They rounded a bend, and the conversation stopped as they eyed the number of trucks and cars parked in front of the large house. With no one in sight, he assumed the sledding hill lay on the other side of the property.
“Maybe I’ll just park here,” he said, pulling into a spot beside the last car in the row. “It will be a little bit of a walk.”
“But not much of one,” Daphne said, grabbing her coat and winter gear.
Five minutes later, they were stomping snow from their boots on Ellie and Asher’s porch as Ryan welcomed them in. “Everyone is outside, but Ava is on her way in. Mantis, too. I assume you have no problem with that?”
Both he and Daphne shook their heads as they added their coats to the hooks hanging in the hall beside the door.
“Coffee? Tea?” Ryan asked, leading them through a large room that ran from the front of the house to the back. Two massive stone fireplaces anchored the side walls, one by the dining table toward the front of the house and the other at the center of the family room area that, despite its size, appeared cozy and inviting. In true cabin style, beamed ceilings soared above them, and a wall of windows looked out onto the lakefrom the family room. Unlike many houses in the area, this one sprawled across a large single level rather than two. Mantis had mentioned they’d designed it so that the main room served as a sort of meeting place between the two other wings—one a private wing with the family bedrooms and the other side for guests and work life.
“Coffee would be good if it’s easy,” Daphne replied.
“Same,” he added.
“Easy enough,” Ryan said, detouring into the kitchen. As Ryan poured two mugs, Mantis and Ava came stomping into a mudroom to their right.
“Oh, good, fresh coffee,” Ava said, stepping into the kitchen, her cheeks flushed from the cold. Mantis followed, giving them both nods before making a beeline to the pot.
A few minutes later, they were all seated in what looked like Asher’s home office, judging by the number of pictures of Ellie and their twins. As a pediatric oncologist, he had an office at the hospital as well, but Lovell assumed he probably consulted from home every now and then.
“What can you tell us?” Daphne asked.
Ryan huffed. “Weeks isn’t talking much. He asked for a lawyer and is being assigned one, but that won’t happen until tomorrow.”
“Has he said anything?” Lovell asked.
“Only to protest his innocence. Said he was only out for a stroll last night and didn’t know he wandered onto private property,” Ryan replied. Ava snorted. “He did go a little pale when I played the recording from Daphne’s phone taken during the kidnapping,” Ryan continued. “He got pretty twitchy after that, and that’s when he demanded a lawyer.” He paused and took a sip of his drink.
“We also collected CCTV from Maggie’s,” he said. “We’ll use it to corroborate your statement, Daphne, about Weeks andBeeker’s presence in the diner. And with the information you provided about their trip into town the night they kidnapped you, we were able to find them on camera at the Boom. They pulled into the parking lot at five minutes after nine, grabbed takeout, sent the text to Lovell—which aligns with the timing we have—then left in the stolen Volvo.”
“No confessions, but lots of evidence to back up the events as we know them,” Daphne said. Ryan nodded.
“Did he have a cell phone?” Lovell asked.
Again, Ryan nodded. “He did. It had one number on it. The same northern New Jersey one Beeker had in his phone. Weeks’s calls didn’t start until after Beeker died, so we think Beeker was the primary coordinator, but Weeks took over after he killed Beeker. Oh, and we’re also running ballistics on the bullet meant for you that we found in the tree,” he nodded to Lovell, “and the one found in Beeker. We should have those results Tuesday.”
“Anything else?” Lovell asked.
“We found the Volvo and are testing it for trace evidence. Once we have that collected, we’ll run the DNA. It will show that Daphne was in the back while Weeks and Beeker were in the front,” Ryan answered.
“All good evidence to support the claim they came after me, then Daphne, but is there anything that ties this back to who hired them?” Lovell asked.
Ryan’s lips thinned. “Nothing definitive.”
Lovell flickered his gaze to Ava, catching Mantis’s concerned look as he did. “Ava? You have anything?”
“Remember the PI we said Daisy visited?” she said. He nodded. “Turns out Daisy is looking for you.”
His eyes flickered to Ryan, who sighed and stood. “I’ll leave the four of you to continue this conversation. Olivia is probably wanting a break by now, and Isla is a sledding fiend,” he said,a fond smile touching his lips at the mention of his wife and younger daughter.
Lovell stood and shook his hand, then closed the door behind him.
“We did a little fishing into the investigator’s system. He has appalling security for a PI, but whatever,” Ava said. “Daisy approached him asking for help in finding you. He tracked you down and, presumably, provided the information to her when she visited him the second time.”
“Why would she need help finding you?” Daphne asked. He’d expected her to brush off the further intel on Daisy, and her simple question caught him off guard. “It’s not hard to find anyone these days unless they’re really off-grid, and I’ve seen the websites and social media pages of the businesses you guys run. You’re not flashing your names around, but you’re not hiding either,” she said.
“I changed my name,” he said. “Well, my last name. After Daisy went to prison, I did it out of caution. Twelve years is a long time to spend behind bars, a long time to stew and feed her obsession. I didn’t want to make it easy for her to find me if she was inclined to. Glad I did.”
