Chapter 1 #2
She sighed. “I did hear something about your having a bad accident.” He nodded. “And, of course, if you hadn’t left, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“Sure, … but you remember why I left, don’t you?” She gave a short nod. “Grandpa’s always been a stubborn old coot,” Ashton stated.
“I know. Both of them can be … passionate.”
Ashton let her be with that guarded comment, since she was just trying to be considerate.
She may have been like a family member, but, at the end of the day, she was an employee of the Nelson estate.
Ashton announced, “And now I understand there are more problems.” He watched her intently to see her reaction.
Jenny’s gaze slid sideways. “I don’t really know what to tell you,” she began. “You should probably talk to Crystal.”
“I will talk to Crystal,” he confirmed, “and everybody else, … as long as anybody else is left to talk to.”
Crystal Patterson frowned, hearing a vehicle driving up. Vehicles never brought good news these days. She peeked out the barn door to see who it was and didn’t recognize the truck at all.
Again, not necessarily good news in her book.
She was a loner by nature but even more so with all the problems that had happened recently.
Way too many reporters and any number of other leeches came around, looking to make sensational headlines out of Alexander Nelson’s disappearance.
He was the prominent figure of the estate and her grandfather.
It was heartbreaking and brutal to recognize what the world was really like when people did crap like that.
Crystal stepped out of the barn and headed toward the house, realizing that the driver had already gone inside, and that surprised her. Not very many people were bold enough to do that, and the ones who were? Generally they didn’t come back twice. Not if she had any say about it.
She walked into the front of the house and called out, “Hey.”
When she heard no reply, she headed to the kitchen, finding Jenny gently held in some stranger’s arms. Then Crystal caught sight of the stranger’s profile and gasped. Both of them turned to her. “Ashton?”
He nodded and smiled. “Hey, Crystal.”
She just blinked back tears several times, the emotions overwhelming. She didn’t even know what to think—joy, fear, anger—the whole works flooded her system. She let out a very slow, exhausted breath, and she didn’t even expect the words that came out of her mouth. “It’s about goddamn time.”
He raised one eyebrow at her. “Nice to see you too.”
She glared at him and spat, “Our grandfather is missing.”
“I know that … now,” he replied, his tone rather calm.
She felt a pang of jealously inside. He was always the cool-headed one.
“Apparently nobody felt like telling me.”
She frowned at him and then shook her head. “John said he contacted you, and you blew him off, didn’t have time to come home.”
“John didn’t contact me, which you would have known if you had contacted me yourself,” he pointed out. “We also know that John can’t be trusted to give out information or to even do a basic follow-up, not without lying through his teeth.”
She glared at him for a long moment, as his answers ticked across her brain. She realized that was quite likely exactly what had happened, versus a malicious refusal to come home, which could also have been his response. Damn.
“The fact that you didn’t follow up,” he stated, “also makes me question just what’s been going on.”
“I’m not your keeper,” she replied stiffly, still off balance at his sudden appearance.
“No, you’re not.”
Jenny stepped away from the two of them. “I’ll just go upstairs,” she shared. “I could use a nap.” And, with that excuse, she bolted off the main floor and headed upstairs.
Ashton turned to Crystal and smiled stiffly. “She still has the same rooms upstairs?” he asked.
“Yes, of course. … Why?”
“Well, she’s physically exhausted for one and emotionally exhausted for another. Why doesn’t she use the guest room downstairs?” The question was rhetorical, so he continued. “I’m not sure what the hell’s going on here, but apparently people aren’t keeping others in the loop,” he explained coolly.
She glared at him again.
He nodded. “I get it,” Ashton began. “You think I’m to blame because I haven’t been here, but I can’t fix what nobody was willing to tell me about.”
She laughed at that. “Your version of fix isn’t the same as everybody else’s. You do realize that, right?”
“No, it isn’t,” he agreed, “which is also why I left. However, I had Grandpa’s assurance that he was fixing things.”
She stared at him for a long moment and finally asked, “Fixing what?”
He snorted, shaking his head. “If you don’t know, believe me that I won’t go down that pathway. What is this about Grandpa being missing?”
She swallowed and stared out the kitchen window. She wanted desperately to ask him what he meant about fixing things, but he wouldn’t talk if he didn’t want to. That much she knew. He had this locked-down sense of honor that was damn near impossible to get around sometimes.
She turned and stared at him for a long moment, before gathering her thoughts. “He’s been missing for three days now. … Are you sure John didn’t call and let you know?”
“John, no. Nobody at all called me and let me know,” he declared. “I’m here for something completely unrelated, but, once I found out about Grandpa, of course I had to come.”
She blinked at that too, wanting to question him further, but he wasn’t up for that either.
“So, who saw Grandpa last and where did he go missing from?”
She frowned at Ashton, not sure if she should go there. Yet he was a family member, and he needed to know. “He went missing from the house.” He blinked and she nodded. “I know. So, we don’t really have a clue what’s going on,” she snapped.
“So, how many people are involved in the search? Does he even have his mental faculties at capacity?”
His questions came in a rapid fashion but perfectly crafted, so very typical of him.
She took a deep breath. “Yes, Grandpa was doing well, which you could see for yourself if you were just here. Now the deputies are involved. They worry about his age and what they consider his possible advanced mental state.”
He stared at her, raising an eyebrow. “Possible advanced mental state? You just said that he was all right.”
“He is.” She sighed. “John implied to the deputies that Grandpa might be … forgetful,” she shared, with a wave of her hand. He just glared at her as she absentmindedly tucked back some hair. “Don’t go getting mad at me. I’m just the messenger.”
He kept quiet.
“I don’t think John meant it on purpose, but he does have a tendency to say things without really thinking about them.”
“Ya think?” he muttered. “Where’s Grandma?”
Crystal hesitated. “At the moment, I think she’s in town, … at the bank.”
He did a double take, giving her a searching look. “And what would she be doing at the bank?”
Such a lethal note filled his tone that she flinched and stepped back. “I don’t know.” She looked around, wrapping her arms around herself, something he took notice of. “I don’t handle any of the business.”
“How long has she been there?” he asked, turning back toward the front door.
“Hey, wait, hang on a minute. What’s going on?”
He didn’t answer and asked again forcefully, “When exactly did Grandpa go missing?” He stood at the front door, a strained look on his face.
“If you won’t give me a chance to explain,” she began, “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on, not that I know very much.”
“Then get in my truck and tell me, so we can get going.”
“Going where?” she cried out. “God, … you’re scaring me.”
“We’re going to the bank,” he repeated, his voice like steel.
She stared at him, slowly walking toward him. “Look. You’ve just blasted into town in your usual fashion, and now you’re creating all kinds of drama.”
“No, I’m not,” he snapped, his tone sharp. “Yet, if I find out she’s doing something she’s not allowed to do, believe me that there will be all kinds of drama, such as you’ve never seen.”
She blinked at that. “I feel like—”
He cut her off. “I don’t care what it feels like. Either you come with me, and we’ll continue the conversation on the way, or don’t come with me, and we’ll pick it up when I get back.” And, with that, he stormed out the front door.
She raced behind him. “I’m coming with you, dammit. What the hell, Ashton?”
He kept walking, without saying a word.
“Ashton, what’s going on?”
Still no answer.
“You just come in and cause all kinds of chaos the minute you arrive, and I know it’s so in character for you, but I need to know—”
He came to a halt and pivoted to face her. “What the hell do you need to know? You want to know why I am blasting off to the bank?” He was mad now, looking right at her—or through her.
“Yes!”
“Are you sure you can handle the truth?”
“Yes,” she replied, trying to find her resolve.
“I wouldn’t have to worry if Grandma wasn’t blindly stealing from people,” he snapped, as he got into the vehicle, then slammed the door shut, rocking the whole truck.
“What?” She hopped in beside him. “I don’t understand. That can’t be true. I sure as hell hope you’re wrong.”
“Yeah, you better hope I’m wrong,” he snarled.
Crystal didn’t know what to say. As they drove to the bank, she kept trying to talk to him, but he was furious beyond anything she’d ever seen from him.
He finally spoke. “Seems like an odd place for her to be when her husband is missing. A little too convenient for me.”
When the tic in his jaw slowed, she finally asked, “Are you serious?”
“Very serious.”
“She wouldn’t have had anything to do with, … with Grandpa’s disappearance. You know that. She loves him.”
“No, I don’t know that,” he argued, “because a woman with an addiction like hers, … I don’t know what all she might have done.”
“You used to love her.”
He looked back, and she realized her tone was harsher than she intended. “I’m not saying I don’t,” he clarified, “but I can tell you one thing. The reason I left so long ago is because of her.”
“What?” She stared at him in shock. “No. … No way. I mean, all she ever talks about is how she wants you home again.”
“Only to cover up the shit she’s been pulling.”
Crystal was downright devastated to hear this.
Ashton continued. “She was supposed to have stopped her stealing, and Grandpa was supposed to make sure all his clients’ funds got paid back.
So Grandma better not be involved in Grandpa going missing.
I also wouldn’t be shocked to find out that John is involved too—especially when suggesting that Grandpa’s mentally incapacitated. ”
“Look,” she cut him off. “None of that makes any sense. Maybe we should start at the beginning because I don’t understand.”
He tossed her a look. “Yeah, I get that. That’s because you were never involved in the business aspect of it.”
“Well, you aren’t either, at least not anymore.”
He shot her a look. “I am 100 percent still in the background of all this,” he spat, followed by a snort. “And don’t ever think that will change.”
She just blinked. “But John—” Ashton shot her a look. She shut up as her mind tried to process all this.
“What did John say exactly?” Ashton asked, his tone kinda scary.
“It’s John,” she replied, with a helpless wave of her hand. “I mean, he talks a lot, but he never really comes out and says things clearly.”
“No, and that’s part of the problem. He wants you to believe that he’s in control. He wants you to believe that this is all his now. And, sorry to burst his bubble, but it’s not.” He glared at her and asked bluntly, “Are you still engaged to him?”
“No. … I was never engaged to him.” He shot her a dark look, and she pursed her lips. “Look. He asked me,” she shared, exasperated, “and I declined. He told me it was a great way for me to stay part of all this. But I didn’t want a marriage that would keep me a part of whatever this is.”
“Why?”
She choked out a laugh. “You’ll think I’m being silly.”
“What’s wrong with being silly?”
She rolled her eyes at that. “I wanted to be married out of love. And, so far, that hasn’t happened either,” she muttered.
He just nodded and didn’t say anything.
She shook her head. “Christ Almighty, please tell me that you’re joking and that none of this is true.”
“I’m not joking,” he stated, his tone hard.
She realized he really was telling the truth. She just didn’t know what the hell the truth even was. “So, if you’re still dealing with family, what is John doing?”
“I don’t know. But believe me that I’ll figure that out. And I really need to know where Grandpa is because that completely changes a lot of my world.”
She hesitated at that. “Meaning that you’ll take everything over?”
He glanced at her and nodded. “Something like that.”
“But you’re already in the background.”
“Yeah, I sure am.” He hit the gas, seeing the wide-open road, and then looked back at her. “No way I couldn’t be, not now, not with all this crap. Believe me, if I could have gotten out of this, I would have.”
“Why? I don’t understand. I mean, … they said you left, and you got cut out because you didn’t want to be part of the family business.”
“When the family business was cheating investors out of their money and stealing from the family, I surely did not want to be a part of that,” he shared, his tone curt.
She gasped. “There’s no way.” He once again gave her a hard look. She sank back and whispered, “Dear God.”
“Yeah, dear God is right,” he snapped. “Now, I don’t know how much you know—”
“Obviously not a whole lot.” She cut him off curtly, not helping to reduce the sting.
“Then I need to tell you that things are not always as they seem. And, from here on out, they won’t be anything like you once knew.”