Chapter 18
Eighteen
T he Hayes family farm was on the outskirts of town, on the opposite end of Fontaine from the Fire Creek Distillery. Parking his car on the shoulder of the road just beyond the gate, Clayton was pretty sure that wasn’t a coincidence.
Getting out of his car, he leaned against the door and waited for the approaching headlights to navigate all the hairpin turns of the tree lined gravel road.
It was Bennett’s truck and as it pulled up, Clayton rose to his full height and waited for whatever was coming his way.
Bennett stopped his truck, climbed down and punched in the code to the gate. The chain link rolled away. “Go ahead,” he said, “But don’t even think about walking up to that door without me. Emmitt’s not a big fan of people with your last name.”
“I know the feeling,” Clayton muttered, but as he climbed back into his car, there was no question that he would follow Bennett’s advice. Emmitt Hayes was roughly the size of a mountain and looked like he lived on raw, potentially protesting, meat.
Once they were parked in front of the house, Bennett got out and climbed the steps, motioning for Clayton to stay where he was for the moment. He did, but he rolled down the window to hear every word.
After a second knock, lights came on in the house and Emmitt appeared at the door. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“What the hell were you doing in bed?” Bennett shot back.
“I worked last night,” Emmitt replied. “Country vets don’t keep city hours, jackass.”
“Do you have the file on Darcy?” Bennett asked.
Emmitt looked past him at the car, and Clayton could tell by his look, that he recognized him immediately.
“What the fuck are you up to, Bennett?”
Bennett motioned for Clayton and reluctantly, he got out of his car and walked toward the porch. He remained at the foot of the steps, prepared to make a run for it if need be.
“We all have one thing in common,” Bennett said. “Samuel Darcy has ruined the life of every person standing here.”
Emmitt looked at him, and Clayton could feel the weight of his judgment. Standing there in his rumpled dress shirt, with his suit jacket still draped over the front seat, he was about as far apart from Emmitt Hayes and his dirty coveralls as another person could be.
“I doubt that,” Emmitt said. “I’m not inviting a third-generation thief into my goddamn house, Bennett, and I’m sure as hell not giving him what we found.”
Bennett cursed. “Emmitt, just listen for a damned minute, would you?”
“One minute,” Emmitt agreed. “Make it count.”
Bennett looked back at him and Clayton knew that if he didn’t lay it all out, it would just be a waste of time. “Samuel ran Fire Creek into the ground. He borrowed against the company until it was so deep in the hole there was not getting it out. For years, he’s been using it as his own private checking account, taking out money and never investing it back. We were on the brink of foreclosure when the three of us, Quentin, Mia and I, took all that we had, pooled it, and bought sixty percent of the company outright. Right now, I’m looking for anything I can use to make Samuel sign over the remaining forty and the house.”
“Your family problems are no concern of mine,” Emmitt said stiffly. “That whole damn place could burn to the ground, and I wouldn’t even blink.”
Clayton shrugged. “I never did anything to you, Emmitt. Not me. I’ve scoured every document in the archives. There’s not a slip of paper that I haven’t looked over to see if I could find a shred of proof that your great-grandfather had bought into Fire Creek. If it ever existed, it’s gone now.”
“Actually,” Bennett interrupted. “It’s not. We have it.”
“What? Why the hell haven’t you done anything with it?” Clayton demanded.
“The man wants to destroy his family business, let him,” Emmitt answered. “We don’t want it. The very idea of that place leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It destroyed our great-grandfather. Our grandfather lived like a beggar because of it, and our father died consumed with finding proof of it. I hate that damn place and I don’t have a lot of love for its occupants.”
“Emmitt,” Bennet said cautiously. “I trust him. If we give him this, it gets us all something we want.”
“What’s that?”
“Freedom,” Clayton replied. “It gets Samuel Darcy as far out of the picture as I can get him without digging him a grave. It gives Mia and Bennett a chance to make things right.”
Emmitt looked at Bennett. “All this for that damned girl?”
“The only girl,” Bennett answered. “But also, it’s the right thing to do. Trust me, Emmitt.”
Emmitt made a disgusted sound and slammed the door in their faces.
“That was an epic waste of time,” Clayton stated.
Bennett didn’t move, just stood there at the door. “Just wait for it.”
A minute later, the door opened again and Emmitt shoved a heavy file folder at Bennett. “Do what you want with it. I’m tired of that shit taking up space.”
The door slammed again, the lights went off, and they were left standing on the porch in the dark. “Is he always like that?”
“No,” Bennett replied smoothly. “He was actually in a pretty good mood tonight.”
Clayton shook his head in amazement. Storing that little nugget for another day, he glanced at the folder. “So what is all that?”
“Sworn affidavits, signed, witnessed, and notarized from the county clerk who was in office when, in 1962, your grandfather bribed him to make the original contract between him and our grandfather disappear. Your father was present.”
“That’s a thick folder for one document.”
Bennett grinned. “That’s only one thing your family did to ours. There’s the property taxes that were only raised on our farm, courtesy of Samuel. There were the bank loans that would randomly come due because our payments weren’t being applied to our loans. He held sway over this town because everyone here feared him. But they loved my father, and when he got sick, people came here of their own free will and gave him the evidence he’d been trying to gather his whole life.”
“Does Mia know about this?” Clayton asked.
“Not yet. I’ll tell her, but she’s had a rough day. He lied to her about your mom’s accident. He told her Patricia wrecked because she was out looking for Mia.”
“While Mia was with you,” Clayton finished. “Even if it were true, that’s still not Mia’s fault.”
“Well, that’s what she’s been living with for the last ten years, with him putting that in her head every chance he got.”
Clayton opened the back door of his car and pulled out an overnight bag. “I don’t know what’s in there. I called Evelyn and she went back to the house and packed for her while I escorted Samuel to his car.”
Bennett grinned in the darkness. “I would have liked to see that.”
“It was bloodless.”
“Disappointing.”
Yes, Clayton thought. It really was. He’d had to give up some of the information he’d accumulated in order to make it happen. It was a strategic concession, but it would complicate things in the future. Still, if it allowed Mia a chance at real peace and possibly even happiness, it would be worth it. “I’ll check in with Mia tomorrow. I’m sure she needs the rest.”
“I will look after her,” Bennett reminded him.
“If I doubted that for a minute, I would have thrown you out of the hospital myself two weeks ago,” Clayton reminded him.
Bennett pointed to the folder. “Whatever you do with all that, make it count.”
“He’s broke—flat fucking broke. He’s living on credit that’s about to be maxed out and mooching off friends who haven’t quite figured it out yet,” Clayton explained. “This was the final piece to force his hand.”
“Into what?”
“Leaving. There’s a ratty condo in Boca Raton with his name on it. If he wants to live in the lap of luxury, he’s going to have to start dating twenty years older instead of just twenty years old.”
Bennett laughed out loud. “That, I would actually pay to see, but only the G rated version. God above.”
“Go take care of Mia,” Clayton said. “I’ll let you know how this shakes out.”
Bennett nodded and climbed into his truck to drive away. Conscious of being alone and unarmed on Emmitt Hayes’s property, Clayton got behind the wheel of his own vehicle and left quickly. He had a lot of work to do.