Chapter 27
twenty-seven
Killian
“What can you tell me about this man?” Special Agent Drake Halsey asks as he puts another photo down.
That was a fun little reveal. The man who came to buy horses, who I’ve met before, isn’t a horse breeder like myself—he’s an FBI agent who has been undercover to investigate my ranch.
For what?
I still don’t know.
They aren’t forthcoming with anything, insisting over and over that if I just cooperate, tell them what they want to know, the law will look favorably on me.
No matter how many times I explain that I don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, they keep going.
Hours I’ve been sitting here, looking at photos, answering when I do recognize someone and then explaining I’ve never before seen the next person they show me.
“I don’t know who that is,” I say with my hands clasped in front of me.
“No? He bought three horses from you six months ago. He paid almost $675,000 for one.”
“I’ve never sold a horse for that much,” I say quickly.
“Really?”
“Really.”
He opens one of his many folders and pulls out a bill of sale. “Is that not your name there?”
I read it, but…that doesn’t make any sense. “It is, but I didn’t sell that horse.”
He points to the signature. “Is that your name there?”
Not really. It looks close enough, but it’s not mine. “I didn’t sign that.”
“You’re telling me that it’s forged? Is that what I’m understanding?”
“Yes. I’m telling you I didn’t sign that paper. Someone else did or it’s fake.”
Special Agent Halsey nods, placing it back in the folder. “Funny how someone would just forge your name on a document that implicates you in a money-laundering scheme, isn’t it? All of these, Mr. Thorn, were found in your office. Do you recognize them?”
Sure enough it’s the pile that Tessa and I made that had the suspect signatures.
I’m so fucked.
“I do,” I answer. “When my trainer went missing, I went through all the documents on the sales, trying to make sense of what the hell was going on. These were the ones where the numbers or the names didn’t match.”
“And what is Tessa’s involvement in this?”
My head snaps up and anger fills me. No matter what the hell this is, I won’t let them drag her into it. “She has nothing to do with anything.”
“She was at your house,” he says.
“Yes, she’s my publicist and has been trying to help me fix the mess that Travis made.”
“We’re going to dig, Killian. You understand that. Surely, you’ve started to deduce the trouble you’re in, and the sooner you stop trying to lead us in circles, the better this will go.”
“You keep saying that,” I say through gritted teeth.
“I’ve cooperated. I’ve told you everything I know.
Travis came to work for me, he handled the ranch while I was in Boston most of the time.
Half of the documents you showed me that have my signature, I wasn’t here to sign.
How could I possibly have handled the sales if I wasn’t even in Ember Falls?
Travis and I had an arrangement and then he suddenly just left. ”
“And then you brought Tessa in?”
Each time he says her name, I want to lose it. “As my publicist.”
“She’s more than that, though, isn’t she?”
She’s everything.
I don’t speak. I don’t acknowledge the statement because I won’t drag her into this. I have to protect her, and the less I say her name, the better. I have no idea if they took her in. If she’s scared in a cell, waiting to see if the worst thing she did was fall for me.
I hate myself for having her even remotely tangled in it.
And if she’s not arrested or being held, what does she think? Did they tell her I’m a monster who didn’t know he was one? She probably hates me, and I can’t even blame her. She had guns pointed at her head, was pushed to the floor, cuffed, and pulled out of that house like a fucking criminal.
“We haven’t arrested her. If you’re wondering.”
My chest lightens slightly. “Thank-you.”
“For now, she’s not a suspect, but we are still combing through things.
” He leans back, steepling his hands in front of himself.
“See, here’s the part that I can’t make sense of.
You and Travis were involved in this together, you claim you have nothing to do with it, Travis disappears, and you bring in Tessa to ‘fix it,’ as you said.
All of it points to someone named Travis, but your name is on all the documents, so of course you had to do your part, right?
You had to make sure the area sees you as a good guy, just a victim, while you were making money hand over fist. Your horses were selling at rates no one has ever seen, winning races, allowing the money to just keep flowing in.
So did Travis catch on that something illegal was happening and go on the run?
Did you force him out? Want a bigger piece of the pie? ”
Dread starts to flow through my veins. This all looks bad for me. “None of that is true. Travis disappeared and the sales stopped, my boarding program collapsed, and I was left trying to pick up the pieces. I still am. Did you think of that?”
“I did,” he agrees. There’s a knock at the door, but Halsey continues. “Then I saw you at the rodeo. You had multiple people coming to see the horses, including this guy.” He places a photo of Nathaniel down and stands. “And I know you know who that is.”
Then he leaves, and I’m left staring at the photo, wondering what the fuck is going on.
Special Agent Halsey doesn’t return. Instead, another agent takes me back to the cell.
I’m lying here, staring up at the ceiling, trying to make sense out of anything.
Nothing so far has made any sense.
It’s been hours of my mind going in a million circles.
Why the hell did Halsey show me Nathaniel’s photo?
Of course I know who he is—he’s my best fucking friend.
The one who was there when I struggled in college.
The man who stood next to me, hand on my shoulder when my sister died.
The friend who became a brother when I found out I had a kid and missed her entire life, when I was struggling to figure out how to make it right.
The guy who came all the way to Ember Falls to make sure I was okay and offer his help.
But that’s not what the implication is.
I saw photo after photo of people who they wanted me to recognize as being part of whatever they’re assuming I’m involved in.
The only reason they’d show me Nathaniel is if they think he’s involved too.