Stephen pushed his chair back.“He has no right to touch me.I didn’t do anything.I didn’t.”
Morgan sighed and stood.“Then I guess you’re free to go.Iwould watch my back if I were you.Barnes is a tricky fellow.And he has thatfriend who everyone is sure has ties to the mafia, but no one can prove it.Youknow now that I think about it, I do believe Mr.Lodge is Olivia’s godfather.We should call and let him know.I’m sure he’ll want to help.”
Ruby chuckled.“Mr.Lodge doesn’t get his own hands dirty,but I’m sure he’ll send a friend to investigate.”
“You have no right to threaten me,” Stephen said, but hesounded weak now.
“No one here has threatened you,” Morgan replied.
“I will.”Keane stepped forward.“You should understand thatI don’t care what the law says.I know you had something to do with this, andif they won’t handle you, I will.So will my future father-in-law and all ofOlivia’s relatives.You think Jack is going to be satisfied with taking yoursad-sack grocery store out this time?He’ll raze the earth beneath you.”
“See, this is why you should let the lawyer handle things,”Garrett muttered under his breath.
“I heard nothing,” Morgan said, and she retrieved the smallrecording device she’d used.“I don’t think this thing picked up our talk.Oh,well, it wasn’t like you knew anything.Good luck.”
She was almost to the door when he broke.
“I didn’t know…I thought…damn it, I thought she was going totalk to her.Give Olivia a piece of her mind.I didn’t know she was going tohurt her.”
“So you saw it happen?”Ruby asked, the question yet anothertrap.
Stephen shook his head.“No.Of course not.”
“Then where were you?”Morgan’s head tilted slightly.“Iheard two stun guns being fired.You tried to cover it with the music, but thatsound carries and it’s distinct.I doubt you had to hit Olivia twice.”
“I didn’t hit Olivia twice.That would mess her up.”Heslapped a hand over his mouth as though he knew he’d given something preciousaway.
“So it wasn’t Scott.It was you.”Garrett had gone over thisin the car ride to the station.Ruby had shown him what she pulled up.“We haveScott entering the store a few moments before it went down.He is obviously notcarrying a weapon of any kind.”
Ruby thought the man was looking for Olivia.He’d lookedalmost frantic in the footage.It had thrown Garrett off, but he was going withRuby’s instincts.
“You purchased a stun gun at a shop in Tyler three days ago.Actually, you purchased two,” Ruby said slowly.
Stephen’s stubbornness disintegrated.“It’s Jessica’s fault.Jessica and that man she calls her boss.They said they could help me with thestore if I did this one thing for them.I helped her with…”
The GrabItQuick shared an alley with the Barnes-Fleetwoodoffice.It would have been easy to sneak down the alley from the store’s backroom.
“You helped her with arson?”Keane asked, his voice cold.
He was quiet for a moment, and then his eyes narrowed.“Barnes deserves it.He’s trying to take down another small business with lies.This is what he does.He ruins lives.”
Morgan’s head shook.“Your father wrecked his own life bybeing an asshole.That big grocery was going to come sooner or later, and it’smade things so much nicer in this town.Your father was a judgmental tyrant whoturned people away when they needed things.You are bitter and mean and you’vegone further than your father ever did, and that’s why you’re going to tell mewhere they took Olivia or I’ll get you charged today.”
“I don’t know,” he replied flatly.“Today was the last thingI was supposed to do.I didn’t want to know.I don’t think they want to killher.I think they just want to figure out what lies Jack is making up.”
Garrett’s heart threatened to stop, but he forced himself tostay calm.“Jack doesn’t even know.Olivia found the evidence that not only wasGladen violating his contract, he was also paying off a USDA inspector.So theyhave to kill her.You’re going to be an accomplice to murder.”
That seemed to get to him.He scrambled.“I don’t know forsure, but she’s got family out in the country.They got places all over, realoff-the-grid kind of places.”
Morgan turned to him.“He’s not wrong.The Fellows familyhas property outside the county.It’s on unincorporated land, and I’m not sureexactly where the buildings are.They aren’t approved structures, but no onecares because they mostly keep to themselves.This could take a while.I haveto convince the sheriff we need a search.”
Ruby closed her laptop.“Don’t worry about that.I thinkwe’ll handle it if you would like to come along.There’s a helicopter on itsway from Dallas right now with some ex-military men who know how to raid aplace.If they can find it, and they will.I assure you by this point my partnerhas called her mentor and he’s on the case.I expect a McKay-Taggart team tohit the ground within the hour.”
Morgan frowned.“Hey, we need to do this by the book.I knowit takes time…”
“Time Olivia might not have,” Ruby argued.
Garrett noticed Keane was fumbling with his phone.Nowwasn’t the time to check his email.Actually, Keane never checked his email.
