by Janie Crouch
Ellis wasn’t the only problem. The mention of Ellis’s lawyer’s name had caused enough of a reaction in Marilyn today that Noah knew there was history there also, and not the good kind.
Tanner let out a sigh. “You know we have absolutely no proof that Jared or any of his cronies were involved with the fire, right?”
Noah stayed quiet for a long time, wondering how to get this through to his brother. This wasn’t about the fire.
“Ellis doesn’t realize how lucky he is just to be breathing after what he did to Marilyn.”
Tanner stiffened, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. “Noah, you’re going to have to let the system be his judge and jury, not you.” He glanced over. “Make no mistake, I will lock you up until after the trial to keep you from doing something stupid.”
Noah shrugged. “It’s why I’ve got you here.”
Tanner shot him a look.
Noah scrubbed his hand over his head. “I’ve seen stuff, Tanner. You know that. In Special Ops, I saw all sorts of violence against men, women, and children that is the stuff nightmares are made of. But nothing I ever saw there puts me anywhere near the killing rage I feel when I think about Ellis hurting Marilyn.”
Tanner let out a sigh. “You do know that’s got more to do with Marilyn than it does Ellis, right?”
Oh, hell no. “I know you’re not trying to say what Ellis did was okay.”
“Not at all. What I’m saying is that the killing rage you feel isn’t because of his actions. It’s because of him doing it to her. I’m not saying the bastard doesn’t deserve to rot in jail. I’m just saying that the rage you’re talking about is because of her, not because of him.”
Jesus, Tanner sounded just like Trigger. But he wasn’t wrong.
“I’ve been working with Marilyn,” he finally admitted in a soft voice while looking out the window. “Self-defense stuff, even before we knew Ellis’s release was a possibility. She’s so damn little. Doesn’t seem to have any sort of warrior instinct. She’s not like Bree, who survived on her own for so long. Marilyn is the type of woman who is meant to be cared for. She’s not someone who should have to fight tooth and nail just to exist.”
“Marilyn is stronger than you think. She has to be to have survived what she did.”
He knew that for damn sure. He wondered what Tanner would say if he knew she’d nearly knocked him on his ass with that left hook. “Oh, believe me, I know she’s strong. I have never mistaken her quietness for weakness.”
“You’re doing the right thing, teaching her what you can. Whatever she doesn’t have as natural intuition can be made up for with other skills. She may not have the attack instinct—”
“But she can be taught other ways to make up for that.”
And that’s exactly what they’d been doing.
“I want to fight her battles for her.” Noah glanced out the window again. He wanted to fight her battles for her so fucking badly. “But I know that in the long run I’m doing a disservice to her by feeling that way. The best thing I can do for her is to teach her how to fight the monsters herself.”
They made their way into downtown Denver. The revitalized, very pricy part of downtown. It pissed Noah off to no end that Ellis was getting to sit in the lap of luxury rather than rot in a cell before his trial.
Tanner had an address and knew where Ellis was staying. Noah kept an eye on the app Bree had given him as they pulled up. It looked to be completely accurate.
“Townhouse is owned by a guy named Marius Nixon,” Tanner said as they parked across the street. “He’s the same one who put the money up for Jared’s bail. Of all this little posse, Nixon is the cleanest. I’ve got confirmation that he’s not even in the country right now.”
Noah nodded, staring at the building. The shades were open so they could see inside to the living room.
“The rest of Ellis’s clan includes investment banker George Pearson, the owner of a chain of restaurants, Paul Wyn, and of course, his lawyer, Oscar Stobbart. None of them have ever been arrested or been in any trouble with the law besides Ellis.”
Noah’s teeth ground together. “Completely clean. How convenient.”
“Almost squeakily so.”
“Any of the rest of them married?”
“This is where it gets interesting,” Tanner said. “Both Pearson and Wyn had wives who died within the last five years.”
“Isn’t that an interesting coincidence?” Noah asked. “No other wives around to ask if Ellis’s friends had been abusive also.”
Tanner nodded. “Unfortunately, according to the coroner’s reports, in both cases there was nothing suspicious about the deaths. One was a car accident. One was a skiing accident.”
“If you had said cancer, I might have agreed it wasn’t suspicious. But we both know a death that didn’t get labeled as suspicious by the coroner’s office could still be murder.” He narrowed his eyes as someone walked by the window in the townhouse. “But on paper they look like tragic characters who lost their loved ones and have never broken the law. Nice.”
Tanner grabbed his laptop from the back seat and opened it up. “According to the official ankle monitor report, Jared is definitely inside the town house.”
Noah nodded and pulled out his binoculars, training them toward the building. After a few minutes he caught official sight of Ellis.
“Affirmative,” he muttered. “I’ve spotted him inside. Pearson and Wyn are with him. Looks like they’re having some sort of business meeting. Papers spread out all over the table. Maybe building plans or maps or something?”
“I don’t think any of them are in business with each other, but I haven’t searched definitively. It’s possible.”
Noah continued watching through the binoculars. “Well, whatever’s happening here, Ellis is definitely in charge. Now I wish I hadn’t brought you.”
Tanner let out a sigh. “Why? You going to go in there and take them all out for looking over business plans?”
“No. If I wasn’t with you, I’d already have surveillance equipment that would allow me to hear what they’re talking about in there. No need to get a warrant.”
And he couldn’t eliminate the possibility of taking them all out just for looking over business plans.
Tanner let out a low curse. “You have to be careful, Noah. Between me bringing in Bree to the bonding office today and getting caught, if Ellis or Stobbart catch either of us nearby, it could affect the case. They might really have an argument for harassment.”
“I’m not going to get caught. I don’t want anything to jeopardize Ellis spending a good solid chunk of his life behind bars. But I’d still like to know what they’re talking about and if it affects Marilyn.”
“If it’s maps and plans, it probably doesn’t have anything to do with her. It’s more likely business plans.”
He grimaced. “Ellis seems pretty involved with those for someone who’ll likely be going to prison soon.”
For an hour they watched the men inside the townhouse as they continued to discuss their plans. God damn it, Noah wished he’d gotten hold of surveillance equipment so they could hear what was going on. Being out here wasn’t telling them anything.
“Okay, they’re on the move, putting on jackets.” Both he and Tanner sank a little lower in their seats as the men came outside a few minutes later and climbed into an Uber that had pulled up in front.
Noah prayed Ellis would step foot outside the two-mile radius, but he didn’t.
They went to a fucking strip club. Of course, they did, assholes. Noah constantly checked both Tanner’s official ankle-monitor updates on the laptop and Bree’s unofficial app. Both were accurate.
More waiting and cold disgust continued to build inside Noah at the state of this situation. Ellis, out and partying. Marilyn, hiding and scared.
It was long after midnight when the posse left the club and immediately returned to the townhouse.
“I guess this was a bust.” Noah ran a hand over his face. He
was fucking tired. Tanner had to be, too. “I’m sorry I dragged you out for half the night after you worked all day.”
They watched the men stumble inside, agreeing that the ankle monitor was indeed working as it was supposed to. That made Noah feel better. Not as good as if the bastard was sitting in a cell, but…better.
They were talking about the fire and whether Jared had anything to do with it when Noah glanced over at the door.
“What the actual hell?”
Jared Ellis was standing across the street, motioning with one finger for them to come closer.
That smug son of a bitch.
Noah was out of the SUV and rushing across the street before Tanner could stop him.
That self-satisfied little smirk. Noah was going to make sure he never smiled with any of his real teeth again.
He could hear Tanner’s shouts behind him, along with the blaring horn of an approaching car, but he pushed it all aside.
He was about to teach this asshole what it felt like to get beaten by someone more powerful. His right hand curled into a fist as he—
Tanner’s flying tackle took him from his blind side, knocking them both to the ground.
God damn it. “Get off me, Tanner.” He was going to finish this right now.
But Tanner wrapped him in a bear hug from behind. Noah strained against his brother’s hold. There weren’t many people who could match him strength for strength, but his brother was one of them.
“It’s what he wants, Noah.”
Noah didn’t give a shit. He would fucking give him what he wanted. He elbowed Tanner in the ribs. Heard his brother’s whoosh of breath. But Tanner didn’t let go.
“Somebody’s probably got a camera on us right now,” Tanner said in his ear. “You hit him and the whole case against him becomes shaky.”
Fuck.
Tanner was right. Noah forced himself to breathe as he nodded to Tanner.
Jared’s smile widened. “The case is shaky anyway, Captain Dempsey. No matter what you or your brother do.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know who we are?”
“I met Tanner earlier today when he had a non-law-enforcement employee impersonate a lab technician to harass me.”
He had to be talking about Bree. Jared took a slight step closer to where Noah and Tanner were on the ground.
“I understand you have been spending quite a bit of time with my wife.”
“Soon to be ex-wife, you bastard.” Tanner’s arms tightened around him, but it wasn’t necessary. Noah tapped Tanner on the wrist. “I’m okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” Tanner released him but took his time, like he wasn’t sure if Noah could be trusted.
His brother wasn’t stupid.
But Noah would keep his shit together. There was no way he was going to do anything to stop this bastard from going to jail. He and Tanner got to their feet.
He took a step closer to Jared. “You stay away from Marilyn and those kids. You want to get to them, you’re going to have to go through me.”
Jared tilted his head. “Marilyn will always be mine. All I need is a little time to persuade her.”
Fuck that shit.
“Soon you’ll be rotting away in prison, where you belong. You’ll never come near Marilyn again.”
Jared’s lips tilted up in a little smile. “My lawyer had enough to get me out on bail. Believe me when I say he has more than enough to keep me out of prison for good.”
Tanner stepped forward this time. “I don’t think so, Ellis. I’ve seen the evidence. Enjoy your last few weeks of freedom… or as much as you can in a two-mile radius. Because if you step one foot outside of that, we’re going to nail your ass.”
There was a moment when the tables turned and Noah thought Jared was about to charge. He obviously wasn’t used to anyone standing up to him.
But he got control of himself and backed away.
“I guess we’ll see what happens at the trial.” Jared wiped at some invisible fleck of dirt on his shoulder. “But if I was a betting man, I bet I’ll walk out of the court a free man that day.”
He had the nerve to wink.
Tanner threw out an arm across Noah’s chest to hold him back from lunging. But Noah had himself under control.
“And after the trial,” Jared continued while backing away, “I’ll have as much time as I need to woo my wife back.”
14
Five days later, Marilyn was a couple of miles into the Colorado wilderness, completely lost.
And she was thrilled.
Mostly she was happy to be out in these woods because it meant no phone. No phone meant she couldn’t repeatedly check to make sure Jared’s ankle monitor was still in the two-mile radius he was required to stay within.
Bree had assured her the app she’d installed on Marilyn’s phone would provide ample notification if he went out of the radius. But she hadn’t been able to stop herself from checking roughly two hundred times a day for the past five days since Bree had installed it.
So yeah, it was good that the wandering around in the woods, aka New Journeys camping trip, had occurred. No cell phone coverage out here. No Jared to worry about.
Plus, her kids were having the time of their lives since Tanner and Noah were leading the expedition. It had originally been scheduled to be led by their sister Cassandra, but Cass had been swamped with insurance business due to the fire.
Once the fire inspector had deemed everything safe two days ago, everyone had moved back into the New Journeys building.
Well, almost everyone. Jessica had decided to take baby Christina somewhere else. She hadn’t felt comfortable after the fire, no matter how much everyone tried to convince her. April left too, but she’d been close to leaving anyway. She’d gotten a job in Nevada, based on computer skills she’d learned at New Journeys.
The kids hadn’t wanted to leave Noah’s ranch. The animals, the freedom to play outside all day, and of course, Noah and his pancakes left them with very little incentive to move back to town. Noah had seemed pretty sad to see them go too, although they’d slowed his work down so much due to all their questions that Marilyn would’ve thought he’d be doing cartwheels.
But as always, he’d been patient and friendly with them. He made them work, explaining that everyone had to pitch in around a ranch. Noah had given them jobs they could handle like spreading out hay and cleaning stalls.
It was so important for the kids to be able to see a good example of what a man should be like, and Noah did that without even trying.
The only time he’d shooed the kids away from him had been when Zac Mackay, Dr. Annie’s fiancé, had shown up two days after the fire. Zac had been polite and friendly, not at all surprised to see Marilyn answer Noah’s door. He’d talked to her for a few minutes about Annie and how she was doing—although Annie had called every single day, so Marilyn had already known—then he and Noah had headed out to the barn. When Sam and Eva had asked if they could come, Noah had gently explained that he needed to talk to Zac alone this time. He’d promised to take them out for a horse ride later to make it up to them.
Their own father had never treated them with that much care. Their feelings hadn’t meant anything to him. He’d mostly ignored them, except for occasionally telling them to shut up.
And now Noah was once again leading them, but this time on a camping trip. He might have said it was because he loved the outdoors and that his father used to take them camping in these woods all the time when they were kids, but Marilyn knew it wasn’t just that.
He was here because he knew how much this trip meant to the kids and didn’t want it to be cancelled. He was here because he knew his presence would make her feel safer.
“What’s that little smile for?” Bree asked. Marilyn hadn’t even been aware her friend had stopped to wait for her to catch up. The other two women from New Journeys who’d joined them on this adventure, Barb and Francis, had moved on ahead.
“Oh. Oh, nothing. Just thinking about how good it is to get back and settled in the building.”
Bree rolled her eyes. “Right. If a building is making you smile like that, you love your job way too much. You sure that’s what you’re really thinking about?”
Time to change the subject. “The kids are beside themselves with excitement that this trip didn’t get cancelled. I know you had a lot to do with that. Thank you. It couldn’t have been easy to just up and go camping for three days with your wedding coming up in a week.”
Bree waved her hand out in front of her like she was warding off a swarm of bugs. “Are you kidding? I’m more than happy to leave all that planning to the experts and be out here where no one wants me to try on seventy-eight layers of tulle.”
Marilyn shook her head. “You’re going to look beautiful in that dress, Bree. It’s going to be the most amazing day.”
She laughed as Bree muttered something under her breath about eloping. The other woman did not like crowds of any type.
“Important thing to focus on is that you’ll be married to Tanner when it’s all said and done.”
Bree just grunted.
Marilyn frowned. “Hey, you’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“About marrying Tanner? No, not at all. About having to stand up in front of five billion people and give my vows? Maybe.” She let out a long-suffering sigh. “And in that unbearably fancy dress.”
Marilyn patted her friend on the shoulder. Bree had let herself be talked into a dress that was quite a bit more formal than she would’ve picked out for herself. It was a gorgeous dress, but Bree was right, it was definitely fancy.
“You’ll look beautiful. I can’t wait.”
Bree smiled over at her. “You holding up okay? You got everybody moved back into the new building like a champ.”
“Yeah, I’m doing alright. I’ll admit I’ve probably been checking your app way too many times a day just to be sure Jared is where he’s supposed to be.”
Bree nodded. “I think we all have. Tanner made sure to bring the emergency radio so the office could reach him if there was any change in Jared’s status. Everybody wants to make sure you’re safe.”
