Chapter 10
“You think it’s legit?” Sawyer stood at Cash’s table, staring at his laptop as his cousin studied the email.
“I think it’s a legitimate email. The question is whether the sender is legitimate.” Like Sawyer, Cash tried to reply to the message, only to have it bounce back.
“Is there a way to trace it?” No matter how many times Sawyer reminded himself to be skeptical, even to dismiss the email, something about it told him it was a trail to Angie.
“Maybe,” Cash said. “I’ll talk to a friend of mine from the Bureau, see what he can do.
“More than likely it was sent from a disposable email address or a burner. Lots of people are using them now when they sign up for things online to keep from getting spammed. If it’s a burner, it can probably be traced to the owner of the email address.” Jace leaned back on a dining room chair.
Cash poked Jace in the ribs. “You break that chair and Aubrey will break your legs.” They were supposed to be watching a baseball game while the women had their girls’ night at Jace’s place.
Ellie was away at horse camp and the boys had gone on an overnight fishing trip with the family of one of Travis’s best friends.
“How is it that you’re so up on disposable email addresses and burners, anyway?” Cash asked Jace.
Sawyer wondered the same thing. There weren’t a lot of cybercrimes for a sheriff in Mill County.
“When Charlie filed her restraining order against that douchebag, Ainsley, I researched it.”
Last winter, Charlie had fled her abusive ex and had hidden out on Dry Creek Ranch, where Jace had fallen madly in love with her.
Sawyer was thrilled that both his cousins had found their soul mates, even if he felt like he was living inside a freaking romance novel. Then again, he had two gorgeous women in his life, who fussed over him.
Nothing wrong with that.
He subconsciously touched his lips with his finger, thinking about his and Gina’s kiss.
On a scale of ten, the kiss had been a solid fifteen.
It had taken all he had not to throw her over his shoulder, caveman style, and carry her up to his loft apartment.
Not happening, he reminded himself. His mother would have a meltdown.
The kiss was bad enough. And Gina…was a walking aneurism.
But despite it, he was attracted to her. A lot. Which was weird because she wasn’t even his type. Too high-maintenance, too much of a prima donna. How many times had she made disparaging remarks about Cash’s old cabin and the ranch?
The Clampetts.
The Daltons were no Beverly Hillbillies. The Clampetts had at least struck oil on their land.
“What if it’s a disposable?” Cash asked, bringing Sawyer back to the conversation at hand.
“Dunno,” Jace said. “That’s as far as I got. Don’t have to worry about it anymore.” His lips curled up into a self-satisfied grin. “Not now that Ainsley is doing life.”
They were all quiet for a few seconds, remembering one of the worst days in Jace and Charlie’s lives. Everyone had recovered, thanks to Jace. And against all odds, the lovebirds were getting married in October. The best time of year on the ranch. Warm days filled with light.
“Let me see what Ken can do in the computer forensic lab,” Cash said, breaking the silence.
“He owes me a few favors. But Sawyer, my gut tells me this isn’t Angie.
Why would she wait five years to contact you?
Or any of us, for that matter. Yes, we all questioned her lifestyle choices.
But no one, including her, questioned our love for her.
She knew there wasn’t anything we wouldn’t do for her. ”
Sawyer had thought the same thing himself when he’d first opened the email.
Why now? Why after five years? But on further reflection, he was convinced that the note had something to do with him going to New Mexico and nosing around.
He was getting closer to the truth about why his sister disappeared.
And someone didn’t want him to. Those six boldfaced words—Stop searching for me. I’m safe—had to be Angie-related.
In all these years, he’d never lost hope. And that had to mean something.
“Then who?” Jace asked. “Who would’ve sent it and why?”
“Could it have something to do with a story you’re working on?” Cash got them all another round of beers from the fridge while the forgotten ball game played in the living room. Sawyer caught glimpses of it from the dining table.
Though the cabin’s layout was a carbon copy of Gina’s—same open floor plan—the similarities ended there. Aubrey’s magic decorator touch was stamped on every surface: From the refinished floors and brightly colored walls to the painted kitchen cabinets and sophisticated window treatments.
“Not that I can think of.” And Sawyer had racked his brain trying to find a possibility there.
“But half of being a reporter is a fishing expedition. I get a tip, make a lot of calls, and when nothing pans out, I usually stop working on the story. But who knows? I might’ve spoken to someone about something that seemed like a big story at the time and have completely forgotten about it.
Still, the message doesn’t make sense for something like that, unless someone’s trying to yank my chain. And I just don’t see it.”
Jace nodded. “Me neither. It’s either someone pretending to be Angie or it’s Angie.”
Cash let out a long breath. “I don’t think any of us should get our hopes up. The chance that it’s Angie after all this time…well, it’s a long shot.” That was Cash, always the voice of reason.
For once, though, Sawyer felt like this could be something solid, something that might at least end the mystery to what had happened to his sister. “How long do you think it will take this buddy of yours to trace the email?”
Cash popped the cap off his beer. “I’ll ask Ken to make it a priority. But if I know anything about the lab, he’s backed up fifty ways from Sunday. The Northern District has more cybercrime than they can handle.”
Cash didn’t like to call in favors, especially because he’d left the Bureau on a bad note. The FBI’s fault, not Cash’s. “Thanks for doing this—it means a lot,” Sawyer said.
Cash scowled. “I’d do anything for Angie. You of all people should know that, Sawyer. We’re family.”
Sawyer nodded. Cash and Jace were more like brothers than cousins.
But they’d been down the Angie bogus-tip road so many times that he wouldn’t blame anyone for giving up.
At least this time, Jace didn’t think Sawyer was going off half-cocked.
Even Cash, for all his caution, appeared to think there might be something to the email.
“I’ll wait before I say anything about this to my folks,” Sawyer said. His parents, more than anyone, had been devastated by his sister’s disappearance.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Cash said. “It would be good to have something concrete first, something that won’t end in disappointment.”
They sat around the table for a while, absorbed in their own thoughts. The ball game continued to play in the background, but no one seemed interested in watching it.
Sawyer’s mind shifted to his meeting that morning. It still rankled. “I went by Beals Ranch today and Jill all but confirmed that Randy is selling to Mitch,” Sawyer told his cousins.
Jace flicked his bottle cap across the table and sighed. “Jill would know. What did Randy say?”
“I didn’t see Randy. I went over there to inquire about buying Randy’s stock trailer, but he wasn’t home. Just Jill. She said Brett was in town.”
“Yeah, we had a couple of beers earlier. But he never said anything about Mitch buying Beals Ranch.”
“He might not know about it,” Sawyer said. “Jill was vague. She’s probably counting her inheritance.” It wasn’t quite fair. She had moved to the ranch to help her parents to make amends for what she’d done. But Sawyer wasn’t feeling all that forgiving.
“Sounds like we’ll be living next door to the seventh circle of hell.” Jace shook his head and pointed the tip of his beer bottle at Sawyer. “And I’ll fight it with everything I’ve got.”
“We’ll fight it,” Cash said, his second reminder of the day that family sticks. As Grandpa Dalton used to say, “Together, we’re cowboy strong.”
“How is Brett?” Cash asked. “How’s his program going?”
“It’s going so well that he’s planning to move back next month and start work for his uncle’s cabinet company.
He says he’s hoping to work things out with Jill.
” Jace scowled. There was no love lost between him and Jill.
Understandably, Jace blamed her for delivering the final blow to Brett, who was already on shaky ground to begin with.
He’d been deeply depressed even before he’d found out that his wife had been stepping out on him.
“That’s great,” Cash said. “Carpentry is a good trade.”
Jace, stoic like their grandfather, gave a faint nod. Sawyer suspected his cousin was still grieving what had happened to Brett in Afghanistan and didn’t want to talk about it. Brett had come back from the war a hero, but a different man than the one Jace had grown up with.
“Yup.” Jace nodded, then sidetracked. “Saw you driving Gina’s BMW earlier. What’s up with that?”
“She took me to pick up my Range Rover, which still needs new brake pads. Buck can’t get the parts until tomorrow.”
“She still peddling that story about being set up?” Jace took a long drag on his beer. “Why don’t you have an expert look at the picture?”
“Already working on it.”
“If you need a second opinion I might have a forensic guy who can help,” Cash offered.