35
Tucker
Iwas looking forward to having Ruth to myself at lunch. Enjoying the seclusion of my office, grateful I was wise enough to have the forethought to soundproof it. Because I sure don’t want to catch the shit from my employees that Brooke catches from Maren.
But instead of showing Ruth, once again, how very fucking grateful I am that she’s here in Wyoming, I’m staring down the reality of yet another threat we’re facing.
William hasn’t said or done shit since my attorney sent him that notice, but I know it’s only a matter of time. I fully believe he’ll go down, I just don’t know that I believe it will be easily.
Or quietly.
So when Heidi looks straight at the camera feed and says, “The dead Dans definitely weren’t working alone,” I want to throw shit.
It’s a suspicion we were all treating as truth, but hearing Heidi confirm it is a blow. One that hits me harder than I was expecting.
Reaching out, I hook an arm around the chair next to me, dragging Ruth closer to my side. Like I need to protect her evennow. And maybe I do. Look what happened with Mariah and Maren. I want to believe we’ve successfully locked this place down, but I can’t know that for sure. There’s always the chance someone could get past all our security measures and try to hurt a person I love.
Ruth’s eyes snap my way, her hand coming to rest on my thigh before even I know I’m beginning to spiral. It happens so fast, I don’t even know how she can tell it’s coming. But I’m grateful she does. The feel of her hand warming my body gives me something else to focus on. Something tangible. Something real.
Maybe the realist thing I’ve ever experienced.
“I think we all assumed that.” Tobias crosses both arms over his chest, leaning back in his seat. “Hopefully you aren’t just going to tell us more things we already suspected, and you’ve actually found a verifiable connection between them.”
Heidi slumps down, her lower lip poking out. “You’re taking all the fun out of this, you know that, right?” She sighs. “I did find a connection between bomby dead Dan and crashy dead Dan besides the fact that they both shared an alias.” She focuses on Brooke, expression apologetic. “Unfortunately, that connection doesn’t seem to involve any ex-fiancés we were all really hoping to get rid of.” Heidi perks up a little. “However, I do have an alert that lets me know any time Matt’s name is mentioned online, and it seems like he hasn’t learned his lesson about drinking and driving, because his license was just suspended. So there’s that.”
It’s not nearly enough. Part of me was really hoping Brooke’s ex-fiancé would be involved in a way that might result in him being locked up. At the very least, I was gunning for him to get the ass kicking he deserves. I know my mom gave him a nasty concussion, but I still feel like he got off easy.
“Back to the dead Dans.” Walker circles Heidi back to the reason we’re here. “What connection did you find?”
“Well…” Heidi glances at Pierce. “Do you want to take over?”
He shakes his head, holding one hand in her direction, palm up. “Please continue. You're much more entertaining than I could ever be.”
I huff out as much of a laugh as I can manage, because at least Pierce knows what he is and what he isn’t. And he isn’t even close to being entertaining.
“Thank you for that.” Heidi gives him a little pat on the shoulder. “I genuinely appreciate it.”
Trevor sighs loudly, head dropping back as his eyes roll toward the ceiling. I understand his frustration—we all want to know what’s going on—but Heidi is the best at what she does and that makes me more than willing to follow all the little discussional detours she makes. It keeps conversations from getting boring and helps break up the bad news, which seems to make it easier for me to digest.
Turning back to the camera feed, Heidi begins to explain. “One of our teams has discovered a human trafficking ring in Nashville. Initially, we believed it was a localized organization, but the deeper we dig, the farther it goes.” The screen in front of us splits, displaying Heidi on one side and her computer monitor on the other. “In the beginning, we were able to identify a group of politicians and wealthy businessmen who we thought were at the center of the group.” A series of names and faces flash in quick succession. “I’m sending all the information I have to Titus so you can look through everything at your leisure and let me know if you find relevant information or someone you recognize.”
Once the names and faces are finished playing, a map of Tennessee replaces them. A red dot is centered over Nashville. “This is where we first discovered what was happening. A woman divorced her politician husband and downloaded the contents of his computer before leaving. Obviously he wasn’t thrilled at her having that information, and began threatening her life, so she hired us.” Heidi’s skin pales. “When I saw what wason the flash drive, I understood why he was willing to go to any lengths to keep it from getting out.”
I’m stunned. Just when I think I know about the worst the world has to offer, it goes and surprises me. I hate that this is happening. It’s disgusting. Everyone involved deserves to suffer in the worst possible manner. But I don’t understand how this is connected to what happened to us. Tennessee is half a country away from where we are now.
“Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t nearly as smart as he believed himself to be, and no one has seen or heard from him in quite some time.” Heidi’s voice takes on a strange edge that makes me wonder exactly why no one has seen or heard from their client’s ex-husband.
Hopefully it’s because he’s dead and no one will have to worry about him hurting anyone else. It might be morally reprehensible for me to feel that way, but I do. Some people deserve to die. And men like that being the ones to lose their lives makes a whole lot more sense to me than someone like Kara losing theirs.
“Thanks to the information on the flash drive, and additional intelligence we were able to acquire, we tracked down a number of other involved parties and ensured they would no longer be participating in any more heinous activities.” Heidi’s chin lifts, and she almost looks proud.
Oh yeah. That dude’s dead.
“This is all very fucked-up, and if you ever need our assistance taking these men down, don’t hesitate to ask.” Titus leans forward in his chair. “But why do you think it’s connected to us?”
“Because we figured out dead Dan’s real name.” A slow smile twists Heidi’s lips. “Spoiler alert, it’s not dead Dan.”
That has me scooting forward in my seat. “Which dead Dan?”
