up close. He glanced out the windows at the park and knew this neighborhood was probably the most expensive real estate in the country. Ella was used to this lifestyle. He was still trying to get used to it and felt like he should put his hands behind his back and not touch anything.
He walked through the living room and found Ella at the dining room table with Mary and Felicity, bent over notepads. Ella looked up and smiled when she saw him. The doorbell rang and Felicity rose to answer it. Ella stood and came to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a sweet kiss. She tasted of coffee and a bit of desperation the way she held her lips pressed to his. He hugged her close, but didn’t let go when she ended the kiss.
“I don’t like waking up without you,” he grumbled.
“I couldn’t sleep. Too much to do.”
“You need your rest.”
“I just need you.” She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed.
He kissed her on the head and glanced over her at Sam, who walked in the door, talking on his phone.
“Yeah, he’s right here,” Sam said, handing the phone to him.
Ella let him go. “Hi, Sam.”
“You need to sleep,” he said, seeing the same dark circles and bloodshot eyes Gabe saw this morning.
“Hello,” Gabe said into the phone, not knowing why Sam handed it to him.
“Hey, man, it’s Caleb.”
“Oh, hey. What’s up? Why are you calling Sam and me?”
“Good news. Summer and I are pregnant.”
Gabe’s heart soared. “Congratulations. To both of you. When?”
“Late September.”
“That’s great, Caleb. Really fantastic. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks. We’re really happy, too. Listen, I won’t keep you, I
know you’re in the thick of it with your girl this morning, but I wanted to say I’m happy for you too. Blake and Dane rave about Ella. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“You will soon.”
“Call me when things settle down. We need to catch up.”
“Will do. And give Summer a big kiss for me.”
“Definitely. Bye.”
Gabe handed the phone back to Sam, unable to hide the huge smile.
“What is it?” Ella asked, looking from him to Sam, easily reading how happy they both were.
“My brother knocked up Sam’s sister. We’re going to be uncles.” Gabe high-fived Sam and they both smiled like crazy.
Ella laughed at the two of them. “Congratulations. When’s the baby due?”
“End of September.”
“This is going to be one lucky baby. They already have an uncle to play cops and robbers and another to play cowboy.”
He and Sam both laughed, but Gabe caught the sad look in her eyes that she’d never hear her sister say she was pregnant. She’d never get to tell her sister the same. They’d never share the experience of being pregnant and delivering their babies. So many things they’d never share, and all of them reflected in Ella’s sad eyes.
“Maybe if this one wises up, the baby will have a rich aunt who takes her shopping on Madison Avenue.”
Ella’s gaze locked with his. She didn’t say anything about becoming the baby’s aunt, but gave him hope when she laughed and said, “What if it’s a boy?”
“Can you buy a dirt bike on Madison Avenue?” Sam asked.
“I guess I better find out. Just in case,” she added.
Gabe wanted to know if that meant just in case it was a boy, or just in case she became his wife. He didn’t even question that’s what he wanted. He wished he knew how to make that happen. Asking her was easy, but the reality of it seemed a lot harder to figure out, especially when he was standing in her multimillion-dollar home on 5th Avenue in New York City when he belonged on his ranch in Montana. Correction, their ranch. The one she owned the lion’s share of because no way could he afford that house and massive piece of land. Despite all that, he wanted her, everything else be damned.
Sam broke the tension. “Shall we go see how your uncle is doing this morning?”
“Let’s,” Ella said, turning to the table and jotting down several things on the notepad Mary left.
“Ella, what were you discussing with Mary and Felicity?” he asked, seeing the long list of items on the paper, even though it was too far away for him to read.
“Packing up Rose’s place and this one so I can sell them.”
“Ella, isn’t it a bit premature to sell this place? This is your home.”
Ella turned to him. “I can’t live here, Gabe. Not anymore. No by myself.”
“But . . .”
“I’ve got the estate outside the city, and I can buy another place in the city, but not here. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“Okay. If that’s what you want.”
“It is. This is just a place, filled with things. You know what I learned last night when I saw Rose? As much as I hated seeing her in my mother’s things, they aren’t as important as my memories of my mother, father, and Lela. Keeping this place or letting it go won’t change my memories of them. They are so much more to me than this place, or the things that belonged to them.”
“It’s just, you may feel differently once some time has passed.”
“Not about this place. I’m not getting rid of everything, but I need to do this.”
“I just want to be sure you don’t regret it.”
“You were right. I’ve outgrown the life I’d been leading here. I intended to change that when Lela and I turned twenty-five and took over the company. A good time to start fresh and go in a new direction. After what’s happened, everything has changed. I’ve changed. I want more than just running the company. I can’t live in the past with my family’s ghosts. It’s too hard and it’s killing me. I want a life worth living, filled with love and happiness and friends and hopefully family. I’m trying to get that, Gabe, but first I need to close the chapter on this part of my life.”
Gabe took her hand. “Then let’s do that. Let’s finish this.”
Chapter 31
Ella stood, staring down into her uncle’s bruised face. His broken nose had been set and taped at the hospital. He looked ridiculous breathing through his mouth, sitting in the chair across the metal table from her in the police interrogation room with an air of confidence and arrogance that defied the situation. She’d remedy that right now.
“Ella, dear, you look tired.”
“I am. Tired of you. But this will be the last time we speak or see each other.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. You’ll be tucked away where the only people you can hurt are locked up behind bars with you.”
“I’ve got the best lawyers in the city.”
Ella shook her head. “No. I have the best lawyers in the city. The ones you hired with my money were arrested last night too.
“You underestimated me and Lela. You thought you could get away with everything, but in the end your web of lies unraveled because of a man’s conscience and cattle.”
“What?”
Now she had his attention. “The man you coerced into sabotaging my father’s plane stole the broken fuel gauge and black box and hid them away from you all these years, grieving what he’d done and the loss of his wife.” She grabbed the sealed plastic evidence bag and placed the photo of Marjorie Finney, tied and gagged in a chair, on the table. She pointed to his reflection in the glass of the framed picture on the wall. “The woman you murdered. He went to Lela and told her everything and gave her the evidence to take you down. She found the records my father gathered before his death. The ones he planned to use to fire you and have you arrested. The reason you had him killed. Since I didn’t know what Lela discovered, I started digging into the company records. You’ve been stealing from the company for a long time.”
“You can’t prove that.”
“That was the easiest thing to prove. Records, or lack thereof, don’t lie. The deposits to your Cayman accounts don’t lie. The payments to your girlfriend Rose’s apartment and for her rehab don’t lie. The payments to Detective Robbins and your other coconspirators don’t lie. The FBI was quite thorough in their investigation.
“It would have been much harder to prove you killed that auditor for the company. Mr. Reiser, who died in a tragic mugging. Let’s not forget Marjorie. A picture speaks a thousand words, but it’s not conclusive you shot her. Except you kept the gun used to shoot both of them. By the way, that’s another charge against you. Illegally possessing unregistered firearms.
“Proving Mr. Trahan’s car accident was murder might have been impossible if you hadn’t depended on Detective Robbins to dispose of the vehicle you used to run that auditor off the road. You really don’t like auditors. Unless they work for you, that is. He kept it, by the way. The car. In a cousin’s garage in Jersey. Locked away all these years. Insurance that you never double-crossed him. I suppose he probably would have blackmailed you for money for years if your crime spree hadn’t kept him busy all these years, and you didn’t pay him monthly already.
“Lela’s murder would have been harder to prove. Even though I saw you murder my sister, it was still my word against yours, and you had people in your pocket all over this city. Well, not anymore. You may have wiped down the gun, but you forgot to wipe down your prints on the bullets and clip. Plus Detective Robbins copped to falsifying the report that says my prints were on the gun. Oh, and he told them you killed Lela. His account backs up mine. You also gave him Lela’s jewelry in the handkerchief you used to wipe your face. They haven’t had time to test it yet, but DNA doesn’t lie.”
Uncle Phillip stood and rounded the table to come after her, despite the handcuffs keeping his hands behind his back. Ella raised her foot and slammed it int
o his balls, kicking him back into his seat.
“Sit down. I’m not done talking.”
He leaned forward and gritted his teeth against the pain. His face and ears turned red with rage. “Fucking bitch.”
“You have no idea,” she yelled.
Gabe burst through the door behind her. “I’m okay, honey.” She gave Gabe a reassuring smile.
“Ballbuster.” He shook his head and laughed.
“Damn right.”
Gabe backed out of the room again, glaring at her uncle. She loved him for letting her do this her way. The cops weren’t happy about it either, but Sam fought for her to have this time alone. After all, she’d uncovered several corrupt cops in the department. They owed her.
“What the hell are you doing with that rancher?”
“He’s a better man than you will ever hope to be.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter what you think you have on me. My lawyers will keep this tied up in court for years.”
Arrogant, but the cracks in his confidence made his words hesitant.
“I’ve had a judge freeze all your bank accounts. Based on the evidence, and how much you’ve stolen from me, when I’m done with you, you won’t have a penny to your name. In fact, you owe me quite a bit. Which I will collect with every day that you spend in a cell wasting away as your life passes you by.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I already did. So this is how things will go.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” he spat out.
“You’re right, I can’t. So here are your options. You choose. Plead guilty to all charges, and I will pay for a top attorney to represent you and make a reasonable deal with the state and federal prosecutors filing charges against you. You’ve been a very bad man and you are facing some serious charges and the rest of your life in prison.”
“Don’t talk to me like a child.”
At Wolf Ranch Page 27