She’d not only come to care for him, but she was starting to trust him to know what was good for her. Know when to back off, but be close by if needed. A breakthrough for sure.
Russ fishtailed to a stop by the trailer.
Ryan parked nearby and climbed from the vehicle. Mia joined him and waved away the churned-up dust as they crossed the lot to Russ, who’d already lowered his window.
He leaned out. “Loomis sang like anAmerican Idolcontestant.”
Ryan eyed his brother. “Guess hearing about that is worth having to eat all of the dust you kicked up.”
“He actually confessed?” Mia asked, not caring a bit about the dust now.
“I might’ve led him to believe it would go better for him if he did.” Russ smiled. “Not sure it will as he hired someone to commit murder. He’ll go away a long time for that.”
“What exactly did he admit to doing?” Ryan asked.
Russ turned the volume down on his squawking radio. “Turns out he has a gambling problem. He’s been embezzling money from Evergreen almost from the day he and David took over the accounts. He figured David wouldn’t touch them due to conflict of interest and was the easiest account to skim from.”
“So David didn’t know anything about it?”
Russ shook his head. “Not according to Loomis. But Wally found out. Instead of prosecuting Loomis, he gave him a chance to straighten up and repay the money.”
Ah, yes.That was exactly something her trusting uncle would do. “Uncle Wally was always more than willing to give people a second chance.”
Russ’s expression turned skeptical. “Yeah, well I’d never let a guy who stole from me remain in charge of my finances.”
“Uncle Wally must’ve thought of that too,” Mia said. “David told me they made some changes in how the books were handled. Maybe Uncle Wally insisted on that to keep Loomis from taking more money.”
“So if it started a few years ago, what changed to set Loomis off now?” Ryan asked.
“Wally’s death. Loomis knew he’d have to prepare reports for the transition in ownership, and his embezzlement would come out. Then he got the bright idea if he scared you away, David would inherit and not ask for any reports. So he hired Pope.”
“Makes sense,” Mia said. “But how did he get my bracelet?”
“Accidentally, that’s how. He pays Evergreen’s bills. That includes one for a large storage unit. Loomis was afraid the unit held files with proof of his embezzlement, so he broke into it.” Russ tightly gripped the steering wheel. “Instead, he found items from your house in Atlanta. David told him about how your dad wouldn’t let you keep anything, and Loomis figured the bracelet would freak you out.”
Her heart sank. “Uncle Wally kept a whole storage unit of our things? Why didn’t he tell me?”
Had he deceived me too? The one man I could trust?
A cold wave hit Mia, and she instinctively sought Ryan’s gaze for comfort.
He came closer.
“I don’t know about that.” Russ’s voice turned soft. “But at least you now have things to remember your mother by.”
He was right—the bracelet was a good thing in disguise. She might have a whole storage unit full of items that could bring nice memories. But why had Wally kept it a secret all of these years? Was he really guilty of betraying her?
No, she would stop with that being her go-to reaction to something like this and she wouldn’t believe that he betrayed her. For some reason he’d known she wasn’t ready to see them. And he’d been right when he decided she’d want these memories and had kept them. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on everything, but first she needed to connect the remaining dots.
“How did Fuzzy get mixed up in this?” Mia asked as Ryan wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She moved into the warmth of his touch.
“Loomis got greedy.” Russ’s eyebrows lowered and pinched together. “He was confident he’d make you leave, so he not only quit paying back the money, but found a way to steal more. What he didn’t count on was that Wally had told Springer about the embezzlement. Springer wasn’t so trusting and decided to check up on Loomis. Caught him still stealing, and was going to turn Loomis in, so Loomis ordered Pope to kill Springer.”
“So he actually admitted to ordering Pope to kill Fuzzy?” Her tone turned shrill and that’s how she felt inside.
“Not only to kill him, but to dispose of the body,” Russ said. “Pope must’ve thought he could take care of the body and start the fire at the same time. Problem was he couldn’t know the fire department would arrive before the building was fully engulfed.”
“What about the office break-in?” Ryan asked. “Was that Pope too?”
