Chapter 11
11
G arth rubbed his temples. His eyes stung from staring at a computer screen, reading statements and reports repeatedly for the last hour. He’d come to a few big conclusions. The biggest one had been that whoever had tried to kill Amber today linked back to Moore’s party. He clicked open the email from Logan, staring at the picture of Steve and Ashley. He’d hoped the other couple had been Moore and his wife, or perhaps his daughter and her husband.
Who happened to be Assistant District Attorney Jeff Bellen.
But one couple he didn’t recognize, and the other, their backs had been turned.
Amber, who sat across the table, let out an audible sigh.
“Are you comfortable?”
She had her leg stretched out across another chair, with a pillow under her foot and an ice pack over the bandage. He hated seeing her jaw tighten every time she moved, causing her more pain.
“I’m about as cozy as I’m gonna get after a piece of metal ripped through my thigh.” She peered over the laptop she’d been working on, sporting a sarcastic grin. “I know you’re just being thoughtful, but if I need something, I’ll ask.”
“This coming from the woman who told me how fiercely independent she was.” He clicked his mouse, sending her an email with the picture. Hopefully, she’d know at least one of them.
“I am, but I like watching you jump out of your seat whenever I feel like asking for something.”
He quickly checked his phone. One text from Duncan.
Duncan : Nothing from Kaelie or Rusty yet. I just wanted to let you know before going off to bed.
Garth: Thanks. Logan is looking into Officer Riley.
He laughed. “Don’t get used to it. Once you’re all healed, you’ll return to hosing down your roses.” He closed his computer, folding his arms over the top. “Because I really like the view.”
She crumpled a piece of paper and tossed it, nailing him on the forehead. “I think I’ll be putting up a privacy fence.”
The ease at which they had settled into flirty conversation surprised Garth. Even with his last girlfriend, he found himself with the jitters. As a kid, girls and boys teased him about his height. He’d always been so much taller than everyone else, and one kid dubbed him the Jolly Green Giant in sixth grade. He’d tried to laugh it off, but it had always made him feel like he was different.
It carried over into his teenage years when girls started to think his height was sexy, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with the attention since he didn’t feel comfortable in his own skin. The fact that he’d run up to her bedroom, shedding his clothes without a care in the world, had shocked him to the core. He knew women could be shy and concerned about their bodies. They were so much harder on each other in general than men.
But he usually dimmed the lights and stayed hidden under the sheets.
He snagged a beer from the fridge. He knew she wasn’t taking the painkillers the hospital offered since she refused to fill the script, saying she couldn’t stand the way they made her feel. “Would you like another beer or some wine?”
She leaned closer to the computer screen. “I might need something harder.” She flipped the computer around. “That woman in the picture with my brother and Ashley was my client this morning.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” He set the beer on the table, grabbing another one before sitting down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, and pressing his lips against her temple.
“Absolutely. That’s her. But now her hair is a little longer, and she has a big gray streak. She’s got to be in her late fifties, early sixties.”
“The man she’s with appears to be older.” Garth twisted the screen. “Two other people are in this image, but their backs are turned. Any idea where or when it was taken?”
“I don’t know where. Nothing looks familiar but based on my brother’s bad haircut and the fact he’s with Ashley, I’d say maybe four years ago.” She leaned back in her chair, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear in a delicate motion. “I wasn’t speaking to him much back then.”
“Why not?” The one thing Garth regretted was not paying more attention to her plea for help. Once he’d read the report, he’d been satisfied that her brother had large quantities of drugs in his system. He’d been passed out, and the fire overtook the house.
He’d seen it many times. Drug addicts burning candles, knocking them over while they shot up or overdosed, the needle still hanging from their veins when first responders would show up, just like her brother. However, thinking back, the autopsy said Steve had died of an overdose. He didn’t have smoke in his lungs because he hadn’t breathed any in. Kaelie had stated that the fire had been started in the bedroom. Steve died in the kitchen.
It was still possible that Steve had stumbled out of his bedroom, knocking over the candle without knowing it, or maybe the window had been open, and the wind knocked it over.
“Because of the drug use. He stole money from me a few times. But he’d been clean and sober for the last three years, and there was no sign of him falling off the wagon. He was gainfully employed and going after his dreams. I saw him at least once a month, and I know he was going to meetings.” She spoke with a slight tremble in her voice, but also the tone carried a sense of strength and pride.
He massaged her shoulder. “Let’s call Kaelie.”
“I know she’s your friend, but she didn’t believe me either,” she said, her lashes flickering over her questioning orbs.
“Well, she has her reservations now.”
She pushed back her chair and stood. “Fuck,” she groaned, clutching her leg.
“Sit down,” he said as softly as he could, pressing his hands on her hips.
“Don’t touch me.” She batted him away before letting her butt fall back on the chair. “I’m sorry. I know I keep harping on this, yet I can’t help but wonder if she missed something and that’s why we’re sitting here now, going through all this. If the investigation had been done right in the first place?—”
“Don’t finish that statement,” he said behind a tight jaw. “Not only is that one of my own, but she’s my friend’s wife. Someone I consider family. I read the report. I went over every detail, along with the police report and the autopsy. That’s quite the conspiracy theory to think all those people are involved in covering up a murder.”
“My brother didn’t accidentally overdose,” she huffed under her breath. “I thought you believed me.”
“Amber, I do. Something doesn’t add up, but I think you’re looking at this all wrong, and Kaelie isn’t the enemy.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You’re assuming someone covered up something. That the police or the investigator or the medical examiner or all three are guilty of conspiracy. But isn’t it possible that someone pumped those drugs into your brother and then started the fire?” Gently, he placed the ice pack back on her leg. Kneeling, he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Whatever happened the day Ashley died set this in motion. That’s what we need to focus on. Who would want her dead and why? And what did your brother really know about it?”
She curled her fingers around his wrist. “You’re saying it’s possible that no one who handled my brother’s case could be dirty?”
He shook his head. “Not what I’m saying at all. I have my doubts about the one cop, Riley. It seemed odd to me that he just happened to be driving by when Sandra’s car burst into flames. And that’s another thing. I was reading that report, and I am an expert in fires. The thing is, she crashed into a tree. There were no witnesses, and Riley said he didn’t pass the accident until after the car had been burning hot, so how did he get hurt? I don’t buy his story.”
“You read his statement?” Her eyes went wide as she dropped her hands to her lap.
“I called in a favor.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you did that or any of this other stuff floating around in your mind?”
He pulled up a chair, sitting as close as he could without having her on his lap. “I didn’t have that report until an hour ago.”
“I want to be in the loop. I want to see everything. Be involved in every conversation. It’s my brother who died, and I’m the one someone tried to kill today and?—”
“I know. But I needed to reconcile that report first in my brain. My team—the people helping us—needs to go through it too.”
His phone rang.
“It’s Arthur. I’ll put it on speaker.” He tapped the phone, setting it next to the computer. “Hey, boss.”
“I’ll skip right to the point. Amber’s car was rigged with a bomb.”
She gasped, covering her mouth. “Sorry,” she whispered.
“No need to be,” Arthur said.
Garth took her hand, hoping she didn’t slap it away. Thankfully, she gripped it tighter.
“The trigger for the bomb was a timer, which was engaged the moment the car was turned on. Kaelie estimates about five minutes.”
“Not a lot of time for Julia, or whatever her name is, to get out of harm’s way.” Garth rolled his neck, trying to ease the tension.
“Well, we don’t know her role in all of this yet,” Arthur said. “However, Kaelie said, if Amber is willing to give her the information her brother collected, she would open up her brother’s case file to re-examine the fire. She has no control over the police department unless she can find something, and if she does?—”
“Do you really trust Kaelie?” Amber interjected.
“Do you honestly not know who Kaelie is?” Arthur asked.
“I’ve explained a million times, but she’s struggling to trust anyone who had their hands on her brother’s case the first time around,” Garth said.
“I trust Kaelie with my life. With every member of team. Hell, I trust her with my kids,” Arthur said.
“And I trust Arthur.” Garth tossed in for good measure.
“I’ve got to run. My kids are running wild, and I promised the family a sunset boat ride. I’ll have my phone, so reach out if you need to.”
“Thanks, man,” Garth said, taking his phone and ending the call. “I promise I will keep you in the loop, but you have to start trusting me and those around me.”
She nodded, but the sadness etched on her face didn’t ease up.
“What do you need right now?” he asked. “Because for the first time this week, I’m at a loss.”
“A sunset boat ride,” she whispered.
He chuckled. “I can call Arthur back and ask if we can crash. Or see what Rex and his family are doing. They have a yacht.”
“Now you’re just teasing me.”
“Actually, I’m not.” He smiled. “I’ll do anything to put a smile on your face.”
Her lips curled. “I might need another purging, in a king-size bed.”
“I can most definitely handle that.”