Chapter 15
Tayla wished she’d plugged her ears. Or left the room.
But no, she’d just sat on the sofa when Leland, Knox, Jason, and Rowan watched the video on Gus’s phone.
They’d come back to the suite after demanding the phone from Frederick much sooner than she’d expected.
She wasn’t sure how they convinced him to simply hand it over. Or if that’s actually what happened. She decided she didn’t want to know the details.
They’d rushed in, plugged a charger into the phone, and started watching the video. She never moved from the sofa. She should’ve thought through what they were potentially viewing and retreated to the balcony.
She couldn’t see the screen from the sofa, and now, she was thankful for that, at least.
But the sound—the sound of Gus being killed—was disturbingly clear. Bile rose in her throat. She ran to her bathroom.
Turning on the faucet, she took several deep breaths and coaxed her stomach to resist reacting to the horrible sounds echoing in her mind.
A few minutes later, feeling less queasy, she returned to the living room.
Leland rushed to her. “Tayla, I’m so sorry. I was so focused on finally getting Gus’s phone, I didn’t think about—”
“It’s okay, Leland. I’m okay.” She glanced at Gus’s phone sitting on the dining table near one of Rowan’s laptops. “Tell me it was worth it. Did you learn anything? Do you know who killed him?”
Leland nodded, but didn’t elaborate.
Jason locked eyes with her. “It was the same guy who shot at us at the cottage. I had him. And we handed him over to the Morghana Police.”
Frustration rolled off him in waves. Her heart hurt for him. The shooter was released from the hospital a day ago. He could be out of the country. Realistically, she doubted they would ever find him. That wouldn’t sit well with any of them.
“But he wasn’t the one in charge, right? Didn’t you think someone hired him?”
Jason nodded. “Yeah. And there are two others in this video. Supposedly, if Frederick is to be believed, the two others are the appraiser and the guy who hired the appraiser.”
“Do you know who they are?”
Rowan raised a finger without looking up from his computer screen. “On it.”
Knox lifted his chin toward Rowan. “The kid is running some face recognition software.”
“I’m not a kid,” Rowan stated, eyes still glued to his screen.
Knox cocked his head. “You’re drinking Red Bull out of an Iron Man mug.”
“It’s my lucky mug.”
Jason studied Rowan’s screen. “How long do you think this will take?”
“I can’t answer that. It could take a while. I’ll run the images through several data bases until I get a hit.”
Jason’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I understand. Do what you need to do, but time is not on our side. We’re leaving for the pier in two hours.” He looked at Knox and Leland. “We need to be in place before anyone shows up tonight.”
They both nodded.
He held up his cell. “I’m going to check in with Eric.”
Jason walked out onto the balcony to make his call and everyone else busied themselves. Leland cleaned his gun. Knox made himself a snack. Rowan’s eyes never left his computer screen.
Tayla wished she could do something productive.
She made some tea—mostly to distract herself.
While it steeped, soothing peppermint aroma wafted to her senses, relaxing her.
Her head felt a little clearer. The guys could probably benefit from some peppermint tea as well.
But she knew better than to offer herbal tea.
Leland looked like he could eat nails right now. She wasn’t going to waste her time.
She glanced to the balcony window and noticed Jason had finished his call. He wasn’t heading inside, though. He leaned on the balcony railing, facing the ocean.
She understood the gravity of their plans tonight.
And she wouldn’t dare interrupt any preparations for that, but at the moment, they were in a waiting pattern.
And Jason was alone on the balcony. This might be the only opportunity to talk to him before .
. . well, before who-knows-what happens tonight. And she definitely wanted to talk.
He turned when she opened the door to the balcony. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said. “Am I intruding? Did you talk to Eric?”
“Yeah. You’re not intruding.” He gestured toward the ocean view. “Come look. It’s gorgeous today.”
He was right. The beach, the waves, and, in the distance, jungle, and cliffs—the view stole her breath.
“Wow. It’s gorgeous.” She pulled her long hair over her shoulder. “How do people live here? I mean, it would be amazing, but how would you ever get anything done? I’d be staring at this all the time.”
He nodded. And leaned on the railing again. “I’ve travelled a lot. I don’t think I’ve seen a more beautiful view.” His head turned to her. He opened his mouth and closed it again.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
She stood next to him, facing the ocean. “Look, Jason, I know this isn’t the best time for a personal conversation. I know you need to get ready soon, but please tell me one thing.”
He turned to her. “What’s wrong?”
She met his eyes, wanting to study his expression when she asked her question. “Did I say something wrong today? When we were exploring the rocks?”
“No. Not at all. Why?”
“You were almost a different person on the drive back to the hotel . . . very different from the Jason who asked me out an hour before. If I said something—”
He looked sad. And guilty. And maybe frustrated. “No. Tayla, no, you didn’t say or do anything.” He glanced inside.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “This isn’t appropriate timing. We can talk later. Tomorrow, maybe?”
He nodded, but she saw pain in his eyes. “We’ll talk more later, but Tayla,” he placed his hand over hers on the railing, “I want you to know . . .”
A mix of emotions stirred in his expression. He finally sighed and slipped his hand off hers. “I guess I need to process my thoughts.”
“It’s fine. You have more pressing things to focus on. I really do understand that. I wish there was a way I could help tonight. If there’s anything I can do—”
He smiled. “Thanks. But no. Just keep the door bolted and stay safe. And we could use some extra prayers.”
“I’ll be praying. You can count on that.”
His smile faded. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like you did anything wrong earlier. I apologize for the mixed signals. We’ll talk more after this is over, okay?”
“Of course. That sounds good. And please be careful tonight.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “We will.” He glanced inside the suite again. “I need to update everyone on Eric’s call. Come sit in. You’ll want to hear part of it.”
A minute later, she reclaimed her cup of tea and her spot on the sofa to listen to Jason’s updates.
“Eric’s on his way,” Jason exchanged a brief look with Leland that she wished she understood.
“He’s going to oversee the transport of Gus’s body back to the states.
There’s not a lot he can do, but I think it’s about optics.
He wants Gus’s family to feel like WhiteRock is doing everything we can to take care of Gus.
I think Gus had two sisters and a brother? ”
He looked to Leland for confirmation.
Leland nodded. “Anna, Mary, and Hal. Gus was the oldest. His wife passed away four years ago. No kids.”
The look on Leland’s face broke her heart. He’d lost a good friend. She wished she knew the best way to comfort him.
Leland’s wife died in the same car accident as her parents.
She knew he was hurting then, but she was young and so full of her own grief.
She never knew what to say to him back then.
But he didn’t seem to want to talk. That’s when they started going to Astros games together.
She still marveled at how much it comforted her to just sit next to Leland for nine innings during those days.
It’s not like they discussed grief and loss—or any feelings, for that matter. But just being together—eating hot dogs and drinking Dr. Pepper—made her feel less alone. Less afraid of the future. He never voiced it, but she suspected it helped him some too.
And now he’d lost a good friend. She wasn’t sure sitting through a few baseball games would help him process his grief for Gus, but she promised herself she would do what she could to be there for him.
Jason’s voiced pulled her back into the conversation. “Rowan, any hits yet on the face recognition search?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, keep at it. And you’ll keep an eye on us tonight.” He pointed to Rowan’s laptops. “I’ll have the sat phone with me for emergencies, but texting from the sat is slow. So, don’t wait for an order from me, go ahead and run face recognition on anyone who looks like they’re in charge.”
“Got it,” Rowan said, and started gulping from his Iron Man mug. Which was apparently lucky for some reason. She made a mental note to ask about that later.
“Eric will be here in a few hours,” Jason continued. “He’ll probably arrive after we leave. Give him an update. We’ll be back as soon as we can, but it will be late. I’ll call you on the sat when it’s safe to do so.”
He pointed at the laptops again. “Tayla can help you monitor the camera feeds. Hopefully, all the cameras will be working.”
She was very pleased Jason told Rowan she could help. Because, whether she was invited to or not, she would be watching the cameras. And praying. A lot.
Jason brushed away some smaller pebbles to make his spot on the ground a little more comfortable. He leaned against a large rock, well-hidden in the cliffs surrounding Rock Point Pier.
“Leland’s forty yards, due south of us,” Knox said from his hiding spot, about eight feet away.
Jason peered around the rock with his binoculars. “I see him.”
“I know you wanted the three of us spread out more. I could—”
“No. It’s fine. There’s not a third spot with sufficient cover. Just stay here.”
Knox shrugged and started unwrapping something. “You’re the boss.”
“What are you doing?”
Knox crumpled up the wrapper and stuffed it in his backpack, holding up a protein bar for Jason to see. “Eating. No one’s here yet.” He took a bite. “Taking this opportunity to carb up. Might get exciting tonight,” he said, with his mouth half-full.
“Alright, just don’t do that when they start showing up. Your wrapper is crazy loud.”
Knox smiled. “No problem.” He finished off the bar in three more bites and brushed the crumbs off his pants. “So, hey, about Tayla . . . “
Oh, no. “What about her?”
“There was a weird vibe between you two this afternoon. Did you do something stupid?”
“Why would you automatically assume that?”
Knox shrugged. “I don’t know.” He brushed more crumbs off his shirt. “So did you?”
Jason leaned his head against the rock and sighed. “The only stupid thing I did was let myself think this was a good idea.”
“What are you talking about? You—”
“No. Drop it. Nothing should have happened and nothing more is going to happen. Just drop it.”
Knox was quiet for thirty whole seconds. “You think you don’t deserve her because of how Leah died.”
Jason’s head snapped up. “What? Are you my therapist now?”
“Yes.” He hung his binoculars around his neck. “Am I right? This is about Leah?”
Jason didn’t like this conversation. Scratch that.
He hated this conversation. If it was with anyone else in the world besides Knox, he’d not-so-politely tell him to shut up and stay out of his business.
But it was Knox. So he would tell him to shut up politely.
“You’re not wrong. But that doesn’t change anything. We’re not discussing this.”
Another thirty seconds passed.
“That’s dumb,” said Knox.
“What?”
“If you think you don’t deserve Tayla because you made some mistake with Leah, that’s just flat out dumb.
Leah’s death wasn’t your fault. And if God brings someone like Tayla into your life, and you push her away because of your misplaced guilt, aren’t you saying your plan for your life is better than what God is offering? ”
Jason couldn’t even respond at first. Knox was derailing his logic train. And this wasn’t the time.
“I can’t process all that right now. We need to watch the road. We’ll have company soon.”
“Understood.” There was no denying the smile in his voice. He rolled to his stomach and pointed his binoculars toward the road. “Tonight might be fun.”
Jason shook his head. Massaged the tightness in his neck. And refocused on the road.