Chapter Eighteen #4
“It does. But before you worry about that, consider that you have nothing to bargain with. Your brothers, maybe. You, nothing. You haven’t been involved in your father’s illegal side.
So you don’t have anything to offer to the FBI.
But I don’t see a point in even going down that rabbit hole because, as I said before, your dad gets out of everything the FBI throws at him. WITSEC isn’t the answer here.”
“Then, what is?” she asked. “There has to be something we can do.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Sierra.” Then he winked.
She stared at him in confusion.
“Fletcher, I’m ending the call now. Thanks for your help. At this point, while we think this through, let’s cancel tonight’s status meeting. And there’s no reason for you all to come out here. I’m not pressing charges against Esteban. Sierra, do you want to press charges?”
She frowned. “Um, no?”
“I’m hanging up now, Fletcher.”
“Sorry about how things turned out,” she said. “We’ll brainstorm here and talk to you tomorrow.”
Beau ended the call and pulled out his pocketknife. He cut the cord tying Rafael’s hands, then took off Esteban’s handcuffs.
They both gave him grateful looks and rubbed their wrists.
When he sat again, Sierra looked up at him. “You really think this is hopeless?”
“There might be another option. But I didn’t want to say it in front of Fletcher.” He grimaced. “I can’t believe I’m even considering this. It goes against everything I’ve always stood for as far as following the law to the letter.”
“Beau, whatever it is, don’t.” Sierra shook her head. “If helping us means you have to cross that line, please don’t. You’d end up hating me down the road, blaming me for compromising your principles. And I couldn’t live with myself for doing that to you.”
“He has an idea,” Esteban said. “Let the man talk.”
“Shut up, Esteban,” she and Rafael both said.
He rolled his eyes and sank against the back of the couch.
“I’m not finished.” Beau turned to face Sierra.
“If the law can’t protect you, then what’s the point of having laws?
I got into this business to protect people, to get justice.
And in this case, the law and justice are two completely different things.
True justice would mean prosecuting your father for your mother’s death.
I’m not sure I can do anything to get that justice for you, and I’m really sorry about that.
But there might be something we can do to get justice for you and your brothers.
Meaning, there might be a way to secure your protection so you can go on living your lives and not be afraid. ”
She frowned. “How?”
“We do what your mother tried to do.”
“I don’t—wait, are you talking about the evidence she hid?”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. We need to find that evidence.
If we read her journal, maybe we can find clues that help us understand where she hid the evidence.
Even if the journal doesn’t help, we can search anywhere you and your brothers believe she might have hidden the documentation.
It would be somewhere not too far away so she could access it.
But it would be somewhere your father wouldn’t think to look.
Esteban, you said she mentioned in the journal that she put it somewhere, what, special? Is that the exact word she used?”
“A special, safe place. That’s what she wrote.”
“Did your mother ever spend much time outside your property? Maybe with friends in another town?”
“Not really. I mean, the country club, some. Church, of course. Mainly, though, she was content to stay home and paint or do gardening.”
“A garden. That would be special to her. Would your father think to search there?”
“Probably. It seems a little too obvious.” This time it was Rafael who spoke.
“She also loved the library, the one in the mansion. It’s huge, three stories tall.
There are probably over a million books in there.
” His eyes widened. “Dad isn’t much of a reader.
And even if he thought the evidence was there, I can’t see him spending the time to search that many books.
He wouldn’t trust anyone else to search either.
He wouldn’t want to risk them finding the evidence and using it against him. ”
“Your father might think that it’s in there,” Beau replied. “But given what you said, he may feel it’s safer there than anywhere else. As long as he has the mansion, the evidence won’t go anywhere. That’s where I’d look.”
“Then, what?” Sierra asked. “We go to the FBI?”
“That’s one option. It’s the option I would have chosen, before we had this conversation.
But the wheels of justice move slowly. I worry it will take too long to go that route.
The FBI will take years following up on whatever your mother has, authenticating it, corroborating it, before making a move.
We need to secure yours and your brothers’ safety now.
We don’t go to the FBI. We threaten to go to the FBI, use the documentation as our bargaining chip.
And we do it together, as a team having each other’s backs, so that what happened to your mother doesn’t happen to us. ”
He feathered his hand down the side of her face, ignoring Esteban’s curses.
“Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’re all going to Memphis.
We’ll use that bolt-hole you mentioned at the mansion to gain entrance and search the library.
And if we’re right, if we find your mother’s documents there, we’ll have our leverage. Then we’ll make a deal with the devil.”
“Chief Dawson?”
He glanced at Rafael in question.
“What if we can’t find the evidence?”
“Plan B, of course.”
“What’s plan B?” Sierra asked.
He grimaced. “I wish I knew.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something. You always do.”
He didn’t appear to be convinced.
She wasn’t either. The task before them seemed nearly impossible. “Beau, I haven’t seen either of my brothers in a while, especially Esteban, of course. Do you mind giving us some privacy so we can catch up?”
“Of course. Esteban, Rafael, you’re welcome to stay here overnight. Both of the couches are big and comfortable. There are extra linens in the hall closet. Or you can meet us here at dawn if you prefer. Sierra and I don’t have a car at this cabin. Do either of you have one close by?”
“I do,” Rafael said. “My rental I drove from the airport. We can use that.”
“And I’ve got a cabin near here already,” Esteban said, looking uncomfortable as he glanced from Sierra to Beau. “If you two are, uh, staying here, I’d prefer to stay there. Rafael can stay with me.”
“Fair enough. I’ll watch TV in the bedroom, give you three your time alone.”
As soon as the bedroom door closed, Sierra pulled the coffee table close to the couch where her brothers were and sat on the table facing them. And this time, she spoke only in Spanish, just in case Beau heard them.
“Beau isn’t going to the mansion with us tomorrow,” she whispered.
Esteban did a fist pump. “Good. You’ve seen the light. You’re going to dump the cop.”
She poked him in the ribs. “I’m not dumping him.
But he’ll probably dump me after this. I think he’s right about what we need to do, find the evidence, make a deal with Dad.
I honestly don’t see another viable option.
But this is a mess of our making, not his.
I’ve been in denial my entire adult life, trying to pretend Dad isn’t as bad as we all know he is.
And you two have gone right along with him, ignoring all the advice from Mom. ”
When they both started to argue, she held up a hand to stop them. “I don’t want Beau coming along because I don’t want him getting hurt, or worse, if this plan doesn’t go the way we hope it will.”
“What do you need us to do?” Esteban rubbed his hands together as if in anticipation. “Tie him to a concrete block and toss him in the lake?”
She gasped in horror.
“Kidding. Damn, don’t take me so seriously.”
Rafael elbowed him.
“Ouch. Stop it, you two. I’m going to have bruises.”
“Neither of you does anything to hurt Beau. Swear it,” she said.
“I swear.” Rafael looked at his brother. “Your turn.”
“Fine. As much as I’d like to, I won’t hurt the cop.”
“Any cop. That’s rule number one.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
She rolled her eyes. “You two are hopeless. But we’re in this together. I’ll meet you out front at three.”
“Why so early?” Esteban complained.
“Because it’s a long drive to Memphis, and I want to be there and get the deal made before Beau could catch up to us.”
“How?” Rafael asked. “How will you sneak out without him knowing? Cops have a sixth sense about these things. He’ll probably wake up the second you open the door.”
Her heart heavy, she said, “Leave that to me.”