Chapter 18
Eighteen
How could one man cause so much hurt when he wasn’t even around anymore?
Helplessness had Rachel wrapping both arms around her middle as she took in the reactions of the rest of the Fergusons to the letter Jonah had just read them.
Tears streamed down Rebecca’s cheeks. “Why wouldn’t he tell me? We could have done something. We could have left. We could’ve started over somewhere. Yeah, I’d have had to leave my business, but that would’ve been preferable to losing my marriage and the family we’d built. Why did he think this was the only option?”
What must it be like for her to hear all this? As far as Rachel knew, Rebecca had made peace with her husband’s original betrayal. Was it somehow worse finding out that the man she’d married wasn’t as bad as everyone had made him out to be, but that they’d lost their marriage, their relationship, over this foolish mistake?
Jonah had locked down his own reactions on the drive home, so his delivery of the news had been more or less deadpan, but the hand he restlessly rubbed against the back of his head betrayed his disquiet. “I guess he didn’t trust that the Fullers wouldn’t find you. Us.”
From the computer screen, Sam scowled. “Is this really true? Or is this just some story he made up to make himself look less awful?”
Rebecca blinked back more tears. “Why wouldn’t it be true?”
“I think he believed it was true, anyway,” Jonah conceded. “This wasn’t some elaborate setup to try to absolve his behavior in our eyes. It was sheer dumb luck that Mom remembered about the compartment in the drawer and found the damned key at all. That we were able to track down to the safe deposit box to get our hands on this letter in the first place.”
“What are we even supposed to do with this information?” Sam asked.
“I’ve already called Xander. He’s on his way out, but I don’t expect much. This was a lot more personal than any kind of useful evidence.”
Recognizing defeat in his posture, Rachel stepped in to remind him of the one potential piece of good news. “Except your dad said he did collect evidence.” She looked to Sam and Rebecca. “Do either of you have any idea what he’s talking about with that walk down memory lane and the secrets you used to keep?”
Wiping the tears away, Rebecca straightened in her chair. “It could have been almost anything. Lonnie loved secrets. Puzzles. The desk certainly wasn’t the only piece with hidden compartments.”
For the first time, Sam’s face seemed to soften a fraction. “I remember he liked hiding stuff and putting it where we had to go find it. He had the best time setting up Easter egg hunts. But even outside of that, he set up these little challenges with rewards. Like… what was it, Jonah? You had that dinosaur with the compartment in the belly. He used to hide candy there. You used to get so mad because I’d go steal it before you had a chance.”
Jonah’s face went blank with shock. “I saw that dinosaur. The stegosaurus. He had it. It was in a box of stuff we went through that first day at the house.”
Rachel’s pulse leapt with excitement. She remembered seeing it, too. “What happened to it?”
He closed his eyes, his expression shuttering in self-condemnation. “I threw it out. It was part of a childhood I didn’t want to remember, so I put it in the trash. It went into the bakery dumpster, which has absolutely been emptied since then. There’s no way we can track down where it went.” Scrubbing both hands over his face, he paced a tight circle. “Fuck. That’s it. There’s nothing left for us to do. Whatever the hell evidence he found is gone, and we’re screwed.”
His shoulders bowed with dejection, and Rachel could see the spiral of self-blame cranking up. She stepped into him, forcing him to stop pacing. “We don’t know that. Let’s talk to Xander first.”
He opened his mouth, no doubt to protest again, but the doorbell rang.
She squeezed his shoulders. “I’ve got it.”
Xander stood on the front stoop of Rebecca’s house, hat in hand. “Hey, Rachel.”
“Come on in. Everybody’s in the living room.”
He trailed behind her. “Hey y’all.” Glancing at the screen, he grinned. “Hey, Sam. How’s that little baby of yours?”
Her expression softened. “Growing like a weed. She’s down for a nap at the moment.”
“Enjoy those hours while you’ve got them. The days when she won’t take one at all are coming, and then you won’t know what to do with yourself.”
She laughed. “Noted.”
He sobered and looked at Jonah. “So, what is it you found?”
“See for yourself.” Jonah pointed to the letter on the coffee table.
They all waited while Xander read through, his brows going up with each page. “Wow. That’s… a lot.”
Rebecca clasped her hands between her knees. “I never imagined our little game could do this kind of damage. I mean, everyone in this town gossips. That’s part and parcel of small-town life. I never dreamed it could be used like this.”
“Don’t you dare take ownership of this,” Jonah snapped. “ He did this. He made this choice. This is not your fault.”
Emotion bubbled close to the surface for all of them. They’d all need time to process and sort through their reactions, but now wasn’t the moment for that.
“Is there anything in the letter that’s actually helpful in terms of the investigation?” Rachel asked.
“Well, it certainly makes it look like Howard’s probably involved in something, but since he doesn’t spell out what illegalities there may have been, it seems like the only direction we’ve got is finding where he hid this flash drive. Have y’all figured out what he means?”
Jonah rubbed at the back of his head again. “Yeah. And I fucked up.” He explained how the probable hiding place got tossed out. “And even if it was something other than that, everything was thrown away or lost in the fire. So we’re SOL. Unless you have news. Did you hear anything from the Johnson City Police about the break-in at the attorney’s office?”
“They traced it back to a guy who was trying to replace the copy of his mother’s will in order to change his inheritance. He made a mess to cover his tracks, hoping they’d think something was taken rather than changed. It’s nothing to do with our cases.”
“Damn. What about your dad? Was there anything he remembered about Howard or Lonnie?”
“Nothing specific. Although he mentioned one thing I found interesting.” Xander rocked back on his heels. “Harley Molina is a Fuller. The connection’s somewhere on his mother’s side. I find it interesting that the Fullers were the threat Howard used against Lonnie, what with Harley working for him at the bar all those years.”
Rachel worked her way through the potential implications. “Do you think he was spying on Lonnie or something?”
“Don’t know. Might not mean anything at all. Harley never had a whole lot to do with the rest of the clan. On the surface, at least. I don’t know if Lonnie was aware of the link. It just adds to the pile of coincidences.”
“Could the Fullers be working with Howard?” Rebecca asked.
“Not sure what they’d get out of it or even if they would work with him, since he’s the one who bought their land,” Sam argued. “Given their reputation, I’d have assumed they’d believe he stole it.”
“If there’s a connection there, it’s not public knowledge. They certainly don’t run in the same circles. But there’s also no record of the Fullers causing Howard any problems over the years, which is interesting in and of itself,” Xander conceded. “There’s no telling whether there was some other aspect to the deal Howard and Cassius struck.”
Jonah folded his arms. “Is Cassius still around?”
“Far as I know. Cassius would be well into his eighties by now. Stays close to home. I don’t think he’s mentally capable of being as involved in running the family with the same iron fist he used to. The few Fullers who’ve been arrested and prosecuted made some mistakes that never would’ve happened under his watch, so we’ve speculated that the running of things has been passed on to younger members of the clan.” Xander held up a hand. “To be clear, I’m not speculating there actually is something going on between Howard Danforth and the Fullers. I’m just tossing around ideas at this point. Either way, without the flash drive, I’ll need something like a money trail to go further. Were you able to get the rest of those bank records?”
Rachel lifted the packet from the table. “Yes. And we’ll start going through those and seeing what kind of timeline we can rebuild.” She’d have time for that in the afternoons once she got off work at the inn.
“If it lines up with what Lonnie outlined in his letter, it’s not a smoking gun, but it’s another piece to the puzzle. And you never know when you’ll find the one that unlocks everything.”
She could only hope they found the key they were looking for.
Rachel stabbed another bite of grilled potato salad. “I dug through all the bank statements and managed to recreate a timeline going back several years. It seems to more or less match up with what was laid out in Lonnie’s letter, but it’s not really evidence of anything other than the longevity of their arrangement.”
Around the picnic table, the faces of the rest of the Bad Boy Bakers and their wives showed varying levels of disappointment. They’d gathered for burgers and a brainstorming session after the revelations from Lonnie’s safe deposit box letter yesterday. She’d hoped she’d have more to share, but she couldn’t pull evidence out of thin air, no matter how much she wanted to, for Jonah’s sake.
On the other side of the table, Maddie squirmed in her seat. “May I go play?”
Holt glanced down at her plate. She’d eaten most of her burger and about half the potato salad. He skimmed a hand down her blonde hair in an unmistakable gesture of affection. “Sure. Go ahead, Bumblebee. Don’t forget to clear your plate.”
“Okay!” Pivoting around, she scrambled off the picnic table bench and reached back for the plate, carrying it inside with BB trailing after her.
“No potato salad for the dog!” Cayla called. “And don’t forget, it’s a school night.”
“Yes, ma’am!” The screen door slammed behind her.
Cayla crossed her fingers. “I do not want to deal with stomach upset if she doesn’t listen.”
Holt began to rub at her nape. “Do we want to loop Cash in on this? He has the skills to dig deeper.”
Jonah stabbed another bite of potato salad with more force than necessary. “The skills, yeah, but without having some kind of direction, it doesn’t seem like a good use of his time. We definitely don’t want to abuse his goodwill. If we can come up with something more specific thing for him to look for, then maybe we should call, but for now, I think we should leave that off the table.”
Rachel reached over, laying a hand on his thigh. The muscles were tense, his knee bouncing in a steady, restless rhythm. At her touch, he stopped moving, curling his fingers around hers with a squeeze.
They discussed and debated other possible avenues, but half an hour later, they hadn’t come up with anything viable.
“I’m gonna go get Maddie in the bath. I expect a fight, so be prepared to tag in, Daddy.” Cayla brushed a kiss over Holt’s lips that left him grinning.
“Always.”
Rachel rose as well, automatically gathering plates. “I’ll get started on dishes.”
Mia made a stack from the opposite side. “I’ll help.”
Cayla was waiting for them in the kitchen, her brow creased with concern. “Hey, you okay?”
Rachel forced a smile as she set the plates on the counter. “Yeah. This is just really hard on Jonah. I don’t think he’s going to settle until we have some sort of resolution. And I don’t know how we’re going to get any resolution under the circumstances.”
“I can definitely relate to that. Brax is the same regarding my safety, and so am I.” Mia tugged open the dishwasher and began loading plates. “I would love confirmation that none of what happened had anything to do with me because I’d like to be able to go back to just living my life.”
“Maybe we should have a summit meeting without the guys,” Cayla suggested.
“Maybe,” Rachel conceded.
“In the meantime, it’s a school night. I need to get the munchkin in the bath. Be back.”
She strode out of the kitchen and into the living room where Maddie played some sort of game only she knew the rules to. Based on the animated narration she could hear, Rachel suspected the girl’s stuffed animals were on some kind of great adventure.
“C’mon, kiddo. Time to start the bedtime routine.”
“Awww, do I have to?”
“You do, indeed. We have to get back to a schedule now that school’s started.”
“I don’t like school.”
“You like school just fine. You just prefer summer more.”
“I want to hang out with Banana Bread. She’s way more fun than Miss Carpenter.”
“I bet if you give your teacher a chance, she won’t be anywhere near as bad as you think.” Cayla’s voice faded as she ushered her daughter into the bathroom.
Mia shut the dishwasher. “You want to head back out to the boys?”
“Not yet. I’m too restless to sit.” Because she needed to move, Rachel headed into the living room and began picking up the aftermath of Maddie’s stuffed animal adventure.
Mia fell into motion beside her. “How are you and Jonah doing?”
“I don’t know exactly. He seems to support me staying here, but with the fire and this crap with his dad, I don’t know if he’s given any long-term thought to us. I don’t think he’s had a chance. So there are still some things up in the air.”
Like mentioning their slip of making love without a condom. Rachel hadn’t brought it up. With everything else on his mind, the last thing she wanted to do was add to Jonah’s worry. She wasn’t due for another week, so why borrow trouble? Plus, a part of her wanted things settled between them without the question of a possible pregnancy because Jonah Ferguson was Mr. Responsibility. He’d do what he perceived to be the right thing, no matter what, and she needed him to want her, to love her, for her.
“It’s hard when part of what pushes you together is something outside both of your control. There’s that wondering about what will happen when that thing is gone.” Mia laid a hand on her shoulder. “But I feel pretty confident that you two will figure it out.”
Rachel cast a glance toward the back door and the patio outside where the guys were still congregated. “I certainly hope so.”
They continued picking up toys.
“Do you and Brax have any sort of timeline on when you’ll hear whether you were approved as foster parents?”
“Hopefully, we’ll know something soon. We’re finished with the classes.” Mia’s gaze softened as she looked down at a toy in her hand. “Did you go through a dinosaur-crazy phase?”
“Not so much. For me, it was all about the horses.” Rachel’s gaze dropped to the dinosaur in Mia’s hand and the stuffed cat in her own tumbled to the ground.
That figure looked a hell of a lot like the one from Lonnie’s things.
Swallowing, she reached out a hand. “Can I see that?”
Brows up, Mia handed it over.
Rachel turned the thing over in her hands. She couldn’t be sure. It was probably just a coincidence. But she strode down the hall and knocked on the bathroom door.
Cayla pulled it open and frowned as she caught sight of Rachel’s face. “Something wrong?”
“Where did Maddie get this?”
Cayla looked down at the toy, surprise flickering over her features. “I don’t recognize it. Let me ask.” She took the dinosaur into the bathroom. “Hey, munchkin, where did you get this?”
Maddie’s little voice floated out over the sound of splashing. “I found it outside the bakery by the dumpsters.”
Cayla squeaked. “I’ll be back, baby.” She stepped into the hall, shutting the door behind her. “Could this really be it?”
“I don’t know. But we’re about to find out.” Rachel took the toy and all three of them made a beeline for the backyard.
The guys sat around the unlit fire pit, beers in hand, looking morose and serious. At the sight of them, all three men straightened.
“What is it?” Jonah demanded.
Without a word, Rachel crossed to him and handed over the dinosaur.
His eyes went wide, his face blank. “Where did you get this?”
“Maddie found it out by the dumpsters at the bakery. It’s been here the whole time.”
“Holy shit.”
They fell into a weighted silence as he turned the figurine over, poking and prodding and doing some kind of manipulation of the dinosaur’s legs. With a little snick , the belly of the beast popped open. Rachel’s heart thudded in anticipation as he turned it over.
A tiny flash drive fell into his palm.
They all stared at the small device, hardly daring to breathe.
“Somebody get a laptop.”
Holt leapt up and raced inside. He came back a minute later, setting the laptop on the picnic table. They all waited with barely leashed patience as the thing booted up. Jonah plugged the drive into one of the USB ports. A folder popped up, full of other folders, each one labeled with a date and names that meant nothing to Rachel. Jonah clicked one open and found video footage and PDFs. There were other files that appeared to be pictures.
“This is it.” Without taking his eyes off the screen, Jonah pulled out his phone. Rachel knew without asking that he was calling Xander.
As soon as the other man picked up, Jonah met her gaze and smiled. “We found it.”