Stripping Bare (Steele Ridge Book 7)

by Kelsey Browning

  Tessa wasn’t completely sure what she was looking for, but she’d know it if she found it. On the third page of her Google search, she spotted it. The Daily Tar Hill, the UNC newspaper, listed an old article about Charlie Cartwright. He was a senior accused of cheating on the LSAT by hacking into the Law School Admission Council’s network and stealing test answers. Apparently, the student had denied it, but the accusation had ended his plans for a law career.

  They paid, but it wasn’t enough.

  Oh, sweet merciful God.

  She jumped up from the table so quickly that her chair almost toppled over, and Miss Joan looked up in surprise. “I…uh…sorry, but I need the restroom.”

  Miss Joan pointed her down the hall, and Tessa grabbed her phone and hurried toward privacy.

  She dialed Jonah’s number, but it went to voice mail. Should she leave a message or not?

  Finally, she just said, “Jonah, I have some information that might be relevant. Call me immediately.”

  She dabbed at her face with cool water, trying to keep the sick feeling of betrayal from overtaking her. Once she had most of her composure back, she returned to the kitchen.

  If Jonah had done what she now suspected, she might have just stumbled on the truth about who was behind the hacking and game-playing.

  Still, she scrolled through the list of Steele Trap employees who’d scheduled more than one session with her.

  Benery, Caldwell, Grimes, Vrana, and a few dozen others.

  Wait a minute. Keith Benery was from somewhere in the South. Not only was he one of the few people in the company besides Jonah and her to have a drawl, but she remembered once having a lively conversation about where to find the best Carolina barbecue.

  So she clicked onto Keith’s file and refreshed her memory on why he’d spent several sessions with her, primarily to talk about the death of his younger brother. As she remembered, he was very closed-mouthed about how his brother had died, only saying it was an accident. In fact, he’d never even told her his brother’s name.

  His brother’s death had obviously hit Keith hard, because he’d been in her office regularly until…

  She clicked through the files, checking dates. His last scheduled appointment had been on December 18, a few months before Jonah sold Steele Trap. Maybe he’d finally worked through his grief and hadn’t felt he needed any more support. Or maybe it was something much darker.

  Pausing the recording, she clicked over to her web browser and typed in Benery obituary and North Carolina. The site for the Smoky Mountain Times in Bryson City listed an obit for Steven Benery.

  But it reported no cause of death.

  Charlotte Bank and Trust was bustling when Jonah walked in. On his way into the city, he’d called to confirm that Cartwright was at work today. It would be his last day if Jonah had anything to do with it.

  He strolled up to a desk occupied by a perky blond twenty-something. “Hey, there. I wanted to talk with someone about a home loan.”

  “Absolutely, Mister…”

  “Smith,” he said. “A friend of mine recommended Charles Cartwright.”

  Her smile dialed back a few notches. “Of course.” Hm. Someone else wasn’t crazy about ol’ Charlie, either. But she made a quick interoffice call and hung up. “You’re in luck. He happens to be free right now. Just down that hallway. Second door on the left.”

  “Appreciate it.”

  Like many bank offices, Cartwright’s was surrounded by windows from the waist up. Jonah walked inside and closed the door behind him.

  Without looking up, Cartwright waved a distracted hand toward a visitor’s chair. “Have a seat, and I’ll be with you in—”

  “Now, Cartwheel,” Jonah said pleasantly, clenching his hands to keep from jumping over the fucker’s desk and killing him in front of everyone in this bank.

  Like an animal that had caught a predator’s scent, Charlie lifted his head slowly.

  “Recognize me?” Jonah asked, casually picking up a paperweight.

  “I…ah…”

  “Don’t bother lying, because I saw you at Tucci’s the other night. You were staring at Tessa Martin. Surely you remember her.”

  Cartwright went to reach for something under his desk, but Jonah was faster, slamming the paperweight across the guy’s knuckles.

  “Keep the other hand on the desk, too.”

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  “You know exactly who the fuck I am.”

  “I don’t want any trouble from you, Steele.”

  “Then why did you bring it to my front door?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cartwright said. Jonah was pleased to see sweat circles forming under the arms of Cartwright’s snappy white button-up shirt.

  “Who did you follow into Tucci’s—Tessa or me?”

  “I went in there to have a fucking martini before I went home to my fucking wife.”

  “Does she know you’re a rapist?”

  The color in Cartwright’s face leached out. “You’re insane. I never—”

  “Harrison Shaw’s house. December before you graduated high school.” Jonah glanced around the nondescript office. “Bet this wasn’t the future you expected to have. The first Cartwright in four generations who didn’t get into law school and eventually pursue a career in politics. Mommy and Daddy must be so disappointed.”

  “How the hell did you know I…” His words trailed off as his mouth opened wider. “You set me up. I thought you made video games.”

  Jonah’s laugh was low and decidedly unfriendly. “Dude, fucking up your life took me less than ten minutes.”

  “I’m calling the pol—” Cartwright reached for his phone, but Jonah slammed him with the paperweight again.

  “You could call the cops,” Jonah told him. “But you couldn’t prove anything to save your life. And the statute of limitations for some things is way shorter than the one for rape. Now, were you following Tessa?”

  “I had no idea she would be in that restaurant.”

  “So you were watching me.”

  He actually looked as if he didn’t know what Jonah was talking about. “Why would I have done that if I didn’t know you were the one who blew my shot at law school?” Ding, ding, ding. Understanding dawned in Cartwright’s eyes. “You did it to all of us, didn’t you?”

  Jonah dug the weight into Cartwright’s hand and enjoyed the sound of bones grinding against one another.

  “Son of a bitch,” Cartwright breathed. “You fucked us all.”

  What Jonah couldn’t bring himself to say was that how he’d fucked them over was nothing compared to the way they’d hurt Tessa. But Cartwright was pretty damn convincing. Had he really not known that Jonah had manipulated his life behind the scenes? “Then what about the others—Levine, Johnson, and Bledsoe? Maybe one of them decided to come after me.”

  “Believe me, if anyone had figured out you were the one behind all our bad luck, he would’ve let the others know. You screwed up our lives, probably cost us millions of dollars.”

  “Boo-fucking-hoo. You’re lucky I didn’t use a more permanent solution.” With a smile, he lifted the paperweight and rammed it down across three of Cartwright’s knuckles. The guy made a sick gurgling sound. “I want you to think about this real hard. See if you remember anything. I’m taking one of your business cards, so you can expect my call in an hour. Between now and then, get on the phone with your buddies and ask them who’s been coming for Tessa and me. If I find out any of you lied, your lives won’t be worth living.”

  And with that, he tossed the paperweight into Cartwright’s lap and walked out.

  Fuck. He thought he had it all figured out, but if Cartwright was telling the truth, it meant Jonah had jackshit, and this modder was still playing the game.

  25

  Tessa’s insides were in a jumble over what she’d discovered about Charlie Cartwright, but she had to set that aside for now. Had to set aside that Jonah had been anything bu
t honest. The most important thing she could do now was to find Keith Benery.

  “Do you think Micki would mind if I borrowed her car?” Tessa asked Miss Joan, keeping her tone as casual as possible.

  Apparently not casual enough, because Jonah’s mom looked up from her grandbaby-spoiling list and frowned. “Why?” Her attention locked onto Tessa’s computer. “What did you just find out?”

  Even as an adult, she found it hard to lie to a parental figure, and Tessa wasn’t much of a fibber to start with. She sighed. “Apparently, one of the men who raised a red flag for me when I was going back through my client files grew up not far from here. His parents still live here, so I thought—”

  “That you’d just run off and check out the situation yourself?”

  “After I text Jonah and ask him to meet me.” She almost choked on the lie.

  Miss Joan patted at the part in her hair. “I swear, this is the reason I have to use Miss Clairol on a regular basis. Kids grow up, but that doesn’t mean they ever grow any darn sense.” She pointed at Tessa’s phone. “Go on, then. Send him a text.”

  Tessa typed up the text and pretended to hit send. Keith Benery. His parents live in Bryson City. 1612 Connamere. Meet there ASAP.

  “Done,” she said, pushing back her chair to stand. “Do you know where Micki put her keys?”

  “Nope,” Miss Joan said cheerfully, “but I know exactly where mine are.”

  “But—”

  “Sweetheart, you didn’t think I would let you go alone, did you?”

  That was how Tessa found herself riding shotgun in Miss Joan’s sturdy little Subaru with the radio tuned in to an oldies-but-goodies station. Buddy Holly crooned out “That’ll Be the Day” as they headed west on Highway 74.

  Before long, though, Jonah’s mom turned down the volume. “You love him, don’t you?”

  Tessa had a feeling she wasn’t talking about one of the 1950s heartthrobs on the radio. And honestly, after what she’d uncovered today, her feelings for Jonah were swinging from one extreme to the other. Her body felt achy and slow from the toll of discovering what he’d done behind her back. How he’d kept it from her the past few days when he knew how important the truth was to her. “And you don’t pull any punches, do you?” she asked his mom.

  “I should’ve expected someone in your profession to answer a question with a question. He would die if he ever heard me say this, but Jonah’s always been sensitive. Big heart with a huge capacity for being hurt. That’s one of the reasons he alienates himself from other people, even his family sometimes.”

  Tessa held her thoughts for several minutes before asking, “How was he, after?”

  His mom drew in a long breath. “Withdrawn, moody. But we all chalked that up to Micki taking off right after they graduated. You think he was impacted by what happened to you.”

  “Yes, and I…I think he might’ve tried to get back at my attackers.”

  “What do you mean? How would he have done something like that?”

  “I don’t know exactly. He just told me once that he didn’t feel as if they paid enough. I don’t think he liked the fact that my parents and I never went to the police.”

  She shouldn’t have mentioned it. Jonah’s mother loved him and would always come to his defense. It was what parents did. Change directions, Tessa.

  Miss Joan grabbed for Tessa’s hand, hung on tight. “One time when Evie was in middle school, some kids were teasing her at recess. Jonah caught wind of it somehow, and the bullies found themselves signed up for thirty hours of community service, cleaning up a piece of public property where folks had dumped a bunch of trash. If I remember correctly, there were piles of dirty diapers and rotten food out there. Jonah went out there every day to watch them. He tries to hide it, but he has a very protective streak when it comes to those he loves.”

  “Which means he’s willing to do just about anything for them, right?” The only thing keeping Tessa from screaming right now was the fact that Jonah’s punishing her rapists meant he’d had feelings for her for years. Maybe not the feelings she wanted, but the violence she’d faced all those years ago had jumpstarted something inside him.

  They were drawing close to the Benerys’ home, so Tessa shelved her thoughts. They pulled up in front of a neat brick rancher that looked as if it had been built in the 1960s. The lawn was dormant, but a trio of evergreens added some seasonal cheer.

  Miss Joan unhooked her seatbelt. “I’m coming with you.”

  “No.”

  “Sweetheart, I wasn’t asking for permission. I wouldn’t let you drive out here alone, and I’m certainly not going to let you walk up to the front door alone.”

  A quick debate waged in Tessa’s brain and conscience. If anything happened to his mother, Jonah would never forgive Tessa. Then again, Keith’s parents weren’t the potential threat. He was. “If you see a man, blond and in his twenties, I want you to come back and lock yourself inside the car.”

  “Mm-hm.” Miss Joan’s noncommittal answer told Tessa all she needed to know about who the Steele siblings had inherited their stubborn qualities from.

  “I need to ask a few questions. The plan is to get in and out in less than ten minutes.”

  “I’m just here for moral support.”

  The small front porch was decorated with a waist-high Santa perched on a pair of snow skis. A trio of elves hung on for dear life behind him, while a dozen mini reindeer served as the manpower in front. The wide grin on Santa’s face said he was a fan of extreme snow sports.

  Tessa rang the doorbell.

  The woman who answered was probably in her late fifties, nicely dressed in black pants and a paisley tunic top. “May I help you?”

  “Mrs. Benery?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Tessa Martin.” She held out her hand, and Keith’s mother took it. “I work at Steele Trap Entertainment with your son.” A small fib since she was no longer there. “I’m actually here looking for him.”

  “If Steele Trap is trying to convince him to stay on, I can tell you that you’re wasting your time. He’s made up his mind to move back home.”

  “Are you saying he’s quit his job?”

  “He’s given his notice, yes.”

  When she’d chatted with him for a few minutes at Tucci’s, he’d said nothing about leaving. In fact, he’d acted as if he was happy at Steele Trap and eager to help Jonah with another project. “Mrs. Benery, when’s the last time you saw Keith?”

  Her mouth twisted as she looked up in thought. “Probably three days ago. Said he was planning to do some camping up around Lake Junaluska.”

  That certainly confirmed Tessa’s suspicions that Keith had been close by, because the lake was just northeast of Steele Ridge. “Any specific campground?”

  “He didn’t say.”

  “Mrs. Benery, I need to ask you a question that could be painful, but please know I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so important.”

  As expected, the woman’s face closed up in preparation. “Okay.”

  “I came across an obituary for your younger son, Steven. Can you tell me what happened to him?”

  Keith’s mother closed her eyes, breathed, then opened them again. “Both my boys were always heavy into video games, but Steven also liked to play outside. He would beg Keith to come out with him. That wasn’t Keith’s thing, but the times when he gave in, Steven was so excited.”

  Tessa sustained eye contact and gave a nod to encourage Mrs. Benery to finish the story, even though she had a horrible intuition about where this was headed.

  “One day when Steven was about thirteen, they were out playing and Keith came running back to the house. He said Steven was hurt. My husband and I hurried to the wooded area at the end of the cul de sac. We found him on the ground. He wasn’t breathing.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Sympathy overwhelmed Tessa, and judging by the tears in Miss Joan’s eyes, she had been affected, as any mother would.

  “We found out later
that a pellet from Keith’s air rifle had lodged in Steven’s brain. No entry wound, so they believed it went up his nose. Keith never touched that pellet gun again.”

  26

  Once Tessa gave Mrs. Benery her most sincere sympathies over the loss of her son, she and Jonah’s mother slowly walked toward the car.

  “I can’t even imagine what she must’ve gone through,” Miss Joan said. “A child isn’t supposed to pass on before his parents. That kind of pain has to be huge.”

  The pain of being responsible for your sibling’s death would be devastating as well. “I think Keith is the one who’s behind everything that’s happened over the past few days. I think he’s the one who tried to burn down Jonah’s house.”

  “I don’t understand. Do you think he’s still harboring some kind of guilt for what happened to his brother?”

  “It’s entirely possible.” Tessa had been mentally flipping through her sessions with Keith. He’d been angry and upset about his brother’s death, but he’d never expressed that he himself was to blame. But something was wavering at the edge of her psychologist’s intuition. She just couldn’t seem to grasp the trailing thread and pull it, so as much as she hated to lean on Jonah, especially after what she’d discovered, she needed his insight. She reached into her purse for her phone. “Maybe Jonah will understand why Keith decided to target us.”

  “Highly doubtful,” a male voice said from behind her.

  Tessa whirled around to find Keith Benery standing at the edge of his parents’ property. With his boyish face and freckles, he looked like an innocent teenager, but the handgun he was holding confirmed he was an angry adult. “Keith, we just had a nice visit with your mother. I’d love to sit down and talk with you about what happened to your brother. Why don’t we—”

  “Give me your phones. Both of you.” Keith’s unwavering stare made it clear he expected them to cave to his demand. Tessa pretended to fumble hers and prayed she’d hit the button that would send the draft text to Jonah.