What Might Have Been: Daniels Brother #4 (Daniels Brothers) (31 page)

Trent raised an eyebrow. “Are we talking about me and Abby or you and Billy?”

She opened her mouth, hesitated, and then said, “Billy thinks you and I are having an affair.”

It took a couple of seconds for Trent to figure out how best to respond to that. “Why would he think that?”

“I don’t know.” Trinity ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “I’m sorry. It’s not your problem. I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“It’s fine.” In fact, it was more than fine. He’d been around his big brother, Paul, enough to know that every criminal had a motive. Jealousy was as good as any. And if Billy viewed Trent as a personal threat to his relationship, it wasn’t out of the question that he’d target Trent’s business.

“No, it’s not. I just . . . I don’t know who else I can talk to.” She sighed. “Things will be good for a while. Great, even. Then I don’t know what happens. I’ll come home and he’ll be sitting at the kitchen table with this look on his face. The next thing I know, we’re screaming at each other.”

He recalled they’d had a big fight three years ago, hence the make-out session he’d caught on tape. It might be the connection he’d been looking for. “Did you have a fight like that recently?”

“Yeah.” She slumped back in her chair, defeated.

“When, exactly?” It wasn’t the most sympathetic response, but he needed to know.

“It was a few weeks ago.” She paused. “Things are good again, so I know I shouldn’t complain. But it keeps happening over and over again. I tell myself that couples fight. It’s normal. But then I think, is it really?”

“Couples do fight.” Trent got up from behind his desk and went to stand in front of Trinity. “But if it’s a trust issue . . .”

“I don’t know what to do.”

There was a level of desperation in her voice, which made what he was about to say that much harder. “Trinity, this most recent fight you had, was it a big one?”

“Yeah. Probably the biggest we’ve had. He called me a lying whore and stormed out of the house.” Tears welled up in her eyes.

He fought the instinct to comfort her. “When was that, exactly?”

She blinked, clearly confused by his question.

Trent hated being the bad guy, but he figured it would be better coming from him than from Detective Travers. “Was it before or after the break-in?”

“It was the night before.” She stiffened as she caught up to his train of thought. “No. Billy wouldn’t do that. He—”

“I’m not saying he did, but, Trinity, someone broke in and stole a lot of equipment and supplies. Someone who knew how to avoid being seen by the security camera.” He knelt down in front of her and softened his tone. “I have a hard time believing that one of my employees would steal from me, which is what Detective Travers believes.”

She stared back at him with wide eyes.

He understood her disbelief, but he needed her to understand his thought process. “As far as I know, Billy is the only other person who knows his way around the yard.”

“There are the delivery drivers,” she whispered.

“I’ve contacted all our vendors and let them know of the theft. I asked them to check with their other clients to make sure that there haven’t been any other problems on our route. There haven’t been.” Trent let that sink in for a moment. “You said yourself that Billy thought the two of us were having an affair. Would that make him angry enough to want to steal from me?”

She didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know.”

Trent knew that a big part of her world might come crashing down very soon. He rested a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry. I hope I’m wrong. But I need to give this information to the police. Especially now that I know the timeline fits.”

Trinity nodded.

“Can you do me a favor?” he asked. “I need you to keep this to yourself for now. If Billy did do this, if you say anything to him, he might run—or worse.”

“I don’t want to believe he could do something like this.” The way she said it made him think that while she didn’t want to believe it, she was seeing the same pattern he had. She glanced down at the floor, then back up at him before admitting, “Two days before the mulch went missing, we argued about you, too. He’d seen us talking in the parking lot when he came to pick me up from work.” She turned to look at him. “Do you think he did that, too?”

“Remember when I caught you two making out on the security camera?”

“Yeah.”

“Mulch went missing not long before that. And you told me the reason you were all over each other was because you were making up after a fight.”

She gasped and put her hand over her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Trinity took several deep breaths and he waited for her to calm down some before he continued. “I could be wrong. I hope I am.”

“I’m sorry, Trent. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t brought him here—”

“You can’t blame yourself, Trinity. The only thing you did was fall for the wrong guy.” And whether or not Billy was the one behind the theft, Trent still believed he was the wrong guy for her. Yes, Trent might be jealous of Max and Abby’s relationship from time to time, but he didn’t pick fights with her about it. He trusted her and she hadn’t given him any reason to believe she was being anything less than honest with him.

“What happens now?” Trinity asked, bringing him back to the here and now.

“Just go about your day like normal. I’ll call Detective Travers and give him this new information. That’s all we can do for now.”

“Normal.” She inhaled slowly and then let it out. “I can do that.”

“Don’t worry,” Trent said, standing. “Everything will work out. You’ll see.”

Trent hoped he was right. The last thing he wanted was for Trinity or anyone else he cared about to get hurt.

Alone again in his office, Trent called Detective Travers. The sooner this case was closed, the better it would be for everyone.

Ten minutes later, he hung up the phone, frustrated and slightly pissed. His conversation with Detective Travers hadn’t gone as well as he’d wanted. The detective wasn’t happy Trent had been poking his nose around the case and in no uncertain terms told Trent to let him do his job.

The sound of a delivery truck’s air brakes releasing brought Trent’s head up. He looked out the window in time to see the driver hopping down from the cab of his truck.

Joss headed for the door, but Trent stopped him. “I’ve got this one.” He needed to work off a little steam.

Trent greeted the driver by name as he approached the gate. “How’ve you been, Eddie?”

“Oh, can’t complain. I get paid to sit on my ass.”

Both men laughed as Trent pushed the metal gate out of the way. He stepped aside and waited for Eddie to drive the loaded truck into the yard, then went to get the forklift.

It took a good half hour to unload the twenty pallets of sod they’d ordered. Almost half of it would go out to a jobsite tomorrow. The rest would follow soon after.

Eddie handed Trent the paperwork once everything had been unloaded. “You ever find out who broke in?”

Trent signed his name and handed the clipboard back. “Not yet. The police are still looking into it.”

Eddie nodded and hoisted himself back into the cab of his truck. “Well, I hope they catch ’em soon.”

“Me, too.”

Trent followed behind Eddie as he drove out of the yard, and resecured the gate. The sun had come out from behind the clouds and it was beating down on him. Trent looked at his watch and was surprised to see it was almost one. He made his way back inside.

“Did Trinity go to lunch?” he asked when he noticed she wasn’t at her desk.

“I guess,” Joss said. “She got a phone call and said she had to go take care of something.”

The hairs on the back of Trent’s neck stood up. While he had no reason to think something was wrong, he couldn’t shake it. “Did she get the call on her office phone or her cell?”

“Her cell. Why?”

Trent walked to the window and looked outside. Her car wasn’t in the parking lot. Trent prayed she hadn’t gone and done something stupid, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. Marching into his office, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk and opened his safe. Anyone who stole thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment because they suspected their significant other was cheating on them wasn’t someone he trusted to have a level head.

He reached inside and extracted his 9mm. He checked the magazine, racked the slide, and then tucked it into the back of his shorts.

***

By the time Abby pulled up in front of Trent’s office, it was almost four thirty. She found a spot in the shade and called Max. While she wanted to see Trent as soon as possible, she’d be a bad friend if she didn’t check in to see how Max’s dad was doing.

The phone rang twice before a very weary sounding Max answered. “Hey.”

“Hey. I wanted to see if there had been any change?”

“No. He’s still hanging on. The nurse says it’s only a matter of time.” Max paused. “At least he doesn’t seem to be in pain anymore.”

“I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.” A part of her felt guilty. Her life finally appeared to be coming together while his was falling apart.

“How was work today?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Quiet. I canceled your appointments for the rest of the week.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“An envelope came from the accounting firm you hired. I can bring it over in the morning,” she said.

“That’s all right. They called me earlier. We were right. Emily was just that bad at basic math. She kept transposing numbers and it was screwing everything up. An accounting nightmare, but nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“I guess that’s good news.”

Max released a loud breath into the phone. “Yeah. One less thing I have to worry about right now.”

“Call me if you need anything?” She knew Max wasn’t big on asking for help.

“I will.”

Abby tucked her phone into her pocket and grabbed her purse. The afternoon had turned muggy and the sun beat down on her as she made her way up to the front entrance. A business suit was fine for an air conditioned office, but she couldn’t imagine being outside on a day like today for very long in her dress pants, long-sleeve blouse, and jacket.

For a brief moment she thought about going home to change, but the desire to see Trent, to tell him what she’d decided, was too strong. She’d endure a little discomfort. Besides, she was kind of hoping he’d be helping her out of her clothes before too long.

A blast of cold air hit her in the face when she walked through the door. It felt good—a direct contrast to the heat outside.

She was enjoying the change in temperature so much that it took her a few moments to notice the office was empty. Trinity wasn’t at her desk. Neither were the other two guys who worked in Trent’s office. It was only four thirty. Where was everyone?

Abby was about to call out when she heard a crashing sound coming from the back room. The sound was followed by a gruff voice she didn’t recognize. Whoever it was, they sounded angry.

Something was wrong. She knew it in her bones.

Making a split-second decision, Abby removed her heels, afraid they might make too much noise and tip off whoever it was, and hid them beside a filing cabinet. They would also hinder her if she had to move fast.

Abby tiptoed across the room, drawing closer to where she’d heard the noises. As she got closer, she heard more voices. One was clearly a man and he sounded angry. He must have been the one she’d heard before. The other was a woman’s voice. Trinity. She was pleading with the angry man.

She heard Trent next. His voice was calm for the most part. She only heard a hint of fear mixed in there, but his words caused her heart to clench in fear. “Just put the gun down and we can talk.”

Someone was holding them at gunpoint? Why? Who was he?

“No more talking. I think you’ve talked enough,” the angry man said. His tone sent shivers up her spine.

Abby backed away as quietly as possible and ducked into Trent’s office. Her first thought was to call 911 and then look for some sort of a weapon. She wasn’t leaving while Trent was being held at gunpoint, but she wasn’t stupid enough to hang around with no way to defend herself either.

As she reached for the phone, however, she heard a buzzing sound. Lowering herself to the floor, she crawled around the desk until she found the source. Trent’s cell phone. He must have dropped it.

She snatched it up and saw Paul’s name on the screen. “Paul?”

There was a pause before he answered. “Abby?”

“I think Trent and his employees are being held hostage in one of the back rooms.” Her panic factor had ratcheted up significantly. Nothing could happen to him. Not now.

Paul’s voice changed and she knew he’d switched from a concerned brother to cop mode. “Where are you?”

“I’m in Trent’s office. His phone was on the floor under his desk.”

She heard Paul curse. “Have you called 911?”

“I was about to.”

He hesitated. “Do you still know how to shoot?”

It was only then it dawned on Abby that Trent must have a gun somewhere in the office. “Yes.”

“Bottom right-hand drawer. The code is his birthday,” Paul said.

Abby pulled open the drawer. There in the back was a safe. She typed in Trent’s birthday and the lock clicked open. She lifted the lid, expecting to find a gun inside, but it was empty. “It’s not here.”

“He must have it on him. At least, I hope he does.”

So did she. Because if he didn’t, then chances were that the gun was in the possession of whoever had them hostage.

She was still running that over in her mind when Paul interrupted her thoughts. “Abby, I’ll stay on the line with you, but I want you to get the phone off Trent’s desk and check to make sure it has a dial tone. And stay behind the desk as much as you can. I’d tell you to get the hell out of there, but one, I don’t think you would listen, and two, there’s always a chance whoever it is would hear you.”

“I’m not leaving him.” Abby reached for the phone and then crouched down behind the desk with it cradled in her lap. She picked up the receiver and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the dial tone. “It’s still connected.”