The Easy Way

by May Archer

  “I could ask you the same question,” a deep voice replied, and Cam’s eyes widened as he recognized it. “Bas?” he said, stepping back into the room.

  Cort opened the door wider, giving Cam a clear view of Sebastian and Drew standing in the hallway, while still blocking their entry with his arm.

  “Little brother,” Bas said, and Cam saw something like relief in his eyes. He was showered, dressed in impeccably clean trousers and a fitted polo, and his eyes had lost their haunted look. It was an amazing - and confusing - transformation.

  “You’re fine, Cammy?” Drew demanded. He looked from Cort to Cam and back again, his eyes narrowing on Cort’s face.

  “Yes, yeah. Of course,” Cam said, just as Bas told Cort, “I’ve seen your face before.”

  Cort shook his head and his voice had a steely edge. “We haven’t met. Yet.”

  Bas put his hand on Cort’s forearm and took a step forward, a demand for Cort to move aside. Cort didn’t budge.

  “Cam,” Drew said.

  Cam rolled his eyes. “Cort, let them in.”

  Cort’s jaw hardened as he glanced back at Cam, but he finally relented, allowing both men to step inside. Cort moved along with them, staying between Bas and Cam, almost protectively. Cam rolled his eyes again. Like he had anything to fear from Bas or Drew.

  “What are you two doing here?” Cam asked Bas, hands on his hips as he repeated Cort’s question. “You didn’t tell me you were coming when I stopped by the other day. And my God, you look so much… better, Bas!”

  Bas glanced from Cort to Cam, obviously not liking Cort’s position. “I changed my plans yesterday. I arrived earlier this morning. I need to speak to you. Alone,” he added, when Cort made no effort to move.

  “I told you he thinks he’s dating this guy,” Drew murmured to Bas, clearly disapproving.

  “We are dating,” Cort confirmed. He folded his arms over his chest and glared at Drew before glancing back at Cam. Do you want me to leave? Cam’s stomach somersaulted. His choice, and Cort would let him do this alone if he wanted to.

  He was tempted for a minute, but he stared into Cort’s steady eyes, which seemed to be begging, Trust me, Cam.

  Man, he was a sucker for those eyes.

  Cam stepped forward and put his arm around Cort’s waist. “This is Cort,” Cam told his brother. He glanced pointedly at Drew. “He’s staying.”

  Both men looked like they would balk, but Cam held firm and Sebastian finally blew out a breath and ran a hand through his short brown hair.

  “Alright,” he allowed, still giving Cort side-eye. “Listen, I know we have a lot to talk about, Cam, and I have a lot to explain, but first we need to get in touch with Uncle Shaw. We haven’t been able to find him, and he’s not answering my calls or texts. The service here is abysmal, so I don’t know if he’s even received them. Lucy hasn’t seen him or Jack or Cain for hours.” Bas gripped the back of his neck as he always did when he was frustrated.

  “I don’t know how we can help. We haven’t seen any of them since yesterday,” Cam said, shaking his head. “We haven’t been downstairs at all yet today.”

  Sebastian raised an eyebrow at the rumpled bed, and then back at Cort and Cam. Drew made a sound of disgust.

  Cam met Bas’s glance with a raised eyebrow of his own, daring either of them to comment. “What’s this about, Bas?”

  “I need to talk to you about some… things pertaining to the crash,” Bas said cryptically. “Things I couldn’t discuss over the phone.”

  He glanced at Cort again, as though once again hoping Cam would ask him to leave. Beneath Cam’s hand, the muscles of Cort’s spine tensed immediately as though he was worried about the same thing.

  Cam shook his head. He was committed to this now, and he wanted Cort to hear everything.

  Bas huffed out a breath, clearly annoyed that Cam wouldn’t yield. “It wasn’t an accident, Cam,” he said baldly. “And I think I know how to prove it.”

  For one second, Cam wondered if Cort could be right - if Sebastian could have had anything to do with the crash, as ridiculous as that would have been. A quick glance at Bas’s face proved otherwise. He was tense, grief-stricken, and angry.

  “Sebastian,” Cam began, wanting to be sure Bas knew Cort’s identity before he revealed anything incriminating, but Cort spoke up instead.

  “Cam didn’t introduce me fully,” he said. “I’m Agent Kendrick Cortland. I work for the FBI, for now anyway. And my brother is Damon Fitzpatrick.”

  Cam waited for Sebastian to explode, recalling his angry tirades about Damon Fitzgerald in the past, but Sebastian did nothing more than nod, though his face was still pinched with displeasure. “Drew told me who you are. And I would have recognized you anyway from my investigation of Damon.” His eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you doing with my brother?”

  Cort ignored the second half of the question. “I doubt that’s how you recognize me. Not many people know there’s a connection between Damon and me. We’re not blood relatives, and the records of my time in foster care are sealed.”

  Bas waved a dismissive hand and paced toward the wall. “Likely not many people studied Damon Fitzpatrick’s life as carefully as I did.”

  Drew snorted. “Or investigated you as carefully as I did after you came to Seaver Tech last Monday.”

  Cort grew even tenser, so Cam lifted his shirt slightly, sliding his thumb against Cort’s skin in a soothing motion.

  “You had a lot to say about Damon a year ago,” Cort accused Sebastian. “Encouraging rabid reporters to dig up information on his little sister, for Christ’s sake.”

  Bas turned to lean against the wall, folding his arms over his chest and mimicking Cort’s posture. “It was an unfortunate consequence.”

  Anger rolled off Cort in waves, and Cam stepped forward protectively. “Could you sound a little less like a pompous prick?” he asked his brother.

  Bas ran his tongue over his teeth, contemplating Cam and Cort with narrowed eyes. “No,” he said finally. “I can’t. Can you explain what you’re doing here with Damon Fitzpatrick’s brother?” He glanced pointedly at the bed again.

  Drew piped up. “We, uh, don’t need specifics.”

  Cam’s cheeks heated. “None of your business. Either of you. Now, explain what finally got you to abandon your living room couch and your obsessive home-movie viewing.”

  Bas looked from Cam to Drew, then rubbed his palm over his forehead. “I think Damon Fitzpatrick might have been framed for the crash.”

  Cam and Cort exchanged wide-eyed looks.

  “Explain,” Cort said.

  “As you said, I’ve spent a long time recently looking at old movies and TV show clips about the crash. Wallowing in grief, which Cam and Drew both took me to task for.” He threw Drew a small smile, before turning serious again. “I actually found something rather strange. Right after the investigation, a man did a TV interview, saying he was the witness who was drinking with Damon before the crash.”

  “John P.,” Cort said, nodding. “I remember. I tried to follow up with him.”

  “But he’d disappeared?” Bas guessed. “Yeah, same dead end here. I even, ah, tried to see whether the NTSB had additional information on him as part of their investigation.”

  “That’s why you hacked them?” Cam asked, glaring at his brother.

  Sebastian glanced from Cam to Cort to Drew, a small smile on his lips. “Hacked is an ugly word. I think Drew would prefer I say I requested information through unofficial channels.”

  Cort rolled his eyes, relaxing his posture slightly. “At this point, I don’t give a shit if you lit the place on fire, Seaver. What did you find?”

  “It’s more what I didn’t find,” Bas said sourly. He looked from Drew to Cam. “All the information on the witness was redacted from the file.”

  “Redacted?” Cam echoed. “How? Why?”

  Bas nodded. “Exactly the questions I wanted answered. So, I went back into the system an
d left a trail so clear, the world’s most inept investigator could have followed it, but not a single person contacted me to investigate.” He shook his head in disgust and looked at Cort. “I don’t know what the hell they give you badges for.”

  Cort snorted, then chuckled, then laughed out loud, pressing a hand to his stomach.

  “What’s funny?” Cam asked, elbowing him. To Bas, he said, “Cort did investigate it. Drew was the one who squelched it.” He pointed a finger in Drew’s direction.

  “Nope. He’s right.” Cort shook his head and looked at Cam. “They never had any real intention of pursuing it. It was quashed from above even before Seaver Tech’s legal team got involved.” He gave Cam an apologetic shrug and Cam rolled his eyes.

  In the grand scheme of Cort’s lies, this one hardly registered, but he still said in a warning tone, “I swear to God, Cort…”

  Cort drew Cam closer and fitted him tightly to his side. “Never again, I promise,” he vowed.

  Sebastian looked back and forth between them and scowled. “Whatever touching thing you two are discussing, table it. The point is, the witness disappeared off the face of the earth, but the only reason I was looking into him in the first place, was because he reminded me of someone else, someone whose picture I saw in the footage from mom and dad’s funeral.”

  Cam blinked. “John P. was at the funeral?”

  Sebastian shook his head and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. “Not exactly.” He tapped a few keys and then stepped forward, showing Cam and Cort his screen.

  On the right, was a still-shot from a TV interview showing a tall, redheaded, bearded man with a distinctive mole beside his blue eyes. On the left, was a shot of Jack Peabody, standing at Emmett Shaw’s shoulder as they exited Cam’s parents’ funeral. His hair was black in the picture, just as it had been yesterday, but beside his eye was an identical mole.

  Jesus Christ. The witness was Uncle Shaw’s assistant!

  Cort grabbed the phone, bringing it closer to his face. “Oh my God,” he breathed. He turned to Cam excitedly. “Do you recognize this guy? This is why Damon wanted me here. He must have recognized him and figured out the same thing.”

  “Damon?” Drew stepped forward and grabbed Sebastian’s phone back. “Fitzpatrick? The pilot?” He looked from Cam to Cort and back again. “He’s dead.”

  Cort shook his head. He hesitated, then explained. “He’s alive, and here on the island,” he told them. “He’s probably trying to accomplish the same thing you are.”

  Sebastian’s eyes widened. “Tell us what you know.”

  Cam felt Cort bristle at Bas’s imperious tone. He folded his arms over his chest again. “It’s not my information to tell.”

  Cam sighed and dug his finger into Cort’s side. “Cort.”

  Cort gave him a sidelong glance. Can I trust him?

  Cam nodded.

  Cort blew out a breath letting his arms fall to his sides. “Damon contacted me for the first time about six months ago. Nothing concrete or direct - I don’t know why - but he began sending me little clues. Things from our childhood only he would know. Along with information about you.” He nodded at Sebastian.

  Sebastian frowned. “Me?”

  “And Cam,” Cort confirmed. “I knew from the beginning Damon couldn’t have been responsible for the crash. He would never have flown drunk, he would never have skipped his pre-check. If there was an engine problem, he would have found it.”

  Sebastian nodded slowly. “I checked out his record. It’s spotless.”

  Cort shrugged. “So, if Damon didn’t do it, obviously the plane must have been sabotaged.” He glanced at Cam. “And the next logical step would be to ask who would have done that, and why. The obvious answer is money.”

  Cam rolled his eyes. It was Cort’s answer to everything - money.

  But Drew nodded. “He’s right, Cam. It usually is. Any good investigator follows the money trail.”

  “Yes, but in this case Damon led Cort to investigate us,” Cam said, leaning against Cort’s arm.

  Sebastian laughed.

  “It’s not funny,” Cort grumbled. “Frankly, I still have my doubts about you.” It was more of a joke than a serious statement, and for the first time Cam allowed himself to believe that maybe, somehow, this was all going to work out alright. “It was a very real possibility. Until I met Cam.” The look he gave Cam was affectionate and exasperated all at once.

  Bas shook his head. “Cam’s sparkling personality aside, the only way you’d think that was if you never bothered to read the terms of our parents’ wills.”

  Cort frowned. “Wills? Everyone knows you and Cam inherited everything.”

  He gave Cam a blank look, and Cam bit his lip. “Yeah, I hadn’t fully explained that part.”

  “The company assets don’t belong to Cam and me,” Sebastian told him. “We have trust funds, and we draw salaries from the company - very decent salaries - but the company itself is in trust, and the beneficiary is the Seaver Charitable Trust. All the money we were ever likely to inherit from our parents was already ours long before they died.”

  “And you didn’t tell me this, why?” Cort demanded, turning to Cam.

  “Oh, please. Like you didn’t keep secrets. I wanted you to believe me about Bas because you believed me, Cort.”

  Cort gave him a look as if to say they would be discussing this later. Cam felt a tingle in his stomach, and cleared his throat. “The better question is why you didn’t share all these suspicions with me!” Cam challenged Bas.

  Bas pushed his lips together. “Lots of reasons. For one thing, it’s been the only thing keeping me sane for the past few months. And for another... You’ve taken on enough this year, Cam. I know I’ve mostly checked out. I didn’t want this to fall on you too. I wanted to protect you if I could.”

  “Keeping secrets isn’t the way to do that,” Cam said, glaring at Sebastian and Cort in turn. “Jesus. I am a capable adult.”

  “I know,” Cort murmured, turning to rest a hand on Cam’s cheek. “I’ve never doubted it.”

  Drew grimaced angrily. “Don’t feel too bad. Bas didn’t trust me either, Cammy.”

  Bas rounded on Drew. “And I told you why!”

  Drew glanced away and didn’t respond.

  Cam sighed. “So now what the hell do we do?”

  “We find Uncle Shaw and show him these photos,” Bas said. “I don’t know what Jack’s endgame is, but if he had something to do with the crash, it’s possible Uncle Shaw may be in danger.”

  “Have you done any digging into Jack Peabody’s financials?” Cort demanded. “Any idea where the money might have come from?”

  Bas shook his head. “Not yet. Locked up tighter than a drum.”

  “You can’t get into his system?” Cort snorted. “And here I thought you were some computer genius.”

  Drew smirked. “He didn’t say he couldn’t, Kendrick, he said not yet.”

  Cam winced internally. Trust Drew to have somehow figured out Cort detested his first name, and made sure to use it.

  Cort ignored Drew. “Cam and I have a meeting with Damon in…” He checked the time on his phone, then showed it to Cam. “Fifteen minutes.”

  Cam nodded as Cort put the phone away. “We’ve gotta go. Meet us at the hangar after you find Uncle Shaw,” he told his brother. “And we can make a plan for dealing with Jack.”

  Bas frowned. “You should call in backup,” he told Cort. “See if you can get an FBI team out here.”

  For a second, Cort hesitated, but Cam placed a hand on Cort’s back and shook his head.

  “It’s not going to happen,” Cam said. “If Cort contacts them without proof, they’ll likely end up investigating Damon. After all, he was the official cause of the crash. And don’t you dare give me that face,” he said when Bas scowled. “Keeping secrets to protect a brother is something you should understand.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cam and Cort arrived at the hangar to
find it mostly deserted. Unlike the day before, there were no planes arriving or departing, and the crew mostly seemed to have the day off.

  Two men in blue coveralls stood chatting to one another, eating their lunch. Cort didn’t recognize either of them, but they spotted Cort and Cam right away. One of them, an elderly man with dark eyes and a gap-toothed smile approached them.

  “Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked, wiping his hands on a rag.

  Cort hesitated for half a second. He didn’t want to call attention to Damon for any reason, he simply needed to have a look around and allow Damon to approach him.

  Cam wrapped both hands around Cort’s forearm and leaned against him heavily, giving the mechanic a wide smile. “Oh, perhaps you can help us. We just want to have a quick look around. See, Kenny promised me a plane for my birthday - I’m going to be twenty-seven in October,” he confided in a stage whisper. “And I really think it’s time to upgrade, you know? But I need to see which kind is the prettiest so that Kenny knows what to buy!” He added a bright laugh at the end which was so completely unlike Cam, Cort fought the urge to turn and stare.

  The mechanic blinked. He looked at Cort with wide eyes, and Cort shrugged. “If it’s what he wants,” Cort agreed with a shake of his head. “Gotta keep my boy happy.”

  “Uh.” The mechanic’s eyes widened as he looked from Cort to Cam. “Well, I guess it’d be alright then,” he agreed grudgingly. “Long as you don’t touch anything or try going inside.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it!” Cam said, making an exaggerated cross over his heart with his index finger.

  The mechanic nodded, then turned away shaking his head. “All these crazy rich folks wanna hide out in their planes, ain’t my business,” he muttered to himself.

  Cam smiled brilliantly at Cort, who rolled his eyes. “Pick out your plane, darling. Did you want something diamond-encrusted?”

  Cam laughed. “Oh, Kenny, that’s sooo last season,” he drawled, laughing even harder when Cort reached over to smack him on the ass.

  “Don’t call me Kenny, brat.”