Chapter 11
On Monday morning, Jason and Kevin met at the bottom of the stairs on their way to the kitchen.
When they heard Ilsa swearing and screaming, they almost knocked the other over trying to get to her.
They ended up sliding in their sock feet and stopped by putting their hands on the chairs to the table.
They looked at each other when they didn’t see any person, blood, or bodily injury to her.
They frowned when she turned and held her phone to her ear.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she repeated, and it amazed Jason that she could talk on the phone, pour three cups of coffee, and get items out of the refrigerator for their breakfast. He went over, took her shoulders and gently nudged her to the side, so he could open the package of bacon.
She could probably do it, but he didn’t want her to use the knife while still talking on the phone.
“Okay, send me what you got. Thanks, we’ll look into it when we get to the office.” She hung up her phone, reached up and interlocked her fingers on the back of her neck and stared at the ceiling, making chuffing noises with her breath.
“Good or bad?” Jason ventured to ask.
He watched in shock when she removed her hands from behind her neck, walked over to him, placed both hands on each side of his face and kissed him full on the lips.
It didn’t last long, but it was enough to shock him in place.
When she let him go, he watched her as she went to do the same to Kevin, but he held up his hands and shook his head.
“I’m good.” He chuckled and started to pull out the bread for French toast. “I take it that was a good phone call.”
“Jesus, and I don’t mean to use the Lord’s name in vain, but Christ on a cracker. Oh, it wasn’t bad news, it was excellent news, and if it’s all true, then we can nail Grayson to the fucking wall.” She started setting the table, and didn’t speak again until they sat down to eat breakfast.
“Talk to us, Ilsa,” Jason said. “I can’t speak for Kevin, but you’re started to scare me.”
“I don’t know where to begin.” She waved her hand in front of her face and laughed. “I know, at the beginning, but it’s just mind blowing what Lyle called me about.”
“Okay, we’ll wait.” They continued to eat, and after finishing, Ilsa pushed her plate aside, then jumped to her feet to put it in the sink, and refilled all their coffee cups. When she sat back down, she drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
“Lyle said he had a visitor at his house on Friday night. Roughly around seven.” She shook her head and told them to wait with the questions. “It was Larry Mason, my ex-husband.”
“The divorce went through?” Kevin asked and turned toward Jason.
“When she was staying with me in Seattle, she started the divorce proceedings. She said she knew how to do divorces for people in domestic situations where the abuser would be served with the final divorce papers, but there would be no information as to where the victim was.”
“I’ve heard of that,” Jason said and turned worried eyes to Ilsa.
“No, I wasn’t abused, but I feared for my life when George showed up at my house demanding Larry go with him to Katherine’s apartment.”
“That was the night you got your daughter to safety?”
“Yes, then a few weeks later, Grayson put out that BOLO for her. Shortly after that, Kevin arrived at my door and explained everything. He helped me pack my clothes and some personal belongings and we left for Seattle. I’d been there for about six weeks before you arrived.”
“Ah, I understand. So, can you tell us why Larry Mason showed up at Lyle Anderson’s home? I’m assuming it was his home and not the office.”
“Yes, his home. Something happened, I don’t know exactly what, but something happened between Larry and Grayson and Larry gathered some information he’s been gathering for months and took it to Lyle.
They went over it together all weekend, Lyle asking questions, Larry answering them for clarification.
Three copies of the paper files and flash drives were made.
” She suddenly sat up straight and looked at them with wild eyes.
“What is it?”
“Remember when I told you some evidence turned up missing from Katherine’s trial? The video of the accident, but since we had made a copy, we were able to play it?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“Lyle said that Larry had the envelope from the court. It still had the seal on it, unbroken.”
“Holy hell, this is huge.” Jason cried in shock.
“Yes, we’ll have to call Lyle later, or he might have sent something, but Larry also admitted to Lyle that his hands are not clean, he’s willing to testify in a court of law against Director Grayson, however, he needs to be kept hidden until things die down.
He wouldn’t tell me, but Lyle is working on getting him safe. ”
“Maybe he’ll reach out to Captain Rivers,” Kevin said. “I would call and offer my home to house him in, however, that wouldn’t work. As much as I want to help this guy if he’s helping us, but my house just isn’t the right place for him?”
“May I ask why?”
“Because of Karen, my ex-wife and how many times she called the police on our neighbors, they watch my house like a hawk. I swear I come home some nights and see them peeking through their curtains with a bowl of popcorn, waiting for the action to start.” He turned and shook his head at Ilsa.
“That’s why I had you stay in the house the entire six weeks you were there.
” He shook his head again in sadness. “Hell, the neighbors even had cameras installed in their homes to aim toward my house, even in the backyard. They came to me before they had them installed and wanted to make sure they weren’t doing anything illegal. ”
“It’s my understanding that as long as the cameras don’t point into the house, they can be aimed anywhere,” Jason said.
“Correct, and they called me over to show me what they were filming. I know I should feel elated, but those cameras were in part used to convict her. So, that means my house isn’t safe. Especially if Grayson pulls the stunt he did with Katherine and puts a BOLO out on Mason.”
“Shit, I never thought of that.”
“What about talking to Erin to see if we can’t bring him here?” Jason inquired as he rose and took the dishes to the sink and started rinsing them before he washed them.
“That might not work,” Ilsa said with a shake of her head.
“One, then we’ll have to tell Lyle where we are.
It’s my understanding, no one outside of this ranch knows we’re here.
No one from Los Angeles, no one from Seattle, and no one from Washington DC.
Two, I know this isn’t really an issue, but I really don’t want to see Larry again.
I will if it helps with the investigation, but I don’t want him to live underfoot, if you know what I mean.
Three, what’s to say that giving the information to Lyle is a ruse to get to me and Katherine?
What if he’s actually a plant by Grayson, and in the end Larry will be the scapegoat. ”
“Oh, shit, I never thought of that. Yeah, let’s not bring him here.”
“What about your place in DC?” Kevin asked as he helped clean up.
“I still have a housekeeper come in once a week to clean and gather my mail. Thankfully the bills are all on autopay. Besides, don’t you think it’s too close to FBI headquarters.
What if he gets a bug up his ass that we’re not moving fast enough for him, and he goes there and starts asking questions. ”
“There is that,” Ilsa said as she slumped back in her seat, then sat up suddenly, looking around wildly. “What if…?” she didn’t finish before the men turned and looked at her with raised brows.
“What if, what, Ilsa?” Jason encouraged as she sat there staring in space.
“What if we use the Brotherhood Protectors? Not to bring him here, but wasn’t it a guy by the name of Hank Patterson that reached out to you in DC?”
“It was, and they are in the business of protecting people. When we get to the office I’ll reach out to him.”
“You’ll tell him that Larry or Lyle can’t know where we are? Not only for their safety, but also for ours?”
“I will. It shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll see if Hank can’t take him to a different location.”
“Other than Fool’s Gold, where else are they based out of?”
“It’s my understanding that Hank runs the operation over in Montana, then Jake is in charge of Fool’s Gold.
I don’t know the names of the others who are in charge of the other locations, but if memory serves, there’s a branch in Yellowstone, Hawaii, and down in Louisiana.
” He frowned when Ilsa started to giggle. “What’s wrong with you woman?”
“I vote to send him to the Bayou and stick him out in a shack in the middle of gator infested waters.” She waved her hand before her face.
“Larry is the type of guy that never has a hair out of place, and all, and I mean all of his clothes have to be sent to the dry cleaners. Even his socks and underwear. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used the dry cleaners in the past but not for everything I own.
After we married and he moved in with me, he went ballistic because he found his clothes in the hamper mixed with mine.
I told him if he didn’t want them washed, then he could deal with his own clothes.
He even set it up to have them picked up and delivered back to the house.
” She shook her head, then giggled again.
“Yeah, stuck in the middle of the bayou would be perfect for him. Have someone bring him supplies, check on him every couple of days. I may be making an ass of myself by assume, but hopefully there won’t be any internet or phone service there so Grayson won’t be able to ping his phone for his location. ”
“Damn, I never thought of that. Let me talk to Hank about this at the office.” They finished cleaning up from their meal, went back to finish dressing, and within twenty minutes they were on their way to Erin’s Way to start their day.
The first thing Jason did was call Hank Patterson, and they talked for almost thirty minutes.
When he hung up, he turned to Ilsa with a grin, causing her insides to do flips.
“All set.”
“All set, how?”
“Hank’s going to contact Remy from Louisiana and have him and a couple of his men visit Hank, then they, along with Hank, and a couple of his men will head to Los Angeles.
It might take a few days, but they’ll get him to safety.
I hope you don’t mind, but I gave Hank Lyle’s phone number. He said he would handle it from here.”
“Great. While you were on the phone, I started opening the files and making hard copies. Since Kevin was able to purchase a printer, extra ink, and several boxes of paper, I figured we’d want a hard copy to take notes from.
” She pointed to her screen as Jason came behind her to look over her shoulder.
“What’s with the numbers?”
“According to the phone call this morning, Lyle told me the files he sent are numbered in the order of what happened. Again, according to the e-mail and the phone conversation, Larry only started gathering evidence against Grayson after Katherine’s accident, and he was able to see the video from the dash cameras.
Based on what Michael said, he knew it was going to be a rough road. ”
“At least we have someplace to start,” Jason admitted. “Frankly, that’s the reason we’re going after him, for throwing his weight around and issuing a BOLO on an exonerated victim. Everything else we gather is icing on the cake.”
“I agree,” Ilsa said and nodded when Kevin brought a stack of papers over to the table for Jason to begin to read.
As Ilsa sent everything to the printer, Kevin retrieved the pages, brought them over to Jason, and in between filling the paper tray, he began setting up a murder board.
Though this wasn’t a murder investigation, it was the same thing to keep timelines, and players straight.
Thank goodness for his police experience.