The inside source who worked with Celeste, jeopardizing the safety of our community members and loved ones.
“This is exactly where people die in horror movies,” Jasper whispered loudly against my side as he all but clung to me, looking around the shadows.
I rolled my eyes, and Samantha thankfully ignored him. “I’ve researched Bakewell Industries and their schemes for almost ten years now. Ten freaking years spent pouring over every ounce of evidence, hearsay, conspiracy, doubt, and everything in between. But no matter how hard I’ve tried, I haven’t been able to close it out. To end it.”
“And you think I can help with that?” I questioned, seriously doubting my abilities to be so influential to the case when she’d dedicated a decade to the cause. “I mean, I want to, but I’m not sure I know how.”
“I have a list of names of people who have seemed connected to one or another of the towns over the ten years.”
“Wait,” Jasper shook his head, “I thought there were two towns involved besides Cedar Bluff. How many more don’t we know about?”
Samantha’s shoulders stiffened, “I know of at least seventeen.”
The air sucked out of my lungs so fast that I gripped Jasper’s arm to steady myself. “Seventeen towns? All like ours?”
“No,” Samantha held my gaze. “None of them survived the attacks. None of them remain how they were before Bakewell took them over. The locals were all forced out, finding somewhere else to land, as corporate businesses all moved in, eating up every ancestral acre passed down for generations. Only Cedar Bluff has thwarted the plans so far.”
“My God.” My heart ached for all of those people; good, hardworking people like we all were, just forced out and left with no option but to start over somewhere new. That same anger I’d felt when I faced down those women attacking Rhea’s characterin the grocery store built in my gut again, and I knew I had to try to help. “Show me the names.”
Samantha pulled a file out of her bag and flipped through some pages before turning it to face us. “There is a total of six names that somehow or another were cross-referenced between two or more towns affected. But as far as Anastasia and I can tell, none of them match anyone here in Cedar Bluff.”
I skimmed the names with Jasper leaning over my shoulder to read them as well, hoping one would stick out and make the connection we needed.
But none did. Not a single name rang any bells.
“What happens if we can’t connect anyone to Cedar Bluff?” Jasper asked when Samantha took back the paper, disappointment on her face.
“Then there is no case against Bakewell for your community.”
“No justice, you mean.” I whispered, angry at the prospect of Cedar Bluff not getting the closure we all craved.
Samantha shrugged sadly, “It seems like Anastasia has enough to get them for some of the other towns at least, but it won’t connect all seventeen if we can’t find a link here.”
“Damnit.” I cursed, turning away and pinching my forehead as I tried to figure something out.
“What if they changed their names?” Jasper asked, drawing me back in. “I mean, why would a criminal keep the same alias in all of these situations?”
“Could that be?” I asked, walking back up. “Is there some other way to track them?”
“Um,” Samantha paused to think and then shuffled through her papers quickly. “I have photos!”
“Show us!” I all but ripped the papers from her hands when she flipped to a sheet of pictures, some from driver license’s, some from other forms of official IDs. All of the names matchedthe list she had shown us originally, but I still scanned all the faces.
My heart fell into my stomach the second I got to the last photo on the list.
“Oh, my God.” Jasper gasped, gripping my arm. “No way!”
“Who?” Samantha crowded in on my other side, looking at who we were staring at. “Who do you recognize?”
“Him.” I pointed to the face of a man I despised more than I liked to admit out loud. “Chief Tolbert.”
Rhea’s Chief, the man who ran the entire fire department for Cedar Bluff, was on the page. “But the name is different.” Jasper said, “He changed his name?”
“James Walker.” I read the government ID his picture was attached to, “But his name is Daniel Tolbert.”
“Or at least that’s what he goes by now,” Samantha said, flipping back through the pages to one dedicated to him. “Look at this, he is associated with four different towns in the last ten years.”
“All within a fire department or something official.” Jasper added, pointed out a list of his titles at those four towns.
