Chapter Eleven
Ivy wanted nothing more than to go back to the safe house so she could see Nathan. But there was no way her brother could spare the manpower right now. No way that Theo would let Ivy and him drive back there alone, either. Not after the other attack on the road and with the possibility of hired thugs still being in the area.
So she paced the hall in front of Gabriel’s office. Waited.
And worried.
Gabriel had already questioned the courier and hadn’t uncovered anything new, but her brother was definitely hoping to learn something from the watch, which he’d already sent for processing. Also to learn something from August. Once the man came in, that is. August had some answering to do over Belinda’s accusations that she’d been at McKenzie’s bar to meet him.
At least Lacey and Wesley wouldn’t be around. Or rather they shouldn’t be. It was unnerving enough having August return, and Ivy didn’t especially want to be under the same roof with all three of their suspects.
The worries kept coming, too. Because the greatest danger might not be with August, Lacey or Wesley. Gabriel had mentioned the possibility of Travis being innocent, and if by some serious long shot he actually was, then God knew who’d killed her parents. But whoever it was could want her and the rest of her family dead.
Not exactly a reassuring thought.
That could explain why she and other members of her family had been getting those threatening letters over the years. There’d been details in some of those letters—such as her mother’s necklace being taken—and the police had purposely kept those out of the reports. It’d been a way of putting a lid on false confessions. So the person who’d written those threats had either managed to hack into those reports, or else he’d been there that night to take the necklace while he’d murdered her mother.
Ivy had to close her eyes a moment to shut out the images. She’d been the one to discover her parents and had actually stepped in her mother’s blood when she ran to the bodies. There’d been nothing she could do, and she didn’t even remember making the frantic call to Gabriel. Good thing she had, too, because when he’d run to their parents’, he’d discovered Jodi on the path. She was within minutes of bleeding out, and he’d managed to save her.
Something Ivy hadn’t been able to do for her folks.
There were times, like now, when she reminded herself that the horror that’d gone on that night could have been even worse. Jodi could be dead, too. Maybe even Gabriel as well, since Jodi’s attacker was probably nearby when her brother had found her. Remembering that soothed Ivy a little. But not enough to make the ache fade in her heart.
Theo finished the call he’d just made to the crime lab, glanced at her and frowned. “You can’t dwell on it,” he said.
It was as if he’d looked right into her mind—something he’d always had a knack for doing—but she didn’t care much for it now. In some ways it made it worse that he knew how much she was still hurting. In some ways, though, it made it better. This wasn’t a case of misery loving company, it was just that Theo understood how much she’d lost that night. Because he’d lost so much himself.
“How do you forget?” she asked. “How do you push it all aside?”
He stared at her, shook his head. “You don’t.” On a heavy sigh, he went to Gabriel’s fridge, grabbed a bottle of water and brought it to her. “There’s no permanent fix for grief. It keeps coming back.”
Yes, it did. Like now. It was washing over her.
“Sometimes, it helps if I think about the good stuff,” he added. He pushed her hair from her face, his fingers lingering on her cheek. “How close Jodi and I once were. The times I was with you. I just force myself to remember that there were more good times than bad.”
Good advice. Too bad she couldn’t take it. It was impossible to push away the fear. Or so she thought. But then she looked at Theo, their gazes connecting, and just like that, things were a little better.
And worse.
Because even now with all the bad memories flooding her mind, she noticed him. That rumpled hair. That mouth. Mercy, he had a way of getting right past the fear and into places inside her where he shouldn’t be. Like her heart. Of course, her heart wasn’t the only problem at the moment. Theo also knew how to stir up things in her body.
Yes, there’d been plenty of good times, and most of those moments had centered on him.
“I would ask you to go to the break room...” he said, arching his eyebrow as if that were a question rather than an attempt at a joke.
Despite everything going on, Ivy had to fight back a smile. “Probably not a good idea.”
Theo kept his eyes on her as if waiting for something more. Conversation, maybe? An assurance that she was okay?
Another kiss?
If it was the kiss, then Ivy imagined it would be the kiss that people gave each other when they were used to kissing. When that kiss would suddenly make all the bad things go away. Something that it couldn’t do. But it could cause the old heat to slide right through her. In fact, just the thought of kissing him did that to her. It also helped that Theo was so close to her that she caught his scent.
More of that heat came.
“I’ve seen that look before.” He brushed his fingers over the center of her forehead, which was bunched up.
Now she waited, because she wasn’t sure where he was going with this. Maybe he had noticed the need in her expression. Or perhaps he was picking up on all the other things—the worry, the fatigue and, yes, the fear.
He didn’t take his fingers from her face. Instead, Theo slipped them lower, to her cheek, and his touch—warm and soothing—lingered a moment there. Even though he didn’t say anything, they had an entire conversation. About this mutual attraction that was messing with their minds. About what had torn them apart in the past. Even what might bring them back together in the future.
Nathan.
Theo must have realized this wasn’t going to be something they could hash out now. Nor should they be doing this. Not with the danger still out there. And that’s probably why he stepped back. Not far enough, though. Of course, several rooms over might not have been far enough to get her body to cool down.
“I’m sorry,” he said, the frown returning.
Those two words certainly started the cooling-down process. “For what?”
“For not being able to keep you safe.”
That’s where she thought this was leading, and she didn’t like it one bit. “I could be the reason you’re in danger,” she reminded him. Ivy was about to repeat his apology to him, but then she stopped when an idea went through her head. “Has anyone checked to see if my father was maybe investigating Wesley?”
She expected Theo to look surprised at the abrupt change in conversation, but he merely nodded. “I did last night. All your father’s cases aren’t digitized, but Gabriel did a summary of each of them and put the info in a master file and shared it with me.”
Now Ivy was the one who was surprised, and she felt her eyes widen. She hadn’t known about the master file or the sharing part, and Gabriel must have been able to get over the rocky past with Theo for him to give him that info.
“And?” she asked.
“Your father didn’t specifically mention Wesley’s name, but he was working on a case that involved SAPD. Sherman had busted some guys for drugs, and he found some guns on them that had been confiscated in a raid in San Antonio. The weapons had been reported as destroyed, but clearly they weren’t.”
Ivy took a moment to think that through. “So a San Antonio cop sold or gave them the gun?”
Theo lifted his shoulder. “Or it could have been a paperwork error. It happens,” he added. “I’ll keep digging, but so far I haven’t found anything that connects Wesley to the chain of custody of those guns.”
And without that, it would be almost impossible to tie Wesley to it—and to her father’s murder.
Ivy shook her head. “Maybe I’m overthinking this. Your father was convicted of the murders, and he has never denied doing it.” Of course, that was mainly because Travis had been drunk and couldn’t remember. “Anyway, maybe Wesley isn’t dirty at all. Maybe that drug bust my father made is just muddying already muddy waters.”
Theo certainly didn’t argue with that. Which meant they were back to Lacey and August. And speaking of August, Ivy heard the man’s voice in the squad room. A very unhappy voice. It wasn’t a shock that he was riled about being brought back in again for questioning.
“There’d better be a damn good reason you dragged me back here,” August shouted. And yes, it was a shout. “Because I’m sick and tired of being accused of things I didn’t do.”
Gabriel had been at one of the deputies’ desks, but he got to his feet and motioned for August to follow him. Her brother didn’t shout, but he was scowling.
Both Theo and she stepped to the side so that Gabriel could lead August into his office. The watch, envelope and report were no longer there. They’d been couriered to the crime lab.
“First things first,” Gabriel said to August. “Tell me about Belinda Travers.”
“Who?” August made a face. “Never heard of her.”
“Well, she’s heard of you. She says you were supposed to meet her in a bar in San Antonio, but then someone kidnapped her.”
“What?” August howled. “She’s lying.”
Gabriel and Theo exchanged glances, both of them clearly not happy with that denial. Maybe when the woman was able to talk to them, she could prove that August was the liar.
Gabriel dragged in a long breath and turned his computer monitor in August’s direction. “Tell me about this,” Gabriel ordered him. It was a picture of her father’s watch.
Before August’s attention actually landed on the screen, he’d already opened his mouth. No doubt to shout something again about how innocent he was. But he not only closed his mouth, he also moved in closer for a better look.
“Where did you get that?” August demanded.
“I asked you a question first,” Gabriel fired back. He didn’t add more, maybe because he wanted to see where August would go with this.
It didn’t take long for August to respond. He cursed. It wasn’t exactly angry cursing, though. His shoulders dropped, and while he shook his head, August sank down on the edge of Gabriel’s desk.
“Hell,” August mumbled. That definitely wasn’t a denial, and neither was his body language. “I need to know where you got the watch,” August said, and this time it wasn’t a demand. Even though he didn’t add a please, it was there, unspoken.
“I figured it’d come from you,” Gabriel answered.
Since August was a hothead, his normal response would have been to verbally blast Gabriel for suggesting that. He didn’t. Mercy, did that mean it’d actually come from August? If so, how had he gotten it, and why had he used it to try to set up Lacey?
“Start talking,” Theo ordered him. He stepped closer to his uncle, violating his personal space, and August spared him a glance before his gaze darted away.
“I found the watch shortly after Travis’s trial,” August explained after a long pause. “It was in the barn at Travis’s ranch.” He looked up at Theo. “You know that corner where your daddy used to store sacks of feed? Well, there were some loose boards on the wall,” he said when Theo nodded. “I looked behind them and saw the watch.”
Theo tilted his head, his mouth tightening. Gabriel had a similar expression—one of skepticism.
“SAPD went through that barn,” Theo reminded him. “So did Gabriel and Jameson.”
August nodded. “So did I, and I didn’t see it. Someone had tucked it up behind the boards. I think the only reason I found it was that some of the nails had given way and caused the board to come loose.”
Ivy supposed it was possible that Travis had taken the watch and then hidden it there. Well, it was believable if you discounted the fact that Travis had been drunk the night of the murders. Apparently, he’d been so drunk that he’d passed out shortly thereafter.
“How do you think my dad’s watch got there?” Ivy came out and asked.
“I have no idea.” Now August shifted his attention to her. “But this still doesn’t make my brother guilty. The killer could have easily planted it there hours and even days after the crime. Like I said, I didn’t find it until after the trial, and that was months later.”
“You found it and yet you didn’t turn it over to Gabriel?” Theo’s mouth was in a flat line now.
“I couldn’t see the point of it,” August answered without hesitation. “Travis had just gotten a life sentence. I didn’t think it would do much good if folks knew a dead man’s watch had been found in his alleged killer’s barn.”
“It wasn’t alleged,” Gabriel said. “He was convicted. And you should have given the watch to me instead of trying to use it as some kind of ploy to set up Lacey Vogel.”
“What?” August jumped to his feet, and she saw that flash of temper that’d been missing the last couple of minutes. “Is that what she said I did? Because I sure as hell didn’t.”
Theo and Gabriel exchanged more glances. Confused ones. Ivy was right there with them.
“Someone put the watch on Lacey’s vehicle,” Theo explained. “She tossed the watch aside, and that person then took it and sent it to a lab. It has both Sherman Beckett’s blood and Lacey’s prints. Not your prints, though. Why is that if you’re the one who found it?”
August’s gaze slashed between the two lawmen, and his eyes widened before he cursed again. “My prints weren’t on it because I used a paper towel to pick it up. I then wrapped it in that towel and put it in Travis’s house. In plain view on the coffee table in the living room. I figured if Jodi and Theo came back, they’d see it and turn it in.”
Theo huffed. “Why the hell would you do that?”
Ivy wanted to know the same thing. To the best of her knowledge, Theo and Jodi had never gone back to the house. Like her own parents’ house, Travis’s place had been empty. Abandoned.
“I didn’t want the watch at my house,” August said as if that explained everything. “I just figured it’d be better if I left it at Travis’s.”
“Better because it would seem as if someone had put it there to taunt the police,” Theo snapped. “You did that to try to make my father look innocent. Or at least that’s why you did if you’re telling us the truth.”
“I am,” August insisted.
Maybe he was, but if so, he didn’t deny Theo’s accusation about leaving the watch to make Travis appear innocent.
“Someone must have taken the watch from Travis’s house,” August went on. “But why would that person then want to set up Ivy’s stepdaughter?”
Ivy didn’t know, but she had a theory. “Lacey hates me and would do anything to get back at me. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had had someone go through both my parents’ and Travis’s places. Maybe so she could find something she could use against me. Something to help her win a lawsuit to get her hands on her dad’s money.”
All three men were staring at her now. Maybe waiting for her to come up with more, but Ivy didn’t have more. She didn’t have a clue how Lacey would hope to connect the watch to her.
But Theo apparently did.
Still, there was something about all of this that didn’t make sense. Ivy gave that some more thought but had to shake her head. “That seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to cast some doubt on my name.”
Theo lifted his shoulder. “Maybe it’s all she could find and figured she’d use it. By having her own prints on it, too, she might think it takes suspicion off her. It doesn’t.” Theo shifted his gaze to August. “Nor you. Gabriel could file charges against you for withholding evidence.”
August’s mouth practically dropped open, and he snapped to Gabriel. “By the time I found the watch, the investigation and the trial were over.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Gabriel answered. “Anything connected to the case should have been given to me.”
“What the hell would you have to gain by bringing charges against me?” August’s temper was not only back, but it had also risen a couple of notches.
“Justice,” Gabriel answered without hesitation. “Plus, if you’d given me the watch, we’d wouldn’t be in this situation now of wondering who’s trying to use it and why.”
August would have no doubt responded to that with a fury-laced tirade, but Theo’s phone rang, the sound knifing through the room. The moment Theo glanced at the screen, Ivy knew from his suddenly tight expression that there was a problem.
“It’s Jameson,” Theo told her, and he answered the call.
Ivy moved even closer to Theo so she could hear what her brother was saying, but it was a very short conversation. One that ended with Theo cursing and taking hold of her arm.
“We need to leave now,” Theo said. “Jameson said there’s an armed intruder on the grounds of the safe house.”