Chapter Thirty-six – The Cards I’ve Been Dealt #3
“Muirgen?” I tried to remember what I knew about her and came up empty, other than she’d been renting the Morwood place.
She could easily be involved, but my instincts were betting on Misty.
If she hadn’t been so aggressive in trying to place blame on Andie, maybe I’d feel otherwise.
“Did you tell Misty where you were going?”
“No. I told Fallon and her I had to take care of some personal things. I apologized and said I’d be working from home.”
The pressure building in my chest eased. At least Andie would be with Dad.
“Okay. I’m heading back to talk to her and pick up the security camera footage. Call me when you get to my parents’.”
“Cooper…”
“Yes, baby?”
“Please…please be safe.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just get to Dad.”
I hung up and did a hard U-turn, heading back to the ranch. I pulled up as close to the security hut as possible and ran the rest of the way.
When I burst in, Lance and two of his men were bent over the security plans for the winter festival. I told Lance what I needed, and he went straight to the computers, scrolling through camera feeds.
“I need someone to bring Misty to me,” I said. “Don’t tell her it’s me. Make up something.”
Lance didn’t hesitate, looking over at one of his guys. “Tell her we’ve got the video Eden Blackwell’s been asking for. She’ll come.”
One of the men hurried for the door as I demanded, “What video?”
“You and Andie,” Lance said grimly. “Same kind of shots that hit the internet today. Eden offered Tom fifty grand for every ten seconds.”
“What the fuck?”
“No one was going to give it to her,” he said. “I already had a meeting set with Fallon to decide next steps.”
“Did Misty know?”
“She might not have known details,” he said carefully, “but with those photos and that interview dropping? She had to suspect what Eden was after, and Fallon will likely fire her.”
He’d been scrolling while talking, and I caught his hand.
“Stop.”
The screen showed Dick Langley climbing out of the same SUV that later went over the cliff. He stretched tall and then leaned back in to pull out the metal box that was now sitting in my rig.
“That,” I said. “We need that. Now skip ahead to when he leaves.”
Dick had parked at the far edge of the lot. The driver’s side was clear, but the passenger side vanished behind a snow-laden tree. Lance fast-forwarded until Dick stormed back into frame, face twisted with anger. He slammed into the vehicle and drove off.
“I don’t see Andie,” I said, shaking my head.
“Why would she be there?”
“Do we have another angle?”
Lance pulled up a different feed, this one from one of the castle towers. It had the same problem, a tree blocking most of the passenger side. But then—
“Back up. Slow it down.”
A flicker of red flashed through the branches.
Andie’s dress flashed through my mind, but also Misty’s red coat.
The door flew open, and Tom jogged back in—alone.
“Where’s Misty?” I demanded.
“Michelle said she left a few minutes ago. She’s meeting someone in town and said she’d be back at one.”
My gut dropped. Fuck.
I was already moving for the door. “What does she drive?”
“A silver Eldorado.”
“Send all the footage to both my phone and my email,” I said. “And pull anything that shows my rig while it was parked out front. I want to know who even looked at it.”
I nearly slid on my ass sprinting to my vehicle. Behind the wheel, I was dialing my father when my radio crackled, and Suzanne’s voice came over the line.
“Sheriff. Suspect in custody. Deputy Cleaver has Randy.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Cleaver couldn’t be alone with him. He shouldn’t be in the room at all.
“I’m en route. Ten minutes out. And Cleaver is not to interact further with his brother.”
Dad answered on the first ring. “Is Andie there yet?”
“No, I was just about to call you and ask if she was coming straight here or going home first.”
My heart nearly gave out. No. She wouldn’t have gone home. Not after telling Misty and Fallon that was where she was going.
Unless she’d had no plans to go to Dad’s. Unless she was doing exactly what the note said and was running. Not because she was guilty but because she was afraid. Afraid of someone else she cared about getting hurt. Afraid for Luca and me.
I hung up on Dad without explanation, dialing Andie. Her phone rang and rang. I flashed to seeing it lost amongst the piles of paper on her desk. But she’d answered when I’d called her about Misty.
Damnit. I couldn’t believe she’d run. Didn’t want to believe I’d been suckered again by a damsel-in-distress routine.
No. Fuck no. She loved me. She’d insisted she wanted to fight for this life we were building.
And yet, she hadn’t arrived at Dad’s.
I hated the insidious doubt that grew. The note had implied she’d bought her house using the money she’d stolen. It said she’d taken far more money than anyone had realized.
The seed Misty had planted attempted to do its job. Ugly poison spread, reaching out as I fought desperately to focus on the Andie I knew. The love that poured from her eyes. The way she wanted to protect my son.
That wasn’t a lie. That wasn’t a goddamn lie.
I nearly ran off the road searching for her brother’s number on my phone. As I hit dial, I shoved my foot on the gas and raced toward town.