Chapter 14 Sketchy Numbers
W hen Gage and Ella walked into the farmhouse, Johnny and Rock were already inside. Rock was in the brown leather recliner by the sofa, watching a game of football. His feet were propped up, and his cane was leaning against the side of the chair.
Johnny took one look at Gage’s swim trunks and the swim cover Ella had pulled over her suit and started guffawing. “I’m not even gonna ask what kind of PI work y’all were up to in that getup.” He leaned back against the sofa and slung a leg over the back of it.
Gage tossed his beach towel over Johnny’s head on his way to the kitchen. “You hungry, Rock?”
“I’m always hungry, bro.”
“Me, too.” Johnny’s voice was muffled beneath the second beach towel Ella had just finished tossing over him.
She followed Gage into the kitchen. “What are you cooking?”
“Mac and cheese with hotdogs.”
At first, she thought he was kidding. When he pulled three macaroni boxes from his pantry, she realized he wasn’t. “Um, are there any other options on the menu?”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “What part doesn’t float your boat? The mac and cheese or the hotdogs?”
“Both.” Feeling very related to Creston Bolander, she took Gage on a quick detour to her pantry and fridge at the guest house. They returned with their arms loaded with supplies. They dumped them on the center island in the kitchen.
“Brown rice,” Ella announced brightly, lifting the first canister proudly.
“Does that mean it’s gone bad?” Johnny inquired politely from the next room.
She ignored his snarky comment and waved two trays of chicken tenders at him. “This will be teriyaki chicken after I prepare it, and this other stuff will go into a veggie stir fry.” She circled a hand at the remaining ingredients — broccoli, carrots, cabbage, sesame seeds, and four eggs she intended to scramble and toss in at the end.
“My tastebuds are already singing.” Johnny sat up on the sofa, looking hungry. “Gage, my man, if you don’t get down on one knee and propose to her right this second, so help me, I will.”
Instead of answering, Gage pulled a container of almonds out of his pantry, unscrewed the lid, and popped a handful into his mouth.
“He can’t.” Rock piped up from the recliner. “We made a pact when we were kids that we’d have a double wedding and get married on the same day.”
Gage zinged an almond in his direction. “You don’t even have a girlfriend.”
Rock effortlessly caught the almond, tossed it nearly to the ceiling, and managed to land it in his open mouth .
Ella chuckled. “With skills like that, you’ll impress the socks off of some sweet Heart Laker.”
Rock’s eyebrows rose a little. “Right now, I’m more concerned about getting my second career off the ground than finding a date.”
“Shoot! You got at least two job offers at the wedding.” Johnny cupped his hands and motioned for Gage to throw an almond to him, which he did.
“Really?” Gage remembered the sheriff hinting about a job at the medical center the other day, but that was it. Although he’d bragged up a storm about Rock to his boss in recent months, there hadn’t been an opportunity to follow up on his bragging since Rock’s arrival in town.
“Yep, and he already accepted one of ‘em.” Johnny sounded excited. “Are you gonna tell ‘em, bro, or do you want me to?” Without waiting for Rock to respond, he crowed, “Lonestar Security snapped him right up! It was like the whale chasing after Jonah.”
Gage gave a whoop of delight. “That was fast!”
Rock lifted his cane to twirl the end of it on the tip of his forefinger. “This is the part where I should probably admit I’ve been in negotiations with Decker Kingston for over a month.”
“What?” Gage hollered the word so loudly that Rock jolted, making the cane wobble a little. Since Gage reported to Gil Remington, he hadn’t had much interaction with the other three partners. All he knew about Decker was that he’d once been a bull rider.
Rock quickly reestablished the cane’s perfect balance on his finger. “Yep,” he affirmed. “The sheriff wants access to a sketch artist, but he can’t justify a full-time one in his budget. Fortunately, Lonestar can. Decker is asking me to spearhead their all-new forensics team and bring at least one more sketch artist on board as soon as possible. I’m already reviewing resumes.”
“Before your first day of work?” Gage wasn’t overly thrilled to hear that part. “Shouldn’t they be paying you for stuff like that?”
“I was on board before I came into town, bro.” Rock’s dark eyes were twinkling as he lowered his cane to the floor.
It was even better than Gage had hoped for. His shoulders relaxed. “That’s great! Really great!” He strode into the living room to high-five his brother.
“If it’s so great, then you can quit worrying about me.” Rock’s expression grew obstinate. “I didn’t come into town looking for sympathy. I know it might be a while before I can run again. Maybe never. But I’m more than capable of moving on to the next adventure with a cane. You hear me?”
“I hear you.” Gage high-fived him again for good measure. “Just make sure that next adventure includes finding a girlfriend, because I might want to get married someday.”
As laughter erupted around him, he sought out Ella’s gaze to see her reaction to his statement. She was blushing and seemed to be having trouble meeting his gaze. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.
Rock turned up the football game while Gage helped Ella in the kitchen. He and Johnny got noisier and noisier with their hoots, hollers, and running commentary about the plays.
Gage didn’t mind how preoccupied they were, because it meant he had Ella all to himself. He tied an apron around his waist and entertained her with his egg juggling abilities. And his corny dance moves. And his stirring and flipping skills after she got the rice boiling and the chicken browning.
She joined him at the stove with a shoulder bump. “You’re kind of useful to have around once you quit clowning around.”
“Thank you.” He promptly tipped the rubber spatula on end and balanced it on his nose.
She laughed and made a swipe for it. He snatched it off his nose and held it out of her reach, making her stretch so hard for it that it brought her flush against him.
“Kiss me, and I’ll give it back,” he teased.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and nearly brought him to his knees with the tenderest of kisses.
Johnny’s and Rock’s hooting and hollering grew louder. It took an extra second or two for Gage to realize they were no longer watching the game. They were watching him and Ella.
She wrestled the spatula away from him while his brain was still dizzy from kissing her, then treated him to an aha look.
Rock turned down the television. “Fine. I’ll look for a girlfriend.” He shot Johnny a mischievous look. “You wanna be my wingman?”
Johnny hesitated before answering, and it was his hesitation that clued Gage into the fact that it was a sensitive topic. With all the guy’s joking around, he would’ve never guessed.
To get him off the hot seat, Gage changed the subject. “Speaking of hunting for things…” He moved into the living room to flop on the end of the couch near his brother. “I had a brainstorm earlier today about the case. I think we should reverse engineer the facial recognition process. Since our ghostly assailant isn’t in the system, let’s gather photos of ev eryone who’s connected to the case and compare them to the sketch.”
Ella looked doubtful. “What if it was a paid hit? A complete stranger with no obvious connection to the case?”
“I’ve considered that possibility, which is why?—”
“That would put every last person back under suspicion that we previously ruled out,” Johnny pointed out grumpily.
“It would,” Gage agreed. “However, I’m happy to report that our newly established connections with the heads of both big granaries have led to their willingness to participate in an unofficial Lonestar audit of their finances. If there’s a money trail leading to a hit, we’ll find it.” He considered it a good sign that both Avery and Raleigh were being so cooperative.
Johnny started clapping, but Ella raised her hands to quiet him down again. “Please keep in mind that my mother doesn’t want her father involved. Though it’s not yet public knowledge, Walker Radcliffe’s health is rapidly declining. She doesn’t want to burden him or his administrative assistant with anything else right now.”
For the next several days, Gage nearly went cross-eyed while wading through the manila folders and online spreadsheets that Avery and Raleigh had shared from Radcliffe Industries and Bolander & Sons.
It didn’t hit him until day four of his search that Radcliffe Industries had been transferring an awful lot of money to two firms in particular,BLS Accounting and Stratten Consulting. At first glance, he’d mistakenly assumed he was looking at quarterly tax payments being funneled through the accounting firm, but the numbers weren’t adding up.
He did a little more digging and discovered that the letters BLS are the initials of the accounting firm’s owner —none other than Walker Radcliffe’s trusted administrative assistant, Blain Lowry Stratten.
Gage pushed away from his desk and walked a lap around his office before taking another look at the data. Though it wasn’t illegal, per se, for Mr. Radcliffe to funnel his bookkeeping to a company owned by one of his employees, it was highly irregular. And unless Blain had hired someone else to run his accounting business for him, there was no way he was doing both jobs. Avery had described him on a number of occasions lately as her father’s live-in companion and caretaker while his health spiraled.
An hour later, Gage made his next big discovery. Raleigh Bolander’s ex-wife’s maiden name was Stratten. Cora Stratten, who just so happened to be the owner of Stratten Consulting.
Going on the assumption it wasn’t a coincidence that Raleigh’s ex-wife shared Blain’s last name, Gage quickly found proof that it wasn’t. They were siblings, and not just any siblings. They were the surviving children of a man who’d been fired from Bolander & Sons for allegedly stealing some equipment. Blain’s start date at Radcliffe Industries had taken place two weeks later. He’d only been sixteen at the time. He should’ve still been in high school. Instead, he’d gone to work full time for the competitor of the firm his father had been fired from, possibly because his father had been rendered unhirable by the iron-clad non-compete clauses in play.
Not good.
He searched online for a while until he found the next piece of the puzzle he was looking for — an obituary for Blain and Cora’s father. It was suicide. If that wasn’t a motive, Gage didn’t know what was.
He reached for his cell phone and dialed Avery.
She picked up right away. “Hi, Gage! What’s going on?” The happiness in her voice told him that married life agreed with her.
He hated to be the bearer of yet more bad news, but she and her new husband weren’t paying him to tiptoe around their feelings. “Do you happen to have a photo of Blain Stratten?”
She was silent for a moment. “I thought I sent one over already.”
“I haven’t seen it.”
“I’m pretty sure I did,” she insisted. “It was right after my coffee break yesterday morning.
He frowned as a thought struck him. “Where were you when you sent it?”
“In my dad’s office.” There was a sigh in her voice. “I’ve been spending more and more time over there. He just can’t keep up anymore. Blain does what he can, of course, but he’s not exactly CEO material.”
I bet he does plenty. “I need that photo, Avery. Any chance you can email it to me from somewhere besides your dad’s office?”
He heard a sharp intake of breath. “I must admit, you’re scaring me a little. How about I bring it to you in person?” She disconnected the call.
Twenty minutes later, she was standing over his desk with the requested photo in hand. “Here. I printed it out. The digital copy is on my phone. I can airdrop it to Rock, if you’d like. ”
“Yes, please.” His brother was working in one of the previously empty Lonestar offices down the hall.
Shortly after airdropping the photo to him, they could hear his cane tapping their way on the tile floor.
He was scowling as he pushed Gage’s office door open. “Boys and girls, we have a match.”
Avery Radcliffe sank into one of the chairs in front of Gage’s desk. “Blain? A murderer?” She raised a shaky hand to her forehead. “There has to be some mistake. He’s like the son my dad never had.”
Gage leaned his forearms on his desk to meet her gaze levelly. “It appears he’s been skimming money from the corporate coffers for the past thirty years. It started off small, but it’s gotten a lot bigger in recent years. So big that I initially mistook them for Radcliffe Industries’ quarterly tax payments.”
“Say it isn’t so,” she whispered.
“Also, I’d really like to know what kind of consulting your husband’s ex-wife does for Radcliffe Industries.”
“What?” She gave him a blank look. “She’s a professional jet setter. A perennial vacationer who hasn’t worked a day since their divorce.”
“Not according to this.” He slid a few printouts across his desk toward her. It was possible Blain had been skimming through both the accounting and consulting firm without his sister’s knowledge. However, that didn’t seem likely, considering her short-lived marriage to Raleigh Bolander or her lavish lifestyle following it.
Avery scanned the printouts and paled. “None of this feels right.”
He couldn’t have agreed more. “Did you know that Cora and Blain are siblings? ”
“Oh, Gage!” Avery straightened in her seat, looking stricken. “I think we’ve been coming at this all wrong.”
“I do, too.” It made him sick just thinking about it.
“What if it was about more than preventing the merger between two competing companies? What if it was about revenge against both companies?” She ticked the reasons off on her fingers. “Revenge against the Bolanders for firing Blain and Cora’s father. Revenge against us for failing to subsequently hire their father due to our non-compete clause.”
“Which they felt directly or indirectly led to his suicide,” Gage concluded bleakly.
“It was outright war on us. On both of our families!” She grew even paler. “All the lies and ugliness. All the backstabbing and sabotage. What if it was meticulously designed to enhance our biases and stir our distrust of each other? And while we were busy pointing fingers and flying accusations back and forth across the street that divides our respective land, we missed the fact that we were being played by a master manipulator. I’ve been shot at. Mick was stabbed to death. And now the attempt on Raleigh’s life. Who’s next?”
They stared at each other for a moment.
“Ella,” she keened, looking ready to faint. “If our latest theory is correct, we haven’t taken her out of the crosshairs after all.”
”It’s time we take what we know to the police.” Gage was still relatively new to the world of private investigating, but surely they’d uncovered enough evidence now to bring Blain and Cora in for questioning.
Though Avery nodded in agreement, she looked distraught. “This is going to break my father’s heart.”
He sent a warning text to Johnny at the animal rescue sanctuary to put him on high alert, since Ella was volunteering there again today. Then he called Gil to give him the skinny of what he’d uncovered.
His boss appeared in his doorway only moments later. “The sheriff is on his way.”
There was only one detail left that Gage still couldn’t make sense of. “We still don’t know what Billy Bob Bolander’s connection is to all of this.”
“I can venture a guess.” Avery’s lips twisted bitterly. “According to Raleigh, Billy Bob squandered his trust money on drugs and hard living shortly after he was disinherited. He would’ve needed money to maintain his addictions, which would’ve made him an easy target for unconscionable scoundrels like Blain and Cora.”
Two hours later
Blain Stratten’s ears picked up on the distant whine of a police siren. It grew louder by the second, which meant they were headed toward the home office of Radcliffe Industries.
Took you losers long enough.
He reached inside Walker Radcliffe’s lower left desk drawer and pulled out the change of clothing he’d stowed there. It was the old set of coveralls he’d worn when he first came to work for Radcliffe Industries. He swiftly changed out of his suit and stuffed it into the desk drawer where his coveralls had been.
The sight of the vacuum sealed bag at the bottom of the drawer made him grow still. It contained the bloodstained bodysuit he’d worn to do his darkest deeds. He considered taking it with him, but quickly discarded the idea. After he finished bringing the Bolanders and Radcliffes to their knees, he wanted the world to know that he was the one who’d done it. Maybe they’d write a book about his exploits. Or produce a movie…
He patted the pockets of his coveralls to ensure that the driver’s license and passport he’d paid good money for on the black market were still tucked inside. They were. Not only did they give him a whole new identity, they matched the name he’d placed on his overseas accounts. For the past thirty years, he’d steadily deposited the money he’d skimmed from Walker Radcliffe into them.
I’m a rich man now.
Years of patient planning were finally about to pay off. And thanks to the poison he’d stirred into his boss’s food and beverages over the past year and a half, Walker was about to be a dead man.
Serves you right for what you did to my family!
Because of the explosives he’d planted in the silos standing closest to the Bolander mansion, Creston and Raleigh Bolander were also about to be dead men, along with the latest addition to their inner circle, Avery Radcliffe. Or Avery Bolander. He wasn’t sure if she’d taken the scoundrel’s last name or not when she’d married him. All that really mattered was that she met her new husband and father-in-law like clockwork for dinner nearly every night. Which meant she, too, would soon be dead.
Everything is going according to plan.
Mashing a company ball cap on his head, Blain pulled the brim of it lower as he made his way out the rear exit. Once he stepped outside, he looked like every other employee at the granary. Thoroughly enjoying the fact that he was hiding in plain sight, he even turned around and faked a look of surprise when two police cruisers rolled up to the front of the building.
He was still chuckling as he hopped into the nearest grain truck and drove out the back gate of Radcliffe Industries. He waved at the police in his side-view mirror. Nobody waved back, because he was invisible to them.
So long, losers!
Since no one was looking for a guy in a grain truck, he lifted his burner phone to his ear and dialed his sister.
She was giggling like a small child when she connected their call. “Blainy,” she cooed.
“Don’t call me that anymore,” he snarled. She knew better. They’d talked about this.
“Whatever.” She sounded sulky. “Why are you always in such a bad mood?”
“I’m not,” he assured quickly. “I’m happy.” He was happier than he’d been in a long time, since all their dreams were about to come true. “That’s why I’m coming to pick you up. It’s time to go on that very special cruise we’ve been planning.” They’d talked about that, too. It was code language for it’s time to get out of dodge .
“Can’t.” Her voice grew playful. “I’m busy adopting a pet right now. They have two of the most adorable Golden Doodles up for adoption. I saw their pictures online and just had to have one.”
He frowned in irritation. “Where are you, Cora?” He was starting to wish he hadn’t spoiled her so much over the years, because part of her had never grown up. Her inability to take no for an answer was about to become a real problem for him, since she couldn’t take a pet where they were going. They didn’t have the paperwork to bring a pet on the plane, and there was no time to get the paperwork.
“I’m at the animal rescue place, of course. A very nice lady named Ella has been helping me. It’s Ella like Cinderella, except she has dark hair, and she’s not wearing a ballgown.”
No way! His earlier irritation with his sister vanished. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
She giggled again. “If I knew you’d get this excited over adopting a dog, I’d have done it a long time ago.”
“You’re right. I’m excited, because I happen to have the best sibling on the planet.” He was so excited that he was downright giddy. Ella Lawton was going to die today with the rest of her hateful family. Her death would be the perfect ending to his miserable career at Radcliffe Industries. “Don’t adopt the pooch until I get there. I’ll help you fill out all the paperwork.”
“I’m not the best sibling,” Cora sighed dreamily. “You are!”
Gage’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen, and his jaw tightened at the caller ID. It was Johnny.
“You’re not gonna believe this, bro,” he crowed in a low voice, “but I’ve got the ex-Mrs. Raleigh Bolander in my sights. Ella is helping her adopt a Golden Doodle.”
“Yeah, that’s not good. Hang on a sec. I’d like to get a three-way call going with the sheriff.” Now that the police were involved, Gil had advised Gage to step back from the case and let them do their job.
He was fortunate to catch the sheriff in his office. “Luke, we’ve got a situation.”
“That makes two of us,” the sheriff growled. “You go first.”
“Cora Stratten is at the animal rescue sanctuary as we speak,” Gage informed him tersely. “Johnny has his eyeballs on her.”
“Hoh, boy!” The sheriff sounded worried.
“Are you sending someone over to pick her up or what?” Gage was in no mood for guessing games.
“I’ll send a SWAT team,” Luke promised grimly.
That sounded like a little much. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Blain Stratten is in the wind.”
How did that happen? Gage had a lot more questions, but they could wait. “I’m gonna head to the animal rescue sanctuary to lend Johnny some backup, just in case.”
“Suit yourself. Just need you guys to stay out of the way of our SWAT team when they arrive,” the sheriff warned.
Gage didn’t answer. If Ella’s safety was involved, he wasn’t making any promises. He sprinted to the parking garage and leaped into his Bronco. As soon as he reached the highway, he wanted to kick himself for not driving a company vehicle. He could’ve used the sirens and flashing lights to get across town faster. Since it was a bit early for rush hour, there shouldn’t have been so many cars on the road.
Another half mile down the road, he discovered what was causing the slowdown. A grain truck bearing the Radcliffe Industries logo was driving at a snail’s pace at the front of the pack. The driver slowed down even more as he approached the gravel road leading to the animal rescue sanctuary. Though he swung wide to make the turn, he clipped the mailbox and ran over one of the entrance shrubs, crushing it beneath one of his rear tires.
He was either a newer driver or…Blain!
Gage frantically dialed the sheriff’s office again, but his call rolled to voicemail. He left a message and disconnected the line. Squinting through the windshield, he couldn’t see any sign of the SWAT team yet, which meant they must still be en route.
While he debated what to do, the driver’s door of the grain truck opened, and a man in coveralls hopped to the ground. The truck continued to roll forward.
Gage honked at the guy, trying to get his attention. He darted a glance over his shoulder at Gage, then quickly averted his face, but not before Gage got a decent look at him. As he’d feared, it was the elusive Blain Stratten. He wasn’t in the wind after all.
Gage had two choices — to chase after Blain or to keep the animal rescue sanctuary from being bulldozed down by an unmanned semi-truck. It was an easy choice.
He gunned his motor to pull alongside the semi. Then he braked hard and leaped to the ground, jogging around the Bronco to hop on the truck’s running board. He jiggled the door handle and discovered it was locked.
That figures.
He quickly shrugged out of his flannel shirt and wadded it over his fist so he could punch out the truck window. Opening the door from the inside, he hastily brushed the glass shards off the seat as he climbed into the cab. It lurched forward over a pothole, rolling ever nearer to its intended destination.
He wasn’t surprised to find a cinder block resting on the gas pedal. He kicked it aside and jammed on the brake. Hard.
The truck skidded forward in the gravel, eating up the remaining short distance between him and the sanctuary.
“Please, Lord, help me stop in time.” Gage couldn't change the course of the grain truck, since the steering wheel was jammed into place. All he could do was keep the brake pedal jammed to the floor.
By some miracle, he brought the truck to a stop before the hood crashed through the porch columns. Turning off the motor, he jumped to the ground and glanced wildly across the road and fields behind him, but Blain was gone. Turning back to the sanctuary, he discovered that the nose of the truck was only a hair’s distance from the porch columns.
Thank you, Lord!
As the SWAT team sirens sounded behind Gage, his nose picked up on the combined scent of gasoline and smoke. As he sniffed the air, the scent grew stronger. Bending to peer under the truck, he discovered a trail of gasoline drops on the ground. All it would take was a single spark to send the grain truck up in flames. To his horror, a whirl of smoke appeared above the open grain container.
Blain hadn’t just planned on mowing down the sanctuary, he’d turned the grain truck into a bomb. Despite the fact that his own sister was inside, he was planning on blowing the place up!
Gage stood and sprinted across the porch of the sanctuary to fling the door open. “We need to evacuate everyone! Now!”
Ella glanced his way in astonishment. Then she leaped into motion, yanking open animal cages. Cassie did the same.
“There’s no time for that,” he shouted. “The whole place is going to blow up.”
Cassie gave him a despairing nod and disappeared into the adjoining stable.
“We can’t just leave them!” Ella continued to yank open the cage doors. A middle-aged woman in a too-tight skirt and heels, who’d been holding the leash of a Golden Doodle, dropped the leash and dashed for the back door.
“I’ve got her.” Johnny took off after Cora Stratten.
“Come on!” Gage tried to hurry Ella along, but she ducked beneath his arm and continued setting the animals free.
“Almost done,” she panted.
Seeing the determined set to her features, he helped her pull open the last few cage doors and herd the terrified animals toward the rear of the building.
Jordan’s horse, Western Storm, was trumpeting in terror inside the riding ring out back. Cassie was trying to calm him.
“Keep moving,” Gage hollered, pulling open the gate. The animals flooded into the side pasture and scattered in all directions.
Ella bent to pick up a wounded puppy that was limping along at a slower pace.
Gage swooped in behind her and scooped them both up without breaking stride. “Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!” His shouts spurned the animals to run faster.
Seconds later, an explosion rocked the ground beneath them. A scorching flume of heat wafted over them from behind. A second explosion sent him to his knees with Ella and the puppy. He shielded them as well as he could with his body.
It was like a war zone with all the barking, screaming, and mini fires igniting everywhere the burning ashes hit the ground. He squinted through the smoke, trying to get Johnny and Cassie in his sights, but it was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead of him.
The sprinkling of mini fires around them spread and billowed into bigger fires.
More sirens sounded in the distance. Gage pushed to his feet and scooped up Ella and the puppy again. Their best chance of survival would be submerging themselves in the lake. He just needed to get there before their path was cut off by the fire.
He plodded through the smoke, with his eyes and lungs burning, using his inner compass to keep them headed in the right direction. It felt like hours, though it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, before his feet splashed into the shallow water at the lake’s edge.
He waded deeper with Ella clasped tightly in his arms.
“We made it,” she sobbed, burying her face against his chest. The puppy in her arms whimpered in relief and lapped at the water.
“Yeah, baby, we made it.” He kissed the top of her head.
They stood there coughing, laughing, and weeping until help arrived.