Chapter 31
Hugh's house was dark.
Noah pulled into the driveway and knew before he killed the engine that he wasn’t there. There was no car parked outside. No lights on. The lake behind the house was serene in the afternoon light. Everything looked the way it always did. Except for what was missing.
He got out and walked to the door just to be sure. He knocked. Waited. Nothing. He tried the handle. It was locked.
He went around the side of the house and looked through the kitchen window.
The oak table where he had confronted his father with the Parabon report was empty.
There was a single coffee cup on the counter.
Chairs were pushed in. The house had the stillness of a place that had been left in a hurry by someone who didn't plan on being gone long.
Noah pulled out his phone and called Hugh.
It rang four times. He was about to hang up when the line connected.
"Noah." Hugh's voice was steady. He was driving.
"Where are you?"
"On my way to see Luther."
Noah's hand tightened on the phone. "Don't go there. Listen to me."
"I've listened long enough. That shot today was meant for me. I know that. You know that. And I know who's behind it."
"You don't."
"Luther has been pulling strings in this town for twenty years.
He's got people in his pocket. He's got dirt on half the county. And now he's trying to clean up loose ends before his campaign goes any further. And I’m part of that.” Hugh's voice was steady but there was something underneath it.
Not fear but resolution. "I'm going to have the conversation we should have had years ago. "
"Dad, the shooter is not Luther."
"I didn't say Luther pulled the trigger. I said he's behind it."
"The shooter is Liam Hale."
Silence on the line. Not processing. Not shock. The silence of a name that meant something but hadn’t yet been connected to the thing that mattered.
"Rebecca's boy," Hugh said.
"Yeah."
Another silence. Longer. Noah could hear the engine. The road noise. "That doesn't change where I'm headed," Hugh said.
"It changes everything. Liam took that shot at you today. Not Luther. He’s not someone Luther hired. He's been killing the people who failed the Hale investigation and you're next on his list."
"Then Luther can explain to that boy why he thinks I failed his mother."
It was clear he couldn’t fully remember. Maybe that’s why he denied it. The weight of it hit Noah. His father wasn’t thinking straight.
"Dad. No. Turn around. Come home. We need to talk about this."
"We've talked enough." Hugh's voice hardened. "I'm done talking. I'm done sitting in that house while everything I built falls apart around me. This ends today.”
"You're driving into a situation you don't understand."
"I understand more than you think."
"If Liam is watching Luther's estate, if he followed you from the fundraiser, you're putting yourself exactly where he wants you."
"Then he can find me there."
The line went dead.
Noah stared at the phone. The screen dimmed. His reflection looked back at him from the glass, distorted and dark.
He called back. It rang once and went to voicemail.
Again. Voicemail.
“Shit!”
Noah got in the Bronco. He started the engine and pulled out hard, tires biting the gravel. He accelerated, gunning the engine.
Luther's estate was twenty-five minutes northeast. Noah pushed the Bronco harder than he should have.
He thought about calling McKenzie, but didn't. It would take too long and he wasn’t absolutely sure that Liam would go there.
The road curved north through the boreal forest. Spruce and birch pressed close on both sides. The sky was low and gray. Road signs passed in a blur. He had already missed him once. At the parking lot. Hugh's car pulling away before Noah could reach him.
He wouldn’t miss him again.
Noah white-knuckled the wheel and drove.