Mitch took the stand.
“Please stand. Raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
Mitch’s voice boomed across the room. “I do.”
“Please state your first and last name.”
“Jason Brash.”
“You may take a seat.”
Interesting. This entire time, Mitch never once told her his real name. He didn’t look like a Jason. He was definitely a Mitch, and would remain a Mitch in her mind.
Kayla did her best to keep up with the questioning pouring from the prosecution. They employed a series of large poster boards, showing how webs of people were connected. They carefully went through each connection and Mitch described how he knew the person, when his father did business with them, and what sort of scheme they worked on together.
Kayla couldn’t keep any of it straight, and she was amazed that Mitch could. He testified about keeping electronic records of all of his dad’s contacts and plans. Kayla finally understood why he was so important to this trial – he connected all the dots.
Mitch’s testimony went on for over an hour. The defense tried to discredit him, but Mitch kept his cool.
“How do we know that all of this isn’t some sort of a tale that you cooked up to get back at your dad? I’m sure he wasn’t the best dad, but is making all of this up fair revenge?”
Mitch didn’t break eye contact. “You have all of the documents that I kept for my father. I’m not trying to get back at him. But what he did was wrong.”
“So you admit that you want to get revenge?”
“No. Not at all.”
“You want the jury to believe that you just had a change of heart after helping your father for all those years?”
Mitch looked down, then at his father before he spoke again. “I stopped helping my father years ago once I realized what he was doing. I still love him. It’s not easy for me to speak out, but he hurt a lot of people.”
It isn’t easy for him to speak out in any situation, thought Kayla. A chill ran down her spine. If only the jury knew how true that was – but how could they? He was quiet and had that ever brooding face. He could easily come across as mean and judgmental to someone who didn’t know him.
But he wasn’t mean or judgmental at all. He was just…reserved. A private, but not bitter, person. She wished she could testify to his character, tell them about the chair leg that he made for her and how great he was with her timid dog.
Everything about him was so unlike what she’d known from guys before. He was kind and gentle; he was thoughtful and smart. He worried too much – that was for sure – but he had a good heart.
Was it all fake, though? Was it possible that, like Vera suggested, he liked her at one point and was only nice to her for that reason?
No – that didn’t make sense. Mitch was nice to everyone else, too. Like John – he treated John and Vera like old friends and never hesitated to lend them a helping hand.
She didn’t know if he ever liked her, but she knew that now he surely didn’t. He probably despised her for ditching witness protection.
Except…he sent Silver to protect her after she left. Clearly, Mitch must’ve cared about her to do that.
Or, she thought ruefully, he knew she was a screw up who would blow his cover if left unchecked.
The defense rested their case after several more failed statements. They didn’t have much to throw at Mitch, and Mitch was completely unflappable. Once he was dismissed, a few men in black suits rose to escort him out of the back door.
Kayla wanted to follow him out of the room. She wasn’t sure if the Marshals would interpret that as some sort of threat, but it was a risk she was willing to take.
She quietly slid out of her seat and followed them out of the courtroom. Once the door was shut behind them, she called out.
“Mitch!”
She kept her distance in case yelling his name prompted one of the Marshals to tase her. That was definitely something she wanted to avoid.
Mitch turned around and once he spotted her, smiled broadly. “Kayla, how are you?”
He walked towards her, the Marshals following closely behind, betraying no emotion on their faces.
“I’m good. I mean – you know.”
“How’s your mom? Is she okay?”
The genuine concern in his eyes made Kayla feel something burn in her chest. Of course Mitch wasn’t angry at her. How could she even have thought that he would be angry? She had him wrong all of this time. So wrong. And now it was too late.
“She’s doing well, thank you. She had a heart attack, but she’s getting better now.”
Mitch nodded. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I’m glad that she’s okay.”
“Thank you. Me too.”
One of the Marshals cleared his throat. “We need to get moving sir.”
Mitch looked over his shoulder and motioned for them to wait a moment.
“I heard about the attempted abduction. I’m so sorry that happened –”
Kayla covered her eyes with her hand. “That was totally my fault. You were right all along. I should’ve been more careful, but at least nothing happened. In fact, it seems like a few more people will be going to jail. So I’ll never have to worry about it again.”
He smiled. “A blessing in disguise.”
“Yeah, I think so.” She searched his green eyes, looking for more confirmation that he wasn’t angry with her. Or that he was…happy to see her? Or something. Anything. This might be the last time she’d ever see him.
The Marshal cleared his throat again.
“Well,” Mitch said, “it was lovely to see you. But I think I’m being kicked out.”
She forced a smile. “Right, I understand. Take care, okay?”
“You too.”
He turned around and walked down the hallway.
Kayla couldn’t get over the nauseous feeling in her stomach. Why was it so hard to watch him go? Was it because she regretted misjudging him for so long? Was it because she just witnessed his act of bravery in the courtroom, and that somehow made it all worse?
Or was it because deep down, somewhere in her heart, there was a space only for him? There was a spot that he filled after all of her visits to his dilapidated house, all of his attempts to convince Oliver to give paw. Some part of her heart opened to him, and it appeared to be a much bigger part than she realized. As she watched him walk away, she could feel the ache of his absence deep in her chest.
She stood there feeling hollow. Her Wild West adventure was supposed to be fun. How did it feel like she’d lost everything now?
Chapter 25
Though he hated to leave Kayla standing there, Mitch knew that the plane was waiting for him and that he was already two hours behind the FBI agents who flew out to apprehend George. He thought about telling her that he was going to find Oliver, but he didn’t want to get her hopes up in case he was unsuccessful. So instead, he just stood there and said nothing, as was his usual.
He tried to push it out of his mind. At least the testimony seemed to go well, and his father looked healthy. His duty was finally done, and the defense failed to make him look like some crazed, angry son.
Of course he was angry at his father for hurting so many people, but he wasn’t out for revenge. He just wanted the scheming to stop. He wanted people to stop getting hurt.
That was another thing that he could’ve told Kayla. Instead of standing there and staring at her, he could’ve said, “Hey Kayla, guess what! I took your advice and I’ll be using my dad’s money for good.”
He could’ve asked her to help, he could’ve told her that she was right all along. But no. He just stood there like a silent buffoon, as usual.
He was ready for the testimony and tough questions from the defense attorney. What he wasn’t ready for was seeing her – that was a total surprise.
> The Marshals escorted him onto the plane and gave him an update. Apparently, they were giving no warning that they were arriving to apprehend George. He would be taken completely by surprise. Mitch settled in for the flight and actually fell asleep a few minutes in. He awoke as the plane landed.
Agent Simmons was waiting on the tarmac. “Glad you made it,” he said.
“Me too.” Mitch got into the backseat of the SUV.
“I hope your testimony went okay?”
Mitch nodded. “It went well. I think.”
“Perez thought so. Anyway,” Simmons continued, “we’ve got George. We’re questioning him now.”
Mitch turned to him. “That’s great. And Oliver?”
Agent Simmons shook his head. “No sign of him. And George seems to think he can use the dog as a bargaining chip.”
Mitch realized that his hand was in a tight fist. He loosened it. “Can I talk to him?”
Simmons shook his head. “Sorry, no. Do you really think you’ll do a better job interrogating him than someone that’s trained for years on interrogation?”
“No, of course not,” Mitch replied. “But I’d like a chance to at least scare him a little.”
Simmons laughed. “We’re waiting on a warrant to search his living quarters.”
“How long will that take?”
“Unfortunately, it could take a few days.”
“What?” Mitch sat up, trying to get closer to the front of the SUV. “Oliver could starve to death in that time.”
“Listen, you’ve had a long day. Let me drop you off, we got a room for you at the farm where George was going to work.”
Mitch was formulating his rebuttal when he realized what he just heard. “And George…he was staying at a house on the property?”
Simmons smiled. “He was. The house right next to the barn.”
“Yeah,” Mitch said. “I think I’m ready to turn in for the night.”
They arrived not long after that, and Simmons wished him a good night. Mitch waved as the car drove away.
Clearly, Simmons was hinting for Mitch to take matters into his own hands. Normally, Mitch would be offended by something like this, saying that he wasn’t like his father and wasn’t going to break the law. Oddly though, right now he had no problem with a little breaking and entering.
There were several people milling about the property, but Mitch was able to find the house easily and without being noticed. The front door was locked, but the back door wasn’t. Did it count as breaking and entering if the door wasn’t locked?
He stepped inside and called out Oliver’s name. Nothing. It wasn’t a large house, and he searched room to room to find any clues of where Oliver may be.
There was nothing. No dog bowls, toys, or leash in sight. Was George really heartless enough to just leave Oliver in the wilderness somewhere to fend for himself?
Mitch unlocked the front door and took a seat on the swing on the front porch. He felt sick imagining that Oliver was hurt. He had the urge to call Simmons and demand that he be allowed to see George. While the professional interrogator probably had great skills, he wasn’t allowed to physically drag George into the hallway to demand information about Oliver.
Mitch, however, would be happy to fill that role.
He stood up from the swing and accidentally knocked over the rake leaning against the railing. That wasn’t a good place to keep such a big rake, he thought.
It dawned on him – there was no way that this farm kept its tools lying around like this. George must’ve gotten it from somewhere. But where?
There were two structures near the house. The first was the barn. Mitch went inside, peeking around corners and stalls to see if there was any sign of Oliver. He called his name with no response. He exited through the back door of the barn to see a smaller structure a few hundred yards away. It looked like a shed, just big enough to keep some tools and supplies.
He wanted to run but didn’t want to raise any suspicion from the people hanging out. So he walked as quickly as he could, rake in hand, to the shed. The front door was closed and sealed with a padlock.
“Oliver!” He yelled. “Are you there boy?”
Silence. He pulled on the lock, hoping it would open on its own. It didn’t budge, but he thought he heard something move inside of the shed.
“Oliver! Ollie!”
A bark rang out and Mitch felt his heart leap. It was him, it was definitely him.
Without thinking, he ran back up to the barn. He remembered seeing a pair of bolt cutters next to a muck fork. He grabbed it and jogged back to the shed. With one swift action, he cut the lock off and carefully opened the door.
Inside it was dark and quiet. Mitch squatted down, giving his eyes a second to adjust to the darkness.
“Ollie?”
Oliver poked his head out from behind a cardboard box. He approached slowly, tail tucked between his legs. Mitch was relieved to see that he looked unharmed.
“Hey buddy. It’s okay, you’re a good boy. You wanna go home? You wanna see Kayla?”
With the mention of her name, his entire expression changed. His ears perked up and he broke out of his creeping position. He wagged his tail and trotted over to Mitch, licking his hand over and over.
Mitch laughed. “That’s the word, huh? Come on boy, let’s go see Kayla. She’s been looking all over for you.”
Oliver followed him out of the shed and up the hill.
Chapter 26
After Mitch left, Kayla wasn’t sure what to do with herself. What did she expect to happen? She listened to that kooky Silver guy who told her that she better be at the trial – and what? For what reason? She hardly got to see Mitch, and she didn’t really get to talk to him.
Was this the end of her adventure? She was supposed to learn to say yes to new challenges, she was supposed to change her life. It didn’t go as planned.
All she had left was a broken heart. She lost her dog to a scoundrel, made a fool of herself flirting with said scoundrel, and missed the great guy right in front of her the entire time.
She drove back to her apartment, feeling dejected.
When she got home, she made arrangements to fly back to Cody to continue her search for Oliver. She didn’t have to return to work for another week, and she wanted to dedicate all the time that she could to finding him. She also needed to get back to Cody to transfer all of the money over to the Singers. The last time she checked, there was over $400,000 donated to their cause. It was a comfort to know that at least she was able to accomplish one good thing over the last few weeks.
She went to bed late that night, unable to fall asleep because she was looping over everything that happened in her mind. The next morning she awoke groggy and grumpy. It took her almost an hour to notice that she had a text message from an unknown number.
“Hey, I have some good news. Oliver is coming home today.”
When she first read it, she thought it was some sort of a cruel prank. Something George would’ve dreamed up to torture her. Trying to keep from getting her hopes up, she responded, “Who is this?”
In response, she received a picture. It was Oliver, sitting happily on the seat of what appeared to be a plane, wearing a familiar looking cowboy hat. If she didn’t know any better, she would think that it was Mitch’s hat.
How could it be possible? Did Mitch really find him?
Her answer came not fifteen minutes later with a knock at the door. She ran over and practically flung the door open.
There stood Mitch with Oliver at his heel.
“Oliver!” she yelled. “I’ve missed you so much!”
Oliver didn’t hesitate – he ran into the apartment, spinning in circles and licking her each time that he went around. Unable to contain his excitement, he let out a hybrid whimper bark. After about ten spins, he accidentally knocked Kayla over. Excited that she was finally down to his level, he hovered over her and licked her face while she squealed.
After a few minutes
of this, Kayla managed to pull herself up from the ground. Her face was covered in slobber and tears, and her cheeks hurt from smiling so hard.
“Mitch,” she said, “I’m so sorry to be rude, please come in.”
“Thanks,” he replied, grinning.
He stepped inside and she closed the door behind him. Oliver did his customary home inspection, trotting into the next room, sniffing briefly before running back to Kayla with a sigh.
“It looks like he’s checking the place for security weaknesses,” she said.
Mitch smiled. “Agent Oliver identified your first problem – your doorbell. Lets the bad guys say that they’re here.”
She laughed. “Definitely. He hates doorbells. And he’s only ever heard them from TV. I’ll need to get mine removed now that he’s moved in.”
“Seems like a good idea.”
“I can’t believe this,” she said, kneeling to pet him. “Did George have him? What did he do to him?”
Mitch frowned. “Yeah, he had him. As far as I can tell, he thought he could use Oliver to get himself out of some trouble. He must’ve known that eventually he’d get caught. I don’t think he harmed him, but he kept him locked in a shed. Or at least that’s where I found him.”
Poor Ollie must’ve been terrified, locked in a dark shed. Kayla felt anger wash over her. As his words sunk in, she realized what he’d just said. “Wait, you found Ollie? Not the FBI?”
“It’s a long story. It was kind of a team effort.”
Kayla felt the dog slobber drying on her face. It smelled terrible and she needed to wash it off, but she wanted to hear this story. “How about I go and wash some of these dog kisses off, and then you can tell me about it?”
“Sure,” he responded. “Take your time.”
Kayla, with Oliver close behind, quickly scooted into her bedroom and shut the door. She caught a horrifying glimpse of herself in the mirror – her hair piled on the top of her head in a disheveled bun, her face was all red, and she was still wearing her pajamas. This was not how she wanted Mitch to see her, especially if this might be the last time that she ever got to see him.
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