“I have no idea, but it better be damned
important this early in the morning.”
Okay, in all fairness, nine-thirty wasn’t
exactly early. But to Sunny, who hadn’t gotten to sleep until after
four, it was obscene.
Once she figured out how to use the various
search engines, she’d been unstoppable. She stuck with her plan of
finding everything possible on Max Holden, but she also broke the
plan and did a fair amount of research on Gavin.
Bottom line: Max was a snake. And while she
hadn’t been able to find anything concrete about Gavin, she’d come
to the conclusion that if he worked for Max Holden, he must be a
belly crawler too.
Logically, she knew she was better off
without him. Her heart hadn’t gotten the memo, though, because as
she turned the corner and saw Gavin standing at the door, it took a
flying leap toward him.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Robby
asked. He planted his hands on his hips and glared at Gavin through
the door’s upper pane of glass.
Spotting the familiar cups they used for
coffee at the Anticue Quick Stop, she said, “I don’t know, but he
has coffee. I think it’s worth finding out.” She opened the door
and realized the pounding had been so loud because he’d been
kicking the door with his foot. He held a large storage box in his
arms, with two cups of coffee sitting on top, and a tower of boxes
stood next to him.
“Good morning.” His tone was soft and his
eyes held an intimacy only a lover could pull off. He glanced at
Robby and said, “I didn’t know if you drank coffee or not, so I
only got two. I can go back and get another if you like.”
Sunny took one of the cups but didn’t step
aside so he could enter. “What are you doing here?”
He glanced at the boxes next to him. “We have
some research to do.” Wicked mischief glimmered in his eyes, and
for some stupid reason, hope flared in her chest. “Some of it I
need to do, but you and Robby are the only ones who’ll be able to
spot the names we need to find.”
Robby stepped up next to her. “What are we
looking for?”
“I want you to look through all the donations
that have been made over the past several years and through the
lists of Holden’s subcontractors to see if you recognize any of the
names.”
Sunny took a sip of her coffee and stared at
the boxes. “Donations for what? Why would we recognize the
names?”
“As you know, the current ordinances won’t
allow for a Holden Resort. But Max has several county commissioners
on his payroll that will vote to change the ordinances. Once we
know who we’re dealing with, we can go from there.”
Sunny gasped. She knew most of the county
commissioners. In fact, Ed and Joe were both commissioners. “I
don’t believe you.”
Gavin’s face was a blank slate. “Believe
it.”
Sunny crossed one arm over her stomach and
took another sip of coffee. “I have a question for you. The way you
answer it will determine whether or not you come into this
house.”
“Okay.”
“How can you stand to work for a man like Max
Holden?”
Gavin reacted as if she’d physically punched
him in the gut. His breath left in a
whoosh
, and he slumped
slightly forward. When he opened his eyes, the pain she’d inflicted
with the question was a tangible, living, breathing thing. “Max has
been good to me. He paid my way through college and has always
treated me like a member of the family. He offered me a chance to
make something out of my life.”
He took a deep breath, then sighed. “I didn’t
know Max was capable of some of the things I now suspect. That’s
what I’m going to look for. Proof that the rumors I’ve heard over
the years are true. Or, hopefully, false.”
Sunny checked Robby’s face, gauging his
reaction to see if he trusted Gavin’s sincerity. Apparently he did
because he pushed past her, grabbed one of the boxes, and hauled it
into the house.
Gavin nodded to his cup of coffee. “I’ll get
the boxes, if you’ll carry that.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Gavin picked up an additional two boxes and
said, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
***
From his position in the floor, propped up
against the fridge, with an open notebook on his lap, Robby said,
“Tell me again exactly what I’m looking for.”
They’d been at this for almost an hour, and
none of them had found anything that proved Gavin’s theory of
Anticue commissioners being in bed with the bad guys. So far, she
seemed to be the only one in bed with someone from Max’s team.
“Any name that sounds familiar,” Gavin said.
He put his finger on the page to hold his place. “Max isn’t going
to leave a flashing neon sign over the names of the people he pays
off. They’ll be hidden. Well… hidden in plain sight to someone who
knows what they’re looking for. We have to put the pieces together
in order to figure out the puzzle.”
“So what are
you
looking for?”
Gavin rubbed the back of his neck and leaned
back in the chair. “I’m looking at past situations where the
landowners were reluctant to sell.” His face contorted and his eyes
darkened. “I’m looking for something that might tell me why they
had a sudden change of heart.”
Maybe they received a visit from some
scary dudes in a red truck,
Sunny thought.
She chewed her lip and debated telling Gavin
about the strange vehicle. She didn’t know that the truck was
connected to any of this. She still hoped she’d been overly
paranoid but decided it wouldn’t hurt to mention the incident.
“Do you know anyone who drives a red,
low-rider truck, with flames painted on the front and really dark
tinted windows?”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Robby’s
head snap up. “You think those guys had something to do with this?”
When he came upstairs, he asked Sunny about the truck, but she
brushed it off by saying people did weird things all the time. Now,
he eyed her suspiciously.
Gavin tensed and his blue eyes turned cold
and assessing. “What guys?”
“Late yesterday afternoon, a red truck pulled
into the parking lot. They sat at the edge of the lot for a few
minutes, and even though I couldn’t see in, I had the feeling I was
being watched.”
“Where were you?”
“Sitting outside the shop, taking a
break.”
“What happened?”
“They just sat there. All of my instincts
screamed something wasn’t right, so I got up and went into the shop
for my cellphone and…” She laughed, a little embarrassed. “I
grabbed a pipe that I could swing like a baseball bat.”
Gavin didn’t laugh. “And then what?”
“While I was doing that, they pulled on up
into the parking lot. As soon as they were out of sight behind the
building, I took off for the house. I ran up here, locked the
doors, and watched them out of Robby’s window.”
“They were turning around real slow,” Robby
interjected. “But when I pulled into the lot, they took off. I
couldn’t tell much about them, but I did see that there were two
men in the truck.”
“Son of a bitch.” Gavin pushed his chair back
from the table with so much force it toppled over backward. He
ripped open the kitchen door and stalked out, slamming it shut
behind him.
Sunny looked at Robby, who sat wide-eyed,
staring at her. “I think he’s mad.”
Robby didn’t laugh as she expected. Instead,
he stood and followed Gavin outside.
***
“What’s going on?” Robby’s strained voice
bled over the sound of the phone ringing in Gavin’s ear. He turned
to Robby and held up his finger in the universal just-a-minute
sign.
On the sixth ring, the receptionist finally
answered, then transferred him to Marty.
While waiting for Marty to pick up, Gavin dug
into his pocket for the piece of paper on which he’d written the
number. Because Marty often worked vampire hours, he didn’t usually
get into the office until late morning. Gavin hadn’t expected to
catch him this early but was relieved to hear his voice on the
other end of the line. “Hey man, long time.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Gavin said, rubbing
the back of his neck. He and Marty had been best friends through
high school and into college. Then, like everyone and everything
else that mattered, Gavin let Marty drift away. “I need a huge
favor. Fast.”
“Of course you do.” Gavin heard papers
shuffling, then Marty said, “I’m ready.”
“I have a phone number I need you to track. I
think you’re going to find it’s a cell. I need to know who it
belongs to and everything you can find out about them. I’m
especially interested in their occupation and the vehicle they
drive.”
“What’s going on?”
He gave Marty the number, then filled him in
on all he suspected and the little bit he knew about Max’s
dealings. He told Marty to look for anything that would give them
an advantage or some leverage in getting Max to back off this deal.
And, depending on what they found, they’d turn the evidence over to
the authorities, if necessary.
By the time Gavin hung up, he felt better and
worse. Better, because he knew Marty would find everything there
was to find. Worse, because he had a terrible suspicion Marty would
find more than Gavin wanted to know.
Gavin didn’t hide any of his conversation
from Robby, who patiently waited for Gavin to finish the call. He
hoped that gained him some points in the younger man’s eyes, rather
than making him an even bigger threat to Sunny.
When Gavin disconnected, Robby said, “You
really are trying to make this okay for us, aren’t you?”
Gavin stood and faced him. “Yeah, I am.” He
put his hands on his hips and stared at the ocean rolling onshore.
“I care about your sister, and you. I’m not going to let anything
happen to either of you, or this bar.”
Robby nodded and, although he didn’t exactly
smile, the permascowl relaxed. “Sorry for being a prick.”
Gavin clasped Robby’s shoulder with one hand
and offered his other for a knuckle rap. “S’all good. You had every
reason not to trust me, but I hope that changes.”
Gavin turned the handle on the kitchen door,
pushed it open, and had the breath knocked out of him. The crushed
expression on Sunny’s face indicated she’d found something.
Something awful.
“What’s wrong?” Robby and Gavin asked like a
couple of choir boys in perfect harmony.
Sunny couldn’t answer around the anvil in her
throat, so she held up the paperwork and pointed to the name on the
list.
Gavin sat in the chair across from her and
eased the file out of her hands. Robby squatted next to her and
took hold of her shoulder. “Sis, what did you find?”
“Ed.” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her
throat for another try. “Ed is on Holden’s payroll. Literally.”
“What?” Robby shot to his feet and backed
away as if she’d brandished a dangerous weapon. “Show me.”
Gavin rested the file on the table and pulled
out the list of subcontractors she’d been studying. Leaning over
the table, she pointed to Ed’s name.
She thought this whole thing would be a huge
waste of time, unable to believe anyone she knew could be bought.
But as she started going through the list of subcontractors, unease
stirred in her stomach. She’d found a few names that sounded
familiar and wrote them down to check out later.
Then she got to a name she didn’t have to
check out: Edward P. Hardin. It was as familiar as a family name,
especially since she’d written a check to him once a month for the
past two years, for all of her store purchases.
“Maybe it’s a different Edward Hardin,” Robby
said, sounding desperate to find an explanation other than the
logical one in front of them. When she looked up into his eyes, she
realized his vision must have been as blurry as hers.
“I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her
head. “Here’s a list of four other names that rang a bell. I don’t
know them, personally, but I think they’re from Anticue.”
Robby spun the list around and looked at it.
“Barbara Hammond? Isn’t she the woman who runs the coffee shop in
town?”
Sunny wiped a tear away and put the others on
lockdown. “That’s what I thought, too.” She reached into her jar of
Dum-Dums sitting on the table and rummaged around, going all the
way to the bottom until she found a butterscotch. At Gavin’s raised
eyebrow, she said, “They’re my favorite.” She gave a little
sniffle. “I deserve my favorite right now.”
A small smile played at the corner of his
mouth. “I thought peppermint was your favorite.”
She froze and cut her eyes to Robby to see if
he was paying attention. He wasn’t, so she smiled at Gavin, hoping
he understood she appreciated the humor. The mood in the room had
grown as solemn as if they’d experienced a death in the family.
And, in a way, she supposed they had.
Ed had been one of their regular customers
since she and Robby opened the bar. He and Joe had been on those
same barstools every single night. She couldn’t believe he’d be a
party to something underhanded. But she also couldn’t deny the
proof sitting in front of her.
She slumped in her chair and turned to Gavin.
“I guess we found what we were looking for. What now?”
A knock on the door caused all three of them
to jump, and the conversation ceased.
“Do you know him?” Gavin asked, twisting
around to look through the glass.
“Yeah, it’s Sam Penner from the health
department.” Sunny opened the door. “Hi, Sam. It’s not time for our
inspection already, is it?”
He shuffled his feet and glanced down at the
clipboard in his hand. “We… um… got a complaint about…” His face
reddened, and try as he might, he couldn’t maintain eye contact
with Sunny. “I got a complaint about the bar. I need to check it
out.”