Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Lovell navigated Daphne’s car around the top of the lake, stopping several times by the lodge as skiers crossed the road, ignoring the two pedestrian bridges built for their safety.
“Do you ski?” he asked idly as three young men carrying snowboards passed in front of them.
“Occasionally. Living in Europe, it’s hard not to, but it’s not my favorite. You?”
“It wasn’t a possibility growing up. Then the military didn’t require it either.
We did some cold-weather ops, but still usually walking or snowshoeing.
When I moved here, I decided that while there are a lot of things I’m willing to learn as an adult, skiing isn’t one of them.
Too damn cold. And if you say I need to dress warmer, that’s a lie. ”
Daphne chuckled. “The first time I saw you, you were jogging down the street in running tights, a lightweight athletic jacket, and a hat. Don’t tell me you get cold skiing.”
“Too much wind and way more time sitting around on lifts than running. Besides, if it gets too cold when running, there’s usually a store or café I can duck into within a few minutes. I’m not stuck at the top of a mountain.”
“Fair,” she said with a smile in her voice. “You know the way to Asher and Ellie’s house?”
He nodded. They’d agreed to meet Ryan and Ava at Ryan’s cousin’s home. Asher and his movie-star wife, Ellie, were hosting a Warwick sledding day, and the entire family, including in-laws, were gathering at the compound. Lovell wasn’t sure how many people there’d be, but he’d guess close to fifty.
“Did Ryan give any indication of what updates they had?” she asked.
“Only that Weeks was being tight-lipped. Don’t know if that means he’s said nothing or just hasn’t said a lot.”
He glanced at his passenger as he turned onto the main road heading south.
He still couldn’t quite believe what had passed between them in the last twelve hours.
And he had no idea where he stood in her life, if anywhere.
He didn’t think it was a one-night thing, but she could be thinking of it as “while we’re locked up in the cabin together” kind of thing.
The lack of clarity sat uneasily on his shoulders, but after less than a day, forcing her to name or define it didn’t seem like the right move.
Especially not when he didn’t have an easy answer himself.
It was more than a one-night thing for him, for certain.
But was it more than the time they had in the cabin?
He hadn’t been in a real relationship since Daisy, but Daphne was nothing like his ex-wife, so his hesitation didn’t stem from that. And yet he did feel hesitant.
“You’re thinking awfully hard over there,” Daphne said.
He was. Probably too hard. Also a first for him. “Just lost in thought,” he replied, turning left at the last light in town. The icy lake came into view as they crested a small hill.
“Can people snowmobile on the lake?” Daphne asked.
He shook his head. “Every year, a couple of kids try, but it’s too big and the winds keep the water churning. Besides, it’s cold here, but we’re not like North Dakota- or Minnesota-cold.” He turned right onto Asher and Ellie’s street.
“Have you met Ellie?” he asked. It would make sense if she had. She might even know Cody Warwick, another of Ryan’s cousins who was also a famous country singer.
Because knowing famous people was the life she lived. The life she used to live. Now she seemed content with her apartment in Paris and writing.
“I met her years ago,” Daphne said. “Her breakout year, when she won her first Oscar. But I wouldn’t say I know her. We were at a few red-carpet events and a party or two.”
“Do you miss that world?” he asked as the gate to the property appeared at the end of the road.
A sardonic laugh filled the cab. “Not in the least. I loved it, it gave me what I needed: money, escape, and eventually, when I got big enough, autonomy. But it was only ever that, a way out. Maybe that’s why I was so good at it—I didn’t get emotionally attached to much of anything.
It was never something I was, just something I did. Does that make any sense?”
He nodded, pulling up to the gate. “It does, but I can’t imagine it was as easy as that,” he said, punching the intercom button.
“It definitely wasn’t easy, but it’s easier to do hard things when you’re not emotionally invested in them.
They’d ask me to lose weight, and I’d lose weight.
I wouldn’t pout and take it personally. They’d make me the anchor of a show or put me on the cover of some famous magazine, and I wouldn’t gloat or pull any prima donna bullshit.
It was a job. And I think photographers and industry people appreciated that approach.
And when they like working with you, the more jobs you’re offered. ”
“And more jobs means more exposure and more exposure means climbing the ladder of superstardom,” he said as the intercom crackled to life.
“Come on in,” Ryan’s voice came through as the wrought iron gates began opening. “Find parking wherever you can and head to the main house. I’ll meet you there.”
“Roger that,” Lovell replied, easing the car forward once the gates were fully open.
“It wasn’t quite as smooth as that,” Daphne responded. “There was a fair bit of luck at play, too. But yeah, that’s basically how it worked for me. It’s a different world now, though. Not sure that approach would work anymore.”
They rounded a bend, and the conversation stopped as they eyed the number of trucks and cars parked in front of the large house. With no one in sight, he assumed the sledding hill lay on the other side of the property.
“Maybe I’ll just park here,” he said, pulling into a spot beside the last car in the row. “It will be a little bit of a walk.”
“But not much of one,” Daphne said, grabbing her coat and winter gear.
Five minutes later, they were stomping snow from their boots on Ellie and Asher’s porch as Ryan welcomed them in. “Everyone is outside, but Ava is on her way in. Mantis, too. I assume you have no problem with that?”
Both he and Daphne shook their heads as they added their coats to the hooks hanging in the hall beside the door.
“Coffee? Tea?” Ryan asked, leading them through a large room that ran from the front of the house to the back.
Two massive stone fireplaces anchored the side walls, one by the dining table toward the front of the house and the other at the center of the family room area that, despite its size, appeared cozy and inviting.
In true cabin style, beamed ceilings soared above them, and a wall of windows looked out onto the lake from the family room.
Unlike many houses in the area, this one sprawled across a large single level rather than two.
Mantis had mentioned they’d designed it so that the main room served as a sort of meeting place between the two other wings—one a private wing with the family bedrooms and the other side for guests and work life.
“Coffee would be good if it’s easy,” Daphne replied.
“Same,” he added.
“Easy enough,” Ryan said, detouring into the kitchen. As Ryan poured two mugs, Mantis and Ava came stomping into a mudroom to their right.
“Oh, good, fresh coffee,” Ava said, stepping into the kitchen, her cheeks flushed from the cold. Mantis followed, giving them both nods before making a beeline to the pot.
A few minutes later, they were all seated in what looked like Asher’s home office, judging by the number of pictures of Ellie and their twins. As a pediatric oncologist, he had an office at the hospital as well, but Lovell assumed he probably consulted from home every now and then.
“What can you tell us?” Daphne asked.
Ryan huffed. “Weeks isn’t talking much. He asked for a lawyer and is being assigned one, but that won’t happen until tomorrow.”
“Has he said anything?” Lovell asked.
“Only to protest his innocence. Said he was only out for a stroll last night and didn’t know he wandered onto private property,” Ryan replied.
Ava snorted. “He did go a little pale when I played the recording from Daphne’s phone taken during the kidnapping,” Ryan continued.
“He got pretty twitchy after that, and that’s when he demanded a lawyer.
” He paused and took a sip of his drink.
“We also collected CCTV from Maggie’s,” he said.
“We’ll use it to corroborate your statement, Daphne, about Weeks and Beeker’s presence in the diner.
And with the information you provided about their trip into town the night they kidnapped you, we were able to find them on camera at the Boom.
They pulled into the parking lot at five minutes after nine, grabbed takeout, sent the text to Lovell—which aligns with the timing we have—then left in the stolen Volvo. ”
“No confessions, but lots of evidence to back up the events as we know them,” Daphne said. Ryan nodded.
“Did he have a cell phone?” Lovell asked.
Again, Ryan nodded. “He did. It had one number on it. The same northern New Jersey one Beeker had in his phone. Weeks’s calls didn’t start until after Beeker died, so we think Beeker was the primary coordinator, but Weeks took over after he killed Beeker.
Oh, and we’re also running ballistics on the bullet meant for you that we found in the tree,” he nodded to Lovell, “and the one found in Beeker. We should have those results Tuesday.”
“Anything else?” Lovell asked.
“We found the Volvo and are testing it for trace evidence. Once we have that collected, we’ll run the DNA. It will show that Daphne was in the back while Weeks and Beeker were in the front,” Ryan answered.
“All good evidence to support the claim they came after me, then Daphne, but is there anything that ties this back to who hired them?” Lovell asked.
Ryan’s lips thinned. “Nothing definitive.”
Lovell flickered his gaze to Ava, catching Mantis’s concerned look as he did. “Ava? You have anything?”