Chapter 26
“We got him,” Tanner announced to the bustling bullpen that was eagerly awaiting the news of an arrest being made in the Arlo J case. “Doc confessed to everything not two minutes after we put him in the interrogation room.”
“Hell yeah!”
“Alright!”
“Great job!”
That last one came from his captain and made Tanner feel ten feet tall.
This was the most high-profile case he’d ever worked on.
To say Tanner had felt the pressure of the entire police department to get it right was an understatement.
But with a nearly spontaneous confession after finding the murder weapon and a vial of Fentanyl in his motorcycle trunk, and having his Miranda rights read to him, Doc had actually made Tanner’s job almost too easy.
The man was a murderer, but he wasn’t stupid.
As soon as Tanner and Ranger Wilder laid out all the evidence they had on him, Doc simply crumpled.
It was a beautiful sight, and it was going to save the tax payers a lot of money.
“It won’t save him,” a familiar dark voice said.
Tanner turned to see Nico coming into the bullpen. He wore a meticulously tailored dark suit and held something in his hand. “Excuse me?” Tanner asked.
“You got him,” Nico said, instantly amending his words as if he hadn’t just spoken what could be interpreted as a threat.
“I told you I would. Now, let the system work, and don’t do anything stupid,” Tanner warned.
Nico gave him that famous smirk of his that Tanner was growing to hate. “I had a few of my guys go digging around. Found this and thought it might help your case. I would’ve taken care of it myself, but you beat me to it, Detective.”
“What is that?” Tanner asked.
“Proof that Doc’s been stealing from the club for the last six months. My father and Baby were probably on to him. I don’t know why they didn’t tell me, but I wish they had. Maybe they’d still be alive.”
Tanner took the folder and opened it, revealing two pages of duplicate checks that looked like they’d gone through a shredder and were carefully taped back together. They had Curtis Vester’s signature on them and were all made out to a medical supply company. “I take it the company is-”
“A scam. His scam,” Nico said. “My father wouldn’t just kill for something like this.
He’d make an example of him. We trusted Doc.
Trusted him to take care of us. In my line of work, people get hurt.
Someone like Doc gets a lot of leeway for ordering supplies.
This company is owned by his ol’ lady, Janine Huxley, and she’s no medical supplier.
Oh, and guess what kind of car she drives? ”
“A black sedan,” Tanner surmised. This was why Doc had confessed so quickly. He’d been trying to keep the police and the FBI from finding out about his stash and arresting his woman.
“Alright, where is she?” Wilder asked. “We’ll bring her in.”
Tanner had almost forgotten the man was still there.
“Gone. Ran off like the traitor she is. But I’ll find her,” Nico assured them.
Tanner arched his brow at Nico. “Or you’ll let us find her. We got Doc, didn’t we?”
Nico smirked. “Only after he killed three people. Now, let’s see who finds Janine Huxley first. Oh, I know, maybe we should ask her son.”
“Who’s her son?” Tanner asked, a pit growing in his stomach because that name sounded way too familiar.
Nico’s smirk grew, as if he was a kid who’d just gotten a lollipop and planned to do something nefarious with it. “Your medical examiner, Thomas Huxley.”
“Don’t,” Tanner warned, knowing where Nico was likely going with this. “If Dr. Huxley is involved in any way, we’ll talk to him and find out. I warned you before and I’m warning you again. Don’t do anything stupid or you’ll be the one in cuffs, sitting behind bars.”
Nico took a step closer to Tanner, clearly not intimidated by Tanner’s words of caution.
“Doc killed my father, Detective. And I’m betting his ol’ lady helped.
” Nico pulled a folded photograph from his pocket and handed it to Tanner.
It was of a couple sitting at a bar. The man was Doc, and the woman next to him – Tanner’s breath hitched as he recognized her as the barista he’d talked to.
The one who’d served Arlo J his coffee the morning of his death.
"I see you recognize her. Let me guess, she served my father his last drink. Am I right?” Nico let the question hang between them for an uncomfortable moment.
“Old man always was a creature of habit.” Nico said, then turned and left without so much as a glance back.
“Do you really think Dr. Huxley was in on it?” Wilder asked, sounding just as stunned as Tanner felt.
There had to have been signs that Tanner missed.
Then he remembered the doctor calling Arlo J an asshole in the morgue, and the barista who’d barely met his gaze.
Tanner had thought she was just shy or intimidated by his badge like some people were, but now he knew that wasn’t the case at all.
It had been right in front of him all along, but he’d been too worried about his friends, and too distracted by April, and then by his daughter, to think clearly.
Well, he had Doc in custody now, and if Dr. Huxley had anything to do with the murders, Tanner knew exactly where to find him.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Tanner said, already grabbing his things off his desk. “And I want to make sure we get to him before Nico does.”
***
Doctor Huxley asked for a lawyer two seconds after Tanner and Wilder showed up.
Which was just as well since the FBI arrived minutes later, acting all annoyed that Tanner had dared to do his job.
It didn’t help that Janine Huxley was now in the wind, but at least they had a slew of charges to add to Doc’s case.
Nico wouldn’t be happy, but hopefully, if he did find Janine Huxley first, he’d have the good sense to turn her in.
He had brought the check copies to Tanner, after all.
The storm was still raging outside, and Tanner was growing more and more worried about his own family. He’d been fighting an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach for hours, and it was only growing the longer he kept ignoring it. He needed to check on them.
Leaving Wilder to deal with the Feds and Dr. Huxley, Tanner promised to call later. He could come back tomorrow if he was needed, which wasn’t likely since it felt like the Feds couldn’t get rid of him fast enough.
Tanner pulled out his cell phone only to see over a dozen missed calls from Faith. With a sinking feeling, Tanner dialed her back.
“Tanner?” Her voice was shaky. Something was wrong.
Every fiber of his being tensed, and he ran out the door to his truck, ignoring the pouring rain that soaked him to the bone in seconds. “What’s going on? What happened?” He asked, putting her on speakerphone as he buckled his seatbelt and gunned the engine out of the parking lot.
“They’re gone, Tanner. They’re just gone.”
Tanner drove like a madman all the way back to the ranch.
He’d been so focused on making the arrest and closing his case…
work had always been his number one priority, and then the guilt he felt for letting Janine Huxley slip through his fingers had only made him double down even harder on what he was doing.
His job meant everything to him. It was how he made a difference.
Finding the killer, making the arrest, being part of the process that ensured they’d never hurt anyone again. That had been his life for years.
But his life had changed the day he met April, and then again when he found out he had a daughter. Everything was different now. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let Nico of all people, and a little competition with the FBI and a Texas Ranger get in the way of his own family?
Wilder could’ve handled the arrest. He’d called in plenty of backup. Or Tanner could’ve just called Caden and let the Feds handle it like they’d wanted to. Either way, they hadn’t actually needed Tanner tonight. Not really. Not like his family had. He never should’ve left them alone.
A bolt of lightning lit up the barn as Tanner came to a skidding halt in front of the house.
He ran inside to find Faith and Sienna in the kitchen.
Sienna was nibbling on a cookie, but it was the fear in Faith’s eyes that had Tanner’s stomach in knots.
He didn’t miss the muddy footprints just inside the backdoor leading to the staircase.
Not only were they too small to be his father’s, but Peter knew better than to make a mess and leave it for Pam to clean up.
“Who was it?” Tanner nearly roared, but controlled his volume for Sienna’s sake.
Faith was practically trembling. “We never saw them. We didn’t even hear anything.
Sienna and I went upstairs to tidy up her room.
When we came back down, that door was wide open, those muddy boot prints were there, and April and Violet were just gone.
I ran outside, thinking maybe they went to the barn to help Mom and Dad with the mare, but I didn’t see anyone.
It was still storming and it had gotten really dark, so I came back inside.
Mom said she was taking her cell phone with her so I tried calling her, but there was no answer.
Sienna was getting scared so I’ve just been sitting here with her while trying to reach you.
I was so scared when you didn’t answer any of my calls either.
I was just about to call 911 when you finally called me back. What’s going on, Tanner?”