The morning air was cool against her skin as she hurried across the gravel drive toward Sunrise House. Her heart was racing, and not just from the quick walk across the yard.
Barstow Security.
The name had hit her like a punch to the gut the moment Lori said it. She knew that company. Knew its reputation in legal circles. And she knew one other thing about them that Mitch and Lori didn’t.
One other client who’d used their services.
She didn’t have much time. Lori thought she was upstairs on a work call, and Tessa needed to get back before Lori realized she’d left the cottage. But this couldn’t wait. Mitch needed to know this now, before they started making assumptions about Sally Lane that might be completely wrong.
Or completely right. Tessa didn’t know which option was worse.
She reached Mitch’s front door and knocked, harder than she’d intended. The sound echoed across the quiet morning, and Tessa winced, glancing back at Seabird Cottage. But there was no movement in the windows. Lori was still in the back.
The door opened, and Mitch stood there, looking surprised to see her. He was dressed casually in jeans and a button-down shirt, his hair still slightly damp from a shower. The bandage on the back of his head was fresh and white.
“Tessa. Good morning.” He smiled warmly, the kind of smile that reminded her why her mother had trusted this man so completely. “Is everything all right?”
“I don’t have a lot of time,” Tessa said, glancing back over her shoulder at Seabird Cottage one more time. “Lori thinks I’m on a conference call with my client.”
“Oh?” Mitch’s brow furrowed with concern. “What’s wrong?”
Footsteps came from inside the house, and a man appeared behind Mitch. He was tall, probably six-two or six-three, with silver-streaked dark hair and sharp, intelligent eyes that seemed to assess Tessa in the span of a heartbeat. He wore a pressed suit despite the early hour, the kind of expensive suit that lawyers and politicians wore, and carried himself with the kind of easy confidence that came from years in positions of authority.
“Tessa, this is Marcus Hayes,” Mitch said, stepping aside to let her in. “Marcus, this is Tessa Ware, Carrie’s daughter. She’s an attorney in Boston.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Marcus said, extending his hand. His grip was firm and professional when Tessa shook it.
“You too,” Tessa said, though her mind was racing. She looked at Mitch, uncertainty flickering through her. “I have to talk to you about... uh... oursituation.”
She didn’t want to say more in front of this stranger, even if he was Mitch’s friend. She didn’t know Marcus Hayes. Didn’t know if she could trust him with information about her family, about her mother’s cases, about the connections she’d made.
“It’s okay,” Mitch assured her, reading her hesitation. “Marcus is here to help with that. He’s the one who’s helping me find out about the windbreaker guy. He’s a former intelligence officer, and I trust him completely.”
Tessa nodded slowly, glancing at Marcus again. Former intelligence. That explained the assessing look, the way he stood like he was ready for anything. “All right.” She turned back to Mitch. “Lori saw your message last night about Sally Lane. She told me at breakfast this morning.”
“Yes,” Mitch said, gesturing for her to follow him into the kitchen. “We were going to meet with everyone later today to discuss what Marcus found. There’s a lot to go over.”
“Well, before you call a meeting,” Tessa told him, following him through the house, “you need to look into someone else who used Barstow Security in the last couple of years.”
They’d reached the kitchen now. The morning sun streamed through the windows, and there was a thick folder sitting on the counter next to a half-empty pot of coffee. Mitch turned to face her fully, and Marcus moved to stand beside him.
“Okay,” Mitch said, his voice cautious now. “Who?”
Tessa took a breath. This was it. Once she said this, there was no taking it back. But they needed to know. They needed to understand what they might be dealing with.
“As you know, I’m the attorney who has been helping Lori and her neighbors with their land case and the fraud against her late husband’s company,” Tessa told them.
“Yes,” Mitch nodded. “I know.”
“As a result, I have a lot of the company’s records,” Tessa told them, swallowing. “I’m not sure who exactly used Barstow Securities, but about two years ago, Trevor Carlton’s company used Barstow Securities, and the name of the ‘agent’ assigned to their case was…”
“Elias Dane,” Mitch guessed, and Tessa nodded.
3
RYAN
Ryan was trying very hard not to look as tired as he felt. Piper, on the other hand, looked like she could run another ten miles without breaking a sweat. The girl had endless energy, and Ryan was starting to feel every single one of his thirty-four years.
