Chapter 22
Link
Right before Nathan can show us what he’s found, I shake my head.
“No. Not here. We’re too exposed.” It’s pure luck that neither Phineas nor Preston have caught up with us. It wouldn’t be good to stick around and wait for them to get wiser.
Instead, we can check what they found back at the house. I’m hoping Phineas won’t lead Preston there. We’ll hide Nathan and pretend he isn’t there. Granted, it’s a lousy plan, but it’s the best plan I’ve got for the moment. Talking myself out of really crazy situations is a strong suit, or at least I like to think it is. Besides, I’m not fully convinced Nathan's evidence is as good as he says it is.
Either way, we’ll find out back at home. As we leave the cabin, Nathan locks the door behind us, and we return to the car. Nathan doesn’t seem very bothered by the turn of events.
“You’re a Thornton. Is there a reason you’re willing to turn against your own?” I meet his gaze in the rearview mirror, looking for any sign of deception. Someone like Nathan has to have a reason for flipping on the rest of his family the way he’s doing.
“Not everything Phineas said was a lie. I may have gotten a bit greedy and started skimming off of the top. If Phineas figured it out, I knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of my family figured it out. I didn’t intend to still be here when they did.”
My eyes narrow. Nathan makes a living of lying to people. Maybe I wouldn't be able to tell if he was lying to me, too.
“Why wouldn't you try to fix things or make the books a little better so it would be harder to tell what you were doing? Turning them over to the police, that's a lot for someone like you to shoulder.”
“Are you going to give the evidence to the police?” The calm demeanor in which he asks sets me on edge. I knew his quick cooperation might be too good to be true.
“What's that supposed to mean?” I ask, exchanging a look with Cassie.
“It's not too hard to figure out. Think about what would happen if the police came through and confiscated everything belonging to the Thornton family.”
“It would be more than just the Thornton family that would suffer,” Cassie says in a weak voice. “Think about it. They own a lot of the bigger businesses in town. They probably employ a good third of the town's workers directly or indirectly.”
“At least it looks like one of you understands what would happen.”
My heart sinks. They’re both right. A lot of people would suffer from the Thornton family coming out as a crime ring, responsible for stealing thousands from others and having all their assets seized. Many of them wouldn’t be able to find new jobs. There aren’t that many good opportunities in Pinecrest, and if they did find them, there would be a lot of competition.
Not to mention, many would be out of their retirement packages in some situations. It would devastate everyone.
“Now you’re getting it. Honestly, though, if you turn the evidence over to the cops, it’ll be a relief to have everything out in the open. People sometimes think this profession is glamorous and doesn’t come with any sort of difficulty when that couldn't be further from the truth.” He sighs as if he’s had the hardest life anyone could imagine. “It weighs on you after a while.”
Cassie and I look at each other at the same time. Somehow, I highly doubt someone like Nathan is now doing the right thing because he’s had a touch of conscience. Chances are, he was close to getting caught, so he’s trying to end up on the right side of the blowout.
I pull up to the house, and we all get out. Cassie and I watch Nathan carefully, eyeing him suspiciously. We don’t know what he’s up to, what his angle is. Bringing him home might have been the worst possible solution. I sigh. It’s already been done. Let’s just hope Phineas has a shred of decency and will come see me himself about Nathan instead of bringing Preston and his goons along with him.
Stopping in at the garage doorway after letting Nathan through, I reach out and take Cassie’s hand in mine, pulling her close before she has a chance to respond.
“I was thinking… maybe you want to get a hotel for a couple of nights until I figure out what to do with this guy.”
“Really?” She raises her eyebrows. “You’re trying to get rid of me?”
“No. I’m just worried about what might happen if Preston finds us with Nathan. He might hold us responsible for helping him escape.”
“No kidding?” For some reason, she’s still not taking this seriously.
“Yes, no kidding. Nathan could be trying to play us, and if one of us is going to be played and possibly killed by some ruthless mob head, I’d rather it be me.”
“Well,” Cassie says playfully, tilting her head, “I’m touched to know you’re so worried about me, but I’m not missing out on the action. If they come to mess with us, the alarm will be triggered, and the police will be here before they’re any the wiser.”
I shake my head.
“I don't know how competent the police are. And what if the Thorntons have paid them off?” At least from my own experience, they’re not all that helpful. Sometimes, they don’t respond until the situation is gone and done with. “There’s nothing I can say to make you reconsider?”
“No, Lincoln. Even though you decided to start making all sorts of decisions on your own, that doesn’t mean the rest of us forgot what it means to be working as a team. I’m not running away because it might be dangerous.”
I hold her gaze, my heart picking up pace for half a second. There’s so much I want to say to her, but it’s still not the time. Nathan is in my apartment, having his free reign of the place. He could be setting up hidden cameras, calling his accomplices, or any number of terrible things.
“All right then, we’ll do this together, and when we are done, then we’ll start putting this partnership back together, which looks like it needs some work.”
“You can say that again.” She smirks, then walks past me into the garage apartment. Nathan is pulling out a laptop, balancing it on the coffee table, and plugging in the sleek black drive he showed at the cabin.
“Looks like you made yourself at home.” I cross my arms over my chest. I don’t like visitors in my space, save for Cassie, that is.
“Figured I might as well. Do the two of you want to see some of my evidence against Phineas?”
“I think you know the answer to that.” I walk around the back of the couch and peer over his shoulder as he continues to move files, pull, and tweak things.
He pulls up several documents, which splash across the screen, each telling part of the story. There are spreadsheets showing the numbers, lists of investor names, bank account statements, bank account information, and banks overseas. It’s all there.
It floors me. Nathan had it all along. If I’d found him sooner… Relief is palpable as it floods my body. We just caught a whole crime ring!
“What do you have against Phineas?” I ask. I want to know exactly what he has that would make Phineas jump when he is told to.
He nods and pulls up a couple of video files of Phineas threatening a guy. There’s also a video of Phineas delivering a large quantity of money to a known money launderer. Bank statements tie Phineas to the Thornton family and so much more.
We have him! We have them all!
Cassie is the first one to speak. “So… Anita was right about the Thornton family running a Ponzi scheme with the TV show as a piece of their cover.”
“Yes.” Nathan smiles sheepishly. “It’s actually very successful and has been working for years. When Anita got close to exposing the family, Meridith went after her. I think Preston was involved as well. They spared no expense. Corey always said that when a rumor starts about a family, it’s over. No matter how great the scheme is, that crime family is about to get discovered.” Nathan sounds amused more than anything.
“What does it have to do with me?” Cassie sounds confused, and I don’t blame her. I’m not sure why, but it looks like the Thornton family had a part in getting her fired and ending her career when they decided she was a threat.
“Believe it or not, the operation is vast and has a lot of moving parts. We don’t pay attention to every one of them. But when Meredith got paranoid about Anita and saw she intended to talk to you, she asked me to look into it.”
“And? What did I have to do with anything?”
“Not a lot. Preston never gets involved with the public side of things. It makes it easier for him to run the underground bits—the threatening, gang-related tasks. You saw him in New York—there were some complications with the business, and Preston was there to clean them up. If you had told the wrong person he was there and how he was related to Corey, it could have caused a lot of suspicion. They got paranoid and got you blacklisted.”
Cassie looks like I could push her over with a feather. I hurry to her side and help her to one of the rickety chairs I stole from the dining room set.
“Here, sit down for a second.” I take a few more steps to grab some water from the fridge and press it into her hands. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. I guess.” She sounds miserable and won’t look me in the eye. It’s hard to tell what specifically was said to upset her. “I should have known more was going on behind the scenes. I grew up with a private investigator, after all. I just sat there and put on a smile and played the part like I was supposed to.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t stop thinking about what will happen to everyone when this all comes to light, and most of all, if it would have been easier if we figured it out sooner.”
“It’s not your fault. What matters now is what we do with the information.”
We’ll figure out how to handle it without causing too much hurt for the town… or at least I hope that’s even possible.
Cassie
The right thing. That's a more complicated concept than Lincoln even knows. What is the right thing? If we bring down the Thornton family under the law, would that be the right thing?
Putting a stop to them stealing money and padding their own pockets at the expense of others sure sounds like it. But when I start to think of all the people that will be affected, I shake my head. I'm pretty sure Quinn has family members with jobs in places owned by the Thorntons.
What will they do? Quinn doesn't make that much money working for the PI office. She won't be able to support everyone, and Quinn is just one example.
“Well, I'm beat." Nathan stands up and stretches his hands above his head. Lincoln looks like he wants to punch something but is managing to keep his anger under control. It's pretty easy to see that he doesn't like Nathan one bit.
"There's extra bedding in the closet. There, in the corner. You can take the floor," Lincoln says. "I'm keeping the bed."
Nathan grunts and stands up to get the things Lincoln mentioned.
I ignore him, too busy thinking about what we’re going to do. It’s a big, jumbled mess with lots of threads to untangle.
Nathan’s information is solid, and the evidence is foolproof.
Just like Nathan promised, there's plenty to take down the Thornton family and their associates. Once we get this into the right hands, we will have crippled a big part of the criminal community. I should feel good about that, right? So why do I feel like I just ate something rotten?
Lincoln takes a step forward and pulls me to my feet, pushing me into action.
"Are you feeling better?" His gentle and caring tone makes me feel even more unstable. He has that effect on me when he’s all sweet instead of bossing me around.
"Yeah, just a little overwhelmed." My skin burns where it makes contact with his. There's more than one thing I am overwhelmed by.
I haven't even slowed down to think about what his lies mean or what possible reason he could have behind them. I give his hand a light squeeze. No matter what comes of the truth, I still need to find out. I don't want this to change things between us. Ever since I came back home, he's been my rock and a good friend, even when I’m unwilling to admit it. Will all of that go away if we disagree on things? I'm not sure.
"Try to get some rest, and we'll talk about everything in the morning," Lincoln says.
It’s almost as if he can read my mind. He leans forward ever so slightly, and for a moment, I almost think he's going to kiss my forehead when something crashes to the ground. We both whip around to see Nathan has smashed a lamp by knocking it off its shelf. Great, he’s as clumsy as he is inconsiderate.
"That's it. Just go sit on the couch, and I'll get a place ready for you before you destroy everything I have," Lincoln grumbles as he steps away. I hold back a laugh. He’s going to have lots of fun babysitting Nathan.
"I'll see you in the morning, Cassie," he says with a wink, though I notice how tired he looks by the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and the way his shoulders slump.
Maybe this has all been more difficult on Lincoln than I thought. I’ve been focused on how his lies affect me and Quinn, our friendship, and our working relationship. How have they been affecting him?
I make my way through the door to the main house and up to my bedroom. Technically, staying in my dad's old room would be more comfortable. After all, it has a connecting bathroom and shower, but it would feel too weird.
I haven't even gotten around to clearing out the rest of his stuff. It feels like he still lives here sometimes. Or maybe I just want it to keep feeling that way.
Plopping down on the bed without changing, I stare at the ceiling. What to do about the Thorntons and Phineas? Will they let us just walk away with all of this information and turn them in? Phineas doesn’t like to lose.
He knows where we live. Maybe he’s too afraid to do anything to us; after all, we could release the evidence against him first and faster than he could get to us.
Nathan’s words haunt me. They say when a rumor starts about a family, it’s over.
Would it be too good to be true for him to be ready for it all to fall apart? He seems ready to let go. Maybe that was his plan all along. Choose to betray his family before they eventually were found out and lost everything anyway.
It was all under my nose the whole time. I just had no idea. My thoughts whirl as I think about the connections to my being blacklisted from the TV show and other parts. The secretary being jealous, someone else pulling strings to steal the spotlight…everything I thought was wrong.
Guilt tugs at my heart. How much of a part did I play in this whole mess just because I was blinded by my desire to be an actress?