TWENTY-ONE
Jessie stood at the door of the garage as Bran drove down the curving lane toward the tall wrought iron front gate and the road down the mountain that lay beyond. He had talked to her, filled her in on Wayne Conrad Coffman before he’d left,Tank, the man Digger Graves believed had killed Janos Petrov.
“We bring Coffman in on murder charges, we can leverage him against Weaver,” he’d said. “No way Weaver wants to go back into the high security side of ADMAX. Nobody wants to stay locked up twenty-three hours a day. If we can offer Weaver something he wants—like staying where he is—maybe we can get him to give us what we need.”
“The name of the person who paid him to use his connections to kill my father before he found out who stole the chemical weapons.”
He nodded. “That, and who made sure the colonel took the fall for it.”
“How can we be sure Tank is the guy who killed Petrov?”
“No way to know for certain. But according to Graves, that shot between the eyes is Tank’s MO. Graves is doing his best to stay alive. I’m betting he’s right about Tank.”
“Are you sure you can do this on your own? Maybe we should call the police, let them bring him in.”
“We don’t have enough evidence. Not yet. We’ll see how tonight plays out.”
He gave her a quick hard kiss and left her there to worry. Since they hadn’t made it to her apartment, Jessie busied herself washing their dirty clothes, then used her disposable phone to call her best friend. Hallie picked up on the second ring but didn’t recognize the caller ID, since it wasn’t Jessie’s cell.
“This had better not be some phony credit card sales call,” she said, making Jessie laugh.
“Nope, not a sales call, I promise.”
“Jessie! Where in the hell have you been, girl?”
“It’s a long, not the least bit boring story, some of which I told you when we talked the last time, some you will not believe.” Hallie knew about her investigation into her father’s death. She’d been at the funeral. She knew Bran was in Colorado helping her, didn’t know Jessie was sleeping with her self-appointed bodyguard.
“Where are you?” Hallie asked. “Are you back in Denver?”
“Actually, I’m in Evergreen. It’s a long story.”
“I want to hear it. I desperately need a best friend fix.”
“So do I. I can’t begin to tell you how much.” She glanced around for Ty, who was never far away. Like Brandon, he took his job as her protector extremely seriously. “Hold on a minute.”
She covered the phone. “Ty, would it be all right if I invited a girlfriend up to the house? I haven’t seen her in ages, not since the trouble began. You’ll like her, I promise.”
Ty frowned. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. It’s my job to keep you safe, and your friend is an unknown factor.”
“She’s not connected to what we’ve been doing. She actually knows very little about it. She’s my best friend since college, Ty. I really need to see her.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “All right, I guess. I don’t see how it could be a problem. Hand me the phone and I’ll give her directions.”
Jessie handed him the burner, and Ty gave Hallie instructions on how to find the house up in the hills. “I’ll leave word with the guard at the gate.”
Hallie must have said something funny because Ty laughed. “You got it.” He handed Jessie the burner.
“Is that guy as sexy as he sounds on the phone?” Hallie asked.
Jessie cast him a glance. She hadn’t really thought of Ty that way but... “Actually, yes. And he has the cutest two kids you’ve ever seen.” Hallie had always loved children. She couldn’t wait to have some of her own.
“Single?”
“At the moment.”
Hallie laughed. “I’m on my way.”
Forty-five minutes later Hallie’s little red Mazda CX-3 drove up in front of the guesthouse, and Jessie hurried outside to meet her. Splashes of sunlight appeared between the clouds, but the temperature had only reached the midthirties. The weather was getting colder, with light snow showers predicted for tomorrow.
