Chapter 18
By the time Micah made it to the safe house Thursday morning, he expected the women to be dressed and going stir-crazy, but they were all in the pajamas Clover had picked out and drinking coffee around the island top, looking rested.
Then it hit him—of course they were rested. This was probably the first good night’s sleep they’d had in a while with no threat hanging over them.
“Where’s Clover?” Ilena asked.
“Had to stop by one of her jobsites this morning, but she’ll be over on her lunch break.” He wished she was there now, but only because he wanted to see her, breathe her in. Because he was obsessed and at this point he was sick of hiding it. “How are you guys doing?”
“Okay,” Ilena said, clearly the spokesperson for them.
He nodded as he leaned against the countertop across from them.
“You’re safe for now. If you don’t mind me just jumping into things,” he said to Maeve, “I dug into your finances—your parents’ spending of your trust. They’re definitely abusing the trust, which is going to help you get out of the conservatorship.
But more than that, you’re going to need to reach out to friends and ask them for letters stating that you’re not mentally unfit. ”
“I haven’t talked to any of my real friends in years. My parents moved us away to Sanctuary Falls right after my twenty-first birthday.”
Yeah, he’d seen that from his research. It had been a few years since she would have talked to her friends.
“You’ll need to reach out to the ones you were closest to anyway.
I can get phone numbers or contact info for almost anyone if I have their details.
But you have to make sure they don’t tell anyone you’re in contact. ”
“Why are you helping us?” Maeve watched him cautiously. “If I ever get access to my money, I’ll pay you, obviously, but—”
“I don’t want or need your money. I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do.”
“You’re doing it for Clover,” Ilena said, her expression knowing.
And screw it, he had no reason to deny it. “Pretty much.” Though if someone had told him about Maeve’s situation, he would have looked into it—and helped her. “But it’s still the right thing.”
To his surprise, Ilena grinned. “I knew you were into her.”
“It’s so obvious,” Taryn murmured, her grin a mirror to her sister’s.
Or half-sister, as he’d discovered last night in his research of Ilena.
She hadn’t shown up in his first round of information hunting, but once he’d had Taryn’s name, it had been easy enough to find out they’d had different mothers, but the same father.
And he hadn’t been on either of their birth certificates, which was why Micah hadn’t found their link the first time.
“You really think you can help us?” Maeve asked, her tone skeptical.
“I do. First we need to build a case against your parents while you hide out. If we get the proof you said you have—”
“I do. It’s hidden in the attic, somewhere they never go.
The recordings are damning. And they don’t know I even have them.
I was walking around the property, trying to figure out a way to escape, when I was kidnapped by armed men in a van.
” Her expression changed as she shook her head. “It was insane.”
Truth was stranger than fiction. “From my brief research into conservatorships, it seems that a judge has a lot of leeway and discretion, so if you have enough proof against not only your parents, but anyone else involved in keeping you hostage, essentially, it’ll go a long way with a judge.
If there’s anyone who works at the estate you think will testify on your behalf, I need their names. ”
She nodded, hope flickering in her eyes. “One of the landscapers and the chef. Her name is Eunice. I think they’d both testify for me. I see their looks… I don’t think they trust my parents. And I know for a fact that Eunice refuses to put drugs or anything in my food that I’m not aware of.”
“Good.” He was going to need more details, need Maeve to write down or type out everything and anything they could use against her parents. He turned to Ilena. “We’ve got a different battle with you, but with the right lawyer, you won’t do any time.”
“She was a victim too,” Maeve snapped.
“I know that. We just have to make sure the Feds know and believe it. The best way to convince them is to give them everything possible on Mosker. And anyone he works with. From my research into him, he’s working for someone.
” He let that hang in the air as he watched Ilena.
Because he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think Mosker was smart enough to set up a coordinated kidnapping the way Maeve had been taken.
It had been way too organized.
For a moment he thought Ilena would deny it, but then she nodded.
“I can’t be totally sure, but yeah, I think someone is picking out the victims for him and doing the actual kidnapping.
He’s not smart enough to set up everything for the kidnappings I’m aware of.
From what I know, someone rents out places in rural areas.
The kind of places that if a victim manages to escape, they won’t be able to find help easily.
Then Troy is in charge of keeping them alive until the payoff.
I don’t know this a hundred percent, but…
I’ve heard enough of his phone calls that someone else is calling the shots. He absolutely has a boss.”
He took notes as she spoke. As she relayed some of Mosker’s jobs, it was clear she was surprised by how much she knew, how much she remembered.
He wasn’t though. People often catalogued things without realizing it. The human brain was an incredible thing.
After talking with Ilena and Maeve for two hours, he glanced at his phone even though he would have heard an incoming text or call.
Nothing from Clover. And she should have been here by now.
“Go call her,” Ilena said, her expression knowing. When he frowned, she shrugged. “What? You said she’d be here on her lunch break and it’s lunch. And she’s not here.”
He couldn’t get her on the phone, and even though he told himself to calm the hell down, it was difficult where Clover was concerned.
After calling and texting a couple more times, he did something he swore he wouldn’t do. Violated her privacy.
He would tell her about this later, so he didn’t think it counted as a violation. After checking her phone’s location, he saw that yep, she was at the jobsite. She was probably busy, got involved in something and forgot her phone.
But he couldn’t convince himself of that. Not with everything going on.
So he hacked into the cameras at her jobsite… And couldn’t breathe for a moment as he stared at the live feed.
Head down, Clover was flanked on either side by FBI agents and being walked to the back of an SUV.
A handful of the men who worked for Storm Construction were clearly arguing with the agents and being told to back off, based on their body language.
Hell. No.
“I’ve got to go.” He grabbed his bag without waiting for a response. “Do not go anywhere and don’t let anyone in.” The women probably responded, but he didn’t hear anything as he hurried to the garage.
Everything around him funneled out as the strongest protective instinct he’d ever known swelled up.
He was calling Clover’s brother Nick before he’d pulled out of the driveway.
“Hey—”
“The FBI has Clover,” Micah said. I think they’re taking her to the sheriff’s station. Call Sinead Goode and get her down there now.”
“What… Never mind. Thank you.” The call ended.
Five minutes later Nick called back, and even though Micah knew Clover’s brother was likely pissed, he answered. “Yeah.”
“Sinead is en route now, should be there in ten minutes. We’re lucky she’s local today.”
The vise around Micah’s chest eased a fraction even as he skated through a yellow light. “Good. I’m on my way too.” And he should arrive there before Goode, but wasn’t sure if he should go in or not.
Even as he had the thought, he knew he shouldn’t. And as a kernel of a plan formed in his mind, Nick’s angry voice cut through his thoughts. “Why the hell is my sister being questioned by the FBI? What have you dragged her into?”
“I can’t tell you,” he said, earning an angry growl. “You need plausible deniability.” He hung up before Nick could respond with another growl.
Because really, they were just wasting time. He sent the man to voicemail when he called back again, then dialed Krystal.
“Hey.” She answered on the first ring, her voice low. “Are you calling about Clover?”
“Yes. Her lawyer is on the way,” he said, assuming Krystal knew even more than him at this point. “Are they charging her?”
Krystal was quiet for a long moment, then he heard a door shut and things got even quieter. “I don’t think so. I don’t think they have enough for that, but they’ve got questions.”
If they had questions, he figured they’d seen her on camera talking to Ilena at that gas station diner—because that was the only reason he could think why they’d brought her in. And they’d moved a hell of a lot faster than he’d imagined.
He hated playing catch-up, hating that he should have seen this coming, should have insisted she not go to work today. “I’m going to call her lawyer but first I needed to ask if you’ll help me with something.”
His sister sighed. “I should say no, but…whatever you need, I’ve got you.”