“Don’t forget to stop at the bank with the deposit,” Isaac said to his sister. “I don’t want any late fees.”
With a small nod, she left.
They took Isaac back to the hospital. Once the nurses had him situated and were done scolding him for leaving, Michael and Finn went back to his bedside.
“I’ve given him some pretty strong pain meds. He’s not going to be awake for long,” the nurse said as she left the room. “He needs the rest.”
“We’ll be quick,” Finn assured her.
Michael approached. “Your sister and Eddie are safe?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now let’s go back to the day of the break-in. Walk us through it.”
“I don’t remember much of anything.”
“Really? Nothing? Nothing the men were wearing? Nothing they said?”
Isaac turned away and stared blankly out the window.
“Mr. Carter, we’re here to help. Obviously you think your sister and son are in danger. We can protect you.”
“I’ll be fine.” His eyelids closed.
“We had a deal. What did those men want?” Michael didn’t like to raise his voice, but their window was closing fast.
“They wanted to…clean.”
“What?”
“Not…clean enough.”
The last word was almost a whisper. Isaac’s breathing steadied out. The soft snore meant their time was up.
No! Not when they were so close.
Michael tried to nudge his arm. “Carter!”
Finn sighed. “He’s out, Mick. Guess we’ll have to figure this out on our own. But we should request extra security for him.” His partner turned and left the room.
That wasn’t a bad idea. “We’ll be back tomorrow,” Michael said to Carter. He wasn’t going to give up that easily when this man knew something.
After setting up a private security detail, the rest of the workday was a bust. Back at the office, they went over more of Donner’s financial statements for the last two years and found nothing helpful.
Questions plagued Michael as he left the office and drove home. Who had beaten up Isaac Carter and why? What had Gary Donner gotten himself into that killed him? He really wanted to get Dani’s take on the finances, but he hated to do that to her. She was already up to her eyeballs in accounting stuff at the trucking company.
Even if he wouldn’t mind an excuse to see her again. Hear how her day had gone.
But that was useless.
He turned on the radio to find the latest news on the Rockies. His mind drifted as his vehicle approached a downtown intersection. Orange cones surrounded a bucket truck fixing a sign. The Eagle Rock Credit Union.
Michael stopped at the red light and watched the digital ad on the credit union sign. A fundraiser for saving some animal, low-interest auto loans, and a picture of a man in a dark blazer with sparkling white teeth all flashed in five-second intervals, each with a bright-orange logo in the corner of the ads.
That was it!
A car behind him honked.
