Chapter 8
She didn’t even know why she was outside. But a sense of despondency and grief had overwhelmed her when she saw the folders Chad had accumulated on her behalf, when she realized just how much her brother had done to try to keep her safe. Sure, it was invasive. And it was certainly disturbing because he wasn’t here to explain it all. But it also showed how much he cared.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt quite so alone as she did at that moment. The tears were still dripping down her cheeks. She wasn’t crying, but she just couldn’t stop them from bubbling up at the corner of her eyes. She wiped them away impatiently. It was hardly the time for tears. Two hungry men were in her kitchen, and she didn’t even know how long they were staying. She wanted to kick them out and have them take all this news with them. At the same time, she wanted to hold them close and never let them leave.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to live in this house anymore. Although it invoked memories of Chad, he wasn’t here. And that was such a strange feeling. She was the sole owner now as Chad had left his half to her. It still felt like it was his house. She wondered if living here was the healthiest thing for her. Walking around, touching Chad’s things, his furniture, his drapes, his paint on the walls.
Clary could do whatever she wanted to change things. To make the house hers. Or at least more hers. The trouble was, she didn’t know what she wanted to do. She had no real inclination to change anything, yet she had no goals to set her sights on either. She was a boat adrift on the waters of life without a sail or oars. When had she gotten so gloomy?
Of course Talon choosing the navy over her had been her first cross to bear. And, yes, now she could clearly see how she had held on to that pain, had nurtured it, had let it fester inside her for almost a decade, which had ultimately led to the hastened death of her ill-fated marriage. Then her parents had pretty much abandoned Chad and Clary to pursue their worldwide research full-time. She shook her head. This was the first time she had ever considered her parents’ passion for their research in that context. Clary had really been clueless back then. And then Chad’s death … That one event had knocked the wind out of her. For a long time. Probably ever since then.
She knew Talon’s reappearance in her life was the first domino to fall, bringing about her fresh eyes, this new insight to view her life for what it was: this destructive rut, pushing everyone away. Except Chad. When Chad had died, she had been thrown such a curve ball that she fell into a horrid tailspin.
Clary pondered what changes she could make to move her off dead center. To add some … life to her life.
She had a job here, which she felt nothing about one way or the other, but she could move anywhere and find another job. It’s not like a good paralegal would be unemployed for long. She had a house here, but she could sell it. It wasn’t a home—not yet, not really. What she didn’t have was her brother …
On that note she gave herself a pep talk so she could get back into the kitchen without anybody seeing how upset she was. But it would be impossible with Talon and Laszlo. Both men had sharp eyes and seemed to read people easily. She thought about all the work Talon had never told her about, though Chad had hinted at. Secret missions, special ops. “SEALs” had been mentioned more than once.
She could see how Talon would have taken to that life. He’d always been destined for so much more. But, in her heart at the time, she’d been so insecure, so needing a real family, as her biological family had seemed so shattered to her, that she’d given Talon that ultimatum. And she’d regretted it the minute it was out of her mouth. But he’d taken it to heart, and it had been the final blow to an argument they’d had many times.
She took several deep breaths and walked around to the far corner of her property. She shoved her hands in her pockets and let the sun shine down on her face. She had no idea what she would do today. She was partially dependent on the men. They’d come for Chad, to tell her the news. How was she supposed to feel about it? She still didn’t know. Because there was no resolution. Now, instead of just needing time to get past the loss, there was an anger, a need to get answers and justice for her brother. And they’d come way too late for any of that to happen.
Maybe that was the part that bothered her the most. If they’d known a year ago, maybe there’d have been a chance to catch this guy—well, the guy who ordered the hired gun. She knew Talon and Laszlo were good at what they did. Obviously they weren’t perfect because they’d been in their own accident, despite all their training, all their skills, all that time in the navy. Thus the term “accident,” she thought. They weren’t talking about that originating incident much, but she was pretty sure they’d said something about a tie-in for all these other murders.
It completely overwhelmed her to consider somebody had set out to systematically kill these men’s families and friends. Who had that kind of dedication? Who could possibly hate them that much? For her it all centered around Mouse. As if there might have been a brother or a father or maybe a lover. Somebody who lost the light in their life and wanted others to pay. And all Mouse’s team members being damaged from the land mine accident clearly wasn’t enough resolution for this person. He—or they, or even she—wanted them to pay on a personal level, like Mouse had.
That the killer had been smart about it and had taken his time and had stretched out his revenge over a couple years said a lot too. For all his hate, he was focused. For all his hate, he was patient. For all his hate, he was persistent. It also said a lot about this man’s feelings. The predominant one being hate. And how the fullness of it hadn’t receded. At all, it seemed.
She was still thinking about it as she walked back into the kitchen and refilled her coffee cup. There was a silence behind her as the men studiously kept their gazes on their laptops. Of course they wouldn’t want to bring up anything that was female-oriented and emotional, she thought wryly to herself. They were men after all.
She turned to look at them. “Have you started delving into Mouse’s life?”
They looked up at her and shook their heads. “Other people are checking into it.”
She nodded and explained that particular thought process she’d had outside.
The men were interested in everything she had to say, and that pleased her. At least they weren’t mocking her thoughts or stating she was being foolish. That was something her ex-husband would have done if she said something he didn’t like. And yet he hadn’t been domineering or controlling in any way. But he’d had very definite ideas of right and wrong. And usually she’d been wrong.
She sat back down at the kitchen table with her coffee and discussed the issue with them a little further. But that was all they could do, discuss. She knew they’d sent off emails and text messages to whomever it was helping them to consider various angles and options, but that was the extent of what they could do. For now. Until they caught a break, until they had a thread to pull, there was just nothing physically happening.
She asked, “What about breakfast?”
The men raised their heads from their work and frowned.
She sighed. “Both of you right now have the same expression on your faces when I say something you don’t know how to answer.”
The two men exchanged a glance.
“And then you do that. You look at each other, as if the other will have an answer for both of you. Let me rephrase the question. What do you normally eat for breakfast?”
Talon leaned back in his chair. “Anything there is. Neither of us is fussy.”
Knowing that was about as clear an answer as she would get, she stood and walked to the fridge. Checking out its contents, she was grateful she’d done a little bit of shopping yesterday and that the men had done some shopping to help out. “There’s eggs and bacon,” she let them know.
“Looks like we have breakfast then,” Laszlo said with a big smile. “Any chance of bread for toast?”
She pulled out a loaf of brown bread. “Nothing white.”
“I don’t eat white bread anyway.” He nodded toward the loaf in her hand. “That will do fine, thank you.”
“How many eggs?” she asked, taking out the bacon and eggs and butter. She turned to look at them. “I have a dozen here, so you can’t have more than that.” She laughed.
Both men grinned. “Four each as long as you’ve got them,” Laszlo said. “Otherwise two each will be fine.”
She contemplated the men. “Do you eat four all the time?”
“He normally eats six,” Talon said absentmindedly, his gaze on his laptop. “He’s just being polite.”
She tried not to show the shock she felt was blazing off her face.
Laszlo chuckled. “I’m a hungry guy.”
She rolled her eyes and turned back to the stove. “You can have five each. I’ll have two.”
“Thank you very much,” Laszlo said with quiet emphasis. “Is there anything you’d like me to do to help?”
She smiled. “I’ll be fine. You keep working.”
She put the bacon into the frying pan, emptying the whole one-pound package. If they ate five eggs each, no way a couple slices of bacon would do it. With the last of the bacon in the pan, she returned to rummage in the fridge for more food. But there was nothing that would feed men with big appetites. She checked out her freezer but didn’t find any more bacon or sausage.
She set the table as the bacon slowly simmered. When it was mostly ready, she brought out the second frying pan and started working on the eggs. The trouble was, cooking that many eggs meant she needed two frying pans full at the same time. So, when the bacon was done, she transferred some of the fat to the other pan and cracked eggs until they were all in. Then she turned and announced, “Eggs are on. Clean up so you have space to eat.”
Both men put away their papers and laptops. Laszlo got up, grabbed the plates she held out to him. She had the bread in the toaster, and, by the time the eggs were done, the toast was just turning golden. She placed the toast on a plate, putting it on the table, telling the men to butter it as she added more bread to the toaster. Then she dished up the bacon and eggs on more plates, and added them to the table. Bringing over salt and pepper, she added peanut butter and jam to the table.
“Can somebody keep an eye on the toast? Otherwise it’ll burn,” she cautioned as she sat.
Laszlo nodded, his mouth already full with a bite of toast. For the next few minutes, there was no talk of murders or stalking or men or strange vehicles. Instead it was all about the good food or simply eating it.
When Laszlo brought more toast to the table, she realized she’d completely forgotten about it. She glanced around as she snatched up one of the pieces and asked, “Do I need to put more in?”
Both men shrugged. She sighed and put two more pieces in. She sat back down and said, “That’s the end of the bread too.”
“No problem,” Talon said. “We can stop and pick up more.”
She frowned at him. “How long are you staying in town?”
“Until we decide it’s safe to leave you.”
She didn’t know if she should scream at him for assuming she needed him here or to yell for joy because somebody was looking after her again. As an alternative, she just shook her head. “You realize that could be months?”
“Not likely. Probably days. We’ll run all the license plates related to the seven unconfirmed individuals. I’ve sent the photos to some people we know who have facial recognition software to see if anything pops. That’ll probably take another day. We’re still tracking finances for the other shooter, but, if nothing else happens and nothing else shows up, then there’s not a whole lot we can do. However, we will fix your security system here so, if you do get another intruder, you’ll be able to check the screens and see who it is and what they’re doing.”
She wasn’t sure about the high-handed way he said they would do stuff but realized upgrading her security system would be a hell of a good idea. If it had already been in place, they’d know who had entered her house and had opened the window. She hated the thought of Talon and Laszlo leaving. She’d never been nervous before, but being alone in this big house, with an empty big house beside her, made her reconsider her options.
“If it’s dangerous, I can always go to a friend’s place,” she suggested. “I do have some girlfriends with spare bedrooms.”
“If it comes to that, maybe. But, in the meantime, let’s do what we can, see if we can make this work for now.”
She nodded. When she was done eating, she waited for the men to finish. By the time the meal was over, she still hadn’t heard what their plans were for the day. “With all the stuff you found, is there anything that’s actually concrete? Anything that you can go after?”
“The vehicle and that MacArthur guy’s face. If we could find him, I’d like to have a talk with him.”
“And the vehicle? What vehicle?”
“You were outside when we found out more about that. On the flash drive we found in your brother’s box were a bunch of car photos.” He smiled. “But they’re all of the same car in various locations.”
She stared at them. “A blue Audi?”
He nodded and frowned. “How did you know?”
“I’m the one who took those photos.” She looked at the USB and the laptop sitting on the spare chair. “I lost the USB. Where did you find it?”
She groaned. “That’s where it ended up.”
“Why did you take them?”
She winced. “Because I thought that car was following me.”
“It could easily have been the vehicle that ran down your brother,” Talon said gently. “We have to keep an open mind here. No detail is to be dismissed out of hand.”
She nodded. “At the time I was too shocked to think about it.”
“Was it following you, or was it just … I don’t know, a neighbor who shopped in the same places you did?”
“That’s one of the reasons I didn’t go to the police,” she said, twisting her hands, palms up. “It’s not like there’s an easy answer to any of this stuff.”
Talon nodded. “True enough. But, if there’s anything else you know or can tell us, then you should let us know now.”
“I don’t think there’s anything else.”
“You never mentioned the mail or the phone at all. Have you been getting any threatening letters, any hang-ups, anything odd?” Laszlo asked. He propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin on top of his hands as he stared at her. “Anything at all that might help us?”
“No, nothing. Not many people know my phone number. I keep it that way on purpose.”
He nodded. “But people can find out all kinds of information on the internet.”
She nodded. “But, no, as far as I remember, I haven’t had anything like that. What would it tell him?”
“It’s another typical stalker thing. And, other than that, it’ll also tell somebody if you’re at home.”
She shook her head. “No, because it’s my cell phone. I always have it with me.”
“True. Do you still have a landline in the house?”
She shook her head. “No. Chad never did either.”
The two men sat back.
She stood and collected their breakfast dishes. They hopped up and waved her to sit back down again.
Talon said, “We’ll clean up. You cooked.”
In minutes, they had the dishes in the dishwasher, and the counters wiped.
Talon looked at the empty coffeepot. “Would you mind if I put on another pot?”
She shook her head. “Go for it.”
He had a pot brewing in seconds. The guys sat back down again. Talon lifted the box and started going through the rest of the stuff in the bottom. “Did you look at any of this?” he asked her.
“No.” She shook her head. “It was all in his office. For the longest time I just left it there. Then I got mad one day and packed it all up so I wouldn’t have to deal with looking at it. Except for his bookshelf. It’s still there with all his books.”
“Did he have a strongbox?”
She shrugged. “Not that I’ve seen.”
“While the coffee is dripping, why don’t you show us the bookshelf?”
She got up and led the way to the office on the main floor. As she stepped in, she said, “I would take this over for myself, but, every time I sit here, I think about it being Chad’s room. I just feel like it’s still his room. So I don’t work here, even though I do bring billable work home. Outside of packing up those boxes, I didn’t touch anything else.”
She watched in amazement as the two men went through the room with knowing eyes and hands. Within seconds they found a wall safe. She gasped as she stared at it. “I had no idea.”
“So you don’t know what he might have kept in here?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
He nodded. “Laszlo, did you find a combination noted in any of the earlier paperwork or maybe there in his desk?”
Laszlo was at the desk, pulling open drawers, all mostly empty. “No. What kind of a lock is it?”
“It’s fairly simple. Definitely not something we need a specialist for.”
“Well, give it a shot. If you can’t get it open, I’ll get it.”
She watched as Talon put his ear to the lock.
Within two minutes, he had the correct combination dialed in and was opening the door.
“Where did you learn to open safes like that?” she asked in amazement.
“I have a talent for it.”
“So why was Laszlo going to try after you?”
“His talent is for bigger safes. I generally do quite well with the little ones.” His voice said he was absentmindedly talking as he stared into the interior of the safe. He reached inside and pulled out an envelope. “Underneath the envelope are documents and Chad’s passport.” He checked the documents and realized they were copies of his and Clary’s birth certificates and their parents’ wills.
She glanced at the passport and the paperwork and nodded. “This makes sense too. I never could find his passport.”
“Well, we’re getting somewhere at least.” Talon carried the stuff to the desk and put it down, then stared at the brown envelope. It was sealed. He looked at her and said, “Do you mind if I open it?”
She shrugged. “Go ahead. I have no clue what’s in it.”
He slipped open one end and carefully pulled out the paper from inside. It was a photograph. He gave a silent whistle. “So how sure are you that your ex-husband isn’t involved in your stalking?”
She frowned, and he held up the photograph. It was her ex-husband and the guy she had called John MacArthur. The two were standing in front of her parents’ house, an envelope between them, as if one were handing it to the other. But each held on to one end of the envelope, so it was hard to discern who was handing it off to the other. She stared at it for a long moment, then slowly collapsed on the chair across from the desk. “But that doesn’t make any sense,” she protested. “This picture in itself doesn’t have any meaning. But to consider it’s got something to do with the stalking doesn’t make sense either.”
“Did you separate from your ex-husband before or after your brother was killed?”
“Several weeks before.”
“And you inherited your brother’s half of this property, correct?”
“If you’d still been together, would Jerry have gotten half of it?”
She frowned and thought about that for a long moment. “I don’t know how that law works here in California. When we did settle up our divorce, it was after Chad’s death, but we’d separated before.”
“Who was your divorce lawyer?”
“One of the men I work with had a friend who took it on.”
“And your property from your brother, when did you get that signed over to you?”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t immediate. I think maybe five months ago.”
“And the divorce, when was it final?”
“Just a couple weeks ago,” she said quietly.
Unable to help herself, she got up and ran from the room.
Talon stared at the empty doorway. He glanced at Laszlo. “I suppose you think I should go after her?”
“I would. You’ve opened a big kettle of worms.”
He lifted the photo again and checked the back. There was a date written on it. “Five days before his death,” he said in a grim tone. He placed the photograph on top of the desk. “I’ll go talk to her. Maybe while I’m gone, take a picture of that and send it out and get somebody else’s opinion on what we’ve got going on here.”
“How does that have anything to do with our serial killer?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we’re completely wrong here. Maybe her ex-husband had Chad killed. Maybe our hit man from Santa Fe did the actual killing of Chad. But maybe we had the person who hired him completely wrong. Send Erick the name of her ex-husband and see if we can get any more information off that damn John Smith laptop, especially in connection with Chad and Jerry. I really don’t need this extra wrinkle right now,” he snapped.
He spun on his heels and headed after Clary. He found no sign of her on the main floor. He checked outside, then headed upstairs to her room. He stood outside the master bedroom and could hear her crying inside. He didn’t bother knocking. He turned the doorknob and stepped in. She’d flung herself across the bed, bawling heavily. He couldn’t blame her. He walked over to the side of the bed, lay down gently, and pulled her into his arms. He felt her give a start of surprise as she lifted her head and stared at him but came willingly, throwing herself into his arms, holding him close.
Just like before, he held her and waited for the storm to abate. “We don’t know for sure your ex-husband had anything to do with it.”
“I know,” she said. “I don’t think he did. But that picture meant something to Chad. Otherwise why would he have kept it?”
“I don’t know. I wish to hell he had mentioned something about it, but we haven’t found any reference yet in his notes.”
“And that would mean either he only got that photograph just before he died, or he didn’t think anything of it.”
“It was a recent photo for Chad to investigate,” Talon said, his voice low. “It’s dated five days before your brother’s death.”
She stared at him in horror. “We need to talk to my ex-husband.”
“We do,” he said. “That is, if you can get him to talk to you.”
She sat up, reached across him, picked up a tissue off her night table, and wiped her eyes. “For the last year, all I’ve done is cry. And since you’ve arrived, it seems like the little bit of control I had slowly gained, I’ve lost again.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t come with good news or easy news. But you are handling it just fine.”
“Is it wrong to say I don’t give a damn about any of it? I just want Chad back.” She sniffled and blew her nose.
He understood how she felt. He just lay here, watching as she tried to compose herself. She was still so damn beautiful. She and Chad had been the same in many ways, yet each with their own unique characteristics. He’d been all laughter and light, and she’d been a different kind of light, full of fiery temper and passion. He gently stroked her back and shoulders.
“I’m sorry I walked away.” His words startled him.
She turned and stared at him, her gaze wide. “Why did you?”
“I was hurt, tired, fed up with the fighting,” he admitted. “I needed to be in the navy. It was a part of me, and I couldn’t get you to understand.”
She nodded. “I’m not sure I could have back then. I was very insecure. All I was thinking about was myself. I wasn’t thinking about you.”
He smiled. “I was thinking about myself too. I really wanted to leave, as in I wanted to save the world.” His laugh was short and bitter. “And I did some of that. A lot of the work I did was for the good of many people.” He felt his body and heart tug at the reminder. “So it’s a little hard that, when I needed saving, the assistance wasn’t quite what I’d hope for.”
She stared at him. “You had multiple surgeries, lots of people looking after you. You’ve got prosthetics and a whole new future ahead of you. What is it they didn’t help you with?”
“It’s not even so much that. It’s a sense of betrayal because of my team’s accident. Our vehicle was deliberately sent on a different road planted with an antitank land mine. The original route we were supposed to take that morning was diverted to the new one. We have intel with a voice sending us on the new route.”
She stared at him, not comprehending for a moment. “So you’re saying your accident wasn’t an accident?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. But we only recently found out and have gathered what we know in the last couple weeks. So I’m adjusting to a lot of different information too. I don’t quite understand what I’m supposed to do with it. In many ways it feels like I’m in quicksand, and all I want is a solid foundation.”
She reached out a hand and grasped his. “Even if it was deliberate, you have beat that. You survived.”
“But our friend Mouse didn’t,” he said, sitting up.
“Hence, why this all surrounds him. Somebody wanted him to come home, and he didn’t. They’re making you pay,” she said quietly. She stroked his cheek. “They don’t care that you’ve been through a horrible time yourself. They don’t care that there was nothing you could do to save Mouse. All they care about is that their life is now bereft.”
“How do you know there was nothing I could do to save Mouse?” he asked.
She smiled. “Because you’re a guardian angel. That’s who you are. You always have been on the inside. I recognized it. I just didn’t want you to go off and save other people. I wanted you to stay here and be with me.”
“You were always in my heart though.” He hopped to his feet, knowing this would be a difficult conversation if he didn’t switch it around. “Why don’t you contact your husband and say you found something in the safe you want to talk to him about.”
“Ex-husband. Keep that in mind, okay?”
“Will do.”
“Good,” she stood, walked to the bathroom, and washed her face. When she was done, she pulled out her cell phone from her pocket and dialed her ex-husband. “Jerry, it’s Clary. I found something in Chad’s safe. I wonder if I could meet you somewhere and show it to you, see if you know what it is?”
“What time?”
She checked the time on her cell phone. “I’ll meet you at the coffee shop in an hour.” She pocketed her cell phone and turned to Talon. “Is that close enough?”
“That’s perfect. Let’s see if there’s anything else of interest in the office. While we’re at the coffee shop, we can ask him more questions.”
She chuckled. “He won’t answer anything. He doesn’t like confrontations.”
“No? Is he the kind to go behind your back?”
“If it gets the job done, he will, without thinking about it. All he wants is to get his plans accomplished in a nice, neat, orderly fashion. He often cuts out the middleman if it causes him trouble.”
Talon had to think about that as they went downstairs. Was it possible this guy, her ex, had decided to cut her out or to cut Chad out, in order to make his job easier? Or more profitable? Was he really trying to get half of the house value? Talon considered what house prices were like in San Diego now and realized Clary was probably sitting on a million-dollar property. And then he thought about all the people he knew and how many would kill for five bucks and just what people would do for half a million dollars. If Jerry had been still married to her when she got the house, and then something happened to Clary … Well then, the ex-husband would inherit it all.
Unfortunately it happened way too often. Nothing was more dangerous than an unhappy spouse. Particularly one who had plans for money that wasn’t his.
But the divorce had been finalized weeks earlier, so why would he bother going after Clary now?