Chapter 19
“You ready?”
Connor dropped into the seat beside Ethan. They were in his home office, and honestly, Connor wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready. “What did you find?”
“I took a deep dive into Xander’s business in North Dakota.
I pulled public records and financials. I noticed a few things.
Firstly, that the shop reports far higher revenue than a small mechanic’s business like his should.
There are also spikes in income when the shop should have had few customers, like when Xander was out of town.
And some of these fleet repair contracts appear to be for companies that don’t exist.”
Shit. “He’s laundering money.” They were classic signs of money being washed through fake or inflated services.
“Looks like it.”
“What does that have to do with Raven?”
“Her signature is everywhere.” Ethan turned back to the screen and pulled up a few different documents. “Bank authorization forms. Business loan applications. Vendor agreements. She’s also listed as a minority owner.”
Connor was shaking his head before his friend finished speaking. “She couldn’t have known what she was signing. Either that, or he forged her signature.”
Ethan pulled up another account. “This is a joint account she shares with her fiancé. A savings account in her name. There are small but regular deposits made so they don’t trigger alerts.”
The fuck?
“I also looked into the shop’s biggest ‘clients.’ Companies with no real employees. Mailing addresses to P.O. boxes or empty offices. Companies that were incorporated shortly before payments began.”
“So the shop isn’t just laundering. It’s actively fabricating businesses.”
“Yep. I’m going to keep digging. I’ll find out what I can to prove her innocence, but you need to talk to her about this.”
Connor’s mind spun a million miles an hour. She was innocent. Of course she was.
You thought Margaret was innocent too.
The voice in his head felt like a gut punch.
“You okay?” Ethan asked.
“When I was told about Margaret, I didn’t believe it. She wasn’t that person. And when she told me she was innocent, I didn’t question her.” He frowned. “But then the evidence proved she was guilty, and it was only when she was backed into a corner that she told the truth.”
“Margaret and Raven are two different people.”
“When I told Raven about Margaret being involved in illegal activities, I swear I saw fear in her eyes.” He forced his gaze from the screen to his friend. “Do you think that’s an odd reaction if she’s innocent?”
It took Ethan a second to respond. “I don’t know.”
“Her signatures are all over this illegal business.” Connor took a moment before voicing the next part, fucking hating the words that came out of his mouth.
“There’s a chance she was an equal partner.
But maybe something happened. She tried to get out and he did something.
Hurt someone she cared about. If it’s true…
I don’t know if I can do that again.” Connor almost spoke the words to himself.
“Margaret told me, promised me, that she wasn’t involved in her father’s crimes. And I believed her.”
“Because you loved her.”
Connor’s frown deepened. “What if how I feel about Raven is clouding my judgment?”
“You need to talk to her, Connor.”
He could have laughed. “I’ve tried. The number of times I’ve asked her, begged her, to tell me what happened between her and Xander… She won’t.” He shot to his feet, the room suddenly feeling too small. “I’ve got to go.” Where, exactly, he had no fucking clue. Home? To Raven?
“Connor—”
“Thanks for looking into this.”
The drive from Ethan’s was a blur. He canceled his run with Joel, but only because he didn’t feel like running with someone else. Not today.
He went to the old firehouse. The place was quiet, but then, of course it was, it was a Saturday. No one was here.
He turned his phone off, shoved in his earbuds, and walked into the forest. Then he ran. Sprinted so hard he exhausted his body. Pounded his feet so hard into the ground that his legs began to ache.
He wanted to trust Raven. But how was he supposed to do that when she wouldn’t be honest with him? He wanted to bring her into his world and be part of hers, but he didn’t know what her world was.
When he eventually returned to the firehouse, his lungs burned. But he didn’t stop there. He jumped straight into the workout room, donned his gloves, and started to hit the bag—loud, angry punches.
This was it. This was the point where he needed the truth. He needed her to tell him that she’d had no idea about Xander’s money-laundering business. That he’d tricked her into signing those documents. And then he needed to make the choice—trust her or let her go.
Shit, Margaret had messed with his judgment. There’d been a time when he’d thought he’d been good at spotting a lie. At reading body language.
But Margaret had taught him that love made things messy. Blurry. It made him miss things.
When he was finally too tired to continue, he took a long shower. It was only when he was dressed again, after he’d completely exhausted his body, torn himself apart and put himself back together, that he turned his cell back on and called her.
It rang. Then it rang more. Finally, it hit her voicemail.
He tried her again. Still no answer. He shot her a text.
Connor: Hey, Raven. Are you home? We need to talk.
When the three dots didn’t appear, he shoved his cell into his pocket and left the old firehouse.
The drive to his house felt longer than it should have.
He pulled up out front, frowning when her car wasn’t in the drive. Was she not home? She’d said she’d be here all day.
Once he’d parked, he jogged up the steps and ran inside. “Raven?”
Silence.
Quickly, he checked the first floor, then the second. Empty. She wasn’t here.
Where the hell was she? Had she gone into work?
He hurried back out to his truck and drove to the community center. She’d said there were no sessions today. But maybe something had popped up?
He pulled into the town square—and his heart fucking stopped.
The community centered was taped off. Had something happened to Raven? Is that why she wasn’t answering his calls?
His heart pounded, loud, panicked thumps, as he pulled up in front of the center and climbed from his truck. Ignoring the tape, he ducked beneath it and ran to the door.
Locked.
Shit.
He pulled out his cell.
Connor: The community center is taped off and I can’t find Raven.
Joel: Polly said she saw Ward and his deputies there, as well as an ambulance.
Ryan: I’ll call Ferris.
A fucking ambulance?
He raced back to his truck and was partway to the hospital when a call from Ryan came through.
“Do you know where she is?” Connor growled before his friend could get a word in.
“She’s at the station.”
The station. So not the hospital. Air hissed between his teeth, and he turned the truck around. “Why?”
“There was a murder.”
“Who?”
“Lottie Fuller.”
“The old woman who didn’t like Raven? She was murdered at the community center?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“They wouldn’t tell me.”
Connor pulled into the station parking lot. Thank God the place was close. “I’m here. Thanks, Ryan.”
He hung up and sprinted inside, straight to the desk. “Is Raven Price here?”
An older woman sat at the front desk. Her brows shot up. “Young man, you can’t—”
“It’s okay, Mara.” Ward stepped out from the hall and touched his belt as he stopped in front of Connor. “We’re almost done with her.”
“What the hell do you mean, ‘almost done with her’? Where is she?”
“We’ve been questioning her.”
“For how long?”
“Son, watch that tone. I’m doing my job. Her issues with Lottie are well documented—”
“It was Lottie who had a problem with Raven.”
“Actually, there’ve been quite a few incidences where Raven openly scolded Lottie.”
“So what? You think she killed the woman?”
Ward pulled him into his office. “The coroner put Lottie’s time of death as yesterday, and there’s an hour between Raven leaving Deep River Residence and checking into a local motel where she’s unaccounted for.”
Connor frowned. “What?”
“She says she was driving around, but…”
“Maybe she was.”
“There’s also blood on her top and her shoe.”
Connor stilled but then shook his head. “She wouldn’t have killed anyone. I want to see her, and I want to see her now.”
An ache throbbed through Raven’s head as she rested her head in her hands.
She was tired. No, not tired, completely exhausted.
Bleary-eyed, couldn’t-hold-her-head-up kind of exhausted.
She’d been sitting in this stupid plastic chair in this tiny room for so long the walls had started closing in on her.
And the headache—God, the headache. She knew it was from a lack of food and water, but every time she even looked at the glass the deputy had set on the table, she wanted to be sick.
Lottie’s dead body flashed over in her mind again. The blood. The woman’s lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling.
Her belly twisted and she squeezed her eyes shut.
The questions from Ward and his deputies were relentless. And they’d been the same ones over and over again, like they were trying to catch her in a lie.
They obviously thought she’d done it. They didn’t need to say it out loud for her to know that.
It didn’t help that they’d asked for her previous day’s clothes.
She’d gone to Connor’s and grabbed them on her way to the station, completely forgetting about the blood stains on her shirt and shoe.
The stains were tiny, and she’d shown Ward the cut on her finger. He hadn’t cared.
It was fine. The stain would be tested, and they’d find it wasn’t Lottie’s blood. That she hadn’t stabbed Lottie to death.
Her stomach pitched again.
Argh. Why had she driven around for an hour before checking into her motel? If she’d just gone straight there, she wouldn’t be a suspect.
Were they going to arrest her? Was she going to go to prison for a crime she didn’t commit?
Her breaths started to shorten, her heart beating loudly in her ears.