Greg handed him a business card. “Please send your bill with detailed damages to my office. This is the address. We will see to it that you’re paid.”
“Yes. Definitely,” Brendan said. “We take care of our neighbors.” He held out his hand, and Elias shook it. Then he left the house and returned to his buggy, turned around in the yard, and returned back down the street.
“Crap,” Brendan said softly. “This has been one hell of a day.”
“And it isn’t over yet. We still need to deal with the police,” Lucas said as he slipped his arm around Brendan’s waist.
“I just want all of this to be over.” But he had the idea that he was going to be dealing with this situation for some time to come.
Two hourslater, the police had arrived and taken statements, as well as copies of the video surveillance. They also asked that once the bill was received from Mr. Troyer, a copy be sent to them. Greg assured them they would receive a copy. They also explained the family situation and who they thought might have been behind the incident. The officers said they would look into everything, and they seemed serious.
“I’d have thought they would treat this as though it were nothing,” Brendan said as he flopped down on the sofa. He’d called his mother, and she had come over to watch Jameson while he’d been dealing with all of this. She was in the kitchen with Jameson, making them all something to eat.
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure they’d take us seriously either,” Greg agreed. “But I intend to make sure they do, and when I explained that I’d be calling the prosecutor’s office in the morning, they got serious fast.” Greg didn’t mess around.
“So what do we do now? They’ll arrest Henry and try to get him to talk, but this isn’t a big case, so whatever he says, they’ll probably take him at his word and let the prosecutor do the rest of the work.” Brendan did not feel particularly great aboutall this. “What I need is for Jenn or her mother to cop to what they’ve done. If it’s Jenn, then….” He really hated the idea that his former wife could loathe him so much. He began to shake, and Lucas sat down next to him, wrapping him in those big arms, and just held him.
“Tell me what you’re thinking. It doesn’t matter what it is.”
“How? We were married, and we had Jameson. How could she do this?” Brendan asked softly.
Greg cleared his throat. “How about we ask her.”
“What?” Lucas asked.
“There is only one way to find out the truth. Ask her to come over and show her what we have. We’ll know if she’s involved. I’ve met Jenn, and Brendan knows her. She’s a hotheaded woman, but she can’t lie for crap.”
Brendan snorted. “That’s true. She’s the world’s worst liar.”
“So ask her to come over and see what she has to say.”
Brendan swallowed and picked up his phone. He sent Jenn a text message, asking her to come to the farm.There are some things you and I have to talk about. They’re important.Then he waited and saw her typing a response. He half expected her to tell him to F off. But instead, she said was coming out of Walmart and could head right over.
“We need to move your car,” Lucas told Greg. “Jenn is going to wonder what is going on if there are a bunch of cars in the drive, and I don’t want her to spook and leave.”
“Pull up to the stable the way one of his riders would.”
Greg went out, and Brendan went to tell his mom what was going on. “What about Jameson?” she asked.
“Let him see her, and then after he has dinner, you can take him up and put him to bed. I’ll come up as soon as she’s gone.” It would take Jenn a while to arrive, so Brendan helped Mom dish up her chili, and they all sat down to eat.
Jenn arrived as they finished. Mom scooted them out of the room, and Brendan let her in. “What is it that’s so important?” she asked. “Is everyone okay? Jameson isn’t hurt, is he?”
“No, Jenn. But I have something to show you.” He put the computer on the table and sat her on the sofa. The others gathered around as Lucas played the video.
“The horses got loose?” she asked as they passed through the side cameras. “Did any of them get injured?”
“Just watch,” Greg said firmly as the part of the video where the figure went into the stable and then the horses began filing out played.
“Who would do that?” she asked as the rest of the video ran. Then Greg handed her a photograph. “No way.”
“This is a still from the video. It’s your brother, Henry. We have him from multiple angles and in more than one shot.” Brendan took away the computer and stood in front of Jenn. “Did you ask Henry to do this?” He looked into her eyes and refused to glance away.
Jenn was shocked, and she shook her head. “I love horses, you know that. No matter what you think of me, you know I loved the horses. They were the one thing I loved.” She turned away. “Fucking hell, they were the reason I married you. Well, not the only reason. But….”
“It’s okay. At least that was honest,” Brendan told her. He was beyond allowing her to hurt him. What hurt most was the fact that she wasn’t a good mother to Jameson. Every kid deserved to be the center of their mother’s life. But Jameson wasn’t going to get that. “And I’m moving on with my life. You need to do the same.”
“What about those images?” Jenn asked.
