Chapter Fifteen Jack Angelhart
Chapter Fifteen
Jack Angelhart
Jack stepped through his mother’s front door with an overnight bag slung over his shoulder—and stopped cold.
Aunt Rita. Uncle Tom. Uncle Rafe. His mom. All seated around the dining room table, silent.
His family wasn’t the silent type.
His mom was the oldest of seven children. His Uncle Mateo had died when Jack was young, and two of his aunts had moved out
of state before Jack was out of high school, but Jack had grown up surrounded by uncles, aunts, cousins. They threw parties
for everything—birthdays, anniversaries, random Tuesdays if no one had hosted in a while. But now, no one was smiling. Only
Uncle Rafe looked up and gave him a tired nod. “Hello, Jack.”
Jack pulled out a chair and sat. “Do we know anything about Dad?”
Rita shook her head. “Ava and I are on a late-morning flight to Colorado and I have a meeting with the assistant warden in
the afternoon.”
“Good,” he said. “And Quincy confirmed?”
“Yes,” his mom said, “but do you think that’s really necessary?”
“I’m not rehashing this, Mom.”
She didn’t argue.
“I talked to Margo,” he said. “Georgia gave them a few threads to pull. In a nutshell, she knew that Dr. Klein was looking
into the trial because of missing data, but she remained silent.”
“Because if she started asking questions, she might have been dead too,” his mom said.
“She had a name. Neurovantix was the company running the trial, and Willa Blankenship was their on-site person.”
His mom shook her head. “I don’t recognize the names.”
“Would Dad?”
“Maybe. I don’t want to keep explaining why we made the decisions we did, Jack,” his mother said, weary. “Right or wrong,
we did it to protect all of you.”
“They also ID’d Nadine Pierce. She’s a VA doctor in Austin. Ring any bells?”
Nothing.
“She went to U of A with Dad. They knew each other. She graduated before you got there.”
Recognition dawned slowly in her eyes.
“Naddy? I knew of a Nadine Wallentine, but . . . oh.”
“You knew her,” he said flatly. “It’s not like Nadine is a common name, and you didn’t think about this old ‘friend’ of Dad’s?”
He was trying not to be angry with his mom, but these secrets were mounting up. Secrets he never believed his parents would
keep from them.
“I never met her, but yes, of course I knew her. She and your father were involved before we met. He called her ‘Naddy.’ ”
Her smile was faint and tired. “Get those looks off your faces. Yes, Cooper loved someone before me. It didn’t work out. And
no—Cooper would never betray our marriage.”
“Never,” Uncle Rafe said quietly.
Coming from a priest, as well as his dad’s confessor, meant something a bit more. But Jack didn’t need the reassurance. Neither
did his mother. Cooper loved his family, and had always treated his wife with the utmost love and respect. He’d put her on
a pedestal and everyone saw it.
Cooper had been Jack’s hero. His compass. His role model in all things from relationships to ethics to community service.
Until he confessed to murder.
That moment had fractured something in Jack. His head—the trained, skeptical, rational cop brain—told him it might be true.
That his dad might be a killer.
His heart refused to believe it.
Now, for the first time, both parts of him were in full agreement: His father was innocent. And in danger.
He glanced around the table again.
Rita still held his mom’s hand. His mother looked pale, fragile. Tom clutched his mug of coffee like a lifeline. Rafe’s fingers
worked methodically along his rosary beads, silent, steady.
They were scared. So was Jack. Everyone was at risk. But Jack wasn’t going to let fear stop them from finding the truth.
“Are Pop and Abuela settled into Logan’s resort?” he asked.
Tom nodded. “Josie took them, talked to the security at the resort, and she’ll check on them regularly. She gave them a lecture.”
Jack almost smiled. He could just see how former judge Pop and stubborn Abuela would take a lecture from their granddaughter.
But they would listen, and be smart.
Having his grandparents safe was one less vulnerability.
Tom continued. “Josie asked Phoenix PD to make frequent drive-bys to everyone in the family. My restaurant, our homes, even
the Orozcos’. But do you think that’s really necessary?”
“I think,” Jack said cautiously, “the immediate family could be at risk. But mostly, Dad. Because he must know something they don’t want him to tell.”
“Or,” Uncle Rafe said, “consider what Cooper’s confession did.”
“I don’t understand,” Jack said.
“Cooper was threatened, and he confessed to a murder he didn’t commit to protect his family,” Rafe said. “Yet, he was also
framed, correct? Someone put the weapon in his car. Perhaps they needed someone to take the blame so that the police didn’t
look more closely at the drug trial. Because if there were a more thorough investigation, they may have started asking questions
people wanted to avoid.”
It was a smart, reasonable theory. Jack nodded. “And if the case against Dad falls apart, people might start looking at other
motives for the murder.”
He saw the flash of raw fear on his mom’s face. Because she knew as well as he did that the prison transfer was not only highly
unusual, but also put Cooper Angelhart in greater danger. Until they found out why, who ordered it, and if he was safe at
the facility, they would continue to worry.
He said, “Lu’s staying at Margo’s tonight, and we’ll talk about what the plan is after that.” He stood. “I’m going to shower
and sleep. I suggest you all do the same.”
His mother looked up at him then, and the sorrow in her eyes hit him like a gut punch.
He had to give her some reassurance, so he said, “Mom, you raised five smart, responsible kids. We’re going to get the answers.
We’re going to prove Dad is innocent. And we’re going to see that justice is done.”