Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Cole
I had a spring in my step, and even the bitter winter cold couldn’t keep me down. Willa had gone into the office, so after a morning spent cuddling and making her come a few more times, I got out of bed, showered, and got to work.
Jude, being Jude, wouldn’t accept my offering of peanut butter cookies alone. Not only did he shove a cookie into his mouth the moment I arrived, but he also insisted on going snowshoeing. I would have preferred to stare out the window and count the minutes until Willa came home, but with Jude, outdoorsy shit would always be on the agenda.
It was only ten, yet he was already on his third cookie. “I take it from the goofy grin, the cookies, and the circles under your eyes that tell me you didn’t get any sleep last night that things are going well at home?”
I bent down to give Ripley a scratch behind the ear. She was Jude’s constant companion and best friend. I swore he spent more time talking to his dog than he did humans. Not that Ripley minded. He’d found her in the woods a couple of years ago, a little puppy that he’d cuddled in the cab of his crane for the rest of the day, then nursed back to health.
That tiny, sick puppy had grown into an imposing mini horse. She was black, with a little shock of white on her belly. We thought maybe Bernese mountain dog with some Great Dane, but Jude claimed she was his dire wolf, whatever that was.
All I could do was smile at my brother.
He shook his head. “You love her?”
I nodded. “Pretty sure I do.”
He nodded into his coffee cup.
“Lemme guess. You chopped wood.”
“Twice. And I’m man enough to admit you were right.”
He held up the container I’d filled with three dozen cookies—though it was probably closer to two dozen by now; he had made quite a dent. “So these cookies are an official acknowledgment of my superior seduction skills?”
I gave him a mock bow, further feeding his ego.
Before I could blow more smoke up his ass, Ripley barked and skittered to the door, where she growled loudly. That was unlike her. Despite her hulking presence, she was usually pretty calm.
Jude strode to her and ran a hand down her back, trying to comfort her, but when a knock sounded on the door, she barked again, this time incessantly. It was pretty quiet up here on the mountain. People didn’t wander by Jude’s house and knock to say hello, so he and I were both instantly on guard.
Without a word, I grasped Ripley’s collar, and Jude went to the door.
As he pulled it open, we came face to face with two men wearing suits and sunglasses. Both were of medium height and an average build. Wholly average looking.
“Jude Hebert.” The man who spoke had close-cropped hair and was clean shaven. His posture indicated a steel rod had been shoved up his ass. Definitely feds.
He held his badge up, confirming my suspicions. “Special Agent Bryce Portnoy, Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
My entire body tensed. I hated law enforcement. Instantly, I broke out in a cold sweat.
Jude, on the other hand, was perfectly Zen. “I know. We’ve met several times. Can I help you? You looking for a hiking trail or something?”
“We came by to speak to you.”
Rather than letting the men in, Jude gestured for me to step out on the porch, then did the same and shut the door behind us so that Ripley didn’t run out. By the way she was acting, I couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t attack these guys.
“This is my brother Cole,” Jude said.
“We know,” Portnoy replied.
The other shook his head. Maybe he wasn’t allowed to speak?
“Should you call a lawyer?” I asked my brother as anxiety coursed through me.
Portnoy glared at me. “We’ve recently picked up a missing persons case. You’re not a suspect.”
I unclenched slightly, but the fear and apprehension remained. Who was missing? Jude mainly hung out with members of our family, and we were all accounted for as far as I knew.
“Have you had any recent contact with Mila Barrett?”
Jude tilted his head and frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t know that person.”
Portnoy cocked a brow and hummed. “We’ve got several eyewitnesses that say you two were acquainted, and the security camera outside the local bar shows the two of you leaving the bar together on May 11th of last year.”
Portnoy held up his phone, displaying a photo of a young woman with chin-length hair and a bright smile.
In an instant, Jude went from loose limbed and laid-back to coiled tightly like a snake. His muscles bunched in a way that surprised me. I knew he was an active, outdoorsy guy, but the way he held himself made me wonder what he was capable of.
“I know her,” Jude said in a soft voice. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“She’s been reported missing. Have you heard from her? Has she contacted you recently? When was the last time you saw her?”
“That night. The one from the video. She came home with me and then left. I didn’t get her number, and she told me her name was Amy.”
Portnoy studied him for a long moment, as if determining whether he was telling the truth. Then, with a sigh, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card. “If she contacts you, call me immediately.” With that, he and his associate turned to go back to their black SUV.
Jude stepped forward. “She said she was from Portland. Why are you asking around up here? It’s been almost a year since I met her.”
Portnoy paused. “Mila Barrett is the older sister of Hugo Barrett.”
That name sounded vaguely familiar, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Oh fuck,” Jude hissed.
I looked from one man to another. All three were staring at one another. I was missing key information here, but Jude’s face looked stricken and he was gripping the business card so tightly I thought it might turn into dust.
Portnoy looked at me, his lip curled up in annoyance, clearly sensing my ignorance of this matter. “Hugo Barrett is an employee of the Maine Department of Fish and Wildlife. He was attacked on the campus of Hebert Timber back in April.”
I remembered the details now. It was around the time I’d been arrested for vandalism. Lila had found the guy almost beaten to death, and Owen and Gus had spent months working with law enforcement to figure out what had happened.
“He remains in a medically induced coma in Portland, under round-the-clock police protection.”
“So Amy—”
“Mila,” Portnoy corrected. “We have reason to believe she was spending time in Lovewell and Heartsborough before her disappearance.”
Jude took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “God.”
“Call me if you hear anything at all.”
And then they were gone, climbing into their SUV and rolling down the wooded drive.
I put my hand on Jude’s shoulder, startling him out of a stupor. “Come inside, it’s freezing.”
I led him into the living room and gently pushed him onto the denim blue couch. Ripley was immediately by his side, nuzzling him for comfort.
“Are you okay?”
He stared ahead vacantly, his jaw slack. “She said her name was Amy.”
“And you met her at the Moose that night?”
He shook his head. “No. I met her at the dojo last year.”
“Dojo?”
He patted Ripley’s head, still shellshocked. “Yeah, I’m a brown belt. Been studying martial arts for years.”
That was news to me. Though it was so like Jude to take up an intense hobby and get really good at it but tell no one. “Do the guys know? Debbie?”
He shook his head. “Just Noah.”
Of course. “You told him with your psychic twin connection?”
He turned and glowered at me. “No dumbass. On the phone. Well, over text, I hate talking on the phone.”
“And you met this girl there?”
“Yeah. Sensei does free self-defense classes one Saturday a month. I help out sometimes. She came in, introduced herself as Amy, and we chatted. She was pretty and nice and that was it.”
“And then?”
“A month later, she’s at the Moose. I was playing that night, but after, we talked, and things progressed.”
“You had a one-night stand with her.”
He glared at me, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I’m a single thirty-two-year-old guy. I’m allowed to bring girls home. You’re getting judgy now that you’ve wifed up.”
“Sorry.” I shrugged. I guess I was, but I didn’t care. I was delighted to be wifed up, thank you very much.
“She was incredible. I would have loved to hang out with her again, but she slipped out while I was sleeping and didn’t even give me her number.” He put his head in his hands. “And now she’s missing.”
I patted his back. “The feds are on it, and it may not be related to what happened to her brother. It could be a misunderstanding.”
He looked up at me, his dark blue eyes blazing. “It’s all related. And it all comes back to our fucking father.”
Dammit. We’d never be free of this. We’d forever live beneath the cloud of our father’s crimes. The fucker had been behind bars for more than a year and yet, horrible stuff kept happening.
While I sat with Jude, I closed my eyes and replayed every moment of the meeting I’d had with Parker Gagnon. She believed I could somehow help. Was she right? Or was I only wasting her time? Deimos Industries. Business connections, deposits and withdrawals. My thoughts bounced from one to another, then back again.
When I left Jude’s, I headed straight into town. I’d promised to do my part, but I’d been too distracted to really put any effort into it.
This would never end unless we put a stop to it ourselves. How many years had the fucking feds been lurking? And Chief Souza was useless. Year after year, this town had been in danger. We’d been living with criminals in our midst. My dad had taken the fall, but he was clearly only one cog in a bigger wheel.
My family needed me. My brothers and their wives and my niece and nephew. And Willa. The thought of her being pulled into any of this made me sick to my stomach. This had to end. And Parker was our best shot.
My contributions may not be major, but I had to do something. I needed to get to the bottom of this shit.