“Makes sense.”
Derek looked at them from over the top of his computer. “Why go after the brother?”
Shrugging, Coop asked, “Are we sure the two incidents are related?”
“Huge fucking coincidence if they’re not,” Grant grumbled.
Coop’s wheels turned. “Okay. So maybe Billy is involved. After all, his signature is on the P.O.s.”
“Those could’ve been forged,” Derek pointed out while typing.
“Maybe,” Coop agreed. “Maybe not. Hell, for all we know, he’s the one who built the damn bomb.”
Jesus, Grant prayed that wasn’t the case. Brynnon had been dealt enough shit lately. The last thing she needed was to discover her own brother had blown up the home she loved, almost killing her in the process.
“That’s the whole fucking problem.” He stood abruptly, sending his chair rolling across the floor behind him. “We’re in here making guesses while Brynnon’s sitting with her father waiting to see if her brother’s gonna pull through.”
Sympathy clouded Coop’s hazel eyes. “I get that, but until we have more to go on, that’s all we can do.”
Grant wanted to scream. He was sick and tired of grasping at straws. Worse, he hated seeing Brynnon scared and upset.
Her tears fucking gutted him, and he refused to sit around with his thumb up his ass hoping the answers would fall in their goddamn laps while she was forced to sit and wait for the next attack.
“We’re better than this.” He went back to the papers in front of him. “There has to be something here. Some piece of evidence that will explain what the hell is going on.”
“I don’t know, man.” Coop sounded less than hopeful. “Derek’s looked over this shit already and we’ve looked at it three times. There’s nothing there.”
“Doesn’t really surprise me.”
Both men turned their attention to Derek. “What do you mean?”
“Hill’s right.” He stood. “We need to quit guessin’.”
In full geek mode now, Derek began pacing the room and talking through his thoughts. Grant and Coop both watched and waited for the former SEAL to do his thing.
“For argument’s sake, let’s assume everything is related. The bridge, the bomb, the shootin’...all of it.”
“Okay,” Coop agreed, his voice leaving a trail.
“Let’s also assume Wright’s missin’ P.I. was on the right track, and someone in Cantrell’s companydidfalsify those P.O.s. The most plausible reason would be so they could spend less on supplies and launder the extra money.”
Still sitting in his seat, Coop looked up at Grant. “No offense to Brynnon, but from what I’ve seen of her brother, that sounds like something he’d do.”
Knowing what she’d shared about Billy’s past, Grant couldn’t really argue against the comment. “Okay.” Grant went along with the scenario. “Say, for whatever reason, Billy ordered shit supplies and pocketed the extra cash.”
Derek nodded, adding, “No one’s the wiser. Then news of the bridge collapse hits. After that, he’d have to rush to cover his ass.”
“Not to be the only asshole in the room”—Coop jumped in— “but Billy doesn’t exactly strike me as the cunning type. Player, yes. Bullshitter extraordinaire, absolutely. But to get away with something like this? That would take a hell of a lot more than his boyish charm.”
“He’d need help,” Grant surmised.
“It would have to be someone with deep fuckin’ pockets and a lot of pull,” Derek thought aloud.
“Wait.” Grant thought of something. “I can see him covering this shit up on the business side, but how the hell could Billy Cantrell cushion a military investigation involving multiple casualties?”
“Same way you or I would.” Derek grinned. “Find whoever’s in charge and bribe them.”
“That’s it!” Grant snapped his fingers. He began rummaged through the papers again, finally finding the report he’d already read. “This is the official results of the investigation Ryker got for us.” He flipped through the stapled packet to the last page. Homing in on the signature, he read off the name of the man in charge.
