Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Nolen
I looked across the table at my friends. We were at the office, and because I refused to leave Vanessa alone even for a few minutes, she was forced to come in with me. Even with the restraining order in place, I didn't want to take the chance on Hannah or anyone else getting close to her.
"How the hell is it that we can't determine who this guy is?" I frustratingly asked my friends for what felt like the millionth time this week.
"You've run all known associates for Joel Daniels and Kyle Jones.
Vanessa has looked at every mug shot available to no avail.
You've run facial recognition on the camera footage but no hits as of yet.
I'm not sure what else we can do to determine the identity of her blackmailer.
" Maverick tried to calm me down, but it was pointless. I was too riled up.
Even Vanessa did her best to soothe me by grabbing my hand and interlocking our fingers.
"I just don't understand how this isn't fitting together. Is it possible these are two separate incidents?"
I looked over at Vanessa to see what she thought.
"I don't think so. Hannah specifically said Joel was looking for the information, and he was the one to attack me. I thought that meant Joel and this other person were working together, but I'm not so sure anymore."
Neither was I, and that was the problem. I didn't not like knowing where something was headed. There were too many variables and not enough information to back anything up.
"We still don't know who sent the dead rats a few weeks back either," Aaron piped up.
I had almost forgotten about that with everything else going on.
"We never did determine if it was for Valerie or Vanessa." Easton shrugged his shoulder. "I'm leaning toward you, Vanessa, just because of the whole don't-snitch thing and the dead flowers. Your blackmailer wouldn't want you saying anything to anyone about what was happening."
"And I never would've if they hadn't beat up Hannah. I would've gladly kept my mouth shut to protect her."
I had to bite on the inside of my cheek to keep me from saying what I wanted to which was that Hannah never deserved her sister’s loyalty.
Hannah deserved everything she got for what she put Vanessa through.
"Do we know why she was attacked?" Maverick asked the question that I hadn't even thought to ask.
"According to the police report, it was because she refused to share drugs she was having Joel sneak into the facility to her," Hendrix told the room.
Vanessa shook her head. "Unbelievable. All the money I spent on her, and she was still using even in rehab. I don't know how I could've missed it all these years."
"She didn't want you to see it," I reassured Vanessa so she didn't go down the rabbit hole of blaming herself again.
Even with everything Hannah had done, Vanessa still felt guilty because she was a good person.
"Deep down, I know that, but it still hurts. I guess it's going to take me awhile to get over what happened."
If she ever got over it at all. I knew Vanessa saw a therapist, so I made a mental note to check in with Vanessa that she was talking it over with the person.
"Maybe we need to go back to the beginning." Easton looked at each of us thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" I couldn't fathom what beginning he was referring to. So much had happened over the last few weeks. Hell, the last few months.
"I mean the way beginning, starting with when we came to town and had to help Kati with her issue," Easton clarified.
"You mean Alejandro Diaz. I thought he died in prison, and someone new took over?" Owen looked around the room for clarification.
"He did, but we can't discredit the fact that everything started with him, and it appears everything leads back to Los Cangris. I think it's at least worth us looking at him again."
It couldn't hurt. Nothing else made sense at this point.
"And the newspaper did report on him at the time," Maverick interjected.
"That's true. I'll start there." It was better than sitting around doing nothing.
"What about Jo? Shouldn't we warn her that someone might be after her now that her secret’s out." I tried to give Vanessa's hand a squeeze to tell her to stop talking, but I was too late.
"What secret about Jo?" Maverick's loud boom echoed off the walls.
Vanessa looked at me nervously, then whispered, "They don't know?"
I dropped my head and shook it no.
"Oh shit."
"Someone needs to tell me what fucking secret you're talking about right damn now," Maverick yelled again.
Well, this was about to be interesting. I sent up a silent apology to Jo for what I was about to do.
"Jo––Bee's granddaughter––is B. Feather. The person who writes for the newspaper and blog."
The entire room erupted in chaos.
Cursing, yelling, and a whole lot of fists banging against the table happened. I could understand everyone being pissed off because each of these people had been subjected to an article at some point since we've been here.
Except for Maverick. I couldn't even begin to fathom why he was pissed enough that he stomped out of the office.
"I'm so sorry," Vanessa apologized in a whisper.
"It's okay. You didn't know," I was quick to reassure her.
"Everyone's so mad, though. Maverick stormed out of here, and I've never seen him mad."
Yeah, that part was a little confusing.
"But no one is mad at you."
"I feel like I need to warn Jo." Vanessa chewed on her lip.
"I'll send her a text giving her a heads-up."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and shot off a quick text to Jo. I waited to see a read receipt because usually she was quick to respond.
"Huh."
"What's wrong?" Vanessa’s gaze snapped to mine.
"Nothing. Jo just usually responds quickly. She must be busy at the diner. I'm sure she will see it before any of the guys talk to her."
Vanessa didn't look as convinced, but she didn't argue either.
"Everything's going to be fine. I promise." I rubbed her arm up and down. "Jo won't be mad at you, and we're going to figure out who's behind everything. Just you wait and see."
"Thank you."
I gave her a crooked smile. "For what?"
"For being my rock throughout this. I love you, and I can't wait to see where life takes us."
"I love you, too, and it's going to be a great life. Just you wait and see."