“I’m so sorry, Marshall. We betrayed you, and I just wanted you to know. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I’ll be leaving the ranch to go live with my sister in Brantford.” Edith took a long drink of her coffee and waited while Marshall collected himself.
“Do you think this might be the reason Jack was murdered?” Marshall asked the question out loud, already knowing the answer. He dropped the file back on the counter with a shake of his head. Who would want to sabotage him or the ranch?
Edith took a ragged breath and nodded. “I know it is. I feel it in my gut. He paid a heavy price for his betrayal. I know he made mistakes, but he didn’t deserve the end he got.”
Her words piqued his curiosity.
“Why do you think it got him killed?”
“In the days before he died, he told me the people he was working for had threatened him because he didn’t want to keep working for them. He could barely sit still or sleep at night. He was paranoid, checking our locks and windows. Telling me to becareful. He tried to brush it off, but I know he was scared,” Edith explained. “The guilt weighed on him. ‘I’ve gotta come clean,’ he kept saying to me. I never knew exactly who he was working for, but they frightened him good.” Edith shoved her tissues in her pocket and slowly stepped down from the barstool.
“Well, that’s all I had to tell you. Please forgive me. Forgive Jack. Maybe if we had come to you sooner, none of this would have happened.” Edith lowered her head and shuffled toward the door, ready to make her escape.
“Wait, Edith,” Marshall said. He walked around the kitchen island and wrapped his arms around her, blinking away a sheen of tears. “I wish you had come to me for help. You know I could have given you money. I would have done anything for you two.”
Edith blinked, her mouth curving into a wobbly frown. “There are a lot of things we would have done different, knowing the consequences now.”
“You don’t have to leave the house. I won’t have you suffering through your treatments alone,” Marshall insisted, pulling back and gripping her shoulders. His gaze locked with her teary blue eyes, and she shook her head.
“I need a fresh start. My sister lives closer to the hospital, and she’ll help me while I finish all my rounds of chemo. Don’t you worry about me.” Her gaze held his for a moment, and she sighed. “Stay safe.” She reached up and patted him on the cheek and Marshall leaned into her hand. He worried that he might never see her again, that she might succumb to the grief, the cancer, or both.
“I’ll get the guys to help you move. You don’t have to lift a finger; just tell me when you’re ready.” He stroked a hand on her back, somehow trying to communicate his understanding and offer her some comfort.
She nodded and turned to open the door. “I’m going to miss these beautiful sunrises,” she said with a large sigh as she stoodon the front porch of the ranch house. “Take care, Marshall. I hope you can figure out what’s going on.”
Marshall watched as she walked to her old SUV that had seen better days. How had he not noticed they were struggling? Jack always came to work with a happy smile and an easy laugh. Not once had he ever complained about money or about times being tough. He had just been…Jack. Maybe that was the problem.
Crossing his arms, his eyes scanned the horizon, his breath catching on the beauty of the morning as the sun came to burn off the sprinkling of frost clinging to the lush grasses. For a moment, he dreamed of what it would be like to watch the sunrise with Colette, sipping their coffee and kissing each other goodbye before starting their day.
It motivated him. He needed to stop the killer for all of them, but mostly for her. They had been loving on borrowed time, and he wanted more. So much more.
First, he would send a copy of those files straight to Colette. It was a missing piece to a puzzle that might just lead to a killer.
CHAPTER 50
Ashout of triumph emerged from her lips as Colette received the scanned documents in her inbox. Such a delightful way to start the day. Marshall found the missing files. She danced nervously at the printer, where she waited for the papers to slide out of the machine. She silently prayed that the papers would reveal something of significance. Anything would be amazing.
She could see signed contracts, legal agreements, sales, and deliveries. Colette snorted. Judging from the finance reports, the deliveries were bogus, and the money was just slipping out into the ether. Her eyes scanned the documents greedily, searching for evidence of how to get in touch with whoever was receiving these payments.
Bingo.
Her gaze locked on a banking transit number.Yes.
This could be tracked. She had all the bank contacts that Rosebud Ranch dealt with. Shaking a fist in the air in victory, Colette whipped open her laptop and entered the banking information into her search bar, locating the bank in question. It was a smaller credit union based in Alberta. Funds were being deposited into this mysterious Lorimer account, and she was going to figure out who was behind it.
Locating the bank contact information, she paced the length of her apartment until the bank opened, and she could call. Colette had zero patience, and the way her heart was beating in her chest, she was getting close to something.
The phone rang three times until a receptionist picked up, and she was transferred to the business accounts department. Taking a few deep breaths, Colette tried desperately to keep herself from passing out with excitement.
“Hello, Gerald Comis here,” a voice answered.
Colette willed her chest to stop vibrating as she spoke. “Hi, Gerald, I’m working on behalf of the King Corporation, their Rosebud Ranch account. I’m new here and just want to check that all our payments are going through. We’ve been having some issues with our finance department. Could you verify some information for me?”
Woah. Verbal diarrhea much? That came out way too fast. Colette closed her eyes to calm herself as she waited for the man’s response.
“I can help you, yes. Let’s go through this step by step.”
“Great, thanks. Where do we start?”
