“Matt, I want to file a complaint against this woman for stealing my car. She didn’t have my permission to take it.”
The grip on his shoulder tightened.
“You don’t really want to do that. If I arrest her, then I have to take her to the jail, then extradite her to Vegas on murder charges.”
“I don’t care. I’m pressing charges, Matt.”
“Damn it Andrew, stop and think for a second. You said it yourself. If you press charges, you will go down with her for harboring a fugitive and I will go down for aiding and abetting. Is that what you really want? Just shut up and calm down for a second. We need to talk and figure out what is going on here.”
Defeated, Andrew lowered the gun without taking his eyes from the frightened woman. Matt was right. Andrew could not do that to him. He wasn’t even sure he could willingly allow Matt to take Destiny to jail, much less insist on it. Though the rage still gripped him, it abated as the sight of her torment tugged at his heart and soul.
“Fine. We can go into the cabin you broke into and have a nice little chat.”
He spat the words out at Destiny. Another rip in the fragile thread holding her heart together. Pivoting on her heel, she opened the door and entered the cabin, taking a place on the couch. Doug snored away on the floor, undisturbed by the angry words from the front yard and the intrusion into the room.
Andrew and Matt entered the cabin cautiously, unsure of where Doug was. Spotting him on the floor, both men relaxed, lowering the weapons they each held. Destiny didn’t miss the flicker of Andrew’s eyes as he noted the couch where Destiny sat and the man sleeping on the floor.
She almost smiled, hopeful the sight destroyed his lover theory. One little crack in his hardened shell. She would do her best to pick away at it until he listened and understood what was happening. The anger seethed just under the surface of his skin. He nearly vibrated with it. Taking no chances, she wisely kept her mouth shut and let Matt do the talking.
“Doug. C’mon, buddy. It’s time to wake up. You got company.”
Matt nudged him with his foot; hand on the gun in the holder on his hip.
“Doug! Wakey wakey, big guy! Time to get up!”
Doug groaned, then his mouth closed, sucking up a trickle of drool that escaped down his chin. Groggily, his hand rubbed his eyes, wiping away sleep. Bleary, they opened, confusion apparent on his face, replaced quickly by fear.
“I didn’t hurt her! I swear! I want to help her!”
His eyes were enormous as he stared at the lawman standing over him. Andrew had already sunk into the comfortable armchair as it was the only place in the room to sit that was not next to Destiny. Relaxing his threatening stance, Matt spoke smoothly, reassuring the man on the floor.
“I know. She’s okay. She’s right there.” Matt tipped his head in Destiny’s direction. Doug turned his eyes to her, relief sweeping through them as he realized she was there.
With Doug awake, or at least not comatose, Matt took a place on the couch next to Destiny, taking control of the situation.
“Okay, this is how this is going to work. No one speaks unless I ask them to. That includes you Andrew.” Andrew scowled, but was obediently quiet.
“Doug, what are you doing here? I thought the police would have convinced you to get out of town.”
Doug wasn’t really awake yet. A cop and the guy from the cabin invaded his sleep. Maybe Lenny would walk through the door too. Wouldn’t that be something? But Destiny was there. So pretty. So nice. She was right there on the couch and she wouldn’t let them hurt him. And he wouldn’t let them hurt her. The man from the cabin, no, the cop called him Andrew. Anyway, he looked really mad. He must not want Doug to help Destiny. Doug didn’t care. This was his last chance at redemption after all of the bad things Lenny had gotten him to do over the years. The cop was looking at him, waiting for an answer. He had kindly eyes.
“I came back to warn Destiny.”
“Okay. What were you going to warn her about?”
The air thick with tension, Destiny kept her eyes on Matt and Doug, completely aware of Andrew sitting on the edge of her peripheral vision. If Matt had not been there, exuding his soothing presence, someone would have died by now.
“Lenny figured out she was up here and alive.”
Andrew leaned forward, elbows on his knees, intent on Doug.
“How did Lenny figure it out?”
Matt and Doug both glanced at Andrew.
“Speaking out of turn, but I will allow it as long as things remain civil. That was my next question anyway. How did he figure it out Doug?”
“The pretty lady at the diner. She thanked us for clearing the road. Somebody’s her brother and somebody’s her cousin, and when Lenny heard that, he said it meant Destiny was here.”
Eyes shifting to look at each other, Andrew and Matt said in unison.
“Doreen.”
Now Destiny spoke out of turn.
“Doreen? Your sister Doreen? She told them I was here? I thought she didn’t know?”
Panic swelled within Destiny. She almost stepped right back into Charles’ world using the assumption he didn’t know where she was, presuming her dead. If she had succeeded in her escape, she would have been in serious trouble.
Shrugging, Matt looked to Destiny.
“I didn’t tell her. I haven’t talked to her at all since I left here. A couple of officers located their truck at the diner and picked Lenny up on a concealed weapons charge. We can hold him for a little while on it, but I know as soon as he makes a phone call, he will post bail. We are trying to stall him by running a background check, seeing if there are warrants. The storms have been messing with the systems though.”
Destiny was listening, but her attention was riveted on Doug. He looked more confused than normal.
“Doug? What’s wrong?”“I was supposed to call Charles DeMont and tell him Lenny’s in jail. Lenny’s gonna be really mad at me.” Doug chewed on his lower lip, brows knitted together. “I don’t like to talk to Charles.”
Matt resumed his position of control authority.
“Okay, so here’s what we know so far. Doug came up here to tell Destiny that Lenny knows she’s here. I’ll buy that, but it still doesn’t explain why Destiny took off like a bat out of hell and how she ended up here.”
20.
All eyes on her, Destiny avoided looking at any of them.
“I thought I could get back to Vegas and get evidence to clear my name. Maybe get some people I know at the casino to get me evidence off the computer in my office, or from the papers in my house.”
She wanted to leave her explanation as simple as possible. Maybe she could blame her lack of thinking her escape through on her head injuries. Thinking about it, she absentmindedly rubbed her fingers over the gash on the side of her head.
The men in the room each had thoughts running through their minds, mulling over Destiny escaping them to locate evidence by herself. They all began talking at once, making it difficult for her to sort through who was saying what. Matt’s calm authoritative tone, Andrew’s spewing anger and accusations, Doug mumbling. Matt finally held up his hands and cleared his throat, silencing the other two.
“I understand that you want to clear your name. Don’t you realize how dangerous that plan is though? You going off alone with no clear thoughts or plans. DeMont would have you six feet under as soon as he got a whiff you were back in town. If you even made it that far. Every lawman and civilian between here and there is looking for you. They’ve got a $50,000 reward out on you now.”
“I know now it wasn’t a good idea, but at the time, I was desperate and scared. Hell, I’m still desperate and scared, but now I have Doug on my side. He will tell the police everything. Maybe I should turn myself in and try to find a good lawyer.”
“And end up in jail too. The police will arrest you both until they figure out what is going on.”
The words came out evenly, anger underscoring each syl
lable as Andrew spoke. Destiny looked at him and he returned her gaze. She finally saw the deep hurt and fear hidden by the angry surface.
Coherently, as if with great thought, resigned to his decision, Doug brought his eyes to Destiny, breaking the spell of her eyes locked on Andrews.
“I know. I will go to jail so she doesn’t have to. She doesn’t deserve it. She didn’t do anything wrong.”
“If you help me, I will do everything I can to help you. I’ll hire you a good attorney. I’ll stand up for you in court.”
Doug had reverted back to shaking his head at everything Destiny said.
“You don’t have any money anymore. I heard Lenny and Charles talking. Charles put a freeze on your money. He said you stole it all from the casino. The people who work there won’t help either. They all think you killed Marcus.”
Studying the nails in the floorboards, Destiny grew disheartened. She had thought her co-workers would help her if she could get to them. Of course, they would all think she was guilty. No one there would help her. With Marcus gone, Charles took over running the company. He surely gave a few speeches to the employees about the great loss of Marcus and the guilt of Destiny.
“What about my house? My laptop has all of my files on it, but I copied some of them to my computer at home.”
“Forget the house for now,” Matt interrupted. “The police will be all over your house, not to mention the neighbors.”
Destiny shook her head. There has to be some way out of this mess. Whatever happened to the concept of innocent until proven guilty? She did the right thing. She wanted to help Marcus and instead, she got him killed and herself marked as the murderer. Hope continued to fade fast. She was running out of options and ideas.
Caught up in her own despair, Destiny didn’t see the look that passed between Matt and Andrew. She only wanted to lie down and rest. Despite just waking up, she was overwhelmingly tired. Closing her eyes, not wanting to hear anymore, she couldn’t help but listen as Matt’s soothing voice dispelled her sadness.
“We need to call Sammy.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Destiny looked up to catch a slight smile warming the corners of Andrew’s mouth as he spoke. His eyes softening as he caught her gaze.
Destiny grew more confused by the cheerful attitude of both men. “Since you two aren’t volunteering enough information, I have to ask, who in the world is Sammy?”
The edges of Andrew's lips urged to perk up although he wasn’t quite ready to give up his anger.
“My little brother. I think he will come in handy right about now.”
Andrew was starting to irritate her. The men in the room, all except Doug, shared in the conspiracy. Knowing looks passing among them.
“I still have a gun. I may accidentally shoot one of you. Again.”
She glared at Andrew, her leg bouncing up and down on the ball of her foot.
“Why do you want to call Sammy now? Can’t Doug and I just turn ourselves in to Matt now so we can get this over with and start working on clearing our names?”
Relaxing, Andrew took advantage of the easy chair, sitting back and crossing his legs.
“You still think that’s the answer? Turning yourself in?” He leaned forward, anger returning to crease the skin across his forehead.
“What good will it do you to sit in jail?”
“What other choices do I have? I can’t go back and get any evidence. I can’t show my face anywhere. I can’t hide forever. What can I do?”
Voice cracking, fighting the urge to let her emotions go and tell them everything, Destiny dammed the tears that moistened her eyelids.
“We can call my brother. That’s where we start. You can’t go back and get evidence, but maybe we can bring evidence to you. Samuel Greer majored in computer programming in college. When he received his share of the inheritance from our grandparents, he decided he didn’t want to work anymore. Instead, he became addicted to the wide world of computers and all of their possibilities.”
Andrew battled between anger, irritation, and amusement. She had unknowingly given them the key to this mess when she said the files were on several computers. Sammy just had to get into one of them, transfer the files, and they could build the case against Charles DeMont, freeing Destiny so Andrew could finally take her to California with him. He only had to get through to her and make her stop being so damn stubborn and bullheaded. Deep down, he realized the he knew as soon as she took off in the truck she wasn’t in any type of alliance with Doug and Lenny. The jealous side of him shoved out all of his normal reactions and thoughts, but seeing her, knowing she was safe, restored his sensibilities.
“What Andrew is trying to say without really admitting it, is that Sammy is a computer hacker. A very good hacker.” Matt’s eyes narrowed when he saw the frown on Destiny’s face.
“Don’t give me that look,” Matt said to Destiny. “He hacks into computers, but he doesn’t steal government secrets or tap bank accounts or anything like that. Generally, he hacks into corporate computer systems to show the developers their weaknesses. Then he shows them how to patch the holes so others with malicious intent can’t hack in. He usually doesn’t do any illegal hacking. Or at least, he doesn’t broadcast it when he does.”
Matt grinned at her, his brown eyes twinkling.
Matt joined Destiny on the couch, at ease in the room. Destiny would not bolt, Doug would not try to kill anyone with his bare hands, and Andrew was not going to shoot anyone.
At least not today.
And to top it all off, they were going to help Destiny. Everything was once again right in the world, for the moment.
Matt became a good lawman, using his abilities to remain calm under stress, his powers of persuasion, and a truckload of gut instinct to get the job done. Watching Destiny, his instincts were currently shouting alarms. There was a lot more going on inside her head than getting to Vegas to get evidence. She emanated a severe sense of desperation, fear, and hopelessness. If they didn’t convince her to trust in them soon, she would not be able to recover from this ordeal, eventually being unable to lead any type of a normal life. Matt refused to let that happen. He would even risk a lifetime of his own goals and desires before allowing this one woman to sink into the abyss of despair.
The atmosphere in the room had lightened considerably since the moment when Andrew and Matt walked in. Doug seemed to be enjoying the conversations that flowed around him. There was camaraderie between him and the other men. They all had the same purpose in mind. To protect Destiny. Hearing Matt discuss calling Sammy reminded Doug of the task Lenny assigned him. He avoided making the call to Charles. How could he tell him Destiny was alive? Charles would expect him to finish the job, and Doug couldn’t do it.
“I have to call Charles.”
The sudden statement brought silence to the room as all eyes turned to Doug.
“Lenny told me to call Charles and tell him I would finish the job and Lenny went to jail.” Matt had forgotten Doug mentioned he was supposed to call Charles. The first time Doug made the remark, Matt was still concerned with getting to the bottom of the situation and diffusing his cousin’s temper. Ideas spun so rapidly through his mind that Matt needed a second to clear them out and concentrate on them one at a time.
“You have a phone number for Charles?”
Doug nodded, forehead creased from the power of his dilemma.
“It’s in Lenny’s cell phone. Lenny left it in the truck for me to call Charles.”
Matt unconsciously began nodding in unison with Doug, hanging on each word Doug uttered.
“We can tap the line and record him. It would be nice if we could actually get him here. We could wire you, maybe get a confession out of him, then arrest him. If he confesses, Destiny’s off the hook. If we get him here to do it, then he doesn’t have a chance to run.”
Excitement spread through the room as each of them realized the importance of Doug being a contact to Charles. Ev
en Doug quickly understood the enormity of this information.
“Destiny would be free? And Charles would go to jail instead? That’s a great idea!”
His open expression quickly closed, brows rejoining in the middle of his forehead as a new thought occurred to him.
“Does it hurt to be wired? ‘Cause I’ll still do it for Destiny, but I want to know how much it hurts so I can be ready for it.”
Laughing, Andrew was the first to recover enough to reassure Doug.
“No, buddy, it doesn’t hurt. They hide a recording device on you and it records both of you talking.”
The lines across Doug’s forehead erased as he smiled, relieved they weren’t going to run electrical lines from him and plug him in, imagining his body lit up like a Christmas tree. The thought was funny until he imagined instead of Christmas lights, they wired him to an electric chair. That thought wasn’t nearly as nice. They would send him to prison for his part in Destiny’s kidnapping and attempted murder, but he came back here understanding the possible outcomes.
Matt sat forward to the edge of the couch.
“Doug, I’m going back down into town to call Sammy. Even if we get a confession out of Charles, it will still be nice to have some hard proof to go with it. I want you to go with me so we can make that phone call to Charles too. Don’t worry, Big Guy, I’ll help you through it. We can even practice what you are going to say until you are confident enough to do it.”
At Doug’s determined nod of approval, Matt glanced at Destiny, then turned to Andrew sitting comfortably in the chair across the room.
Fate and Destiny Page 14