Chapter 12
They didn’t havelong to wait before the other man was escorted in. It shocked Clark that he had a file almost three inches thick with him. After he was escorted inside, he looked around, and nodded once. He kept his eyes on Naomi as he talked.
“I’ll get right to the point. First, I do not work at the Double A any longer. I quit there three days after you disappeared.”
“I didn’t disappear, I left after Dad kicked me out.” Naomi looked at the others and explained a little of her past to the others. That’s when Jake admitted that he had all his men watch the video that had made the rounds on the internet years ago.
“Okay, after you left, I left three days later. No matter how much money your father tried to pay me to stay, I’ve been secretly working behind your father’s back with Cole all these years.”
“Who’s Cole?” Clark and Jake asked at the same time. Clark liked the fact that Jake was taking notes.
He looked at Naomi as she answered, “Cole was the ranch foreman. He’s the one that took over the books after Grandpa died.” She scowled as she looked at Clemmons. “Is he a good guy?”
“Yes. He’s been the one feeding me information on your father.”
“What type of information?”
“Information that he’s been putting large amounts of insurance policies on his horses, and over the years, they’ve mysteriously come up dead. As far as our research goes, the first one was Princess.” Everyone watched as Clem shook his head. “And, according to Cole, he doesn’t use the same insurance company for each policy. He, your father, doesn’t want anyone to get suspicious of what he’s doing.”
“But he didn’t own her. I did. I have the paperwork back at my home.” She turned to Jake and explained how her grandfather had told her to take out the insurance policy. “Everything about Princess was in my name. Dad had nothing to do with her. I still don’t understand why I never received the payment for her death.”
“Because your father fudged the paperwork to say that his name was on it.” Clemmons opened the file and picked up the first set of stapled papers. “I don’t know if you know this, but your grandfather didn’t trust your father.”
“He didn’t come right out and say it, but I suspected it. I’m thinking that if he hated him, then he probably didn’t trust him either.”
“Right, and after you bought Princess, when it came to anything about her, your grandfather gave me a copy of everything and told me to hold onto it.” He passed her the papers. “That’s the original purchase contract, a copy of the check, and the bank statements where the money came from and was transferred to.” He looked at the others and saw Naomi read it, pass it to the man with her, then he in turn passed it to the man named Jake.
“Can I ask your name?”
“Clark.”
Clemmons knew he wouldn’t be getting a last name, so he nodded. He turned to Jake who was looking at the papers. “The bank statements are because Naomi was too young at the time to have a bank account without an adult assigned to it with her. I believe she was thirteen when she bought Princess. I was the trainer on the Double A ranch, and we trained racehorses. Naomi’s father got a taste of the tracks, and it wasn’t long before he started betting, he won, a lot, then he started losing. It was Cole that started seeing the pattern, and he alerted me. Your father was in pretty deep with some loan sharks around the time you started winning. I don’t know if you remember, but on the day of your accident, I had put some cameras in Princess’s stall. After it happened, I demanded a thorough necropsy to be performed…” He paused until he had her undivided attention. “Behind your father’s back.”
“What’s that?” Jake asked.
“An autopsy of an animal,” Naomi, Clark, and Clemmons answered at once.
“These are the results.” He picked up the next set of stapled papers and handed them over to her. He watched as Clark leaned in and the couple read the report together. At their frowns, he shook his head. “I have it on video that the woman with your father injected Princess with something. If you recall, the horse jerked away from them, and you told them to leave. What I don’t think you know is that woman wasn’t your father’s new girlfriend. She was the girlfriend of the loan shark your father owed, and your father was told to kill your horse for the insurance money. If he wouldn’t do it, she was to kill you. He was to hand over half the amount of the insurance pay-out, even though he only owed that man two hundred thousand.”
“How much was the insurance for?” A woman sitting at a table asked. Clemmons realized she was taking notes also. “I’m a cop.” She showed her badge and he breathed in relief.
“Five million,” both Naomi and Clemmons answered.
“Shit. What drug was used?”
“Xylazine.”
“Holy shit,” Sparrow looked around wildly. She told the others. “That’s an animal tranquilizer that is being used as a street drug. It depresses the central nervous systems, as well as the respiratory system. It also causes low blood pressure and a slow heart rate. If it was given to the horse, I imagine that when Naomi went to race her, the adrenaline caused the drug to work faster in her system, causing her to stumble, then fall to her death.”
“Yes, that’s what the vet thought. However, that paperwork of the necropsy never made it into the hands of the insurance company. This one did, along with these.” He passed out the next two bundles, and everyone watched Naomi and she passed them on.
“What?” Jake asked as Clark handed the first set to him.
“According to these papers, Princess died of natural causes due to old age. She was eight fucking years old. That’s the first set of papers. The second set of papers are where Princess is in my father’s name, along with the insurance policy.”
“Shit,” Jake said as he glanced at them. At one point, he looked over at Patrick Clemmons. “Can I make copies of these?”
“Keep them. I have the originals in a safety deposit box up in Denver.”
“What made you look for Naomi after all this time?” Clark asked.
“Because of this.” Clemmons pulled another set of papers and passed them over. Naomi sucked in her breath as she read them, then jerked her head up and glared at the other man.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Nope, as soon as Cole saw them, he made a copy and sent them to me. Don’t worry, he also has copies put away in a safety deposit box in Cheyenne.”
“Wow.”
“What?” Clark asked as he tried to take the papers from her clenched fists. He sucked in his breath at the anger he saw on her face as she looked at him.
“Cheyenne is on the other side of the state from where the Double A is located. Hours apart. These,” she said as she lifted the clenched papers and shook them hard. “These are life insurance policies on me. For fifty million dollars.”
“Fuck,” almost everyone in the room said.
“Why come look for her now?” Clark asked again.
“Because, Cole overheard Benson Alcott on the phone giving his loan shark permission to send his goons out looking for Naomi so he can collect the insurance.” He paused as he looked at everyone, then he looked directly at Naomi. “There’s a bounty on your head.” His statement caused the entire room to take a breath, and you could hear a pin drop in the silence.
“Fuck me,” Naomi whispered. She looked at Clark and reached out to grip his hand. “What do I do?”
Clark took her hand in both of his, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He looked at Patrick Clemmons, and asked between clenched teeth, “How long have you been looking for Naomi? Does anyone know you are here? Do you think anyone has followed you to try to get to Naomi through you? Where have you looked before coming here? Did you tell anyone you were looking for her?”
“I’ve been actively looking for her for six months, ever since Cole sent me a copy of that life insurance policy. As far as I know, no one knows I’m looking for her. I haven’t told anyone, not even Cole. So far, I’ve looked in Montana, Idaho, and Utah. I wanted to cover the states that border Wyoming before going further. I’m here in Colorado, because this state borders Wyoming.”
The group sat there in silence for several long minutes before Clark cleared his throat. He turned to Naomi and shook his head. “I’m not normally a controlling asshole, but in this case, I’m going to be. My mission will be to keep you safe at all times.” He turned to Patrick. “I will not tell you where Naomi is staying.”
“I understand. Now that I found her, and gave her the information I’ve gathered, I think it would be better for me to leave the area. I don’t suspect anyone following me, but I think I’ll head down to Arizona for the winter. I’ll leave you the information I have. May I leave you my phone number and e-mail?” he asked, and after he gave the information to Jake, he turned to Naomi. “I’m sorry you went through what you did. I hope you know I had nothing to do with it. I never liked your father, and all the years I trained you with both Dolly and Princess, I always thought of you as a little sister. Please, don’t hate me for not coming to you sooner.”
“I’ll be honest here, Clem. I did suspect you, but this evidence you brought opened my eyes. I knew you didn’t get along with Dad, but I didn’t know who I could trust after my accident. Thank you for being a big brother to me.”
“You’re welcome. If this ever gets solved and your father is put away, I hate to say this, but you’re going to have to go home to the Double A and sort everything out. There are more papers in the file where your grandfather actually left you the ranch. It was to be overseen by your father until you reached thirty. Personally, I think that’s why he put the word out for those goons to come after you. He knows he’s going to lose his meal ticket in a few months.”
“Which I turned on my last birthday.”
“Correct, and there’s also a boat load of money coming to you when you take over the ranch. It’s all in the file.” He stood and went over to give her a hug. Clark stayed close in case he tried something. When he stood, he held his hand out to Clark. “Take care of my sister.” He shook Clark’s hand, then turned to the others. “Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I’ll be gone by the morning.” He turned and walked away, but one of Jake’s men jumped to his feet and followed him out. That man returned ten minutes later.
“Wow,” Naomi said into the silence, and shook her head.
“It makes me wonder…” Clark spoke into the silence. When the others looked at him, he only shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll let you know if it’s relevant, which I don’t think it is now.”
“Playing your cards close to the vest?” someone asked, and Jake looked at the man who spoke and grinned.
“Clark here is a twelve-year veteran, he was a SEAL and has been out for what?”
“Eight days.”
“Wow, what was your position?” the same man asked.
“Lieutenant of Delta team.”
“Got it,” he said, and nodded, but not before he gave him a silent salute. Clark nodded back to him. Shortly after that, Naomi and Clark left. They had to wait until Jake made a copy of the file to give one to her. With that in their hands, they quickly left, and headed for home. By then, it was past nine at night, and Naomi suddenly found herself exhausted.
“Shit,” she said as she leaned her head against the head rest.
“What?”
“My truck is at the barn and I don’t know if I’m up to driving it to my house.” She scowled when her phone made a series of beeps. She looked at him tiredly. “It’s a text from Pru.” She opened it and laughed, sent something back, and looked at Clark.
“Pru learned that I’m with you, and she convinced Denver to drive my truck to my place. That’s where it is, so you’ll have to take me to my cabin.”
“Not a problem.” Clark took her hand as he headed for home. Again, he held it the entire way until he slowed down to pull into the driveway to Erin’s Way. He had been keeping a lookout, and he didn’t know whether Naomi realized it or not, but he’d taken a different route out of town, and hadn’t seen anyone following him. He breathed easier once he was back on Riceman property.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not that there’s not an entrance to Broken yet.”
“Yeah, Erin didn’t want to start one until we started getting clients. She thought that until everything was ready, then we wouldn’t have Lookie Lous coming to see what we were doing. Though we are pretty far back from the road.”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing. Do you think Clemmons will disappear?”
“I do. I just hope we can get to the bottom of this before anyone comes after me.”
“Let’s sleep on it for now. Tomorrow or the next day is plenty of time to start strategizing. Do you mind if we leave the file at your place, and when I’m done with work for the day, I can come over and read it all? Once I get everything straight in my head, then I feel we can properly come up with a plan of action.” He looked at her and shook his head. “Keeping the guys in the dark won’t be an option for me. They are the best men I’ve ever worked with, and I want and need them on my six.”
“Is that a military term?”
“Yes, it means they have my back.”
“Oh, let’s wait until we read everything first.”
“Got it. You know, your story will have to be told over again for them?”
“Yes, and I want the women involved. Erin and I are the only ones without military experience. Even if the women only help me hone my shooting skills, I still want them involved. Besides, it won’t be fair if the men know and the women don’t. I don’t want to be the cause of any riff between them because your men may want to keep this mission a secret.”
“I agree.” Clark said as he took the left at the fork and turned his lights on high. He slowed to take in his surroundings. “I have to see this in the daylight.” He parked where she told him to, and this time, because of the location of her truck, Clark took the wheelchair to the base of the ramp, and then carried her to the chair. As she settled in and wheeled herself up it, he went back for her purse and file.
“Do you want to come in?”
“Not tonight, but I’ll be back tomorrow. What time do you get off work?”
“Between five and six.”
“Okay, do you mind if we have supper together?”
“Not at all. I can toss a roast in the crockpot before I leave for work.”
“Perfect. I’ll be here at five. I’ll go to the barn first.”
“Okay, goodnight, Clark.”
“Night, Naomi.” He backed away and waited until she wheeled herself into her house, and closed the door. He was whistling as he walked down the ramp to his truck.