Chapter 52
schemey
Liam
Sliding my laptop from the bag near the huge island, I open it and verify the search is still running as I pace the room.
“Ayla, you were right. You too, Lorien.” My sister preens while Lorien looks confused.
“Briggs Barnett needed a deeper dive. I relied on the referral when we started working together two years ago. There weren’t a ton of people who had my contact to pass along or the means to be able to refer.
Knowing my work means deep pockets, I didn’t doubt his sincerity. ”
Christian moves to the other side of their wide sitting room, giving me room to pace, and seemingly keeping himself out of the line of fire. There’s no need.
“The house in Wyoming isn’t his. It’s a high-end rental from a like-minded colleague of his out of state. It was a trap.”
“The fuck,” my brother-in-law says low under his breath, immediately moving down the hall near his office.
“Are you shitting me?” Ayla says at nearly the same time Lorien gasps.
“Rental records are sealed with a decent NDA—”
“Which you can hack,” my sister interjects.
“Which I can hack. And did.” My pacing continues.
“Really?” My wife sounds breathless.
“Yeah, baby. And the company has exactly one record—an anonymous LLC, done through a registered agent, with less than five thousand in assets. Murphy Pest Extermination.”
“You’re fucking kidding me?” My sister is on her feet, hair flying wildly behind her as she paces.
Christian enters the room, Fitz on his heels, and looks between his wife and his daughter in his arms. He looks to Lorien and quirks an eyebrow. I nod and continue my rant as Sophia is placed in my wife’s arms and he rushes to Ayla.
“MPE rented the house for a month. There’s no board of directors and the owner of record sold the shares back to the LLC.”
Christian tilts his head. “So the owner no longer owns it and the trace is harder.”
“Yep.”
“So,” Lorien starts quietly. “A man who’s contacted you and paid you more than once in the past, decided to off you and went to a whole lot of trouble out of state.
My mind isn’t that schemey, but if he wanted you dead, why not do it here?
Why jump through hoops when there was no guarantee you’d go, especially after the mercenary thing. ”
“Mercenary thing?” Fitz asks.
“Exactly what you’re thinking, Young. He offered me money to off some people in Durango earlier this summer.”
“Did you ever think they were offered money to do the same to you?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, because no, I’d never even considered it. “I’ve been… distracted.” I force my gaze not to land on Lorien with Sophia in her arms. She appears inexperienced, but not uncomfortable, not that I should notice that of all things.
Christian sits in the chair, pulling my sister onto his lap. “So let’s assume your untimely death was supposed to happen, when was this?”
“Within a couple of weeks of Lorien moving in.” I make the gesture that everyone knows means give or take.
“Oddly timed,” Fitz offers.
“Could they be related?” Christian asks.
“Unlikely.” Jutting my chin to the laptop, I add, “I can include that in the search but when I did my background on her—”
“What?” she asks indignantly.
“You knew I looked into you.”
“But like that?” Fire burns in her eyes.
I gesture from my sister and brother-in-law to the baby in her arms. “Of course like that. I would never let anything hurt my family.”
“I would never,” she spits.
“I know that.” I drop my voice until I’m speaking only to her. “But I know that because of what I found.”
“It’s invasive,” she grumbles.
“And probably should be done again,” Fitz says.
“I liked you. Past tense.” Then, just to annoy him, Lorien adds, “And your chili needs beans.”
He smiles like she amuses him. It’s there and gone before he continues, “And run yourself again. Hell, all of us. Make sure things aren’t being planted.”
“I could lose my job,” Lorien gasps.
“Wifey?”
She looks up at me.
“Your job is important. But I’m more worried about you losing your life, so let’s do as Fitz suggests. Best case, he’s wrong.”
“And worst case?” Ayla says.
“We’re targets.”
Lorien
“I need something sweet.” Ayla stands and wanders past me to the kitchen.
“Whatever resources you need, you know you have them,” Christian adds, following his wife.
Some silent communication happens between Liam and Fitz as the latter slides down that secret hall and out of sight.
Liam gingerly sits next to me, throwing an arm over my shoulder. Quietly, he says for only me to hear. “Briggs Barnett is more likely than not a killer. I’d say serial killer, but those types have a pattern, and I haven’t looked for one on him. I only discovered his history this evening.”
I turn to look him in the eyes, trying hard to fight the terror that wants to rise.
“His mom was a serial killer and he helped her.”
“What?” I ask, barely able to force air across my windpipe. “And he”—I have to swallow to finish my sentence—“he had you trapped?”
He pulls me into his side and drops a kiss to my temple. “I escaped.”
“But…” I don’t finish my sentence. I drop my face into his pec and breathe deep as he holds me.
I could’ve lost him. It’s a weird sensation.
A month ago, it wouldn’t have mattered. I would’ve cranked my music, gone to work on my own, never given a second thought to the neighbor who never seemed to be home. Then his place would have gone on the market and that would’ve been that.
He’d have been a name on a police report only… a man I never would’ve seen again.
“Does this all feel like too much? Too much at the same time?” It does to me. “Your dad showed up today. Not a couple of hours later, the guy who tried to break in to my place was on your doorstep, coordinating with someone in the back alley. It’s too… coincidental.”
He looks away, but hums and nods. “My father is an ass. He fancies himself a smart man, but he’s not nearly as bright as he believes.
I’ll run some forensic searches to see if there’s any connection, but the idea that you chose a moving company because it would help my father in the off-chance Ayla pressed charges is too far-fetched.
He doesn’t plan that far in advance, isn’t that strategic, and truly”—he turns his face to mine, so close I could kiss him with a good stretch—“assumed he could get away with anything. He’s bad timing today.
Gascon and the owner? That’s a different story.
They knew we were home. That’s something I need to address. ”
“Should we file a restraining order?” Does that fix things?
“Perhaps, but Gascon was on my property, not yours.”
“He was on mine the first time.”
“And the sheriff bungled the report. We need the paper trail.”
“This is starting to annoy me.” I make a face.
“Then you’re more patient than I am. I’m way past annoyed. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve handled this already. I sure as fuck wouldn’t have brought this mess to my family’s doorstep.”
“Should you warn Sariah and Cian?”
He freezes. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he places it to his ear, stands with a grunt, and walks out a set of glass doors off the room.
I have no clue where Poe is. Franklin meanders to sit, directly opposite me not far from my feet and stares.
“Are you protecting Sophia?”
No tail wag. No movement. Nearly black eyes bore into mine.
“Well, you’re intimidating. But you don’t have to worry. I won’t hurt her.”
Sophia’s eyes open, and she wiggles and coos, stretching out her legs and arms.
The dog tilts his head to her, his ears perk, and he leans in.
“Why am I not surprised?” Ayla says from the doorway, carrying a tray and placing it on the round deep ottoman, sitting not far from it.
“That I’m being guarded?”
“That boy has been fascinated with her since before I learned I was pregnant. Hell, I took a pregnancy test because he booped my stomach with his nose every time I sat down. Who needs a blue line when you have a Malinois?” She scrubs a hand between his ears.
“He laid his head on my belly every chance he could get. We came home from the hospital, and I was chopped liver. Well, not really, he loves liver. But I was no longer his number one girl.”
“That’s sweet.”
“I got my girl back, so I was good with the turn,” Christian says, wandering past us, an espresso cup in hand.
“He was jealous,” Ayla puts in. “He wanted a hand on my belly. Franklin wanted his face there. The two of them were everywhere.”
“That’s kind of like complaining about being loved too much, you know?”
Sophia wiggles, and Franklin’s eyes capture every movement.
“You have a beautiful home, by the way. I didn’t say anything earlier. I was far too overwhelmed.”
“Thanks.” She looks around. “It’s a bit heavy for me, but I have my own spaces. There’s a library upstairs. Check it out when you want. Liam pretends he doesn’t care, but books disappear and reappear in there at will. Magic. Now, are you going to tell me how you got that black eye?”
Saved by the bell. Liam walks back inside, scraping his fingers through his beard, gathering it on repeat. “How much would you hate me if you had more company?”
Ayla pops up from her seat and claps with a bounce. “Hate you? No, I’d love it.”
“Cian, Sariah, and the kids are on their way. They’ve seen more traffic outside their house. More of the same couple of cars passing today. Enough that it was noticeable.”