Chapter Eighteen
Logan had assured the young woman that he couldn’t be shocked and he wasn’t. However he was surprised. Not that Lyle owed money. Since Wade’s arrest, the Bryson family had plenty of cash flow issues. No, he was surprised to hear that Lyle owed money to people Natalie deemed dangerous. A straight arrow, Lyle was a rule follower and always had been. Hell, he didn’t even cross the street when the light said Do Not Walk.
“Dangerous?” Drake had been quiet up to now but he’d be very interested in the criminal element in his town. “How do you mean…dangerous? Did you meet any of these people?”
Sighing, Natalie’s shoulders slumped and Dani put her arm around her friend in support.
“Yes, I’ve met them because I’m the one that introduced him. They’re my employers. Or…my ex-employers. I’m afraid to go to work. I take a few shifts a week as a waitress there.”
If Logan hadn’t been paying attention before, she had all of it now. This was becoming quite the tale.
“Where do you work?”
“The nightclub out by the highway near Springwood. The Bell Tower. It’s just a part time thing. You know…for extra money.” She hesitated, her gaze skittering over to Drake and then back to Logan before continuing. “There’s more there than just a nightclub, though.”
Drake’s jaw tightened and he nodded in agreement. “We’ve suspected for some time that illegal activity was going on there, Ms. Denning.”
Raising an eyebrow, Logan gave his former deputy a questioning look. Illegal activity was rather vague.
“Gambling, prostitution, and drugs,” Drake said with a grim smile. “The law enforcement trifecta. There’s probably some money laundering going on there, too. Tanner spoke about it at our last couple of meetings.”
“I don’t know about any drugs or prostitution,” Natalie protested, indignation in her tone. “I’ve never seen any of that. I’ve only seen…the gambling room upstairs.”
Natalie’s gaze had fallen to the floor and Dani was whispering urgently in her ear. The young woman kept shaking her head no.
“You have to tell them,” the friend said, jumping up from the sofa. “They’ll find out eventually.”
Sniffling, Natalie finally agreed. “It’s just…it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t introduced Lyle to my boss, none of this would have happened.”
Logan was beginning to put the puzzle together in his brain, filling in the blanks with ideas of his own, but this young woman needed to confirm the story.
“Lyle came to the nightclub,” Logan said. “He came to see you.”
“Yes, he’d come and have a drink and we’d talk on my breaks.”
“Then you introduced him to your manager. That’s a pretty normal thing to do.”
Natalie dragged the back of her knuckles across her damp cheeks. “Cory, my boss, invited Lyle up to the gambling room.”
Shit. Logan knew what was coming next.
“Lyle lost money there, didn’t he? A lot of it.”
She nodded, taking a shaky breath. “At first it wasn’t too bad. He’d win some and he’d lose some. But then it seemed to get worse and he’d come in several times a week and his losses kept piling up. You can’t owe people like Cory money and not pay it back.”
No, you can’t. And Lyle should have known better.
“And you think Cory shot Lyle because of the debt?”
“I bet he had one of his goons do it. He wouldn’t do it himself.”
The theory made sense. Except…
If this Cory killed Lyle he wasn’t ever getting the money back. Drake had to be thinking the same thing based on his dubious expression. Usually they broke both of your legs and threatened your family. Death was pretty final unless Cory had written off the debt, which would be insane because the Bryson’s might not have cash, but they did have assets. Equipment, land, real estate. There was money to be had if they were patient enough.
“And you think you might be next?” Drake asked. “You think your life is in danger?”
Natalie threw up her arms, two red flags coloring her otherwise pale face. “I’m practically a witness. I know that Cory has motive, so of course he’s going to come after me. I’m terrified to go to work or my own home.”
Since Logan didn’t know if Cory had Lyle shot or not, he couldn’t make a determination as to whether Natalie Denning was in danger. It was a possibility that they needed to take into account.
“Then you probably shouldn’t be posting photos of the two of you on social media or parking your car in front of the house,” Drake observed. “Maybe you really should go on a vacation.”
Logan was already texting Jason to see if they could get one of the trainees out here to babysit the women until he’d closed this case. He didn’t want to take any chances and he absolutely didn’t want to send Natalie out of town. He was afraid he’d never see her again. He hadn’t confirmed her story and this could all be a load of horse shit. She might be guilty as hell despite all the angst and tears.
Damn, I’m getting cynical in my old age.
His phone dinged with a confirmation. The consulting firm would provide the two young women with protection. But not here. They’d go to a more secure location.
“I’m talking with my partners about a safer option,” Logan replied. “But you’ll have to leave this house. Anyone can find you here.”
Dani and Natalie exchanged a glance, and then Dani spoke. “I can’t leave my job, but I think Nat should go.”
Logan already didn’t like it. “I can’t protect you here.”
The young woman shrugged. “I know but I can’t lose my job.”
Logan sighed and began tapping out a new text. This time to a friend. “Let me get in touch with Sheriff Tanner. Maybe he can have a patrol come by several times a day.”
Just the mention of Tanner Marks had Dani smiling. “He’s such a good man. His wife is so pretty, too. And their little girl is adorable.”
Amanda Marks was incredibly cute. She looked a lot like her mother Madison, thank heavens. Tanner wouldn’t be an attractive female.
“We’ll work something out,” Logan promised. “In the meantime, I need to know every detail about Lyle’s gambling. What he liked to bet on, how much he lost. I also want everything you know about Cory and his business partners. Can you do that for me, Natalie?”
“I can but I’m not sure that I know all that much.”
“You know more than you think you do,” he assured her. “Sometimes the littlest thing is the most important.”
Ava was going to be pissed as hell that she’d missed this. Maybe he should pick up dinner on his way home.
On the bright side, Mary wasn’t their best suspect anymore.
* * * *
Ava hadn’t had a great day with her sister and her evening wasn’t getting any better. Her loving husband Logan had just informed her that she was sitting out another part of the investigation. Again. This was becoming a habit.
“It’s too dangerous,” Logan said flatly, his lips in a firm line. She knew that look and it didn’t bode well for changing his mind. When Logan Wright decided something, it took damn near a zombie apocalypse to change his mind. “You could get hurt or killed. We don’t know what this Cory is up to yet. He could be a killer or just a small time thug, but either way you aren’t going to be there. You can wait in the police van across the street and listen in, but that’s as close as you’re getting.”
He made a good argument and she couldn’t really refute any of it, but there was something he hadn’t considered.
“Having a woman with you will make you seem much less of a threat,” Ava said. “You’ll be perceived as harmless. If you’re alone or with Tanner, they’ll be much more suspicious. Tanner, what do you think?”
The subject of their discussion was sitting at their kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee. Holding his hands up in a sign of surrender, he laughed. “Don’t drag me into a marital disagreement. I’m like Switzerland here. Completely neutral.”
“You’d take Madison into an undercover operation?” Logan queried, his brows almost to his hairline. “I don’t believe that for a moment.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” the older lawman conceded with a grin. “But what we do shouldn’t have any bearing on what you do. Switzerland, remember?”
“But don’t you think having a woman there will make them less suspicious?” Ava argued. “I can be useful in this investigation.”
Her handsome husband scowled at her statement. “You are useful. But you don’t go in the field. End of story. Decision made. You are right, though, we would be perceived as less of a threat with a woman. That’s why I’ve asked Jason to send Kim. She and I can pretend to be a couple. Obviously Tanner can’t go in there. They know he’s the sheriff.”
Kim. Logan and Kim were going to pretend to be a couple. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. In fact, how many times had they already done that? They were spending far too much time together and now good ol’ Kim was coming to save the day. As if there were no females for hundreds of miles around Corville. Logan had to import his lovely partner.
“You’re bringing Kim in.”
“She’s a trained law enforcement officer,” Logan pointed out. “It only makes sense. I’m not going to send my wife and mother of my children into an unknown situation. Not going to happen, babe.”
Kim was trained and could handle herself. She and Logan had far more in common than Ava and Logan did.
My husband is not cheating on me. He loves me and the children. He loves his family.
It didn’t make Ava feel any better. Logan might not be sleeping with the beautiful and talented Kim but he was spending more time with her than his wife. Ava was beginning to get the sad feeling that perhaps he preferred it that way. Maybe…just maybe…Kim was more fun.
Ava decided then and there to remind her husband just how much fun she could be. She’d do it tonight.