Jake wasn’t quite used to Max’s sense of humor yet and traded glances with Reese, mostly because at one time the bulldog detective had been such a formidable adversary to both of them.
But now, hoping the man held the key to Claire Boston’s murder, he slapped Max on the back. “Let me see, scenic lake versus the ocean? No contest here, Max. Strange how two short months ago I hated your guts. Now look, we’re just one big happy family.”
“Smartass,” Max replied. For the first time he took in the handguns Reese and Dylan were clutching and added, “Jesus. I don’t even want to know if you have permits for those.”
Reese threw him a smirk. “Turns out, I’m legal. So is Surfer Boy here.”
Jake didn’t want to wade through small talk. “You got the results of the DNA already? How is that possible?”
“It pays to have a friend in the lab willing to work overtime.” Max smacked a thin manila folder into Jake’s chest. “Good work, Boston. We’re closer and at least headed in the right direction this time to finding Claire’s killer.”
“Wait,” Jake said as hope died. “Closer? What the hell does that mean?”
“Read the file,” Max insisted. “DNA under your wife’s fingernails is similar to Connor Boyd’s DNA.”
“But not a match,” Jake finished as he tried to absorb the words on the single sheet of paper in the file.
“It’s called familial DNA. See the short tandem repeats on the Y chromosome? That tells us that Claire’s killer shares some of the same tandem repeats.” When Max took in the confused faces around the room, including those of the women who now gathered as a unit around the bottom step of the stairs, he shook his head.
“A full sibling, a father, someone close to Connor killed Claire Boston. Cade, maybe Collin. Won’t know for certain until we manage to finagle a DNA sample out of them.”
Jake heard Kit let out a whoop for joy right before she launched her body into his.
“You did it!” Kit yelled. “How does it feel knowing who killed Claire? For the first time in two years you have peace of mind about this and can put it behind you once and for all.”
“It isn’t solved yet, Kit,” a disappointed Jake uttered.
“I don’t understand.” She turned to stare at Max. “You said it’s either Cade or Collin. You know who did this to Claire. So go—get him—arrest him.”
“That’s just it, Kit. They aren’t in custody yet and until they are…” Jake sent a distressed look at Baylee, remembering what they’d talked about that night in Catalina. “I was sure it was Connor, Baylee. I’m sorry, I would’ve been wrong.”
Finally Kit understood the implications of the DNA not matching Connor’s. “Oh, God, if it hadn’t been for Mr. X…” Her voice trailed off as she went over to Baylee, put her arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Baylee.”
It was Dylan who asked, “You’re certain about the results?”
Max nodded. “You bet. Plus, I have cause to obtain another search warrant, a search I hope results in finding something conclusive. The point is, I’m out to get a warrant for Collin and Cade Boyd based on the results. Once they’re in custody, I get two more DNA samples to compare.”
“But you have to find them first,” Reese asserted.
Noting the somber mood of the group, Max added, “Hey, don’t look so glum. I thought you’d sleep better tonight knowing the news. I want these guys too, you know.”
Reese slapped Jake on the back. “He does have a point. At least you narrowed it down to one of the Boyds.”
“I guess.” Jake groused, still sounding a bit dejected. “A part of me does feel like a huge weight’s been lifted off but still…I was so sure it was Connor.”
Max stretched out his hand to Jake. “No hard feelings, I hope. Reese is right. You actually are the one who pointed us in this direction.”
Jake had no intentions of telling him about the anonymous e-mail from their Mr. X he’d received pointing him to Connor. Not only would it complicate matters, he felt it would break a trust in some weird sort of way.
“Then my work here is done for tonight,” Max declared, turning to Reese. “Although I can tell you what caused Quinn’s apartment building to blow. You were right, Brennan. It wasn’t a natural gas leak. Someone deliberately disconnected the gas dryer in one of the units, on purpose, set out a candle, lit the damned thing—and waited for the gas to reach the flame. Arson investigators assure me it’s quite an effective way to achieve an explosion. Coincidentally, that unit just happens to belong to Quinn Tyler here.”
“Cade.”
“The only person of interest at this point,” Max agreed flatly. “Turns out, one of those victims last night who died was a little five-year-old girl named Tara Evers.”
Quinn’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, God, Tara’s the little girl who lives next door to me. Her mother, Connie, must be devastated. She’s a single mom who only moved into the building eight months ago.”
Reese slung his arm around her waist, drew her closer while Max went on, “The firemen didn’t find Tara until this morning buried under a ton of rubble. She was alive but they lost her in surgery.”
“I feel so responsible…if not for me…”
“Don’t do that, Quinn,” Reese cautioned. “You couldn’t possibly have known they’d do anything like that.”
“That’s one of the reasons I’m on this. Cade Boyd’s the number one suspect. Oh, and while I’m here, might as well tell you this afternoon cadaver dogs hit on a fourth body out at The Enclave about twenty yards from where the other remains were unearthed.”
“Jesus, you’re just full of news tonight, Max.” Reese ran a free hand through his hair while Quinn rested her head on his shoulders, still clearly upset about Tara. “What happens now?”
“We wait. This one hasn’t been in the ground all that long, certainly not as long as the others.” He shot a look at Baylee. “I’m sorry, Ms. Scott.”
“It’s okay. I understand. In fact, the technician who swabbed me for DNA explained the whole mitochondrial thing to me. He even told me how they extract the stuff from the dental pulp and if they get enough and if it matches mine, I’ll know it’s my mother who was buried there all this time for the past twenty-two years. I wonder who the others are, though, some other poor souls who happened to piss off Jessica and Alana.”
“And were expendable,” Reese added.
“The first three sets of remains won’t be yielding any fingerprints, that’s for certain, been in the ground way too long. The forensics team is working overtime on this. We’ll see if they can get you an answer, Ms. Scott—and soon. But the one they found this afternoon couldn’t have been in the ground more than four years maybe. I’m told there’s a slight possibility we could get enough of a fingerprint to ID the victim, especially if we get lucky and the prints are on file.”
Max shook his head and went on, “Two months ago I was ready to retire. I’m staying on because this is turning out to be the damnedest case of my career. It just keeps spiraling outward from the core.”
He turned to leave and stopped as if he’d just thought of something else. “I remember walking into the Stevens crime scene that morning, remember talking to Jessica, and feeling empathy for the victim and her best friend. But I have to tell you after finding out some of this stuff about her and the Boyd woman now, my sympathies are stretched to the limit. Those women were heartless.”
After scouring the e-mail attachment upstairs, Reese could attest to that. But he had no intentions of sharing what he’d learned. He kept his mouth shut until after Max had said his goodbyes.
As soon as the front door closed, Reese turned to the group and announced, “I know it’s late, but we need to huddle. There’s been a development.”
“What’s up?” Dylan asked.
“I got an e-mail about an hour ago from Mr. X. It seems when it came to BBG&G, Noah Parker did his homework, went the extra mile to solve his own personal puzzle.”
J
ake and Dylan exchanged deliberate looks. It was Dylan who wisecracked, “If he warned you to take Quinn and go on the run, he’s about twenty-four hours too late.”
“But we already know about the Parker murders,” Jake reasoned. “We figured that much out on our own.”
“And it was Dylan who got us looking into my mother’s disappearance before Dad ever got around to telling me the truth. What else do we need to know?”
Reese shook his head. “This isn’t about the Parkers, at least not all of it. And I doubt anyone knew about the bodies buried on Boyd property, at least no one alive. It seems Noah Parker and our Mr. X uncovered more recent, very damaging information, stuff I doubt either one gained by legal means. There’s at least fifty pages of documents to pore over, maybe more. I got through some of the stuff but…”
“If we split it up among us, it’ll go faster,” Quinn finished.
“Exactly.”
Kit headed to the kitchen. “Then I’ll get the coffee started.”
After printing out the attachment from Reese’s laptop on the wireless printer set up in the kitchen, Quinn divvied up the sets of documents and passed a stack to each one. “There has to be sixty-five pages here, Reese.”
As they got comfortable around the table, Reese stated, “I know, but I think you’ll find them informative. First off, let me paraphrase what the e-mail said. The man’s obviously used to working on his own, but says it’s past time we understand exactly what we’re dealing with since we have the most to lose. He’s willing to trust us with this because he can’t be in two places at one time. It seems he had a GPS tracking device on the Boyd cars. But since the cops…”
“So that’s how he knew their every move,” Jake concluded.
“But why trust us now?” Dylan asked, clearly skeptical.
“Because I didn’t tell the cops I know what he looks like,” Kit admitted.
“What?” Baylee and Quinn said at the same time.
“He’s the guy who came into the shop the afternoon Baylee moved into Gloria’s guest house. He was fascinated with Ella Canyon’s painting, thought he was going to have a heart attack right there in the Book & Bean because of it.”
“Woman Rising? Mr. X is an art lover? You’re joking?” Quinn cracked.
“He thought the blonde on the canvas resembled his late wife. You should have seen him that day. He acted like he was having some kind of seizure or something. I’m surprised he didn’t faint.”
“Get out. You were in the shop with this guy alone and never said a word to us. That’s holding back,” Baylee grumbled.
Jake tried to explain. “I was right there with you about her not saying anything to anyone about the man’s odd behavior. But after he saved Kit and then kept the Book & Bean in one piece, Kit and I agreed to take a wait and see attitude about telling the cops anything at all about him. Then when he made it three for three with Baylee, we decided to keep what he looked like to ourselves.”
“Why mention it to the cops when he did us a favor we’ll never be able to repay?” Kit clarified.
Dylan agreed. “I suppose he could somehow realize how grateful we are and he’s willing to trust us now to help him out.”
“Actually, it’s the other way around,” Quinn said matter-of-factly.
When they all turned to stare at her, she added, “Consider it this way. Mr. X has already admitted he can’t be in two places at one time. So if we don’t manage to find a way to keep track of the Nutty Brothers ourselves it could cost one or more of us our lives. The next time they decide to blow something up or do a drive by, one of us sitting here at this table might not be so lucky. Our safety depends on not only figuring out a way to track down the two of them, but also to lure them out into the open.”
Impressed with her acumen, Reese tamped down the jolt of lust to his system that was starting to become a habit. “Mr. X has some ideas on that.”
He slanted a long look at Jake and Dylan. “And it involves a skill you two possess better than any two people I know. Apparently, he’s a fan. But I should point out you’d be breaking several laws, because our hit man is suggesting we make their funds disappear.”
Jake looked stunned for a moment before cocking his head to stare at Reese. “You want us to hack into their bank accounts and make their fortune go bye-bye.”
“Not me, but I wish I’d thought of it. Mr. X figures if we cut off their non-exhaustible cash source, including all of their hidden overseas assets, which are considerable according to the documents you now hold in your hands, they’ll get desperate and have to surface. And when they come up for air, our friend will be there to take them out.”
“That’s brilliant!” Dylan bellowed. “I’m in.”
Jake rubbed his chin, considering. “It can be done. But it means we create a huge paper trail that leads nowhere, which means bouncing the money to all kinds of different offshore accounts before setting up several fake corporations,” Jake reasoned. “And what does our mystery man want us to do with all this cash?”
“He leaves that up to us.”
Kit chimed in, “Well, I know I don’t want anything to do with Alana’s estate, knowing where it came from. I say we find out if this Noah Parker has any heirs and give Alana’s money to them, maybe even all this other cash. After all, it’ll take months to liquidate Alana’s assets while we could be giving away the Boyd family money instead.”
Jake put his arm around Kit and kissed her squarely on the mouth. “And that is why I’m crazy in love with you. I vote to find Parker’s family, too.”
Quinn looked around the table, saw the nods of approval. “It’s unanimous then. But what if there are none, what if this Noah has no heirs?”
“Then we give the money back to all the people BBG&G swindled and cheated over the years,” Dylan suggested.
“That could be a very long list,” Baylee pointed out. “They had to be scamming people right and left for years. How in the world are we going to know exactly who got ripped off?”
“True. Plus, that’s a lot of power to wield,” Quinn concluded.
Dylan nodded. “Okay. Then we’ll pick a charity. Donate it to a better cause.”
“It’ll be like Robin Hood. We steal from the asshole Nutty Brothers and give it to the needy. I like it,” Quinn weighed in. “We need to give our Op a name though. Any suggestions?”
“Operation Neuter,” Baylee deadpanned.
They all stared at her for about five seconds before busting out with laughter.
“Perfect.” Dylan planted a kiss on her mouth. “And that is the reason I’ve found the love of my life, people. The woman I plan to marry.”
Reese stared at his friend. “You? Settle down with one woman?”
While everyone exchanged looks, Baylee’s cheeks blushed. “I know we haven’t known each other very long but…when you know, you just…know.”
After taking a moment to absorb the shock, Kit went to Baylee first, then Dylan. “Congrats. I’ll say one thing for both of you. I’ve never seen two people more suited to one another.”
“Really?” Baylee beamed. “That’s what I said about you and Jake. I was worried you’d think it was too fast…”
Quinn grabbed Baylee in a hug. “If you’re sure, honey, I can get behind this, even if it is moving lightning-fast. No offense Surfer Boy, but Baylee’s got a kid.”
“None taken,” Dylan replied jovially before getting serious. “You forget, Sarah’s already mine. I’ve got a piece of paper that says so. But even if I didn’t, I love that baby like she came from a part of me. And Baylee, well Baylee is the first woman I’ve ever truly loved, heart to heart…”
“And soul to soul,” Baylee finished.
Quinn eyed the friend she’d known for more than seventeen years. Baylee looked as happy as she’d ever seen her. More moved by Dylan’s declaration than she wanted to admit, Quinn said simply, “Then welcome to our humble little family, such as it is.”
Upstairs, getting ready f
or bed, Quinn walked into the pristine guest bathroom to brush her teeth. She had to give it to Jake’s determination to hire the best carpenters and plumbers to bring Crandall House into the twenty-first century.
In record time, he, or rather his contractors, had taken an old shell of a house and made it not just livable but a thing of beauty. She ran her hand along the sleek, tempered glass countertop that gave the room a clean, modern look and pulled open one of the drawers in the vanity.
She picked up a brand-new toothbrush along with a regular size tube of toothpaste. She shook her head. Leave it to Kit to provide all those necessary but forgotten small amenities she hadn’t remembered to shop for and no longer owned.
So far she’d managed to keep the tears from flowing. But alone now, Quinn’s eyes blurred. She took a minute to consider why she had absolutely nothing left of her very own. Cade Boyd had been trying for years to make her pay for that crappy, brief six weeks of bad judgment. And now, he’d finally committed the ultimate. He’d taken the lives of innocent people he didn’t even know just to get back at her.
And for what?
Because he’d had a history of getting his own way for too long, a history of having never been denied anything in his irresponsible, miserable life, she thought now.
It certainly wasn’t revenge for his brother’s death. No, if that were the case he’d be going after the person responsible for killing Jessica and Sumner and now Connor. No, blowing up her apartment building was personal and meant to make a statement.
She finished washing her face and dried the tears away.
Crawling between the crispy clean sheets, she remembered those six short weeks of dating the man. She sighed with frustration. For years she’d carried around that pang of regret.
But now as she closed her eyes with fatigue left over from the grueling night before, it was long past time to put a stop to bemoaning her mistakes.
Together, all six of them would do their best to locate Cade and his stupid brother, Collin.
Ending Evil (The Evil Secrets Trilogy Book 3) Page 10