37. Adele #2
“Then I’ll go pick one up,” he said, pulling up a chair and handing me a bottle of hot sauce.
I’d broken the news about my pregnancy twelve hours ago, and he was already catering to my pregnancy cravings.
I doused my breakfast and brought Finn up to speed.
He knew a lot of the details, but Parker and I filled in the gaps.
“So the damage to the slack adjusters is not the same?”
“Correct, but it’s similar. The person who did it must have known how my dad’s truck had been sabotaged and did something similar to Henri’s truck.
” I was zooming in on photos I’d taken with my phone to point out the subtle differences.
“It worked. The brakes didn’t adjust as they should have and he lost control.
But he jumped out in time. He ended up with serious injuries, but if he hadn’t rolled out the driver’s side door when he did, we would have lost him too. ”
Parker had raided my junk drawer for a pen and a notepad, and she was sketching out the basics of what we knew. Finn had already gone through a pot of coffee as we walked him through the evidence.
“And we’re sure my dad had nothing to do with this?” he asked.
“We don’t know,” Parker said gently.
Over the last hour, she’d begun to warm up to him. It helped that he’d made French toast—which she slathered in butter and maple syrup—after the scrambled eggs hadn’t done the trick.
“We know that Norman, a.k.a. Stinger, was working for your dad,” she said.
“He gave up all kinds of information. But on the day of Henri’s accident, he was in Florida.
The FBI has records to prove it. So the question becomes, who else was there, and who else knew about the slack adjuster damage to my dad’s truck? ”
“Henri had been digging through my dad’s old files,” I explained further.
“Before he died, my dad had been acting strange. Taking home a lot of old paperwork and maps. Some of the documents were written in French. My mom said he was distracted and upset. We know now he’d discovered some of the details of the drug trafficking operation. ”
“Which made him a target,” Finn said, burying his face in his hands.
“And we know Frank was fighting with Richard before he died,” Parker said.
“What?”
My stomach lurched. No way. Richard and my dad had always been tight.
He was Paz’s godfather, for Christ’s sake.
Personally, I didn’t care for the man. He was a sexist pain in the ass, but I’d never questioned his loyalty to my dad or the company.
Henri trusted him. My mom trusted him. It wasn’t possible.
“Sorry,” Parker said, twisting her napkin in her hands. “It was something I discovered while I was investigating. Weeks before your dad died, he and Richard had a semi-public argument at the Moose.”
“The Moose? Richard doesn’t drink. He doesn’t go out in town. He probably hasn’t stepped foot in there in twenty years.”
“Jim saw the whole thing. There were other witnesses too. They corroborated Jim’s story. The FBI is aware, but we don’t know if it’s connected. Either way, it struck me as odd.”
“My dad told me that there are other people in Lovewell who were involved. People we wouldn’t expect,” Finn added.
“Your dad?” I said, swallowing back the bile rising up in my throat.
Finn dropped his focus to the table in front of him and shifted in his chair. “My brothers and I went to visit him a few weeks ago.”
It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. For weeks, Finn and I had been existing in this happy love bubble where we didn’t discuss his dad or what he had done. Mitch Hebert was a criminal and a killer, and I wanted him as far away from me and my child as possible.
But Finn had seen him recently? And he’d kept that information from me?
“What the fuck?” I barked, tremors racking my body. “You didn’t think to tell me that?”
Frowning, he shrugged. “I didn’t go because I wanted to. Trust me. But we needed some answers regarding the business. Owen is trying to sell, but we’re missing all kinds of information.”
I shook my head, hoping that this was some kind of hallucination or strange pregnancy dream. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. What did he say exactly?”
Finn stood and paced to the doorway and back. “Jude was asking him to cooperate with the feds, maybe get a deal. He said he wouldn’t because there were others involved, and that if he did, we would be in danger.”
My stomach dropped, and all the air left my lungs in a whoosh.
“He told me there were people in Lovewell who were involved. People we knew. And that I had to keep an eye out and protect the family.”
“That motherfucker,” Parker hissed.
“We’re having a child!” I shouted, slamming my fist on the table. “And this child is in danger because your father’s criminal accomplices are still running around out there?” I threw a hand out. “What the hell, Finn? How could you keep this from me?”
Silently, he looked from me to Parker and back again.
Parker had gone completely still, and I couldn’t tell whether she was going to throw up or stab him in the eye with a fork.
“I’m terrified too, okay? Is that what you want to hear?” he asked, his voice pleading. “When he told me, I didn’t want to believe him. In my mind, my dad is the big bad. He’s evil and manipulative and he’s always been a liar. So I didn’t give his warnings a lot of thought.
“But you’re right.” He ran a hand down his face. “I should have told you. It was wrong of me not to. I won’t keep information from you again. We’re a team.” He dropped into his chair and brought my hand to his lips.
“This is already hard enough,” I said softly. “We can’t keep secrets from each other.”
He hung his head. “I’m so sorry, She-Ra. But I’ll fix this.”
“We will fix it,” Parker said. “Adele, get your computer. Finn, get snacks.”
“No,” Finn said, sitting up straight. “Let’s go to the police. Or the FBI, or whoever. If my dad was telling the truth, then poking around could make things worse. I will not let either of you put yourselves in danger. Let’s work with the police, share what we know.”
I slapped both palms on the table and glared at him.
“I’ve been working with the police for years, Finn.
Newsflash, they haven’t done shit. The only reason your dad is behind bars is because of Parker.
I met with the local police and the state police.
I showed them the fucking brakes. Demanded to speak to supervisors and superior officers.
Every one of them insisted it was an accident. Some even questioned my sanity.”
“I’m so sorry that they wouldn’t listen, She-Ra. But now they’ve got my dad and twelve other people in custody. Surely one will start talking. Then they’ll move up the chain. Parker, help me out here.” He turned to my friend, his eyes pleading. “They always want to get the big fish, right?”
Parker sighed. “Yes and no. I can reach out to my FBI contacts and dig for more information. As far as I know, not much has been done about Henri. The accident wasn’t fatal, so that lowers its priority. And right now, they’re overwhelmed with the complexity of the trafficking investigation.”
I huffed. “That’s not giving me confidence.”
She shrugged. “Same. But it’s the best we can do right now.
While your trust in the law to get it right is sweet, Finn, it’s a bit na?ve.
I’m not saying we go full vigilante here.
” She pinned me with a glare. “But I think taking a fresh look and gathering as much information as we can is a good idea.”
“So what do we do?”
“This stays between us,” she insisted. “I’ll reach out and see what I can gather off the record. I’ll go through the files again. I’ve still got everything on my computer. I’ll go through the personnel records from the day of Henri’s accident again.”
“You.” She pointed at Finn. “See what you can find on your end. Other associates or friends of your dad. People connected to the business. Anyone who used to work for Hebert Timber who seems even remotely shady.”
“What about me?” I asked, desperate to do something. Sitting around, growing a baby and spiraling about every possible danger did not feel like a good use of my time.
“Go back to the brakes. Study them. Study the trucks. We’ve got to be missing something.”
After an hour of strategizing and a round of snacks, I walked Parker to the door.
She pulled me in for a tight hug and rubbed circles on my back. “I love you,” she said. “And so does Finn. I was wrong to judge him. He’s a good man, and he’s clearly head over heels in love with you. We’re going to get through all this shit and come out on the other side.”
With a smile, I contemplated my amazing friend and soon to be sister. “You think so?”
She patted my cheek. “I know it. We’re mamas on a mission, and no one is going to get in our way. You deserve all the good things, babe. Breaking this news will be tricky, but when you’re ready to do it, I’ll be by your side, ready to punch anyone who even looks at you wrong.”
She gave me one last hug and headed for her car.
“Now go snuggle up with your Viking. You deserve it.”