Bruce exhaled noisily and took a bite of his toast. “It’s okay, Logan. Whatever you have to say, you can say right here. We’re all family, after all.”
This wasn’t what he’d wanted to happen. So very bad.
“About where you were when Lyle was shot…”
In unison, Carol and Mary’s heads swiveled toward Bruce who had the grace to look embarrassed.
“What about it?”
Logan took another gulp of the scalding hot coffee, enjoying the burn all the way down to his stomach. “We talked to the other Rotary members there that day and it seems none of them can remember you being there. Do you have any explanation for that?”
“None. I was definitely there.”
But invisible?
“We also asked the wait staff and they can’t remember you either.”
“I doubt they pay much attention.”
Bruce wasn’t going down without a fight.
“When no one could remember you being there, Drake pulled the traffic light footage from the intersection in front of the restaurant. You would have had to go through there but he didn’t see your car.”
Folding his hands in front of him, Bruce finally capitulated. “Fine, I wasn’t there. I was supposed to be but I didn’t feel like going. I went fishing instead.”
As explanations went, it was believable. Bruce did fish. He was retired now so he had the flexibility to do whatever he wanted. The Rotary breakfasts were boring as hell most of the time. Half of the old-timers dozed off during the speech. Sometimes the snoring was so loud the speaker had to practically yell.
“Did you go with anyone?”
“No, I went alone. I wanted some peace and quiet with my own thoughts. And before you ask, no one saw me drive out there. I did stop at the diner on the way back but that was about ten in the morning.”
“Did you catch anything?”
“No.”
Scraping his hand down his face, Logan groaned. “Help me out here, Bruce. There has to be someone who saw you that morning.”
Mary jumped up from the table. “You don’t actually believe that Daddy shot Lyle? That’s crazy.”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Logan explained as patiently as possible. “It only matters what the prosecutor and a jury believe. Your father had a motive, although not the strongest one. I’m trying to clear him from the list of suspects. The sooner we get him – and you, for that matter – off of that list, the better off we’ll be. Then I can concentrate on finding the real killer.”
Carol busied herself cleaning up the dirty dishes, clearly disturbed that Bruce was lying. Again.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Mary stared Logan down. “If you had any family loyalty you wouldn’t bother with us. You’d go out there and find the man that shot my husband.”
Logan was getting fucking tired of people lecturing him about family loyalty. He could have run in Mary and Bruce for questioning at the station multiple times but he hadn’t done that.
Family loyalty.
The words always made him think of the Brysons. At one time there had been the three brothers and then Logan. Wade had gone to prison and Lyle had been shot. That left Logan and Aaron.
Aaron. He’d heard little from the middle brother since coming to town. Where had Aaron been that morning? He had a motive now when he hadn’t at first. Lyle was bleeding Bryson money right and left. Did Aaron even know? Honestly, the true state of Bryson finances was still a mystery Ava was diligently working on.
“You’re right, Mary. Talking to you is a waste of time.”
He turned on his heel and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Mary asked, trailing after him. Just seconds ago she hadn’t wanted him to leave and now she didn’t seem to want him to go.
“To see your brother-in-law,” he replied with a grin. “I need to find out what Aaron knew and when he knew it.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rubbing her tired eyes, Ava lifted her arms over her head and stretched her stiff back muscles. She’d been sitting for far too long. The twins were busy playing in a blanket fort she’d built them about an hour ago. The only sounds coming from the chair reinforced structure were giggles and whispers. They’d taken every stuffed animal they’d brought from home in there with them as well, and it sounded as if they were playing school. Brianna loved telling everyone what to do and Colt enjoyed it as well. Whether the stuffies were taking direction was an open question, however. Brianna was always saying her teddy bear liked to be naughty and needed frequent timeouts.
Ava had been staring at Bryson Construction financial documents since the day before and she was beginning to go slightly stir crazy. Nothing seemed out of place. Not really. Expenses were high but their revenue was steady thanks to a stream of jobs from one particular customer. They weren’t making tons of money but they were keeping their head above water. Lyle and Aaron were able to pay themselves every two weeks, although they weren’t pulling down what some might call an executive salary. The fact that Lyle and Mary were spending it as fast as they made it wasn’t the fault of the corporation.
“Mom, can we have cookies?”
Ava looked up from her documents to the face of her six-year-old daughter. Brianna had a huge sweet tooth which she’d inherited from Logan. He had the metabolism to burn off every calorie he consumed and then some. It looked like the children did too, but that didn’t mean Ava was going to hand out cookies on a whim.
“It’s too close to dinnertime. You’ll spoil your supper.”
I have become my mother. I remember her saying the exact same words.
I swore I wouldn’t do it to my kids. Yet here I am.
I could use a cookie.
I’d have to eat in the bathroom or pantry. Behind a locked door.
“Just one,” Brianna sighed. “I promise I’ll eat my peas.”
“How do you know we’re having peas?”
“There’s hamburger in the refrigerator. That means peas.”
Ava usually made cheeseburgers with peas on the side. It made her feel less guilty that she’d made red meat for dinner.
I’m becoming predictable. Maybe Logan is bored with cheeseburgers and peas.
“No, sweetheart. We really are going to eat dinner in a little while. I’m going to take a break in about fifteen minutes and start cooking.”
Brianna leaned forward so her elbows were on the table and she was balanced on her tiptoes.
“Whatcha doing?”
Educating the children that law enforcement wasn’t all shoot ’em up and car chases seemed like an excellent idea.
“I’m combing through these financial papers trying to see if anything looks unusual.”
Brianna studied the paper on the top of the pile as if she understood profit and loss. Perhaps she did. She was growing up too fast. Logan was right. Six going on sixteen.
“Did you find anything?”
“Not yet. Everything looks like it should. Good customers who pay on time. The ideal scenario.”
Good customers who pay on time. Hmmm…
The six-year-old attention span was small. Brianna was already bored.
“Can I help you make dinner? Can we eat in the fort?”
Brianna liked to shape the burgers. She did a pretty good job, too.
“Absolutely. I need my number one helper. I’ll call you when it’s time. And sure, you can eat in the fort. But you have to eat all your peas.”
Her daughter bounded away and back under the blanket without agreeing to the deal. Green vegetables were always a fight. Carrots and potatoes went over much more easily.
Good customers who pay on time. Ideal.
One customer that seemed too good to be true. Every month they had a large influx of business and they paid on time. Never one day late. Every business should have such a wonderful client.
Ava dug through the pile and pulled out all the folders that dealt with Timber Ridge Development. There were
no details on the company but that wasn’t a problem. She knew just who to call. She punched a few buttons on her phone and lifted it to her ear.
“Jared? Hi, it’s Ava. I’m helping Logan with the Bryson case and I was hoping you could look up a corporation for me. Timber Ridge Development. No, I don’t know where they were incorporated but they’re Bryson Construction’s biggest customer by at least ten times. I don’t know what we’re looking for I’m just doing a Logan thing and following my gut. They’re almost too good to be true. Without them, Bryson Construction would have been out of business a year ago. You will? Thanks, I owe you.”
It was probably another dead end. They’d had too many of those lately.
* * * *
If Logan lived to be a hundred and four, he’d never understand the Bryson family. Their logic was clearly beyond his comprehension. They made absolutely no fucking sense.
“So you knew Lyle was losing money? That he was in debt to his eyeballs?”
Aaron sat at his desk across from Logan who had taken up pacing back and forth in the small space. The other man looked completely unperturbed about the entire subject as if Lyle’s gambling addiction was no big deal and that Logan was overreacting.
“I knew but we were dealing with that internally.” Aaron leaned forward, his palms flat on the desk. “Like a family. The way things should be done.”
“Internally,” Logan echoed. “Just how were you dealing with it? You didn’t get Lyle to stop gambling and seeing another woman.”
Red suffused Aaron’s cheeks and he cleared his throat a few times. “His relationship with Mary was his own business. He never brought his girlfriend into work so I didn’t stick my nose where it didn’t belong.”
“Fine, you didn’t care that he had a side piece and you didn’t care that he was gambling all his money and your money away. You’re a great brother, Aaron. Not many would be so accommodating. You just didn’t give a shit that he was bankrupting your company. Are you taking Valium or something? Or is it meditation? Just how do you stay so calm?”
“Bryson Construction is hardly bankrupt. We may not be cash rich but we’ve made payroll every single week. We also never miss a payment to our suppliers.”
That was true. Ava had been able to ascertain that quickly from the stack of financial statements on the kitchen table.
“Let’s talk about assets then.”
“What about them?”
“Do you have any? According to Natalie, Lyle was going to pay his bookie back with Bryson assets but he needed to do it in a way that you wouldn’t know.”
Aaron was shaking his head before Logan finished. “There isn’t any way to do that. When Wade…left…we made it so both of us have to sign off on any sales or major contracts. He couldn’t get rid of anything without my agreement and vice versa.”
Logan’s phone vibrated in his pocket and with a growl of frustration he pulled it out, reading the long text from his wife.
I’m going to give her a big kiss when I get home.
He tucked the phone away in his pocket. “So let me get this straight. Neither of you can sell anything without the other agreeing to it. You also can’t enter into any business deals without the other’s say so. Is that about right?”
“That’s right. So he couldn’t use Bryson assets to pay off his debt without my knowledge. Natalie was wrong.”
“You’re right. She was,” Logan agreed, settling into a guest chair and stretching out his legs. “What can you tell me about Timber Ridge Development?”
The once smiling and relaxed Aaron paled slightly and shifted in his chair. “They’re a customer of ours.”
“Your biggest customer. By far. In fact, without them you’d be bankrupt.”
“We’re very lucky they came along when they did.”
Logan nodded, stroking his chin. “About a year ago, right? Just about when Lyle got into major debt trouble. Funny on that timing.”
“I’m not sure when we first started doing work for Timber Ridge.”
Logan tapped his denim clad thighs. “Funny thing about them. They’re owned by a holding company in Canada. So Jared did a little more digging and found a string of holding companies that all come back to one family. The Eldridge family. As in Cory Eldridge, owner of the nightclub and gambling den where Lyle owes his money. Isn’t that a strange coincidence?”
Logan sat up straight, a smile finally turning up the corners of his lips. “More fun facts. Cory Eldridge’s uncle did some federal time for racketeering back in the nineties and his dad has been under scrutiny by the ATF for years. Interesting people you do business with.”
Aaron’s throat bobbed and all color had drained from his face. “I didn’t–I didn’t know any of that.”
Logan stood and leaned over the desk so he and Aaron were almost nose to nose. Beads of sweat had broken out on Aaron’s forehead. “Let me guess how this went down. Lyle got ass deep in debt and couldn’t pay it back. The company barely has any assets so he couldn’t sell anything. You weren’t willing to part with any personal assets so he didn’t have much choice. He could get his kneecaps removed and his bones broken or he could launder drug and gambling money through Bryson Construction for the Eldridge family. The only question I have is when did you find out? Did you know from the beginning or did you find out later?”
Aaron reached into the pocket of his blazer and pulled out a white handkerchief, dabbing at his face. “I didn’t know. Not at first.”
“But you figured it out eventually.”
Aaron nodded, looking close to tears. “I couldn’t let my brother be hurt. I put the family first–”
“Right,” Logan cut in. “Loyalty and all that jazz. Even if it’s illegal.”
“So what does this mean?”
The question came out squeaky and high pitched. He was scared and he should be. He could do some hard time for this.
“I’ll leave the money laundering to Drake and the Feds. That isn’t my problem. As for your motive, well, you didn’t really have one since you knew about the debt and didn’t think it was a problem. Eldridge loses his motive as well because he wouldn’t want to lose the mechanism for getting his money clean. It doesn’t help Mary or Bruce however. They still have motive – and right now – rotten alibis.”
A tear squeezed out of Aaron’s eye and slid down his cheek. “Mary didn’t do it. I know for a certainty.”
For a moment Logan almost turned his back and walked out. This family was a pimple on the ass of society.
“And how do you know that?” Logan asked with a heavy sigh. He was going to hate the answer. There was no doubt about that.
“She was at our house. Lindsay and I had a bad argument and she called Mary to come over and get her. She was planning on packing up and leaving. Then of course the whole thing with Lyle blew up so she didn’t.”
“Why didn’t she tell me this?”
“Because I asked her not to,” Aaron admitted. “I didn’t want anyone to know how things had gotten between me and Lindsey.”
Snapping his teeth together, Logan held back the words he really wanted to say.
“Drake may want to add obstruction of justice to your charges. Is there anything else that I don’t know?”
“No, nothing.” Aaron shrugged as if the entire incident was no big deal. “Not a thing.”
Logan didn’t believe him but for now he had to accept the answer.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The twins happily went into the family room to watch cartoons for a few minutes while Ava talked to her husband. Logan had just pulled into the driveway and she was pacing back and forth in front of the door, half angry and half happy. It was a strange combination to feel all at once and it had her pulse racing and her heart pounding in her ears.
She didn’t know whether to kiss Logan or yell at him. Heck, she might do both. In fact, she was sure she was going to do both of those things and a few others as well.
The door swung open and Logan
came inside, a grim expression on his face. He’d had a crappy day and it wasn’t her intention to make it worse but dammit, this couldn’t wait.
Stopping short when he saw that she was standing right in front of him, he leaned down to greet her with a kiss.
“Hey, honey. Is that cheeseburgers I smell?”
“It is.” She took his beat up brown leather briefcase out of his hands and placed it on the foyer table. “Is there anything you want to tell me, my darling husband?”
Like a deer in headlights, Logan froze. “Why do you ask?”
Ava walked toward the kitchen beckoning to her spouse. This wasn’t a discussion for the house entrance. “I had the most interesting discussion with Jason today. Jared was caught up in a meeting so he couldn’t call me back with the Timber Ridge details. Jason called instead. Do you know what he asked me?”
Her husband was beginning to relax, a smile playing on his lips. “Jason ratted me out, didn’t he?”
Logan thought this was funny. Funny.
He was going to be walking funny when she was done with him.
“Ratted you out? That’s all you have to say for yourself? Your business partner asked me if I was happy that you wouldn’t be traveling anymore. Imagine my surprise when I heard this.”
Leaning a hip against the kitchen counter, Logan was wearing his trademark grin. “I was saving it for a surprise but I guess it’s official. Kim hadn’t decided for sure to stick with the firm. She’s a city girl and let’s face it, most of the assignments are in little piss ant towns like this one. I didn’t want to raise your hopes only to have to tell you it wasn’t happening.”
Kim? What did she have to do with this?
“Wait…what? How does Kim fit into this equation?”
Crap, was she going to be working even more closely with Logan?
I cannot catch a break.
Logan was looking at her as if she was pretty but not very bright. “Kim is going to take my position in the firm, traveling as a hands-on consultant. I’m taking a different role in the firm providing computer and data expertise along with a managerial role for our support staff. Jared is going to specialize in some of the more…shall we say darker aspects of research, while I concentrate on the myriad of requests that come in every day. Jared desperately needs the help and the office in Seattle is growing by leaps and bounds. It needs someone to man the helm, so to speak. That’s why I’ve been spending so much time with Kim. I needed to first evaluate her level of skill and then get her trained up so she could take over.”
Justice Divided (Cowboy Justice Association Book 10) Page 14
