“Ryan Carter.” Then everyone else gave their names.
“Manny Sanchez, I’m dating Ann.”
“Scott Gould.”
“Lloyd.” He didn’t give a last name, neither did the next two.
“Denver.”
“Perry.”
“Reid Garrett, I’m dating Erin.”
“Okay, why are you here?” He looked at Myrna when she lightly slapped his bicep.
“Probably because they found out something from their investigation into the Godwin’s.”
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry, I forgot. What did you learn?”
Duane started off. “Instead of getting deeply involved, I reached out to a friend in the Denver office. Because I’m retired from the FBI, I don’t have the clearance I used to have. I didn’t want to do a half-assed job in the investigation.”
“Okay, and what did they find?”
“SSA, it stands for Supervisory Special Agent, Yvonne Wilson is my friend. I told her everything you told me, and she opened an investigation. This might be the twenty-first century, but horse theft is still a felony in this state.”
“I didn’t steal Sally,” Myrna said in shock.
“I know that, and there are no cases filed against you for taking Sally back into your possession. Yet.”
“What’s that mean, yet?” Pedro asked, and actually wrapped his arm around Myrna to try to stop her from trembling.
“According to SSA Wilson, the video of Gus Godwin taking Sally from Myrna’s home is the horse theft case she’s going to be opening. Nothing against you. She’s going to want to talk to you.”
“She’s not leaving New Double,” Pedro said.
“We know, that’s why Yvonne will be coming here.” Duane nodded.
“Is that all?”
“No,” Jake said firmly. Pedro noticed that he was the only one from Brotherhood Protectors that came. He opened a file, looked down, then back at Myrna and Pedro. “In my investigation, I have several places to look, and my boss had even deeper places. In my research, I found that Officer Avery Mosher is the ex-fiancée to Randy Godwin. I don’t know if she is helping them or not. I do know that each and every time you contacted her, either in person, or via phone or e-mail, her personal phone records show that she contacted Randy.” He paused and looked directly at Myrna. “Twenty years ago.”
Everyone paused, and frowned. “I don’t understand, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Remember I told you my boss has deeper, darker ways to find information?”
“Yes.”
“Well, eighteen years ago, both Randy and Gus started to get into deeper trouble than usual. This time, their antics would be cause for a felony or two to be issued. It turns out that that either paperwork would come up missing, or be filed improperly, so the felony charges didn’t stick.”
“Was it an inside job?”
“That’s what Hank is looking into.” Jake turned to Duane. “I haven’t told you of my findings yet, so if she didn’t find it on her own, your SSA won’t know of these incidents.” He passed a folder toward Duane. “That’s your copy.” He then turned to Myrna and gave a slight nod. “My boss, Hank Patterson, even dug into your background. He found nothing other than your name, date of birth, social security, number, address, and a list of jobs you held since the age of fifteen. He also viewed your bank account information. Nothing sticks out.”
“I knew that would happen, but thank you for looking into me.”
“What about the Godwin’s?” Pedro asked. “What about their records?”
Jake remained silent, but his expression went cold, and he stood as he opened another file, and picked up the top sheet, they were all connected as he lifted it above his head, and then dropped the file on the floor, and stood in the chair. “I know this is dramatic, but each sheet of paper is a differentcharge.” He looked at the others’ shocked faces and then put it back down and sat back down.
