“They were definitely the two men who came in asking about buying the bar, who called themselves Joe and Darren Wilson. But he could not identify them as the men who shot him. He asked who they were, and I told him. He’s pretty rattled about the why. As he said, why would they have a grudge against him? He had nothing to do with anything. What would be their motive?”
“We’ll figure that out,” Gunner said. “It’s just good to know our instincts were on the right track. It all has to do with something about the robbery. Give Dad our love. Tell him not to worry. We’ll figure it out.”
“Looks like it could snow,” Dylan said. “Stay warm.”
The call ended.
“Okay…so now we have suspects. However, we don’t know where they are. They no longer reside at their last known addresses. Freddie Brandt owns a truck that is being held at a garage for collateral because he couldn’t pay for the repairs, and there is no car registered to Everett. Texas is huge, and they could be anywhere, hiding out thinking the driver of that black truck made them,” Ash said.
“Well, we do know that they are aware that the man theytried to kill is still alive,” Gunner said.
“I’ll let Dylan know about the call, and we need to decide now, what we do with what we know.”
“You make the calls. I’m going to run a background check on Brenda,” Gunner muttered. “There may be a buttload of stuff that we know nothing about. Stuff that Dad might not have even known. This is good. We’re farther ahead now than we were when we woke up.”
“I’m not going to call Reddick. I’m going to type up a report and send it to him. He can put it in his file as part of the investigation.”
* * *
Nora spent the rest of the day online, and when possible, opted for some face time rather than texts and emails, to ease having to use her bandaged hand. Her boss was sympathetic, while praising her for keeping up with the job in the middle of all her personal turmoil. She had a Zoom meeting scheduled with a branch of the company in Japan, and had double-checked time zones to make sure she would still catch them at the office, and had everything she needed to refer to printed off for easy access.
Now all she had to do was dress the part. She changed her sweatshirt for a more professional top, then brushed her hair, added a slash of lipstick, and returned to the little office space she’d set up in her kitchen and waited for the others to log on. Within minutes, all five of the officers were online, with her leading the discussion, explaining what she’d found, the new firewalls she’d installed, and advised they limit access to certain areas of the factory, and limit the number of people they let in. She was back in her element, doing what she did best.
* * *
It was a quarter after four when Ash glanced up and saw the time. He and Gunner had been sitting and working almost the entire day, and were getting nowhere on locating the Brandt brothers, but after that phone call to the hospital asking about their dad’s progress, they began worrying about Jacob’s welfare when Dylan went to his hotel room for the night.
After a brief discussion between them, they opted to hire security for their dad, leaving Dylan free to go back to his hotel room to get some rest, then they called Dylan to tell them what they’d done. They sent him photos of the two security officers they’d hired, verifying that it was not two pictures of the same man, but identical twins.
Dylan sent a thumbs-up emoji, and an LOL.
At that point, they shut down for the night.
“I’m in no mood for cooking. I’m going to the Rose to get supper. Do you have a request, or do you want a surprise?” Ash asked.
Gunner frowned. “I’m too pissed and worn out to make another decision today. I’ll take the surprise. Say hello to Nora for me.”
Asher ignored the dig. “I said I was going to the Rose.”
“Via the Borden detour. Take your time. I’m going to run a tub of hot water, and take a beer with me to the bath, and I’m not getting out until the water gets cold.”
Ash saw the shadows in his brother’s eyes. It was that background search he was running on Brenda. “Just because Mom screwed herself up, doesn’t mean we have to own that, too. Don’t hate. She didn’t do that shit because she hated us. She hated herself. We were the collateral damage, and we survived it, and we have succeeded in spite of it. Okay?”
Gunner sighed. For a moment, he was the little boy again, absorbing his big brother’s wisdom.
“Message received,” he said. “Don’t forget to bring me some pie.” He walked out of the kitchen.
Asher frowned as he put on his coat, pocketed his phone, and picked up the tuck keys on his way out the back door, taking care to lock it behind him.
A tiny flake of snow landed on the windshield as he was driving away. As soon as he got to the parking lot at the Rose, he parked, then called Nora.
She answered on the second ring.
“Hey, you,” she said. “How’s it going?”
“Good enough, darlin’. I’m parked at the Rose, about to go in and order food for me and Gunner. Nobody wants to cook tonight. Can I bring something by for you, too?”
“That would be wonderful. I’ve been all over the world via Zoom meetings today and I’m exhausted.”
