Chapter 17
Seventeen
“Sit.” Rachel punctuated the snapped order by pointing at the sofa in Rebecca’s living room.
Jonah’s expression turned mutinous, but before he could spout whatever nonsense he thought would justify staying on his feet any longer, she stepped into him and poked him in his massive chest.
“Don’t even think about arguing with me. I might not be able to haul you around bodily, but I had to endure your mother-henning, so you will damned well endure mine.”
After the exertion of changing into the fresh clothes Brax had brought, his face was too pale, and his arm was covered in bandages. She knew the burns hurt, and he needed to be still. To rest and recover. And she needed a quiet shower later to finish falling apart now that the worst was over.
“But—”
“Jonah.” She softened her tone and let some of her own exhaustion show. “Please, sit down. I need to fuss. It will make me feel better.”
He lowered himself to the sofa.
“Thank you.”
Brax arched a brow. “You sure you wanna take on Grumpy here? Because he’s a totally shit patient.”
“I’m aware. But his bark is worse than his bite, and he’s not the first stubborn man I’ve ever dealt with.” She moved past him into the kitchen to pour fresh glasses of water for Jonah and his mother. The doctor had said they needed to drink as much as possible to flush the smoke from their systems.
The garage door opened, and Holt strode in with grocery bags in hand. “I’ve got ice cream and popsicles galore. Everything a sore throat could want. Along with all those supplements the doc suggested. And Cayla’s on her way with dinner for everybody.”
As he set down his load, Rachel moved in to give him a squeeze. “Thank you for being here.” She shared a look with Brax. “Both of you.”
Holt hugged her in return. “We’ve got your back.”
“Even if it means tying down your charge,” Brax added.
That pulled a laugh out of her. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary, but I’ll keep it in mind.”
The door opened again, and Cayla came in, two large bags from the diner in hand. “Dinner specials all around, and loaded potato soup for the invalids.”
Rachel winced. “Don’t call Jonah that. He’ll riot.”
“I heard that!”
“Behave!” she called back.
Cayla handed the bags off to her husband and pulled Rachel in. “You okay?” she murmured.
“Getting there.” It was going to take a year or twenty to forget the sight of Jonah running into that burning house without even a turnout coat. But it looked like she’d get the chance to replace that memory with others.
Cayla pulled back, searching her face. “Did you two get to talk before all this?”
Rachel nodded. That whole conversation felt like half a lifetime ago.
Before Cayla could ask anything else, Mia strode in.
“Man, I’m sorry I’m late. I only just managed to shake loose from the job.” She headed straight for the living room. “Way to give us all a heart attack, you two.”
Because she needed to keep busy, Rachel began divvying up the food among all the guests. Wanting to keep close, but too restless to fully sit herself, she perched on the arm of the sofa beside Jonah, balancing a plate in one hand as conversation inevitably shifted to the events of the day.
“Does anybody have actual news about the fire or the house?” Brax asked.
“The house is a complete loss,” Rachel announced. “I could see that before we even left for the hospital.” If there’d been anything left of Lonnie’s that might have been useful, it was ash now.
“Can we maybe talk about what actually happened?” Holt suggested.
“Yeah, let’s. What in the hell possessed you to go into that house? I ordered you to stay put.” Jonah’s tone was harsh, but beneath the snap of it, Rachel could hear the worry.
Rebecca flinched, her shoulders bowing with shame. “It didn’t look that bad. I thought I could get in and out.”
“There was nothing in that house worth your life. You could have died .”
They all heard what he didn’t say. That he could have died, too, coming after her.
Tears spilled down his mother’s cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I took the risk. I’m sorry I put you at risk. But I remembered something about that desk of your dad’s. The whole reason he was in love with it was because it had a hidden compartment in the drawer. I thought there might be something inside.”
“If there was, it wasn’t worth the risk.”
“But what if it was? Where’s my stuff from the hospital?”
Hearing the urgency in her tone, Rachel retrieved the bag, including her purse.
Rebecca pawed through the soot-stained jeans she’d been wearing, checking the pockets. She held something up in triumph.
“What’s that?” Jonah asked.
Rachel was closer and had a better view. “A key.” She reached out to take it, turning it over in her hands. “A safe deposit box key. John and I had one very much like this. We kept all our important documents and things at the bank, so if anything ever happened, they’d be safe.”
They all stared at each other.
Was this literally the key to the answer they’d been looking for all this time?
The doorbell rang, startling them out of the shocked silence. Brax went to answer it and came back with Xander. He was in his sheriff’s uniform, with a casserole dish in hand.
“Evenin’, y’all. I came to check on everybody. Kennedy sent a broccoli and rice casserole.”
Cayla rose to take it, heading to the kitchen to put it away.
“Why do I get the feeling that’s not the only reason you’re here?” Jonah asked.
“Well, I hate to be the bearer of additional bad news, but that fire was no accident. Even our volunteer guys could see clear signs of arson.”
“Like somebody set the fire and walked away, or rigged with some kind of remote detonator situation?” Holt asked.
“We’ll know more once the fire marshal has a chance to actually inspect it. He won’t be able to make it out until tomorrow. But I’m leaning toward the former.”
A muscle ticked in Jonah’s jaw, and his uninjured hand curled into a fist. His eyes met Brax’s and then Holt’s.
Rachel reached for him, laying a hand on his leg. “What is it?”
“This might be my fault.”
“How’s that?” Xander asked.
“I kind of baited Howard Danforth.”
Xander swore and paced a circuit around the living room. “Why the hell would you do that, you dumbass? Beg your pardon, Mama Ferguson.”
“It seems appropriate, under the circumstances.”
“I didn’t tell him where we were keeping anything. I just mentioned how I’d seen him in some pictures when I was going through my dad’s stuff. Which I had. I just wanted to see what his reaction was.”
Xander propped his hands on his hips and glared at Jonah. “Yeah, well, if this was it, it’s not something we can prove. Not unless there’s something left that the fire didn’t destroy. We won’t know that until the fire marshal has time to go through everything.”
“What if something survived the fire?” Rachel held up the key.
“Does that go to a deposit box?” Xander asked.
“We’re not sure. But maybe,” she conceded. “If it does, we’ll still have to figure out which bank it goes to, and we’ll probably have to go through the estate attorney again, because none of you guys were on the signature card anywhere, were you?”
“Either way, it’s after business hours, so you won’t be able to do anything tonight,” Mia pointed out.
“It’ll give me something to do tomorrow, since I won’t be able to work. Again.” Jonah sighed.
“Seems like if it went to the bank here, somebody would’ve said something when he died,” Holt said. “Logic suggests the most likely location is that bank in Johnson City where that other account was.”
After securing Jonah’s promise to let him know the results of the search, Xander took his leave. Everyone else began to clear dishes and pick up the remains of dinner. Then they took themselves home, leaving Rachel alone with her two charges.
With no more necessary actions, she felt the exhaustion hit her like a freight train.
Jonah reached out and snagged her hand, pulling her down beside him on the sofa. “Your turn to sit. You look like you’re about to fall down.”
“I mean, it’s a very attractive option at the moment.”
From her perch in the overstuffed chair, Rebecca eyed her son. “Did you pull your head out of your ass?”
Rachel sat up. “Uh?”
Jonah just put his good arm around her shoulders and tugged her against his side, pressing a kiss to her brow. “Yeah.”
“Good.” On a satisfied nod, Rebecca rose. “I’m going to bed.”
“Do you need any help changing into your pajamas or need help checking your bandages?” Rebecca asked.
“I’ll let you know if I do. Thank you, sweetheart.” She disappeared down the hall.
“What was that about?”
“My mom kind of read me the riot act for being a dumbass earlier. So I was already primed by the time I got back to the cabin to talk to you.”
“Oh.” Rachel tucked her head against his shoulder, feeling a smile tug at her lips. “I really like your mom.”
He laughed. “She really likes you, too.”
The bank manager set the long, narrow box on a table in the middle of the room and stepped back. “I’ll be right outside. Let me know when you’re finished.”
“Thanks.” Jonah didn’t move, even after she’d left the room.
As Holt had surmised, Lonnie had used the same bank in Johnson City where he’d kept the secret account. Elias Craggs had done whatever was necessary to get Jonah access as the heir to the estate. Now, faced with what might be the end of this long quest, he just stared at the box with a surreal mix of excitement, anticipation, and dread. What were they going to find inside?
Rachel laid a hand on his back. “There could be answers in there.”
“There could also be more questions. I’ve been trying to prepare myself for that. With the idea that some of my questions may never have answers.” And he didn’t know what he was going to do if that was the case. He didn’t give a damn if he never understood who his father really was. But if he didn’t find some kind of evidence to tie Howard Danforth to the multitude of threats that had faced his friends, family, and business, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever rest easy.
With a bracing breath, he stepped forward and lifted the lid of the box.
The only thing inside was a single, slim envelope with Jonah and Samantha scrawled across the front. Frowning, he picked it up, looking underneath for anything else. But there was no flash drive hiding in a corner. He patted the envelope, looking for a telltale bulge. Nothing.
“This doesn’t make sense. Why would there be a letter to me and Sam if he didn’t even leave indication that this box existed?”
“Well, you said he died rather suddenly. Maybe he didn’t have time to finish putting his plans in place.”
“Maybe.”
“Do you want to open it here?”
This probably wasn’t the answer that he wanted. The evidence to take down Howard Danforth wouldn’t be found in a few thin sheets of paper. Not unless Lonnie had been on the nose about the whole thing and drawn a map with X marks the spot.
“No. Let’s get out of here.” Tucking the envelope in his back pocket, he took Rachel’s hand and stepped out of the room, waving to get the attention of the bank manager.
“Was everything as you expected, sir?”
Jonah resisted the urge to flash a bitter smile, as the bank had been perfectly accommodating. “Well, I didn’t have any expectations. But we’ve emptied the contents, so the account or whatever can be closed.”
“Understood. I’ll just need you to sign some paperwork. And we’ve got the rest of those records you requested.”
Jonah did as asked, and five minutes later, they were back in his truck in the parking lot. He passed Rachel the thick manilla envelope of bank statements and ran his fingers around the edges of the smaller one bearing his name. How could something so small feel so heavy?
“You okay?”
“I don’t know. I wanted this to be simple, and I have a feeling whatever’s in here isn’t going to be.”
She squeezed his arm, and the touch settled him. “Life often isn’t. Do you need to talk to Sam before you open it?”
“No. I should open it here, in case there’s something else in Johnson City to follow up on before we head back. She hasn’t wanted anything to do with Lonnie’s stuff from the beginning. I’ll pass it onto her later.” And if it was just something that would hurt his sister, he could make it disappear.
Jonah slid a finger beneath the flap, breaking the seal on the envelope and pulling out the pages inside. The lined yellow sheets were full of his father’s angled scrawl, something Jonah had become familiar with as he’d gone through paperwork and the other detritus of Lonnie’s life.
Dear Jonah and Samantha,
Please don’t rip up and throw away or burn this letter before reading the whole thing. I know that’s what you’ll want to do, and you have every right. But there are things I need to say. Things I need to explain. After that, you can do whatever you want.
I was a shit father. I acknowledge that. I know my leaving hurt you both, and your mother, too. I wish I’d been able to explain all this years ago, but as you’ll see, my options were limited, and I did what I thought was best to protect you.
Jonah felt a furrow dig in between his brows. Protect them from what? With a sense of unease, he kept reading.
Your mother and I both liked people. That had a lot to do with how we landed in our specific professions. Rebecca was always amazing with hair, and I had a fair hand behind a bar. Back in the early days, she’d just hung out her own shingle, and I was bar tending at Elvira’s. And the thing about bartenders and beauticians is that people tend to treat us like priests or therapists. They tell us stuff. Your mom and I, we made a game of who had the juiciest bite of the week. It wasn’t malicious, just a way to keep ourselves entertained. Part of that small-town life we both loved.
Eventually, if you listen long enough, you overhear things that are so big you feel like you just have to share them immediately. When your mama found out through a client that Cassius Fuller—yeah, of those Fullers—was on the verge of foreclosure, she rushed on over to the tavern to tell me. It was big news because the Fullers had been sitting on some prime mountain land for generations. It was their legacy, and who knew what they’d do if they lost it?
In the end, the property was purchased by Howard Danforth before the foreclosure could go through. Everybody was shocked Cassius had sold, and there was all kinds of speculation. I just shrugged it off. At least until Howard showed up at the bar one night, near closing time, with a check. It turned out he’d been in Elvira’s the night your mom shared that little piece of information, and he’d used it to negotiate the sale. As it was so beneficial to the real estate development plans he had, he figured we ought to be cut in since we’d provided the insider information he’d needed. I didn’t see how we’d done much, and it hadn’t been on purpose. Howard said the check was a gesture of good faith. I wish I could say I spit in his face. But I didn’t. And when he suggested there was more where that came from, if we could continue to pass on useful tidbits that led to more deals, I didn’t see what harm it would do. We could use the money. Your mom’s shop was barely staying afloat in those days, and I wanted to save to open my own place. So I said yes, and I didn’t tell Rebecca.
Of course he hadn’t. Because she’d have pitched a fit and made him give the money back. Rebecca Ferguson was a proud woman who valued making her own way. No way in hell would she have been okay with a deal like that.
It took six months to realize I’d made a deal with the devil. It took another six for me to overcome my own greed and weakness to try to get out of the arrangement. Turns out, that wasn’t so easy. When I said I was done, Howard insisted I wasn’t. He said if I didn’t continue doing exactly what I’d been doing, he’d tell Cassius Fuller exactly who’d outed them. Not even pointing directly at me, but at your mother.
Jonah didn’t realize he’d fisted his hand on the papers, until Rachel covered his white knuckles, stroking until his fingers relaxed.
“Do you want to stop?”
He jerked his head. He had to get to the end of this. Smoothing the pages, he shifted them to his other hand, so he could lace his fingers with hers, absorbing the quiet calm through her touch.
You’ve been around long enough to know the reputation of that family. They’ve been the Feral as Fuck Fullers since well before I was born, and that reputation is well deserved. I went to school with one of Cassius’s sons. When a classmate of mine asked out his ex-girlfriend, he ended up in a body cast. Wouldn’t admit who’d put him there. He was too damned afraid. But we all knew. Cassius isn’t the kind of guy who verifies the truth of information before acting. If Howard pointed him in our direction, no one in our family would have been safe.
I didn’t see any way out. We didn’t have the money to move and start over somewhere else. And I confess, I couldn’t handle the shame of actually telling your mother the truth. The only answer I could think of was to distance myself from all of you. So that’s what I did. I walked away. Cut myself off and made you think I didn’t care. All so they wouldn’t think I gave a damn, so that you couldn’t be used as leverage.
“You stupid, selfish mother fucker.”
All these years, I’ve been forced to be Howard’s little pet, and I got a cut from every deal that the information I provided helped to facilitate. I put every penny into an account at the bank where you found this letter. I only touched it when I needed a little help keeping the bar afloat.
If you’re reading this, well, then we’ve never had a chance to make up. I’ve never had an opportunity to explain or apologize for the poor decisions and mistakes I’ve made or the hurt I’ve caused. No amount of “I’m sorry” can make up for that. Neither can money, though I hope you both will put it to good use, making your own dreams come true. And I’m hoping you can bring about the justice I’ve been after all this time.
I always intended to take Howard down. I’ve been collecting information for years, waiting for him to cross the line from merely morally gray situations to outright illegal. It took decades, but I’ve finally got it. All the information is hidden on a flash drive. You’ll find it if you take a walk down memory lane and remember the secrets we used to share.
I know it’s too little, too late, but I love you both more than life, and I hope knowing why I left will ease a little of the hurt I caused.
Dad
Jonah sat back in his seat, torn between shock and a need to rage.
“What did he say?”
Without a word, he handed the letter to Rachel. His mind continued to reel as she read it. He had no idea how to feel because this up-ended everything he knew about his father.
“He walked away to protect you.”
“Seems like.” Jonah stared out the windshield without seeing a thing. He’d imagined his dad involved in blackmail, or maybe drug running. He hadn’t ever considered that Lonnie might have been a victim himself.
“Is this family—the Fullers—are they still around?”
“Oh, yeah. Still causing problems. Everybody steers clear of them. That’s the one part of this I don’t have any trouble understanding. You don’t fuck with the Fullers. Not for any reason. They take their own vigilante approach to justice with no mind to the actual law.”
“They sound like a legitimate threat. What did he mean about this walk down memory lane and the secrets you used to keep?”
He scrubbed a hand over his head, rubbing at his scar. “I don’t have a damned clue. But that would imply that the answer was somewhere in all of his stuff, and we don’t have any of it anymore. Whatever was left burned to the ground, so we’re shit out of luck finding the actual evidence he pulled together.”
“Maybe not. We should turn this over to Xander. Maybe there’s something he can do.”
“There’s nothing in here that’s proof of anything criminal on Howard’s part. Just the implication that he’s involved in something.”
Rachel’s hand curled around his, quieting the turmoil. “One step at a time. We’ve got the bank records. Between the two, maybe there will be enough grounds for Xander to get a warrant to search for me. Either way, it seems like there’s a lot here that your mom and sister need to know. So why don’t we head on back to the Ridge to talk to them?”
“Yeah. Okay.” He cranked the truck and put it in gear.
“Maybe they’ll remember something you didn’t about what he means in terms of where the flash drive is hidden.”
“Guess we’ll see.” But Jonah wasn’t holding out hope that they’d ever manage to nail the bastard.