Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“That’s yours?” Tatum asked, putting my French press down in front of me. She had the half-and-half in her robe pocket with one mug, and another mug in the other pocket. She always put things in her pockets because she was not a fan of making multiple trips. Plus, she needed both hands to carry my coffee.
“Thank you,” I told her as she removed things from her pockets like a magician.
“That robe is handy,” Jared commented.
She smiled at him, but her attention was on Owen’s laptop.
“This is mine, yes,” Owen confirmed. “I built it myself.”
She squinted at him. “Are you a hacker?”
“I am,” he said. “But only for good.”
“White-hat hacker, gotcha.”
He smiled at her, then turned to me. “You have questions, I have answers.”
We all said that, having picked it up from Jared.
I leaned forward as Jared swung his legs over the bench to sit on my left and Luke sat down on my right. “Do we need the kids here?”
“Yes.”
“Tatum, love, go upstairs and nicely wake up your brothers.”
She got up and dashed around the corner. “I like how you added nicely so I wouldn’t get my Nerf gun like the last time,” she bellowed from the stairs.
“I know you,” I yelled back.
“You really do,” Luke said, leaning against me before kissing my jaw.
Viola and John sat down at the table, Viola bringing a cup of coffee for her son. I poured from the press for Jared first and then me. Jared picked it up to drink.
“There’s cream and sugar there, Mr. Colter,” Viola said, looking concerned.
“No,” Owen said with a shudder. “He drinks it black.”
“Got used to it in the Army,” he told her. “And call me Jared.”
“You were in the Army?” John asked.
“Yessir,” Jared responded. “For quite a while.”
“Okay, so really quick,” Owen said to Luke. “Your ex-wife will not have to testify. The man she was testifying against turned witness himself, so they will keep her in the queue, as it were, in case he changes his mind, which is highly unlikely. So she’s still in WITSEC and will remain so for the foreseeable future.”
“Thank you for letting me know,” Luke replied.
“This also means that you and your family are no longer in any danger from the cartel.”
“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—”