Page 136 of Out Of A Fix

“But technically, if anything happens to…who was it again?”

“Edward Beaton,” Owen supplied. “And no. If anything happens to Beaton, then she and Mr. Conti would be released, because your ex-wife only saw Beaton commit a crime, no one else.”

“I see. So we truly are done. No fear of anyone hurting me or my kids.”

“That’s correct, and so you know, after doing some digging, there was a hit out on Mr. Conti, but no one else.”

“I’m happy to hear my kids and I are not in the crosshairs.”

“Not you, Darwin, and Tatum, but that’s why I needed to speak to the kids, and specifically, Griffin.”

“This has to do with Ward Firmin, who was on the back deck last night?”

“Yes, it does,” Owen said as the kettle started whistling in the kitchen.

When Owen moved to stand, John said he would get it.

“Irish breakfast tea?” I guessed, smiling at Owen.

“Of course.”

“Sorry, but are we not concerned about my son?” Luke asked.

“If I were concerned, ex-Chief Wilson would already be dead,” Jared said flatly. “You and your kids are part of the Torus family now, Mr. Duchesne. We take care of our own.”

Luke’s eyes were huge when I turned to him.

“It’s okay. Owen will explain everything.”

He nodded, then leaned forward so he could see Jared. “Please call me Luke, Mr. Colter.”

“It’s Jared. And, Luke, we’re going to figure out what’s going on.”

Once Tatum returned with the boys, after they met Jared and Owen, and after John carried over Owen’s tea and the boys got doughnuts and milk and sat down, Owen addressed Griff.

“The night Chief Wilson arrested you, was there anyone else in the car with him?”

Griff stopped eating—which was hard, he was sixteen. “Yeah. There was a guy, not that old, in the back seat. He had a scar on his right cheek. I didn’t have much time to study him because Wilson started in on me, and then I was out.”

“Is this the man?” Owen asked, spinning his laptop around to show Griff a mugshot of a guy who did, in fact, look scary.

“Yeah, that’s him. Who is he?”

“That is James Mullane, one of the many men trafficking fentanyl and other drugs along various routes up and down the West Coast. He’s just a link in the chain, not very high up, but unfortunately, that same night you were hurt, he was caught by Wilson as well. The issue is, no one’s seen or heard from him since.”

“What do you mean?” Luke asked.

“James Mullane has disappeared.”

“Which has what to do with Griff?” John wanted to know.

“Two things: one, Griff can place Mullane in the car that night, and two, the key to Mullane’s car is missing. After going through the footage from the police station⁠—”

“That wasn’t deleted?” Luke questioned Owen. “You’d think Wilson would have been all over erasing evidence.”

“Well, there’s deleting and then there’s deleting from the server, and if there’s a bread crumb anywhere, I will find it.”

Luke faced me. “You didn’t question that because you knew the answer already, didn’t you?”